ECONOMICS REPORT - Year in Economic News, Part 2
ECONOMICS 1 REPORT - Year in Economic News, Part 2
By Mario Ritter
Broadcast: Friday, December 31, 2004
I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Economics Report.
The Russian oil company, Yukos, continued its legal battle with the Russian government in two-thousand-four. The government reported this year that Yukos owed more than twenty-seven thousand million dollars in taxes. Russian officials ordered Yukos to pay the debt by selling one of its businesses – Yuganskneftegaz. It is the main oil producing business of Yukos.
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Yukos sought protection from its creditors 3 in a court in the United States. Judge Letitia Clark barred the sale of Yuganskneftegaz for ten days. She also barred Russia's largest natural gas company, Gazprom, from buying the company.
But within days, a Russian business, the Baikal Finance 4 Group, bought Yuganskneftegaz. The group paid about nine thousand three hundred million dollars.
Soon after, officials of Baikal Finance Group offered to sell their company to the Russian company Rosneft Oil. Last week, it was announced that Gazprom would join with Rosneft in January. The Russian government is the majority owner of Gazprom.
Lawyers for Yukos say the offer to buy Yuganskneftegaz is illegal. They say Gazprom is using companies it controls to seize the most valuable part of Yukos.
A decision was reached in another court case last week. The European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg ruled against Microsoft Corporation in a dispute with the European Union. The court ordered Microsoft to pay about six hundred sixty-six million dollars. It also ordered the company to change the way its sells software products in Europe.
Software is the group of commands that makes a computer work. Microsoft connects its software products to its operating system, Windows. About ninety percent of all computers use Windows.
The European Commission 5 on Competition ruled in March that combining, or bundling, software was unfair. It ordered Microsoft to provide a version of Windows without other Microsoft software products. The company is appealing the ruling.
And, we started the year by reporting on the decreasing value of the American dollar. Since then, the dollar has dropped to a record low against the main money in Europe, the euro. The dollar also has lost about four percent of its value against the Japanese yen 6. Experts say the falling value of the dollar makes American exports less costly 7.
This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. This is Gwen Outen.
- He is studying economics,which subject is very important.他正在学习经济学，该学科是很重要的。
- One can't separate politics from economics.不能把政治与经济割裂开来。
- The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
- Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。
- They agreed to repay their creditors over a period of three years. 他们同意3年内向债主还清欠款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
- A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。
- The salesman can get commission on everything he sells.这个售货员能得到所售每件货物的佣金。
- The commission is made up of five people,including two women.委员会由五人组成，其中包括两名妇女。
- He wanted to convert his dollars into Japanese yen.他想将美元换成日币。
- He has a yen to be alone in a boat.他渴望独自呆在一条船上。