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WHEN all else fails, those pious Americans who conceived and directed the Iraq war fall back on moral self-congratulation: at least we brought liberty and democracy to an oppressed people. But that last-ditch rationalization has now become America's sorriest self-delusion in this tragedy.
However wholeheartedly we disposed of their horrific dictator, the Iraqis were always pawns on the geopolitical chessboard rather than actual people in the administration's reckless bet to "transform" the Middle East. From "Stuff happens!" on, nearly every aspect of Washington policy in Iraq exuded contempt for the beneficiaries of our supposed munificence. Now this animus is completely out of the closet. Without Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz to kick around anymore, the war's dead-enders are pinning the fiasco on the Iraqis themselves. Our government abhors them almost as much as the Lou Dobbs spear carriers loathe those swarming "aliens" from Mexico.
Iraqis are clamoring to get out of Iraq. Two million have fled so far and nearly two million more have been displaced within the country. (That's a total of some 15 percent of the population.) Save the Children reported this month that Iraq's child-survival rate is falling faster than any other nation's. One Iraqi in eight is killed by illness or violence by the age of 5. Yet for all the words President Bush has lavished on Darfur and AIDS in Africa, there has been a deadly silence from him about what's happening in the country he gave "God's gift of freedom."
It's easy to see why. To admit that Iraqis are voting with their feet is to concede that American policy is in ruins. A "secure" Iraq is a mirage, and, worse, those who can afford to leave are the very professionals who might have helped build one. Thus the president says nothing about Iraq's humanitarian crisis, the worst in the Middle East since 1948, much as he tried to hide the American death toll in Iraq by keeping the troops' coffins off-camera and staying away from military funerals.
But his silence about Iraq's mass exodus is not merely another instance of deceptive White House P.R.; it's part of a policy with a huge human cost. The easiest way to keep the Iraqi plight out of sight, after all, is to prevent Iraqis from coming to America. And so we do, except for stray Shiites needed to remind us of purple fingers at State of the Union time or to frame the president in Rose Garden photo ops.
Since the 2003 invasion, America has given only 466 Iraqis asylum. Sweden, which was not in the coalition of the willing, plans to admit 25,000 Iraqis this year alone. Our State Department, goaded by January hearings conducted by Ted Kennedy, says it will raise the number for this year to 7,000 (a figure that, small as it is, may be more administration propaganda). A bill passed by Congress this month will add another piddling 500, all interpreters.
In reality, more than 5,000 interpreters worked for the Americans. So did tens of thousands of drivers and security guards who also, in Senator Kennedy's phrase, have "an assassin's bull's-eye on their backs" because they served the occupying government and its contractors over the past four-plus years. How we feel about these Iraqis was made naked by one of the administration's most fervent hawks, the former United Nations ambassador John Bolton, speaking to The Times Magazine this month. He claimed that the Iraqi refugee problem had "absolutely nothing to do" with Saddam's overthrow: "Our obligation was to give them new institutions and provide security. We have fulfilled that obligation. I don't think we have an obligation to compensate for the hardships of war."
Actually, we haven't fulfilled the obligation of giving them functioning institutions and security. One of the many reasons we didn't was that L. Paul Bremer's provisional authority staffed the Green Zone with unqualified but well-connected Republican hacks who, in some cases, were hired after they expressed their opposition to Roe v. Wade. The administration is nothing if not consistent in its employment practices. The assistant secretary in charge of refugees at the State Department now, Ellen Sauerbrey, is a twice-defeated Republican candidate for governor of Maryland with no experience in humanitarian crises but a hefty résumé in anti-abortion politics. She is to Iraqis seeking rescue what Brownie was to Katrina victims stranded in the Superdome.
Ms. Sauerbrey's official line on Iraqi refugees, delivered to Scott Pelley of "60 Minutes" in March, is that most of them "really want to go home." The administration excuse for keeping Iraqis out of America is national security: we have to vet every prospective immigrant for terrorist ties. But many of those with the most urgent cases for resettlement here were vetted already, when the American government and its various Halliburton subsidiaries asked them to risk their lives by hiring them in the first place. For those whose loyalties can no longer be vouched for, there is the contrasting lesson of Vietnam. Julia Taft, the official in charge of refugees in the Ford administration, reminded Mr. Pelley that 131,000 Vietnamese were resettled in America within eight months of the fall of Saigon, despite loud, Dobbs-like opposition at the time. In the past seven months, the total number of Iraqis admitted to America was 69.
The diplomat Richard Holbrooke, whose career began during the Vietnam War, told me that security worries then were addressed by a vetting process carried out in safe, preliminary asylum camps for refugees set up beyond Vietnam's borders in Asia. But as Mr. Holbrooke also points out in the current Foreign Affairs magazine, the real forerunner to American treatment of Iraqi refugees isn't that war in any case, but World War II. That's when an anti-Semitic assistant secretary of state, Breckinridge Long, tirelessly obstructed the visa process to prevent Jews from obtaining sanctuary in America, not even filling the available slots under existing quotas. As many as 75,000 such refugees were turned away before the Germans cut off exit visas to Jews in late 1941, according to Howard Sachar's "History of the Jews in America."
Like the Jews, Iraqis are useful scapegoats. This month Mr. Bremer declared that the real culprits for his disastrous 2003 decision to cleanse Iraq of Baathist officials were unnamed Iraqi politicians who "broadened the decree's impact far beyond our original design." The Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, is chastising the Iraqis for being unable "to do anything they promised."
The new White House policy, as Zbigniew Brzezinski has joked, is "blame and run." It started to take shape just before the midterm elections last fall, when Mr. Rumsfeld wrote a memo (propitiously leaked after his defenestration) suggesting that the Iraqis might "have to pull up their socks, step up and take responsibility for their country." By January, Mr. Bush was saying that "the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude" and wondering aloud "whether or not there is a gratitude level that's significant enough in Iraq." In February, one of the war's leading neocon cheerleaders among the Beltway punditocracy lowered the boom. "Iraq is their country," Charles Krauthammer wrote. "We midwifed their freedom. They chose civil war." Bill O'Reilly and others now echo this cry.
The message is clear enough: These ungrateful losers deserve everything that's coming to them. The Iraqis hear us and are returning the compliment. Whether Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is mocking American demands for timelines and benchmarks, or the Iraqi Parliament is setting its own timeline for American withdrawal even while flaunting its vacation schedule, Iraq's nominal government is saying it's fed up. The American-Iraqi shotgun marriage of convenience, midwifed by disastrous Bush foreign policy, has disintegrated into the marriage from hell.
While the world waits for the White House and Congress to negotiate the separation agreement, the damage to the innocent family members caught in the cross-fire is only getting worse. Despite Mr. Bush's May 10 claim that "the number of sectarian murders has dropped substantially" since the surge began, The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the number of such murders is going up. For the Americans, the cost is no less dear. Casualty figures confirm that the past six months have been the deadliest yet for our troops.
While it seems but a dim memory now, once upon a time some Iraqis did greet the Americans as liberators. Today, in fact, it is just such Iraqis — not the local Iraqi insurgents the president conflates with Osama bin Laden's Qaeda in Pakistan — who do want to follow us home. That we are slamming the door in their faces tells you all you need to know about the real morality beneath all the professed good intentions of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Though the war's godfathers saw themselves as ridding the world of another Hitler, their legacy includes a humanitarian catastrophe that will need its own Raoul Wallenbergs and Oskar Schindlers if lives are to be saved.


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Guardian: "Europe's biggest paper ran a bogus refugee 'sex mob' story. What now?"
The German tabloid Bild recently claimed that a huge group of intoxicated Muslim men, most of them refugees, had formed a "rioting sex mob" and assaulted scores of women. The story was picked up internationally and spread via social media. Only problem. The story was completely false.
The German Tabloid Bild later apologized (Feb. 14, 2017). But Christian Christensen, professor in Journalism, argued on Friday that: "No quantity of retractions, excuses or apologies from the outlets that ran with it will heal the damage". Read Christensen's full op-ed article in the Guardian (Feb. 17, 2017)
Senast uppdaterad:
20 februari 2017
Webbredaktör: Svante Emanuelli
Sidansvarig: IMS


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Tragedy struck Aurora, Colorado during a midnight show of The Dark Knight Rises last night. Fans were expecting to see their hero Batman, but instead faced a real life Joker, James Holmes.
According to CBS Local, 24-year-old Holmes shot and killed 12 people and injured over 70, including a three month old infant. He was immediately arrested behind the movie theatre. Anticipating this arrest, Holmes had already booby-trapped his home for police.
As several innocent victims continue to hang on to life, country music artists expressed their empathy and compassion on Twitter in various ways.
Billy Ray Cyrus took to Twitter when he first heard the news, and then posted a few hours later:
Oh no ! Just woke up and turned on the news "14 dead 50 hurt in Batman movie shooting".Praying for victims. So sorry and sad. — Billy Ray Cyrus (@billyraycyrus) July 20, 2012
"Enough is enough…enough tears have been shed …enough hurt has been hidden…enough blood has been bled ". Praying for America. — Billy Ray Cyrus (@billyraycyrus) July 20, 2012
Charlie Daniels, who lives in Colorado, felt the home effects of this tragedy:
As part time resident of Colorado let me say how much I love the state and the people pray God will comfort you all at this terrible time — Charlie Daniels (@CharlieDaniels) July 20, 2012
Crazy day,the police had to shoot the tires out on a car about a mile ahead of us this morning,closed the road for about 3 hours. — Charlie Daniels (@CharlieDaniels) July 20, 2012
Meghan Lindsey was also shocked by the news, along with several other artists, including John Rich:
Just read about the #theatershooting in Colorado. Who could do such a thing? And why??? Praying for the victims and their families. so sad. — Meghan Linsey (@meghanlinsey) July 20, 2012
I can't imagine my family being taken from me by a mad man in a movie theater. This is more than anyone can fathom. That's Why I Pray. — John Rich (@johnrich) July 20, 2012
Shooting in CO is why ppl should have their carry permits. Had I been there I would have unloaded on that maniac till he stopped breathing. — John Rich (@johnrich) July 20, 2012
It is clear country artists are devastated by this horrific event. They are filled with compassion, anger and sadness. The saddest part is this tragedy is one of several to hit America in recent years. CBS Local reminds us on January 8, 2011 US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others were shot during a public meeting in Tucson, Arizona. Six people lost their lives. Prior to that on November 5, 2009, 13 were killed and 30 others were wounded in a shooting rampage in Texas. This list goes on…will the killings ever stop?
For latest updates on this tragedy, please visit http://denver.cbslocal.com/tag/aurora-movie-shooting/
-Ashley Quadros, CBS Local Sacramento


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I had a great birthday yesterday, minus the fact that even with Reggie Bush running two punt returns for touchdowns my fantasy football team lost by 1 measly point, and the Angels. Ohhh the Angels BLEW the series this year. Today I am mourning their loss and their great season that went down the tubes in four short games. So I guess now, as much as I hate to say it, Go Dodgers. Although I do kind of like the Rays as well. Everyone loves an underdog! Thank you to everyone with the well wishes. This past weekend was awesome too.
If you ever get the chance go to to Palm Springs in CA, I would highly recommend the month of October. The weather is amazing and wasn't the normal 120 degree heat. I would also highly recommend staying at The Mod Resort. (www.modresort.com) It was a great experience and super fun to stay there. Such a nice little get away for just a day.
This was looking outside our room at the saltwater pool. Just 14 rooms makes the hotel so cute and really allows quality over quantity. (And no crazy wild screaming kids! love it!)
T-Minus four days until the big 1/2 Marathon. I can't believe I am actually going to be doing it. It seems pretty crazy, but I know it will be fun. So I have a few questions for you 1/2 marathon and marathon gurus out there.
What should I wear?
This may sound like stupid question, but I don't know if I should go for something comfy and whatever, or try to wear something different, or just a t-shirt. What do you guys normally wear for race days?
What should my run be the day before?
This is usually my long run day but since the race is on Sunday, I'm not going out and doing 10 miles the day before. I was thinking maybe just like an easy 30 minute jog? Let me know what you guys run the day before.
And, though I thought this question would never cross my mind, but what do I run the day after? I was thinking again, another 30 minute jog to kind of get the kinks out and get loosened up again. What do you guys do?
It's finally happening! If anyone else is doing any of the Long Beach races (www.runlongbeach.com), or has done them, let me know. I would love to hear your insight on the race/environment. This weekend I am going to pick up my goodie bag and I'm pretty excited as to what will be in there!
So what is it with me and finding animals on the side of the road? Well today I found a bird that I think basically fell off the electrical wire it was sitting on way above the sidewalk and fell to it's death. Sad, but I wasn't about to touch this bird at all. In the last 10 years of me running I have never found any animals, dead or alive in my path, and within a week I find one kitten and a dead bird.
Presh the small kitten I rescued is doing well and adjusting to being spoiled rotten by my cousins. She is active and her leg is healing just fine. :) I am so glad that she will have a great home.
Counting down the days till the Long Beach 1/2 Marathon!!


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IFA Go here for an update to this story.
Technology company MSI resorted to overwhelming force - well, one armed, shaven-headed security goon - to curtail a casual visit to its IFA booth by a Register Hardware reporter.
MSI at IFA: keep your filthy hands off my netbook
And all we wanted to do was ask about the Wind netbook's battery life.
We didn't get to put out questions - we'd barely stepped onto the stand when a couple of suits barked at us in German to get the heck off it, while the company's paramilitaries steered us back onto the show floor.
Is that a gun in your pocket or are... oh, it is a gun
Alas, our German wasn't up to enquiring about the nature of the heightened circumstances that warranted such a show of force - or to ask under what conditions the guards would feel it to deploy their hefty sidearms.
Worried about punters seeking out six-cell power packs, perhaps...
Nothing to see here, move on
IFA 2008 complete coverage
Related Mini Laptop Reviews
Advent 4211
Acer Aspire One A110
MSI Wind
Asus Eee PC 901
Vye mini-v S37B
Asus Eee PC 900


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This image of the chinoiserie staircase in a garden pavilion at Bodnant in Conwy throws up all sorts of questions. Why install a Chinese-style staircase? Who installed it at Bodnant and when? What does 'China' mean in the context of an Edwardian-style Welsh garden?
The present garden at Bodnant was created by Henry Davis Pochin and his descendants, the McLaren family, Lords Aberconway. Pochin was a Victorian industrial chemist who made his fortune by clarifying rosin, a component of soap, and by producing alum cake, then used in the manufacture of paper. He purchased the Bodant estate in 1874.
Pochin's daughter Laura married Charles McLaren, a barrister and politician who was created Lord Aberconway in 1911. She was a keen gardener and passed her passion on to her son Henry, the 2nd Lord Aberconway.
During the time of the 2nd Lord Aberconway the garden was enlarged, a series of terraces was created and numerous plants were added, either through exchange with fellow garden owners or by subscription to plant-hunting expeditions.
In the late 1930s Lord Aberconway bought a derelict garden pavilion from the Woodchester Park estate in Gloucestershire and had it dismanled and re-erected as a focal point on one of the terraces at Bondnant. The pavilion was originally built in about 1740 but had latterly been used as a pin factory and a tannery. For that reason it is still has the slightly incongruous (but no doubt consciously chosen) name of Pin Mill.
Originally there had simply been a ladder to get to the top storey, but Lord Aberconway commissioned the architect J.Murray Easton to design a chinoiserie staircase for it. It was made in the joinery shop of the shipbuilders John Brown of Clydebank, of which Aberconway was chairman.
It is revealing that the chinoiserie style was thought to be sympathetic to a Palladian pavilion – presumably Aberconway and Murray were aware that the Chinese style was popular in England in the middle of the eighteenth century and was often used in conjunction with the Palladian style.
A chinoiserie staircase of about 1740 survives at Boughton House, Northamptonshire, possibly designed by Henry Flitcroft for John, 2nd Duke of Montagu. Also, as part of the East India Company at Home project, Rachael Barnwell is currently researching a group of town houses on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales, which feature similar eighteenth-century 'Chinese' staircases. As Bodnant is relatively close to Anglesey, one wonders whether Lord Aberconway was aware of those local precedents.
The Pin Mill is also an interesting example of the activities of wealthy connoisseurs in the Edwardian and inter-war years, who would purchase and reassemble historic furnishings and even whole buildings according to their taste. This was often done with great sensitivity, but also with a freedom that seems surprising nowadays. Henry Francis Dupont's Winterthur, in Wilmington, Delaware, is probably the prime example of this kind of idealised historic country house and garden.
So the Chinese staircase at Bodnant is not what it seems, but is all the more fascinating for it.


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- Overview
- togglePart I: Contraction of Trade Finance During Crises
- togglePart II: Addressing Trade Finance Shortfalls
- Chapter 4. Indonesia's Experience in Dealing with Trade Finance Shortfalls during Financial Crises
- Chapter 5. Brazil's Approach in the Face of Export Finance Constraints
- Chapter 6. The U.S. Export-Import Bank and the Asian Crisis
- Chapter 7. The JBIC Financing Facility for Indonesia
- Chapter 8. Recent Argentine and Brazilian Crises and Effective Multilateral Development Bank Interventions
- togglePart III: Restoring Access to Trade Finance
Back Matter
- Jian-Ye Wang, and Márcio Ronci
- Published Date:
- February 2006
Lending arrangement whereby a multilateral institution makes a loan to a private sector borrower in an emerging-market country, thereby becoming the "lender of record," that is, the sole contractual lender on the books of the borrower, with this status acknowledged by the government of the borrower's country. However, instead of maintaining the entire loan on its own books, the multilateral maintains only a portion of the loan—the "A" loan—and participates in the remainder of the loan—the "B" loan— to commercial banks and/or institutional lenders, either directly or through securitization.
Generally refers to all forms of financing where the lender has a claim over specific assets of the borrower, whether with or without a general claim against the borrower. An asset-backed security is characterized as an obligation that is supported by cash flow from a specific pool of assets (typically secured offshore); such securitization can involve the future cash flow of receivables related to exports, services or products. See also structured financing.
The International Union of Credit and Investment Insurers. Established in 1934, this organization now includes almost 50 of the largest export credit agencies and investment insurers from both member and nonmember countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Institutions, not their governments, are members. The Union works for the acceptance of sound principles of export credit and investment insurance and the exchange of information and experience. It also has adopted a series of agreements and understandings by which members undertake to abide by certain maximum credit terms and terms for goods. The secretariat is in London, and members hold two general meetings each year as well as specialist seminars and workshops.
One of the two main categories of risk insured by export credit agencies (the other being political risk). The term applies primarily to the risk of nonpayment by a private buyer or commercial bank or a public buyer due to default (protracted or otherwise), insolvency or bankruptcy, or failure or unwillingness to take delivery of the goods (i.e., repudiation). Usually excluded are cases where there are disputes between exporter and importer about product quality, delivery dates, performance, and the like. Claims will generally not be considered until these disputes are resolved. Also usually excluded are commercial risks on sales from exporters in one country to their subsidiaries in other countries.
See letter of credit.
A quantitative limit on exposure set by most export credit agencies and international banks to monitor and control their total commitments on individual countries. Country limits usually apply to medium- and long-term business and rarely include short-term business. They can have various forms, including annual maturities limits and contract limits.
The insurance provided by an export credit agency. Thus, for example, if some insurance facilities are available from such an agency for country X, that agency is "on cover" for that country. Conversely, where no insurance facilities are available, the agency is said to be "off cover." An agency's underwriting policy on a particular buying country is usually referred to as its cover policy for that country. But the term "cover" is also used more loosely to embrace insurance against both political and commercial risks.
The principal product of an export credit agency. However, the term can include both export credit insurance and domestic credit insurance (i.e., insurance on sales within a country). Credit insurance protects the insured party (normally the seller), in exchange for a premium, against a range of risks that result in nonpayment by the buyer. In domestic cover, only commercial risks are involved. In export credit cover, both commercial and political risks are normally involved.
The period from the time of delivery or acceptance of goods (for shortterm business) or from the commissioning of the project (in project financing) until repayment is complete. Maximum credit periods are set for repayment periods. The starting point of credit for short-term business is set by the Berne Union agreements, and that for medium- and long-term business by the Berne Union and the OECD Arrangement.
An account, normally in an offshore bank (that is, a bank outside the country of the debtor or importer), into which all or an agreed proportion of the proceeds of export sales from the output of the project are paid. This account is then used first to service the loans that financed the project. Escrow accounts are an increasingly important part of the security package associated with project financing or a limited recourse financing. Normally, lenders and export credit agencies like to see such accounts hold the equivalent of about one year's debt-service payments. The existence of such accounts is a comfort to foreign creditors.
In a strict sense, cover issued against the risk of movements in the exchange rate between the currency of the exporter (and thus of the export credit agency) and the currency in which the export contract is denominated. It insures against the risk that, when the overseas buyer pays in the specified currency, the payment will be worth less in the exporter's currency than was expected when the contract was signed (and less than at the exchange rate for the exchange risk cover agreed upon with the export credit agency). However, the term is more usually—and loosely—used to refer to circumstances governing the exchange rate used by the export credit agency when paying a claim. Should it be the exchange rate on the date the export credit agency came on risk, or on the date the goods were shipped, or on the due payment date, or on the date when the claim is paid? There is no one right answer, but exporters and investors should be sure they understand the position they are taking and, in particular, what date the exportcredit agency will use for the exchange rate, before taking out an export credit or investment insurance facility.
A type of export credit agency that normally not only issues insurance but also lends directly. Some export-import banks also act as borrowers for import finance. There is no single or perfect model, and an eximbank's organization, status, and functions usually differ from country to country.
The main type of facility offered by an export credit agency. The term describes a range of facilities and can mean different things in different contexts. Strictly speaking, export credit refers to the credit extended by exporters to importers (supplier credit) or the medium- and long-term loans used to finance projects and capital goods exports (buyer credit). It includes credit extended both during the period before goods are shipped or projects completed (the preshipment period or precredit period) and the period after delivery or acceptance of the goods or completion of the project (the postshipment period or credit period).
An institution providing export credit insurance facilities. All export credit agencies were at one stage government-owned or controlled or, if they were private companies, operated on government account. This is no longer the case, because the position is now rather more complicated, and so there is today probably no single meaning for the term "export credit agency." It is probably best to define it in terms of the functions of the organization rather than its status. There is, in any case, no single model for an export credit agency. Their organization, function, status, and facilities differ between countries. Ideally, the structure and function of an export credit agency should reflect the conditions in and the needs of the country in which it operates. These can change as time passes, even within the same country. Attempts to transfer a model from one country to another without appropriate adaptation nearly always cause more problems than they solve. Most export credit agencies belong to the Berne Union or the Berne Union's affiliate organization, the Prague Club for newly created organizations.
The main business of export credit agencies. These agencies issue insurance policies of various kinds with respect of a range of risks against payment of a premium. For export credit insurance, the risks embrace both political and commercial causes of loss that may arise in the precredit period (before shipment), or during the credit period (after shipment). Policies may be issued to exporters (supplier credit) or to banks engaged in financing trade (buyer credit). For investment insurance, the risks are restricted to political risks. In both export credit and investment insurance, the insurance is against specified risks or classes of risk and is therefore conditional, although individual policies may be loosely referred to as guarantees.
A document issued by a bank guaranteeing payment on behalf of one of its clients when all the conditions stated in the letter have been met. This is a very important mechanism of world trade, including for export credit agencies both in their short-term business and, less frequently, in their medium-term business. Letters of credit can take a variety of forms, but essentially they are a means of payment between an importer and exporter via their banks. The importer is sometimes called the opener, and the importer's bank the opening bank (or sometimes the issuing bank). The bank in the exporter's country is called the advising bank, and the exporter is called the beneficiary. A letter of credit may be revocable, which means that it can be canceled or modified by the importer or the importer's bank without prior approval from the beneficiary. Thus, a revocable letter of credit offers little security to exporters. The more commonly used irrevocable letter of credit (ILC) cannot be modified without the prior approval of the beneficiary. Unless the letter of credit is conditional, the bank issuing it effectively assumes the risk of default by the importer, provided that the terms and conditions of the letter of credit are fully met. The advising bank, on the other hand, is not required to pay the beneficiary unless and until it receives the funds from the issuing bank. Thus, even ILCs do not provide full protection to exporters. Letters of credit can also be confirmed. This is done either on an open confirmation basis, in which case the issuing bank is aware of the confirmation, or on a silent confirmation basis, in which case the issuing bank and the importer or buyer may not be aware. Confirmed letters of credit reduce certain risks for exporters, such as the risk that the issuing bank may fail or be unable to transfer foreign exchange. But a key point is that when the exporter seeks payment from the advising (or confirming) bank, it must meet all the terms of the letter of credit. Thus, it is vital that exporters carefully read all the conditions and requirements, as these can sometimes be onerous and may contain provisions that significantly reduce their benefit from the transaction. As many as 40 percent of applications from exporters for payments under letters of credit are rejected because of mistakes in documentation and the like. Obviously, this leads to payment delays. But even under a confirmed letter of credit, an exporter may be exposed to risks such as those that arise before the letter of credit is opened. Letters of credit are subject to widely accepted practices and procedures under the International Chamber of Commerce's Uniform Customs and Practices for Documentary Credits.
Traditionally, insurance or financing applied over a period of more than five years. But there is no generally accepted or precise division between longand medium-term business.
Conventionally, business with a credit period of between one and five years. However, under the OECD Arrangement, medium-term business is that with a credit period of two to five years. There are no universally-accepted or generally-applied divisions between short- and medium-term business, or between medium- and long-term business.
Medium-term export financing is an important dimension of trade credit, both for necessary capital goods and project-related imports into a crisis country and for selected capital goods exports from the country. During recent financial crises, medium-term trade financing to the crisis countries also declined sharply. Wider use of structured financing and improvements on the incentive structure governing export credit agencies would help mitigate the decline and facilitate an early resumption of new credits. The latter is important for economic recovery in a crisis country.
A public sector lender or insurer. Some official creditors, such as the international financial institutions, are multinational. Others are bilateral, such as individual creditor governments and their official agencies such as central banks and export credit agencies when writing business on government account.
An export credit supported (usually insured) by an export credit agency on government account, rather than on its own account. The credit may be a supplier credit or a buyer credit. For medium- and long-term business, the extent of permissible official support is set by the OECD Arrangement (normally limited to 85 percent of the exported value plus, where appropriate, the maximum permissible share of local costs, normally 15 percent of the exported value).
Trade finance business whereby goods are shipped and delivered and payment is made on the basis of invoice, usually in cash. There are thus no bills of exchange or promissory notes, and the exporter relies on the importer to pay in accordance with the invoice or terms of the contract. Open account business is thus most commonly used where seller and buyer have a good and longstanding trading relationship. Export credit agencies are prepared to cover open account business if they are content to underwrite the buyer.
Confirmation of a letter of credit in such a manner that the importer and the importer's bank (the opening bank or issuing bank) and, where relevant, the authorities and the central bank in the importing country, are aware of the confirmation.
The risk of nonpayment on an export contract or project due to action by an importer's or buyer's host government. Such action may include intervention to prevent the transfer of payments, cancellation of a license, or acts of war or civil war. Nonpayment by sovereign buyers themselves is also a political risk. Political risk is one of the two main categories of risks insured by export credit agencies (the other being commercial risk). Some export credit agencies cover political risks in their own countries, especially the cancellation of export licenses. In recent decades the most common political risk claims have been due to inability to convert and transfer foreign exchange, but in these circumstances buyers must first have made local currency deposits.
Insurance of risks arising during the postshipment period. Sometimes called credit cover.
The period from the date on which goods are shipped or accepted until the last payment has been received. Sometimes called the credit period.
Insurance of risks arising during the preshipment period.
Credit extended for the preshipment period.
The time from the date of an insured contract until the date of shipment (or of acceptance by the buyer)—in other words, the period up to the time the credit period begins. Most export credit agencies offer cover for risks arising in this period, but it is sometimes handled through a separate policy or as an addition to the policy, rather than as part of the standard policy or facility.
The practice whereby an insurer passes on to another insurer (called a reinsurer) part of the risk (and a portion of the premium income) of a policy it has written. Export credit agencies can be involved in reinsurance both as reinsurers and as reinsured parties. Export credit agencies receive reinsurance from their governments or purchase it in the private reinsurance market. These are several varieties of reinsurance (e.g., facultative, quota share, excess loss), but the basic principle is the same. Some export credit agencies (e.g., in the United Kingdom) are beginning to provide reinsurance to some private insurers on political risks in some countries.
Transactions involving a maximum credit period of, usually, 180 days, although under some definitions it can extend to 360 days and, in exceptional cases, to two years. For purposes of the OECD Arrangement, the medium term begins (and, by implication, the short term ends) at two years. Short-term business represents the bulk of the business of most export credit agencies and normally includes transactions in raw materials, commodities, and consumer goods. There is no universally-accepted dividing line between short- and medium-term credit.
A term broadly synonymous with political risk but particularly relevant to defaults by or actions of host governments.
Refers to financial instruments that are devised to provide funding on the basis of identifiable assets rather than the credit standing of the borrower concerned. Includes securitization and forms of lending where the cash flow of the borrower is secured to pay off the lender. See also asset-backed financing.
Credit extended by an exporter (supplier) to an overseas buyer as part of the export contract. Cover for this transaction may be extended by the export credit agency to the exporter. Such arrangements are much more common in short-term business. When they arise in the area of medium-term credit, the buyer normally makes a cash down payment (up to 15 percent) and then accepts bills of exchange or issues promissory notes for the balance, at some stage before final delivery or acceptance of the goods.
A catch-all term applied essentially to the entire area of short-term business, especially that involving finance provided directly by banks issuing letters of credit.
Insurance written to cover the risk (called transfer risk) that a buyer may make a deposit of local currency to pay for an international transaction but find itself unable to convert the local currency into foreign exchange for transfer to the exporter. A claim issued under such cover is called a transfer claim. Such inconvertibility can happen even where letters of credit exist. The risk normally arises from restrictions imposed by host governments, through laws or through regulations that have the force of law. During the last 20 years, transfer risk has been the most important political risk covered by export credit agencies. This risk is also covered under investment insurance, where investors are unable to convert and transfer profits and dividends. Export credit agencies often stipulate shortfall undertakings in transfer situations to protect against the possibility that, even if transfer is possible, devaluation may have rendered the local currency deposit insufficient to purchase the foreign exchange necessary to effect the full transfer. Transfer risk is more complicated when a currency collapses, so that even though foreign exchange may still be available to purchase, its price will have risen sharply in local currency terms since the insured contract was signed (or the insured investment made). These events are probably best looked at case by case.
See transfer cover.
The financing required by an exporter to start or continue to operate and produce goods and services to be exported. Normally, export credit agencies are not directly involved in providing working capital. But many exporters offer export credit agency cover (including cover of precredit risk) to their banks as security for finance, including working capital. (They often accomplish this through assignment or hypothecation of the insurance policy to the bank.) A few export credit agencies are directly involved in the provision of working capital, offering either facilities or guarantees directly to banks. However, this is a difficult and high-risk area, especially if the exporter fails to perform its contractual duties and as a result is not paid by the importer. The export credit agency is then faced with the (usually politically-sensitive) job of trying to recover from the exporter the money it has paid to the bank under its working capital facilities.
This paper concerns mostly short-term (mainly less than 180 days) and externally provided financing to support exports and imports of a developing country. Medium- and long-term trade financing, while relevant, is not addressed here.
Estimates based on data collected from private market sources.
Data on trade credit are not readily available, complicating efforts to carry out comprehensive empirical analysis. In cases where data are available, they often are only partial. As a result, many trade finance officials have suggested that a systematic effort involving country authorities, multilateral institutions and the private sector be launched to collect data to facilitate future empirical research.
Exports from emerging markets may have high import content as a result of these countries' integration into the global supply chains. In these cases, a collapse in import financing may adversely affect exports.
Trade finance was conducted against the background of fairly pervasive exchange controls in the 1970 and 1980s. In order to qualify for exemptions relating to trade financing, this type of credit typically took the form of documentary credits, under which the bona fides of the transaction were monitored through documentation relating to shipping, customs, and financing. This gave a reasonable assurance that any carve-outs from debt restructuring would indeed be limited to trade credits and would not open the door for widespread evasion. With the liberation of capital movements, international banks moved away from providing documentary credits and toward revolving lines of credit extended to banks and even enterprises in emerging markets. These developments have made the distinction between trade credit and other types of short-term financing increasingly difficult.
As specified in Articles 1 and 3 and Annex 1 of the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.
The agreements called for banks to maintain cross-border exposure, including on interbank and trade credit lines, which would still permit banks to shift the composition of their overall exposure. Moral suasion from the central banks in creditor countries was important in some of these cases.
A number of export credit agencies operate what is commonly referred to as a "national interest account" for which certain cases can be underwritten, which are outside the agencies' normal criteria.
William R. Cline is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for International Economics (IIE).
Marcio Ronci is an economist at the International Monetary Fund. The author wishes to thank Charalambos Tsangarides, Shang-Jin Wei, Yo Kikuchi, Lisandro Abrego, Jian-Ye Wang, Jan Gottschalk and Luis Catao for comments, and Gloria Moreno and Kadima Kalonji for assistance with the data.
This view was shared by various market participants and authorities in a seminar on trade financing organized by the IMF on March 27, 2003 (see IMF, 2003).
There is evidence that foreign bank lending to emerging countries is procyclical (see Jeanneau and Micu, 2002).
Note that the trade financing flow Fj,t is defined as the first difference of the logarithm of the outstanding short-term credit Dj,t : FINj,t = logDj,t − logDj,t, which is approximately equal to the change of Dj,t in percent as logDj,t − logDj,t−1 = log(ΔDj,t/Dj,t+1) ≈ ΔDj,t/Dj,t−1 according to the well known result log(1+x) ≈ x if x< 1.
Some market participants estimate that about half of all trade is financed outside the banking system.
For an explanation of the methods used, see Kim and Maddala (2001, pp. 134–37), Maddala and Wu (1999) and Im, Pesaran, and Shin (2003).
In addition to testing presented in Table 2.3, we also tested for common unit root process among countries (Levin, Lin and Chu, and Breitung t-statistics) and the results were also mixed.
Our selection of explanatory variables was guided by two survey studies: Goldestein and Khan (1985) and Fullerton (1999). For an example of import equation specification, including an external financing variable, see Resende (1997 and 2001).
Equations (1) and (2) were also estimated using the real effective exchange rate index as an alternative to relative prices, and the results were broadly the same.
Herman Mulder is Senior Executive Vice President and Co-Head of Group Risk Management of ABN AMRO Bank NV. Khalid Sheikh is Senior Vice president of the Emerging Market Analysis & Multilateral Organisations Department within Group Risk Management of ABN AMRO Bank.
A financial crisis is defined as an ad hoc massive shock to the financial system, which translates in a very short time span into a dramatic deterioration of the liquidity or solvency position of economic households. Four types of crisis can be distinguished: currency, banking, fiscal and geopolitical.
Trade finance is a very broad term. It is usually short term, uncommitted, self-liquidating, secured, or unsecured. It has multiple forms, and multiple parties are involved with distinct roles. As a consequence, each form has different implications for growth and exposure to capital market risk.
A key example is Hungary. In 1994, the change in privatization policy led to a huge increase of proceeds of about $5 billion, which helped the government avoid a balance of payments crisis and hence default.
Net capital flows to emerging markets rose strongly up to 1996. It should be noted that private capital flows remain focused on a select number of countries. Foreign direct investment flows to the top 10 recipient emerging economies constituted around 80 percent of the total in 2001.
The amount of new investments insured by Berne Union members increased five times over from $3 billion in 1982 to $15 billion in 1996. Total (investment insurance) exposure of Berne Union members grew from $15 billion in 1982 to $43 billion in 1996, whereas total business grew by $39 billion over the same horizon to $422 billion (Stephens, 1999).
In 2002, net private flows to emerging economies were estimated at 2 percent of GDP, half of what they were a decade before. A further drying up of capital flows would impact the credit fundamentals of both nonrated and low-rated governments.
The IMF provided large bailout packages to Mexico ($50 billion) in 1995, Thailand ($17 billion), Indonesia ($34 billion), and Korea ($57 billion) in 1997, Russia ($16 billion) and Brazil ($42 billion) in 1998, Turkey ($10 billion) and Argentina ($20 billion) in 2001, and Brazil ($30 billion) in 2002.
According to a recent investigation by the Institute for International Finance, the current version of the new accord would result in a rise of more than 100 percent of the risk weighting on sovereign credits to emerging markets, relative to what is currently held.
In this context it is also important to note that foreign direct investment flows are mainly going to the medium- to highly-developed emerging markets. Companies do note make foreign direct investments in very high-risk countries. Basically, for many emerging markets trade is the only source for generating hard currency income and achieving sustainable development. Against this backdrop, much more effort should be put into trade liberalization and trade support schemes for exporting companies in emerging markets.
In contrast to many ECA programs that focus on particular sales, trade flows, origin requirements, etc., the IFC facility has comparatively few requirements. More importantly, it allows for bookings to occur on a global basis using the ABN AMRO network. The IFC's approval parameters have also allowed ABN AMRO to exercise delegated authority in a majority of transaction approvals. While the IFC does review high volume transactions, there are no limits on transaction size, and though there is a general pricing minimum under the program, the IFC permits competitive pricing structures and largely defers to ABN AMRO's recommendation on market pricing practices.
Preferred creditor status is fundamentally a political expression and a matter of conduct rather than a matter of laws.
New money is defined as any money loaned during a financial crisis to keep the debtor afloat. In our view, new money should enjoy seniority.
The current crisis resolution framework is one where private creditors and obligors in distress have a strong interest in seeing multilateral institutions and local governments provide insurance arrangements. They should ensure that guarantees that are offered are as explicit as possible and are priced appropriately, so as to reflect the risks being insured by them. The use of public guarantees could help to leverage-in albeit small amounts of foreign capital in circumstances where there is a scarcity of funds. The importance of such a vehicle is canvassed in the reality that it will contain the political costs of emergency lending.
In the latter environment (credit risks with a maximum tenor of two years), the primary focus would be to act as an intermediary/broker with the task of seeking private insurance for the emerging-market exporter. If short-term private insurance is not available, the institution could step in. This could be of relevance for countries that do not have good access to the private insurance market (e.g., certain African countries).
Peter Jacobs is Deputy Manager of the Foreign Debt Division, Directorate of International Affairs, Bank Indonesia.
In 1997, the share of raw material imports was 64 percent of total imports, capital goods imports contributed 30 percent, and consumption goods, 6 percent. In 2001, the share of imports of raw material increased to 72.1 percent of total imports.
The premium charged by Bank Indonesia was in accordance with market rates, and as result the premium was high because of the high country risk.
Now the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
Helio Mori is Senior Advisor of the Central Bank of Brazil.
Piper Starr is Vice President, Planning and International Organizations, at the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
Prepared by the staff team of the Policy and Strategy Department for International Operations of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), with contributions from the International Finance Department.
The JBIC supported the establishment of the BEI through a series of technical assistance operations.
Prepared by Yo Kikuchi, an economist with the International Monetary Fund.
FY2003 runs from April 2003 to March 2004.
Xavier A. Jordan is Principal Financial Specialist of the Global Financial Markets Department of the International Finance Corporation.
What are called B loan/preferred creditor status transactions are funding operations arranged by an MDB under which the MDB takes direct credit exposure to an emerging market borrower and participates out a significant portion of that credit exposure to international private sector lenders. Therefore, private sector lenders provide funding to the relevant emerging markets borrower under the "umbrella" of the MDB (i.e., the MDB remains the lender of record). Because the MDB is deemed to have preferred access to foreign exchange resources in the event of a transfer and convertibility event, it is assumed in these operations that international private sector lenders will be able to focus solely on the commercial risk of the transaction's borrower, rather than sovereign as well as transfer and convertibility risks that they would normally assume in a direct lending operation. For these same reasons, moreover, pricing on such transactions should reflect the lower sovereign as well as transfer and convertibility risks associated with the relevant lending operations, and compensate lenders solely for the commercial risk profile of the underlying borrowers.
Trade finance has traditionally been viewed as one of the less risky forms of credit exposure. But it is always the easiest asset class for banks to cut back in times of heightened risk aversion (since it is a shortterm asset that tends to be self-liquidating, allowing it to be quickly redeemed at par while other types of credit exposure such as bonds and long-term loans would have to be liquidated or hedged by banks at a loss in markets when there is poor sentiment toward the relevant country, and where most likely spreads on financial instruments issued by the country and its borrowers have risen and their financial asset prices have fallen). Given these two fundamental features of trade finance credit exposure, there are two possible reasons for the unprecedented sequence of events in Brazil from late 2002 to early 2003. First, compared with 10 or 15 years ago, there are fewer international banks participating in the trade finance product area, largely a result of consolidation in the international banking sector. Previously, when cutbacks occurred, they were spread over a larger number of banks, and therefore probably happened over a longer period of time. Thus, the "elasticity" of international trade finance flows, i.e., the ratio of absolute amount of increase or decrease in bilateral trade lines to the time over which such increases or decreases occur, has probably increased due to sectoral consolidation. Second, beginning in the 1990s, supposedly "automatic" preferential policies toward trade finance by emerging market-governments gave way to fragmented and inconsistent treatment. And increasingly, where preferential treatment has been given to trade finance debt (i.e., it is excluded from any moratorium/rescheduling as well as transfer and convertibility restrictions that might be imposed on other categories of cross-border debt), such treatment has been in most instances narrowly drawn, for example, with respect to vendor financing only, or with respect to the mode of access to foreign exchange only. Special treatment of banks and other financial companies has also become more sporadic, even where these entities had only refinanced vendor financing. In summary, these two factors probably go a long way in explaining the more rapid contraction in trade finance flows during the recent Brazilian crisis, compared with prior financial crisis episodes experienced by this country.
One underpinning of any sustainable Argentine recovery from its crisis will be satisfactory export sector performance. For the moment at least, since devaluation of the peso in late 2001 and early 2002, this precondition has been met. Argentina ended 2003 with a foreign trade surplus of $15.5 billion, versus $16.7 billion in 2002, representing the country's third year of such double digit surpluses. The 2003 surplus was based on exports of $29.3 billion, a 14 percent increase over 2002—with 9 percent of that increase attributable to more favorable prices for Argentine exports, and 5 percent due to the increased physical quantity of export volumes. However, the jump in exports was narrowly based, with 90 percent of it having been due to growing international sales of traditional commodities (soy, cereals, meat products, and petroleum products). Moreover, the three principal factors that benefited the country's export performance last year—high international commodity prices, a record agricultural harvest, and a favorable foreign exchange rate)—are not necessarily permanent phenomena. In this environment, a continued lack of reliable and reasonably priced trade finance represents a potential impediment to the sectoral broadening as well as eventual sustainability of Argentina's recent favorable export growth performance.
For various reasons, from an operational perspective, Argentine banks are the most likely entities to be able to arrange trade finance receivable securitizations. However, a bank arranging such a securitization transaction does not necessarily have to play the traditional role of a credit intermediary in onlending funds it has borrowed itself or that it holds as deposits. That is because Argentine banks are permitted to invest up to a certain percentage of their peso-denominated equity in foreign currency assets. As a result of this regulatory flexibility—and if the relevant transaction is structured correctly—Argentine banks can undertake all of the following simultaneously, and incur minimal credit risk: (i) purchase foreign currency in the domestic foreign exchange market with pesos; (ii) use the purchased foreign currency to fund and therefore source foreign currency-denominated trade finance assets from exporter clients; (iii) appropriately securitize those assets, and then sell the resultant debt securities to domestic investors for the peso-equivalent of the original foreign currency financing amounts; and (iv) use these peso sale proceeds to replenish their equity.
Like their brethren elsewhere, pension funds in Argentina tend to invest in unison, principally because they are not permitted by the regulatory authorities to purchase more than a certain maximum percentage of any securities offering. Therefore, the sudden withdrawal of one pension fund from a particular transaction—for reasons that might have nothing to do with the credit quality of the relevant investment opportunity—can result in an entire securities offering having to be withdrawn from the market.
These partial credit guarantees would offer second-loss protection for investors from credit events in any particular transaction's portfolio of trade finance assets. First-loss protection would most likely have to be provided by the financial entity sponsoring the relevant securitization transaction in order to adequately align that entity's interests with those of investors and second-loss protection providers.
In other words, unsecured credit exposure by MDBs to the relevant emerging-market borrower.
Martin Endelman is a Senior Finance Specialist with the Asian Development Bank.
Glen Hodgson is Chief Economist at the Conference Board of Canada. At the time of this writing, the author was Vice-President and Deputy Chief Economist of Export Development Canada (EDC), Canada's official export credit institution.
See Glen Hodgson, "Managing International Trade Risk in the Aftermath of September 11th," August 2002. Available on the Internet: at www.edc.ca/economics.
Former Secretary General of the Berne Union, former head of the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD). and now a consultant on international trade credit as Group Chairman of International Financial Consulting Ltd.
Prepared by the WTO Secretariat. The Secretariat team was headed by Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, WTO Director-General, and composed of Marc Auboin, Jesse Kreier, and Moritz Meier-Ewert.
For a more comprehensive discussion, see "Opening Markets in Financial Services and the Role of the GATS," WTO Secretariat Special Study, September 1997.
For a definition, see Article I.3 (b) GATS and the Annex on Financial Services.
See the Annex on Air Transport Services.
Measures by members include those taken by all levels of government—national, regional and local— and by nongovernmental bodies to which governmental powers have been delegated. See Articles I and XXVIII of the GATS.
See IMF (2003), "Trade Finance in Financial Crises: Assessment of Key Issues," prepared by the Policy Development and Review Department in consultation with the International Capital Markets and Monetary and Financial Systems Departments, December 9, 2003.
See "Trade Finance," U.S. Office of the Comptroller's Handbook, November 1998; and "Bankers' Acceptances", U.S. Office of the Comptroller's Handbook, September 1999.
However, some of them include authorization requirements or even the requirement of a commercial presence (e.g., Moldova and the Philippines). Without additional information, the requirement to have a commercial presence might eventually imply the absence of a pure cross-border commitment.
However, Chile did not make a commitment on the cross-border provision of these services.
Some WTO members have made commitments under the terms of the Understanding on Commitments in Financial Services, which contains a formula approach to undertaking commitments on financial services. Those members have committed, inter alia, to allow for the cross-border provision of "insurance of risks relating to: (i) … the goods being transported … ; and (ii) goods in international transit."
See "World's Best Trade Finance Banks 2001," annual survey of Global Finance magazine, July 2001.
See IMF (2003), "Trade Finance in Financial Crises: Assessment of Key Issues," prepared by the Policy Development and Review Department in consultation with the International Capital Markets and Monetary and Financial Systems Departments, December 9, 2003.
Under Article 1 of the SCM Agreement, a subsidy is defined as a financial contribution by a government of public body within the territory of a member that confers a benefit. Export credit, guarantee, and insurance schemes involve "financial contributions," and central banks, export credit agencies, and other government-owned or controlled entities that provide such schemes likely constitute "governments" or "public bodies." While the existence of a "benefit" will depend on the terms and conditions of the financial contribution provided, export credit guarantee and insurance schemes likely confer a "benefit" in cases where they place the recipient in a more favorable situation than it would be if it needed to rely on the marketplace. As for export contingency, this will almost always be satisfied in the case of export credits, guarantees, and insurance. Article 3 of the SCM Agreement, however, refers to Annex I of the SCM Agreement, the Illustrative List of Export Subsidies. Relevant for trade finance are sections (j) and (k), first paragraph, pertaining to export credit guarantee and insurance schemes, and to export credit schemes, respectively. In general terms, item (j) provides that export credit guarantee and insurance schemes are prohibited export subsidies where premiums are inadequate to cover long-term operating costs and losses, while item (k), first paragraph, provides that export credits are prohibited export subsidies where, inter alia, they are provided at less than the government's cost of borrowing. It is not clear whether items (j) and (k), first paragraphs, can be used to establish that a scheme, which does not satisfy the conditions therein, is not prohibited, even in cases where there is a prohibited export subsidy within the meaning of Articles 1 and 3.
This is the case whether or not the WTO member is a participant in the arrangement, so developing-country members that are not participants may also invoke the safe haven.
Exports benefiting from export subsidies could, however, be subject to countervailing measures or to dispute settlement claims alleging adverse effects, where certain conditions are met.


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Everything feels so empty without me, doesn't it?
Weez wrote:JERUSALEM -- Rocked by a scandal involving birth-control treatments for Ethiopian Jews, Israel's health ministry issued new guidelines on the use of the injections known commercially as Depo-Provera... Depo-Provera, the brand name of a long-acting contraceptive injection, is a highly effective method of birth control but possible side effects include a decrease in bone density that puts women at increased risk for osteoporosis and fractures later on. That and other side effects are not immediately reversible, and returning to fertility can be a lengthy process. In addition, withdrawal symptoms can be acute... Depo-Provera is sometimes the preferred method of birth control chosen for institutionalized people and is recommended for individuals deemed incapable of following a daily regime.
Chemical castration is the administration of medication designed to reduce libido and sexual activity. Unlike surgical castration, where the testicles or ovaries are removed through an incision in the body, chemical castration does not actually castrate the person, nor is it a form of sterilization.
Chemical castration is generally considered reversible when treatment is discontinued, although permanent effects in body chemistry can sometimes be seen, as in the case of bone density loss increasing with length of use of Depo Provera. Chemical castration has, from time to time, been used as an instrument of public and/or judicial policy despite concerns over human rights and possible side effects.
Chemical castration involves the administration of anti-androgen drugs, such as cyproterone acetate or the birth-control drug Depo-Provera, which is given as an injection every three months, making compliance easier to track. The antipsychotic agent Benperidol is also indicated for this purpose, and can also be given by depot injection as a means of increasing compliance.
When used on men, these drugs can reduce sex drive, compulsive sexual fantasies, and capacity for sexual arousal. Life-threatening side effects are rare, but some users show increases in body fat and reduced bone density, which increase long-term risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. They may also experience other "feminizing" effects such as gynecomastia (development of larger than normal mammary glands in males), reduced body hair, and loss of muscle mass.
Although chemical castration is presented as a humane alternative to lifelong imprisonment or surgical castration, the American Civil Liberties Union opposes the coerced administration of any drug, including antiandrogen drugs for sex offenders. They argue that forced chemical castration is a "cruel and unusual punishment", and therefore should be constitutionally prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. They also stated that it interfered with the right to procreate, and could expose users to various health problems. Law professor John Stinneford has argued that chemical castration, by exerting control over the mind of sex offenders to render them incapable of sexual desire, and subjecting them to the physical changes caused by the female hormones used, is a cruel and unusual punishment.


text: maelstrom 0 Posted October 21, 2012 Selling Nikon D300 rig, including camera body, Nikon 16mm fisheye, Tokina 10-17mm with zoom gear, Nikon 105mm(not VR) with focus gear, Nikon 60mm, Nikon 17-55mmf2.8(best zoom I have ever used, a great shark and fish lens)with zoom gear, 2 camera batteries Selling Subal ND30 housing for Nikon D300 with an Inon 45 degree magnigying viewfinder, including 8.5 inch Subal glass dome port, manual focus port for 60mm, manual focus port for 105mm, manual focus gear for 105mm, a 70mm extension ring, and a Macro Mate wet diopter for Subal ports, 4 electrical synch cords, and many o-rings. The dome shade is a little worn, but the glass is pristine on all of the ports. The housing has a few minor scratches, but functions perfectly . The macro mate has a few scratches. The housing and ports are all type 3. I switched to Canon for land photography a few years ago, so I have decided to do the same for underwater photography, as well. I may consider selling lenses individually, but the camera body, ports, and housing will stay together. Asking: $4500 for all Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Taliban attack Pakistan police station, kill 6
Taliban militants armed with a rocket, hand grenades and automatic weapons attacked a police station in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing six people, police said.
The attack occurred in the city of Bannu, which serves as a gateway to the North Waziristan tribal area, the main sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaida militants in Pakistan. The city has been hit by repeated attacks over the year.
The militants began the attack by firing a rocket at the gate of the police station and tossing hand grenades, triggering a battle with police last lasted over an hour, said senior police officer Wagar Ahmed.
Three policemen and three civilians were killed in the attack, said Ahmed. The civilians were coming out of a nearby mosque when they were shot by the militants. Eight people were wounded, including three policemen and five civilians.
Three militants were killed during the attack and one escaped.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to The Associated Press from an undisclosed location.
Associated Press writer Ishtiaq Mahsud contributed to this report from Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan.


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Check Pattern Types of Shirts
Shirts are always fashionable clothing certainly is considered as a critical component of men suits, because of the general appearance and chic looking in suit wearing style for men. Also shirts are the main pieces for making a classic loo of suits. The emphasis of the shirt rack shirt retailer and order the dress/shirt specialists both to measure has led to a growing demand for special. That being said, there's plenty of shirts to choose from patterns. This guide over the last few years, this pattern variation is the growing interest in return, during the past years that smoothest the traditional men's style, as compared to the more conservative striped shirt, checkered shirts of a different type models is here to inform you about.
There are many of the check pattern types of shirts that are used for the design of suit wearing. Also each pattern has a style in its properties; so through this, for choosing the best shirt for suit, it is important to care these patterns and style properties.
Gingham check pattern are usually distinguished with checkered white and colored dimensional patterned shirt. This pattern, with horizontal and vertical lines, usually of the same color to create a striped design consists of a white on the floor one after another. Gingham check pattern is introduced in the middle of the 18th century, in that time blue and white colors was the most popular choice of this pattern type. . Today, gingham style shirt are presented in variety of colors. Gingham checks are versatile and can be worn in a variety of settings with both business and casual suit wearing. Of course, the color of the shirt should be cared for business or casual suit like pink shirt in casual or blue shirt in business.
Madras is a motif that firstly appears in the city of South India. Usually a colorful check & stripe pattern is considered a summer fabric distinguished style. A pattern of unequal size cutting each other to create checks consists of different colored ribbon. A madras shirt, during the summer months is optimal check pattern types of shirts for comfortable or ready to wear shoes. Tartan plaid, checks are not flat meshing to create vertical and horizontal band. While similar to the Czech pattern Madras, Tartan knit ties typical madras-style shirt is less with less tint color. Tartan patterned shirts are best for more casual settings.
Glen check is a motif consisting of set against the floor of the replica and twill weave, cut each other to create a checkerboard pattern color ribbon. Although, it seems as gingham check or shepherds check, there is a significant difference against setting. Shepherds check is perfect for a more formal, business environment. Houndstooth, cracked, rough and jagged lines (similar to the teeth of a hunter) has a pattern resembling the checks that contain. Black and white houndstooth pattern as is traditional, now among a variety of outfits and accessories in a variety of colors. Traditional black and white variant mixed mirror, other color variations is best suited to more informal settings job option is best suited for the location.
Windowpane consists with a window pane glass window, is a great checkered pattern reminiscent of check pattern types of shirts to create relatively thin lines that intersect each other. Window liner two-tone, conservative color schemes, given that these are considered appropriate for workplace outfits. Graph check is a pattern consisting of lines resembling small paper model controls the crossing each other to create a model of the line. Pattern, solid, thin diagonal to each other, is characterized by monochrome ribbons. Graphics control liner two-tone, given the conservative nature of the window as in official business shirt pad settings, for which it is found.
Tattersall checkered patterns in the background at regular intervals, consists of vertical and horizontal band, alternative colors and sometimes three color. Tattersall checkered shirts are great for to spend a relaxed evening, but typical for your environment may seem a little less formal. Pin check In the case of needle control, distance dots to create the visible clip checks crosshatch is created with a three-dimensional line motif pins. This pattern usually consists of a color against the white group. The pattern creates an element of a complex structure, texture and depth and is perfect for a formal working environment! Graph check, windowpane and pin check patterned shirts are the most suitable and appropriate patterns for more formal wearing as business or special night events. On the basis of the choice of colors, gingham checks are the ideal choice. Like to go out for an evening of informal clothes, madrasas, Tartan hats and tassel props are more suitable once again.
Patterned Shirt & Tie Combinations
Shirts are the important pieces to get a stylish and elegance look with a suit. Also tie connected with a suit and shirt harmony. So they are all selected carefully. It is the hardest choice for suit, shirt and tie combination is being with patterned shirts. Fort his there are two specific ways for tie selection check pattern types of shirts. These are suitable colors and right patterns to general suit harmony.
As a general guide, the color scheme is extremely useful to distinguish to highlight your preferred view, which you prefer. Complementary colors (blue and orange, red and green and yellow and purple) those are located directly opposite in the color wheel provides the sharpest contrast. Triple color schemes are less direct than the free color scheme provides the contrast, but still live provides a balance. To obtain the best effect, you should use in one of the other color. As with the mapping a shirt ties in general admired the dominant color, to match up with a secondary color, or vice versa, the evident, it created a compatible and will look best on your cunning.
When choosing a tie for a checkered shirt, the most suitable choice for catching ideal aesthetic improvement you will want to is to select different pattern through style and proportions. For example, for graphic checkered shirt you can choose a wide range striped tie.
Summarizes the dotted patterns, or wider-spaced/floral patterns, smaller checkered shirt, these are checkered pattern line of both style and pattern range creates a striking visual contrast by far, but soothing. Conversely, dotted and abstract designs, Windows, intermittent, or more widely spaced narrow checkered shirt are placed at intervals narrower against; they provide a similar soothing but opposing aesthetic.


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City undergoes final preparations for World Choir Games
Competition to kick-off July 4 with 362 choirs from around the world
Volunteers and organizers are currently finishing preparations to welcome the world to the city that sings for the World Choir Games, which kick off July 4.
The city has been preparing for the World Choir Games for four years, so the last 48 hours mark the final countdown.
At a suite in Duke Energy Convention center, Interkultur, the organizing group, is working on scheduling, catering, transporting, and tying up loose ends for the 362 choirs slotted to participate in the competition.
World Choir Games Project Manager, Jelena Dannhauer of Interkultur said she is already impressed by the convenience of the city.
"Everything is downtown, everything is so close by, the venues are in walking distance," she said.
Cincinnati has been more than spruced-up to cater to the 15,000 visitors from sixty-some countries.
"Some of them won't speak English," said Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney. "But they can recognize a flower pot and that leads them where they're trying to go."
At the intersection of 5th and Race Streets, the city is setting up a makeshift market garden including food, beverage and merchandise booths.
Among the final preparations for the competition include stuffing goody bags for the choirs and making sure everything is in place to relive magic moments from previous competitions.
Five thousand volunteers will help the 362 choirs navigate the streets. In addition, a new kiosk has been installed at the beginning of the Purple People Bridge to aid visitors in traversing Cincinnati and northern Kentucky streets.
The first choir to arrive came from Germany. The registration process began at 3 p.m. Monday, with Columbia represented among the first wave of the visiting choirs.
Fans are invited to cheer the choirs at the opening ceremonies on July 4 at 7 p.m. in U.S. Bank Arena, and listen to the singing for the next 10 days.


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Anyone know if the SCAR-H TPR / PR is going to be made available to civilians?
Tactical Search doesn't have anything on it (or my internet is messing with it) and there isn't much info on the rest of the internet. Even FN's PR doesn't say much.
Discuss the FN lineup of tactical rifles; the FS2000, SCAR, and the venerable FAL.
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Re: SCAR-H TPR/PR
Doubtful. It was a niche rifle to begin with, really.
Of course that's not to say I wouldn't buy one if given the opportunity. :laugh:
Of course that's not to say I wouldn't buy one if given the opportunity. :laugh:
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Re: SCAR-H TPR/PR
FN has said that it is on the table however it's not the highest priority. Probably will be a two or more years before they get it out.
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Re: SCAR-H TPR/PR
Any rumors out about whether it will come to the market or not?
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So How Is George Steinbrenner?
It was the (only sometimes) unspoken question always in the background for the first season of the new Yankee Stadium, and it increasingly became the undertone as the post-season accelerated.
Even this afternoon, as the minions of the nation's media capital tried to out-do each other with more and more speculative coverage of the victory parade, a reporter who has been on the radio here for nearly half a century insisted that the highlight of the day would be the "emotional moment" when Steinbrenner accepted his key to the city. A less-senior and far more skeptical colleague asked if this was actually going to happen. The veteran's answer: "It's right here in the program for the ceremony!"
This is, of course, the impression the Yankees continue to give: that all is not necessarily well with their venerable owner, but that he's still frequently involved. There was even a very sad effort just last Saturday by The New York Post to palm off a series of e-mailed answers from infamous mega-flak Howard Rubinstein as an "exclusive interview" with George Steinbrenner. To paraphrase Churchill, the answers contained every cliche except "prepare to meet thy maker," and "employees must wash hands."
I have seen The Boss, with whom I have had a surprisingly warm and even conspiratorial relationship since I was a teenager, only twice this year, and the information gleaned from each encounter was directly self-contradictory. In March, David Cone and I were leaving the press box at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa when the place was frozen by security – it was George on his way out and they cleared the route for him. He was in a wheelchair and looked just this side of robust – twinkly-eyed and neither gaunt nor puffy. Cone whispered that he just had to say hello, and hoped he'd get a hello back.
This is what I heard:
Cone: (mumbled greeting)
Steinbrenner: Of course I know it's you, David. Jesus! We could've used you pitching out there today. Who were those kids? Are any of them ready?
So much for Cone's fear (and mine – to this day I think of George less for the chaos of the '70s and '80s and more for the letter he wrote to ESPN management praising my work on the 1992 Expansion Draft, in which I roundly criticized how his team handled the non-protection of its younger prospects, or the day he spent twenty minutes recounting to Bill Clinton, of all people, virtually every encounter he and I had had since 1973, right down to the story of my mother getting hit by the Knoblauch ball and refusing to ever go back to Shea Stadium even though the Yanks were playing World Series games there).
But just weeks later, during another lockdown, I saw Steinbrenner carted through the bowels of the new ballpark in the Bronx and lifted – not helped, but moved by a guy at each end – into a wheelchair.
Over the last few years, as his health has gotten intermittent, the volume of even rumors and whispers around the Bronx about how he is has declined. When the Yankees traded for Jeff Weaver, Steinbrenner poked his head in to the press conference and asked me "What do you think? How clear-headed does he sound? Is he going to be able to handle this?" – prescient questions, as it proved. A year later I was told that everybody knew there were "awareness problems" but that to my source's knowledge, nobody in the Yankee organization had ever heard a diagnosis, a prognosis, or even a vaguely medical-sounding term. A year after that, when he recited our history to Clinton, his memory was so sharp as to include some stories that I had forgotten – but each time he tried to say my name, all he could come up with was "uhh… this young man." After the 2007 season, there is no question that, to some degree great or small, he was behind the nightmarish, take-it-or-leave-it dethroning of Joe Torre as manager.
There are fewer such reports these days, and not even that level of source information. There's a lot to be said against George Steinbrenner and lord knows I've said much of it. But something made me feel very sad today at that Yankee ceremony: contrary to what it said "right here on the program for the ceremony!," The Boss was indeed not there to accept the keys to the city.
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Damn. Even as a native Californian, married to a hard-core Giants fan, that's hard to read.
I am really sorry to hear that, my Father in Law has Parkinsons and goes in & out. It is painful to see as he was the sharpest man I have ever known (self made millionaire who grew up on a plot of dirt in a small rural pueblo in Mexico)
I hope he keeps going as long as possible.
There is an image of George Steinbrenner that I will never forget. The circumstances unfortunately are hazy in my mind, but it's still a great story.
The boss was sitting in a private box upstairs during a Yankees game, in either '77 or '78. Billy Martin was the manager at the time. The Yankees were either playing the Red Sox, or were in the playoffs or World Series. I just can't remember. All I know is Mr. Steinbrenner was very unhappy during the game and at one point waved off his team in disgust and got up and left his box. Unfortunately for him, it was on live tv as he was making the gesture. About the only thing I am 100% sure about is that whatever year he did this, the NYY went on to win the World Series that year.
That's why I remember it.
So many memories throughout the years. George Steinbrenner. I wish him well.
btw, while attempting unsuccesfully to find the video of Mr. Steinbrenner, I came across this commercial Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick made when they worked together on Sports Center. It's pretty damn funny.


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PARIS/January 13, 2018(AP)(STL.News)— France's first baby panda has made his grand public entrance by acting like many five-month-olds — climbing all over his mother, who looked like she just wanted to rest instead.
Mostly hidden from view since his birth in August, the panda named Yuan Meng left his den on Saturday for his first public appearance. BFM TV video showed him endlessly crawling over his mother, who at one point gathered the black-and-white ball of fur to her side before he escaped again to climb over her.
French first lady Brigitte Macron, considered the panda's "godmother," announced the panda's name at a ceremony in December at Beauval Zoo, south of Paris, attended by Chinese officials. It means "the realization of a wish" or "accomplishment of a dream."
By Associated Press, published on STL.NEWS by St. Louis Media, LLC (TM)
The post France's playful baby panda makes 1st public appearance appeared first on STL News – ST Louis Latest News Updates -st local news, stl poltical news.


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seo expert usa – SEO Experts Academy by Terry Kyle and Matt Carter
Hi everyone!
I believe there are some rumours going around in the internet marketing scene recently about a brand new search engine optimization course by Matt Carter and Terry Kyle. I just read Matt's blog last week and it is confirmed that this course, SEO Experts Academy will be officially launched on the 25th of October this year.
Before I go on any further, you must be wondering who are Matt Carter and Terry Kyle?
Matt Carter is a full-time super affiliate marketer from Sydney, Australia, who has been making lots of money through marketing physical products online. His latest release was Rapid Profit Formula, which is a course that teaches people how to create profitable niche affiliate sites from scratch.
It was a huge hit among internet marketers and has received great recommendations by fellow marketers in the Warrior Forum. He is an expert at SEO, having obtained the 3rd position for a highly competitive keyword "affiliate marketing" in Google USA.
Terry Kyle is well-known among internet marketers as a Backlink and SEO expert. He has 2 websites which are currently ranking on the 1st page of Google USA for a highly competitive keyword, "Backlinks", shows that he really knows what he is doing.
Both Matt Carter and Terry Kyle are well-known for their no-nonsense approach to Search Engine Optimization. They are also honest internet marketers who always deliver what they promised. Therefore, you can reassure that SEO Experts Academy is going to be a fantastic SEO training course for people who want to master SEO and dominate their niche markets.
Now, What is SEO Experts Academy About?
It is a complete SEO training course that holds your hand and guides you through the complicated SEO world with a detailed route-map in the form of videos and PDFs. The course is split into 3 levels: Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced. Therefore, you can run through the course materials according to your level of proficiency.
Who Should Try It?
This course is intended for people who are serious about making money online through hard and smart work. I mean there is no shortcut to online success. You will definitely need to put in some effort to go through the course materials and most importantly, apply what you have learnt. Otherwise, you will just be wasting your money. And with Matt Carter and Terry Kyle as your tour guides, success is certainly within reach.


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Scam assistance
What to look for if you suspect you've received a scam email, phone or social media post from Qantas.
On this page
From time to time we are made aware of email scams and social media posts that claim to be authentic Qantas communications. These may ask customers to visit an external site and download a file or confirm customer details.
We will never ask customers to click a link to download a file about bookings from a website, including our own. We send important documents that relate to your booking as Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files that you can download directly.
Below are some examples of scams that have recently been sent out to customers. If you receive one of these emails we recommend you delete it immediately and do not open it or download the attachment.
You can also refer to our FAQs:
Scam phone calls or suspicious emails.
You can easily identify this as a scam by the following details:
- There is no reference to the customer name, booking reference or itinerary details.
- The details show incorrect amounts paid for seat selection.
- We never send file attachments with seat selection fee receipts.
How to recognise an official Qantas e-ticket and itinerary:
- Emails will have a PDF attachment, never a .zip file.
- Your booking reference and travel itinerary will be included.
- Our emails will come from a qantas.com.au email address.
We are aware some customers are receiving emails that appear to be from Qantas. These emails are not genuine and encourage customers to click on a link which requests personal frequent flyer information.
We advise recipients not to click on the link and not to provide any personal information in response.
Unfortunately, scammers can spoof their email display name which makes it confusing for the recipient to recognise when a legitimate email has been received and when it is a phish (scam). These emails – because of the email display name – can then be grouped with genuine emails sent by Qantas.
We've so far identified emails with the following subjects as belonging to this phishing (scam) campaign:
- "Don't let your Relief Bonus go to waste"
- "Your Personal Coronavirus Relief Bonus is 1 Free Flight to New Zealand"
- "Amazing Christmas Giveaway at Qantas"
- "Qantas Anniversary Celebration Giveaway"
If you'd like more information about how to protect yourself online, visit the Australian Government's Stay Smart Online website and SCAMwatch.
Sometimes fake Qantas Facebook pages will make offers to the general public. Please disregard any offers or posts shared by these pages. We work with Facebook to ensure these pages and content are removed as quickly as possible. There is only one official Qantas Facebook page.
For more information about how you to protect yourself online, visit Stay Smart Online, an Australian Government website.
We are aware that some customers are receiving automated phone calls purporting to be from Qantas. These calls are not from us, and can easily be identified as unauthentic. Qantas consultants will always call customers directly to discuss their bookings and do not use an automated phone system when contacting customers proactively.
Recipients are advised not to provide personal details or respond to the automated prompts.
Scammers use a range of mechanisms, including "harvesting" programs that scour numerous sources on the Internet, to look for customer information. It is also often the case that the recipients of the scam are not customers of the company purporting to make the phone call - which is why individuals who are not necessarily Qantas customers might have also received a phone call.
You can report a scam and find more information at SCAMwatch.
We are aware some customers are receiving text messages that appear to be from Qantas, suggesting they have won a 'mystery box' prize.
These messages are not genuine and encourage customers to click on a link which requests personal information.
We advise recipients not to click on the link and not to provide any personal information in a response.
Unfortunately scammers can change sender ID names which makes it confusing for the recipient to recognise when a legitimate message has been sent and when it is a scam. These messages – because of the sender ID name – can then be grouped with genuine messages with Qantas.
If you'd like more information about how to protect yourself online, visit the Australian Government's Stay Smart Online website and SCAMwatch


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"For I have not shunned to declare unto you
the whole counsel of God" – Acts 20:27
the whole counsel of God" – Acts 20:27
- Calvary Chapel believes in teaching the Bible, book by book, chapter by chapter in an expositional format.
- Dan Starling has been the pastor of Calvary Chapel of Edinburgh since 2000, when the church fellowship began.
- *NOTE: 'unfortunately there has been different circumstances that has caused issues with the recording (from computer crashes to broken cables.) as a result a lot of the series have a few missing chapters in them. Instead of not putting the whole series up because of the missing chapters i have decided just to post what we have.
Daniel 1 part 1 ()Dan Starling, August 9, 2015
Part of the daniel series, preached at a Sunday Evening service
|Same day:
|« Daniel (intro)
|Daniel 1 part 2 »
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blucher1815red wrote:Hi Mabo, I offer to you free range of my painted 1/72 Napoleonics for Waterloo, I have British, Dutch , Belgian, Nassau & of course French, are you only looking for stock figures or would you be interested in some of my converted figures ? such as the French line lancers. As I said you are welcome to what you want ( within reason eg: not my entire collection )
MABO wrote:Italeri British Infantry 1815 / last row first pose.
Revell 95th Rifles / Hiding and shooting or loading (while lying in the sand pit near La Haye Sainte)
Bramble15 wrote:Hi MABO,
I can provide the following if not accounted for
HäT: French Guard Chasseurs / advancing or marching pose
HäT Brunswick Leib-Infantry


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International Rugby
O'Brien steps down from IRB refs role
ESPNscrum Staff
March 24, 2012
IRB referees manager Paddy O'Brien is to step down from his role with immediate effect © Getty Images
International Rugby Board elite referees manager Paddy O'Brien is to step down from his post with immediate to take up a similar role within the Sevens game.
The announcement came as part of a restructuring of the referee selection process that the sport's governing body hopes will ensure consistency and that the best referees are selected on form to officiate in the biggest matches in the run up to Rugby World Cup 2015.
O'Brien, who has managed the sport's leading referees for the last seven years, has been tasked with readying officials for rugby's return to the Olympics in 2016 and will act as a high performance manager on the HSBC World Sevens Series.
"Paddy's exceptional dedication and application to driving forward elite match official standards has significantly benefitted the Game over the past seven years," commented IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset, who also confirmed that the process for replacing O'Brien will be announced in due course. "He will be a tough act to follow as a Referee Manager and I am delighted that he will be channelling all his experience into preparing the best up-and-coming match officials on the HSBC Sevens World Series to ensure that the very best referees are in peak form for 2016."
A "vastly experienced committee" will now take charge of a streamlined selection process. The committee, which includes former elite referees Lyndon Bray, Tappe Henning, Donal Courtney and Clayton Thomas will now meet four times per year and make selections for the next international window with all performances reviewed as part of the next round of international selections.
Following a thorough review of performances during the recently concluded Six Nations, the selection committee's commitment to promoting consistency has been reflected in the latest selections with nine elite referees appointed to the top matches in what is a busy June international window.
They are: George Clancy (Ireland), Jérôme Garcès (France), Craig Joubert (South Africa), Nigel Owens (Wales), Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Romain Poite (France), Alain Rolland (Ireland) and Steve Walsh (Australia).
As a result, there is no matches for English referees Wayne Barnes or Dave Pearson, who both took charge of games in the Six Nations, while New Zealander Bryce Lawrence, heavily criticised for his performances at last year's Rugby World Cup, is another to have been cut from the elite panel.
Acting chairman of the selection committee and IRB Council member for Scotland John Jeffrey said: "The IRB is committed to ensuring that the platform is in place to promote the very best refereeing standards at the elite level of the Game. Our priority is the continued promotion of consistency and performance and our strategic goal is to deliver the best available panel for Rugby World Cup 2015 while at the same time applying the best-for-best principle in the selection of referees for each international window.
"There will be consistent movement in and out of the panel based on form to reward the top performers and those making the step up as we build towards RWC 2015 in England. In short, this means that referees are selected on merit, in form and closer to the matches being played. All Member Unions are committed to this process, which is essential for its success."
The committee have also agreed that the key areas of the game identified for particular focus by referees needed constant reviewing. Those five key areas are:
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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