The Bank of Russia lowered the official dollar exchange rate for May 1–5 by 56 kopecks. up to 51.14 rub. The official euro exchange rate was increased by 35.18 kopecks. up to 57.16 rub. The cost of the bi-currency basket ($0.55 and 0.45 euros), calculated at official rates, decreased by 15.19 kopecks. up to 53.85 rub.

Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said he had no information about Chechen Republic leader Ramzan Kadyrov's requests to resign. "I cannot comment on this, I do not have such information," Peskov said on Thursday, April 30, on the air of the radio station "Moscow Speaks." Earlier on Thursday, the head of Chechnya said that he was not going to hold on to his position and was ready to leave it if a corresponding decision was made.

IBM Raises Dividend / AP The Financial Times reports on the dividend increase. Analysts expected the payout to be $1.2 per share. Last quarter, the company paid $1.1 in dividends per share. The increase will cost the company an additional $197.7 million and will bring the stock's dividend yield to 3%. IBM Chief Executive Ginni Rometty said in a company statement that the dividend increase reflects IBM's growth through the company's strategic initiatives and its move to higher value.

Vehicle sales under the fleet renewal program have exceeded 75,000 vehicles since its launch. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Moreover, over the past week from April 20 to April 26, 7,400 cars were sold under this program. The ministry notes that the share of cars sold through the trade-in mechanism this week amounted to 58%, or 4,300 cars.

Renault shareholders on Thursday rejected management's proposal to scrap the doubling voting rule for long-term shareholders. The rule increases the influence over the automaker of the French government, which historically owns a 15% stake in the company. Company CEO Carlos Ghosn insisted on introducing the “one share, one vote” principle.

French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the situation in Ukraine by telephone with Russian and Ukrainian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko on Thursday, the Elysee Palace reported . The communiqué notes that the leaders of the four states agreed that the OSCE plays the main role in improving the situation and maintaining the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.

Operating profit of Japan Tobacco Inc. in the first quarter of 2015 decreased by 8.4% to 143.4 billion yen ($1.2 billion), Bloomberg reports. The reasons for the decline include a decline in cigarette sales and the weakening of the Russian ruble, the currency of Japan Tobacco Inc.'s largest cigarette market. Net profit rose 17% to 104.2 billion yen due to lower income taxes. Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) is a Japanese tobacco company founded in 1898.

The properties of goods will be confirmed by independent tests, based on the results of which a quality mark will be awarded, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said, opening the government meeting. “One of them [the signed documents] concerns the creation of an autonomous non-profit organization “Russian Quality System,” he said. Medvedev explained that we are talking about the formation of a system of voluntary certification of products.

The US Department of Defense has asked the Senate to ease sanctions that prohibit American companies from purchasing Russian RD-180 rocket engines, Prime reports. These engines are used in the first stage of American Atlas rockets and the US industry does not produce any analogues yet. Earlier, due to the events around Ukraine, Congress banned the use of RD-180 for new contracts for government launches and allocated $220 million to help develop new American engines.

Secret, a startup that created an anonymous messaging app, is shutting down and returning money to investors. This case is notable because it rarely happens to startups that have been backed by such well-known investors as Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, etc., the Financial Times notes. According to Secret co-founder and CEO David Byttow, the decision to shut down the startup was the hardest in his life, but he made it because the service did not match his original vision.

April 30, 2015, 17:33 / Business Eurocement Group approved the merger of Holcim and Lafarge Vedomosti Eurocement Group of Filaret Galchev, which owns 11% of Holcim shares, approved the merger of the Swiss company with the French Lafarge. This removes one of the last obstacles to creating the world's largest cement producer with revenues of 41 billion euros.

You have opened the full version on your mobile device. Do you want to switch to the mobile version ? Sports The article was published in No. 3823 dated 04/30/2015 under the title: Nikolai Tolstykh is out of the game Why do they want to remove the president of the RFU?

April 30, 2015, 09:59 / Finance Roscosmos will allocate 40% of the required amount for the rehabilitation of Fondservisbank - Kommersant Vedomosti For the rehabilitation of Fondservisbank 66 billion rubles. to save it will be allocated in the proportion of 60% to 40% by the Central Bank and the bank's largest creditor, Roscosmos, writes Kommersant. As the publication learned, this scheme has already been agreed upon by the Bank of Russia, the government and the DIA.

In the first quarter of 2015, the net profit of the Airbus Group increased by 1.8 times in annual terms and amounted to 792 million euros, reports Prime . On a per-share basis, earnings amounted to 1.01 euros versus 0.56 euros a year earlier. The group's quarterly revenue decreased by 5% to 12.078 billion euros. “We had a strong start to 2015, driven by strong operating results and improved revenue performance,” Airbus Group Chief Executive Tom Enders said in a statement.

The first president of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk, the mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko and the former head of the presidential administration of Viktor Yanukovych Serhiy Levochkin will be witnesses in the case of the extradition of Dmytro Firtash to the United States in the Vienna Regional Court for Criminal Cases.