By Ben Moshinsky and Jim Brunsden18 November 2012 (Bloomberg) – The shadow banking industry has grown to about $67 trillion, $6 trillion bigger than previously thought, leading global regulators to seek more oversight of financial transactions that fall outside traditional oversight. The size of the shadow banking system, which includes the activities of money market […]
TOKYO, 3 November 2012 (AP) – Four members of a Japanese government team that sets atomic reactor safety standards received funding from utility companies or nuclear manufacturers, raising questions about their neutrality in the wake of last year’s tsunami-triggered disaster. The Nuclear Regulation Authority said Friday that Nagoya University Professor Akio Yamamoto received 27.14 million […]
25 October 2012 (mongabay.com) – Timber traders in Madagascar are smuggling illegally logged rosewood despite an official export ban, alleges a new report published by a Malagasy researcher. The report, authored by Hery Randriamalala and based on press clippings, cargo manifests, and eye-witness accounts, indicates that traders are covertly reducing rosewood stockpiles accumulated during a […]
By ERIC HANANOKI19 September 2012 (Media Matters) – The Wall Street Journal has published op-eds from 10 writers without disclosing their roles as advisers to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. The op-eds attack President Obama and his administration or discuss Romney on a range of topics like the economy, health care, education and foreign policy. According […]
By Naomi Gilens, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project 27 September 2012 Justice Department documents released today by the ACLU reveal that federal law enforcement agencies are increasingly monitoring Americans’ electronic communications, and doing so without warrants, sufficient oversight, or meaningful accountability. The documents, handed over by the government only after months of litigation, are […]
By Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent, www.guardian.co.uk24 October 2012 The images from the summer of 2010 were undoubtedly gruesome: the carcass of a young sperm whale, decayed and partially eaten by sharks, sighted at sea south of the Deepwater Horizon oil well. It was the first confirmed sighting of a dead whale since the BP […]
By Michael Mann22 October 2012 Today, the case of Dr. Michael E. Mann vs. The National Review and The Competitive Enterprise Institute was filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Dr. Mann, a Professor and Director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, has instituted this lawsuit against the […]
By Stephen Stromberg23 October 2012 In their last presidential debate Monday night, the two presidential candidates began with Libya and stayed in the Islamic world for almost the entire evening. They talked about “divorcing” Pakistan, arming Syrian rebels and rallying allies against Iran. In this exchange, Romney offered few serious counterproposals to Obama’s current policy, […]
By Jeremy Hance22 October 2012 (mongabay.com) – Hong Kong authorities have confiscated two massive shipments of elephant tusks, totaling 1,209 tusks, stemming from Kenya and Tanzania. Representing over 600 poached elephants, the shipments are estimated to be worth $3.4 million on the black market. African elephants are being decimated for their tusks in recent years […]
By the Editors 17 October 2012 Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have traded barbs over coal in both their debates, each accusing the other of failing to champion the fuel. It’s a shame that neither U.S. presidential candidate acknowledges the difficult economic reality coal now faces, or mentions that this form of power still produces […]
