I love reporting – but sometimes, when you’re under the weather with the worst sinus infection you’ve had (in a few months, anyway), that makes it hard.
But I pulled it together and didn’t have an utterly useless week, thankfully.
This past week, I wrote about how the SEC finally released its ‘Publish What You Pay’ requirements as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, to increase transparency as to what extractive companies pay foreign governments. Payments include taxes, royalties, and such, but don’t include benevolent CSR contributions such as the construction of hospitals or schools.
Interestingly – both lawyers I spoke with emphasized that governments, and not mining, oil, and gas firms, are what’s actually under scrutiny. The PWYP regulations are designed to clarify what governments actually receive in return for allowing resource projects to go forward – and what they do with the money afterwards. Anyway, check out the piece here.
Closer to home in Canada, the National Aboriginal Economic Development Board released a report urging a new model to developing resource projects in Canada’s northern territories (Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut), also including Quebec’s Nunavik region and Labrador’s Nunatsiavut region. They make a convincing case that old economic models of infrastructure development don’t work in the North, and make a few suggestions. Read that here.
On the reading front, I started Gloria Steinem’s My Life on the Road. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I’ve read little of Steinem’s stuff….and never watched any of her talks….despite being an outspoken, avowed feminist. She writes like a dream, by the way.
On the cooking front, I tackled my first gosht karahi dish, and it was amazing. This was the recipe I used: http://savorthebest.com/chicken-karahi/ It tastes great, even though I didn’t use the chili peppers (husband has a bit of a sensitivity to extreme spiciness, so I tried to temper it a bit.)
But I pulled it together and didn’t have an utterly useless week, thankfully.
This past week, I wrote about how the SEC finally released its ‘Publish What You Pay’ requirements as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, to increase transparency as to what extractive companies pay foreign governments. Payments include taxes, royalties, and such, but don’t include benevolent CSR contributions such as the construction of hospitals or schools.
Interestingly – both lawyers I spoke with emphasized that governments, and not mining, oil, and gas firms, are what’s actually under scrutiny. The PWYP regulations are designed to clarify what governments actually receive in return for allowing resource projects to go forward – and what they do with the money afterwards. Anyway, check out the piece here.
Closer to home in Canada, the National Aboriginal Economic Development Board released a report urging a new model to developing resource projects in Canada’s northern territories (Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut), also including Quebec’s Nunavik region and Labrador’s Nunatsiavut region. They make a convincing case that old economic models of infrastructure development don’t work in the North, and make a few suggestions. Read that here.
On the reading front, I started Gloria Steinem’s My Life on the Road. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I’ve read little of Steinem’s stuff….and never watched any of her talks….despite being an outspoken, avowed feminist. She writes like a dream, by the way.
On the cooking front, I tackled my first gosht karahi dish, and it was amazing. This was the recipe I used: http://savorthebest.com/chicken-karahi/ It tastes great, even though I didn’t use the chili peppers (husband has a bit of a sensitivity to extreme spiciness, so I tried to temper it a bit.)
