Blog EMN

In financial year 2008, entire economic world has faced a major financial catastrophe of sorts. This chain started with United States of America where major financial organizations like Lehman Brothers went out of business as a result of economic slowdown. This in turn has affected those economies that were, in one way or another, business partners of USA. Examples of such countries include Singapore and India. Economic forecasts made for each and every country in world have one thing in common – slowdown. It has been forecast that in financial year 2009 and 2010 every nation would face economic slowdown but of varying degrees. These predictions are made on basis of relative economic strength of various countries. Australia and United Kingdom are in better economic condition compared to countries like India and Singapore. These two countries have necessary financial resources in order to deal with financial crises. An interesting fact in this case is that not all countries have been affected at same time and this has placed certain nations in comparatively better economic position. They are able to prepare themselves for inevitable after effects of global financial crisis. But it is important to determine exact purpose of economic reliefs being arranged, for that gives an idea regarding overall and actual utility of financial benefits. In Japan, for example, economists have been opining that financial relief packages are more of efforts to increase popularity, and amount of economic pragmatism involved in these benefits is rather less. On other hand there are countries like United Kingdom where authorities are lending a helping hand to common consumers and entire financial system, on a whole. It would be important to note that often politicians make economic forecasts. Much of this could be attributed to a fact that these people are closely connected to economy of their country in some capacity or other, and are able to understand an economy as would a specialist do. This places them in a perfect position to make such predictions and, more often than not, they are accurate with their comments.

Wales suffered their first RBS 6 Nations defeat for almost two years as hopes of first back-to-back Grand Slams since 1909 floundered at Stade de France. A run of eight successive Six Nations victories ground to a halt in the tournament’s first Friday night fixture as the visitors went down 21-16. And the reigning champions could have few complaints after blowing a 13-3 lead. Both sides can still win the championship, yet unbeaten Ireland now appear to be in control ahead of their home game against England tomorrow. Wales though, will be smarting from missing a chance to equal the Six Nations record of nine wins in a row jointly held by France and England. Wales boss Warren Gatland made one change from the side that accounted for England a fortnight ago, recalling fit-again wing Shane Williams instead of Mark Jones. And there was also a place on the bench for Williams’ Ospreys colleague Gavin Henson, who recovered from calf muscle trouble to make a first Test match appearance since Wales’ Six Nations title-clinching victory over France last season. But these changes were not enough against the surprising french team...

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing dispute between Israelis and the Palestinians. It forms part of the wider Arab–Israeli conflict. Though the State of Israel was established in 1948, the term is usually used also in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Zionist pioneers and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or British rule. Many attempts have been made to broker a two-state solution, which would entail the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside an independent Jewish state (until 1948) or next to the State of Israel (after Israel's establishment in 1948). At present, a considerable majority of both Israelis and Palestinians, according to a number of polls, prefer the two-state solution over any other solution as a means of resolving the conflict. Most Palestinians view the West Bank and Gaza Strip as constituting the area of their future state, which is a view also accepted by most Israelis. A handful of academics advocate a one-state solution, whereby all of Israel, the Gaza Strip, and West Bank would become a bi-national state with equal rights for all. However, there are significant areas of disagreement over the shape of any final agreement and also regarding the level of credibility each side sees in the other in upholding basic commitments Within Israeli and Palestinian society, the conflict generates a wide variety of views and opinions. This serves to highlight the deep divisions which exist not only between Israelis and Palestinians, but also amongst themselves. A hallmark of the conflict has been the level of violence witnessed for virtually its entire duration. Fighting has been conducted by regular armies, paramilitary groups, terror cells and individuals. Casualties have not been restricted to the military, with a large amount of fatalities in civilian population on both sides that took no part in the fighting when they were killed.

"Article 29 of the constitution: Each person has responsibilities to the community and others as essential for a democratic society" The United States has the largest number of guns in private hands of any country in the world with 60 million people owning a combined arsenal of over 200 million firearms. The US constitution, which was written in 1787, enshrines the people's right to keep and bear arms in its Second Amendment. It reads: 'A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.' Although guns are permitted everywhere, the laws governing gun use vary considerably from state to state. Amending the Constitution to prohibit guns is rarely discussed as many Americans view the right to bear arms as an important civil liberty. Instead, the issue is whether or not it is lawful to impose stricter controls on gun usage. Proposed gun control legislation has concerned child-proof locks, background checks on gun purchasers, the outlawing of some types of assault weapons and, most recently, the creation of a nationwide database of ballistic fingerprints in order to track the movement of the nation's guns. American opinion is divided between those who insist on the universal right to bear arms and those who advocate stricter controls. The influential firearms lobby, headed by the National Rifle Association (NRA), believes gun ownership to be a personal and moral right and dismisses the link between gun ownership and high gun violence with its slogan 'Guns don't kill people, people kill people.' Advocates of firearm control argue that the Second Amendment is anachronistic belonging to the long-gone days of the frontier. They point to the high levels of gun-related murder and violent crime in the US to stress the need for reform. The issue of removing the number of guns that are already in circulation is rarely discussed. In the past decade, public opinion has been gradually moved in favour of stricter gun control laws. In January 2001, 59% of the respondents in an ABC News/Washington Post survey said they favoured stricter gun control laws. After the horrific events in 1999 at Columbine High School in Colorado when two students shot dead 13 fellow students and each other, polls showed that two-thirds of Americans supported greater gun control measures. Moreover, 15 state legislatures passed significant gun control bills. The case of the Washington Sniper, who terrorised the suburbs of the nation's capital in late 2002 in a month-long shooting spree, killing 10 people and seriously wounding three, swiftly brought the issue of gun control onto the table once again. However, any new gun control legislation that comes before the Congress is sure to be vetoed by President George W. Bush, who is a long-time ally of the NRA. While he was governor of Texas, the President signed laws making it legal to carry concealed weapons and difficult for citizens to sue gun manufacturers.