Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.) confirmed that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is planning government intervention to back troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee said in a statement Saturday that Mr. Paulson "intends to use the powers that Congress provided it" in a law passed in July to keep Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stable and functioning. But Mr. Frank said he didn't "know the details of the proposed interventions," and a Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment.
Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.) confirmed that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is planning government intervention to back troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee said in a statement Saturday that Mr. Paulson "intends to use the powers that Congress provided it" in a law passed in July to keep Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stable and functioning. But Mr. Frank said he didn't "know the details of the proposed interventions," and a Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment.
ISLAMABAD (AFP) -- Asif Ali Zardari secured a large win in Pakistan's presidential elections on Saturday, capping a remarkable rise from jail, exile and his wife Benazir Bhutto's assassination just nine months ago.The controversial front-runner swept a poll among lawmakers to become the 14th president in Pakistan's short but turbulent history , taking power in the world's only nuclear-armed Islamic state and frontline US "war on terror" ally."Democracy talks and everybody hears," Zardari , who had been the clear favourite, said in a short television broadcast hailing his victory in which he pledged to respect the sovereignty of parliament.The statement was a barbed reference to the nearly nine-year rule of Pervez Musharraf, who as an army general made controversial changes to the country's constitution, including the power to dismiss parliament.
ISLAMABAD (AFP) -- Asif Ali Zardari secured a large win in Pakistan's presidential elections on Saturday, capping a remarkable rise from jail, exile and his wife Benazir Bhutto's assassination just nine months ago.
The controversial front-runner swept a poll among lawmakers to become the 14th president in Pakistan's short but turbulent history , taking power in the world's only nuclear-armed Islamic state and frontline US "war on terror" ally.
"Democracy talks and everybody hears," Zardari , who had been the clear favourite, said in a short television broadcast hailing his victory in which he pledged to respect the sovereignty of parliament.
The statement was a barbed reference to the nearly nine-year rule of Pervez Musharraf, who as an army general made controversial changes to the country's constitution, including the power to dismiss parliament.
He needs to shut down ISI as they are driving the country into a ditch with their military adventures, and he can't. keep to the Fen Causeway
<...> I've long expected the Republican Party to resolve this conflict in its social vision by moderating its stance on abortion. Politically, pro-life absolutism has never made much sense. A significant element within the GOP--libertarians, economic conservatives, Barbara Bush--favor leaving Roe v. Wade alone. A majority of the country agrees. Meanwhile, the percentage of people on either side of the debate who say they'll vote only for a candidate who shares their views on the subject has been steadily shrinking. Since Lee Atwater's heyday, pragmatic Republicans have been trying to figure out how the party can become a "big tent," making room for a pro-choice as well as a pro-life faction. Until recently, the modernizers included John McCain himself, who in 1999 said, "Certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations." That was only one of several attempts on his part to evolve his position. If Roe ever were repealed, there would follow a fight in every state about whether to ban abortion by statute. Politically, this could be the best thing to happen to liberals since the New Deal. But renewed evangelical dominance of the Republican Party in the George W. Bush years has pushed McCain in just the opposite direction--to the point of letting Phyllis Schlafly revise the abortion plank in the party's 2008 platform, which eliminates language "rejecting punitive action against women who have an abortion." It explains how McCain ended up with a wildly underqualified running mate in Sarah Palin, instead of his preferred pro-choice veep picks, Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge.
<...> I've long expected the Republican Party to resolve this conflict in its social vision by moderating its stance on abortion. Politically, pro-life absolutism has never made much sense. A significant element within the GOP--libertarians, economic conservatives, Barbara Bush--favor leaving Roe v. Wade alone. A majority of the country agrees. Meanwhile, the percentage of people on either side of the debate who say they'll vote only for a candidate who shares their views on the subject has been steadily shrinking. Since Lee Atwater's heyday, pragmatic Republicans have been trying to figure out how the party can become a "big tent," making room for a pro-choice as well as a pro-life faction. Until recently, the modernizers included John McCain himself, who in 1999 said, "Certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations." That was only one of several attempts on his part to evolve his position. If Roe ever were repealed, there would follow a fight in every state about whether to ban abortion by statute. Politically, this could be the best thing to happen to liberals since the New Deal.
But renewed evangelical dominance of the Republican Party in the George W. Bush years has pushed McCain in just the opposite direction--to the point of letting Phyllis Schlafly revise the abortion plank in the party's 2008 platform, which eliminates language "rejecting punitive action against women who have an abortion." It explains how McCain ended up with a wildly underqualified running mate in Sarah Palin, instead of his preferred pro-choice veep picks, Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge.
All I know is Emily's List and NARAL both give him a big fat zero over his career for support of pro-choice legislation. keep to the Fen Causeway
NEW YORK (AFP)--Boeing machinists took to the picket line on Saturday as they launched a strike that has halted production and could cost the U.S. aerospace giant more than $100 million per day. Boeing's (BA) 27,000 machinists, who represent 16% of the company's workforce, began picketing in the wee hours of the morning shortly after the failure of last-ditch contract talks. It is the fourth strike of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) in the last two decades.
NEW YORK (AFP)--Boeing machinists took to the picket line on Saturday as they launched a strike that has halted production and could cost the U.S. aerospace giant more than $100 million per day.
Boeing's (BA) 27,000 machinists, who represent 16% of the company's workforce, began picketing in the wee hours of the morning shortly after the failure of last-ditch contract talks.
It is the fourth strike of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) in the last two decades.
NEW DELHI -- The 45 nations that supply nuclear material and technology worldwide removed a major obstacle on Saturday to the passage of a landmark nuclear deal between the United States and India. The organization, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, agreed to lift a ban on nuclear trade with India after three days of acrimonious talks in Vienna, overcoming opposition from countries fearful that it could set a dangerous precedent. India has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
NEW DELHI -- The 45 nations that supply nuclear material and technology worldwide removed a major obstacle on Saturday to the passage of a landmark nuclear deal between the United States and India.
The organization, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, agreed to lift a ban on nuclear trade with India after three days of acrimonious talks in Vienna, overcoming opposition from countries fearful that it could set a dangerous precedent. India has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has sharply criticized Russia's actions in its conflict with Georgia, and its attempts to control oil and gas supplies.Speaking in Italy Saturday Cheney accused Moscow of threatening to use energy supplies as a "tool of force and manipulation."Cheney was addressing an economic conference following his visits to Azerbaijan and Georgia. The two countries are critical links in a U.S.-backed plan for an energy corridor to move oil and gas from Central Asia to Europe, bypassing Russia.The vice president also visited Ukraine.
Growth is slipping, stocks are down 40 percent, and foreign stock market investors are fleeing. Businessmen blame the ruling coalition for failing to make reforms.
Eh... *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Most economic forecasts expect growth to slow to 7 percent -- a big drop for a country that needs to accelerate growth, not reduce it.
Even the most bullish on India are hard-pressed to recall any significant economic reforms made in the recent past. A plan to build 30 Special Economic Zones is virtually suspended because New Delhi has not sorted out how to acquire the necessary land, a major issue in both urban and rural India, without a major social and political upheaval.
Chetan Modi, head of Moody's India, says the increasingly high cost of doing business in India may force global investors who had set up base in India -- especially financial-services players -- to move to more affordable and efficient hubs, such as Singapore and Hong Kong.
In all fairness, this (July) article is part of a partnership with Businessweek, not original Spiegel content. Wonder if this stuff also appears in the German version.
+ zero (tolerance for) resistance from locals against (expulsions from their land for new) development (Exhibit A: China). *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singur
The talks between the protesting farmers and the state government of West Bengal are a major news item here. I was thinking about diarying it, but in a way there's not much to say, beyond "this is the difference compared to China, in Shenzhen I've seen this dealt with very differently (and from a corporate point of view "more efficiently.")
Other major news items include the NSG decision, the jailing of the rich playboy son of a retired naval chief for killing 6 people while driving while drunk, and sundry local news about the need for more transport infrastructure.
It's not a diary, it's a book ;)
although an awful lot of people have been enthused by the politicians who promote India as a place to do business, I've read far too much about the unresovable problems associated with Indian bureaucracy, intransigence, indifference and corruption to believe the coutnry could ever truly leap forward as China has done.
You might say that means they have dodged the bullet of the real problems china has caused for itself (as you know, I predict it will implode within a decade), but India has chosen its own path to hell and is pursuing it vigorously. keep to the Fen Causeway
India's democracy is by no stretch of the imagination perfect, but it does function, and it can be lead to truly radical change on occasion. Witness Kerala, which was taken over by communists via the ballot box, who then ran an effectively socialist government for over ten years. They pushed through effective educational reform, tax reform, and land reform.
Horrible for entrenched business elites, but democratic nonetheless, and thus an example the business elites would rather ignore.
This kind of action is not possible in all places, but the very existence of democratic institutions in a country with degrees of family and tribal social organization unknown in the west, and thus with vast potential for coherent democratic agitation from the civil sphere, means that elites can't just push people around at will.
The first post-war elections in Angola have been transparent and credible, the head of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) says. "The SADC mission congratulates the people of Angola on peaceful, free, transparent and credible elections which reflect the will of the people," SADC mission chief John Kunene told a press conference on the second day of voting in Angola after a chaotic start Friday.
IT ALL started so promisingly. Angola's first election in 16 years was hailed as a high-tech success waiting to happen, with more than eight million people electronically registered and sophisticated technology to support the ballot. But within hours of the polls opening on Friday, international observer missions started referring to "chaos" and "disaster" and yesterday the National Electoral Commission (CNE) was forced to reopen the vote after delays stopped many from registering their ballot.
IT ALL started so promisingly. Angola's first election in 16 years was hailed as a high-tech success waiting to happen, with more than eight million people electronically registered and sophisticated technology to support the ballot.
But within hours of the polls opening on Friday, international observer missions started referring to "chaos" and "disaster" and yesterday the National Electoral Commission (CNE) was forced to reopen the vote after delays stopped many from registering their ballot.
