| Aljazeera | |||||||
| | |||||||
The US vice-presidential candidates have clashed on foreign policy, the economy and energy in their only face-to-face debate of the US election campaign. Sarah Palin, the Republican governor of Alaska, met Joe Biden, the experienced Democrat senator from Delaware, for the televised showdown in the city of St Louis on Thursday. The early exchanges between the two were dominated by the recent global turmoil on the financial markets. Biden attacked John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, accusing him of being "out of touch" when he described the US economy as fundamentally strong. Palin described herself as being part of a "team of mavericks" led by McCain who would bring change to the White House. Many critics had expected Palin to fumble the debate, after she faced ridicule over a series of interviews. However Rob Reynolds, Al Jazeera's senior Washington correspondent, said Palin did not put in a poor performance and didn't make any major mistakes. Iraq issue Biden and Palin also clashed on tax policies with both claiming that they would cut tax, and energy, with Palin calling for more drilling to utilise US energy resources.
Biden said the Republicans were not offering a plan to end the conflict, triggered by the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, in which tens of thousands of Iraqis and more than 4,000 US troops have been killed. "I didn't hear a plan," Biden responded. "Barack Obama offered a clear plan. Ship responsibility to Iraqis over the next 16 months. Draw down our combat troops." Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, said that was where the contrast between the two was most clear and that Palin did not define what a US victory would mean. The debate focused heavily on foreign policy, considered by many analysts to be a weak point for Palin. Both candidates discussed Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran as well as pledging their support for Israel. Robert Fisk, the author and Middle East correspondent of the UK's Independent newspaper, said the debate showed how both campaigns ignored the plight of the Palestinians. "The Palestinians were deleted from the narrative. There was no reference to Jewish settlements, built illegally on Arab land. There was not the slightest reference to the Israeli occupation on the West Bank." Biden later also lashed out at Dick Cheney, the current vice-president, calling him "the most dangerous vice-president in American history". Republicans falter Thursday's debate came after a poll found that most US voters have huge doubts about Palin's experience and her ability to lead.
And McCain's campaign, which has stalled in the wake of the global financial crisis, said on Thursday that he had conceded the battleground state of Michigan in order to focus on states where he has a better chance of beating Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate. "It's been the worst state of all the states that are in play and it's an obvious one from my perspective to come off the list," said Greg Strimple, a senior McCain adviser. Concerns over Palin's experience have increased since she gave a series of interviews on foreign policy, the economy and the US supreme court. She has faced ridicule for some of her answers, including citing Alaska's proximity to Canada and Russia as valid foreign policy experience. |
Friday, October 3, 2008
Palin and Biden go head-to-head
Strike in Bollywood is giving sleepless nights to producers
New Delhi, Oct 3, 2008: The strike in Bollywood that entered third day is giving sleepless nights to producers and directors whose films were underway. It has thrown their schedules haywire.
It is not just escalating costs that is giving the Bollywood producers a sleepless nights, getting alternate dates from all the stars of the films underway will be a big problem if the strike gets prolonged.
Bollywood producers fear that the leading actors who they pay anything between 30 to 100 million rupees for a single film may also revise their agreed payment for the particular film they are shooting now as they will have to give extra time to the film.
In the meantime the segment that seems most affected by he strike is reality show. Every entertainment channel has some reality show going on and they have very tight schedule. This requires daily shoots. Their schedules too have been severely affected by the ongoing strikes.
India has a vibrant movie industry not just in the Hindi language but also regional languages like Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. In 2006 the estimated size of Bollywood was around US $ 1.8 billion.
But during he last two years lots of things have changed and for the better. A chain of multiplexes has come up in big and small cities and the Bollywood’s film making business has become almost corporate like.
Read more:
http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17310&Itemid=70
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Indian Muslims not to celebrate Eid with fervor
By Khabrein.Info Correspondent,
New Delhi, Oct 1, 2008: Tomorrow’s Eid may not see the fervor with which Indian Muslims celebrate the festival. Eid is the main festival of the Muslims celebrated at the end of the Holy month of Ramadan, and Muslims in India always celebrate the festival with great fervor.
But it seems that this time Muslims may not celebrate their main festival with the same zeal that is the hallmark of the annual festival.
Muslims have been facing the police harassment for the last several weeks after serial bomb blasts in New Delhi almost three weeks ago. The feeling of insecurity crossed every limit when two Muslim youth were killed in an alleged ‘encounter’ with the police. A celebrated police inspector was also killed. National Human Rights Commission has asked the government to present the facts about the alleged encounter.
Read more:
http://www.khabrein .info/index. php?option= com_content&task=view&id=17262&Itemid=88
Wall Street: Nervous markets await bailout vote
| Aljazeera | |||||||||
| | |||||||||
Shares on Wall Street's main Dow Jones index fell around 1.5 per cent in early trading ahead of a United States senate vote on a revised financial rescue plan. The senate is to vote on Wednesday night on a new version of the $700bn bailout package that was rejected by the House of Representatives on Monday. The amended bill includes an increase in the amount of bank deposits protected by the government's insurance programme. Earlier, Asian financial markets recorded gains amid renewed hope that the plan to save America's ailing banks would be adopted. European markets were mixed by Wednesday afternoon. London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares was up 0.22 per cent at 4,913 points. Frankfurt's DAX 30 was down 0.95 per cent to 5,775 points while in Paris the CAC 40 fell by 0.45 per cent to 4,013 points. Bourses steady In Asia, markets regained some of the ground they lost on the previous day. Japan's benchmark Nikkei index closed up 0.96% on Wednesday, despite the Bank of Japan's Tankan corporate survey indicating that Japanese business sentiment had turned pessimistic for the first time in five years.
Markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore were closed for holidays on Wednesday but share prices in Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand climbed. But Song Seng Wun, a regional economist with CIMB-GK Research in Singapore, said that a rebound in stock markets was "not really" the best measure of financial health. Investors were "taking things day by day" and taking their lead from Wall Street, waiting to see whether help was on the way for the US economy, he told Al Jazeera. Song said that liquidity was still an issue as until there was greater clarity on a financial plan or on the health of the global financial system, financial institutions were essentially "hoarding cash", lending only to their "most trusted friends". Modified bill Republican and Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives have expressed hope that the revised bill will be passed on Wednesday.
Speaking to Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Allister Heath, editor of City AM, a London-based business publication, said: "I think the only good news is that even if the rescue package does not go through, it is not the end of the world. "All over the world, governments have been taking their own action; banks have been sold and bought, sometimes nationalised. There have also been private-sector solutions. "Optimism has returned to the trading floors here in London and also on Wall Street, but it is very hard to predict whether a plan will be passed by both houses of the US congress. "The problem is that the left and the right tend to disagree [on the rescue package] The left think it is bailing out big banks while the right see it as a form of socialism." Heath said even if the rescue plan goes through, the problem of the credit crunch will not go away. "It is merely another weapon to tackle the problem," he said. "Basically, the credit crunch is getting worse; many more banks will have to be rescued and hundreds of billions of bad debt is going to have to be written off. "Stock markets will continue to fall, property prices will continue to fall. All over the world, consumers and savers will suffer." |
Bollywood strike cripples work at film studios in Mumbai.
Mumbai, Oct 1, 2008: Federation of Western India Cine Employees, the main union of Bollywood workers has gone on strike from today and it has completely crippled the work at film studios in Mumbai.
The Federation has the support of leading actors including Bollywood biggies like Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh besides many other actors and actresses.
It is amazing to see Shah Rukh Khan joining the strike as he is also a producer and has one of the best equipped studios in Mumbai’s filmdom.
His Red Chillies Entertainment is a major motion picture production and distribution company, based in Mumbai. SRK founded the company in 2004. Apart from production, the company also has a state-of-art visual effects studio known as Red Chillies VFX.
It is being reported that more than one hundred thousand people attached with the industry have gone on an indefinite strike on the issue of facilities and pay in the industry.
Read more:
http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17258&Itemid=70
Ganguly selected for Australia series, is it safe exit strategy?
By Khabrein.Info Correspondent,
New Delhi, Oct 1, 2008: Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has been selected for test series against Australia. But some have called it a safe exit strategy for the talented Indian batsman.
Australian cricket team is presently in Jaipur preparing for forthcoming test series against India beginning October 4.
Earlier Saurav Ganguly was given a shock by selectors when he was not selected for Rest of Indian team in Irani Cup. At that time it was thought that it was the end of the road for the wily Indian batsman.
Sourav Ganguly is one of the best batsmen that India has ever produced. But he and seniors in Indian team including Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehvag and VVS Laxman, the famed Indian batting line up is being increasingly threatened by emerging batting line up in the team.
Read more:
http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17253&Itemid=60
Antony plays down differences with forces on 6t Pay Commission
By Khabrein.Info Correspondent,
New Delhi, Oct 1, 2008: After talking tough AK Antony has played down differences with armed forces on 6t Pay Commission recommendations.
Earlier in the eye of increasing belligerence by the government over the issue of anomalies in the sixth pay commission recommendations, Antony had warned forces chiefs of announcing pay rise from Defence ministry if they don’t make the announcement in this regard.
But this step was the last one and was coupled with the announcement to form a three member committee to look into the issue of anomalies in army officers’ pay viz a viz civilian officers.
Defence Minister AK Antony playing down the differences with armed forces chief on the issue of sixth pay commission implementation said that there was no difference.
read more;
http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17247&Itemid=88
Posts
