Category: Business & Economy

WASHINGTON — European Union leaders are expected to debate proposals this month for the bloc to get involved in buying 155mm artillery shells, as member states seek to restock their depleted inventories and help Ukraine’s forces defend themselves.

The shortage is high on the political agenda, with defense ministers expected to tee up decisions at a March 7-8 meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, an EU spokesperson told Defense News.

Estonia has been pushing for the bloc to get involved in producing more ammunition faster, circulating a paper behind the scenes in Brussels last month that called for €4 billion (U.S. $4.3 billion) in extra funds to catch up.

“Ramping up the European defense industry’s output is one the most pressing issues right now,” according to the document, obtained by Defense News. “Russia fires Europe’s monthly artillery production rate in a single day in Ukraine. The urgent need for increasing our defense industrial capacity is clear.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has commented on a Ukrainian cross-border attack in Bryansk Region.

The United States is sounding out close allies about the possibility of imposing new sanctions on China if Beijing provides military support to Russia for its war in Ukraine, according to four U.S. officials and other sources. The consultations, which are still at a preliminary stage, are intended to drum up support from a range of countries, especially those in the wealthy Group of 7 (G7), to coordinate support for any possible restrictions. It was not clear what specific sanctions Washington will propose. The conversations have not been previously disclosed.

SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA on Thursday, including the first person from the Arab world going up for an extended months-long stay. Bowen, the crew’s leader, said the four have jelled well as a team despite differences between their countries. Even with the tension over the war in Ukraine, the U.S. and Russia have continued to work together on the space station and trade seats on rides there.

Eli Lilly will cut prices for some older insulins later this year and immediately expand a cap on costs insured patients pay to fill prescriptions. The moves announced Wednesday promise critical relief to some people with diabetes who can face annual costs of more than $1,000 for insulin they need in order to live. Lilly’s changes also come as lawmakers…

The Justice Department announced today that it filed statements of interest in Espin et al. v. Citibank, N.A. and Padao v. American Express National Bank, two lawsuits currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, to address the right of the nation’s servicemembers to bring and participate in class action litigation under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) instead of being forced into privatized arbitration proceedings on their own.

Interest payments for German government debt have jumped tenfold since 2021, says Finance Minister Christian Lindner

Crypto exchanges Huobi and KuCoin, both based in Seychelles, failed to take steps to prevent sanctioned Russian banks from using their platforms, according to a report from the blockchain analytics firm Inca Digital provided to POLITICO. Both exchanges still allow traders to transact with debit cards issued by sanctioned Russian banks, including Sberbank, on their peer-to-peer platforms, according to the report, which will be published later today.

While neither exchange actually accepts funds from blacklisted banks, letting crypto buyers trade with each other using accounts with sanctioned institutions represents a “direct violation of U.S. and European sanctions with a little bit of a loophole,” Inca CEO Adam Zarazinski said in an interview.

Finance leaders of the world’s top economies sought on Friday to bridge differences over how to deal with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine a year ago, as the West stepped up sanctions against Moscow.

Below-normal rainfall is expected over the next three months in parts of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia.

Binance is considering ending business relationships with banks and services firms amid heightened scrutiny.

Several banks are now offering super-long-term mortgages in response to soaring interest rates, but experts warned that the offers come with a $300,000 hidden cost. Forty-year mortgages are now being offered by banks, to supposedly help alleviate some of the pressure as surging interest rates force the average Australian to spend an additional $12,000 a year in mortgage repayments. But…

China and the United States exchanged sharp criticism at a World Trade Organization meeting on Friday, with Beijing calling Washington a “unilateral bully” and the U.S. accusing its rival of illegal retaliatory measures. China’s ambassador to the WTO Li Chenggang spoke at a meeting on trade disputes shortly after the United States lodged an appeal against a series of WTO…

The preservation of plant seeds as a genetic resource is becoming more and more important at a time when many crops are threatened by extinction or lower productive output due to climate change and the destruction of ecosystems through overdevelopment. The shifting of ideal growing zones due to warming across the globe makes the creation of seed banks a cause…

A complaint was unsealed this morning in federal court in Brooklyn charging Anatoly Legkodymov, a Russian national and senior executive of Bitzlato Ltd. (Bitzlato), a Hong Kong-registered cryptocurrency exchange, with conducting a money transmitting business that transported and transmitted illicit funds and that failed to meet U.S. regulatory safeguards, including anti-money laundering requirements. Legkodymov was arrested last night in Miami…

A federal district court in San Diego ordered today that over $17 million in restitution be distributed to approximately 800 victims from over 40 different countries due to their investment losses in BitConnect, a massive cryptocurrency investment scheme, which defrauded thousands of investors worldwide. On Sept. 16, 2021, Glenn Arcaro, 44, the top U.S.-based promoter for BitConnect, pleaded guilty to…