Topic Category: World

Prior to the 1990s, it was acceptable for business and technical professionals not to fully understand the workings of intellectual property (IP). In fact, IP was largely viewed as an isolated topic for legal or research and development departments to handle. In turn, many innovative and high-tech firms didn’t even file for patents. However, due to the “patent wars,” this has changed.

Mali’s risks remain heightened as its conflict continues to evolve. French-led international military intervention since 11 January has successfully repelled rebel forces to the more remote northern regions. Yet the country remains vulnerable to reprisals from both secular Tuareg separatist fighters and Islamist guerrillas linked to Al-Qaeda, which have regrouped among the safety of the Tegharghar Mountains in the Saharan north-east.

Government financial support for corporate facility investment and expansion continues to be a common practice in most parts of the world. For the right project, economic development agencies in many parts of North America and Asia can be remarkably flexible and creative in structuring an attractive incentives package.

The fragile three-party coalition government formed after two parliamentary elections held last year failed to produce a decisive winner. And the unwillingness of some coalition lawmakers to back various elements of a harsh austerity program dictated by the EU and the IMF has reduced the government’s majority in the 300-member Parliament from 179 seats to just 164.

Libya’s first democratically elected government officially took office in early November, with the swearing-in of 20 Cabinet ministers appointed by Prime Minister Ali Zidan. The prime minister took care to include nominees favored by the main secular and Islamist blocs, the NFA and Justice and Construction, respectively, and also included figures from eastern Libya, an area that is currently buzzing with calls for significant regional autonomy.

Political tensions have continued to simmer in Baghdad, as the blocs representing Iraq’s Shiite and Sunni Arabs in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government maneuver for advantage within the National Assembly. At the same time, a protracted tug-of-war between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over control of Kurdistan’s oil wealth is heating up, as major oil investors are lining up to sign deals with the regional government, over the objections of officials at the Ministry of Oil.

An opposition motion to scrap an executive decision to allow foreign firms to own majority shares in retail enterprises was defeated by the lower house of the Parliament on December 2, 2012. Five days later the upper chamber did the same. In both cases, the opposition motion was defeated by a comfortable margin.

In July, Apple announced lower than anticipated sales numbers for the iPhone in China. Many in the U.S. media blamed high prices, wondering when Apple would make their signature device more affordable there. This assumption implies the average Chinese consumer cannot afford the iPhone and is purchasing a less expensive alternative. This is incorrect.

The slowing of the global economy is forcing China, the world's largest exporter, to confront the issue of rebalancing that primarily involves striking the right balance between the state and market. State-owned banks still dominate the financial sector and are kept profitable by a positive spread between loan and deposit rates dictated by government policy. This has resulted in financial repression that has penalized savers while rewarding banks.