The Company Getting Rich Off the ISIS War

For the Middle East, the growth of the self-proclaimed Islamic State has been a catastrophe. For one American firm, it’s been a gold mine.

Photo Illustration by Emil Lendof/The Daily Beast

The war against ISIS isn’t going so great, with the self-appointed terror group standing up to a year of U.S. airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.

5 Things to Know About How Corporations Block Access to Everything from Miracle Drugs to Science Research

By Lynn Stuart Parramore
 

Should a company be able to patent a breast cancer gene? What about a species of soybean? How about a tool for basic scientific research? Or even a patent for acquiring patents (see: Halliburton)?
Intellectual property rights are supposed to help inventors bring good things to life, but there’s increasing concern that they may be keeping us from getting the things we need. 

Τhe emergence of the 'silver economy'. A business area with an enormous growth potential. Case Finland

Finland has one of the most rapidly ageing populations in Europe and the world. By 2030, Finland is projected to have 26% of its population over 65 years of age. This is a figure that the UK, for example, is not due to reach until 2051.[i]

These 10 Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy

A chart we found on Reddit.com shows that most products we buy are controlled by just a few companies. It's called The Illusion of Choice.

Peugeot reaches rescue deal with China

By  Chris Bruce RSS feed

PSA Peugeot-Citroën may have been saved from the brink of collapse. It has finally completed a deal where Chinese automaker Dongfeng and the French government are each investing about 800-million euros ($1.1 billion USD) to take 14 percent stakes in the automaker, according to the BBC. The deal dilutes the Peugeot family's stake from 25.4 percent to 14 percent. In addition to that, it is raising another 1.4 billion euros ($1.9 billion) from existing PSA investors. The deal still must be approved by shareholders, but is expected to pass.

Deutsche Telekom CEO's OTE visit sparks stake hike speculation

Timotheus Hoettges, Deutsche Telekom's new chief executive, sparked rumours that the German operator could acquire the Greek government's 10 per cent stake in incumbent carrier OTE after he paid a visit to the company's headquarters.

The Danish Government Nearly Collapsed Today Over A Deal With Goldman Sachs

Helle Thorning-Schmidt is the first female prime minister in Denmark's history.

Denmark's government is in turmoil after the Socialist People's Party (SF) quit the ruling coalition over a deal with Goldman Sachs, Lars Eriksen of the Guardian reports.

The 18 Best Startups That Launched In 2013

Hatch co-founders Ryan Hayward and Anastasia Leng

It's been a big year in consumer tech. 

Let's take a look at some of the best startups that launched this year.
How do we define best? Well, we kept things in mind like great growth, promise, VC interest, and actual revenue. 

Just 90 companies caused two-thirds of man-made global warming emissions

Oil, coal and gas companies are contributing to most carbon emissions, causing climate change and some are also funding denial campaigns. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters\

 

The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90 companies, which between them produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age, new research suggests.

Greek yogurt revives NY's troubled dairy industry

View of new construction at the FAGE USA Dairy Industry plant in the Johnstown Industrial Park, on Wednesday June 8, 2011 in Johnstown, NY. ( Philip Kamrass / Times Union)

A decade ago, the domestic market for Greek yogurt, a thicker, more protein-laden version of traditional mass-market yogurt, barely existed.

The Next Wave of Chinese Cost Innovators

The emergence of hypercompetitive Chinese companies over the past decade in industries from telecom equipment to solar panels has been a game-changing development in global business. 

German February Business Confidence Jumps to 10-Month High

Jana Randow

German business confidence rose more than economists forecast to a 10-month high in February, adding to signs that Europe’s largest economy is gathering strength.

The Ifo institute in Munich said its business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, climbed to 107.4 from 104.3 in January. That’s the biggest increase since July 2010 and the fourth straight monthly gain. Economists predicted an advance to 104.9, according to the median of 38 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.

IBM and Deutsche Telekom provive infrastructure for smarter cities

SUMMARY:

The two companies have signed a partnership aimed at providing municipalities with tools for making their cities, in particular their transport systems, smarter and more efficient.

IBM and Deutsche Telekom, the carrier behind the T-Mobile brand, are to work together on creating smart city systems, the companies have announced.

While German brands BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen are reporting record profits, competitors Opel, Peugeot, Renault and Fiat are struggling to survive.

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Dietmar Hawranek

A two-tiered industry is emerging among European automakers. While German brands BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen are reporting record profits, competitors Opel, Peugeot, Renault and Fiat are struggling to 

The word "blood" is often mentioned in connection with the crisis in the European automobile industry, a sector that accounts for about 12 million jobs.

The Nordic region is becoming a hothouse of entrepreneurship

IN 2010 A GROUP of students at Aalto University, just outside Helsinki, embarked on the most constructive piece of student activism in the history of the genre. They had been converted to the power of entrepreneurialism during a visit to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. When they got home they organised a “summer of start-ups” to spread the word that Finland’s future lay with new companies, not old giants. The summer of start-ups turned into a season of innovation.

Internet start-ups ease employment pressure in China

BEIJING - Chinese young people are seriously considering making a living online as the economic slowdown bites China's more conventional jobs market.

An Internet business boom has helped create more than 10 million jobs in China, which greatly alleviates current employment pressure, according to a new report by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS).

Social impact bond: philanthropy is trying to tap new pools of funding to produce measurable social results

THE seven teenagers sit with their feet tucked under tan desks in a classroom in New York City’s Rikers Island jail, taking turns answering “icebreaker” questions they’ve fished from an envelope.

The philanthropist Ronald Cordes with a microfinance borrower in Uganda.

“What’s your favorite thing to do with your time?” asks one young man, the rowdiest of the group. He answers himself: “Reading.”

“Really?” says Joyce Gendler, their peppy 22-year-old instructor, with just a hint of incredulity. “Good.” A few minutes later, she begins to engage them in the day’s activity, making sympathy cards for people who are sick.

The adolescents are part of a new program aimed at building personal responsibility and life skills, with the goal that fewer of them will re-offend. 

Top 10 Failed Social Media Sites

Christian Neeser

Almost everyone dreams of creating the next big thing when it comes to social media, but the truth is, starting a site that is valued in the millions and used by people worldwide such as Facebook, doesn’t happen every day, or even every year. Just because you and your friends think you have a great idea, it doesn’t necessarily mean everyone or anyone else will. Even if you’re on par with the genius of someone like Steve Jobs, there is no guarantee of success—the man himself failed big time with his doomed music social network, iTunes Ping. Launched in September of 2010, it was dead and buried just two years later.

The economist: Has the ideas machine broken down?

BOOM times are back in Silicon Valley. Office parks along Highway 101 are once again adorned with the insignia of hopeful start-ups. Rents are soaring, as is the demand for fancy vacation homes in resort towns like Lake Tahoe, a sign of fortunes being amassed. The Bay Area was the birthplace of the semiconductor industry and the computer and internet companies that have grown up in its wake. Its wizards provided many of the marvels that make the world feel futuristic, from touch-screen phones to the instantaneous searching of great libraries to the power to pilot a drone thousands of miles away. The revival in its business activity since 2010 suggests progress is motoring on.

NYT: That Crush at Kosovo’s Business Door? The Return of U.S. Heroes

Akos Stiller

American flags streamed recently above the main street of Pristina, Kosovo’s capital. One of the world’s newest countries, Kosovo separated from Serbia, with the support of the United States.

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is in a bind. His country’s largest and most lucrative enterprise, the state telecommunications company, is up for sale. The jostling among buyers is intense. Narrowing the bidders has hardly helped.

One bid is from a fund founded by former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright. Lobbying for another wasJames W. Pardew, the Clinton-era special envoy to the Balkans. Both former diplomats are among the Americans who hold the status of heroes here for their roles in the 1999 intervention that separated Kosovo from Serbia and created one of the world’s newest states.