By Albin Sybera The North-American-based National Hockey League (NHL), the world’s most popular ice hockey competition, is opening its 106 season in Prague on October 7 amid criticism for allowing Russian hockey players to take part. Czech legend Domin…
Whistleblower who revealed massive corruption at Bulgarian border checkpoint fired
By Denitsa Koseva in Sofia Hristo Daskalov, who revealed large-scale corruption at the checkpoint with Turkey several months ago, has been dismissed as head of Bulgaria’s food safety body, caretaker Deputy Agriculture Minister Krum Nedelkov has announc…
MOSCOW BLOG: Russia and Saudi Arabia’s oil production cut is pre-emptive strike on EU’s price cap scheme
By Ben Aris in Berlin The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Russia agreed to cut oil production by 2mn barrels yesterday at the Vienna OPEC+ meeting, angering the US that had a bit of a hissy fit and said the “special relations” were over. Crown Prince…
Albanian central bank raises policy rate to 2.25%
By bne IntelliNews The Bank of Albania supervisory council decided on October 5 to increase the policy rate by 0.5 percentage points (pp) to 2.25%. The decision was made based on rising inflation in Albania. While the annual consumer price inflation ra…
Russia strikes Kyiv Oblast with “Kamikaze” drones from Iran
By Dominic Culverwell in Berlin ‘Kamikaze’ drone attacks were reported 80 km from Kyiv in the city of Bila Tserkva on the night of October 4. The drones are allegedly part of the Iranian-made Shahed series, which Russia has used on the battlefields sin…
Leading Czech coalition parties endorse three presidential candidates
By Albin Sybera Czechia’s three-party Spolu coalition, which ousted the populist ANO party of billionaire Andrej Babis in last October’s general election, has endorsed three independent presidential candidates in the upcoming race for Prague Castle. Pr…
Estonia’s “rat king” to be exhibited at University of Tartu Natural History Museum
By Linas Jegelevicius in Vilnius Estonia’s unique “rat king” will be taken to University of Tartu Natural History Museum for the public’s view, ERR.ee, an Estonian news website, reported on October 4. A ‘rat king’ is a collection of rats whose tails ar…
OPINION: Ukraine refugee-internal displacement bond gains traction
By Gary Kleiman of Kleiman Intl Consultants Inc Nine months into war with Russia, 7.5mn Ukraine refugees have fled to Europe by the UN’s latest count, with the harder to track internally displaced population approaching that number, as Moscow formally …
Kazakhstan’s manufacturing PMI signals renewed contraction
By Kanat Shaku in Almaty Kazakhstan’s manufacturing sector signalled renewed contraction in September following four months of expansion seen since May, according to thelatest purchasing managers’ index (PMI) survey data from Tengri Partners and IHS Ma…
Georgian MPs want to rid the country of oligarchs, but not all of them
By Mack Tubridy in Tbilisi Georgia’s parliament has begun work on a de-oligarchisation bill that the opposition says will be used to target their business supporters, rather than the country’s most famous oligarch, Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the r…