US Moves to Strengthen Banks as Markets Rally
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Speaking at White House Tuesday, US President George Bush says plan will encourage banks to resume lending
World markets are rallying sharply for a second consecutive day as governments continue coordinated efforts to prop up financial institutions and unfreeze tight credit. VOA's Michael Bowman reports from Washington, where President Bush announced new emergency measures to rescue America's banking system.President Bush delivers remarks on the economy in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, 14 Oct. 2008Speaking before the opening of U.S. financial markets, President Bush detailed an unprecedented plan of direct government involvement in private banks. He said the federal government will inject capital into banks by purchasing some of their stock. "This new capital will help healthy banks continue making loans to businesses and consumers," Mr. Bush said. "And this new capital will help struggling banks fill the hole created by losses during the financial crisis, so they can resume lending and help spur job creation and economic growth." In addition, the president said the federal government will guarantee most new loans issued by insured banks, including short-term loans between banks. And, the government will take additional steps to make it easier for businesses to cover day-to-day operations.The president stressed that the steps being taken are temporary, and are, in his words, "not intended to take over the free market, but to preserve it." The funds to be spent will come from the $700 billion rescue package Mr. Bush signed into law earlier this month. The new measures mirror several components of a European plan announced Sunday.Meanwhile, the global market rebound continues. Building on Monday's breathtaking gains, shares in Tokyo finished up more than 14 percent. Major European markets had gained between five and seven percent in afternoon trading.
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Obama, McCain Detail US Economic Proposals
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Senator Obama proposes a temporary tax credit for companies that create new jobs in US; Senator McCain says he has plan to keep taxes low
Senator Barack Obama in Toledo, Ohio, 13 Oct 2008U.S. presidential candidates Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama have outlined their plans to stabilize the struggling U.S. economy, three weeks before the election.Senator Obama proposed a temporary tax credit for companies that create new jobs in the United States.During a rally Monday in the key battleground state of Ohio, Obama also proposed penalty-free withdrawals from individual retirement accounts of up to $10,000 and temporarily barring banks from foreclosing on people trying to pay their mortgages. His campaign says his proposals likely would cost $60 billion over the next two years.Senator McCain highlighted several steps to address the economic crisis, during campaign stops in Virginia and North Carolina.John McCain speaks to supporters during rally in Virginia Beach, Virginia, 12 Oct 2008McCain said he has a plan to keep taxes low, protect workers' retirement savings, and bring relief to people devastated by what he called "the excesses of Wall Street and Washington."National polls show McCain trailing Obama ahead of the candidates' last televised debate Wednesday.One opinion poll, by Reuters, C-Span and Zogby released today shows Obama with a four-point lead over McCain, down from a six-point lead Sunday, while a separate survey, by The Washington Post and ABC News indicates Obama is leading by 10 points among likely voters.Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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Congressional Democrats, Economic Experts Discuss New Stimulus Package
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Minority Republicans say they agree on need for new legislation to help economy, but call Democrats' proposals insufficient
Majority Democrats in Congress met with economic experts on Capitol Hill Monday to discuss a new package of steps to stimulate the U.S. economy. VOA's Dan Robinson reports that minority Republicans say they agree on the need for new legislation to help the economy, but call Democrats' proposals insufficient.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (r) at a news conference following an economic forum with Democratic leaders and economic experts, 13 Oct 2008As Wall Street experienced a dramatic one day recovery of nearly 1,000 points after last week's sharp declines, Democrats were making clear they intend to take further steps to help Americans battered by recent financial market losses, and reform financial markets.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other key Democrats met behind closed doors with a group of economic experts, and afterwards Pelosi summarized what a new stimulus package would include."A recovery package will have some of the features we have had before, about infrastructure, health care, aid to the states for health for children and seniors, food stamps and unemployment insurance in this time of rising unemployment," said Nancy Pelosi.Pelosi was non-committal when asked about how much this would cost, saying more clarity will come from congressional hearings before and after the November 4th U.S. presidential election.Steny Hoyer is the House Democratic Majority Leader."[Hearings] to look in the very short term, but nevertheless in a considered fashion at what options will best help our economy recover and particularly how best to help those who are most vulnerable and most in need," said Steny Hoyer.Joseph Stiglitz, recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize for Economics, said there was "remarkable agreement" among economists who met with lawmakers about the need for a comprehensive recovery program.". . . not just based on trickle down economics, not just giving money to financial markets, but going directly, at least some of the money going directly, to households to meet infrastructure needs, to meet the variety of challenges facing our society today," said Joseph Stiglitz.In addition, says Stiglitz, the program must be efficient and well-designed, and consistent with longer-term U.S. economic needs and prospects for growth. Arthur Leavitt, who headed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 1993 to 2001, strongly endorsed Democrat's plans to address financial market and regulatory reforms when a new Congress convenes next year."We are here [in this financial situation] today not because of what happened in the last year, but because of what happened perhaps over the last two decades," said Arthur Leavitt. "We have an opportunity now to make a difference. And the thrust of everything that happened today was to take a look at that and decide how we will restore investor confidence."Allen Sinai, noted economist and consultant to several U.S. presidential administrations, said there is no doubt that the U.S. economy is in recession."Look, the U.S. economy is in recession, the global economy is in recession," said Allen Sinai. "We - Washington and Americans - are working through the most severe financial crisis we have had since the 1930s. I think all Americans know the score." At the same time, Sinai predicts that with congressional action on financial system reforms, in his words, things will look a lot better by next year. Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee discussed what Democrats are calling their "recovery initiative"."So what we will be doing next year is to adopt the kind of sensible regulation of credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligation derivatives and those other instruments, which have been un-regulated by conscious choice for the past years, and put rules on them so they do not get out of hand," said Barney Frank.In a letter to House Speaker Pelosi on Monday, House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner asserted that nothing known so far about Democrat's plans will bring long-term stability to the U.S. economy.While agreeing on the need for additional steps to get the economy back on track, Boehner repeated Republican calls for capital gains and corporate tax cuts, adoption of Republican energy proposals, and other measures. Speaker Pelosi told reporters that Democrats are closely coordinating their economic steps with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.In campaign stops on Monday, Obama laid out in more detail steps he would take to help the economy, including a two year tax break for businesses that create new jobs and a 90 day moratorium on home foreclosures.His Republican opponent, John McCain, told supporters he would do more to help the economy, focusing on steps to halt declines in home values, protect retirement funds and freeze government spending.
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Afghan Provincial Official Assassinated
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Police say roadside bomb was apparently intended to target NATO troops
Two gunmen on a motorbike assassinated a senior official in southern Afghanistan Tuesday, in a province where Taliban militant attacks and violence are on the rise. The head of Kandahar province's labor and social affairs department, Dost Mohammad Arghestani, and his bodyguard were shot dead on their way to work. In response to the news, a presidential spokesman, Humayun Hamidzada, said the Afghan government is working hard to protect public servants. Earlier in the day, Afghan authorities said nine people died when a roadside bomb hit a small bus in Kandahar.Police say the bomb was apparently intended for NATO troops. Two children were among those killed. Also today, NATO said three of its soldiers were killed when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan.Separately Tuesday, the U.S. military said a soldier with the U.S.-led coalition was killed in southern Afghanistan.The U.S. military says the soldier was riding in a vehicle that struck an improvised explosive device Monday. Several other soldiers in the vehicle were wounded.Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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Syria Opens Formal Diplomatic Ties with Lebanon
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President Bashar al-Assad signs decree calling for creation of diplomatic embassy at ambassador level in Beirut
Bashar al-AssadSyrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued a decree formally establishing diplomatic ties with next-door neighbor Lebanon.The decree was announced Tuesday by the official Syrian news agency. It calls for the creation of a diplomatic embassy at the ambassador level in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.Mr. Assad and Lebanese President Michel Suleiman agreed to establish relations back in August, during talks in Paris with French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy. The two countries have not had embassies in each other's capitals since they both gained independence from France more than 60 years ago. Relations between Damascus and Beirut have been strained since the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Syria was blamed for Hariri's murder, and withdrew its troops from Lebanon a few months later under international pressure, ending a three-decade long occupation. Syria had denied any involvement in Hariri's death. During Mr. Suleiman's official visit to Damascus in August, he and Mr. Assad also agreed to formally demarcate the Syrian-Lebanese border as part of the process of improving relations.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
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Africans Sort Out Financial Priorities As Nations Pursue Coordinated Rescue Plan
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High food and fuel prices, humanitarian costs of alleviating poverty, and ensuring continued support from international donors top the list of African concerns at Washington World Bank gathering
In Washington, African finance ministers on the sidelines
of the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)
began assessing the impact of economic rescue measures unveiled over the
weekend. During urgent weekend meetings in Paris and Washington, the leading
European, American, and Japanese industrial powers pledged to pour more than a
trillion dollars into imperiled banks across the globe to help extend loans and
investment and resuscitate a shattered credit market. As the recovery package started to calm world financial anxieties
on Monday, African countries indirectly, but clearly impacted by the imminent
financial collapse started to evaluate how best to shore up international
organization support and donor government pledges in the wake of the
crisis. World Bank communications
director for Africa Herbert Boh explains what priorities developing countries must salvage from the shaky
climate.
"The
key thing that was on the line, especially for countries in Africa, was the
need for African countries, many of which are not as exposed, given that most
banks in Africa hold their loans on their balance sheets. They do not have a derivative market, and
they also have a small secondary financial market. So because of this, the attention was being drawn to African
countries to make sure that they continue to work on their macro-economic
stability issues and continue to work on inflation issues and ensure that
growth continues to benefit the poor," he said.
Last
year, African migrant workers employed in Europe and elsewhere sent home some
$20 billion in earnings to help their Africa-based relatives escape poverty at
home. This year, African countries face
prospects of dwindling foreign derived investments on the continent and a
possibility of diminishing income remittances from migrants working overseas,
who are in greater jeopardy of losing their jobs because of the downturn. Boh
says Africans need to protect themselves against falling back into deeper
levels of poverty that could be precipitated by a falloff of foreign income
finding its way into Africa.
"To
the extent that these migrant workers were to lose their jobs in rich
countries, it could very negatively impact the poor, not necessarily banks,
because the money just transits through banks," said Boh.
The
World Bank official notes that the world crisis could have greater impact on
African economic giants like Nigeria and South Africa, which are more actively
engaged in international finance. He says those two powers account for 54
percent of the continent's total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But he also says that the commitment of
industrial powers to bail out major globally oriented banks and lenders sends a
positive sign to other African countries not likely to be as hard hit by the
current crisis.
"Those
countries, (Nigeria and South Africa), given their links to the international
markets, were going to be badly hit.
The rest of Africa is not so much connected with international
hits. But the fact that things have
happened well and that the bailout package, or the rescue package, seems to be
working well, it's a lot of good news for countries that are dependent on aid,
and many of them are dependent on aid for more than one-half of their budgets,"
he noted.
On
Sunday, World Bank President Robert Zoellick told reporters that the global
economic crisis should not be allowed to lower offers of humanitarian aid to
poor countries already being strapped with rising food and fuel costs. Africa communications director Herbert Boh
says World Bank officials are striving to emphasize that recent economic gains
negotiated by developing countries with G8 nations at major power summits set a
humanitarian priority that should not be sacrificed because of growing financial pressures.
"In
a region where, since 1995, the number of the poor has almost doubled again in
spite of support. So the World Bank has
been very insistent on countries honoring their Gleneagles promises to provide
at least $50 billion in aid to Africa every year," he said.
To help Africa cope with rising food prices, the World Bank has created a $1.2 billion fund. It is designed to ease feeding populations at risk by helping boost agricultural production, improve irrigation and other farming methods, facilitate the transport of food to markets, and reform land ownership practices.
There is also a $2.7 billion energy fund being drawn up to help African countries plagued by power shortages and weak infrastructures get their economies moving. In addition, the World Bank voted yesterday to open up a third director position on its executive board to members from Africa and other emerging economies, effectively raising the number of board members from 24 to 25. Herbert Boh says the move is in response to requests to extend a greater voice for African interests and voting representation on the bank's prestigious decision-making panel.
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Canadians Vote in Parliamentary Elections
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Polls indicate Prime Minister Stephen Harper will retain power, but experts say his party's lead is by no means secure
Stephen Harper Canadians are voting Tuesday for a new parliament, in a battle between Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative party and the Liberals, led by Stephane Dion.Polls indicate Mr. Harper will keep power, but experts say his party's lead is by no means secure. Mr. Harper has been accused of being slow to respond to the global economic crisis and insensitive to the financial concerns of his constituents.Dion, from the French-speaking province of Quebec, is an environmentalist who has been criticized for speaking poor English, a factor that could cost him votes. This is the first election in any of the world's major industrialized nations since the global economic crisis began.Mr. Harper announced in September that he would dissolve parliament and call for new elections, after he and Liberal leader Dion failed to agree on a common legislative agenda. During meetings between the two leaders, the opposition rejected a request to keep Mr. Harper in power until the next scheduled elections in October 2009.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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Russians Pull Back in Georgia But Scars of War Remain
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Some families return to find ransacked homes and say there will be no security until the Russians are really gone
Life is returning to normal in parts or northern Georgia - two months after open warfare there between Georgian and Russian troops and Russian-backed separatists from the enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russian troops pulled out of their self-declared buffer zones in the area last week and Georgian families are moving back into their homes there. But as VOA's Sonja Pace reports from the village of Ergneti, the scars of war are still all too evident. Column of Russian APCs moves along road near village of Rukhi at Inguri river, 08 Oct 2008Until last week, few wanted to venture back into Ergneti, a small village in northeastern Georgia, caught in the midst of the war in early August and then part of a buffer zone under the control of Russian troops and their South Ossetian allies. But, the Russians have gone and Georgian families are coming back to their homes - Goderdzi Kasradze is one of them.The men stand on the wide front porch, examining the damage: a mattress ripped and strewn on the floor, shattered glass, even a wooden window frame left dangling. Goderdzi Kasradze looks on in dismay."The Russians destroyed my house and Ossetians looted it. They took everything we had," he said. Nine family members call this home. They fled when the shooting and shelling started."The whole family was here when the shooting started. We evacuated the women and children. Then, I also had to flee," he explained.They've just returned - to find this.No room escaped damage. The children's bedroom - the living room. Kasradze's wife Lena tries a few keys on the once-prized piano. It too has been destroyed.Whatever was left behind when the family fled was ransacked - even an old stove pipe ripped out of the ceiling to search for any hidden valuables. The family reacts with disbelief and despair.PACE: What was your reaction when you came back here?"I cry and that is my reaction," Kasradze responded.The Kasradze home is just a kilometer from the dividing line with South Ossetia. Until recently, the last checkpoint here was under Russian control, but now Georgian security forces have taken over. Across here is South Ossetia - its capital Tskhinvali less than two kilometers up the road. The soldiers say this is as far as we can go. It was events in Tskhinvali that sparked the fighting in August - when Georgian forces launched an attack to try to rein in Russian-backed separatists and regain control of the enclave. Russian forces moved in quickly, driving the Georgians back, pushing deep into Georgia and creating buffer zones around South Ossetia as well as the other breakaway region - Abkhazia in the northwest. Under a European Union-backed cease-fire accord Moscow promised to withdraw by October 10. The Ergneti crossing is quiet - not much traffic either way - with the occasional exception. Ildizar Talibov slowly walks up the road toward the checkpoint. The soldiers quickly move to stop and query him. They let him pass.Talibov says he regularly sold goods in the Tskhinvali market. He fell ill and was in the hospital when fighting broke out. He says he had to take shelter and could not leave until now. "Tskhinvali is much destroyed," he said. "A friend who was in the hospital with me took me to his house. In those Georgian villages there is hardly any building left." Thirty kilometers away - the Russians are still manning the Akhalgori checkpoint. They say they've received no orders so far to pull back any farther. A few hundred meters back is the Georgian checkpoint and on this occasion a European Union monitoring patrol has just stopped by."Do you know if there are any mines anywhere?" asks Fredrik Nylyn, part of an observer force sent here to monitor the cease-fire. The Russians were to have moved back to pre-conflict positions on this day. There are differing views as to where those exact positions are and whether the Russians have fully complied."There is room for different interpretations on both sides, actually," noted Nylyn. "Yes, there will be different opinions on whether this agreement has been fulfilled from both parts or not."The Russians have pulled out of their self-declared buffer zones, but they remain inside Abkhazia and South Ossetia. But, back in Ergneti, Goderdzi Kasradze says there'll be no security until the Russians are really gone."We had fruits and flowers. It looked like people had lived here. It does not look like that now, but we hope we can change that and make it a home again," he said.Making life normal again is what many Georgians hope, especially in these areas ravaged by fighting. Life is returning to normal, people are moving back to tend their orchards and farms and to rebuild. But for some, looking at their destroyed homes, it's hard to know just where to begin.
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WHO Advocates Primary Health Care, Universal Coverage
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World Health Organization says primary care can provide billions of people fairer access to health care
The World Health Organization is urging governments to adopt primary health care and universal coverage as the best ways of improving health and saving lives. This year's World Health Report says primary health care can provide billions of people fairer access to health care. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from WHO headquarters in Geneva.This year's report commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Alma-Ata Conference, which put primary health care on the international political agenda. Primary health care offers a holistic approach. It operates at the community level, allowing people to have easier access to medical care.The doctrine espoused in 1978 was aimed at improving health in deprived populations by tackling health problems at an early stage, before they got out of hand. However, 30 years later, the promise of Alma-Ata has not been fulfilled. The World Health Organization reports differences in life expectancy between the richest and poorest countries now exceed 40 years.An estimated 136 million women will give birth, this year. Yet, WHO says around 58 million of them will receive no medical assistance, endangering their lives and that of their infants.WHO Assistant Director-General for Information, Evidence and Research Timothy Evans says the world's health picture during the past 30 years has been generally positive. But, he tells VOA even more children's lives could have been saved had more countries embraced primary health care."If all countries had performed at the higher end, than that figure could have been three million deaths annually instead of nine million deaths, annually," Evans said. "So, we know that there is a tremendous amount more that needs to be done in order to reach health opportunities for all." The report finds the amount of money governments spend every year on health varies widely from $20 to $6,000, per person. It says, for 5.6 billion people in low and middle income countries, more than half of all health care expenditure is through out-of-pocket payments.It says more than 100 million people are pushed below the poverty line each year, by rising health care costs. Evans says universal coverage would ease this situation. It would give all people access to health care, regardless of their ability to pay. "The evidence globally is very clear," Evans said. "In countries where you have to pay out of pocket when you access health care, people are much less likely to access health care at the right time. They tend to wait until it is too late, when either there is very little that can be done for them or what is done for them is extremely expensive and not often effective." Evans says primary health care is best suited to deal with a whole host of new risks today associated with chronic illnesses."We are saying that those risks to ill health need to be aggressively addressed with the appropriate policies, in order to effectively prevent them from becoming major health problems," he said.The World Health Organization says strong and committed leadership is often more important than money, in providing good health care. It says countries with poor resources - such as Sri Lanka, Kerala State in India, and Oman, which was poor in the 1970s - have greatly improved the health of their people by embracing primary health care and universal coverage.
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For Craftsman, Kayaks Are Way of Life
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VOA's Zulima Palacio finds for aficionados, wooden kayak is Rolls Royce of light, fast boat
Chesapeake Light Craft, has shipped thousands of small boat kits around the world and says kayaks are the most popularFor more than 1,000 years, kayaks have fascinated people young and old. The long, narrow, boats were originally designed by Eskimos for hunting seals in the arctic. They are mostly covered, with a small opening in the center and are propelled by a double bladed paddle. They made it to Europe in the early 1900s and spread around the world, used for hunting, pleasure and competition - in rivers and seas.
Tourists who kayak mostly use mass produced plastic models. But a wooden kayak is the Rolls Royce of this light and fast boat. Producer Zulima Palacio spoke to a craftsman who has spent a lifetime designing kayaks. Carol Pearson narrates.
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