Afghan citizens handed out roughly $3.9 billion in bribes last year, claimed a study by the United Nations on Thursday, with nearly half of Afghans surveyed claiming that they had to bribe a public official, while nearly 30 percent paid to bribe for a private sector service.
The South Sudanese government is looking at two possible routes to export oil, if its existing conflict with neighbours Sudan fail to reach an amicable solution, said its Petroleum Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau on Thursday, according to United Press International.
While the cost of living in China is relatively low when compared with advanced economies like Hong Kong or London, the truth is Chinese consumers often pay a hefty premium for foreign brands.
Anyone who has been to China would have noticed how much more expensive foreign goods cost there. From Starbucks to Nike, Haagen Dazs to Prada, foreign brands are often sold at a hefty premium in the Mainland.
China has banned the broadcast of advertisements for luxury items on its state radio and television stations as part of a campaign against corruption and extravagance. The timing coincides with the Lunar New Year preparations and festivities, where the giving of gifts, often to gain favour with state officials, is a norm.
Argentina’s foreign minister Hector Timerman on Wednesday said that his country would take legal action against oil companies exploring off the disputed Falkland Islands, ending a three-day visit to London with a swipe at the U.K.’s colonial history – by thanking God for the decline the British Empire.
The Japanese government is propping up the nation’s whaling industry with millions of dollars a year in taxpayers’ money, revealed research by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) this week, despite weak demand for whale meat domestically and little scientific value to its so-called “research.”
French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday told the European Parliament that can there be no “a la carte” attitude towards EU membership and policymaking, warning in a thinly veiled reference to the UK that national interests are overtaking the European interest, jeopardising the cohesion and future of the bloc.
In his first address to the European parliament, Hollande on Tuesday called for “multi-faceted Europe which would neither be a two-speed Europe nor an a la carte Europe.”
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said it projects the federal deficit will total $845 billion this year, a modest improvement compared to last year’s $1.1 trillion. However, the CBO warned that national debt will deepen and swell to unsustainable levels through 2023 unless lawmakers take remedial action.
On Tuesday, the CBO projected that the economy will grow just 1.4 percent this year, hindered by the tax rise on incomes over $400,000 passed January as well about $85 billion in automatic spending cuts due to take effect from March 1.
Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa will step down on March 19, almost three weeks ahead of schedule, reported Reuters on Tuesday, accelerating Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push for more aggressive monetary easing, which Shirakawa had staunchly opposed.
China’s ruling State Council on Tuesday released sweeping policy reforms towards its income distribution mechanisms, reported Xinhua, in the hopes of narrowing the nation’s widening wealth gap, amid growing public discontent.
