News in Brief
German union calls for rail strike Friday
AFP – German transport union EVG on Wednesday called for a rail strike as workers demand higher wages to cope with high rates of inflation, the latest industrial action in Europe’s largest economy.
Rail workers across the country will walk out on Friday between 3:00 am (0100 GMT) and 11:00 am, the EVG said in a statement.
The short “warning strike” was intended to “encourage employers to bring reasonable offers” to pay talks, EVG’s deputy chairwoman Cosima Ingenschay told journalists outside Berlin’s main station.
UK inflation above 10%
AFP –UK inflation held above 10 percent on soaring food prices, official data showed Wednesday, further fuelling a cost-of-living crisis despite a series of aggressive interest-rate hikes.
The Consumer Prices Index rose by a stronger-than-expected 10.1 percent in March from 10.4 percent in February, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.
Inflation held in double figures on surging food and housing costs, dashing expectations for a drop below 10 percent after the Bank of England sharply raised borrowing costs.
Russia offers cheap gas to Kazakhstan
Reuters – Russia has offered to sell natural gas to Kazakhstan at a lower price than that for Belarus and a small fraction of the European price, Kazakh Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev said on Wednesday.
Satkaliyev said Kazakhstan and Russia have agreed a preliminary plan to build pipelines that would deliver Russian gas, which the two governments would have to approve.
“They are offering it to us at a much cheaper price than to Belarus,” he told reporters.