Russia says Ukraine’s failure to pay its growing gas debt may impact gas delivery to European countries. Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Saturday that Moscow may be forced to cut off natural gas supplies to Europe over Ukraine’s mounting unpaid gas debt. According to Novak, Ukraine currently owes Russia over USD 2.230 billion in unpaid gas bills and the debt is to rise, as the... 

Ukraine has stopped pumping Russian gas to its underground storages as Ukraine does not accept the natural gas price of $485 per 1,000 cubic meters. Russia has recently eliminated a gas discount it had given Ukraine, arguing that it was tied to a lease for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet base in Crimea peninsula. Officials say they are ready to pay $268 while Russia pointed to $2.2 billion debt Ukraine... 

Russia is going to write off 90 percent of Cuba’s $32 billion Soviet-era debt as part of a deal to end a 20-year dispute, according to diplomatic sources cited by Reuters. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev agreed to write off the island’s debt during a visit to Havana in February 2013, stressing details would be finalized by the end of the year. In October, the two sides announced a refinancing... 

A new poll shows that a majority of Americans think that the United States should “mind its own business internationally.” Fifty-two percent of US citizens believe that their country should “mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along as they best can,” according to a new Pew Research poll released on Tuesday. This is the highest rating ever recorded by the Pew... 

More than 10,000 Greek workers have taken to the streets in the capital to protest against the government’s austerity measures, as inspectors of the troika of international lenders are in Athens to review the country’s bailout. Some 12,000 people participated in two separate marches to parliament on Wednesday in Athens. Similar protests were also held in the country’s second largest city,... 

In light of the arrogant and brazen internationalism courtesy of Antonis Samaras and the unconstitutional and unlawful persecution of the leader and Members of Golden Dawn, he is now expecting people to give a “thank you” to the international usurers, who with the help of this domestic political puppet continue to steal from the Greek People. The lackeys of militant journalism sunk to the lowest... 

Standard & Poor’s says the shutdown in total cost the US economy $24 billion, or $1.5 billion per day, the rating agency said Wednesday. The agency also estimated the shutdown will pare fourth quarter GDP by 0.6 percent. Obama has signed legislation that will avoid a technical debt default, ending the 16-day partial shutdown of the government that has cost the world’s largest economy... 

Greeks protest against the government’s austerity measures and the layoff of public workers during a rally in the city of Thessaloniki on September 7, 2013. Greeks have taken to the streets in yet another mass anti-austerity demonstration despite the government’s talk of improvement in the recession-hit economy. Thousands of people, including union workers, rallied in the country’s second largest... 

German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, has unexpectedly said that Greece will need more financial help, admitting for the first time that $328 billion pledged so far won’t be enough to save Greece from bankruptcy. Schäuble’s surprise admission of this deeply unpopular prospect comes at a sensitive time for his party. Germany will hold a general election on September 22. “There... 

A German flag flies in front of the Bundesbank headquarters in Frankfurt. A report has revealed a document showing Germany’s central bank predicts that the recession-hit Greece will need more rescue loans from its international creditors by the start of the next year. According to the report published by prominent German magazine Der Spiegel earlier this week, the document from the Bundesbank... 

Japan’s national debt exceeded 1,000 trillion yen, or $10.46 trillion, for the first time. It’s now well above 200% of the country’s GDP and is larger than that of Germany, France and the UK combined. Japan has increased borrowing this year to spend more on the country’s infrastructure as part of an ambitious program of economic stimulus aimed at ending 20 years of stagnation and falling... 

Australia will post a budget deficit of $30.1 billion for the fiscal year, a gross miscalculation from its May estimate of $18 billion, but the government promises to stay on track. Federal Treasurer Chris Bowen, speaking on the newly-released economic report, said Australia is undergoing ‘economic transition’ and ‘not a crisis’. Bowen predicts weaker economic growth, increased unemployment,... 

Protestors in Detroit last month objected to plans to cut pension benefits of city workers and retirees. The federal judge overseeing Detroit’s bankruptcy case says he will hold a hearing Wednesday to take up a request by the city’s emergency manager to put on hold state lawsuits challenging the bankruptcy filing. The new development comes as the legal wrangling over the bankruptcy of the city... 

Europe plunged into financial crisis in early 2008. Official data show the collective debt in the eurozone has hit a new record high of 92.2 percent in first quarter of 2013, as the 17-nation bloc continues to grapple with a worsening financial crisis. The data released by Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, on Monday showed that government debt as a share of the total annual GDP of the eurozone... 

Chinese held US federal debt has reached a record $1.3 trillion. In May 2013 China bought $25.2 billion in US Treasury notes and bonds, according to Xinhua News Agency. “US bonds remain one of the most attractive financial instruments in terms of safety. Recovery of the US economy strengthens the dollar, which is also a positive factor,” Chinese experts are quoted by the Chinese News Agency. China’s...