Time was, you couldn’t turn on a TV or open a magazine without seeing some do-gooder celebrity ranting about the Amazon rainforest. So why don’t we hear about it anymore? Did we save it? Er, no, says Brendan Borrell, but the issue is about to become fashionable again.
Brazil
Political economy: Rate hike didn’t go far enough
If a 3% interest rate is “imprudent:, 3.25% is hardly prudent. Why the Reserve bank did not hike by 50 points last month is difficult to fathom, writes Henry Thornton.
In tourism, even libel can be a world away
Libel tourism has been catapulted into the headlines after aviation writer Joe Sharkey was served a writ for defamatory statements he says he didn’t make in Brazil after surviving a mid-air collision in 2006.
Does hosting the Olympics pay off?
Olympic host cities are usually lucky to even break even on the net cost of hosting the Games. But there are some unmeasured financial boons for staging such “mega events”, as seen with the huge surge in Brazilian stock prices yesterday.
Brazil puts the heat on Honduras
The ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya has returned and is in hiding, while the coup continues and the world’s media misreports events. It’s no wonder free elections are impossible.
Honduras in crisis: riots and a smuggled President
In a move sure to grab the attention of world leaders at the UN summit, the deposed president of Honduras has made a dramatic return to his homeland after months in exile.
Click the vote: politics 2.0
Can an open source government work? An electorate in NSW has $300,000 and an online public vote system for choosing which local programs get funded. Want a new oval? Get voting.
Amazon: can’t see the forest for the cut trees
Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil is occurring at an astonishing rate, with four times more trees chopped down in June than in May.
Sugar not so sweet for Indian farmers
Once a major export good for India, farmers abandoned growing sugar due to government restrictions. Now, prices have soared but no one is growing it.
China’s ore tactics eroded from within
China’s attempts to try and crack the iron ore producers is being undermined by soaring world prices, says Glenn Dyer.
State of the planet
Carbon output rising faster than forecast, says study … Palaeontologists following in footsteps of giants … Caribbean urged to face warming risks … Giant snails, once a delicacy, overrun Brazil … Heroes of the environment
