A day after its pilots went on strike, SAS, the Scandinavian airline, said on Tuesday that it had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, the latest reverberation in a summer of turmoil for European airlines, the New York Times reported. SAS described the filing, made in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, as the “next step” in a reorganization that would address the money-losing airline’s financial difficulties, including cost reductions of more than $700 million.

An international conference to support Ukraine after the devastating Russian invasion has outlined a series of principles to steer Kyiv's recovery and condemned Moscow's actions, Reuters reported. Representatives from more than 40 countries and international organisations like the European Investment Bank and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) signed up to the Lugano Declaration at the two-day conference in Switzerland.

Germany's government will have the power to bail out utilities under proposed legislative changes approved by the cabinet on Tuesday, according to the economy ministry, Reuters reported. "The situation on the gas market is tense and unfortunately we cannot rule out a deterioration in the situation," Economy Minister Robert Habeck said in a statement. New amendments to the Energy Security Act will give the government additional tools to help utilities if they falter under rising energy prices as Russian gas imports decline.

For the first time in more than three decades, Germany has posted a monthly trade deficit, the most recent sign that Europe’s largest economy is facing stress because of interrupted supply chains and record energy prices linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the New York Times reported. Exports have been the economic engine in Germany for years, but the steep rise in the price of energy, driven by Russia’s moves to restrict the amount of natural gas it is delivering to Europe, has driven up the price of products made in Germany.

The Bank of England warned on Tuesday that the economic prospects for Britain and the world had darkened since the start of the year and told banks to ramp up capital buffers to ensure they could weather the storm, Reuters reported. International institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and OECD say Britain is more susceptible to recession and persistently high inflation than other Western economies, which are all grappling with global energy and commodity market shocks. "The global economic outlook has deteriorated markedly.

Record energy prices drove the inflation rate for the countries using the common European currency to 8.6 percent over the year through June, as the fallout of the war in Ukraine and the economic conflict it has set off between Russia and Western Europe continued to bite, the New York Times reported. Nearly half the 19 countries in the eurozone have now reached double-digit annual inflation, figures released Friday by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency, showed. The overall rate was the latest record high since the creation of the euro in 1999.

EU states and lawmakers on Thursday agreed to rules to put a brake on state-backed foreign firms acquiring EU companies with annual turnover of 500 million euros ($520 million), underlining a more protectionist approach against a possible Chinese buying spree, Reuters reported. The European Commission presented proposals for the new takeover rules last year, aiming to stave off what it deems as unfair competition from countries such as China. The takeover rules will apply to companies getting more than 50 million euros in subsidies.

German gas giant Uniper SE is in talks with the government over a potential bailout package of as much as 9 billion euros, ($9.4 billion), Bloomberg News reported. The government is looking at applying a set of measures, including loans, taking an equity stake and also passing part of the surge in costs onto customers. Uniper declined to comment. The company, which is one of the biggest importers of Russian gas, said last week it was in talks with the government to secure liquidity. Its shares sank 28% on Monday, taking the company’s market value to 4.14 billion euros.

Sanctioned Russian lender Sberbank PJSC caused the bankruptcy of the Antipinsky Oil Refinery in Western Siberia, according to Swiss trader New Stream Trading AG, Bloomberg reported. Sberbank “had full control of the management of Antipinsky” from mid-November 2018 and took steps leading to it “procuring the breaches” of the refinery’s existing contracts, NST said, quoting from a ruling by a tribunal constituted under the London Court of International Arbitration.

Euro zone unemployment fell to a new record low in May as the economy continued to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, even if inflation exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine is expected to dampen growth, Reuters reported. The European Union's statistics office Eurostat said on Thursday that unemployment in the 19 countries sharing the euro fell to 6.6% of the workforce in May from a revised 6.7% in April. The 6.6% rate is the lowest rate since records dating back to 1998, just before the official launch of the euro in January 1999.