In the Caribbean, she heard from residents of Grenada and Antigua how rising tides are dramatically effecting their livelihoods.

The report was sponsored by the U.N. Environmental Program and the Alliance of Small Island States. Some of the underwater footage was provided by Acqua Films.

Read Megan’s blog from the field: Message in a Bottle: reporting from Antigua and Grenada.

Schoolgirls outside Cairo’s Alabaster Mosque. Photo: Flickr user Ed Yourdon

The Arab world has over 350 million people and stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf. Unified by a common Arabic culture and history, these 25 countries are at varying levels of economic and political development.

But there seems to be a set of demographic issues that apply to many — if not all — of the nations in the Arab world. We take a deeper look at high birth rates and gender inequality and then compare them to other regions of the world.

Martin Savidge hosts Magda Abu-Fadil and Bernard Haykel on Friday, March 12, at 12:00 noon EST to discuss these issues:

• Youth bulge: jobs for young people, emigration, political instability
• Gender gap: young women, variation across Arab states, political power
• Big picture: comparisons to other regions, replacement level, demographic transition

GUESTS:

Magda Abu-Fadil is director of the Journalism Training Program at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and has years of experience as a foreign correspondent and editor with international news organizations such as Agence France-Presse and United Press International.

Bernard Haykel is a professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, where his research interests include contemporary politics, Arabian history and Islamic fundamentalism.

Grand Anse beach, Grenada. Photo: Flickr user tps58

The Association of Small Island States (AOSIS), an advocacy group of 42 states, has been pushing hard for action on climate change, which it argues could render many low-lying islands uninhabitable.

Worldfocus spoke with Dessima Williams, chair of AOSIS and Grenada’s Ambassador to the UN.

Worldfocus: The small island states pushed hard for a legally binding document to come out of Copenhagen, even introducing a different version of the Copenhagen Protocol. But the talks ended up producing a voluntary agreement. What is your reaction to this outcome?

Williams: First of all, the Copenhagen Accord does not represent a legally binding document, nor does it serve as the basis for the continuation of negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This is exclusively a political document, providing guidance for individual countries to establish their own negotiating positions moving forward.

While we recognize the measurable progress that this Accord represents, we are generally disappointed with this substandard, insular document that does little to guarantee the safety and continued survival of the small island states. The level of ambition necessary to tackle climate change is simply not reflected in the Accord, and in substantive terms, ignores the scientific exigency of this impending climatic catastrophe.

Worldfocus: Industrialized nations did agree to create a fund that will help small, developing countries cope with the effects of climate change. Are you satisfied with the terms of this fund, and are you confident the funds will start to flow soon?

Williams: The special access fund that was created is a first step in staving off the worst effects of climate change, which the small island states will inevitably be the first to suffer. However, as it based more on political needs and compromises than genuine international compromise on legally-binding emissions limitations, it falls woefully short of producing meaningful change.

Undoubtedly, these funds are critical to our ability to adapt to climate change and our efforts to develop cleaner and more efficient economies. But without substantial cuts in emissions, the funds will only be used to delay the inevitable – complete destruction and immeasurable suffering.

Additionally, it remains to be seen whether the industrialized countries are able to follow through with their commitments, especially in the face of continuing global recession and fears of economic relapse.

Moreover, the notion that oil-producing countries should be compensated for significantly reduced demand as a result of binding emissions targets –- one embodied in the Accord -– is illogical and radically inequitable. This will surely draw funds away from those countries that need them the most, and will work to further erode the legitimacy of future negotiations.

Worldfocus: “1.5 to Stay Alive” was your slogan going into Copenhagen was — meaning that your survival depends on global temperatures not rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius [about 3 degrees Farenheit]. But negotiators settled on a target of 2 degrees Celsius. What does this mean for small island states?

Williams: Our slogan will always, unequivocally remain “1.5 to Stay Alive,” regardless of the outcome of Copenhagen. This number is absolutely essential to our collective survival, in addition to the continued vitality of the Earth’s wide-ranging ecosystems and biodiversity.

While we consider it encouraging that this political accord agrees to an increase in global temperature of less than 2 degrees Celsius, we will continue to fight for less than 1.5 degrees C benchmark in all of our future negotiating sessions.

The science has explicitly demonstrated time and time again that a level of ambition which stabilizes global temperatures below 1.5 degrees C is required for the survival of our island states. Moreover, this number is both technologically and economically feasible –- per usual, only the politics lags behind this reality.

If this level is not reached, the international community is signaling its indifference to the certain doom of the small island nations, which in our mind is entirely deplorable.

Worldfocus: Is the United States doing enough on the issue of climate change? What would you like to see from the U.S. this year?

Williams: The United States is not doing anywhere near what it should be doing on the issue of climate change. Their legislative system is exasperatingly paralyzed by partisan politics, their environmental agencies are stymied by sharp budget cuts and leadership voids and their chief executive seems to be flustered –- or worse, unaware –- of the sheer magnitude of this global problem.

While the rhetoric is always stimulating and focused, federal actions do little to validate such promise. We are sincerely appreciative of the effort put forth by President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton at Copenhagen, and welcome the continued support of the administration in terms of both financing and resources.

However, their willingness to bypass the traditional fora for negotiation in favor of bilateral and multilateral side agreements with the largest emitters undermined the UN system and actively frustrated progress. Moreover, the political endgame waged constantly against China and the developing countries grew tiresome.

As for this coming year, it is critical that the U.S. pass some form of climate legislation to expedite the process of developing an international, legally-binding agreement at the COP16 [the next climate summit] in Mexico next November. This will give U.S. negotiators the leverage and legitimacy they need to play their role in facilitating this agreement crucial to our survival. Also, continued contribution to the “green fund” for adaptation is very important.

- Megan Thompson

These two rapidly growing economies have formally agreed this week to be part of the climate change accord that was worked at last December’s climate change conference in Copenhagen.

The nonbinding document calls for limiting the rise in global temperatures.

Andrew Potter of Al Jazeera English reports on the significance of the news.

Special correspondent Kristen Gillespie looks at an unusual effort in Jordan, where an unlikely champion of animal rights is trying to end widespread abuse and help her canine friends.

Read Kristen Gillespie’s blog about adopting one of the rescued dogs, A mistreated dog gets a new home in Amman.

This is how Faith was found by representatives from the Humane Center the day of the puppy mill raid in north Jordan. Photo: Kristen Gillespie.

Worldfocus special correspondent Kristen Gillespie writes about a furry friend that she acquired while doing a Signature video on puppy mills in Amman, Jordan.

Faith got her name shortly after her rescue from a notorious puppy mill in rural north Jordan. Her muscles were atrophied, her body emaciated, her eyes infected, her teeth were broken, and yet, her spirit was intact — hence her name.

Not all of the 38 puppies and 32 dogs that were rescued made out so well. Some had gone crazy, others turned aggressive.

When I went to the Humane Center to work on this report, I began to notice Faith. She moved slowly, her eyes were still red and swollen and she was always quiet.

When the dogs would go outside to play every day after the shelter closed, Faith seemed more interested in getting attention from visitors than in running around. One day, the door to the shelter was slightly open and Faith slipped inside as the dogs sometimes do.

Usually, they run gleefully through the halls. But when I went in to retrieve Faith, I noticed she had gone back to her kennel and sat inside it, waiting for someone to come and close the gate.

“She’ll spend the rest of her life here at the Center,” said Margaret Ledger, the center’s director. “Months had passed since the rescue and no one had shown any interest in adopting her,” she added.

I started making excuses to go to the shelter and visit Faith. She seemed perfectly content, climbing up next to me on the bean bag in the shelter’s reception area and watching the world go by.

When I decided to adopt Faith, she spent much of the first several weeks at home sleeping and eating. Her eyes cleared up. The walks grew longer, her muscles developed and she turned into a happy, loving dog who learned how to play for the first time.

Faith enjoys her new life. Photo: Kristen Gillespie

While Faith and most of the rescued dogs and puppies found a happy ending in their new homes, the bigger picture in Jordan remains grim. In the weeks following the raid, the owner of the puppy mill demanded her dogs back, saying that she would sue for the $150,000 she claimed the dogs were worth.

By all indications, the law in Jordan would have granted her the dogs. The Worldfocus report on puppy mills, however, was enough to pressure the government into the exceptional act of producing a letter giving full custody of the confiscated dogs to the Humane Center and releasing them from legal limbo.

With no animal protection laws in Jordan, dogs are commonly stolen and sent into puppy mills or sold at the downtown market, with owners paying hundreds of dollars for their own dogs.

It’s not just puppy mills - people have begun breeding dogs to make money with almost no knowledge or hygiene standards. Puppies are often sick and sold far too young.

The government controls the stray animal population by regularly sending out armed teams to shoot stray dogs in the city streets at all hours of the day. Animal abuse on all levels goes unpunished, and the mills continue to operate unhindered.

I sometimes show people pictures of Faith and the 69 other dogs that were rescued that day on the personal authority of Princess Alia, a concerned member of Jordan’s royal family.

Recently while flipping through the pictures I looked more closely at one of Faith, chained to the side of the building with her muzzle covered in dust. The faraway look is one of deep sadness and despair.

Now when I look into her eyes, I know that Faith has truly come home.

- Kristen Gillespie

The AP says preliminary estimates show that the coalition led by the current prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is doing well in Baghdad and in the Shiite south of Iraq.

In the capital’s green zone, ballot boxes were delivered today to the independent election commission as the counting process began.

Despite a wave of violence Sunday that killed at least 26 people, 62 percent of 19 million eligible voters turned out — lower than during the last Iraqi parliamentary election.

Both the top U.S. general and the American ambassador praised the election process, echoing what President Obama said yesterday. And General Ray Odierno re-affirmed the phased withdrawal of the 96,000 U.S. troops currently in Iraq.

For more, Daljit Dhaliwal speaks with Michael Wahid Hanna, a fellow at the Century Foundation.

Mike Hanna of Al Jazeera English followed one elderly woman who was voting for the future.

But, as John Jensen reports, sex is being used to promote better health, and in the process, these advertisements are also breaking some taboos.

Frozen bluefin tuna ready for auction at Tsukiji Market. Photo: Flickr user Hashashin

Japan says it will defy any ban on trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna. Conservation groups say the fish is at risk of extinction if current catch rates continue.

While the U.S. announced its support of a ban this week, the fish is prized for high-end sushi in Japan, where 80 percent of the fish ends up.

An international conference on endangered animals and plants will vote on giving the tuna endangered status at a meeting that begins next weekend.

If Japan defied a ban on trading an endangered species, what would be an appropriate international response?

Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Please be respectful and on-point. Malicious or offensive comments will be deleted, and repeat offenders will be banned.

Back in 1990, when fast food arrived in Moscow, Russians considered the items to be delicacies. Today, Russia boasts the busiest McDonald’s in the world.

Oksana Boyko of Russia Today reports on how McDonald’s offered more than just fast food — it represented Western values.

Watch a 2003 commerical for McDonald’s - the Russian version of “I’m Loving It.”

The Private Sector Development Blog, which is maintained by the World Bank Group’s Rapid Response knowledge service, noted another important aspect of the anniversary.

McDonald’s is celebrating its 20th anniversary in Russia this week. One of the most interesting aspects of McDonald’s’ Russian adventure is the evolution of its supply chain, which has developed remarkably in the past 20 years. Today, McDonald’s sources all of its ingredients from outside purveyors, an 180 degree shift from when the company opened its first outlet in 1990:

The company celebrated a different milestone earlier this year by outsourcing the last product — hamburger buns — it had made at a proprietary factory outside Moscow called McComplex. It was built before the chain opened its first restaurant. Nearly everywhere else, McDonald’s buys ingredients, rather than making its own. But in the Soviet Union, there simply were no private businesses to supply the 300 or so distinct ingredients needed by a McDonald’s outlet.

Everything — from frozen French fries to pie filling — had to be made from scratch at a sprawling factory.

In the 20 years since McDonald’s arrived in Russia, enough private enterprises have sprung up to supply nearly every ingredient needed to operate one of its restaurants.

Today, private businesses in Russia supply 80 percent of the ingredients in a McDonald’s, a reversal from the ratio when it opened in 1990 and 80 percent of ingredients were imported.

Map courtesy of WineWeb.com

Worldfocus Consulting Producer Edward Deitch is an MSNBC.com wine columnist who also blogs at Vint-ed, where this post originally appeared.

The impact of the massive earthquake on Chile’s wine industry has become more clear in recent days, and it is significant, though not as bad as some had feared.

Concha y Toro, Chile’s largest producer and exporter with vineyards throughout the wine region, said it had suspended its production for at least a week while it assesses the full extent of the damage.

In a statement, it said, “Our company, as well as the rest of the industry, have been heavily impacted by this catastrophe.” It described serious damage to some of its main wineries and “important loss in wine and production capacity,” noting that the area in central Chile that felt the biggest impact from the quake “is the heartland of wine production.”

Another big wine operation, Miguel Torers Chile, said “material losses are significant” at its winery in the Curico Valley. About 300 oak casks were smashed, thousands of bottles were destroyed and a stainless steel vat with a capacity of 100,000 liters cracked, losing all the wine.

The winery’s president, Miguel Torres Maczassek, was on a business trip to the United States when the quake hit.

Melanie McEvoy Quirke, a spokesperson for the winery in New York, told me that some of Torres’s vineyards were even closer to the epicenter than the winery itself and that “as we speak they are getting ready for the harvest.” She had no information yet on vineyard damage.

Worries about the harvest were echoed in a comment on my blog from Tim Britton, an importer of South American wines in Berkeley, California, who said he had two concerns:

One, that not only have some of the vineyards lost stock, not all but many have some significant losses of bottle and vat stock; and two, the harvest is not far off and both equipment and workers will now be in very short supply. The impact of this quake on Chile’s wine exports may be felt for many years. The good news from our contacts is that with one exception no wineries incurred loss of life due to the fortunate timing of a Saturday early morning.

Juliet Rizek, a spokesperson for TGIC Wine Importers in Woodland Hills, California, said two of the wineries it represents, Viña Montes in Colchagua and Viña Santa Ema in the Maipo Valley, suffered some wine loss and structural damage to older buildings. She said the wineries had generators and were keeping the temperatures of the wines under control.

In a statement on the company’s Web site, the president and founder, Alex Guarachi, who is Chilean himself, offers a list of relief organizations to which donations can be texted on cell phones. By today, Montes reported that its equipment and bottle lines were operational and that power had returned. It said it would proceed with the harvest as originally planned.

Another company, Arboleda, reported damage to some of its wineries and continues to evaluate its losses and the impact on market availability. It advised customers to plan an extra two weeks of lead time for orders, saying that even if the winery is working, there will likely be a backlog at ports, which will place a priority on perishable goods such as fresh fruits.

- Edward Deitch

For more on the impact of this major financial issue in the eurozone, Daljit Dhaliwal speaks with Peter Coy, the economics editor for Bloomberg BusinessWeek. He says that other European countries are waiting to see how the Greece government follows through with its pledges — and that the problems in Greece may benefit the U.S. in the short term.

Our German partner Deutsche Welle reports on how  many Greek citizens took to the streets to protest the government cutbacks.

The main pub in Stanley, Falkland Islands. Photo: Flickr user WoolieDales

With just over 3,000 inhabitants, this small island archipelago in the South Atlantic recently made it back into the headlines, as Argentina and the U.K. dispute sovereignty issues surrounding oil exploration by a British firm.

Known in English as the Falkland Islands and in Spanish as Las Malvinas, we want to look at why this little-known place brought two influential nations to war in 1982 — a conflict that now threatens to reignite.

Martin Savidge hosts Juanita Brock and Professor Maria Victoria Murillo to discuss:

• Falklands history: 1982 war, Argentinian claims, British control
• Current dispute: Nationalism, oil resources, trade relations
• U.S./Big Picture: Hillary’s visit, Latin American diplomacy, American intervention

GUESTS:

Maria Victoria Murillo is a professor of Latin American politics at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She has done fieldwork in Argentina, Chile and Venezuela.

Juanita Brock is bureau chief for the Falkland Islands News Network, which is a part of the South Atlantic Remote Territories Media Association. She resides in Stanley, the capital city.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producer: Ben Piven

A famous American adage states, “As General Motors goes, so goes the nation.” In Japan, many are wondering if the same principle applies to Toyota, which has recently recalled more than 8 million vehicles.

Our German partner Deutsche Welle reports from Japan.

Has Toyota done enough to restore customer confidence in the safety and quality of its cars?

Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Please be respectful and on-point. Malicious or offensive comments will be deleted, and repeat offenders will be banned.

Officials now say at least 723 people died, and 19 others are missing. Many survivors are left without water, food and power; Chile’s president has called it an emergency without parallel in the country’s history.

The city of Concepcion, not far from the quake’s epicenter, was especially hard hit. While the 8.8-magnitude quake itself caused many of the deaths, tsunamis that quickly followed may have killed hundreds in coastal towns.

For more on the earthquake’s impact on the Chilean economy, Daljit Dhaliwal interviews Susan Segal, president and CEO of the Americas Society and the Council of the Americas.

And Mariana Sanchez of Al Jazeera English reports from Chile.

Santiago, Chile. Photo: Flickr user Luis Iturra

The 8.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Chile two days ago has resulted in over 700 confirmed deaths thus far and infrastructure damage throughout the country.

Tsunami warnings spread across the Pacific, as far away as Japan and Alaska. Chilean coastal towns and off-shore islands experienced tsunamis from the quake. Rescue efforts are underway and the military has been called in to fend off looters.

Blogs and social media sites have been addressing the disaster and the impact of the quake around the world.

Foreign Policy Blogs writer Richard Basas discusses the immediate impact of Chile’s earthquake, concerns in the coming days and the differences between Chile’s and Haiti’s ability to handle natural disasters:

The actual quake was felt as far as Buenos Aires, but the main concern now for non-Chileans has been a Tsunami effect that has already hit Chile and islands near the mainland of Chile and South America. So far the damage from Tsunami has been limited, but warning about possible Tsunamis have been issued as far as Mexico and Hawaii, and even as far as Asia. Some reports have come out about Tsunamis landing in Mexico and Central America, and countries closer to Chile’s quake like Peru and Colombia but information is limited at this point.

Chile was hit by the largest recorded earthquake in history at 9.0 in the same area of the country in 1960. Unlike Haiti, whose quake was unexpected as one had not occurred for over 200 years before 2010, Chile and its structures have been designed and built to withstand quakes, and emergency plans and sophisticated Search and Rescue equipment exists in Chile to deal with quakes that are well known in Chile. Aid efforts in Concepcion, a city of 670,000 people and the town very close to the quake zone, Talca, are underway as few structures, even those earthquake resistant one can withstand an 8.8 magnitude earthquake. People trapped under collapsed structures often were inside their homes as the earthquake occurred in the middle of the night while most were asleep in their homes.

While Chile’s earthquake was 500 times stronger than the earthquake that rocked Haiti just over a month ago, Chile’s death toll was much smaller. Global Voices blogger Silvia Viñas writes about the praise that Chile is receiving for its disaster preparedness:

Quakes are commonplace in Chile; since 1906 and counting this most recent earthquake, Chile has experienced 28 earthquakes [es]—without counting the smaller in magnitude but still frequent seismic activity that is often felt around the country. The three biggest earthquakes that many Chileans can still remember left 30,000 dead in 1939, 3,000 in 1960, and 177 in 1985.

The international community, together with Chileans living abroad, have praised Chile’s preparedness in front of this devastating situation, which could have had an even higher casualty total.

Chile is the world’s leading supplier of copper, but the country’s copper mines and seaports are struggling to get back to full capacity, after suffering damages and power outages from the quake. The price of copper rose over 5 percent when the markets opened on Monday, and over a fifth of the copper mine capacity was shut down, according to Reuters.

Gwen Robinson, of the Financial Times blog Alphaville, discusses the damage done to Chile’s infrastructure and its impact on global copper prices:

A crucial factor for Chile is its identity as one of the most quake-prone countries on the Pacific Rim. This, as the FT explains, has ensured the country is well prepared for big shocks, with building codes that require shake-resistant construction and a rapid emergency response system.

Chile’s top copper mines also managed to escape much damage because of such factors — though commodities markets still reacted to the earthquake with precautionary buying of the metal.

In an effort to calm commodities markets, Santiago Gónzalez, Chile’s mining minister, said on Sunday that the country would honor all export commitments, citing its ample copper stocks.

But that hasn’t stopped copper prices soaring by the biggest amount in nearly a year on Monday. amid fears of supply interruptions and infrastructure damage to Chile’s copper facilities.

Social media such as Twitter and Facebook have been used in Chile to get information and locate loved ones. Mashable’s Matt Silverman writes about one woman’s use of Twitter to track down her family member:

A woman was able to track down her missing sister-in-law today thanks to the help of a fellow Twitter user.

Earlier we posted some of the Chile earthquake pictures that Chileans have been sharing on Twitter of the devastation caused by this morning’s magnitude-8.8 earthquake. Many of our readers were moved, as we were, to see some of the destruction first-hand. But one reader, Sheryl Breuker, shared a personal story with us in the comments about the true power of social media in crisis situations.

Also on Mashable, CEO and founder Pete Cashmore, discusses the launch of Google’s new person finder:

The simple interface lets you choose between two options — “I’m looking for someone” and “I have information about someone,” then either query the database or enter new information. At the time of writing, the Person Finder app has 3,100 records.

Here are some Twitter posts about Chile today, some sharing information and others trying to locate people:

LisaTw RT @Baybe_Doll: #Chile #need help Building collapse - 52 families affected #loc Edificio Diego Portales

lluviafina RT @microsiervos: Google ofrece un servicio para la localización de víctimas del terremoto de Chile (@la_informacion) http://bit.ly/ccaD10 (citing Google’s new Person Finder service)

LaConqui #terremotochile SE BUSCA a Fernando Hormazabal y Lidia Concha de #Pellehue #chile Info al fono 02 - 3301412 (favor RT) #chileayuda (seeking info about missing persons)

A boy in Cite Soleil carries water. Photo: UN on Flickr

Survivors of the Haitian earthquake need quick solutions that may not come in time for the punishing rainy season that starts in May. They now face the looming threat of disease, misery in makeshift tent camps and a lack of adequate food and water.

Despite all the pledges of rebuilding, there are some basic realities: poor people will suffer and some will die.

Reports from the field show that relief agencies are pushing to make things better, with a deadline from the weather that is almost impossible to meet. Partners in Health, one prominent relief organization, reports that it has to shift priorities “to long-term care and helping the hundreds of thousands of people who urgently need shelter, water, sanitation, and food.

We hear the same concerns from journalists and from relief organizations all around Haiti. The Miami Herald reported on Feb. 24:

The stench of human waste permeates the air around the crude shelters made of sticks and sheets…There are nowhere near enough toilets — portables, latrines or any other kind — for the tens of thousands living in the camps in and around Port-au-Prince.

The squalid conditions have government and relief workers worried about a potential outbreak of deadly diseases, such as diarrhea, spread by unsanitary conditions. And relief agencies scrambling to install toilets are still figuring out how to later dispose of their waste.

Sad to say, but as many people have noted all along, Haiti cannot be handled simply by relief and rescue through normal means. Haiti needs international concerted crisis management –- and Haitians must be empowered to choose the leaders who will allow real, humane, no-nonsense, incorruptible change. Is that happening?

Partners in Health reported this: “With cities destroyed and major roadways and ports obstructed or damaged, food is becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. The price of staples, like rice, oil, and beans, has risen dramatically. ‘Prices have skyrocketed – doubling and in some cases tripling,’ says Jesula Pierre, a PIH logistics coordinator currently working in Haiti’s Central Plateau.”

With its Haitian partner, the organization is pushing to plant fallow farmland and ratchet up farm yields. But each organization operating in Haiti can only do a small part to save as many people as possible.
It’s not enough. The list of problems goes on.

This is also from the Miami Herald:

Relief workers blame the shortage of toilets in part on having to deal with more urgent problems — like keeping people alive — immediately after the Jan. 12 earthquake…

But now, more than five weeks after the quake, the dangers of inadequate sanitation could amount to the most pressing public health issue.

At best, many Haitians had neither clean water or sanitation before the earthquake. They deserved help even before the earth shook.

Much more suffering is likely when the rains fall.

On a recent trip to Israel, Worldfocus associate producer Mohammad Al-Kassim visited the school, where he met several young men who had found a new purpose in life through their studies there.

An RBS branch in England. Photo: ITN

In the U.K., the Royal Bank of Scotland has become the leading symbol of the country’s banking crisis.

RBS announced more big losses this week yet still found room to award its employees almost $2.5 billion in bonuses. That has sparked a good deal of outrage.

The bank’s rationale for the bonuses is similar to what many U.S. banks have said to justify big payouts.

Are the bailed-out U.S. and U.K. banks irresponsible for paying such big bonuses while still holding such a tight squeeze on credit?

Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Please be respectful and on-point. Malicious or offensive comments will be deleted, and repeat offenders will be banned.

As concerns grow over the debt crisis in Greece, questions are being raised about how the situation was allowed to get so out of control in the first place.

For more, Martin Savidge speaks with Roben Farzad, a senior writer for Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Farzad discusses American financial companies’ dealings in Greece and whether the current situation will spur more banking regulations.

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