Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital is renowned for face transplants, but it can do miracles with hands, too: A 65-year-old who lost his lower arms to a blood infection got a new set in a successful double-transplant, reports the Boston Globe . “It’s just like you can fly,” says patient Richard…
Continue reading …The German website Carpooling.com , a smash hit across Europe with millions of users, is readying a launch in the US, reports Fast Company . The web service connects passengers seeking transportation with drivers seeking to save cash who then negotiate a price for a ride. The site has rapidly expanded…
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Chancellor backs move to boost the IMF’s bailout fund, provided a deal to stabilise the eurozone can be reached British taxpayers may have to find more cash to prop up the ailing euro after George Osborne backed a move to increase the size of the global bailout fund to rescue indebted European countries. The chancellor, speaking at the G20 summit in Paris, said he was willing to consider a plan to increase the International Monetary Fund’s firepower, provided a rescue deal had been agreed that would bring the two-year sovereign debt crisis to an end. Pumping more money into the Washington-based lender was “no substitute”, he said, for European leaders hammering out the package of financial measures required to restore stability in the eurozone. Osborne’s qualified support for the creation of a larger global safety net could see the UK commit further loans to the IMF, though officials said a comprehensive rescue deal would make extra demands unlikely. His remarks were designed to support moves by G20 finance ministers to arrive at a definitive solution to the crisis while appeasing rightwing Tory MPs who have voiced concerns about extending further loans to the eurozone. His comments came as European leaders continued to wrangle over the size and shape of the fund required to bail out Greece and prevent Italy and Spain from collapse. The make-or-break moment could come at a summit of EU leaders next Sunday (23 October) when Germany and France have promised to set out a plan that would stop the debt crisis spreading to other countries, protect Europe’s embattled banks and prevent the global economy from tipping back into recession. German chancellor Angela Merkel has refused to be drawn on whether the package will amount to the “big bazooka” demanded by financial markets. Last week she played down speculation that the €440bn European financial stability facility (EFSF) agreed by all eurozone countries would be expanded to nearer €2 trillion. The EFSF has the resources to cope with bailouts for Greece, Portugal and Ireland, but unless enlarged would be overwhelmed by the need to rescue a bigger economy such as Italy or Spain. Osborne said the Paris talks had made clear the urgency with which eurozone leaders needed to agree measures to shore up their banks, bolster the EFSF, and develop a sustainable solution for Greece – code for allowing Athens to default on at least half of its loans. “[The crisis] remains the epicentre of the world’s current economic problems,” he said. “The European council is clearly the moment when people are expecting something quite impressive.” It is understood detailed discussions over the focus of the EFSF and how to expand its remit are likely to continue up until the Cannes summit of world leaders in November. Several eurozone countries are wary of expanding the fund, fearful that it will provide a green light to Italy and Spain to relax their debt repayment plans. Holland, Finland and Austria are allied with Germany in calling for private investors, including large European banks and US investment funds, to take bigger losses on their loans to Greece as part of an overall rescue package. Investors have so far rejected plans to increase an agreed loss of 21% to nearer 40%, saying Greece remains on track to cut its debts and ease the burden on its main creditor, the European Central Bank. Concern that 20 or 30 European banks would be forced to seek extra capital, probably from taxpayers, has alarmed Brussels, increasing the urgency to find a way to protect sovereign debts without wrecking bank balance sheets. The G20 delayed a decision on boosting the IMF’s current bailout fund, which could be doubled in size, though the IMF’s dominant shareholders, including the US, Japan, Germany and China, are content with its £270bn of resources. US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner said that, like the UK, Canada and Australia, the US was open to discussions about a larger IMF fund, but that most of its resources remained available. “They [the IMF] have very substantial resources that are uncommitted,” he said. European debt crisis Euro George Osborne IMF European banks Global economy Economics Economic policy Phillip Inman guardian.co.uk
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Labour and Lib Dem politicians have stepped up demands for the PM to explain ministers’ involvement with Atlantic Bridge David Cameron has been accused of allowing a secret rightwing agenda to flourish at the heart of the Conservative party, as fallout from the resignation of Liam Fox exposed its close links with a US network of lobbyists, climate change deniers and defence hawks. In a sign that Fox’s decision to fall on his sword will not mark the end of the furore engulfing the Tories, both Liberal Democrat and Labour politicians stepped up their demands for the prime minister to explain why several senior members of his cabinet were involved in an Anglo-American organisation apparently at odds with his party’s environmental commitments and pledge to defend free healthcare. At the heart of the complex web linking Fox and his friend Adam Werritty to a raft of businessmen, lobbyists and US neocons is the former defence secretary’s defunct charity, Atlantic Bridge, which was set up with the purported aim of “strengthening the special relationship” but is now mired in controversy. An Observer investigation reveals that many of those who sat on the Anglo-American charity’s board and its executive council, or were employed on its staff, were lobbyists or lawyers with connections to the defence industry and energy interests. Others included powerful businessmen with defence investments and representatives of the gambling industry. Fox’s organisation, which was wound up last year following a critical Charity Commission report into its activities, formed a partnership with an organisation called the American Legislative Exchange Council. The powerful lobbying organisation, which receives funding from pharmaceutical, weapons and oil interests among others, is heavily funded by the Koch Charitable Foundation whose founder, Charles G Koch, is one of the most generous donors to the Tea Party movement in the US. In recent years, the Tea Party has become a potent populist force in American politics, associated with controversial stances on global warming. Via a series of foundations, Koch and his brother, David, have also given millions of dollars to global warming sceptics, according to Greenpeace. Labour said it wanted to know how, in 2006, when David Cameron travelled to Norway for his famous photo opportunity with huskies to promote his new-look party’s “green” policies, his senior colleagues were cosying up to US groups that were profoundly sceptical about global warming. Writing in the Observer , the shadow defence secretary, Jim Murphy, said the Tories still had many questions to answer and claimed that “while David Cameron’s compassionate conservatism has been undermined by his actions at home, it could be further damaged by connections overseas”. Murphy writes: “With each passing day there have been fresh allegations of money and influence and it appears that much of the source was the Atlantic Bridge network and its US rightwing connections. We need to know just how far and how deep the links into US politics go. This crisis has discovered traces of a stealth neocon agenda. For many on the right, Atlanticism has become synonymous with a self-defeating, virulent Euroscepticism that is bad for Britain.” Fox resigned on Friday after admitting that he had allowed his friendship with Werritty, a lobbyist who portrayed himself as an adviser to the defence secretary, to blur his professional and personal interests. His resignation followed a drip-feed of revelations about the links between Werritty and businessmen and organisations with defence interests. The revelations over Atlantic Bridge have triggered questions about the role played by Fox, chair of the charity’s advisory council, and that of four of its UK members: William Hague, George Osborne, Chris Grayling and Michael Gove. As a UK charity, the organisation enjoyed tax breaks but had to comply with strict rules prohibiting it from promoting business interests. The charity’s political agenda, which it articulated in conferences devoted to issues such as liberalising the health sector and deregulating the energy markets, chimes with the thinking of many on the right of the Conservative party whom Cameron has been keen to check as he holds the Tories to the centre ground of British politics. Lib Dem peer Lord Oakeshot said: “Dr Fox is a spider at the centre of a tangled neocon web. A dubious pattern is emerging of donations through front companies. We need to establish whether the British taxpayer was subsidising Fox and his frontbench colleagues. What steps did they take to ensure Atlantic Bridge didn’t abuse its charitable status?” Werritty, the group’s UK director, was funded by a raft of powerful businessmen including Michael Hintze, one of the Tories biggest financial backers whose hedge fund, CQS, has investments in companies that have contracts with the Ministry of Defence; Poju Zabludowicz, chairman of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre, who chairs a US munitions company; and the Good Governance Group, a private security firm set up by a South African businessman, Andries Pienaar, who also has an investment firm, C5 Capital, focused on the defence sector. The potentially explosive mix of big business interests and politicians that triggered Fox’s demise is the subject of an investigation by the cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell. Murphy said it was essential that the government then referred the wider issues to Sir Philip Mawer, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests. “He should look at the issues in their entirety to establish precisely how this never happens again,” Murphy said. Questions are being asked over the role played by an organisation called the Sri Lankan Development Trust, whose headquarters were listed at the Good Governance Group. The trust paid for three of Fox’s trips to Sri Lanka. In a statement the group said: “Our involvement with the Sri Lankan Development Trust was not done for profit or at the behest of any clients.” Arriving at the Ministry of Defence to take up his new role in charge of the department, Philip Hammond, the new defence secretary, said Fox had “done a great
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Labour and Lib Dem politicians have stepped up demands for the PM to explain ministers’ involvement with Atlantic Bridge David Cameron has been accused of allowing a secret rightwing agenda to flourish at the heart of the Conservative party, as fallout from the resignation of Liam Fox exposed its close links with a US network of lobbyists, climate change deniers and defence hawks. In a sign that Fox’s decision to fall on his sword will not mark the end of the furore engulfing the Tories, both Liberal Democrat and Labour politicians stepped up their demands for the prime minister to explain why several senior members of his cabinet were involved in an Anglo-American organisation apparently at odds with his party’s environmental commitments and pledge to defend free healthcare. At the heart of the complex web linking Fox and his friend Adam Werritty to a raft of businessmen, lobbyists and US neocons is the former defence secretary’s defunct charity, Atlantic Bridge, which was set up with the purported aim of “strengthening the special relationship” but is now mired in controversy. An Observer investigation reveals that many of those who sat on the Anglo-American charity’s board and its executive council, or were employed on its staff, were lobbyists or lawyers with connections to the defence industry and energy interests. Others included powerful businessmen with defence investments and representatives of the gambling industry. Fox’s organisation, which was wound up last year following a critical Charity Commission report into its activities, formed a partnership with an organisation called the American Legislative Exchange Council. The powerful lobbying organisation, which receives funding from pharmaceutical, weapons and oil interests among others, is heavily funded by the Koch Charitable Foundation whose founder, Charles G Koch, is one of the most generous donors to the Tea Party movement in the US. In recent years, the Tea Party has become a potent populist force in American politics, associated with controversial stances on global warming. Via a series of foundations, Koch and his brother, David, have also given millions of dollars to global warming sceptics, according to Greenpeace. Labour said it wanted to know how, in 2006, when David Cameron travelled to Norway for his famous photo opportunity with huskies to promote his new-look party’s “green” policies, his senior colleagues were cosying up to US groups that were profoundly sceptical about global warming. Writing in the Observer , the shadow defence secretary, Jim Murphy, said the Tories still had many questions to answer and claimed that “while David Cameron’s compassionate conservatism has been undermined by his actions at home, it could be further damaged by connections overseas”. Murphy writes: “With each passing day there have been fresh allegations of money and influence and it appears that much of the source was the Atlantic Bridge network and its US rightwing connections. We need to know just how far and how deep the links into US politics go. This crisis has discovered traces of a stealth neocon agenda. For many on the right, Atlanticism has become synonymous with a self-defeating, virulent Euroscepticism that is bad for Britain.” Fox resigned on Friday after admitting that he had allowed his friendship with Werritty, a lobbyist who portrayed himself as an adviser to the defence secretary, to blur his professional and personal interests. His resignation followed a drip-feed of revelations about the links between Werritty and businessmen and organisations with defence interests. The revelations over Atlantic Bridge have triggered questions about the role played by Fox, chair of the charity’s advisory council, and that of four of its UK members: William Hague, George Osborne, Chris Grayling and Michael Gove. As a UK charity, the organisation enjoyed tax breaks but had to comply with strict rules prohibiting it from promoting business interests. The charity’s political agenda, which it articulated in conferences devoted to issues such as liberalising the health sector and deregulating the energy markets, chimes with the thinking of many on the right of the Conservative party whom Cameron has been keen to check as he holds the Tories to the centre ground of British politics. Lib Dem peer Lord Oakeshot said: “Dr Fox is a spider at the centre of a tangled neocon web. A dubious pattern is emerging of donations through front companies. We need to establish whether the British taxpayer was subsidising Fox and his frontbench colleagues. What steps did they take to ensure Atlantic Bridge didn’t abuse its charitable status?” Werritty, the group’s UK director, was funded by a raft of powerful businessmen including Michael Hintze, one of the Tories biggest financial backers whose hedge fund, CQS, has investments in companies that have contracts with the Ministry of Defence; Poju Zabludowicz, chairman of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre, who chairs a US munitions company; and the Good Governance Group, a private security firm set up by a South African businessman, Andries Pienaar, who also has an investment firm, C5 Capital, focused on the defence sector. The potentially explosive mix of big business interests and politicians that triggered Fox’s demise is the subject of an investigation by the cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell. Murphy said it was essential that the government then referred the wider issues to Sir Philip Mawer, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests. “He should look at the issues in their entirety to establish precisely how this never happens again,” Murphy said. Questions are being asked over the role played by an organisation called the Sri Lankan Development Trust, whose headquarters were listed at the Good Governance Group. The trust paid for three of Fox’s trips to Sri Lanka. In a statement the group said: “Our involvement with the Sri Lankan Development Trust was not done for profit or at the behest of any clients.” Arriving at the Ministry of Defence to take up his new role in charge of the department, Philip Hammond, the new defence secretary, said Fox had “done a great
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Labour and Lib Dem politicians have stepped up demands for the PM to explain ministers’ involvement with Atlantic Bridge David Cameron has been accused of allowing a secret rightwing agenda to flourish at the heart of the Conservative party, as fallout from the resignation of Liam Fox exposed its close links with a US network of lobbyists, climate change deniers and defence hawks. In a sign that Fox’s decision to fall on his sword will not mark the end of the furore engulfing the Tories, both Liberal Democrat and Labour politicians stepped up their demands for the prime minister to explain why several senior members of his cabinet were involved in an Anglo-American organisation apparently at odds with his party’s environmental commitments and pledge to defend free healthcare. At the heart of the complex web linking Fox and his friend Adam Werritty to a raft of businessmen, lobbyists and US neocons is the former defence secretary’s defunct charity, Atlantic Bridge, which was set up with the purported aim of “strengthening the special relationship” but is now mired in controversy. An Observer investigation reveals that many of those who sat on the Anglo-American charity’s board and its executive council, or were employed on its staff, were lobbyists or lawyers with connections to the defence industry and energy interests. Others included powerful businessmen with defence investments and representatives of the gambling industry. Fox’s organisation, which was wound up last year following a critical Charity Commission report into its activities, formed a partnership with an organisation called the American Legislative Exchange Council. The powerful lobbying organisation, which receives funding from pharmaceutical, weapons and oil interests among others, is heavily funded by the Koch Charitable Foundation whose founder, Charles G Koch, is one of the most generous donors to the Tea Party movement in the US. In recent years, the Tea Party has become a potent populist force in American politics, associated with controversial stances on global warming. Via a series of foundations, Koch and his brother, David, have also given millions of dollars to global warming sceptics, according to Greenpeace. Labour said it wanted to know how, in 2006, when David Cameron travelled to Norway for his famous photo opportunity with huskies to promote his new-look party’s “green” policies, his senior colleagues were cosying up to US groups that were profoundly sceptical about global warming. Writing in the Observer , the shadow defence secretary, Jim Murphy, said the Tories still had many questions to answer and claimed that “while David Cameron’s compassionate conservatism has been undermined by his actions at home, it could be further damaged by connections overseas”. Murphy writes: “With each passing day there have been fresh allegations of money and influence and it appears that much of the source was the Atlantic Bridge network and its US rightwing connections. We need to know just how far and how deep the links into US politics go. This crisis has discovered traces of a stealth neocon agenda. For many on the right, Atlanticism has become synonymous with a self-defeating, virulent Euroscepticism that is bad for Britain.” Fox resigned on Friday after admitting that he had allowed his friendship with Werritty, a lobbyist who portrayed himself as an adviser to the defence secretary, to blur his professional and personal interests. His resignation followed a drip-feed of revelations about the links between Werritty and businessmen and organisations with defence interests. The revelations over Atlantic Bridge have triggered questions about the role played by Fox, chair of the charity’s advisory council, and that of four of its UK members: William Hague, George Osborne, Chris Grayling and Michael Gove. As a UK charity, the organisation enjoyed tax breaks but had to comply with strict rules prohibiting it from promoting business interests. The charity’s political agenda, which it articulated in conferences devoted to issues such as liberalising the health sector and deregulating the energy markets, chimes with the thinking of many on the right of the Conservative party whom Cameron has been keen to check as he holds the Tories to the centre ground of British politics. Lib Dem peer Lord Oakeshot said: “Dr Fox is a spider at the centre of a tangled neocon web. A dubious pattern is emerging of donations through front companies. We need to establish whether the British taxpayer was subsidising Fox and his frontbench colleagues. What steps did they take to ensure Atlantic Bridge didn’t abuse its charitable status?” Werritty, the group’s UK director, was funded by a raft of powerful businessmen including Michael Hintze, one of the Tories biggest financial backers whose hedge fund, CQS, has investments in companies that have contracts with the Ministry of Defence; Poju Zabludowicz, chairman of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre, who chairs a US munitions company; and the Good Governance Group, a private security firm set up by a South African businessman, Andries Pienaar, who also has an investment firm, C5 Capital, focused on the defence sector. The potentially explosive mix of big business interests and politicians that triggered Fox’s demise is the subject of an investigation by the cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell. Murphy said it was essential that the government then referred the wider issues to Sir Philip Mawer, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests. “He should look at the issues in their entirety to establish precisely how this never happens again,” Murphy said. Questions are being asked over the role played by an organisation called the Sri Lankan Development Trust, whose headquarters were listed at the Good Governance Group. The trust paid for three of Fox’s trips to Sri Lanka. In a statement the group said: “Our involvement with the Sri Lankan Development Trust was not done for profit or at the behest of any clients.” Arriving at the Ministry of Defence to take up his new role in charge of the department, Philip Hammond, the new defence secretary, said Fox had “done a great
Continue reading …Labour and Lib Dem politicians have stepped up demands for the PM to explain ministers’ involvement with Atlantic Bridge David Cameron has been accused of allowing a secret rightwing agenda to flourish at the heart of the Conservative party, as fallout from the resignation of Liam Fox exposed its close links with a US network of lobbyists, climate change deniers and defence hawks. In a sign that Fox’s decision to fall on his sword will not mark the end of the furore engulfing the Tories, both Liberal Democrat and Labour politicians stepped up their demands for the prime minister to explain why several senior members of his cabinet were involved in an Anglo-American organisation apparently at odds with his party’s environmental commitments and pledge to defend free healthcare. At the heart of the complex web linking Fox and his friend Adam Werritty to a raft of businessmen, lobbyists and US neocons is the former defence secretary’s defunct charity, Atlantic Bridge, which was set up with the purported aim of “strengthening the special relationship” but is now mired in controversy. An Observer investigation reveals that many of those who sat on the Anglo-American charity’s board and its executive council, or were employed on its staff, were lobbyists or lawyers with connections to the defence industry and energy interests. Others included powerful businessmen with defence investments and representatives of the gambling industry. Fox’s organisation, which was wound up last year following a critical Charity Commission report into its activities, formed a partnership with an organisation called the American Legislative Exchange Council. The powerful lobbying organisation, which receives funding from pharmaceutical, weapons and oil interests among others, is heavily funded by the Koch Charitable Foundation whose founder, Charles G Koch, is one of the most generous donors to the Tea Party movement in the US. In recent years, the Tea Party has become a potent populist force in American politics, associated with controversial stances on global warming. Via a series of foundations, Koch and his brother, David, have also given millions of dollars to global warming sceptics, according to Greenpeace. Labour said it wanted to know how, in 2006, when David Cameron travelled to Norway for his famous photo opportunity with huskies to promote his new-look party’s “green” policies, his senior colleagues were cosying up to US groups that were profoundly sceptical about global warming. Writing in the Observer , the shadow defence secretary, Jim Murphy, said the Tories still had many questions to answer and claimed that “while David Cameron’s compassionate conservatism has been undermined by his actions at home, it could be further damaged by connections overseas”. Murphy writes: “With each passing day there have been fresh allegations of money and influence and it appears that much of the source was the Atlantic Bridge network and its US rightwing connections. We need to know just how far and how deep the links into US politics go. This crisis has discovered traces of a stealth neocon agenda. For many on the right, Atlanticism has become synonymous with a self-defeating, virulent Euroscepticism that is bad for Britain.” Fox resigned on Friday after admitting that he had allowed his friendship with Werritty, a lobbyist who portrayed himself as an adviser to the defence secretary, to blur his professional and personal interests. His resignation followed a drip-feed of revelations about the links between Werritty and businessmen and organisations with defence interests. The revelations over Atlantic Bridge have triggered questions about the role played by Fox, chair of the charity’s advisory council, and that of four of its UK members: William Hague, George Osborne, Chris Grayling and Michael Gove. As a UK charity, the organisation enjoyed tax breaks but had to comply with strict rules prohibiting it from promoting business interests. The charity’s political agenda, which it articulated in conferences devoted to issues such as liberalising the health sector and deregulating the energy markets, chimes with the thinking of many on the right of the Conservative party whom Cameron has been keen to check as he holds the Tories to the centre ground of British politics. Lib Dem peer Lord Oakeshot said: “Dr Fox is a spider at the centre of a tangled neocon web. A dubious pattern is emerging of donations through front companies. We need to establish whether the British taxpayer was subsidising Fox and his frontbench colleagues. What steps did they take to ensure Atlantic Bridge didn’t abuse its charitable status?” Werritty, the group’s UK director, was funded by a raft of powerful businessmen including Michael Hintze, one of the Tories biggest financial backers whose hedge fund, CQS, has investments in companies that have contracts with the Ministry of Defence; Poju Zabludowicz, chairman of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre, who chairs a US munitions company; and the Good Governance Group, a private security firm set up by a South African businessman, Andries Pienaar, who also has an investment firm, C5 Capital, focused on the defence sector. The potentially explosive mix of big business interests and politicians that triggered Fox’s demise is the subject of an investigation by the cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell. Murphy said it was essential that the government then referred the wider issues to Sir Philip Mawer, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests. “He should look at the issues in their entirety to establish precisely how this never happens again,” Murphy said. Questions are being asked over the role played by an organisation called the Sri Lankan Development Trust, whose headquarters were listed at the Good Governance Group. The trust paid for three of Fox’s trips to Sri Lanka. In a statement the group said: “Our involvement with the Sri Lankan Development Trust was not done for profit or at the behest of any clients.” Arriving at the Ministry of Defence to take up his new role in charge of the department, Philip Hammond, the new defence secretary, said Fox had “done a great
Continue reading …With Occupy Wall Street building momentum across the US and even the world , the White House has decided to make that anger a central line of attack against Mitt Romney and the Republicans in the 2012 election, reports the Washington Post . “One of the main elements of the contrast will…
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