Global Affairs and Finance for November 12, 2009

A senior Obama administration official tells MSNBC that the president will reject all of the options that have been presented to him right after U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Eikenberry, says extra troops are 'not a good idea' while concerns over President Karzai remain.

President Obama called on Americans to honor the sacrifices of this generation. As he weighs a decision whether to escalate the war in Afghanistan.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed Japan ’s intention to increase its assistance for Afghanistan by around $2 billion to a total of $5 billion over the next five years, and said he hopes other nations will follow suit.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today called for a day-long, global hunger strike in solidarity with the planet’s one billion people who do not have enough to eat, ahead of next week’s World Summit on Food Security.

China’s actions, including quarantines of foreign visitors, brought criticism abroad, but health officials say the spread of H1N1 may have been slowed.

PM Brown announced plans to reduce number of professions that can recruit from outside Europe.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for greater efforts to expand the number of signatories, especially among developing countries and states in conflict, to a global pact banning the use of mines, booby-traps and other explosive devices against civilians.

Human trials are to begin of surgical treatment that could allow women to regrow breasts after mastectomy.

The head of the United Nations agency entrusted with protecting intellectual property rights has pledged support for efforts to improve access to copyright-protected works for the world’s blind or visually impaired persons.

U.S. market activity has risen with persistently low interest rates in the United States, which have meant meager returns, forcing investors to other alternatives (like re-entering the stock market).

Robert H. Benmosche, of AIG told employees that he was committed to leading the company despite disagreements with the Treasury Department over executive compensation.

Industrial output and retail sales in China for October topped analysts’ expectations.

President Obama departs for Asia Thursday, with Chinese economic relations at the top of his agenda.

The United Nations and its international partners chairing talks on last year’s Russian-Georgian conflict in South Ossetia today voiced concern over a number of recent detentions, but noted that the overall security situation on the ground remained “relatively stable.”

Europe's regulators object to Oracle's attempts to buy Sun Microsystems.

Aramco, ExxonMobil, Sinopec JV petrochem plant are fully operational.

Bank of America may not meet its own deadline of finding a replacement for CEO Ken Lewis.

Under pressure from a double-digit unemployment rate, President Barack Obama will hold a "jobs summit" at the White House in December.

Logitech has agreed to pay $405 million for Life-Size Communications.

The top United Nations human rights official today called on the Security Council to put more muscle into protecting civilians in armed conflict, citing Israel ’s war in Gaza and the situations in Sudan ’s Darfur region, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Afghanistan as prime examples of the need to bring perpetrators to justice.

About 5,000 families evacuated from the border with Yemen in the midst of fighting between the Saudi military and militants.

The national banking sector is struggling to find qualified Saudis to fill vacant positions.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas again called for a halt to Israeli settlement building before he would resume peace talks with Israel.

The Yemeni government will not accept Iran ’s help to restore security.