Russia says it will keep its embargo on European and US foods in place as long as Western sanctions against Moscow are not lifted. Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said on Thursday that “the embargo will stay” if the West renews its bans on Russia which have been imposed over the country’s alleged role in the crisis in eastern Ukraine. He added that the ban is not “a goal in... 

Ambassadors from the European Union member states have agreed to prolong until 2016 the bloc’s punitive measures against Russia over its alleged involvement in Ukraine’s crisis. On Wednesday, the EU Committee of Permanent Representatives reached an agreement on extending bloc’s economic sanctions against Moscow by six more months, Russia’s Interfax news agency said, citing EU diplomatic source. Envoys... 

Athens is likely to leave the eurozone and the EU if it fails to reach an agreement to unlock a €7.2 billion bailout installment, said a statement from the Bank of Greece. “Failure to reach an agreement would, …, mark the beginning of a painful course that would lead initially to a Greek default and ultimately to the country’s exit from the euro area and – most likely – from the... 

Austrian police officers check cars near the Austrian town of Telfs, the venue of the Bilderberg conference. Protesters have gathered outside the venue of this year’s Bilderberg conference, slamming it as a gathering of criminals. Established in 1954, the Bilderberg conference is an annual meeting of political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia and media sectors. On Saturday, large... 

European countries, international creditors and the Greek opposition have declared a war on Greece (resembling the one on Yugoslavia) but the government will stay true to its election promises, Labor Minister Panos Skourletis of Syriza said. “The months following the elections were extremely hard. Never before has the government, which received a clear popular mandate, faced such a war waged... 

International Monetary Fund representatives have cut short negotiations with Greek officials in Brussels, after they failed to present a viable reform plan. The move has left Athens, due to repay €1.6 billion by the end June, on the edge of default. “The ball is very much in Greece’s court,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told the media during a specially scheduled announcement, before his team... 

Greek anti-austerity activists have occupied the Finance Ministry building in the capital, Athens, in protest of new austerity measures dictated by international creditors. The protesters took down the European Union (EU) flag waving over the building and put up a banner with portrays of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras alongside his predecessors, George Papandreou and Antonis Samaras, reading “We... 

Monsanto, the agrochemical and seed giant, is eyeing a move to the UK as part of a complex merger with Swiss rival Syngenta that would take advantage of Chancellor George Osborne’s lower corporation tax rate. The US firm is proposing a so-called “corporate inversion,” or “tax inversion,” which would involve setting up a new company registered in the UK. Syngenta rejected the $45 billion... 

The Self-Organized European Citizens’ Initiative Stop TTIP, the group behind the petition, note that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is “a threat to democracy, the environment, consumers and labor standards.” More than 2 million Europeans have signed a petition against the controversial free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States,... 

The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade package is beginning to unravel, with more prominent voices slamming President Obama and the Republican leadership over the secretive deal that threatens to cost American jobs and hand big corporations new powers that would violate national sovereignty. House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Rules Committee chairman Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) refused... 

A map of China’s Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road. Iran is participating in an ambitious Chinese plan to revive the Silk Road which aims to connect Asia to Europe and Africa through a network of roads, railways, ports and airports. Deputy Economy Minister Massoud Karbasian says Iran will turn to a transit route for more than 12 million tonnes of goods a year if the Silk Road... 

Stocks traditionally show weakness from May through October. Stocks hit their lowest point of the year on October 27th. Moreover, the Dow Jones Industrial Average began plunging right at this time of the year just prior to the financial crisis of 2008. Most people do remember the huge stock crash that happened in the fall of that year, but the market actually started to slide in May. Throughout the... 

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin (right) touring the exhibition “Industrial Potential of the Vladimir Region” at the third-annual Vladimir Regional Economic Forum. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin has stated that Russia’s future depends on its rebirth as a major industrial power, noting that Russian manufacturers must recapture the domestic market, and that... 

A new scandal involving leading financial institutions in Europe and the US has been added to the list of previous cases. Barclays, RBS, JPMorgan, Bank of America, UBS and Citigroup are accused of manipulating foreign exchange market which the FBI says involved criminality “on a massive scale”. Four banks have agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to fix prices and rig bids in the $5.3-trillion... 

Israel is hoping to receive $4.2-$4.5 billion a year in military aid from the United States for ten years, to counter the threat from Iran and oil-rich Middle East states that have been re-arming rapidly, a senior Israeli source has told Defense News Under a 10-year deal signed in 2007, Israel receives just over $3 billion a year in American aid, with stipulations that over 70 percent of that aid...