Political and business leaders from China and Belgium reiterated their opposition against protectionism on Friday amid reports that the European Commission is poised to propose extending anti-dumping duties on Chinese shoes.
“We should take concrete action to fight against all forms of protectionism in trade and investment,” Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping said in an opening address to the Belgium-China Economic and Trade Forum, which was held in Brussels Friday and brought together more than 300 people from Chinese and Belgian companies.
Xi said further development of China-EU relations faced new challenges as well as opportunities in the face of a number of international issues, including the global financial crisis.
One thing most of the actresses on this list have in common is that they did not carry the films on their own. In Hollywood, it’s still rare for a woman to be the main star. For the most part, women are co-stars or they appear in ensemble films like He’s Just Not That Into You, which was a surprise hit in February, earning $177 million at the box office worldwide.
That film’s success helped Jennifer Connelly take second place on our list. For every dollar Connelly was paid, her films earned an average of $41.
In third place is Rachel McAdams. The young actress is one of the few to really carry a movie, 2005’s Red Eye, which also featured Cillian Murphy. McAdams has scored by appearing in relatively low-budget movies (like Red Eye and 2004’s The Notebook) that have done well at the box office, though none have been massive hits. For every dollar McAdams was paid, her films earned an average of $30.
For past lists we have required that actresses earn at least $5 million per movie, but we decided to waive that this time around. We calculated each star’s estimated earnings on each film (including upfront pay and any earnings from the film’s box office receipts, DVD and TV sales). We then looked at each movie’s estimated budget (not including marketing costs, which are susceptible to accounting chicanery) and box office, DVD and television earnings to figure out an operating income for each film.
We added up each star’s compensation on her last three films and the operating income on those films and divided total operating income by the star’s total compensation to come up with each return on investment number.
The IBRD is the Bank’s institution that provides loans, guarantees, risk management products, and analytical and advisory services to reduce poverty in middle-income and creditworthy poorer countries.
“As a member of international community, China is willing to deepen its cooperation with the World Bank and IMF on the basis of mutual benefit to achieve a balanced and sustainable global development,” said Xie.
The IMF and World Bank annual meetings opened the plenary session here Tuesday, with central bank governors and finance ministers from more than 180 countries focusing on ways to restore global growth and internal reforms of the two institutions.
During the meeting, World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick said the Bank’s shareholders should give developing countries half of the voting rights in the Bank, beyond the current reform target of increasing their share to at least 47 percent.
Xie urged the IMF to strengthen its surveillance on developed economies with important financial centers and their spill-over effects and called on the World Bank to ensure its capital adequacy in order to expand its financial assistance to developing countries.
“We oppose shifting the pressure of financial deterioration and shortage of concessional funds onto developing countries by increasing IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) lending price,” said Xie.
Xie’s call echoed those of IMF and World Bank chiefs.
The IMF aims to shift quota shares towards dynamic emerging markets and developing countries by at least 5 percent from over-represented to under-represented countries by January 2011, but implementation of past reform is lagging, said IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn at Tuesday’s meeting.
“Only 36 out of the needed 111 countries have passed the legislation related to the 2008 quota and voice reform,” said Strauss-Kahn. “I urge countries to move ahead here as quickly as possible.”
During the meeting, World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick said the Bank’s shareholders should give developing countries half of the voting rights in the Bank, beyond the current reform target of increasing their share to at least 47 percent.
The IMF should speed up its quota reform and complete its 14th General Quota Review before January 2011 to realize a significant transfer of quota and voting power to emerging markets and developing countries so as to enhance its legitimacy and effectiveness, said Xie.
He also urged the IMF to set up an automatic adjustment mechanism for its quota in the mid- and long-term to timely reflect the evolving weight of each member in the global economy.
China also expects the World Bank to reform towards the ultimate goal of parity voting power between developed and developing members in it as early as possible, he said.
The two institutions should continually increase developing countries’ representation in its staffing structure, in particular the senior management, and make the selection process of their leaders open, transparent and merit-based, said Xie.
China’s Finance Minister Xie Xuren Tuesday urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to speed up reforms that would give developing countries a bigger voice in the two institutions to reflect changing economic weight of their members.
“We call on all parties to work even more closely together and take actions to push for substantive progress in reform of the two institutions,” said Xie in a speech to the plenary session of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings held in Istanbul, Turkey.
He was referring to the joint proposal by the Group of 20 leaders in a summit last month to increase developing countries’ voting power and quota in the IMF and the World Bank by at least 5 percent and 3 percent respectively.
WELLINGTON, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) — A pilot and a passenger were injured after their light plane crashed on New Zealand Great Barrier Island on Tuesday, 90 km northeast of Auckland.
The Great Barrier Airlines plane was carrying two pilots and four passengers. It was on an out-bound flight when it crashed into a swamp near the runway on Tuesday, the New Zealand Press Association reported.
The pilot and passenger suffered moderate back injuries and are being taken by rescue helicopter to the Auckland Hospital.
Morton said the money will be forfeited in accordance with the laws of the nations where it was seized, with Colombia keeping $28 million and Mexico getting $13 million.
“None of these monies will be forfeited to the United States,” he said.
While large, this month’s cash seizure is not a record. In March of 2007, officials in Mexico officials confiscated $207 million in cash in what was then called the largest drug-related cash seizure in history.
ICE is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, investigating financial crime, trade fraud, narcotics smuggling and cash smuggling, the agency said. ICE was established in 2003 after the Homeland Security Act of 2002.