I was just wondering if summing up this year would mean talking about issues different from last year; looks like the needle has not moved much and things are much the same if not worse. Corruption remains a serious problem across the globe in both developing and developed nations and continues to be on the rise. According to Laurence Cockcroft, author of Global Corruption, it is primarily opacity in political funding that leads to corruption in most countries. Change in political leadership and regime has been one of the highlights of the year gone by, but the crisis of leadership continues regardless of geography. China continues to dominate global conversation with no signs of a hard landing while India is fading for the moment. Poverty and inequality are becoming even more serious triggers of social unrest. And climate change remains on the radar with no clear resolutions in sight.