The common currency bloc started the year on a weaker note but sentiment has improved since Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump backed down on additional tariffs he had threatened to impose

International News via Reuters:

Euro zone business activity growth held steady this month as a weaker expansion in the dominant services industry offset milder factory contraction, according to a survey, while price pressures picked up.

The common currency bloc started the year on a weaker note but sentiment has improved since Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump backed down on additional tariffs he had threatened to impose on eight European countries as leverage to seize Greenland.

The HCOB Flash Eurozone Composite PMI, compiled by S&P Global, held at 51.5 this month but fell short of a Reuters poll forecast for 51.8. It remained above the 50.0 level that separates growth from contraction for a 13th straight month.

“Overall, these are decent data, supporting the view of a relatively resilient euro zone economy in the face of multiple shocks and ongoing policy uncertainty,” said Claus Vistesen, chief euro zone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. “That said, the bar to meet official and consensus forecasts is now higher.”

PRICE PRESSURES BACK ON RADAR

New orders rose at the weakest rate since September and new export business contracted at the quickest pace in four months, suggesting demand remained weak across the board. Firms shed jobs for the first time since September.

The services PMI slowed to a four-month low of 51.9 from 52.4 in December, lower than the Reuters poll prediction of 52.6. 

Manufacturing activity contracted again but at a slower pace.

An index measuring output, which feeds into the composite PMI, barely returned to expansion territory but new orders contracted for a third straight month. 

PMIs showed mixed activity across the bloc. In Germany, business activity grew at its fastest pace in three months in January but employment fell at the quickest rate since November 2009.

However, activity in France unexpectedly contracted in January, after two months of meagre growth.

In Britain, a separate PMI showed businesses reported the fastest growth since April 2024. But inflation and joblessness increased, too. 

Overall price pressures intensified with input costs rising at the fastest rate since February and output charges increasing at the quickest pace in nearly two years, reinforcing expectations the European Central Bank will keep rates steady.

“Even though inflation has remained remarkably benign in recent months despite all the economic turmoil, the PMI does indicate increasing price pressures again,” said Bert Colijn at ING. “That being said, the moves are not nearly enough to sway the ECB from its expectations to hold rates for the foreseeable future.”

Still, optimism about future activity rose to its highest since May 2024.

Reporting by Indradip Ghosh; Editing by Toby Chopra

Unilever, which acquired the quirky, socially conscious Ben & Jerry’s in 2000, spun off its ice cream unit into Magnum in December and retains a 19.9% stake

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Ben & Jerry’s years‑long struggle to defend its progressive mission from parent‑company pressure escalated this week, as The Magnum Ice Cream Company accused the brand’s former board chair of misconduct and said its once eight‑member board had been reduced to just two directors.

Unilever, which acquired the quirky, socially conscious Ben & Jerry’s in 2000, spun off its ice cream unit into Magnum in December and retains a 19.9% stake.

Since 2024, Vermont-based Ben & Jerry’s and its independent board have fought Unilever, and now Magnum, in U.S. District Court in New York against what they said were efforts to undermine the brand’s social mission and the board’s autonomy.

In a filing dated January 20 in that U.S. District Court case in New York, Magnum said that Ben & Jerry’s CEO and a Unilever appointee were now the only members on its board.

After Magnum deemed her unfit to serve, Ben & Jerry’s Board Chair Anuradha Mittal was ousted in mid-December, and two long-serving directors left as Magnum introduced nine-year term limits.

In its new filing, Magnum said Mittal “had engaged in serious misconduct that rendered her ineligible to serve on the board” and that an Ernst & Young audit of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, a separate U.S. non-profit funded by the brand, led to concerns of conflicts of interest. 

Magnum said none of the three remaining independent directors had agreed to undergo compliance training, meaning they had left the board as of January 1. 

Mittal has accused Magnum and Unilever of trying to discredit her and undermine the board’s authority. 

“Magnum’s midnight purge of independent directors who provide oversight authority and holding hostage charitable funds— all while they continue to conceal the audit report and scope of work — speak for themselves,” Mittal said in a statement on Thursday. 

Magnum described the protracted litigation as “regrettable” and said it remained committed to supporting the Ben & Jerry’s team. 

“We look forward to the development of a refreshed Board with a majority of Independent Directors, led by an Independent Director,” Magnum said in a statement. 

Magnum said the foundation had regularly made grants to organisations where trustees including Mittal held senior positions and received compensation or other benefits. 

The foundation said it had “become collateral damage” in the battle.

The relationship between Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company began unravelling in 2021 when it said it would stop selling in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Reporting by Alexander Marrow in London and Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

The European Parliament this week decided to suspend work on the trade deal because of Trump’s new tariff threats

International News via Reuters:

The European Union will likely resume work on a trade deal with the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump took back a tariff threat over his attempt to acquire Greenland, the European Parliament’s president said on Thursday.

“We are happy to see that the escalation is off the table for now,” President Roberta Metsola said.

“This means that we can continue at this stage our discussions internally on the EU-U.S. trade deal, which had been paused pending the impending tariff threat.”

The European Parliament this week decided to suspend work on the trade deal because of Trump’s new tariff threats.

The EU assembly has been debating legislative proposals to remove many EU import duties on U.S. goods, a key part of the agreement struck in Turnberry, Scotland, at the end of July, as well as to continue zero duties for U.S. lobsters, initially agreed with Trump in 2020. The proposals require approval by the parliament and EU governments. 

Many lawmakers have complained that the trade deal is lopsided, with the EU required to cut most import duties while the U.S. sticks to a broad rate of 15%. However, they had previously appeared willing to accept it, albeit with conditions, such as an 18-month sunset clause and measures to respond to possible surges of U.S. imports.

The trade committee of the European Parliament had been due to set its position in votes on January 26-27.

Metsola said lawmakers were optimistic that discussions could resume soon to get the process back on track.

Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Lisa Shumaker

Iraq, which has begun taking in detainees transferred from prisons in Syria as the Kurds retreat, said it would begin prosecuting them through its criminal justice system, and called on other countries to help take them in

International News via Reuters:

The United Nations said on Thursday it was taking management responsibility for vast camps in Syria housing tens of thousands of women and children associated with Islamic State, after the rapid collapse of Kurdish-led forces who guarded them for years.

Iraq, which has begun taking in detainees transferred from prisons in Syria as the Kurds retreat, said it would begin prosecuting them through its criminal justice system, and called on other countries to help take them in.

More than 10,000 members of Islamic State, and tens of thousands of women and children associated with them, have been held for years in about a dozen prisons and detention camps guarded by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria’s northeast.

The SDF has rapidly retreated this week after clashes with Syrian government forces, raising concern about security at prisons and humanitarian conditions at the camps.

The United Nations said the SDF withdrew on Tuesday from al-Hol, which along with another camp, Roj, houses 28,000 civilians, mainly women and children who fled Islamic State’s strongholds as the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate collapsed. They include Syrians, Iraqis and 8,500 nationals of other countries.

Syrian government forces had established a security perimeter around the camp and teams from the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR and the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF reached the camp on Wednesday, officials said.

“UNHCR – which has taken over camp management responsibilities – is actively coordinating with the Syrian government to urgently resume the safe delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance,” senior U.N. aid official Edem Wosornu told the U.N. Security Council.

U.N. officials had not yet been able to enter because “the situation in the camp remains rather tense and volatile with reports of looting and burning,” U.N. Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters. He said the Syrian government had expressed a willingness to provide security and support for UNHCR and aid groups.

DETAINEES SENT TO IRAQ

The U.S. military said on Tuesday its forces had transferred 150 detainees from Syria to Iraq at the start of an operation that could eventually see up to 7,000 detainees moved out of Syria.

A U.S. official told Reuters on Tuesday that about 200 low-level IS fighters escaped from Syria’s Shaddadi prison, although Syrian government forces had recaptured many of them.

Iraq’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Mohammed Sahib Mejid Marzooq told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that Iraq was accepting detainees to protect regional and international security, but that other countries should be prepared to help.

“This issue should not be left to become a long-term strategic burden on Iraq alone. The insistence of some states on considering their terrorist nationals a threat to their national security and the refusal to repatriate them is unacceptable,” he said. 

Islamic State emerged in Iraq and Syria, and at the height of its power from 2014-2017 held swathes of the two countries, ruling over millions of people. Its “caliphate” eventually collapsed after military campaigns by regional governments and a U.S.-led coalition.

An Iraqi military spokesperson confirmed that Iraq had received a first batch of 150 IS detainees, including Iraqis and foreigners, and said the number of future transfers would depend on security and field assessments. The spokesperson described the detainees as senior figures within the group.

RELATIVES OF SOME DETAINEES WORRIED ABOUT THEIR FATE

Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said Iraqi courts would take “due legal measures” against detainees once they are handed over and placed in specialised correctional facilities.

“All suspects, regardless of their nationalities or positions within the terrorist organisation, are subject exclusively to the authority of the Iraqi judiciary,” the statement said.

Iraqi officials say IS detainees will be separated, with senior figures including foreign nationals to be held at a high‑security detention facility near Baghdad airport previously used by U.S. forces.

The transfers have raised concern among some relatives of IS detainees in Europe. A European woman whose relative joined the group and was detained in Syria said her family was alarmed by reports that prisoners were being moved to Iraq, noting that Iraq has the death penalty.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, she said the family initially hoped changes in control in Syria might bring information on her relative’s fate.

“At least we thought we might finally learn where he is, whether he is alive or sick,” she said. “But when we saw that the prisoners were being taken to Iraq, that frightened us.”

Two Iraqi legal sources said the IS detainees sent from Syria include a mix of nationalities, with Iraqis making up the largest group, alongside Arab fighters from other countries and nationals of Britain, Belgium, France, Germany and Sweden.

Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad and Maya Gebeily in Beirut and Michelle Nichols at the United NationsEditing by Peter Graff