Section: Main news
How ExxonMobil helped defeat Russia sanctions bill
ExxonMobil successfully lobbied against a bill that would have made it harder for the next president to lift sanctions against Russia, clearing the way for the oil giant to restart a program worth billions of dollars if Donald Trump eases those restrictions as president, according to POLITICO. The company`s effort could be helped by outgoing CEO...
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passes anti-corruption amendments to Tax Code
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has adopted the bill, suggesting a number of amendments to the Tax Code, which minimize corruption risks in the bodies of the State Fiscal Service and improve Ukraine`s investment climate. 240 MPs, with the required minimum of 226 votes, supported the corresponding bill On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine...
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passes state budget 2017
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine overnight Wednesday, December 21, adopted as a whole the government-proposed bill on the state budget for 2017, with a 3% deficit and a 3% economic growth, according to an UNIAN correspondent. Draft law on the state budget No.5000 was supported by 274 MPs with the required minimum of 226 votes. While introducing the...
Moscow police free Radio Liberty journalist, provide no explanation
Ivan Voronin, a journalist of the Russian language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, who was detained by Moscow police amid a rally on Tuesday, December 20, together with seven more people, including a French national, has been released, according to his colleague from Radio Liberty Alina Shvydko. ”According to the journalist [Voronin],...
Obama bans drilling in parts of the Atlantic, the Arctic
President Obama announced on Tuesday what he called a permanent ban on offshore oil and gas drilling along wide areas of the Arctic and the Atlantic Seaboard as he tried to nail down an environmental legacy that cannot quickly be reversed by Donald J. Trump, according to The New York Times. Mr. Obama invoked an obscure provision of a 1953 law,...
Naftogaz`s net profit increased by 109 times in 9 months, nearing $1 bln
Oil and gas giant NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine`s net profit skyrocketed by 109 times January-September 2016, to UAH 25.5 billion, or about US$960 million. Its net revenue from sales in the nine months of 2016 amounted to UAH 95.5 billion, which was 28.9% up year-over-year, the company said in the information disclosure system of the National...
Polish parliament lifts media ban but opposition demands more
Poland`s lower house of parliament lifted a temporary ban on media access on Tuesday in an effort to defuse anti-government protests that have paralyzed the assembly, but the opposition said more still needed to be done, according to Reuters. The clampdown on media access planned by the ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party is among a...
Lukewarm on Putin-Abe Hot Springs Summit
Russian President Vladimir Putin held all the cards in the Kuril Islands negotiations with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on 15-16 December. Amid a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape there were advances, but those who expected that the two leaders would, at one stroke, resolve the decades-old territorial dispute, were disappointed. Putin...
U.S. adds 7 individuals to sanctions list, 8 entities over Crimea occupation
The U.S. Department of the Treasury`s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on December 20, 2016, designated seven individuals and eight entities under two Executive orders (E.O.s) related to Russia and Ukraine, and identified two vessels as blocked property. ”Today`s action is part of Treasury`s continued effort to counter attempts to...
Ukraine sees 2% rise in GDP in the third quarter of 2016 year-over-year
Ukraine saw a 2% rise in GDP in the third quarter of 2016 year-over-year, according to an updated report provided by the State Statistics Service. ”Nominal GDP in the third quarter of 2016 was estimated at UAH 664.7 billion. Real GDP was 100.5% compared to the previous quarter and 102% compared to the third quarter of 2015,” the State Statistics...