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As Growth in US Slows, Wal-Mart Puts More Emphasis on Foreign Stores

June 10, 2010
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, pursues ambitious foreign expansion to make up for lagging sales in the United States. While no single country could replace the US in terms of consumer power, developing nations are poised for economic growth. Wal-Mart caters to newly-empowered consumers in...

Greening Financial Reform

August 2, 2013
Government budgets already must tackle flooding, wildfires, rising seas, eroding coastlines and other effects of climate change and should prepare to invest even more. “Trillions of dollars in ‘green finance’ – that is, low-carbon, resource-efficient investment – are needed annually to prevent...

More Countries Adopt China’s Tactics on Currency

October 11, 2010
A proposal in the US Congress would impose tariffs on nations that keep their currencies artificially low. “But many around the world fear getting trampled as the United States and the Chinese battle each other,” explains this article in the New York Times. Japan, Brazil and other nations follow...

Untested Solutions

April 13, 2009
The G-20’s proposed solution to sanitizing toxic assets and to solving plummeting trade is nothing short of monumental. But is it enough amid a backdrop of moribund data – exports are down 20-50 percent – and bleak forecasts – the World Bank expects export volumes to fall 9 percent in 2009? The...

Traffic Cop in an Unsettled Region

February 7, 2007
This month, Riyadh is seeing more diplomatic traffic than usual as high-level envoys from the US, Germany and other nations seek to gain the support of the Saudi government for various initiatives to promote peace in the region. As Bernhard Zand writes, the hidden backdrop for this flurry of...

Seoul in Dilemma Over Iraq Troops

November 15, 2003
With the original goal of helping the United States to reconstruct Iraq, South Korea sent 675 army engineers and medics there over the summer. But now, citing security concerns, South Korea will most likely not meet a US request for 5,000 combat troops to help stabilize the country. Some Korean...

Water, Water Everywhere?

August 22, 2006
One third of the world’s population is already short of water, according to a UN report to be released in November 2006. A main culprit behind the increasing scarcity is agriculture – it requires about 3000 liters of water to grow enough food for a person to eat one day. With an increasing global...

Europe Short on Cash as Bond Fears Deepen

November 23, 2011
Unlike politicians, global investors are strict taskmasters. Banks are warning that European governments can no longer take the capital markets for granted in financing public projects, writes Stefan Kaiser for Spiegel Online. His article describes Germany as a safe haven, but shortly after the...
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