Oil prices head up as US and China start trade talks January 7, 2019 Oil prices have ticked up again today as markets react to Opec’s oil cuts and hopes of a thaw in US-China trade relations. International standard Brent crude had jumped over two per cent in the morning, but fell back to a 1.5 per cent rise at $57.94 in the early afternoon. Meanwhile, US standard WTI [...]
Commodity 2019 outlook: Will global growth slowdown force more OPEC production cuts? January 7, 2019 Oil prices steadily climbed during 2018 as the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) agreed production cuts helped stem the global oversupply. The US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal saw Washington place new sanctions on the OPEC member, and crude surged to four-year highs on expectations of a significant reduction to the global [...]
British citizen detained in Russia after being accused of spying January 4, 2019 A British citizen who has been detained in Russia and charged with espionage could be facing up to 20 years in prison. Dual British – US citizen Paul Whelan, 48, was detained by Russia’s FSB state security service in Moscow last Friday. Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt said he is “extremely worried” about Whelan, and the [...]
Russia detains American on spying charges in Moscow January 1, 2019 Russian authorities have detained and opened a criminal case against an American they say is suspected of spying in Moscow. The Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had detained the US citizen on Friday, but did not give any details of the suspicions it has against him. The US state department said that Russia had [...]
Merkel and Macron demand release of Ukrainian sailors captured by Russia in November December 28, 2018 Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron have demanded Russia release the 24 Ukrainian sailors captured last month in the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea with the Azov Sea. Moscow said the sailors, who were captured along with their ships, were crossing the Russian border illegally. Ukraine, on the other hand, said Russia’s capture of [...]
Oil prices drop as investor confidence plateaus following a rally on the markets yesterday December 27, 2018 Oil prices fell this morning after a rally which saw the price of Brent crude soar around eight per cent yesterday. International standard Brent crude fell around one per cent to $53.92 per barrel in the early morning as worries over increased supply and poor global economic conditions helped mitigate upwards pressure from the stock [...]
Russian regulator retaliates against Ofcom with legal checks on BBC December 21, 2018 Russia's media regulator has said it will carry out checks on the BBC following an announcment from Ofcom that it was considering imposing sanctions on Russian state-financed media service RT. The Russian regulator, Roskomnadzor, released a statement on Friday saying it would check whether the BBC's World Service and internet sites complied with Russian law. “The results of our check [...]
Vladimir Putin says UK and Russia must break ‘deadlock’ in sour relations December 20, 2018 Vladimir Putin has held his annual press conference in which he said Russia and Britain must get out of the "deadlock" in the sour relations. The Russian president said he was interested in restoring "full relations" with Britain, which has imposed sanctions on Russia over the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter [...]
RT broke broadcasting rules on impartiality, says Ofcom December 20, 2018 Kremlin-funded broadcaster RT broke impartiality in news programmes after the Salisbury novichok poisoning in March, Ofcom said today. The media regulator said RT, formerly known as Russia Today, failed to preserve due impartiality in seven news and current affairs programmes over a six-week period. “Taken together, the seven breaches represent a serious failure of compliance with [...]
The Ghost of Christmas Past could tell us where the negotiations all went wrong December 19, 2018 In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Scrooge finds being haunted by the Ghost of Christmas Past unbearable. He begs it to stop. The Ghost replies: “These are the shadows of things that have been. That they are what they are, do not blame me.” It might almost be the Prime Minister speaking about the whole [...]