Price of gold falls on stronger dollar as palladium slips from 13-year high September 2, 2014 The price of commodities, including gold, silver and palladium, fell yesterday, as a strengthening US dollar hit investor demand for the precious metals that had heightened on the escalation in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. As the dollar strengthened on better manufacturing data and the prospect of an end to stimulus, gold slipped to [...]
Space race take two? Putin speeds up building of Russian spaceport September 2, 2014 Russia has upped its game in the race to become a space superpower. Today, President Vladimir Putin announced that he was hastening Russia's efforts to build a multi-billion dollar spaceport in the East of the country. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has relied on the Baikonur cosmodrome in [...]
New iPhone 6: Hands-on video shows bigger, thinner screen compared to iPhone5 September 2, 2014 A week to the day until Apple's big launch event, the biggest leak about the new iPhone 6 so far has surfaced – a video of the smartphone in someone's hands. The 3:36 minute video, discovered by 9to5mac and published by Russian YouTuber Rozetked, appears to show the fully-formed iPhone 6 in comparison with the current iPhone [...]
Europe mulls economic sanctions on Russia as Nato builds forces September 1, 2014 Europe is understood to be considering further economic sanctions on Russia, including banning the purchase of Russian government bonds, as fighting in Ukraine continues. The news came as Nato detailed plans to create a 4,000 strong high-readiness force which could be deployed to eastern Europe to protect member states from Russian aggression. The proposal is [...]
Europe Report: Europe gains on drug find September 1, 2014 EUROPEAN shares edged higher to close near a recent one-month peak yesterday, with Novartis leading drugmakers. Novartis, up 4.3 per cent, was the top gainer on the FTSEurofirst 300 index on news a new medicine from the company could replace drugs that have been central to treating heart disease for 25 years. The FTSEurofirst 300 [...]
Putin has won in Ukraine – but the West can still salvage the long game September 1, 2014 There’s only one way to make a fortune, and that’s to down the fellow who’s up against you." W Somerset Maugham, on poker ONE OF the many wonderful traditions at St Andrews University is that, if a student did well, they did not have to sit final exams until their last year. As a result, [...]
Nato members account for over half the fastest falling defence budgets – as Russia’s spending soars September 1, 2014 Nato members comprised over half of the world's 20 fastest shrinking defence budgets between 2012 and 2014, according to research from IHS. Out of the 20 nations exercising the most spending restraint when it came to defence, 13 were Nato members, with the Alliances' spending dropping by $93bn (£56bn) over the past two years. In [...]
John McCain calls for US to arm Ukraine against “Russian invasion” September 1, 2014 Senior US senators are calling for America to provide arms and equipment to the Ukrainian government to aid in its fight against "a Russian invasion". Republican senator and former presidential candidate John McCain told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday: "Give them the weapons they need, give them the wherewithal they need, give them the ability [...]
Crowdfunding Hollywood: Why the UK will finance the blockbusters of the future August 31, 2014 Over the years, the nationality of baddies in Hollywood films has offered a pretty reliable barometer of American geopolitical preoccupations. During the Cold War, there was an abundance of Russian villains on the big screen, with snow on their boots, vodka on their breath and their fingers on the nuclear trigger. More recently, jihadi terrorists, [...]
Putin wants to negotiate “statehood” of southeast Ukraine August 31, 2014 As Europe gets ready to place more sanctions on Russia, Vladimir Putin has called for the “statehood” of southeast Ukraine to be negotiated. In a TV interview, the Russian President said: “We must immediately begin substantive, meaningful negotiations, not on technical questions but on questions of the political structure of society and of the [...]