In his latest commentary, Sam Daley Harris touches on the Medal of Freedom that was awarded to Muhammad Yunus. Harris recounts the story of microcredit’s beginnings, and how the same concept of non-profit/non-loss business is spreading into other ventures.

From The Daily Journal is this snippet of Harris’ commentary.

From the BBC:

Western mineral firms are fuelling violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo by failing to check where their raw materials come from, activists say.

Global Witness says companies sourcing minerals used in electronic gadgets are buying them from traders who finance rebel and government troops.

It calls for the UK-based Amalgamated Metal Corporation (AMC) and others to have assets frozen over the issue.

AMC, whose subsidiary Thaisarco sources tin from DR Congo, denies the claims.

The Global Witness report focuses on the troubled region of eastern DR Congo, where various rebel groups and government troops control large parts of the trade in minerals including coltan, cassiterite and gold.

Read more ….

My Comment: These activists are blaming Western firms, but the biggest purchaser of these raw materials are Chinese firms hungry for the raw material that is essential in the production of their electronics.

There has been a fall in prices for petroleum products

The cost of goods leaving UK factories in February rose at the slowest rate for 16 months, figures have shown.

Factory gate inflation fell to 3.1% last month, compared with 3.5% in January, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

That is the lowest annual rate since September 2007. The fall was largely due to a drop in prices for oil and petroleum products, the ONS said.

Input price inflation also eased to 0.5% from 1.5% in January.

The ONS said a 37.8% drop in crude oil prices over the last year was the main reason for the lower prices paid by factories for raw materials.

On Thursday, the Bank of England cut interest rates to a new record low of 0.5%.

The data from the ONS justified the Bank’s course of action, said Lloyds economist Kenneth Broux.

“The outlook is for a period of low interest rates,” he said.

Angel Gerri

The global economic slowdown will hit the poorest nations hardest. Demand for their exports is falling.