Magazine peddlers prompt a warning

The Better Business Bureau is alerting consumers about an increase in fraud among door-to-door, student magazine salespeople.

The peddlers take orders, but magazines never come. Students may have a hard-luck story or say they're working for a charity.

Cap-and-trade policy discussed at Carbon Markets conference

Investors, energy company executives and environmental consultants gathered in Coral Gables on Thursday for the third annual Carbon Markets North America conference, focusing on the effects of the proposed federal cap-and-trade policy on the business world.

A U.S. cap-and-trade system, projected to come before Congress in the near future, would cap carbon emissions and create a marketplace between companies for trading emissions credits. The coming legislation is expected to have major financial implications for a wide swath of industries, many of which were represented at the conference.

In addition to cap-and-trade, attendees discussed the implications of last December's climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the United States and several developing nations pledged to fight global warming and reduce carbon emissions.

Bypassing the aid trap in Pakistan

Congress recently approved $7.5 billion in aid to Pakistan for social and economic development. The bill incited controversy by requiring that the U.S. secretary of state report to lawmakers on whether Pakistan's civilian government keeps effective control over its military, because many observers accuse some in the Pakistani military of having tolerated or even aided Islamic extremists since the 1980s.

But the bill itself should raise questions. After all, does Pakistan, or the U.S. Agency for International Development, or any other agency that will implement the aid actually know how to successfully spend these funds? In other parts of the world, especially Africa, foreign aid has been a spectacular failure in promoting social and economic development. This bill promises more of the same.

The United States has given Pakistan more than $10 billion in development aid since 1954. What has become of those funds? It certainly has not helped produce the kind of stability and prosperity that would help

UM business school dean lays out ambitious agenda

Earlier this year, Barbara Kahn, dean of the University of Miami's school of Business Administration, found herself in the midst of some of the largest names in business -- heavyweights like Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric; Jim Skinner, CEO of McDonald's, and Muhtar Kent president of Coca-Cola.

It was a gathering nearly a year in the making, as Kahn spearheaded UM's effort to host its inaugural Global Business Forum in January.

As more than 700 business executives and professionals gathered at the tree-canopied Coral Gables campus, Kahn couldn't help but feel energized by the interchange of ideas.

`Canary in the mine shaft'

T AIPEI, Taiwan -- There may be some erosion in the majority of Americans who believe that global warming is real, but there is no doubt on the Southeast Asian island of Taiwan. Here, global warming is as real as the smog that greets the capital city, Taipei, each morning -- but it is far more deadly.

In August, a monstrous typhoon swept across the mountainous island dumping almost 10 feet of rain, the highest two-day rainfall accumulation in Taiwan's history. Typhoon Morakot shook Taiwan to its core, killing more than 700 people, including burying an entire village of 400 indigenous farmers in an avalanche of mud, pine trees and giant boulders, before moving on to mainland China.

I joined seven other journalists from the United States, Europe and Japan last week in a tour of devastated towns and villages in southern Taiwan where the worst devastation occurred. We were invited by the Taiwan government to bear witness to the aftermath of the carnage and to listen to their argument that Taiwan is