On Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, the Russian government moved forward by presidential decree to disenfranchise the owners of the Sakhalin-1 energy project, including the foreign nationals of several countries that the Russian government designated as "unfriendly countries," Mondaq reported. Russia has applied the "unfriendly country" designation to any country, including the U.S., that has joined in international sanctions against Russia.

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Life doesn’t get much easier for troubled EV maker Arrival: Shares in the Nasdaq-listed, but UK-based, company have continued to slide – falling from $0.42 to $0.38, following a worrying third quarter trading update from the company, capital.com reported. Arrival revealed a loss for the period of $310.3m, compared to a loss of $30.6m in the third quarter of 2021. This Q3 loss in 2022 included non-cash impairment charges and write-offs of $232m. Adjusted EBITDA loss for the period was $73.3m, compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $45.9m in third quarter of 2021.

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Workers walked off the job in Greece and Belgium on Wednesday during nationwide strikes against increasing consumer prices, disrupting transportation, forcing flight cancellations and shutting down public services in the latest European protests over the rising cost of living, the Associated Press reported. In Greece, where workers were holding a 24-hour general strike, thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki.

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The American owners of Liverpool F.C., one of soccer’s most storied teams, have hired Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to explore a sale of the club, a six-time European champion, according to two people with direct knowledge of the team’s plans, the New York Times reported. Word that Liverpool’s owners are mulling a potential sale comes only months after a group led by the California-based investment fund Clearlake paid a record $3 billion for Liverpool’s Premier League rival Chelsea.

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Croydon Council has hired a firm to investigate the leaking of a long-awaited report about the authority’s financial collapse in 2020, MyLondon reported. The Penn Report was completed 18 months ago and was written by Local Government Association’s Richard Penn. He looked into the financial mismanagement of the council before it was forced to issue a Section 114 notice, declaring effective bankruptcy. Despite being completed 18 months ago, the damning report has remained unpublished officially.

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A court in Skopje is examining the grounds for opening bankruptcy proceedings against North Macedonia-based construction company Beton Skopje at the request of company employees, the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia said on Tuesday, SeeNews reported. The court has appointed an interim bankruptcy administrator and prohibited the company from using its property without the approval of the administrator, the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia said in a statement published on its Facebook profile.

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British finance minister Jeremy Hunt will seek to fill a 50 billion pound ($57 billion) hole in the country's public finances with around 30 billion pounds of spending cuts and 20 billion in tax rises, two government sources said on Monday, Reuters reported. Hunt is due to present a fiscal statement to parliament on Nov. 17, in a bid to restore financial market confidence after his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng's Sept. 23 tax cutting plan pushed sterling to a record low against the U.S. dollar and ultimately forced Liz Truss to resign as prime minister.
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Britain's banks were slow to start passing on increases in central bank interest rates to savers and consumers should consider switching to another UK lender, the Financial Conduct Authority said on Monday, Reuters reported. Banks have been quick to pass on higher interest rates to their mortgage customers, but savers are also keen to get better returns after years of record low central bank interest rates. "It was a slow start," FCA Chief Executive Nikhil Rathi told parliament's Treasury Select Committee. "I would also encourage consumers to actively consider switching," Rathi said.
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German industry has called for a delay to a global minimum corporate tax by at least a year to 2025 to give companies more time to prepare given the current crisis, according to a position paper published by industry association BDI on Monday, Reuters reported. "The ambitious timetable of applying the minimum tax as early as 2024 is not realistic against the background of the enormous complexity of the associated new regulations," BDI said.
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The European Central Bank should keep raising interest rates, even at a reduced pace, until inflation excluding energy and food prices starts to ease, Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said, Bloomberg News reported. "As long as underlying inflation has not clearly peaked, we shouldn’t stop on rates,” the Bank of France Governor said in an interview with the Irish Times. Focusing on underlying components of price gauges could mean that policymakers keep raising rates well into next year, even if overall numbers start to decline when energy costs ease.
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