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[ad_1] Standing by the bar in a small Stamford Bridge hospitality suite was a figure who had had not been spotted at the stadium in three years: Roman Abramovich. Last November, the Chelsea owner was back in London at his English Premier League club to host the president of Israel. There was no obvious security entourage around the Russian billionaire and little fuss, just close associate and Chelsea director Euguene Tenenbaum. After making small talk with guests and posing for photos with President Isaac Herzog in front of the pitch, the party moved onto an afternoon tea event for around 50 people, with scones and cucumber sandwiches. Abramovich was feted with speeches praising his work through Chelsea to campaign against antisemitism. It looked like the gradual reintroduction of Abramovich into a more high-profile role around Chelsea again, attached to his social activism. There was, maybe, a British visa to be regained after he withdrew his application for a renewal in 2018. Then everything rapidly changed from Feb. 24 when Russia invaded Ukraine. Three months later, Abramovich is being replaced as Chelsea owner by a group fronted by American investor Todd Boehly, a prospect unimaginable when the oligarch was on the field in Abu Dhabi on Feb. 9 lifting the FIFA Club World Cup. It would turn out to be the 21st and last men’s team trophy in 19 years running the team his wealth transformed from being glamorous but only occasionally competing for the biggest trophies, into one of the most successful in European football. Abramovich tried to cling onto Chelsea, even as anger over Russia’s unprovoked aggression toward its neighbor intensified, backed not just by loyal fans but club greats including John Terry hailing him as “the best.” Within hours of the war beginning, Abramovich was accused in the House of Commons of having links to corrupt activity and paying for political influence in Russia. The demands grew for Abramovich to be sanctioned by the British government, which had already thwarted his efforts to regain the visa in recent years, according to a legislator. Sensing the need to act, Abramovich offered cosmetic changes to the ownership on Feb. 26 with the pledge to relinquish “stewardship and care” of the club to its charitable foundation trustees. They had not signed off on the plan, though, and the vague proposal did not quell the anger that a man accused of being so closely linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin could retain the ownership of a high-profile status symbol in the heart of London. Another public play to shield his reputation from Putin’s war came on Feb. 28 when Abramovich’s PR pushed an apparent move for him to broker peace. Abramovich did not condemn the war, and he has yet to do so despite talking about the need to publicly condemn atrocities only two days before the invasion. The rare comments came in a statement launching a new partnership backing the Jerusalem-based Holocaust museum. “Yad Vashem’s work in preserving the memory of the victims of the Holocaust,” Abramovich said, “is instrumental to ensure that future generations never forget what antisemitism, racism and hate can lead to if we don’t speak out.” Yet, Abramovich never has practiced what he preached, even as the death toll mounted in Ukraine and areas were reduced to rubble by Russian bombing and shelling. Yad Vashem suspended its partnership with Abramovich, as did the Imperial War Museum in London, where he funded a Holocaust exhibition and which hosted an event for him hours after the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine. It was only six days into the invasion when Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss leaked that Abramovich was actually trying to quickly dispose of Chelsea and the club was publicly put up for sale. “I hope,” Abramovich said, “that I will be able to visit Stamford Bridge one last time to say goodbye to all of you in person.” A week later, any immediate hopes of returning to London were ended by the government. Sanctions and travel restrictions were placed on Abramovich, his assets were frozen, and Chelsea was allowed to operate only under the terms of a government-issued license until the end of May. New match tickets couldn’t be sold by Chelsea. Players couldn’t be handed new contracts. Even merchandise stores had to close. The job of finding a buyer for Chelsea was placed with the New York-based Raine Group merchant bank. An array of prospective investors went public, some seemingly more viable owners than others, before the bank produced a shortlist of four bidders in early April. The sale ended where it began with Wyss. The Raine Group — working with Abramovich’s associates on the board leading Chelsea — eventually selected the group featuring Wyss and fronted by Boehly, part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, with investment from Clearlake Capital. The sale price was 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2 billion), the most ever for a team in world sports, with the proceeds having to go to a foundation supporting Ukrainian victims of the war. Boehly also had to pledge to invest 1.75 billion pounds ($2.2 billion) in the coming years in the teams and infrastructure. The final stage of the process encapsulated how laced in politics the process was with approval needed from the British and European authorities that sanctioned Abramovich, ensuring he would not profit from the sale. It was an unceremonious end to his 19 years as owner. After buying Chelsea for 140 million pounds in 2003, Abramovich ended up with nothing. Not even a return of the 1.6 billion pounds of loans he had to write off to allow the club to be sold and continue playing. It was never about money for Abramovich, though. More about status and winning trophies. “In hindsight, especially with the public profile it would bring me, maybe I would have thought differently about owning a club,” Abramovich was quoted as telling Forbes a year before losing control of Chelsea. “But, at the time, I just saw this

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[ad_1] There was no shortage of wheat in India, but the Centre has imposed a ban on its export to check “rampant” overseas sales of the grain, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said. Speaking to reporters after attending a function here on Thursday, Tomar said it was the government’s duty to maintain a balance in the market. “For us, the nation’s interest comes first. And that is why there was no shortage of wheat in the country. It is the government’s duty to maintain a balance in the market. Hence, we have imposed a ban to check rampant export of the food grain. We have to meet the country’s demand,” the minister said. On May 14, India, the world’s second biggest producer of the cereal, announced a ban on wheat exports as a part of measures to control rising domestic prices amid concerns of output being hit by scorching heatwave. India’s wheat exports stood at an all-time high of 7 million tonnes, valuing USD 2.05 billion, in 2021-22 on better demand of Indian wheat from overseas. Of the total wheat exports, around 50 per cent went to Bangladesh. Tomar said India has to also look after the foodgrain needs of its neighbours.“Our neighbouring countries depend on us. Many countries in the world need foodgrains, and they are looking at India. We have a responsibility to our neighbouring countries,” he said. “To discharge all these responsibilities, we have taken the decision (to ban export) by checking our account (stock),” the minister said, responding to a query on the Congress’s allegation that overseas shipment of wheat was stopped without any planning. [ad_2] Source link

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[ad_1] A record volume of Russian oil is on board tankers, with unprecedented amounts heading to India and China as other nations restrict imports because of the war in Ukraine. Between 74 million and 79 million barrels from the OPEC+ producer were in transit and floating storage over the past week, more than double the 27 million barrels just before the February invasion of Ukraine, according to Kpler. Asia overtook Europe as the largest buyer for the first time last month, and that gap is set to widen in May, according to the data and analytics company. The sharp jump in Russian oil in transit by sea underscores how the global energy trade has been thrown into turmoil by the invasion, with US, UK and many EU companies turning their backs on its cargoes and forcing Moscow to look for buyers in Asia. China and India have snapped up millions of barrels from the country to take advantage of hefty discounts on the flows. “Some of the interested buyers in Asia are more motivated by economics rather than taking a political stand,” said Jane Xie, a senior oil analyst at Kpler in Singapore. “That said, there has been an increase in US interest in India’s buying of Russian oil, so there may be some downside risks to this trade flow, even if it is currently unlikely to be dented significantly.” Combined Russian oil flows for Asia’s top two buyers, India and China, surged to records in April, mainly boosted by increased purchases from India, according to Xie. Although shipments this month are likely to be slightly lower, they will still only be beaten by last month’s record, she said. The volume of crude at sea will expand by 45 million to 60 million barrels because of the increased Russian seaborne trade with Asia if the European Union is able to agree on phasing out all imports from the nation by the end of this year, industry consultant FGE said in a note this week. Vessels are forced on longer voyages when transporting crude — such as flagship Urals — from Russia’s western ports to Asia rather than Europe, with a one-way journey to China typically taking around two months. As of May 26, about 57 million barrels of Urals and 7.3 million barrels of Russian Far East ESPO crude were observed to be on the water, compared with 19 million of Urals and 5.7 million of ESPO in late February, according to Kpler data. [ad_2] Source link

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[ad_1] Spain retail sales rise 1.5% y/y in April [ad_2] Source link