The mood among business leaders in Europe’s largest economy has improved from its lowest level in nearly six years, but the slight increase was not enough to spur the uncorking of champagne bottles.

Germany’s Ifo economics institute said Friday that its May survey of domestic companies produced a rise in its headline business climate index to 84.9 points versus the market estimate of 84.2 and an upwardly revised 84.5 reading last month, which was the lowest since May 2020.

“The German economy is stabilising for the time being, although the situation remains fragile,” the thinktank warned.

(Continue Reading – LS)

The final draft of a possible agreement between the United States and Iran, mediated by Pakistan, is expected to be announced within hours, Al Arabiya sources said on Friday.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Thursday there had been “some good signs” in the talks, but there could be no solution if Tehran enforced a tolling system in the strait, which it effectively closed to most shipping after the war began on February 28.

“There’s some good signs,” Rubio said. “I don’t want to be overly optimistic ... So, let’s see what happens over the next few days.”

(Continue Reading- Al Arabiya)

When Donald Trump warned Iran on April 7 that “a whole civilization will die tonight,” a European diplomat in Washington said his government wanted an urgent answer to a chilling question: Was the U.S. president contemplating the use of a nuclear weapon?

Across Europe and Asia, the concern went beyond whether Trump’s apocalyptic threat was real or bluster. One fear, the diplomat said, was that Russia could seize the moment to justify similar threats in Ukraine, triggering a nuclear crisis on two continents.

European governments immediately sought reassurance through a traditional channel: the U.S. State Department. But according to the diplomat, officials there gave an unsettling response: They didn’t know what Trump meant or what actions his words might portend.

(Continue Reading – RTRS)