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Published
Wednesday, April 13,
2016, in Vol. 17, No. 72
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San José,
Costa Rica, Wednesday, April 13,
2016, Vol. 17, No. 72
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By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
President Luis Guillermo Solís has invited leaders of the various political parties in the legislature to breakfast today to push a lengthy agenda of bills. Among them are bills establishing a value-added tax in lieu of the current sales tax, one reinstituting a tax on corporations and a third that would increase income taxes for higher earners and corporations. Also in the mix is a bill to fight tax fraud. A letter to legislative leaders by Sergio Iván Alfaro Salsa, the minister of the Presidencia, cited disclosures from the Panama papers as a reason for the meeting. The agenda also includes a lengthy list of bills relating to pensions and two that relate to the interchange of tax information with other countries. April 30 is the end of the period in which the executive branch controls the legislative agenda. May 1 will see another election of legislative leadership. After that lawmakers can present their own bills. The breakfast might not be ample enough to change any legislative minds. The opposition Partido Liberación Nacional bluntly said Tuesday that its lawmakers would not vote for any new taxes unless there were substantial budget cuts by the executive branch. However, the political party did announce its willingness again to back a bill against tax fraud. The statement came from Silvia Sánchez Venegas, the deputy leader of the party in the legislature. Rolando González Ulloa, a spokesman for the Comisión de Asuntos Hacendarios, which is considering the tax bills, expressed unhappiness with threats by the president. On his television spot and at the April 11 holiday celebration in Alajuela Solís threatened to punish the country with taxes and drastic measures if the tax bills do not pass, said González.
Museum to
feature adventure festival
By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
There is a pretty good chance that most expats are not well versed in the exploits of Saint Seiya and the Knights of the Zodiac. The Museo Nacional is ready to fill that knowledge gap Sunday. The event is the Festival de Verano 2016 starting at 11:30 a.m. Admission is free for Costa Ricans and legal residents. The theme will be a mix of Roman, Greek and Japanese action adventures. Expats will not find Saint Seiya at the Catedral Metropolitana. This is a Japanese comic book character who has become a star. The sainthood has been conveyed by the acquisition of some magical robes. The three traditions merge because Saint Seiya and the knights are pledged to defend Athena, the Greek goddess. This is a story most young men worldwide know if they are under 30. The animated television series came out in 1986 and was an immediate hit. Complementing the costumed followers of the knights will be displays of small action figures related to the adventure series. Also on the agenda is performance by the Hip Hop de la Universidad de Costa Rica group, Korean martial arts, stories and music from Japan and the concert band Ninrod 16. Also promised is something called a Spartan tournament and the costume performance art of cosplay. A movie is the finale at 6:30 p.m.
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San José,
Costa Rica, Wednesday, April
13, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 72
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| This is part of a map made in
December 1590 by the Flemish cartographer Abraham
Ortelius. The map depicted the Magellan flagship, the
Victoria, heading west off the coast of South America.
The map lacks the finer points of modern maps because
crews of that period lacked accurate ways to determine
longitude, not to mention satellites. |
 Abraham Ortelius
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| Spanish
conquest of the Pacific featured in Archivo Nacional
exhibition |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
When explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa saw the expanse of the Pacific in 1513 he must have been filled with awe. The explorer was about to spark a wave of exploration and trade that gave the Spanish control of key Pacific lands for centuries. The Portuguese navigator Fernando Magellan in the service of King Carlos I of Spain followed up on the discovery of the Pacific and directed an expedition that circumnavigated the globe. In modern terms these 16th century efforts were as daunting and foreboding as the U.S. Moon mission or the much anticipated voyage to Mars. In fact, Magellan did not make it home. He was killed in the Philippines in 1521 during a clash with the natives there. The period from when word of the exploits of the Magellan expedition reached Spain until about 1607 was when the Pacific became a major trade route. Artifacts from that period are going on display today at the Archivo Nacional to celebrate its 135th anniversary. The Archivo Nacional promises facsimiles of documents |
directly
from the Archivo General de Indias in Sevilla, among
others. The exhibition is called “Pacífico, España y
la aventura de la Mar del Sur.” There also are maps, ship models and replicas of navigational instruments of the period. There also are early maps of California and some of the Pacific islands. Organizers note that Magellan’s expedition did not have a choice when the crews circled the globe. Until about 1565 Spanish explorers were not able to return to the Americas from the Pacific because of the winds. They had yet to map out a route that would allow an eastward trip. Th exposition at the Zapote facility runs until December. The hours are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Also participating in the exposition are the Centro Cultural de España, the Spanish Embassy, the ministries of Educación, Cultura y Deporte of Spain and Acción Cultural Española. Also providing support are the Museo Nacional de Filipinas, the Museo Provincial de Huelva in Spain, the Archivo de Bogotá in Colombia, the Museo Nacional de Arqueología Subacuática de Cartagena in Spain, the Casa de Cultura Ecuatoriana de Quito, Ecuador, the Museo del Mar de Vigoin Spain and the Centro Cultural de España in México. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | ||
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San José,
Costa Rica, Wednesday, April 13,
2016, Vol. 17, No. 72
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| Red
crab swarm deep in Pacific is a big surprise to
researchers |
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By the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution news staff
A research team studying biodiversity at the Hannibal Bank Seamount off the coast of Panamá has captured unique video of thousands of red crabs swarming in low-oxygen waters just above the seafloor. Jesús Pineda, a biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and chief scientist on the cruise, called the encounter unexpected and mesmerizing. The researchers describe their findings in a paper published in the journal PeerJ. The team, which included colleagues from Point Loma Nazarene University, San Francisco Estuary Institute, and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, was working aboard the M/V Alucia. They captured the video of the crab swarm during a dive in the manned submersible Deep Rover 2 on the last diving mission of the month-long expedition in April 2015. "When we dove down in the submarine, we noticed the water became murkier as we got closer to the bottom," said Pineda, lead author of the paper. "There was this turbid layer, and you couldn't see a thing beyond it. We just saw this cloud but had no idea what was causing it." "As we slowly moved down to the bottom of the seafloor, all of the sudden we saw these things," he continued. "At first, we thought they were biogenic rocks or structures. Once we saw them moving, swarming like insects, we couldn't believe it." The crabs were later identified by DNA sequencing as Pleuroncodes planipes, a species abundant in Baja California and found in the waters off the west coast of Baja California, Gulf of California, and the California Current. This documentation represents a new southernmost range of distribution for the species. "No one had ever found this species that far south," Pineda said. "To find a species at the extreme of their range and to be so abundant is very unusual." The large aggregation of swarming red crabs was observed along the northwest flank of the Hannibal BankSeamount at depths of 355 to 385 meters (approximately 1,164 to 1,263 feet) in an area of low oxygen level water. "These crabs have been detected before in similar low oxygen conditions," Pineda said. "It could be that these low oxygen waters provide a refuge for this species from predators." Also known as tuna crabs because they are favored prey for |
 Woods Hole
Oceanographic/Jesús Pineda, Yogesh Girdhar
Crabs swarm on the sea floor in view of
researchers.yellowfin tuna, Pleuroncodes
planipes are an important food source for a
variety of other fish, birds, and marine mammals. They
migrate up and down in the water column, which also
makes them vulnerable to changing currents.
Seamounts are ecological hotspots that are home to thriving communities of unique species. Because less than 1 percent of these underwater mountains have been studied, the mechanisms that make them so biologically productive are not well understood. The focus of the Panamá expedition was to learn more about both the biological and physical processes that make Hannibal Seamount such a rich ecosystem. The researchers plan to return to the Hannibal Seamount to further study why seamounts support such high levels of biodiversity. |
Here's reasonable
medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced anywhere
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A.M. Costa Rica's
Fifth news page |
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San José,
Costa Rica, Wednesday, April 13,
2016, Vol. 17, No. 72
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adjusting to New York values By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
With just one week to go before the New York presidential primaries, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is learning firsthand the meaning of its city and state values. In January, Cruz uttered his now infamous line of attack during a GOP debate, intended to strip businessman Donald Trump of conservative credentials. "I think most people know what New York values are," said Cruz, calling it a socially liberal city focused on money and the media. His remarks were seen as an attempt to gain traction with South Carolina's conservative, largely evangelical base of voters, Cruz's stronghold along the southern Bible Belt. Instead, it misfired and insulted an entire city. Now, with 95 delegates at stake in a hotly contested election year, the Texas senator has had no choice but to attempt to make amends. It has not gone as planned. Cruz got a lukewarm welcome last week during a campaign rally in the Bronx, a New York borough that has a large Latino and African-American population. Amid jeers and protests Cruz endured a poorly attended gathering and was forced to cancel an afternoon high school visit after its students threatened to walk out. One Bronx resident called Cruz a right-wing bigot. Elsewhere in New York City, residents have given Cruz a taste of their values. "Cruz has to go back home. Look at his face," said Bella, an elderly Russian American resident of Brooklyn. When New York City and state leaders asked the Texas senator to apologize for his comments, he agreed, but with qualifications. "I apologize to all the pro-life and pro-marriage and pro-Second Amendment New Yorkers who were told by Gov. Cuomo that they have no place in New York because that's not who New Yorkers are," Cruz said, referring to Andrew Cuomo. But any last-ditch effort to reach out to New York's conservative base may be for naught. Although Cruz remains in second place among Republicans nationwide, he is running 35 percentage points behind Trump in the state's latest polls. "He does not like New York. And he does not like the people of New York, and that came out loud and clear," Trump said during a rally in Albany. "His words were 'New York values.' Take a look at the scorn on his face when he said it, am I right?" In addition, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is running second and leads Cruz, launched a new TV ad called "Values," in which a narrator accuses Cruz of divisive tactics, while painting Kasich as a uniting force. Generally speaking, New York's Republicans are less socially conservative than Southern evangelicals. But that doesn't mean Cruz hasn't found pockets of support, including members of the Orthodox Jewish Community in Brighton Beach, where many share his definition of family values. "He stands for moral values. Important to have a strong family unit," said Daniel, a Brooklyn resident. "I'm also grateful to him for his support of the Jewish people." Others support his tough stance on immigration. "If someone breaks into your house, you don't let them stay in your house. If someone breaks into the country, we got to send them back," said another. But Cruz, who rolled his first matzo balls with the Jewish community last week, appears to be running out of time to persuade New Yorkers to choose him over Trump and Kasich. Ryan says he won’t accept GOP presidential nomination By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan took an unusual step Tuesday by holding a news conference in front of a room packed with reporters and cameras to announce that he was not going to do something: seek or accept the Republican nomination for president of the United States. Speaking at Republican National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill, the Wisconsin representative said speculation that he could emerge from a potential contested convention as the nominee even followed him on his recent tour of the Middle East. He said it was time to put the rumors to rest. "Let me be clear: I do not want, nor will I accept, the Republican nomination," Ryan said. For added emphasis he said, "Count me out." Ryan said he believed that the person who becomes the Republican Party’s nominee should be someone who actually ran for president, and he chose not to run, so he should not be considered. He said this did not mean that he was going to disappear. He said he would continue to speak out because there is a big debate about what direction the country should take. Ryan said he thought Republicans could again be an optimistic party and promote upward mobility and conservative solutions to poverty. The speculation about Ryan secretly waiting to be a savior at the convention started when some Republicans made it known that they were not happy with front-runner Donald Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. Ohio Gov. John Kasich is also still in the race but is far behind his two rivals in the delegate count. In an interview earlier Tuesday, Ryan laughed when asked whether he was working behind the scenes to steal the GOP nomination away from Trump or Cruz. "No, I am not," he told a Milwaukee radio station. "This is just amazing. It is just amazing how these things keep going. I am going to try again today to put this to bed." Some Republican lawmakers have expressed concern that Trump or Cruz might lose badly in the general election, hurting other Republican candidates running for House and Senate seats on the same ballot. Trump is complaining bitterly about the way the party is allocating delegates and has said that if he has the most delegates and is not given the nomination, there might be riots. To win the Republican nomination outright on the first ballot, a candidate has to win 1,237 delegates. The Republican National Convention will be held July 18 to 21 in Cleveland. Turtle smuggler given five years in U.S. prison By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
A U.S. federal judge sentenced a Canadian man to almost five years in prison for scheming to smuggle thousands of turtles to his native China. Federal agents arrested Kai Xu in 2014 at the U.S.-Canadian border with 51 live turtles hidden under his pants, taped to his legs. Before he was sentenced Tuesday in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Xu thanked the federal agents for putting an end to what he called the darkness of greed and ignorance. The 27-year-old has already served 19 months. Xu shipped the reptiles to China from the U.S. or Canada, or paid people to smuggle them in their luggage. He told the judge he needed the money to finish school. His lawyer hoped for a lighter sentence, saying Xu was not a sophisticated international dealer. Turtles are highly desired in China as pets. Ortho says it will eliminate use of bee-harming chemical By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The top U.S. seller of garden pesticides for consumer use is phasing out a chemical widely thought to be contributing to the global die-off of honeybees. Ortho announced Tuesday it will eliminate the chemical known as neonics in three brands of pest control sprays and powders for trees, roses and other flowers by next year, and in all its products by 2021. "The decision comes after careful consideration regarding the range of possible threats to honeybees and other pollinators," Ortho general manager Tim Martin said Tuesday. "While agencies in the United States are still evaluating the overall impact of neonics on pollinator populations, it is time for Ortho to move on." The Environmental Protection Agency is still studying the effects of neonics on bees and butterflies. Other large pesticide manufacturers say all the research to date may be overstated. But many scientists are convinced that certain pesticides are contributing to killing off honeybee populations around the world by attacking the bees' central nervous systems. Honeybees are responsible for pollinating 80 percent of many fruits and vegetables that are part of the human diet and essential for good health. Ortho is encouraging other companies to follow its lead. It also says it is joining with a group called the Pollinator Stewardship Council to promote bee habitats and educate consumers on the proper use of pesticides. Sexual orientation causing threats and boycotts in U.S. By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
A debate in the United States over differences between religious beliefs and individual rights shows no signs of flagging. Laws seen as undermining lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in several southern states have sparked protests and threats of boycotts from businesses and entertainers, as well as counter-demonstrations by conservatives. Hundreds of people gathered Monday in Raleigh, North Carolina, near the governor's offices in a local landmark that formerly was the state Capitol building to support the state's so-called bathroom bill. Signs declaring "No men in women's bathrooms" emphasize a point in the new law that has drawn wide support among state residents who hold conservative political views. On a nearby sidewalk, a smaller crowd of about 100 people staged a counter-protest. Their chants, "Bigotry is bad for business," "They are preaching hate! They don't represent our state!," were drowned out by the larger group, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. North Carolina's Republican governor, Pat McCrory, signed into law last month an order that bathrooms and locker rooms in public schools, agencies and universities must be designated for use only by people based on their biological sex at birth. Transgender people could only use bathroom facilities matching their preferred gender identity if their birth certificates had been legally changed to reflect their gender transition. Transgender people are often described as "individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth." The new North Carolina law prohibits city and local governments from separately establishing local regulations seen as accommodations to transgender people. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called North Carolina's new law shameful. A number of high-profile businesses, including Apple and American Airlines, are threatening to withdraw from the state. Rock music legend Bruce Springsteen, who canceled a planned concert in the state Sunday, posted a message on his Web site: "Some things are more important than a rock show, and this fight against prejudice and bigotry, which is happening as I write, is one of them." Many businesses have criticized the law, but few have taken specific action against the state. The National Basketball Association and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which had been considering moving sporting events out of the state as a protest, have since decided not to change venues. The North Carolina branch of the National Association of Colored People has threatened civil disobedience if the state legislature does not act to repeal the law when it comes back into session April 25. But Marc Creech of the Christian Action League told the crowd in Raleigh this week that his organization plans to rally in support of the law when the legislature reconvenes. He said "a smear campaign has resulted in unfounded criticism of the law." North Carolina's bathroom bill is one of many initiatives in states across the U.S. South that are pitting issues of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people against individuals' religious beliefs. In Mississippi, protests greeted a law signed by Gov. Phil Bryant one week ago. The measure allows business owners in Mississippi, caterers or photographers, for example, to refuse service to same-sex couples. It also would allow employers to determine workplace policies based on their religious beliefs. "It's not discriminating against anyone. People around the country may be overreacting to it," the Republican governor said. "They need to read the bill and understand that people of faith have some rights as well in this country." A Mississippi state lawmaker, Jay Hughes, said Monday that he intends to work to repeal the law through "the Mississippi Economic and Tourism Recovery Act," a bill he is sponsoring. "Mississippi has been here before," Hughes wrote in a post on his Facebook page. "We must give reasonable minds and the principles of democracy an opportunity to be heard. Repeal. All Mississippians are equal." Canadian musician Bryan Adams, who canceled a planned show in Mississippi this week as a protest, wrote on his Facebook page: "I cannot in good conscience perform in a state where certain people are being denied their civil rights due to their sexual orientation." Ninety-five prominent writers, including winners of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize and a former national poet laureate, wrote in an open letter of protest Monday that the law known as House Bill 1523 does not reflect Mississippi's compassionate nature. "This core kindness, this embracing of wildness and weirdness, is what has nurtured the great literature that has come from our state," they wrote. The Tennessee legislature passed a bill Monday that would allow mental health professionals to deny services based on their religious beliefs or sincerely held principles. Democratic State Sen. Jeff Yarbo said denying services based on religious beliefs has legal precedent, but similar exclusions for those with sincerely held principles is irregular and an unheard-of concept. The state's governor, Bill Haslam, said he will review the final text of the bill before deciding whether to sign it into law. The Tennessee legislature designated the Bible as the official state book last week, repeating an earlier decision on the same subject. The Bible vote was seen as a repudiation of those who believe such action flouts the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the separation of church and state in the United States. U.S. Naval officer suspected of damaging military security By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
A military expert says the U.S. Navy officer who is facing espionage charges for allegedly passing state secrets, possibly to China and Taiwan, may have been in possession of valuable signals intelligence. A redacted Navy charge sheet says the suspect, identified by an anonymous U.S. official as Lt. Crd. Edward Lin, a naturalized citizen from Taiwan, was assigned to the Navy's Patrol and Reconnaissance Group, which manages intelligence gathering activities. Andrei Chang, a military expert and founder of Canadian and Chinese Defense Review, said that information about how the U.S. Navy carries out such signals collection operations could be highly valuable to a foreign government. After a U.S. EP-3 surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea in 2001, Chang said, China forced the reconnaissance aircraft to land in a Chinese airport and dismantled it, hoping to get more information about its intelligence gathering capacity. "With the East China Sea and South China Sea dispute intensifying, and the deterioration of Sino-U.S. strategic relations, the United States frequently sends EP-3 electronic reconnaissance aircraft into the South China Sea and the East China Sea, and to places very close to China's coastal areas," said Chang, explaining that the planes are capable of conducting a variety of radio, telephone and mobile communications operations. "It can monitor, record, measure and use the information to locate military bases to find out what kinds of planes took off, and what orders were given," he added. Taiwan's Foreign Ministry declined to comment, but Taiwan's Defense Ministry said the current espionage case is unrelated to its government affairs, and it has no information on the case. Taiwanese media outlets quoted Defense Ministry generals as saying that, in the past, if any Taiwanese were suspected of espionage, the United States would notify the Taiwanese government and ask them to assist with the investigation, but this time the United States made no contact. Taiwanese news reports also say the U.S. Navy has accused the suspect of communicating secret information and three times of attempting to do so "with intent or reason to believe it would be used to the advantage of a foreign nation.” A Taiwanese official who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed the suspect is a Taiwanese immigrant, but that "that is the only thing linking this case to Taiwan." U.S.-Taiwanese military exchanges have not been affected by the case, he added. The suspect, who is also accused of engaging in prostitution and adultery, was apprehended at an airport in Hawaii, possibly while attempting to leave the country. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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contents
of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced anywhere
without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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| A.M. Costa Rica sixth news page |
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San José,
Costa Rica, Wednesday, April 13,
2016, Vol. 17, No. 72
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Cybersecurity draft
bill gets bad reviews By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services One of the most anticipated pieces of cybersecurity legislation took a step forward late last week in the U.S. Congress, but most analysts have not been kind to the new measure. The Hill newspaper published a discussion draft of the bill from Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who is on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Discussion drafts are often short on detail. This one was only nine pages long. But they provide valuable insights into the priorities of its authors and the key principles they seek to establish. The bill would require covered entities, including digital device manufacturers, software manufacturers, electronic communication services or any person who provides a product to comply with court orders seeking access to information or data in an intelligible format or assistance necessary to obtain such data. That could cover many thousands of individuals as well as private tech companies, and includes emails, texts, contacts or any other information stored and shared digitally, an expansive definition. Lance Hoffman of George Washington University, who founded the school's Cyberspace Security Policy and Research Institute, says "It’s way too vague, there's too few safeguards, and I don't think there's any consequences enumerated if a covered entity doesn’t follow the law." Hoffman says, "Worse though, is where it gets down to covered entities, well that could be anybody. It might even apply to any individual who happens to use an app that obscures data in any fashion." Susan Hennessey, a fellow in national security in governance studies at the Brookings Institution says the bill "creates a generalized obligation for . . . covered entities . . . to preserve some ability to access communications. That’s sort of the formalized back door that Silicon Valley has always warned about.” Ross Schulman, senior counsel with New America’s Open Technology Institute says the bill mandates, "Thou shalt do this’ but doesn’t grapple with any of the difficult questions of how one actually goes about doing it." But Ms. Hennessey says the bill "preserves the kind of flexibility that legislation around technology needs to preserve." She said the bill is tethered to responding to court orders and is not a limitless mandate, but a clarification of Congress' expectations regarding encryption. "This is in some respects what Apple and others have been calling for: a decision from Congress, not the FBI resorting to the All Writs Act. So Congress is saying: we have decided, and this is our expectation.," Ms. Hennessey said. Schulman said the authors of the bill "didn’t do a whole lot of hard work to think about the implications. It would make illegal whole swathes of the infrastructure that we’ve painstakingly put in place over the last 25 years to make the Internet a secure place to live and do business." Ms. Hoffman adds, "There’s little doubt this bill would certainly inhibit innovation in the United States." "What I would say to members of Congress is first, do no harm. Don’t mess up something that's given the U.S. great advantages and continues to do so. What you really need is a solid risk analysis: an examination of the web’s architecture, it’s functioning, and the consequences of any new regulatory action," Ms. Hoffman said, adding: "If you change the Internet’s architecture, you might be able to build a stronger, more secure system, but it would be a lot less useful. |
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| From Page 7: Monetary Fund cuts estimate global growth rate By the A.M. Costa Rica
wire services
The International Monetary Fund says global economic growth has been too slow for too long and that this disappointing growth rate could worsen. The Fund’s newest World Economic Outlook cuts the global growth forecast two-tenths of a percent to 3.2 percent. The agency's researchers also say the U.S., Japanese and European Union economies will grow more slowly than previously estimated. The study says China is likely to grow slightly faster than previously expected. The Monetary Fund says recent global financial turbulence saw investors growing more worried and more timid, abrupt sell-offs of risky assets, higher interest rates for loans to emerging market nations and sharp falls in prices for oil and other commodities. Continued violent instability in many nations, including Syria, has created a humanitarian disaster as millions of refugees seek safety in other nations. The authors say the surge of refugees to Europe, coupled with other economic strains, is prompting a rising tide of inward-looking nationalism that hurts economic integration. The report also expresses worries about the backlash in the United States against open trade. The report calls on policymakers to take advantage of current low interest rates to invest in infrastructure and research, providing an immediate and long-term boost in growth and jobs. The Monetary Fund also calls on national leaders to prepare to cope with economic troubles, warning that the fragile global economy leaves less room for error. |
