Wednesday-Night

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Starting this Wednesday Night on a different note (!), our very special diva, Susanna Eyton-Jones, and Shem Guibbory will give a brief performance as a warm-up to their in-studio recording the following week. They will present a 13-minute chamber piece for violin and soprano entitled ‘Iglesia Abandonado’, by […]

Trucks are loaded with sugar cane, which will be used to produce biofuels, in Brazil. Photograph: Paulo Whitaker/Reuters
More on Biofuels
July 28
Biofuels Down, Energy Saving Up in EU Climate Plan
(Reuters/Planet Ark) BRUSSELS - Biofuels are down and energy efficiency measures are up as the European Union’s ambitious plan to fight climate change works its way towards […]

July 22
Brazilian ethanol plants to get $260m loan
The Inter-American Development Bank, Latin America’s biggest development institution, is prepared to defy growing environmental concern about biofuels by lending money to a $1bn-plus Brazilian ethanol project.
July 16
Shell boosts second generation biofuels
Royal Dutch Shell is stepping up investment in research into “second generation” biofuels, putting more money into […]

See also World Hunger , Zimbabwe
(Xinhua) Backgrounder: Key facts about G8 summit
A world of troubles to tackle
(The Economist) The G8 leaders, meeting in Japan, have many challenges but few tools
Pricey oil, the food crisis and the credit crunch: the new challenges either have their roots beyond the G8, or have quickly raced across […]

Photos and more on Wednesday-night.com
It was a brilliant evening in every respect - and there was not even mention of the G8 meeting. There is no way that a summary can reproduce the articulation and clarity of analysis of the two distinguished guests, nor the many excellent interventions from the other informed and focused participants. […]

Chil Heward is bringing Robin Griffiths as his guest.
Robin joined Phillips & Drew in 1966, having taken a degree in Economics at Nottingham University. He went on to be a partner at WI Carr, the first British stock broker to have offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo. Part of this firm […]

See also Global Monitoring Report 2008
More on Wednesday-night.com
Sub-Saharan Africa is a highly complex Region of 47 countries with 7 distinctly different colonial histories. It is also highly diverse, with more than 700 million people of at least 1,000 different ethnic groups. The Region is a critical development priority—it has some of the world’s poorest countries […]

See also Inland Waters Biodiversity and The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and the University of Guelph Canada’s Aquatic Environments

Photo of the Coorong and Lower Lakes Ramsar site, around Goolwa.
July 25
Rising demands threaten wetlands
The recent surge in demand for food and biofuel has increased the risks facing the world’s wetlands, warn scientists.
A declaration by 700 […]

June 28, 2008
As drylands get drier and violence grows, new crises resembling Darfur will arise.
Jeffrey Sachs
NEWSWEEK
The world will experience a growing risk of conflicts over food, energy and water in coming years. The population rises each year by about 80 million people, with most of the increase in impoverished regions already facing […]

See also NAFTA News

24 June 2008
Speaking of Obama and NAFTA
Sen. Obama had staked out an increasingly negative attitude on NAFTA as the primary season unfolded - particularly in Pennsylvania and Ohio. One unspoken reason why his position is wobbly, is that he doesn’t want to say what he really thinks, and that is, Canada is […]