Commercial

Why petro-yuan may become biggest game-changer of all time in capital markets
The historic launch of the long-awaited trading of Chinese crude futures this week has stirred up a heated debate among analysts as to whether the new commodity product will prosper or flop. Some market analysts expressed doubts over the success of the petro-yuan, citing Beijing’s yearning for total control over trading as one of the key reasons for a potential bust. [...]
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Petro-yuan helps Russia & China dump US dollar in oil trade
China is the world's biggest crude consumer and buys most of its oil from Russia. However, most settlements are still in US dollars. The launch of the petro-yuan now allows Moscow and Beijing to use national currencies instead. China and Russia are actively reducing dependence on the dollar in bilateral trade. In October 2017, Beijing launched a payment system for transactions in yuan and Russian [...]
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Japan unveils new ‘Supreme’ bullet train
A new high-speed bullet train has been rolled out by the Central Japan Railway (JR Tokai). It will debut in 2020 on the Tokaido Shinkansen line, running between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka. According to JR Tokai, the new Shinkansen N700S or Shinkansen ‘Supreme’ train will be smarter, sleeker and quieter. [...]
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Only Russia Ensured Additional Gas Supplies to Germany in March – Wintershall
KASSEL (Germany) (Sputnik) - Moscow was Berlin's only foreign partner that provided Germany with additional natural gas during the cold period in early March, Mario Mehren, the CEO of the Wintershall energy company, said. [...]
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Hungary Repatriating Tons of Gold From UK Amid Fears of Economic Crisis
Central banks around the world have been building up their gold stockpiles to make sure they are stored on soil they can trust. The National Bank of Hungary (MNB) says it is bringing back three tons of the country’s gold reserves stored at the Bank of England in London, Gold Seek reported. The move to repatriate 130 million dollars’ worth of gold from Budapest previously stored on Britis [...]
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Schwarzenegger wants to sue Big Oil for ‘First Degree Murder’
Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced that he is taking oil companies to court “for knowingly killing people all over the world.” “This is no different from the smoking issue. The tobacco industry knew for years and years and years and decades, that smoking would kill people, would harm people and create cancer, and were hiding that fact from the people and denied it. [...]
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Agriculture makes much more money for Russia than arms exports – Putin
The recent boost in Russian agriculture has made food sales abroad much more profitable for the country than exports of military weapons, according to President Vladimir Putin. “Today, agriculture exports exceed arms sales by more than a third. $28.8 billion from agricultural sector, $15.6 billion from the defense industry," Putin told farmers in Krasnodar on Monday. [...]
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‘We Are not Afraid’: EU Stands-Up to Trade ‘Bullies’ in Tariff Row With US
The EU's top trade official has employed strong rhetoric as the row with US President Donald Trump over steel and aluminum tariffs heats up following fruitless talks. European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem has promised that Europe would fight back against those who intimidate its trade after joint talks with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Minister of Economy, Trade and I [...]
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‘Neither good nor easy to win’: EU, China gear up for trade war with US
European and Chinese officials are firing shots across America’s bow over plans by the Trump administration to impose protectionist tariffs on its steel and aluminum imports. A trade war looms as a result. President Donald Trump is expected to set tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum this week. [...]
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On the Brink of Trade War: EU to Hit Back With Tariffs on Iconic US Goods
In case US President Donald Trump doesn’t back down on his decision to impose stiff tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, European Union (EU) is set to implement retaliatory restrictions, including a 25 percent tariff on US jeans. Last week Trump announced the imposition of 25 percent tariffs on EU exports of steel and 10 percent on aluminum, adding that similar restrictions would be placed on [...]
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Trump’s trade war will hurt everyone — the only question is how much
"I don’t know anybody who thinks that trade wars are something you win." Historically, the United States has focused on staying out of trade wars. Not so under President Donald Trump, who last week announced plans to slap sweeping tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and asserted that trade wars are good and easy to win. [...]
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‘That’d Make Sense’: Porsche Eyes Flying Taxi
German car maker Porsche continues to impress and is mulling a new way to create a vehicle which would be able to easily navigate around any potential gridlock on city highways. In an interview with the German magazine Automobilwoche, Porsche sales chief Detlev von Platen said that it did not rule out the creation of a flying passenger vehicle by Volkswagen's sports car maker. [...]
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Venezuelan state oil firm to strike deals using national cryptocurrency
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ordered the country’s state energy company PDVSA to close some of its purchase and sale deals using the national commodity-backed digital currency ‘petro.’ The country’s oil ministry tweeted the president’s directive, which also applies to Venezuelan state-run conglomerate CVG, which is charged with economic development in the Guayana region. [...]
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Obama tried to close a big pollution loophole. Trump wants to keep it.
The EPA is using a shady study to carve out a massive pollution exemption for dirty glider trucks. The Environmental Protection Agency is trying to protect a loophole that allows vastly more pollution than is typically permitted from heavy-duty commercial vehicles — all in the name of helping out a Trump supporter. [...]
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Nord Stream 2 to Squeeze Poland Out of European Gas Market
Germany has allowed Russia’s Gazprom to build and operate the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the country’s territorial waters. The decision comes as bad news for Poland, which fears Nord Stream 2 would will increase Europe’s dependence on imported Russian gas. [...]
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Leaked Trump Infrastructure Plan Ripped as Thinly-Veiled ‘Assault on the Environment’
"The memo reveals an infrastructure plan that is essentially a giveaway to corporations at the expense of the American people and our environment." Green groups reacted with alarm on Friday to a leaked Trump administration infrastructure draft that proposes a drastic rollback of environmental regulations in an attempt to expedite the construction of water-threatening oil pipelines, roads, bridges [...]
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The Dangerous Erosion of U.S. Leadership
Despite Donald Trump’s speech to the World Economic Forum in which he attempted to reassure global leaders on his “America First” ideology, the damage to U.S. credibility may already be done, as Alon Ben-Meir explains. Just one year after Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States, the U.S. has already experienced alarming setbacks to its global leadership ro [...]
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Solar Import Tariff: Pain Without Benefit
The new 30% import tariff just imposed on imported solar panels and solar cells is a protective tariff without benefit. It will not revive the declining U.S. silicon solar cell industry. It will harm U.S. workers in factories manufacturing solar panels using imported solar cells. It will hurt the rapidly expanding U.S.solar industry, slowing down the rapidly growing adoption of solar across the U [...]
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Chocolate Bunnies, Slave Labor, and Water Theft: The Horrible Nestle Story
Recently it was discovered that the Nestle corporation had been abusing their water permits in California, essentially stealing millions of gallons of water to bottle and sell to consumers in one of the most drought-ravaged states in the country. But Nestle’s disgusting story goes far beyond water stealing. Attorneys Mike Papantonio and Peter Mougey discuss this. Chocolate Bunnies, Slave [...]
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Chinese State Media Says US Government Shutdown Lays Bare ‘Chronic Flaws’
On Saturday, the US federal government shut down due to a lack of funding after Democrats in the Senate prevented Republicans from passing the spending bill. The US government shutdown raises questions about the viability and legitimacy of America’s political system, Chinese state media has reported. [...]
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Extinguishing the Chinese Sun: Did the US Just Declare Economic War on Asia?
Amid protests from Beijing and Seoul over new US trade restrictions on washing machines and solar panels, Russian journalist and geopolitical analyst Viktor Marakhovsky explains why Washington's move is really part of a much broader, considerably more significant series of processes marking the decline of US global hegemony. [...]
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Trump & the Fed: US Shadow Bankers About to Deepen Control of US Economy
What’s sometime referred to as ‘shadow bankers’ have been running the economy and drafting US domestic economic policy since Trump took office. ‘Shadow’ banks include such financial institutions as investment banks, private equity firms, hedge funds, insurance companies, finance companies, asset management companies, etc. [...]
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