Bloomberg.com: Solbes Says Oil, Euro May Help Spain Avoid Recession - by Maria Leaniz and Emma Ross-Thomas

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Solbes Says Oil, Euro May Help Spain Avoid Recession - by Maria Leaniz and Emma Ross-Thomas

Spanish Finance Minister Pedro Solbes said lower oil prices and a weaker euro may help the country avoid a recession. ``We're very close to zero,'' growth, he said in an interview in Madrid yesterday. Still, cheaper crude and the euro's decline may ``allow that if there is negative growth in the Spanish economy that it would be limited, if possible, to one quarter.'' The euro's 20 percent decline since a July peak will help sustain exports, while the drop in oil prices is trimming production costs and leaving consumers with more to spend even as growth slows.

Mail Online: US Presidential elections - Obama 'heading for landslide victory' as he opens up 14-point lead over McCain

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US Presidential elections: Obama 'heading for landslide victory' as he opens up 14-point lead over McCain

Barack Obama has opened up a commanding lead of up to 14 points over John McCain in the closing stages of the race for the White House, latest polls show today. As the Republican candidate's campaign appeared to falter, one poll showed the popularity gap between Mr Obama and Mr McCain has doubled from seven per cent earlier this month to 14 per cent. The Pew Research Centre's latest poll found Mr Obama's support had grown to 52 per cent of voters against 38 per cent for his rival. Independent voters, who have been the target of intense campaign efforts by both sides, have now swung behind Mr Obama by a 30-point margin, 59 per cent to 29 per cent.

The Illinois senator's decision to pull away from the campaign on Thursday and Friday to be with his gravely ill, 85-year-old grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, will cut seriously into the time he has left to persuade voters to support his candidacy. But the show of devotion to a central figure in his life could force McCain and Palin to suspend their attacks on Obama's character. Dunham helped raise Obama, a role he highlighted in accepting the Democratic presidential nomination nearly two months ago.

Guardian.UK: Financial crisis: Asia and Europe must 'swim together', Barroso says - by Tania Branigan

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Asia and Europe must 'swim together', Barroso says - by Tania Branigan

No one is immune from the economic crisis sweeping the west, the president of the European Union warned today ahead of the opening of the Asia-Europe Meeting in China. José-Manuel Barroso said that the two continents would "sink or swim together", adding that unprecedented cooperation was needed to deal with unprecedented times. "We have to face serious challenges which don't respect any borders because they are global ... no one in Europe or Asia can seriously pretend to be immune," he told a press conference shortly before the opening of the summit in Beijing. "Simply - we swim together or we sink together ... We need Asia to be on board and more particularly countries like China and India. "The eye of the storm was in the US, but it is a global storm and there will be ripple effects all over the world."

AHN: Asia, Europe Beijing Conference To Discuss Financial Crisis, Climate Change

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Asia, Europe Beijing Conference To Discuss Financial Crisis, Climate Change

The largest gathering of leaders from Asia and Europe descends on the Chinese capital of Beijing today, Thursday for a two-day summit to discuss the unfolding global financial meltdown and the growing problem of climate change. The seventh biannual Asia-Europe Meeting will be attended by leaders from the 27 European countries and 16 Asian nations. Serge Abou, the European ambassador to China said he expects discussion on the financial crisis to be "very tense." And Herve Ladsous, French ambassador to China said the leaders attending the meeting aim to come out with a strong and united messages to encourage confidence back to the global markets. Among the high-profile leaders who confirmed attendance were European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Barroso is expected to hold a press conference Thursday afternoon in Beijing.

China's vice-minister of commerce Yi Xiaozhun said his government has committed to cooperate to bring to an end the slump in the financial markets. Yi said the expanding trade and service industries cooperation between Asia and Europe could help turn the tide and provide key solution to the problem. He said the proposal could stabilize the financial market and at the same time, open fair international trade relations to restore confide and drum up economic activities.

New York Press - -The Lame Duckling - by JAMAAL YOUNG

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The Lame Duckling - by JAMAAL YOUNG

"As the United States focuses their attention on the next would-be president, it’s not quite time to forget the one that’s screwed everything up.There once was a governor who, despite all the odds (including losing the popular vote), was elected President of the United States. He was never described as intelligent—or wise, or thoughtful, or even moderately clever—but, boy was he ever charming. He had a way of making everyone around him—including some of the nation’s most experienced public servants—feel all warm inside about policies and practices that were directly in opposition to their own beliefs and self-interests. He convinced millions of middle-class Americans that a tax cut that provided them only $300 in extra dough was enough to jumpstart the American economy—those taxpayers all went out and bought new televisions made in Asia. He bribed Senator Kennedy with the promise of copious amounts of money for public education in return for Uncle Teddy’s support of the No Child Left Behind Bill. That bill became law, but the promised cash never appeared, creating a national school system that focused on math and reading to the exclusion of art, music, physical education and even recess. The result: Cuba still had a higher literacy rate than the United States.

Yes, George W. Bush’s faux-Texan charm served him well as a first-term President; and if he would have called it quits in 2004, history might have remembered him as one of the nation’s more effectively persuasive politicians. Unfortunately for him, he stuck around for a second term, during which every new initiative he pursued ended in defeat.And that brings us to today, with less than two weeks until Election Day and our national attention squarely focused on Barack Hussein Obama and John Sidney McCain. But through all the talk of pigs and plumbers, terrorists and Tina Fey, let us not forget about the US current commander-in-chief who still pursues policies that will continue to contravene the interests of this nation long after he leaves.

Look, it’s not like the US expected a fairytale ending to eight years of Bush rule; but at least the US population expected the president of the United States to act with an awareness of the situation the country finds itself in and with an eye on the consequences his decisions would have on the world as we move forward."

Business Standard: Norway fund to invest $2 bn in Indian stocks

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Norway fund to invest $2 bn in Indian stocks

Norway fund to invest $2 bn in Indian stocks

Even as foreign institutional investors rapidly pull out their money from Dalal Street, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s second largest, is set to invest $2 billion in Indian stocks.The Bombay Stock Exchange’s benchmark Sensex has been in a free fall this year, dipping below 10,000 last week, but the Norwegian government said the investments by the Government Pension Fund would take place between this month and January 2009.

The Norwegian Pension Fund, which has assets of EURO 273 billion, is the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund after only the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, credited with assets of over EURO 682 billion.

Forbes: Hungary: Central bank makes emergency rate hike

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Hungary: Central bank makes emergency rate hike

Hungary's central bank Wednesday made a steep emergency interest rate hike to stabilize the country's currency, hurt by the financial crisis, raising the possibility that other countries in the region could follow its lead. The National Bank of Hungary's Monetary Council raised the base rate to 11.5 percent from 8.5 percent. The base rate is the interest paid by the central bank to commercial banks using its two-week bill facility, the main instrument used by the National Bank of Hungary to manage liquidity on the interbank market. The move is meant to protect the national currency, the forint, which has fallen 16 percent against the euro since the start of October, according to Neil Shearing of Capital Economics.

georgiandaily.com - German Ministry of Foreign affairs protests mingling in EU energy security - by Vladimir Socor

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German Ministry of Foreign affairs protests mingling in EU energy security - by Vladimir Socor

According to German media reports, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Berlin has protested to the U.S. Embassy over an op-ed article by the U.S. Ambassador in Sweden, who criticized the Russo-German Nord Stream gas pipeline project on the Baltic seabed and other aspects of Russian energy policy in Europe. German business leaders such as Eggert Voscherau of BASF (the world’s largest chemical concern and a partner in the Gazprom-led Nord Stream consortium) and left-leaning politicians such as Martin Schulz (the Social Democrats’ leader in the European Parliament) in turn complained that the United States was now publicly opposing Nord Stream and in doing so was “destabilizing Europe.” Former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the chairman of the Nord Stream consortium, portrayed Russia as a fully reliable energy supplier and dismissed the need for a diversification of Europe’s supplies. Note EU-Digest: Despite protests from Georgia and other former Eastern European block nations the EU and in particular its member states Germany, France and Italy seem to be on the right track to align themselves with Russia in developing a common energy policy within an overall cooperative economic treaty.

EurActiv.com - EU contemplates 'common market' with Russia

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EU contemplates 'common market' with Russia

French President and EU presidency holder Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday (21 October) unveiled a new cooperation strategy with Russia that would build stronger economic links between Europe and its largest Eastern European neighbor

Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Sarkozy called Russia "our neighbours" and surprised the audience by alluding to "a common economic space between Russia and the EU". The term recalls the early stages of EU history, which saw the development of a 'common market' that was subsequently renamed the 'single market' in the 1980s. Sarkozy's view of Russia sharing a common economic space marks another step in his attempt to forge a new relationship with Moscow based on trust and tighter integration.

At a recent meeting in Evian, the French president and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev voiced similar messages about the need to reconstruct Europe's security architecture

RIA Novosti - Latvia to donate EURO 545.00 ,for Georgia reconstruction

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Latvia to donate EURO 545.000 for Georgia reconstruction

Latvia is to give Georgia $700,000 to aid reconstruction efforts in the wake of its recent war with Russia, the Latvian foreign minister said on Tuesday. Maris Riekstins said the money would be provided from Latvia's state budget in 2010 and 2011. Russia launched a five-day military operation to "force Georgia to accept peace" after Georgian troops attacked breakaway South Ossetia on August 8, killing a number of Russian peacekeepers and hundreds of civilians.

EarthTimes: Estonia in recession until 2010, says central bank

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The Estonian economy is set to remain in recession until 2010 according to a forecast published Wednesday by the Estonian central bank, Eesti Pank. According to the base scenario of Eesti Pank's 2008 autumn forecast, Estonia's gross domestic product will decline by 1.8 per cent in 2008 and by 2.1 per cent in 2009. The economy should pick up again either at the end of 2009 or at the beginning of 2010, resulting in an average economic growth rate for 2010 of 3 per cent, Eesti Pank believes.

"Private consumption growth should recover in 2010 along with the revival of household confidence, whereas 2009 will be characterised by slowing wage growth and increasing unemployment," the for

Bulgaria’s Foreign Investments Drop by EUR 1,173 B in January - August 2008

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Bulgaria’s Foreign Investments Drop by EUR 1,173 B in January-August 2008

The foreign direct investments in Bulgaria decreased by EUR 1,17 B in the first eight months of 2008 compared to the same period of 2007. The news were announced by Bulgaria's Economy Minister Petar Dimitrov during an investment forum in Sofia on Wednesday.

According to the preliminary data, Bulgaria's foreign direct investments amounted to EUR 2,980 B in January-August, 2008, or 8,8% of the GDP, compared to EUR 4,154 B or 14,4 of the GDP in the same period of 2007.

The independent: America must live within its means - by Hamish McRae

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America must live within its means - by Hamish McRae

There are two bits of good news here for whoever is the next president. He cannot be held responsible for the recession because it is here now, but more important, in another four years when he comes up for re-election the economy will be growing again. There is a natural economic cycle from which we don't seem able to escape, and that makes it virtually certain that the next election will be against a much more favorable background. So there will be time to fix things for the longer term. Right now the US is consuming too much of its output: more than 70 per cent in fact, compared with 65 per cent or less for most developed countries. That money is indirectly borrowed from overseas, with the US having a current account deficit equivalent to some six per cent of GDP. So American consumers have maintained their standard of living, buying cheap goods from China, but the US has become the world's largest debtor nation.

So the central challenge for the next president will to persuade the country to live within its means. That has to happen at a personal level but also at a national level. This cannot be fixed in the next four years or the next eight but a start can be made. This does however mean a slower rise in US living standards and there is no getting away from that. And that raises the biggest question of all. Is the US willing in the 21st century to cede the economic leadership that it built up in the 20th?

EU-Digest: US presidential elections - Are Americans Better Off in 2008 Than they Were in 2000?

The information in this report comes from the Center for Economic and policy research

Are Americans Better Off in 2008 Than they Were in 2000?

During the final presidential debate of the 1980 election, Ronald Reagan, running against Jimmy Carter, turned to the camera and asked “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” The debate took place against a backdrop of spiraling inflation and rising unemployment. A week later, Reagan won the election by one of the largest margins in recent history. Now, with the 2008 presidential election just weeks away and the economy once again in turmoil, a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) updates the Reagan question by comparing economic indicators in 2008 and 2000, and finds that most indicators suggest that voters are worse off now than they were eight years ago. The study finds that 23 out of 25 indicators are worse in 2008 than they were in 2000. Some of the indicators examined included the unemployment rate, annual inflation, the “Misery Index” (the sum of the the unemployment rate and the inflation rate), job growth, wage growth, the poverty rate, the number of uninsured, college tuition costs, and gasoline prices. Of these, only inflation-adjusted median family income and productivity growth were higher in 2008 than they were in 2000.

The Scientific American : Alternative Energy - Sevilla Solar Capital of the world lready to link up with Middle East and Africa - by Carolyn Whelan

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Alternative Energy - Sevilla Solar Capital of the world ready to link up with Middle East and Africa for more Alternative power - by Carolyn Whelan

On the outskirts of Seville, Spain, 600 rotating mirrors send shafts of light to a collector atop a soaring 380-foot- (115-meter-) tall tower. Its scalding 480-degree-Fahrenheit (250-degree-Celsius) steam drives a turbine generating a peak capacity of 11 megawatts (MW) of electricity for the national grid. This "power tower" is the first of nine to be built by Spanish engineering giant Abengoa Solar, which all told will produce enough electricity for 153,000 homes by 2013.

Plentiful sunshine isn't the only reason entrepreneurs and industry have flocked to Spain. The Spanish advantage includes abundant land, strong demand for air conditioning, mammoth infrastructural firms to fast-track projects, and, most importantly, generous subsidies. The nation's feed-in tariffs guarantee 25 years of up to triple the market price for solar energy, making it the world's hottest solar market, trailing only subsidy-richer Germany.In fact, money committed for Spanish PV projects (mostly ground-based) shot up nearly 500 percent from 2006 to 2007 to a total of $3.45 billion, according to London-based New Energy Finance, a renewable energy market research firm.

Most importantly, the initial African power plants and Spain's solar-thermal test bed pave the way for energy export from planned solar farms in the Sahara Desert across a high-voltage direct current trans-sea line to Europe, pending political will and public funds. French President Nicolas Sarkozy resurrected the idea this year in a Plan Solaire. Studies show that harnessing just 0.3 percent of the sunshine on North African and Middle Eastern deserts could power those regions and Europe. Optimists, such as Nikolai Ulrich, head of renewables Europe at Germany's Nordbank, foresee energy export from Africa within seven years. Imminent milestones include talks in Algeria and Tunisia for transmission lines to Italy, planned for next year. Spain has an edge, because it has been swapping electricity with Morocco over their own two-way line for about a dozen years.

nebusiness: UK - Bring on energy revolution - by Gloria McShane

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UK - Bring on energy revolution - by Gloria McShan

Nervous retailers, panicky bankers, gloomy estate agents - amid the continuing global stock-market turmoil, many investors are running scared. But is renewable energy one of the sectors with brighter financial prospects, due to EU and UK climate change targets?Mark Dowdall, of North-east land and property development company The Banks Group, believes renewables are where “the wise money is going” and says his company’s sustainable energy interests are helping offset a lean period in the property sector. Since in 2007 less than 5% of the UK’s electricity came from renewables, there is a mountain to climb even to meet 2020 EU goals. However, even more than investment, he flagged up the planning process as a critical area for the Government to address.

For example, protests against wind farms often held up projects for several years. “We’re pussyfooting around,” he added. Government targets make renewable energy an attractive sector.

AP: Russia, Iran, Qatar discuss OPEC-style gas cartel

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Russia, Iran, Qatar discuss OPEC-style gas cartel

Russia, Iran and Qatar took their first serious steps toward forming an OPEC-style cartel for natural gas on Tuesday, a prospect that has unnerved energy-importing nations in Europe and the United States. The three countries together account for 60 percent of the world's gas reserves, and Russia and Iran have both been accused of using their hold on energy supplies to bully neighboring countries. The European Union, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas, criticized the proposal, saying "energy supplies have to be sold in a free market."

Note EU-Digest: The three countries do not control 60% of the gas supplies and the idea of a gas cartel makes little sense unless it includes at least the top ten suppliers of natural gas which are:

1. Russia … 656.2 billion cubic meters (19.9% of estimated world total)

2. United States … 490.8 billion cubic meters (14.9%)

3. Canada … 178.2 billion cubic meters (5.4%)

4. Iran … 101 billion cubic meters (3.1%)

5. Algeria … 84.4 billion cubic meters (2.6%)

6. United Kingdom … 84.2 billion cubic meters (2.6%)

7. Norway … 83.4 billion cubic meters (2.5%)

8. Netherlands … 77.3 billion cubic meters (2.3%)

9. Indonesia … 74 billion cubic meters (2.2%)

10. Turkmenistan … 72.3 billion cubic meters (2.2%).

The Independent: Religion vs science: can the divide between God and rationality be reconciled? - by Paul Vallely

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Religion vs science: can the divide between God and rationality be reconciled? - by Paul Vallely

''A clergyman in charge of education for the country's leading scientific organisation – it's a Monty Python sketch," pronounced Britain's top atheist, Richard Dawkins, recently. The problem was that Reiss, as well as being an evolutionary biologist and population geneticist, is a non-stipendiary priest in the Church of England. When he said recently that science teachers should answer questions about creationism if pupils asked them he was deemed to have been advocating the idea that British schools should teach the idea that the world was magicked up (complete with fossils and ancient geology) just 6,000 years ago – and then tell pupils to make their own minds up between that and the theory of evolution to which the overwhelming scientific evidence points.The idea that science and religion are incompatible is a fairly recent import into contemporary culture. It has been given huge credence by the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. The pronounced motivation of Islamic fundamentalists in 2001 hammered home that some people are prepared to inflict outrageous acts of inhumanity in the name of religion.

Fresh Plaza: The Netherlands - 47,730 visitors at Horti Fair 2008 in AMSTERDAM

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47,730 visitors at Horti Fair 2008 in AMSTERDAM

The international Horti Fair, which was held in Amsterdam during last week, was with 47,730 visitor very successful. 900 Companies from 49 countries took part. The horticultural sector is becoming more and more international. About half the number of visitors came from the Netherlands and the other half literally from the rest of the world and especially the large number of visitors from Eastern Europe and the Middle East attracted attention.

According to director Wim van der Loo this has confirmed the top position of the Netherlands in the worldwide horticultural sector.New pavilions such as the Logistics Pavilion, the House of Software. Good and Green Pavilion and other initiatives, such as the accent on food horticulture, were a valuable addition to the show concept. The week of the Horti Fair is also always a motive to organise extra activities in the Dutch horticultural areas. "The international drawing influence of the Horti Fair is utilised to position the Dutch
Horticulture more intensively.

SPIEGELONLINE/NRC-Handelsblad: Marihuana Crimes in Holland: "A big problem which needs to be stopped by changing Dutch laws on the use of Cannabis"

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Cannabis/Marihuana Crimes in Holland: "A big problem which needs to be stopped by changing Dutch laws on the use of Cannabis"

The Netherlands' marijuana tolerance policy was meant to prevent use of harder drugs. But Max Daniel, who heads up the Netherlands police unit charged with combating the organized crime behind the cannabis trade, says a violent industry has developed with exports of €2 billion.

Daniel said, "One man asked his nephew to look after his house for six months. When he returned, his home was filled with cannabis plants. He got rid of them. Afterwards he was shot in the knees and told he needed to repay €18,500 ($24,800). We know there are shops that bring cannabis-growing equipment directly to people's homes. They then provide the names and addresses to criminal organizations, which come and steal the harvest. Today, cannabis is involved in nearly all major cases involving murder, weapons and drugs". When Daniel was asked why the police did not act sooner he said, "Because everyone, including the police, said: "It's only cannabis." It costs the police just as much to arrest someone for cannabis as for cocaine. But for dealing in coke you go to prison, whereas for cannabis you just have to pay a laughably small fine. So police don't have much incentive to invest in the latter. In our Dutch society, we have been brought up to believe that cannabis is not something criminal".