The week in review: 5 stories to know from the region and around the globe

Follow the week's top stories related to trade and business in the region and across the globe, as determined by World Trade Center of Greater Philadelphia staff:

Pennsylvania Budget Plan
"A budget agreement with Wolf calls for new revenue of $600 million-plus – or more than $1.2 billion over a full year – from new sources of money, all or nearly all of it from tax increases." -abc27
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United States and Cuba Relations
"'Interest in Cuba has reached levels not seen for a generation,' said Scott Laurence, senior vice president of airline planning for JetBlue."
"Jeffrey DeLaurentis, head of the U.S. Embassy in Havana, said this week that U.S. travel to the island was up 50% in 2015." -USA Today
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An American Airlines pilot shows off a Cuban flag from the cockpit

Federal Rates Increase
"After seven years of the most accommodating monetary policy in U.S. history, the Fed on Wednesday, as widely expected, approved a quarter-point increase in its target funds rate." -
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Federal Budget News - Increase in Alternative Energy Spending
If Congress had allowed the tax credits to expire on December 31, 2016, Bloomberg New Energy Finance reckons that spending between 2017 and 2021 on new wind-energy projects would have totaled around $14.5 billion. With the extension of the tax credits, spending is now estimated to rise to $34.6 billion over the five-year period, an increase of about 240%
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Russia and Turkey Tensions
Russia is currently holding eight Turkish vessels in its ports after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane, the Daily Sabah in Istanbul reported Wednesday.

Moscow has since detained Turkish travelers, stopped Turkish vehicles from crossing into Russia and now denied Turkish trade ships from entering Russian ports.

In response, Turkey has tightened its inspections of Russian vessels coming into Turkish ports. Turkish maritime authorities had detained 27 Russian ships as of Tuesday due to missing documents or transactions in line with the Mediterranean and Black Sea memorandums.

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