America’s federal debt could be double the size of its GDP by 2037, said a report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Tuesday, with debt figures already set to reach 70 percent of the nation’s GDP by end of the year.
According to the CBO, America’s budget deficit is presently the highest it has been since 1945, with lower tax revenues and increased federal spending to blame for the nation’s soaring debt.
Joining the fight against obesity, Walt Disney media group has declared that it will begin imposing strict new standards for food and beverage advertising on its networks –one of the first major media company to do so.
Hailing the move, First Lady Michelle Obama, a prominent advocate against childhood obesity, praised the “game changer” initiative. Speaking at Disney’s press conference, she added:
Italian companies will be required to appoint more women in their boardroom by 2015, reported the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, after the government passed a new “pink quota” that aims to address one of the lowest gender representation ratios across Europe.
Presently, just 6 percent of all corporate board members in Italy are women, though the government has targeted for this figure to rise to one-third starting from 2015.
While gas prices move in tandem with the trends in global oil prices, it is not the only real determinant on domestic gas prices. With the rise in summer travel and an increase in demand for gasoline, history shows that gas prices tend to spike right before the summer holidays. But how to prices differ across the globe, and how much do other countries spend and consume on gasoline? The results might just surprise you.
China’s online community buzzed with excitement and conspiracy theories yesterday as the country’s leading stock exchange, the Shanghai Composite Index, opened with an ominous numerological sign linked to the 23rd anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown.
In an unlikely coincidence unwelcomed by China’s ruling communist party and government censors, the Shanghai stock benchmark fell 64.89 points on Monday – a number that bears uncanny relevance to the June 4, 1989 pro-democracy crackdown that took place in Beijing.
Portugal is on track to receive a fourth round of foreign bailout money, after a review showed that Lisbon has managed to abide by the tough austerity terms agreed under its 78 billion euros ($98 billion) EU – IMF led bailout package.
In a statement released yesterday, the troika – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – said that despite the challenges, Portugal’s reform policies have been implemented according to plan with external adjustment proceeding faster than expected.
Any corrupt official or company who siphons money from the World Bank’s development assistance fund will now be publicly exposed, wrote a statement by the international financial institution on May 30th, following the inaugural publication of a set of decisions issued by the World Bank Group’s Sanctions Board in cases of alleged fraud and corruption.
South Sudanese government officials should return nearly $4 billion in “stolen” public money back to the government, said president Salva Kiir in a letter obtained by Reuters on Monday, with the country struggling to rebuild its public infrastructure following the separation from Sudan last year.
Billionaire investor George Soros has warned that European leaders have a “three-month window” to save the euro, or risk the destruction of the eurozone and a “lost decade”. Describing the crisis as a banking problem and a problem of competitiveness, rather than a fiscal or debt crisis, Soros added that European leaders have failed to truly understand the nature of its economic woes.
Spain’s banks must undergo a government-commissioned audit by all four of accounting’s “Big Four” firms, claimed a report by Reuters on Saturday, as the Spanish government attempts to figure out exactly how much would be needed in order to recapitalise the nation’s troubled banking sector.
