Business

Stock markets around the world continued to fall dramatically today. This is following the ongoing events in the financial world, including the US Government's $700 billion bail out of the financial sector. As of 18:00 UTC, the primary UK index, the FTSE 100, was one of the few indexes to increase in value. It went up by 0.16% (16.03 points), but stayed below 5000 mark at 4605.22. Some shares in this index, however, fared very poorly, with shares in HBOS falling by an incredible 41.54% to end the day on 94 points. The Dow Jones index continu

Stock markets around the world have fallen dramatically today. This is following the ongoing events in the financial world, including the US Government's $700 billion bail out of the financial sector. As of 14:48 UTC, the primary UK index, the FTSE 100, dropped in value by 6.50% (323.65 points) to a point even further below the 5000 mark at 4656.60. The Dow Jones, was down 3.76% at 16:08 UTC, a slight increase from earlier today. The Dow Jones currently has a value of 9936.94 points, below the ten thousand mark. The Nasdaq index has fallen by

The U.S. Senate passed a revised bailout bill designed to help the struggling U.S. financial economy, which has measures nearly identical to the bill rejected by the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday. "Senate Democrats and Republicans believe it is essential that we work quickly on this important legislation to restore confidence to our financial system and strengthen the economy," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The new revisions include raising the FDIC insurance cap to $250,000, a move designed to please progressives. However

The US House of Representatives rejected a bill on the USD 700 billion bail out of US banks. The voting on the bill has completed. If passed, the bailout plan would have allowed for the United States government to purchase devalued mortgage backed securities, resulting from the subprime mortgage crisis from troubled financial institutions. The US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said that the plan could cost up to $700 billion. There has been considerable debate over several parts of the plan, which failed with 228 votes opposing, 205 su

The two major party presidential candidates in the US, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, faced each other yesterday in the first TV debate. Despite that McCain had asked to postpone the debate, both were present at the University of Mississippi. The debate, which was moderated by PBS' Jim Lehrer, was planned to be focused on foreign policy, however due to concerns about the US financial crisis, the debate began focused on economy. McCain repeatedly referred to his experience, drawing on stories from the past. Often, he joked o

On October 14, 2008, Canadians will be heading to the polls for the federal election. Christian Heritage Party candidate Jerome Dondo, CGA is standing for election in the riding of Brandon—Souris. Self-employed since 2000, Dondo works as a finance consultant with First Nation reserves, and provides accounting services to small business clients. From 1993-1998, he worked in the accounts department of Transport Canada. He volunteered as a pastor for Pentecostal Faith Temple in Cat Lake, Ontario, and is currently on the Parent’s Advisory Committ

On October 14, 2008, Canadians will be heading to the polls for the federal election. Christian Heritage Party candidate Henry Zekveld is standing for election in the riding of Durham. Born in Lindsay and raised on a dairy farm, Henry studied at Woodstock's Fanshawe Agriculture College in 1987, the same year he joined the Christian Heritage Party. A farmer for the last 11 years, he is an active member of a local church, serving as deacon and, currently, an elder. He is a member of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, and serves on

British newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky gave birth to a baby boy earlier this morning at around 08:30 BST. She had been on maternity leave since August 21. Kaplinsky had only been working with Five News just over a month when she announced she was pregnant. Her husband of three years, investment banker Justin Bower announced "We're absolutely thrilled." Kaplinsky first started to work for the BBC in 2002 after a two year tenure with Sky News. She started on the BBC Breakfast show but later moved onto the BBC Six O'Clock News and later became only

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke fielded questions from the Senate Banking Committee today. Paulson and Bernanke were joined by Christopher Cox, chairman of the SEC, and James Lockhart, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The four urged the Committee to pass legislation allowing the Treasury to spend up to US$700 billion to bailout investment banks by purchasing their "illiquid debt". They made the pitch to the committee to bail out Wall Street by passing legislation giving the Treas

In a recent study released by the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), economic opportunities for women are still lagging behind opportunities for men in the developing world. Improvements have been made in women health and education, according to the study. The study calls for investments totaling over US$13 billion a year to achieve gender equality and women empowerment. Danny Leipziger, World Bank Vice President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, said, "gender equality is key for pov

Monday evening was the 800th episode of WWE Raw, although not as celebrated as last year's 750th "Raw Family Reunion" episode, it was "business as usual" for the show, pushing towards the WWE No Mercy pay-per-view in two weeks. The show opened with WWE World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho coming to the ring and climbing atop a tall ladder where the WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt was hanging overhead. Chris Jericho will face current antagonist Shawn Michaels in a Ladder Match for the championship at the pay-per-view. Jericho talke

A car bomb exploded early Monday near a military academy in the coastal town of Santona, in northern Spain, killing a soldier and wounding several others. The authorities blame the Basque separatist group ETA for the attack. It was the third car bombing in 24 hours believed to have been caused by ETA. The first bomb exploded early Sunday near the headquarters of the Caja Vital Kutxa bank in the Basque political capital, Vitoria-Gasteiz. No one was injured, but the building suffered heavy damage. A few hours later a second bomb exploded near a