The story of how a B.C. man found his birth mother
After his adopted parents died, Dave Rogers set out to learn more about his birth mother. DNA results and a little help from friendly strangers would put him on a path to a small town in England.
Former officials of the World Bank are under pressure after an investigation found that they pressured staff members of the bank to alter data on global business conditions in order to favor China and some other governments.
The World Bank said it would discontinue its “Doing Business” report in the wake of the investigation, which was conducted by the law firm WilmerHale after internal questions involving “data irregularities” in the 2018 and 2020 editions of the report and possible “ethical matters” involving bank staff.
WilmerHale's report concluded that Kristalina Georgieva, then the chief executive of the World Bank, and the office of Jim Yong Kim, then the bank's president, pressured staff members to change data on China to support Beijing's ranking in the “Doing Business” report. These rankings are important to China and other developing nations because they can affect their ability to attract investment from overseas.
In a statement, Georgieva, who now leads the International Monetary Fund, disputed the report's conclusion that she was involved in pressuring World Bank staff members to appease China.
“I disagree fundamentally with the findings and interpretations of the Investigation of Data Irregularities as it relates to my role in the World Bank's Doing Business report of 2018,” her statement said.
The World Bank, based in Washington, is among the world's largest sources of development funding. “Doing Business,” which evaluates a country's tax burdens, bureaucratic obstacles, regulatory system and other business conditions, is used by some governments to try to attract investment. The report ranks countries on such factors as how straightforward or burdensome it is to register a business, legally enforce a contract, resolve a bankruptcy, obtain an electrical connection or acquire construction permits.
Timothy Ash, a strategist at the fixed income manager BlueBay Asset Management, said he “cannot overestimate” the importance of the Doing Business report for banks and businesses trying to assess risk in a particular country.
“Any quantitative model of country risk has built this in to ratings,” Ash said. “Money and investments are allocated on the back of this series.”
He added that if an analyst at a bank or rating agency had done what is alleged, “I wager they would be fired and would be subject to regulatory investigation.”
China has tried over the past two decades to increase its influence over international institutions, including the IMF and the World Health Organization, and their policies.
The changes made to the 2018 “Doing Business” report followed lobbying by Beijing for a better ranking and came ahead of a campaign by the World Bank to raise capital in which Beijing was expected to play a “key role,” the report said. China is the bank's third-largest shareholder after the United States and Japan.
Changes made by analysts who prepared the 2018 report raised China's ranking by seven places to No. 78, according to the report. Other changes affected rankings of Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
According to WilmerHale's investigative report, a World Bank senior director acknowledged that the “Doing Business” leadership made changes to “push the data in a certain direction to accommodate geopolitical considerations.” It said Georgieva thanked the senior director for doing his “bit for multilateralism.”
The senior director interpreted that to mean “not angering China” during the capital increase negotiations, the report said.
The World Bank researchers knew that the changes “were inappropriate,” but they “expressed a fear of retaliation” by Georgieva's aide, Simeon Djankov, according to the report.
The Chinese foreign ministry expressed hope the World Bank would “conduct a comprehensive investigation” to “better maintain the professionalism and credibility” of “Doing Business.”
“The Chinese government attaches great importance to optimizing the business environment,” said a ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian.
After his adopted parents died, Dave Rogers set out to learn more about his birth mother. DNA results and a little help from friendly strangers would put him on a path to a small town in England.
A Montreal man is warning Tesla drivers about using the Smart Summon feature after his vehicle hit another in a parking lot.
Italy's mafia rarely dirties its hands with blood these days. Extortion rackets have gone out of fashion and murders are largely frowned upon by the godfathers.
The Israel-Hamas war has led to a spike in 'violent rhetoric' from 'extremist actors' that could prompt some in Canada to turn to violence, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warns.
Russia plans to hold drills simulating the use of battlefield nuclear weapons, the Defense Ministry announced Monday, days after the Kremlin reacted angrily to comments by senior Western officials about the war in Ukraine and Moscow warned that tensions with the West are deepening.
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Actor Bernard Hill, who delivered a rousing cry before leading his people into battle in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' and went down with the ship as the captain in 'Titanic,' has died.
Police say it’s fortunate no one was injured or killed in a collision at North Vancouver’s Park and Tilford shopping centre Saturday evening that sent one vehicle careening into a flower shop and another into a set of concrete barriers outside a Winners store.
The Israeli army ordered some 100,000 Palestinians on Monday to begin evacuating from the southern city of Rafah, signaling that a long-promised ground invasion there could be imminent and further complicating efforts to broker a cease-fire in Gaza.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.