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/ 4 December 2007
The human rights of the world’s poorest people will be violated unless developed countries accept the need for drastic and immediate steps to prevent global warming from triggering dangerous climate change, the United Nations warned recently. Calling for urgent action on a post-Kyoto agreement to reduce greenhouse gases, the UN said the risks of "ecological catastrophe" were increasing.
Once upon a time there were two countries separated by an ocean. One was called China and its people worked long hours to produce cheap goods. The other was known as the United States. Once its people worked hard and it was the workshop of the world. But recently the US had not worked so hard and for every $100 of goods and services produced in its factories and offices, $106 was spent in its shopping malls.
British Finance Minister Gordon Brown announced United Kingdom backing for a global education rapid reaction force designed to provide schooling for millions of African children in war zones or fragile states. In an attempt to replicate the success of the Red Cross and Medecins Sans Frontieres in health, Brown will provide £20-million to flood areas where education systems have broken down with “clusters” of skilled personnel.
China has attempted to head off a looming trade war with the United States by announcing a hat trick of measures designed to slow down the world’s fastest-growing, developing economy. Last weekend Beijing raised interest rates, tightened controls on credit and widened the band in which the yuan can trade against the dollar in a move carefully designed to coincide with two international gatherings over the coming days.
Thousands of Venezualan workers took control of foreign-owned oil fields on Monday as Hugo Chávez stepped up his battle with Washington in a new wave of nationalisation and an announcement that the country was leaving the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
British finance minister Gordon Brown has announced his country’s backing for a global education rapid reaction force designed to provide schooling for millions of African children in war zones or fragile states. In an attempt to replicate the success of the Red Cross and Medecins Sans Frontieres in health, Brown has provided £20-million to flood areas where education systems have broken down with “clusters” of skilled personnel.
Protectionism and ageing populations pose the biggest long-term threats to a golden era of global economic growth that is on course to be the longest period of expansion since the late 1960s and early 1970s, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said recently. In its half-yearly health check, the IMF said that there were unlikely to be knock-on effects from the housing-induced slowdown in the United States.
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/ 16 February 2007
Crowning the worst year for the trade deficit since figures for imports and exports were first collected in Stuart times, the United Kingdom government admitted recently that Britain was just under £56-billion in the red last year.Data from the office for national statistics showed that, under Tony Blair, Britain’s trading performance has been worse than under any of his Labour predecessors.
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/ 29 January 2007
This week, the skiers move out of Davos, leaving the top hotels to the rich and famous invited to the annual bash organised by the World Economic Forum. Davos is synonymous with globalisation and has security to keep out those who believe that the setting 1Â 500m up in the Swiss Alps is perfect for the conclave of Dr Evils intent on dominating the world.
A week of coups, scandal and political instability took their toll on the world’s emerging markets last week as fears of a looming United States-led economic slowdown triggered a bout of selling by jittery investors. Bonds, shares and currencies in the smaller, developing economies of Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America suffered from the flight out of risky.