March 2010 Edition
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, described as the most prestigious economic club in the world, has added Chile to its membership. The Paris-based OECD now with 31 members, is a research organisation that identifies economic benchmarks and promotes best practices in economies with strong free-market convictions. Twenty-one members are European countries; Japan and South Korea are the sole Asian members. Chile becomes only the second member, after Mexico, from South America and the Caribbean.
GAS
The volume of greenhouse gases emitted by 40 industrialized countries that report under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change increased by 1% in 2007. Between 1990 and 2007 emissions fell by 4% in these countries. Control of gas varied widely over the period with Spain increasing by 53%, but in Germany falling by 23%. Britain's switch from coal to gas-fired power stations has helped its green credentials, Countries with significant primary industries, such as mining and forestry tend to emit far greater quantities of greenhouse gases. Australia's emissions are far greater than France, for example, even though France has a much larger economy.
TVs
Power-hungry TVs will be banned from store shelves in California after state regulators adopted a first-in-the-nation mandate to reduce electricity demand. The Energy Commission requires all new televisions up to 58 inches to be more energy efficient beginning in 2 011. The requirement will be tougher in 2013 with only a quarter of all TVs currently on the market meeting that standard. It is estimated that TVs account for 10% of a home's electricity use and the concern is that the energy draw will rise by as much as 8% a year as consumers buy larger televisions.
SPICES
India exports about 180 varieties of spices to over 150 countries around the world. Mint products account for the bulk of spice exports followed by chilies, oils, oleoresins and pepper. East Asia is the biggest buyer in value terms with 41% followed by the U.S with 21%. In 2002-2003 India's total exports of spices was 264,107 tonnes valued at US$432-million. In 2008-2009, exports touched 470,520 tonnes worth $1.168-billion. India's Spice Board has set an export goal of $10-billion by 2017 and is eyeing South America to boost exports.
SINKINGS
Processing and safely storing waste from the chemical, pharmaceutical and other industries can cost hundreds, even thousands, of dollars per ton which makes illegal disposal highly profitable. In the Mediterranean, 39 ships were wrecked under questionable circumstances between 1979 and 1995. An average of two ships a year suspiciously disappeared in the Mediterranean during the 1980s and early 1990s and the number has increased to nine wrecks per year since 1995. The increase in the frequency of wrecking, correlates with the progressive tightening of international dumping regulations.
SAVINGS
Pension funds in the OECD had a bad time, losing over 20% of their value between the end of 2007 and the end of 2008. Funds heavily invested in equities such as those in Ireland and Australia proved particularly vulnerable. The big rally last year allowed some of the losses to be recouped in the first half of 2009 but there is still a long way to go.
PIRACY
Armed robbery and piracy against ships surged nearly 39% in 2009 to a total of 406 incidents around the world. The sharp increase has been attributed to attacks by Somali pirates which accounted for 217 incidents, nearly double the previous year's figure and over half the world's total.
CARS
U.S. luxury-car sales, once considered resistant to recessions, have plunged 40% over the past two years compared with the overall market's drop of 35%. Premium car makers are hoping to revitalize sales with a slew of new or refreshed models, many of them featuring high-end safety features. The used-car market is proving to be an unexpected boon where many luxury-car buyers are turning to replace or buy models they prefer rather than downsize to a new but less-expensive vehicle.
TECHNOLOGY
Pharmaceutical firms are embracing the "smart-pill" technology. Proteus technology enables pills to relay data about a patient back to doctors after they have been swallowed. Another company has an intelligent pill which can be delivered at precisely the right spot in the digestive tract. A cap for pill bottles has been developed that telephones a patient if they fail to take their medicine on time. The technology should be lucrative for all concerned as drug firms currently lose billions of dollars in sales from patients on long-term prescriptions who do not take their pills.
COMMODITIES
By the end of last year, metals prices had more than doubled from the depths of December 2008. Demand was fuelled by emerging economies many of which saw dramatic growth last year. Copper prices rose more than 150% last year and sugar prices more than doubled as a poor harvest in India, the world's biggest consumer, caused it to turn to imports to meet demand. Prices for rubber, nickel, platinum and aluminum also increased significantly.
HANDBAGS
New British research has found that the weight of handbags has dropped 57% in the last two years to 1.5 kilograms and that's with phones, keys, wallets etc included. Between 2006 and 2007 the average weight was 3.5 kilograms. The introduction of multipurpose devices such as the iPhone and Blackberry have helped lower the weight. Handbag makers are also using leathers that are 20% to 40% lighter than skins used several years ago.
PHARMACIES
A recent study shows that Canada has 8,214 licensed community pharmacies (ones not located in hospitals) and 31,284 licensed pharmacists of which 22,000 work in community pharmacies, About 80% of that 22,000 work in chain drug stores which fill about 80% of prescriptions. Generic drugs are used to fill 52% of prescriptions. Ontario has 2.88 pharmacies per 10,000 people compared to 1.46 for every 10,000 in the U.S.
AIRPORTS
China plans to build the world's highest airport in the Himalayan region of Tibet, at an elevation of nearly 4,500 metres. Construction of the airport, which will take three years, is to start next year at a cost of US$270-million and will be 230 kilometres north of the regional capital of Llasa.
BOOKS
Bookseller Barnes & Noble is launching a textbook rental program for college students. The new program, available through campus bookstores or websites began as a pilot program in three of its 636 campus bookstores last fall. It has now expanded to 25 bookstores. Books will rent for 42.5% of their original price for an entire term. College students spend about US$667 per year on required course materials.
ONLINE
Many major retailers are beefing up their web business to get some of the continuing growth online and to keep their sites competitive. They are adding millions of grocery and other products, new kinds of services and even alliances with rival retailers. It is expected that retailers will report that their total U.S. online for 2009 rose 11% to US$156-billion. But web sales remain a small fraction of U.S. commerce. Proctor & Gamble reports only $500-million of $79-billion, or 0.06% of annual sales, comes from online sales.
AGE
A United Nation report says that the elderly will outnumber children for the first time in 2045, increasing demand on nursing homes and increasing the burden on working-age people to support retirees. The proportion of the world's population older than 60 years will reach 22 per cent over the next four decades from 11 per cent in 2009 and eight per cent in 1950.
SPYING
The war between the U.S. and its former cold war adversaries has moved to cyberspace. In the new cyber war, the targets are U.S. companies as much as embassies or spy services because corporations hold giant repositories of sensitive information that can be easier to crack. Companies are responding in kind, often launching their own intelligence operations to counter the spies. Russian hackers have specialized in tapping bank accounts, holding personal computers for ransom and selling stolen U.S. government information. Attacks by China on defense contractors have intensified in the last 18 months.
SMOKED
The European Union Food Safety Authority (EFSA) says one of the flavourings used to give smoke flavour to meat, cheese or fish may be toxic to humans. The authority looked at 11 smoke flavourings used in the EU and says several are dangerously close to levels which may cause harm to humans.
SOLAR
The technology behind solar energy is constantly evolving. Portable devices that charge up gadgets from the sun are becoming smaller and more powerful. A new generation of portable solar chargers can plug straight into a laptop and provide up to a quarter of the power needed while in use. There has been a steady growth in the UK of small-scale electricity production at home in recent years and in 2008 this figure doubled.
HEIGHT
In recent years Dubai has grabbed the headlines with audacious offshore islands and rotating buildings. Now it has opened the world's tallest tower, Burj Dubai. At more than 800 metres, twice the height of the Empire State Building, you can see its spire from 95 kilometres away and the exterior is covered in 28,000 glass panels. The design of the building posed unprecedented technical and logistical challenges, not just because of its height, but also because Dubai is susceptible to high winds and is close to a geological fault line.
CARP
The Great Lakes are threatened by the voracious Asian carp that have evaded poisoning, lock gates and hi-tech electronic barriers as they have penetrated thousands of miles of American rivers and canals devouring much of the food in their path. Now, the silver and bighead carp, originally from Taiwan, are facing the might of the U.S. army in a last ditch effort to prevent them from reaching the world's largest fresh water system, the Great Lakes and their connecting rivers that straddle the Canadian border which could threaten the region's US$7-billion fishing industry.
STUDENTS
Foreign students flock to the U.S. from all over the world. According to the OECD, over 40% of the 106,123 foreign students in the country during the 2007-2008 academic year came from just three Asian countries: China, India and South Korea. China sent 23,779 students and India and South Korea about 10,000 each By contrast the European presence on American campuses has grown more slowly. But between them, Germany, France and Italy send more students to the U.S. than did either India or South Korea.
OPPORTUNITIES
In Manchester and London, the Holiday Inn hotel chain is trying out human bed warmers. The walking electric blankets dressed in special all-in-one sleeper suits are sent to warm the beds of guests for five minutes.
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