Japan will pursue a policy of carrot and stick to stimulate the growth of wages. The authorities intend to provide tax benefits to companies that increase spending on wages and investment, while cutting benefits for firms that do not, Bloomberg writes. Companies that raise salaries of their employees by at least 3% a year or invest in human capital through the training of workers, will be able to...

Heads of Germany’s leading, which have been members of the government coalition since 2013, have officially begun negotiations on the formation of a new union. However, this time, the alignment of positions between the head of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Angela Merkel, her Bavarian partner Horst Seehofer of the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democrat Martin Schulz may be...

French President Emmanuel Macron calls on developed countries and world corporations to allocate more funds to combat global warming and help the poorest countries cope with the effects of climate change, Reuters reports. The French leader is holding the One Planet summit two years after almost 200 governments in Paris agreed on the need to put an end to the strong dependence on fossil fuels and...

The gigantic scale of Chinese fishing has long looked alarming to environmentalists who are concerned with safety of the aquatic bioresources of the planet. China is the largest fishing power in the world, both in terms of fleet sizes and fishing volumes. If we count small ships in (there are hundreds of thousands of them), the size of the Chinese fishing fleet is several times higher than that...

The European Union and Japan announced completion of the concordance on a large-scale free trade agreement, thus defying the protectionism policy pursued by US President Donald Trump. "This treaty sends a clear message to the whole world that the EU and Japan intend to continue building an economy based on free, open and fair markets with clear and transparent rules, fully respecting and...

On the eve of the meeting of European heads of state scheduled for the next week, the European Commission (EC) presented a "road map" for deepening the economic and monetary integration of the Union. Proposals include, inter alia, the creation of the European Monetary Fund (EMF) on the basis of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) - the decision should be approved by the EU Council and the...

It's been six months after the start of the crisis in the Persian Gulf, caused by the rupture of relations between Qatar and its neighbors, and finally the isolated emirate achieved the first diplomatic victory. Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani participated in the 38th summit of the Cooperation Council of the Arab States for the Persian Gulf (ПСС) on December 5-6 in Kuwait City. He was...

After long months of defeats, Trump managed to pass through the Congress an important bill on tax reform. However, this achievement will not save the White House from the dangerous Russian theme, and threatens with new problems in the future. On the night of December 2, the US Senate, by a fragile majority of 51 votes against 49, supported the bill on tax reform. This is the first major...

President of Venezuela Nicholas Maduro declared his intention to create a state crypto currency El Petro to bypass US sanctions and "strengthen monetary sovereignty." While the national currency of the country, Bolivar, is rapidly losing its value in the conditions of hyperinflation, its crypto-analogue will be secured by oil, gas, gold and diamond reserves. It is not specified how exactly this...