Politics Around The Globe

The Middle East has always been a volatile region. But it has become especially volatile over the last few months because of the pro-democracy rallies that have been sprouting up in many countries in the region.
Just recently, Egypt pro-democracy rallyists succeeded in ousting President Hosni Mubarak from office after more than thirty years of rule. The country is now in the midst of building a new government. Recently, it is Libya that is getting the world’s attention as rallies and demonstrations in the country has risen to a fever pitch. Only time will tell if the Libyan demonstrations will achieve the same success as the demonstrations in Egypt.

(Photo Source: Yahoo News)
ROME (AFP) – Conservative billionaire Silvio Berlusconi won Italy’s general elections by an unexpectedly wide margin on Monday, securing a third term as prime minister but warning of tough times ahead for the country in the grip of an economic downturn.Berlusconi will return to the prime minister’s office for the third time since 1994, the year after he burst onto the political stage with his party of the time, Forza Italia! (Go Italy!). The Piepoli polling institute predicted Berlusconi’s coalition would win 162 of the Senate’s 315 seats, giving him six more than the minimum needed for an absolute majority.

HONG KONG, April 15 (Reuters) – Investors jostled for position on Tuesday as stockmarkets braced for a slew of earnings from U.S. banks, with some heading for the refuge of bonds and gold and others betting that the worst is already priced in. Oil prices hit a record high, helped by a weak dollar, which has given up gains made on supportive remarks from the Group of Seven nations at the weekend. The dollar dithered in a narrow range in cautious Asian trade, standing at 101.23 yen by 0410 GMT, while the euro traded at $1.583, barely changed from Monday’s close.
(Source:Yahoo News)

(Photo Source:Yahoo News)
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Malaysia’s struggling leader faced a new and serious challenge Tuesday after opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim’s dramatic claim that he is supported by enough government defectors to seize power. Analysts said turmoil in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s ruling coalition could hasten an exodus of lawmakers and propel Anwar to power after last month’s stunning general election gains by the opposition alliance. Anwar, the former deputy prime minister who was sacked and jailed a decade ago, said at a rally late Monday that he had enough support to form a government but would not act until he had a more comfortable majority.

U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton is set to make history if she gets elected to be the first woman president of the United State of America. She first enjoyed the spotlight as USA’s First Lady when her husband William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton became the forty-second President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. When she moved to New York, she was elected U.S. Senator in 2000. And by the year 2006, she did not have a hard time winning re-election. At this point, she has a very strong chance and always a front runner in national polls as Democratic Candidate in 2008 U.S. Presidential Election.

Every year, the cost for presidential campaign has been increasing significantly. As a matter of fact, if the costs being shelled out by both the Republican and Democratic parties for their campaigns are added the cost will reach more than twice than that of the cost eight years before. As an example, in the year 1196, the cost was $448.9 million and in 2000 it was $649.5 million. In 2004, the cost soared to $1.01 billion.

Imagine that huge amount of money. You can actually run a small country with it, or finance some third world universities, or help relieve the hunger in Africa.

In the political arena nowadays, a lot of Asian Americans had made their presence felt not just in their community but in all the multi racial constituency. They have defied the old perceptions that Asians are not capable of being leaders. Some of the well known Asian American politicians are Former U.S. Assistant Attorney General For Civil Rights Bill Lann Lee, Washington Governor Gary Locke, Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, and Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao. At the end of the day, Martin Luther King had made his point when he said, � Individuals must be judged on the content of their character and what they do, not on the color of their skin or their ethnicity.�

President Dwight Eisenhower was the first to invoke and coin the term. Simply put, it is that the advice given by the aides could not be made public because it will destroy the confidential relationship. That of course can also allow it to be abused. Presidential aides and advisers have invoked it to give them a semblance of immunity and protection from scrutiny.

When Congress requests presidential aides to testify in an inquiry, the President can say no and invoke the privilege. Congress on the other hand is not that powerless against it. They can vote to declare the aide in contempt and refer the issue to court. The right to executive privilege is commonly abused when congressional inquiries would expose something illegal in government transactions.

Source: msnbc.msn.com

The health industry is to get a much needed reform program, should lawmakers finish initial deliberations on the provisions of such an action by the current administration. The US’s health care system is badly in need of reform due mainly to the fact that costs have risen that most hospitals cannot afford to keep prices down leaving more and more Americans without proper health care coverage they so need. Millions are without proper health insurance and with many people losing jobs, out the window goes their work sponsored health care benefits, one of the main attractions to working in many companies according to most employees. The government has already released trillions of dollars to help boost the government and prop up the many ailing industries that have been hit hard by the recession. From GM, the many banks that were hit hard by the housing market crash and many more, all of them getting taxpayer dollars. News of some of those taxpayer dollars ending in the wrong hands is unnerving, making th ejob all the more difficult for President Obama who has been trying his best to get a reform program to overhaul the economy for the future of all Americans.

Many countries all over the globe have been hit hard by the collapse of the US’s financial market and none has been hit harder than the developing countries in Asia that have long been dependent on the US for business and other financial backing. From manufacturing plants, assembly and other business tasks, most are silenced indefinitely as their parent companies in the US trims down operating costs, resulting in lost jobs and lost income for local governments. Manufacturing companies that used to boom, serving the needs of the US economy are also hit hard, areas such as industrial manufacturing and ship building have projects put on hold as their financing run’s dry awaiting more cash or more investors to pour in cash and other resources that would allow them to continue. The recession has taken victims, jobs and lost earnings that should have sent children to school for a better future. This is the cycle of the global economy that works like a wheelm sometimes up and sometimes down.