China’s industry ministry said on Monday that US companies are welcome to actively participate in its market despite trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. It has promised a fair and just environment. The announcement by Xiao Yaqing, head of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, was made during a video meeting of the US-China Business Council. Executives from companies including General Motors and Qualcomm took part in the meeting, alongside the heads of the council. The participants discussed the market prospects in areas like 5G technology and new energy vehicles, among other issues. Also on rt.com US companies plan to […]
Firms
53 posts
Pakistani Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz says his country would welcome investment by American companies. He also expressed desire for US companies to bring in advanced technology. During a meeting with US charge d’affaires Angela Aggeler, the minister said that Islamabad highly values its relations with Washington and is ready to further strengthen cooperation. Aggeler agreed with the minister’s views on promoting the two countries’ economic cooperation. While discussing new forms of cooperation during the coronavirus pandemic, Faraz said that the digital outreach has greatly helped business activities and transactions to go online. “It has been a great learning experience […]
If you’re an Ethereum project looking to get audits done before the close of 2020, it’s probably too late in the game. Audit firms CoinDesk spoke with said they are swamped with decentralized finance (DeFi) projects. The months-long backlog comes amid a sharp pullback across the $11 billion DeFi market, with most tokens down 19% over the last 30 days, according to Messari. Audit firm OpenZeppelin, which has overseen audits on DeFi staples such as Compound and Augur, said it is “seeing an overwhelming demand for audits” and is booking clients “well out into Q1 2021.” “We’re seeing a lot of […]
Joe Biden’s son-in-law is advising his presidential campaign on Covid-19 response while overseeing investments in health-care startups, a potential conflict of interest, Politico reported – to the chagrin of its leftist readers. Howard Krein, who married Ashley Biden in 2012, has been advising her father’s campaign on Covid-response policies while at the same time leading investment firm StartUp Health in staking fledgling companies with products or services designed to mitigate, manage or treat the virus, Politico said Tuesday. Krein is chief medical officer at StartUp Health, which announced plans in April to invest $1 million across 10 companies focused on Covid-19 solutions […]
The Spanish government has passed decrees to tackle wage inequality between genders, and warned it will impose hefty fines on companies who fail to disclose the salaries of their employees. The new regulations are “historical,” Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz said, adding that they will help to “bring to the surface labor inequalities and give workers the tools to eliminate them.” A law on gender equality in the workplace was approved earlier this year, and Socialist and far-left ministers in the coalition government on Tuesday passed two decrees detailing the legislation. Companies will now have to disclose the system they use to […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo-itemprop.png Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/us/202010011080632380-google-facebook-and-twitter-ceos-to-be-subpoenaed/ The US Senate Commerce Committee has unanimously voted to subpoena the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook, and Google for a hearing on a key law protecting tech companies. MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW Source link
According to the hacktivist collective, the files provide, for the first time, “a detailed map” on the British intelligence services’ clandestine operations in Syria to fund, arm and provide a sanitized, publicly acceptable media voice to an array of opposition militants and jihadists seeking to topple the Assad government. Anonymous, the international hacking group behind the 2018 publication of documents detailing the UK government’s Integrity Initiative media manipulation project, has released a new trove of dozens upon dozens of files on a separate, clandestine project by the British and American governments to handcraft a broad, pro-opposition, anti-Assad propaganda narrative which has […]
US President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr have gone on the warpath against Big Tech, unveiling proposed reforms to the firms’ Section 230 liability that would curtail their ability to effect political censorship. Singling out Twitter’s censorship of “conservative views,” the president warned the major tech platforms that the days of their exercising unrestrained political influence were numbered. He was speaking on Wednesday at a roundtable discussion with Attorney General William Barr, nine of his Republican state counterparts, and Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), one of Congress’ most vocal critics of Big Tech. Big Tech has “used their power to […]
Ethereum data firm Dune Analytics, which has stood out from the pack for its focus on decentralized finance (DeFi) projects, has raised $2 million from a mix of seasoned crypto investors and DeFi angels. Announced Wednesday, the seed round was led by Dragonfly Capital and included Multicoin Capital, Coinbase Ventures and Digital Currency Group (the owner of CoinDesk). The list of angel investors in the round included the likes of Compound’s Calvin Liu, Matteo Leibowitz of Uniswap and Aave founder Stani Kulechov. Yearn creator Andre Cronje, who also participated in the round via a non-dilutive grant, said for the record that […]
A Tuesday Washington Post article revealed the US Congress gave the Pentagon $1 billion in March to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, that money has mostly been paid to defense contractors, further growing the US war machine, according to medical doctor Dr. Yolandra Hancock and investigative journalist Daniel Lazare. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress earlier this year provided the Pentagon with money to “prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus.” However, according to the article, that money was allocated under the Defense Production Act, which allows US President Donald Trump and the Defense […]
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), an organization of state financial regulators, will make it easier for financial technology payment firms and cryptocurrency exchanges to prove they’re in compliance with U.S. state laws. The CSBS announced a “One Company, One Exam” plan Tuesday whereby states will coordinate their supervisory exams for the nation’s largest payment firms in an effort to reduce the costs on both state regulators and the companies they oversee. Essentially, the exam is how these regulators will make sure regulated entities are still in compliance. What this means for cryptocurrency companies – such as Coinbase – is […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo-itemprop.png Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Tim Korso. Sputnik International https://sputniknews.com/business/202009141080454424-nord-stream-2-is-based-on-investments-from-six-energy-firms-not-political-deals-operator-says/ The pipeline’s future currently hangs in the balance following threats by the German government to stop its construction over allegations against Russia and purported its role in the yet-to-be-proven poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is an economic project based on the investments of large energy companies, most of them European, rather than on some political agreements, the project’s operator has stated. “Nord Stream 2 is not based on political deals between countries, but on multi-billion investments of the six top energy companies, five of which represent […]
The folks building the next generation of digital money in Switzerland understand the need to collaborate. Stablecoins, digital tokens pegged one-to-one to the Swiss franc (CHF) in this case, are a prime example. SEBA Bank and Sygnum Bank, the two B2B players that hold banking licenses from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority and that specialize in digital assets, are both involved in stablecoin explorations, as is the country’s respected crypto conglomerate, Bitcoin Suisse. “Within the Crypto Valley and here in Switzerland, there’s a very good collaboration going on, where everyone’s working together to try to design a Swiss franc stablecoin […]
The ambitious multi-million pound project will work along with two major government investment strategies aimed at bolstering domestic technologies amid Washington’s contentious trade war. Chinese tech giants such as Huawei Technologies and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) are set to launch a “domestic replacement” fund by the end of 2020 to boost mainland firms hit by US sanctions, reports revealed. China Europe Capital, a venture capital firm, plans to raise 5bn yuan (£566.3m) to facilitate start-ups in the semiconductor, artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G industries, chairman Zhang Jun said in a statement. “China and the US are in a Great Power […]
US President Donald Trump lashed out at US companies that offshore to China, threatening to curtail federal contracts and even decouple the US economy from Beijing’s, without losses. His feed mysteriously cut to black soon after. “We lose billions of dollars, and if we didn’t do business with [China], we wouldn’t lose billions of dollars,” the president told reporters at a Monday briefing. “It’s called decoupling, so you’ll start thinking about it,” Trump continued, without explaining what would happen to the trillion-plus dollars in US debt held by Beijing. “No country…has ripped us off like China has,” Trump lamented, complaining about […]
On 19 August, the Indian cabinet gave its approval to a proposal to lease out the Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram airports, currently run by the government agency Airports Authority of India (AAI) to the private sector. In February of this year, India’s Adani Group took over three AAI airports at Ahmedabad, Mangaluru, and Lucknow. Indian opposition Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday slammed a decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to privatise state-run companies. Taking to Twitter against the sale of three airports – Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram – to private firms, Rahul Gandhi said that “maximum privatisation seems […]
While announcing a $266 billion COVID relief package in May, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a call for a self-reliant economy that envisages import substitution and an export push through local manufacturing. In a move that will help India gain an advantage amid companies shifting their manufacturing base out of China in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan has included India and Bangladesh in a list of relocation destinations. Japan provides a subsidy to its manufacturers who shift their base out of China to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Welcoming Japan’s decision to add India to the subsidy destination […]
The news comes after the Trump administration extended a ban Chinese firms doing business with US tech companies in May, forcing the world’s largest contract chipmaker to block shipments of processors to the world’s largest IT equipment provider as the measures were due to enter force in September. US restrictions on Huawei Technologies have sparked a massive stockpiling of chips in the global semiconductor industry amid a shortfall in funding from Washington, an analyst told Reuters on Monday. Washington pledged roughly $22.8bn in June to the US chipmaking industry but the funds may not be sufficient as they cover just half […]
Acting Comptroller of Currency (and former Coinbase exec) Brian Brooks is spearheading the move to let payment firms operate as banks across state lines. Source link
Signature Bank extended dozens more loans under the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to cryptocurrency businesses than was previously reported. Around $20 million of the $1.9 billion in PPP loans the bank extended was given to roughly 40 firms in the digital asset space, said CEO Joseph DePaolo. The executive would not name the firms it gave PPP loans to or give an exact number of firms who took out a loan through the relief program. (Signature’s $1.9 billion in loans accounts for roughly .55% of the entire $350 billion that was disbursed through the U.S. Small Business Administration.) Public records […]
The New York Stock Exchange may now allow some companies to raise capital via direct listings rather than IPOs. Source link
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/08/1a/1080286667_0:56:3073:1784_1200x675_80_0_0_a8ec5ee6ded569925a75eb06a8e92534.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/us/202008261080286712-us-energy-firms-shut-310-facilities-in-gulf-of-mexico-as-storm-laura-nears—govt-bureau/ WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – US energy firms have shuttered some 310 facilities on the Gulf of Mexico and evacuated employees from those places as Hurricane Laura approached the oil-and-gas rich state of Texas, a government bureau said on Wednesday. “Personnel have been evacuated from a total of 299 production platforms, (or) 46.5 percent of the 643 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico,” the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Hurricane Response Team, said in a statement. Separately, it said personnel were evacuated from another 11 drilling rigs at the Gulf – making up […]
American companies have been very successful at preventing their workers from organizing into unions in recent decades, one of the reasons unionization in the private sector is at a record low. What you may not realize is that a handful of little-known law and consulting firms do much of the dirty work that keeps companies and other organizations union-free. IKEA, for example, turned to Ogletree Deakins, one of the largest law firms that specialize in so-called union avoidance activities, to help it crush unionization efforts in Stoughton, Massachusetts, in 2016. Google hired IRI Consultants, a firm known for its anti-union activities, […]
The Financial Conduct Authority is seeking to oblige more firms, including some working with cryptocurrency, to report how they manage the risks of financial crime. Source link
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Nearly 40 large Japanese companies have become victims of Russian-speaking internet hackers targeting newfound vulnerabilities that cropped up during shift to remote working, media reported. According to Japanese business news outlet Nikkei, virtual private network (VPN) data from 38 Japanese firms was among over 900 worldwide companies that have been compromised since moving to work from home. Citing Japan’s National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity, Nikkei reported that companies such as Hitachi Chemicals, Sumitomo Forestry and Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers’ Unions have been targeted by “Russian-language hackers” who proceeded to trade their data over […]
The new bitcoin transaction automatically complies with the FATF Travel Rule and will save intermediaries from doing it all manually. Source link
Crypto payments startup Wyre is offering white-labeled savings accounts that dole out interest on crypto, the company announced Friday. Wyre’s client list includes startups including crypto custody firm Casa, wallet provider BRD and traditional enterprises such as banks. “Partners of Wyre are able to offer their users a crypto savings account by simply creating a new savings sub-wallet via the Wyre API,” the company wrote. The new product’s interest rates are meant to be more stable than interest rates at crypto lenders because Wyre will manage funds between MakerDAO, Compound and two centralized crypto lenders, said Jack Jia, Wyre’s vice president […]
The listing of the world’s biggest companies saw 133 Chinese firms across the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong make the roster compared with 121 US businesses. The news comes amid a major surge in foreign investment in Chinese tech firms amid the ongoing US trade war with China. Chinese firms listed on the Fortune Global 500 have surpassed US companies for the first time in history, it was found on Monday. Three Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) – Sinopec Group, State Grid and China National Petroleum – came in second, third and fourth, respectively, with Arkansas-based Walmart topping the list. “Chinese companies […]
The British government has stressed the importance of focusing on contingency plans that could come in handy after the Brexit transition period expires, amid concerns over generally crippled global supply chains due to the COVID healthcare crisis. The UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has written to pharmaceutical companies advising them to take every possibility to stockpile six weeks’ worth of drugs in case there is a logistical or other disruption at the end of the Brexit transition period, The Guardian reported. The government went on to reiterate that ministers would not be requesting an extension to the transition period past the […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/08/03/1080041923_0:0:3071:1729_1200x675_80_0_0_cb406f143d95de42d3b7001cbf1e5d54.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/science/202008031080041952-elon-musk-asserts-his-firms-neuralink-brain-chips-will-allow-hearing-beyond-normal-frequencies/ Neuralink is one of several companies founded by Elon Musk, focusing on implantable computer interfaces and neurotechnology. It is also one of his most secretive firms, only revealing the specifics of its works after 2018. Tech billionaire Elon Musk while speaking to his followers on Twitter on Thursday elaborated on his brain-computer chip startup, asserting that it would be able “extend the range of hearing beyond normal frequencies and amplitudes”. According to Musk, the brain chip could be able “to create a neural shunt from motor cortex to microcontrollers in muscle groups and restore […]
The two companies will provide a package of their respective solutions to crypto firms such as exchanges needing to stay in compliance with regulators. Source link
They don’t exactly scream “small business.” At least 1,322 companies backed by private equity investors received Paycheck Protection Program loans from the Small Business Administration, according to a review by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) and the Anti-Corruption Data Collective. The pandemic bailout loans obtained by the companies are worth, in total, between $1.5 billion and $3.4 billion. (The loan data released by the government provided a range of the value of each loan, rather than their specific values.) The loans, intended for struggling small businesses, can be forgiven in full. As 2020 began, the relatively secretive private equity industry—helmed […]
Pedestrians in Harvard Yard in 2019. Schools and businesses have gone to court to stop the Trump administration from barring online-only international students from entering or staying in the United States. Charles Krupa/AP hide caption toggle caption Charles Krupa/AP Pedestrians in Harvard Yard in 2019. Schools and businesses have gone to court to stop the Trump administration from barring online-only international students from entering or staying in the United States. Charles Krupa/AP One week ago, the Trump administration announced it would ban international students from attending U.S. colleges in the fall if they only take online classes. Now hundreds of colleges […]
New Delhi (Sputnik): For American, Chinese, and South Korean companies, India makes for an important market. In the digital era, where data is the fuel for an empowered global future, several countries, including India, are becoming more and more responsible about collecting, storing, and sharing the data of their nationals by foreign firms. Amidst the hue and cry over a ban on dozens of mobile applications, the Indian government has decided to soon undertake a classification of data gathered by foreign firms which will decide whether they can transfer this information outside the country. The nine-member committee constituted by India’s Ministry […]
At least five years, “ideally seven,” will be needed to replace Huawei’s 5G equipment, Vodafone and BT have told British MPs. The introduction of the ultra-fast networks across the country would be delayed, they warned. Executives from rival companies British Telecom and Vodafone UK have given their takes on phasing out the 5G equipment manufactured by the Chinese IT giant. Speculation that the UK government could ban Huawei’s gear from British networks has circulated in the press in recent days. Andrea Dona, head of networks at Vodafone UK, told Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee that replacing the Huawei systems with alternative […]
The UK watchdog said that Google had limited rival search engine companies from accessing consumers and could potentially block the world’s third-largest smartphone manufacturer from improving its own services. A deal struck between US tech giants Alphabet Inc and Apple Inc to switch default search engines to Google on Safari browsers has created “significant barriers to entry and expansion” for competing firms, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said in a report on Wednesday as reported by Reuters. Apple also received “the substantial majority” of £1.2bn from Google to secure the deal, the report said, adding that rival platforms had stated […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/104950/43/1049504352_0:184:3500:2152_1200x675_80_0_0_c9828c35528824d5e53bcaba702afb9e.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/africa/202006271079736817-gnas-sarraj-italys-conte-agree-to-help-italian-firms-return-to-libya/ DOHA (Sputnik) – The leader of Libya’s UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte have agreed to establish a committee that will help facilitate the return of Italian companies to the North African country, the Libya Al-Ahrar broadcaster reported on Saturday. According to the Libya Al-Ahrar broadcaster, the two leaders held talks and discussed the need to resume business activity. Conte also reaffirmed Italy’s readiness to help with mine-clearing operations in the country, the broadcaster stated. Additionally, Sarraj and Conte stressed the need for a political settlement to Libya’s […]
The fact of registration and authorization of users on Sputnik websites via users’ account or accounts on social networks indicates acceptance of these rules. Users are obliged abide by national and international laws. Users are obliged to speak respectfully to the other participants in the discussion, readers and individuals referenced in the posts. The websites’ administration has the right to delete comments made in languages other than the language of the majority of the websites’ content. In all language versions of the sputniknews.com websites any comments posted can be edited. A user comment will be deleted if it: does not correspond […]
Lawmakers in Spain are working on amending the nation’s anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws to be in compliance with European Union law, six months after the EU’s deadline. A proposed amendment published over a week ago will require virtual currency service providers to register with the Bank of Spain. If enacted, the law will place Spain in compliance with the EU’s 5th Anti Money-Laundering Directive (AMLD5), the bloc-wide mandate introduced in 2018, to strengthen preventative measures against financial crime. To get things moving even faster, the public comment period on the amendment ends today; typically, the comment period is 60 […]
As tensions between Washington and Beijing continue to rise, Chinese companies have started scrapping their US listings in favor of alternative venues, particularly mainland China and Hong Kong. Data compiled by Bloomberg shows that, so far this year, US-listed Chinese companies have announced four go-private deals with a combined value of $8.1 billion including debt. That is up from zero during the same period last year and is also the highest value for any full year since 2015, when $29.8 billion worth of such buyouts were revealed. This comes as US President Donald Trump considers placing more pressure on Chinese businesses, with Nasdaq […]
More blockchain companies set up shop in Hong Kong in 2019 than firms from any other fintech sub-sector, according to a report from the region’s Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau. Representing 39% of the 57 fintechs that InvestHK, the government-owned inward investment advocate, wooed last year, blockchain outgrew the wealth tech, payments, cybersecurity, regulatory tech, credit tech and insurance tech sectors as Hong Kong’s foreign fintech relocation engine. Those efforts appear to be paying off in more ways than one. Hong Kong had four times higher than average demand for blockchain professionals in a 2019 LinkedIn report, which ranked blockchain […]
US Firms Shield CEO Pay As Pandemic Hits Workers, Investors By Jessica DiNapoli and Ross Kerber, Reuters. May 31, 2020 US Firms Shield CEO Pay As Pandemic Hits Workers, Investors2020-05-312020-05-31https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/05/whpng-e1590953388840.png200px200px Above photo: Christopher Nassetta, the President and CEO of Hilton, participates in a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and tourism industry executives on coronavirus (COVID-19) response within the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 17, 2020. Reuters/Leah Millis/File Photo. New York/ Boston – Sonic Automotive Inc (SAH.N), which operates 95 U.S. car dealerships, started laying off and furloughing about a third of its workforce as the coronavirus pandemic crushed […]
It’s probably no coincidence that three major crypto firms – Coinbase, Genesis Trading and BitGo – have almost simultaneously announced plans to become prime brokers, a kind of fixer when it comes to financing and facilitating trades for institutional investors. This type of vertical integration happens in every business, whether that’s Amazon running the internet or Coinbase trying to own the crypto space. Given the long road of the last couple of years, it’s maybe surprising there hasn’t been more M&A activity in the blockchain world. The big news this week was Coinbase’s acquisition of trading technology and execution platform Tagomi. […]
Crypto companies hard hit by the economic impact of COVID-19 have had a plea for a 100 million Swiss franc ($103 million) bailout rejected by Switzerland’s government. Local news site Tages-Anzeiger reported Wednesday that Heinz Taennler, finance director of the canton of Zug, had been denied a call for assistance for local blockchain startups through a sovereign wealth fund. Taennler had planned to issue loans to local startups, which in turn could be converted into shares. Zug, located near Zurich, is sometimes known as “Crypto Valley” for the large number of crypto and blockchain startups that have chosen the area as […]
India’s commercial banks can indeed provide banking services to traders and firms dealing in cryptocurrencies, the nation’s central bank clarified last week. “As on date, no such prohibition exists,” the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on May 22. The statement came in response to a query filed by BV Harish, co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Unocoin, under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. As reported by The Economic Times on Tuesday, the RTI was filed on April 25, seeking clarification on whether banks were still prohibited from providing services to cryptocurrency traders and service providers despite a recent ruling by […]
Brazil’s biggest private banks are not out of the woods yet. On Wednesday, Brazil’s antitrust watchdog, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), voted to continue its investigation of banks who denied financial services to crypto brokers in alleged violation of Brazilian competition law. CADE’s nearly two-year-old inquiry into Itaú Unibanco, Banco do Brasil, Santander, Inter, Bradesco and Sicredi now returns to the General Superintendency for further review, as per the decision by CADE’s chief tribunal. Those six banks comprise the lion’s share of Brazil’s banking sector. The ruling, made by a seven-member tribunal, reopens the possibility that these powerhouse banks […]
India 08:34 GMT 18.05.2020Get short URL New Delhi (Sputnik): The government of India has eased policies, permitting the nation’s start-ups and private firms to be part of deep space missions that would be undertaken by the country’s apex space body ISRO. Access to ISRO’s geospatial data would ensure the development of newer technology at lower costs for Indian firms. Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday acknowledged the work being done in the space sector by private Indian companies. In a bid to open up a level playing field for private and start-up sector companies eager to be part of Indian […]
UK 11:02 GMT 13.05.2020(updated 11:04 GMT 13.05.2020) Get short URL MOSCOW (Sputnik) – UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Wednesday that employees should whistleblow if their employers pressure them to work in violation of the furlough scheme launched by the government to support the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “In any scheme around the edges there will be people trying to abuse it. And that would be a criminal offense. Employees will do the right thing, I am sure, if that thing happens. You cannot claim government money whilst making staff work, that would be completely against the rules of […]
A key bank regulator in the U.S. may be open to allowing crypto companies to be licensed as financial institutions on a national, rather than state-by-state, level. Brian Brooks, chief operating officer of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the nation’s national bank overseer, said Monday he believes crypto companies could fall under a federal licensing regime – if they provide what can be described as payment services. Speaking at CoinDesk’s Consensus: Distributed virtual conference, the former Coinbase chief legal officer said many crypto companies are payments companies, and it therefore might make sense to treat these […]
As trade tensions escalate between Washington and Beijing, India is boosting efforts to lure more than 1,000 US businesses out of China, reportedly offering to ease tax and labor laws, and allowing easier access to land. Among those companies the Indian government reached out to were medical equipment producers, food processing units, and textiles, leather and auto part makers, Bloomberg reported, citing Indian officials. The talks, which began in April and were set up through overseas missions, reportedly involved Medtronic Plc and drug maker Abbott Laboratories, which has recently developed “rapid” coronavirus tests. Also on rt.com ‘Turbocharging’ exodus: US beats trade war drums to […]
A new messaging standard released today is designed to help cryptocurrency firms comply with anti-money laundering regulations from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The standard, called IVMS101, defines a uniform model for data that must be exchanged by virtual asset service providers (VASPs) alongside cryptocurrency transactions. The standard will identify the pseudonymous senders and receivers of crypto payments, with such information “traveling” with each transaction. Getting industry players to agree upon an interoperable data standard is a significant step towards a more regulated crypto space. The standard messaging format now needs to be incorporated into the various solutions being built […]
Earlier, the Committee on Finance in Sweden’s Riksdagen made a plea to prohibit dividends for companies that have been appealing for state aid during COVID-19 health crisis in a bid to stay afloat during economic turmoil. This measure, however, still was not introduced Swedish manufacturing giants, including luxury car-maker Volvo, bearing manufacturer SKF AB and Assa Abloy conglomerate, are still paying out around 15 billions of kronor (or $1.5 billion in total) to their shareholders despite applying for state aid during the coronavirus pandemic and laying off thousands of workers who are now also seeking financial support, Bloomberg revealed. Volvo is […]