1 IMF lowers global forecast (BBC) The International
Monetary Fund has lowered its forecast for global economic growth this year,
from 3.7% to 3.4%. The reduction reflects a weak start to the year in the US
and a number of downgrades to the outlook for several other individual
economies. However there were uplifts for some countries, the largest being the
UK.
The global forecast for 2015 is unchanged, with
growth predicted to be 4%. Several countries do receive an upgrade and the
largest for 2014 is for the UK - from a 2.8% to a 3.2% expansion of the
economy. It is the latest in a string of upgrades from the IMF and others.
Introducing the new forecasts, the IMF's chief
economist Olivier Blanchard said: "The recovery continues, but it remains
a weak recovery, indeed a bit weaker than we forecast in April."
The weakness at the beginning of 2014 in the US -
the economy contracted sharply in the first three months - will affect the
figure for the whole year. There were downward revisions for several emerging
economies, with the largest being for Russia, reflecting what the IMF calls
"geopolitical tensions". That country's growth projection for this
year is now just 0.2%, a downgrade from the previous World Economic Outlook
forecast of 1.3%.
2 Big quarterly loss for Amazon (Dominic Rushe in
The Guardian) Amazon has reported a rise in sales but posted a
bigger-than-expected $126m loss for its second quarter, sending shares sharply
lower in after-hours trading. Revenue at the company rose 23% to $19.34bn but
losses increased as the firm spent heavily in a bid to expand its business with
its first smartphone, the Fire Phone, and to expand new services including
grocery delivery and video streaming.
Shares of Amazon dipped 10%, to $358.61, in
after-hours trading as the company said it expected further losses of up to
$810m in the upcoming quarter – compared to a $25m loss in the third quarter
last year.
Amazon's Fire Phone goes on sale in the US on
Friday, facing stiff competition in a market dominated by Apple, Samsung and
others. The company surprised many by launching a high-end, technologically
advanced phone at a premium price and there has been scepticism among analysts
about its likely success.
The company has long argued it is focusing on
building a business for the long-term and shown little concern about losses.
Recently Amazon has been even more ambitious than usual. Along with the phone
and groceries, it introduced Zocalo, a document storage and sharing service,
and a programme to give readers access to as many ebooks as they want for a
monthly fee.
3 More humans, less bugs and a spurt in conflicts
(Straits Times) As the number of humans on earth has nearly doubled over the
past four decades, the number of bugs, slugs, worms and crustaceans has
declined by 45 percent, researchers have said.
Meanwhile, the larger loss of wildlife big and small
across the planet may be a key driver of growing violence and unrest, said
another study in the journal Science as part of a special series on
disappearing animals. Invertebrates - creatures without backbones - are
important to the earth because they pollinate crops, control pests, filter
water and add nutrients to the soil.
Among animals with backbones that live on land, 322
species have disappeared in the past five centuries, and the remaining species
show about a 25 per cent decline in abundance, said the findings.
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