Credit cards, ratings agencies and currency supremacy are some of the battlegrounds where Beijing and Moscow are teaming up to take on the West.
Tag: market
TOKYO — The mackerel comes from Iceland, the salmon from Norway or Chile, and the king crab is from Russia. Less than half of the 2,000 tons of fish and seafood that passes through Tsukiji Market is caught in Japanese nets. The world’s largest fish market is a bustling trading center, with its early-morning auctions […]
BEIJING — That the profitability of a single U.S.-to-China airline route is equivalent to that of three domestic routes and seven times that of transatlantic flights is an open secret within the airline industry. And until recently, U.S. airlines executives could more or less count on this lucrative segment of the business. But for the […]
PARIS — Will the yuan dethrone the dollar one day? The Chinese currency may have just moved a step further in that direction with the October 10 signature between the European Central Bank and the People’s Bank of China (the country’s central bank) for the establishment of a “currency swap” mechanism. The terms of the […]
BEIJING — The “Hierarchy of Needs,” an influential psychological theory put forth by American psychologist Abraham Maslow, tells us that humans have different levels of needs. From the most basic physiological necessities such as water, food and sex, to love, belonging and self-actualization. It is notable that security comes in second on the hierarchy after […]
TEL AVIV — A record number of undergraduate students will get their degrees this year. But what awaits them isn’t pretty: job insecurity, bosses who are indifferent to what they studied, a shortage of jobs that match their education and talents, and big debts accumulated during their years at university. All of this suggests that […]
BEIJING — Economists rack their brains studying the nature of business. In the simplest terms, the essence of business is to make money. But in today’s China, as elsewhere, particular political, economic and social factors make a difference — and a wide range of uniquely Chinese money-making mechanisms have been developed. What Wang Lin, the […]
MODENA – A place like this — where milk costs one point and olive oil four points instead of nine euros, where you can buy food even if you don’t have the money to do so — seems possible only here, between the Torre della Ghirlandina (the bell tower of the Cathedral of Modena) and […]
Step inside the diamond market in Surat, where billions worth of the precious stone circulate every month. There are serious concerns about both security and origins.
REUTERS, BLOOMBERG Worldcrunch NICOSIA – Global markets tumbled Monday as new doubts spread about the solvency of the eurozone with the Cypriot government preparing to impose a new levy on bank deposits in order to qualify for bailout funds. Finance ministers in the eurozone Sunday had demanded that Cypriots pay up to 10% of their […]
A Belgium perspective on the urgent risks that Italy’s economic implosion will spread. France could be next.
THE INDIA TIMES, HINDUSTAN TIMES (India), BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch CALCUTTA – At least 19 people have been killed and over a dozen critically injured in a fire that broke out early on Wednesday morning at an illegal market in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta. It took three hours to contain the blaze, but […]
MADRID – Spanish has become the most spoken language in the world after English – in real life as well as on social networking sites. It is the second most used language on Twitter, after English, ahead of Portuguese and Japanese. These findings were presented in Madrid last week by the head of the Cervantes […]
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 […]
HAMBURG – A chocolate penis – with bite marks – hangs around an angel’s neck. Olivia Jones breaks out in a loud, naughty laugh at the sight of it and declares it awesome. Hamburg’s most famous drag queen is wearing a Dalmatian coat and enough red glitter to deck out a whole Christmas tree. “I […]
LES ECHOS (France), DIE WELT, DER SPIEGEL (Germany), IL SOLE 24 ORE (Italy) BLOOMBERG (US), BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch FRANKFURT – Aiming to squelch speculation of an impending demise of the euro, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policymakers have agreed to an unlimited bond-purchase program to regain control of interest rates in the […]