Putin has exposed a chilling truth about the West: It no longer exists July 22, 2014 Somehow Europe’s leaders have managed to undershoot even my subterranean expectations. Ahead of an EU foreign ministers meeting yesterday to plan a common response to the Malaysia Airlines atrocity, leaks made it all too clear that this whole process would not amount to much. But the results – even for the EU – are almost comically [...]
MP calls for Russia to forfeit World Cup as sanctions vote falls short July 22, 2014 A CONSERVATIVE MP has called for Russia to be stripped of the right to host the football World Cup in 2018, following the loss of Malaysian airlines flight MH17. During a select committee hearing yesterday, Tracey Crouch, a Football Association-accredited coach, said Russia should not be allowed to host the tournament as punishment for its [...]
Apple beats earnings expectations as investors look ahead to iPhone 6 and iWatch releases July 22, 2014 It's what Apple does next that really matters. The company's quarterly earnings figures saw it post a smaller than expected rise in revenue of six per cent as the tech giant continues to grow, albeit slower than anticipated, with subdued sales of iPhones and iPads in the three months to the end of June. In its [...]
EU could impose new hard-hitting sanctions on Russia by Thursday July 22, 2014 European foreign ministers failed to agree on fresh hard-hitting measures aimed at the Russian economy today, however new sanctions including capital restrictions could be announced by Thursday if Moscow does not cooperate on the MH17 crash investigation. Under growing pressure from the US, which says plane was brought down by a surface-to-air missile fired by pro-Russian [...]
MH17 plane crash: Russia sanctions will hit City Cameron warns July 21, 2014 David Cameron and George Osborne have warned the City of London to brace itself for a financial hit as they prepare to push for tough financial sanctions on Russia in the aftermath of the MH17 disaster. Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, the Prime Minister referred to the downing of the Malaysian airlines flight, [...]
Severstal to sell US steel plants July 21, 2014 RUSSIAN steelmaker Severstal yesterday said it has agreed to sell two US steel plants for $2.325bn (£1.36bn), as it looks to return cash to shareholders and focus on its domestic market. The sale of the Columbus and Dearborn assets – which mainly make steel for the automotive industry – to US rivals Steel Dynamics and [...]
London Report: FTSE falls as tobacco stocks are burned by $23.6bn US fine July 21, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index fell yesterday, with tobacco stocks hit by a multi-billion-dollar fine against RJ Reynolds in the United States and retailers slipping after a profit warning from Tesco. The prospect of further sanctions by the West against Russia over last week’s downing of an airliner over Ukraine also discouraged investors from making big [...]
The sanction spiral: Russia and Europe may fall into recession July 21, 2014 A trade “tit-for-tat” would hit both sides extremely hard EVEN before the tragic Malaysia Airlines plane crash in Ukraine last Thursday (allegedly the work of Moscow-backed separatists), Russia was already reeling from the US’s tightening of the screws. The country’s Micex stock index tumbled 2.3 per cent to 1,440.63 last week after news that financial [...]
CNBC Comment: Why instability isn’t spooking markets July 21, 2014 THE BIGGEST point markets are making at the moment is that they aren’t making a big point. Given increased tensions around Russia and Ukraine, we are closer to war in Europe than we have been for a long time. Simultaneously, the death toll in Gaza tragically keeps rising. Yet despite these dominating geopolitical events, involving [...]
Ukraine rebels hand over black boxes from MH17 flight to Malaysian officials July 21, 2014 Pro-Russian militants have handed over the two black boxes from the downed MH17 aircraft to Malaysian officials. After an agreement with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Monday evening, separatist leader Aleksander Borodai signed them over to the Malaysian experts at a meeting in the eastern Ukranian city of Donetsk. A number of reporters were [...]