World leaders meeting at the Group of 20 summit in Washington yesterday were on the verge of adopting broad outlines to address problems in the global financial system, making it more accountable to investors and more transparent to regulators, in the hope of ending the current meltdown and preventing future ones.
European officials at the summit, which was convened at the National Building Museum, said a draft agreement would probably call for additional government efforts to bolster economies and co-operation on international regulation and reform of the financial system. Group of 20 leaders also called for a list of financial institutions that pose a risk to the global economy by March 31, a source close to the talks said.
Warning against adopting protectionist policies, George W Bush, the US president, used his weekly radio address yesterday to stress the benefits of the free market despite many questioning its failures during the current crisis.
The tentative plan of G20 members is to meet again early in 2009 in London, Tokyo or Paris after Barack Obama takes over as US president. He did not participate in the summit but sent as representatives Madeleine Albright, the former secretary of state, and Jim Leach, a former congressman.
Mr Obama, in the Democratic Party's weekly radio address yesterday, stressed economic concerns.
"Tens of millions of families are struggling to figure out how to pay the bills and stay in their homes. Their stories are an urgent reminder that we are facing the greatest economic challenges of our lifetime, and we must act swiftly to resolve them," he said.
"[The] key priorities on which to focus in the days and weeks ahead [are] to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity."
Created in 1999, the Group of 20 account for 85 per cent of the world economy and about two-thirds of its population.
Its members are the United States, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Britain and Canada, the European Union, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey.
In addition to the G20 leaders and President-elect Obama's representatives, participants at the summit included the heads of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as the UN secretary general and the chairman of the Financial Stability Forum, the Switzerland-based organisation that brings together regulators, central bankers and financial officials.
Saudi Arabia represented the GCC states at the meeting. Its inclusion as a major player on the world financial scene as well as that of India, Brazil, China, Argentina and other developing countries signifies a historic power shift in an economic world order that has been largely dominated by the United States, Europe and Japan.
"We must use the crisis as an opportunity to correct things that were wrong before the crisis and strengthen multilateral bodies, because in a globalised world we need serious and representative forums to take global decisions," Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian president, had told reporters before the summit. "We need to have other countries and other continents for more democratic, more plural decisions."
In the first rescue in Asia by the IMF since the financial crisis hit, Pakistan announced yesterday it will receive a loan of at least US$7.6 billion (Dh28bn) from the fund.
A group called the "Friends of Pakistan", which includes China, the US, Britain and the UAE, is also to meet in Abu Dhabi tomorrow to decide on economic aid to help stabilise Pakistan.
Mr Bush warned against using the current economic situation to adopt anti-capitalistic measures.
"In the wake of the financial crisis voices from the left and right are equating the free enterprise system with greed, exploitation, and failure. It is true that this crisis included failures by lenders and borrowers, by financial firms, by governments and independent regulators," he said. "But the crisis was not a failure of the free market system. And the answer is not to try to reinvent that system. It is to fix the problems we face, make the reforms we need, and move forward with the free market principles that have delivered prosperity and hope to people around the world?
"Around the world free market capitalism has allowed once impoverished nations to develop large and prosperous economies. And here at home, free market capitalism is what transformed America from a rugged frontier to the greatest economic power in history."
Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, echoed Mr Bush's sentiments. "Protectionism is the road to ruin," he told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Friday.
* The National
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Freezer tips
- Always make sure food is completely cool before freezing.
- If you’re cooking in large batches, divide into either family-sized or individual portions to freeze.
- Ensure the food is well wrapped in foil or cling film. Even better, store in fully sealable, labelled containers or zip-lock freezer bags.
- The easiest and safest way to defrost items such as the stews and sauces mentioned is to do so in the fridge for several hours or overnight.
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi
Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
THE BIO
BIO:
Born in RAK on December 9, 1983
Lives in Abu Dhabi with her family
She graduated from Emirates University in 2007 with a BA in architectural engineering
Her motto in life is her grandmother’s saying “That who created you will not have you get lost”
Her ambition is to spread UAE’s culture of love and acceptance through serving coffee, the country’s traditional coffee in particular.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Studying addiction
This month, Dubai Medical College launched the Middle East’s first master's programme in addiction science.
Together with the Erada Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation, the college offers a two-year master’s course as well as a one-year diploma in the same subject.
The move was announced earlier this year and is part of a new drive to combat drug abuse and increase the region’s capacity for treating drug addiction.
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Company profile
Company name: Suraasa
Started: 2018
Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker
Based: India, UAE and the UK
Industry: EdTech
Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETerra%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hussam%20Zammar%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mobility%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Pre-seed%20funding%20of%20%241%20million%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Persuasion
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Teri%20Baaton%20Mein%20Aisa%20Uljha%20Jiya
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
