The Hungarian opposition Tisza party has widened its lead against Prime Minister Viktor Orban ’s ruling Fidesz to an unprecedented 20 percentage points among decided voters after a series of recent scandals, a poll showed Wednesday. Tisza, started just 2 years ago by former Fidesz insider Peter Magyar , has the backing of 55% of decided voters against 35% for Fidesz, the Median poll published by H...
The Hungarian opposition Tisza party has widened its lead against Prime Minister Viktor Orban ’s ruling Fidesz to an unprecedented 20 percentage points among decided voters after a series of recent scandals, a poll showed Wednesday. Tisza, started just 2 years ago by former Fidesz insider Peter Magyar , has the backing of 55% of decided voters against 35% for Fidesz, the Median poll published by HVG news website showed . Magyar vowed in a statement to intensify his campaign further after the poll, which he said would translate into a two-thirds parliamentary majority for his party, giving it a mandate to change the constitution. An environmental scandal at a Samsung plant north of Budapest has been among key issues that hurt the government’s standing, HVG said. Tisza supporters are also seen as having a higher propensity to vote in April 12 election, boosting its numbers among decided voters compared with the entire population. Read more: Hungary’s Orban Latches On to War Fears in Reelection Bid The forint gained 0.3% against the euro in early trade after the poll was published, outperforming eastern European peers. The currency has been boosted by bets that a victory by the pro-European Union opposition would help unlock funds frozen by the block and start Hungary’s process of euro accession. Median’s result suggests a much wider lead than some other independent pollsters, some of which see a single-digit lead for Tisza, while government-affiliated pollsters consistently project a Fidesz win. Apart from Fidesz and Tisza, far-right Mi Hazank party is also projected to clear the threshold for parliament, Median said. The survey was conducted on Feb. 18-23 among 1,000 people; the margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 points.
Thorbjørn Jagland , the former prime minister of Norway who is under investigation for corruption over revelations in the Epstein files, has been hospitalized. Jagland, 75, has been admitted to hospital “due to the strain arising in the wake of this case,” according to a statement relayed by his attorney, Anders Brosveet at Elden Law Firm, on Monday. The Norwegian police has opened a criminal inve...
Thorbjørn Jagland , the former prime minister of Norway who is under investigation for corruption over revelations in the Epstein files, has been hospitalized. Jagland, 75, has been admitted to hospital “due to the strain arising in the wake of this case,” according to a statement relayed by his attorney, Anders Brosveet at Elden Law Firm, on Monday. The Norwegian police has opened a criminal investigation into Jagland for corruption — the first such probe involving an ex-premier in the Nordic country — over his ties to pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein in the years after his premiership ended in the late 1990s. Jagland’s diplomatic immunity was revoked as part of the probe. The former premier served as head of the Nobel Committee from 2009 to 2015 and as secretary general of the Council of Europe, a human-rights organization, between 2009 and 2019. Also under investigation by the police are Norwegian diplomats Terje Rød-Larsen and his wife, Mona Juul. Read More: How a Low-Key Norwegian Became Epstein’s Diplomatic Fixer Jagland “takes this matter very seriously, but wishes to emphasize that he believes there are no circumstances that constitute criminal liability,” Brosveet said in a Feb. 11 statement .
Magdalena Wygralak GSK plc ( GSK ) has entered an agreement to acquire 35Pharma, a Canada-based, private, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, for $950 million in cash. The acquisition includes HS235, a potential investigational medicine that has completed phase I healthy volunteer clinical trials, with studies to start imminently in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and pulmonary hyperte...
Magdalena Wygralak GSK plc ( GSK ) has entered an agreement to acquire 35Pharma, a Canada-based, private, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, for $950 million in cash. The acquisition includes HS235, a potential investigational medicine that has completed phase I healthy volunteer clinical trials, with studies to start imminently in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and pulmonary hypertension due to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (PH-HFpEF). HS235’s profile bolsters an emerging pipeline of products with protective benefits on metabolic and vascular function, providing scalable opportunities in GSK’s Respiratory, Immunology, and Inflammation (RI&I) portfolio, the company said in a statement . More on GSK GSK: Post-Pivot Buoyancy Set To Continue After Strong 2025 (Upgrade) GSK plc 2025 Q4 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation GSK plc (GSK) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript CDC vaccine panel to meet in March after delay GSK inks licensing deal worth up to $1B with China’s Frontier Bio
UK energy bills will drop to the lowest in almost two years in April, after the government moved part of the cost of supporting renewable energy from household bills to general taxation. The energy price cap — the maximum suppliers can charge — will fall 7% to £1,641 ($2,219) from April 1, Ofgem said in a statement on Wednesday. Measures taken in November to reduce customers’ bills are a key drive...
UK energy bills will drop to the lowest in almost two years in April, after the government moved part of the cost of supporting renewable energy from household bills to general taxation. The energy price cap — the maximum suppliers can charge — will fall 7% to £1,641 ($2,219) from April 1, Ofgem said in a statement on Wednesday. Measures taken in November to reduce customers’ bills are a key driver of the decline in the price cap, which is reviewed every three months. One of Prime Minister Keir Starmer ’s main election pledges was to lower bills for consumers hit by the energy crisis a few years ago that fueled a broader cost-of-living problem. While ministers say that accelerating renewables under a 2030 clean energy plan will curb costs over time, the more immediate cut reflects fiscal changes rather than structural shifts in the energy market. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves ’ November budget shifted 75% of the cost that energy suppliers pay for renewable electricity certificates from customers’ bills to general taxes. She said at the time that bill charges that fund energy-efficiency upgrades for fuel-poor households would be removed. Consultancy Cornwall Insight Ltd. last week said that higher grid and network costs — needed to integrate renewable supplies — have offset some of the bill savings from the policy changes. It added that the government’s target of cutting bills by £300 by the end of the decade remains uncertain, amid volatile gas prices and costs of additional infrastructure investment. Wholesale front-month UK gas prices have fallen about 5% over the past three months, while power prices have dropped roughly 9%. April’s price cap will be the lowest since July 2024. Cornwall last week said a small increase is expected in July, but that the price cap should remain fairly steady through the year.
Banco Santander SA vowed to grow net income to more than €20 billion ($23.6 billion) in 2028, ratcheting up its financial goals shortly after announcing the acquisition of US lender Webster Financial Corp. The Spanish bank also changed the composition of payouts from 2027 results by raising the proportion of cash dividends to 35% of profit, while lowering the buyback share to 15%, according to a s...
Banco Santander SA vowed to grow net income to more than €20 billion ($23.6 billion) in 2028, ratcheting up its financial goals shortly after announcing the acquisition of US lender Webster Financial Corp. The Spanish bank also changed the composition of payouts from 2027 results by raising the proportion of cash dividends to 35% of profit, while lowering the buyback share to 15%, according to a statement on Wednesday. The previous split was roughly equal, and a pledge to return 50% of profits to investors remained unchanged. Net income hit a record of €14.1 billion last year. The average analyst forecast for 2028 was €18.6 billion before the Wednesday announcement. “Our strategic plan for 2026-28 sets a new standard for profitable growth, with the aim to serve more than 210 million customers across Europe and the Americas,” Santander Executive Chairman Ana Botin said in the statement. The new targets come less than a month after Santander agreed to buy Webster Financial Corp. for $12 billion in a deal that would mark the largest-ever takeover of a US lender by a continental European bank. It’s also the third transaction under Botin in less than a year after she sold a majority stake in Santander’s Polish unit to Austria’s Erste Group Bank AG for €7 billion in April and subsequently bought the UK lender TSB from Banco Sabadell SA . Santander’s profitability has surged over the past few years amid higher interest rates. Its share price, which long trailed peers, more than doubled in 2025, turning the bank into continental Europe’s most highly-valued lender. The firm said after the Webster deal announcement it’s anticipating “double-digit revenue growth” next year and 2028 profitability of more than 20% in return on tangible equity. Read More: Santander’s Webster Deal Caps Ana Botin’s Dealmaking Blitz The firm’s price-to-book ratio, which is a popular valuation metric among analysts, currently stands at around 1.5. Many investors consider buybacks to become less attra...
SAP SE ’s investors and partners are raising doubts about a suite of artificial intelligence products that Europe’s most valuable software company is relying on to reignite growth and stay ahead of budding threats from large language models. Some early users of the company’s flagship AI assistant, Joule — designed to help users navigate complex SAP systems and make tasks like coding easier — have ...
SAP SE ’s investors and partners are raising doubts about a suite of artificial intelligence products that Europe’s most valuable software company is relying on to reignite growth and stay ahead of budding threats from large language models. Some early users of the company’s flagship AI assistant, Joule — designed to help users navigate complex SAP systems and make tasks like coding easier — have been disappointed, customers and partners said, asking to not be identified discussing their relationship with the vendor. Chief Executive Officer Christian Klein is counting on Joule to help the company attract new business. Revenue growth from its last big technological bet — moving customers’ complex custom software setups from local computers to the cloud — is set to taper off. SAP says more than 90% of Fortune 500 companies use its solutions for financials, procurement or human resources, making the Walldorf, Germany-based company one of the few European software firms that operates at scale worldwide. Its ability to keep up with transformative new tech will be crucial to helping SAP stay ahead of global competitors. Read More: The AI Threat to Europe's Most Valuable Software Company Bloomberg spoke to more than a dozen clients, resellers and SAP executives about its AI developments as the company works to develop features and convert customers to the crucial new technology. They asked not to be identified so they could speak freely about the products. Two major implementation partners that sell the software in the US and Germany, SAP’s biggest markets, said they don’t see demand for the AI solutions in their talks with customers, and some clients said the new products aren’t yet worth the expense. Volkswagen AG , a large SAP customer, tested Joule and did not find it mature enough, a person familiar with the matter said. The company didn’t see how the tool would save substantial money or resources, the person added. Representatives for Volkswagen and SAP declined to c...