The government of the Emirate of Dubai, one of the seven emirates that makes up the United Arab Emirates, stunned global financial markets with the news that it was asking banks to allow its main investment vehicle, Dubai World, to suspend its debt repayments for six months. The news sent stock markets tumbling across Asia and Europe with indices shedding about 3% on average. The worst performer was Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index which fell by 5.3%. Markets were closed across the Persian Gulf for Eid holiday, and in the US for Thanksgiving.
With a motto of The Sun Never Sets on Dubai World, the holding company is Dubai’s flag bearer in global investments. The fund operates in a highly diversified spectrum of industrial segments – Transport & Logistics, Drydocks & Maritime, Urban Development and Investment & Financial Services – and has played a major role in the emirate’s rapid economic growth. Its stated primary aim is to play the role of a growth engine that powers development both locally and internationally. Its overextension is now playing a role in the financial collapse of high-flying Dubai which unlike Abu Dhabi is relatively oil poor.
Dubai World is seeking a six-month moratorium on interest payments. During that time, it could negotiate with creditors a restructuring that would pare liabilities, which include $20 billion of loans and bonds coming due in the next 18 months, according to estimates. If the lenders don’t agree, Dubai World will default on the notes. The holding company has some $59 billion in total liabilities and accounts for 80 percent of the total debt held by Dubai.
The banks with the greatest exposure to Dubai World are Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Emirate NBD PJSC both based in the UAE. Among the international banks that have large exposure are the U.K.’s Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, HSBC Holdings PLC, Barclays PLC, Lloyds Banking Group PLC, Standard Chartered PLC, Germany’s Deutsche Bank and ING Groep NV of the Netherlands.
Lake Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, but for how much longer is a mute point.
Located nearly 4,000 metres above sea level on the border of Bolivia and Peru, Titicaca has sunk to its lowest levels in 60 years and is believed to be evapourating at a rate of two to three centimetres a week.
Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo travelled to the lake to find out what the change meant for the community who live around it and if anything was being done to deal with the problem.
Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines presenter Avi Lewis hosts a debate about race & the US recession with Jesse Jackson of the Rainbow Coalition; Rosa Clemente, an activist and former Green Party Vice Presidential candidate; Linda Chávez, director of the conservative Center for Equal Opportunity and the Reverend Greylan Hagler of the United Church of Christ.
If we are living through a Great Recession, for people of color it is a quiet depression. Among whites with a college degree, the unemployment rate as of September 2009 is 4.0 percent. For blacks with a college degree, the unemployment rate is nearly twice as high at 7.2 percent. Hispanics fare slightly better. The unemployment rate for Hispanics with a college degree 5.6 percent.
The unemployment rate is higher among men than among women. For black men, 25 and over and at all education levels, the unemployment rate is 16.1 percent while for black women, 25 and over and at all education levels, the unemployment rate is 11.0 percent. For black men and women ages 15 to 24 without a high school degree the unemployment rate is a staggering 42.7 percent. The New York Times has an interactive feature where you can find the unemployment rate by various demographics.
Below the fold is a breakout of unemployment data (U3) by demographic groups.
Two offshore investment funds are taking the poverty-stricken African state of Liberia to London’s High Court, over an unpaid debt that dates back to the 1970s. The Caribbean-based companies, described as “vulture funds” want more than $20m.
But Liberia says it can’t afford to pay the debt, and accuses the firms of profiting from poverty.
Long ago, Denmark pioneered wind power, which now accounts for 20 percent of its energy production. Everyday Danish citizens — from farmers to art dealers — invested in windmills. Worldfocus special correspondent John Larson reports on how Danish citizens are capturing windfall profits.
Garrick Utley, the president of the Levin Institute of the State University of New York, and Rana Foroohar, senior editor of Newsweeks international edition, join Daljit Dhaliwal to discuss the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and its lasting geopolitical implications. They discuss the history of Berlin and and analyze current U.S. – German relations.
World Focus Producer John Larson reports from Copenhagen, Denmark on how changing lifestyles, taxing energy and subsidizing alternative technologies have reduced the country’s dependency on oil and created thousands of new job.
In just over 30 years, Denmark has gone from a net importer of energy to net exporter. Denmark had the political will to decide that it wanted to be a leader — and to follow through. Beginning in 1979, the government began a determined program of subsidies and loan guarantees to build up its nascent wind industry. The central government covered 30% of investment costs, and guaranteed loans for large turbine exporters such as Vestas, the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines. The Danish government also mandated that utilities purchase wind energy at a preferential rate. Energy taxes were channeled back into research and development.
The aim of the first energy strategy, Danish Energy Policy 1976, was to secure Denmark against crises in supply such as the energy crisis of 1973-74 by tightening demand through increased taxation on fuel. The second oil shocks in 1979-80 led Denmark to revise its energy policy again with Energy 81 emphasised socio-economic and environmental considerations. After a period of building up large projects for facilities and markets for natural gas and heat and power generation, Denmark updated its policies, Energy 1990, setting a goal of 10 percent national energy production from wind power by the year 2000. The country’s latest energy plan, Energy 2000 introduced the goal of a sustainable development of the energy sector that is carbon neutral. Today, Denmark meets 19 percent of its energy needs from wind.
This is how state planning can work:
An investment subsidy introduced in 1979 covered 30% of investment costs in wind turbines, subject to approval by the National Energy Research Centre. The investment subsidy was not only a stimulus for the construction of wind turbines but also a stimulus for market forces to better develop a wind turbine industry. Wind turbines became an attractive investment, and manufacturers enjoyed a customer base of 200 to 300 wind turbines per year. By 1989 government support was no longer necessary to make private investment in wind turbines attractive, and the subsidy was abolished. Small- and medium-sized wind turbines quickly became reliable and cost-effective. Technological problems associated with large wind turbines were more complicated than expected, however, and large wind turbines (1,000 kW or more) are still not commercially viable due to technical problems. Subsidies were only used to stimulate the development of privately owned wind turbines. No direct financial support was given for wind power investments to the larger power generating companies, though support was provided indirectly for research and development. At present, privately owned wind turbines represent about 80% of the installed capacity.
The Danish government provided the initial subsidies to the industry and then as the sector grew, it pulled back support. Today, Denmark is the world leader in wind energy technology. It should be noted that the Danish economy has grown 78 percent while maintaing its energy use level and cutting their carbon emissions in half. That’s the sort of miracle we need to replicate.
In Peru, Quechua Indians work the land in the same way as the Incas did centuries ago. But climate change might force them to change their practices in the future.
Experts say most of the glaciers which provide these communities with water will melt away by 2050 because of global warming.
After weeks of hard-nosed negotiations, analysts say the election law passed by Iraq’s parliament allowing national polls to go forward in January extends compromises to all sides but with key concessions to the Kurds.
However, analysts warn the bill also sidesteps a decision on the ultimate fate of Kirkuk — a city claimed by both Kurds and Arabs that had been a major stumbling block to the law’s passage — and ensures more battles over the city in the future.
“Because there was pressure to pass the law and have the election, they are just pushing this issue under the carpet,” said Mustafa Alani from the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. “I don’t see a clear solution to this problem here.”
Haggling over Kirkuk had repeatedly stalled the law’s passage, and further delay threatened to undermine Iraq’s fledgling democracy and derail a U.S. plan to withdraw its troops.
Kurds consider Kirkuk a Kurdish city and want it incorporated into their self-ruled region in northern Iraq, something the Arab-led central government adamantly opposes.
Under former dictator Saddam Hussein, tens of thousands of Kurds were kicked out of the city to make Kirkuk predominantly Arab. Since Saddam’s fall, thousands of Kurds have flooded back, but Arabs claim there are more than ever before.
The legislation passed Sunday allows the vote in Kirkuk to be held just like in other regions around the country. However, if lawmakers suspect there was a more than 5 percent annual increase in population in a disputed area, including Kirkuk, they can vote to create a committee to investigate and eventually contest the election results in a given district.
This solution addresses Arab and Turkomen claims that Kurds have packed the city in an attempt to tip the scales.
But analysts say the Kurds also notched a victory by having the elections carried out on the basis of 2009 voter lists, which likely reflect Kurdish increases in the city, instead of the 2004 records that Arabs have generally favored.
“I think probably the Kurds won out on this one,” said Marina Ottoway of the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for Peace. “I think it will be very difficult to invalidate the election.”
The law specifies the way the Kirkuk issue was settled will not be binding for future decisions on the disputed city. However, the legislation appears to set the stage for further disputes over interpretation and implementation of the law.
In Jamaica, anti-sodomy laws are still punishable for up to 12 years in prison. And society is not ready to tolerate openly gay lifestyles. Correspondent Lisa Biagiotti, producer Micah Fink and director of photography Gabrielle Weiss report on the dark side of Jamaica’s anti-gay violence and attitudes and explore the ideological beliefs that perpetuate a culture of homophobia.