Canberra, 08 February 2011 (FOCUS News Agency) – A drop in coal and agricultural exports forced by Australia’s flood and cyclone disasters could “thump” its economy in the first quarter, forcing growth into reverse, Treasurer Wayne Swan has warned, AFP reports. The calamitous weather that has battered resource-rich Queensland state since December could cause the […]
4 February 2011 (businessspectator.com.au) – Suncorp Group chief executive Patrick Snowball has warned that reoccurring natural disasters might drive multinational re-insurance companies out of the Australian market. Speaking to ABC TV’s Inside Business, Mr Snowball said that many people in Queensland did not have flood insurance, which was causing re-insurers to avoid targeting the state. […]
By Robert Mendick, Chief reporter 05 Feb 2011 Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman has scrapped plans to dispose of publicly-owned national nature reserves following the furious backlash over the forest sell-off. Officials in her department had been in talks with Natural England, the quango which looks after 140 reserves, about transferring ownership. But in an indication […]
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSHPublished: January 20, 2011 Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers. Unlike cities, the states are barred from seeking protection in federal bankruptcy court. […]
Adam Taggart, www.Chrismartenson.com Jan. 21, 2011, 10:11 AM This week’s Straight Talk contributor is Paul Kedrosky. Paul is an investor, writer, entrepreneur and editor of the widely-followed econoblog Infectious Greed. He is a prolific engine of commentary on the economy, the markets, and society – often looking through the lens of how technology serves (and […]
By Greg AllenJanuary 19, 2011 Florida is a national leader in orange and grapefruit production. But in the past few years, landowners have given up on more than 100,000 acres of citrus groves, which have become a threat to producers of the state’s signature crop. The abandoned groves are breeding grounds for pests and diseases. […]
By Mark Felsenthal; editing by Maureen BavdekDENVER | Sun Jan 9, 2011 12:32pm EST (Reuters) – To hear a number of prominent economists tell it, it doesn’t look good for the U.S. economy, not this year, not in 10 years. Leading thinkers in the dismal science speaking at an annual convention offered varying visions of […]
Al Jazeera and Agencies Last Modified: 05 Jan 2011 20:56 GMT A 26-year-old Tunisian man who set off a wave of protests after attempting to commit suicide by setting himself on fire last month has died of third-degree burns in hospital, his relatives and human rights groups have said. Mohamed Bouazizi died at 5:30 pm […]
RedOrbit Staff & Wire ReportsSaturday, 15 January 2011, 07:00 CST The price of fighting climate change is even higher than what was estimated in a 2006 study, said British economist Nicholas Stern, who earned an estimated 500,000-dollar Spanish award on Friday for his work. Stern won the BBVA Foundation award for measuring the economic cost […]
By Andrew McCorkellSunday, 9 January 2011 Homeowners living near rivers and the coast face losing up to 40 per cent of the value of their homes as flood risk makes them uninsurable. More than a million homes and 300,000 businesses are at risk, including those in parts of London, Southend, Brighton, Reading, Birmingham, Nottingham, Liverpool, […]
