May
30
2013
Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus will take a new job with investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. as he attempts to rebuild his reputation after an extramarital affair with a biographer triggered his resignation as CIA director last fall.
Petraeus, 60, will serve as chairman of the New York firm’s newly created KKR Global Institute. He was CIA director from September 2011 until last November. Before that, Petraeus served more than 37 years in …
Read more
May
30
2013
What led an FBI agent, or some other law enforcement official, to shoot and kill an unarmed man in Orlando, Florida? The man, Ibragim Todashev, was being questioned about the Boston bombing, as well as an unsolved 2011 triple murder that he may or may not have confessed to committing. Does that sound sketchy? Don’t blame me. Once he died, law enforcement started releasing anonymous, conflicting explanations so dubious that they warrant an inquiry all …
Read more
May
30
2013
Beginning at 10:30 PM Pacific Time Wednesday, workers at dozens of Seattle fast food locations began striking, launching the nation’s seventh work stoppage by fast food employees in eight weeks. Organizers expect workers from chains including McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Subway, Arby’s, Chipotle, Qdoba and Jack in the Box to participate in the walkout, which will last roughly twenty-four hours.
“I’m sick of seeing my co-workers and me essentially get pushed and pushed and barely …
Read more
May
29
2013
(Reuters) – Kenya’s power grid failed on Tuesday, plunging east Africa’s biggest economy into a nationwide power blackout, sole power distributor Kenya Power said.
Kenya Power supplies 1,250 megawatts of power to over 2 million customers connected on the national grid, against a demand of 1,700 megawatts, with most of the fuel generated from hydro power stations run by KenGen.
The company said two transmission lines failed carrying 400 megawatts (MW) of electricity from a …
Read more
May
29
2013
WASHINGTON — The Agriculture Department said Wednesday that a non-approved strain of genetically engineered wheat has been discovered in an Oregon field, a potential threat to trade with other countries that have concerns about genetically modified foods.
Dr. Michael Firko of the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said a farmer discovered the genetically modified plants on his farm and contacted Oregon State University, which notified USDA early this month.
There is no genetically engineered wheat …
Read more
May
29
2013
At this point everyone who follows economic policy debates knows about the famous Reinhart-Rogoff spreadsheet error uncovered by a University of Massachusetts graduate student. When the error is corrected, there is nothing resembling the growth falloff cliff associated with a 90 percent debt-to-GDP ratio that had been the main takeaway from the initial paper.
There has been an interesting response from the mainstream of the profession. On the one hand, they have been quick to rebuke …
Read more
May
29
2013
Genetically modified (GM) salmon could have a catastrophic impact on natural ecosystems if they are introduced into the wild, a team of scientists warned this week.
The study, published Tuesday and conducted by scientists from Newfoundland’s Memorial University, shows for the first time that GM salmon would quickly become an invasive species if they bred with similar species such as the brown trout—a likely crossbreed that would wreak havoc for other fish.
The fish, which are genetically …
Read more
May
29
2013
oldman Sachs and UBS will lead a syndicate of banks collecting about £30m from the £3bn privatisation of Royal Mail.
The government announced that it had selected Goldman Sachs, which has been accused of treating its clients like “muppets”, and UBS, which was fined £940m for its role in the Libor rate rigging scandal, as global co-ordinators and bookrunners of the largest privatisation in two decades.
As the lead banks advising on Royal Mail’s sale the pair …
Read more
May
29
2013
For the third time this year, anti-Muslim rioting has broken out in Myanmar, this time in the northeastern city of Lashio. Sparked by an argument at a gas station, mobs of radical Buddhists on Tuesday burned down several buildings belonging to Muslims, including an orphanage and a mosque.
This is the third consecutive month to see violence against Muslims in the Southeast Asian nation, and if that wasn’t cause enough for concern, anti-Muslim sentiment seems to …
Read more
May
29
2013
Follow this if you can: Wood from U.S. trees is being shipped over to the U.K., where coal power plants burn it, producing more greenhouse gas emissions than when those same plants generate an equivalent amount of electricity by burning coal.
The weirdest part? This doubly destructive practice is being subsidized in the U.K. to help the country meet its renewable energy targets. WTF?
The BBC explains that when pine trees are grown in America, the best …
Read more
