Author: Leto Kormiade

Emmanuel Macron’s pledge comes as hundreds of business leaders attended the Choose France event on Monday. Building factories to boost job creation and make France more independent — that’s President Emmanuel Macron’s ambition for the French economy. It’s a big challenge, with France reeling from protracted protests over controversial pension reforms and rising food and energy prices amid the Ukraine war. More than 200 international business leaders gathered on Monday at the Choose France event staged at the Palace of Versailles to promote foreign investment.  Eminent business leaders taking part ranged from The Walt Disney Company’s Robert Iger to Lakshmi…

MILAN – Greek state company Hellenic Defense Systems is gearing up for the local production of long-range loitering munitions by partnering with South Africa’s Paramount Group, a move aimed at strengthening the country’s indigenous manufacturing capabilities. Dubbed IRIX, the system will be the first of its kind to be produced in Greece, which historically has not had a noteworthy domestic market for armed drones or loitering munitions. The country only announced its first locally built combat drone in January. The Greek vendor, which goes by the acronym EAS, announced the signing of a strategic partnership with global aerospace firm Paramount for the…

The Nord Stream 1 pipeline was a Russian infiltration project, but this was ignored by the Dutch government, according to former Dutch diplomat Kees Klompenhouwer in an interview published on Friday. Klompenhouwer was head of foreign intelligence for the Dutch secret service (AIVD) between 2002 and 2006. He also acted as Dutch ambassador to Ukraine from 2013 until 2017. “[Nord Stream 1] was absolutely a Russian infiltration project,” Klompenhouwer told NRC in the interview published Friday. “It fits completely into Putin’s modus operandi”, he added. “The Russians lure their partners with short-term benefits, their dependence on Russia grows, they are tied to…

The EU’s embattled top transport official, Henrik Hololei, is facing calls from his own colleagues to step aside pending an inquiry into his decision to accept free flights to Qatar while his team struck a major deal with the Gulf state. The European Commission is investigating whether Hololei broke the rules by accepting the tickets and clearing himself of any conflict of interest. The EU executive has so far stopped short of sanctioning Hololei over the free Qatar Airways flights, which were first revealed by POLITICO. But three Commission officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive staff matter, said…

Russian tech giant VK has effectively banned employees from working abroad permanently, state news agencies reported Wednesday, citing a company letter to workers. VK, which employs more than 10,000 people, owns the popular Mail.ru email and news services as well as the VKontakte and Odnoklassniki social networks, among others. Its letter to employees comes as Russian officials weigh tactics for luring back the tens of thousands of skilled IT workers who fled the country last year over the invasion of Ukraine. VK workers must work from Russia in order to “be in the same context with users and understand their…