United States To Face Attacks on Quantitative Easing Policy at G20 Summit as Currency War Rages On

By Kerri Shannon, Associate Editor, Money Morning

The United States will go on the defense at this week's Group of 20 (G20) meeting, having to explain its quantitative easing (QE2) policy to foreign leaders who have criticized the move as a currency war tactic to weaken the dollar and damage other countries' export-driven recoveries.

China, Brazil, Germany and South Africa all have spoken out against the U.S. Federal Reserve's announcement last week that it will buy $600 billion in U.S. Treasuries through June. Finance policymakers from around the globe say the move will depress the dollar and drive capital flows to emerging markets, creating asset bubbles.

Brazil's central bank president Henrique Meirelles said the extra liquidity in the U.S. economy would cause "risks for everyone," and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called the Fed's move "clueless."

PASOK Wins 8 out of 13 Regions

It’s the first time after twenty- four years that the councils of Athens and Thessaloniki passed under the umbrella of PASOK.

PASOK won 8 out of 13 regions. These include Attiica, Eastern Macedonia-Thrace, Sterea Hellas, Western Greece, Peloponnese, North Aegean, South Aegean, Crete, plus the southwest region of Central Macedonia, West Macedonia, Thessaly, Epirus, and the Ionian Islands.

British couple released by pirates

A British couple kidnapped off their private yacht by Somali pirates more than a year ago was set free Sunday, ending one of the most drawn-out and dramatic hostage situations since a rash of piracy began off East Africa. Paul and Rachel Chandler appear at a news conference at the presidential palace in Mogadishu on Sunday, accompanied by Somali

Somali Pirates Release Hostages Paul and Rachel Chandler

Somali pirates released a British couple from captivity on Sunday, ending a yearlong drama in which the pair was moved, separated and moved several times again as negotiations to win their release stalled over the amount of ransom to be paid. The pirates turned Paul and Rachel Chandler over to local Somali authorities near the central town of Adado on Saturday. From there, they flew to the capital Mogadishu, where they met with officials from the Transitional Federal Government before leaving for Nairobi on Sunday night. "We're fine. We are rather skinny and bony, but we're fine," Paul Chandler told the BBC on Sunday. Official photographs released by the Somali government showed them smiling and looking healthy as they met with Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.

Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed

Belgium floods kill 2

A man cycles through a flooded street in Geraardsbergen, Belgium, on Sunday. (Yves Logghe/Associated Press)Belgian authorities called in the army Sunday to assist with emergency evacuations after severe flooding killed two people in the southwestern region of Beaumont, near the French border.
A 72-year-old woman drowned overnight after her husband lost control of their vehicle, Lt. Fabrice

Greece's Socialists win local elections

Greece's governing Socialists emerged the winner of local government elections Sunday, despite a record low turnout and renewed pressure on the crisis-hit nation to impose a new round of drastic spending cuts.
With 99.6 per cent of the vote counted nationwide, the Socialists won mayoral races in Athens and Greece's second largest city,

N. Korea repeats warship sinking denial

North Korea has sent a statement to UN members repeating a denial that it torpedoed a South Korean warship, the communist country's state media reported Monday.South Korean President Lee Myung-bak salutes the portraits of the deceased sailors from the Cheonan during a funeral at a navy base at Pyeongtaek in April. (Jung Yeon-je/Associated Press)

World - Shanghai apartment fire kills 8

Fire engulfed a highrise apartment building under renovation in China's business centre of Shanghai on Monday, killing at least eight people, injuring more than 90 and sending some residents racing down scaffolding to escape.More than 80 fire trucks were called to fight a fire that engulfed a highrise apartment building in China's business centre of Shanghai

World - Burmese flee homes as tensions increase

Hundreds of people living along the border between Burma and Thailand fled their homes overnight Sunday, trying to escape renewed fighting between the Burmese army and one of the country's largest ethnic rebel groups.
Fighting between the Burmese military and ethnic Karen rebels follows the release of pro-democracy leader Aung Sung Suu Kyi.

World - Mexico resort blast kills 5 Canadians

 

Family members of hotel employees wait for news after a gas explosion at the Grand Riviera Princess Hotel in Cancun on Sunday.
Mexican officials are trying to determine what triggered a gas explosion at a Playa del Carmen hotel complex on the weekend that killed two Mexicans and five Canadians, including a nine-year-old boy and a newlywed.

British pair freed from pirates, BBC UK

A retired British couple are freed more than a year after being taken captive by Somali pirates who boarded their yacht off the Seychelles.

Seven die in fire in immigrant hostel in Dijon, France

Several people jumped out of windows to escape the blaze in Dijon
Seven people have been killed and 11 seriously injured by a fire in a nine-storey hostel housing immigrants in the eastern French city of Dijon.
One person died after jumping from the seventh floor of the building, while the other six died from the effects of smoke inhalation.

Troop pull-out urged in Nicaragua-Costa Rica border row

Nicaragua says its troops will not withdraw
The Organization of American States has urged Nicaragua and Costa Rica to withdraw their security forces from a disputed river border, where there has been tension for a month.
In a resolution, the OAS said the two countries should begin urgent talks to resolve their differences.

US offers Israel incentive plan for settlement freeze

Israel's 10-month construction freeze in the West Bank expired on 26 September
Israel's prime minister has briefed his cabinet on a package of incentives the US has proposed if it renews a partial freeze on settlement construction.Washington has reportedly said it will strengthen its commitment to oppose UN resolutions critical of Israel, and

Ireland 'in preliminary talks with EU on bailout'

The Republic of Ireland's government has not formally denied it is in talks with the EU
The Republic of Ireland is in preliminary talks with EU officials for financial support, the BBC has learned.
It is now no longer a matter of whether but when the Irish government formally approaches the European Financial Stability Fund

ESA Science & Technology: Call for a Medium-size mission opportunity for a launch in 2022

Through the present Call for Missions the Director of Science and Robotic Exploration solicits from the broad scientific community proposals for the competitive selection of mission concepts to be candidate for the implementation of one medium-size (M-class) mission for launch in 2022, following the launch of the first L-class mission. The deadline for submission of proposals is 3 December 2010, 12:00 (noon) Central European Time.

ESA - Robotic Exploration of Mars: The ESA-NASA ExoMars programme 2016-2018

Establishing if life ever existed on Mars is one of the outstanding scientific questions of our time. To address this important goal, the European Space Agency (ESA), in cooperation with NASA, has established the ExoMars Programme to investigate the Martian environment and to demonstrate new technologies paving the way for a future Mars sample return mission in the 2020's.
Two missions are foreseen within the ExoMars programme: one consisting of an Orbiter plus an Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator (to be launched in 2016) and the other, with a launch date of 2018, consisting of two rovers. Both missions will be carried out in cooperation with NASA.

ESA Science & Technology: New roadmap to guide ESA in search for exoplanets

The idea of other planets hidden in the vastness of space has long captured human imagination and there has been a recent explosion in the number of exoplanets discovered, with the total fast approaching 500. As the research community heads towards this milestone, ESA called on them for recommendations on how the Agency could build upon this success. The result is a recently published roadmap from the Exoplanet Roadmap Advisory Team (EPR-AT), which looks at the future of the field and how to reach their ultimate, long-term goal: finding an Earth-like planet with possible signatures of life.

Solar Sailing Messages from Earth

As of March 22 we are no longer collecting names for IKAROS, however you can still send your name and message on the LightSail mission.
A pioneering mission is preparing to set sail and you can be aboard!
Lightsail, a project of The Planetary Society, will merge the ultra-light technology of nanosats with the ultra-large technology of solar sails setting a course to the stars. LightSail-1 is the beginning of an innovative program that will launch three separate spacecraft over the course of several years.

Earth's pull 'shaped Moon's surface'

The Moon, showing part of its far side, photographed from the Apollo 16 spacecraft in April 1972

The Earth may have played a major role in shaping the lunar surface, according to a new research study by US researchers.

The team members say our planet's gravitational pull distorted the shape of the Moon in ancient times.

Eggs with the oldest known embryos of a dinosaur found

An artist's impression of what the dinosaurs might have looked like

Palaeontologists have identified the oldest known dinosaur embryos, belonging to a species that lived some 190 million years ago.

Twitter anger over bomb tweeter

Tweeters have joined forces to support Paul Chambers, the man convicted and fined for a Twitter message threatening to blow up an airport.

The Twitter community is angry that the 27-year-old accountant has failed to overturn his conviction.

Francis Ford Coppola receives lifetime Oscar

Coppola has produced more than 30 films, including The Black Stallion, The Outsiders and Lost in Translation

Somali pirates free UK couple Paul and Rachel Chandler

Retired UK couple Paul and Rachel Chandler, hours after being released

A retired British couple have been released by Somali pirates after being held captive for more than a year.

Paul, 60, and Rachel Chandler, 56, from Kent, were seized from their yacht near the Seychelles in October 2009.

Aung San Suu Kyi 'willing to meet Burma's generals'

Ms Suu Kyi said her party was investigating allegations of fraud in the elections

Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has told the BBC she is willing to meet its military leaders to help work towards national reconciliation.

A day after her release from house arrest, she said it was time to "sort out our differences across the table".

Sizing up Brazil

The Globalist is a daily online magazine about the global economy, politics, and culture.

Amidst all the hype surrounding its Asian counterparts China and India, Brazil has quietly but firmly established itself as one of the world's most dynamic economies. As the country prepares to elect a new president, we wonder: Which of these statements about Brazil are true?

Al-Qaida denies plot to target Muslim haj pilgrims

DUBAI: Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula denied on Sunday it would stage any action to coincide with the Muslim haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia after a Saudi minister said such an operation could not be ruled out.

Britain may run out of web addresses by 2012

LONDON: Britain will run out of internet addresses by 2012, warns a web scientist.
Vint Cerf, a Google vice-president, said the "unbelievable" trend could prevent British businesses from communicating with their customers around the world and in the country.

Myanmar's Suu Kyi, newly free, calls for talks

YANGON, MYANMAR: Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, freed from seven years of house arrest, told thousands of cheering supporters on Sunday that she would continue to fight for human rights and the rule of law in the military-controlled nation. She called for face-to-face talks with the junta's leader.