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• Entrepreneurship Thriving in China - Editor, 19 December 2012

Although China is a controlled economy with the public sector accounting for upward of 40% of the country's GDP, entrepreneurship is thriving as innovative individuals overcome the red-tape obstacles to create personal wealth. In a report by the World Bank in 2010 it was noted that of the 183 countries analyzed for being the most difficult to form a business in, China was ranked at number 151, with the United States ranking at number 8. However, according to sociologist Keming Yang, author of Entrepreneurship in China, entrepreneurs in China are generally driven by a desire to be materially prosperous and are prone to compare their standard of life with those around them, striving to lead "an enviable material life".

• BRICS to Strengthen Ties, Establish Development Bank - Editor, 5 December 2012

With the next BRICS summit set to take place in Durban, South Africa, on 25-27 March next year, member nations are expected to agree upon a strategy for setting up a BRICS Development Bank, which will replace the role currently served by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Although the BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – are represented in the IMF, they reportedly only hold a combined voting share of 11 percent. The new BRICS Development Bank will also facilitate a bailout fund for which an estimated $240 billion will reportedly be set aside. This proposed breakaway from Western-dominated financial institutions comes as China recasts their gold reserves with the aim of pursuing a gold-backed currency system, along with their establishment in September of an oil wholesaling operation designed to bypass the US Dollar and the SWIFT central banking and currency system, seen by analysts as the first move towards creating a new global reserve currency.