| Ayoon wa Azan ( Before Meeting Him )
The April 12, 2007, issue of the magazine the 'New York Review of Books' contains an article entitled "On Israel, America and AIPAC", by George Soros, the world-known businessman. It begins with an accurate and objective analysis of the Palestinian situation, the national unity government and the Arab initiative for peace with Israel. It continues to review the extremism of the official US-Jewish lobby and its dominance of the US policy in the Middle East, with all the harms this has caused to the objective of Middle East peace, and Israel's own interests. I had heard of Georges Soros before meeting him. While the world of economics did not concern me in the least, I have become interested in his activities because some of his political stances and charity activities. Then I followed up on his participation in the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, and I found that he was as I had heard about him, or even better.
LV growth mixed blessing
There are two sides to every story, and the tale of rapid population growth in the Lehigh Valley is no exception. New people equal new housing, businesses and jobs, said Thomas Hyclak, a professor of economics at Lehigh University in Bethlehem. Their arrival also leads to new demand for public services in communities ill-equipped to handle them, he said. The Valley's spiking headcount is a positive economic indicator, Hyclak said, but "it's kind of a mixed bag." According to U.S. Census data released Thursday, Warren County in New Jersey and Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties in Pennsylvania make up one of the Northeast's fastest growing metro areas. A 59,942-person jump between 2000 and 2006 puts the region fourth behind New York, Philadelphia and Boston metro areas in terms of total population gain, the Census says.
Our Network errors
Silicon Valley, meet Sweden. It doesn't just have better meatballs and niftier furniture _ it's got better technology and a more competitive economy as well. Does that seem like a mistake, or an insult to garages all over the Valley? It's not. In the latest proof of America's slipping global economic position, a new report from the World Economic Forum ranked the United States seventh in national ability to participate and benefit from information and communication technology. Last year, we boasted the top position. Now we've lost ground to the Nordics (Denmark is No. 1 , followed by Sweden; Finland clocks in at No. 4), mostly due to what the Forum calls "relative deterioration of the political and regulatory environment." Yee-ow. Intriguing as the scorecard is, the meaning behind the rankings is even more important.
Perpetual drought projected as early as 2021
Texas almost certainly faces a future of perpetual drought as bad as the record dry years of the 1950s because of global warming, climate scientists said in a study published Thursday. The trend toward a drier, hotter southwestern U.S., including all of Texas, probably has already begun and could become strikingly noticeable within about 15 years, according to a study led by Richard Seager of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Drought conditions are expected to resemble the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s and Texas' worst-ever drought of the 1950s, Dr. Seager said. Unlike those droughts, however, the new conditions won't be temporary, the study found. "This time, once it's in, it's in for good," Dr. Seager said. The drought projections come one day before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world body on global warming, releases its latest report on the effects of a changing climate.
Swiss KOF Leading Indicator rises in March
FXstreet.com (Barcelona) – Swiss KOF leading indicator has risen on March to 1.9 from upwardly revised 1.81 in February according to the private market research group, which supports the overview of a steady economic growth this year in Switzerland.March figures come above the analysts expectations, who advanced a 1.81 reading for March leading indicator. .
US must move out of Iraq-WB must take over
By Nowell Marufu AND Correspondent On Friday 30 March 2007, Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, long known for his virulent anti-American sentiments, rebuked the United States for instigating four years of poverty and violence in Iraq. This rebuke and a call for protests against the US will definitely have serious ramifications for the Bush administration. There is a very strong likelihood that USA forces in Iraq may become targets, and that the USA involvement in Iraq will increasingly become mired in controversy. Iraq's Sadr in his speech blamed the U.S. for the poverty and violence that is raging in Iraq. The fiery cleric urged Shiites to protest against the US on April 9. The Shiites have long viewed US actions in Iraq as something out of character, and they strongly believe that the Bush administration must not involve itself in the domestic scene of Iraq.
Markets versus psychology
The sharp one-day drop in the Chinese stock market on Feb. 27 apparently had an enduring negative effect on major stock markets around the world. By the time the exchange closed that Tuesday, the Shanghai Composite Index had fallen 8.8 percent for the day -- the biggest one-day fall in China in 10 years. A cascade of declines in other countries immediately followed. In Singapore, the Straits Times Index was down 2.3 percent when the market closed. In Mumbai, the Sensex 30 fell by 1.3 percent that day at the market's closing. In Moscow, the RTSI index was down by 3.3 percent at its closing bell. In London, the FTSE 100 was off by 2.3 percent when trading ended that day. In Sao Paolo, the Bovespa index was down by 6.6 percent and in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 3.3 percent, when those markets closed.
Looking at things dispassionately
POLITICS, its leadership and the economy cannot be dissociated from one another. The success of each is contingent upon success in the field of other endeavours. A glimpse at the present-day world would be enough to demonstrate the point. The Western nations are the global models of success in both political and economic senses of the terms. Now one may like to raise the age-old question of proper order between the three fundamental categories of socio-economic formation called nations. Which comes first? Is it first the political success, which is followed by economic success as a corollary? Or is it the other way around?
If truth be told, it is the people that make a nation that succeeds or fails. That is because nation is an abstract concept. The question of success or failure does not arise in the case of a disorganised and amorphous mass of people.
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