Lamy: “Trade generates opportunities for development”

Director-General Pascal Lamy, at the opening of the academic year of the Geneva Graduate Institute with Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen on 3 October 2012, said: "In his work Development as Freedom, Prof. Sen defines development as a process that expands human freedom and removes those 'unfreedoms' that leave people with little choice and few opportunities. International trade is recognized as a tool for generating opportunities for development.  In this same spirit, the WTO does not advocate open trade for its own sake, but as a means for 'raising standards of living, ensuring full employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income and effective demand'."

http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/sppl_e/sppl251_e.htm

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde Calls for Action Now to Secure Global Recovery

Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, today urged policymakers to use the window of opportunity offered by recent policy decisions - and to take the actions needed to achieve a decisive turn in the global crisis.

http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2012/pr12358.htm

Growth to Slow in East Asia and Pacific in 2012, But Domestic Demand Will Play Key Role in Rebound Next Year

China's growth to slow to 7.7% in 2012 but recover to 8.1% next year

Singapore, October 8, 2012 - Economic growth in the East Asia and Pacific region may slow down by a full percentage point from 8.2 percent in 2011 to 7.2 percent this year , before recovering to 7.6 percent in 2013. Growth in developed countries will remain modest, with recovery in the region to be driven mainly by strong domestic demand in developing countries, said the World Bank in its East Asia and Pacific Economic Data Monitos, released today.

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/2012/10/08/growth-to-slow-in-east-asia-and-pacific-in-2012-but-domestic-demand-will-play-key-role-in-rebound-next-year

Marijuana Only for the Sick? A Farce, Some Angelenos Say

LOS ANGELES- One year after federal law enforcement officials began cracking down on California's medical marijuana  industry with a series of high-profile arrests around the state, they finally moved into Los Angeles last month, giving 71 dispensaries until Tuesday to shut down. At the same time, because of a well-organized push by a new coalition of medical marijuana supporters, the City Council last week repealed a ban on the dispensaries that it had passed only a couple of months earlier.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/us/california-fight-to-ensure-marijuana-goes-only-to-sick.html?hp&_r=