Tag Archives: Germany

Muhammad Ali Nasir, University of Leeds The European Central Bank (ECB) has confirmed speculation that it will become the latest central bank to start raising headline interest rates to try to ward off inflation. The bank is to raise rates by 0.25 points to 0.25% for lending and -0.25% for deposits, with plans for another rise at the next meeting …

A U.S. Air Force jet performs a test drop of a B61-12 bomb in December 2021. That bomb can contain a nuclear warhead for use in wartime. Los Alamos National Laboratory Miles A. Pomper, Middlebury and Vasilii Tuganov, Middlebury The Russian invasion of Ukraine has raised fears among the public about the use of nuclear weapons in Europe or against …

Seraphim Alvanides, Northumbria University, Newcastle; Isabelle Buchstaller, University of Duisburg-Essen, and Malgorzata Fabiszak, Adam Mickiewicz University Across eastern Europe, the addresses of Russian embassies are being changed as a form of protest against the war in Ukraine. In the Latvian capital, Riga, the section of Antonijas Street where the Russian embassy is located is set to be renamed Ukrainian Independence …

Sophie Marineau, Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) On 19 May 2021, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced that the United States was waiving sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. The first Nord Stream pipeline, completed in 2011, links Vyborg in Russia and Greifswald in Germany via the Baltic Sea. Nord Stream 2 will link Ust-Luga in Russia to Greifswald …

E as in ebbing. kentoh/Shutterstock Keith Pilbeam, City, University of London The euro has weakened against the US dollar since the beginning of 2021, from around US$1.23 to its current exchange rate of US$1.13. That’s a fall of about 9%, which is significant, especially since these are the two major currencies of the world. The drop has also intensified in …

Looted Benin Bronzes on display at the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images Jürgen Zimmerer, University of Hamburg After years of pressure, Germany recently announced that an agreement had been reached to return hundreds of priceless artefacts and artworks that had been looted from Nigeria in colonial times and were on display in German museums. Commonly called the …

Jonathan Kennedy, Queen Mary University of London At the start of the year, one of the main causes of the EU’s slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccines was lower than expected supplies from AstraZeneca. Fast forward a few weeks and the EU’s vaccination programme still trails far behind the UK and US, but politicians and those in public health now have …

Inga Kristina Trauthig, King’s College London A group of countries involved in the ongoing civil war in Libya agreed at a meeting in Berlin on January 19 to uphold a UN arms embargo and stop international meddling in the country’s conflict. Germany wants to find a way to end the ongoing conflict in Libya to prevent the North African country …

Turkey’s Oruç Reis vessel has been carrying out seismic work in contested waters. EPA Clemens Hoffmann, University of Stirling The worsening stand-off in the eastern Mediterranean, frequently described as a gas conflict, has been gaining momentum. It may seem a strange time to be fighting over gas when prices remain in a slump due to weak demand and investors withdrawing. …