Wednesday, March 2, 2005

Bucharest, Romania — The city centre of Bucharest, the capital of Romania, is set to get a major facelift due to a real estate project called Esplanada (The Esplanade), which will be constructed by TriGranit Development Corporation. The total investment in the project will be greater than 800 million euro and aims to build a modern commercial pedestrian area in downtown Bucharest, with several shopping malls, office buildings, hotels and dwellings. It will be the largest real estate program in Romania since the fall of Communism in 1989.

Bucharest is currently looking at possibilities to improve its appearance and rebrand itself as a lively, creative and vibrant city. Many initiatives have sprung up to improve the city, including the organisation of CowParade later this year. Additionally, the old town centre will be restored. Due to Romania’s current economic boom, several other major construction projects are taking place.

Bucharest City Hall has blocked traffic in the city center due both to the old town restoration and to the Esplanada project.

Saturday, March 12, 2005

In a vote of 74-25 last Thursday, the US Senate passed a measure that would change bankruptcy laws, making it harder for individuals seeking relief from their debt burden to avoid repayment. Almost twenty Democrats joined Republicans, who currently hold a majority of the seats in the US Senate, in passing the bill.

Lobbyists for credit card companies and financial services firms have worked for the bill during the last two administrations. A similar measure passed both the Senate and House during the previous administration, but then President Bill Clinton pocket-vetoed the measure in 2000.

Democrats sought to soften the bill by allowing bankruptcy filers to negotiate directly with lenders for relief, but the amendments were defeated by the Republican-controlled Senate. Proponents of the bill claim the rise of bankruptcy filings to nearly 1.5 million a year shows that abusers of credit use the filings to shield themselves from irresponsible practices.

“There has been an explosion of bankruptcy,” said Iowa Republican Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the bill’s sponsor. “We preserve the principle of a fresh start, but we also establish a principle that if you have the ability to repay some of your debt, you are not going to get off scot-free.” However, Massachusetts Democratic Sen., Edward M. Kennedy said, “This legislation makes the bankruptcy courts of the United States the collection agency for the credit-card industry.”

The bill impacts a broad spectrum of bankruptcy law, but the most significant impact is on personal bankruptcy filings. Individuals who get behind in repaying credit card debt face high interest charges and stiff late payment fees. By only meeting minimum payment requirements, borrowers remit to the lender over the life of the loan an amount in interest and other fees that can far exceed the value of the principal balance of the loan. This can put consumers who run up high balances on various cards at financial risk of default. Critics of the bill blame these aggressive lending practices as a contributing factor in the rising trend of bankruptcy filings from 1996.

The proposed bill doesn’t only affect debtors with credit card debt.

It also affects debtors who have run up large medical bills.

Patients with a past medical history that disqualifies them from full medical coverage, can easily find themselves facing insurmountable medical bills after just a short stay in the hospital. These individuals will no longer be able to get a fresh start after these personal disasters, and will be forced to live in poverty until they can pay off their medical bills as part of their Chapter 13 filing. (Prior to this bill, they would have been able to file Chapter 7, completely discharging their debt.)

Chapter 7, which accounts for 70% of bankruptcy filings, allows individuals to eliminate most non-secured debts after liquidating assets, with the notable exemption of one’s principle residence in most states. The Senate passed bill would change Chapter 7 eligibility by applying a means-test, where those with a median income higher than the state average would be required to file under Chapter 13 provisions. Under Chapter 13 protection, an individual’s debt is not forgiven; rather it is restructured for payment under more lenient terms.

This was the first major overhaul of federal bankruptcy law in many years.

Under the old bankruptcy law, a personal bankruptcy attorney could not be held financially responsible for his clients mendacity. Under the new bankruptcy law, the bankruptcy attorney is responsible for his client’s lies to the Court about his assets and the bankruptcy attorney and his insurance carrier can be held responsible by the Bankruptcy Court.

The result is that personal bankruptcy attorneys (this does not apply to corporate bankruptcy attorneys) are likely to flee the personal bankruptcy field when the new law takes effect. Their insurance companies will not offer the sort of coverage that they would need to continue to practice.

So when consumers need to file personal bankruptcy under the new law, they will be unlikely to find a bankruptcy attorney to represent them. Consumers will have to file pro se: such consumers will be likely to fail due to the complexity of the law.

The bottom line is that the field of personal bankruptcy law as a practice area of law will cease to exist when the new bankruptcy law takes effect, and consumers will be unable to secure legal counsel and so consumers will lose what legal protections counsel now affords them.

Under the new bankruptcy law about one half million Americans will be forest to pay for at lest 5 years on longer they will be held in servitude as chattel they will be completely subservient to a dominating influence of the company that holds the loan. Their loan will be put on the market for sale for profit. The people will be forced to work harder. People who fail to go to court will have a arrest warrant made out in their name and people who refuseto pay. They will be subject to fines and or jail. About fifty thousand Americans will punished by a fine and or about three thousand Americans every year will go to jail under the new bankruptcy law. For some people this will be a third strike they will be put in jail for life.

The bill has the support of President Bush, and its passage in the House sometime next month seems likely. If enacted into law, lending companies will recover more money on what otherwise would be written off as bad loans. Those persons of median and higher income seeking relief would be required to file under Chapter 13 status and pay up to $100 per month under court imposed conditions. It is expected the proposed changes would cause a sharp increase in filings before the new law could take effect.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

In a move aimed at hampering the near-daily bombing attacks in southern Thailand, all owners of prepaid phones are required to register by midnight local time today or face being blocked.

Originally scheduled for implementation at the end of last year, the move was deferred to allow people more time to register their phones. The policy only applies to the three southernmost provinces that border Malaysia — Pattani, Narathiwat, and Yala — formerly the Malay Pattani kingdom.

Thais from other parts of the country with prepaid phones will also be required to register should they wish to visit the region. When doing so their calls will be treated as roaming, a feature of GSM which allows a user to make and receive calls on a network other than that of their service provider.

Many of the bombs used in the south are believed to be detonated by mobile phone, although most of the more than one thousand casualties in the region have been from drive-by shootings and stabbings.

It is reported that 65% of the near half-million prepaid phones in the region that this would impact have been registered. Prepaid phones are commonplace throughout Thailand and estimates put the number in use throughout the whole country at approximately ten million.

Other efforts to deal with the insurgency in the predominantly Muslim area include an announcement yesterday that approximately 20,000 local villagers will be given training and small arms to help defend their villages. Both men and women will be eligible, and those accepted into the programme will be put onto the government payroll.

Sunday, June 26, 2005

The median house price in the United States plunged 6.5% in May to $217,000. In February of 2005, the median price of a home was $237,300.

The Economist newspaper said in its June 16th issue; “In other words, it looks like the biggest bubble in history.” by way of reference to what is happening with housing prices in the USA and much of Europe.

Japan provides an example of how a boom can turn to bust. Property prices have dropped for 14 years in a row (40% from their peak in 1991); and yet, the rise in prices in Japan during the decade before 1991 was less than the increase over the past ten years in most of today’s “housing boom” countries.

The total value of residential property rose by more than $30 trillion over the past five years in developed economies, an increase equivalent to 100% of the combined GDPs of those countries. This increase dwarfs all previous house-price booms and is greater than the global stockmarket bubble in the late 1990s. Much of the recent housing activity is being driven by speculative demand. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that 23% of all American houses bought in 2004 were for investment, not for owners to live in. Another 13% were bought as second homes. NAR also found that 42% of all first-time buyers made no down-payment on their home purchase last year.

Many investors are buying solely because they think prices will keep rising, which is a warning sign of a financial bubble. In Miami, Florida, as many as half of the original buyers resell new apartments even before they are built, and properties can change hands two or three times before somebody finally moves in.

Britain’s Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reported prices have been falling for ten consecutive months. Forty nine percent of their surveyors reported falling prices in May. This was the weakest report since 1992 during Britain’s previous house-price bust.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Grameen Bank of Bangladesh has made the first loans to U.S. citizens who do not have a bank account. Grameen Bank is experienced in micro-financing in its home country, lending money to poor women that want to start small businesses.

Since the start of the mortgage-crisis more people in the U.S. tend to turn to fringe financial institutions bypassing the mainstream bank institutes. “Now is a good time because of … the subprime crisis and that highlights the issue that the financial system is not perfect,” , says the bank’s founder and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. Grameen Bank started in 1976 by lending a total amount of $27.00 to 42 Bangladesh women. To date the bank has made over $6.5 billion in loans to 7 million people in Bangladesh.

Grameen Bank’s first loans of approximately $50,000.00 in total in the U.S. was to a group of women in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City. Garmeen Bank plans to offer $176 million in loans in New York City the next five years, and after that expanding into business as remittances and mortgages all over the U.S., as it has done in Bangladesh.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Voters in the small Channel Island of Sark, a Crown dependency of the British Crown, have voted in their first democratic election, bringing an end to almost 4½ centuries of feudal rule.

Voting in the election opened at 10:00 local time (UTC) today, and closed at 18:00. The result is expected to be announced at 22:00.

57 candidates were competing for the votes of the 474 residents eligible to participate in the election, to win 28 seats.

Roger Olsen, the first person to vote in the election, commented on the transition to democracy. “Sark has an opportunity to express itself, to determine its own destiny,” he commented. “We like to make our own decisions. Now we’re set up to do exactly that,” he continued.

He also stated the he believed the island needed “fresh eyes, new blood and a new perspective”.

Suzie Thorpe, the next voter, commented on the issues which concerned her during this election. “We need a good sustainable economy. But we don’t want the island to change too much. We don’t want any helipads, thank you.”

Sark was the last feudal state remaining in the Western world, and the transition was forced by European human rights legislation that requires democratic governments.

Saturday, September 3, 2016

On Wednesday, English football club Manchester City F.C. announced that they had loaned their goalkeeper Joe Hart to Italian club Torino F.C. till the season end.

Hart joined City from Shrewsbury Town F.C. in 2006. Since then, he has won four Premier League Golden Gloves for keeping most clean sheets in a season, which is a League record. In a decade at the Etihad Stadium, Hart has won two Premier League trophies, two Football League Cups and one FA Cup.

Hart debuted for England at the age of 21, and has represented the country at UEFA Euro 2012 and 2016 and FIFA World Cup 2014.

Signing the contract, Hart said, “I am very excited to compare myself in an important and beautiful League such as Serie A.” ^{((it))Italian language: ?Sono molto felice di potermi confrontare in un campionato bello e difficile come la Serie A.}

Goalkeeper Joe Hart’s move away from Manchester City came about a week after Pep Guardiola signed Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo from FC Barcelona.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Brazil beat Croatia in the second Group match, in Berlin, Tuesday, but only by one goal.

Croatia had sat back and made it difficult but Brazil seemed to be in no great hurry to impress and was satisfied with the margin of victory.

One noticeable feature of the match, Brazilian forward Ronaldo appeared to display an exaggerated lack of interest in the game. Carlos Alberto Parreira substituted the Real Madrid striker after just over an hour.

“I don’t know what happened to him,” Robert Kovac, the Croatian centre-back said. “He didn’t run … It was very easy,” he said.

Second best to three Croatian defenders, with the experience of 181 caps between them, Ronaldo did not get a shot on goal until the second half.

The 72,000 fans in the Olympia Stadium saw the best of Brazil in the first half with Kaka and Ronaldinho bright in midfield. Lacking muscle from Ronaldo, Brazil was confined to long range shooting.

Roberto Carlos fired a shot from 40 yards, which was put over by Stipe Pletikosa; the Croatia keeper then, after 15 minutes of the match, tipped a Ronaldinho effort behind. Cafu also had a shot on target and another from Kaka went wide.

A successful long-range effort came from Kaka at 42 minutes. At the top of the semi circle he curled the ball with the inside of his left foot, the keeper’s right hand not even close.

The World Cup champions of 2002 were tested in defence as the Croatians probed for an equaliser. But the team with red and white chequers did not use their 50 per cent of possession to create many clear openings, nor did they capitalise on Brazilian errors.

On 59 minutes Brazil’s defence had a lapse in concentration: a misplaced pass between the back three nearly allowed the quick Croatian substitute Ivica Olic a chance on goal. The advantage came to nothing as the defence recovered.

The best Croatian chance fell to Niko Kranjcar, minutes from the end. When the cross came into the box the midfielder was unmarked – but his header went far over the bar.

The Croatian manager, Zlatko Kranjcar might consider a one-goal loss a good result against the reigning champions. Carlos Alberto Parreira might think by Brazil’s high standards the game was a bad training session.

But the result was a win and was Brazil’s eighth successive World Cup win, a tournament record.