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Juan Williams says 4 million new Hispanic or Latino voters were added to voter rolls in the U.S. between 2004 and 2008.

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Apple's plans to get a share of revenues and control customer data for digital newspapers and magazines it supports on the I-Pad.

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Lowenstein points to the need for restricting leverage, letting banks get upto their necks in debt, as the key to preventing fututre crises. And this means off balance sheet and derivatives control so that the overall debt is strictly manageable. Regulation is needed in these areas and just making banks smaller won't be enough he says.

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Back points out the frequent revisions of Japan's GDP growth numbers could mean a revision for 4th quarter 2013 GDP growth estimates of only annualized 1.0%. One factor was imports rising by 3.5% from the previous quarter, because of increase in fossil fuel imports to makeup for idle nuclear reactors. Business investment continues to be strong.

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Baidu's acquisition of mobile app company 91 Wireless for $1.7 billion.

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Under the new change voting rights would be allocated at 42.1 % of the IMF's voting power to developing nations, and 57.9% for developed nations. The US has more than 15% of the voting rights and the EU has more than 15%.IMf's important decisions require 85% of the vote. This comes though at a time when the IMF is a less relevant institution for todays international financial institutions and international financial markets one could say outmoded to today's and tomorrow's needs. And the fairer allocation of voting rights comes a decade later than when it was needed during the Asian financial crisis and contagion effects on Brazil and Russia, when the IMF's positions did not show as good an understanding of the needs and problems facing developing countries as it could have, especially giving it a human face. Moreover the rotation of the position of the head of the IMF between financial leaders of the USA and Europe, as is true of the World Bank does not lend them to fresh thinking from countries in Asia and other parts of the world like Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the ability to bring afresh perspective from these countries. ...

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Lee describes the problems the Russian economy faces with the depletion of the Reserve Fund following collapse of oil prices. Finance minister Siluanov says the Reserve Fund could run out by 2017. The National Wealth Fund hols $73 billion and is used for infrastructure projects and bank bailouts, and pensions. The defense budget is expected to decline by 5% in 2016 as the military buildup slows from a slower economy. The World Bank predicts a poverty rate of 14.2%. The 50% decline in the ruble has hurt imports. The lack of access to international capital markets has also hurt growth, even though Russia has only small debt.