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World Bank Initiative for a Low Carbon Future
The World Bank has announced a new Low-Carbon Liveable Cities (LC2) Initiative to support developing country cities around the world in their efforts to plan low-carbon, climate-smart development and get finance flowing. The initiative – which aims to reach 300
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IPPC Report on Global Warming: Formidable Effort in Juggling with Fuzzy Numbers
In about 25 years the world will have used up its remaining “carbon credit” for the current century. Additional emissions will contribute to global warming beyond the tipping point of two degrees (C), the safety threshold used by most scientists
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CBI: Great Expectations on the UK High Street But Not Out of The Woods Yet
High-street sales continued to grow strongly in the year to September, at the fastest pace since June 2012, and exceeded already solid expectations, according to the CBI’s latest monthly Distributive Trades Survey of 111 firms. This was the third consecutive
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WTO Forecasts Gradual Recovery Despite Cut in Trade Forecasts
World trade growth in 2013 and 2014 is likely to be slower than previously forecast. WTO economists now predict 2013 growth of 2.5% (down from the 3.3% forecast in April) and 4.5% in 2014 (down from 5.0%), but they say
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Global Interconnections and Spillovers
Extracts from a Speech By Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund U.S. Chamber of Commerce, September 19, 2013 I. The Global Economy Today I recently returned from the G-20 Summit in St. Petersburg—where I know that the Chamber was
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Cityscape Global 2013: Dubai Property Boom Set to Resume
After the clobbering it received during the Great Recession, the Dubai real estate market is now fully set to surge ahead. Tower cranes are once again swinging their long jibs leisurely through the city’s airspace while underneath apartment buildings, malls,
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UN Condemns Terrorist Outrage in Nairobi
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday 22nd September condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack at a shopping mall in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and urged the perpetrators to be brought to justice as soon as possible. In a televised
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European Commission Confirms Billions Lost in VAT Gap
An estimated €193 billion in VAT revenues (1.5% of GDP) was lost due to non-compliance or non-collection in 2011, according to a new study on the VAT Gap in Member States. The study was funded by Commission as part of
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Looking for an Easy Fix: The Great Banking Crisis Five Years Later
Greed, malfeasance, incompetence and a lack of both regulation and oversight brought the world perilously close to a financial Armageddon when Lehman Brothers investment bank collapsed five years ago this week. The tumultuous event left a gaping hole of well
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An Actor Out of His Depth: Clooney Keeps an Eye on Sudan
US heartthrob George Clooney – according People Magazine the Sexiest Man Alive – has found a new calling: Spying. The actor has earmarked the proceeds of his Nespresso coffee endorsement to finance an eye in the sky which is to
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