Interesting

Photo: Corbis

Kunming mother sues US central bank over shrinking cash. By Mandy Zuo

She claims Federal Reserve has allowed her deposit of US$250 to lose a third of its value

A woman in Kunming, Yunnan province, is trying to sue the United States central bank after discovering that the real value of the US$250 she put in an account in 2006 had shrunk by 30 per cent.

She claims it was a result of the Federal Reserve issuing too much money.

Her attorney, her son Li Zhen, called the lawsuit “litigation for the public good” which aimed to stop the Fed from continuing its quantitive easing policy and promote people’s awareness of their rights.

He filed the lawsuit alleging “the abuse of monopoly in issuing currency” last month at the Kunming Intermediate People’s Court on behalf of his mother, Liu Hua , but the court has yet to decide whether to officially place the case on file.

Since the global financial crisis, the Fed has been pumping more money into the economy via several rounds of so-called quantitative easing to try to boost consumer spending and revive economic growth.

The judges were “greatly surprised” to see the indictment, said the 36-year-old lawyer, adding he was the first mainlander to have filed a lawsuit against a foreign country’s central bank.

Li, who works at the Yunnan Tongbang Law Firm, said he referred to Black’s Law Dictionary, the most cited legal dictionary in the US, and concluded that the Fed is a private institution instead of a government department.

According to the dictionary, US financial institutions are required to invest in the Federal Reserve System if they want to join it, which he construed as meaning the Fed is privately owned.

“Since the Fed is a private institution which enjoys a monopoly over the issuing of currency, US dollar holders can sue it for printing too much money,” he said.

Li said he requested two things from the court - that the Fed halts the abuse of its monopoly over the issuing of dollars and that it makes a “symbolic compensation” of US$1. Asked about the possibility of whether the court will accept the case, Li said it was “difficult to say”.

He added: “Since the Anti-Monopoly Law was enforced in 2008, there have been not many serious lawsuits in this regard.

“It was not until early last year that a judicial interpretation for civil anti-monopoly cases was issued … besides, this case involves very professional issues and is very complex.”

He said he was looking for more “victims” like his mother and expected to bring a class action in a US court.

Professor Wang Xiaoye , an expert on anti-monopoly law, said the depreciation of a currency was a business risk that holders had to bear.

This article first appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition on Apr 16, 2013 as Woman sues US central bank over shrinking cash

The cable informing the US State Department of the start of the 1973 Yom Kipur War

TALKS

Lawrence Lessig: We the People, and the Republic we must reclaim

There is a corruption at the heart of American politics, caused by the dependence of Congressional candidates on funding from the tiniest percentage of citizens. That’s the argument at the core of this blistering talk by legal scholar Lawrence Lessig. With rapid-fire visuals, he shows how the funding process weakens the Republic in the most fundamental way, and issues a rallying bipartisan cry that will resonate with many in the U.S. and beyond.

Lawrence Lessig has already transformed intellectual-property law with his Creative Commons innovation. Now he’s focused on an even bigger problem: The US’ broken political system. Full bio »

Canada one-ups the US by launching new startup visa on an important day. By Simone Foxman »

Hint to foreign entrepreneurs: you’re going the wrong way. AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

Today, Canada launched a new immigration program meant to draw entrepreneurial talent to the country. Canada hopes that it can attract businesspeople to start new companies in Canada and invest in Canadian ventures by dangling the promise of permanent residency in one of the wealthiest and easiest places to do business in the world.

The program, which was announced in January, is also an apparent challenge to the US, which has been dealing with a bitter debate over immigration reform that was sparked by the 2012 presidential election.

Although the US does have some programs to attract immigrant entrepreneurs and investors—particularly its EB-5 program—hefty investment financing requirements and an onerous application process mean those efforts have had limited impact. Whereas the EB-5 program requires a minimum of $500,000 investment (in a “targeted investment area”) and grants residency for just two years, Canada’s new start-up visa program requires entrepreneurs to secure just $75,000 from a group of angel investors in order to enter the country. Both programs would award successful applicants with permanent residency. In 2010, the US issued 2,480 EB-5 visas. Canada (even before this new program) issued 12,802 visas for investors and entrepreneurs in 2010.

By launching its new visa program today, Canada is also effectively making a statement about one of the US’s most popular visas: the H-1B. Though a different breed of permit, the stock of these US visas for select, well-educated professionals (generally sponsored by their employers or would-be employers) is exhausted almost immediately after the application window opens. Applicants can apply for the 2014 allotment of those visas starting today.

“The expectation is that we will exhaust our yearly allotment this week, and possibly even in one day, leaving innovators and entrepreneurs out of luck for an entire year,” Jeremy Robbins said in an email to Quartz. Robbins is director of the Partnership for a New American Economy, a group of business leaders led by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch pushing for immigration reform they say is key to the US remaining competitive. “When Canada announced this visa a few months ago, they expressly did so to compete against us and leverage the fact that innovators and entrepreneurs had such trouble coming here.”

Elizabeth Stern, head of Baker & McKenzie’s Global Immigration & Mobility Practice Group, says it’s easy to overstate today’s challenge from Canada to the US, if only because Canada has historically been much more welcoming to immigrants and particularly immigrant entrepreneurs. She nonetheless admitted that Canada was probably “making a statement” in starting its new program on April 1.

“[Canada’s program] is probably the most generous that I’ve seen,” she said in a phone interview. “If you look at established companies, they’re typically not expanding their workforce in the US and other developed markets…[Canada is] recognizing that the new growth in developed markets is coming from start-ups and new businesses.

The next Jewish diaspora: Fleeing France »

Al Jazeera bought Current TV

The Qatar-based cable news company bought Current TV, a struggling cable channel founded by former US vice president Al Gore. Al Jazeera, which has struggled to get US distribution for its English-language channel, will launch a new US channel via Current TV. But Time Warner Cable, a key distributor for Current TV, said it was dropping the channel “as quickly as possible.” The deal, which analysts valued at up to $500 million, should still expand Al Jazeera’s reach from 5 million to 40 million US homes.

Israel is willing to fight Arabs down to the last American.

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—	a comment on U.S. attack on Iran unlikely, Feinstein says - SFGate (via diegueno) When did Israel ever ask others to fight its wars for her? Do Americans really think that Nuclear weapons in the hands of a “responsible” regime like Iran’s is safe for the USA? Really, even after 9/11?

Flying Over America

The American nuclear-prevention policy toward North-Korea and Pakistan was characterized as “too early, too early – oops – too late

“

—	Arie Levite, non-resident senior associate in the non-proliferation program at the Carnegie Endowment (David Makovsky,“The Silent Strike: How Israel bombed a Syrian nuclear installation and kept it secret,” The New Yorker, September 17, 2012, p. 34)

US Olympians Wonder Why Fox News Calls Themselves News. By Sarah Wood

Recently, Fox News attacked US Olympians for not wearing more red, white, and blue claiming the uniforms they are wearing are not patriotic enough. Well it seems the US Olympians have a question to ask Fox News. They are curious as to how Fox News can call themselves news, and act as though they offer competitive journalism when all they offer to their viewership is pandered “bullshit.”

In an interview with Jason Lindsay from the US Olympic Badminton team, FWP asked the young man what he thought of Fox News’ remarks regarding the patriotism of the US team’s uniforms. Lindsay replied, ”I have no idea what the color of our uniforms has to do with anything. We are representing our nation the best that we can, and our uniforms should really have nothing to do with the conversation. Was Fox News having a slow news day or something? I mean really, with stories like that, how can they even call themselves news. They should call themselves Fox Opinion and Deliberately Trying to Piss People Off For No Reason.”

Catching up with marathon runner Jessica Kellons, FWP asked what her take on Fox News making a big deal of the uniforms was. Kellons responded, “They what?! They are questioning our patriotism? Really? Is that all they have to report on? Wondering if we wear enough red, white, and blue? I thought there was an economic crisis going on, and a presidential race underway, and this is what they choose to focus on? Pathetic.”

The sentiment held by these two competitors seemed to carry through to everyone else interviewed. This non-story of apparent lack of patriotism not only seemed un-newsworthy, but also seemed to offend many athletes who have worked for years to perfect their ability to represent the nation we all love and call home.

Someone should probably notify Fox News that those “unpatriotic” Americans are neck in neck with China for number of medals earned, and maybe focus on the actual Olympic competition and not comment like Joan Rivers about what our athletes are wearing.

How a rape survivor could change Afghanistan

After being kidnapped, raped and tortured by Afghan police, 18-year-old Lal Bibi is fighting police impunity and the cultural requirement that she commit suicide. Prosecutors are failing to try her rapists, but a massive global outcry can persuade the donor countries that are about to hand over billions to Afghanistan to use their leverage to force real change for Lal Bibi and all Afghan women. Sign the petition, and tell everyone:

18 year-old Lal Bibi was kidnapped, raped, tortured and chained to a wall for five days by a gang of powerful Afghan police officers. But she stood up to do what women in Afghanistan are told not to — she is fighting back, and together we can help her and all Afghan women win justice.

According to deep cultural mandates, as a raped woman, Lal Bibi has been “dishonoured” and will kill herself — and she publicly says she must, unless her rapists are brought to justice to restore her honour and dignity. Afghanistan’s justice system routinely fails to pursue these cases and so far the chief suspects in Lal Bibi’s case have not been prosecuted, likely in the hopes that international attention will die down. Every day that passes without an arrest pushes Lal Bibi closer to suicide — but there is hope.

This weekend, the US, UK, Japan and other major donors are expected to pledge 4 billion dollars to Afghanistan — money that will pay for the very police forces responsible for Lal Bibi’s rape. But an international outcry can shame donor countries into action, conditioning their aid on real action to fight rape and protect women. We don’t have much time left —click below for change that could save Lal Bibi’s life and our petition will be delivered right into the donor conference in Tokyo:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/justice_for_lal_bibi_c/?bjPzTbb&v=15757

Local custom in some parts of Afghanistan dictates that women are shamed by rape and must kill themselves to restore their family’s honour for generations to come. Amazingly, Lal Bibi and her family courageously are seeking to save her life by insisting on the prosecution of her torturers and shifting the blame to the perpetrators, in society’s eyes.

The Afghan police force responsible for the rape depends heavily on foreign funding that will be pledged this weekend, when all of Afghanistan’s major donors gather in Tokyo. Donor countries can and should require that funds are not spent to grow a police force that acts with appalling impunity and that police officers work to protect women, not attack them!

There are hundreds of women and girls all across Afghanistan who are subject to the “tribal justice” meted out to Lal Bibi. Thousands more are watching carefully to see how the Afghan government and the world will respond to the girl who is fighting back and refuses to die quietly. Let’s stand with her — sign the petition below and tell everyone:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/justice_for_lal_bibi_c/?bjPzTbb&v=15757

The global war on women is relentless. But time and time again our community joins together to win. We helped stop the illegal stoning of Sakineh Ashtiani in Iran, and fought for justice for rape survivors in Libya, Morocco and Honduras. Let’s show the global power of our community to help win justice for Lal Bibi and millions of women in Afghanistan.

P.S. Avaaz has launched Community Petitions, an exciting new platform where it’s quick and easy to create a campaign on any issue you care strongly about. Start your own by clicking here: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/start_a_petition/?do.ps.lal_bibi

More Information:

Rape case tests Afghan justice (Radio Free Europe)
http://www.rferl.org/content/rape-case-tests-afghan-justice/24604549.html

Afghan rape case turns focus on local police (New York Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/world/asia/afghan-rape-case-turns-focus-on-local-police.html?pagewanted=all

Afghanistan expects $4 billion in aid pledges at the July conference (CNBC)
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47900279/Afghanistan_expects_4_billion_in_aid_pledges_at_July_conference

Tokyo Declaration to push donors, Afghanistan to make better use of aid (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/02/us-afghanistan-aid-idUSBRE8610CL20120702

Afghan government confident about endorsement of its strategic vision in Tokyo (UNAMA)
http://unama.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1741&ctl=Details&mid=1882&ItemID=17189

First Ever ‘Photo Finish’ Tie in US Track and Field. By Michael Zhang

On Saturday night at the United States Olympic trials, sprinters Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh did something the sport had never seen before: tie on camera. Both runners crossed the finished line at exactly 11.068 seconds — see the photo above — and not even the high speed camera capturing 3,000 frames per second at the sideline could reveal a difference. Since this situation had never happened before, US Track and Field didn’t have any rule in place for how to deal with it. 24 hours later, they created a new rule: the athletes would be given the choice of breaking the tie with a coin toss or runoff, with runoff being the default if the athletes disagreed.

(via NYTimes via The Verge)

India and US: Pressure Syria

Another 27 children’s bodies were found massacred in Syria. To stop this horror, we need to cut off the flow of arms to the regime. There is one way to do it, but it’s going to take all of us working together to make it happen.

Here’s how: India and the US are key clients to Syria’s main weapons supplier — the state-owned Russian company Rosoboronexport. If we can get the two countries to threaten to halt all deals unless the Russians stop supporting Syria, the arms dealers could be forced to stop their Syria sales. Both the US and India want to stop the violence in Syria, but diplomacy is failing. This is their best chance — let’s give them a massive mandate to act.

The US has already persuaded the company to stop light weapons sales to Syria. Now if we can build up the pressure on India and get both countries to speak out, Rosoboronexport could be forced to cut Syria’s arms supply completely. Sign the urgent petition to stop dealing death to Syria and tell everyone — our call will be delivered to both countries and Rosoboronexport at a massive arms fair in Paris in 3 days.

The big green no-brainer

In four days, world leaders could agree to a plan that is our best chance yet to save the planet from runaway climate change. But it needs a massive public push to drive it from words to action.

It’s crazy, but right now, our governments give nearly $1 trillion a year of our taxpayer money to big oil and coal to destroy our planet. Key leaders, including President Obama, have already agreed to stop these polluter payments. And this weekend, he is hosting the G8 summit where leaders of the world’s biggest economies can finally start moving this plan forward. If we demand governments divert this huge sum into renewable energy now, experts say we could actually stop climate change!

It’s a simple no-brainer, but dirty industry has a hold on our politicians which can only be countered by extraordinary people power. Let’s show President Obama that we want him to lead the world’s largest economies to get behind this planet saving plan now. Sign the petition below and forward this to everyone:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/big_green_no_brainer/?vl

We’re rapidly reaching a point of no return on climate change and a treaty to prevent catastrophe is years off. Fortunately, momentum behind this new planet saving plan is building ahead of next month’s Rio Summit – the biggest environmental meeting in 20 years. New Zealand, Mexico and Switzerland are calling for an agreement at Rio, and just now policy makers from 20 countries including the US, Brazil, and China have voiced their support.

But without massive public support the powerful polluters could bury the proposal. All G8 leaders have already publicly committed to ending these dirty subsidies. And President Obama is right now pushing for US legislation to stop them. Now, it’s up to us to make it a global priority to turn these black payments green.

If we can show Obama that a huge number of citizens around the world want him to lead the way, we can win! We have four days left. Sign the petition for Obama to make this his priority and send this to everyone:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/big_green_no_brainer/?vl

For too long, progress on a global and cooperative solution to climate change has been held back by self-interest and the profits of Big Oil, Coal and Gas. But, finally governments are realising that cutting subsidies will benefit the climate and help balance out the global economy. Together, our movement can make sure our leaders take firm action now to save the planet by freeing the world from the tyranny of fossil fuels.

More information:

Hansen: Game Over for the Climate (New York Times):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/opinion/game-over-for-the-climate.html

A Congressional Push to End All Fossil Fuel Subsidies (The Nation):
http://www.thenation.com/blog/167831/congressional-push-end-all-fossil-fuel-subsidies

Obama says tax breaks for Big Oil need to end (Financial Post):
http://business.financialpost.com/2012/03/29/obama-says-tax-breaks-for-big-oil-need-to-end/?__lsa=7934943e

Fossil-fuel subsidies: Helping the richest get richer (Los Angeles Times):
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/05/opinion/la-oe-mckibben-stop-oil-subsidies-20120404

Phasing out fossil fuel subsidies could provide half of global carbon target (The Guardian):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/19/fossil-fuel-subsidies-carbon-target