A decade ago, Robin Chase founded Zipcar in the US, now the largest car-sharing company in the world. Now she’s exploring the next level of car-sharing: Buzzcar, a French startup that lets people rent their own cars to others. The details are fascinating (how does insurance work, exactly?), and the larger vision (she calls it Peers, Inc.) points to a new definition of ownership and entrepreneurship. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design – plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more. Find closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages at www.ted.com Follow TED news on Twitter: www.twitter.com Like TED on Facebook: www.facebook.com Subscribe to our channel: www.youtube.com
Today at the EU-China summit in Brussels, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with European leaders to discuss trade relations. On the agenda was an agreement on CO2 Emissions Trading Schemes (ETS). The EU was eager to work with the world’s largest emitter of CO2 and find ways to cut China’s carbon footprint. European and Chinese officials have finished their negotiations in Brussels at the EU-China summit. But the press conference—scheduled for today—was cancelled at the last minute by the Chinese. And that cancellation has been drawing questions from the media and European officials. A car carrying US ambassador to China Gary Locke was surrounded by anti-Japan protestors on Tuesday. Chinese authorities have expressed regret over the incident, and stated they are investigating the matter. No arrests were apparently made at the scene. Japanese automobile manufacturers Toyota and Honda kept their Chinese operations on hold on Thursday. This comes after some outlets were damaged earlier in the week during violent anti-Japan protests in China. Relations between China and Japan hit their lowest point in decades on Tuesday. It was the anniversary of Japan’s occupation of China in 1931, something China’s leadership still touts as a deep humiliation. Asian stocks took a dip on Thursday reacting to China’s flash PMI figures released by HSBC. The Shanghai Composite index closed at a two week low, down 1.6%.The PMI measures manufacturing activity. The index of 47.8 for September is …