The World We Live In !!

Hugh Tomlinson and James McLean
Times Online

The engine of the black Corvette revved to a gasket-popping roar. Its driver leant out of his window. He was dressed in traditional Arab robes but wore a rubber wizard’s mask. He held an aerosol aloft and directed a jet of party foam into the air. Four-wheel drives plastered in pictures of Dubai’s Royal Family roared their engines back in approval. The cacophony was deafening.

On the opposite carriageway smoke billowed from the spinning back wheels of a new Land Cruiser as the driver pressed the brakes and floored the accelerator. This was the favourite way for many of the fervently patriotic and car crazy Emiratis to mark National Day in Dubai this week, the 38th anniversary of the founding of the United Arab Emirates, and one of the biggest celebrations of the year.

A mile away at the new Marina Yacht Club, Western expats were also working their way into a party mood. Deferential Filipino staff served a foamy lobster broth as an amuse bouche between courses. Beer and cocktails loosened tongues and a knot of dancers formed in front of the band. Tens of millions of pounds worth of powerboats bobbed at their moorings beneath the revelry on the terrace. Behind the boats a dozen skyscrapers framed the view, a few of the lights in their thousands of flats were on. “It’s so beautiful here,” said a pretty young Anglo-Indian woman clutching a large glass of chilled white wine and taking in the scene.

Welcome to the modern equivalent of the last days of Rome. The failure of Dubai World, one of the Emirate’s flagship companies, to honour a debt due last month has rocked this city state to its foundations. By any conventional logic Dubai is now a busted flush. Read more…

India is condemning another generation to brain damage, poor education and early death by failing to meet its targets for tackling the malnutrition that affects almost half of its children, a study backed by the British Government concluded a week ago.

The country is an “economic powerhouse but a nutritional weakling”, said the report by the British-based Institute of Development Studies (IDS), which incorporated papers by more than 20 India analysts. It said that despite India’s recent economic boom, at least 46 per cent of children up to the age of 3 still suffer from malnutrition, making the country home to a third of the world’s malnourished children. The UN defines malnutrition as a state in which an individual can no longer maintain natural bodily capacities such as growth, pregnancy, lactation, learning abilities, physical work and resisting and recovering from disease.

In 2001, India committed to the UN Millennium Development Goal of halving its number of hungry by 2015. China has already met its target. India, though, will not meet its goal until 2043, based on its current rate of progress, the IDS report concluded.

“It’s the contrast between India’s fantastic economic growth and its persistent malnutrition which is so shocking,” Lawrence Haddad, director of the IDS, told The Times. He said that an average of 6,000 children died every day in India; 2,000-3,000 of them from malnutrition. Read more…

Prof. Panarin is a former KGB analyst and a Russian professor of political science, Dean of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs Diplomatic Academy in Moscow and author of several books on geopolitics. Thus one can hardly call him a fruitcake. Actually, he first made this prediction not after the economic meltdown that started last year but in Linz, Austria, in September 1998 in front of 400 delegates at a conference devoted to information warfare and the use of data to get an edge over a rival. Of course it was received with consternation. “When I pushed the button on my computer and the map of the United States disintegrated, hundreds of people cried out in surprise,” he says. Later, many delegates asked him to sign copies of the map. Its like when the French political scientist Emmanuel Todd made his famous forecast in 1976 about the collapse of the Soviet Union 15 years before it actually did and many people laughed. But Todd had the last laugh.

A Must Read: The Crash Of ‘09 – The Collapse Of ‘10 « Pak Alert Press.

The global financial crisis has evolved into a worldwide recession of epic proportions. Analysts fear the sudden slump which has followed the credit crunch could even rival the Great Depression of the early 1930s and lead to global stagnation.

But who is responsible?

The bursting of the housing bubble and the collapse in confidence throughout financial markets was not caused by one individual or a single decision, so pointing the finger of blame is a near-impossible task. But Times Money has given it a shot anyway. Here are ten suggestions for the nine men and one woman responsible for the mess we’re in.

The 10 people most responsible for the recession – Information House.

The IMF said international trade volume was expected to plunge by 11 per cent this year [AFP] The International Monetary Fund has predicted that the global economy is set to shrink 1.3 per cent in 2009 – the deepest recession since 1945. The world economy was likely to grow by 1.9 per cent next year, the global financial institution said, but that depended on measures taken to fix the ailing global financial system. “The longer this goes on, the longer and the deeper will be the recession,” said Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s chief economist, in Washington on Wednesday. The grim report came as financial officials gather in Washington for meetings of the G7 and G20 nations, as well as of the IMF and its sister institution, the World Bank. Three months ago, the IMF had projected a global growth rate of 0.5 per cent, although last month it warned of a deep recession.

Via  Al Jazeera English – Business – IMF: World economy ‘to shrink

As the US recession shows no sign of easing, the nation’s criminal justice system is also beginning to buckle under severe financial and logistical strains.

The US constitution and a landmark supreme court decision in 1963, ensure that all citizens have the right to “due process” and to a government-paid lawyer to defend them in court if necessary.

But in some US states those lawyers – known as public defenders – are rebelling amid complaints of overwork, with some asked to take on more than 200 cases a year.

Some have refused to take on more cases, and are taking legal action against the state governments which pay them.

Others are leaving, also disillusioned with the relatively low pay.

Al Jazeera English – Americas – US concerns over ‘justice for all’.

Minister for Tourism Maulana Attaur Rehman is ambitiously optimistic of attracting foreign tourists to Pakistan through what he calls “Islamic and health tourism” instead of offering free access to liquor and other immoral acts considered sources of enjoyment in the west.

In a chat with The News on Friday, Attaur Rehman claimed closing down the last alcohol-sale point at the state-run Fleshman’s Hotel in Rawalpindi by imposing a complete ban on its availability through official channels.

“Definitely, the ban can result in financial losses, which will be compensated by implementing new ideas such as promotion of health tourism in the fist step and pure Islamic tourism in the second phase,” argued the minister, who said no religion allowed liquor consumption or indulgence in immoral practices.

“These practices are preferred in many countries to lure tourists but we, the JUI-F, will prove this notion incorrect,” he promised. Since every foreign tourist followed a religion, he/she was had a religious obligation to shun liquor and other immoral practices, he reasoned.

“I don’t think that tourism is necessarily linked to alcoholic drinks; there are certain other things that can be more effective (in promoting this sector),” remarked JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s younger brother.

With regard to ‘health’ tourism, he pointed out the treatment of different diseases in Pakistan was much cheaper than in other countries, particularly in Europe and the so-called welfare states. “According to our assessment, the treatment of an ailment costing $90,000 in the west can be provided for $3,000 in Pakistan. We, therefore, have floated the idea of health tourism; all hospitals will be taken on board in this regard.”

In an attempt to prove his point, Attaur Rehman pointed out India, Sri Lanka and some other countries were using cheaper treatment for different ailments to lure foreign picnickers. “At this stage, figures of foreign exchange earnings may not be believable to many, but they will be known in the near future. Our ideas, if implemented, will not only make up for the losses (resulting from the ban on liquor use), they will also earn the country a good name in the comity of nations,” he added.

Included in his repertoire of ideas are the Islamic culture and values. The JUI-F leader plans to set up Islamic art galleries on the pattern of Lok Virsa. “These art galleries will give a true picture of Islam.”

In response to a question about expected resistance to his moves, Attaur Rehman said the JUI-F had arrangements with its partners, particularly with the PPP, to ensure implementation of its policies in the ministries under its control.

“No one in the government has resisted the total ban on the sale of liquor at tourist points and, therefore, we don’t expect any hurdle to other steps that we want to take,” he asserted, alleging state-run tourism hotels and motels were sold at throwaway prices. “We are bound to remain within the limits defined by our religion without caring about losses (caused by his actions),” he said.

Article By : Dilshad Azeem                                       Source : The News

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.

Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union.

He said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September marked a turning point in the functioning of the market system.

“We witnessed the collapse of the financial system,” Soros said at a Columbia University dinner. “It was placed on life support, and it’s still on life support. There’s no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom.”

His comments echoed those made earlier at the same conference by Paul Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman who is now a top adviser to President Barack Obama.

Volcker said industrial production around the world was declining even more rapidly than in the United States, which is itself under severe strain.

“I don’t remember any time, maybe even in the Great Depression, when things went down quite so fast, quite so uniformly around the world,” Volcker said.

(Reporting by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa and Juan Lagorio; Editing by Gary Hill)

Story Via : Yahoo News

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Sofia, a 34-year-old Frenchwoman, moved here a year ago to take a job in advertising, so confident about Dubai’s fast-growing economy that she bought an apartment for almost $300,000 with a 15-year mortgage.

Now, like many of the foreign workers who make up 90 percent of the population here, she has been laid off and faces the prospect of being forced to leave this Persian Gulf city — or worse.

“I’m really scared of what could happen, because I bought property here,” said Sofia, who asked that her last name be withheld because she is still hunting for a new job. “If I can’t pay it off, I was told I could end up in debtors’ prison.”

Article Via The NYTimes. Continue reading Read more…