Nandagopal Jayakumar Nair

Russians are buying more SUVs, and Ford wants a bigger piece of the action. The US carmaker will start producing two 4x4s—the Escape and the EcoSport, in Russia. Local production will help Ford offer its vehicles at a lower price compared to international competitors who mostly sell imported SUVs. Ford is betting on the SUVs to boost its sales in Russia in the second half of the year, and help offset the continued weakness in the European markets.

An interview on CNBC or an appearance on Bloomberg TV can boost your company’s reputation or your personal brand—or turn into an embarrassing meltdown. How do you navigate the tricky questions, look good, sound smart, and stay on-message? Here’s Quartz’s guide to mastering the television interview.

India doesn’t seem to worry that the surveillance scandal recently rocking the US might perturb its own citizens. The country is going ahead with an ambitious program that will let it monitor any one of its 900 million telecom subscribers and 120 million internet users.

Walmart’s attempt to make inroads in India have received yet another setback. Raj Jain, the chief executive of Walmart’s India joint venture, resigned after six years at the helm; no reason was given. Walmart has now seen three CEOs in its Japan, China and India markets leave in the last two years.

Bahrain is spending beyond its means to tackle continued political unrest. The tiny island kingdom’s state spending is expected to jump 11% this year to 3.62 billion dinars ($9.6 billion), including 174.2 million dinars in additional expenditure for populist measures like increased food subsidies and higher pensions for retirees. Even in 2012, Bahrain had increased its planned expenditure by 19% to placate protestors who were demanding political reforms.  The protestors, who mainly belong to the majority Shia population, are demanding greater freedoms and rights from the Sunni royal family. The largesse comes even as International Monetary Fund and Moody’s warned Bahrain that its rising budget deficits could soon get out of hand. The IMF expects Bahrain’s fiscal deficit to widen from 2.6% of GDP in 2012 to 4.2% this year, and then keep rising sharply to 8.6% in 2018. The biggest threat for Bahrain could come from a sustained decline in oil prices, since the government relies on crude sales for more than 85% of its revenue. The IMF pointed out that Bahrain needed crude prices to stay around $118 per barrel to balance its budget. Brent crude, which is used to price majority of international oil sales, has averaged $108 a barrel so far this year. Moody’s also cited Bahrain’s reliance on high oil prices when it placed the country on review for possible downgrade in June. The rating agency said Bahrain’s sovereign debt could be downgraded from Baa1 to a lower investment grade. Moody’s also warned that the rise in government expenditure and fall in oil price could make Bahrain’s long-term debt unsustainable. A more immediate concern for Bahrain is the sharp rise in the country’s borrowing costs. Yields have risen to their highest levels since August 2012, and have threatened a proposed Eurobond issue.

After weeks of fevered speculation and public bickering, Malaysia’s AirAsia and Japan’s All Nippon Airways have decided to terminate their low-cost venture, AirAsia Japan.

Saudi Arabia’s crackdown on illegal foreign workers is proving to be a blessing in disguise for local companies. In an effort to boost the local economy, Saudi authorities have given illegal workers until July 3 to find a sponsored job or risk being fined or deported. As a result, expatriates have been willing to take up jobs with lower salaries just to stay in Saudi Arabia. Since April, 1.5 million foreign workers have managed to change status, and that is estimated to have saved local businesses 15 billion Saudi riyals ($4 billion), according to the Saudi labor ministry.

The Indian government has a new ally in its campaign to curb gold imports. Reliance Capital, the financial services company owned by billionaire Anil Ambani, became the first company to suspend gold sales across all its businesses. It has also halted new subscriptions in its gold savings funds and stopped offering financing against gold as a security.

The US Federal Reserve’s stimulus exit timeline shook the global economy. In India, the situation is particularly dire: its stock markets experienced the sharpest fall in almost two years, bond prices fell so much that trading had to be halted, and the value of the rupee fell to a record low. The rupee nearly reached the psychological barrier of 60 rupees to the dollar, a low point that many consider catastrophic for the Indian government.

The number of people displaced by war and other conflicts has risen to its highest level in almost two decades. In 2012, almost 7.6 million people became newly displaced, according to UNHCR’s annual global trends report. That boils down to one new refugee or internally displaced person every 4.1 seconds. The total global refugee population increased to 45.2 million people in 2012 compared to 42.5 million the previous year.

Recession-spooked Europeans are backing away from buying cars. Sales fell 5.9% in May from a year earlier to a 20-year low of just over one million units, according to the European car manufacturers’ association.

Equity markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are emerging as a hotspot for international investors. The region attracted $655 million of inflows in May—the highest monthly inflows over the past five years, according to Deutsche Bank. Year-to-date, the MENA markets have seen net inflows of $2.3 billion against an outflow of $192 million during the same period in 2012.

China has been grabbing the headlines of late for the shoddy state of its statistics. It seems India wants its share of the limelight. In a feat unlikely to be matched anytime soon, India corrected its factory output data twice in 24 hours.

Amazon and eBay’s India plans may get a boost from an unexpected source: the implosion of their chief rival.

Dubai’s economy is roaring back to life, and so are the careless bets that got it into trouble.

This item has been corrected.

Middle Eastern neighbors United Arab Emirates and Qatar are facing off in the race to be designated as an “emerging market” by influential index compiler Morgan Stanley Capital International.

Saudi Arabia has suspended popular internet messenger application Viber for failing to comply with unspecified regulations. The Communications and Information Technology Commission also warned that “appropriate action will be taken against other applications or services that do not comply with regulations.”

Chrysler has rejected the request from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall 2.7 million Jeeps. It’s a highly unusual move: The last time a car-maker faced down the NHTSA was in 1998, and that time too, it was Chrysler.

All eyes are on Apple’s upcoming internet radio service, which will be unveiled at its annual developers conference next week. Music companies are already signing up, which has freaked out investors in Pandora (the stock is getting clobbered). And yet, no one really knows how Apple plans to make money off the service—including Apple.

Detroit’s Big Three made a comeback in May after a disappointing April.

The players in India’s $108 billion information-technology industry are realigning. Finally.

On the face of it, income inequality is high on America’s agenda. President Barack Obama has made it a signature issue of his second term, bluntly stating that the US won’t succeed “when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke decried inequality for “creating two societies.” Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz blamed the “concentration of income and wealth at the top, the hollowing out of the middle and increasing poverty at the bottom” for disrupting the American dream. Even Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein called for “some redistribution” to create a stable and just society. But despite the growing consensus in Washington, Wall Street and academia, there hasn’t yet been concrete action and the situation is only taking a turn for the worse.

Indian politicians’ latest weapon against each other: The hashtag.