Curious learner, science enthusiast;
I am interested in economics, finance, data, technology, and start-ups.
(c) Speak the truth even if your voice shakes
The ECB's decision to raise interest rates was “robust” considering inflation will stay higher for longer, according to Vice President Boris Vujcic https://t.co/pLDbpfuiBv
After nine years of decline, democracy scores have risen in more than half of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. That trend may happen elsewhere, too https://t.co/gBPGCC3Wbx
Euro area job vacancy rate at 2.3%, EU at 2.1% in Q1 2026. 💼
Highest:
🇳🇱 Netherlands (4.0%)
🇧🇪 Belgium (3.4%)
Lowest:
🇷🇴 Romania (0.6%)
🇵🇱 Poland (0.8%)
More data 👉 https://t.co/y45UnMab9q
Estonian defense startup Frankenburg is seeking to raise around €100 million in fresh funding to build an anti-ballistic missile system https://t.co/mfM0K3wPNY
ECB President Christine Lagarde is in Brussels for a series of engagements today, the latest push by policy-makers to highlight the potential international role of the euro https://t.co/USLLADh2Os
The Dutch government has agreed to work with the EU to change rules that have led to domestic funds dominating the country’s workplace retirement system. https://t.co/BFy6aGg1ln
As China’s almost 500m-strong middle class grows richer and larger, its members are changing what they put into their shopping baskets https://t.co/G3D8KyJdJl
Photo: Xinhua News Agency/eyevine
After nine years of decline, democracy scores have risen in more than half of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. That trend may happen elsewhere, too https://t.co/pR8LXChyEX
AI could boost Poland’s economy by as much as 12% by 2035 and help it converge with the world’s richest countries even as local cost advantages fade, the World Bank said https://t.co/wtViNq1UYZ
Turkey’s top economic policymakers will meet to discuss measures to stem market turbulence after a court ordered the removal of the main opposition party’s leadership https://t.co/pklNZ5n9Mf
A Turkish court has annulled the 2023 CHP leadership vote, opening the door to overturning the choice of Turkey’s main opposition party. Arrests were not enough. Detentions were not enough. Now Erdoğan’s system wants to decide who may lead the opposition. This is how democracy is weakened: not in one blow, but through institutions bent to political pressure. Europe must call it by its name: a direct attack on pluralism. And it must defend the democratic forces still standing.
APPLEBAUM: The war in Ukraine is really fault line between democratic and autocratic worlds. Russians are trying to destroy Ukraine as a nation, they want it to disappear.
As an empire, they want Ukraine to be their colony. And they understood perfectly well that by invading Ukraine, they were defying this liberal world order.
They were defying the rules of post-war Europe, because in post-war Europe decision was made after 1945: we are not going to invade each other anymore, we are not going to have wars.
Instead, we are going to decide everything by diplomacy, and borders will not be changed by force. And Russians understood they were breaking that norm when they invaded Ukraine.
They also invaded Ukraine because Ukrainians were using that powerful democratic language we take for granted. Putin said, “If they can do it in Ukraine, then people could do it in Russia. So, I need to crush this Ukrainian democracy movement.”
A consortium of European companies will bid on a €10 billion ($11.6 billion) project to build a major data center campus in France as part of a European Union effort to boost artificial intelligence infrastructure on the continent. https://t.co/zfX5JYeoih
The Ukraine war has already shown the world a new type of warfare dominated by aerial drones. But on the ground, remotely controlled vehicles are the latest technological evolution.
Here's a look at the unmanned ground vehicles that free up manpower. https://t.co/JgQCP4d5zj
Armenia is steadily moving closer to the EU ahead of its parliamentary elections in June, even as Moscow tries to exert pressure on Yerevan. The EU has provided €30 million for military equipment, but this is modest compared to the more than €1 billion in arms contracts Armenia has already signed with France and India. At the same time, Russian weapons are being gradually phased out of service. A young, digital generation increasingly feels looked down on by Russia and is turning away from it, steadily eroding Moscow’s soft power.
“As in Hungary, resistance to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime—in the streets, coffeehouses and courtrooms—has sparked a new democratic awakening,” writes Ozgur Ozel. But the path ahead is tricky https://t.co/d3KkW3HSES