China has restarted its nuclear programme after a one and a half year hiatus following the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Beijing, however, will approve only “a small number” of new nuclear plants that will be built in coastal regions.
China is ready to approve new nuclear power plants as part of ambitious plans to reduce reliance on oil and coal, ending a 20-month ban on approvals of new plants following Japan’s nuclear crisis.
Greece’s finance minister said on Wednesday that debt-stricken Athens has been given more time to meet its bailout targets. However, officials from the ECB and IMF have refuted the claims, saying a decision will only be made after the troika releases it assessment report on the Greek economy.
Addressing the Greek Parliament on Wednesday, finance minister Yannis Stournaras said Greece’s European partners have agreed to give Athens additional time to carry out its austerity programme.
Stournaras told parliament:
While education standards have improved across the board in the past 50 years, it has not improved evenly. Some countries, mostly developed nations, enjoy greater rates of educational attainment than others.
A recent study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that the majority of countries that spend the most on education have the most educated populations. As in previous years, the best educated countries tend to spend the most on tertiary education as a percentage of gross domestic product.
Iran has said it would consider taking its oil off the market if international sanctions, aimed at forcing Tehran to abandon its nuclear enrichment programme, intensify. According to the nation’s oil minister, Iran has plans to survive without oil revenues.
The comments by Iran’s Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi were the latest in a series of threats of retaliation by Tehran in response to the sanctions, which have heightened political tensions across the Middle East.
The European Commission yesterday backed plans by 11 European Union economies to impose a “Robin Hood” financial transaction tax, better known as a Tobin tax, to help raise funds to tackle the region’s growing debt crisis.
The European commission gave the greenlight for a eurozone “coalition of the willing” to go ahead with a financial transaction tax (FTT), likely to be levied at 0.1 percent on shares and bonds, and at 0.01 percent on derivatives.
In a bid to protect its domestic shipping industry from a slowing global market, China has introduced a plan to ban foreign vessels from sailing on its domestic waters, as well as block foreign shipping services from operating in China.
China will ban foreign vessels from sailing on its domestic waterways from January 1 as local operators struggle to profit amid a global shipping glut.
The world’s largest home-furniture retailer, IKEA, has announced plans to more than double its investment in renewable energy, with the aim of producing as much renewable energy as it consumes by 2020.
As part of its sustainability plan, IKEA will invest 1.5 billion euros ($1.95 billion) to meet its 2009 – 2015 renewable energy goal, up from an earlier commitment of 590 million euros.
Some of the world’s largest economies, particularly the European Union and Japan, have resorted to less tansparent policy instruments, also referred to as murky or stealth protectionism, in a bid to protect their economies against foreign competition.
Since the onset of the global financial crisis, a study has found that governments have been “selectively subsidising” local firms – a clear violation of, albeit weak, World Trade Organisation rules.
Japanese exports have tumbled at their sharpest pace since the aftermath of last year’s earthquake and tsunami. More worryingly, exports to China have fallen to fresh lows amid a worsening territorial spat.
Data released today by Japan’s Finance Ministry showed that shipments slid by 10.3 percent in September from a year earlier, leaving a deficit of 558.6 billion yen ($7 billion), its biggest since May last year when the country was rebuilding supply chains wrecked in the March earthquake and tsunami.
As is often true in times of economic instability, alternative investments appear more desirable and specifically, gold investment has caught the eyes of many people looking to preserve and increase their wealth. With many of the world’s largest economies struggling significantly for the past several years, people are seeking ways to safely invest money outside of traditional financial markets.
