XXXIX - News Corporation Raises Phone-Hacking Compensation

          This post is a summary of two reports: the first with the title above, with the complement of "cashpool to $ 156 million". Published at Hollywoodreporter.com on December 29, 2011 and written by Stuart Kemp. The second, with the title" Rupert Murdoch pays compensation to 37 victims of phone-hacking." was published at Thedailybeast.com on January 19, 2012 and was written by Charlotte Edwardes.

          News corporation has pumped up its legal war chest to $156 million to use to settle civil litigation cases brought in the phone-hacking scandal. Some settlements are expected to be well over $1.5 million apiece, citing sources close to the actions.

          Actress Siena Miller became first person to agree an out-of-court settlement with News of the World, accepting $156,000 in compensation for having her phone message illegally accessed in May. News International set up a compensation scheme for phone-hacking victims. Applicants are being offered the opportunity to pursue compensation. "As a speedy, cost-effective alternative to litigation." And can expect to "obtain very similar remedies" as they would expect to receive in court, News International claims.

         Rupert Murdoch`s media empire face a possible 10 million pounds compensation bill, it emerged today, after the high court in London heard that 37 victims have settled damage claims with Murdoch`s company for illegally intercepting their phones. The list of claimants includes politicians, singers, actors, etc. Among them is actor Jude Law, who was awarded $200,000. Jude Law`s assistant was awarded settlements, as was his ex-wife Sadie Frost, who received $120,000. She listened to the intercepted voice messages between 2005 and 2006 last April, News International set up a compensation fund of $30 million with the sole intention of settling claims before they got to court.

       Jude Law said, "for several years leading up to 2006, I was suspicious about how information concerning my private life was coming out in the press. I changed my phones. I had my house swept for bugs, but still the information kept being published. I started to become distrustful of people close to me.

      News International has already paid out $3 million to the family of the murdered scholl girl Milly Dowler. Tamish Allen, a lawyer, said "the claimants now have some clarity about what happened to them between 2000 and 2005 and satisfaction that justice has finally been done. Many of them have wondered for years how newspapers were able to obtain secret personal information about them.

     Phone-hacking - to gain unauthorized access.

     War chest - money scheduled for a particular purpose.

     Set Up - to arrange, be given a particular direction.

     Litigation - the act of bringing a legal action in court.

   

XXXVIII - How China is Winning the School Race

        This post is a summary of two reports published at the same place: BBC.co.uk, both written by Yojana Sharma. The first, with the title above and published on October 11, 2011. The second published on November 27, 2012 with the title: " Meet the 'tutor kings and queens'."

  

        China's education performance seems to be as spetacular as the country's breakneck economic expansion, outperforming many more advanced countries. But what is behind this success?

        Shanghai, taking part for the first time in PISA tests from OECD, came top in all three subjects. Cheng Ming, professor at Hong Kong University puts the results down  to   "a devotion to education not shared by some other cultures." More than 80% of Shanghai secondary students attend after-school tutoring. Such diligence also reflects the ferociously competitive university entrance examinations, "not all Chinese parents are 'tiger mothers', but they are devoted to their children's education," he said.

          In Hong Kong, education accounts for more than one-fifth of entire government spending. Shanghai re-equipping classrooms, upgrading schools and revamping the curriculum in the last decade. It got rid of the " key schools" system which concentrated resources only on top students and elite schools. Instead staff were trained in more interactive teaching methods and computers were brought in. The city's schools are now a showcase for the country. About 80% of school leavers go to university compared to an overall average of 24% in China. The OECD's Mr. Schleicher believes teacher training has played a part in Shanghai success, with higher-performing teachers mentoring teachers from lower-performing schools.

        They strike poses in posters in shopping malls and on the side of buses. But they are not movie stars or models, they are Hong Kong's top tutors offering pupils a chance to improve grades. Exam pressure has turned them into celebrities. And they have earnings to match, some have become millionaires and appear regularly on television. The celebrity tutor phenomenon is a result of the huge growth in out-of-school tutoring in Asia. It is fuelled by highly pressured systems and parents wanting their children to secure places at top universities. In societies where success is equated with good exam results, parental anxiety converts into a stream of revenue for tutoring establishments. Richer families have always paid for individual tutoring, but the star tutors offer exam tips and revision notes to the less well-off, studying in groups.

       It is not just Hong Kong. In South Korea, 90% of primary school children attend such classes. In India, Thailand, and South Korea tutoring schools use star tutors to attract more students.

Tutoring - acting as a tutor to

Breakneck - fast.

Diligence - carrying out a task with care and consciousness.

Revamp - alter something as to improve.

XXXVII - Why Latin America does not grow like Asia?

    This post is a summary of the reports published at BBC.co.uk/Portuguese, on July 13, 2012 and written by Marcelo Justo, with the title above, and translated by me. The other was published at FEDESAROLLO.org.co, on June 2012, with the title: "Growth determinants in Latin America and East Asia: Has globalization changed the engine of growth?" 

   In 1980, the industrial production in Brazil was greater than Thayland, South Korea, Malaysia, India and China together. Thirty years later, represent 10% of what is produced in those countries. The same happened in other L.A. countries, but why L.A. was left behind in the global economy?

   To clarify these reasons, BBC talked to Profesor at the Cambridge University Gabriel Palma, specialist of comparative economics.

    BBC - You have pointed in your researches that the economic growth in Asia has been kept for decades, while in L.A. oscillates between boom and bust, why?

    Gabriel - Since the1980s South Korea, Cingapure, Malaysia and Thayland has grown on average 7%. China and India 9%. But this does not mean that L.A. have not the capacity to grow, on the contrary, Argentina, Chile, and Peru in the 1990s, Brazil and Mexico in the 1970s had growth rates similar to those of Asia. The difference is that the growth in L.A. was not sustained and in my opinion there are three reasons for this. 1ª) private investment rate is 30% of GDP in Asia, while in L.A. on average is 15% of GDP. 2ª) economy policies in Asia with competitive exchange rate and low interest rate. 3ª) the liberalism of commerce in Asia was slow and selective. This gave time to them adapt to the changes. In L.A. everything was done overnight, the result was a huge confusion.

     BBC - While Asia adopted the pragmatism, the L.A. embarked in fundamentalism, it mean that this delay is due to more historical and cultural aspects than economic?

     Gabriel - From 2002 to 2007. L.A. grew between 4% and 4.5%, but the value of the financial assets, included stock exchange and public and private securities grew more than 30%. The same illusion that contaminated the develop countries, the belief that the economy could grow independent from productivity, tech innovation, the real economy.

     BBC - So, the skepticism common in the Asia society, explain its economic success?

     Gabriel - In L.A. the elite have preferred the financial sector than the risks of the market. The profitability is three times higher than in other places. It has been critical to the deindustrialization of the region, the lack of economic diversification, the lack of tech apparatus. L.A. abandoned its industrial policy with the idea that could grow with commodities and finances.

              The ingredients of East Asia success.
                         1ª) High degree of integration into the global economy as exporters.
                         2ª) Investment which encourages tech upgrading geared to strengthen competitiveness
                         3ª) Industrial policy that has thrived via the diversification of the structure of exports towards a more dynamic structure in high and medium tech products.

                        4ª) Higher degree of socio-economic inclusion through a focus on the tech capacities through education and innovation and diffusion of productive assets.

     Pragmatism - a realistic and sensible approach to something.

     Fundamentalism - strict following of the basic underlying of any system of thought.

     Skepticism - doubt about the truth of something, disbelief in any claims of ultimate.

XXXVI - No Longer Business As Usual For Tyranny And Injustice

    This post is a summary of two articles published at Amnesty.org , The first on May 24,2012 with the title above. The second published on December 7th,2012 with the title: " Americas: human rights defenders increasingly targeted and attacked."

         The courage shown by protesters in the past 12 months has been matched by a failure of leadership that makes the UN Security Council seem tired, out of step and increasingly unfit for purpose. Amnesty International said as it launched its 50th global human rights report.

         "Politicians responded to protests with brutality or indifference. Governments must shown legitimate leadership and reject injustice by protecting the powerless and restraining the powerful", said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International Secretary General. The vocal and enthusiastic support for the protest movements shown by many global and regional powers in the early months of 2011, had not translated into action. A failure to intervene in Sri Lanka and inaction over crimes against humanity in Syria, left the UN Security Council looking redundant as a guardian of global peace. The emerging powerhouse of India and Brazil have too often been complicit through their silence, "Protesters have shown that change is possible, they have thrown down a gauntlet demanding that government stand up for justice, equality and dignity. They have shown that leaders who do not meet these expectations will not longer be accepted. After an inauspicious start 2012 must become the year of action," said Salil Shetty.

         Other highlighted in report 2012 are:

_ Social protest gathered strenght in the Americas, frequently bringing people into confrontation with poweful interests. Activists were threatened and killed in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.

_ Trends included abuses against indigenous communities in the Americas as drive to exploit resources intensified.

_ In Russia, civic activism grew, but opposition voice were abused and systematically undermined.

          The report Transforming Pain Into Hope: Human Rights Defenders in the Americas, is based on around 300 cases of intimidation, harrasment, attacks and killings of human rights defenders on more than a dozen countries between January 2010 and September 2012. 

          "Human rights defenders are systematically harrased, attacked and subjected to unfounded criminal charges in almost every country in the Americas to prevent them from speaking out for the rights of the marginalized", said Nancy Tapias Torrado, Americas Researcher of Human Rights at Amnesty. Throughout Americas, human rights defenders have been publicy condemned as "illegal", "illegitimate", "immoral". They have been accused of being criminal, corrupt, liars, troublemakers, of defending criminals.

           Those particularly targeted include people working on issue related to land and natural resources; the rights of women, the rights of GLBT; abuses against migrants; as well as those working to ensure justice for abuses; and journalists and bloggers.

          "Governments must guarantee that human rights defenders enjoy comprehensive protection, which includes  a recognizing the legitimacy of their work, investigation of abuses they face and the effective protection measures," said Tapias Torrado.

   

V.T.-XXXV-Global Partnership for Social Accountability

        This post is a summary of two reports published at Worldbank.org. Both about the same issue above. One published on April 19,2012 with the title of: " The GPSA: a new mechanism to support civil society organizations." And another on December 17,2012 with the title above.

       The World Bank directors has approved the creation of a global partnership for social accountability (GPSA). This is a new mechanism to scale up and support social accountability by beneficiary groups and civil society organizations (CSO) in developing countries." The bank understands now more than ever that citizen voice and the engagement of project beneficiaries are crucial for lasting development results," said World Bank president Robert Zoellick.

      The bank plans to invest $20 million in seed money to create the partnership and will work with others to raise additional funds. As well as investing in projects to boost social accountability, the partnership will focus on exchanging knowledge of best practice. In a speech a year ago, Mr.Zoellick spoke of the need for a new social contract to improve domestic accountability and constructive engagement between citizens and their governments. Current World Bank social accountability work include: Checkmyschool.org, an interative map of basic public education information in the Philippines to support citizens oversight of the education sector. The use of community scorecards to help reduce child mortality in Uganda. And public participation in local budgeting in Congo, so citizens can have a say where their money is going. The GPSA can help to scale this up.

        The objective of the GPSA is to improve development results by supporting capacity building for enhanced beneficiary feedback and participation. To achieve this objective, the GPSA will provide strategic and sustained support to groups and civil society organizations (CSO) in developing counries that are working to promote greater transparency and accountability. Support will be provide on two fronts: funding and knowledge. Through a global grant competition grants will be made available to CSOs for capacity building, research and knowledge dissemination, and programmatic activities related to social accountability in their country. The GPSA will also support a global platform for knowledge exchange and research, especially in measuring and documenting "what works" in social accountability and the impact of social accountability interventions.