The European Steel Using Industries said the measures “go too far in ring-fencing the European market”.

International News via Reuters:

Safeguards proposed by the European Union to protect EU steel mills from the impact of imports would lead to crippling price hikes for European manufacturers, a lobby group representing European steel-using industries said on Tuesday.

The European Steel Using Industries, a group of lobbies representing manufacturers of goods from cars and home appliances to agricultural machinery, said the measures “go too far in ring-fencing the European market”.

“We urge EU policymakers to ensure a more careful and balanced approach in the legislative process to adopt the measure, which must… adequately reflect the significant concerns and challenges faced by European steel users,” it said.

The European Commission has proposed cutting tariff-free steel import quotas by almost half and a 50% duty for excess shipments in a bid to preserve viable steelmaking in the EU.

The European manufacturers using steel said protection for local mills could cost them between 5 billion euros ($5.86 billion) and 9 billion euros in extra tariff costs each year.

The Commission estimates a 3.25% price increase on steel on average, but steel buyers said they estimate prices could rise up to 30%, which they said would hurt their competitiveness in their respective international markets.

Due to rising imports and U.S. tariffs, EU steel producers were operating at only 67% of capacity, and the new measures are designed to push that towards 80%.

The Commission proposed a tariff-free import volume of 18.3 metric tons a year, down 47% from 2024 quotas, and a doubling of the out-of-quota duty to 50%.

The EU Commission and the countries with the largest steel industries fear the tariff-free imports would harm domestic producers.

Car manufacturers and countries selling steel in the EU such as Britain criticized the measure back in October.

($1 = 0.8529 euros)

Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by Jan Harvey

The product recall, which began on a smaller scale in December, is another challenge for new Nestle CEO Philipp Navratil, who is trying to kickstart growth with a portfolio review after a period of management turmoil

International News via Reuters:

Nestle said on Tuesday it is recalling some batches of its key infant nutrition products, including SMA, BEBA and NAN infant and follow-on formulas, across Europe due to potential contamination with a toxin that could cause nausea and vomiting.

The product recall, which began on a smaller scale in December, is another challenge for new Nestle CEO Philipp Navratil, who is trying to kickstart growth with a portfolio review after a period of management turmoil.

The company, which makes products ranging from KitKat to Nescafe, said late on Monday that no illnesses or symptoms have been confirmed that were tied to any of the recalled products.

After a quality issue was detected in an ingredient from a leading supplier, “Nestle has undertaken testing of all arachidonic acid oil and corresponding oil mixes used in the production of its potentially impacted infant nutrition products,” a Nestle spokesperson said.

LARGEST RECALL IN NESTLE HISTORY, SAYS AUSTRIAN MINISTRY

Nestle holds almost a quarter of the world’s $92.2 billion infant nutrition market, according to analysis firm SkyQuest Technology Group.

The company does not publish specific sales data, but infant formula is part of the company’s Nutrition and Health Science division, which made up 16.6% of the Swiss company’s total sales of 91.4 billion Swiss francs ($115.35 billion) in 2024. 

Nestle recalled batches of its SMA, BEBA and NAN products in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Switzerland and Britain, warning of the possible presence of cereulide, a toxin produced by some strains of the Bacillus cereus bacterium.

The toxin “is unlikely to be deactivated or destroyed by cooking, using boiling water or when making the infant milk,” said Britain’s Food Standards Agency. “If consumed it can lead to rapid onset of symptoms,” which include nausea, vomiting or abdominal cramps.

Norway’s food safety agency said there was no acute health risk. 

RECALL AFFECTS OVER 800 NESTLE PRODUCTS, SAYS MINISTRY

Austria’s health ministry said the recall affected more than 800 products from more than 10 Nestle factories and that it was the largest product recall in the company’s history.

A Nestle spokesperson could not verify those figures.

Nestle published batch numbers for products sold in various countries that should not be consumed and said it was working to minimise any potential supply disruption. 

It said it had identified the potential risk at one of its factories in the Netherlands. 

($1 = 0.7924 Swiss francs)

Reporting by Alexander Marrow and Oliver Hirt in Zurich; Editing by Alexander Smith and Bernadette Baum

Leo said at a Vatican ceremony that the record 33.5 million pilgrims who visited Rome during the Holy Year should have learned not to treat humans as mere “products”

International News via Reuters:

Pope Leo closed the Catholic Church’s Holy Year on Tuesday by sealing shut the special “Holy Door” in St. Peter’s Basilica and urging Christians worldwide to help those in need and treat foreigners with kindness.

Leo, who has made care for immigrants a central theme of his early papacy, said at a Vatican ceremony that the record 33.5 million pilgrims who visited Rome during the Holy Year should have learned not to treat humans as mere “products”.

“Around us, a distorted economy tries to profit from everything,” said the pope. “After this year, will we be better able to recognise a pilgrim in the visitor, a seeker in the stranger, a neighbour in the foreigner?”

Holy years, or jubilees, typically occur every 25 years and are considered a time of peace, forgiveness and pardon. Pilgrims to Rome can enter special “Holy Doors” at four Rome basilicas, and can attend papal audiences throughout the year.

At 9:41 a.m. (0841 GMT) on Tuesday, Leo, dressed in gold-trimmed robes, pulled shut the special bronze door at St. Peter’s, officially ending the year.

The next jubilee is not expected before 2033, when the Church may have a special one to mark 2,000 years since the death of Jesus.

Vatican and Italian officials said on Monday that pilgrims to Rome for the 2025 jubilee came from 185 countries, with Italy, the United States, Spain, Brazil and Poland leading the pack.

The 2025 jubilee was marked by an historical rarity not seen for 300 years. It was opened by one pope, Francis, and closed by his successor, Leo.

Francis died in April after 12 years leading the 1.4-billion-member Church. The last jubilee held under two popes was in the year 1700, when Clement XI closed a holy year opened by Innocent XII.

Leo, who has pledged to keep Francis’ signature policies such as welcoming gay Catholics and discussing women’s ordination, echoed the late pope’s frequent criticisms of the global economic system on Tuesday.

Leo, the first U.S. pope, lamented that the markets “turn human yearnings of seeking, travelling and beginning again into a mere business.”

Reporting by Joshua McElweeEditing by Ros Russell

Wirecard collapsed in 2020 in Germany’s biggest post-war fraud scandal after conceding that 1.9 billion euros ($2.23 billion) it had booked in its accounts had never existed

International News via Reuters:

A Singapore court sentenced two businessmen to lengthy jail terms on Tuesday for falsifying documents that tricked auditors into believing payments firm Wirecard had hundreds of millions of euros in bank accounts, local media reported.

Wirecard collapsed in 2020 in Germany’s biggest post-war fraud scandal after conceding that 1.9 billion euros ($2.23 billion) it had booked in its accounts had never existed.  

Singaporean R Shanmugaratnam, 59, and Briton James Henry O’Sullivan, 51, were given jail terms of 10 years and six-and-a-half years’ respectively, local news outlet CNA reported. 

The court did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation of the decision.  

Shanmugaratnam and O’Sullivan had taken instructions from senior Wirecard executives then issued false confirmation letters, intentionally misrepresenting to auditors that the fintech startup had hundreds of millions in euros held in escrow bank accounts of Singapore accounting form Citadelle, reported CNA.

In September, Citadelle’s director Shanmugaratnam was convicted of 13 charges for falsifying 13 balance confirmation letters between 2016 and 2018, while O’Sullivan, who had used Citadelle’s services to set up Singapore companies, was found guilty of five charges of abetting Shanmugaratnam, according to CNA.

Both men would appeal the sentences and convictions, it said. 

($1 = 0.8536 euros)

Reporting by Xinghui Kok; Editing by Martin Petty