Archive for March, 2009

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Indonesian dam burst toll rises

At least 77 people are now known to have been killed when a dam burst near the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

Rescue workers have resumed searching for more than 100 people feared missing after about 400 homes were deluged in the Tangerang district early on Friday.

Visiting the scene, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised to help families reconstruct their homes and pledged to rebuild the dam.

Residents likened the onrush of water to the impact of a tsunami.

Torrents of water mixed with boulders and debris crashed through a 70m (230ft) gash in the dam, sweeping away buildings in the Cirendeu suburb.

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“I was only out to hurt him, I wasn’t out to kill him. I thought (the bullet) would go straight through him actually.”

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• French government still faces court action over nuclear testing.
• Trade Union Congress in PNG says rise in allowances is irresponsible.
• Fiji’s Teachers Association prepares for Supreme Court case over retirement at 55.
• Baby born on flight from Apia put into custody of NZ’s Child, Youth and Family.
• American Samoan soldiers death rate in Iraqi war the highest.
• Payment of water bills allows reopening of clinics in Solomon’s capital.

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Guadalajara Reporter – Hollywood makes its mark in Guadalajara
The star of Desperate Housewives hosted a charity bash for the world premiere of “The Perfect Game,” the story of a group of poor kids from the Mexican city of Monterrey who won the Little League World Series in 1957.

The actress was joined on the red carpet by the film’s stars, Jake T. Austin and Patricia Manterola.

Prior to a press conference, Longoria showed a trailer for “Harvest,” a documentary that she coproduced dealing with agricultural fieldwork done by immigrant children in the United States.

“I feel blessed by life and I would like to carry out more philanthropic activities with my foundation in Los Angeles, California called Parents Against Cancer that helps Latin children with this disease and their parents to lead a better quality life,” Longoria said.

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FT.com / Asia-Pacific – China calls for new reserve currency

China calls for new reserve currency

By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing

Published: March 23 2009 12:16 | Last updated: March 24 2009 00:06

China’s central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund.

In an essay posted on the People’s Bank of China’s website, Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank’s governor, said the goal would be to create a reserve currency “that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies”.

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At G20, Kremlin to Pitch New Currency

17 March 2009By Ira Iosebashvili / The Moscow TimesThe Kremlin published its priorities Monday for an upcoming meeting of the G20, calling for the creation of a supranational reserve currency to be issued by international institutions as part of a reform of the global financial system.

The International Monetary Fund should investigate the possible creation of a new reserve currency, widening the list of reserve currencies or using its already existing Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, as a “superreserve currency accepted by the whole of the international community,” the Kremlin said in a statement issued on its web site.

The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement the existing official reserves of member countries.

The Kremlin has persistently criticized the dollar’s status as the dominant global reserve currency and has lowered its own dollar holdings in the last few years. Both President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have repeatedly called for the ruble to be used as a regional reserve currency, although the idea has received little support outside of Russia.

Analysts said the new Kremlin proposal would elicit little excitement among the G20 members.

“This is all in the realm of fantasy,” said Sergei Perminov, chief strategist at Rye, Man and Gore. “There was a situation that resembled what they are talking about. It was called the gold standard, and it ended very badly.

“Alternatives to the dollar are still hard to find,” he said.

The Kremlin’s call for a common currency is not the first in recent days. Speaking at an economic conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, last week, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed a global currency called the “acmetal” — a conflation of the words “acme” and “capital.”

He also suggested that the Eurasian Economic Community, a loose group of five former Soviet republics including Kazakhstan and Russia, adopt a single noncash currency — the yevraz — to insulate itself from the global economic crisis.

The suggestions received a lukewarm response from Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday.

Nazarbayev’s proposal did, however, garner support from at least one prominent source — Columbia University professor Robert Mundell, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1999 for his role in creating the euro.

Speaking at the same conference with Nazarbayev, he said the idea had “great promise.”

The Kremlin document also called for national banks and international financial institutions to diversify their foreign currency reserves. It said the global financial system should be restructured to prevent future crises and proposed holding an international conference after the G20 summit to adopt conventions on a new global financial structure.

The Group of 20 industrialized and developing countries will meet in London on April 2.

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Viet Nam News

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Thailand News.Net
Divers recover bodies from sunken Thai scuba boat
ABC Australia
Divers have found the bodies of four missing foreign tourists trapped inside a boat which capsized near the Thai tourist isle of Phuket during a scuba diving trip, police said. Police also…

Blimp to aid Thai security
New Zealand Herald
Thursday 2009 Thailand’s Cabinet has approved buying a blimp to help to survey the country’s insurgency-plagued southern provinces. More than 3300 people have been killed in Narathiwat, Yala…

Thai Airways plans overhaul to improve margins
Financial Times
Thai Airways International is preparing a major overhaul of its operations in a move that could see the troubled state-owned airline restructure debt, cut jobs and reduce operating costs.The carrier…

Thaksin hopes his achievements will earn pardon from Thai king
Japan Times
Dubai — Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra hopes for one thing these days as he spends his life on the run evading arrest on corruption charges: getting a pardon from his king.

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Ban Bush from Canada for war crimes: lawyers
A lawyers’ group has asked the RCMP to bar former U.S. president George W. Bush from entering Canada, citing torture and war crimes committed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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