WASHINGTON — Rodrigo Rato bowed out as managing director of the International Monetary Fund at the weekend with effusive plaudits from world financial leaders in public but sharp criticism of his role and the Fund’s relevance from the same people when talking outside official news conferences. The emerging consensus among rich and poor countries alike was that the reform process of the IMF had moved backwards. Worse, they added that acrimony over the Fund’s role in assessing the economic policies of its members, their effects on other countries threatened to create just the disorder in the global economy it is intended to prevent. ‘We didn’t make any progress this weekend,’ said an irritated David Dodge, the Canadian central bank governor, adding that it was a ‘pretty big disappointment’ and that IMF stakeholders had not ‘settled even the principles let alone the details’ of institutional reform. The communiqué from the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the IMF’s governing body, put a brave face on the lack of progress in making the Fund more legitimate around the world by increasing the voice given to emerging and developing countries. It said that the new formula for voting shares at the […]
For the first time in modern history, China will next year contribute more to global economic growth than the United States. Chinese steel worker: Chinese growth ‘to overtake US’ China, India and Russia combined have already ‘accounted for one half of global growth’ The landmark moment was predicted yesterday by the International Monetary Fund and is the latest illustration of the fast-growing Asian country’s importance to the world economy. While China’s economy is still far smaller than America’s, it has overtaken the UK as the world’s fourth biggest economy. With the IMF projecting 10pc growth this year, the country will pump more new money into the global system next year than the US, which is expected to grow by just 1.9pc. If the forecasts spelled out in the IMF’s World Economic Outlook prove correct (and the institution did not foresee the recent credit crunch), China’s continued resilience will come at just the right time for the global economy, as the developed world enters a period of slower growth. It is what many have called the ‘happy handover’ scenario and is already taking place as China, India and Russia combined have already ‘accounted for one […]
NEW YORK — Comcast Corp. actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally. The interference, which The Associated Press confirmed through nationwide tests, is the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a U.S. Internet service provider. It involves company computers masquerading as those of its users. If widely applied by other ISPs, the technology Comcast is using would be a crippling blow to the BitTorrent, eDonkey and Gnutella file-sharing networks. While these are mainly known as sources of copyright music, software and movies, BitTorrent in particular is emerging as a legitimate tool for quickly disseminating legal content. The principle of equal treatment of traffic, called ‘Net Neutrality’ by proponents, is not enshrined in law but supported by some regulations. Most of the debate around the issue has centered on tentative plans, now postponed, by large Internet carriers to offer preferential treatment of traffic from certain content providers for a fee. Comcast’s interference, on the other hand, appears to be an aggressive way of managing its network to keep file-sharing traffic from […]
The Great Plains of Kansas are being transformed by America’s thirst for alternative fuels. Some are calling it an ecological disaster. Leonard Doyle reports from Beaumont. Beaumont, (pop 286, 70% Rep, 30% Dem,) is a town so tucked away in the Flint hills of Kansas that it boasts its own fly-in hotel. It is way off the beaten track, far from the bustle of the Interstates, the four-lane arteries that slice through the Great Plains. It was here that I met Pete Ferrell, a rebel rancher burning with anger at the way he says American agriculture is being subverted to the detriment of the planet. And now almost unnoticed by urban America, one of the great ecological disasters of modern times is unfolding as an ethanol-fuelled gold rush engulfs the Great Plains and risks destroying what is left of North America’s most endangered ecosystem, the native prairie. The last 35 million acres of prairie, deliberately left alone to preserve a precious ecology, is being ploughed up to produce ethanol from corn. The tiny Beaumont hotel is famous (among aviators at least) for having three different guest registers: one each for pilots, motorcyclists and other guests. Pete the […]
BERKELEY — For many Americans, the potential to track one’s DNA to a specific country, region or tribe with a take-home kit is highly alluring. But while the popularity of genetic ancestry testing is rising – particularly among African Americans – the technology is flawed and could spawn unwelcome societal consequences, according to researchers from several institutions nationwide, including the University of California, Berkeley. ‘Because race has such profound social, political and economic consequences, we should be wary of allowing the concept to be redefined in a way that obscures its historical roots and disconnects from its cultural and socioeconomic context,’ says the article to be published today (Thursday, Oct. 18) in the journal Science. The article recommends that the American Society of Human Genetics and other genetic and anthropological associations develop policy statements that make clear the limitations and potential dangers of genetic ancestry testing. Among the potentially problematic byproducts of widespread genetic ancestry testing: questionable claims of membership to Native American tribes for financial or other benefits; patients asking doctors to take ancestry tests into consideration when making medical decisions; and skewed census data due to people changing ethnicity on government forms. Moreover, many […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
