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Hungary blocks EU statement criticising China over Hong Kong, diplomats say

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Hungary has blocked a European Union statement criticising China’s new security law in Hong Kong, two diplomats said, in a move likely to undermine efforts to confront Beijing’s curbing of freedoms in the former British colony.

The EU, which aims to support Britain and the United States in upholding human rights in Hong Kong, was due to make its statement on Monday at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, but failed to win the necessary agreement from all 27 EU states.

“Hungary’s argument was that the EU already has too many issues with China,” a senior EU diplomat told Reuters. A second senior diplomat confirmed the blockage and Hungary’s position. An EU official said the statement had been withdrawn from the EU’s approval process.

China and the EU imposed tit-for-tat sanctions over Western accusations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang on March 22.

Hungarian diplomats in Brussels were not immediately available for comment. Budapest reluctantly supported the EU sanctions last month, calling them “pointless”, and hosted China’s defence minister for an official visit days after the EU sanctions decision.

Hungary is a large recipient of Chinese investment. In the past both Hungary and Greece, where China’s COSCO Shipping has a majority stake in Greece’s largest port, have blocked EU statements on China.

Beijing’s top representative in Hong Kong this week warned foreign powers that they would be taught a lesson if they tried to interfere in China’s management of the global financial hub, as tensions escalated between China and Western governments over the city.

The West says the new Hong Kong security law breaks a promise to maintain a high degree of autonomy for the city since its 1997 return to Chinese rule.

China’s supporters say the law has restored order following mass anti-government and anti-China protests in 2019.

The impasse is the latest blow to the EU’s credentials as a defender of human rights, one of the diplomats said, and raises questions about the economically powerful EU’s “soft power” that relies on inspiring countries to follow its example by outlawing the death penalty and upholding press freedoms.

It also underscores the EU’s challenge in balancing business ties with China, its second-largest trade partner, and its ability to speak out against Chinese government crackdowns in Hong Kong, on human rights lawyers since 2015 and on Muslim Uighurs in northwestern China.

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Read alsoChinese campus in Budapest poses serious security risks for Hungary, the EU, and NATO, says opposition

Finance minister: Visegrád countries poised to be Europe’s engines of growth again

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The Visegrád Group countries aim to reclaim their place as Europe’s engines of growth once the coronavirus pandemic is over, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said after a video call with his V4 counterparts on Thursday.

The V4 countries are all on the same page when it comes to the question of how to reboot the economy, return to fiscal discipline and protect jobs, the finance ministry quoted Varga as saying in the call.

Concerning the European Union’s 750 billion euro Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), Varga said he and his V4 counterparts agreed that their countries all faced the same challenges when it came to planning their recoveries and their talks with the European Commission.

All four countries are concentrating their recovery efforts on areas such as education, health care, the transition to a green economy, digitalisation, transport and job creation, he said.

Varga said he and his counterparts had also discussed the state of their countries’ budgets and the EU’s so-called Own Resources Decision which all member states must ratify in order for the EC to be able to start borrowing. Hungary’s stance on the law, Varga said, is that it must not place additional burdens on national budgets and must respect member states’ sovereignty on taxation.

The ministers also discussed the EU draft legislation that will define environmentally sustainable economic activities. The ministry noted that the V4 countries have issued a joint letter to the EC expressing their concerns that the draft does not cover nuclear energy and does not recognise the role of natural gas in the transition to a climate-neutral economy.

Hungary will take over the V4 presidency from Poland in July.

Read alsoBlinken met the Foreign Ministers of the Visegrád Group in Brussels

U.S. imposes wide array of sanctions on Russia for ‘malign’ actions

The United States on Thursday imposed a broad array of sanctions on Russia to punish it for alleged interference in the 2020 U.S. election, cyber-hacking, bullying Ukraine and other “malign” acts.

The measures blacklisted Russian companies, expelled Russian diplomats and placed limits on the Russian sovereign debt market. More penalties could come, although Washington did not want to escalate matters, the Biden administration said.

Moscow reacted angrily, saying this dangerously raised the temperature between the two countries. It summoned the U.S. ambassador for what it said would be a tough conversation.

Among the actions, President Joe Biden issue an executive order authorizing the U.S. government to sanction any sector of the Russian economy and used it to restrict Russia’s ability to issue sovereign debt to punish Moscow for interfering in the 2020 U.S. election, an allegation Russia denies.

Biden barred U.S. financial institutions from taking part in the primary market for rouble-denominated Russian sovereign bonds from June 14. U.S. banks have been barred from taking part in the primary market for non-rouble sovereign bonds since 2019.

The U.S. Treasury also blacklisted 32 entities and individuals which it said had carried out Russian government-directed attempts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election and other “acts of disinformation and interference”.

In concert with the European Union, Britain, Australia and Canada, the Treasury also sanctioned eight individuals associated with Russia’s ongoing occupation and repression in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman said Moscow would respond to the sanctions in the near future.

Russia denies meddling in U.S. elections and orchestrating a cyber hack that used U.S. tech company SolarWinds Corp SWI.N to penetrate U.S. government networks. It also denies using a nerve agent to poison Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

It has brushed off allegations that it put bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

“We have repeatedly warned the United States about the consequences of their hostile steps which dangerously raise the temperature of confrontation between our two countries,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

She said that although Biden had spoken to President Vladimir Putin about his interest in normalizing relations, his administration’s actions testified to the opposite.

The ministry had summoned the U.S. ambassador, she said, adding: “It’s not going to be a pleasant meeting for him.”

The White House said it was expelling 10 Russian diplomats in Washington D.C., including representatives of the Russian intelligence services and for the first time, formally named the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) as the perpetrator of the SolarWinds Corp hack.

The U.S. government plans a new executive order to help strengthen its cybersecurity, a U.S. official told reporters, suggesting it could include such elements as encryption and multifactor authentication.

U.S. intelligence agencies have “low to moderate” confidence in their assessment that Russia offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, a senior U.S. official told reporters in a conference call.

“Given the sensitivity of this matter, which involves the safety and well-being of our forces, it is being handled through diplomatic, military and intelligence channels,” the White House said. U.S. officials some of their response to Russian actions would be “unseen,” a hint they would involve U.S. spy agencies.

Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, described the sanctions as “proportionate measures to defend American interests in response to harmful Russian actions”.

“His (Biden’s) goal is to provide a significant and credible response but not to escalate the situation,” Sullivan told CNN

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner said the sanctions were a “good first step” to showing that such actions were not acceptable.

“The scale and scope of this hack are beyond any that we’ve seen before, and (the sanctions) should make clear that we will hold Russia and other adversaries accountable for committing this kind of malicious cyber activity against American targets,” he said in a statement.

The actions initially sent the Russian rouble down more than 2% against the dollar and to a more than five-month low against the euro before clawing back some losses.

Timothy Ash of Bluebay Asset Management said the rouble looked like it was enjoying a relief rally.

“Market rallying as they are realizing this is pretty soft in reality. No oligarchs. U.S. institutions cannot buy Russian sovereign debt in primary issuance but can get their Russian bank friends to buy it for them in primary, give them a fee, and then buy it in the secondary,” he said.

Hungarian companies to upgrade strategic sectors in Uzbekistan, says Minister Szijjártó

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The Uzbek and Hungarian governments on Tuesday signed 95 agreements in Tashkent, paving the way for Hungarian companies to upgrade strategic sectors in Uzbekistan, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, told MTI.

OTP, Hungary’s biggest bank, is the first foreign bank to be given the opportunity to take part in the Uzbek banking system’s privatisation, with related negotiations at an advanced stage, the minister said.

Also, Hungary is expected to pay a major role in boosting Uzbek nuclear energy production.

Uzbekistan, the world’s 7th largest uranium producer, is building a new nuclear power plant to be completed by the end of the decade, and the design of the cooling system is based on a Hungarian patent, Szijjártó said.

In connection with modernising Uzbekistan’s higher education system, the University of Debrecen has agreed to set up a campus in the country, he said, adding that the Hungarian University of Agriculture is participating in the scientific transformation of Uzbek agricultural higher education.

Eximbank meanwhile, is providing a 100 million US dollar credit line to underpin the development of Hungarian-Uzbek ties.

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Read alsoHungarian FM praises policy of Eastern opening in Uzbekistan

PayPal launches crypto checkout service

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PayPal Holdings Inc will announce later on Tuesday that it has started allowing U.S. consumers to use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay at millions of its online merchants globally, a move that could significantly boost use of digital assets in everyday commerce.

Customers who hold bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash and litecoin in PayPal digital wallets will now be able to convert their holdings into fiat currencies at checkouts to make purchases, the company said.

The service, which PayPal revealed it was working on late last year, will be available at all of its 29 million merchants in the coming months, the company said.

“This is the first time you can seamlessly use cryptocurrencies in the same way as a credit card or a debit card inside your PayPal wallet,” President and CEO Dan Schulman told Reuters ahead of a formal announcement.

Checkout with Crypto builds on the ability for PayPal users to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies, which the San Jose, California-based payments company launched in October.

The offering made PayPal one of the largest mainstream financial companies to open its network to cryptocurrencies and helped fuel a rally in virtual coin prices.

Bitcoin has nearly doubled in value since the start of this year, boosted by increased interest from larger financial firms that are betting on greater adoption and see it as a hedge against inflation.

PayPal’s launch comes less than a week after Tesla Inc said it would start accepting bitcoin payments for its cars. Unlike PayPal transactions where merchants will be receiving fiat currency, Tesla said it will hold the bitcoin used as payment.

Still, while the nascent asset is gaining traction among mainstream investors, it has yet to become a widespread form of payment, due in part to its continued volatility.

PayPal hopes its service can change that, as by settling the transaction in fiat currency, merchants will not take on the volatility risk.

“We think it is a transitional point where cryptocurrencies move from being predominantly an asset class that you buy, hold and or sell to now becoming a legitimate funding source to make transactions in the real world at millions of merchants,” Schulman said.

The company will charge no transaction fee to checkout with crypto and only one type of coin can be used for each purchase, it said.

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Read alsoFridges, microwaves fall prey to global chip shortage

Hungarian FM praises policy of Eastern opening in Uzbekistan

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The high level of economic and trade cooperation between Hungary and Uzbekistan truly vindicates Hungary’s decision to launch the policy of opening to the East, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s minister of foreign affairs and trade, told MTI before the founding session of the Hungarian-Uzbek business council.

Although the world economy and global trade experienced a slump last year, trade with Uzbekistan increased by an unprecedented rate of 38 percent, exceeding 115 million US dollars, he said.

Preparations are under way for a major joint project involving the use of Hungary’s Heller-Forgo indirect dry cooling system in a nuclear power plant that is being constructed in Uzbekistan, Szijjártó said. The project would boost Hungarian exports to well in excess of 200 million euros, he added.

Hungary will soon launch four agricultural and food industry investment projects totalling 150 million dollars for the production of vegetable oil and animal feed, and for upgrading cattle breeding in Uzbekistan, he said.

Ever since Uzbekistan eased the rules for registering Hungarian medicines, Hungarian pharmaceutical sales there have amounted to 60-70 million dollars each year, the minister said, adding that Richter appeared in Uzbekistan 25 years ago, becoming the 13th largest player in the local market.

The Hungarian-Uzbek business council is composed of 27 Hungarian and 58 Uzbek firms.

Addressing the founding session, Szijjártó specified five key conditions of successful cooperation.

First, he mentioned sound political relations that pave the way for unimpeded business ties. On this score, he said that the two countries would sign an agreement on a strategic partnership on Tuesday.

The second condition is physical presence, he said, noting that Hungary opened an embassy in Tashkent four years ago.

Third, Szijjártó emphasised the importance of personal contacts.

Hungary has increased the number of scholarships granted to Uzbek students from 30 to 100, he said.

The minister also noted that Uzbekistan had been the first country to send a shipment of 650,000 face masks to Hungary during the first wave of the coronavirus epidemic.

The fourth condition Szijjártó mentioned is the sound financial background. Hungary’s Eximbank opened a 100 million dollar credit line to boost Hungarian-Uzbek trade, joint ventures and cooperation in third markets.

As the fifth condition, the minister mentioned flagship projects, focussing on research and development in agriculture.

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Read alsoForeign minister: Uzbekistan ‘key partner’ in Central Asia

Fridges, microwaves fall prey to global chip shortage

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A global shortage of chips that has rattled production lines at car companies and squeezed stockpiles at gadget makers, is now leaving home appliance makers unable to meet demand, according to the president of Whirlpool Corp in China.

The U.S. based company, one of the world’s largest white goods firm, is falling behind on exports to Europe and the United States from China, by as much as 25% on some months, Jason Ai told Reuters in Shanghai.

“It’s a perfect storm,” he said on the sidelines of the Appliance and World Electronics Expo.

“On the one hand we have to satisfy domestic demand for appliances, on the other hand we’re facing an explosion of export orders. As far as chips go, for those of us in China, it was inevitable.”

The company has struggled to secure enough microcontrollers, simple processors that power over half of its products including microwaves, refrigerators, and washing machines.

While the chip shortage has affected a range of high-end suppliers like Qualcomm Inc, it originated and remains most severe for mature technologies, for example power-management chips used in cars.

The chip shortage, which began in earnest in late December, was caused in part as automakers miscalculated demand and pandemic-fuelled sales of smartphones and laptops surged. It forced carmakers including General Motors to cut production, and increased costs for smartphone makers such as Xiaomi Corp.

And with every company that uses chips in its products panic buying to shore up its stockpile, the shortage has blindsided not just Whirlpool but other appliance makers too.

Hangzhou Robam Appliances Co Ltd, a Chinese white goods maker with over 26,000 employees, had to delay the release of a new high-end stove vent by four months because it couldn’t source enough microcontrollers.

“Most of our products are already optimised for smart home use, so of course we need a lot of chips,” said Dan Ye, marketing director at Robam.

He added that the company had found it easier to source chips from China than overseas, prompting it to re-evaluate future supplies.

“The chips we use in our products aren’t the most cutting edge. Domestic chips can satisfy our needs completely.”

Already cutthroat, profit margins at white goods firms are getting further squeezed due to the shortage.

Robin Rao, planning department director of China’s Sichuan Changhong Electric Co Ltd, said lengthy replacement cycles for appliances, coupled with intense competition and a slowing real estate market, have long kept profit margins thin.

“But because of these core components and chips, our supply chain capital costs have increased.”

To deal with the shortage of microprocessors and flash memory chips, Dreame Technology – a vacuum cleaner brand funded by Xiaomi – cut its marketing budget and hired extra staff just to manage relationships with suppliers.

Dreame has also spent “several million yuan” to test out chips that could serve as alternatives to the ones it typically uses, said Frank Wang, the company’s marketing director.

“We’re working to have deeper control of our suppliers, and have even invested in a few suppliers,” he said.

Interest in cybersex is soaring because of the pandemic

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Read alsoIs it true that Hungary is a porn industry giant?

Dollar holds near four-month highs vs euro; market weighs up recovery outlooks

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The dollar edged up as European markets opened on Thursday, having hit a four-month high against the euro during the Asian session, as market participants focused on divergent recovery outlooks for the United States and Europe, and risk appetite waned.

Global stock markets were at their lowest in two weeks after Chinese technology shares sold off due to concerns that they would be de-listed from American stock exchanges.

Concerns about extended lockdowns in Europe also weighed on markets. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to ditch plans for a lockdown over Easter did little to improve sentiment.

At 0808 GMT, the dollar index was up less than 0.1% on the day, at 92.658, having hit its highest since November 2020, at 92.697, overnight.

“The dollar index (DXY) has just broken the 200 day moving average,” said James Athey, investment director at Aberdeen Standard Investments, adding that the dollar’s next move would be crucial.

The euro was down 0.1% against the dollar, at $1.1807.

On Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expressed their confidence in the U.S. recovery during a second day of testimony to Congress.

Stephen Gallo, European head of FX strategy at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a note to clients that he expected the euro to fall to $1.16 over the next one month.

“The EU’s ‘third COVID wave’, the relatively low vaccine take up rate, and a more subdued fiscal impulse will probably cause the Eurozone’s recovery to lag North America’s by 2-3 months,” Gallo wrote.

“The ECB’s desire to cap yields is evidence that even a moderate re-pricing of European sovereign debt is a source of systemic risk,” he added.

Gallo also said that the handling of the vaccine rollout in Europe, and “resultant forms of protectionism” could permanently deter investors.

European leaders meet at a summit later on Thursday and are likely to discuss vaccine supply issues. The EU on Wednesday tightened its oversight of coronavirus vaccine exports, giving it greater scope to block shipments to countries with higher inoculation rates such as Britain.

The Swiss National Bank kept its ultra expansive monetary policy in place, including the world’s lowest interest rate, saying that the Swiss franc remains “highly valued”.

“The fact that the Swiss banks’ sight deposits have been reasonably stable since the autumn suggests that the central bank has largely withdrawn from the FX market,” wrote Commerzbank strategist Thu Lan Nguyen.

However, Nguyen said that she would not rule out the possibility of further SNB interventions in the FX market to limit possible future franc appreciation.

At 0828 GMT, the franc was down around 0.1% against the euro at 1.1068.

The Aussie and Kiwi dollars were a touch higher, both up around 0.3% against the U.S. dollar, recovering some of their losses from the previous two sessions.

Elsewhere, bitcoin was little changed at around $52,321.31.

The cryptocurrency briefly topped $57,000 in the previous session after Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk said customers can now buy the company’s electric cars with the digital token.

Suez Canal suspends traffic as ship stuck like ‘beached whale’

suez canal

A container ship blocking the Suez Canal like a “beached whale” sent new shockwaves through global trade on Thursday as officials stopped all ships entering the channel and the salvage company said it may take weeks to free.

The 400 m (430 yard) Ever Given, almost as long as the Empire State Building is high, is blocking transit in both directions through one of the world’s busiest shipping channels for oil and grain and other trade linking Asia and Europe.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said eight tugs were working to move the vessel, which got stuck diagonally across the single-lane southern stretch of the canal on Tuesday morning amid high winds and a dust storm

“We can’t exclude it might take weeks, depending on the situation,” Peter Berdowski, CEO of Dutch company Boskalis which is trying to free the ship, told the Dutch television programme “Nieuwsuur”.

Several dozen vessels, including other large container ships, tankers carrying oil and gas, and bulk vessels hauling grain have backed up at either end of the canal to create one of the worst shipping jams seen for years.

The SCA, which had allowed some vessels to enter the canal in the hope the blockage could be cleared, said it had temporarily suspended all traffic on Thursday.

Thirteen vessels that sailed south from Port Said in a convoy on Wednesday had dropped anchor in the Bitter Lakes waiting area until navigation could be resumed, it said.

Berdowski said the ship’s bow and stern had been lifted up against either side of the canal.

“It is like an enormous beached whale. It’s an enormous weight on the sand. We might have to work with a combination of reducing the weight by removing containers, oil and water from the ship, tug boats and dredging of sand.”

Roughly 30% of the world’s shipping container volume transits through the 193 km (120 miles) Suez Canal daily, and about 12% of total global trade of all goods.

Shipping experts say that if the blockage is unlikely to be cleared in the coming days, some shipping firms may re-route vessels around the southern tip of Africa, which would add roughly a week to the journey.

Consultancy Wood Mackenzie said the biggest impact was on container shipping, but there were also a total of 16 laden crude and product oil tankers due to sail through the canal and now delayed by the incident.

The load of the tankers amounted to 870,000 tonnes of crude and 670,000 tonnes of clean oil products such as gasoline, naphtha and diesel, it said.

According to oil analytics firm Vortexa, Russia and Saudi Arabia are the top two exporters of oil through the canal, while India and China are the main importers.

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), the technical manager of Ever Given, said dredgers were working to clear sand and mud from around the blocked vessel while tugboats in conjunction with Ever Given’s winches work to shift it.

Marine services firm GAC issued a note to clients overnight saying efforts to free the vessel using tug boats continued, but that wind conditions and the sheer size of the vessel “were hindering the operation”.

Japanese shipowner Shoei Kisen apologised for the incident and said work on freeing the ship, which was heading to Europe from China, “has been extremely difficult” and it was not clear when the vessel would float again.

The ship’s GPS signal shows only minor changes to its position over the past 24 hours.

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Read alsoThe Suez Crisis and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 – photos, videos

Famous Hungarian Herend Porcelain opens new luxury store in Abu Dhabi – PHOTOS

United Arab Emirates Herend Store Interior

Herend Porcelain, one of if not the most well-known Hungarikums, have expanded their empire of luxury china products by teaming up with a company in Abu Dhabi, making it possible for the first Herend brand store to be opened in the United Arab Emirates.

According to the website of the famous Hungarian company, Al Mazroui Group has contacted them and ended up partnering with Herend Porcelain Manufactory. As the company was able to keep up with the luxury quality of the Hungarian china products, Herend decided to create the new Herend United Arab Emirates group. Thanks to this new group, the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf region can enjoy the beautiful hand-made and hand-painted Hungarian porcelain products. Still, the company also planned to expand its range beyond European porcelain products. If you would like to know more about the brand, we recommend you to read THIS article.

The only thing that had remained now was to choose the perfect place for the new Herend store that would attract the wealthiest customers who can afford to decorate their homes with one of the most elegant Hungarikums. The newly founded Herend United Arab Emirates have considered many locations before settling with a store in the famous Avenue at Etihad Towers, a place for luxury boutiques of the highest quality of brands only for the most affluent fashion, jewellery and art connoisseurs.

According to Herend, “it is the ideal location to attract high-profile clients, such as royals, members of the country’s most influential families as well as wealthy tourists from neighbouring countries”.

Not only the location but also the looks of the brand-new store was carefully considered. As the company puts it, this is a “stepping-stone” that might establish them in the Eastern market and introduce the brand to the most affluent of the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf region. Because it is so important, everything was designed and planned with the utmost care and precision.

For their new boutique in the Avenue at Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi, the company used its flagship and iconic Budapest store, the Budapest Porcelain Palace. They aimed to invoke the atmosphere of their Hungarian store but present it for the Eastern market.

For the most part, the design of the store remained faithful to the one in Budapest. The interior radiates “European elegance”. The floor is marble, just like in the Porcelain Palace, and the primary colours of the store mainly remained the same; black, white, oak and gold. The iconic piano-black cabinets with white interior have made their way into the new store, as well as the oak shelving around the bottom of the cabinets and as a whole separate wall, just like in the Hungarian flagship store. The main difference might be a bit of heavier use of gold accents.

The Arab customers of the store might be happy to see that besides the typical European-style dinnerware, vases and coffee and tea sets and Hungarian Herend product lines like Victoria, Rothschild, Batthyány and Apponyi, the Arabic finjan is also available to be purchased.

“The Herend artists have used their expertise in creating unique pieces of porcelain to rework this traditional cup, emblematic of the Arab world,” – can be read on the brand’s official website.

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Read alsoWorld famous Hungarian porcelains: Herend, Hollóháza and Zsolnay- Photos!

Norway blocks Rolls-Royce’s plan to sell engine maker to Russia

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Norway will block Rolls-Royce from selling a Norwegian maritime engine maker to a Russian company on national security grounds, its justice minister told parliament on Tuesday.

Based on Norway’s west coast, and owned by Britain’s Rolls-Royce for more than 20 years, Bergen Engines supplies NATO member Norway’s navy as well as the global shipping industry.

The government on March 9 said it had temporarily suspended the 150 million euro ($178 million) sale to TMH Group while it assessed security implications.

“We now have sufficient information to conclude that it is necessary to prevent the company from being sold to a group controlled from a country with which we do not have security cooperation,”

Justice Minister Monica Maeland of the centre-right minority government told parliament.

Relations between Norway and Russia, which share a border in the Arctic, gradually improved in the post-Cold War era before suffering a setback when Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014.

That triggered more tension in the north with a military build-up on both sides and more frequent military manoeuvres.

“The technology possessed by Bergen Engines, and the engines they produce, would have been of significant military strategic interest to Russia, and would have boosted Russian military capabilities,” the government said in a statement.

The Russian embassy in Oslo said on March 10 that Norway’s decision to suspend the sale showed anti-Russian sentiment and was of serious concern. The embassy was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.

Announcing the planned disposal, Rolls-Royce said last month the transaction with Russia’s TMH was part of the group’s overall plan to overcome the pandemic.

Norwegian opposition parties criticised the government for being slow to respond to what they said was a national security threat, after it emerged that Rolls-Royce had informed authorities of a potential Russian deal late last year.

“The government failed to comprehend the severity,” Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a lawmaker from the right wing opposition Progress Party, said.

The case will be the subject of a special hearing in parliament, said Jette Christensen, a lawmaker from the opposition Labour Party.

Bergen Engines makes medium-speed gas and diesel engines for marine and power generation customers. It employs about 950 people and had revenue of 239 million pounds ($332 million) in 2019.

Norway introduced a new security law that year which strengthening the government’s ability to impose conditions or block foreign acquisitions when vital national interests are at stake.

While corporate takeovers have been assessed from time to time, Norway had abstained from blocking any business transactions since the law came in, the government’s NSM security agency said this month.

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Read alsoHungary supports majority of secretary general’s proposals to NATO 2030

Oil falls as European coronavirus curbs point to demand hit

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Oil prices fell 1% on Tuesday, hit by concerns that new pandemic curbs and slow vaccine rollouts in Europe will slow a recovery in demand, while producers cut prices in a sign of plentiful supply.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for May delivery fell 80 cents, or 1.3%, to $60.76 a barrel by 0725 GMT. The April contract expired on Monday at $61.55, up 13 cents from Friday, after plunging more than 6% last week.

Brent crude futures for May dropped by 93 cents, or 1.4% to $63.69, erasing a gain of 9 cents in the previous session.

“Global travel is still looking like it could be a while away,”

said Matt Stanley, a fuel broker at Star Fuels in Dubai, adding that a second-half recovery in oil demand looked doubtful as lockdowns remain the order of the day.

Extended lockdowns are being driven by the threat of a third wave of infections, with a new variant of the virus on the continent.

Germany, Europe’s biggest oil consumer, is extending its lockdown until April 18 and asked citizens to stay home to try to stop a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week, the Paris-based IEA cut its forecast for crude demand in 2021 by 2.5 million barrels per day, while the EIA forecast global oil supply would surpass demand in the year’s second half.

Physical crude markets are indicating that demand is lower, much more so than the futures market.

On Monday, Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, cut its official selling prices for April-loading cargoes, suggesting that suppliers are trying to spur sales.

Angola, the continent’s second-biggest producer and a key supplier to China, still has some April cargoes unsold, a sign of a lack of interest from Chinese refiners.

“Physical prices have been weaker than futures have been suggesting for several weeks now,” said Lachlan Shaw, National Australia Bank’s head of commodity research.

U.S. crude stockpile data from the American Petroleum Institute will be released later on Tuesday.

Analysts estimate U.S. crude inventories fell by about 900,000 barrels in the week to March 19 while refinery utilisation rose by 3.2 percentage points, a Reuters poll showed.

Inventory data from the EIA, considered more definitive, will be released on Wednesday.

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Read alsoReady for your vacation? Here are the cities you can fly to from Hungary in July

Less and less Hungarian groceries on the shelves of multinational chain stores

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According to a new survey published by NÉBIH (Nemzeti Élelmiszerlánc-biztonsági Hivatal – National Food Chain Safety Office), approximately 70% of all products are of Hungarian origin. In comparison, the same figure was almost 80% six years ago. 

According to Sokszínűvidék.24.hu, examining the product ranges of the ten largest grocery chains present in Hungary, the survey has found that, especially in the case of international companies, the share of Hungarian products has decreased; in the case of the most important categories, it is currently around 70%. Those selling fresh goods have managed to retain their positions, but in the case of items where there is a significant added value to speak of, such as different types of cheese and ham, yoghurts and jam, approximately 50% of shelf space is taken up by imported products. These are also the categories where the most considerable decrease has been recorded compared to the data from the previous survey.

Researchers recorded detailed information pertaining to almost 40 000 products, in 16 traditional categories, such as meat and dairy products, eggs and honey, which the Hungarian food industry would be able to produce enough of to provide the entire population of the country with high-quality foodstuffs.

NÉBIH officers also emphasised the advantages of locally produced groceries: they are safe, delicious, fresh, sustainable, and we can be sure where they come from.

The biggest drop in the proportion of home-produced goods was found when examining the shelves of international chains, like Penny Market, Tesco, and Lidl, each of which increased the amount of imported items by over 10% compared with Hungarian products.

If averaging all international store chains figures, there is a decrease of almost 9%, but even local stores sell 6% less Hungarian goods than six years ago. The only store to have demonstrated an increase in this field is Aldi, but even in their case, the difference is minimal, less than 1%.

If we were to rank grocery chains by the proportion of Hungarian products on their shelves, the first three places would be taken by three local stores: Reál (80.65%), Coop (80.17%) and CBA (76.95%), while Lidl would be at the bottom of the list (56.09%), followed by Tesco (66.07%) and Penny Market (67.58%). 

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Read alsoLess and less Hungarian groceries on the shelves of multinational chain stores

Russia wants an apology from U.S. after Biden called Putin a killer, says Kremlin ally

biden speech

Russia wants an apology from the United States after President Joe Biden said he thought Vladimir Putin was a killer and may retaliate against Washington unless it gets one, a senior Russian lawmaker said on Thursday.

In an ABC News interview broadcast a day earlier, Biden said “I do” when asked if he believed the Russian president was a killer.

He also described Putin as having no soul, and promised he would pay a price for alleged Russian meddling in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, something the Kremlin denies.

In a highly unusual move following Biden’s interview, Russia on Wednesday said it was recalling its ambassador to the United States for urgent consultations over the future of U.S.-Russia ties.

Konstantin Kosachyov, deputy chairman of parliament’s upper house, said Biden’s comments were unacceptable, would inevitably inflame already bad ties, and ended any hope in Moscow of a change of U.S. policy under a new U.S. administration.

He said Moscow’s recall of its ambassador was the only reasonable step to take in the circumstances.

“I suspect it will not be the last one if no explanation or apology follows from the American side,” Kosachyov said in a Facebook post.

“This kind of assessment is not allowed from the mouth of a statesman of such a rank. This kind of statement is not acceptable under any circumstances,” he added, calling it a watershed moment in U.S.-Russia ties.

The Kremlin has not yet responded publicly to Biden’s comments, but is likely to do so later on Thursday.

Artur Chilingarov, a pro-Kremlin lawmaker in the lower house of parliament, called for a “tough reaction” from Moscow in comments made to Russia’s Ekho Moskvy radio station.

Russia’s ties with the West, already languishing at post-Cold War lows since 2014, have come under new pressure over Russia’s jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny whose freedom the West has demanded.

Russia has dismissed that as unacceptable interference in its domestic affairs.

The United States has said it is preparing new sanctions against Russia over an alleged hack and the alleged election meddling.

Biden told ABC “You’ll see shortly” when asked what consequences Russia would face for its alleged behaviour.

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Read alsoU.S. report says Russia, not China, tried to influence 2020 election

Hungary aims for closest cooperation possible with UK, says foreign minister

London United Kingdom travel

Hungary aims to maintain the closest possible cooperation with the United Kingdom after Brexit, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in a video on Facebook on Wednesday.

Szijjártó noted that a trade deal signed by the European Union and the UK, which has been observed since January, was expected to enter into force at the beginning of May.

Because of the free trade deal, the non-tariff barriers between the UK and the EU place extra costs and burdens on both British and EU-based businesses, Szijjártó said, adding that Hungary would do everything it could to ensure that Hungarian companies get the most out of the agreement.

The EU and the UK are also aiming to work out a new procedure that will make the new form of cooperation manageable, he said.

Countries that adapt to the new conditions the quickest can gain a competitive advantage, Szijjártó said. Hungary will therefore do all it can to ensure that its companies maintain and improve their positions on UK market, he added.

As part of the government’s national export protection scheme, Hungary’s Eximbank has opened a 590 million euro credit line to help finance Hungarian-British business cooperation. Companies are also expected to have access to 15 billion forints (EUR 40.8m) in EU funding from the bloc’s Brexit Adjustment Reserve, he said.

Concerning other challenges posed by Brexit, Szijjártó noted that

the EU has lost roughly one-eighth of its population and one-seventh of its economic output as a result of the UK’s departure.

The UK is also a member of the United Nations Security Council and the world’s sixth largest economy, he noted.

Brexit, he said, was “especially difficult for Hungary, because Hungary and the UK were allies on a number of political issues”.

The UK is Hungary’s 13th most important trading partner and the 6th largest investor in the country, with 900 British companies employing some 55,000 Hungarians, the minister said.

During the pandemic, five of those companies, rather than reduce their capacities, took advantage of the government’s investment support scheme and invested over a combined 5.5 billion euros in Hungary, Szijjártó said.

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Read alsoBrexit stopped Hungarian university applications

Mastercard, Visa to delay raising card fees until April next year

bank card visa mastercard

Mastercard Inc and Visa Inc on Tuesday postponed plans to raise the fees U.S. merchants pay when customers use cards online until April next year, as businesses continue to struggle during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Mindful that some merchants are still facing unprecedented circumstances…we are delaying our previously announced interchange adjustments in the U.S. until April 2022,” Mastercard said.

Interchange fee is the charge a merchant pays to the card-issuing bank every time a consumer swipes their card. Visa said in an email it would not make any future rate changes in the U.S. for another year while the economy recovers.

Consumers have turned to online modes of payments, using cards to pay for clothes, food, groceries and even leisure spending as they shelter at home during the pandemic.

Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, and U.S. Representative Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont, wrote a letter to Chief Executive Officers of Visa and Mastercard earlier this month, asking them to call off any plans to increase fees as the country was “still reeling from the ongoing pandemic”.

Bloomberg News had earlier in the day reported both Visa Inc and Mastercard had postponed plans to hike card fees until April 2022.

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Read alsoOne of the largest fashion and lifestyle platforms in Europe comes to Hungary

Pfizer wants to make vaccine in India if faster clearance, export freedom assured

Pfizer vaccine

Pfizer Inc has told the Indian government it wants to produce its coronavirus vaccine locally if assured of faster regulatory clearance and freedom on pricing and exports, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The U.S. company pulled an application last month seeking emergency approval for its product in India after the drug regulator declined its request to skip a small local safety trial. That has kept its vaccine, developed with Germany’s BioNTech SE, out of one of the world’s biggest drug markets.

Pfizer was the first company to apply for emergency use authorisation in India, proposing to import doses from its U.S. and European facilities instead of producing locally.

“U.S. companies want to produce vaccines in India under joint ventures,” said one of the sources, citing Pfizer and fellow U.S. drugmaker Moderna Inc.

“They want faster approvals for clinical trials and emergency authorisation use. They fear the government will introduce price control policies.”

Another source confirmed Pfizer was interested in manufacturing in India but Reuters could not find a second confirmation on Moderna.

A spokeswoman for Pfizer in Asia declined to comment. Moderna did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

India’s health ministry directed Reuters to the foreign ministry, which did not immediately respond to emailed queries.

While withdrawing its application in early February, Pfizer said it would again seek emergency use approval to launch its COVID-19 vaccine in India, potentially a market of 1.35 billion people, and would provide more data as it becomes available.

On the government’s demand to manufacture in India, the company earlier told Reuters: “Once the pandemic supply phase is over and we enter a phase of regular supplies, Pfizer will evaluate all additional opportunities available.”

A Indian official told Reuters in January

the government had held discussions with Pfizer and Moderna – both of which have reported more than 90% efficacy for their vaccines – to make the shots in India given its large pharmaceuticals capacity.

The Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, is already bulk-manufacturing the Oxford University/AstraZeneca product and plans to start producing the Novavax Inc shot from next month.

India’s government has not allowed it to sell on the higher-priced private market, however, and is also controlling exports. Pfizer and Moderna, whose shots are more expensive than the AstraZeneca one being used in India’s immunisation campaign, are not comfortable with strict price and export restrictions, one of the sources said.

This week, Reuters reported that leaders of the Quad alliance – Australia, Japan, India and the United States – plan to announce financing agreements to increase India’s vaccine manufacturing capacity at their first meeting on Friday.

The initiative will mainly involve production of the Novavax and Johnson & Johnson shots for supplying to regions including Southeast Asia, where their common rival China is making gains.

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Read alsoOrbán cabinet: Hungary’s vaccination programme among Europe’s most successful

Hungary benefiting significantly from cooperation with Japan, says FM Szijjártó in Tokyo

japan hungary

Hungary is benefiting significantly from its cooperation with Japan, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said after talks with his Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, on Tuesday.

Speaking to public media after the meeting in Japan, Szijjártó, who is the first foreign minister to visit the island country this year, said Hungarian-Japanese cooperation was based on mutual respect and friendship. “This is also true of economic cooperation,” he said. “Japanese businesses have trust in Hungary and the Hungarian people.”

Szijjártó said this trust was reflected in the fact that a total of 23 Japanese companies invested in their bases in Hungary last year with a view to avoiding layoffs.

The combined investments of 25 billion forints (EUR 68m) were supported by 9 billion forints in government grants and saved a total of 15,600 jobs, he said.

Suzuki’s plant in Esztergom, in northern Hungary, will be one of the bases to undergo major developments, Szijjártó said, adding that other auto industry players as well as the food sector were also set to see tens of billions of forints’ worth of investments by Japanese businesses over the coming months.

Meanwhile, the minister also highlighted Hungary and Japan‘s cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, noting that

Hungary has received millions of doses of medicines from Japan.

On another subject, Szijjártó said Hungary will take part in the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, adding that the Hungarian government has decided to open a consulate in the western Japanese city.

“We are really pushing for closer cooperation between the European Union and Japan, and for them to sign an investment protection agreement,”

Szijjártó said. He added that it was “even more important” for the East Asia Free Trade Area, of which Japan is a member, to enter into direct cooperation with the EU as quickly as possible.

AS we wrote today, Minister Szijjártó also met Tamayo Murakawa, Japan’s minister in charge of the Olympics, details HERE.