Worldcrunch
MEXICO CITY – My neighborhood dealer was a low-class guy. We went to the same public school, but he was few years younger than me. He was never very bright nor did he excel in anything; he spent his afternoons standing outside his house or at the street corner, without bothering anyone, and with no […]
BERN – Switzerland may be set to become the world champion of shareholder democracy. Swiss voters gave overwhelming approval to the popular initiative against excessive corporate compensation — an initiative launched by Thomas Minder, an entrepreneur from the city of Schaffhausen. Some 68% voted in favor of Sunday’s ballot measure, and each local canton received […]
KOMMERSANT (Russia) Worldcrunch IRKUTSK – The Russian government has unexpectedly decided to close down the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill, which had been the center of one of the biggest environmental battles in recent Russian history, Kommersant reports. The paper mill, which is located on the shores of Lake Baikal in Siberia, had been struggling […]
SANTIAGO – José came to Santiago, from Cali, Colombia five months ago. Some acquaintances in his hometown had put him in contact with Carlos, another Colombian who has been working in a cell phone store in the Chilean capital for the past year. Now José has joined Carlos as a salesperson in the store, where […]
Worldcrunch PARIS – On Friday, the European statistics agency Eurostat, released new European Union and euro zone unemployment figures from January, showing record highs. Here is a breakdown of the alarming numbers: – More than 26 million people unemployed in the 27-member European Union. – Almost 19 million unemployed in the 17-country euro zone. – […]
It’s more about secret oil reserves than Cold War nostalgia.
Most foreigners in Finland hail from the former Soviet Union, many hoping to find more greater (and cleaner) economic opportunities than back home.
DIE WELT (Germany) Worldcrunch TRIPOLI – Libya’s former dictator Muammar Gaddafi has been dead since Oct. 2011, but Libyans are still faced with his image daily on their one, 20 and 50 dinar notes. However on Feb. 17 – the second anniversary of the start of the revolution – the Libyan National Bank put new […]
-Analysis- SANTIAGO – While Argentina and Venezuela have had to devalue their currency as a result of rampant spending and foreign exchange shortages, the rest of Latin America faces exactly the opposite problem. Local currencies have appreciated against the dollar, which has had three negative effects. It is bad for exports; economies have become less […]
Italians teach locals in Burkina Faso both the recipe for pizza, and the formula for a successful small business. Is this how foreign aid is transformed into sustainable development?
The popular President is leading ahead of Sunday’s vote. But in the long-term, economists say Ecuador must diversify — and dump the dollar as official currency.
SUEDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG (Germany) Worldcrunch BERLIN – “Disgusting,” “inhuman,” “unbelievable” – that was the tenor of thousands of comments that have been left in recent hours on Amazon Germany’s Facebook page. The outrage followed an incendiary documentary about the e-commerce giant aired on German Television ARD on Thursday night. Customers also passed on info to other […]
EGYPT INDEPENDENT (Egypt), SAUDI GAZETTE (Saudi Arabia) Worldcrunch Egypt and Saudi Arabia moved one big step closer to connecting two of the Arab world’s most pivotal countries — and biggest economies — in a very real way. The Saudi Binladin Group, the world’s largest construction company, has given its final approval to a project to […]
BEIJING – On the night of Aug 8, 1975, a line of people frantically piled sandbags atop the Banqiao Dam, in the central Henan Province, while being battered by the worst storm ever recorded in the region. They raced against the rapidly rising Ru River to save the dam and the millions of people that […]
MOSCOW – Russia’s Surgeon General, Gennadi Onishenko, is a well-known teetotaler who recommends not drinking for everyone, even on New Year’s Eve. So it came as a surprise last week when he spoke out enthusiastically about wines from neighboring Georgia. “How long has it been since Georgian wine has been sold here?” Onishenko complained to […]
SÃO PAOLO – Brazilian mining giant Vale has halted work on its $6 billion Rio Colorado project in Argentina’s Mendoza province, until its demands for special breaks in tax and exchange rates are met by the government in Buenos Aires. The Argentinian government had given Vale a Feb. 4 deadline to submit a new timeline […]
MAKASSAR – The nostalgic traveler who goes to Indonesia with the idea of walking in the footsteps of Joseph Conrad and living out their own Spice Route literary adventures will be stunned by the sheer luxury of Makassar’s airport. A symbol of Indonesia’s rapid modernization and economic growth, this city of 1.5 million inhabitants does […]
SWEDEN – Sagas are epic tales full of symbolic details, and the IKEA saga is no exception. The story of the Swedish furniture giant, founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, who is now 86 years old, definitely qualifies as a saga. It combines successes, setbacks and the carefully maintained mythology around the patriarch, who even […]
PHNOM PENH – A few years ago this scene would have played out in China. More specifically, it would have played out in a Chinese coastal region to which millions of rural folks had arrived looking for work. A huge hangar, piles of fabrics of all colors at both ends, and some 200 heads lowered […]
Shortages of manpower leave many of the construction projects for the Winter Games far behind schedule.
The dispute over the Diaoyu islands, which Japan calls the Senkaku islands, is prompting some Japanese firms to consider closing Chinese operations. They quickly run into roadblocks.
LA REPUBBLICA, LA STAMPA (Italy), THE TELEGRAPH (UK) Worldcrunch LONDON– Once upon a time, the English just drank tea. Now, they’ve discovered real caffè all’italiano and Italian coffee giant, Lavazza is planning to invade the UK with 400 coffee shops over the next ten years, reports La Repubblica. Currently there is just one, in Manchester, […]
A reversal in direction of the traditional route of remittance payments – now family members in Turkey are sending money to relatives in Germany.
FRANCE FOOTBALL, AFP (France) LE SOIR (Belgium) Worldcrunch PARIS – When Qatar was chosen as the site for soccer’s World Cup in 2022, the sports world let out a collective: What?…Where?? But for the more cynical, the real question has always been: How? According to Paris-based sports weekly France Football, the answer to that last […]
The Occupy Movement began on Wall Street by the so-called 99% shut out from economic growth. But Latin America’s income gap mirrors the U.S. In Chile, it is particularly extreme.
BEIJING – French Minister of Economy Pierre Moscovici was recently in Beijing to convince Chinese officials that the French debate over the transfer of the nuclear technology to China was nothing to worry about. “We are discussing the way the strategic clauses will be applied in regard to technology transfer and intellectual property,” said Moscovici. […]
Awash in cash, the Swiss National Bank has been making major direct investment in the private sector and the bond market. It’s a frightening level of financial sway.
NICOSIA – The moment you arrive in Cyprus you sense something about the little eastern Mediterranean island that sets it apart from its European neighbors. There are an unusual number of men in suits carrying briefcases. And the bright billboards on the streets leading from the airport have Cyrillic writing on them. Some of the […]
BLOOMBERG (USA), LES ECHOS (France) Worldcrunch The U.S.-based businesses of the iconic video-game-maker Atari have filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. An Atari 2600 console – Wikimedia Late Sunday, Atari said it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an effort to free the company from its French parent […]
In the nation of Burundi, serious efforts are being made to make businesses more attractive to outside investors. Still, it ranks near the very bottom of global transparency rankings.
Jeff Bezos’ company has its head in the cloud.
BEIJING – A new study published by the National Academy of Economic Strategy (NAES) finds a global energy market that is in the midst of major changes. China, in this context, is facing both opportunities and challenges; in particular, there are concerns about China’s energy security brought on by shifts in the sector in North […]
Some skeptics, though, wonder whether all the enthusiasm for the developing world has created a sort of emerging market “bubble”.
THE IRISH TIMES (Ireland), LA STAMPA (Italy), THE NEW YORK TIMES (U.S.A.) Worldcrunch DUBLIN – It’s such a simple system. You buy something and it is sent to you. What you don’t know is that the transaction is done through a company in Luxembourg that pays very little to the Grand Duchy and almost nothing […]
SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG (Germany) Worldcrunch GROSS RIDSENOW – The recent theft of a 600-kilogram, 500-year-old chapel bell (estimated value 20,000 euros) from a cemetery in Gross Ridsenow in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is one of an increasing number of bell thefts in Germany. What attracts thieves to the bells is quick money, according to the Suddeutsche […]
SANTIAGO – In early November, a group of delegates from Latin America and Britain, all part of the British American Tobacco multinational, gathered in Rio de Janeiro. The company said it was a routine meeting, and offered few details. The one thing we can know for sure is that if any of them smoked, they […]
The target year is 2020, and the subject on the minds of many world economists: the Chinese consumer. In a report published last month, “Consuming China: How to get ready for the next stage,” McKinsey & Company predict that consumption will replace investment as the driving force of China’s GDP growth. Meanwhile, Dong Tao, Asia […]
DAILY YOMUIRI, KYODO (Japan), DOW JONES NEWSWIRES, AFP Worldcrunch TOKYO – The Japanese government has formally approved a massive 20.2 trillion yen ($227 billion) stimulus package during a cabinet meeting on Friday morning, reports the Daily Yomuiri. The national government will spend 10.3 trillion yen ($116 billion), with nearly the same amount kicked in by […]
CLARIN (Argentina), EL PAIS, EL DIARIO DE LEON (Spain) Worldcrunch MADRID – Unemployment, rising taxes and falling wages have combined to change the calculus for more and more people in Spain. Increasingly, according to new studies, Spanish households are dealing with the economic crisis by reducing the quality and quantity of foods they eat. According […]
-Editorial- SANTIAGO – The recent corruption scandal involving Walmart in Mexico has coincided with the last corruption ranking by Transparency International. The giant American retailer, which also has stores in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and several Central American countries, has been accused of systematically paying bribes in Mexico that total more than $24 million over the […]