U.S. clears way for bailout to begin

The government has cleared the way to ship out $125 billion this week to the largest U.S. banks, beginning the biggest government bailout in history.
Not only is the money ready to be sent to nine major financial institutions, including Bank of America, Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase, but the government is reaching preliminary agreements with a group of more than a dozen major regional banks, who will share a part of an additional $125 billion the government hopes to pump into the banking system.
Before the end of the year, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson intends to spend $250 billion of the $700 billion bailout package buying ownership stakes in U.S. banks. The goal is to improve their balance sheets so that they will resume more normal lending practices and prevent the country from sliding into a deep recession.
Another $100 billion is earmarked to be spent buying troubled assets from banks such as bad mortgage loans as another way to spur banks to resume lending.
A long line of other industries are hoping the government will decide to help them as well. Insurance companies, automakers, hedge funds and foreign-owned banks are all making appeals to be included in the rescue package, contending that they need assistance as well.
The rescue programme is just one of the efforts the government is making to combat the worst financial crisis to hit the country since the 1930s. The Federal Reserve began a programme on Monday to purchase the short-term debt of businesses. This market has been frozen since the collapse of Lehman Brothers spooked credit markets last month. Major change
That programme has undergone a major change in emphasis since it was passed by Congress. After global markets imploded, forcing other countries to rush to the aid of their banks, Mr. Paulson decided that it was urgent to get assistance to U.S. banks more quickly. He earmarked $250 billion for the stock purchase plan and only $100 billion for what had originally been the centrepiece of the proposal, the purchase of troubled bank assets.
Treasury has given the go-ahead for stronger banks to use the money to acquire troubled banks. That has prompted criticism the government could be getting into the position of picking winners and losers. —

Panel to integrate Maoists’ army formed

The Maoist-led government of Nepal has finally formed the special committee to integrate and rehabilitate Maoist combatants.
The five-member committee formed on Tuesday comprises leaders of the major allies of the government with Mr. Bam Dev Gautam (Deputy Prime Minister and a senior UML leader) as the coordinator. Other members are Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa (Maoists), Peace and Reconstruction Minister Janardan Sharma (Maoists) and Mohammed Habibullah of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum.
The government had earlier announced that a special committee would be formed to conduct the process. However, a dispute over leadership of the committee had delayed its formation. As per the government’s programmes and policies, the Maoists’ army would be “managed” by March 2009.
The United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) is monitoring the cantonments where the Maoist combatants — the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) — are sheltered.

I will not give in to blackmail: Livni

Israel appeared headed for polls early next year as leader of Kadima Party Tzipi Livni is set to announce her inability to form a stable coalition government.
The attempt to form a coalition has proved futile mainly because the Kadima and the ultra-religious Shas Party failed to arrive at a compromise. The Shas had demanded a pledge from the Kadima that it would exclude discussions on Jerusalem in talks with the Palestinians. It also sought additional social welfare spending by the new government, once it was formed.“I’m not willing to be blackmailed, either diplomatically or in terms of the budget, and therefore, I will go to elections,” the Israeli daily Haaretz quoted Ms. Livni as saying. “The other possibility was for me to capitulate to extortion. But a government is supposed to advance processes and represent the good of the country, not just to survive in this or that coalition. I promised to exhaust efforts to form a government, and that’s what I did.”
Ms. Livni was elected leader of Kadima following Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s decision to step down in the face of multiple corruption scandals. She had 90 days to form the coalition after assuming the party leadership.
Ms. Livni said the Shas Party had on Thursday rejected her “very good offer” for joining the coalition.
Analysts point out that after the Shas Party’s exit from contention, opinion within ruling circles favouring fresh elections began to gather momentum. Efforts to form a narrow coalition minus the Shas were apparently abandoned after talks with the smaller United Torah Judaism and the Pensioners Party failed to make headway.
The Labour party headed by Defence Minister Ehud Barak was also disinclined to form a government with a razor thin majority.
Elections are expected in February or March 2009. Till that time, Mr. Olmert’s government would continue to perform a caretaker role

Speed up probe into nun rape case

The Orissa government on Saturday directed the Director-General of Police and the Inspector-General of the Crime Branch to expedite the investigation into the case of rape of a nun in Kandhamal district on August 25.
The direction was issued after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held a review meeting to discuss the steps to be taken in view of the recent Supreme Court order rejecting a CBI probe into the case.
The investigation into the nun rape case was being expedited, the Chief Minister said after the meeting. Nine persons had already been arrested in the case, he added. Identification parade
As regards the test identification parade of the accused in the rape of Sister Meena Lalita Barwa, Mr. Patnaik said they could be paraded for identification anywhere in the country. However, it could be conducted only if the victim cooperated with the Crime Branch.
Sister Meena had on Friday told journalists in New Delhi that she wanted a CBI probe.
The government also decided to involve non-governmental organisations with a good track record in the relief and rehabilitation work in riot-hit Kandhamal.
No NGO had been allowed to do any relief work in Kandhamal after communal violence broke out in the aftermath of the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati on August 23.
The government directed the Kandhamal district administration to complete within 15 days an assessment of the damage caused to churches during the violence. Assistance for rebuilding the churches would be paid as per the apex court after receipt of the report. Fast track court
It was also decided that a fast track court would be set up in consultation with the High Court to deal with the Kandhamal riot cases. A Special Prosecutor would be appointed for the fast track court.
The government has also written to the Centre to retain 53 companies of the CRPF till December-end as per the Supreme Court direction

Regulate global finance: Wen

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao highlighted the importance of financial supervision in the face of the current international economic crisis here on Saturday.
He said at a press conference of the seventh Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) that financial innovation could help develop the economy, but financial supervision is even more important for the security of the financial system. “Lessons should be learned from the financial crisis, and the responsibilities should be clarified for governments, companies and supervision, respectively,” he said.
He emphasised that the development of the fictitious economy should be balanced with the real economy, so as to prevent the problem of the fictitious economy from affecting the real economy. A normal, balanced and harmonious relation between consumption and saving, or accumulation of wealth, should be maintained in order to ensure economic stability, said Mr. Wen. Cooperation and coordination would give us power to overcome the difficulties, he said, urging Asian and European leaders to attach higher importance to this issue.
The current meeting and the upcoming international financial summit showed the cooperation attitude the leaders held concerning the issue, said Mr. Wen. The heads of 20 developed and emerging countries would gather in Washington on November 15 to review the whole global financial structure. Mr. Wen urged all countries, especially developed countries, to take resolute measures to stabilize financial market as soon as possible, so as to redeem people’s confidence.
“We are glad to see that many countries has made their efforts and achieved some results. But it is not enough as we now see it, and more endeavours are needed,” said Mr. Wen. The most important thing is to stabilise the financial order, to curb and guard against the financial risk, said Mr. Wen, adding that no effort should be spared to prevent the financial crisis from hindering real economic growth. “It demanded that all governments carry out their duty firmly, bravely and responsibly,” he said. As for China, Mr. Wen said to maintain a stable and relatively rapid development of the economy is the biggest contribution the country could make to the world. “The ongoing credit crunch has affected the country’s financial sector, but the direct impact was limited,” he said.
He said this was because China has pushed forward the opening up of its financial sector steadily and the result was that the sector was not fully exposed to the global market. It adjusted its macro-control policies as early as in June to set economic growth as its top priority, and had also adopted measures to expand domestic demand, he said.

Big-name defections from GoP

Joel Haugen, a Republican fighting a tough Congressional race against the Democrats in Oregon, has fallen out with his party. The reason: his surprise endorsement of Barack Obama for the presidency.
“I believe in putting nation before party and my first priority is following my conscience with regard to what is best for America,” said Mr. Haugen in a statement on Friday. “I have a huge amount of respect for John McCain, but I believe that he has more of a Cold War mentality,” he added.
Mr. Haugen is just one of many Republican politicians, dubbed Obamicans, who have defected to Mr. Obama. The latest high-profile desertions include Scott McClellan, President George Bush’s former Press Secretary, who endorsed Mr. Obama in a CNN programme, and William Weld, the ex-Republican Governor of Massachusetts. Mr. Weld, in a statement released on Friday, described Mr. Obama as “an once-in-a-lifetime candidate.”
Last weekend, Mr. Bush’s former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, backed the Democratic candidate in Mr. Obama’s biggest Republican catch so far. It is unusual to see so many Republican politicians and columnists shift, even allowing for the fact that affiliations are more fluid in the U.S. than Europe.
The Obamicans have a website, http://www.republicansforobama.org/, listing those who have endorsed Mr. Obama. Campaign paraphernalia is also available from Mr. Obama’s team, including a badge “Republicans for Obama.”
According to Mr. Haugen’s campaign manager Sarah Tiedemann, he made no secret of his views while fighting for the nomination, telling the press about his unhappiness with Mr. Bush’s eight years in office and that he was likely to endorse Mr. Obama over Mr. McCain. He won 70 per cent of the nomination vote. Unfriendly
The Republican Party became increasingly “unfriendly,” said Ms. Tiedemann, and has withdrawn all financial support. Mr. Haugen, as a compromise, is now standing under an independent banner, though he remains a registered Republican. Ms. Tiedemann said the reaction among Republicans over his endorsement was mixed. She acknowledged it was “unusual” to make such an endorsement, but Mr. Haugen “feels the Republican Party has got so far from its roots.”
Other defectors include Arne Carlson, Republican Governor of Minnesota from 1991-1999, who wrote in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on Thursday: “The choice of Governor Sarah Palin as a running-mate, and the resultant shallow campaign based on fear and suspicion, looks frighteningly similar to the politics of Karl Rove [Bush’s campaign strategist].” He described Mr. Obama as having “the potential to become a truly great President.”
Mr. McClellan, who published a book this year critical of the Bush administration, accusing it of lying, told CNN he would vote for Mr. Obama because he offered the best chance of changing the way Washington works. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

Bush signs nuclear deal

The US President, Mr George W. Bush, on Wednesday signed into law the legislation to implement the historic Indo-US civil nuclear deal paving the way for the two countries to formally ink the 123 agreement on Friday.In significant comments at the signing ceremony, Mr Bush assured there will be no changes in fuel supply commitments as contained in the 123 Agreement. “India can count on reliable fuel supplies (from US) for its reactors,” Mr Bush said.Mr Bush inked the authorising legislation finally approved by the US Congress last week in a high-profile ceremony at the White House’s ornate East Room reversing 34 years of US policy to eventually allow American businesses to have a share of India’s 100-billion-dollar nuclear pie. The external affairs minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, and the US secretary of state, Mr Condoleezza Rice, will formally sign the overall bilateral nuclear co-operation accord on Friday evening itself in a surprise announcement made by the State Department hours before Mr Bush’s signature on the implementing legislation.“On Friday at 4 O’clock (1.30 am IST Saturday), the secretary will sign with the Indian foreign minister, Mr Mukherjee, the India Civil Nuclear Agreement,” the state department spokesman, Mr Sean McCormack, told reporters.