World News Desk – October 24, 2008
Posted/Updated: 2008-10-25 09:33:34
INTERNATIONALThe World in Review
A snapshot of events around the world | Updated each Friday
1. Canada:
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Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the government would provide insurance on wholesale term borrowing by the nation’s banks (ranked by the World Economic Forum as the world’s most secure) to help them secure longer-term funds to enhance their own ability to provide loans (Reuters).
The Canadian dollar dropped below 80 U.S. cents, the Loonie’s lowest level in more than three years.
According to a report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, wealthy Canadians have been getting richer in the last 10 years, creating an ever-widening socioeconomic gap between upper and classes of middle and poor income.
“The Ontario government will record a $900-million revenue shortfall in fiscal 2009, the first decline in five years, raising fears that the worst is yet to come and that the province’s municipalities, hospitals and schools will bear the brunt of any cost-cutting measures to address the ailing economy. The collapse in Ontario’s economy reveals a dramatic reversal of fortune for Canada’s largest province, which just seven months ago was awash in cash and embarking on a spending spree” (Globe and Mail). (See related news brief: “Foreign Investment Increases in Canada”)
Statistics Canada reported that the number of Canadians who provided unpaid care to aging parents and other adults 65 and older jumped dramatically—from 670,000 in 2002 to 2.7 million Canadians (one in five aged 45 and older) in 2007.
2. United States:
To build protection from bad debt—which recently triggered the largest banking collapse in history—credit card companies are making strict changes in lending standards for most customers, regardless of credit histories. (See news brief: “Credit Companies Tighten Standards”)
Retired General and former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell announced his endorsement of Democratic candidate Barack Obama for President of the United States. (See related article: “Can a President Bring ‘Change’?”)
Chrysler announced it will, through buyouts, layoffs and voluntary retirements, cut its salaried workforce of 18,500 white-collar employees by 25%.
The number of U.S. children suffering from food allergies (largely milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat) rose 18% in the last decade—from more than 2.3 million children (3.3%) under the age of 18 in 1997, to about 3 million in 2007. (See related article: “Genetically Engineered Foods – Why the Controversy?”)
Miss Teen Louisiana was stripped of her crown and title after she and three friends were arrested for leaving a restaurant without paying their bill of $46.07 and for carrying marijuana, which was in a purse the 18-year-old pageant queen had left behind. (See related article series: “The Immorality Explosion”)
In a prepared testimony before Congress, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan described the worldwide financial crisis as a “once-in-a-century credit tsunami.” (See related article: “America’s Banking Crisis – A Financial Tsunami Approaching!”)
U.S. forces handed over security of Babil, a province south of Baghdad—formerly known as the “triangle of death”—to Iraqi troops.
“Students at a suburban St. Louis high school headed to the gymnasium for HIV testing this week after an infected person told health officials as many as 50 teenagers might have been exposed to the virus that causes AIDS. Officials refused to give details on who the person was or how the students at Normandy High School might have been exposed, but the district is consulting with national AIDS organizations as it tries to minimize the fallout and prevent the infection—and misinformation—from spreading” (Associated Press).
3. Iceland: Kaupthing, Iceland’s biggest bank, failed to pay interest to its 50-billion-yen (493 million dollars) bondholders in Japan (Reuters).
4. United Kingdom:
Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated he believed Britain will enter a recession.
In a 3-2 decision favoring the British government, the House of Lords ruled to block the return of hundreds of Chagos Islanders to their homes in the south Indian Ocean, from where they were removed nearly 40 years ago to allow for a U.S. airbase.
“The number of property sales in the UK has fallen by 53% in the past year, according to the latest figures from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). In September, 59,000 homes were sold, down from 126,000 sales in the same month last year. That was also a 62% fall from the recent peak in sales, of 154,000, seen in December 2006. This year, the credit crunch has driven the housing market into its sharpest slowdown for many years” (BBC).
In light of the current global credit crisis, Schools Secretary Ed Balls announced that students will take classes teaching them to manage their money, such as how to open a bank account, applying for a mortgage, living on a tight budget, and understanding taxes and wages (The Telegraph).
The government announced that state-educated students in England aged five to 16 will, along with lessons on drugs, healthy lifestyles and finance, be required to take sex education classes. For secondary school students, lessons will address risky sexual behavior and how they can lead to infection and unwanted pregnancies.
A top-ranking officer said that police fail to see 40% of crime victims due to having to contend with an overabundance of paperwork.
Government officials admitted that statistics for violent crime—assault, murder, attempted murder and manslaughter—shot up 22% because as many as 17 police forces failed to accurately record some crime figures for more than a decade.
The Office for National Statistics said that the volume of food sales nationwide fell for the first time in 22 years.
According to the 400-page Foresight report, the number of people suffering with dementia could double over the next 30 years, reaching to 1.4 million. By 2050, this could cost the government 50 billion pounds a year.
5. Côte d’Ivoire: The International Rescue Committee learned that in the nation’s western region, rapes of women and girls are common—even encouraged—and perpetrators are rarely punished.
6. Nigeria: Hundreds of prisoners awaiting execution did not have fair trials and may therefore be innocent, said human-rights group Amnesty International. Many death sentence verdicts were rendered on confessions that were extracted under torture (Inter Press Service; BBC).
7. South Africa: A former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town said the nation faces a state of emergency over rising poverty (BBC).
8. Tanzania: Five people were arrested for killing a nine-year-old albino girl, cutting her throat, chopping off her lower legs and taking some of her hair—hours after President Jakaya Kikwete promised to do more to protect people with albinism, whose body parts witch doctors want for creating “get rich” potions. So far this year, about 30 albinos in the country have been killed.
9. Sudan:
The International Crisis Group warned that the situation in South Kordofan is so volatile, the southern state could turn into a conflict rivaling Darfur.
Violence in the Darfur region forced 230,000 to flee in 2008, a United Nations report stated.
10. Somalia: The International Maritime Bureau found that a third of all the world’s pirate attacks in 2008 have taken place off the coast of Somalia and into the Gulf of Aden.
11. Georgia:
The Georgian government asserted that as many as 7,000 Russian troops remain in South Ossetia.
Nations of the West pledged to donate more than $4.5 billion to rebuild Georgia after its recent war with Russia.
12. Russia:
The foreign minister stated that his country would support allowing U.S. troops to stay in Iraq under a United Nations mandate (International Herald Tribune).
In an effort to counter plans to deploy U.S. missile defense sites in Europe, Moscow is upgrading its missile arsenals.
13. Afghanistan: Afghan officials claimed the Taliban executed as many as 30 of 50 people captured on a bus in Kandahar Province (International Herald Tribune).
14. India:
The country successfully launched its first unmanned exploration mission to the moon.
India and Pakistan opened a historic trade route within Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Indian Jammu after 60 years (BBC).
15. China: In Beijing, where the heads of 45 Asian and European nations met in a summit to address the current global economic crisis, the president of the European Union warned no one is immune.
16. Japan: Eating fast and until “feeling full” can more than triple the risk of becoming overweight, research from Japan’s Osaka University finds. (See news brief: “Study: Eating Too Much, Too Fast Triples Obesity Risk”).
17. Australia:
“Teenagers born through IVF may be more prone to aggression and conduct problems at school than other youngsters—and ‘softer’ parenting could be to blame” (The Australian).
At Melbourne’s exclusive Xavier College, 250 students were accused of damaging cars and smashing bottles in a suburban rampage. “They were just like a mob, you know like Lord of the Flies,” one witness said, referring to the novel in which teenage boys formed a savage tribe on a deserted island (ibid.).
Ford Motor Company of Australia will shed 500 positions in Victoria, totaling to almost 1,500 local jobs the automobile manufacturer will downsize over the next two years.
Economists reaffirmed predictions for more cuts in interest rates despite signs that Australia’s inflation rate is set to hit 5%—well beyond the Reserve Bank’s target zone (The Age).
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development found that Australia has one of the highest pregnancy rates among teenagers in the developed world.
The government of New South Wales estimated the state’s population will grow to over nine million people by 2036 and expected Sydney’s to rise 40%, to nearly six million residents. Government officials said the city would need an extra 636,000 houses by 2031.
The Bureau of Statistics found that nearly half of all Australian adults have suffered from a mental disorder in their lifetime. Last year, one in five Australians battled mental illness.
International: “The General Assembly…elected Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda to serve as non-permanent members of the Security Council for two-year terms starting on 1 January next year. The newly elected countries will replace Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa when their terms on the 15-member body expire at the end of this year” (The United Nations).
