Strict conditions on international loans have been blamed for thousands of extra tuberculosis deaths in eastern Europe, and former Soviet republics. Analysts from Cambridge and Yale universities said they had led to less being spent on healthcare. As a result TB in countries with International Monetary Fund loans rose sharply, they claimed. A UK TB charity backed the Public Library of Science study findings - but the IMF firmly rejected them.
Strict conditions on international loans have been blamed for thousands of extra tuberculosis deaths in eastern Europe, and former Soviet republics.
Analysts from Cambridge and Yale universities said they had led to less being spent on healthcare.
As a result TB in countries with International Monetary Fund loans rose sharply, they claimed.
A UK TB charity backed the Public Library of Science study findings - but the IMF firmly rejected them.
The consultants given the task of keeping down the bill for the London Olympics cost the taxpayer £87 million in the last financial year, a government report revealed yesterday. CLM's fee accounted for 15 per cent of the £563 million spent by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) in the financial year that ended in March. The consortium includes Laing O'Rourke, Mace, the British management company, and the programme manager CH2M Hill. It worked on the Atlanta and Sydney Games and is also involved with the Beijing Olympics. It was appointed to oversee the building of arenas, infrastructure and the Olympic village. The authority's accounts also show that Olympic chiefs were rewarded with generous pay rises last year as other public sector workers fought for above-inflation wage increases.
The consultants given the task of keeping down the bill for the London Olympics cost the taxpayer £87 million in the last financial year, a government report revealed yesterday.
CLM's fee accounted for 15 per cent of the £563 million spent by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) in the financial year that ended in March.
The consortium includes Laing O'Rourke, Mace, the British management company, and the programme manager CH2M Hill. It worked on the Atlanta and Sydney Games and is also involved with the Beijing Olympics. It was appointed to oversee the building of arenas, infrastructure and the Olympic village.
The authority's accounts also show that Olympic chiefs were rewarded with generous pay rises last year as other public sector workers fought for above-inflation wage increases.
Berlin may be making a name for itself as a trendy, cosmopolitan city with its own fashion week, but there is German fashion beyond the capital. And it's not all dirndls and lederhosen either. With only a few designers exporting German style internationally, it's sometimes difficult to see what's going on in the country's contemporary fashion scene. The organizers of the Mercedes Benz Berlin Fashion Week had hoped to change that when they started their showcase three years ago. The only internationally-ranked fashion event in Germany, this year's four-day affair attracted such B-list Hollywood stars as Kim Cattrall of Sex and the City and Mischa Barton, previously of OC fame.
With only a few designers exporting German style internationally, it's sometimes difficult to see what's going on in the country's contemporary fashion scene.
The organizers of the Mercedes Benz Berlin Fashion Week had hoped to change that when they started their showcase three years ago. The only internationally-ranked fashion event in Germany, this year's four-day affair attracted such B-list Hollywood stars as Kim Cattrall of Sex and the City and Mischa Barton, previously of OC fame.
German multinational Siemens is expected to launch multimillion euro lawsuits against some of its top ex-managers, according to a newspaper report. The company reportedly accuses the managers of having failed to take action to prevent corrupt practices at the company. Siemens plans to launch civil proceedings against ex-managers, a newspaper reports. Engineering and electronics giant Siemens is reportedly planning to sue former directors it believes were responsible for failing to prevent what became the largest corruption scandal in German corporate history, according to a major national daily. The company's supervisory board, the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Tuesday, is expected to make the decision next week to launch legal proceedings against 10 former top executives who sat on the group's board between 2003 and 2006. According to the newspaper, the top managers -- who include former Siemens bosses Klaus Kleinfeld and Heinrich von Pierer and former financial director Heinz-Joachim Neubürger -- are being accused by the company of grave failures when they ran Siemens, allowing one of the biggest corruption scandals in German corporate history to unfold. Siemens is said to be seeking several million euros in damages from each of the 10 executives.
German multinational Siemens is expected to launch multimillion euro lawsuits against some of its top ex-managers, according to a newspaper report. The company reportedly accuses the managers of having failed to take action to prevent corrupt practices at the company.
Siemens plans to launch civil proceedings against ex-managers, a newspaper reports. Engineering and electronics giant Siemens is reportedly planning to sue former directors it believes were responsible for failing to prevent what became the largest corruption scandal in German corporate history, according to a major national daily. The company's supervisory board, the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Tuesday, is expected to make the decision next week to launch legal proceedings against 10 former top executives who sat on the group's board between 2003 and 2006.
According to the newspaper, the top managers -- who include former Siemens bosses Klaus Kleinfeld and Heinrich von Pierer and former financial director Heinz-Joachim Neubürger -- are being accused by the company of grave failures when they ran Siemens, allowing one of the biggest corruption scandals in German corporate history to unfold. Siemens is said to be seeking several million euros in damages from each of the 10 executives.
A campaigner against Heathrow Airport's third runway has attempted to glue himself to Gordon Brown at a Downing Street reception. Dan Glass, a member of Plane Stupid, was about to receive an award from the prime minister when he stuck out his superglued hand and touched his sleeve. Plane Stupid says Mr Glass then "glued his hand" to Mr Brown's jacket as he shook him by the hand. But Downing Street said there had been "no stickiness of any significance".
A campaigner against Heathrow Airport's third runway has attempted to glue himself to Gordon Brown at a Downing Street reception.
Dan Glass, a member of Plane Stupid, was about to receive an award from the prime minister when he stuck out his superglued hand and touched his sleeve.
Plane Stupid says Mr Glass then "glued his hand" to Mr Brown's jacket as he shook him by the hand.
But Downing Street said there had been "no stickiness of any significance".
Downing Street said there had been "no stickiness of any significance".
Gah. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Three residents of the Greek island of Lesbos have lost an attempt to ban the use of the word "lesbian" to describe gay women. The residents argued that using the term in reference to gay women insulted their identity. But an Athens court ruled there was no justification for their contention that they felt slighted, saying the word did not define the islanders' identity. Greeks often refer to the island as Mytilene, after its capital. "This is a good decision for lesbians everywhere," Vassilis Chirdaris, lawyer for the Gay and Lesbian Union of Greece, told Reuters news agency.
Three residents of the Greek island of Lesbos have lost an attempt to ban the use of the word "lesbian" to describe gay women.
The residents argued that using the term in reference to gay women insulted their identity.
But an Athens court ruled there was no justification for their contention that they felt slighted, saying the word did not define the islanders' identity.
Greeks often refer to the island as Mytilene, after its capital.
"This is a good decision for lesbians everywhere," Vassilis Chirdaris, lawyer for the Gay and Lesbian Union of Greece, told Reuters news agency.
Interagency Task Force on Commodity Markets Releases Interim Report on Crude Oil Washington, DC - Today, the Interagency Task Force on Commodity Markets (Task Force or ITF), chaired by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), released a staff report offering a preliminary assessment of fundamental and market factors affecting the crude oil market. The ITF's Interim Report on Crude Oil studied fundamental supply and demand factors and the roles of various market participants, and it found that fundamental supply and demand factors provide the best explanation for the recent crude oil price increases.
Washington, DC - Today, the Interagency Task Force on Commodity Markets (Task Force or ITF), chaired by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), released a staff report offering a preliminary assessment of fundamental and market factors affecting the crude oil market. The ITF's Interim Report on Crude Oil studied fundamental supply and demand factors and the roles of various market participants, and it found that fundamental supply and demand factors provide the best explanation for the recent crude oil price increases.
And from the actual report (PDF!)
The Task Force's preliminary assessment is that current oil prices and the increase in oil prices between January 2003 and June 2008 are largely due to fundamental supply and demand factors. During this same period, activity on the crude oil futures market - as measured by the number of contracts outstanding, trading activity, and the number of traders - has increased significantly. While these increases broadly coincided with the run-up in crude oil prices, the Task Force's preliminary analysis to date does not support the proposition that speculative activity has systematically driven changes in oil prices.
Remember, the fact that the CFTC launched this study was seen as proof - PROOF! - that speculation was to blame. Never mind, the CFTC must now be part of the conspiracy. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
No, it hasn't driven the changes but it has greased the response.
Same forcing and more volatility implies faster trend. A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
But there's the small fact that a majority of speculative positions lately have been betting on oil prices going down, not up. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Whether it is a good or a bad thing that the current price level was reached ahead of time compared to how it would have been with lower market volatility, I don't know.
If you believe that we need a strong price signal for demand destruction and that reductions in demand are overdue, then it's a good thing.
However, if prices overshoot and collapse because the long-term cost of electricity from alternative sources has been exceeded by a long shot, then it might be a bad thing like what happened in the 1980's.
An optimal rate of increase of the price might be as high as possible but such that there is no overshoot and collapse of the price. Speculation probably makes the rate much faster than optimal and guarantees a collapse after new energy infrastructure is developed and the new energy production floods the market (again, a 1980's oil industry scenario) - give it 5 years. A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
Using this (simple) Model it is easy to see the effect on pricing of speculation is dependent, in some cases, independent in others. The magnitude of the effect is asymmetrical; always Complex and, under certain conditions, Chaotic.
I can't wait to see a "oil goes down" diary at the oil drum though...
I suppose that the decrease is due to the slowing of economy which is happening in US and UE now, but I'm wondering what TOD will say about it. Ignoring it is bad policy. A free fox in a free henhouse!
I don't see any evidence of trend reversal. Though I'm sure there's a chartist out there that believes a double peak like you can see towards the end of the series is a sign of trend reversal. A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
But a separate report, by Chief Surveillance Commissioner Sir Christopher Rose, criticises the techniques employed by local authorities to deal with minor offences such as fly-tipping or avoiding council tax. He said some councils had a "tendency to expose lack of understanding of the legislation" and displayed a "serious misunderstanding of the concept of proportionality". Some authorising officers were inexperienced and suffered "poor oversight", he added. He called on town halls to invest in properly trained intelligence officers who could operate covertly.
But a separate report, by Chief Surveillance Commissioner Sir Christopher Rose, criticises the techniques employed by local authorities to deal with minor offences such as fly-tipping or avoiding council tax.
He said some councils had a "tendency to expose lack of understanding of the legislation" and displayed a "serious misunderstanding of the concept of proportionality".
Some authorising officers were inexperienced and suffered "poor oversight", he added.
He called on town halls to invest in properly trained intelligence officers who could operate covertly.
