Poverty in Latin America: Who Should Deal with the Economic Downturn's Haunting Legacy?

Although new signs of recovery are encouraging international investment to resume, there is no doubt that the global economic crisis has left a trail of negative side effects in Latin America. One of the most serious is increased poverty in the region. As the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) -- one of five regional organizations run by the United Nations to promote economic development -- sees it, during the economic boom times between 2003 and 2008, poverty rates in the region fell 10 percentage points, from 44% to 34% of the population. That's changing, however. The Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos (OEI) expects the region's GDP to contract 1.7% this year, after growing 3% last year, while unemployment will also rise. According to ECLAC, all of this will have a negative impact on poverty levels across the region, where there are already more than 180 million poor people, and more than 70 million who qualify as “extremely poor” -- that is, people who cannot meet basic needs for survival, such as food, water, clothing, shelter and sanitation.

In July, Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of ECLAC, told a gathering of politicians in Santiago, Chile, that the organization predicts some four million Latin Americans "will swell the unemployment lines this year, and it is likely that several million will return to poverty." She noted that the economic downturn abruptly ended six years of uninterrupted growth in the region, which enabled more than 35 million people to emerge from poverty.

Se full Article.

The Current Economic and Financial Crisis: A Gender Perspective

Widespread economic recessions and protracted financial crises have been documented as setting back gender equality and other development goals in the past. In the midst of the current global crisis—often referred to as “the Great Recession”—there is grave concern that progress made in poverty reduction and women’s equality will be reversed. Indeed, for many developing countries it is particularly worrisome that, through no fault of their own, the global economic downturn has exacerbated effects from other crises manifest in food insecurity, poverty, and increasing inequality. This paper explores both well-known and less discussed paths of transmission through which crises affect women’s world of work and overall wellbeing. As demand for textile and agricultural exports decline, along with tourism, job losses are expected to rise in these female-intensive industries. In addition, the gendered nature of the world of work suggests that women will see an increase in their share among informal and vulnerable workers worldwide, and will also supply more of their labor under unpaid conditions. The latter is particularly important in the context of developing countries, where many production activities take place outside the strict boundaries of the market. The paper also makes this point: examined through the prism of gender equality, the ability of the state to implement countercyclical policies matters greatly. If policy responses at the national and international levels end up aggravating inequities, gender equality processes face many more barriers, especially among the poor.

See full Information.

El aumento de la pobreza en América Latina, la secuela más ingrata de la crisis

Aunque los nuevos vientos de recuperación económica han alentado a los inversores internacionales a retomar el riesgo en sus transacciones bursátiles, al mismo tiempo que la demanda de materias primas comienza a reactivarse poco a poco, no cabe duda de que la crisis ha dejado una estela de negativas consecuencias, siendo una de las más profundas el aumento de la pobreza en la región. Según datos de la OEI (Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos), el PIB de la región retrocederá un 1,7% este año frente a 2008, que creció más de un 3%, lo que afectará al desempleo. De acuerdo con la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (Cepal), esto tendrá un impacto negativo sobre la pobreza en una región que ya cuenta con más de 180 millones de pobres y hay más de 70 millones de indigentes.

La secretaria ejecutiva de la institución, Alicia Bárcena, declaró durante un encuentro de expresidentes celebrado en la ciudad chilena de Santiago, en julio último, que según cálculos de la entidad, “unos cuatro millones de latinoamericanos engrosarán las filas del desempleo este año y es probable que varios millones regresen a la pobreza”. Asimismo, la ejecutiva enfatizó que la debacle económica cortó seis años de crecimiento ininterrumpido en la región, que permitieron sacar de la pobreza a cerca de 37 millones de personas. "Por eso es tanta la frustración, porque definitivamente no volveremos en forma inmediata a los niveles que teníamos antes y la recuperación económica en América Latina será lenta, demasiado lenta”, advirtió Bárcena.

Ver Artículo completo.

US: CIA Report Shows Need for Investigation of Torture and Abuse

The CIA inspector general's long-suppressed report on Bush-era interrogation practices shows the need for a full criminal investigation into post-9/11 detainee abuse, Human Rights Watch said today. The release of the CIA report comes as Attorney General Eric Holder announced a preliminary review of post-9/11 interrogation abuses.

The inspector general's report, completed in April 2004, details a range of CIA abuses that constitute torture under US and international law. It describes how CIA operatives subjected prisoners held in secret detention to mock executions, brandished a gun and an electric drill before one detainee, threatened to kill another prisoner's children, and employed other forms of torture.

See full Press Release.

Getting Away with Torture?

This 95-page report, issued on the eve of the first anniversary of the publication of the Abu Ghraib photos, presents substantial evidence warranting criminal investigations of Rumsfeld and Tenet, as well as Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, formerly the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Gen. Geoffrey Miller the former commander of the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.


See full Press Release.

¿Por qué África es tan pobre?

El desolado y polvoriento pueblo de Pibor, en la frontera sur de Sudán con Etiopía, carece de agua potable y sólo cuenta con algunas chozas de barro para cobijar a su población. Es difícil encontrar un lugar más pobre en el mundo.

Visité Pibor en medio de una travesía por África para averiguar por qué esta parte del mundo es tan pobre. Mi objetivo era saber por qué todos los países del continente -a excepción de Gabón y Argelia, ricos en petróleo- son considerados por la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU) como de "bajo" en desarrollo humano, es decir, donde la mayoría de los habitantes viven en condiciones horrorosas.

En el pueblo sudanés, la respuesta parecía obvia.

Ver Artículo completo.

AARP Bulletin Survey on Employment Status of the 45+ Population: Executive Summary

AARP Bulletin Survey on Employment Status of the 45+ Population: Executive Summary

AARP recently commissioned a nationwide survey to determine the employment status of people 45 years or older. The survey examined whether people in this age group had lost jobs or sought new employment over the last 12 months. It also asked them if they had uncertainty about keeping their current jobs.

About one-quarter of the 45+ population reported already being retired. The largest concentration of retirees was in the 65+ age group, with over half (56%) reporting being retired.

Survey findings include:

* Seventeen percent of respondents said they had postponed plans to retire. Twenty-seven percent of those in the age group approaching retirement age (ages 55-64) reported postponing plans to retire, and about one-fifth (19%) of this age group reported already being retired.
* Fifteen percent of respondents said they looked for a new job because of uncertainty about their current employment. Twenty seven percent of those ages 45-54 looked for a new job because of uncertainty. In the age groups with fewer people employed (those ages 55-64 and 65+), fewer respondents reported looking for new jobs because of uncertainty about their current employment.
* Sixteen percent of respondents in the 45-54 and 55-64 age groups reported having lost a job during the past 12 months. Of those, 28% of those ages 45-54 and 30% of those ages 55-64 reported finding another job after having lost a job.
* Twenty two percent of those ages 45-54 felt it was at least “somewhat likely” that their job could be eliminated within the next year. One-quarter (25%) of this group reported not working or already being retired, which means job insecurity is even higher among those who could conceivably experience job loss. In considering only those at risk for losing their jobs, thirty percent of those ages 45-54 felt it was “at least somewhat likely” that their jobs could be eliminated in the next 12 months.

See Study page.

Human Rights Watch Founder Dies at 95

Thank you Mr. DeWind!

Onésimo Alvarez-Moro

See article:
Adrian DeWind, influential activist and founder of Human Rights Watch, a global advocacy group that monitors human rights violations, died on August 7 in New York City, according to The New York Times. He was 95.

DeWind graduated from Iowa's Grinnell College in 1934, and from Harvard Law School in 1937. He is well regarded in business and financial circles, most notably for his work in tax law.

DeWind taught at the New York University School of Law from 1947 to 1955, and was a longtime partner at the law offices of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison in New York City. He also served on tax policy commissions for presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson and New York governors Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo.

See full Article.

Adrian DeWind, fundador de Human Rights Watch

¡Gracias Sr. DeWind!

Onésimo Alvarez-Moro

Ver artículo:
Adrian DeWind era un abogado ecologista que dedicó su vida a vigilar para denunciar la corrupción, la avaricia y la crueldad por la que algunos hombres se dejan arrastrar. En 1978 fundó Human Rights Watch, una ONG que lucha en todo el mundo por el respeto a los derechos humanos. Murió el 7 de agosto, en Nueva York, a los 95 años.

Nacido en Chicago en 1913, DeWind se graduó en Derecho por Harvard y trabajó en un prestigioso bufete neoyorquino. Se construyó una fama de honradez e independencia que le permitió trabajar como asesor de política tributaria para varios gobernadores y para los presidentes John Kennedy y Lyndon Johnson. En 1976 encabezó un grupo de expertos económicos creado para sacar de la bancarrota a la ciudad de Nueva York.

Ver Artículo completo.

Viajes El Corte Inglés firma un plan de igualdad

Viajes El Corte Inglés ha firmado con los representantes sindicales un Plan de Igualdad que tiene como objetivo principal "garantizar la igualdad real y efectiva de oportunidades entre mujeres y hombres en el seno de la empresa y evitar cualquier tipo de discriminación laboral".

Según informó la compañía, que hoy celebró su Junta de Acciones, el Plan recoge la igualdad de trato y de oportunidades en el acceso al empleo, en la formación, en la promoción profesional y en las condiciones de trabajo.

El Plan de Igualdad de Viajes El Corte Inglés, que afecta a casi 5.000 personas, es el primero que se firma en el sector, indicaron desde la cadena de distribución.

Ver Artículo completo.

Governance in Gotham

2009 Regional Fall Conference
For the New York, Eastern New England, Fairfield-Westchester and Hartford, Ohio, OKI Tri-State and Pittsburgh Chapters
on
When: September 30 - October 2, 2009
Where: Time Warner Center, New York, New York, USA

Corporate governance is experiencing a period of dramatic change the unprecedented events of the past year have triggered legislative, regulatory and market developments that will impact boards and the governance professionals that support them for many years to come. How can you stay in front of these developments without busting your ever-tightening budget? Our Fall Conference is designed to bring you the greatest value by offering the latest and greatest on these issues from our roster of experts at a significantly lower cost than last year.

Now more than ever before, you need a conference that will offer everything in one forum best practices from leaders in the field, opportunity for timely, interactive discussions and knowledge sharing with your peers and CLE credit (including ethics) to boot! Our experts will provide timely advice and critical takeaways for the most difficult issues facing you and your boards including hot issues in executive compensation, risk management, SEC enforcement, board recruitment and composition, the federalization of corporate governance and what to do to prepare for what will certainly be a challenging proxy season. The conference will also include our traditional nuts and bolts discussion of best practices on many day to day areas of your responsibility.

See full Details.

7 Tips for Finding a Job After 50

Advice from career coaches and hiring managers

If you suddenly find yourself back in the job market after age 50, you might need to dust off your résumé and spruce it up for today's changing job market. Here are seven strategies older workers can use to get their résumé to the top of the stack, score an interview, and—yes—land a new job:

Play down your age. Age often brings wisdom, but wisdom can seem awfully expensive to a hiring manager. You don't have to include all of your achievements on your résumé. "You should consider not putting dates like graduation dates on your résumé," says Tom Musbach, senior editor of Yahoo! HotJobs. "You don't want to lie if asked, but on your résumé, you don't want to broadcast that you graduated in 1960." According to an October survey by Gray Hair Management, a career coaching and networking firm, 65 percent of senior-level executives age 40 or older say they've adjusted their résumé to downplay their age. Older workers need to appear up-to-date with the modern workforce. Be sure to list the work experiences most relevant to the description of the job you're applying for so that your résumé will turn up in job bank searches.

See full Article.

Most Companies Have Failed Agility Test

Hackett: Most Companies Have Failed Agility Test; Three out of Four Global 1000 Companies Cannot Drive Cost Reductions That Match Declines in Revenue, Profits

* Companies Can Net up to $1 Billion Annually By Cutting SG&A Costs

The world's largest companies have for the most part failed in their efforts to reduce the cost of functions such as Finance, IT, HR, and Procurement over the past year, exacerbating the impact of dramatic declines in revenue, profits, and earnings, according to new research from The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCKT).

Hackett's analysis of the latest financial results of nearly 200 of the 1,000 largest public companies in the world that have reported Q2 2009 financial information showed that only one company in four was able to manage their Selling, General, & Administrative (SG&A) costs in line with revenue reductions over the past 12 months.

See full Press Release.

Global wind turbine markets, strategies and supply chain strategies - 2009-2020

The wind turbine industry is undergoing a radical restructuring as a result of the impact of the 2008-2009 financial collapse. A year ago wind turbine markets were shaped by turbine shortages and component supply bottlenecks. In 2009, the story could not be more different -- project postponements, order cancellations, and company downsizings across the supply chain.

Yet the fundamentals of the industry remain strong. EER forecasts global wind turbine investment to grow from US $33 billion in 2009 to over US $56 billion in 2015. With annual wind turbine shipments expected to grow from nearly 30 GW in 2009 to 60 GW by 2020, wind turbine component markets are forecast to grow to nearly US$30 billion per annum combined by 2020, including blades, towers, generators, gearboxes, and towers.

EER has just released two new market studies providing extensive analysis on the global wind turbine industry and the supply chain that supports it.

See full Report, in pdf format.

Delineation of governance roles & responsibilities

Report of he task force of the ABA section of business law corporate governance committee on delineation of governance roles & responsibilities

In the summer of 2008, the Corporate Governance Committee of the ABA Section of Business Law established a Task Force on Delineation of Governance Roles and Responsibilities to examine whether, in the large U.S. public corporation, the decision rights and responsibilities of shareholders and boards of directors are shifting and if so, the implications of any such shift. Seasoned lawyers representing shareholder, corporate and academic perspectives comprise the Task Force and have engaged in a series of meetings over the past ten months to discuss shareholder and board roles – roles that are under increasing regulatory pressures in light of the financial crisis.

As one might expect given the diverse perspectives represented, not all Task Force members agree on all points in this Report. Some Task Force members favor significant adjustment in the regulation of corporate governance; others believe that very little, if any, adjustment is needed. However, recognizing that we all share a common interest in the success of the U.S. corporation, the Task Force believes that all those involved in thinking about the future of the corporation would benefit from a clear understanding of the roles played by shareholders and boards under corporate law and the rationales for those roles.

As recent events have shown, much depends on whether federal regulation (including pending proposals on which the Task Force takes no position), state corporate law and private ordering of corporate governance support decisions that are in the long term interests of our economy.

See full Report, in pdf format.

Comments on Proposed Rule: Facilitating Shareholder Director Nominations

Go to Comments page.

Career Changers After Age 50 Are Permanently Worse Off

Workers who find new jobs after age 50 often take pay cuts, give up pension and health care benefits, and lose managerial duties. But their new jobs often involve less stress and more flexible schedules, a new study found.

An Urban Institute and AARP Public Policy Institute analysis of 1,705 workers over a 14-year period beginning in 1992 when they were between ages 51 and 55 until 2006 when they were ages 65 to 69 found that 27 percent found new jobs during that period. The older workers who switched jobs saw their median hourly wage drop from $16.86 at the old job (in 2007 dollars) to $10.86 at the new job. Employees who changed places were also less likely to have a pension and health insurance at their new job. Only 20 percent of the employees received traditional pensions in their second career, compared to 61 percent in the old job. And the percent of employees receiving employer-sponsored health insurance dropped from 70 percent to 56 percent.

The reason workers left their previous position does play a role. About 35 percent of the workers left their jobs involuntarily because of business closures, layoffs, or health problems. “People who changed occupations because of a layoff ended up earning about 2/3 as much on the new job as on the old job,” says Richard Johnson, a principal research associate at the Urban Institute and coauthor of the study. “If you look at people who quit their old job, they are earning about the same as the old job at the new job.” Only 46 percent of the workers who were employed full-time in 1992 ever cite retirement as their primary reason for leaving the workforce. However, some people who separated from their job for other reasons did eventually start calling themselves retired.

See full Article.

The New Role of Government in Corporate Governance

When: Thursday, 17th September 2009
Where: Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Washington DC, USA

A free all-day conference organised by the European Corporate Governance Institute, the Brookings Institution and Columbia Law School.

The organisers are grateful for support from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Commission, and for the sponsorship of the 2009 Conference by the Columbia Law School through the F.F. Randolph Jr. Speakers Fund and the Stephen Friedman Fund in Business Law.

Programme
Some sessions (see below) qualified for Continuing Legal Education credits. Click here or menu item above for further details

By the middle of this decade, there seemed to be a consensus concerning the right role of government in business. First, government was neither to be the owner of businesses nor their financier. The European Union (EU) promoted the liberalisation of state-owned enterprise and adopted an extensive system to control government support of local companies. With the exception of its involvement in the financing of home ownership, the US had no history of deep state involvement in the ownership of industry. Second, the government would regulate lightly, relying on markets to work. Now at the close of the decade, the financial crisis has called both of these principles into question, certainly in application and perhaps in principle as well.

See full Details.

Implementation of the directive on the exercise of certain rights of shareholders in listed companies

The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform invites your views on:

• the implementation of Directive 2007/36/EC on the exercise of certain rights of
  shareholders in listed companies (the ”Shareholder Rights Directive”) by
  
• the making of related changes to legislative provisions on shareholder rights in the
  Companies Act 2006.

The Directive aims to improve corporate governance in EU companies traded on regulated
markets by enabling shareholders to exercise their voting rights and rights to information more
easily. In particular, it seeks to achieve this by overcoming the obstacles that shareholders
owning shares in companies registered in another Member State face when voting at company
meetings.

See full Report, in pdf format.

Shareholder Rights Directive

The European Union has adopted the Directive on shareholders rights, which is an attempt to implement minimum standards across the EU. A number of the provisions are less stringent than UK law. However, there are parts that will lead to changes in companies’ relationship with their shareholders from current UK practice.

The key provisions are:

* A minimum notice period for general meetings (GMs) of 21 days. This can be reduced to 14 days where shareholders can vote electronically and the GM approves a reduced notice period through a resolution, which must be renewed annually.
* Internet publication of the convocation and GM documents at least 21 days before the GM.
* The right for shareholders to ask questions and the obligation for companies to answer them.
* Disclosure of voting results on the issuer’s website.

See full Information.

Obama's controversial climate change bill is set to rain on his parade

Barack Obama might be the most powerful man in the world, but he faces tough opposition from all sides over climate-change legislation

Al Gore made a surprise appearance on the sketch comedy programme Saturday Night Live in May 2006, to offer an alternative-universe United States, one in which he'd become president after the 2000 election fiasco. Global warming was so soundly defeated that glaciers stood poised to attack Michigan and Maine. All Americans enjoyed free health care. The rest of the world held the US in such high esteem that Americans were afraid to travel to Europe for fear of being hugged too much.

By January of this year, many believed that this liberal fantasy had become liberal promise. A slight and handsome man, with ears sensitive to 300 million disparate voices, had appeared. President-elect Barack Obama reminded Americans in his weekly address of the impossible hand history had dealt him, the two wars, the economic crisis, the health care crisis, the climate crisis.

See full Article.

Ethical eating: who decides?

As the restaurant industry grapples with ethical issues, who should decide what we eat?

The current issue of Restaurant Magazine (which I write for) includes a timely feature in which chef Alain Ducasse, and seven of his high-flying proteges, including Claude "Hibiscus" Bosi and Clare Smyth, head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, discuss sustainability.

For Ducasse, it's a simple matter of pragmatism: respect for the natural world underpins the best cooking. Bosi tells how he was amazed by the documentary The End of the Line, and has stopped using turbot, monkfish and Chilean sea bass. Several chefs claim to relish the creative challenge of having to impress guests within the constraints of certain ingredients being off-limits. As a group, they take a strict line. "People want to sell [bluefin tuna] to me, and I would love to still serve it," says Jérôme Tauvron, "but I won't do it."

See full Article.

6 Tips for Dealing With Age Discrimination

Here’s what to do if you've been treated unfairly in the workplace because of your age

An increasing number of laid-off employees are claiming that they were unfairly dismissed because of age. In 2008, workers filed 24,582 complaints of age bias with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). That's up from 19,103 in 2007 and the highest level of age discrimination charges documented in records dating back 12 years. "When economic times are bad and people are losing their jobs, there tends to be an increase in litigation activities because people are looking for a reason to explain why it is that they are affected rather than someone else," says Rae Vann, a partner with Norris, Tysse, Lampley, & Lakis, which describes itself as a "management-side labor and employment law firm." Under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, it's illegal to discriminate against anyone age 40 or older in the workplace with regard to hiring, layoffs, promotions, pay, and benefits. Here's what you should do if you think age is playing a role in your workplace woes:

See full Article.

Women still face a steep climb to the top table in business

Female board directors remain rare, which means that their talents - and the ability to think differently from men - is being wasted.

Research commissioned by the Observer has revealed that UK boardrooms are still overwhelmingly male-dominated, despite the fact that more than nine out of 10 companies claim to have an equal opportunities policy in place.

Women occupy only 242 out of 2,742 seats on the boards of FTSE 350 companies, according to a study by The Co-operative Asset Management as part of our Good Companies Guide series of reports into ethical and socially responsible practice in corporate Britain.

See full Article.

China's spiralling consumption is fuelling waste and pollution

China's government and the domestic market are calling for greater spending. Economic growth may be maintained, writes Huo Weiya, but US-style living may mean we need another two Earths.

To maintain an 8% economic-growth target through the current global financial crisis, the Chinese government has launched an investment stimulus package worth four trillion yuan (US$585 billion) and eased bank-lending restrictions. But another important measure is the increasing of individual consumption.

In 2008, the Chinese government launched "village appliance" schemes nationwide, with subsidies used to increase sales of televisions, refrigerators, washing machines and mobile phones in rural areas. Another two billion yuan (nearly US$300 million) was invested in 2009 in a "new-for-old" policy that will see individuals and businesses sell old appliances back to the state and receive a 10% subsidy on new purchases. Besides this, the automobile market is benefiting from subsidies and tax breaks, and many cities have handed out shopping vouchers to local people.

See full Article.

Native Americans to join London climate camp protest over tar sands

Canadian First Nations seek to highlight UK's 'criminal' role in CO2-heavy oil schemes

Native Americans are to join the Climate Camp protests in the City of London this week in an attempt to draw attention to corporate Britain's "criminal" involvement in the tar sands of Canada.

Five representatives from the Cree First Nations are coming to co-ordinate their campaign against key players in the carbon-heavy energy sector with British environmentalists.

Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, from Fort Chipewyan, a centre of Alberta's tar sands schemes, said: "British companies such as BP and Royal Bank of Scotland in partnership with dozens of other companies are driving this project, which is having such devastating effects on our environment and communities.

See full Article.

Income Inequality

Income inequality, by many measures, is now greater than it has been since the 1920s.

The causes of income inequality are hotly debated and tend to fall into two broad categories. There are market forces -- like increased trade and technological advances -- which have made highly skilled and well-educated workers more productive, thus increasing their pay. And there are institutional forces, like deregulation, the decline of unions and stagnation in the minimum wage.

In 1947, the median family -- the one making more than half of all other families and less than half of all other families -- made $23,400, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Over the next three decades, median-income more than doubled, to $47,400 in 1977. In 2005, the median family made $58,400. (All these numbers are adjusted for inflation.)

See full Article.

Government relations in a CSR context

For many years, when community involvement professionals used the term “government relations” they were referring to lobbyists who influenced legislators on policy matters important to their companies’ business plans. The rise of corporate citizenship, however, has broadened that view. CSR professionals now increasingly employ the advocacy skills of their government relations colleagues in matters that concern the company’s social agenda, because government plays such an important - almost ubiquitous - role in their community and corporate involvement activities.

Consider what is needed to achieve your business objectives when the outcome significantly affects a community or some social component of it. Building new high-voltage power lines comes to mind as a good example. The company needs to get a “license to operate,” which invariably has a government component to it, usually in the form of a permit that complements community approval for the project. Someone who understands the community’s concerns should make the business case to the public officials involved - and that someone is the CSR professional.

See full Article.

5 Ways to Prepare for an Unplanned Retirement

Since retirement can happen unexpectedly, you should have a backup plan

We like to think that we can carefully plan out when we'll retire and how we'll spend those carefree days. But too often, carefully planned retirements are derailed when people find themselves pushed out of the workforce. Steve Wolf and Mary Murley, a married couple with 11-year-old twin sons, are watching their retirement dreams recede farther into the future. Roughly 40 percent of their life savings has evaporated in the stock market in the past year. To make matters worse, Wolf, 55, was laid off from his engineering job in February, and now the family's sole source of income is Murley's part-time job as a classroom aide. Wolf isn't limiting his job search to their hometown, Grand Rapids, Mich., so the couple put their house up for sale—priced below what they paid for it seven years ago. But so far, there have been no bids on the house or job offers for Wolf. "I was hoping that we would be able to sell our house and make up the loss by purchasing someone else's foreclosure," says Murley, 53. "But if we sell the house tomorrow, we'll probably end up living with my mother in Ohio." Here's how to cope with an unplanned retirement.

See full Article.

Africa seeks climate change cash

Ministers from 10 African countries are meeting in Ethiopia to try to agree a common position on climate change, months before a crucial UN meeting.

They are expected to renew demands for billions of dollars in compensation for Africa because of damage caused by global warming.

And they are likely to ask rich nations to cut emissions by 40% by 2012.

African nations are among the lightest polluters but analysts say they will suffer the most from climate change.

See full Article.

Senate urged to crack down on accountants

Hearing witnesses blame crisis on failed reform and low standards

The push for a "lowest common denominator" set of international accounting standards, along with the failure of Sarbanes-Oxley Act reforms to curb last year's financial meltdown, are among the factors contributing to the ongoing global recession, experts in corporate governance told Congress.

The finger-pointing took place during recent hearings of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment, which is seeking new ways to protect shareholders by improving corporate governance.

Expert recommendations ranged from a forced separation of the chief executive and board chairman positions at large corporations, to new rules entitling stockholders to nominate director candidates on the proxy cards issued by corporate management.

See full Article.

Greenpeace's sea ice 'mistake' delights climate change sceptics

Who would think that the omission of the word "sea" in one sentence of a Greenpeace online news story would kick off such an almighty ruckus?

Who would think that the omission of the word "sea" in one sentence of a Greenpeace news story would kick off such an almighty ruckus? Anyone who follows the climate change debate, that's who.

The climate change sceptics - and the blogs on which they mass - have been cock-a-hoop with unbridled joy in the past few days with the belief that they have snared the Big One. During a BBC Hardtalk interview with Stephen Sackur, the executive director of Greenpeace, Gerd Leipold, admitted that a July news story which said that "we are looking at ice-free summers in the Arctic as early as 2030" was a "mistake".

See full Article.

Without realism on climate change, Copenhagen may be stormy

“Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen,” a popular song from the 1952 film musical “Hans Christian Andersen,” will probably be played many times this fall, as world leaders will be gathering in the Danish capital in December (and in New York in September) to confront the challenge of climate change. But, unless international thinking gets considerably more realistic in a hurry, what happens in Copenhagen will be anything but wonderful.

It should come as no surprise that there is little consensus on a comprehensive accord that would have a meaningful impact on the world’s climate. Governments will not sacrifice near- and medium-term economic growth for long-term environmental benefits. This is especially true now, given that much of the developed world is in the midst of a painful recession. The United States, for one, will not accept ceilings that reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions significantly if it means accepting higher costs and taxes that risk slowing economic recovery.

See full Article.

FSA Says Rules Won't Hurt Shareholder Activism

The Financial Services Authority said Wednesday its "concert party" rules shouldn't stand in the way of stronger bank-shareholder activism, a central goal of a high-profile government review of the U.K.'s finance sector.

The U.K. Treasury commissioned David Walker to gauge what changes were needed in corporate governance at financial institutions in the wake of the banking crisis. One of the key recommendations in the interim report is that institutional investors should play a more active role in questioning management decisions, using collective shareholder agreements, if necessary.

See full Article (registration required).

Low carbon way 'to reshape lives'

Ambitious plans to generate one third of UK electricity from renewables by 2020 form the centrepiece of government plans for a low carbon future.

Financial packages for wind and wave energy and changes to planning procedures are among key components of the Low Carbon Transition Plan.

"Smart" meters are to be deployed in 26 million homes by 2020.

The government says the plan will create up to 400,000 "green jobs" without a major hike in energy prices.

"The strategies we are launching today outline the government's vision for achieving a low carbon future for the UK, reshaping the way we live and work in every element of our lives," said Business Secretary Lord Mandelson.

See full Article.

Australia passes 20% renewable energy bill

• Legislation matches European targets for clean energy
• Some officials warn greater emission cuts still necessary

Australia's parliament today passed a law demanding that 20% of the country's electricity come from renewable sources by 2020, matching European targets.

The law would quadruple the renewable energy target set by the previous government in 2001 and provide enough clean electricity to power the households of all 21 million Australians.

The target matches one set by the European Union, which leads the world in green power technology.

See full Article.

EU considers bluefin tuna protection

Support is growing in Brussels for a commercial ban on bluefin tuna amid recommendations from policymakers to add the fish – prized by sushi lovers – to a list of endangered species.

The recommendations are included in a draft document prepared by the European Commission’s environment section. This will form the basis for the 27-member European Union’s common position ahead of the next meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

See full Article.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora link

Welcome to CITES

Autonomous tech 'requires debate'

The coming age of lorries that drive themselves or robots that perform surgery is fraught with legal and ethical issues, says a new report.

The Royal Academy of Engineering says that automated freight transport could be on the roads in as few as 10 years.

Also, it says, robotic surgery will begin to need less human intervention.

But it suggests that much debate is needed to address the ethical and legal issues raised by putting responsibility in the hands of machines.

See full Article.

Ruling in Tax-Auditing Case Puts Corporations on Edge

A little-publicized ruling in a recent case involving the Internal Revenue Service is causing lawyers for big companies some sleepless nights.

Last week, in a widely anticipated ruling, a federal appeals court in Boston said the IRS could gain access to documents created by a defense-contracting firm to determine whether the company's calculation of its tax liabilities would pass muster during a possible IRS audit. The decision in U.S. v. Textron Inc. reversed a January ruling by a smaller panel of judges on the same court.

To some lawyers who represent corporations, the decision signaled an attack by the courts on the "work-product doctrine," the legal rule that shields an individual or business from having to turn over documents created "in anticipation" of litigation.

See full Article.

Carbon Offsets a Small Price to Pay for Efficiency

To the Editor:

In “Carbon Offsets: A Small Price to Pay for Efficiency” (Economic View, May 31), Robert H. Frank wrote that “there is no reason that fraud should be harder to curb in carbon-offset markets than in other domains.”

Unfortunately, the very nature of offset markets provides a fundamental challenge that is not present in most markets. This is because offset markets, essentially, pay some companies for carbon they haven’t produced.

See full Letter.

World Wealth Report 2009

• At the end of 2008, the world’s population of high net worth individuals (HNWIs1) was down 14.9% from the year before, while their wealth had dropped 19.5%. The unprecedented declines wiped out two robust years of growth in 2006 and 2007, reducing both the HNWI population and its wealth to below levels seen at the close of 2005.
• Ultra-HNWIs2 suffered more extensive losses in financial wealth than the HNWI population as a whole. The Ultra-HNWI population fell 24.6%, as the group’s wealth dropped 23.9%, pushing many down into the ‘mid-tier millionaire’3 pool.
• The global HNWI population is still concentrated, but the ranks are shifting. The U.S., Japan and Germany together accounted for 54.0% of the world’s HNWI population in 2008, up very slightly from 53.3% in 2007. China’s HNWI population surpassed that of the U.K. to become the fourth largest in the world. Hong Kong’s HNWI population shrank the most in percentage terms (down 61.3%).
• HNWI wealth is forecast to start growing again as the global economy recovers. By 2013, we forecast global HNWI financial wealth to recover to $48.5 trillion, after advancing at a sustained annual rate of 8.1%. By 2013, we expect Asia-Pacific to overtake North America as the largest region for HNWI financial wealth.

See full Report, in pdf format.

The New, Faster Face of Innovation

Thanks to technology, change has never been so easy—or so cheap

Call it innovation on steroids. Or innovation at warp speed. Or just the innovation of rapid innovation.

But the essential point remains: Technology is transforming innovation at its core, allowing companies to test new ideas at speeds—and prices—that were unimaginable even a decade ago. They can stick features on Web sites and tell within hours how customers respond. They can see results from in-store promotions, or efforts to boost process productivity, almost as quickly.

The result? Innovation initiatives that used to take months and megabucks to coordinate and launch can often be started in seconds for cents.

See full Article.

Bankers' pay and the French - More égalité, less liberté

France is pushing for a global crackdown on bankers’ bonuses

ON AUGUST 6th France’s prime minister, François Fillon, summoned the country’s most senior bankers for a scolding after it emerged that BNP Paribas, its biggest bank, had set aside €1 billion ($1.4 billion) for bonuses so far in 2009. Bonuses are back in vogue throughout the industry but are proving particularly contentious in France. The leader of the opposition Socialist Party said the bonus plan was scandalous and BNP’s lowest-paid employees protested outside its headquarters. France’s bank bosses will get another drubbing over pay in a meeting with the president, Nicolas Sarkozy, on August 25th.

BNP can justly claim to have been unfairly treated. Its bonus pool is small by comparison with sums recently announced by some foreign rivals.

See full Article.

A New Focus on Ocean Conservation

Over the past weekend, President Barack Obama took a break from the heat — literal and political — to take his family on a whirlwind tour of two national parks in the western United States.

Mr. Obama used his trip to Grand Canyon and Yellowstone to highlight the importance of parks to America’s heritage. (He was heard to pronounce the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone “cool.”)

But to the world at large, Yellowstone also carries a deep significance: When it was established in 1872, it was the first national park ever created. A movement was born.

See full Article.

Blanco anuncia un plan de ahorro energético en todas las estaciones de tren

La iniciativa es anunciada con motivo del Día Mundial del Medio Ambiente

El ministro de Fomento, José Blanco, ha anunciado que pondrá en marcha un "ambicioso plan de ahorro energético" en todas las estaciones de tren de España, en el acto de celebración del Día Mundial del Medio Ambiente.

Blanco dijo en la estación de Atocha en Madrid que dentro del plan está prevista la instalación de placas solares y el aprovechamiento del suelo de Adif para instalar "huertos solares", con el compromiso de "combatir el cambio climático y buscar fórmulas de eficiencia energética".

Añadió que en todas las estaciones que se remodelen en los próximos dos años "vamos a impulsar la instalación de placas solares para el ahorro energético y para crear empleo, que es la primera prioridad del país".

See full Article.

Treasury to Award Tax Credits for Clean Energy

The Treasury and Energy Departments plan to give $2.3 billion in tax credits from the Recovery Act to manufacturers of clean energy equipment.

“These tax credits will help create thousands of high-quality manufacturing jobs in some of the highest-growth segments of the economy,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu in a statement. “This is an opportunity to develop our global leadership in clean energy manufacturing and build a secure, sustained base of jobs for America’s workers.”

The American Recovery and reinvestment Act created a new tax credit program by authorizing the Treasury to provide developers with an investment tax credit of 30

See full Article.

Indigenous tribes: 'We are fighting for our lives and our dignity'

Across the globe, as mining and oil firms race for dwindling resources, indigenous peoples are battling to defend their lands – often paying the ultimate price

It has been called the world's second "oil war", but the only similarity between Iraq and events in the jungles of northern Peru over the last few weeks has been the mismatch of force. On one side have been the police armed with automatic weapons, teargas, helicopter gunships and armoured cars. On the other are several thousand Awajun and Wambis Indians, many of them in war paint and armed with bows and arrows and spears.

In some of the worst violence seen in Peru in 20 years, the Indians this week warned Latin America what could happen if companies are given free access to the Amazonian forests to exploit an estimated 6bn barrels of oil and take as much timber they like. After months of peaceful protests, the police were ordered to use force to remove a road bock near Bagua Grande.

See full Article.

OECD countries boost official support for renewable and nuclear energy exports

OECD countries have agreed to boost official backing for exports of renewable energy and nuclear power equipment by offering more generous terms on government-backed credits in support of export deals.

In a move to respond to growing demand for low-carbon energy, countries that participate in the OECD’s Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits agreed on a new framework for official export credits giving improved terms on an equal footing in both sectors.

Under the new arrangement, projects in the renewable energies, water and nuclear power sectors will be entitled to official export credit support in the form of loans with longer repayment terms of up to 18 years and more flexible definitions of repayment schedules, accompanied by a revised fixed interest rate regime for longer loan durations.

See full Press Release.

Treasury Plans Wider Oversight on Compensation

The Obama administration plans to require banks and corporations that have received two rounds of federal bailouts to submit any major executive pay changes for approval by a new federal official who will monitor compensation, according to two government officials.

The proposal is part of a broad set of regulations on executive compensation expected to be announced by the administration as early as this week. Some of the rules are required by legislation enacted in the wake of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and they would apply only to companies that received taxpayer money.

Others, which are being described as broad principles, would set standards that the government would like the entire financial industry to observe as banks and other companies compensate their highest-paid executives, though it is not clear how stringent regulators will make them.

See full Article.