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Why The Libyan War Means That No Country Will Ever Give Up Its Nuclear Weapons Again
North Korea's foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the Libyan invasion and saying this is what happens when a country gives up its nukes, according to JoongAng Daily.
“The situation in Libya is a lesson for the international community. It has been shown to the corners of the earth that Libya’s giving up its nuclear arms, which the U.S. liked to chatter on about, was used as an invasion tactic to disarm the country by sugarcoating it with words like ‘the guaranteeing of security’ and ‘the bettering of relations.'"
Libya gave up its nuclear program in 2003.
The U.S. State Department denies any connection between nuclear disarmament and the invasion.
“Where they’re at today has absolutely no connection with them renouncing their nuclear program or nuclear weapons,” said Mark Toner, a U.S. State Department spokesperson. “And in fact, it’s - frankly, it’s a good thing that they did, because if they had such weapons of mass destruction and they turn weapons so easily against their own people, then God help us.”
Germany's Econ Minister Admits Merkel Shut Down The Nuclear Reactors As A Political Stunt
German economics minister Rainer Brüderle has admitted that German Chancellor Angela Merkel shut down seven older nuclear reactors in
Germany as a poltical ploy to win local elections,
according to Der Spiegel.
From the German paper Süddeutsche Zeitung, via Der Speigel:
Upon being asked about the new nuclear policy, Brüderle, according to the meeting minutes which the Süddeutsche has obtained, " noted that, given the approaching state elections, politicians are under pressure and, as such, decisions are not always rational."
It had been suspected that Merkel's reactor shutdown move in the wake of Fukushima was a political move, but with proof of the matter pre-election, it has put Merkel into a tough position.
The vote is Sunday in Baden-Württemberg, and Merkel has had a terrible month, struggling on both an international level and domestically. It is now possible Merkel's party will lose the governnor's position in that region, for the first time in nearly 60 years.
Don't miss: It's time you get to know the debt situation in the rest of Europe >
FROM WALL STREET
Good morning. Here's what you need to know.
- UK retail sales dropped 0.8% month-over-month, from January to February and the drop was worse than expected. Year-over-year sales increased 1.3%.
- BONUS: Liv Tyler has finally spoken out about her divorce with rock star husband Royston Langdon and said she spent 2 years rebuilding her life after the split.
if it's green, we will see if it can reach 3070-3080..
krisluke ( Date: 24-Mar-2011 21:41) Posted:
my personal thot is st index olso green 
rotijai ( Date: 24-Mar-2011 21:35) Posted:
master krisluke, euroland and usland are very green now.. but tmr is friday..
wat do u think of sti tmr? |
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my personal thot is st index olso green
rotijai ( Date: 24-Mar-2011 21:35) Posted:
master krisluke, euroland and usland are very green now.. but tmr is friday..
wat do u think of sti tmr? |
|
LIBYA LIVE: French Jets Shoot Down A Libyan Warplane
09:25 ET: French fighter jets just shot down a Libyan warplane that was violating the no-fly zone, according to ABC News.
Developing...
09:25 ET: French fighter jets just shot down a Libyan warplane that was violating the no-fly zone, according to ABC News.
Developing...
08:11 ET: Coalition forces have hit targets in the southern Libyan city of Sabha, according to al Arabiya reports (
via Reuters).
This is significant because Sabha is some distance away from the coast of Libya, where most of the coalition attacks have been focused thus far. Sabha is not a rebel strong hold, and is one of Qaddafi's strong holds, where his forces are digging in.
A base there was also linked by the IAEA in 2004 to the country's nuclear weapons program.
master krisluke, euroland and usland are very green now.. but tmr is friday..
wat do u think of sti tmr?
Just In Time For The Entire World Going To Hell, A New " Black Swan" Fund Launches
The entire world is going to hell, between the nuclear crisis, the uprising in the Mideast, the disintegration of the Eurozone, and the imminent debt ceiling breach in the US.
What better time then to relaunch a new " Black Swan" fund designed to profit from big, shocking " unforeseen" events.
Technically, the fund from London-based 36 South Capital Advisors LLP, is called The Black Eyrar Fund, according to Bloomberg. Eyrars are kinds of swans (clever).
Bear in mind that this is obviously a marketing gimmick, and that in 2009, 36 South launched a " hyperinflation" fund. Anyone know how that worked out? We're guessing not so good.
CHART OF THE DAY: Here's More Proof That The Fed Didn't Create The Commodity Boom
Think the Fed is to blame for high food and energy prices?
It's not. It's all about the fundamental drivers of demand.
This chart (via Mark Thoma) is pretty self-explanatory showing that world industrial production and commodity prices are pretty closely linked.
Now if you want to say world industrial production is caused by Fed pumping, that's one thing, but then you'd have to also say that Fed pumping works in creating economic activity.
No Matter How Well Japan Recovers China Now Has A Serious Problem On Its Hands
It will be nearly impossible for China to escape inflationary side effects from the disaster in Japan, according to Societe Generale analyst Wei Yao.
If Japan recovers well, China will be faced with an uptick in demand, creating demand-pull inflation. If Japan does not, then China will be faced with a downturn in supply, creating cost-push deflation.
From Wei Yao:
In a nutshell, if Japan experiences a prolonged period of uncertainty and sees recovery delayed, there would be a significant risk of a sizable downturn in production due to disruptions in the supply chain and cost-push inflation. However, if Japan resumes production and starts rebuilding in H2 2011 as we expect, then economic conditions beyond the very near term may eventually necessitate further Chinese policy tightening.
So either way, China has a problem. Yao suggests the PBoC stay the course, yet remain open to changing direction if things change.
HK Shares End Up Tracking Wall Street Oil Prices Pare Gains
HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--Hong Kong shares ended higher Thursday, tracking gains on Wall Street, but persistently high oil prices pared the gains.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 89.88 points, or 0.39%, to 22,915.28, after trading in a narrow 22,890.83-23,050.87 range.
Market volume totaled HK$76.14 billion, up from HK$68.59 billion Wednesday.
With Thursday's rise, the Hang Seng Index is 1.4% below its level before the earthquake hit in Japan earlier this month, but analysts said the potential for futher gains is likely limited and the index will face short-term resistance at its 50-day moving average of slightly below 23,400.
The index has risen in four out of the past five sessions, recovering from a post-Japan quake trough of 22,123, hit March 17.
" Investors' risk appetite has returned, that's for sure, but then again you can't pretend that the earthquake didn't happen," said Ben Kwong, chief operating officer at KGI Asia.
U.S. stocks rose 0.56% to 12086.02 in relatively light trade Wednesday, led by materials companies due to expectations they could benefit from reconstruction efforts in Japan.
In Hong Kong, Henderson Land rose 2.1% to HK$51.10, extending a 2.8% rise Wednesday, following news chairman Lee Shau Kee again raised his stake in the developer.
According to an exchange filing, Lee bought 3.511 million shares at an average HK$48.217 on Monday, adding to the 5.952 million shares he bought Friday.
" We see this as a sign of the chairman's confidence in the company," said Daiwa.
Cnooc rose 1.8% to HK$18.78 after reporting a better-than-expected 85% rise in net profit last year to a record CNY54.41 billion because of higher international crude prices and increased production.
Morgan Stanley said while concerns about the sustainability of oil prices at current levels could weigh on the company's shares, " we believe this could be partially mitigated by Cnooc's strong production profile and its ability to control cost."
The bank raised its target price on China's biggest offshore oil and gas producer to HK$22.50 from HK$20.00, and kept its overweight rating.
Persistently high oil prices capped the Hang Seng Index's rise Thursday, with Nymex crude now firmly entrenched above $100 per barrel.
At 0830 GMT, Nymex crude for April delivery was trading at $106.08 a barrel, after rising 0.7% to $105.75 overnight. The benchmark futures have risen in five of the last six sessions.
" The political tension in Libya continues to dampen trading interest. If the Libyan unrest could be resolved, and Japan's nuclear radiation could be contained, I think the index could retest 23,500," said Tanrich Securities investment manager Jackson Wong.
China Hongqiao rose 9.7% on its market debut to HK$7.90 due to the relatively low valuation of its initial public offering price. The Chinese aluminum product manufacturer priced its IPO shares at HK$7.20, which translates to a 2010 price-to-earnings ratio of about 8.7 times.
-By Robert Li, Dow Jones Newswires 852-2832-2346 robert.li@dowjones.com
China shares end down 0.1 pct, property shares weigh
Shanghai at night
HONG KONG, March 24 (Reuters) - China's main stock index closed down 0.1 percent on Thursday as profit-taking in property counters was offset by a strong performance in oil companies.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended at 2,946.7 points, after a 1.0 percent gain on Thursday. The property sub-index closed down 0.5 percent.
Investors nervous about instability in the Middle East drove up shares of China's largest oil company PetroChina Co Ltd by 1.2 percent. Hong Kong report Taiwan report Shanghai indices < 0#.INX.SS> Shenzhen indices < 0#.INX.SZ> Hong Kong indices < 0#.INX.HK> H-share index Red share index SPEED GUIDES
RELATED NEWS AND OTHER TOPICS China news All equity news Greater China news Chinese summary Hong Kong news Chinese hot stocks Taiwan news China IPOs Chinese diary Hong Kong IPOs Press digests (Reporting by Emma Ashburn Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
USA GDP IS out on this friday at 2030hrs singapore hongkong and beijing time
Do take a watch on my tgt for st index at 3086 points, first resistant at 3050 points. If not? 2950 points
, I believe usa gdp should be Ok lah.
World Bank on China
China can achieve another 20 yrs of 8% growth
Considering ways to tackle its economic challenges, China has the potential to achieve another 20 yrs of 8% annual growth, World Bank (WB) Chief Economist Justin Yifu Lin said Wednesday.
Estimations showed that China’s current relative status to the United States was similar to Japan’s in Y 1951, and South Korea’s in Y 1977, who were in their high-speed development period, said Lin, also World Bank Senior Vice President, at a forum held in Hong Kong.
“By the Y 2030, measured by purchasing power parity, China’s economic size may be 2 times as large as the US.,” and China’s per capita income would be 50% of that of the United States by then, predicted Lin.
Measured in purchasing power parity, China’s per capita income was 21% of that of the United States in Y 2008.
Meanwhile, Lin also noted that China should face challenges while endeavoring to maintain vigorous growth. He pointed out that China should consider ways to rebalance its economy towards domestic demand, given the inevitable slowdown in the exports and the need to reduce trade surplus.
China also needs to reduce its income disparities and rebalance short-term growth and long-term environmental sustainability, he added.
“It is imperative for China to address the structural imbalances, by removing the remaining distortions in the finance, natural resources and service sectors so as to complete the transition to a well-functioning market economy,” the economist suggested.
China Economic Development Forum, organized by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as a part of celebration activities for its 20th anniversary, invited business professionals, academics and policymakers to share insights on the economic development of China.
Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr.
CREDIT CRUNCH GLOSSARY - A guide to term and phrase
AdministrationWhen a company gets into financial trouble and is unable to pay its debts, an administrator or administrative receiver may be appointed. The main goal of an administrator is to rescue the company as a going concern. If this isn't possible, the administrator will try to get a better result for the creditors - by rescuing parts of the business - than would be possible if the company was wound up. If this fails, the administrator will sell the company's assets to make at least a partial payment to creditors.
Black swan
An event that is extremely hard to predict. Generally associated with Nassim Nicholas Taleb's book, The Black Swan. Black swan events are typically random and unexpected, and some think the current financial crisis is a black swan. Before the discovery of Australia, it was assumed that all swans were white because nobody had seen one of a different shade. Markets tend to work on the basis that black swans either don't exist or appear with such irregularity that they are not worth worrying about.
Capital ratio
Capital ratios are a measure of a bank's capital strength used by regulatory agencies. Tier 1 (core) capital, the more important of the two, consists largely of shareholders' equity. This is the amount paid to originally purchase the shares of the bank and retained profits (minus losses). Put simply, if the original stockholders paid £100 to buy their stock and the bank has made £10 in profits each year since, paid out no dividends and made no losses, after 10 years the bank's tier one capital would be £200. National regulators now allow several other instruments other than common shares to count in tier one capital, which are commonly referred to as upper tier one capital.
Tier 2 capital is also known as supplementary capital. In the Basel I accord, it is categorised as undisclosed reserves, revaluation reserves, general provisions, hybrid instruments and subordinated term debt.
CDOs
Collateralised debt obligations - toxic financial instruments at the heart of the credit crunch. Banks embraced them as a way of shifting debt off their balance sheets, enabling them to lend more. The first CDO is said to have been issued in 1987 by bankers at the now defunct Drexel Burnham Lambert. In 20 years, the size of the market is estimated to have reached $2 trillion, and boomed between 2004 and 2007.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Chapter 11 is a chapter of the US bankruptcy code that gives a company an opportunity to reorganise and emerge from bankruptcy. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a form of corporate financial reorganisation in which a company's assets gets sold off to pay creditors. In some cases, Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows companies to continue to function. Creditors must vote to approve the reorganisation plan. If a plan cannot be agreed, the court can either convert the case to a liquidation under Chapter 7 or, if this is in the interest of creditors, return the business to the status quo before bankruptcy. Individuals may also be able to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Credit crunch
The current global financial crisis is commonly known as the credit crunch, as lending between banks has all but frozen, and credit made available to consumers and businesses is being squeezed.
Credit default swaps
Credit default swaps (CDS) are instruments bought by investors to insure against defaults on corporate and other bonds. The contract involves a buyer paying a series of settlements to a seller in exchange, the buyer receives the right to a payoff if a credit instrument goes into default.
The CDS market has been largely unregulated and last year was valued at twice that of the US Stock Exchange. The lack of transparency has meant exposures to bad debt is unknown.
Banks and other institutions have used credit default swaps to cover the risk of default in mortgage and other debt securities they hold. Many credit default swaps have sunk in value as the mortgage-backed securities they support have imploded.
If sellers of CDS outweigh buyers in the Lehman Brothers' auction, as some are expecting, then losses could hit 90% of insurance sold.
The auction will be one of the largest settlements of contracts in the $55 trillion market, with about $400bn in contract volumes estimated on Lehman's debt.
Dead cat bounce
A term used by traders to describe a pattern wherein a spectacular decline in share prices is immediately followed by a moderate and temporary rise before resuming its downward movement. While a dead cat will bounce if you drop it from a high building, that doesn't mean it's alive.
Hedge funds
After the woes of HBOS, hedge fund bosses, including the New York billionaire John Paulson , have come under fire for short-selling UK bank shares.
Libor
London interbank offer rate - the interest rate that banks charge each other for loans up to one year. The short-term international interbank market allows banks with liquidity requirements to borrow quickly from other banks with surpluses, enabling banks to avoid holding excessively large amounts of their asset base as liquid assets. Libor is officially fixed once a day at around 11.45am by a small group of large London banks, but the rate changes throughout the day.
Naked shorts
Naked short-selling, or naked-shorting, is the illegal practice of selling a stock short without first borrowing the shares or ensuring that the shares can be borrowed, as is done in a conventional short sale. When the seller does not obtain the shares within the required time frame, the result is known as a " fail to deliver" . However, the transaction generally remains open until the shares are acquired by the seller or the seller's broker, allowing a trade to occur when the order is filled.
National Economic Council
The 19-strong National Economic Council, chaired by the prime minister, was set up on October 3. It meets twice weekly to coordinate government action to tackle the banking crisis. The new committee has been dubbed an economic version of the exisiting Cobra emergency committee. A network of business ambassadors, including former BP boss Lord Browne and Lloyds TSB chairman Sir Victor Blank, has also been established to support the government overseas.
Pibs
Permanent interest-bearing shares - effectively, a form of subordinated debt issued by building societies which they can count towards their capital for capical adequacy calculations. The need arises because mutual institutions do not have the option of raising funds in the stockmarket.
Preference shares
Shares in a company which pay a fixed dividend but which do not usually carry voting rights. If the company is wound up, preference shares are usually repayable at par value, and rank above the claims of ordinary shareholders (but behind banks and other creditors).
Quantitative easing
Quantitative easing is what non-economists call 'turning on the printing press'. In extreme circumstances, governments flood the financial system with money, easing pressure on banks by giving them extra capital. Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Fed, won the nickname 'helicopter Ben' when he floated just such an idea earlier this decade. US economist Milton Friedman had originally said it would be theoretically possible for governments to drop large amounts of cash out of helicopters for the public to pick up and spend.
Short-selling
Short-selling involves selling borrowed shares in the hope that the price will fall and they can be bought back at a profit later on.
The Financial Services Authority rushed in emergency rules to ban short-selling in bank shares, and ordered speculators to close down all short positions in bank shares, or have their names made public.
SIV
Special investment vehicle - SIVs have become a problem during the credit crunch. They are spun off from banks to borrow money cheaply and then buy securities such as mortgage-backed bonds and more complex instruments such as collateralised debt obligations that pay higher rates of interest. During the credit crunch, the value of the securities in SIVs has dropped.
Sonia
Sterling overnight interbank average rate - a proxy for the market's interest rate expectations. The rate is an index that tracks sterling overnight funding rates for trades that occur in off hours.
Special liquidity scheme
Launched by the Bank of England in April to encourage banks to lend to each other, the special liquidity scheme was extended in September. The Bank has doubled the size of the scheme - which allows banks to swap mortgage-backed securities for cash - to £200bn. The scheme allows banks to swap assets that they cannot trade on the markets for nine-month government bonds that are more liquid and more attractive to other banks. The swaps are essentially loans of taxpayer assets and the Bank hopes they will get the paralysed money markets moving again.
Tarp
Troubled asset rescue programme - the US government's controversial $700bn bail-out package for the financial industry which allows the US Treasury to buy toxic mortgage debts from banks. It failed to get through the House of Representatives the first time round, but a revised bill was passed a few days later. The UK government followed suit with its own momentous £500bn-rescue of Britain's banking sector.
Write down, write off
Many major banks have been writing down the value of mortgage-backed assets because they are no longer worth the figures at which they are shown in the books. Write offs are more severe than write downs - the whole of the value of the asset is deducted.
Zero interest rates
Central banks around the world have been slashing interest rates in a desperate attempt to get people and businesses spending again. In the US and Japan, rates are now close to zero, and the Bank of England has hinted that rates could fall to near zero in Britain too. In Japan, which suffered a prolonged period of deflation, interest rates were stuck at zero for six years until July 2006.
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Treasury bonds, also called T-bonds for short, are long-term U.S. government-backed debt securities. Essentially, a T-bond is a 10- to 30-year IOU in which a private investor loans the government a certain amount of money to be paid back in 10 to 30 years (the duration is specified ahead of time), and during the years leading up to maturity, the government pays bi-annual interest payments, or " coupon payments." The government issues bonds to raise money quickly for various activities and projects perhaps the most notable issues of bonds occurred during World War I and World War II when the federal government issued bonds to finance the war effort.
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The buyer of a bond receives a certificate known as a coupon that entitles them to be paid interest, and the full amount of the bond at maturity. The longer the duration of a bond, the higher the interest payments, so T-bonds pay at higher interest than other types of government bonds that last fewer than 10 years. Government bonds, however, typically pay less interest than bonds issued from corporations. The reason for this is that corporations can go bankrupt, and the businesses seeking capital through bonds often are not financially stable, so they must pay higher interest rates to attract investors.
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The greatest advantage of T-bonds is that they are among the most stable investments that you can make. Even a well-diversified portfolio of mutual funds is subject to losing huge amounts of value if the economy as a whole suffers with bonds, you can never lose money unless the issuer goes belly-up. Essentially, the only way that a T-bond will fail is if the U.S. government fails. In fact, short-duration government bonds are considered to be the only investment more safe than T-bonds. The only reason they are considered safer than T-bonds is the shorter term, which gives the government less chance to fail before the bonds reach maturity. The main disadvantage of T-bonds is that interest rates are relatively low, limiting the potential for huge gains in a short period of time.
ABOUT $
When the euro first came into being, it was worth about $1.17, and for some time, it traded at a value less than a dollar. By 2009, the euro reached record highs against the U.S. currency, hovering near $1.50. The drastic actions taken by the Federal Reserve and other central banks in 2008 postponed serious economic calamity resulting from the credit crisis. But they also had serious currency implications that has left the U.S. dollar weak against the euro.
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Like anything else, the value of a currency is dictated by the forces of supply and demand. Demand for a currency is created by economic growth and investor interest, while supply is regulated by the monetary policy of central banks. In response to a deflationary crisis, the Federal Reserve vastly increased the potential supply of dollars, lowering the value of the dollar.
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One reason why the dollar is weak against the euro is relative interest rates. The U.S. reacted more quickly to the economic contraction resulting from the credit crisis by slashing interest rates. The European Central Bank (ECB) waited several months longer to begin easing rates, and never took rates as low as did the Federal Reserve. In the U.S., the Fed's benchmark rate was lowered to essentially zero, while the ECB paused with rates at a record low of 1 percent.
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Another major reason the dollar slipped against the euro was quantitative easing. This refers to a monetary policy strategy in which the central bank lowers its quality standards on collateral it accepts for loans to increase the overall volume of lending it can perform. While the Federal Reserve has participated in quantitative easing to stimulate the domestic economy, the ECB has resisted such measures as of 2009.
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Independent of the credit crisis and the monetary policy of central banks, the first decade of the 21st century saw a major global trend toward diversification of currency reserves that had the inevitable effect of weakening the dollar. Large holders of foreign currency reserves, especially China, said it was in their best interest to diversify their holdings into euros and other currencies rather than primarily dollars. Several major oil-supplying countries have also expressed a desire to price oil in euros and local currencies rather than dollars, questioning the dollar's status as the world's lone reserve currency. These major shifts in demand for dollars are longer-term forces favoring the euro over the dollar.
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Despite the constant mantra from Washington that a strong dollar is in the best interests of the United States, there are several interests for whom a weak dollar is actually a boon. Primarily, these are domestic companies with strong foreign presences who realize windfall profits as they repatriate money earned overseas. But even with the forces aligned against the dollar, there is considerable opposition around the world to letting the dollar fall too low because of the implications for international trade. Plus, with sluggish growth likely in Eastern Europe, there are probably limits to how low the dollar can slide against the euro.
ABOUT FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD
The Federal Reserve Board (Fed) is the central banking authority in the United States. In existence since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was passed by Congress, the Federal Reserve was created as a result of a series of financial panics and crises in the late 1800s and early 1900s. To avoid sharp economic volatility, Congress vested in the Federal Reserve the sole authority to set monetary policy to encourage or control economic growth and curb inflation.
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Setting interest rates influences the how much money circulates in the economy. Too much money in the economy leads to inflation, which makes goods and services more expensive and diminishes consumer purchasing power. However, not enough money in the economy can choke economic growth. As a result, the Federal Reserve is tasked with finding an appropriate balance to keep the economy on a cycle of long-term stability. The key to this stability is influencing interest rates to control the money supply.
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The United States is divided into 12 Federal Reserve district branches. The branches are located in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas and San Francisco. Each branch monitors and analyzes economic conditions and trends for their respective districts.
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The Federal Open Market Committee is the arm of the Federal Reserve that dictates changes to the federal funds rate. Economic analysis and forecasts, along with information from each Fed district, helps the FOMC decide what to do with this target rate. The FOMC is made up of 12 members. The seven members of the Federal Reserve Board and the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are permanent FOMC members. The remaining four seats are rotated annually among the other 11 presidents of Federal Reserve banks.
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Once the FOMC deliberates, a consensus is reached about the long-term prospects of the economy. Depending on the consensus, the FOMC may order the Domestic Trading Desk at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to sell or buy U.S. Treasury bonds in accordance with Fed goals. Treasury transactions are one of the policy levers over interest rates and therefore the money supply in the economy.
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If the Fed decides to increase the money supply, the Domestic Trading Desk will buy back U.S. Treasury bonds to inject money into the system. This allows more money to flow in the economy and puts downward pressure on interest rates. Lower interest rates make borrowing cheaper and more likely to stimulate consumer and business borrowing. But, if the FOMC decides that the economy is growing too fast and creating inflation, the Domestic Trading Desk will sell U.S. Treasurys, which withdraws money from the economy and creates upward pressure on interest rates. Higher interest rates make borrowing more expensive and slows economic activity to a more sustainable level.
WHAT DOES CONGRESS DO?
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Congress is one of the three branches of the United States federal government. The three branches of the federal government are the executive, legislative and judicial branches. The president makes up the executive branch, the U.S. Supreme Court makes up the judicial branch, and Congress makes up the legislative, or law-making branch. Congress consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The system and power of Congress comes from the Constitution, which states that " all legislative powers shall be vested in a congress." Congress is an integral part of the governmental checks and balances system that keeps one branch of government from holding too much power.
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Congress is responsible for passing laws, determining how money is spent by government and influencing foreign policy. It has the power to approve judges appointed by the president, remove judges from the Supreme Court, declare war, shape trade policies with other countries and make decisions about foreign aid.
Congress has 535 total members. The House of Representatives has 435 members and the Senate has 100. Each state has two Senators, but the number of House representatives each state has depends on the number of people in that state. Congress is organized by committees that deal with a specific issue, such as education or foreign policy.
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When a member of Congress wants to change a law or make a new law, they write a bill that contains the changes they want to make. The bill is sent to the appropriate congressional committee for them to deliberate on whether it should be passed into law. The committee listens to the opinions of others before they make a decision. Some of the people that provide information about specific topics are called lobbyists. A lobbyist represents a group of people that share the same perspective or have the same needs. There are more than 35,000 lobbyists in Washington.
After the congressional committee has deliberated a bill, they vote on whether it will be sent to the House and Senate for a vote. If they both pass a bill with a majority vote, the bill is sent to the president to sign into law or to be rejected with a veto. By the time a bill becomes law, it can be very different from its original form and contents. Each time a bill is rejected at any point in the process of becoming law, it can be altered in some way so that it will be approved by all necessary parties.
China pushes ahead Pakistan nuclear plant expansion
By Chris Buckley
BEIJING (Reuters) - China is committed to controversial plans to expand a Pakistan nuclear power plant using 1970s technology, experts say, even after Japan's crisis triggered global alarm about atomic safety.
China's construction of reactors at the Chashma nuclear power plant in the Punjab region of Pakistan drew international unease well before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami battered the 1970s vintage nuclear reactors in Japan, crippling cooling systems and causing radiation to leak into the surroundings.
Those worries could now multiply. But neither Beijing nor Islamabad is likely to cut short their nuclear embrace.
China's nuclear ties with long-standing partner Pakistan have triggered unease in Washington, Delhi and other capitals worried about Pakistan's history of spreading nuclear weapons technology, its domestic instability, and the potential holes created in international non-proliferation rules.
Safety is also a major concern, as the reactors at Chashma, including the third and fourth units China has planned, are derived from designs dating back to the 1970s, said Mark Hibbs, an expert on atomic policy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who has closely followed Chinese-Pakistani nuclear cooperation.
This means they have fewer safety features than the newer models Beijing will increasingly use for domestic nuclear plants.
" The oldest reactor (design) that China is building is this reactor in Pakistan. It's a very old design," said Hibbs, who is based in Berlin and visited Pakistan this week.
" If China wants to help Pakistan build a reactor right now, they're locked into this design," Hibbs said in a telephone interview, citing patent restrictions and atomic export barriers that prevent China from selling more up-to-date designs abroad.
The radiation leaks at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant are likely to raise new questions about whether China should pursue nuclear power expansion in volatile Pakistan, and whether it must first seek approval for planned reactors from other nuclear exporting states.
Beijing remained committed to Chashma, and would probably not seek a green light from a nuclear trade group, said Li Hong, a prominent Chinese nuclear expert.
" There's no doubt that China will go ahead with Chashma, because this cooperation with Pakistan has such a long history," said Li, Secretary General of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, a government-sponsored think tank in Beijing that focuses on nuclear proliferation issues.
" China will absorb lessons about nuclear safety from Japan's problems, including for Chashma," said Li.
A NUCLEAR SHOWCASE
The Chashma power plant is one of two using nuclear reactors in Pakistan. Two of its reactors are already producing electricity in a country with chronic power shortages and China is helping build two more reactors.
The plant is located on plains near the banks of the Indus River, hundreds of miles to the south of Kashmir, the site of a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in 2005 that officials say killed 75,000 people. It was also not damaged in last year's devastating floods.
China suspended approvals last week for new domestic nuclear plants. But reports on Chinese nuclear websites show work on Chashma continued after the calamity hit Japan.
On March 14, two days after Japan's earthquake, Chinese engineers helped run the first successful test for linking the new Chashma reactor unit to a power grid, according to Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design (www.snerdi.com.cn), which is helping build it.
Last month, the China National Nuclear Corp, the nation's dominant atomic company, held a two-day meeting to refine plans for work at Chashma in 2011, when the new, second reactor is due to go into service (www.cnnc.com.cn).
" In 2011, we will strive to bring the project into commercial operation two months ahead of schedule," said the report from that meeting.
China's nuclear industry sees Chashma as a showcase of the country's ability to export reactors, a trade that Beijing hopes will grow.
" Currently, we're still a blank in exporting large-scale, multi-megawatt nuclear power stations, apart from the Chashma 300-megawatt water pressurized nuclear power station," Zhao Zhixiang, director of the science and technology committee of the Chinese Institute of Atomic Energy, told China Energy News, a Chinese-language paper, earlier this month.
" The key to becoming a nuclear energy power is to establish your own abilities and competitiveness," he said.
" NO CAUSE FOR CONCERN"
Rivals India and Pakistan both possess nuclear arsenals and both refuse to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which would oblige them to scrap those weapons.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency, agreed in early March to Pakistan's request to safeguard the two new reactors planned for Chashma, a step that would allow the agency to help ensure nuclear material from the reactors is secure and not diverted into weapons-related programmes.
" There is no cause for concern regarding the safe operation of these plants," a spokesman for the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) said of Chashma. " Any lessons learnt from the accidents in Japan will be implemented at our plants as well."
Washington and other governments have said China should seek approval for the planned reactors from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a consensus-based cartel that seeks to ensure nuclear exports do not get used for non-peaceful purposes.
When the United States sealed its own controversial nuclear energy agreement with India in 2008, it won a waiver from that rule from the NSG after contentious negotiations in which China raised misgivings.
Beijing is likely to shun calls to seek special approval, arguing the two new units planned at Chashma come under a bilateral agreement sealed before it joined the NSG in 2004.
" I don't think that China will seek approval from the NSG," said Li, the arms control association official. " China considers that the new reactors were grandfathered under a previous agreement," he said.
Other NSG members, including the Washington and other Western governments, are likely to want assurance that the two reactors planned for Chashma will be the last that China claims need no approval, said Hibbs.
Last year, the China National Nuclear Corp said it was in talks to build a separate 1-gigawatt atomic plant in Pakistan.
(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider in Islamabad editing by Don Durfee,Miral Fahmy and Sanjeev Miglani)
