Worldcrunch
BOGOTA – According to legend, Colombia is blessed with coffee thanks to sinners. The legend comes from Francisco Romero, the priest of Salazar de las Palmas in the Santander province, who had a strange penance for residents who confessed their sins: to sow coffee seeds. The priest wasn’t naive – it was yet another push […]
Meet Captain Fu, who runs the Piraeus Container Terminal, which has been owned since 2009 by Chinese giant Cosco. So far, at least, business has barely been touched by the Greek crisis.
ISTANBUL – Fatih Birol, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency, has offered some notable insights into the future of global energy markets. His presentation of the “World Energy Outlook 2012” report that focused on “energy efficiency” will undoubtedly be studied closely by the Turkish Industry & Business Association (TÜSÄ°AD). But to better understand […]
Tuesday’s fiscal agreement defuses the fiscal cliff by deferring most tax hikes and pushing back the sequester. A deal has been made, a financial crash avoided, and near-term growth prospects look rosier. Markets have cheered news of the agreement. Is such cheer warranted? That depends on what happens next. By itself, the package raises little […]
AL JAZEERA (Qatar), FORBES, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, CNN (USA) Worldcrunch Al Jazeera Media Network has announced that it has acquired Current TV, a U.S. cable channel created seven years ago by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. We are excited to announce a new U.S.-based news channel and the acquisition of @current TV. aje.me/S5JWw5 […]
MEXICO CITY – “We say small here, not tall,” reminds a notice, written in black letters on the wall of this new chain of Mexican coffee shops. If coffee isn’t enough, there is also chocolate: hot, cold or with chili pepper that leaves consumers with a slightly burning throat. It’s been around for barely two […]
WALL STREET JOURNAL, CNN, BLOOMBERG (USA), REUTERS Worldcrunch WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives has approved a Senate bill to avoid the American and global economy facing the dreaded consequences of the so-called “fiscal cliff” of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts across the United States. Hailed as a victory for President Barack Obama, the […]
HAMBURG – When a Chinese customer with a lot of money buys a Ferrari, as soon as the salesperson hands over the keys, the fun can begin. When a Chinese with a lot of money buys a Steinway, the grand piano is delivered, placed in the living room – and then what? “Friends come over, […]
In 2011, Sony accumulated losses of $5.6 billion, Sharp lost $4.7 billion, and Panasonic $9.6 billion. The momentum of similar huge losses at these firms has continued through 2012. All these enterprises that used to be so much admired by the Chinese are plunging, one by one, into historic lows. Of course the ups and […]
For investors just getting into the game, the process can seem a little bit like a middle school dance. Awkward and inexperienced, they suction-cup themselves to the walls and poke around the punch bowl while bullish professionals stampede the floor and steal all the good deals. Ever thought you might be selling yourself a little […]
DIE WELT (Germany) Worldcrunch Over the past three years, U.S. lifestyle brand Hollister has opened 17 retail outlets in Germany opened during the last three years. According to information acquired by Die Welt, a number of former employees of the stores have sued the German subsidiary of the U.S. mother company Abercrombie & Fitch for […]
Chinese firms setting up shop on the African continent must do their homework on more than just strictly business conditions.
DIE WELT (Germany) Worldcrunch The Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg, a Hamburg-based consumer association, has accused food company of marketing scams, particularly free online games for children, reports Die Welt. “Many parents have complained about the games, which are usually on sites advertising very sugary and high fat products,” says the organization’s nutrition expert Silke Schwartau. “Unlike adults, […]
PARIS – Boosting sales and maintaining the allure. Such is the challenge today for arguably the world’s most luxurious brand – Louis Vuitton. And that task falls to Jordi Constans, the former Danone food company executive, who is the new head of the largest subsidiary of the prestigious French LVMH (Louis Vuitton – Moët Hennessy) […]
WALL STREET JOURNAL, CNN (USA), REUTERS Worldcrunch European stocks and U.S. stock futures fell Friday after Republican House members canceled a vote on a tax bill intended to avert a massive budget crisis, reports the Wall Street Journal. Republican lawmakers have rejected party leader John Boehner’s proposal designed to win concessions from President Barack Obama […]
PARIS – For Christmas this year, eight-year-old Thomas has asked for… a laptop computer, just so he doesn’t have to use his mother’s. Last year, when he was seven, he got an iPod. This Christmas will be characterized by society’s evolution toward high-tech gadgets; an evolution that has not bypassed children. For dozens of years, […]
CALCUTTA– Captain Manpreet Jolly has not quite recovered yet. Nothing in his career at the Haldia port authority had prepared him for this. The captain was abducted by masked men in the middle of the night, and told at gunpoint to leave and never return to the port town. “We were at my assistant’s house […]
SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, DIE WELT (Germany) Worldcrunch MUNICH – New details have emerged Friday of a vast police raid this week against Deutsche Bank in an ongoing tax evasion case. Some 500 state prosecutors, tax and crime investigators were involved in the Wednesday raids on Deutsche Bank offices in Frankfurt and branches in Berlin and Düsseldorf. […]
FRANCE 24 (France), CNN (USA) Worldcrunch FRANKFURT – European Union finance ministers have agreed on a deal giving the European Central Bank (ECB) new powers to supervise eurozone banks. This agreement came early Thursday after the ministers held talks for more than 14 hours in Frankfurt following months of tense Franco-German divisions. All finance ministers […]
By some calculations, Fabian Thylmann is the biggest porn king of all time. But right now, he’s stuck inside a Belgian jail.
Lately, it seems like the whole world is finding fault with the French. Ratings agency Moody has downgraded France and the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the European Commission have all acknowledged that the country needs to undertake critical economic reforms to avoid decline. The so-called “Five Wise Men” […]
MOSCOW – There are four global logistics companies (DHL, FedEx, UPS and TNT) that are generally considered barometers of the global economy. They told of a crisis before it had engulfed the world, when international exchanges began to lag as trade was slowing down, and the price of shipping packages became cheaper. That’s why economists […]
Seniors Demographic Reaches Social Media Tipping Point.
MOSCOW – Seeking to guarantee greater energy and food security for its population, China is coming up against serious limitations. Just look at the basic numbers: the country only has 8% of the world’s energy reserves, and only 11% of the world’s arable land – yet, it is providing for 19% of the planet’s population. […]
-Analysis- BEIJING – Zhang Lan, founder of restaurant chain South Beauty, is one of China’s richest women and a symbol of the country’s booming economic success. Thus it is not surprising that the recent news that the billionaire has renounced her Chinese citizenship to take on a foreign nationality has been met with some significant […]
RIO DE JANEIRO – Felsberg Abogados’ studies of business law in Brazil are not only well-respected, but are often seen as a very real barometer of the health of the country’s economy. And Thomas Felsberg, the company’s founder, has been observing a unsettling trend since July: a steady increase in the number of companies seeking […]
-Analysis- BEIJING – The “Made in China” export label is by now an integral part of the entire Chinese economy. With Japan as its fourth-largest trading partner, Bejing is starting to ask what weight the ongoing China-Japan islands dispute will have on the Chinese economy. China’s Ministry of Commerce reports that direct investment by Japanese […]
One estimate is that some 150 billion euros have been stashed in secret Swiss accounts.
BARCELONA – Barcelona World. The name says it all. The project is as pretentious as its declared objective: “One of the main investment projects that will transform this region into a tourism industry leader in Europe and in the world.” This is what the Catalan Industry and Labor Minister Francesc Xavier-Mena said of the new […]
VLADIVOSTOK – Located in Russia’s frigid Far East, Vladivostok has long relied on coal power to heat the city through its long winters. A major new gas pipeline that was promised as a benefit for hosting the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit was seen as a chance for the city to finally have a […]
BOGOTA – If Latin America were a game of Monopoly, we would be watching as one player put all his chips in the bank. That is the big offensive of Colombian banks, which have expanded from 35 international branches in 2007 to 175 last March. In 2007, Bancolombia bought the Banco Agricola conglomerate in El […]
-Analysis- BEIJING – Most agree that state-owned enterprises, which have long been at the core of China’s economy, must be reformed. That begins with fundamental changes in the way that such entities are managed, both by increasing the separation between state oversight and individual management, and the separation between management and ownership. The establishment in […]
MOSCOW – At the beginning of November, Russian automaker executives testified in front of the Trade and Industry Ministry about a network of sites around the country they had set up to allow car owners to drop off unwanted cars for recycling. It was the first sign in a move towards the creation of a […]
EUROPE 1, LE FIGARO (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – Unemployment has reached a new record high in the eurozone, with European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi saying Friday that the single currency would not recover until the second half of 2013. “We have not yet emerged from the crisis,” Draghi told France’s Europe 1 radio […]
CAIXIN MEDIA, CHINA DAILY (China), BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP (USA) Worldcrunch BEIJING– China’s middle class will triple in the next 10 years, according to a new report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). By 2020, it should have 280 million affluent consumers, representing 35% of the country’s consumption and 5% of the world’s total consumption. Photo […]
BOGOTA – Last month marked the third time in a half-century of armed conflict that the FARC rebels and Colombian government started a bona fide peace process. Colombia faces more than one threat to public safety, but the fight against the FARC insurgence is the most burdensome for the military budget, which surpassed 3.7% of […]
SANTIAGO – Some time ago, Derek Mossman went to a New York restaurant and asked if they served any Chilean wines. The waiter answered: “No sir, this is a nice restaurant and we only serve good wines.” Mossman is the owners of Garage Wine Co, a Chilean winery. He was in the United States promoting […]
MASISI – Every day at 6 a.m., a parking lot near a roundabout in this northeastern Congo city fills with minibuses, motorbikes and heavy cargo trucks. The atalakus (ticket sellers) shout out names of destinations: “Masisi! Nyabiondo!” Passengers board with their packages: manufactured goods, drinks, salted fish…Everyone is pushing each another, trying to get the […]
LA STAMPA, LA REPUBBLICA, CORRIERE DELLA SERA (Italy) Worldcrunch ROME – Italy’s struggling economy appears to have at least one good shot at bouncing back: immigrant entrepreneurs. According to La Stampa, the businesses of non-EU immigrants account for 5.7% of Italy’s GDP. Confesercenti, the Italian association for small and medium businesses, says the number of […]