Super Rich #00000001

"The accumulated wealth of those on the rich list has grown to £412.8 billion, an increase of almost £53 billion from last year. Growth has fallen by more than a quarter, from last year’s rate of 20 percent, to 14.7 percent. Of this year’s top 10, only three were born in Britain. Indian-born number one Lakshmi Mittal’s wealth grew by an astonishing 44 percent, mainly by virtue of swallowing up more international steel producing facilities through mergers. Such business manoevres usually result in consolidation and redundency notices for staff who find their jobs duplicated."

"Writing in his Observer column about Rothkopf’s new publication, Will Hutton noted how Prime Minister Gordon Brown has surrounded himself with former employees of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Jonathan Powell, former premier Tony Blair’s chief of staff, has joined Morgan Stanley and Blair himself receives a large stipend from Goldman Sachs."

Now how many of these banker cronies have stocks & shares in the MIC?

"Britain’s rich get richer even as recession begins to bite"

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The Forgotton Disaster

Was it 2004 when the Tsunami happened in the Bay of Bengal? Yeah not so long ago. But we have forgotton about it, while the affected people are still suffering. This is what happened in Sri Lanka:

"According to official figures, at least 30,920 people died, 519,063 were displaced and 103,836 houses destroyed. The devastation was horrendous. Homes, schools, hospitals, road, rail lines, communications were all swept away. Whole villages disappeared. The survivors were left without shelter, food, clean water and medicine. Many, particularly fishermen, lost their livelihoods."

And these are the sats now:

"According to the government’s Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA), 6,718 families or more than 25,000 people were still living in appalling conditions in refugee camps in March—that is, more than three years after the tsunami. Most of the families—5,820—are in the North and East where the renewed fighting is taking place. Even in the district surrounding the capital of Colombo, there are 803 families in camps.

These official figures are undoubtedly an underestimate. Moreover, many more of the survivors, including those who have been re-housed, still face enormous economic difficulties. Many fishermen lost their livelihoods and were resettled away from the coastline. On the pretext of protecting the population, the government exploited the opportunity to clear away fishing villages to pave the way for luxury hotels and resorts."

And last a few words from a local about her feelings:

"A 19-year-old girl told the WSWS: “You ask about the situation in Burma. As we can’t watch television or have access to any other media we don’t know what’s going on there. I only know from you about the situation. It sounds somewhat similar. Throughout the world we see how ordinary people are hit by natural disasters and how the rulers treat them.”"

"The tsunami in Sri Lanka: A case study in US humanitarian missions"

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Iraq War Took A Turn On Saturday

All this time US had the air authority with the Apache helicoptors, and the Mahdi army used tactics like wait for a sandstorm and attack with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and roadside bombs. Then on Saturday someone shot a surface-to-air missile at the Apache Coptor. It missed and went overhead, but the threat is there, for the worried American military to change the way they use the coptors.

Then just after that happened it looks like the Iraq Gov has signed a truce. It took another day for the details to be finalised...Sunday. Hmmm change of course it seems to me. Is it to the best?

"Missile is fired at copter over Baghdad, U.S. says"


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