The White Crow: Ralph Fiennes’ biopic about legendary ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev is a slow burner March 22, 2019 Saying someone is a ‘white crow’ in Russia is a bit like saying someone ‘sticks out like a sore thumb’ over here. It isn’t meant as a compliment in either country, but it could cost you your life in Krushchev’s Russia. Legendary ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev learnt that the hard way when he defected from [...]
Brits want a human driver ready to take control in their driverless cars March 20, 2019 The majority of Brits are still sceptical about driverless cars ever being allowed to become truly “autonomous”, according to research. Just one-in-seven people think autonomous vehicles (AVs) should be able to travel without a human occupant ready to take the wheel, according to an Opinium survey. Read more: GM takes stake in British startup as [...]
Hyundai teams up with Russian tech giant Yandex to build driverless cars March 19, 2019 Hyundai has today moved up a gear in the global race to manufacture driverless cars, as it teams up with Russian tech giant Yandex. The announcement signals Hyundai’s intentions to move into the slipstream of rivals Toyota and Ford, who have teamed up with Softbank and Chinese internet giant Baidu respectively to work on autonomous [...]
Venezuela looks to Russia for oil exports as US sanctions bite the Maduro regime March 18, 2019 Venezuela may divert its US oil exports to Russia, the country’s oil minister said today after the Trump administration slapped sanctions on the country. Manuel Quevedo, who is also president of state-run oil company PDVSA, said oil initially headed to the US could be re-routed to other countries. Read more: Venezuelan opposition prepares to confront [...]
Brexit disorder could dampen global oil thirst, International Energy Agency says March 11, 2019 A “disorderly” Brexit could hit international demand for oil, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today while also warning of the impact of trade wars. The projection comes after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) downgraded its short-term outlook as economic sentiment weakens in many countries. Read more: Will global growth slowdown force more OPEC production [...]
Forget Brexit, corporate debt is a bigger issue March 11, 2019 As a few of you might have been told many times already, today is the latest Brexit D-Day for the UK, and for Theresa May in particular. Now, despite the fact that I am – at the moment that you are reading this – down on a chilly College Green in Westminster reporting on the latest [...]
Shares hit by investor shyness of Russian firms at gold miner Polymetal, despite strong results – CEO March 11, 2019 Investor uncertainty around Russian firms has held back Polymetal’s share price even though sanctions have not hit the company, its boss said yesterday as the miner showed gold sales up 10 per cent. Tensions between Russia and the west have not impacted operations at the company, chief executive Vitaly Nesis said. Read more: Russia denies 'rubbing [...]
HMRC launches first investigations using new corporate money laundering powers March 10, 2019 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has launched its first criminal investigations under a new money laundering offence, freedom of information requests reveal. The tax authority is investigating a handful of cases under the corporate criminal offence of failure to prevent the facilitation of UK tax evasion which was introduced in the Criminal Finances Act 2017 [...]
Former Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort jailed for financial crimes March 8, 2019 US President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort has been sentenced to 47 months behind bars for fraud. Manafort was last year convicted of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one of failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. Read more: Manafort to plead guilty to Mueller investigation charges The [...]
MPs demand estate agents be monitored as part of dirty-money crackdown March 8, 2019 Britain must urgently review its “fragmented” anti-money laundering system and supercharge the UK’s companies registry, a powerful body of MPs has said. The Treasury Select Committee report on economic crime, released today, also said HMRC should begin registering estate agents for anti-money laundering purposes, to prevent ill-gotten gains from being “stashed” in the UK property [...]