A halo around the sun startled people in Ethiopia during Sunday's local elections, with many seeing it as a miracle or a sign from God. The ring of light caused by sunlight refracted by ice crystals hung in the sky for almost an hour before it finally faded and disappeared. Some Ethiopians say it last appeared in 1991 before a military regime fell. But the BBC's Elizabeth Blunt in Addis Ababa says there is little chance it could augur change this time. She says the overwhelming majority of candidates are from the government party. Churchgoers who had flocked to see the visiting Patriarch of Alexandria, Pope Shenouda, acclaimed the phenomenon as a miracle, or at least a sign of a blessing from God.
A halo around the sun startled people in Ethiopia during Sunday's local elections, with many seeing it as a miracle or a sign from God.
The ring of light caused by sunlight refracted by ice crystals hung in the sky for almost an hour before it finally faded and disappeared.
Some Ethiopians say it last appeared in 1991 before a military regime fell.
But the BBC's Elizabeth Blunt in Addis Ababa says there is little chance it could augur change this time.
She says the overwhelming majority of candidates are from the government party.
Churchgoers who had flocked to see the visiting Patriarch of Alexandria, Pope Shenouda, acclaimed the phenomenon as a miracle, or at least a sign of a blessing from God.
Channel Tunnel rail operator Eurostar has reported a 25.2% rise in sales for the first three months of 2008. The high-speed passenger train service, linking Britain to mainland Europe, said sales rose to £178.4m ($352.4m), as passenger numbers increased by 21%. It carried 2.17 million passengers from January to March, after seeing record passenger numbers during 2007. Eurostar, which recently moved from Waterloo to St Pancras station, began public services in November 1994. The station transfer came at the same time as the completion of the London to Folkestone high speed link which has produced faster journey times between London and Paris and London and Brussels.
Channel Tunnel rail operator Eurostar has reported a 25.2% rise in sales for the first three months of 2008.
The high-speed passenger train service, linking Britain to mainland Europe, said sales rose to £178.4m ($352.4m), as passenger numbers increased by 21%.
It carried 2.17 million passengers from January to March, after seeing record passenger numbers during 2007.
Eurostar, which recently moved from Waterloo to St Pancras station, began public services in November 1994.
The station transfer came at the same time as the completion of the London to Folkestone high speed link which has produced faster journey times between London and Paris and London and Brussels.
With Italy's elections complete, does the domination of the media by the political elite distort the debate, and will the internet change things? I find one side of the coin in Milan, at the heart of the estate where Berlusconi made his first serious money. Milano 2 is a suburb of luxury flats, ponds and trees, restaurants and a hotel. And a TV station. His first in what grew into an unrivalled media empire. I am here to meet Emilio Fede, a short, well-tanned man with greying hair, a famous face on Italian TV since the 1950s. He is a newsman more on the model of the old American news anchor than the British presenter. He's the boss here. He doesn't just read the main bulletin at seven in the evening. He decides what's in it and all the other bulletins of TG4.
With Italy's elections complete, does the domination of the media by the political elite distort the debate, and will the internet change things?
I find one side of the coin in Milan, at the heart of the estate where Berlusconi made his first serious money.
Milano 2 is a suburb of luxury flats, ponds and trees, restaurants and a hotel. And a TV station. His first in what grew into an unrivalled media empire.
I am here to meet Emilio Fede, a short, well-tanned man with greying hair, a famous face on Italian TV since the 1950s.
He is a newsman more on the model of the old American news anchor than the British presenter. He's the boss here. He doesn't just read the main bulletin at seven in the evening. He decides what's in it and all the other bulletins of TG4.
Plants need protection from maltreatment and pollution, government experts said on Monday. A report by the government-appointed Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology (ECNH) described interfering with plants without a valid reason as "morally inadmissible". The committee looked at ethical views held on plants and issues of how their use could be justified.It said that from a wider perspective, "all action involving plants for the preservation of the human race was morally justified"
A report by the government-appointed Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology (ECNH) described interfering with plants without a valid reason as "morally inadmissible".
The committee looked at ethical views held on plants and issues of how their use could be justified.
It said that from a wider perspective, "all action involving plants for the preservation of the human race was morally justified"
no - cutting & killing is the only answer.
I've been watching a slow motion implosion since last August that began with the collapse of two Bear Stearns hedge funds. We're definitely on track for something like the Great Depression, only long and financially painful. I think we get knocked back to a 1940 standard of living very shortly and we're going to have to fight to hang on to that in the face of peak oil. We here in the U.S. associate the year 1929 with the beginning of the Great Depression but the roots of it really took hold in 1931 with the collapse of the Austrian banking system. Today we face some definitely scary parallels with what is happening in Iceland. Little Iceland, population 315,000, could knock the United States, a thousand times larger, right over, should their banking system let go. And it appears it might.
I've been watching a slow motion implosion since last August that began with the collapse of two Bear Stearns hedge funds. We're definitely on track for something like the Great Depression, only long and financially painful. I think we get knocked back to a 1940 standard of living very shortly and we're going to have to fight to hang on to that in the face of peak oil.
We here in the U.S. associate the year 1929 with the beginning of the Great Depression but the roots of it really took hold in 1931 with the collapse of the Austrian banking system. Today we face some definitely scary parallels with what is happening in Iceland. Little Iceland, population 315,000, could knock the United States, a thousand times larger, right over, should their banking system let go. And it appears it might.
Isn't this just the thing that chriscook is always saying might happen? Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
The funny part was that the journalist put it and Kazakhstan in "Central and Eastern Europe". When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
With some economies under siege, deciding how quickly foreign capital could race for the exits has rarely been more important for investors. Refinements in the models used to assess this throw up some surprises.Sharp falls in the currencies of Iceland, South Africa and Turkey since the beginning of the year demonstrate investors' growing aversion to economies with large external deficits and high dependence on capital inflows. Evaluating this dependence means looking at different indicators - the size of current account deficits relative to gross domestic product, the need for foreign currency to service debt and the amount of foreign exchange reserves. On these metrics, the most vulnerable countries in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa are Iceland, Latvia, Turkey and Romania. Kazakhstan, conversely, does rather well - its forex reserves are triple estimated debt repayments over the next year.
Sharp falls in the currencies of Iceland, South Africa and Turkey since the beginning of the year demonstrate investors' growing aversion to economies with large external deficits and high dependence on capital inflows. Evaluating this dependence means looking at different indicators - the size of current account deficits relative to gross domestic product, the need for foreign currency to service debt and the amount of foreign exchange reserves. On these metrics, the most vulnerable countries in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa are Iceland, Latvia, Turkey and Romania. Kazakhstan, conversely, does rather well - its forex reserves are triple estimated debt repayments over the next year.
You know, I really would like to see that plot including all OECD countries and not just "emerging markets". When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
