Headlines

Irish petrol and diesel suppliers say consumers here are not at risk of the shortages being experienced in Britain, which the industry says is largely due to a lack of truck drivers within the U.K. and panic-buying, the Independent.ie reported. Industry group Fuels for Ireland said on Sunday that there will be no interruption to the supply of petrol, diesel and home-heating oil in Ireland.

The Commerce Court number 1 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria agreed this week to declare necessary bankruptcy for tourism companies Anfi Sales SL and Anfi Resorts, The Canary News reported. There will be an appeal against that judgement heard before the Provincial Court, although it will not be suspensive; that is to say, it will not impede the judgement. Judge Alberto López Villarrubia accepted the request made last year by the company Isla Marina SL to declare the companies bankrupt.

Angela Merkel’s tenure will be remembered as Germany’s, and Europe’s, cruelest paradox: On the one hand, she dominated the continent’s politics like no other peacetime leader — and is leaving the German chancellery considerably more powerful than she had found it. But the way she built up this power condemned Germany to secular decline and the European Union to stagnation, according to a commentary in Jacobin. There is no doubt that Germany is today stronger politically and economically than it was when Merkel became chancellor back in 2005.

Irish EU Commissioner Mairéad McGuinness has warned U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson to abandon his threats to set aside Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit special trade status, the Independent.ie reported. McGuinness was speaking after a visit to London for talks on the U.K.’s money market status in the EU after Brexit, which included a meeting with British finance minister Rishi Sunak. She said the EU will soon publish new proposals to deal with practical problems on the North’s trade with England, Scotland and Wales, especially focused on ensuring medical supplies.

More and more Netherlands residents have foreign savings accounts, the NL Times reported. This was reported by financial comparison site Geld.nl based on its own research. In recent months, in particular, foreign banks active in the Netherlands have seen their products become more popular. According to Geld.nl, this is because they offer relatively high interest rates. “If you look at the savings accounts, the top five with the highest interest rates are all accounts from foreign banks,” said expert Amanda Bulthuis of Geld.nl.

El Salvador last week became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, with the aim of reducing costs in sending remittances, attracting foreign investment and boosting domestic consumption, Market Research Telecast reported. It does so after its parliament approved the cryptocurrency legalization, a law that has not been well received by international organizations and agencies.

The possible collapse of property giant China Evergrande shook markets around the world earlier this week, but on Thursday, amid uncertainty over whether it met a critical payment deadline to its lenders, the market rallied, the New York Times reported. Evergrande’s Hong Kong listed shares, which have been on a firm downward trajectory, soared by a head-scratching 18 percent. Hong Kong’s broader Hang Seng Index rallied 1.2 percent.

South Africa's embattled national airline on Thursday flew its first plane since March 2020 after emerging from bankruptcy proceedings, france24.com reported. Passengers on the South African Airways (SAA) flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town were greeted on their departure by singing and dancing airline staff. Once Africa's second-largest airline after Ethiopian Airlines, SAA had survived for decades on government bailouts and had been shedding routes even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

Governments around the world have long encouraged motorists to buy electric cars. Now they are starting to grapple with a consequence of the green drive: dwindling income from fuel taxes, the Wall Street Journal reported. Several countries have sought to phase out gasoline and diesel cars by offering tax and other incentives to drivers who buy new electric vehicles, part of broader efforts to cut carbon emissions. But in places where more EVs are hitting the road, income from fuel taxes, which often accounts for a significant chunk of public revenue, is falling.

Orange2Fly charter flight airline has filed for bankruptcy, ekathimerini.com reported. The Greek carrier, which was set up in September 2015 with share capital of 200,000 euros, has a fleet of four Airbus A320 aircraft, but in those six years of operation it failed to strengthen its financial report. In 2020 it had a negative net position of 7.8 million euros, with accumulated losses of 9.5 million euros and total obligations of 11.6 million euros.