Late on Wednesday Russia reached an agreement with Georgia on a bilateral trade deal which will open the door for Moscow’s entry into the World Trade Organisation, said the country’s key negotiator Maxim Medvedkov. The talks ended Russia’s 18-year wait to join the WTO. Moscow’s main hurdle had been coming to an agreement with Georgia following a five-day war between the nations in 2008. The final clash had been over how to deal with Georgia’s breakaway provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. According to the World Bank, entry to the WTO could add up to three percent of Russia’s economy in the medium term and up to 11 percent in the...
Greece’s Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou remained determined on Wednesday to consult his people on the European rescue package that was reached at last week’s EU summit. Papandreou told parliament that “the referendum will be a clear mandate and strong measure inside and outside Greece on our course in Europe and our participation in the euro.” The deal offers Greece a 50 percent write down of international bank debt, however it would continue to face a draconian austerity programme, and will be left owing 120 percent GDP. The decision to take the bailout plan to the voters has shocked European leaders who are expected to meet with...
Tokyo-based investment bank Nomura Holdings on Tuesday announced a larger than anticipated quarterly loss, according to a company statement. The country’s largest brokerage by revenue posted a $590m net loss in the three-month period ending September. It announced that it is to increase its original $400m cost cutting target to $1.2bn which will lead to job losses and a setback to its overseas expansion plans. Nomura’s first loss in ten quarters was blamed on unstable market conditions in Europe and the decline in income from trading, investment banking, and business oversees....
Europe will not offer China concessions in exchange for contributions to the eurozone’s beefed-up bailout fund, an advisor to French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday. Eurozone leaders agreed in Brussels last week that emerging nations, led by China, could put money in a special purpose vehicle within the EFSF fund to help increase its firepower. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has said that China would have a “major role to play” in resolving the euro zone’s debt crisis, was accused over the weekend by political opponents at home of selling out Europe’s future to foreign powers. “It is out of the question to negotiat...
European officials responsible for the eurozone bailout fund commenced discussions on Friday with China to involve them in the EU rescue plan. The European Financial Stability is hoping the Chinese government will invest in a plan to help save EU member nations from their debt crises. The move comes after European leaders on Thursday clinched a new bailout deal with EU lenders to help tame Europe’s spreading debt issues. Klaus Regling, CEO of the European Financial Stability, has been holding consultations with the Chinese to decide on provisions for raising cash. China has in the past been a regular buyer of EFSF bonds. “I am optimistic ...
Europe’s leaders on Thursday came to agreement on a deal with EU banks to write off half of Greece’s bonds in a plan to reduce the country’s heavy debt load. The agreement, which was reached at the summit in Brussels, will also include a new €130bn bailout package between the IMF and the EU. The combined action is believed to lower the nation’s GDP to 120 percent from the current 160 percent, EU president Herman Van Rompuy said. According to the statement the eurozone members would contribute up to €30bn to the Private Sector Involvement....
The eurozone is experiencing the biggest challenge since its inception – it is currently at the worst point of the debt crisis that started two years ago. Contagion has already spread to Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, Spain and Italy; and even France is starting to feel the pain. The crisis recently has also started to spread to the European credit institutions – which are getting a big hit on their bond portfolios – thus creating a need for further capital injections from a market that is already short of cash and reluctant to take further risk. The unwinding of fiscal imbalances, asset bubbles and over-leverage is a protracted, painful an...
ArcelorMittal, the globe’s biggest steel producer, late on Tuesday backed out of its Macarthur Coal joint $5.1bn purchase with Peabody Energy, according to the company. The group originally joined the deal, which will be the second largest coal takeover this year, to help advance its metallurgical coal supplies. The steel maker has now left partner Peabody Energy to pursue the takeover on its own, saying: “ArcelorMittal has determined that it would no longer be appropriate to allocate substantial capital to the acquisition of a non-controlling, minority business interest.” Peabody welcomed the news saying the deal will be fully accretiv...
The origins of the Joint Combat Aircraft (JCA) programme can be found in plans developed in the 1990s to replace our carrier-borne aircraft. The aircraft selected to meet the JCA requirement is the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The JSF is an exceptionally capable fifth generation, multi-role, supersonic, stealthy aircraft containing cutting-edge technologies. It is the largest single aviation programme in US history.JCA capabilities will enable the UK to contribute, from the outset of a campaign, to a variety of missions against a high-threat integrated air defence system. Having emerged from the same Lockheed Martin stable...
UBS on Tuesday said 3Q11 profits fell 39 percent owing to the financial loss of around CHF1.8bn ($2.2bn) from an unauthorised trading incident in September. The bank’s net profit beat analysts’ predictions however, as a better than expected $1.13bn was announced due to a large accounting gain which offset the shortfall. Figures were down from the CHF1.66bn reported for the same period last year but were equal to results published in the second quarter of 2011. The lender said investigations into the loss were continuing. “Our financial, capital and funding positions remain solid and we believe the action we are taking now will strengthe...