The world’s biggest e-commerce firm Alibaba is interested in a suggestion from President Putin to create a platform that would help Russian companies export abroad. “We have seen the initiative of President Putin to create an electronic platform that would help Russian small and medium enterprises to enter export markets. And we hope very much that we can contribute to its implementation,”... 

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is starting 2016 with the goal of winning the trust of investors, sellers and buyers. The company plans to crack down on unauthorized merchandise sold on its platform. Alibaba is highly dependent on its home market which generates more than 80 percent of the company’s revenue. But with pressure from the slowing Chinese economy, the company set a strategy for international... 

Activists who think that Ukraine’s 2016 budget screams death to the agricultural sector have brought a dead pig in a coffin to the Verkhovna Rada building in Kiev and held a mock funeral ceremony. The angry protesting farmers and their supporters demand to keep a simplified tax system and special VAT rules for the agricultural sector in 2016, something the announced budget lacks as Ukraine has to... 

Deputies of the Ukraine’s parliament have voted in favor of introducing a trade embargo against Russia. This is a response to Moscow cancelling a free trade agreement with Ukraine as the country joins the European market. According to proposer Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk the embargo will begin on January 1, the same date the Ukraine Association Agreement with the EU comes into force. The... 

China intents to impose sanctions against the American weapons suppliers to Taiwan. The statement was made by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry has already voiced a vigorous protest to the agreement worth $1.83 billion and delivered a note to the US Chargé d’Affaires. Mikhail Karpov, Associate Professor at the School of Asian Studies, Faculty of World Economy and International... 

China says its economic growth is expected to slow slightly to 6.8 percent next year. China’s central bank announced on Wednesday that the country’s economic growth is expected to slow slightly to 6.8 percent next year. The figure by the People’s Bank of China is slightly lower than its forecast of 6.9-percent expansion for the current year, AFP has quoted the country’s official Xinhua... 

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk declared a moratorium on the payment of three-billion-dollar debt to Russia. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine supported his decision. In addition, the official Kiev is not going to pay the debt of $507 million to Russian banks (the debt was amassed by two Ukrainian companies that collaborated with Russian banks). “From today, all payments shall be... 

Russia may impose additional sanctions against Turkey that may affect the hospitality industry, woodworking, pilot training, as well as all government orders. In fact, it goes about the move to stop the imports of works and services. Russian legal entities will not be allowed to enter into contracts with relevant Turkish counterparts, RT reports. According to the Kommersant newspaper, the Ministry... 

Not long after the White House invited Thailand to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the AP reported the country was relying on slave labor to ship shrimp to the U.S. And it’s unlikely Thailand’s billion-dollar slave industry would prevent it from joining the TPP considering that Obama previously removed an anti-slavery provision from the TPP and also allowed Vietnam to join the partnership... 

Brazil’s inflation climbed above 10 percent in November reaching the highest level in 12 years. Brazil’s inflation climbed above 10 percent in November reaching the highest level in 12 years, the government announced on Wednesday. Consumer prices over the past month stood at 10.48 percent – a figure that was above expectations and could force tighter monetary policy despite a severe recession. The... 

Three automakers from Sweden, Germany and France will resume operations in Iran when a July nuclear accord goes into effect, instead of moving to impoverished East-EU states to support their economy. Iran is also in talks with Italian and Japanese carmakers for cooperation but they still have to reach an agreement, he told reporters on the sidelines of an Iran-Finland trade forum in Tehran on Tuesday. “We... 

Syria has announced plan to export more than 700,000 tons of citrus fruits to Russia after Moscow banned imports of Turkish fruit and vegetables in response to the downing of its bomber plane over Syria. A senior Syrian government official said on Tuesday that the measure aims to “fill the gap” left by Moscow’s ban on Turkish agricultural products, AFP reported. “We are preparing... 

A gold-backed ruble and gold-backed yuan could start a ‘snowball exit’ from dollar Frederick William Engdahl notes, adding that it will diminish America’s ability to use the reserve dollar role to finance Washington’s perpetual overseas wars. The irony of the situation is that the central banks of China, Russia, Brazil and other countries “diametrically opposed”... 

The nation needs Donald Trump in the Oval Office if it hopes to return to the great country it once used to be, the presidential candidate said on Wednesday. Speaking to radio host Alex Jones about the urgency of the 2016 election, the GOP frontrunner asserted he was “in this to win it,” and promised not to step down if he were to receive death threats two months out from the election. “I am... 

Shareholders in Finnish telecom group Nokia approved the company’s acquisition of French-American rival Alcatel-Lucent. Shareholders in Finnish telecom group Nokia approved the company’s acquisition of French-American rival Alcatel-Lucent on Wednesday, paving the way for the creation of a mobile phone networks giant, AFP reported. They approved the transaction at an extraordinary general...