Economist Covers

In the news this week...

Divisions between rich and poor countries emerged swiftly as the Copenhagen conference on climate change got underway. Developing countries think that developed countries need to make bigger cuts in their emissions and offer more cash than hitherto had been envisaged.

Greece's credit rating was downgraded to BBB+, with a negative outlook, by Fitch, the first time in a decade that the country has received a rating below A. The downgrade caused stockmarkets to fall amid fears of a potential wider fiscal crisis in the euro area.

In his pre-budget report, Alistair Darling laid out plans to increase tax on middle income earners and cap pay rises for public sector workers in order to tackle Britain's budget deficit, which is expected to reach £178bn this year.