FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

France is gradually losing its vitality and presence in global export markets.

Mergers and acquisitions in the Middle East and North Africa rose slightly in 2011, but the combined value of deals fell by more than one-quarter as slower economic growth weighed on prices, Ernst & Young said on Sunday. Deal values fell to $31.7 billion last year compared with $44.1 billion a year earlier.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India is set to swell in coming years as investors stomach a lack of transparency, poor infrastructure, and policy paralysis in their search for growth, professional-services firm Ernst & Young (E&Y) said in a report.

India's economy will grow at its slowest pace in two years this fiscal year, as tight monetary policy and a logjam in government policy making stifles investment, a Reuters poll showed.

Brownsville, Texas, has some lessons to teach the country when it comes to creating jobs: it expects to add 5,000 in the next 10 years. How can other cities follow its lead?

Nobody, not the EU, the IMF nor the markets had any concerns about the Irish fiscal position prior to 2008.

India will allow individual foreign investors direct access to its stock market from January 15, the government said on Sunday, the latest step to liberalize Asia's third-largest economy after a year of big losses on the benchmark Sensex index.

The sign in a boutique selling glass hand-crafted on the Venetian island of Murano betrays an uncertain grasp of English. But the owner is very sure who is to blame for the tough times confronting the 700-year-old local glassmaking industry.

China's $410 billion sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp. is set to receive additional funding of up to $50 billion, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Friday.

China's economic growth could be slowing further as data on Thursday showed the first year-on-year drop in foreign direct investment in 28 months and a fresh fall in new orders signaled a further contraction in factory activity.

Foreign direct investment growth in China fell year-on-year for the first time in 28 months, with November's $8.8 billion of commitments down 9.8 percent and hurt by a sharp drop in inflows from the United States, Commerce Ministry data showed Thursday.

UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seems to be in trouble after failing to implement its retail reform.

India has retracted its plan to allow foreign retail chains like Wal-Mart and Britain's Tesco to open in the country, according to multiple reports. The reversal comes less than two weeks after the global business sector and the Indian government heaped praise on the original deal to let foreign retailers into India to jolt the country's economy and lower prices for farmers and consumers.

After 18 years of negotiations, the World Trade Organization is expected to approve Russia's bid for entry, during its Dec. 15-17 conference.

China's entry into the World Trade Organization and its development over the last 10 years has contributed to global prosperity, according to former WTO Director David Hartridge.

India has put a plan to open its retail industry to foreign supermarkets on hold, a senior government source said Sunday, an embarrassing turnaround for a beleaguered government fighting to retain the support of key allies.

The government is fooling the country about the benefits of foreign supermarkets, opposition leader LK Advani said.

China is keen to invest in the ailing infrastructure of Western countries, especially Britain, the chairman and chief executive of the Asian country's sovereign wealth fund wrote in the Financial Times.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's move, last week, to open India's protected retail sector to global supermarket giants surprised critics who had written him off as a policy ditherer. He was, however, probably motivated by expedience rather than any reformist zeal.

Political parties and leaders who oppose the move should study and understand realities in India and support and augment the actions needed to ensure that the decision is implemented in the right manner. If executed in the right way, it is certainly the step ahead in developing the much desired rural infrastructure and also keeping inflation in check, writes Bhaskar Prasad.

India threw open its $450 billion retail market to global supermarket giants on Thursday, approving its biggest reform in years that may boost sorely needed investment in the country.