Inditex, which owns both Zara and Pull&Bear, was warned by Russian consumer watchdog Roskachestvo in June 2016 that the shirts posed a “threat” to consumers, the RBC news site reported.

"The fabric [which the shirts were made of] hardly let any air through at all,” Roskachestvo experts ruled. “Three shirts did not meet Customs Union requirements as to the breathability of the material, making them unsafe.”

The stores withdrew the shirts from sale after a meeting with Russia's Industry and Trade Ministry on Wednesday, “until the situation has been fully clarified.”

Inditex operated 485 stores in Russia as of January 2016. Worldwide, their brands also include Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho and Zara Home.

The model being exported is the Lada 4x4 SUV, assembled in Kazakhstan by AvtoVAZ’s partner Asia Auto.

“[Chinese] exports began in January 2017. At this stage, we are talking only about the Lada 4x4 SUV. Even though custom clearance cost more than half of the car’s price, the car remains competitive,” a source at Asia Auto told Life.ru.

Chinese distributors are interested in the car, and the plant intends to sell more vehicles in the local market, the source said. Automakers need a Chinese distributor or pay tariffs of up to 83 percent.

“The tariff in the UAE is rather low; the market is open, and the price is cheap there. The prospects are enticing. A small but steady export of Ladas to the United Arab Emirates is underway,” the source added.

In Russia, Lada 4x4 costs around $8,550.

The plant in Kazakhstan will soon see a new assembly line, which will make 120,000 vehicles a year. Besides the Lada 4x4, the plant assembles the Lada Granta and Lada Kalina models with plans to build the new Lada Vesta and Lada Xray models.

Experts doubt the producer’s exports to China will be huge, but AvtoVAZ still may get a niche on the market, they added.

“It is unlikely that there will be significant sales volumes. We are talking about thousands of cars, but not tens of thousands. But as part of the marketing policy of diversification, why not? Basically, China is a big country, and a niche can be found there. From the point of view of the Chinese government, AvtoVAZ is unlikely to meet any opposition, as it’s a low-cost brand with a small volume of exports,” said VTB Capital car market analyst Vladimir Bespalov.

In 2016, AvtoVAZ exported 20,000 cars and intends to increase that by 50 percent in 2017. It has a stable market share in CIS countries and also delivers cars to Germany, Iran, Syria, Egypt, and Hungary. AvtoVAZ intends to expand to the Czech Republic, Mongolia, and South-East Asia.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), the operator of Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, issued a termination notice for a uranium supply contract on Jan. 24 and, earlier this week, it said it would not accept a delivery that was scheduled for Feb.1.

Tepco’s termination of the contract would affect about 9.3 million pounds of uranium deliveries through 2028, worth about $1.3 billion in revenue.
Such contract cancellation would affect about 9.3 million pounds of uranium deliveries through 2028, including about 855,000 pounds annually in 2017, 2018 and 2019, Cameco said.

Shares collapsed on the news. They were trading down 12.5% to Cdn$14.50 in Toronto at 1:00 pm, and 13.3% down in New York to $11.06 at 1:26 pm ET.

Cameco said the Japanese power company has cited forces beyond its control — specifically government regulations arising from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident — that have prevented the operation of its nuclear plants.

The Canadian firm insisted that there's no basis for terminating the contract and considers TEPCO to be in default. It said it will pursue its rights — including binding arbitration.

“We are surprised and disappointed that TEPCO is seeking to terminate its contract given all the past productive discussions we have had to date,” Cameco’s president and CEO Tim Gitzel said in the statement.

The company noted it has sufficient financial capacity to manage any loss of revenue in 2017 as a result of the dispute.

Including income coming from TEPCO, Cameco expects 2017 earnings will range between $2.1 billion to $2.2 billion. More information on the uranium miner’s financial position will be released next week.