World Bank

Actors Bo Derek, Harrison Ford, and Robert Duvall helped the World Bank kick off a tiger-preservation campaign yesterday in Washington, CNN reports, with efforts to save the endangered species' habitats atop the list. Derek, who works with the US State Department to fight trafficking, says the tiger initiative should stem "loss of habitat" and "demand for their body parts, mainly in Asia." More »

Group of Seven finance ministers ended 3 days of meetings in Washington yesterday by endorsing a plan to create greater transparency and oversight in financial markets to avert future crises, but no emergency measures to stem the current one. Despite a downbeat report on the likelihood of worldwide recession, and even hunger riots as the cost of food continues to soar, responses to the credit crisis remain national responsibilities, writes the Wall Street Journal . More »

The International Monetary Fund has approved the sale of 400 tons of gold from its massive reserves for an expected $11 billion, the Financial Times reports. The global lender also plans to slash up to 15% of its workforce to improve its finances, which have been hit by falling demand for emergency loans. The IMF is aiming to move away from lending to take on a more advisory role. More »

Cutting greenhouse-gas emissions will put a dent in the world's bottom line, but the damage could be minimal with the right economic policies, the International Monetary Fund forecasts. A 60% reduction of 2002 emission levels will reduce global growth by 2.6% come 2040, but the world's economy would still double in size, the Wall Street Journal reports. More »

The Washington headquarters of the World Bank will be closed for business Friday as it investigates a bomb threat, Reuters reports. "The bank is working with law enforcement officials to determine the validity of the threat," said a statement from the bank. Few other details were released. The international lending institution is located about a block away from the White House. More »

Great Britain has supplanted the United States as the largest contributor to the World Bank, pledging $4.2 billion of the total $25.1 billion raised for the world's poorest nations, a record high. The shift in power reflects both the dollar's waning dominance as well as an end to US-Europe tensions following Paul Wolfowitz's resignation, the Times reports. More »

Robert Zoellick has outlined a new strategy for the World Bank, including giving the private sector a bigger role in development, speeding aid to countries coming out of conflict, and promoting green energy alternatives, Reuters reports. The new president  has been quick to reposition the global bank's mission following the turmoil over former president Paul Wolfowitz's resignation under duress. More »

Though he's proven more popular with staffers than his predecessor, new World Bank head Robert Zoellick faces a greater challenge in setting a new path for the poverty-fighting lender, the Wall Street Journal reports. As shareholders meet today for the first time since Zoellick took over for the disgraced Paul Wolfowitz, the bank president aims to sell "inclusive and sustainable globalization." More »

Bolivia’s populist president is traveling his country handing out aid—straight from his anti-American neighbor Hugo Chávez. The Washington Post reports that Evo Morales has been taking more than a cue from Chávez, using the Venezuelan leader's cash to fund social welfare programs and build clinics and schools, while balking at the investment in private enterprise favored by the West. More »

Declaring that he's looking forward to "encouraging hope, opportunity and dignity," Robert Zoellick was elected yesterday to succeed the embattled Paul Wolfowitz as new chief of the World Bank. The Goldman Sachs investment banker and former US deputy secretary of state will officially step into office July 1.  More »

The World Bank is planning a $250-million fund to pay countries to refrain from cutting down tropical forests. The plan, which won approval at the G-8 summit last week, depends on companies to contribute to the fund, but that's not likely to happen unless rules governing carbon emissions credits are changed to include spared forests, the Wall Street Journal reports. More »

Former trade rep Robert Zoellick embarked on a world tour yesterday, in advance of his likely ascension to president of the World Bank this month. Zoellick will stop in Africa to visit the bank's largest beneficiaries, and Europe to schmooze with its largest donors. "I want to leave no stone unturned," he said. More »

Robert Zoellick knows he has his work cut out for him, and he says he will try to "calm the waters" if he is confirmed as World Bank president. "This institution has been through a traumatic period and there is a lot of anxiety, some frustration and anger," says the designated successor to Paul Wolfowitz. More »

President Bush will tap former US trade representative Robert Zoellick as the new World Bank prez, sources close to administration said this afternoon. Zoellick, who has spent over 20 years in government, served as deputy secretary of state and the country's top trade official until last year, when he joined Goldman Sachs. More »

The White House is eying former Senate majority leader Bill Frist to take the World Bank presidency soon to be vacated by Paul Wolfowitz, the Wall Street Journal reports. Also getting a look are Treasury No. 2 Robert Kimmitt, onetime trade representative Robert Zoellick, and Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, star of the UN Oil for Food investigation. More »

First the World Bank dumped him, and now Paul Wolfowitz is on the outs with girlfriend Shaha Riza, Page Six reports. "She was furious about the embarrassment," a source tells the Post , which says she resented implications she'd slept her way to the top. What's more, Riza didn't ask for the promotion that set off the scandal, another source said. More »

Italian lenders UniCredit and Capitalia yesterday inked a $29.7 billion deal to create a bank with the world's fifth (and Europe's second) largest market cap. The hurried Rome merger indicates, according to the Wall Street Journal , a rush to consolidate Europe's banking sector, but also the persistent challenges to cross-border deals within the EU. More »

Paul Wolfowitz clung to his job at the World Bank with characteristic tenacity, but friends and colleagues tell the New York Times that his failure there may have been inevitable. He approached the bank position with the same single-mindedness he displayed at the Pentagon, where he was blind to dissenting views and dismissive of naysayers. More »

Paul Wolfowitz will leave the World Bank on June 30, capping a tumultuous two years for the development institution and its beleaguered president. Wolfowitz's tenure was marked by controversy from day one, when he assumed the office under the cloud of the Iraq war, until today, when a drawn-out ethics scandal finally drove him from office. More »

Paul Wolfowitz may step down from the World Bank as early as today, CNNMoney reports.  Wolfowitz and the World Bank board are still wrangling over the terms of his departure, but early accounts suggest that the beleaguered president would leave voluntarily and the bank would admit some responsibility for the handling of a transfer and hefty raise awarded to Wolfowitz's girlfriend. More »