Moldova's central bank has cut its key interest rate to 17% from 20% as consumer price inflation has continued to slow, Central Bank Governor Octavian Armasu said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Armasu said the central bank expected consumer price inflation to slow to 13.7% this year after peaking in 2022. He noted inflation slowed to 30.2% in December compared with 34.6% in October last year. "The decision is based on disinflationary processes in the short term and it is aimed at supporting the national economy and businesses," he told a news briefing.

Two of Europe’s biggest airline groups are in talks with administrators of Flybe over an audacious bid to resurrect the stricken regional airline, the Telegraph reported. Lufthansa and Air France-KLM are understood to be in talks to acquire the carrier out of insolvency after it collapsed into bankruptcy for the second time in three years. Administrators from Interpath may have just days to agree to a rescue that would avoid the business being wound up and the Flybe name disappearing from airports for good, according to City sources.

Britain's financial watchdog warned crypto businesses on Monday to get ready for a rule change on advertising later in the year, warning that any breaches by company officials could mean up to two years in prison, Reuters reported. Britain's finance ministry said last week it would set out secondary legislation this year to allow crypto firms which comply with the Financial Conduct Authority's anti-money laundering safeguards to issue their own promotions until new crypto regulation is introduced, probably sometime in 2024.

House builders slammed the brakes on construction at the start of 2023 as a surge in mortgage interest rates causes activity in the property market to freeze over, Bloomberg News reported. The industry suffered its biggest contraction in almost three years in January after a slump in property prices and home loans gathered pace, S&P Global’s construction purchasing managers’ index showed Monday. Britain’s biggest house builders are scaling back new developments amid warnings of large house price falls in 2023.

France’s National Assembly will start debating French President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform bill on Monday as unions gear up for two more days of strikes and protests against the plan this week, Bloomberg News reported. So far, neither the government nor opponents to the change have given much ground. Macron has pledged to see his program through, which includes increasing the minimum retirement age to 64 from 62, while unions have called on the French to protest in even greater numbers on Tuesday than they did last week.

Britishvolt Ltd’s administrator selected Australian startup Recharge Industries as the preferred bidder to acquire the majority of the insolvent UK battery firm’s business and assets, Bloomberg News reported. The acquisition is expected to take place within the next seven days, according to a statement Monday by EY, Britishvolt’s administrator. Recharge Industries is a subsidiary of Scale Facilitation Partners LLC. Once considered the UK’s best shot for a homegrown electric-vehicle battery supplier, Britishvolt went into bankruptcy last month after failing to identify any potential rescuers.

For more than a decade, the British government has run its National Health Service, the world’s largest government-run healthcare system, on a tight budget. The NHS prided itself on being one of the leanest healthcare systems in the developed world, spending less per head on average than its large European neighbors—and far less than the U.S. Now the state-funded service is falling apart, the Wall Street Journal reported. People who suffer heart attacks or strokes wait more than 1½ hours on average for an ambulance. Hospitals are so full they are turning patients away.

Britishvolt Ltd.’s administrators received two bids for the insolvent UK battery startup when the deadline for proposals ended on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported. A consortium of former Britishvolt investors and Australian battery startup Recharge Industries submitted bids, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the process is confidential. Once considered the UK’s best shot for a homegrown electric-vehicle battery supplier, Britishvolt went into bankruptcy last month after failing to identify any potential rescuers.

Loss-making Norwegian airline Flyr said on Tuesday that it would file for bankruptcy after failing to raise the cash it needed for its operations, Reuters reported. "There is no longer a realistic opportunity to achieve a solution for the short-term liquidity situation," the company said in a statement, adding the board's decision was unanimous. More than 400 employees will lose their jobs as a result of the bankruptcy, Flyr founder and board Chair Erik Braathen told Norwegian daily Dagbladet.

Lithuania, which saw registration of crypto companies soar almost fivefold last year, is reining in the growth of digital-asset service providers to address transparency issues and money-laundering risks, Bloomberg News reported. The Registry Office in Vilnius released a list of 206 crypto companies Thursday that pass a set of stricter regulatory requirements imposed last November. Regulators winnowed down a list of 850 companies after imposing the new rules, according to the Finance Ministry.