ECONOMICS REPORT - Year in Economic News, Part 2

ECONOMICS¹ 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 creditors³ 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 Finance⁴ 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 Commission⁵ 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 yen⁶. Experts say the falling value of the dollar makes American exports less costly⁷.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. This is Gwen Outen.

1 economics   

n.经济学，经济情况

参考例句：

• 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。

2 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• 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。

3 creditors   

n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 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》

4 finance   

n.财务管理，财政，金融，财源，资金

参考例句：

• 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。

5 commission   

n.委托，授权，委员会，拥金，回扣，委任状

参考例句：

• 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。

6 yen   

n. 日元；热望

参考例句：

• 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。

7 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。