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Court ban does not stop Ukraine’s first ever gay pride event

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After a Kiev court banned Ukraine’s first gay pride event from taking place in the city’s main square, organisers moved the event a few kilometres away.

Dozens people took part in the Equality March, with Amnesty International providing security staff to prevent any clashes.

To show support, foreign embassy staff joined in.

There to represent the German city twinned with Kiev was Munich Deputy Mayor Hep Monatzeder.

“We organise gay pride in Munich. It’s a joyful event, people join in, we have fun and there’s hardly a police presence. Here the situation is different – so many police, so many aggressive protesters. But I still feel safe,” said Monatzeder.

Last year’s rally was cancelled at the last minute, with organisers saying they had been threatened. One was beaten up in broad daylight.

There is little public acceptance of homosexuality in Ukraine, with opposition coming from Orthodox Christians and far-right political parties like Svoboda.

“They demand some special rights, special status. We are just telling them: if you want to carry out your perversions, just do it at home silently. What’s the problem?” said Svoboda MP Andriy Illienko

A move to criminalise the “promotion of homosexuality” is on hold.However, Ukraine’s government has also delayed a law protecting gay people from discrimination in the workplace.

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UK minister defends security services after London soldier killing

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As tributes continue to pour in for the soldier killed on the streets of London on Wednesday, Britain’s Communities Minister has defended the security services.

Eric Pickles praised the thwarting of “a number of similar plots” after it emerged the two suspects had been known by British intelligence agency MI5.

Michael Olumide Adebolajo, 28, and a second suspect not yet named are being treated in separate hospitals after being shot by armed police. The two men have not been questioned yet.

The soldier’s killing has been condemned by religious and community leaders across the country.

Speaking at a gathering of some of these leaders, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg praised their response.

“Terrorism has no religion, because there is no religious conviction that can justify the kind of arbitrary, savage, random violence that we saw on the streets of Woolwich. So thank you for speaking out as forcefully as you have done,” said Clegg.

The website for military support charity Help for Heroes crashed under the weight of new donations.

One woman described why she had chosen to leave flowers close to the scene of the killing in South London.

“It’s touched me, it really has. People should come out and lay as many flowers as they can. [Our feelings about the killings should be expressed] through protest… not [by] marching through the streets and taking it out on the police. Show it through flowers – and that’s what I’ve come here today to do,” she said.

Pointing at the floral tributes, another man added: “Look at all the flowers. We are sending a message out. We will stand together as a community.”

Drummer Lee Rigby had served in Afghanistan for six months in 2009. The twenty-five year old’s family said he had wanted to be in the army since he was a little boy.

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JPMorgan wins contract from Russian government to boost its credit rating

Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak said JP Morgan will act as a liaison between the Ministry of Finance and rating agencies, RIA Novosti reported. Storchak also hinted that Russia will be reviewed by one of the major international rating agencies in the near future.The government expects that by 2016 Russia will have the highest rating from international agencies.At present, Russia is rated “BBB” by Fitch and S & P, and “Baa1″ by Moody’s.  Fitch and S&P both downgraded Russia following the 2008 financial crisis prompting then Prime Minister Putin to call it an ‘outrage’.Last week, the Russian rating agency ‘Expert RA’ gave Russia an ‘A-‘ grade, higher than any international rating agency.Though the Ministry of Finance is hiring outside help to improve their rating, its head,  Anton Siluanov, doesn’t foresee the rating changing any time in the near future.”I do not think that there will be any changes in terms of Russia’s rating,” Siluanov said on Wednesday.First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov sees a positive change in the near future. ”Now the situation in the economy is changing. I can’t say that it is much better, but there are some changes. If you look at fundamental economic indicators- the budget, and employer sentiment- I think that the situation is slightly better now,” said Shuvalov.According to the Ministry of Finance statement, JP Morgan was selected over other unnamed investment banks for its quality of proposal, ability to achieve results and experience and reputation of the bank.The document neither outlines the length of the contract or payment details.In late January, the Russian government agreed a three year $500,000 contract with Goldman Sachs to improve its investment bank image as well as credit ratings.JP Morgan is the largest U.S. bank in terms of assets. JP Morgan opened a representative office in Moscow in 1973, but doesn’t offer any retail banking, only investment banking and related services. Read More

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Syria government may attend Geneva peace talks with opposition

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Russia says the Syrian government has agreed in principle to attend a peace conference in Geneva next month.

The talks are being set up by Russia and the US with the aim of bringing Syria’s government and opposition together.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday.

Moscow is continuing to stress any insistence from the opposition that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad go is not helpful.

Referring to this stipulation, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said: “The meetings in Madrid and Istanbul were not promising. They (the opposition) put forward a pre-condition of resignation of the President and shaping a “government” under the UN supervision.”

The opposition are questioning the effect of any government presence in Geneva.

“We would like to know whether this delegation is empowered to make decisions including the transfer of power to this interim government, the transitional government, that is fully powered to make decisions. That is not clear,” said Louay Safi, a member of the Syrian National Coalition.

For the moment, the majority of the fighting is taking place in the strategic town of Qusayr near the border with Lebanon.

The UN has warned there could be three million Syrian refugees by 2014.

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Russian Central Bank to increase controls over bankers’ bonuses and salaries

The State Duma Committee on Financial Markets will meet on Friday, and is expected to approve the bill, as they already have support from both government and bank deputies.If approved by deputies, the Central Bank will increase control over banks, their owners, executives, and executive bonuses. Starting in 2014 banks will be required to prepare a consolidated report in accordance with International Financial Reporting StandardsThe Central Bank will be able to influence banking systems, including bonuses, said Mikhail Sukhov, the Bank’s Deputy Chairman. If it sees fit the bank can set individual standards for banking groups.“Specific restrictions and sanctions will be outlined later in a separate piece of legislation,” said Sukhov.Starting on July 1, all banks will be required to submit their payroll documents to the Central Bank.“In general, we support the amendments. It is important for the Central Bank to understand the concentration risks in banks and to regulate controls abroad,” Anatoly Aksakov, the deputy president of the Association of Regional Banks, said in support of the amendments.The Central Bank will also be able to check on international subsidiaries, within the parameters of local jurisdiction. “If there are any violations to ‘daughter’ companies, we have no right to use these sanctions, but the [Russian] ‘parent’ company will be able to impose fines and sanctions on the ‘daughter’ company in order to correct violations,” said SukhovAlexander Levkovsky, first deputy chairman of SMP Bank, agrees that the new controls will mostly affect banking groups with foreign subsidiary branches.For low-quality risk management or corporate governance the Central Bank will be able to set individual standards for banks. Read More

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Russia calculates costs of the long holidays in 2013

In 2013 Russians are to spend about 118 days away from their workplaces, which includes regular vacation, weekends and Russian public holidays. There are few countries that can compete with Russia in this respect, with Argentina being one of those rare examples, according to Aleksey Amyotov, the co–founder of Look At Media, talking to Business FM.China has also a lot of holidays, but regular vacation time is shorter there. The Chinese can enjoy 21 days of paid vacation at most each year, while in reality about 80% of the population are “totally employed”.The number of holidays create extra costs for employers, as working on such days means double time, says Pavel Grudinin, general director at the Lenin state owned farm. Working on holidays increases payroll expenses by about a third overall.The amount of holidays in Russia exceeds even the dollar denominated oil price, says Oleg Sysuev, first deputy head of the board of directors at Alfa – Bank. “These things [the number of holidays and the oil price] correlate, strange though it may seem. That’s because we make our living entirely by what we extract from Mother Earth. That means we can holiday 360 days a year… And , I think, that’s abnormal. To some extent, that’s just a reflection of our economy. And when the oil price falls, we, the same way as some of the South European countries, will undoubtedly have to think whether we have too many holidays, ” Sysuev concluded.In 2013 Russians have so far had two long holiday sessions- 10 days during the New Year festive period and 9 days in May. In an effort to make the country look more industrious, Russia’s Ministry of Labour published draft regulations cutting the number of May holidays to 7 in 2014.Long New Year holidays became a tradition back in 2005 and since then the initiative has been largely criticized by experts and businessmen. They complain on the losses it creates and ask to cut the number of days off.On the other hand, social data shows that more than a half of Russians support the idea of the Ministry of Labor to transfer part of the New Year holidays to the May ones, according to a Superjob.ru poll. 56 percent of people questioned said it was much more pleasant to enjoy days off in the spring than in the winter, but didn’t say they wanted to have their holidays cut. Read More

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Cyprus is due to get its first Troika bailout payment

Eurozone officials are due to make the decision on the first 3 billion euro tranche of the 10 billion euro bailout loan to Cyprus from the troika of international creditors – the European Central Bank (ECB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Commission (EC). The financial aid comes with around 2.5 percent interest and is to be paid back over a 12-year period after a grace period of a decade.The restructuring of banks and the gradual lifting of restrictions on capital movement were among the priorities for the island’s aid programme, as a senior eurozone official told the Cyprus Mail.Depositors in the island’s biggest banks – Bank of Cyprus and Laiki Bank will practically pay for the bailout. To collect the money, Nicosia decided to tax of up to 60 percent on deposits of over 100,000 euro in the two big banks.Russia, one of the closest business partners with Cyprus, also agreed to assist  the troubled island. Moscow agreed to cut the interest rate to 2.5 percent from 4.5 percent on a loan it fixed in 2011. Maturity dates remain under discussion, even though Cyprus’s Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said Russia had agreed to extend the terms of the loan.  “Requests for an extension were received, and we promised that the request would be dealt with. If anyone wants to draw the conclusion from that promise that a deal has already been signed, let them do so,” Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak told journalists on the sidelines of the annual congress of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Under the initial terms the money should be paid back within four and a half years.Greece will also be on the agenda of Monday’s meeting, as the Eurogroup ministers will decide on the next two installments to Greece totalling 7.4 billion euro.A week ago the International Monetary Fund said Greece is “making progress” in overcoming “deep-seated problems”, adding that country still needed to find ways to tackle its financial problems with structural reform rather than draconian cuts. “Progress on fiscal adjustment has been exceptional by any international comparison,” the IMF said in its regular report. But this primarily came as a result of slashing jobs and salaries, which caused “unequal distribution of the burden of adjustment,” the IMF said.Who’s next… Slovenia?The Brussels meeting will take place amid continued concerns for Slovenia which is seeking ways to avoid the need for a bailout package.At the end of April Moody’s Investors Service cut the country’s credit rating to junk status, saying  the banking system was struggling and the national balance sheet was deteriorating. In this situation privatizing Slovenia’s largely state-owned banking sector and creating a “bad bank” to take over non-performing loans were the priority goals, according to Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek, talking to The Economic Times.Last week Slovenia’s government tailored an austerity plan to raise 540 million euro in new taxes to balance the budget without international help. Under the game plan, the government is due to partially privatize 15 state-run companies, such as Slovenia’s second-largest bank Nova Kreditna Banka Maribor and Ljubljana airport.Though having jumped to 64 percent of the country’s GDP, Slovenia’s debt remains at the lower end of that scale in the euro area, Bratusek said.German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble also believes Slovenia can get by without an international bailout, provided it introduces reforms.”Slovenia can manage (without a bailout program). However it must also carry out some painful restructuring (of its economy),” Schaeuble told SWR 2 radio. Read More