Globial Talks Business

South Africa is the largest producer of platinum, the precious metal that is used in hard disks and cars. The mines in the country provide 3/4 of the global supply. However, due to lackluster platinum prices, lower demand, frequent worker strikes, and increasing mining costs, the mining industry in South Africa might fail to meet [...]

From the United States to Greece and Spain, fast money is being wagered on the recapitalization of bailed out financial firms that played a central role in the financial crisis of their respective countries. The frenzied speculation on these zombie-like institutions and their penny stocks is being driven by a range of investors, from big-money [...]

Britain signed a treaty on Monday which for the first time sets out international rules designed to regulate the huge global trade in weapons. The arms trade treaty was approved by 154 votes to three, with 23 abstentions, at the UN general assembly in April in a move welcomed by Oxfam, Amnesty, and other leading [...]

The former trader who has just taken the reins of the biggest U.S. stock-options exchange wants to introduce more of the world to fear. Edward Tilly, who this week assumed the top job at the parent of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, is laying plans to export the hugely-profitable derivatives contracts linked to CBOE’s widely [...]

Given the grilling that Google has gotten this week in Parliament, you might think that Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of the company, would be persona non grata in London these days. Not so, it appears. Mr. Schmidt is one of 16 high-level corporate executives who have been invited to meet with Prime Minister David [...]

Stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data, an unexpected rise in German industrial orders and now much better-than-forecast trade numbers from China. The outlook for the world economy is looking much brighter than it did a month ago, analysts say. via China Trade Data Provide a Boost for Global Economy Bulls.

After a year of pressure from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the president is taking the first steps towards a comprehensive free trade agreement between Europe and the United States, a project he first endorsed in his 2013 State of the Union address. In a move to both boost the struggling U.S. and EU economies [...]

GENEVA AP — Global trade will be weaker than expected this year as European economies struggle with their debt crisis, and will recover only slightly in 2014, the World Trade Organization said Wednesday.The global trade body forecast in its annual report that trade would grow 3.3 percent during 2013, significantly less than the 4.5 percent [...]

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who transformed Britain in the 1980s with a core of conservative convictions and history’s most formidable handbag, died Monday of a stroke. She was 87 years old.The daughter of a provincial English grocer, Mrs. Thatcher shattered class and gender barriers to win election in 1979 as Britain’s first female prime [...]

IMF MD Christine Lagarde said on Sunday that while a “substantial portion” of the global economy appeared better than a year ago, some risks persisted.”Growth continues to strengthen and broaden among the emerging and developing economies,” and momentum was starting to pick up in the US, she said on Sunday in remarks at the Boao [...]