INTERNATIONAL BRIEFING

RUSSIA

Airline S7 Cancels Boeing Order

Russian airline S7 said it is canceling an order for 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets. It gave no reason for the decision, which came as the global financial crisis hits Russian companies and travelers' budgets.

"S7 is announcing the termination of the contract to buy 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes from Boeing, which was signed in May 2007," the airline said in a statement.

The deal was valued at $2.4 billion, and the statement said delivery was to begin in 2014.

EUROPE

Trichet: Markets Not Reflecting Policies

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said financial markets still don't reflect the policy steps taken by authorities to support commercial banks.

"Developments have not been fully priced in," Trichet told a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "What we're doing is extraordinary."

The central bank has more than halved its benchmark interest rate to 2 percent since early October and boosted its balance sheet in a bid to buoy the euro-region economy and commercial banks. Governments are easing fiscal policies and providing lifelines to financial companies.

He blamed investors for "pro-cyclical" trades that laid the ground for the financial crisis and said authorities should improve transparency and tighten regulation.

Trichet said the Maastricht Treaty meant the central bank could be offered more power to oversee commercial banks.

Compiled from reports by Washington Post staff writers, the Associated Press and Bloomberg News.