China tells Obama not to meet Dalai Lama

China this morning warned USA President, Barack Obama, that his plan to meet the Dalai Lama would further erode relations between the USA & China.

The White House confirmed yesterday that President Obama would meet the exiled Tibetan leader.
The Dalai Lama is considered by Beijing as a separatist terrorist for seeking self-rule for Tibet, his mountain homeland.

China’s angry response reflected deepening tension between 2 of the world’s top 3 economies, with a Beijing government spokesperson noting that President Hu Jintao himself urged Obama not to proceed with the meeting.

Ma Zhaoxu, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said his government “resolutely opposes the leader of the United States having contact with the Dalai under any pretext or in any form.”

During President Hu’s summit with Barack Obama in Beijing in November 2009, the Chinese leader “explained China’s stern position of resolutely opposing any government leaders and officials meeting the Dalai Lama,” said Ma.

Fifa endorse Henry’s cheating

The world governing body for soccer, FIFA, has today announced that it’s rules do not allow for punishment for cheating.

The official statement from FIFA said that “Handling the ball cannot be regarded as a serious infringement as stipulated in the Fifa disciplinary code”.
Previously, Fifa president Sepp Blatter said Thierry Henry was guilty of “blatant unfair playing” but obviously Fifa, who claim to promote “Fair Play” at every international game, have obviously drawn a distinction between unfair “playing” and unfair “play”. Perhaps it is because  Blatter is not a native English speaker.

It will be interesting to see what new motto replaces the defunct “Fair Play” motto at the Soccer World Cup later this year in South Africa.

New tape of Atlantic City Brawl

Job Cuts at USA-Today

Media organization Gannett Co. is cutting 26 newsroom positions at its flagship USA Today newspaper and a further 11 jobs at USA Weekend magazine.

The cuts were revealed yesterday in company memos. USA Today and other Gannett newspapers have already tried to cut costs with layoffs over the past year. USA Today has been hit especially hard by the advertising slump and a decline in travel, which knocked it out of the No. 1 position in U.S. newspaper circulation as the newspapaer sells many of its copies in hotels and airports.

Ireland Government to agree to official strike days

In an unprecedented move the Government of Ireland has agreed that every government employee will be entitled to 12 official strike days in 2010.

Faced with the prospect of widespread all-out strikes across the public service, the government has agreed that every worker will be entitled to 12 strike days next year. This will avoid situations where all workers will ‘down tools’ at the same time. Government sponsored strikes are a new departure and will reduce the government’s  pay bill temporarily by approximately 5%. However, the pay bill will be reinstated in full in 2011 unless there are further official strike days sponsored by government.

Political opponents have described the move as ‘bottling it’ by the government who had promised reform that would bring public sector pay under control. These official government sponsored strike strike days will cause widespread disruption to the operation of services such as schools and hospitals while not reducing the underlying pay bill by one penny.

Read more in independent.ie : http://www.independent.ie/national-news/cowen-caves-in-on-public-sector-pay-1960583.html

Tiger Woods injured in Car crash

Breaking news reports say that Tiger Woods, Golf’s number 1 , has been seriously injured in a serious car accident. Fox news have said that the 33 year old crashed into a tree and is in a critical condition in hospital. The accident occured at approx 2am in the morning faollowing the Thanksgiving day celebrations.

Charges are said to be pending but Police report says “Alcohol Related: NO “

Air bags did not activate which means either he was travelling at under 33 miles per hour or they don’t work in his Cadillac SUV

Ebay to sell Skype

Reports this morning suggest that EBAY Inc is about to sell Skype to a group of private investors

The New York Times this morning reports sources that suggest that Andreessen Horowitz, a new venture capital firm headed by  Marc Andreessen (Netscape co-founder), is likely to be among the investors in the group. Others involved are said to be London based Venture Capitalists.

Ebay have declined to comment.

Edward (Ted) Kennedy dies of cancer

The death has taken place of the last of the Kennedy Brothers, Ted, at the Kennedy family home in Hyannis Port, Cape Cod.

77 year old Senator Kennedy had been battling cancer since May 2008 and dies less than 2 weeks after the passing of his sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

Known affectionately as ‘Teddy’, he was the younger brother of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, both assassinated in the 1960’s and Joe Kennedy, a pilot killed in World War Two. Kennedy first became a senator for Massachusetts in 1962 following the election of John as president.

The Kennedy family issued a statement last night stating “‘Edward M. Kennedy — the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply — died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port”

Tributes have been sent from world leaders throughout the globe

USA foreclosures set record in July…again

Home loan defaults continued at a record pace in July despite ongoing programs by government authorities at both federal and state level to avoid foreclosures.

Home seizure activity jumped by 7 percent in July from just a month previously and a massive 32 percent from a year earlier.

According to RealtyTrac this morning, one in every 355 mortgaged households got a foreclosure filing.

“July marks the third time in the last five months where we’ve seen a new record set for foreclosure activity,” according ot James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s chief executive, in a statement.

“Despite continued efforts by the federal government and state governments to patch together a safety net for distressed homeowners, we’re seeing significant growth in both the initial notices of default and in the bank repossessions.”

SUN BELT AMONG WORST AFFECTED

Areas where property prices rose most in the five-year housing bubble earlier this decade remain hardest hit by the current recession. Just four states, Arizona, Nevada, California and Florida, accounted for over half of total U.S. foreclosure activity in July.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver dies

Sister of  Democrat Senators, Attorney General and President of the USA and Mother in law of a Republican Governor, Eunice Kennedy Shriver has passed  in a Cape Cod hospital at the age of 88.

Shriver will be best known in her own right for having founded the Special Olympics in 1968.

Eunice Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachussetts in 1921 as the fifth of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy’s nine children.
She grew up in Massachusetts, Florida and London where Joe served as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom.

The Kennedy family issued a statement following Shriver’s death this morning saying, “It is hard for us to believe the amazing Eunice Kennedy Shriver went home to God this morning at 2 a.m. She was the light of our lives — a mother, wife, grandmother, sister and aunt — and taught us by example, and with passion, what it means to live a faith-driven life of love and service to others.”

Bill Clinton negotiates freedom for Journalists in North Korea

Former US President, Bill Clinton, has left North Korea with 2 journalists from the USA, having negotiated their release from their 4 month custody in the communist state.

While teh White House is denying that any “rewards” were offered to the isolated asian state, many observers believe that the meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il could open the door to direct talks on the prospect of a nuclear disarmament treaty.

The WhiteHouse has to strike a fine balance between bringing North Korea in from the international wilderness and being seen to reward recent provocative military acts of defiance in the face of international pressure.

A WhiteHouse official told reporters in Washington that “President Clinton had made clear that this was a purely private humanitarian mission”

Paula Abdul quits American Idol

Paula Abdul has announced that she is going to quit the popular US Reality TV show  “American Idol”

She made the decision public via her Twitter account yesterday saying with sadness in her heart she had decided not to return to “Idol” which is due to start auditions for the next season within days.

Despite declining ratings “American Idol” is still America’s most watched TV show, with an average 26.3 million viewers tuning in to each episode last season.

Citizens Bank parent (RBS) agrees to sell Asian assets for half a billion

RBS, (Royal Bank of Scotland, parent of Citizens Bank & ABN Amro) has finalized a deal worth $550m to sell its operations in six Asian countries to ANZ (the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group). The deal involves operations in Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong the Philippines and Vietnam.

The move is part of the drive by the bank that has been part-nationalized to slim down its balance sheet and focus on core markets. RBS will maintain operations in 11 markets in Asia.

Northern Rock loses $1.2bn in first half of 2009

British Bank, Northern Rock, has reported losses of more than $1.2Billion (UK£724 Million) for the first 6 months of 2009. This signals a worsening of the situation for the bank as it shows an increase of 24% over the loss for the first 6 moths of 2008 in local currency.

The bank, that was nationalised in February 2008 owes the British Government a whopping $18Billion and the government is waiting regulatory approval from the EU to pump even more taxpayers money into the bank.

Northern Rock is in the process of being split into two companies, one of which will hold savers’ money and be responsible for new lending, while the other will hold many of the existing loans and be responsible for paying back loans to the government.

Tsunami warning for New Zealand

A tsunami warning has been issued after an earthquake of 7.8 (on Richter Scale) off New Zealand’s western coast today.

The epicenter of the earthquake was about 100 miles west of Invercargill on New Zealand’s South Island.

The quake struck at a depth of 21 miles at 9:22am GMT