Global Report - 17-November-2008

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G20 battles to stem global economic crisis

The G20 meet is of prime importance for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to send back home the right message at a time when he has his own political game to play especially with the upcoming elections early next year. Each economy wants an answer to take back home to its own nations to say yes we are working to prevent job losses that will prevent dip in exports and keep the economy back on tracks. As the stock markets swivel wildly on growing economic fears, hopes are high that the summit would result in size and shape of the bailout for the struggling economies. India must ensure that the US does not become in any way protectionist during a slowdown, especially so after the export numbers in India slumped by 15 per cent for the first time in several months. More over, India should pitch for IMF and the World Bank support even though it is not in the 'eye of the storm.' We remain hopeful that the G20 leaders would agree on coordinated economic stimulus package to help prevent world plunging into recession.

Pentagon scale back in defence budgets

A senior Pentagon advisory group, in a series of bluntly worded briefings, is warning President-elect Barack Obama that the Defense Department's current budget is "not sustainable," and he must scale back or eliminate some of the military's most prized weapons programs.Pentagon insiders and defense budget specialists say the Pentagon has been on a largely unchecked spending spree since 2001 that will prove politically difficult to curtail but nevertheless must be reined in.

Jordan amends law to ban public smoking

After the law was amended to prevent smoking in all the public and private institutions the Jordanian minister of health minister Dr. Salah Mawajdeh had a meting with last Wednesday with owners of shopping malls in Jordan to finally take the step and ban smoking inside malls as part of the new smoking ban campaign. The meeting requested the mall owners to designate special smoking areas in their establishments in order to protect the non smoking public from becoming passive smokers. Dr. Mawajdeh added that fines would soon be imposed on anyone who breaks the new law. If taken seriously the smoking ban may work in most of public places which will definitely have a hard time succeeding gin restaurants and cafes Argeelah is an essential part of menu in these places.


Thriving at the cost of ailing public

Raising the price of mosquito repellants is yet another instance of commercial interest thriving at the cost of the population's health. Instead of producing the prices for helping the people coping with the epidemic of dengue fever companies are taking advantage of the threat and making money in a deplorable way. It is important that the government of Pakistan takes special notice of the situation and strict measures against commercial manufacturers who have increased the price of the mosquito repellants products without proper justification.
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