Continued Good News

[Admin_2]

Bernanke: recession could end in '09

WASHINGTON ? America's recession "probably" will end this year if the government succeeds in bolstering the banking system, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Sunday in a rare television interview.

In carefully hedged remarks in a taped interview with CBS' "60 Minutes," Bernanke seemed to express a bit more optimism that this could be done.

Still, Bernanke stressed ? as he did to Congress last month ? that the prospects for the recession ending this year and a recovery taking root next year hinge on a difficult task: getting banks to lend more freely again and getting the financial markets to work more normally.

"We've seen some progress in the financial markets, absolutely," Bernanke said. "But until we get that stabilized and working normally, we're not going to see recovery.

"But we do have a plan. We're working on it. And, I do think that we will get it stabilized, and we'll see the recession coming to an end probably this year."

Even if the recession, which began in December 2007, ends this year, the unemployment rate will keep climbing past the current quarter-century high of 8.1 percent, Bernanke said.

A growing number of economists think the jobless rate will hit 10 percent by the end of this year.

Asked about the biggest potential dangers now, Bernanke suggested a lack of "political will" to solve the financial crisis.

He said, though, that the United States has averted the risk of plunging into a depression.

"I think we've gotten past that," he said.

It's rare for a sitting Fed chief to grant an interview, whether for broadcast or print. Bernanke said he chose to do so because it's an "extraordinary time" for the country, and it gave him a chance to speak directly to the American public. (A transcript of the interview was provided in advance of the broadcast.)

Bernanke spoke at a time of rising public anger over financial bailouts using taxpayer money. Battling the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, the government has put hundreds of billions of those dollars at risk to prop up troubled institutions and stabilize the banking system.

Institutions that have been thrown lifelines include American International Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and others.

Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have questioned the effectiveness of the rescue efforts and have demanded more information about how taxpayers' money is being used.

Bernanke's TV interview seemed to be part of a government public relations offensive. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appeared on PBS' "The Charlie Rose Show" last week, discussing the financial crisis and the Obama's administration's relief efforts.

The Fed chief on Sunday's broadcast repeated his ire over the AIG bailout, saying that over the past 18 months, that was the case that angered him the most. He says he "slammed the phone more than a few times on discussing AIG."

The government's four efforts to save the troubled insurance giant total more than $170 billion. A collapse of AIG would have wreaked havoc on the global economy, the Fed has said.

AIG ignited fresh outrage over the weekend with news that it's making $165 million in bonus payments to executives on Sunday, most of them in the unit that sold risky financial contracts that caused huge losses for AIG.

When the financial crisis intensified last fall, Bernanke and President George W. Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson rushed to Capitol Hill for help. That led to the swift enactment of a $700 billion bailout package in October. Since then, banks have received billions in capital injections in return for government ownership stakes in them.

Looking back, Bernanke said the world came close to a financial meltdown. Asked how close, Bernanke responded: "It was very close."

Bernanke admitted that the Fed could have done a better job of overseeing banks. Critics say lax regulatory oversight contributed to the crisis.

Bernanke said he believes all the big banks the Fed regulates are solvent. Big banks won't fail under his watch, Bernanke said ? though, if necessary, the government should try to "wind it down in a safe way."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090316/ap_on_bi_ge/bernanke60_minutes

[pandorea]

March 5 (Reuters) - Gasoline retail prices in early March

were slightly lower than a month earlier, with rates at the

pumps lagging crude oil's rally in the second half of February.

U.S. crude CLc1, which stood at around $40 a barrel early

last month, dipped towards $33 by mid-February before bouncing

back above $45 on Thursday.

Motorists in the United States, the world's top gasoline

consumer, paid on average 51 cents a litre at the pumps as they

did last month, while Norwegian prices, which are the highest

in Europe, fell 13 cents a litre.

In countries where pump rates are state-regulated,

governments took a step back from further tuning prices after a

series of hikes and cuts since mid-2008.

Read more :http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINSIN40864820090305

............................

Gasoline in DK is cheaper during 6-8 am. I have a diesel engine car, diesel costs between DKK 7-8/L (aprrox. bth 42-50)

[pandorea]

Danish PM tipped to run Nato

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7968237.stm

The job of running Nato looks set to go to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who sent troops to fight alongside the Americans in Iraq.

The 56-year-old would take over as Nato secretary general from Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The Dutchman is due to leave the post in July.

Mr Rasmussen appears to have the backing of heavyweight Nato members, notably the US, UK, France and Germany.

Turkey, which had previously been sceptical of Mr Rasmussen, now says it will not veto the Danish leader.

"We do not have any attitude against the prime minister or anyone else on that matter," Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Friday.

Meanwhile, other strong candidates - Norway's Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, and Canadian Defence Secretary Peter MacKay - have said they are not interested in the post.

'No comment'

Mr Rasmussen, a liberal who has led three consecutive centre-right governments in the last eight years, has himself repeatedly refused to comment on his candidacy, or even confirm he is in the running.

However, his reticence is believed to be a tactical move to avoid interfering in any of the diplomatic efforts taking place behind closed doors, rather than signalling a lack of interest in the post.

If chosen, Mr Rasmussen will face a challenging time at the helm of Nato, with the war in Afghanistan hit by severe setbacks and the alliance debating whether to take in more ex-Soviet countries.

But after more than seven years as prime minister, Mr Rasmussen is considered a veteran of international politics, whose attention to detail and strong communication skills will stand him in good stead in his new job. ....

.....'Insensitive'

However, his support for the US in Iraq and Afghanistan and his uncompromising stand in the row over Danish cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad severely damaged his standing in the Muslim world.

Mr Rasmussen has all along refused to apologise for the controversial cartoons published in a Danish newspaper in 2005.

He has stressed the freedom of the Danish press and said it was not for him to limit or judge what the press published.

Muslims who opposed the cartoons said his tough stance on the matter completely disregarded Islamic sensitivities.

In recent years, Mr Rasmussen has led diplomatic efforts to get major countries such as the US, China, India and Brazil to back a new UN climate agreement.

The agreement is scheduled to be signed in Copenhagen in December 2009, at the so-called COP15 climate summit.

Environmental campaigners fear that the chances of a deal being reached could be diminished if Mr Rasmussen were to leave office before then.

Facebook-friendly

As well as campaigning for an international deal to prevent climate change, Mr Rasmussen was also quick off the mark in embracing social networking sites on the internet.

He was the first top European politician to use Facebook, the popular networking service, to engage with voters. He now boasts 12,000 Facebook friends. ..........

[Hobbes]

Hey we all need good news just like the next man/women but seeing an end to the recession in 2009 surely isn't in the script. It's grim out there and judging by the things happening around us I rather expect it to get worse before anything resembling a recovery will set in.

My monopoly money is on a 'new' Politburo being in charge in Moscow with Stalin being rehabilitated (and his homeland being 'returned' to the Mother land); China ditching it's Capitalist experiment and going straight for world domination Mao style; the 'ol US of A, after filing for bankruptcy, is auctioned off to the highest bidder, some obscure Middle Eastern Bank for the princely sum of a gold nugget and Albion is turned into an asylum for bankers and other assorted financial hazarders patrolled by warships cut off from any communication lines and presided over by some Scottish Cyclops who is familiar with the lingo (the financial one that is) by Christmas 2010.

Good news all around then indeed.

:twisted:

[Bruce551]

Rescission of the Mexico City Policy

On January 23, 2009, President Obama rescinded the Mexico City Policy. The Mexico City Policy had required foreign nongovernmental organizations to certify that they will not perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning using funds generated from any source as a condition for receiving USAID family planning assistance. The Mexico City Policy had been in effect from 1985 until 1993, when it was rescinded by President Clinton. President Bush reinstated the policy in 2001, and it had remained in place since that time. In rescinding the policy, President Obama directed USAID to immediately waive the policy?s conditions in any current grants; notify current grantees, as soon as possible, that these conditions have been waived; and immediately cease imposing these conditions in any future grants.

USAID's Environmental Health Program

Environmental factors often play a role in death and disease among young children, especially the leading infectious diseases that affect children ? acute respiratory infections, diarrhea, and malaria. Acute lower respiratory infections, mainly pneumonia, are the leading cause of death among children under age 5 and are closely associated with exposure to indoor smoke from cooking with biomass fuels. Diarrhea, another leading killer of children that accounts for 15 to 18 percent of child deaths annually, is largely caused by unsafe water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene.

Malaria, which is responsible for up to 2.5 million annual deaths, mostly among young children, has environmental dimensions as well. While combating malaria, USAID employs strict environmental guidelines, approval processes, and procedures for the use of DDT and all other World Health Organization-approved insecticides, ensuring their safe and judicious use.

In its environmental health programs, USAID aims to provide global leadership in developing, implementing, and promoting up-to-date interventions to prevent illness and death associated with environmental factors.

About 1.6 million children under age 5 died last year from diarrheal diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation in developing countries, and millions more were put at significant risk of exposure to water-borne infections, such as cholera, typhoid fever, and dysentery. Household-level or point-of-use (POU) chlorination is one approach that has been tested on a national scale and has a demonstrated public health impact on diarrhea at a low cost, allowing for wide coverage. USAID promotes two approaches to POU chlorination: the Safe Water System, developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and PuR, developed by Procter and Gamble.

These disinfection technologies have been shown to reduce disease and death by 35 to 50 percent. Below are links to information on current USAID-sponsored projects in environmental health, environmental health technical areas, and past environmental health projects supported by USAID.

http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/eh/index.html

**Basic health care and education (especially for women) for the poor in developing counties is one of the best ways to reduce the world population explosion.

[kaunitz]

Seeing this from 2012, the good news did not work out so well!