Rouble sees steepest crash since 1998 after early oil price drop December 1, 2014 THE RUSSIAN rouble yesterday suffered its sharpest fall since the nation’s 1998 financial crisis. The currency dived by 7.6 per cent against the dollar early in the day before staging a recovery. The rouble began the day worth $0.02015 but had dropped to $0.01861 by 11:40am. Late last night the rouble was worth $0.01955. The movements [...]
Stopper Neuer out to keep star pair off No1 spot December 1, 2014 WORLD Cup-winning goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is the latest challenger aiming to break the Cristiano Ronaldo-Lionel Messi Ballon d’Or axis after the three-man shortlist for this year’s accolade was announced yesterday. The 28-year-old is the first keeper to make the final three since Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon in 2006 and is bidding to become only the second [...]
Rouble plummets again on oil and China woes December 1, 2014 The rouble fell at its fastest rate since the Russian crisis in 1998 this morning, as it approaches the end of the year as the world's worst-performing currency. The currency fell 3.1 per cent to 52.00 against the dollar, at 2.5 per cent to 64.55 against the euro during early trading. In the past week [...]
The oil war has begun: The Saudis are using crude tools to hobble their rivals November 30, 2014 “Paranoia is knowing all the facts.” – Woody Allen Venezuelan foreign minister Rafael Ramirez certainly believes in my Saudi oil conspiracy theory. With his horribly-run country requiring a break-even oil price of at least $121 per barrel to balance its budget, and with the global price of crude already down 30 per cent since July [...]
Saudis refuse to commit to Opec production curb as falling oil price fears continue November 26, 2014 Fears about falling oil prices continued yesterday as the Saudi Arabian oil minister revealed that Gulf countries in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) would not move to curb production at its meeting in Vienna today. Saudi’s Ali al-Naimi said the Gulf Co-operation Council, which included Opec members Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and [...]
Passengers push-start frozen-up plane in Russia November 26, 2014 Most of us are used to giving our cars a bit more TLC than usual on a frosty morning. But a group of passengers at Russia's Igarka airport, just above the Arctic Circle, had to give their plane a push after its brakes froze up. The Siberian Times reported that passengers on the UTair service to [...]
London house prices: Market for £10m-plus homes gets boost from Russia November 25, 2014 Sales of homes valued above £10m has soared by a third this year. The figures released yesterday by estate agents Knight Frank also show the number of transactions were 92 per cent higher from January to October than they were in the same period of 2014. A surge in demand has been seen from Russia. [...]
French market woes weigh on Kingfisher profit November 25, 2014 NO AMOUNT of DIY could help fix Kingfisher’s sales performance in the third quarter as France’s weak consumer economy continued to weigh on Europe’s largest home improvement retailer. Kingfisher posted a 3.6 per cent drop in sales to £2.8bn, saying the weak French market, where it traded as Castorama and Brico Depot, had offset a [...]
Iran nuclear crisis: The sharks are circling and war is not impossible November 25, 2014 IF THE conventional wisdom of the mainstream press could sum up the current state of the Iranian nuclear talks in one headline, it would absurdly read “Optimism as talks fail to end”. Even by their standards, this fails to pass the laugh test analytically. Instead, an alarmed pessimism must be the correct response. For after [...]
France suspends delivery of its first Mistral warship to Russia “until further notice” November 25, 2014 After much agonising by French president Francois Hollande, the decision's been made. The country has put off delivery of the first of two warships to Russia "until further notice". It can't have been an easy choice. That contract for the two Mistral helicopter carriers, due to be delivered this month, is worth €1.2bn (£951m) – [...]