Joomla! site syndication http://towerledger.com Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:23:13 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://towerledger.com/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://towerledger.com Joomla! site syndication http://towerledger.com/content/view/42/2/ Statement by Secretary Timothy F. Geithner to the Plenary Session of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Annual Meetings, Delivered by Acting Assistant Secretary Mark SobelOn behalf of Secretary Geithner and the U.S. delegation, thank you to the people of Istanbul and our host country Turkey. It is fitting that we meet today in this great country - a land at the crossroads of history and civilization.During the Great Depression, the global economy faced a crossroads, and it chose the path of unilateralism and inwardness. Over the last year, we faced the deepest challenge since then. Standing at another crossroads, the international community chose the path of unprecedented cooperation and multilateralism. We took decisive action to restore growth, boost employment, and repair financial systems. We mobilized nearly $1 trillion in support for emerging markets, helping to slow a serious capital drain.The United States is doing and will do its part. We supported U.S. and global growth through our stimulus plan, restored confidence in the U.S. financial system through our stability and regulatory reforms as well as our transparent stress tests, and helped stem the loss of confidence facing emerging markets through President Obama's successful call for rapidly mobilizing $500 billion through a renewed New Arrangements to Borrow at the IMF.We are now witnessing stabilization of the global economy and the beginnings of recovery. But we cannot be complacent. Conditions remain fragile. The international community must implement its critical agenda to sustain the recovery and help create jobs, to strengthen regulatory frameworks, and to begin preparing cooperative exit strategies. We also need to pursue additional trade liberalization, including an ambitious and balanced conclusion to the Doha Development Round.Together, we recognize that the world cannot return to a pattern of uneven growth, characterized by an excessive reliance on a single engine of consumption-led growth, while others relied heavily on external demand. First and foremost, the responsibility for tackling these problems rests with sovereign governments, including my own.But as we build a strong, sustained and balanced global economy, we must advance a forward-looking agenda so that the IMF and World Bank can enhance their legitimacy and update their missions to meet future challenges.For the IMF, this means that rigorous surveillance must help us shed light on trends that could lead to the next unsustainable boom. Under the new G-20 Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth, the IMF must provide forward-looking analysis of whether the world's major countries are implementing economic policies, including exchange rate policies, which are collectively consistent with G-20 objectives. The IMF will need to be a truth-teller.The World Bank will need to focus more on building resilience to crisis and foundations for prosperity. As the world emerges from crisis, the poorest will require strong and sustained support from the multilateral development banks. With concessional financing deploying more quickly, donors must commit to successful and timely replenishments of IDA and the African Development Fund. When considering the MDB capital requests, we must recognize the importance of maintaining the IBRD's financial soundness. As the centerpiece of the multilateral development system, the World Bank is best positioned to address challenges that require globally coordinated action. In particular, the Bank must more actively prioritize work on three emerging global priorities, agriculture and food security, support in the most fragile environments, and facilitating the transition to a green economy.For the IMF and World Bank to be effective in these tasks, their broad membership must consider them legitimate and representative. We are delighted that the international community is now committed to achieving a 5% shift in IMF quota share toward dynamic underrepresented countries by January 2011 and the call to shift at least 3% of the Bank's voting power to developing and transition countries and the recommitment to reach an agreement by the 2010 Spring Meetings.The past six months have plainly demonstrated the benefits of stronger Ministerial engagement in setting strategic policies and priorities at the international financial institutions. To sustain this, we must find a way to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of both the IMFC and the Development Committee. Furthermore, we need far more efficient and strategic Executive Boards, which better reflect the realities of the global economy.In closing, the international community has rarely shared such a sense of common purpose and urgency. All of our countries – developing, emerging, or advanced – want to avoid a repeat of the worst economic crisis in decades. So let us press forward on this path of multilateralism to offer greater hope and prosperity for people in every corner of the world.Stapleton's Tower Ledger News - Latest Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:15:18 +0100 http://towerledger.com/content/view/41/2/ Envirofit International and Colorado State University Receive International Design Award FORT COLLINS - The cookstove design and development teams at Envirofit International and the Engines and Energy Conversion Lab at Colorado State University have won a Bronze IDEA for Envirofit’s clean cookstove in the Ecodesign category in the 2009 International Design Excellence Awards. The Bronze International Design Excellence Award is shared with the industrial design groups Red Ingot LLC and Sector 7 Studios, LLC.The winners of the 2009 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) competition—a celebration of year’s most innovative and exciting product designs and one of the world’s most prestigious and recognizable design competitions—exhibit a focus on sustainability, functionality and, in some cases, breathtaking aesthetics. The Envirofit S-2100 clean cookstove is an example of a recent trend of the IDEA award and its sponsors, BusinessWeek, the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), Target and Autodesk, toward honoring products designed for underserved or underprivileged markets.The four co-founders of Envirofit all have ties to Colorado State University: Bryan Willson, director of the Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory and mechanical engineering professor; Paul Hudnut, professor in the College of Business; and Tim Bauer and Nathan Lorenz, now Envirofit’s Vice President of Operations and Vice President of Engineering, respectively, who used to be graduate students at the engines lab. Willson started the cookstoves program at the university. The Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory serves as a R D subcontractor to Envirofit which, with global partner the Shell Foundation, aims to design, build and disseminate millions of cookstoves to emerging markets in the coming years.Envirofit cookstoves are sold to consumers in India and other emerging markets to address the global health and environmental impacts of Indoor Air Pollution. Unlike most groups designing cookstoves for developing world markets, Envirofit and its partners develop stoves that not only dramatically reduce toxic emissions and biomass fuel use, but also take the stoves’ aesthetics and ergonomics into consideration.“Historically, emerging market consumers have not been viewed as a valued consumer group. But just because a family only makes a few dollars a day doesn’t mean they don’t want and deserve a beautiful, durable product they can be proud of,” said Ron Bills, Chairman and CEO of Envirofit International. “Envirofit and its partners are pleased that the international design community is recognizing the importance of creating high-quality, aesthetic products for emerging market consumers.” -Stapleton's Tower Ledger News - Latest Thu, 30 Jul 2009 08:50:13 +0100 http://towerledger.com/content/view/40/2/ The Fiat Yamaha Team arrives in the United States this week in stunning form with Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo lying first and second in the championship, separated by just five points. Rossi, who clinched his 100th career victory in Assen on Sunday, has three wins to his name so far and Lorenzo has two, while both riders have finished on the podium in six out of seven races this season to leave Fiat Yamaha leading the Teams' standings and Yamaha the Manufacturers'. The Italian and the Spaniard will make a short stopover in Los Angeles for a visit to Yamaha US on Wednesday before heading north to the coastal town of Monterey and the spectacular Laguna Seca track.Before last year Rossi had just one podium to his name at Laguna since MotoGP returned there in 2005, but he produced one of the performances of his career in 2008 to win an important victory, which went on to prove one of the key turning points of his season. A race-long battle with Casey Stoner threw up some nail-biting moments between the pair but the Italian prevailed to take his first win on American soil. After two wins on the bounce he is heading stateside in flying form and will be hoping to extend his championship lead this weekend with another great result. Thursday sees the now traditional Laguna Seca Superkart race and Rossi this year will make a few display laps in a Superkart before Yamaha legends Wayne Rainey, Eddie Lawson and Kenny Roberts Senior take centre stage for the real thing.Lorenzo was a Laguna Seca first-timer last year and a promising showing during practice came to nothing when he high-sided on the first lap. The 22-year-old went on to taste American success later in the season with a podium in Indianapolis and he is determined that he will get to grips with the tricky Laguna track this time around. The youngster has had a brilliant season to date and will undoubtedly be in the mix once again this weekend as he seeks to better his team-mate with a return to the top of the podium.Laguna Seca is an all-American track where the intense dry heat, unpredictable asphalt and anti-clockwise layout reward the loose and aggressive riding style of the US dirt-trackers. The track boasts some of the most dramatic elevation changes on the world championship circuit as well as fast, sweeping corners, the most notorious of which is the world-famous 'Corkscrew'. Machine set-up is relatively straightforward, with throttle connection a much more important factor than top-end power and a well balanced chassis the key to those elevation changes and diverse corners.Valentino Rossi - Back to normal! The wonderful memory of the 100th win is still fresh, but now we have just a few days to recover before the next race, which is hard for everyone. We have to try to relax as much as possible and recharge the batteries a little, because Laguna is always a tough weekend and often very hot. Last year I had a great battle with Stoner and for me it was for sure one of the turning points of the championship and a very important win; I have some good memories. I think this year it will be hard again because Lorenzo is in brilliant form and I am sure Stoner will also be back to his best. Laguna is a great place to race and an exciting track, I also have a little trip to Los Angeles and Yamaha US first which I am looking forward to. The championship is very open at this point so we need to keep focus, get back to normal after Assen and try to get another good result this weekend. Jorge Lorenzo - Looking forward to the challenge Last year Laguna wasn't good for me but I don't think about this. It's the only time I've been there but I don't see that as a problem - until 2008 I'd never won in Portugal before and I won my first race there in MotoGP, and then again this year I won in Motegi where I'd never won before, so I don't consider any track 'bad' for me - the past doesn't matter. We are feeling very strong after the last races and everyone is very motivated to continue in the same way so I am looking forward to the challenge and learning more about the track. I will do my best and hopefully that will mean we can run at the front again. Davide Brivio - Focus on the championship We still have great memories from Laguna Seca in 2008 and we're happy to be arriving there after two wins and leading the championship. It's a great place to race and the American fans are always brilliant so we hope we can give them another good show! Our package is working well everywhere now so hopefully the case will be the same again this weekend. Now that the 100 target has been reached we can focus on the next target - the championship! Now we race for that. Daniele Romagnoli - A consistent package After the last great race in Assen this is a very short break for everyone but we have to move straight on to the US for the next round! The high motivation in our team continues after another strong performance from Jorge and we are looking forward to having the chance for another good result. This year our package is much more consistent and we know that we can put up another good fight, despite Jorge's inexperience at Laguna. Everyone in the team enjoys going to Laguna - it's a great place - so we're looking forward to another exciting weekend. Valentino Rossi : Information Age: 30 Lives: Tavullia, Italy Bike: Yamaha GP victories: 100 (79 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 217 (157 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 53 (43 x MotoGP/500cc, 5 x 250cc, 5 x 125cc) World Championships: 8 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 5 x MotoGP)Jorge Lorenzo: Information Age: 22 Lives: Barcelona, Spain Bike: Yamaha GP victories: 24 (3 x MotoGP, 17 x 250cc, 4 x 125cc) First GP victory: Brazil, 2003 (125cc) First GP: Jerez, Spain, 2002 (125cc) GP starts: 118 (24 x MotoGP, 48 x 250cc, 46 x 125cc) Pole positions: 33 (7 x MotoGP, 23 x 250cc, 3 x 125cc) World Championships: 2 (250cc, 2006/7)Laguna Seca: Record Lap C. Stoner (Ducati) 2008, 1'21.488Laguna Seca: Best Lap C. Stoner (Ducati) 2008, 1'20.700Grand Prix Results: Laguna Seca 2008 1. V. Rossi (Yamaha) 44'04.311 2. C.Stoner (Ducati) +13.001 3. C.Vermeulen (Suzuki) +26.609. J. Lorenzo (Yamaha) NF Yamaha Racing Communications Hoogte Kadijk 61 HS / 1018 BE Amsterdam / The Netherlands T. +31 (0) 20 330 2709 / F. +31 (0) 20 420 9470 E. office@yrc.nl W. www.yamaha-racing.comStapleton's Tower Ledger News - Latest Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:06:32 +0100 http://towerledger.com/content/view/39/2/ Thursday, May 21, 200911 a.m. Gov. Ritter will sign Colorado’s version of “Katie’s Law,” SB 241, regarding the collection of DNA evidence. The bill is named in honor of 22-year-old New Mexico murder victim Katie Sepich. Katie’s mother will attend the signing ceremony. Location: West Foyer, State Capitol.# # #Stapleton's Tower Ledger News - Latest Thu, 21 May 2009 06:50:25 +0100 http://towerledger.com/content/view/38/2/ On Monday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates abruptly announced the removal of Gen. David McKiernan as commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, saying that fresh eyes were needed and that a new approach was probably in our best interest. McKiernan, who led U.S. ground forces during the 2003 Iraq invasion, took command of the NATO- led mission in Afghanistan in June and was scheduled to serve in the post for two years. But he will be replaced by Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a former commander of the Joint Special Operations Command. He served in Afghanistan as chief of staff of military operations in 2001 and 2002 and recently ran all commando operations in Iraq. Asked if the dismissal -- the first such removal of a top commander since President Truman fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War -- had ended McKiernan's military career, Gates replied, Probably. THE NEW COIN OF THE REALM: If you want a sign of how thoroughly Gen. David Petraeus is taking command of the Afghanistan war, wrote the Washington Independent's Spencer Ackerman, look no further than his replacement of McKiernan with McChrystal, who is known as one of the smartest and least conventional thinkers in the Army, and a counterinsurgent's counterinsurgent. McChrystal was the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) responsible for hunting al- Qaeda in Iraq, employing what he called 'collaborative warfare,' using every tool available simultaneously, from signal intercepts to human intelligence and other methods, that allowed lightning-quick and sometimes concurrent operations. According to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, beginning in the late spring of 2007, the U.S. military and intelligence agencies launched a series of top-secret operations that enabled them to locate, target and kill key insurgent, militia, and terrorist leaders Iraq. The operations incorporated some of the most highly classified techniques and information in the U.S. government. McChrystal was head of the team that killed Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.POSSIBLE QUESTIONS: McChrystal may face a few potential roadblocks at his confirmation hearing. Questions could arise over the death in 2004 of Army Ranger and former NFL star Pat Tillman. In April 2004, McChrystal approved paperwork awarding Tillman a Silver Star after he was reported killed by enemy fire, even though McChrystal suspected the Ranger had been killed accidentally by fellow American soldiers. An investigation cleared McChrystal of any official wrongdoing, but held him accountable for the inaccurate and misleading assertions regarding Tillman's death. McChrystal also oversaw a task force that was criticized in 2006 for abusing detainees and harsh interrogation methods at Baghdad's Camp Nama. But Andrew Exum, a fellow with the Center for a New American Security who served under McChrystal in Iraq and Afghanistan, told NPR that he didn't think that as savvy a political actor as Gates would have let [McChrystal's] nomination go forward if he thought either of these were going to be serious problems. OWNING THE AFGHANISTAN WAR: The retiring of McKiernan in such a public way is evidence of Obama's serious intention to right a war effort that is, by most accounts, going very poorly. According to a report from the Center for American Progress, the chronic and unacceptable neglect of the previous administration has led to a resurgent Taliban, a fierce insurgency, a weak Afghan government tainted by corruption and incompetence, a booming opium trade, and an increasingly disillusioned Afghan people. The Taliban, al Qaeda, and other insurgent groups are now stronger than at any time since the 9/11 attacks on the United States, operating out of neighboring Pakistan and Afghanistan and making key inroads in both countries. According to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, the President praised McKiernan's leadership, but said it was time for a change of direction in Afghanistan requiring a new military commander versed in counterinsurgency methods. Slate's Fred Kaplan wrote that McKiernan's ouster signals a dramatic shift in U.S. strategy for the war in Afghanistan. And it means that the war is now, unequivocally, 'Obama's war.' Stapleton's Tower Ledger News - Latest Thu, 14 May 2009 10:38:38 +0100