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World Economic Forum 2014 WEF Live
Forum Debate: Are Markets Safer Now?
Live: World Economic Forum 2014
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Leaked Records Reveal Offshore Holdings of China’s Elite
Close relatives of China’s top leaders have held secretive offshore companies in tax havens that helped shroud the Communist elite’s wealth, a leaked cache of documents reveals.
The confidential files include details of a real estate company co-owned by current President Xi Jinping’s brother-in-law and British Virgin Islands companies set up by former Premier Wen Jiabao’s son and also by his son-in-law.
Original Report : The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists /icij.org
Note: A Chinese version of this story is available here
Leaked Records Reveal Offshore Holdings of China’s Elite/PDF
Quirky: Looking for a Great New Idea
Erik Brynjolfsson, a management professor at MIT and a co-author, with Andrew McAfee, of the new book The Second Machine Age, calls this new approach to problem-solving “combinatorial innovation.” It’s his belief that invention and scientific progress typically come not from entirely new ideas, but from the right combination of existing ideas. What science and engineering companies need, therefore, are smarter ways to collect and grade all these potential idea combinations—the way Quirky uses in-house experts to advise on, tweak, and build promising ideas, rather than trying to turn every doodle into a new product. “There are a ton of potential ideas out there, and the bottleneck is being able to evaluate and consider them all,” Brynjolfsson told me. “The great thing about digital technology is that it’s easier than ever to get lots of eyeballs looking at our biggest problems.” Inspiration and Perspiration
Inequality: Direct People to the Jobs
Health care in all its aspects is a burgeoning industry around the world. It promises to continue to grow. How do we direct our young people to jobs in this area? How do we train them properly for the work? What is the role of the community college in this effort? And can women entrepreneurs start up new businesses directed at this job market? Employment Situation Summary
US President to Visit Pope to Discuss Inequality
But can we discuss inequality in a meaningful way? We can quote the GINI index, but the hard core problems that create income disparity remain. Education, jobs, job training, symbol manipulation, tax codes, entrepreneurs. Should we stop masking these fundamental problems under the blanket, and almost meaningless phrase, ‘inequality.’?
Afghan Drugs to Russia: The Impact of the Connection
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Afghan Drugs to Russia: The Impact of the Connection
Russia is one of the largest markets for Afghan heroin. There are about 30,000 heroin-related deaths in Russia every year. Consequently, Russia faces some of the gravest health, socio-economic, and law enforcement challenges from Afghan narcotrafficking.
The United States has supplied the main military force in the now 12-year-long NATO deployment in Afghanistan. During this period, the Afghan opium and heroin trafficking economy has expanded 40 times according to estimates.
Afghanistan is the source for 80-90 percent of global opium production based on their poppy cultivation. This will likely continue to increase ahead of and after the 2014 ISAF withdrawal and U.S. drawdown.
Drugs and organized crime
Original Report:
Afghan Narcotrafficking A Joint Threat Assessment
Turkey Will Have A Free Trade Deal With Japan
Before EU: Economy Minister
Turkey hopes to finalize free trade talks with Japan before the European Union does, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekçi has said, just days after returning from a commerce ties-enhancing East Asia visit with the prime minister.
“The EU has launched talks with Japan on a free trade agreement (FTA), which we expect to last at least four years in the slow-paced structure of the 28-member union. We will start official talks with Japan as of June 1 and hopefully finalize the talks before the EU does and sign the Japan-Turkey FTA,” the minister said Jan. 14 in his address to Turkish ambassadors who convened in Ankara for an annual conference.
Why the economy minister calls seeking a competition with other states and then calculated is with the European Union, he did not explain. But the gap in between Brussels and Ankara is growing.
Turkey will have a free trade deal with Japan before EU Economy minister
Behind Every Great Woman Is A Great Man
Gender is once again on the World Economic Forum’s agenda. At this year’s Annual Meeting, a series of sessions will focus on the desirability of advancing the rights and economic power of women and girls around the world, and of continuing to close the gender gap in Western C-suites, boardrooms, parliaments and presidencies. These discussions will build on the Global Gender Gap Report 2013, published last November. Although many countries, including developed countries, still have far to go, the proportion of women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies is inching upwards. Indeed, the appointment of Mary Barra, the first woman CEO of General Motors, gives new meaning to the old American line: “What’s good for GM is good for the country.”
Behind every great woman is a great man/PDF
Forumblog Wef
Dallas Fed Chief on QE and Tapering
Quantitative easing puts beer googles on investors by creating a line of sight where everything looks good. Now FIsher says, the Fed must pass the camel of massive quantitative easing through the needle of a normal monetary needle without creating havoc. RichardFisher
As Goes the Euro, So Goes the World?
Will the Euro survive? How do we assess its possibilities? What role will Germany play? And what of the Euro/US Dollar exchange rate up trend? All issues Davos is unlikely to solve, or even discuss in any depth. As Goes the Euro, So Goes the World
