Country Financial News

As the next Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change approaches, news has emerged that the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is set to present a plan on emission reduction that will include dietary advice for the rich world, asking its people to curb their meat intake. The average American consumes about 127kg of it annually, although under 16kg is considered healthy and people in some poor countries average less than 4kg. As CoP-28 begins in Dubai later this week, a restraint advisory for heavy consumers is likely to be part of an FAO roadmap for the global agrifood industry to align itself with the Paris pact’s goal of keeping our planet no warmer than 1.5° Celsius above its pre-industrial level.

Assembly will now introduce speech recognition software. A tender has been issued for the development and procurement of the software and the entire process is being conducted through the e-tender portal. The new software is expected to bring a host of features aimed at facilitating a seamless and structured conduct of sessions within the assembly, a state government spokesman said.

Pakistani rupee is set to end the year as Asia’s worst-performing currency and the losses are seen extending into 2024. The currency has fallen about 20% against the dollar this year and analysts say its troubles are far from over. BMI expects the currency will weaken to 350 rupees per dollar by the end of next year, while Karachi-based brokerage Topline Securities Ltd.

artificial intelligence (AI) means safeguards need to be built into systems from the start rather than tacked on later, a top US official said on Monday. «We've normalized a world where technology products come off the line full of vulnerabilities and then consumers are expected to patch those vulnerabilities. We can't live in that world with AI,» said Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a blog, the IMF's Simon Black, Florence Jaumotte, and Prasad Ananthakrishnan argued that emerging and developing countries (EMDEs) need $2 trillion annually, a fivefold increase from 2020. Even if advanced economies meet or somewhat exceed their promise to provide $100 billion a year, the bulk of the financing for these low-carbon investments will need to come from the private sector, they argued. «Eight years on from the Paris Agreement, policies remain insufficient to stabilise temperatures and avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Investing.com-- Oil prices rose in Asian trade on Tuesday as media reports suggested that the OPEC+ planned to extend or even deepen its ongoing production cuts at a meeting later this week. 

(Reuters) — China-founded fashion company Shein has confidentially filed to go public in the United States, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.

By Raphael Satter and Diane Bartz

Antony Blinken will return this week to the Middle East as the U.S. hopes to find a way to extend a cease-fire in Gaza and get more hostages released, the State Department said Monday. It will be his third trip to the region since Israel's war with Hamas began last month. Blinken will travel to Israel and the West Bank after attending Ukraine-focused meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels and Skopje, North Macedonia, where foreign ministers from NATO and the Organization for Peace and Security in Europe are gathering.

Here are the key issues in the two-week COP28 negotiations starting Nov. 30 in Dubai. TAKING STOCK OF CLIMATE PROGRESS The main task at COP28 is a first-time assessment of countries' progress towards meeting the 2015 Paris Agreement's goal of limiting the global temperature rise to «well below» 2 degrees Celsius, while aiming for 1.5C. With global efforts lagging, countries will try during this «global stocktake» to agree on a plan to get the world on track to meet climate goals, which could include urgent steps towards cutting CO2 emissions or boosting green technology investments. As the COP28 talks begin, countries are at odds over whether this exercise should put the onus on all countries or just the world's wealthiest countries to do more because they released the most planet-warming emissions historically. Countries are expected to update their national emissions-cutting targets and plans by 2025. FUTURE OF FOSSIL FUELS The toughest talks at COP28 may focus on the future role of fossil fuels, and whether countries should commit to start phasing out the use of CO2-emitting coal, oil and gas. Countries agreed at COP26 to phase down the use of coal, but they have never agreed to quit all fossil fuels — the main source of planet-warming emissions. The United States, European Union and many climate-vulnerable countries are insisting on a final COP28 deal that commits countries to phase out fossil fuels.

Vodafone Idea (Vi) may miss the December deadline to raise fresh funding as the debt-laden telecom operator has yet to finalise the terms of the potential deal with investors, officials aware of the discussions told ET. The company is, however, hopeful of closing the deal in the current quarter.

At least 76 people have died and 40,000 displaced from their homes since the rains began pounding the country in October. President William Ruto convened an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday and said 38 of Kenya's 47 counties had been affected by floods and mudslides made worse by the El Nino phenomenon. State House spokesperson Hussein Mohammed also noted «disease outbreaks, destruction of infrastructure and property as well as prolonged power outages» across Kenya and the region. The worst affected areas are the coastal cities of Mombasa and Malindi and the northern Kenya region which borders Somalia, also hit hard by flooding. In Kenya's Garissa town, thousands of people have been displaced after their homes were swept away. «All roads are destroyed.

electric scooters and speed his nation to a cleaner future. Some of his mechanics can't keep up, though. Aggarwal's Ola Electric, which he likens to Tesla in the West, is zipping towards a stock-market listing after going from zero to 338,000 e-scooter sales in about two years. The tech entrepreneur vows to banish the internal combustion engine (ICE) from India, where two-wheel vehicles rule the roads.

United States and North Korea, the United Nations ambassadors of both countries engaged in a heated debate at the Security Council on Monday. As reported by Reuters, the contentious discussion focused on North Korea's recent launch of its first spy satellite and the escalating tensions in the region. After an absence of nearly six years, North Korea resumed sending its envoy to UN Security Council meetings concerning its nuclear and ballistic missile programs in July.

Reuters reported. In an official statement, Mitsotakis said, “I express my annoyance that the British Prime Minister canceled our planned meeting just hours before it was due to take place." Greece's positions on the issue of the Parthenon Sculptures are well-known, Mitsotakis said, adding that he had hoped to have the opportunity to discuss them with his British counterpart.

Elon Musk, is racing to roll out millions of electric scooters and speed his nation to a cleaner future. Some of his mechanics can't keep up, though. Aggarwal's Ola Electric, which he likens to Tesla in the West, is zipping towards a stock-market listing after going from zero to 338,000 e-scooter sales in about two years.

The bitcoiner Max Keiser has apparently retracted his bid to get El Salvador President Nayib Bukele and Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei to talk BTC.

electric vehicles. Legacy two-wheeler maker TVS Motor-backed Ultraviolette, which makes the performance electric bike F77, is set to enter European markets like Spain, Germany, Italy, and France. On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp-backed Ather Energy, which currently makes two models of its 450 series of electric scooters, started selling its vehicles in neighbouring Nepal earlier this month.

Wipro executive told ET. “Because India is the largest country in the world (in terms of population), it will be generating demand that is going to create growth and India will be also producing a lot of data," said Ivana Bartoletti, global chief privacy officer, Wipro. «Hence, that trust element becomes absolutely important. Second, India will be serving global markets and that means there is more alignment on the discussion (governance and responsible AI) that is happening worldwide.”

central bank digital currencies (CBDC), sources close to the development told ET. An internal Reserve Bank of India (RBI) working group has been exploring the best technology path to develop a roadmap for such direct transactions between two countries. CBDC, or the equivalent of paper money in a digital form, has the potential to be a game-changer, particularly in facilitating cross-border settlements that currently require the Swift platform for routing funds through banks.

EU antitrust authorities raised concerns about Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) acquisition of iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT), suggesting it could limit competition in the robot vacuum cleaner market, as reported by Reuters today. Following the news iRobot shares plunged more than 17% today.