Global Affairs and Finance October 20, 2009

In yesterday’s hub I mentioned “…displacement of individuals in the Darfur region today….” The White House hopes to build pressure on the government to end the abuses that have left millions of people dead or displaced in the Darfur region Monday and that he would renew “tough sanctions” against the Khartoum government and increase pressure if it failed to improve the dire situation.

The Justice Department will not move forward with prosecutions of people who use marijuana for medical purposes and those who distribute it, provided they act according to state laws.

With all the commotion with the healthcare bill, several spending measures, including bills for Pentagon funds, as well as a bill to extend unemployment insurance, remain on the table.

Renault is staking its future on the electric car with the theory that by 2020 10% of the market will be electric, zero-emission vehicles.

President Hamid Karzai was in contention of an audit that stripped him of nearly a million votes, requiring a runoff with his challenger that is showing him below 50% of the vote.  However, due to international pressure, President Hamid Karzai appears set to concede as early as Tuesday that he fell short of a first-round victory in the nation’s disputed election.

According to Ben S. Bernanke, the Fed chairman, Asian nations are now the engine of a global economic recovery. Trade imbalances augmented the financial crisis and “The United States must increase its national saving rate.”

Workers who went through temporary employment agencies to find work were the first to find themselves out of work as a result of the global financial and economic crises.

A 2-day meeting of officials from countries responsible for the bulk of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions ended Monday in London with possible developments with the wealthiest of nations to resolve some of their differences on the new climate treaty.

The same firms that received millions in government bailout funding increased the perks and benefits given to their executives.

South Carolina Republican Party country chairman wrote a letter to a state newspaper praising Senator Jim DeMint for "watching our nation's pennies" like "the Jews who are wealthy."

China plans on imposing tariffs as high as 36% on imported U.S. nylon.   

Simultaneous explosions went off at Islamabad’s Islamic University today, killing at least 2 people and injuring 20. 

Approximately 700 miles east of the Somali coastline, Somali pirates seized a Chinese cargo ship.