International Investment Reports
Russia (Fortune 2/11)
"While history might record that China's spectacular growth dominated the headlines in the immediate aftermath of the global economic crisis, Russia's re-emergence as a global free-market economic superpower may prove to be of equal long-term significance" ...more
Brazil (Fortune 11/10)
"The old line about Brazil being 'the country of the future where the future never comes' is being inexorably turned on its head"... more
The World Water Crisis (National Geographic 04/10)
"If oil has dominated the global geopolitical agenda for most of the last 50 years, then the next half-century threatens to belong to water. A combination of climate change, water table pollution, population growth and the long-term effects of mass urbanisation are increasing the scarcity value and undermining the quality of this most vital of natural resources with potentially devastating consequences..... Blue is rapidly emerging as the new black... more
Colombia (Fortune 06/04/09) "January [2009] must have been a strange old month for Colombia’s President Alviro Uribo. On the 13th he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from George Bush; two weeks later he was taking a phone call from Barack Obama grilling him about his country’s internal security record...more
Ibiza (National Geographic 04/09)
"Tourism in the Mediterranean can be a fickle business, with success or failure all too often dictated by unpredictable shifts in culture and taste... more
Lebanon (Fortune 06/04/09)
“We know that our patchwork heritage is a strength not a weakness” is one of the several, memorable phrases coined by Barack Obama at his inauguration speech in January this year. After decades of division along ethnic and religious lines, it is also an observation that is becoming increasingly relevant to Lebanon - albeit on a different scale to the US... more
Piemonte (National Geographic 08/09)
"The Coliseum in Rome, Venice’s Piazza San Marco and the Leaning Tower of Pisa may be among the top “must-see” sites for most tourists visiting Italy for the first time, but any seasoned traveller will tell you that the real magic of Italy lies in the sheer diversity and the richness of her culture, countryside and cuisine that seems to be waiting to be discovered around each and every corner... more
Saudi Arabia (Fortune 17/09/09)
"On the coast of the Red Sea, about 120 kilometres north of Jeddah, the world's first 'Smart City' is beginning to take shape... more
Business, Management & Finance
Islamic Finance
"In 2006 Dubai Ports World made global headlines with its takeover of the UK’s international ports operator P&O. One of the reasons it attracted so much attention was the method chosen to finance the acquisition – the sukuk, a bond-like product generally adjudged to be compliant with the principles of Shari’ah or Islamic law. Demand was so strong that the initial $2.8bn issue was raised to $3.5bn, and ultimately drew $11.4bn in subscriptions, about half of them from overseas investors... more
Self-employment
“Growth” is not a word regularly tripping from the lips of too many financial pundits these days; but if there is one socio-economic grouping that seems destined to increase significantly over the next few years it is surely that of the white-collar self-employed....more
e-learning & Compliance
In 2002, two relatively unknown US politicians, Paul Sarbanes and Michael Oxley, found themselves propelled onto the international stage when they were asked to draft legislation to ensure that the spate of corporate scandals then rocking American business (Enron, Worldcom etc) never happened again. The Act which now bears their name has since been described as ‘one of the most influential and controversial pieces of corporate legislation ever to have hit the statute book’.... more
e-learning: Soft Skills Asian Banking UK Economy
Property & Retail
India
"Is the retail industry about to find a way of capitalising on one of the largest untapped consumer markets in the world? more
Istanbul
" Istanbul can claim to be one of the world’s oldest and most successful urban regeneration projects.
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UK Dubai