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Amid a challenging economic outlook—plummeting housing prices, rising foreclosure rates, record-high oil prices, sinking consumer confidence, looming recession—2007 was another banner year for clean energy, with no signs of a slowdown in 2008.

Solar, wind, biofuels, geothermal, energy intelligence, hybrid- and all-electric vehicles, advanced batteries, green buildings, and other clean-energy-related technologies and markets provided bright spots in an otherwise sluggish economy.

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation created Transgender Inclusion in the Workplace to provide human resource and other employment professionals with an overview of the legal and other issues encompassing transgender inclusion, as well as the best practices that leading U.S. businesses utilize today — from discrimination and benefits policies to internal practices that reflect how gender is expressed and integrated in the workplace.

The rise and recent fall of the latest wave of M&A has been fueled largely by private equity’s excessive dependence on debt. Corporate buyers are now back in the driver’s seat and armed with the cash and profitability to do deals.

London 2012 is inviting people across the UK to join in Handover celebrations, marking the moment the Olympic and Paralympic Games come to the UK.

On 24 August 2008 the Beijing Olympic Games draw to a close; we will put on a short show as part of the Closing Ceremony and the Olympic Flag will be handed over to the Mayor of London.

Campus security and safety are important issues in postsecondary education today. Providing students nationwide with a safe environment in which to learn and keeping students, parents and employees well informed about campus security are goals that have been voiced by many groups.

These goals were advanced by the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is committed to ensuring that postsecondary institutions are in full compliance with this act, and that the enforcement of the act remains a priority.

Given its relatively low savings rate, the U.S. economy depends heavily on foreign capital inflows from countries with high savings rates (such as China) to help promote growth and to fund the federal budget deficit. China has intervened heavily in currency markets to limit the yuan’s appreciation. As a result, China has become the world’s largest and fastest growing holder of foreign exchange reserves (FER), which totaled $1.5 trillion at the end of 2007.

China has invested a large share of its FER in U.S. securities, which, as of June 2007, totaled $922 billion, making China the 2nd largest foreign holder of U.S. securities (after Japan). These securities include long term Treasury debt, U.S. agency debt, U.S. corporate debt, U.S. equities, and short term debt.

In 2007, global IPO activity reached an all-time high of US$287 billion through 1,979 deals. Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC countries) accounted for 40% of the global IPO proceeds. In the first quarter of 2008, 236 global IPOs raised US$40.9 billion. While mature markets endure an IPO slowdown, many emerging markets continue to flourish, bolstered by vibrant economic growth. Eight of the quarter’s top 10 IPOs were companies based in the emerging markets.