The coronavirus pandemic caused the sharpest decline in demand for champagne since world war II. In this regard, the producers agreed to collect less grapes — part of the crop will be destroyed. This is reported by The Times. 360 producers, which account for about 90 percent of purchases of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes, have entered into an agreement with growers. They commit to harvest no more than eight tons of grapes per hectare, which is 22 percent less than last year. This will cause a fifth of the crop to rot. Sales of LVMH, which, for example, owns the champagne brands Moet&Chandon, Krug, Dom Perignon and Veuve Clicquot, collapsed by 30 percent due to the coronavirus pandemic. In July, it became known that Russia may raise the price of champagne, ...
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Several indicators indicate that the US economy is on the mend and is gradually recovering from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting crisis, writes Reuters. Among the indicators analyzed by the Agency are data on the state of retail and unemployment, the Oxford index of economic recovery, as well as statistics on the opening of new jobs. All of them show positive dynamics. Some statistics seem illogical at first glance. Thus, the expiration of the period during which unemployed Americans could count on additional benefits did not lead to a decrease in aggregate demand from the population. The volatility index, calculated by the Chicago Board of options (CBOE) and also known as the "fear index", is close to the February values. This indicates a positive mood o...
Read MoreAmerican energy companies Chevron, Honeywell, General Electric and others have entered into oil-related agreements with the Iraqi authorities for a total of eight billion dollars. This was reported by the us Department of energy. The former has been granted exclusive rights to explore, develop and produce oil in the province of Di-Kar. Honeywell plans to start gas production in the Ar-Ratawi field, which will allow Iraq to use " local gas resources to meet domestic energy demand." In addition, General Electric got contracts for the electrification of Iraq. These deals are key to Iraq's energy future, said US energy Secretary Dan Brouillette. Earlier, Saudi Arabia and Russia criticized Iraq for failing to reduce oil production, which, in their view, threatens the OPEC + deal. H...
Read MoreThe recovery of the Euro zone economy after the deepest recession in history slowed in August, especially in the service sector. CNBC writes about this. Many quarantine measures imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic were lifted, so business activity last month grew at the fastest pace since mid-2018. However, in some European countries, there was a repeated spike in the incidence of the disease, which again led to restrictions being imposed. The IHS Markit index, which is an indicator of economic health, fell from 54.9 to 51.6 points in August. The recovery lost momentum due to weak demand, and people changed their minds about spending money, said Andrew Harker, Director of Economics at IHS Markit. The employment index fell to 47.7 from 47.9. Europe will need two years or more to f...
Read MoreSaudi Arabia's state oil company, Saudi Aramco, has torn up a major contract to build a refinery and petrochemical complex in China as part of a joint venture, Bloomberg reports. The cost of the project in the North-Eastern province of Liaoning was supposed to be 10 billion dollars, but the Saudi company considered the costs too high, and the market prospects of the plant — uncertain. China intends to further promote the project, not excluding that Saudi Aramco may change its mind. The reason for reconsidering its investment plans for the company was the desire to maintain a dividend of $ 75 billion. Because of this, the management of Saudi Aramco is looking for any ways to reduce capital expenditures against the background of low oil prices and rising debt. When the construction ag
Read MoreBritish millionaire Barry Drewitt-Barlow, who was one of the first gay men in the country to get the right to fatherhood through surrogacy, proposed to the former lover of his daughter, writes the Daily Mail. Last year, the man separated from his husband Tony Drewitt-Barlow, during the marriage with whom the family had five children, the eldest were twins — a girl, Saffron, and a boy, aspen. Barry, 50, began Dating 25-year-old bisexual assistant Scott Hutchison, who had been building a relationship with 20-year-old Saffron in the past few months. In social networks, the millionaire shared footage of the romantic setting in which the couple got engaged. The engagement was made during a joint vacation with her daughter and a young lover. At the same time, Saffron noted that she is ...
Read MoreRussia asked the UN security Council to meet urgently because of us sanctions
Russia has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in connection with the us appeal to the international organization with the intention to launch the procedure for restoring sanctions against Iran. This is reported by TASS with reference to the Deputy permanent representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyansky. According to him, due to the recent events surrounding the implementation of resolution 2231, Russia requested an open meeting on the morning of August 21. Earlier, US Secretary of state Mike Pompeo met with the Chairman of the UN security Council and submitted a complaint to the organization about Iran's failure to comply with the terms of the Joint comprehensive plan of action for the settlement of the Iranian nuclear program (JCPOA), which should lead to th
Read MoreRussian foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on Kiev to stop playing tricks on everyone and start implementing the Minsk agreements. The foreign Minister said this in an interview with the Trud newspaper, RIA Novosti reports. According to the Minister, this document, which was approved by the UN security Council and signed by Ukraine, contains a provision on constitutional reform, which involves the decentralization of power and securing the special status of certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Minister noted that giving special status to these territories is the key to resolving the crisis in Ukraine and resolving security, socio-economic and humanitarian issues. Lavrov also added that Ukraine comes up with some excuses every time and does not fulfill its obliga
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