Rouble sees steepest crash since 1998 after early oil price drop December 1, 2014 THE RUSSIAN rouble yesterday suffered its sharpest fall since the nation’s 1998 financial crisis. The currency dived by 7.6 per cent against the dollar early in the day before staging a recovery. The rouble began the day worth $0.02015 but had dropped to $0.01861 by 11:40am. Late last night the rouble was worth $0.01955. The movements [...]
Rouble plummets again on oil and China woes December 1, 2014 The rouble fell at its fastest rate since the Russian crisis in 1998 this morning, as it approaches the end of the year as the world's worst-performing currency. The currency fell 3.1 per cent to 52.00 against the dollar, at 2.5 per cent to 64.55 against the euro during early trading. In the past week [...]
The oil war has begun: The Saudis are using crude tools to hobble their rivals November 30, 2014 “Paranoia is knowing all the facts.” – Woody Allen Venezuelan foreign minister Rafael Ramirez certainly believes in my Saudi oil conspiracy theory. With his horribly-run country requiring a break-even oil price of at least $121 per barrel to balance its budget, and with the global price of crude already down 30 per cent since July [...]
Cooper-Hohn divorce has led to Britain’s biggest pay out – here the five largest UK settlements in history November 28, 2014 Hedge fund titan Sir Chris Hohn will have to pay his ex-wife £337m, in what is thought to be the largest ever settlement in a UK divorce case. His estranged wife, Jamie Cooper-Hohn, had been seeking half of Hohn's estimated £700m fortune since the summer, however Hohn offered a quarter. Both parties are thought to [...]
London house prices: Market for £10m-plus homes gets boost from Russia November 25, 2014 Sales of homes valued above £10m has soared by a third this year. The figures released yesterday by estate agents Knight Frank also show the number of transactions were 92 per cent higher from January to October than they were in the same period of 2014. A surge in demand has been seen from Russia. [...]
Wenger takes aim at Usmanov as Arsenal train their sights on wounded Dortmund November 25, 2014 UNDER-FIRE Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has issued a thinly-veiled rebuke to Alisher Usmanov, the club’s second largest shareholder, for breaking ranks and publicly criticising the team. Russian billionaire Usmanov, who owns 30 per cent of the Gunners but is not on the board, accused Wenger of failing to learn from his mistakes after Saturday’s defeat [...]
France suspends delivery of its first Mistral warship to Russia “until further notice” November 25, 2014 After much agonising by French president Francois Hollande, the decision's been made. The country has put off delivery of the first of two warships to Russia "until further notice". It can't have been an easy choice. That contract for the two Mistral helicopter carriers, due to be delivered this month, is worth €1.2bn (£951m) – [...]
Pellegrini: City can beat Bayern and make last 16 November 24, 2014 MANCHESTER City manager Manuel Pellegrini insists his team can tonight overcome a patchy start to the season and the suspension of key players to snatch Champions League survival from the brink of extinction. City likely need to inflict Bayern Munich’s first defeat in 19 fixtures at the Etihad Stadium to resuscitate their European hopes and [...]
Sanctions have cost Russia billions – but Western firms are not getting off lightly November 24, 2014 WHEN the EU agreed to place new names on its Russian sanctions list last week, it added to an ever-expanding and ever vaguer body of international rules for compliance officials to navigate. While Russia’s finance minister has warned that sanctions are costing his country $40bn (£25.5bn) a year, they also pose significant challenges to businesses [...]
Has French company DCNS agreed to transfer warship to Russia despite the conflict in Ukraine? November 24, 2014 France has agreed on a deadline to deliver the first of two warships to Russia in a deal that will total around €1.2bn. DCNS, a French industrial group that specialises in naval defence and energy, has agreed with Russia to transfer the Mistral-class helicopter carrier before 27 November. With the ongoing crisis in Ukraine showing [...]