14 February 2011 

 BBC News

Japan's economy was worth $5.474 trillion (£3.414 trillion) at the end of 2010, figures from Tokyo have shown. China's economy was closer to $5.8 trillion in the same period.

Japan has been hit by a drop in exports and consumer demand, while China has enjoyed a manufacturing boom.

Exploring an escalating confrontation over resources with global implications.

Water scarcity, rapid economic growth and soaring energy demand are forming a tightening noose that could choke off China's modernization.

Underlying China's new standing in the world, like a tectonic fault line, is an increasingly fierce competition between energy and water that threatens to upend China's progress. Simply put, say Chinese authorities and government reports, China's demand for energy, particularly for coal, is outpacing its freshwater supply.

From his perch as chief economist for the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol is virtually shouting his global warming predictions from the Paris rooftops.

Unless the United States, Europe, China, India and the other emerging economies get on a crash course to slash greenhouse gases, Birol contends, world leaders can simply forget about one of their oft-talked-about goals: stabilizing the average global temperature rise at 2 degrees Celsius.

BEIJING -- Xinhua

The China Electricity Council (CEC) projected Tuesday the country's electricity consumption will almost double from the 2010 level to 8.2 trillion kWh by 2020.

In a report on the electricity industry's development in the 12th Five-year Program period (2011-2015), the CEC said electricity consumption this year will reach 4.17 trillion kWh and increase to 6.27 trillion kWh by 2015.

At National Press Club, Energy Secretary Says Innovation is Key to America's Economic Competitiveness

Washington, D.C.