An estimated 4.4 million people face crisis-level food insecurity, with nearly one million of them experiencing severe hunger, due to the impact of failed rainy seasons, conflict and declining humanitarian funding

International News via Reuters:

The U.N. World Food Programme said on Friday its life-saving food and nutrition assistance in Somalia could grind to a halt by April unless new funding is secured, putting millions of people at risk of worsening hunger.

An estimated 4.4 million people face crisis-level food insecurity, with nearly one million of them experiencing severe hunger, due to the impact of failed rainy seasons, conflict and declining humanitarian funding, the WFP said.

“The situation is deteriorating at an alarming rate,” Ross Smith, WFP director of emergency preparedness and response, said in a statement.

“Families have lost everything, and many are already being pushed to the brink. Without immediate emergency food support, conditions will worsen quickly,” Smith said.

Somalia declared a national drought emergency in November after recurrent seasons of poor rainfall, and other countries in the region have also been hit.

The WFP, the largest humanitarian agency in Somalia, said it has already scaled back assistance from 2.2 million people earlier this year to just over 600,000 due to funding shortages. Nutrition programmes for pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children have also been sharply reduced.

The agency said it faces a critical moment similar to a crisis in 2022, when famine was narrowly averted following large-scale international support. It is seeking $95 million to sustain operations between March and August.

“If our already reduced assistance ends, the humanitarian, security, and economic consequences will be devastating, with the effects felt far beyond Somalia’s borders,” Smith said.

Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevinand Kirsti Knolle;Editing by Linda Pasquini and Helen Popper

Lagarde’s status as leader of Europe’s most important financial institution was plunged into doubt this week after the Financial Times reported she planned to leave her job ahead of next spring’s French presidential election

International News via Reuters:

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has attempted to calm speculation about her stepping down early that has called into question the central bank’s separation from politics, telling the Wall Street Journal she expects to complete her term.

Lagarde’s status as leader of Europe’s most important financial institution was plunged into doubt this week after the Financial Times reported she planned to leave her job ahead of next spring’s French presidential election, giving outgoing leader Emmanuel Macron a say in picking her successor.

In an interview with the WSJ on Thursday, Lagarde dampened speculation about an imminent exit but still left the door slightly ajar to the possibility that she might leave before the end of her contract in October 2027.

“When I look back at all these years, I think that we have accomplished a lot, that I have accomplished a lot,” she told the paper. “We need to consolidate and make sure that this is really solid and reliable. So my baseline is that it will take until the end of my term.”

CENTRAL BANKS EMBROILED IN “HIGH POLITICS”

Reuters exclusively reported that Lagarde had sent a private message to fellow policymakers reassuring them that she was still concentrating on her job and that they would hear it from her, rather than the press, if she wanted to step down.

The ECB has said that Lagarde has not made a decision about the end of her term, but stopped short of denying the FT report.

Some analysts thought an early exit risked tangling the ECB up in European politics as it could give the impression of trying to make sure France’s eurosceptic far right, which could win next year’s presidential vote, had no say in her succession.

Lagarde said last year she intended to complete her term, a commitment she has conspicuously failed to repeat this week.

Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau announced plans to step down from his job last week, in a move that gives President Macron a chance to pick the next French central bank chief, drawing sharp criticism from the far-right who called the move anti-democratic.

Villeroy’s early departure and the confusion about Lagarde’s future come just as U.S. President Donald Trump is attacking the Federal Reserve, further stoking debates about central bank independence from politics.

“After the recent events in the U.S., this is another reminder that although central banks are nominally independent, who leads them and their worldview is a matter for high politics,” economists at Oxford Economics wrote on Friday.

As the head of the euro zone’s second largest economy, the French president plays an important role in wider negotiations to select the head of the ECB.

Polls show either far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, or her protege Jordan Bardella, could win the French presidency.

While the party has long dropped a call for France to leave the euro, it is still seen as something of an unknown quantity in central banking circles.

Lagarde told the WSJ that she viewed her mission as price and financial stability, as well as “protecting the euro, making sure that it is solid and strong and fit for the future of Europe.”  

She also said that the World Economic Forum was “one of the many options” she was considering once she left the central bank. 

When Lagarde’s name first emerged as a possible candidate for ECB president in 2019, she said she had no interest in the job and would not leave the International Monetary Fund, where she was the managing director.

Reporting by Abu Sultan in Bengaluru and Francesco Canepa in Frankfurt; Editing by Kim Coghill, Kate Mayberry and Toby Chopra

Air Liquide, which supplies gases including oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen to factories and hospitals, confirmed its 2026 target of a 100-basis-point increase in operating profit margin

International News via Reuters:

French industrial gases group Air Liquide said on Friday it sees a gradual improvement in Europe and said U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to cancel billions in federal clean‑energy funding will not affect its mid‑term activity.

“There are probably a few more reasons to be optimistic than a year ago, because we’re seeing some early stirrings in certain industries,” CEO François Jackow told reporters.

Air Liquide, which supplies gases including oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen to factories and hospitals, confirmed its 2026 target of a 100-basis-point increase in operating profit margin and said it expects a similar rise in 2027, bringing the cumulative improvement to 560 basis points over 2022–2027 after previously providing targets only through 2026.

Industrial gases continue to look relatively resilient compared with the broader European chemicals sector, as the European Union’s chemical competitiveness remains under pressure from weak demand and high energy costs.

“There is no impact on our medium-term activity, but overall these projects are on pause, with a few exceptions we’re still working on,” CEO François Jackow said on the U.S. clean-energy grant cancellations.

Air Liquide reported slightly higher than expected recurring operating income of 5.58 billion euros ($6.56 billion) for 2025, while analysts polled by Vara Research were expecting 5.56 billion euros on average. That translated to an operating margin of 20.7%.

Shares in the company rose 3.5% by 1101 GMT, as J.P. Morgan analysts called the update reassuring and Jefferies highlighted a higher than expected annual dividend.

Rival Linde’s annual results still reflected soft volumes in the EMEA region, underscoring the European weakness.

Air Liquide said it would propose a dividend of 3.70 euros per share, up 12.1% from a year ago.

($1 = 0.8508 euros)

Reporting by Olivier Cherfan, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak and Matt Scuffham

The HCOB Flash Eurozone Composite PMI, compiled by S&P Global and released on Friday, rose to 51.9 in February from 51.3 in January

International News via Reuters:

Euro zone business activity accelerated faster than forecast this month as manufacturing swung back to growth for the first time since October, though the dominant services sector marginally underperformed expectations, a survey showed.

The HCOB Flash Eurozone Composite PMI, compiled by S&P Global and released on Friday, rose to 51.9 in February from 51.3 in January, marking the 14th consecutive month of expansion and exceeding expectations in a Reuters poll of a more modest rise to 51.5.

PMI readings above 50.0 indicate growth in activity with those below reflecting contraction.

The headline manufacturing PMI jumped to 50.8 from 49.5 while the output index, which feeds into the composite reading, bounced to a six-month high of 52.1 from 50.5.

February’s rebound was driven by a resurgence in demand with the factory new orders index climbing to 50.9 from 49.2.

GERMANY LEADS EURO ZONE GROWTH, UK REBOUNDING

In Germany, Europe’s largest economy, business activity hit a four-month high, although in France the private sector showed little sign of growth amid weak demand, their PMIs showed.

“February’s flash PMIs support the view that activity in the euro zone economy is growing at a reasonable pace, led by a pick-up in Germany,” said Andrew Kenningham at Capital Economics.

“While the relationship between the Composite PMI and GDP growth in the euro zone has been weak over the past three years, this suggests at face value that the economy is continuing to expand at a moderate pace,” he added.

Services activity in the common currency area showed a modest improvement with the PMI nudging up to 51.8 from 51.6. The Reuters poll had predicted a slightly bigger uptick to 51.9.

Overall pricing pressures nudged up. But firms increased charges at a more modest pace, giving scant reason to revise expectations that the European Central Bank will hold interest rates steady for at least the rest of this year.

Meanwhile, Britain, outside the euro zone and the European Union, saw businesses extend their early 2026 rebound into a second month, its PMI showed.

British retail sales volumes rose in January at the fastest annual pace in nearly four years, according to official data, suggesting consumers are now happier to spend after a weak end to 2025 for the economy.

Reporting by Jonathan Cable; Editing by Joe Bavier

The war in Ukraine has shown how autonomous interceptor drones can provide an effective alternative to costly air-defence missiles, and Kyiv’s European allies are keen to learn from its experience

International News via Reuters:

Europe’s five biggest defence powers are set to announce a plan to invest in military drones, as part of wider efforts to boost the defence industry in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and concerns about the U.S. commitment to NATO.

According to a document seen by Reuters, and a Polish defence ministry source, the five aim to cooperate in developing autonomous drones.

The war in Ukraine has shown how autonomous interceptor drones can provide an effective alternative to costly air-defence missiles, and Kyiv’s European allies are keen to learn from its experience.

The European Group of Five Defence Ministers, which meets in Krakow, Poland on Friday, brings together the continent’s biggest military spenders – France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Britain.

They are meeting as European leaders work to boost defence capabilities amid increased European doubts about Washington’s commitment to protect the continent through the NATO alliance.

The statement seen by Reuters – still subject to change – said ministers “support a real increase in the production capacity of the European defence industrial base” and “welcome the EU’s commitment to providing Member states with increased fiscal flexibility for defence spending and to create lending instruments”.

However, it says that the EU’s role is to support defence capabilities which remain at the national level.

The ministers also pledge to work together within NATO and the EU to counter Russian hybrid threats, and to continue supporting Ukraine and efforts to find peace, the statement said.

“We agree to launch the Low-Cost Effectors and Autonomous Platforms (LEAP) initiative,” the statement seen by Reuters said. It said the aim was “to increase our cooperation on the development and procurement of low-cost effectors and autonomous platforms to deliver military effect.”

In military terminology, “effectors” are the components of a system which produce a physical effect, while “autonomous platforms” are unmanned systems capable of independent decision-making.

Reporting by Barbara Erling in Krakow and Lili Bayer in Brussels: Writing by Alan Charlish; Editing by David Holmes