SYDNEY: Australia looks set to become the first country to phase out incandescent light bulbs in favor of more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, as part of its drive to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The Australian federal environment minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said Tuesday that he would work with the states to get rid of incandescent bulbs by 2009 or 2010. “The most effective and immediate way we can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions is by using energy more efficiently,”...
US govt drawing up list of candidates to replace World Bank’s Wolfowitz - report
May 16, 2008 on 3:57 am | In Currency |
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Embattled World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz’s position is seeming more precarious after a report that the White House is compiling a list of candidates to succeed him.
The Times says the US administration is softening its support for the president, who is under mounting pressure to resign in the wake of a pay scandal involving his girlfriend, and is considering possible replacements.
According to the report Ashraf Ghani, former finance minister of Afghanistan, is the most prominent name on the list. Ghani is widely credited with overhauling the Afghan economy after Sept 11, and if appointed, would be the first ever non-American to hold the position.
Publicly the US — the bank’s largest shareholder — is standing by Wolfowitz. But the lack of comment on the matter from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is being interpreted as an indication of the US Government’s attempt to distance itself from the affair.
The 63-year-old bank chief is under fire from staffers and advocacy groups calling for his resignation after revelations he helped arrange a hefty pay hike for his partner, former World Bank press officer Shaha Riza, when she was transferred to the US State Department in 2005.
There are growing fears the turmoil will undermine the institution’s core anti-poverty lending and development activities.
Yesterday Wolfowitz appeared before the World Bank’s 24-member board and, according to officials present, stated again that he did not intend to stand down.
rachel.armstrong@thomson.com
rar/lam
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