According to the Central Bank of Cyprus, the once offshore paradise lost out on Russian accounts, as investors pulled their money as they sensed the banking crisis looming.In Luxembourg, Russian investments grew by $7 billion, in the British Virgin Islands by $4.7 billion, in Ireland by $4.6 billion, and in the Netherlands by $2.8 billion, the Russian newspaper Izvestia reported.Head of Investments at the ‘Solid’ Investment and Financial Company, Michael Koroljuk explains the decline in market attractiveness in Cyprus since the crisis broke out.“The emergence of this ‘stigma’ of Cyprus is perceived as a bad tax authority and business partner,” Korljuk told Izvestia.Offshore oligarchs, trying to minimize their losses in Cyprus, didn’t bring their money to back Russia, but have reinvested their capital in other, more feasible, offshore zones.“Instead of Russia, it is rushing off to other offshore areas,” Maxim Osadchiy, head analyst at BKF Bank, told Izvestia.Because they provide more financial security than Cyprus, other offshore zones are a little more expensive, but the figures show Moscow’s millionaires are happy to pay extra for peace of mind.The more ‘respectable’ offshore destinations still offer similar tax breaks, and offer more protection for businessmenThough the financial crisis sent many investors into a slight hysteria and prompted them to abandon ship, the actual losses incurred as a result of crisis appear to be fractional.Russia’s largest commercial bank, VTB, which had assets up to $1.8 billion in Cyprus, reported to be virtually unaffected by the collapse.Strengthening ties between Moscow and LuxembourgBy increasing their holdings in Luxembourg, Russians are reciprocating the small European financial hub’s long standing tradition of Russian investment. Luxembourg is the third largest country in total investments in the Russian economy, and has invested 28 billion euros in Russian projects.Russian investment only accounts for 4.4 billion euros of Luxembourg’s 43 billion euro economy.Luxembourg may be Russia’s new window to Europe, the Minister for Economy and Foreign Trade, Etienne Schneider, has stated.”To develop serious business contacts and create new joint projects, we need to look ahead and prepare professionals who are familiar with economic realities of our countries,” said Schneider. … Read More
Venner bekræfter: Det er Martin, der er fundet død
Venner til den 28-rige Martin Svejgaard Helbo bekrfter nu over for
politiken.dk, at det er Martin, der tidligere i dag blev fundet dd i
Kbenhavns havn.
Det er Martin, der er fundet dd ved Islands Brygge. Det er alt, hvad vi ved
nu, skriver Martin Lbecker og Sofie Mollyhus i en sms.
Martin Lbecker var ven til Martin Svejgaard Helbo og har vret med til at
koordinere eftersgningen af ham. Martin Lbeckers kreste, Sofie Mollyhus,
var den afddes barndomsven.
Massiv eftersgningDykkere bjrgede kort fr middag liget af et menneske ud for Islands Brygge.
Det havde ligget der i lngere tid, men Martin Svejgaard Helbos far
bekrftede kort efter over for DR, at det var liget af hans sn.
LS OGSMartin er fundet druknet i
Kbenhavns havn
Martin har siden midten af april vre forsvundet efter en bytur i Kdbyen,
hvor vidner s ham hoppe ind i en taxa, og hvor han senere p natten blev
set i starten af Nrrebrogade.
Siden har en gruppe af hans venner stet i spidsen for en storstilet
eftersgning p strder og i baggrde i nrheden af hans bopl p Nrrebro.
Vi havde hbet, at de fandt ham i live. Sdan blev det ikke. Nu er det bare
godt f en afslutning, siger en anden af Martin Svejgaard Helbos venner,
Thomas Srensen, til tv2.dk.
‘R.I.P Martin Svejgaard Helbo’P Facebook er der siden Martins forsvinden oprettet flere grupper, som har
skullet hjlpe med at finde ham.
For f timer siden oprettedes en side med titlen ‘R.I.P Martin Svejgaard
Helbo’, og forelbig har over 6.000 tilkendegivet deres sttte til den.
… Read More
‘Ring of fire’ solar eclipse seen in Australia (PHOTOS)
The annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is farther than usual from Earth, making its apparent size in the sky smaller than Sun’s apparent size in the sky. Since both the Moon’s orbit around the Earth and the Earth’s orbit around the Sun are ellipses, the sizes of the Moon and the Sun as seen from Earth vary depending on the positions of the orbits.The eclipse, visible from Tuesday to Friday, could been seen across a 171- to 225-kilometer area that stretched across Australia, eastern Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the Gilbert Islands; residents elsewhere in the region witnessed a partial eclipse.”It was my first time I had seen an annular eclipse. I thought it was spectacular. I was actually amazed at how beautiful it was,” stargazer Geoff Sims told AFP after taking photos of the celestial event from a remote spot in Western Australia.The spectacle came just months after Australia witnessed another memorable phenomenon, a total solar eclipse in November. … Read More
China ‘reviews’ Okinawa ownership in new territorial challenge to Japan
http://www.youtube.com/v/fv-8oVeBVOs?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata This article is from: China ‘reviews’ Okinawa ownership in new territorial challenge to Japan
Chinese media challenges Japanese ownership of Okinawa
The People’s Daily, which serves as the mouthpiece for the ruling Communist party, ran the lengthy commentary questioning the historical status of Japan’s southernmost Ryukyu island chain, which includes Okinawa. The researchers, hailing from a prominent state-run think tank, argue ownership of the Ryukyus should be considered in light of post-World War II declarations which require Japan to return Chinese territory. The academics claim the Ryukyus were once a “vassal state of China” before they were absorbed by Japan in the late 1800s during the twilight of the Qing Dynasty. The researchers also reiterated Chinese government claims over a tiny group of islands in the East China Sea known as the Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese. The islands have been a potential flashpoint between the two states over the past several months, with Chinese maritime surveillance vessels sporadically entering Japanese territorial waters following Tokyo’s decision to effectively nationalize the islets last September. The most recent claims regarding Okinawa’s sovereignty are likely meant to pressure Tokyo over the East China Sea dispute, Willy Lam, an expert on Chinese politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told AFP.”I think this is psychological warfare,” he said, adding: “The major point is to put pressure on Japan so that the Japanese administration will be forced to make concessions over the Senkaku islands.” While the daily is often used a barometer on issues both domestic and international for China’s ruling class, the Chinese government has not explicitly endorsed the claims. When asked about Japanese ownership of Okinawa, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said scholars had long researched the history of the island chain. However, she was equivocal about the “Diaoyu islands”, claiming they “are China’s inherent territory, and have never been part of the Ryukyus or Okinawa.” The Japanese government was dismissive of the commentary, saying the views expressed were “completely out of the question.”“There’s no doubt that [Okinawa] belongs to Japan historically and internationally,” the Wall Street Journal cites Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga as saying.Okinawa Island, the largest island in the Ryukyu island chain, currently hosts 32 US military bases including Kadena Air Base – the focal point of US airpower in the Pacific – and the longstanding Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.With up to 85 percent of Okinawans opposing the US military presence and heightened tensions in the East China Sea, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday said it was time to consider taking the nation’s security into its own hands.Speaking before the Japanese Parliament, Abe questioned whether Japan should always have to ask the United States to “attack someone who is threatening to attack us,” before calling on a debate on whether Japan should form its own force which would be modelled on the US Marines, Bloomberg News reports. Abe has previously vowed to “expel by force” any Chinese landing on the Senkaku Islands. … Read More
Britain signs agreement with off-shore havens to share tax information
Bermuda, the Turks and Caicos and other British overseas territories with extensive financial centres have signed agreements to share tax information in what the British government hailed Thursday as a major victory in the battle against tax evasion. Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands,…
Russian spy plane spotted in Swedish strait
A Russian spy plane reportedly flew through the international strip of airspace in between Sweden’s main Baltic islands of Öland and Gotland on Saturday. … Read More
