Membership of India on two key bodies

On the 2nd april of 2009, it was great day for the US and India. Newly elected president of America, Barack Obama came alone to meet specially the prime minister of India, Mr. Manmohan Singh in the G20 meet. In the afternoon, Mr. Singh from India has declared that India will now be the key member of Financial Stability Forum. He also announced tha membership for Basle Committee on banking supervision immediately.

British PM Gordon Brown was also representing the commitee with Indian prime minister. Famous leaders like Russian president Medvedev and China's Hu Jintao were also present in the summit held at London , UK. On the topic of terrorism, Mr Singh was supported by all the laeders of the world, when he said, "Pakistan should not allow its soil to be used to promote terrorism.". In the future the chances are there that G20 can replace G8 too.

Who's the most stylish man in America ?

It has been announced just after 2 days of Valentines, that Grammy-award winner pop star Justin Timberlake has blasted in the GQ magazine's list of "the 10 most Stylish Boys in the US,". Justin gave the credit to his banker stepfather, for his dress sense in 2008-09.

The men's magazine, GQ praised Timberlake, nearly 28, for his impact on fashion, his willingness to take risks and "knack for targeting trends" including hats, three-piece suits, skinny ties and beards.

The timing of the award is good news for Britney's ex boyfriend Timberlake, whose own clothing line William Rast, launched in October 2006 with his friend Trace Ayala, is on the runway at this week's New York Fashion show for its second outing.

Timberlake told the March issue of GQ that he got his sense of style from his stepfather, Paul Harless, a banker who laid out his suit for the next morning every night and went to work looking "like Richard Gere in (American) Gigolo."

As for his signature style of wearing a suit with sneakers, Timberlake said that was more for practicality that design. Full story here

President Bush gets farewell in Washington

On thursday, Former President George W. Bush addressed the USA that it has not suffered a major terrorist attack since Sept. 11, 2001 on his farewell . But the threat remains, he said, and will be President-elect Barack Obama's biggest challenge.

"Our enemies are patient and determined to strike again," Bush said in a nationally televised address from the White House.

Bush, who listed the Iraq war as one of his efforts to combat terrorism, said he understands disagreement with some "tough decisions" he made, "but I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions."

Speaking to about 200 guests in the East Room, Bush extended best wishes to Obama and his family. The election of the nation's first African-American president, he said, "reflects the enduring promise of our land" and is "a moment of hope and pride for our whole nation."

The two-term president acknowledged experiencing setbacks but also listed accomplishments, including creation of a Department of Homeland Security, new counterterrorism surveillance laws, the No Child Left Behind education bill, prescription drug assistance, and adding conservative justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Full story here

Barack Obama Focuses Domestic & Reshapes White House

President-elect Barack Obama has finished building a cabinet of prominent and strong-willed players on Friday, but he is putting together a governing structure that will concentrate more decision making over his top domestic priorities in the White House.

With new offices in the White House to coordinate health care, urban policy and energy initiatives, Mr. Obama has signaled that he intends to keep real power over domestic issues close at hand. The collective moves shift the political center of gravity farther away from the cabinet, a trend that has accelerated under presidents of both parties in recent years.

At the same time, Mr. Obama’s reorganization suggests a willingness to tolerate, and even encourage, competing power centers within his administration, but it is unclear how that will work in practice. Not only is he creating new positions with authority over key areas, he is filling his West Wing with people of stature equal to or even greater than the members of his cabinet, including two former cabinet officers and a former Senate majority leader.

David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, said issues like health care and energy “are so fundamental to our ability to right the economy in the long term that he knows he’s going to have to drive a lot of that. And he wants a high-powered staff in the White House to help him do that.” Complete coverage here

Bank of America : Cutting up to 36,000 jobs

On thursday, Bank of America said that it plans to cut up to 36,000 jobs over the next 3 years as the financial giant adjusts to a recession and completes the pending acquisition of brokerage firm Merrill Lynch & Co.

This comes as the latest wave of mass layoffs in the troubled financial sector, which has been crippled by the credit crunch and the failure of large institutions such as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc . More than 220,000 jobs already have been lost across the sector this year, according to labor-tracking firm Challenger Gray & Christmas and to reflect the current recessionary environment," the bank said in a statement. The weak economy "is affecting the level of business activity," it added.

Still, the bank said it continues to do business actively with all of its clients and has attracted deposits and new customers. It also stressed that it's still actively offering loans through all of its credit product lines.
Bank of America's reductions represent one of the largest rounds of layoffs in the history of the financial-services industry. Citigroup Inc. said last month that it plans to cut about 50,000 staff.

Challenger Gray said last week that the financial sector cut 91,356 jobs in November, the second-worst month for industry layoffs since September 2001. The news from Bank of America came the same day that the U.S. Labor Department reported that the number of first-time filings for state unemployment benefits jumped by 11% to 573,000 last week -- marking the highest point for jobless claims in 26 years. The number of people collecting unemployment benefits rose by 338,000 to stand at 4.43 million. Full Article Read here