Foreign companies, particularly those in the oil and gas sector, that leave Russia over Ukraine-related sanctions may never be allowed to make a return, warned a Russian minister on Thursday.
Natural Resources Minister Sergei Donskoy said that while no foreign firms have thus far signaled their intent to withdraw from projects in the country, there would be severe consequences if any company does do so.
The Ukrainian government on Wednesday sent a formal request for up to $18 billion in loans to the IMF, said Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, with the cash necessary to stabilize Kiev’s financial situation and keep the struggling economy afloat.
On March 27, the IMF mission in Kiev had given preliminary approval for a loan of $14-18 billion, but with tough conditions attached.
Just days after making its first shipment of oil from the region, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has vowed to create a united system of naval bases for ships and next-generation submarines in the Arctic, calling on the government to provide full state funding.
Speaking at a meeting of his Security Council in the Kremlin on Tuesday, Putin emphasized the need to protect their interests in the Arctic, warning that other countries were also eager to draw out a slice of the region.
German companies are set to push their regular working hours later into the day during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, reported the Bild newspaper on Tuesday, after labour unions urged bosses to allow their football-mad employees to stay up late to catch the games.
The jobless rate in the U.K. has been falling consistently since a peak in 2011, reaching 7.2 percent this month. It’s still a far cry from the 5 percent unemployment the country had before the global financial crisis hit in 2008, but it has come down significantly since the 8.1 percent in August 2011, which was the nation’s highest in 17 years at that point.
For most people around the world, tax season is upon us or has just passed. While few enjoy tax day, it is interesting to see how other countries compare. Check out this infographic of income tax rates around the world, as well as some of the weirdest tax laws.
Related: Infographic: Habits Of The World’s Wealthiest People
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has presented a draft law to create a casino zone in Crimea, in the hopes of boosting local revenues and reduce Crimea’s reliance on Moscow.
According to the BBC, Crimea would become the fifth designated gambling zone in Russia, after Primorye, in the far east, Sibirskaya Moneta, in central Siberia, and Yantarnaya in Kaliningrad, by the Baltic Sea.
A Chinese court over the weekend ordered the seizure of a Japanese ore carrier that had been docked in Zhejiang Province, claiming that the ship’s parent company had failed to pay compensations for claims incurred during World War II.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has urged his nation to provide equal opportunities and rights for both men and women, arguing that gender equality was crucial for economic and social progress.
In a speech marking Women’s Day in Iran on Sunday, Rouhani told a gathering of women professionals in Tehran that he strongly opposed gender discrimination, though he admitted that the country still had “a long way to go” to ensure gender equality.
A German utility company has begun supplying natural gas to Ukraine under a contract signed two years ago, reported the Wall Street Journal, bringing hopes that Ukraine can reduce its reliance on gas imported from Russia.
RWE is the first European energy company to agree to supply gas to Ukraine, with the delivery likely to come via pipelines in Poland.
