Fiscal cliff is 'substantial threat'; Japan trade deficit worst in 30 years; Brazil's corn clout; College of future: Come one, come all; India IT law raises eyebrows

1 Fiscal cliff is ‘substantial threat’ (BBC) The chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, has warned that the fiscal cliff poses a "substantial threat" to economic recovery. Congress and the White House are trying to strike a deal to weaken the impact of tax increases and spending cuts due to be implemented in January. Mr Bernanke said politicians "will need to protect the economy from the full brunt of the severe fiscal tightening". He also said economic growth was disappointingly slow.

It is estimated that the effects of the fiscal cliff of spending cuts and the expiry of temporary tax breaks will take at least $500bn out of the economy, threatening to push it into recession. The Obama administration and Congress are also negotiating an agreement to reduce the government's huge budget deficit, which has exceeded $1tn for a fourth consecutive year. Ben Bernanke commented in his speech at the Economic Club of New York that "the deficit is on an unsustainable path".

2 Japan trade deficit worst in 30 years (The Wall Street Journal) Government figures showed Japan posted its worst trade deficit for October in more than 30 years as exports to China continued to slump amid territorial tensions between Tokyo and Beijing, stoking concerns that Japan is headed for a recession. 

The 549 billion yen ($6.7 billion) deficit in the trade of goods, the fourth straight month of shortfall, was much bigger than the ¥360 billion shortfall expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and the Nikkei. Exports to China were down 11.6% on year, compared with a 14.1% drop in September.

3 Brazil’s corn clout (Howard Schneider in The Washington Post) As US cornfields withered in drought conditions last summer, Brazil’s once empty Cerrado region produced a bumper crop of the grain, helping feed livestock on US farms and ease a drought-related spike in prices. US imports of Brazilian corn were small by world standards. But they are rising fast, and they mark just one element of the increasingly complex and sometimes contentious relations between the world's agricultural superpower and its fast-growing competitor amid shifts in the global economy.

Starting at zero in 2010, Brazilian corn exports to the US are on pace to exceed $10m this year and are bound to rise as farmers expand planting and more corn is funnelled to nonfood uses, such as ethanol production. Brazil is expected next year to dethrone the US as the world's largest producer of soybeans. With so much land available for cultivation, that status will probably become permanent.

Despite what is described as intense co-operation between the two governments, there is a developing sense of competition as well. Brazil challenged US cotton programmes in the World Trade Organisation in 2009, arguing that US government support for domestic growers held down world prices and hurt Brazil's cotton farmers. Brazil won, and it now receives about $17m in monthly payments from US taxpayers as a result – money being used to advance the Brazilian cotton industry with research on best practices, pest management and other issues.

Brazilian farmers remain focused on soybeans and the export potential to China. The country does not expect to displace the US as the world's top corn producer, said Elisio Contini, head of strategic studies at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corp. But it does expect to play an increasing role in agriculture. Farmers say the major constraint – a notoriously slow and expensive transport network – can be fixed over time.

4 College of future: Come one, come all (Tamar Lewin in The New York Times) Massive open online courses, or MOOCs, harness the power of their huge enrollments to teach in new ways, applying crowd-sourcing technology to discussion forums and grading and enabling professors to use online lectures and reserve on-campus class time for interaction with students.

The spread of MOOCs is likely to have wide fallout. Lower-tier colleges, already facing resistance over high tuition, may have trouble convincing students that their courses are worth the price. And some experts voice reservations about how online learning can be assessed and warn of the potential for cheating. 

MOOCs first landed in the spotlight last year, when Sebastian Thrun, a Stanford professor, offered a free artificial-intelligence course, attracting 160,000 students in 190 nations. The resulting storm of publicity galvanized elite research universities across the country to begin to open higher education to everyone — with the hope of perhaps, eventually, making money doing so. No one knows just how these massive courses will evolve, but their appeal to a broad audience is unquestioned: retirees in Indiana see them as a route to lifelong learning, students in India as their only lifeline to college-level work. 

5 India IT law raises eyebrows (Margherita Stancati in The Wall Street Journal) The detention of two girls over a message posted on Facebook earlier this week sparked strong responses, raising questions about the right to freedom of expression in India. Several legal experts, activists and politicians say that at the heart of the problem is a controversial law: Section 66a of India’s Information Technology Act, under which the two girls were charged.

Police detained and charged both girls on Monday after one of them, 21-year-old Shahien Dhada, posted a message that questioned why Mumbai effectively shut down for a day for the funeral of Hindu right-wing leader Bal Thackeray. The other girl clicked the “Like” button under her comment.

Both were released on bail later in the day. Section 66a, which was included in India’s IT act through a 2008 amendment, says that offensive information shared through a computer or other devices can be considered a crime. But what constitutes offensive content under the act is unclear, critics say. The Facebook case is the latest example of how even mild criticism on social media is landing people in jail under Section 66a, critics add.

India’s Constitution upholds the right to freedom of speech, but with conditions: Article 19 (2) says that “reasonable restrictions” to this right apply, including in the interests of national security and public order. As a result, free speech in India is not an absolute right. Some experts say Section 66a of the IT Act is especially problematic for freedom of speech. “It has the potential of becoming a dangerous tool that can be used to gag legitimate free speech online,” says Pavan Duggal, a lawyer who specializes in cybercrime.