Lates news

Hannes P Albert / AP  

ECB vs inflation  

Sources: Slowdown worries ECB – momentum for pause  

ECB members are increasingly concerned about the slowdown in the economy and momentum is growing for a rate break, although the debate is still alive. Eight sources with insight into the discussions told Reuters.  

Several key economic indicators have come in below expectations over the past month or so, raising fears of a recession. 

- The number of voices advocating a break multiplies as the data rolls in, says one of the sources.  

The European Central Bank has raised interest rates nine meetings in a row, but at the latest announcement refrained from giving any guidance ahead of the September meeting.  

Shutterstock  

Tech

Germany invests billions in artificial intelligence  

The German government will spend the equivalent of SEK 12 billion on AI research over the next two years. Reuters reports.  

This means that Germany is now investing twice as much money in artificial intelligence as the country previously did, and the idea is that with the help of the investment Germany will be able to compete with the USA and China in the field.  

The investment includes, among other things, the addition of 150 AI laboratories at German universities.

Police in Niger on August 21. Sam Mednick / AP  

 

The military coup in Niger 

Niger forms military pact with coup plotters next door  

 

Niger forms a military pact with Burkina Faso and Mali, whose leaders also seized power in coups. 

The two neighboring countries are given the right to "intervene on Niger's territory in the event of aggression". 

 

The foreign ministers of the two countries visited Niger's capital, Niamey, on Thursday. Among other things, they met the coup leader Abdourahamane Tiani. 

 

The pact is created in the light of the organization Ecowas threatening to intervene militarily if power is not returned to the popularly elected president.  

 

Niger is the fourth country in West Africa since 2020 to fall into the hands of coup plotters, writes AFP. In addition to the countries mentioned above, there was a coup in Guinea in 2021. 

 

Smoke over Khartoum, Sudan. File photo from June. AP  

The crisis in Sudan  

UN: Violence in Sudan spreads - humanitarian disaster  

 

The UN warns that the ongoing conflict in Sudan risks tearing the country apart and leading to a humanitarian disaster in the entire region. That's what news agencies write. 

 

Fighting between the army and the paramilitary group RSF (Rapid support forces) broke out in mid-April. Since then, millions of people in the country have been forced to flee, while diseases are spreading and people are starving. 

 

- Hundreds of thousands of children are severely malnourished and are at imminent risk of death if they are not treated, says Martin Griffiths, director of humanitarian affairs at the UN. 

 

Archive image. Ukrainian soldiers in Donetsk. LIBKOS / AP 

 

The Russian Invasion|The Battles

Russia: Has stopped 42 drones on their way to Crimea  

 

Russia has shot down 42 drones headed for the occupied Crimean peninsula, the Defense Department claimed on Friday morning. In the post, the ministry states that no drone reached its target, but it is not clear whether the drones caused any damage to people or infrastructure. 

 

Several similar attacks have been carried out, but Reuters notes that there have rarely been reports of this many drones. Ukraine has not commented.  

 

Attacks against Krym have steadily increased in recent weeks. Ukraine has vowed to take back the peninsula, which has been annexed by the Russians since 2014.