A sharp rise in lending to the world’s poorest countries will leave them with crippling debt payments over the next decade, a few years after many had loans written off, a report has warned.

The Jubilee Debt Campaign said as many as two-thirds of the 43 developing countries it analysed could suffer large increases in the share of government income spent on debt payments over the next decade. Coinciding with the World Bank’s annual meeting in Washington, the anti-poverty campaigners accuse the international lender and other public bodies of “leading the lending boom” to poor countries without checking how repaying debts will divert resources from cutting poverty. The report highlights that for 43 poor countries, half of lending is from multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and African Development Bank. Total lending to the group of poor countries has increased by 60% from $11.4bn (£7.1bn) a year in 2009 to $18.5bn in 2013.

“There is a real risk that today’s lending boom is sowing the seeds of a new debt crisis in the developing world, threatening to reverse recent gains in the fight against poverty and inequality,” said Sarah-Jayne Clifton, director of the Jubilee Debt Campaign.

“The shocking thing is that public bodies like the World Bank are leading the lending boom, not just reckless private lenders hunting for returns.”  The campaigners are calling for measures to make lending more responsible and for aid-giving to be shifted away from bodies like the World Bank that give loans towards sources that give it in the form of grants. The analysis uses IMF and World Bank data on developing country debts and projects the cost of payments under the following three scenarios: predictions of continuous high economic growth are realised; estimates of one economic shock over the next decade prove correct; and economic growth is lower than the standard prediction.

Worries about the eurozone came to the fore this week after a poor set of industrial production figures from Germany was swiftly followed by news of a 5.8% fall in its exports, compared with expectations of a 4% decline. The fall was the biggest since January 2009, and showed the effects of the sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, as well as the wider slowdown in the eurozone.

Germany’s economy shrank by 0.2% in the second quarter, so a second consecutive contraction in GDP in the third quarter would tip it into a technical recession. There were reports that the government would next week lower its estimates for GDP growth to 1.2% for both 2014 and 2015, from 1.8% for this year and 2% for next year.

Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, added to the gloom on Thursday by saying in Washington that the eurozone recovery was running out of steam.

Analysts are nervous that Draghi’s plans to stimulate the flagging eurozone economy with a bond-buying programme have still not been fully implemented and may not be sufficient anyway. Other central banks, notably the US Federal Reserve, have been gradually turning off the money that has been supporting the global markets for the past six years since the global crash which followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The prospect of this support ending, and of interest rates rising, had already started to unsettle markets. There was a brief respite from the week’s slide when the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting suggested it was in no rush to raise rates, but this proved short-lived... It becomes clearer by the day that the Eurozone is heading back into crisis - several of the Mediterranean members have never really recovered from the recession of 2009 - unemployment in Greece is 29% whilst youth unemployment in Spain is over 50%. These are depression levels.
Whilst ever Germany insists on continuing with its austerity programme for the EZ, it will languish in low growth/no growth. Now that even Germany is feeling the effect of lack of demand for its exports to the other EZ countries, perhaps some change will occur in policy. If not, then a second crisis for the EZ will spell the political end of the project, with unpredictable results for the European Union overall.

After Berlusconi was sidelined and the boring Enrico Letta was replaced by the sympathetic and purposeful 39-year-old Matteo Renzi as the head of government, many thought that Italy was finally on the right track. But it's not...On the contrary: The land is stuck in a recession. Its levels of sovereign debt, the number of bankruptcies and the rate of unemployment are perpetually setting new records. As a result, some Italian political leaders have long sought a multi-billion euro growth stimulus program -- a call that new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is likely to heed. The magnitude and form of such a program, however, still needs to be determined so that it at least maintains the illusion of conforming with the Stability and Growth Pact. But without many other changes in Italy, including its grasp on reality, simply injecting money isn't likely to change much. "For 20 years," economic expert Daniel Gros told La Repubblica newspaper recently, Italy has been claiming that others need to "give it another year, then you will see our wonderful reforms." And even Mario Draghi -- the Italian president of the European Central Bank, which has been flooding the continent with cheap money, especially in crisis flashpoints like Italy -- bluntly admonished the country in August for failing to implement substantive structural reforms ...

But it's not that Italy is even lacking in money. The assets of Italian banks and insurance companies have risen by over €1.2 trillion since 2008. But manufacturing asset bases have, by contrast, fallen by €200 million. It's a grim distribution: the one sector doesn't seem to want to invest, while the other is unable.

Italians themselves face a similar situation. On average, every Italian has about €4,000 more in net assets than the average German, but wealth is even less evenly distributed in Italy than it is in Germany, weakening domestic demand: The rich have everything, the poor can't afford anything.

Well to be honest, Cameron, Hollande and Merkel saw, in the violence in Ukraine, an opportunity to give Mr. Putin a good kicking - and took it (in their own, limp-wristed, spineless kind of a way). They took the opportunity knowing that it would have repercussions on their own countries' economies but, hey, it wouldn't affect them personally so why not? ... Now we have a kind of a deal going on in Ukraine, one that seems to favour the pro-Russian faction, and so European manufacturers once again have had to suffer so that their political parasites' egos could be burnished....The EU/UK lackeys of the US Empire, are like naughty children playing with matches, whilst the evil governess looks on, unconcerned. It's becoming clear that the EU has been persuaded to drink the kool-aid and nirvana awaits them on the other side. It's Kafkaesque. The premiss seems to be that a bankrupt entity sanctions a rich creditor nation (although nation is too smaller word for a country encompassing 12 times zones and 40-45% of known world resources) into submission by refusing to offer them more debt. Europe will be weakened for a generation and become, increasingly, an unimportant peninsula on the Eurasian continent.  Meanwhile, Russia-China cement, extend and strengthen their already (natural) geo-political, trade and resource provider/manufacturer complementarity. The US Empire is gambling that its mighty military machine can subdue and subjugate the BRICS (through primarily Russia/China) to stop them becoming the new geo-political and trading hub, before the rest of the world catches on to the US$ reserve currency ponzi scheme. Game for for the Empire if that happens.... In conclusion : The sanctions were completely unnecessary. The EU should not always obey the US as they do. Cameron and Hollande have even less balls than Merkel, and she does not have any. Sorry if this sounds somewhat crude. But the EU leaders are pathetic wimps and cowards.

The “troika” of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Commission and European Central that bailed out the Greek economy are waiting for further austerity measures before the IMF disburses a further tranche of €3.5bn in loans. Athens is currently awaiting the final tranche of €1.8 billion euros from the European Financial Stability Facility. 

Greece must also put forward proposals to the troika on how it will meet a projected €2 billion budget gap in 2015. The index reshuffle was made to the S&P Dow Jones emerging markets BMI index and at the same time Qatar and the United Arab Emirates stock indices were promoted from frontier to emerging markets status with a weighting of 0.9pc and 1.0pc in the index respectively.  The reclassification by S&P Dow Jones Indices follows the move by the more widely followed MSCI and Russell Indexes last year who also downgraded Greece to emerging market status. The FTSE index has Greece on its developed market watchlist. 

The changes to the S&P Dow Jones emerging BMI index will become effective on September 22 ... The Greek government have done nothing to restructure their public sector and are now talking about tax cuts! The EU is terrified because Syriza are leading in the opinion polls and are saying that the will refuse to pay back any of their loans (until economic prosperity returns LOL) and will restore all wage and pension cuts to the public sector. They are also talking about a campaign to cause the break up of NATO should they gain power. Greece has been downgraded to an emerging market by S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a blow for the country which was badly hit during the financial crisis.  The Greek market was assigned a weighting of 0.8pc by S&P Dow Jones Indices making it a relative minnow in the emerging market index compared to China which constitutes about a quarter (24pc) of the measure and Brazil and India which make up 11.3pc and 10pc respectively 

The shift could mean that pension funds and more cautious investors will have to move out of the Athens stock index. Greek stocks opened yesterday down 0.4pc to 1,156 on the Athens stock exchange and the bond yield on Greek debt increased, meaning that investors view it as a riskier prospect.

The downgrade comes as Greek government officials held talks in Paris at the start of the month to demonstrate that its austerity measures are on track. The talks were organised ahead of a full sixth review of Greece’s austerity programme to be held by troika officials in Athens at the end of this month.

The Greek economy has to fix its finances under the terms of two bailouts worth a combined €240bn

There is another gloomy assessment of the world's jobs market On Tuesday. The International Labour Organisation, the World Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have produced a labour market update for the G20 employment and labour ministers' meeting in Melbourne.

It highlights "large employment gaps remain in most G20 countries", the grouping of the world's biggest developed and emerging market economies. The authors also say that "the quality of employment remains a concern" and that "the deep global financial and economic crisis and slow recovery in many G20 countries has resulted not only in higher unemployment but also in slow and fragile wage gains for G20 workers." The paper concludes: "Seven years after the onset of the global financial and economic crisis, the economic recovery may be strengthening but remains weak and fragile. The employment challenges across most G20 countries are still very sizeable both in terms of a persistently large jobs gap and low quality of many available jobs."The current growth trajectory, if unchanged, will not create enough quality jobs – giving rise to the risk that the jobs gap will remain substantial, underemployment and informal employment will rise, and sluggish growth in wages and incomes will continue to place downward pressure on consumption, living standards and global aggregate demand. Underlining these challenges is the fact that income inequality continues to widen across the G20 countries. "The G20 commitment to boost GDP by more than 2% by 2018 over and above the baseline projections is certainly a welcome step, although it will be important to ensure that this additional growth is job-rich and inclusive"....Of course the report is gloomy - and if the present way of sharing out work is to persist it can only get gloomier. Automation is creeping through every aspect of our lives, gone way beyond the industries now and the amount of work left for humans dwindles by the day.It pays businesses to get rid of people wherever they can - people are its greatest expense. They are now commodities to be plugged in then cast aside as the profit/loss account dictates. Unless someone thinks up something soon to share out what remains of human work, the whole edifice will collapse. People unemployed? No money to spend? - No one to buy the outpourings of these factories; to buy services etc. No wonder the rich are worried about the "stagnant" economy.

EU leaders have appointed Italy's Federica Mogherini as EU foreign policy chief and Poland's Donald Tusk as European Council president. The announcement came in tweets from the current council president, Herman Van Rompuy, at an EU summit.  Ms Mogherini, a centre-left politician, is Italy's foreign minister. She will replace the UK's Catherine Ashton.  Mr Tusk, Poland's centre-right prime minister, has been Polish leader since 2007. He will chair EU summits. The full-time appointments mean that the EU's three top jobs are now filled. Mr Tusk and Ms Mogherini will work closely with the new European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker.On arrival at the summit the European Parliament President Martin Schulz, a Socialist, spoke warmly of Ms Mogherini, calling himself a "fan". It was a strong indication that she would be a popular choice among MEPs. The parliament's approval is required for all 28 members of the new Commission, and the EU foreign policy chief, officially called the High Representative, is also a vice-president of the Commission.  Baroness Ashton, a centre-left UK politician, has been in the job since 2009. The High Representative runs the EU External Action Service (EEAS).  Italy's centre-left Prime Minister Matteo Renzi pushed hard for Ms Mogherini to get the job. However, last month the EU failed to get a consensus on her candidacy, as the Baltic states and Poland saw her as inexperienced and too soft on Russia. She has only been Italian foreign minister since February.

I imagined the U.S. GDP will be going up a bit more since Israel will have used up lots of ammunition and shooty things and will have to replace them. Bombing things works wonders for GDP. As do car accidents, fires, natural disasters of all kinds and human suffering in general, all of which will induce people to go out and buy stuff to cheer themselves up. Even better, create an atomized society of really sad, lonely people who will consume lots and lots of trash to convince themselves that their empty lives have meaning. Oh no, hang on, we've already done that. Back to bombing things thenThe US is facing economic disaster...all the indicators are there. First of all the College debt stands at 800billion and is shackled around the neck of college graduates before they even start their working career. Its a scam, education should be the first priority of a government not some ponzi scheme, it should not be a power that shackles people into enslavement at no cost to the corporate juggernauts.(coming to the UK soon)

They made a poll some time ago on doctors in the US and 40% said they would have done something different if they had known the hassle of the death and the years of hard work it took to get to a break even point.  Watching the US news they seem to be praying on another upswing in the property market for economic recovery. Yes because property bubbles have proven to solve all problems...and now you can also get subprime loans to buy cars(GMs favourite tactic)another disaster in the making.  Then you have the serious economic issues linked to climate change which is really knocking the GDP with all the repair costs and knock on effects. The state of California and Nevada are bone dry, the armageddon coming from the water shortages are going to have massive repercussions for the rest of the US especially when you consider that California is the bread basket of America. And then lets not talk about the Fed who have been printing money like nobodys business...the only way thats sustainable is if the Dollar remains the default currency of the world any seismic shift to that thinking would tank the US economy immediately.

We are 5-6 years into our jobless recovery. And even this tepid recovery shows signs of stalling.
Today's GDP numbers ARE a positive sign, but unfortunately are just not very relevant to the typical American these days.

The combination of Outsourcing, Automation, and Illegal Immigration have decimated the working class and working poor, with no end in sight. Wages can't rise with these headwinds... and if they did then the Fed would immediately raise interest rates to ward off the "wage price spiral" crushing wages again. They think it's ok for Stocks to jump out of control... but wage raises for the plebes is unacceptable. For example - One was laid off in 2010 shortly after the start of the recession. He highly skilled in my field, yet have been bouncing around from job to job all making starting salary numbers, despite being 40 years old. Paying my mortgage is a struggle. Paying his health insurance is worse ($375/month from Freelancer’s Union). He is forced to buy cheap bare minimum car insurance ($18/month from Insurance Panda). His daughter is forced to attend a public school that is in increasingly worse condition thanks to illegal children and welfare leeches moving in. Yet here I am, unable to afford a quality education for her....

Federal Reserve monetary policy moves (although necessary) have mainly benefitted Big Business (especially Finance) and speculators, to the detriment of savers. Zero Interest Rate policy and Fed Purchases in the Open Market simply don't help the Average American much. Thus we see a booming Stock Market (which is clearly an echo bubble based on Fed policy and not on macroeconomic data) and we saw a mini echo RE bubble (especially the "luxury rental" segment)

People ask why the Stock Market isn't jumping with today's news. The answer is obvious. It likes the increase in GDP, but it doesn't like the idea that the Fed may need to stop goosing the market. The Fed is trapped with no exit strategy.

There is no Fiscal Policy these days due to Republican intransigence.

We need a drop in REAL unemployment and increased WAGES, and should focus on those.

 

Even offline computers can be monitored - The NSA uses radio technology to monitor offline computers, smart phones and other devices.   According to a New York Times report, the agency installed software on 10,000 computers which were shipped around the world, enabling NSA agents to locate and monitor the machines even when offline.  The NSA insists such technology – which relies on radio waves transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards inserted into computers – is "only being deployed overseas".  The program, known as Quantum, has reportedly targeted Chinese Army, Russian military and Mexican drug cartels – among others – since its introduction in or before 2008.  The Internet isn't the only way to download information - On a more basic level, computers which aren't connected to the Internet still have any number of peripheral data ports that can be hooked up to USBs, disc drives or printers. Bradley Manning – now Chelsea Manning – transported 91,000 classified documents that became known as the Iran War logs via rewritable CDs.  Moreover, hard drives eventually break down, but remain susceptible to data harvesting. The same legal technology used by data reclamation companies to retrieve information from defunct computers can be used by thieves if old hard drives are not securely disposed of.  The Russians are already doing it - Last year Kremlin sources revealed Russia's Federal Guard Service (FSO) was spending 486,000 rubles – around £10,000 – on a number of electric typewriters.  The return to typewriters was prompted by the publication of secret documents by WikiLeaks, the whistle-blowing web site, as well as Edward Snowden, the fugitive US intelligence contractor. Directives to the defense minister and the supreme commander-in-chief, Mr Putin, were already printed on paper for security reasons, a defense ministry source said at the time. Each typewriter is uniquely traceable - Some models of typewriter including the Triumph Adler are designed so that each specific unit creates a unique "handwriting" traceable to that one alone.

However... Typewriters can be spied upon  - In 1952, the FBI analyzed the ribbon of a typewriter used by CIA officer Aldrich Ames – actually a double agent for the KGB – to unearth plans for a clandestine meeting in Venezuela.  And in 1985 Soviet spies installed secret "keystroke loggers" and antennas in at least 13 typewriters in the US Embassy in Moscow to detect and transmit the typing patterns of embassy secretaries.  The same technology is used more broadly today by criminals to steal passwords and credit card details.  And of course, paper documents are still unreliable - they can be stolen or photographed, or go up in smoke in case of a fire.  There is also the matter of human error – the history of intelligence is rife with examples of spies leaving briefcases of classified documents in public places, or in the company of friendly "honey trap" agents...

In the battle over who should become the next president of the European Commission, David Cameron is depicted as the loser - "isolated", "incompetent", a serial mis-reader of Brussels politics.

Yet David Cameron is not alone in finding himself in a corner, defending a position he cannot retreat from.

Several leaders who doubted whether Jean-Claude Juncker was the best candidate for the job are now uncomfortably lining up behind him.

But Angela Merkel's position is almost as uncomfortable as that of David Cameron. Frau Europe's authority has been damaged.

It was not just that she was forced to back down when she suggested other names apart from that of Mr Juncker should be considered for the top job.

She flinched as some outraged German columnists pointed out that during the campaign she had told voters the election would determine the next Commission president.

Although much of the German political establishment has seen a strengthening of the European Parliament as one answer to the EU's democratic deficit, Chancellor Merkel is said to be uncomfortable at a shift in power towards the European Parliament which could weaken the ability of heads of government to define the agenda.

There is already a fall-out from the battle over the Commission presidency.

The centre-left in Europe, led by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and President Francois Hollande of France, have seized an opportunity to push their case for a change of course in Europe. Yes, they have agreed to back Mr Juncker but in exchange for a commitment to support their growth agenda.

The centre-left wants a more flexible interpretation of the EU's budget and deficit rules.

Source EU Observer - BRUSSELS - The setting could not be less spectacular – one of the more nondescript rooms in the European Parliament's glass towers overlooking Place Luxembourg in Brussels, where a handful of officials gather with armfuls of papers.  At intervals, members of the Parliament's catering staff silently walk round the room offering tea and coffee. Unless you were involved, you wouldn't know that the meeting – one of around 1,000 so-called 'trialogue' meetings to take place in 2013 – was actually happening.  At this particular gathering to discuss plans to re-write the EU's accounting directive in March 2013, MEPs from the Parliament's legal affairs committee – Klaus Lehne, Arlene McCarthy, Eva Lichtenberger, Alexandra Thein and Saj Karim – made a breakthrough.  They secured rules that will shine a light on the payments made to governments by companies working in the controversial extractive industries – rules that should help prevent corruption and dodgy dealing between companies and governments.  An Irish government official, whose country has been tasked with leading the talks (because Ireland held the rotating EU presidency at the time), agreed that, without exception, all payments over €100,000 must be publicly disclosed. This will apply to every individual project or contract undertaken by a company.  The new reporting requirements will mark a sea-change in how the industry is regulated yet the trialogue meeting where it happened remains a closed process.  Search for any mention of trialogues in the EU treaties and you will draw a blank.  This is because despite being an accepted part of the lawmaking landscape, in legal terms trialogues don't exist.  All trialogue meetings are informal and the timing of the meetings are not known to most MEPs, let alone the ordinary public. There are no formal minutes taken. Some are over within a few minutes. Others can go on all day and well into the night.   The last trialogue on the single resolution mechanism (SRM), the final, and arguably most controversial piece of banking union legislation, lasted 16 hours through the night on 19 March as lawmakers sought (successfully) to close a deal in time for the end of the parliamentary term.  Despite the sense of intrigue that should surround a lawmaking process that few people are aware is happening, attending the average trialogue meeting would be a perfect cure for insomniacs, as civil servants and politicians drone through a bill line by line, article by article.  But they matter. If the EU's bi-monthly leaders' summits are the glamorous (in the loosest sense of the word) side of the EU, the trialogue meetings are the main engine driving the sausage factory that churns out EU laws in Brussels.

The triumph of the trialogue - In terms of numbers, the volume of legislation does not appear to have changed much in the past two legislatures. MEPs and ministers adopted a total of 447 laws in the 2004-9 parliament. By November 2013, politicians had signed off on 395 files and, even with a wild flurry of activity as they seek to conclude as much legislation as possible before May's elections, the total number of files is likely to be around 500.  But what has changed is the way the laws are agreed.

The formal structure for breaking the impasse between the institutions mentioned in the treaties is the conciliation committee.

"SMEs are a vital driver of growth in the UK," said Vivienne Dews, the chief executive of the OFT. "They need access to banking services and loans which meet their needs.

"Our work suggests there may be competition concerns in this sector. Further action will follow if concerns in these areas are not addressed," she added.

John Longworth, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said of the watchdog's findings: "Greater competition in the business banking market is only part of the story of fixing Britain’s broken business finance system. More must be done to provide growth capital to young and fast-growing firms who are often perceived to be too high risk.

"That means broadening the role of equity and bond issues in business finance, but it also means delivering a British Business Bank that is sufficiently capitalized and has the capability to lend directly to promising high-growth businesses"

The OFT also announced that the Competition and Markets Authority will take over the study as part of a wider probe into retail banking. The Financial Conduct Authority will also contribute to the research.

People using bitcoins and other virtual currencies are on their own when it comes to losses, the EU banking watchdog said on Friday in a formal warning to consumers on the risks of using unregulated online currencies. The European Banking Authority said there was no protection or compensation for people whose "digital wallets" are hacked, or when a transfer of virtual money goes wrong or a platform is shut. The warning follows a similar announcement from the Bank of France. The EBA stopped short of telling consumers not to use online currency markets but said if they end up out of pocket there will be no safety net like compensation given to deposit holders when a mainstream EU bank goes bust.

"Currently, no specific regulatory protections exist in the EU that would protect consumers from financial losses if a platform that exchanges or holds virtual currencies fails or goes out of business," EBA said in a statement.

Ireland is to regain its sovereignty after three years under the thumb of the EU-IMF Troika, the first of the eurozone crisis states to return to the free market.
The crippled Celtic Tiger has been subject to intrusive controls after a banking collapse forced it to seek a €78bn loan package from the EU and the International Monetary Fund in November 2010, compelled to cut wages and inflict a fiscal squeeze of 19pc of GDP. The country will not break free of its shackles entirely. Inspectors will continue to carry out visits twice a year until 2031 “at the earliest” under a surveillance mechanism. Ireland will face binding constraints under Europe’s deflationary Fiscal Compact.  The "poster child" of EU austerity, Ireland has taken its medicine stoically without street violence or a lurch towards extremism, thanks to a close-knit tripartite system of trade unions, business and the government working together.
European officials have hailed Ireland’s recovery as a vindication of their strategy of “internal devaluation”, a policy of wage cuts aimed at clawing back lost competitiveness within monetary union. Yet it remains far from clear whether Ireland is really out of the woods or whether debt-stricken countries in southern Europe can replicate the feat. Ireland has a highly-competitive export base, akin to Asia’s tigers. It is the fruit of an industrial strategy 20 years ago that lured in American software and pharmaceutical firms, and built a financial service sector. Exports equal 108pc of GDP, compared with 39pc for Portugal, 32pc for Spain, 30pc for Italy and 27pc for Greece.  This trade "gearing" makes it far easier for Ireland to export its way out of trouble. The current account surplus is 4pc of GDP, though the Viagra and Lipitor “patent cliff” has cut exports by 17pc this year.  Ireland does not have an overvalued currency, unlike EMU’s Latin bloc. Its crisis stemmed from a credit bubble, caused by super-loose monetary policy set for German needs. Real interest rates averaged -1pc for seven years, a disaster for a young fast-growing economy.

China's growing engagement with Central and Eastern European countries is an essential part of its China-Europe strategy, which has focused on achieving strategic win-win outcomes, said a senior Chinese diplomat.

"China has made great efforts to enhance mutual understanding and the willingness to deepen cooperation," Xu Jian, Chinese ambassador to Poland, told China Daily recently in an exclusive interview.

"Premier Li Keqiang's visit and talks in Romania with the regions' leaders demonstrate China's consistent efforts."

Xu, who was Chinese ambassador to Romania before his current position, said Beijing has been bridging the gap and exploring the potential of deepening exchanges in Central and Eastern Europe. By comparison, China's ties with Western European countries are relatively mature.

China launched the political dialogue with the region last year when then premier Wen Jiabao visited Poland. And Premier Li carried on the momentum through his summit with European Union leaders in Beijing last week, his first since taking office in March.

Observers have begun to refer to this month as Chinese leaders' "Europe season", following the frequent exchanges between China and EU member states.

"Poland, as the biggest trading partner of China in the region, has put China on the priority list when developing foreign relations, which is very encouraging," said Xu, adding that its top leaders have frequently stressed the strategic importance of deepening ties with China.    The ambassador said the Polish government has launched a "Go to China" project, but he did not elaborate. 

Poland, like other countries in the region, is still engaged in transforming its economic development patterns, the ambassador said, and China can offer its experience, technologies, finance and investment to speed up the process. "It is very complementary in this regard," Xu said.

Poland has been China's biggest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe for eight years, Xu said, so bilateral relations have been fruitful. Trade volume reached $14.3 billion in 2012. "The two-way investment is also picking up," Xu said.

Investment and trade are expected to grow quickly within the framework of the EU-China 2020 strategy, which will double the trade volume, the ambassador said.

Poland's cultural strength and traditional friendship with China are the foundations for the future development of bilateral relations, Xu said.   Poland is the biggest country in the region regarding size and population, and it has growing influence in regional and international affairs, he added.

The IMF said Dublin was on track to meet its obligations under the deal, but "near-term prospects are weaker and significant fiscal, financial sector and unemployment challenges remain".

Ireland was forced to seek help after a property crash left its banks massively under-capitalised and the state's finances collapsed.

Since then it has stuck rigorously to the recipe of austerity laid out in the programme by its "troika" of lenders.

The EU is desperate for Ireland to exit the rescue smoothly to show the tough-love approach can succeed, given the struggles of fellow bailout recipients Greece and Portugal and deep-rooted public dissatisfaction across the region.

Ireland has met nearly all its funding needs through next year by issuing debt periodically over the last 12 months, having issued a 10-year bond in March for the first time since being locked out of markets in late 2010.

Yet banks continue to shun calls from households and businesses for easier credit conditions while struggling with low profits and a ratio of bad loans that has reached 26%.

Unemployment also remains a huge problem. A fall in the jobless rate from 15% to 13.7% since early 2012 has eased the social security burden but 58% of those without work are considered long-term unemployed, "posing a risk to Ireland's growth potential", said the IMF.

The sluggishness of the global economy has been highlighted, with German exports rising by less than expected and leaders from across the Asia Pacific region warning that trade is weakening.

Exports from Europe's largest economy rose 1% in August but came in short of the expected 1.5% increase.

Despite the rise, which followed an unexpected fall in July, the data from the federal statistics office showed German exports continue to be hit by weak demand from the eurozone.

Imports rose by 0.4%, widening Germany's trade surplus to €15.6bn (£13.2bn) from €15bn in July – higher than analysts had predicted but below a surplus of €18.1bn in the same month last year.

On an annual basis, German imports were 2.2% lower than in August 2012 while exports of goods were 5.4% lower.

Meanwhile, leaders at an Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) meeting in Bali warned global growth was too weak and trade was slowing.

"Global growth is too weak, risks remain tilted to the downside, global trade is weakening, and the economic outlook suggests growth is likely to be slower and less balanced than desired," leaders said in a statement.

"We will implement prudent and responsible macroeconomic policies to ensure mutually reinforcing effect of growth and to maintain economic and financial stability in the region, and prevent negative spillover effect."

The group of 21 countries includes Japan, China, Russia, Australia and the US, although the US government shutdown meant President Barack Obama was not present at the meeting to back the statement.

Elsewhere, HSBC said British companies needed more help from the government to fulfil their export potential. Since the onset of the financial crisis, UK policymakers have repeatedly emphasised the need to rebalance the economy away from a reliance on spending and towards manufacturing and exports.

The government has an ambition to double exports to £1tr by 2020, an increase HSBC said would require "considerable work".

Britain's largest bank said UK business confidence was rising, and predicted growth in hi-tech manufacturing, but it said companies needed more practical help.

Publishing a manifesto for British exports, HSBC said businesses required assistance to make connections with other parts of the world, support with the initial costs and risks of exporting, and the confidence that came from clear information about international opportunities.

Among its recommendations was an examination of the case for export tax credits for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), an improvement in SME access to export credit guarantees, and a simplification of the business visa process.

"Britain's businesses are among the most innovative and imaginative in the world. But in recent years, these talents have failed to deliver significant export growth," said Alan Keir, chief executive of HSBC Bank.

"Achieving the government's target of doubling exports to £1tn by 2020 will take considerable work by all parties, yet we know from talking to our customers that many businesses with massive export potential are still holding back from looking overseas."

World Bank cuts China growth forecasts - America's deadlock isn't the only issue worrying the City today. The World Bank has warned that East Asia's economic growth is slowing as it cut its GDP forecasts several nations, including China.

In a new report, the Bank said weaker commodity prices means weaker growth in the region. It also urged Chinese policymakers to tackle the consequences of recent loose policy and tighten financial supervision.

Here's a flavour:Developing East Asia is expanding at a slower pace as China shifts from an export-oriented economy and focuses on domestic demand," the World Bank said in its latest East Asia Pacific Economic Update report.

"Growth in larger middle-income countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand is also softening in light of lower investment, lower global commodity prices and lower-than-expected growth of exports," it added.

It now expects the Chinese economy to expand by 7.5% this year, down from its April forecast of 8.3%. For 2014, the forecast is cut from 8% to 7.7%.

Dezaster ??...or onother theory??

The plot with Comet ISON thickens! We have been speculating for a few weeks now about the whereabouts and path of the incoming interstellar object. We know that both the United States and Russia have been preparing for an October 1 disaster preparedness deadline. We also know that the comet in question will pass by Mars on that date and then begin to make its pass by earth before making its way around the sun and slingshotting itself out of our solar system. Will it even make it all the way through our solar system, though? What if it were to strike Mars, Earth, Venus or Mercury? How big is it? This too will affect how it makes its pass and the effect it has on these planets. According to the video seen here, Comet ISON is much larger than NASA would have you believe. In fact, the data seems to indicate that it may be as big as half the size of Jupiter! What does this mean? Well, for one, it dwarfs earth in terms of its actual size, making it about 650 times larger than earth in terms of its volume! If this is true, it could be catastrophic for life on earth. We will soon know the full impact of ISON’s arrival. Will you be ready?