Western Europe

France raises purchase taxes on heavier, higher-emitting cars

WORLD & POLITICS FRANCE

France will tighten its vehicle weight and CO₂ purchase-tax schedule from 2026, lowering the weight-tax exemption threshold and steepening progressive charges that can add tens of thousands of dollars to some internal-combustion models’ registered prices.

Cochin Shipyard wins CMA CGM LNG containership build

BUSINESS & MARKETS INDIA

Cochin Shipyard signed a ~$360 million supply agreement with France’s CMA CGM to build and deliver six 1,700-TEU LNG-powered containerships, with first delivery due by February 2029.

UK court overturns Palestine Action terror proscription

WORLD & POLITICS UK

The UK High Court ruled that Palestine Action should not have been proscribed as a terrorist organisation.

Greece joins four EU states to operationalize offshore migrant return hubs

WORLD & POLITICS GLOBAL

Greece said it is working with Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Denmark to set up “return hubs” in third countries—preferably in Africa—and will hold technical-team talks next week to advance implementation.

BioAsia 2026 project announcements in Telangana

BUSINESS & MARKETS INDIA

Opella Healthcare will expand its Hyderabad GCC into a 42,000-sq-ft facility and JAPFA’s Vaksindo Animal Health will set up a BSL-3 animal vaccine manufacturing unit in Genome Valley.

Mistral moves from model maker toward full-stack AI cloud

BUSINESS & MARKETS FRANCE

Mistral AI agreed to acquire Paris-based serverless deployment startup Koyeb, its first acquisition, to accelerate its Mistral Compute cloud infrastructure offering.

US allies fund domestic rocket launch to reduce reliance on SpaceX

WORLD & POLITICS CANADA

Australia, Canada, Germany, and Spain have approved substantial government funding for domestic commercial launch startups to build sovereign orbital launch capability.

India–France upgrade ties and sign new defence and tax arrangements

WORLD & POLITICS INDIA

India and France elevated their relationship to a ‘Special Global Strategic Partnership’ and signed deals including an amended Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement protocol, an annual Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue, and a reciprocal armed-forces deployment agreement.

France lets a suspected Russian sanctions-evasion tanker depart

WORLD & POLITICS FRANCE

French authorities released the oil tanker Grinch on Tuesday after its owner paid a fine of several million euros tied to alleged EU sanctions circumvention.

Lower Saxony puts AfD branch under confirmed extremist designation

WORLD & POLITICS GERMANY

Lower Saxony’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution has formally classified the AfD’s state association as a confirmed right-wing extremist organization.

France expands when farmers can shoot wolves to protect livestock

WORLD & POLITICS FRANCE

France will allow farmers to shoot wolves that attack livestock even when the animals are outside protected enclosures, with the change to be formalized by executive order in the coming weeks.

Air India expands international capacity and rolls out upgraded cabins on more long-haul routes

BUSINESS & MARKETS INDIA

Air India confirmed higher frequencies on Delhi–Toronto (to 10x weekly from March 1), Delhi–Seoul (to 6x weekly from March 29) and Delhi–Shanghai (to 5x weekly from March 29), plus aircraft swaps and premium-economy cabin deployments on Delhi–Tokyo (from Feb 14), Mumbai–London (from July 1), Bengaluru–London (from Aug 1) and Delhi–Toronto (from Aug 1).

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