Tesla to start production despite Kovid-19 ban

Tesla CEO Elon Musk reported that they will restart car production, despite the instructions for keeping workplaces and factories closed that need not remain open due to the new type of coronavirus (Kovid-19) outbreak.

In a statement on his Twitter account, Musk announced that Tesla will start producing electric cars again today, despite the Kovid-19 ban.

Elon Musk said, “I will be on the field like everyone else today. If someone is going to be arrested, I want that person to be me. ''

Smokers should switch from cigarettes to vaping, says world's biggest tobacco firm

The world's biggest tobacco company is encouraging smokers to give up cigarettes and switch to vaping in a multi-million pound campaign.

The £2 million campaign, called Hold My Light, is aimed at persuading the UK’s 7.4 million smokers to go “smoke free” with the help of family and friends.

Smokers are encouraged to give up the habit for a minimum of a month based on Public Health England research that found smokers who gave up for 28 days were five times more likely to stop smoking completely.

Volkswagen faces inquiry call over diesel fume tests on monkeys

Public criticism of the German auto industry has escalated after a report that an industry-sponsored entity commissioned a study of the effects of diesel exhaust using monkeys, while another study exposed humans to low levels of one type of air pollutant.

The German government said on Monday such studies were unjustifiable. The tests were reportedly commissioned by a research group funded by major German auto companies.

Volkswagen sought to distance itself from them, with its chairman saying that "in the name of the whole board I emphatically disavow such practices."

Ruble-yuan settlements booming, set to reshape global finance

Settlements in local currencies between Russia and China now account for 7 percent of the bilateral trade, but the potential for growth is tremendous, experts tell RT. Yuan-ruble trade in Russia has grown 700 percent in a year.

Growing cooperation between Russia and China has become one of the hottest topics in the global economy. It is signaling the emergence of a strong alliance of one the world’s richest and strongest economies, which is expected to reshape the existing western-dominated economic model.

While energy deals between the resource – rich Russia and resource – hungry China look natural, bringing the countries’ finances closer looks like a real challenge to the US dollar system, experts agree, although the transition won’t be quick.

“The transition from the usual scheme of payments in major currencies is not a quick process, but with a certain political will and sufficient mechanisms of hedging currency risks in exports and imports it is quite feasible,”

Aleksandr Prosviryakov, Treasuries & Commodities Manager at PWC, told RT. He added that the first step towards this was the signing of a three-year agreement on currency swap worth 150 billion yuan in October 2014.

Currency swaps allow companies in both countries to use national currencies in mutual settlements. That means the Russian importers can purchase Chinese products with yuan, and the Chinese can make payments in rubles.

READ MORE: Ditching US dollar: China, Russia launch financial tools in local currencies

“We see a pretty rapid intensification of trade in the yuan-ruble currency pair in Russia,”

he said adding that the volume on the Moscow Exchange increased by 8 times in comparison with the previous year, and 6 times in the OTC market.

Prosviryakov said the agreement to supply Russian oil to China through the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean pipeline was the first major project implemented through settlement in local currencies.

An increased use of national currencies by major exporting and importing countries will lead to a reduction in the share of traditional currencies in international payments, he added.

The US dollar still remains preeminent in global trade; more than 80 percent is settled in dollars and 60 percent in international reserves. However, in 2014, the yuan leaped to nine percent of international settlements, which gives a chance that its role in the world financial system will become more important.

“There is a reason to believe that this trend will continue in the coming years and the role of the yuan will increase rapidly not only in international trade, but as the currency of international reserves of the central banks,”

he said.

China's decision to establish and lead the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is “the real crux of Beijing's current long-term international economic and financial strategy,”

Brendan O'Reilly, China-based writer and educator told RT.

“Now Beijing is making its own global bank that can compete with Western-dominated institutions,”

he said.

Fifty-seven countries have been approved as founding members of AIIB with Russia expected to become the bank’s third largest participant.

“I think Russia's participation in AIIB will have a positive impact on economic and trade cooperation between the two countries,”

said Prosviryakov. “One of the bank’s main tasks is financing infrastructure projects, a large part of which will be located on the territory of Russia. Investments in infrastructure will contribute to the development of bilateral trade, which will increase the likelihood of achieving the ambitious goal of the two countries to increase the turnover to $200 billion dollars by 2020.”

Even US allies such as Germany and the UK have signed on despite American objections, O'Reilly said.

“If the AIIB succeeds in its long-term goals of supporting Eurasian transport and trade infrastructure, then China, Russia, and many other states stand to benefit enormously,”

he said.

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Alexandre Lamfalussy, one of the fathers of the euro

The Hungarian-born Baron Alexandre Lamfalussy, one of the fathers of the EU’s single currency, the euro, has died in Belgium aged 86.
A naturalised Belgian since 1961 after he fled to the country before the iron curtain fell completely, he carved out a career in banking in Brussels before moving to the Bank of International Settlements in Switzerland.
In 1994 he was chosen to lead the European Monetary Institute, the forerunner of the European Central Bank, and it was from here that he helped devise and launch the euro.
His one expressed regret was that the euro was launched without a harmonised monetary policy.

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Sharp shares routed in Tokyo

Shares in loss-making Japanese electronics giant Sharp have taken a bath in Tokyo, at one point losing 31% and seeing nearly nine hundred million euros of value wiped off the books.
The fall came after Sharp said it will reduce capital and issue preferred shares to restructure the company, but investors’ fears of share dilution and further fund-raising sent them running.
Sharp needed a major bailout in 2012 after its core LCD screen business was ravaged by cheaper Asian rivals, and the company is in talks with its lenders about another.

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Waterford Wedgewood sold to Fiskars

One of Ireland’s most iconic companies, Waterford Wedgewood, has been sold to Finland’s Fiskars for 391 million euros.
Waterford glassworks was founded in 1783 but then lapsed in 1851 before being revived after the second world war.
Wedgewood was founded even earlier in England in 1759, and joined forces with Waterford in 1986, but six years ago the company was ruined and collapsed with a mountain of debt, despite being owned by Ireland’s richest man, Tony O’Reilly.
US investors KPS partners stepped in in 2009 and restored the company to health.
Fiskars itself has a proud history, being founded 365 years ago.

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Another key week begins for Greece and the EU

It is another crucial week for the team of Greek negotiators trying to thrash out a deal with the Eurogroup, meeting in Brussels.
With many expecting the leftwing Syriza government to be forced to make concessions, there are disagreements over VAT reforms, and
changes to the pensions system.
“My feeling is that even at the last moment, we will have an agreement. Let’s not forget that the EU is used to solving big problems at the very last minute,” says economic analyst Napoleon Maravegias.
Greece’s creditors want nearly three billion euros of new cuts so the country can run a 1% of GDP surplus by the end of the year. Greece says it can get between 0.5% and 0.7% without the extra cuts.
“Prime Minister Tsipras and his left-wing government remain between a rock and a hard place as they know that they can’t satisfy the country’s creditors without losing credibility with their electorate. But as time is running short for Greece, they will soon have to make a final choice, no matter how hard this may be either for the country’s economy or for SYRIZA’s political future,” says euronews’ Stamatis Giannisis in Athens.

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China cuts interest rates again

China has cut its interest rates for the third time in six months in a bid to prevent 2015 from having the worst economic figures in a quarter-century.
The benchmark one-year lending rate now stands at 5.1%, but analysts say further cuts are expected this year as Beijing tries to boost growth.
Demand for Chinese goods remains soft both at home and abroad, while domestic prices remain low and interest rates remain higher than the historical average.
A cooling property market and slowing growth in manufacturing and investment have hurt the Chinese economy.

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Airbus shares slide after A400M crash

"The fact that they're getting to a situation where they can iron problems out before full production levels are hit is arguably a benefit"

Airbus shares were battered down from their all-time April high on Monday following the fatal A400M crash in Spain at the weekend.

Shares fell by 4.5% at one point, wiping out the previous week’s gains.

“It will undoubtedly have a negative effect on the share price for a brief period of time but the fact that they’re getting to a situation where they can iron it out before full production levels are hit is arguably a benefit here,” says market analyst Alastair McCaig.

The A400M project has been beset with problems from the start, and following the crash several clients have frozen their orders.

“Well there’s no denial that its nearly four years behind schedule, it’s €6bln euros over budget, that’s a lot for any program but all aircraft programs have a problem, particularly military ones where the end customer base is governments,” says Defence & Aerospace analyst Howard Wheeldon.

Shares finished the day 2% off. In March Airbus Spain fired its boss, who was deemed responsible for the delays in assembling the planes in Seville.

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Record number of Americans living abroad renounce citizenship

A record number of Americans gave up their US citizenship in the first quarter of 2015, according to IRS data. This is blamed on the taxation of income earned outside the US, along with laws expanding offshore bank account and asset reporting.

A total of 1,335 people renounced US citizenship during the first three months of the year, topping the previous record by 18 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The new figure puts 2015 on track to exceed last year's 3,415 renunciations, which is an all-time record.

READ MORE: New tax law pushes record number of Americans to renounce US citizenship

The data released by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) includes the names of those who renounced their citizenship, but not their reasons for doing so. However, it comes as the US government is becoming more aggressive when it comes to the assets of the estimated 6 million Americans who live abroad.

The United States is the only country within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that taxes citizens wherever they reside.

American citizens who live abroad can exclude as much as $100,800 in earned income and can receive tax credits for payments to foreign governments. However, US tax liabilities can apply to children born to Americans abroad. In many cases, there are only partial offsets available for double taxation.

The paperwork involved for US citizens living abroad can be so complex that it requires professional help from accountants and lawyers – resulting in incredibly high fees for a relatively simple tax return.

READ MORE: 400% rise: Fee to renounce US citizenship goes up fourfold to $2,350

Although these laws were rarely enforced in the past, scrutiny of US citizens abroad has intensified due to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), passed by Congress in 2010.

The law, which took effect in July, requires US citizens with foreign assets in excess of $50,000 to report those assets every year. It also requires foreign financial institutions to report the incomes of their US customers to the IRS.

FATCA also requires US financial institutions to impose a 30 percent withholding tax on payments made to foreign banks which don't agree to identify and provide information on US account holders.

More than 140,000 banks and other firms have signed up to comply with FATCA. However, the law has prompted some banks to decline doing business with people who have ties to the US. If a bank mistakenly fails to report accounts held by US citizens, they can face steep penalties.

The Obama administration has praised the law as the “global standard”

in battling tax evasion, though it has come under fierce criticism from many, particularly from Americans living abroad.

Washington's tax policies for those living abroad have also put two high-profile personalities in the spotlight.

READ MORE: US Treasury pressures overseas banks with ‘financial imperialism’ over tax evader

Eduardo Saverin, a Brazilian-born co-founder of Facebook, gave up his US citizenship in 2012. The billionaire moved to Singapore, where top earners are taxed only 20 percent on their earnings, and where capital gains taxes are not be imposed.

At the time, it was estimated that Saverin's move would save him $67 million in US federal taxes. However, it was never officially confirmed that his citizenship renunciation was for tax purposes.

Meanwhile, London Mayor Boris Johnson – who was born in New York – said earlier this year that he would give up his US citizenship. The statement followed his settlement of a US tax bill which he described as “absolutely outrageous.”

However, his name was not on the list released Friday.

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Ed Miliband resigns as Labour Party leader after general election defeat

Published time: May 08, 2015 08:43
Edited time: May 08, 2015 12:23 Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband. (Reuters/Darren Staples)

Ed Miliband has stood down as Labour Party leader after his party suffered a crushing defeat in the UK General Election, accepting “full responsibility” for his party’s defeat.
In an emotionally-charged address, interspersed with repeated applause from supporters, he lauded what he termed the most “united, cohesive, enjoyable campaign I’ve ever been involved in.”
He reserved particular thanks for “all those people who’ve pounded the streets” for the party.
“Britain,” he argued, “needs a strong Labour Party,” and that it was “time for someone else to take leadership of the party.”
READ MORE: UK General Election 2015 LIVE UPDATES
He praised his deputy Harriet Harman, saying she would take over while that “open, honest debate” took place.
To those he met during the campaign, he said: “Thank you for sharing your stories with me ... thank you for the selfies, and the most unlikely cult of the 21st century… Milifandom!”

DID ED MILIBAND SERIOUSLY THANK THE MILIFANDOM WHAT A BAE

— nina (@caramellester) May 8, 2015
“While we may have lost the election, the argument of our campaign will not go away,” he said.
To his party he said: “I am truly sorry I did not succeed.”
“Thank you for the privilege, I joined this party aged 17, I never dreamed I would lead it … it will be a force for change again.”
“Pick yourself up and continue the fight. We’ve come back before and we’ll come back again.”
“When we see injustice, we must tackle it,” he said.

I'm very sad about Ed Miliband resigning. There goes a politician who genuinely cared about young people and actively tried to involve us

— izzie (@_is4belle) May 8, 2015
“It is people that make change happen, I will never give up on that cause. I will never give up fighting for the Britain I believe in. I will always be there in that cause with all of you.”
In light of Labour’s abysmal performance in Scotland, and amid rumors of another Scottish independence referendum, he reiterated his commitment to the Union.
“I believe in our United Kingdom, because it is the best way of serving our country,” Miliband said. “All of us in the months ahead must rise to the challenge of keeping our country together.”
Despite Miliband’s expression of confidence in his deputy, it took Harriet Harman little over an hour to announce that she would also be stepping down once a new leader is elected by the party membership.

This has clearly been a very disappointing and difficult night for the Labour party. To every member and supporter, I want to say thank you.

— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) May 8, 2015
Labour suffered a humiliating defeat in Scotland, after the SNP won 56 out of 59 contested seats.
Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls is among senior Labour politicians to lose their seat. In a surprise outcome, contrary to pre-election polls, the Conservatives emerged with the largest share of seats. David Cameron is well on his way to securing a majority, while Labour and the Liberal Democrats have suffered humiliating losses.
Projections say Cameron will win 328 seats in total – enough to command a majority in the House of Commons.
Speaking earlier today after winning his Doncaster North seat, Miliband said: “This has clearly been a very disappointing and difficult night for the Labour Party.
“We have not made the gains we wanted in England and Wales, and in Scotland we have seen a surge of nationalism overwhelm our party,” s
aid Miliband, after comfortably securing his own seat with an increased majority.

Defeats are hard, but we’re a party that will never stop fighting for the working people of this country.

— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) May 8, 2015
“I want to say to all the dedicated and decent colleagues in Scotland who have lost their seats that I am deeply sorry for what has happened.
“And I also want to say that the next government has a huge responsibility. It has a huge responsibility in facing the very difficult task of keeping our country together.”
“Whatever party we come from, if we believe in the United Kingdom we should stand up for people in every part of our United Kingdom because I believe that what unites us is much, much more than what divides us.”
In the early hours after the poll results came in, some Labour Party members had said it wasn’t the time to replace Miliband and that the blame for Labour’s defeat, most notably in Scotland, couldn’t be pinned on him alone.

.@Ed_Miliband: To every Labour member and supporter, I want to say thank you https://t.co/3tq2wjOtMi

— The Labour Party (@UKLabour) May 8, 2015
Labour will now face a leadership contest, with Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham, Shadow Justice Minister Dan Jarvis, Shadow Care Minister Liz Kendall and Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna considered potential successors.
The Liberal Democrats under Nick Clegg have been decimated in the election. Clegg called it a “cruel and punishing night”
for his party.

I am grateful to the people who worked on our campaign and for the campaign they ran. The responsibility for the result is mine alone.

— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) May 8, 2015

The next government has a huge responsibility to bring our country together. What unites us is much, much more than what divides us.

— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) May 8, 2015

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Lufthansa scraps Germanwings as cost cuts go deeper

Europe’s biggest airline Lufthansa is taking the knife to its business
as it continues its cost-cutting drive.

With the bottom line hard-hit by an ongoing pay and pensions dispute and deliberate crashing of the subsidiary Germanwings plane by a rogue pilot, Lufthansa made a first-quarter loss.

The cuts include Germanwings, which will disappear to be replaced by the established Eurowings brand.

All Europe’s major carriers are struggling to cut costs as they face cutthroat competition from the budget carriers and new rivals based in the Arabian Gulf.

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Areva to cut 6000 jobs and slash pay and bonuses

Areva looks set for a rough ride with the unions after announcing job cuts and an end to bonus pay and other perks in a bid to end abyssal losses.

While everyone agrees France’s state-owned nuclear utility has severe problems, no-one is sure of the solution.

“We’re facing job losses and the loss of rights and collective agreements; bonuses and overtime are threatened. The bosses want us to be more productive, but we’re offered no guarantees,” said the CFDT’s Jean-Pierre Bachmann.

“We don’t know if half the group’s going to be sold off, we don’t know what EDF is going to do, what our policies are towards China, we know nothing. The only thing we do know is the workforce has to be slimmed down,” was the opinion of the FO’s Josè Montès.

Areva has been struggling with cost overruns and delays with new technology and new reactors it is building, and has a huge debt that grew bigger last year by over four billion euros as the company lost money hand over fist.

The nuclear operator is unlikely to be privatised but the government has been looking at ways to hive off and sell parts of the company without compromising on safety.

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Charlotte a commercial hit for Britain's Royals

Just a few days old but Britain’s Princess Charlotte is already proving to be a welcome addition to Brand Windsor, getting the cash tills ringing for royal memorabilia.

The royal feel-good factor has yet to wear off, but before it does plenty are trying to cash in on the occasion, from commemorative mug makers to model village owners.

“The’ve created a seven centimetre tall double buggy for the new royal and she’s made up of just three tiny Lego bricks. We have welcomed the new royal baby in miniature into our Lego royal family in our world-famous mini land attraction”, said Legoland Windsor PR manager Lauren Moss.

It is not just tourists but many Britons who lap this up and go and buy mementos of all descriptions, and the media will ensure Charlotte will benefit from an extensive, and free, public relations campaign cementing her in the public eye as the fourth in line to the throne.
The profits from her entry into the world will ensure she pays her way right from the start.

“At the time of the birth of Prince George two years ago, the Centre for Retail Research estimated that birth would give us something like a 243-million-pound boost the the UK economy. I think we can expect a similar sort of figure this time around,” says economist at BGC Partners Michael Ingram.

It is estimated the royal household costs UK taxpayers 48.8 million euros a year, mostly spent on building maintenance, employee wages, and travel.

However through her land holdings worth 12.7 billion euros the Crown Estates makes a profit for the Queen; 362 million euros last year, all of which was given to the treasury.

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Greece makes IMF payment but reverses reforms

Greece’s left-wing Syriza government has paid 200 million euros back to the IMF but has also reversed a number of reforms demanded by its international creditors.

They include the rehiring of 13,000 civil servants, and scraps their annual reviews and promotion-on-merit schemes.

Municipal police forces will be revived and several thousand school caretakers will return to work.

Finance Minister Yannis Varoufakis may be unpopular in the eurogroup for insisting on getting a better deal for Greece, but his cleaning staff will love him. Almost 600 women cleaners sacked by the finance ministry as a cost-cutting measure get their jobs back next month after protesting in front of the ministry for most of the last year.

Eurogroup meetings come and go yet there’s no sign a deal is in sight on Greece’s debt, as the repayment deadlines keep on coming.

“On May 12 Greece must pay a further 750 million euros to the IMF. But as cash-strapped Athens is quickly running out of money, the Greek government is resting its hopes on a deal with its creditors at next Monday’s Eurogroup meeting. But, this is in spite of the fact that the messages coming from Brussels are for now at least, not very encouraging,” says euronews’ Stamatis Giannisis.

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London market slips back on hung parliament fears

Fears of an indecisive result in Britain’s general election and a weak government hurt shares in London and helped the European markets down.

A late poll after voting began suggested a late Labour surge with them neck and neck with the Conservatives, but Britain’s worries had no effect on the euro, which rose to a two-month high against the dollar since its 12-year low in March.

Businesses have expressed concern that Britain may be about to leave the EU and lose Scotland, leaving the world’s fifth-largest economy in unknown territory. The FTSE index is now more than 300 points shy of its all-time April high.

Sterling ticked a little lower and the currency is stable, but the wrong result could send the foreign exchange market into a tizzy.

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Record April fall for Spanish unemployment

April saw the sharpest fall for the month on record in Spain’s crippling unemployment, by 2.7% , with nearly 119,000 people finding jobs.

Services took nearly two thirds of the growth, while the construction and industry sectors were also hiring.

However the unemployment rate still stood at 23.8% for the first quarter.

The number of people paying into the social security system also rose by its highest monthly figure, to a shade under 17 million.

The figures appear to confirm Spain’s strengthening growth, the fastest in the EU, which the government claims will create two million jobs by 2018.

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Services with a smile prop up UK growth

Britain’s services sector came to the rescue in April, with growth there suggesting there is further growth out there in the wider economy.

It also suggests the Q1 figures may need revising as they were far more pessimistic about GDP in particular.

Surveyors Markit/CIPS said the April numbers pointed to “robust growth momentum”, and that the weak start to the year was over.

However that upswing in purchasing managers’ confidence was not reflected in the construction and manufacturing sectors, which both weakened and were showing “warning lights flashing about the sustainability of growth.”

The latest figures confirm investment spending remains weak, and that the economy as a whole has become services-heavy. It, along with consumer spending, are increasingly the sole agents of growth.

Productivity is flatlining, so any slowing in growth will immediately create fiscal pressure and hit living standards.

Also on Wednesday the National Institute for Economic and Social Research lowered its growth forecast for economic growth this year to 2.5 per cent, down from the 2.9 per cent it forecast in February.

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Siemens to slash 4500 jobs

More jobs are to go at Siemens after the German industrial giant
posted a larger-than-expected drop in quarterly profits.

Siemens says its digital factory unit underperformed, compounding problems in the energy division.

Four thousand five hundred jobs are to go, with half in Germany, or 1% of the global workforce, many from the gas turbines business which has been hit by poor demand and price erosion. The company’s sprawling portfolio also contains other loss-making divisions.

Analysts say Siemens will struggle to raise industrial margins to 10-11% in the short term.

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