The European Central Bank unexpectedly cut interest rates to 0.05% from 0.15% in a strong response to combat deflation. The move comes as the EU is struggling to boost its stagnating economy, which Draghi. “Growth recovery was losing momentum,” ECB President Mario Draghi said at the news conference after the announcement was made to cut rates further. [...]

A federal judge on Thursday said oil giant BP acted with gross negligence ahead of the catastrophic 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico, paving the way for the corporation to pay perhaps billions of dollars in fines. “BP’s conduct was reckless,” United States District Judge Carl Barbier wrote in a decision handed down early Thursday from a federal courthouse in Louisiana. [...]

PRAGUE — Andriy Kobolyev, 36, faces the daunting task of keeping Ukraine warm this winter. With tensions rising daily between Russia and Ukraine, Kobolyev, chief executive officer of Ukraine's state gas company Naftogaz, must try to negotiate a continued flow of gas from its Russian supplier Gazprom, weed out graft and corruption, and find alternative supplies from the European Union. Perhaps [...]

Canadian honey producers have filed a class-action lawsuit against Bayer and Syngenta to recover losses dating as far back as 2006, claiming that neonicotinoids they produce and sell are killing bees and cause massive material damage. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of all Canadian beekeepers by honey producers Sun Parlor Honey Ltd. and Munro Honey alleges that Bayer Cropscience Inc. and Syngenta [...]

Moscow's 15-month marathon of energy deals with China will boost the credit of Russian oil and gas companies and reduce Russia's reliance on European energy markets, Moody's Ratings Agency said in a note. Russia’s oil majors- Rosneft, Gazprom, and Novatek have all struck major deals with Chinese partners, which provide long-term financial stability for the companies, which are at risk of West [...]

The European Union may ban the "re-selling" of gas and limit industrial use as part of a contingency plan to create a stockpile for next winter, in case Russian gas stops flowing through Ukraine, according to a European Commission source. Foreseeing a possible halt in supplies over the political standoff between Russia and Ukraine, Europe has an emergency plan to stock up on energy supplies, th [...]

The Australian government on Monday unveiled further sanctions against Russian oil and gas, financial and defense sectors, bringing Canberra in line with the European Union. Under the new sanctions there will be no new arms exports and no new exports for the oil and gas industry, Prime Minister Tony Abbott told the Australian parliament. [...]

As one of the preconditions to authorizing close to $300 million in aid, the United States is pressuring El Salvador to purchase genetically modified seeds from Monsanto instead of non-GM seeds from local farmers. According to Sustainable Pulse, a website covering developments related to genetically modified organisms and sustainable agriculture, the US will reportedly withhold $277 million in [...]

Ukraine's bid for closer ties with the west could come at a cost. With the IMF set to loan the country $17 billion, the deal could also see GMO crops grown in some of the most fertile lands on the continent, warns Frederic Mousseau. Very few, not least the Ukrainian population are aware of these details, but according to Mousseau, who is a Policy Director at The Oakland Institute, in return for [...]

Russian gas sector should not be subjected to EU sanctions despite the situation in Ukraine, EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said Thursday. "Gas is not a suitable sector for sanctions, as in this case everyone will lose - Russia, Ukraine and the European Union," RIA Novosti cites Oettinger as saying. [...]

The United States Department of Transportation is taking the next step towards creating a "vehicle-to-vehicle" communications system that will allow light autos on the road to receive and broadcast critical information to one another. Last week, the DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, published an “advance notice of proposed rulemaking” in the Federal Register [...]

As much as Iran, Russia, the US and the EU are involved in a sophisticated nuclear/energy ballet, Syria and Ukraine are also two key power play vectors bound to determine much of what happens next in the New Great Game in Eurasia. And both Syria and Ukraine also happen to be energy wars. The Obama administration’s Syria master plan was ‘Assad must go’; regime change would yield a US-su [...]

Facebook has been given four weeks to respond to a class action, launched against it by an Austrian activist and supported by 60,000 users. The suit claims Facebook violated users' privacy, by cooperating with the NSA's PRISM program. The class action initiated by Max Schrems, an Austrian lawyer, data privacy activist and founder of Europe vs. Facebook group has passed its first review in the V [...]

In a surprise U-turn, China's Ministry of Agriculture has decided not to continue with a program which developed genetically-modified rice and corn. Some environmentalists say public concerns about GM crops played a key role in the decision. On August 17, when these permits were up for renewal, the Ministry of Agriculture decided not to extend them. In 2009, the ministry's Biosafety Committee i [...]

America's second largest lender has reached a $16.65 billion settlement with US federal authorities for selling toxic mortgages misleading investors, the Justice Department said Thursday. “This historic resolution - the largest such settlement on record - goes far beyond ‘the cost of doing business,’” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement posted on the US Justice Department w [...]

A couple of weeks ago the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung claimed that Germany was refusing to sign off the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA). The simple reason being the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) regulation which I have written about here. [...]

Russia and China plan to increase technology cooperation, with Moscow set to increase exports of software in exchange for data storage, Russia's Communications Minister said. Nikolay Nikiforov, head of Russia's Ministry of Communications, announced via Twitter that Russia and China have agreed to increase the supply of Chinese servers and storage systems and production in Russia, and to boost t [...]

The European Commission said it will provide up to €125 million from Monday till the end of November to compensate food producers coping with Moscow’s food ban. “The exceptional measures announced today will include market withdrawals especially for free distribution, compensation for non-harvesting and green harvesting. [...]

Forget Visa and MasterCard. After the two American credit system payment companies froze accounts without notice in March, Russia has been looking for an alternative in China UnionPay. China UnionPay plans to have 2 million cards in Russia in the next three years. [...]

While the West is continuing to try and punish Russia via economic sanctions, the response of the Russian Central Bank has been to diversify away from the euro and dollar – and to buy up more gold. As the geopolitical situation in Ukraine deteriorates, Russia is moving to protect itself from currency risks associated with the euro and the greenback. [...]

Washington has refused to allow the UN International Court of Justice (IJC) to hear Argentina's claims that US court decisions on the country's debt have violated Argentina's sovereignty. “We do not view the ICJ as an appropriate venue for addressing Argentina’s debt issues, and we continue to urge Argentina to engage with its creditors to resolve remaining issues with bondholders,” the U [...]

Google's hired eyes in the sky will soon be able to make out “manholes and mailboxes.- What else? Google will soon have an unprecedented ability to spy on you from space. Theoretically, at least. How? Two months ago, after much lobbying by the biggest satellite company in North America, DigitalGlobe, the US government relaxed restrictions to allow for commercially available satellit [...]