Russian banking giant drops US arm as geopolitical tensions mount September 3, 2018 Fragile political tensions between Moscow and Washington, D.C. took a turn for the worse this evening, as Russia’s second biggest bank revealed it has sold its New York-based business. Citing geopolitical reasons, Russian financial services provider VTB said it had disposed of its US broker arm VTB Capital, which is now an independent company called Xtellus [...]
Tech giants to testify before US Congress over Russian interference September 2, 2018 Top bosses from Twitter and Facebook are set to testify before US lawmakers on Wednesday, as part of a probe into how Silicon Valley polices online content. Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey will attend a hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on 5 September to give evidence in a hearing on social [...]
Seven of Brewdog’s weirdest publicity stunts as it pledges to end ‘shock tactics’ August 30, 2018 Brewdog may have made its name off the back of a bizarre series of publicity stunts, but the indie brewer has pledged to “focus more on beer” and drop the “high octane shock tactics”. Following backlash to its parody porn website earlier this week, Brewdog posted a message to fans and shareholders on its website [...]
Putin’s approval rating slumps as he urges Russians to accept older retirement age August 29, 2018 Vladimir Putin has softened controversial pensions reforms after a public outcry that has seen his approval rating tumble. The Russian President had proposed to raise the retirement age of men from 60 to 65 and from 55 to 63 for women. Read more: US to impose fresh sanctions on Russia on Monday following Novichok attack [...]
Trump puts China behind Clinton email hacks August 29, 2018 US President Donald Trump has accused China of hacking the emails of his 2016 presidential election opponent Hillary Clinton, despite an ongoing investigation into Russian involvement by US officials. "Hillary Clinton’s Emails, many of which are Classified Information [sic], got hacked by China. Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all [...]
South African government abandons plan for more nuclear power August 27, 2018 South Africa has ditched plans to expand its nuclear power capacity, in favour of diversifying towards natural gas, wind and other energy sources. Under the leadership of former President Jacob Zuma, the government had put forward a proposal to increase the amount of energy generated by nuclear power by six fold. If given the go ahead, [...]
US senator and war veteran John McCain dies aged 81 August 26, 2018 US Senator John McCain, a former war prisoner and veteran and one-time presidential candidate, has died aged 81 after a battle with brain cancer. The Arizona senator had been fighting an aggressive brain cancer since July 2017, alongside other health problems for which he had surgery earlier this year. His family announced on Friday that he [...]
Washington to impose additional Russian sanctions on Monday following Novichok attack August 24, 2018 US sanctions on Russia, retaliation for the Salisbury nerve agent attack, are to take effect on Monday. Washington announced that it is to limit foreign assistance to humanitarian means only, terminate arms exports and prevent the issuance of credit from any US government entity. Items deemed sensitive to national security are also to be prevented [...]
Credit Suisse freezes £4bn linked to Russia after US sanctions August 22, 2018 Banking giant Credit Suisse has frozen 5.1bn Swiss francs (£4.02bn) linked to Russia following US sanctions. The Zurich-headquartered bank reported in its second quarter results that it had identified impacted client relationships and transactions to ensure compliance. It added that the sanctions compliance group is closely monitoring the developments. Read more: Russia hits out at ‘unacceptable’ US [...]
Trump hits back at Michael Cohen after implicating him in campaign finance crimes August 22, 2018 Donald Trump has hit back at his former lawyer Michael Cohen after he implicated the President in crimes relating to his campaign finance. Trump's former personally attorney admitted to breaking US campaign finance laws after paying off the President's alleged mistresses on Tuesday. He said that he had done so at the direction of “the [...]