World

If you’re wary of chicken and beef products after a major meat supply scandal in Asia, the McDonald’s in Japan could have an alternative for you — tofu and fish nuggets. On Wednesday, McDonald’s in Japan rolled out Tofu Shinjo McNuggets, a doppelganger of the Chicken McNugget made from a …

Up to 20% of power demand in Europe can be obtained by connecting African deserts to European cities, according to the DESERTEC Foundation. The idea is to build a large number of concentrated solar power (CSP) plants in Middle Eastern and Northern African (MENA) countries, and to transmit electricity to Europe …

Many Europeans have come to believe that they have weathered the economic and financial storm. In the past two years, deficits and debt have stabilized. Yields on the sovereign debt of the eurozone periphery’s weak economies have fallen sharply. Portugal and Ireland have exited their bailout programmes. Talk of Greece …

America’s public debt will rise to 106 percent of GDP in the next 25 years, a level seen just once in US history – just after World War II, the US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) warned. US debt has skyrocketed to over $17 trillion, and is now about 74 percent of …

Microsoft will cut a record 18,000 jobs next year, as the company’s new CEO Satya Nadella seeks to boost efficiency, according to a company memo on Thursday. “The first step to building the right organization for our ambitions is to realign our workforce. With this in mind, we will begin …

Officials from the European Commission have demanded that Luxembourg hand over documents relating to book retailer Amazon’s tax affairs. The crackdown by the EU has already affected Apple, Starbucks and carmaker Fiat’s financial arm. The European Commission is investigating Amazon to see if its Luxembourg tax base complies with EU …

Nicaragua has approved a route for a new ship canal to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans costing $40 billion. The project would compete with the Panama Canal and could completely change transoceanic trade. The plan would see the canal finished in 2019 and beginning commercial operations in 2020, Reuters …

The emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, are a couple of days from agreeing the $10 billion BRICS development bank, as well as a $100 billion currency pool. It could challenge global lenders like the IMF and World Bank. The bank will be called the New …

The US Federal Reserve said it could end the controversial five-year-old ‘quantitative easing’ program that has pumped about $4 trillion into the US economy as early as October, if there are no signs the economy is still in trouble. “If the economy progresses about as the [Fed] expects, warranting reductions …

Foreign buyers of US residential real estate surged 35 percent last year, with Chinese buyers, searching for moderately priced, safe investments in a sea of economic and political uncertainty, outspending the rest of the world. Chinese buyers spent $22 billion on US homes in the 12-month period ending in March, …

Shanghai is considered to be the frontrunner between Russia, China, India and South Africa to become home to the new BRICS bank, media reports. The bank is an attempt by emerging economies to challenge the US-based global lending institutions. Four of the BRICS countries – China, Russia, India and South …

Nestle has become the first major UK manufacturer to achieve “living wage” accreditation. The move comes amid increasing pressure on major companies to raise salaries, and it is hoped it will cause a ripple effect among other firms. The Swiss based company already pays a living wage to its 8,000 …