NEWS,10.05.2012.

Obama announces support for same-sex marriage

After years of "evolving" on the issue, United States President Barack Obama said today he believes same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, taking a stand that is likely to please his political base and upset conservative voters."It is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," Obama said in an interview with ABC's Robin Roberts.Obama's comments marked the first time a US president had publicly expressed support for gay marriage, and his position was hailed by Democrats, gay rights groups and others as a benchmark for civil rights in the United States."This is a major turning point in the history of American civil rights" said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent whose city is in one of six states that allow same-sex marriage.Others, including Republican activists and conservative Christian leaders, criticised Obama's stance and called it a huge political risk on a divisive issue.Noting that 29 states have approved bans on same-sex marriage, they said Obama's announcement could help his Republican opponent in the November 6 election, Mitt Romney, consolidate support among evangelical Christians who, like Romney, oppose gay marriage."Today's announcement ensures that marriage will again be a major issue in the presidential election," said Tony Perkins, a prominent evangelical leader and president of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. "The president has provided a clear contrast between him and ... Mitt Romney."Romney, campaigning in Oklahoma City, said he believes "marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman". He has said he supports hospital visitation rights and other domestic partnership benefits for gay and lesbian couples.Political analysts saw Obama's move as a calculated risk at a time when polls indicate that a slight majority of Americans now support legally recognising gay marriages."It is not without political risk," Democratic strategist Julian Epstein said on MSNBC. "Polls show that nearly every segment of the population" is moving toward acceptance of gay marriage, but "Republicans certainly will try to use it as a wedge in the African American community and with non-college educated white voters," key voting blocs in which many people oppose gay marriage.Obama's comments came three days after Vice President Joe Biden said in a television interview that he was comfortable with gay marriage.Senior administration officials indicated that Obama - who had walked a fine, politically sensitive line in supporting gay rights but not gay marriage - had planned to announce his support for such marriages before the Democratic National Convention in September.The officials acknowledged that Biden's comments had moved up that timetable and said the president was not upset at Biden over his remarks.During the ABC interview, Obama described his views as personal and said he still believed that individual US states should be able to decide on the issue for themselves.Obama, who ended the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy that prevented gays from serving openly in the US military, said his thinking was affected by watching members of his staff who are in committed same-sex relationships and thinking about "soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained."Obama told ABC his daughters were an influential factor and that his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, shared his views."You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples," Obama said. "There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we're talking about their friends and their parents, and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn't dawn on them that somehow their friends' parents would be treated differently."Obama added "it doesn't make sense to them and frankly, that's the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective."Nearly two-thirds of Democrats support same-sex marriage, along with more than half of independents, while fewer than one-quarter of Republicans believe it should be allowed.Obama's remarks were celebrated by Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, which said he had "made history."Neera Tanden from the Center for American Progress described the president's expression of support as "another large step toward realizing this country's promise of equality." Republican gay rights activists praised the decision but were more muted. "I am sure the president's newly discovered support for marriage is cold comfort to the gay couples in North Carolina," said Christopher Barron, chief strategist of GOProud.North Carolina voted yesterday to join 28 other states that have voter-approved constitutional bans on same-sex marriages, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.Six states and the District of Columbia allow gay and lesbian marriages.In Colorado on Wednesday, a bill that would have granted civil unions to same-sex couples failed to advance to a full vote.Celebrities have praised Barack Obama after he announced that he supports gay marriage.The comments have led to a massive response on twitter with many gay and lesbian stars as well as LGBT campaigners posting their thanks.Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres tweeted: "Thank you President @BarackObama for your beautiful and brave words. I'm overwhelmed."While Chris Colfer retweeted Ellen's comment and added his own words of praise.His Glee colleague Jane Lynch said: "Pretty darn happy today. Thanks Mr President, for supporting the dignity of my family and so many others!"Born This Way singer Lady GaGa added: "Obama, congratulations on being the first sitting President to support marriage equality. Feels like the future, and not the past. #NoFear"

NEWS,30.04.2012.

 

Obama and Clinton join forces for presidential campaign

Former United States President Bill Clinton gave a rousing endorsement of fellow Democrat Barack Obama in his first 2012 campaign appearance with the president today, and helped him raise more than $2 million.A white-haired and svelte Clinton, 65, pounded the podium and pointed at the crowd while addressing about 500 Obama supporters outside the Virginia home of his friend and Democratic adviser Terry McAuliffe."I think he's done a good job," he told the crowd in his signature raspy voice, warmly introducing the man who beat his wife, Hillary Clinton, to win the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination and then made her US secretary of state. "We are going the right direction under President Obama's leadership."Clinton's support could be pivotal for Obama's efforts to raise money and to sell voters on his economic plans, which Republicans have denounced as fiscally reckless and rooted in populism instead of good business sense.Clinton oversaw one of the most prosperous times in recent American history and managed to balance the federal budget, something Democrats are keen to remind voters before the November 6 election.When he took the backyard podium, Obama, 50, noted Clinton's "remarkable" economic record in his two White House terms and referred frequently to the political powerhouse standing behind him, who stands to be a huge fundraising force in the final months of the presidential campaign."I didn't run for president simply to get back to where we were in 2007. I didn't run for president simply to restore the status quo before the financial crisis. I ran for president because we had lost our way since Bill Clinton was done being president," Obama said.The state of the US economy is expected to be the pivotal issue for voters in November.With unemployment still relatively high and growth showing signs of slowing, Obama is under pressure to defend his string of big budget deficits and prove the soundness of his proposals to keep spending on infrastructure, clean energy and education and to raise taxes on the very rich.Neither Obama nor Clinton referred to George W. Bush, the Republican who served two presidential terms in between their tenures, nor the presumptive Republican nominee for this year's White House race, Mitt Romney, by name in their outdoor remarks.But Clinton said Obama's likely White House opponent this year wanted to revert to the policies that plunged the United States into crisis, but "on steroids, which will get you the same consequences as before, on steroids."Clinton applauded Obama's efforts in healthcare, clean energy promotion and student loan reform, and argued that US employment levels were rebounding quickly from the financial and mortgage crises that took hold before Obama took office."Look, the man's not Houdini, all he can do is beat the clock. He's beating the clock," he said, comparing the pace of US recovery to Japan's extended weakness after its own crisis. "The last thing you want to do is to turn around and embrace the policies that got us into trouble in the first place."Fresh from the previous night's White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, where he took several digs at Romney, Obama was clearly in good humor at the Virginia event.Turning to foreign policy, Obama said he and Hillary Clinton had "spent the last three and a half years cleaning up other folks' messes," and made fun of Romney's recent comment that Russia was the United States' "No. 1 geopolitical foe.""I'm suddenly thinking, 'What? Maybe I didn't check the calendar this morning. I didn't know we were back in 1975,'" he said. The comment echoed Vice President Joe Biden's criticism last week of Romney as being stuck in a Cold War mindset.Clinton had not appeared with Obama this election cycle. But last week the Obama campaign released a video of Clinton praising Obama for approving the commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last May.Tickets to Sunday's outdoor reception cost $1,000 and up, and Obama and Clinton later addressed a more exclusive dinner at McAuliffe's home for 80 people who paid $20,000 each.The money went to a fund supporting Obama's re-election, the Democratic National Committee and several state Democratic parties.

Aus billionaire to build Titanic II

Sydney - One of Australia's richest men, Clive Palmer, on Monday unveiled plans to build a 21st century version of the doomed Titanic in China, with its first voyage from England to New York set for 2016.Palmer, a self-made mining billionaire, said he had commissioned state-owned Chinese company CSC Jinling Shipyard to construct Titanic II with the same dimensions as its predecessor."It will be every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic but of course it will have state-of-the-art 21st century technology and the latest navigation and safety systems," Palmer said in a statement."Titanic II will sail in the northern hemisphere and her maiden voyage from England to North America is scheduled for late 2016."He added that he had invited the Chinese navy to escort the Titanic II to New York.The announcement comes just weeks after the 100th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic, which went down on April 15 1912 after striking an iceberg on its first voyage, from Southampton to New York.Palmer said the new ship would be a tribute to the spirit of the men and women who worked on the original, which sank with the loss of 1 514 passengers and crew."These people produced work that is still marvelled at more than 100 years later and we want that spirit to go on for another 100 years," he said.Titanic was commissioned by White Star Line and was the largest liner in the world at the time.Palmer said he has established his own shipping company, Blue Star Line, with the new vessel having the same specifications as its predecessor - 270m long, 53m high and weighing some 40 000 tonnes.It will have 840 rooms and nine decks with design work in conjunction with an historical research team underway. No figure was given on how much it would cost.The only changes to the original would be below the water line including welding and not riveting, a bulbous bow for greater fuel efficiency, diesel generation and enlarged rudder and bow thrusters for increased manoeuvrability."Titanic II will be the ultimate in comfort and luxury with on-board gymnasiums and swimming pools, libraries, high class restaurants and luxury cabins," Palmer said.The ship would also include an exhibition room which will be located in the space of the original's coal boilers which will showcase his home state of Queensland.Palmer is estimated to be Australia's fifth richest person, worth more than Aus$5bn, thanks to his vast coal and other mining assets in Queensland and Western Australia.He has also branched out into tourism and owns the luxury Coolum resort on the Sunshine Coast, while recently saying he wants to move into the media industry, a sector dominated byFairfax and Rupert Murdoch's News Limited.His decision to commission a Chinese shipbuilding yard, which will also construct other luxury liners for the tycoon, reinforces his ties to the country, which is a key buyer of his coal and iron ore."The Chinese are renowned for building commercial cargo and container ships," he said."China currently produces around 2 to 3% of the world's luxury ships but is looking to challenge the Europeans who have around 75% of this market."The Chinese ship building industry with our assistance wants to be a major player in this market."The original Titanic was built in Belfast.

Head of UN mission urges peace in Syria

The head of the UN observer mission in Syria on Sunday called on President Bashar al-Assad and the country's opposition to stop fighting and allow a tenuous cease-fire to take hold.Major General Robert Mood spoke after arriving in the Syrian capital, Damascus, to take charge of an advance team of 16 UN monitors trying to salvage an international peace plan to end the country's 13-month-old crisis.Under the plan, a cease-fire is supposed to lead to talks between Assad and the opposition on a political solution to a conflict that has killed more than 9 000 people.On Sunday, Syrian troops killed at least 28 civilians, including 14 in a village in the central Hama province, said an activist group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Opposition fighters shot dead three Syrian soldiers in a clash and four soldiers were killed while handling explosives, the group said.The Observatory also said several explosions were heard in Damascus, but provided no details.Mood told reporters that the 300 observers the UN has authorised for the mission "cannot solve all the problems" in Syria, asking for co-operation from forces loyal to Assad as well as rebels seeking to end his rule."We want to have combined efforts focusing on the welfare of the Syrian people," he said, "true cessation of violence in all its forms".The cease-fire began unravelling almost as soon as it went into effect 12 April. The regime has kept up its attacks on opposition strongholds, while rebel fighters have continued to ambush government security forces. Defying a major truce provision, the Syrian military has failed to withdraw tanks and soldiers from city streets.Despite the violence, the truce still enjoys the support of the international community, largely because it views the plan as the last chance to prevent the country from falling into civil war — and because it does not want to intervene militarily.Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said that while he is still hopeful, "unfortunately, I am also aware how much this plan is at risk"."That's why it's especially important for this mission to expand quickly," Kellenberger told the Swiss newspaper Der Sonntag. He met with Syrian leaders earlier this month.Most analysts say the plan has little chance of succeeding, though it could temporarily bring down the level of daily violence.That has largely been the case in Homs, Syria's third largest city, which has emerged as the heart of the uprising. Regime forces pounded parts of Homs for months, leaving large swaths of the city in ruins, before two UN monitors moved into an upscale hotel there last week.Since then, the level of violence has dropped, although gunbattles still frequently break out. "The shooting has not stopped in Homs," local activist Tarek Badrakhan said on Sunday.An amateur video posted online on Saturday showed the observers walking through a heavily damaged neighbourhood, where residents collected a body lying in the street and put it in the back of a pickup truck.Mood, a Norwegian, was appointed head of the observer mission by UN chief Ban Ki-moon. One hundred monitors should be in the country by mid-May, said mission spokesman Neeraj Singh. It is unclear when or if the full contingent of 300 monitors will deploy to Syria.Mood brings a wealth of Middle East experience to the job, including stints with UN peacekeepers in Lebanon in 1989-1990 and as the head of a UN peacekeeping mission known as UNTSO from 2009 to 2011. That mission was the UN's first-ever peacekeeping operation, starting after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war to monitor a cease-fire. It now watches cease-fires around the Middle East.The Syrian state news agency said observers visited the embattled Homs neighbourhood of Khaldiyeh on Sunday but provided no further information.The Observatory, an activist group monitoring the situation in Syria, said government snipers shot and killed two people in the neighbourhood of Joret al-Shayah, which borders Khaldiyeh.The group said an additional 26 civilians were killed by troops across Syria, including 14 in the village of Hamadi Omar in the central Hama province and a child in the southern province of Deir el-Zour.Ban has blamed the regime for widespread violations of the truce - prompting Syria to fire back that his comments were "outrageous" and accuse him of bias.The spat has further stoked concerns among the Syrian opposition and its Western supporters that Assad is merely playing for time to avoid compliance with a plan that - if fully implemented - would likely sweep him out of office.

NEWS,09.01.2012.

The richest countries by 2050

Which countries will be wealthiest 40 years from now?

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Say what you will about Goldman Sachs, but the investment firm does seem to grasp the next big thing. Jim O'Neill, Goldman's Chairman of Asset Management, you may recall, is the man largely credited with minting Brazil, Russia, India and China as the planet's next economic drivers - way back in 2001.

So regardless of how you feel about the notorious company's practices, when Goldman Sachs releases a projection report, the world listens. Recently, the Manhattan-based multinational announced its forecast for the richest countries by GDP per capita in 2050, considering Brazil, Russia, India and China, the N-11 and G7 nations*. Which country may be wealthiest 40 years from now? Click through to find out.

*N-11, or "Next Eleven," nations consist of economically growing countries Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Turkey and Vietnam. G7 membership includes France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States and Canada. All figures in this feature are in USD. Current GDP per capita figures are current as of 2010, sourced from the CIA World Factbook.

10   …2

GDP per capita, now: $12,300
GDP per capita, 2050: $48,000

Turkey is a hot economy today - one of the world's fastest-growing, despite skyrocketing inflation - and Goldman Sachs sees nothing to suggest the fun won't continue. According to the bank's projections, Turkey's GDP per capita will balloon nearly four-fold by 2050, a staggering jump matched in relation by only one other country on this list. As a point of reference, $48,000 as a GDP per capita figure is more than 20 per cent higher than what Canada ($39,400) can boast today.

9   …3

GDP per capita, now: $30,500
GDP per capita, 2050: $58,000

Greece may get the brunt of the blame for the ongoing Eurozone crisis, but not without its faults today is Italy, where new premier Mario Monti is still drowning in national debts just months after being sworn in. 

Goldman has strong projections for Italy a few decades from now, though. By 2050, according to the bank, Italy will maintain its economic powerhouse status (10th-largest economy in the world, the bank projects) and will nearly double its GDP per capita.

8   …4

GDP per capita, now: $15,900
GDP per capita, 2050: $62,000

Goldman Sachs continues to be bullish on Russia, and its latest projections surely reflect the bank's forecast for the nation. Russia is at the heart of Goldman's 'BRIC' countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - that the firm contends could outpace the economies of the G7 nations as early as 2027. According to the bank's forecast, Russia's GDP per capita, like Turkey's, will balloon nearly four-fold by 2050, when it will lay claim to the world's fifth-largest economy - ahead of major traditional powers like the U.K. and Japan.

 7 …5

GDP per capita, now: $30,000
GDP per capita, 2050: $63,000

Today, on the CIA World Factbook's database rankings, South Korea's GDP per capita falls just one spot (44th overall) behind Italy (43rd). It's a small deficit - Italians produced just $500 more per year than South Koreans did in 2010 - but the two countries will switch spots by 2050, Goldman Sachs predicts. By then, where GDP per capita is concerned, South Korea will out-produce Italy by about $5,000 per resident.

6  …6

GDP per capita, now: $34,000
GDP per capita, 2050: $68,000

The people of Japan don't care much for how its economy will fare in 2050; they're looking for fiscal prosperity now. 

Indeed, Japan's 2011 was positively ruined by the earthquake and tsunami that hit last March, and much speculation wonders if the island nation can get back on its feet this year, not four decades down the road. In any case, Goldman Sachs considers the long-term prospects of Japan to be sturdy, and by 2050 it will own a larger economy than big European names like France, Germany and Italy.

5  ..7

GDP per capita, now: $35,700
GDP per capita, 2050: $69,500

Economic measuring sticks are sometimes tough to figure. For instance, by Goldman Sachs' projections, Germany's economy will be just a fraction as that of Brazil or India in 2050. But perspective switches when you look through a different kaleidoscope. 

According to Goldman, Germany's GDP per capita figure of $69,500 will be light years ahead of Brazil ($45,000) and India ($18,000) in 2050, meaning the Euro nation, despite overall dollar figures, will continue to be one of the world's wealthiest countries.

4  …8

GDP per capita, now: $33,100
GDP per capita, 2050: $74,000

For all Goldman Sachs thinks of Germany, which the bank says will nearly double its current GDP per capita by 2050, France is even more of a darling in the firm's eyes. Today, France's GDP per capita is $2,600 less than Germany's, but the countries may flip in the world rankings a few decades down the road. If Goldman's projections hold true, France's GDP per capita will go from $2,600 less than Germany's today to $4,500 more when 2050 rolls around.

3 … 9

GDP per capita, now: $34,800
GDP per capita, 2050: $78,000

The U.K. isn't Europe's richest economy in terms of GDP per capita (that distinction belongs to mini-nations Liechtenstein and Luxembourg), but it is the continent's wealthiest within the G7, the body considered for its 2050 predictions by Goldman Sachs. According to the bank, the U.K. will be the sixth-largest economy in the world by 2050, bigger than the financial systems in Japan and other Euro powerhouses France, Germany and Italy.

2   ..10

GDP per capita, now: $39,400
GDP per capita, 2050: $79,500

Who knows how this projection will bear out for Canada over the next five years, let alone by 2050? Certainly, there is great immediate potential in Canada's economy, especially if the proposed Keystone pipeline extension is approved, and Alberta's oil-sands turn us into the western world's energy superpower. Regardless of our prospects, Goldman's projections look favourably on Canada as it stands today, forecasting a GDP per capita that will more than double by 2050. Only one nation measured by Goldman will boast a higher GDP per capita in 2050 than Canada.

1   …11

GDP per capita, now: $47,200
GDP per capita, 2050: $85,500

By Goldman's projections, the U.S. economy will be the second-largest in the world in 2050, dwarfed only by China, whose financial system is forecast to be then nearly twice as large as America's. But again, GDP per capita tells a different story.

America's GDP per capita will make it the wealthiest nation surveyed by Goldman Sachs in 2050, when each Yankee will produce more than $85,000 annually. By contrast, China's GDP per capita will reach just over $40,000 by 2050, meaning the Asian country will own the world's largest economy but as a nation won't even be as rich as Mexico (projected 2050 GDP per capita: $47,500).