American aerospace startup Boom made history on Tuesday by breaking the sound barrier during the test flight of its Boom Supersonic XB-1 demonstrator jet. Watch this report for more details!

Boom supersonic jet travels faster than sound

Jiang Chengjun, the former head of investment banking at Haitong securities, was recently arrested upon his return to China. As Haitong grapples with significant profit losses and a recent delisting from Hong Kong, Analysts warn that Chinese financial institutions are finding their global ambitions stymied by intense domestic competition and regulatory pressures.

China’s Investment Banking In Crisis

We turn our attention to India's inclusion in JP-Morgan's emerging-market bond index. Does this mean India is on the brink of a finance breakout moment? What does that mean and why does it matter? Take a look at this report for more...

India is finally fully connecting to global finance machine

Now, let's look at WION's monthly global economic health check. First, let's look at how global markets performed in June...

Global economic health check for June

The care economy is often ignored in India's political discourse. But things are changing for good. Several political parties are promising measures for the caregiving ecosystem. But what exactly is the care economy? And why does it matter to India? We tell you that and a lot more in this next report.

India: Care Economy takes political center stage

The eastern Indian state of Odisha will go to polls between May 13 and June 1. The state sends 21 MPS to the Indian parliament and has been ruled by the Biju Janata Dal for the last 24 years. The state is known for its vast mineral resources and untouched natural beauty. However the state also faces several socio-economic issues. On P,ollnomics, we decode Odisha's economy for you.

Odisha: State's economy has grown faster than the national average

As we celebrate Earth Day, we turn our focus to the economics of sustainability. For years, eco-friendly products have been flying off the shelves. But what about sustainability itself? It's not just a trend, it's the key to our future. Take a look at this report for more...

Firms look to meet demand for eco-friendly products

For long, China has been the world's biggest consumer market. But that could change soon as India emerges as an economic powerhouse. Latest projections suggest that India will have a consumer base of 773 million people by 2030. That's a 46 percent increase from 529 million in 2023. China will still have a billion consumers by 2030, growing by just 15 percent in the next six years.

Rising middle class fueling India's consumption boom

Chipmaker Nvidia dethrones Tesla to become the most traded stock by value. It’s the latest in what has been a climb up for Nvidia, as it surged past Amazon & alphabet to become the world’s third most valuable company.

Nvidia surpasses Tesla as Wall Street's most-traded stock

Nvidia has surged past Google's parent company, alphabet, and e-commerce behemoth Amazon to claim the coveted third position as the most valuable U.S. Company. Nvidia now boasts a market capitalization of $1.825 trillion, edging out Alphabet's $1.821 trillion and Amazon's $1.776 trillion.

Nvidia beats Alphabet in market cap

All eyes are on tech powerhouse Nvidia as it gears up to reveal its third-quarter earnings. The spotlight isn't just on its financial performance but on the potential impact of widening US Restrictions on high-end chip sales to China.

Will China curbs dent the Nvidia's soaring growth?

Saudi Arabia is embarking on an unprecedented construction boom said to spend over $175 billion annually on Industrial and mega projects between 2025 and 2028. These projects with a staggering total value of 1.3 trillion dollars include ambitious initiatives like the high-tech Neom City and Red Sea Resorts Central to the Kingdom's strategic shift away from oil dependency.

Saudi's real estate boom: Challenges vs ambitions

Thailand is trying to boost its tourism sector and is targeting Indian tourists, but it is currently facing a toxic plankton bloom. The plankton is killing marine life and depleting oxygen in the waters. Will tourists want to go see dead fish? Molly Gambhir brings you a report.

Gravitas: Thailand fetches for tourism amid plankton bloom

Nvidia shares hit an all-time high on Tuesday in a buildup in expectations over the quarterly results of the chip designer that has been the biggest beneficiary of a boom in artificial intelligence.

Nvidia hits record high as AI boom lifts bets on another strong forecast

Humanity may soon witness the rise of new kinds of religions. Some sects of devotees may start worshipping the Artificial Intelligence. Watch this video to find out what would AI-based religions be like?

Will the AI boom lead to the formation of new RELIGIONS?

Uganda is witnessing a post-pandemic boom in domestic tourism. Domestic tourism is helping the Ugandan economy.

Uganda sees a surge in domestic tourism as it witnesses a post-pandemic boom

India's Jammu & Kashmir is witnessing a major tourist influx in last 4 months. Kashmir has entered an era of Tourism boom with the help of Indian Army.

Tourism boom in Kashmir: Indian Army helps boost Kashmir tourism

Boom Supersonic jet Overture to begin test flights in 2021

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/slovakia-set-to-elect-anti-graft-lawyer-as-first-female-president-206871">Slovakia's</a> police have charged three people with putting the public in danger over a gas explosion at an apartment block in the eastern Slovak town of Presov that killed at least seven people and injured about 40, a spokesman said on Sunday.

Fire ripped through the top five floors of the 12-storey building on Friday, causing the roof and a staircase of the block to cave in, possibly caused by a build-up of combustible gas from a leak. Excavation works had been underway in the area days before the explosion.

One person, who may have been trapped on the top floor, hardest hit by the blast and subsequent fire, was still missing on Sunday, rescuers said.

Some of the residents from nearby housing units, who were evacuated on Friday due to the risk that the top floors of the building might collapse, returned home on Sunday. Families from the damaged building itself had to stay in emergency housing as stress analysis experts assessed the stability of the structure.

The government of Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini has approved a 1 million euro ($1.10 million) aid package to help families affected by the fire.

Slovakia's police have charged three people with putting the public in danger over a gas explosion at an apartment block in the eastern Slovak town of Presov that killed at least seven people and injured about 40, a spokesman said on Sunday.

Slovakia's police have charged three people with putting the public in danger over a gas explosion at an apartment block in the eastern Slovak town of Presov that killed at least seven people and injured about 40, a spokesman said on Sunday. Fire ripped through the top five floors of the 12-storey building on Friday, causing the roof and a staircase of the block to cave in, possibly caused by a build-up of combustible gas from a leak. Excavation works had been underway in the area days before the explosion. One person, who may have been trapped on the top floor, hardest hit by the blast and subsequent fire, was still missing on Sunday, rescuers said. Some of the residents from nearby housing units, who were evacuated on Friday due to the risk that the top floors of the building might collapse, returned home on Sunday. Families from the damaged building itself had to stay in emergency housing as stress analysis experts assessed the stability of the structure. The government of Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini has approved a 1 million euro ($1.10 million) aid package to help families affected by the fire.

Slovak police charge three with putting public in danger over deadly gas explosion

Social networking giant Facebook is introducing a third-party fact-checking programme in India to combat the spread of "false news" on its platform, starting with a pilot in Karnataka, which goes to polls next month.

Facebook said it has partnered with BOOM, an independent digital journalism initiative certified through the International Fact-Checking Network, for a pilot in Karnataka.

Assembly elections in Karnataka will be held on May 12.

In a blogpost today, the US social networking giant said the programme in India aims "to fight the spread of false news on our platform".

BOOM will review English language news stories flagged on Facebook, check facts, and rate their accuracy, it said.

Facebook is running similar initiatives in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines and the US.

Over the last few weeks, Facebook has drawn intense criticism from users and governments globally over a number of issues, ranging from false news on the platform to information of over 80 million users being mined by data analytics and political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica.

The Indian government had also questioned both the companies on the impact of the data breach. Facebook had admitted that nearly 5.62 lakh people in India were "potentially affected" by the incident. 
Testifying before the US Congress, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had said his organisation was committed to ensure integrity of elections across the world, including India.

In its blogpost, the company said it believes that "once a story is rated as false, we have been able to reduce its distribution by 80 per cent, and thereby, improve accuracy of information on Facebook and reduce misinformation".

Facebook has already stated that it will use reports from community along with other signals to send stories to fact-checking organisations.

"We are beginning small and know it is important to learn from this test and listen to our community as we continue to update ways for people to understand what might be false news in their News Feed," it said.

Detailing out the process, Facebook said after a story is rated as false by the fact-checker, it will figure lower in News Feed, "significantly reducing its distribution".

"This in turn stops the hoax from spreading and reduces the number of people who see it. Pages and domains that repeatedly share false news will also see their distribution reduced and their ability to monetise and advertise removed," it said.

This, Facebook said, will help curb the spread of "financially motivated false news".

"We also want to empower people to decide for themselves what to read, trust, and share by providing the community with more information and control... If third-party fact-checkers write articles debunking a false news story, we'll show it in Related Articles immediately below the story in News Feed," Facebook said.

Facebook will also send people and Page administrators notifications if they try to share a story or have shared one in the past that has been determined to be false.

"While third party fact checking is part of our ongoing efforts to combat spread of false news, we are working hard to improve the accuracy of information on Facebook in various ways," it added.&nbsp

Karnataka goes to the polls on May 12. The fact-checking services will be provided by a third party

Social networking giant Facebook is introducing a third-party fact-checking programme in India to combat the spread of "false news" on its platform, starting with a pilot in Karnataka, which goes to polls next month. Facebook said it has partnered with BOOM, an independent digital journalism initiative certified through the International Fact-Checking Network, for a pilot in Karnataka. Assembly elections in Karnataka will be held on May 12. In a blogpost today, the US social networking giant said the programme in India aims "to fight the spread of false news on our platform". BOOM will review English language news stories flagged on Facebook, check facts, and rate their accuracy, it said. Facebook is running similar initiatives in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines and the US. Over the last few weeks, Facebook has drawn intense criticism from users and governments globally over a number of issues, ranging from false news on the platform to information of over 80 million users being mined by data analytics and political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica. The Indian government had also questioned both the companies on the impact of the data breach. Facebook had admitted that nearly 5.62 lakh people in India were "potentially affected" by the incident. Testifying before the US Congress, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had said his organisation was committed to ensure integrity of elections across the world, including India. In its blogpost, the company said it believes that "once a story is rated as false, we have been able to reduce its distribution by 80 per cent, and thereby, improve accuracy of information on Facebook and reduce misinformation". Facebook has already stated that it will use reports from community along with other signals to send stories to fact-checking organisations. "We are beginning small and know it is important to learn from this test and listen to our community as we continue to update ways for people to understand what might be false news in their News Feed," it said. Detailing out the process, Facebook said after a story is rated as false by the fact-checker, it will figure lower in News Feed, "significantly reducing its distribution". "This in turn stops the hoax from spreading and reduces the number of people who see it. Pages and domains that repeatedly share false news will also see their distribution reduced and their ability to monetise and advertise removed," it said. This, Facebook said, will help curb the spread of "financially motivated false news". "We also want to empower people to decide for themselves what to read, trust, and share by providing the community with more information and control... If third-party fact-checkers write articles debunking a false news story, we'll show it in Related Articles immediately below the story in News Feed," Facebook said. Facebook will also send people and Page administrators notifications if they try to share a story or have shared one in the past that has been determined to be false. "While third party fact checking is part of our ongoing efforts to combat spread of false news, we are working hard to improve the accuracy of information on Facebook in various ways," it added.

Facebook introduces fact-checking programme to fight fake news; starts pilot in Karnataka

It was the year 2005 and I was in the 9th grade. My whole family was talking about a distant relative who got admission in London School of Economics (LSE) for her masters. And just a year later, everyone was again talking about her as she&rsquo;d got a job with some big company in London with a monstrous pay package. In such talks, no one ever knows the exact name of the company or the exact figure of the money. When news travels through multiple sources, such details are often lost in transit. 
&nbsp; 
At an impressionable age of 15, such talks leave a significant impact. One doesn&rsquo;t even realise when they become part of the sub-conscious and influence one&rsquo;s future decisions in one way or the other. Fast forwarding to 2011, I completed my undergraduate studies in Economics from Delhi University and was holding an offer letter from LSE for Masters. It was just 4 years after the financial crisis had rocked the world and the effects of this meltdown had not significantly subsided. Moreover, in the same year, the UK government had stopped giving 2-year work permits along with the student&rsquo;s visas. They were protecting jobs for their own citizens. 
&nbsp; 
A year later, I graduated but with a job in a niche think tank in Delhi. Many of us still reminisce the pre-2008 period. At that time, every student was holding almost two to three jobs with decent salaries much before his/her final exam. Job seekers held the bargaining power. People were taking loans to buy houses and expensive cars as paying the instalments was not a big deal. We indulged, our governments indulged and sometimes over-indulged. There was an element of irrational exuberance. 
&nbsp; 
There are four stages in a business cycle: boom, recession, depression and recovery, with the names themselves indicative of their meanings. Most of us think that recession and depression are the worst phases of a business cycle but are they really? Instead, it is during boom when we take the most stupid decisions, plummeting ourselves into a recession. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
Every time there is a boom, we make mistakes and, often, those turn out to be big mistakes. In a paper on the 1997 Asian crisis, Paul Krugman writes: &ldquo;as long as the real estate prices and stock markets were booming, even the questionable investments tended to look good. As the air began to go out of the bubble, losses began to mount, further reducing the confidence and causing the supply of fresh loans to shrink even more.&rdquo; 
&nbsp; 
Before the 2008 crisis, more importance was given to international finance than to international trade. We started moving from real to nominal - an important factor for not being able to contain the crisis in just one part of the world. Most of the European economies were over-leveraged before 2008, thus falling into an abyss of debt crisis after the shocking financial year. 
&nbsp; 
Similarly, in Venezuela, they focused so much on oil during the boom years and lavishly spent their windfall. When the oil prices fell recently, they were unable to bear the losses. Oil was their only source of income. They made the age-old mistake of putting all their eggs in the same basket. 
&nbsp; 
Also, many of the South American economies like Brazil, Colombia, etc. gorged on debt during the so-called happy times with the entire debt being denominated in US Dollars. When the Dollar appreciated significantly and the exports of commodities fell sharply, these countries were unable to service their debt and, as a result, their GDPs contracted and the standards of living worsened. Instead of maintaining the same level, the South American people have actually become poorer. &nbsp;&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
When there is boom, every institution in every country demands lowering of rules and regulations. Everyone wants to ride the wave, be it the government, banks, financial institutions, citizens or international bodies. People behave irrationally, completely disregarding the consequences of their actions. 
&nbsp; 
We may need a regulator monitoring the activities of the various institutions during such periods of the business cycle so that it stops anyone from making those mistakes which have severe consequences in the long term. But here too, the regulator is caught up in a catch - 22 situation. If the regulator stops irrational behaviour in the beginning and things are upward looking for a while, then people think that the regulating body was panicking for no reason as everything is going great. Nobody understands that this is because the bad elements were weeded out at the right time. 
&nbsp; 
As a world, we need to arrive at a solution to clip this irrational exuberance when we are healthy. Maybe we need to devise a mechanism where someone reminds us of our past mistakes so that we don&rsquo;t repeat them in future.&nbsp;

Every time there is a boom, we make mistakes and, often, those turn out to be big mistakes

It was the year 2005 and I was in the 9th grade. My whole family was talking about a distant relative who got admission in London School of Economics (LSE) for her masters. And just a year later, everyone was again talking about her as she’d got a job with some big company in London with a monstrous pay package. In such talks, no one ever knows the exact name of the company or the exact figure of the money. When news travels through multiple sources, such details are often lost in transit. At an impressionable age of 15, such talks leave a significant impact. One doesn’t even realise when they become part of the sub-conscious and influence one’s future decisions in one way or the other. Fast forwarding to 2011, I completed my undergraduate studies in Economics from Delhi University and was holding an offer letter from LSE for Masters. It was just 4 years after the financial crisis had rocked the world and the effects of this meltdown had not significantly subsided. Moreover, in the same year, the UK government had stopped giving 2-year work permits along with the student’s visas. They were protecting jobs for their own citizens. A year later, I graduated but with a job in a niche think tank in Delhi. Many of us still reminisce the pre-2008 period. At that time, every student was holding almost two to three jobs with decent salaries much before his/her final exam. Job seekers held the bargaining power. People were taking loans to buy houses and expensive cars as paying the instalments was not a big deal. We indulged, our governments indulged and sometimes over-indulged. There was an element of irrational exuberance. There are four stages in a business cycle: boom, recession, depression and recovery, with the names themselves indicative of their meanings. Most of us think that recession and depression are the worst phases of a business cycle but are they really? Instead, it is during boom when we take the most stupid decisions, plummeting ourselves into a recession. Every time there is a boom, we make mistakes and, often, those turn out to be big mistakes. In a paper on the 1997 Asian crisis, Paul Krugman writes: “as long as the real estate prices and stock markets were booming, even the questionable investments tended to look good. As the air began to go out of the bubble, losses began to mount, further reducing the confidence and causing the supply of fresh loans to shrink even more.” Before the 2008 crisis, more importance was given to international finance than to international trade. We started moving from real to nominal - an important factor for not being able to contain the crisis in just one part of the world. Most of the European economies were over-leveraged before 2008, thus falling into an abyss of debt crisis after the shocking financial year. Similarly, in Venezuela, they focused so much on oil during the boom years and lavishly spent their windfall. When the oil prices fell recently, they were unable to bear the losses. Oil was their only source of income. They made the age-old mistake of putting all their eggs in the same basket. Also, many of the South American economies like Brazil, Colombia, etc. gorged on debt during the so-called happy times with the entire debt being denominated in US Dollars. When the Dollar appreciated significantly and the exports of commodities fell sharply, these countries were unable to service their debt and, as a result, their GDPs contracted and the standards of living worsened. Instead of maintaining the same level, the South American people have actually become poorer. When there is boom, every institution in every country demands lowering of rules and regulations. Everyone wants to ride the wave, be it the government, banks, financial institutions, citizens or international bodies. People behave irrationally, completely disregarding the consequences of their actions. We may need a regulator monitoring the activities of the various institutions during such periods of the business cycle so that it stops anyone from making those mistakes which have severe consequences in the long term. But here too, the regulator is caught up in a catch - 22 situation. If the regulator stops irrational behaviour in the beginning and things are upward looking for a while, then people think that the regulating body was panicking for no reason as everything is going great. Nobody understands that this is because the bad elements were weeded out at the right time. As a world, we need to arrive at a solution to clip this irrational exuberance when we are healthy. Maybe we need to devise a mechanism where someone reminds us of our past mistakes so that we don’t repeat them in future.

The classic economic conundrum: Slipping as you rise

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