___________________________________________________________________
U.S. Information Resource Center
Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Embassy in Australia
July 2007
___________________________________________________________________
Economics,
finance and corporate governance
International
economic issues, trade and investment
Development
and international assistance
Terrorism
and homeland security
Environment
and climate change
Social
issues, aging and retirement
Media,
telecommunications and information technology
FEATURED ITEM
World Youth Building a
Future
http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itsv/0707/ijse/ijse0707.htm
This
edition of eJournal USA opens
a window on the real life experiences of young people who have left home and
family to participate in an international exchange program. Young American
adults offer first-person accounts of their discoveries in educational programs
abroad, and exchange students from various other countries share their insights
about adjusting to life and family customs in the United States.
Global
Unease with Major World Powers: Rising Environmental Concern in 47-Nation
Survey
47-Nation Pew Global Attitudes Survey
Pew Global Attitudes Project, June 27, 2007
http://pewglobal.org/reports/pdf/256.pdf
There is a summary at http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=256
Are
Sanctions Effective?
Remarks by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Paula
A. DeSutter at the 2007 Carnegie International Non-Proliferation Conference
“Tomorrow’s Solutions”, June 26, 2007
http://www.state.gov/t/vci/rls/rm/87680.htm
Indonesia: Domestic
Politics, Strategic Dynamics, and American Interests
Congressional
Research Service report, updated June 20, 2007
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL32394.pdf
China’s Online Population
Explosion
Pew
Internet & American Life Project, July 2007
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/218/report_display.asp
The
number of internet users in China is projected to overtake that in the United
States within a few years.
The Cost of Pollution in
China: Economics Estimates of Physical Damages
World
Bank, July 2007
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTEAPREGTOPENVIRONMENT/Resources/China_Cost_of_Pollution.pdf
Mongolia and U.S. Policy:
Political and Economic Relations
Congressional
Research Service report, June 22, 2007
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/88048.pdf
U.S. and Pakistan Relations
and Cooperation: Key to Regional Stability
Statement
by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard A. Boucher to a subcommittee of
the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform, July 12, 2007
http://www.state.gov/p/sca/rls/2007/88239.htm
Pakistan-U.S.
Relations
Congressional
Research Service report, updated June 6, 2007
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/88046.pdf
President Bush Discusses
the Middle East
White
House, July 16, 2007
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070716-7.html
Initial Benchmark
Report
Report
to the U.S. Congress. The White House, July 12, 2007
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070712.html
[initial
benchmark report on progress in Iraq]
Iraq: Oil and Gas
Legislation, Revenue Sharing, and U.S. Policy
Congressional
Research Service report, June 26, 2007
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/88057.pdf
Iranian Strategy in
Iraq
Michael
Rubin, American Enterprise Institute, July 16, 2007
http://aei.org/publications/pubid.26500,filter.foreign/pub_detail.asp
International Intervention
in Gaza: Options and Obstacles
Scott
Lasensky, U.S. Institute of Peace, June 2007
http://www.usip.org/pubs/usipeace_briefings/2007/0619_gaza.html
Egypt – Don’t Give Up on
Democracy Promotion
Michele
Dunne, Amr Hamzawy, and Nathan J. Brown, Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, June 2007
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/pb_52_egypt_final.pdf
Inflation Expectations and
Inflation Forecasting
Remarks
by Ben S. Bernanke, chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,
July 10, 2007
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2007/20070710/default.htm
The U.S. Economy and
Monetary Policy
Speech
by Janet L. Yellen, president and ceo, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco,
July 12, 2007
http://www.frbsf.org/news/speeches/2007/0712.html
House Prices and Monetary
Policy
Speech
by Charles I. Plosser, president, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, July
11, 2007
Public Value: A Primer on
Private Equity
Private
Equity Council, 2007
http://www.privateequitycouncil.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/pec_primer_layout_final.pdf
Built to Last: Focusing
Corporations on Long-Term Performance
Committee
for Economic Development (CED), June 2007
http://www.ced.org/docs/report/report_corpgov2007.pdf
There
is a news release at http://www.ced.org/newsroom/press/press_corpgov2007.pdf
A Global View: Examining
Cross-Border Exchange Mergers
Hearing
before the Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment, U.S. Senate
Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, July 12, 2007
http://banking.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=270
Services Drive U.S. Growth
and Jobs
The
Importance of Services by State and Congressional District
U.S.
Coalition of Service Industries,
http://www.uscsi.org/us_services_study.htm
The
full report is at http://www.uscsi.org/pdf/Full%20Report.pdf
The
subtitle of this publication is The
Importance of Services by State and Congressional District
Recent Trends in U.S.
Services Trade: 2007 Annual Report
U.S.
International Trade Commission, June 2007
http://hotdocs.usitc.gov/docs/pubs/332/pub3925.pdf
There
is a news release at http://www.usitc.gov/ext_relations/news_release/2007/er0628ee1.htm
A (Lack of) Progress Report
on China’s Exchange Rate Policies
Working
paper by Morris Goldstein, Peterson Institute for International Economics, June
2007
http://www.petersoninstitute.org/publications/wp/wp07-5.pdf
Competitive Conditions for
Foreign Direct Investment in India
Staff
research study, U.S. International Trade Commission, July 2007
http://hotdocs.usitc.gov/docs/pubs/332/pub3931.pdf
There
is a news release about this 153-page report at http://www.usitc.gov/ext_relations/news_release/2007/er0713ee1.htm
DEVELOPMENT and INTERNATIONAL
ASSISTANCE
The Millennium Challenge
Corporation in Africa: Promise Versus Progress
Hearing
before the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, U.S. House Committee on
Foreign Affairs, June 28, 2007
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing_notice.asp?id=852
For
transcripts, please go to http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/testimony.asp
and scroll down.
Beyond Oil & Gas:
African Growth and Opportunity Act’s Benefits to Africa
Hearing
before the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, U.S. House Committee on
Foreign
Affairs, July 12, 2007
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing_notice.asp?id=857
For
transcripts, please go to http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/testimony.asp
and scroll down.
Food Security Assessment,
2006
U.S.
Dept of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, June 2007
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/gfa18/gfa18.pdf
A
summary of this survey of the food security situation in 70 countries is at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/gfa18/gfa18_reportsummary.pdf
and the introductory page with links to chapters and supporting data is at http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/GFA18/#2007-6-28
U.S. Agricultural Trade:
State Exports
U.S.
Dept of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, June 2007
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/FAU/2007/06Jun/FAU123/#2007-6-29
The
full report (9 pages) is at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/FAU/2007/06Jun/FAU123/fau123.pdf
The U.S. Food Marketing
System: Recent Developments, 1997-2006
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ERR42/#2007-5-31
The
full report (57 pages) is at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err42/err42.pdf
and there is a summary at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err42/err42_reportsummary.pdf
America’s Diverse Family
Farms
2007
edition. U.S. Dept of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, June 2007
The
full report is at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib26/eib26.pdf
Adoption of Genetically
Engineered Crops in the U.S.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/BiotechCrops/#2007-7-5
Datasets
by U.S. Dept of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, July 2007
Fisheries of the United
States 2006
National
Marine Fisheries Service, July 2007
http://www.st.nmfs.gov/st1/fus/fus06/fus_2006.pdf
The Conservation and
Management of Highly Migrating Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Oceans, and Other International Fisheries Agreements of U.S.
Interest in Asia and the Pacific
Hearing
before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, July 17,
2007
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing_notice.asp?id=859
For
transcripts, please go to http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/testimony.asp
and scroll down.
Remarks by U.S. Deputy
Secretary of Energy Clay Sell
to
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, June 26, 2007
http://www.energy.gov/news/5175.htm
(topics
include the future of the nuclear fuel cycle, and the future of the U.S.
strategic nuclear deterrent)
Long-Range Ballistic
Missile Defense in Europe
Congressional
Research Service report, June 22, 2007
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RL34051.pdf
America and the Use of
Force: Sources of Legitimacy
Ivo
Daalder and Robert Kagan, the Stanley Foundation, June 2007
http://www3.brookings.edu/views/articles/daalder/2007june_kagan.pdf
The Terrorist Threat to the
U.S. Homeland
National
Intelligence Estimate. National Intelligence Council, July 2007
http://www.dni.gov/press_releases/20070717_release.pdf
Transportation Worker
Identification Card System
Hearing
before a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure, July 12, 2007
http://transportation.house.gov/hearings/hearingdetail.aspx?NewsID=249
Remarks by U.S. Secretary
of Energy Samuel W. Bodman
to
the American Nuclear Society, June 25, 2007
http://www.energy.gov/news/5170.htm
The
topic of this speech was the future of nuclear energy.
Keynote address by U.S.
Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman
to
the American Council on Renewable Energy, June 20, 2007
http://www.energy.gov/news/5136.htm
Confronting Climate Change
in the U.S. Northeast: Science, Impacts, and Solutions
A
report of the Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment (NECIA), July 2007
http://www.climatechoices.org/ne/resources_ne/nereport.html
This
site includes links to assessments for each northeastern state, to the full
text, and to previously published documents.
The Kyoto Protocol: An
Update
Hearing
before the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment, U.S.
House Committee on Foreign Affairs, July 11, 2007
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing_notice.asp?id=855
For
transcripts, please go to http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/testimony.asp
and scroll down.
The Carbon Cycle:
Implications for Climate Change and Congress
Congressional
Research Service, June 25, 2007
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/88053.pdf
The National Security
Dividend of Global Carbon Mitigation
Bryan
K. Mignone, AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, June 2007
http://www.aei-brookings.org/admin/authorpdfs/page.php?id=1403
Examining Global Warming
Issues in the Power Plant Sector
Hearing
before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, June 28,
2007
In Hot Water: Water
Management Strategies to Weather the Effects of Global Warming
Natural
Resources Defense Council, July 2007
http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/hotwater/hotwater.pdf
A
news release is at http://www.nrdc.org/media/2007/070710.asp
Research Universities: Core
of the U.S. Science and Technology System
Richard
Atkinson, Center for Studies in Higher Education, University of California,
Berkeley, May 31, 2007
http://repositories.cdlib.org/cshe/CSHE5-07/
International Students and
Visiting Scholars: Trends, Barriers, and Implications for American Universities and U.S. Foreign Policy
Joint
hearing before subcommittees of the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor
and the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, June 29, 2007
http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/hellc062907.shtml
State Teacher Policy
Yearbook 2007: Progress on Teacher Quality
National
Council on Teacher Quality, 2007
http://www.nctq.org/stpy/reports/stpy_national.pdf
There
is an interactive version at http://www.nctq.org/stpy/ and a summary at http://www.nctq.org/stpy/about.jsp
The Narrowing of the
Male-Female Wage Gap
Federal
Reserve Bank of San Francisco, FRBSF Economic Letter, June 29, 2007
http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2007/el2007-17.html
Work-Support Spending
Varies Widely Across Nation
The
Urban Institute, web-posted July 10, 2007
http://www.urban.org/publications/901096.html
The
full report (8 pages) is at http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/311495_Work_Supports.pdf
SOCIAL ISSUES, AGING and
RETIREMENT
As Marriage and Parenthood
Drift Apart, Public is Concerned about Social Impact
Pew
Research Center, July 1, 2007
http://pewresearch.org/assets/social/pdf/Marriage.pdf
There
is a summary of this 91-page report at http://pewresearch.org/pubs/526/marriage-parenthood
Data and Statistics on
Older Americans
A
database of the National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Dept of Health and
Human Services
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/aging.htm
Retirement Decisions:
Federal Policies Offer Mixed Signals about When to Retire
Government
Accountability Office (GAO), July 2007
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07753.pdf
Changes in Characteristics,
Needs, and Payment for Care of Elderly Nursing Home Residents: 1999 to 2004
Kaiser
Family Foundation, July 5, 2007
http://www.kff.org/medicaid/7663.cfm
The
full report is at http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/7663.pdf
Financing Projected
Spending in the Long Run
Congressional
Budget Office, July 9, 2007
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/82xx/doc8295/07-09-Financing_Spending.pdf
This
13-page document looks in particular at the implications of projected increased
spending on Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security as the United States
population ages.
The Trouble with Taxing
Those at the Top
Alan
D. Viard, American Enterprise Institute, June 14, 2007
http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.26354/pub_detail.asp
Gambling with Tax Policy:
States’ Growing Reliance on Lottery Tax Revenue
Alicia
Hansen, the Tax Foundation, July 2007
http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/bp54.pdf
Home
Broadband Adoption 2007
Pew Internet & American Life Center, June
2007
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Broadband%202007.pdf
Internet
Radio
A compilation, by BNA Inc., of links to reports,
analyses etc, July 2007
http://www.bna.com/webwatch/internetradio.html
Toward
a Safer and More Secure Cyberspace
National Academies Press, 2007
http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11925
Chapters from this book by the National Research
Council’s Committee on Improving Cybersecurity Research in the United States
can be read online at http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11925#toc
The
Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0
David C. Wyld, IBM Center for the Business of
Government, June 2007
http://www.businessofgovernment.org/main/publications/grant_reports/details/index.asp?gid=291
The full text is at http://www.businessofgovernment.org/pdfs/WyldReportBlog.pdf
and there is a summary at http://www.businessofgovernment.org/pdfs/WyldBloggingPublic.pdf
______________________________________________________________________________________
U.S. Information Resource
Center (IRC)
Canberra: Alexis Yeadon
[ACT, NT, SA, TAS, VIC, WA]
Sydney: Peter Gilbert
[NSW, QLD]