Latest News

UK to quit 'outdated' fossil fuel friendly treaty
UK to quit 'outdated' fossil fuel friendly treaty
Economy
by  AFP

The UK will join a string of European countries in leaving a controversial energy treaty that has allowed fossil fuel giants to sue governments over their climate policies, the government said on Thursday. To do that, it allowed energy companies -- many of them using coal and other fossil fuels -- to sue governments over policies putting their investments at risk.

Financial security, not fine art, helps drive Japan stocks to record high
Financial security, not fine art, helps drive Japan stocks to record high
Economy
by  AFP

Before Japan's asset bubble catastrophically burst in the early 1990s, stockbroker Ryuta Otsuka remembers waving a 10,000-yen note to hail a taxi after evenings sipping champagne at high-end Tokyo nightclubs. You couldn't catch one without waving a 10,000-yen note," he told AFP. The bill was worth around $70 back then and now -- although in the 1980s a greenback could buy a lot more than today.