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Turkey has another new central bank leader

Turkey has seen its fifth central bank leader depart in as many years as Hafize Gaye Erkan, the first woman in the top role, stepped down after just eight months in the job.

She announced her resignation late Friday after recent claims of nepotism emerged in local media, allegations that Erkan, a former senior Goldman Sachs executive, strongly rejected.

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Armed forces retirees block roads as they protest low salaries

Armed forces retirees protested Tuesday their low salaries and blocked the Karantina road with burning tires.

"Our demand is to live in dignity," a protester said.

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Local transport in Germany hit by walkouts in dispute over working conditions

Local buses, trams and subway trains were canceled in much of Germany on Friday as transport employees walked off the job in the country's third transport-related strike in two weeks.

The Ver.di service workers' union called for a "warning strike," a common tactic in German contract negotiations, on Monday. Its deputy chair, Christine Behle, said that "the time has now come to exert more pressure on employers" as talks on new pay contracts for about 90,000 people employed by over 130 local transport operators have failed to make progress.

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China pledges more help for ailing property market, as IMF forecasts slow economy

Markets in China sank Friday despite a fresh flurry of measures to help prop up the ailing property sector, as the International Monetary Fund forecast that the Chinese economy will continue to slow in coming years.

The report by the IMF forecast that the economy would expand at a 4.6% annual pace this year, down from 5.2% in 2023. It put growth in 2028 at 3.4%. It noted that housing starts had fallen more than 60% from pre-pandemic levels after a crackdown on excessive borrowing that began in 2020.

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French farmers lift road blockades after PM offers support plan

French farmers were gradually lifting their roadblocks around Paris and elsewhere in the country on Friday, a day after the French government offered over 400 million euros ($436 million) in various measures meant to answer their grievances over low earnings, heavy regulation and unfair competition from abroad.

On major highways around the French capital, protesters took down tents, cleaned up the road and set fire to straw bales that they were using as barricades. Convoys of tractors were leaving the sites in a peaceful and orderly manner amid a large police deployment meant to ensure the security of operations.

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Farmers block key roads between Belgium and Netherlands in latest sign of anger

Farmers parked their tractors across key road crossings on the border between Belgium and the Netherlands on Friday in their latest protest against excessive red tape and competition from cheap imports.

The roadblocks, mainly by Belgian farmers with support of some Dutch colleagues, choked highways that are vital transport routes for freight from the major European ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam. They were set up after a day of chaos Thursday in Brussels, where angry farmers torched hay bales and threw eggs and firecrackers at police near a summit of European Union leaders.

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Why EU officials are taking angry farmers so seriously

The writing of angry farmers was on the Paris-to-Brussels highway in giant yellow letters visible from up high: "Ursula, We are here!"

It was chalked onto the road with an equal measure of defiance and desperation, warning European Commission Ursula von der Leyen not to ignore farmers' concerns for better prices and less bureaucracy.

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Bank of England keeps interest rates on hold, fails to signal imminent cuts

The Bank of England has kept its main interest rate at a near 16-year high as inflation remains too high for comfort, and like the U.S. Federal Reserve a day earlier, it gave no signal that it is getting close to cutting borrowing costs anytime soon.

In a statement Thursday, the central bank said it had maintained its key rate at 5.25%, where it has been since August last year. The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee was split, with two voting for a quarter-point increase and one voting for a quarter-point cut.

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Angry farmers on tractors complain at EU summit about costs, bureaucracy

Convoys with hundreds of angry farmers driving heavy-duty tractors created chaos outside the European Union's headquarters on Thursday, demanding leaders at an EU summit provide relief from rising prices and bureaucracy.

Farmers pelted police in the Belgian capital with firecrackers, eggs and beer bottles through thick smoke from burning bales of hay, and security forces used water cannons to douse fires and keep a farmer from felling a tree on the steps of the European Parliament.

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Inflation in Europe edges down again, will Houthi attacks spoil the relief?

Inflation in Europe edged lower in January to 2.8%, keeping alive speculation about quick interest rate cuts that would lower borrowing costs for businesses and consumers — and help boost the stagnating economy.

The annual figure released Thursday by the European Union statistics agency Eurostat compares with 2.9% in December and matched what was expected by market analysts.

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