The News Journal

 Russia will seek payment in roubles for gas sales from "unfriendly" countries, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. The announcement sent European gas prices soaring on concerns that the move would exacerbate the region's energy crisis. European countries' dependence on Russian gas to heat their homes and power their economies has been thrown into the spotlight since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, and the imposition of western sanctions to isolate Russia economically. Russian President Vladimir Putin at an online Cabinet meeting on March 23. Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP With the financial noose tightening and the EU split on whether to impose sanctions on Russia's energy sector, Mr Putin hit back with a clear message: if you want our gas, buy our currency. "Russia will continue, of course, to supply natural gas in accordance with volumes and prices ... fixed in previously concluded contracts," he said in a televised meeting...

 Oil prices rallied overnight as markets await the outcome of EU discussions on banning Russian energy imports and weather conditions disrupt Moscow's oil supplies. Brent, the global benchmark for two thirds of the world's oil, was 0.17 per cent higher, trading at $121.8 a barrel at 7.29am on Thursday, while West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, was down 0.41 per cent at $114.5 a barrel. "Russia confirmed that oil exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium will fall by around a million barrels a day for up to two months as a result of storm damage. This comes at a time of significant tightness in the market and could contribute to further increases in the price in the coming weeks," said Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst at Oanda. A gas torch is seen next to the Lukoil company sign on an oil platform in the Caspian Sea. Oil prices increased after Russia confirmed that oil exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium will fall by around a million ...

 Lombard Odier, Geneva's oldest private bank and one of Switzerland's biggest private lenders, aims to double its assets under management in the Middle East in the next five years as regional economies recover strongly from the pandemic on the back of higher oil prices and a rapid vaccination programme. The 226-year old bank, which had $383 billion in total assets globally at the end of 2021, up 13 per cent on the previous year, has been active in the wealth management business in the Middle East for more than 50 years, with offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. “The Middle East [has been] one of the fastest-growth businesses for Lombard Odier for the last 10 years,” Arnaud Leclercq, group managing director of Lombard Odier, told The National . “We want even more because we have reached a certain level of recognition and we believe we have the opportunity to double what we have today.” Arnaud Leclercq, group managing director of Lombard Odier. The bank with total assets of $393 billi...

  Entrepreneurship is full of blood, sweat and tears – to create something of value or to fail in the attempt to create, says Shyam Maheshwari , Co-founder, SSG Capital. He has been a long-term India fan on the credit and special situation side. He feels that India is perhaps the only emerging market in Asia that has opened the doors to foreigners to participate in the local currency debt and NPA markets. Under the current government, the reforms on IBC have been pathbreaking.  Therefore, all the ingredients of regulations, transparency, market access and the need for foreign capital are there.  While the NPA pool has declined over the past few years with resolutions and recoveries, the demand for credit and resolution capital far outstrips the supply.  According to Shyam Maheshwari , from days in early 2000 when very few foreign funds participated in India, now have all the foreign players represented in India. The opportunities have become more appealing due to p...

 More than 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the war began in late February, said the UNHCR on Tuesday. People clean a room in an apartment building destroyed during an air raid, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine. The latest UN figures came a day after Ukraine said that up to 12 million people had been driven from their homes by the Russian invasion as officials in central Europe said they were reaching full capacity to look after refugees. Ukraine's major cities again came under heavy bombardment from Russian artillery and air strikes on Tuesday. The southern city of Mariupol has been largely destroyed but remained in Ukrainian control as of Tuesday afternoon. Russian forces have largely "stalled" and made limited progress on Monday, reported British defence intelligence, with Ukraine claiming to have retaken the key town of Makariv outside Kyiv early Tuesday. However, Ukraine also said that Russian forces had made inroads in Kyiv's nor...

  Chemical weapons warning: US President Joe Biden has warned that Russian President President Putin’s “back is against the wall” and he may be preparing to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine. “Putin’s back is against the wall. He wasn’t anticipating the extent or the strength of our unity. And the more his back is against the wall, the greater the severity of the tactics he may employ,” Mr Biden told American business leaders in Washington DC on Monday evening. Mr Biden also said Russia’s claims about the US having biological and chemical weapons in Europe – a claim which he dismissed – is a “clear sign” of his intensions. “That’s a clear sign he is considering using both of those,” the Democrat president said. A Ukrainian soldier stands guard with his gun next to barricades at the beachfront near Lusanivka in the southern city of Odesa. Putin's distraction tactics: Moscow is likely using nuclear-based hypersonic missiles against Ukrainian targets to detract from its s...

 Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are set to grill Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Tuesday over what they say is her record of leniency in sentencing people who pleaded guilty to possession or distribution of child pornography — a politically loaded charge.   Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who is widely thought to be eyeing a run for president, is pushing this line of questioning most forcefully. But other Republicans on the panel, such as Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), are expected to press Brown on the issue as well.   Of all the criticisms leveled at Jackson, the accusations that she’s been soft on child predators are gaining the most attention, but it’s a politically risky line of attack against the first Black woman nominated to serve on the nation’s highest court.   Republicans have promised a dignified confirmation process and they don’t want to appear that they’re ganging up unfairly on President Biden’s nominee or waging an unfair attack.  ...