PM wants global constitution for financial system

clipped from uk.reuters.com LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on Friday for a world constitution to regulate the financial system and said he hoped for agreement on a range of regulation issues at G8 and G20 meetings in coming months. Brown said a global solution was required to transform financial services, which he defined as follows: "Common rules for capital and liquidity, common standards for supervision, common rules for bonuses and a shared way of assessing the contribution banks should make to society, free of the unfair and disproportionate use of regulatory and tax havens which penalise countries doing the right things." On the issue of when to start withdrawing fiscal stimulus measures to start reducing Britain's fast-growing public deficit -- a hot political issue in the run-up to Britain's election, which must take place by June -- Brown strongly defended his stance of delaying fiscal austerity measures.

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China will soon have the power to switch off the lights in the West - Telegraph

Image by robertodevido via Flickr

• China will soon have the power to switch off the lights in the West - Telegraph

  " Published: 7:00AM GMT 03 Jan 2010 The year is 2050, and a diplomatic dispute between China and Britain risks escalating into all-out war. But rather than launching a barrage of ballistic missiles and jet fighters to destroy key British targets, Beijing has a far simpler plan for defeating its enemy. It simply turns off the lights. At the flick of a switch elite teams of Chinese hackers attached to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) launch a hi-tech assault on Britain's computer systems, with devastating consequences. Within minutes the country's power stations, water companies, air traffic control, government and financial systems are totally shut down. 'pants' decision Britain's attempt to respond by launching nuclear-armed Trident missiles at China has to be abandoned, as the computer systems that control the weapons system are no longer functioning. At a time when relations between China and Britain are supposed to be improving, the prospect of Beijing launching a cyber attack against Britain and its allies might seem to be the stuff of fantasy. After all, it is only two years since Gordon Brown made a highly successful visit to Beijing where the two countries agreed to increase trade by 50 per cent by this year, and to cooperate on a range of issues, such as global warming. As one of the world's leading economic powers, China's role on the world stage has transformed dramatically over the past decade, with the huge wealth that Beijing has accumulated from its impressive economic growth playing a key role in supporting the global economy. "

  tags: telegraph, Security, China, War, lights, Technology, Gadgets, computer, systems

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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