Most of Spain and all of Portugal were hit by a major blackout that impacted public transport, airports and phone service, leaving authorities scrambling to find the causes for one of the worst outages in Europe in years.

The outage, which hit millions of people, was due to sharp swings in power on the network, known as oscillations, according to grid operator Red Electrica. An excess of solar generation in the grid could have contributed to the incident. Spain has reported an unprecedented number of hours with negative power prices in recent months as more solar and wind power gets injected into the network. —Joshua Gallu

What You Need to Know Today

Germany pushed back against a proposal made by Europe’s grid operators to split its power market into five separate bidding zones. Entso-e, the umbrella organization of transmission system operators in the European Union, said in a report today that carving up the Germany-Luxembourg power market into five could bring as much as €339 million in annual savings. Berlin was quick to criticize the findings, saying that the report overestimates the positive effects of splitting the bidding zones.

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a new temporary ceasefire in his war on Ukraine to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in World War II. The three-day truce will start on May 8 and end at midnight on May 10. The Kremlin said Russia expected Ukraine to follow suit. When Putin had announced an Easter ceasefire, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he would reciprocate.

Hungary is rejecting US pressure for it to reduce its economic ties with China amid an ongoing tariff war between the world’s two biggest markets. Hungary doesn’t see US investments on the horizon that would displace Chinese ones, Economy Minister Marton Nagy said. “We don’t see an investment potential from the US that would be on par with China,” he said. “We have a very pragmatic position.” 

Coverage of Xi Jinping meeting Viktor Orban in Beijing last year. Photographer: PEDRO PARDO/AFP

ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said that volatile financial markets must be watched closely amid the risk of declines spiraling out of control. Speaking to European Parliament lawmakers in Brussels, he warned that despite a resilient banking system in the region, “sharp adjustments in financial markets could become disorderly, particularly if they are amplified by the growing size and influence of non-bank financial institutions.”

The $160 billion fund behind Ozempic-maker Novo Nordisk says Trump’s tariff war has created so much economic uncertainty that it now sees little likelihood it will move ahead with any big investments. “Until there is more clarity on the prospects for economic growth, we will slow down our investment activities,” Chief Executive Officer Kasim Kutay told us. Bloomberg Economics estimates the tariff war could wipe about $2 trillion off the world’s economic output by the end of 2027.

Germany’s Merck will buy SpringWorks Therapeutics, a maker of medicines for cancer and rare diseases, to boost its health-care division. The US biotech’s drug portfolio will boost the German conglomerate’s earnings from 2027, contributing two treatments with US regulatory approval. Merck’s pharmaceuticals division faces challenges after high-profile failures of experimental medicines and a looming patent expiration for top-selling multiple sclerosis drug Mavenclad. 

Saudi Arabia’s foreign direct investment inflows fell for a third straight year in 2024, in a sign the kingdom continues to face challenges in attracting overseas investors. Inbound FDI shrank 19% year-on-year to $20.7 billion, the lowest since 2020 and short of the country’s annual target of $29 billion. Saudi Arabia has been pushing for more FDI as it looks to catalyze growth in new sectors and share the cost of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s multi-trillion dollar economic overhaul. It hopes FDI inflows will eventually grow about five-fold to reach more than $100 billion a year by 2030.

What You’ll Need to Know Tomorrow

For Your Commute

Greece is the hot destination for travelers this summer. The demand has been so extraordinary as to make airlines shift their schedules, yielding an all-time high of 28.2 million scheduled international seats on flights to Greece this summer. New and newly renovated resorts include a cliffside retreat on Santorini and a seaside getaway under an hour’s drive from the Athens city center. Here are the six most compelling openings to prioritize.

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