Russian warship Yaroslav Mudryy tracked by Royal Navy’s HMS Argyll entering English Channel February 17, 2015 A Russian warship has been tracked by the Royal Navy entering the English Channel for the second time in three months. The Russian warship – called Yaroslav Mudryy or Yaroslav the Wise – is a Neustrashimy class frigate and was sailing with an accompanying tanker, the Kola. HMS Argyll, a Type 23 frigate complete [...]
Putin has an upper hand – it is high time the West said enough is enough February 15, 2015 Vladimir Putin once said “There is no such thing as a former KGB man.” The problem in dealing with the present Russian Tsar is that he knows far more about our weaknesses than we do about his. Coming to maturity as a KGB officer in eastern Germany, the young Vladimir Putin’s tradecraft involved incessantly analysing [...]
Ukraine crisis: Ceasefire violated within an hour, but is largely holding February 15, 2015 The Ukrainian ceasefire agreement lasted all of 50 minutes. Both sides accused the other of having broken the accord, with the telling shots fired near the town of Debaltseve, where 6,000 government troops are being besieged by separatist forces. Both sides allege that within an hour of the midnight cease in hostilities, artillery shells were [...]
Brent crude oil price tops $60 as US supply plummets February 13, 2015 The price of oil has nudged back above $60 per barrel for the first time since the end of last year, after a closely-watched report suggested supply from the US has fallen. This morning a barrel of crude oil rose more than $1 to $60.32, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 1.4 per cent to [...]
Rolls-Royce share price falls as sales drop for the first time in a decade February 13, 2015 The figures Shares at troubled engineering giant Rolls-Royce opened 3.3 per cent lower this morning after it reported a sales drop of six per cent to £13.7bn in 2014, the company's first drop in sales in a decade. Revenues fell six per cent to £14.6bn, while underlying pre-tax profits dropped eight per cent to £1.6bn (dead on [...]
Ukraine ceasefire boost for Coca Cola bottler helps FTSE – London Report February 12, 2015 COCA-COLA bottler HBC led the UK’s top share index higher yesterday, after news of a general ceasefire from Sunday in Ukraine’s east. The world’s second-largest bottler of Coca-Cola drinks, which counts Russia as its biggest market, surged 6.23 per cent after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced the ceasefire agreement following peace talks in Minsk with [...]
Ukraine crisis: Vladimir Putin announces ceasefire after Minsk talks February 12, 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that a ceasefire for eastern Ukraine will begin on 15 February. The announcement comes after marathon talks in Minsk, which swayed between reports a deal could be imminent and claims that Russia's terms were unacceptable. With the news comes an announcement from the IMF, which reported it would replace [...]
Ukraine crisis: Valdimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko agree to sign joint document – reports February 12, 2015 It had seemed could be light at the end of the tunnel for Ukraine. After marathon peace talks in Minsk involving Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko it was reported that both Putin and Poroshenko would sign a joint document; offering [...]
Obama phones Putin, warns him to negotiate ahead of Minsk summit February 11, 2015 US President Barack Obama has upped the rhetoric over Ukraine, using a phone call to tell Vladimir Putin to negotiate a peaceful settlement this week. The phone call came after Obama confirmed he had asked officials to look into supplying the Ukrainian government with weapons to fight the Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine. Putin is meeting [...]
Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Sex parties were only four times a year, not more than that February 10, 2015 Former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dominique Strauss-Kahn said he only occasionally attended sex parties as he took the stand in his trial for aiding and assisting in the prostitution of seven women. Strauss-Kahn is accused of aggravated pimping and involvement in a prostitution ring run from a luxury hotel in [...]