The speed at which oceans are warming could see parts of the world become uninsurable if climate change is not checked, warned the Geneva Association, a global insurance think-tank, adding that governments need to invest more in flood defences and tighten building restrictions in risky locations to mitigate the fallout from extreme weather hazards.
The competition between China and Japan, the two economic heavyweights of East Asia, has now intensified at a time when both countries are hungrier than ever for resources and energy to cope with its development challenges. Earlier this month, Japan pledged some $32 billion in aid for Africa, a move designed in part to counter China’s rising influence on the resource-rich continent. But will Japan succeed, given China’s historical and political ties to the continent?
EU leaders meet in Brussels this week for a special economic summit aimed at boosting growth in the 27-nation union. South Korean President Park Geun-hye meets with her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday and will likely seek Beijing’s support for a denuclearised Pyongyang.
Monday, June 24
Elvira Nabiullina takes over as the head of Russia’s central bank, the first woman to head a Group of 8 central bank.
The world should start taking action to combat the dangerous rise in temperatures, said the president of the World Bank, warning that millions of people around the world are likely to be pushed back into poverty because climate change is undermining economic development in poor countries.
In its new report on climate change, the Washington-based organisation warned that food shortages will be among the first consequences within just two decades, along with damage to cities from fiercer storms and migration as people try to escape the effects of climate change.
After nearly a decade of rapid GDP growth, peaking at 11.228 percent in 2010, India’s economy has slowed significantly – plagued by stalled reforms, huge corruption scandals and bureaucratic inaction. In 2012, India’s GDP growth rate (constant prices, national currency) was just 3.986 percent, below the 5.5 percent estimate earlier in the year as well as a revised 4.9 percent target forecasted in October 2012.
As a result of tightened budgets, law enforcement agencies from countries such as Greece and United States have been troubled with providing the same level of service with far fewer resources. But even if the precise relationship between crime and the economy is murky, some scholars say we are likely to see spikes in crime if the recession lasts for too long.
Last week, Reuters reported that violent crimes in Spain have spiked since the economic crisis began in 2008, with thefts involving forcible entry into properties increasing by more than 25 percent in 2012.
The United States Federal Reserve has maintained the rate of asset purchases at $85 billion a month, but hinted it could begin reeling in the programme known as quantitative easing sometime later this year, and bring the operation to a close by mid-year 2014.
The leaders of eight of the world’s biggest economies on Tuesday struck a deal to “fight the scourge of tax evasion” – such as Google, Amazon and Starbucks – that rob government coffers of billions of dollars each year.
China, the world’s bigger emitter of carbon dioxide, has launched its first carbon trading platform in the southern city Shenzhen, with plans to open similar schemes in seven other regions by 2014.
In its relentless quest for energy to fuel its booming economy, India, the second largest buyer of Iranian oil, has struck a neat diplomatic balance: Delhi has managed to maintain friendly ties and oil shipments from Tehran without antagonising Washington, while keeping Baghdad on the hook as it takes the necessary steps to fill the gaps left by international sanctions on the Iranian regime.
