In this January 2004 letter, CGD president Nancy Birdsall writes to IMF Managing Director Horst Köhler to applaud the work of the then-new Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) and to encourage his active endorsement of two of IEO recommendations for IMF management and staff.
May 2008 marked the one year anniversary of the Executive Mansion website, a major source of information from the Presidency both in Liberia and the rest of the world. The launch of the website has made it possible for the Office of the President to keep Liberians at home and abroad abreast of the President and Vice President's daily activities, domestic and international trips, policy objectives, successes and challenges.
In a landmark speech last week that deserved more attention than it received from the mainstream media, former U.S. vice president and Nobel Prize laureate Al Gore challenged the United States to produce 100% of its electricity from carbon-free renewable energy within 10 years. To help low-income and working families cope with the cost of the transition, Gore suggested cutting payroll taxes and making up the difference with CO2 taxes.
On 21 May 2008, Manchester United Football Club of England won the European Champions League trophy by beating fellow premiership rival Chelsea in a breathtaking penalty shoot-out after regular time ended in a 1-1 draw. That victory secured for United her third Champions League cup, having won her second in 1999.
Last week representatives of 40 countries meeting in Potsdam, Germany endorsed the World Bank's proposal for a multi-billion-dollar Clean Technology Fund (CTF) to help developing countries meet their surging energy needs without accelerating climate change.
Senators Lugar and Bayh are again on the anticorruption warpath. Yesterday they issued a press release calling for "a Government Accounting Office (GAO) probe of the World Bank's anticorruption efforts." They want to make sure that the U.S.'s $950 million contribution to the International Development Association is not being "misspent and enriching corrupt foreign regimes." Certainly sounds reasonable, but is this really the right focus for a review of World Bank operations?
In honor of World Malaria Day tomorrow, AEI research fellow Roger Bate has issued a new policy brief and related magazine feature decrying the state of global demand forecasting for artemisinin-based cominbation therapies (ACTs):
Yes, it's true, I'd like to be able to vacation in Vegas. But that doesn't seem like a good blog entry for CGD, so I thought I'd write about something else instead. Though if anyone's looking for a blackjack buddy and has the scratch for the short hop from Monrovia, give a shout ;-)
A few days ago, I was in one of Monrovia's nicer hotels, using the wireless internet to get some work done (by which I mean checking out all my buddies' facebook updates and reading stories on the NCAA tournament. I'm putting my Liberty on Izzo's boys as the sleeper pick).
