Public Policy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Public Policy - Research Paper Example NAPWA’S importance discussed in this paper is in regards to the criminalization of those with HIV/AIDS who gives the virus to another individual whether or not that was the individual’s intent. NAPWA argues this point and yet shares the view that those who intentionally infect another individual with the virus should be criminally prosecuted but not those who unintentionally pass the virus on (Lesieur) Matt Lesieur, NAPWA’s vice president of public policy presents NAPWA’s 2011 Public Policy Agenda in regards to HIV Criminalization (Lesieur) Across the country laws are being presented that are designed to criminally prosecute the transmission of HIV infection (Lesieur) NAPWA’s Public Policy department has stood up to address these laws and legislations that are trying to be incorporated. NAPWA argues that carrying out with these laws and legislations designed to criminally prosecute the transmission of HIV infection would cause serious hindrances in the HIV/AIDS community. ... This is where NAPWA argues the point of the unintentional criminalization of the transmission of the virus. NAPWA feels that â€Å"From a public health perspective, applying criminal law to cases not involving intent can actually impede HIV prevention† (Lesieur) Individuals aware of this law who may feel the law is unjust will be less opting to learn their status. Doing this could possibly cause an even greater spread of the virus. The benefits of an individual finding out his/her status is the proper care of that individual as well as keeping that individual’s partner safe. The proper care comes through appropriate medication and thorough education. Every individual with breath in his/her body still has a life to live no matter what they’re living with. Teaching individuals how to live with the HIV/AIDS virus is just as important as teaching or preparing your teenager about to graduate from High school to go out and live in college or just out on their own in ge neral. The generalization of the laws designed to prosecute the transmission of the HIV/AIDS virus is a hindrance to this awareness, education and prevention. NAPWA’s Matt Lesieur also argues that â€Å"The criminalization of HIV transmission also tends to increase the discrimination against people living with HIV, and other stigmatized groups such as migrants, injecting drug users, sex workers and men who have sex with men† NAPWA didn’t just have a difference of opinion in regards to these laws and legislations that are trying to be put into place but more a â€Å"reasonable† solution. NAPWA’s suggestion instead is as follows: -Criminal law should not be used as tool to prevent the transmission of HIV. Rather Governments should expand public health programs grounded in

Addressing Libya's Past Injustices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Addressing Libya's Past Injustices - Essay Example As demonstrated by Kyriakakis (2009, p. 333), the provisions of the ICC laws include prosecution of persons who have committed crimes against humanity. Furthermore, according to article 5 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998), the international tribunal has jurisdiction to crimes of genocide, aggression and war crimes. BBC News Africa (2011) reported the capture of Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam with the new prime minister of Libya saying that Saif will get a fair trial in Libya. Because Saif is accused of ordering killings during the regime of his slain father Muammar Gaddafi, it is therefore appropriate that the Libyan authorities hand him to the ICC for trial. Additionally the BBC News Africa, (2011) shows that the chief prosecutor of the International criminal court, Luis Moreno Ocampo promises a fair trial for Saif if he is submitted to the international tribunal. Moreover, Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998) provides ju risdiction of the court to the crimes of murder and torture which are parallel to the allegations against Saif al-Islam. According to Kyriakakis (2009, p. 336), the universality principle of the International Criminal Court as provided by the international law gives the ICC criminal jurisdiction regardless of country or nationality. Therefore despite the fact that Libya was opposed to the Rome treaty, the allegation that the ICC cannot claim jurisdiction of crimes committed outside the boundaries of the Rome treaty cannot prevent it from prosecuting people who commit crimes against humanity. However, the assertion of the new prime minister of Libya that Saif will be tried locally is not based on ICC jurisdiction. As a result, the ICC should provide the court trial for the Libyan leader. The ICC upholds human rights through its laws and its role is to protect the dignity of people through prosecution and punishment of individuals who commit dehumanizing crimes. The ICC claims that Sa if Gaddafi who was presumed to be the successor of his father played a leading role in organizing the killing of Libyan civilians as explained by the Asian News Monitor (2011). This amounts to genocide, which according to the laws of the ICC gives the international tribunal a mandate to prosecute Saif Gaddafi. Moreover, there could be political influence in local hearings of the Saif case, which could compromise the achievement of a fair trial. It should be noted that the ICC must have evidence to support its accusations against the Libyan leader before he is convicted of the alleged crimes. The arrest of Saif al-Islam by the militia force which is allied to NTC should therefore present the leader to the ICC to warrant the beginning of investigation by the international tribunal. This is because the ICC is described by the BBC News Africa (2011) as having reasons to belief that Saif al-Islam was involved in the alleged crimes through evidence material. Further investigation by the c ourt will back the current evidence of the crimes committed by the leader. Moreover, the trial at ICC is more likely to be unbiased and objective as compared to a local tribunal in Libya. Further support for the ICC hearing of the Saif case is demonstrated by the fact that the laws of the ICC provide for confirmation hearings before the actual court cases are heard. This means that if the arrested leader is submitted to the ICC, the international tribunal will thoroughly evaluate the prosecutor’s evidence to pave way for a fair trial. Trial will only occur if the evidence against the Libyan arrested leader meets the minimum threshold of crime beyond which ICC jurisdiction is justified. The need for an ICC trial for Saif al-Islam is

Regulatory Frameworks of the Equity Markets of Australia and the USA Essay

Regulatory Frameworks of the Equity Markets of Australia and the USA - Essay Example The structure of organized exchanges and the trading policies imposed by regulatory bodies continue to influence the turnover of physical shares, price formation of equities and trading costs, while generally exerting pressure on the behavior of market participants and the overall competitiveness of securities markets. This report will discuss the structures and regulatory frameworks of the equity markets of Australia and the United States of America. As a reference point, the major exchanges in both countries will be compared, where the NYSE is used as the benchmark for the exchange activities of ASX and Nasdaq. Also, the report will include a rundown of equity-funding alternatives for a listed US corporation, as required. The equity market of Australia is operated largely by its organized stock exchange, the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Trade of ASX stocks takes place on a fully competitive and automated order-driven trading system, known as the Stock Exchange Automated Trading System (SEATS) (Elvis Jarnecic, June 1999). Trading is facilitated through the placement of a purchase order by a market participant with a broker, either by way of telephone or online through the internet, on regular trading days. In contrast, the New York Stock Exchange or NYSE operates under a hybrid market structure. Kaj Hedvall (CEFA, 2006) defines hybrid markets as a specialists market and the NYSE as an order-driven, floor-based, continuous market with specialists. Also known as an auction market; these specialists converge on the floor of NYSE to facilitate the reporting of bids and asks, execute the trade and maintain order on the floor.   NASDAQ, on the other hand, is a quote-driven, dealer market. At present, there are over 500 dealers-also called market-makers, composed of large investment companies, who buys and sells shares of stocks through a personal inventory of NASDAQ-listed stocks to earn a profit from a regulated bid/ask spread.   NASDAQ is the largest scree n-based market in the United States. Screen-based means that there is no physical location, but trading is based on computers and other communication mediums (Block, S et al, 2002). Thus, NASDAQ market makers conduct the exchange not through a physical trading floor, but by way of an electronic network. While each security under Nasdaq has an average of 14 market makers competing against each other, only one specialist is designated to every NYSE-listed stock. It can be observed that Australia operates a purely order-driven market while the major exchanges of the USA, conduct trading in a purely quote-driven market for NASDAQ and a cross between the two pure market models, the hybrid market, a structure of the NYSE.   The advantage of an order-driven market is the inherent transparency of the system since all buy and sell orders of participants are posted on the market, providing information on which prices investors are willing to buy or sell shares. This is not an attribute of a quote-driven market where only the bid and ask offers of market makers are displayed.

Mini Research Report on Tutankhamun Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mini Report on Tutankhamun - Research Paper Example esenamun with whom they had two stillborn daughters who died at 6 months and later at 9 months of pregnancy according to modern computations.1 However, even the modern research has not yet revealed the core reason of the deaths since there were no congenital anomalies found in the mummies. Given the young age of Tutankhamun at the time of ascending to the throne and his successes such victories over several ethnicities, it obvious that he had wise and string council among them Vizier Ay. Nonetheless, Tutankhamun made several noticeable changes during his reign marking a number of achievements under his name. For instanvce, during the third year of his reign he banned the worship of the god Aten restoring the god Amun contrary to his father’s reign. Moreover, the Capital was reverted to Thebes abandoning Akhetaten that had served as the main city during his father’s reign. It was this period that saw the establishment of the name Tutankhamun that means â€Å"Living image of Amun† whom he had restored as the god to worship. Additionally, he saw the development of Thebes marked by numerous buildings such as a temple for Amun and erection of several monuments mainly related to the gods. As a result of these advancements, traditional festivals such as those related to Apis Bull that had earlier been neglected were now celebrated across the territory. However, due the increased concentration on the god Amun other gods and goddesses were seemingly neglected leading to the belief that the land was under a curse. As such, the temples and the sanctuary were in ruins with some being seemingly abused due to use as roads and hence prayers to these gods and goddesses were not answered. This may be considered one of the greatest failures of Tutankhamun and it has received great critic especially from those against the worship of the god Amun. Nevertheless, Tutankhamun saw the improvement of the economic status of the country that had been strained during the reign of his

Managing Risk with Derivatives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Managing Risk with Derivatives - Essay Example This paper attempts to discuss derivatives as a tool for financial risk management and its effectiveness in business risk management. In the finance literature, hedge refers to a technique in which an investment is made in certain securities to reduce or eliminate the risk of loss resulting from the fluctuations in the price of another security by taking two offset positions in the related security. Hedging is defined as a risk management strategy designed to offset risk of loss causing from fluctuations in the prices of commodities, currencies or securities ( LiPuma, 2004). Hedging helps to transfer the various risks without the need of buying any insurance policies. Hedging was commonly used in the commodities market by the traders to reduce the risk of loss caused by fluctuations in the price of a commodity. It was used by the trader to buy as well as sell the equal quantities of the same commodities in two different markets at same time with the expectation that a change in price in future in one market will help to offset by an opposite change in the other market. But now hedging could also be used in the sec urities and foreign exchange market. Source: One of the instrument or tool used to hedge risk is derivatives. ... Derivatives refer to the financial contracts or instruments that derive their value from the underlying asset like stocks, equity, bonds, commodities etc. Nowadays derivatives are also used by the investors and institutional borrowers. The people who use derivatives as a way of managing risk are called hedgers. The derivative instruments used for hedging purposes include forwards, futures, options, swaps and combination on these (hybrid). Derivatives are becoming increasingly important in international markets as a tool for risk management. Derivatives help lot to the corporate clients to separate their risks and transfer them to those who are ready to bear their risks. In addition to these derivatives are the cheapest and convenient means of hedging because in derivatives there is no actual delivery of underlying assets only the profit or loss on the derivative contract is adjusted. Moreover all the derivative instruments are very simple to operate without any tedious process in it. They can also be used by the companies to hedge their long tern risks (i.e., 10-15 year risk), which enable the companies to focus more on management decisions other than funding decisions. Further all derivative instruments are low cost products and offer high liquidity to the companies. Due to these reasons derivatives have become one of the essential tool for the companies to hedge their complex exposures and volatilities that they hav e to face in the financial markets today. However it is seen that the derivative instruments in recent times have come under general scrutiny because of its misuse made by the companies in managing the financial risks. Hence depending upon how it is used the derivatives can be both advantageous

Iceland's Economic Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Iceland's Economic Crisis - Essay Example Let us evaluate the possible causes of the Iceland’s crises. The fundamental reason of the Iceland crises is the financial crises that the banks of the country faced. When there was a major deregulation practice in place, Iceland also adopted the policy. This is the period during the year 2000 when the country’s major industries were deregulated which also included the banking industry. At first, it was a prolific decision and started paying benefits. Iceland’s stock market grew by 900%, which was one of the best growths of the decade. In addition, it is estimated that the banks of Iceland had growth multiple times the growth of the country itself. The deregulation of the banking industry caused a significant change in the spending pattern and thus, the national economy of Iceland (Bagus et al, 2011). The banks now lent money in simple terms and conditions which made it possible for the common Icelander to obtain loan for virtually anything. Mortgages became easy and the people were lured into take up house loans. The finances that the banks of Iceland used to continue their activities were obtained from interbank lending and from deposits from outside the country (Gudmundsson et al, 2010). The growing lending eventually led to the rise in the cost of living and inflation crept up to around 14% in September 2008. As a corrective measure, the Central Bank raised the interest rate to above 15%. This caused the international funds to be deposited into Iceland’s banks because the banks of other countries were offering much lower interest rates. As a result, the money supply in Iceland grew by 56.5% compared to 5% of GDP growth. Banks found it difficult to pay back loans because much of the investment had been circulated in the interbank market. The central bank also failed to loan the banks because the amount needed was even greater than the

Managing Risk with Derivatives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Managing Risk with Derivatives - Essay Example This paper attempts to discuss derivatives as a tool for financial risk management and its effectiveness in business risk management. In the finance literature, hedge refers to a technique in which an investment is made in certain securities to reduce or eliminate the risk of loss resulting from the fluctuations in the price of another security by taking two offset positions in the related security. Hedging is defined as a risk management strategy designed to offset risk of loss causing from fluctuations in the prices of commodities, currencies or securities ( LiPuma, 2004). Hedging helps to transfer the various risks without the need of buying any insurance policies. Hedging was commonly used in the commodities market by the traders to reduce the risk of loss caused by fluctuations in the price of a commodity. It was used by the trader to buy as well as sell the equal quantities of the same commodities in two different markets at same time with the expectation that a change in price in future in one market will help to offset by an opposite change in the other market. But now hedging could also be used in the sec urities and foreign exchange market. Source: One of the instrument or tool used to hedge risk is derivatives. ... Derivatives refer to the financial contracts or instruments that derive their value from the underlying asset like stocks, equity, bonds, commodities etc. Nowadays derivatives are also used by the investors and institutional borrowers. The people who use derivatives as a way of managing risk are called hedgers. The derivative instruments used for hedging purposes include forwards, futures, options, swaps and combination on these (hybrid). Derivatives are becoming increasingly important in international markets as a tool for risk management. Derivatives help lot to the corporate clients to separate their risks and transfer them to those who are ready to bear their risks. In addition to these derivatives are the cheapest and convenient means of hedging because in derivatives there is no actual delivery of underlying assets only the profit or loss on the derivative contract is adjusted. Moreover all the derivative instruments are very simple to operate without any tedious process in it. They can also be used by the companies to hedge their long tern risks (i.e., 10-15 year risk), which enable the companies to focus more on management decisions other than funding decisions. Further all derivative instruments are low cost products and offer high liquidity to the companies. Due to these reasons derivatives have become one of the essential tool for the companies to hedge their complex exposures and volatilities that they hav e to face in the financial markets today. However it is seen that the derivative instruments in recent times have come under general scrutiny because of its misuse made by the companies in managing the financial risks. Hence depending upon how it is used the derivatives can be both advantageous