The US will upgrade weapons for British and other countries in EU, and keep economic sanctions against Russia.

​​

The U.S. plans to increase its ability to store nuclear weapons in the U.K., U.S. Department of Defense documents show. Biden's 2023 defense budget request to NATO shows the military alliance has added Britain to a list of countries receiving $384 million in investments to stockpile the "special weapon". Other countries receiving the funding are Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey. Defense experts say this is an early sign of a prolonged, and possibly intensifying, standoff between the United States and Putin's Russia.

​​

​​

According to the official website of the Russian Ministry of Finance, the average price of Urals oil during the monitoring period from March 15 to April 14 was $79.81 per barrel or $582.6 per ton. According to the calculations of the Russian Ministry of Finance, Russia's oil export tariff will be reduced by $11.6 from May 1, 2022 to $49.6 per ton. The current oil export tariff is $61.2 per ton. In addition, gasoline export duties will be reduced to $14.8 per ton from $18.3. Tariffs on liquefied gas will drop to $29.9 a tonne from $89 a month earlier from May 1; coke will drop to $3.20 a tonne from $3.90 a tonne.

​​

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning the placement and circulation of stock depositary receipts of Russian issuers on foreign stock markets. Russian companies and banks trading abroad will have to go through a delisting process and exchange receipts for shares, the report said. All decisions related to the termination of circulation of depositary receipts on foreign stock markets are made by the person in charge of the company and do not require the approval of the board of directors or general meeting of shareholders. Receipt holders can exchange them for shares traded on the Russian stock market.

​​

​​

A number of Japanese government sources revealed that the Japanese government hopes to use Hiroshima as the venue for the 2023 G7 summit in Japan. According to reports, in the situation in Ukraine, Western countries have expressed strong opposition to Russia's mention of the use of nuclear weapons. According to sources close to Fumio Kishida, the Japanese side believes that if the G7 leaders can gather in Hiroshima at this time, it can strongly "restrict Russia's use of nuclear weapons." According to reports, it is expected that the venue of the G7 summit next year will be announced no later than before the G7 summit in Germany is held in late June this year.

​​

​​

Russia said it would retaliate after Britain sanctioned top Russian officials, barring Prime Minister Boris Jensen and most of his cabinet from entering Russia. In addition to Jensen, Russia's foreign ministry said it would ban more than a dozen officials including Foreign Minister Liz Truss, Defense Minister Ben Wallace and former Prime Minister Theresa May.

​​

​​

Japan's core consumer price index (CPI) accelerated year-on-year in March but remained well below the BOJ's inflation target, supporting the view that the BOJ will lag far behind other central banks in normalizing policy. Japan's trade balance still runs a large deficit, fueling concerns about surging fuel and commodity import costs, compounded by the yen's 20-year low of below 126 yen against the dollar this week. The data will highlight the challenges facing the Bank of Japan. The weaker yen has become a politically hot issue, with lawmakers calling for measures to cushion the blow from rising inflation. But rising headline inflation doesn't mean the BOJ will rush to withdraw its monetary stimulus any time soon. Instead, analysts said, the central bank is expected to hold on to its strong stimulus for some time, as it sees current cost-push inflation as far from sustainable.

​​

​​

The U.S. Department of the Interior announced on April 15 that it was ending a 15-month ban on leases and reinstating lease sales for oil and gas drilling on federal lands. It also said it would significantly reduce the area available for lease and charge oil and gas extractors higher royalties. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, about 582 square kilometers of land will be made available for oil and gas drilling leases, an 80 percent reduction in land area compared to the size of the pre-ban approval. In addition, mining companies will also be required to pay royalties of 18.75% of the mining value, up from 12.5% ​​previously.

​​

​​

The outside world is watching what kind of response the Bank of England will take and whether it can prevent the economy from falling into recession while curbing inflation. In fact, the Bank of England's normal response to rising inflation is to raise interest rates. The bank has raised its key interest rate three times since December, from a record low of 0.1% to 0.75%. The market expects that the Bank of England may announce in May that it will raise interest rates from 0.75% to 1%, and then raise interest rates to 2%-2.25% by the end of this year. But academics expect the Bank of England to be less aggressive.