Nations launched a new round of talks on Monday for a 2015 deal to cut Earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions in the aftermath of a deadly Philippines typhoon the UN?s climate chief labelled ?sobering?. The 12-day United Nations talks opened in Warsaw amid a slew of warnings about potentially disastrous warming with increasingly extreme weather phenomena unless humankind changes its atmosphere-polluting, fossil-fuel burning ways. ?What happens in this stadium is not a game. There are not two sides but the whole of humanity. There are no winners and losers, we all either win or lose in the future we make for ourselves,? UN climate chief Christiana Figueres told climate negotiators. ?We gather today under the weight of many sobering realities,? she added ? the first being the new record of 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that was reached earlier this year.
Smartphones nos seen tripling to 5.6 bn by 2019
The number of smartphones is forecast to triple to 5.6 billion globally by 2019, accounting for more than 60% of cellphones. Sweden?s Ericsson, the world?s largest maker of telecommunications networks, said in a report on Monday it expects smartphone traffic to grow tenfold in the next six years, with service providers increasing high-speed networks to deal with the surge. Total mobile subscriptions are predicted to reach 9.3 billion by 2019. Ericsson says annual smartphone traffic would hit 10 billion gigabytes by 2019, with videos representing some 50% of all data traffic. Social networking and web services would account for 10% each. It said smartphones currently make up some 55% of all cellphones sold but represent only 25-30% of all mobile subscriptions.
Egypt plans additional stimulus, Suez project
The Egyptian government will launch a new economic stimulus package by the end of the year, the finance minister said on Monday, bringing forward spending plans that will help revive the economy but put even more strain on state coffers. Pointing to efforts to attract new investment, the military-backed government also said it would launch a tender to draw up plans to develop a corridor around the Suez Canal, reviving a mega-project tabled by deposed president Mohamed Mursi. The ministers were speaking at a Euromoney conference aimed at boosting confidence in an economy battered by close to three years of political turmoil, dating back to the 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak.
US, Europe resume talks on new trade agreement
The United States and the European Union, which already enjoy the world?s biggest business relationship, resumed talks on Monday on a deal to further grow two-way trade and investment. The negotiations are taking place against the backdrop of European pique over reported US electronic espionage, and were delayed due to the US government shutdown. But officials for both sides said the benefits of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership are too great for the talks to be affected. The week-long bargaining session in Brussels was expected to discuss services, investment, energy and raw materials, and regulatory issues.
Zimbabwe warns will halt raw platinum exports
Zimbabwe may halt exports of raw platinum to South Africa to force mining companies to build a refinery in the country as a two-year deadline has expired, state media quoted President Robert Mugabe as saying. The threat, if carried out, could affect the world?s two largest platinum producers, Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum, both of which have operations in Zimbabwe. The southern African country has the world?s second largest known platinum reserves but mining companies send the raw product to neighbouring South Africa for processing. Mugabe, who at the age of 89 won re-election in July, told a weekend meeting of his ruling ZANU-PF party that platinum producers were ignoring a government directive two years ago to set up a refinery in the country.