After Paris hosted the 2015 Climate Change Accord, it’s fitting that France is pioneering one way in which it might be paid for: green bonds. The country is making its debut appearance in the market this week — the first big sovereign issuer to do so. If all goes well, it could be a sign of green bonds really …

  The ideas of France’s Benoit Hamon, the surprise front-runner in the presidential primaries of the Socialist Party, are far to the left of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and even the U.K. Labour Party’s Jeremy Corbyn. This, of course, is the era of the expanding Overton Window, with radical ideas bursting into the mainstream. One Hamon proposal in particular, however, …

  Without question, the most exciting economic story of the past half century has been the dramatic, and probably unprecedented, decline in global poverty. In a recent study, the World Bank estimated that in 2015, just over 700 million people remained trapped in desperate poverty, or 9.6 percent of the world’s population. Those sound like big numbers until you compare …

  Much business in Asia is still done the old way — trust is the most important asset. As the region becomes the biggest source of dollar bonds in the developing world, however, investors are starting to question whether they need more in writing. It’s high time. For one thing, bond fund managers are talking about limiting the freedom of …

  Britain’s Supreme Court has given UK members of Parliament the power to stop Brexit. Unfortunately, it’s a power they don’t seem to want. In its ruling, the court said that an act of Parliament is necessary to authorize Theresa May’s government to invoke Article 50, the European Union’s exit clause. MPs will almost certainly approve the enabling act and …

  Damascus government and rebel factions fighting to overthrow it came face-to-face for the first time on Monday in Kazakhstan, where the representatives of Russia, Turkey and Iran sought to bolster a shaky cease-fire which is in place since last month. The Astana gathering is the first time Syrian government representatives are sitting down with an opposition delegation made up …

  New Delhi / WAM The United Arab Emirates and India signed on Wednesday in New Delhi the ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement’ and a number of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) during a state visit by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, to India. The UAE …

  New Delhi / WAM Over 30 high-level Emirati business leaders, Indian business owners based in the UAE, and government and private representatives from both the UAE and India, convened on Wednesday at the Taj Palace in New Delhi to discuss business opportunities, major investable projects in India, as well as major challenges facing investors there. The session, entitled “Business Session …

  New Delhi / WAM In the presence of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL), agreed on Wednesday to establish a strategic crude oil …

  New Delhi / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, on Wednesday held official bilateral talks with Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India. The two leaders discussed boosting bilateral ties and a number of regional and international issues of mutual interest. The talks, held in …