| 7:46 am: International global warming conference approves report ...
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) _ An international global warming conference approved a report Friday warning of dire threats to the Earth and to mankind _ from increased hunger to the extinction of species _ unless the world adapts to climate change and halts its progress.Agreement came after an all-night session during which key sections were deleted from the draft and scientists angrily confronted government negotiators who they feared were watering down their findings.''It has been a complex exercise,'' said Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.Several scientists objected to the editing of the final draft by government negotiators but in the end agreed to compromises.The climax of five days of negotiations was reached when the delegates removed parts of a key chart highlighting devastating effects of climate change that kick in with every rise of one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit), and in a tussle over the level of scientific reliability attached to key statements.
Gref Calls WTO Top Priority This Year
Joining the World Trade Organization before next year's presidential election is a top priority for the government, Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref told visiting U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez at an investment conference Wednesday. .
Economics on the Internet
I recently made a life-changing decision, which, to those under age 30, will probably sound ridiculous. I finally decided that I trust the Internet enough to stop subscribing to a number of publications now easily available online.
When you younger folk finish laughing, try to look at it from my point of view. For many years, the only way you could get critical data was to go down to places like the Bureau of Economic Analysis or the Bureau of Labor Statistics and pick it up yourself. If you were a journalist, you might get them to put you on a mailing list, but it might be days or weeks before the press release arrived.
If you wanted to know what the Federal Reserve was doing, you had to trek up to Capitol Hill and try and get a place in the hearing room when the chairman testified.
Fast-Tracking Reform: Stakeholders Brainstorm
A significant stage in the reform of the postal sector and strengthening of the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) was attained yesterday, April 4, 2007 with the convening of stakeholders conference on the draft Postal Sector Policy/Strategy and Reform Bill.
It was a logical follow-up to the work of the World Bank Consultants on the postal reform, NethPost Consultancy of Netherlands, which began the job months back. The conference took place at Ladi Kwali Conference Centre, Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Abuja.
Organized by the BPE in collaboration with the World Bank, Ministry of Communication and Information and NIPOST, the one-day stakeholders workshop discussed the draft postal policy, strategy and reform bill and strengthening of NIPOST.
Where Colleges Don't Excel
Millions of anxious high school seniors have been hearing from college admissions offices in recent days, and if one believes the rhetoric cascading from campus administration buildings, corporate headquarters and the U.S. Capitol, students lucky enough to get acceptance letters will be entering the best higher education system in the world. Hardly a week goes by without a prominent politician or business leader declaring America's advantage in the global battle for brainpower, citing as evidence a study from Shanghai's Jiao Tong University that rates17 American universities among the world's 20 best. .
Shifting patterns of work and retirement
No set of issues has stimulated public discourse about population aging more than work, retirement, and economic security in old age. In Western democracies, in Eastern Europe 's transitional economies, and in much of the less developed world, policymakers struggle with the balance between public and private income security systems. The precariousness of security in old age can be seen in stagnant and declining real pensions in transitional economies, in the fate of pensioners during the collapse of Argentina's economy in 2001, in the high poverty rates among Japanese elderly, and perhaps most vividly in the lack of formal social safety nets for most older people in Africa and Asia. A prominent economic concern in our aging world is the shrinking of the workforce relative to the number of pensioners.
Micron Technology Swings To Q2 Loss
(RTTNews) - Memory chip maker Micron Technology, Inc. (MU | charts | news | PowerRating) said Wednesday that it slipped to a second quarter loss from year-ago profit, as expenses mounted and average selling prices for its products declined. The Boise, Idaho-based company reported a net loss for the second quarter of $52 million or $0.07 per share, compared to net income of $193 million or $0.27 per share for the year-ago quarter and $115 million or $0.15 per share for the prior sequential quarter. On average, 21 analysts polled by First Call / Thomson Financial expected the company to report a loss of $0.01 per share for the second quarter. Gross profit for the second quarter increased to $357 million from $236 million in the prior year quarter. Selling, general and administrative expenses for the quarter increased to $153 million from $108 million a year ago, while research and development expenses rose to $243 million from $159 million last year.
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