Poland is set to receive more than 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) in EU funds after the European Commission gave a positive assessment Tuesday of the country's revised recovery plan that includes green reforms and investments, the Associated Press reported. The 5.1 billion euros pre-financing is part of the bloc's REPowerEU program aimed at helping the 27 EU nations recover from the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, and reduce their dependance to Russian fossil fuels.

The coming holiday season could be as good as it gets for strongly performing U.K. retail stocks, according to Deutsche Bank AG, Bloomberg News reported. “Christmas trading is likely to be robust, in our view, but there is a risk this represents the last hurrah of post-pandemic spending recovery,” analyst Adam Cochrane wrote in a note. U.K. retailers are headed for their best year since 2019, with an index for the sector up 24%, boosted by the return of shoppers to physical stores following the end of pandemic-era restrictions.

State-owned Russian Agricultural Bank has filed a lawsuit against JP Morgan in a Moscow court, court files showed on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The document gave no information on the nature of the claim and neither of the two lenders replied to a request for comment. The court is yet to start processing the lawsuit filed on Nov. 20. Russian Agricultural Bank, the main financial intermediary for Russian food and fertiliser exports, has been hit by Western sanctions and disconnected from the SWIFT international payment system.

It's only a matter of time before a Welsh council goes bankrupt unless cash pressures ease, bosses have said, the BBC reported. Anthony Hunt, Labour leader of Torfaen council, said "the very fabric of our local public services is under threat". And Mark Pritchard, independent leader of Wrexham council, said that it faced cutting community care help that would have a negative impact on NHS services. The Welsh government said that it would continue to work closely with councils to "meet the shared challenges". "We are struggling," said Mr Pritchard. "A local authority across Wales....

The Febiofest film festival, which took place annually in Prague and other Czech cities and towns, is now in a state of bankruptcy, Czech Radio reported on Sunday. The founder of the cinema showcase, Fero Fenič, filed bankruptcy proceedings against the company which now owns it, saying that he did not receive payment after selling the festival and is owed CZK 4.5 million. The festival, which was created in 1993, did not take place this year. Read more.

The German government pledged Monday to invest 4 billion euros ($4.37 billion) in African green energy projects until 2030, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying that countries in Africa should benefit more from their wealth of raw materials, the Associated Press reported. Scholz discussed the pledge at a news conference on the G20 Compact with Africa summit taking place in Berlin. He did not mention any specific projects but said the materials used in green energy should be processed in the African nations they come from. “This creates jobs and prosperity in these countries,” Scholz said.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck on Monday criticised sticking to what he called the country's "inflexible" debt brake and took a swipe at Finance Minister Christian Lindner on prospective subsidy cuts, saying it was "all just talk," Reuters reported. The comments laid bare strains in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling coalition after a court ruling last week that wiped 60 billion euros ($65 billion) from the federal budget sent the government scrambling for alternative sources of funding.

Britain's pharmaceutical industry and the government have agreed terms to renew a medicines access scheme that requires the companies to pay back part of their drug revenue generated from the national health service, they said on Monday, Reuters reported. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) said in a joint statement that the scheme agreed with the government and National Health Service (NHS) England, will run for five years until end-2028.

Swedish landlord SBB’s offer to buy back some of its bonds at steep discounts may be tantamount to a default, according to a statement from S&P Global Ratings, Bloomberg News reported. The ratings agency placed Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB, as it is otherwise known, on watch for a possible downgrade to selective default in a statement Friday. S&P said it would be able to assess further once the final results of the buyback were published.

Three Bank of England policy makers warned markets to brace for UK interest rates to remain elevated for a lengthy period of time, the latest efforts by officials to dampen bets on a reduction in borrowing costs by mid-2024, Bloomberg News reported. Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden said firms must adapt to a higher rate world after the shift away from the low borrowing costs that marked the post-global financial crisis period.