The United Nations held a special summit last week, to evaluate the commitment of UN members regarding the Millennium Goals aimed at reducing poverty in the world, and reducing the number of the poor by half by the year 2015.
But senior UN (...)
According to estimates by demographers, the number of those who exceed sixty years of age in 2050 will overtake the number of individuals belonging to age groups that are below twenty, worldwide. This hypothesis is plausible if considered at the (...)
What is remarkable in the figures and statistics on global trade, and the breakdown of the goods traded present in the reports of the OECD, is that the most important imports of major industrialized countries are oil and hydrocarbons, while their (...)
It is natural for some areas of the planet to be affected by regional climate trends, and become distinguished as a result from other regions, in terms of natural characteristics, resources and biodiversity, and subsequently, in terms of the (...)
Oceans and seas have a great strategic importance, whether because they are important waterways between continents and countries, or because they control trade routes and economic pathways, and also as they hold in their depths oil and gas pipelines (...)
The natural disasters afflicting several regions of the planet cannot be only listed among the direct effects of climate change, but can also be considered to be the continuation of the economic disasters that have marked the beginning of the third (...)
The middle class is expected to spend around 60 trillion dollars in 2030, thus constituting an economic and social security valve – as expenditure represents the foundation of economic growth. Hence, in their economic strategy aiming at restoring (...)
The first half of the year ended with contradictory economic indicators worldwide. Generally speaking, these indicators provide a positive outlook of the growth of the private sector. On the other hand, they portray national economies as being in a (...)
Al-Hayat
Monday, July 26, 2010
The bank stress tests conducted by certain countries to verify the reliability of their banking systems and their ability to cope with potential financial crisis, are similar to health checks conducted by (...)
All international efforts have failed to achieve the levels of economic recovery desired by the stimulus programs and the financial ‘first aid' packages. The latter's results did not engender any confidence, despite the optimism regarding the (...)
The United States is no longer interested in ordinary espionage – the espionage of the Cold War and the era prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was thus that the U.S quickly put an end to the Russian Spies issue. A deal was struck, and the U.S (...)
Small countries often fail to achieve their aspirations and dreams, in particular when the costs of the latter exceed its financial means, to execute mega projects. But it is not possible to always invoke incapacity and lack of means. Instead, the (...)
It is not farfetched that the Group of Twenty (G20) might turn into a ‘World Economic Government', with an increase in the number of member states, or with amendments to its purviews.
Since 2009, the G20 has become an economic forum that tackles (...)
The Chinese Central Bank announced that it will adopt a policy that liberates the exchange rate of the Yuan from that of the dollar, in compliance with the demands by China's partners in the Group of Twenty (G20), and also with the United States' (...)
The Arab countries unlocked the door wide open to Turkey, quickly benefiting from Israel's barbaric assault on the peace activists, including Turks shipping aid by sea to the Gaza Strip, killing a number of them. Thus, the state of Kamal Ataturk (...)
As a result of the developments of the global economic crisis and its repercussions, the implications of environmental disputes were put on the back burner following the ‘half failure' of the Copenhagen Climate Summit in late 2009. In truth, the (...)
The scene of the crisis beleaguering the European economy is a belated repercussion of the financial crisis that marched into Europe from the West Bank of the Atlantic. The European economic drama thus appears as though it were an American vendetta (...)
The European media quoted the President of the European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet, in response to those asking whether the euro will survive, by saying: stop listening to the Americans, adding: before the euro was adopted, they used to accuse (...)
Before the new British government could assume power in the United Kingdom and inherit the burdens of the global economic crisis, the implications of the European bailout package, deemed the euro crisis shield, were engulfing the euro zone member (...)
Democracy is sometimes harsh on those who defend it, as ballots or opinion polls often produce judgment against those who work to avoid the devastating crises. What is more important than democracy in the entire world is not the results of those (...)
During the Greek financial crisis, the European currency was subjected to massive repercussions that dipped it to its last year's level of 1.31 dollars, from its peak value that almost reached 1.5 dollars. However, it is clear from experience that (...)
The number of natural disasters during the first trimester of the year has been staggering, given the remarkable number of violent earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tectonic plate shifts, which rocked the four corners of the planet as though it is (...)
Egypt heralded a new phase of dispute over water between upstream and downstream countries, as well as transit countries. This dispute may well leave its mark on the entire twenty-first century, unless UN member states agree to binding international (...)
A week ago, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve (the Central Bank) Ben Bernanke pointed out that the council's ability to address crises in the future partially depends on developing solutions that allow the regulatory bodies to break up failing big (...)
Both the United States and the European Union, following the decisions that were taken in the G20 summit meetings, are seeking to establish new regulations that speculative funds (hedge and investment funds) would be subject to, and which would (...)