World & Politics
IMF reveals its Financial Sector Assessment Program for 2017 - 01/09/2017
In 2017, the IMF will assess a number of financial systems of various sizes, such as China and Japan (large), Spain and Turkey (average), or Guyana and Zambia (small). Financial Sector Assessment Program is the IMF's main instrument for assessment of a country's financial stability. This program helps to identify weaknesses in a state financial system, which might endanger its stability. Besides,...
Expert: Beijing may win in US-China trade war - 12/30/2016
Next year, the US and China could start a trade war, and Beijing might win, says James Wang, a City University of Hong Kong professor in his monthly comments for Pine River China Fund. "Alignment of forces in the world is now much more uncertain than at the beginning of the twentieth century. Players such as China and India created a new political centers of gravity. While economic and political...
Shinzo Abe promises to budge Trump - 12/29/2016
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will continue to persuade the US President-elect Donald Trump into concluding an agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP), reports Kyodo agency. Abe said this to acting head of the White House Barack Obama during a meeting at the US Marine Corps Camp Smith before visiting Pearl Harbor. According to Obama, the Japanese-American partnership is now...
Why Venezuela is the world's worst economy - 12/28/2016
The outgoing year has been extremely difficult for Venezuela, where inflation continues to break records, and the confrontation between the branches of government has reached its climax. Opponents of President Nicolas Maduro, although controlled by the Parliament, have not been able to carry their point and organize a referendum on resignation of Head of state. As a result, they hardened their...
Foreigners entering the US are now asked about their social media activities - 12/27/2016
US Customs Service is now requesting from foreigners arriving in the country information on their activities in social networks. In particular, the authorities are interested in their accounts in social networks and their usernames. So far, consent to answer these questions is voluntary, and refusal isn’t supposed to affect decision on admission. US authorities began testing a new way to detect...
Turkish Kurds are fleeing to Germany - 12/26/2016
German magazine Spiegel, citing data from the federal government, reported that in 2016 the German authorities received three times more applications for refugee status from Turkish citizens than in 2015. Given that 80% of requests have come from ethnic Kurds, this phenomenon could probably be explained by mass arrests that took place in Turkey after the military coup on July 15. "Ankara is in an...
Over three thousand officials are punished for financial irregularities in China - 12/23/2016
The National Audit Office of China held inspections in the public sector, and punished more than 3 thousand officials for financial irregularities. As a result, $ 23 billion have been returned to the budget in total. At the same time, the government is planning to commence checking military spending since new rules for audit of military expenditures come into force in 2017. As China's National...
Budget of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo will not exceed $ 17 billion - 12/21/2016
Summer Olympics in Tokyo, to be held in 2020, will cost the country $ 15 billion to $ 16.8 billion, said organizers of the Olympics. The initial expected cost was approximately $ 2.4 billion in the past year, then the amount rose to $ 15 billion. Not so long ago, experts expressed concern that the expenses might exceed 3 trillion yen ($ 25.5 billion). Tokyo’s authorities promised to cut costs and...
Obama wants to ban oil drilling in the Arctic and the Atlantic - 12/20/2016
Still acting US President Barack Obama is going to block rights to offshore drilling in the largest part of the Arctic and the Atlantic. This step may limit oil production on the shelf for a long time, reports Bloomberg. Obama is going to rely on provisions of a law adopted 1953. It empowers President with a right to exclude areas in coastal waters from oil and gas production. The decision has...
'Popularity of populists' in Europe may drive the world's economy into recession - 12/14/2016
Elections and referendums in developed democracies are now not a routine process, but rather a destructive factor. Experts point out that those who are now called "nationalists" and "populists" may lead the key Eurozone countries to collapse of the euro zone or even to a new global recession. Overthrow of governments in the Arab world has been called Arab Spring. However, very few people in the...
