
The following piece published in The New York Times was written by Joseph E. Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and a former chief economist of the World Bank, and currently a professor at Columbia University.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) on Friday declared Argentina in default, which could trigger payments worth up to one billion dollars on credit default swaps.

There could have been few places where the old adage “worse things happen at sea” seemed more appropriate than a recent US Senate Commerce Committee hearing in which members were regaled with Caribbean cruise ship passengers’ horror stories of everything from rape and violence to seeping sewage and hallways lined with bags of feces.

US scientists have discovered a central hub of brain cells that may put the brakes on a desire to eat, a study in mice shows. And switching on these neurons can stop feeding immediately, according to the Nature Neurosciences report.

West Africa's Ebola outbreak is out of control but it can be stopped, World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan said on Friday at a meeting in Conakry, capital of Guinea.

Concerns have been expressed about the possibility of the current Ebola outbreak spreading globally after an infected airline passenger introduced the deadly virus to Nigeria. All outbreaks since 1976, when Ebola was first identified, have been confined to rural and forested areas in Africa, with the previous highest death toll being 280.

The debate over the impact of peak oil has been raging for decades. Although few deny that the end of mass oil consumption is drawing nearer, educated estimates now range between 2020 and 2030.

Mercosur members finally agreed this week on a draft joint proposal to be presented to the European Union with the purpose of negotiating a long delayed trade and cooperation agreement with EU, according to Uruguayan diplomatic sources.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) said on Thursday it had received its first request to consider whether a credit event had occurred, according to the ISDA website.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Catalan President Artur Mas failed to break the deadlock over Catalonia’s independence drive, with both holding firm on their positions when they met for the first time in a year.