World News Online

$250 billion to be injected to banks

2008-10-14T08:02:00.000-07:00

US Treasury will make available $250 billion to the nation’s banks, nine banks have already been identified. This was announced by US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. He said that this injection is required to restore confidence in the market and avoid a collapse of the financial system. The announcement came shortly after President George W. Bush spoke about similar proposal.

Apart from injecting money into the banks US will also guarantee new debt issued by banks for 3 years. This is a measure to encourage the banks to resume lending. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (F.D.I.C.) will also offer permanent guarantee on bank deposits in those accounts that do not bear interest.

The $250 billion will come from $700 billion bailout approved by Congress. Half of $250 billion will be injected in the nine identified banks, including Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. The remaining money will go to smaller banks and thrifts.

Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn dies at 89

2008-08-03T23:04:00.000-07:00

A stubborn, lonely and combative Nobel prize winner, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn died late on Sunday at the age of 89 in Moscow. According to his son Yermolai, the cause of his death was a heart ailment. In his life, Aleksandr outlived by almost 17 years the Soviet state and system. He had battled through years of imprisonment, ostracism and exile.

Aleksandr was a middle-aged unpublished high school science teacher in one of the provincial Russian towns. He entered into the literary world in 1962 with "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich." It was a mold-breaking novel about a prison camp inmate. The book was a sensation. People, then, compared him to Tolstoy, Dostoyevski and Chekov.

In the next five decades, his fame spread throughout the world. His other world renowned novels are "The First Circle," "The Cancer Ward" and "The Gulag Archipelago." The "Gulag" was a monumental account of the Soviet labor camp system. It is a chain of prisons that calculated some 60 million people had entered during the 20th century. This book led to his expulson from his native land.

Aleksandr was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Literature in the year 1970.

Obama meets German chancellor Angela Markel in his overseas trip

2008-07-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

Barak Obama on his Europe trip met met German chancellor Angela Markel in Berlin today. After Berlin, the first step in the tour, Obama will also visit France and Britain. This is an effort by Obama to burnish his foreign policy credentials.

Before going for closed door meeting at the chancellery, both of them shook hands and exchanged little talk. The closed doors talk took place for an hour. Earlier in Israel Obama said that he hoped the speech will be viewed as a substantive articulation of the relationship he would like to see between the US and Europe. He also said that he is hoping to communicate across the Atlantic.

Relations between the US and Germany reached to a lowest after war under Markel's predecessor Gerhard Schroder who always opposed the US invasion in Iraq in 2003. Markel, conservative, grew up in Communist East has always worked for repairing the ties.

On her part, Markel said that she expected to discuss NATO cooperation, climate change and trade issues.

No More Food Crisis In African Nations: EU

2008-07-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

There is a proposal of help, two-year emergency fund, of up to $1.6 billion by the European Union to poor countries to cope up with food crisis. According to the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, the fund would be mainly aimed for the African nations. The money will come from the EU subsidies budget. He also said that if they did not step in and help, UN goals to halve world poverty be put at risk and it would “exacerbate tensions” between countries in Africa over resources.

Johannes Laitenberger, EU spokesman, said that if the fund is approved by the EU governments and the European Parliament then it would provide urgent funding to UN aid agencies such as World Food Program and to the international Red Cross.

Gr8 G-8 Summit opens in Japan

2008-07-07T04:15:00.000-07:00

Leaders from economy-power countries gathered in Japan for annual summit of G-8 on Monday. This time the group will also grapple with climate change and global food crisis.

U.S. President George Bush emphasized here on Sunday the urgency of providing aid for Africa. He called wealthy nations to provide mosquito nets to prevent children dying from mosquito bites. He said, “I’m concerned about people going hungry. We’ll be very constructive in the dialogue about the environment – I care about the environment – but today there’s too much suffering in the continent of Africa.”

Three years ago aid to Africa was centerpiece of the submit in Scotland. It was called to increase aids to US$50 billion a year through 2010 of which half to reach to Africa. Also to cancel debt of heavily indebted poor nations.

Weather a Bit Responsible for Global Fuel Prices

2008-07-01T04:02:00.000-07:00

The recent storms and floods in U.S. Midwest was a record high. It drowned the corn-growing regions and at the same time a new economic because the world has become more reliant on crops like corn and palm oil for fuel supply. The aftermath of this is that the price of ethanol has gone up by 21 percent.

Though in U.S. only 6 percent transport depend on ethanol fuel, but still the rapid rise in price is not a good sign. Experts fear filure in these future crops. At the same time the cost of filling up of vehicle tank also depend on hail in Nigeria, plant fungus in Malaysia and oil-pipeline bombings in Nigeria. Earlier Hurricanes Katrina and Rita led to worst fuel disruption in U.S. It shut down refineries for weeks.

According to Lawrence Goldstein (energy analyst at the Energy Policy Research Foundation), "Our energy policy is like playing Russian roulette with every chamber loaded."

Obama-Clinton Together First Time in Front of Camera

2008-06-28T02:43:00.000-07:00

Both the Senators, Barak Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are together on the political voyage. They were on a rally in small western New Hampshire town, trading their rivalry from the primary battle for a newfound display of harmony yesterday (27.06.08).

Earlier Mrs. Clinton had suspended her campaign. Now she pledges of doing all she could to help Democrats win this race for presidentship. She said, “Unity is not only a beautiful place – it’s a wonderful feeling, isn’t it?” She, with Obama strode onto an outdoor stage yesterday.

The keyword for the merging crowd was U-N-I-T-Y. It was spelled by the enthusiastic crowd when the two arrived and walked past. Clinton was the first to speak. Clinton said to the crowd, “If you like the direction the country is going, then vote for Senator McCain, but if you think we need a new course, a new agenda, vote for Barack Obama.”

Throughout the day, images of unified Democratic Party were seen in plenty on the grounds of an old elementary school. This site was chosen for the community’s symbolic name and also because each of the two received 107 votes in the state’s primary this January.

Come Jan 1 and Gay Couples Marry in Norway

2008-06-25T01:48:00.000-07:00

Good News coming from Norway for all gay couples. They will be granted similar rights as heterosexuals to marry. A new equality passed recently conveys this message. Not only marriage, gay couples can now adopt and undergo artificial incarnation.

The day when gay couples were marrying in California, the upper house of Norway’s parliament were busy voting in favor of gender-neutral marriage law. This law replaces 1993 legislation that allowed only civil union.

According to this new law, individual congregations and clergy get the right to perform wedding ceremonies for these couples but they are not bound by any obligation

Future Perfect for Gay Couples in California

2008-06-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

California starts and the world will soon follow. It’s “all gay couples, come and marry in California.” The would be worshipped California by same sex couples sanctioned gay marriage. Wow! all gay and lesbian couples, pack your bags and rush to California to tie the knot.

California made history by allowing gay couples from around the country to get marry here. That’s quite good, not like Massachusetts, which legalized same-sex marriage in 2004 for only its residents. It is expected that thousands of Californians and same-sex couples from across the US are expected to marry here in coming months.

Vista in California: celebrations and ceremonies are in full swing. In near future, same-sex tourism will boom. Coupes will flock to California to marry. But, yes, its time for these happy couples to find place for spending their honeymoons.

Snippets:

1989 – Denmark became the first country in the world to allow civil unions for gays.
2001 – Netherlands became the first country that offered complete marriage rights to gay couples.