Venezuela’s president is bullying a Harvard professor Nicolas Maduro is fuming over a Kennedy School economist’s criticism of his policies

Venezuela’s president is bullying a Harvard professor Nicolas Maduro is fuming over a Kennedy School economist’s criticism of his policies
LIMA, Peru — Expressing intense differences of opinion at Ivy League universities is not exactly new. It is actually the schools’ lifeblood. But it’s not every day that you hear an eminent Harvard professor accused of being a “bandit” and “financial hit man.” That’s how Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s beleaguered and increasingly thin-skinned president, reacted last week to an opinion piece co-authored by economist Ricardo Hausmann about whether the nation should default on its debts. The article reportedly even contributed to a drop in Venezuela’s bond prices. Maduro, political heir to Hugo Chavez, instructed…Read more …

With its green cred under fire, Peru prepares to host UN climate talks The South American country has warmed up for the next mega-conference in Lima to negotiate a new Earth-saving climate treaty by rolling back its own environmental safeguards.

With its green cred under fire, Peru prepares to host UN climate talks The South American country has warmed up for the next mega-conference in Lima to negotiate a new Earth-saving climate treaty by rolling back its own environmental safeguards.
Extremely vulnerable to global warming, Peru might seem like the ideal location to hold the next round of the United Nations’ climate talks. The country’s mountain glaciers are melting at an alarming rate while parts of the vast Peruvian Amazon are already wilting, literally, as the mercury gently rises, potentially releasing billions of tons of carbon stored in the trees into the atmosphere. No wonder the government here has been getting ready to roll out the red carpet for the estimated 12,000 participants in the Dec. 1-12 mega-conference known as the “COP,” shorthand…Read more …