Putin is about to win his cynical bet in Ukraine: The West is truly dead August 23, 2015 I am becoming worryingly convinced that Vladimir Putin must be a big fan of this column. Just a few days on from me revealing that he is odds-on favourite to become the super-villain in the next Bond caper, the Russian President confirmed my worst suspicions. Falling back on one of his late-Roger-Moore-era stunts, Putin piloted [...]
Rouble, ringgit and won: Emerging market currencies are getting hammered August 23, 2015 Emerging market currencies continued to slide today, amid growing anxiety over China's slowing economy. The selloff accelerated after a purchasing managers survey released early this morning showed China's factories contracted at the fastest rate in almost six-and-a-half-years in August. Malaysia's ringgit fell nearly one per cent against the dollar, while South Korea’s won shed 0.8 [...]
Mail.ru grows revenues but profits shrink amid Russian bear market August 21, 2015 RUSSIAN internet giant Mail.ru yesterday announced reduced profits before tax for the first half of the year, down 11.3 per cent from 7.99bn roubles (£76m) to 7.08bn roubles. Meanwhile the firm, which has 75.4m monthly users, reported increased revenues of 18.3bn roubles, up from 17.1bn roubles for the same period last year. Russia’s continuing economic [...]
The super-rich paying a £50,000 deposit to RENT in London August 20, 2015 With rising house prices placing home ownership out of reach for many and overseas investment rife, London’s lettings market is booming. But the commonly-painted picture of young professionals struggling to pay for their grotty house share in Dalston only tells one side of this increasingly complex story. For competition isn’t only fierce at the affordable [...]
I spy a tired espionage caper with The Man From U.N.C.L.E. August 14, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★☆☆☆ Guy Richie’s big screen adaptation of the 60s spy show has been in development for over 20 years, with everyone from George Clooney to Quentin Tarantino linked with the project. It hasn’t been worth the wait. The story takes place at the height of the Cold War, focusing on a secret [...]
Zut alors: Britons are the second-worst tippers (but we’re still better than the French) August 12, 2015 Britons have woken up to an uncomfortable truth this morning: we're the second-stingiest tippers in the world, it turns out. Or that's according to findings by Direct Line, whose tipping index showed (unsurprisingly) thank Yanks are the best, with 27 per cent of establishments suggesting they're the most generous, while Germans came second, with 21 [...]
Dozens of athletes suspended after governing body IAAF retests stored samples August 11, 2015 Athletics chiefs have suspended 28 athletes after retesting of samples from the 2005 and 2007 World Championships revealed they may have taken banned substances. Governing body the IAAF, which has been accused of a lack of rigour in anti-doping, said that the athletes could not be named yet for legal reasons but that most of [...]
Fragments of Russian missile system found at MH17 crash site August 11, 2015 Fragments of a Russian surface-to-air missile system have been found by the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, Dutch prosecutors have said. The Dutch Safety Board (DSB) and the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) said possible parts of a Buk missile system had been found in eastern Ukraine “and are in possession of the [...]
Yaya Toure at the double as Manchester City sound title warning August 11, 2015 Bullish Manchester City skipper Vincent Kompany insisted that his side have a point to prove this season after starting their campaign with a crushing defeat of West Brom last night. Read more: English clubs have spent over £20m on agents' fees this summer Kompany sealed City’s victory, which immediately fired Manuel Pellegrini’s charges to [...]
Russian economy contracts 4.6 per cent in second quarter August 10, 2015 Another bad day for the Russian economy, after figures published today showed it contracted 4.6 per cent in the second quarter compared with a year earlier, missing even analysts' pessimistic expectations of a 4.5 per cent contraction. Although the contraction was larger than feared, the fact GDP fell hardly came as a surprise: with the [...]