CRS – Statement of Charles V. Stern, Specialist in Natural Resources Policy, Before Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, U.S. Senate Hearing on “Short-and Long-Term Solutions to Extreme Drought in the Western United States” June 14, 2022: “Chairman Manchin, Ranking Member Barrasso, and Members of the committee, thank you for inviting the Congressional Research Service… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Economy
Firefox rolls out Total Cookie Protection by default to all users worldwide
Mozilla Blog, June 14, 2022 – “Take back your privacy. Starting today, Firefox is rolling out Total Cookie Protection by default to all Firefox users worldwide, making Firefox the most private and secure major browser available across Windows, Mac and Linux. Total Cookie Protection is Firefox’s strongest privacy protection to date, confining cookies to the… Continue Reading
CRS – How Treasury Issues Debt
How Treasury Issues Debt, Updated June 14, 2022 [21 pages]: “The U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury), among other roles, manages the country’s debt. The primary objective of Treasury’s debt management strategy is to finance the government’s borrowing needs at the lowest cost over time. To accomplish this Treasury adheres to three principles: (1) to… Continue Reading
Net Zero Stocktake 2022
“Assessing the status and trends of net zero target setting across countries, sub-national governments and companies. Net zero is the dominant lens through which countries, states and regions, cities and companies approach decarbonisation. With global coverage of net zero nearly universal at the national level now, the big question is whether a sufficient proportion of… Continue Reading
Why the return to the office isn’t working
Recode: “…The reasons the return to the office isn’t working out are numerous. Bosses and employees have different understandings of what the office is for, and after more than two years of working remotely, everyone has developed their own varied expectations about how best to spend their time. As more and more knowledge workers return… Continue Reading
How to buy a used car online
engadget: “…For used cars up to ten years old, the average price in March stood at $33,653, 40 percent higher than the year before. Newer used cars, those 1 to 3 years old, the average price was $41,000, up 37 percent year-over-year. “With nearly empty new car lots across the country, dealers have been holding… Continue Reading
How Fashion Giants Recast Plastic as Good for the Planet
The New York Times: “An influential system overseen by retailers and clothing makers ranks petroleum-based synthetics like “vegan leather” as more environmentally sound than natural fibers. It’s soft. It’s vegan. It looks just like leather. It’s also made from fossil fuels. An explosion in the use of inexpensive, petroleum-based materials has transformed the fashion industry,… Continue Reading
Stablecoins: Legal Issues and Regulatory Options
CRS Legal Sidebar – Stablecoins: Legal Issues and Regulatory Options, Part 1 – June 9, 2022 -“…stablecoins—cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged to a reference asset like the U.S. dollar.While stablecoin issuers attempt to maintain these pegs in different ways, most of the regulatory attention has focused on coins that are putatively backed with reserves of… Continue Reading
The State of the World’s Forests 2022
FAO. 2022. The State of the World’s Forests 2022. Forest pathways for green recovery and building inclusive, resilient and sustainable economies. Rome, FAO. “There will be no healthy economy on an unhealthy planet. Environmental deterioration is contributing to climate change, biodiversity loss and the emergence of new diseases. Forests and trees can play crucial roles… Continue Reading
The BfR World Food Safety Almanac
The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR): “On the occasion of the World Food Safety Day, the BfR puts the new edition of the handbook on the web. “Safer food, better health” – this is the motto of the fourth World Food Safety Day on 7 June 2022. Fittingly, the World Food Safety Almanac… Continue Reading
DOJ Reports calls for more international cooperation, coordination on crypto law enforcement
The Block: “A new report from the Department of Justice proposes more international cooperation among law enforcement agencies on the crypto and blockchain front. Information sharing and the harmonization of anti-money laundering and know-your-customer rules were also proposed in the DOJ report, which was developed in conjunction with other US agencies in the wake of… Continue Reading
The war in Ukraine is fuelling a global food crisis
Reuters: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February dramatically worsened the outlook for already inflated global food prices. The halt in Ukrainian exports following the outbreak of the conflict pushed the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) food price index, which tracks international prices of the most globally traded food commodities, to its highest point in… Continue Reading
