By
William Langewiesche. Ownership of people is illegal, but more than 20
million are working in captivity. In Brazil, a Dominican friar has been
leading the fight against human bondage. Slaves Without Chains
This figure is down from 388 individuals as recently as 2010. The wealth of the richest 62 people has risen 44 per cent in the five years since 2010, an increase of $542 billion (Rs 24,66,100 crore) to $1.76 trillion (Rs 1,07,36,000 crore), which is 86 per cent ($2.05 trillion) of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014. The wealth of the bottom half fell by just over a trillion dollars in the same period, a drop of 41 per cent. This scenario is a reminder of aphorism, “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer”, a commonly used socialist criticism of capitalism. The findings provide some context to the forthcoming January 20 World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland with the theme: Mastering The Fourth Industrial Revolution.
“Had inequality within countries not grown during 1990 and 2010, an extra 200 million people would have escaped poverty. That could have risen to 700 million had poor people benefited more than the rich from economic growth,” the Oxfam report said.
They make up just 10 per cent of the Australian population, but they've got more cash to splash than the rest of the country combined. Meet Australia's elite class of moneyed few, who are bringing the growing chasm between the haves and have nots into sharp focus. Oxfam's latest report on wealth inequality says Australia is part of a global trend that is seeing more and more wealth held by fewer and fewer people. It shows 10 per cent of Australians now hold more wealth than the other 90 per cent put together. The divide is even more stark when you look at the extremes of the scale.
Rich Aussies get richer as poor stay poor
* Obama orchestrated a massive transfer of wealth to the 1 percent
PAUL SPERRY: Don’t be fooled by Bernie Sanders — he’s a diehard communist. “If Sanders were vying for a Cabinet post, he’d never pass an FBI background check. There’d be too many subversive red flags popping up in his file. He was a Communist collaborator during the height of the Cold War. . . . While it may be hard to hate the old codger, it’s easy — and virtuous — to hate his un-American ideas. They should be swept into the dustbin with the rest of communist history.”
IT HAS been 39 years since the packed, early morning train derailed as it approached Granville station causing Australia’s worst rail disaster. Survivors, rescuers and families of victims today joined politicians for the annual memorial service in memory of the 83 men and women who lost their lives that day. On January 18, 1977, the Mt Victoria to Sydney train derailed at Granville at 8.10am.
The derailment brought down the Bold St bridge onto the carriages, with most of the fatally injured dying instantly. More than 213 were badly injured in the accident. The heat had buckled the railway tracks, causing the derailment, authorities have since stated.
Ceremony to remember Granville train victims
Online fraud and scams accounted for 19,232 reports
ACORN receives 39,000 cybercrime reports in 2015
At least 61 agencies have applied for access to so-called ‘metadata’
Data retention: Document reveals agencies seeking warrant-free access to telco data
If you've been broiling in an asphalt jungle over the past few weeks, rest assured: the Turnbull government has a plan to cool you down. The federal government wants to increase tree cover in big cities to dial down the heat and improve health and quality of life as part of its new focus on the lives of metropolis-dwellers.
Acting Cities Minister Greg Hunt is on Tuesday expected to outline a plan to work with cities to set goals for each decade to 2050 to increase "urban canopies", or overall tree coverage.
Turnbull government's plan to make cities cooler and greener
Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton has accused NSW MP Robert Borsak of an "outrageous slur" on the justice system over his claim that perjury charges against him are the result of political pressure.
Mr Borsak, one of two Shooters and Fishers MPs in the NSW upper house, has been charged with four counts of perjury after after a judge said that he gave false evidence in the Supreme Court.
It comes more than four and a half years after Fairfax Media revealed Justice Robert McDougall said Mr Borsak and a business associate, David Christie, gave "knowingly untrue" evidence during hearings to resolve a commercial dispute. Shooters MP Robert Borsak lashed by Attorney-General Gabrielle Upton over perjury claims
Justice Lindy Jenkins said Gray had a pattern of targeting ATMs — including dragging a machine out of a shopping centre with a cable tied to his car in which he stole $65,000 and on another occasion when he forced open a bank’s doors and used a grinder in a bid to open an ATM.
Two WA men jailed over Waroona ATM explosion robbery