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Kosovo Serbs, who have been blocking roads for nearly three weeks, will dismantle their barricades, Serbia's president said following calls by Washington and Brussels to de-escalate tensions in the volatile region.

“Are you kidding? It’s going to be a mess in the first days, and I can tell you: We’re already quite apprehensive”. That’s how a saleswoman at a Zagreb bakery described her expectations for Croatia joining the eurozone on 1...

A Turkish appellate court on Wednesday (28 December) upheld the conviction of a leading critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan whose jailing has added to tensions in Ankara's uneasy ties with the West.

In this edition you can browse through all the charts and the accompanying mini-articles that have been used in the Economy Brief this year, from the most recent to the oldest one.

Ukraine's recently liberated southern city of Kherson suffered intense mortar and artillery attacks from Russian forces across the Dnipro river, while the Kremlin rejected a Ukrainian peace plan, demanding that Kyiv accept its annexation of four regions.

US energy giant ExxonMobil filed suit Wednesday (28 December) against the European Union seeking to block its temporary tax on oil firms' windfall profits, a company spokesperson said.

Calls for a de-escalation in tensions between Kosovo and Serbia intensified on Wednesday (28 December), with the EU, US, and NATO's mission in Kosovo, KFOR, all urged dialogue between the two Balkan neighbours.

Kosovo closed its biggest border crossing point with Serbia on Wednesday (28 December) after protestors blocked it on the Serbian side, adding more tensions to the difficult situation between the two Balkan neighbours, which observers have called the most dramatic in years.

Croatia's second-largest fuel retailer, Petrol on Wednesday (28 December) said it would close its stations in the country for one hour to protest over the government's fuel price cap, which it said was causing it great damage.

As winter draws in and snow settles on the peaks and hills of Kosovo, the permeating odour from burning firewood and pellets becomes an inescapable part of reality. But the problem goes far beyond washing that reeks of smoke, as the fumes cause health problems for citizens and using more wood drives deforestation.

In making plans for aggression against Ukraine, Russia probably made calculations, but it is unclear what calculations Belgrade made so it continues to act vis-à-vis Russia as an ally, Orhan Dragaš writes.

Legislators aim to sign off on a new law to boost energy efficiency next year, despite slow progress in talks between the European Parliament and the 27 EU countries.

According to a leaked ministerial decree, French unemployment reform due on 1 February will see the time an unemployed person can receive benefits fall by up to 40%, infuriating trade unions.

Russian forces fired 33 rockets at civilian targets in the Ukrainian city of Kherson in the 24 hours to early Wednesday (28 December), Ukraine's military said, as fighting intensified with Russia deploying more tanks and armoured vehicles on front lines.

Chinese hospitals were under intense pressure as a surge of COVID-19 infections strained medical resources, while the scale of the outbreak and doubts over official data prompted some countries to consider new travel rules on Chinese visitors.

Azerbaijan said on 27 December protests which have blocked the supply route to ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh for more than two weeks would be suspended if monitors were given access to what it calls illegal mining sites in the enclave.

Russia on Tuesday (27 December) banned oil sales to countries and companies that comply with a price cap agreed by Western nations, briefly helping to lift crude prices.

Russian forces shelled and bombed towns and cities in eastern and southern Ukraine on Tuesday (27 November), a day after Russia's foreign minister said Kyiv must accept Moscow's demands for ending the war or else suffer defeat on the battlefield.

Ethnic Serbs in Kosovo erected new barricades in North Mitrovica and Zvecan on Tuesday (27 December), just hours after Belgrade said it has put its army is on the highest combat alert.

Kazakhstan values the constructive feedback it receives from its European partners when it comes to the country’s political development at a time of major geopolitical challenges, writes Mukhtar Tileuberdi.