Hilary Skeels
London, Oct 21
(THE GLOBE)
Over 200 human rights demonstraters assembled outside Buckingham Palace on Tuesday night to protest as the Queen entertained Chinese President Jiang Zumin inside. This followed several smaller incidents during the day, such as the visible presence of �Free Tibet� campaigners during the procession in the Mall in London. One man was arrested after he lept over barriers and tried to fly a Tibetan flag at the Presidents coach. However, the police present attempted to remove any hostile banners or Tibetan flags by citing a bylaw preventing dmonstrations in royal parks. Mingmar Tserlinger, fashion designer and member of the �Free Tibet� foundation, said: �Our banners have been snatched and our flags have been snatched. This shows the British government is not interested in human rights but just in trade.� Also present at the procession was Wei Jingsheng, who has spent more that 18 years in Chinese prisons for lobbying for democracy in China. He was ushered away from the railings after attempting to unfurl a banner on the Queen Victoria Monument. On Mr Jiang�s recent visit to Switzerland, he remarked: �You have lost a good friend,� after pro Tibetan demonstrations marred his state visit.
NEW YORK, Oct 21 (AFP)
A slowdown in US economic momentum could trigger a slump in global financial markets over the next few years, Robert Mundell, winner of the 1999 Nobel Economics Prize, has warned here.
Mundell, in an interview with AFP, also described gold as a sure asset, even though it has been neglected by investors in recent years.
The 66-year-old Columbia University professor, who was honoured by the Nobel committee for his work on monetary unions, said the world economy was currently stable.
But he warned that �somewhere down the line, a year from now, two years maybe, US growth slows and as it slows, the dollar becomes weak and people start looking at the US balance of payments deficit and they start looking at the net US indebtedness position, which is over a trillion dollars.�
Eventually, he said, �they start getting skeptical about US policy and the dollar goes down and as it goes down people start to use that as a signal to get out of dollars.�
�Huge quantities of reserves which are in dollars now ... start shifting into euros and that creates an embarassment for Europe because it would appreciate the euro far beyond what it should be and that will create a new problem for the dollar.
�That I can see as big threat.�
Mundell described gold as a possible anchor for countries that are part of neither the euro nor the dollar zone.
�How gold is going to be used in the future is going to depend upon how the monetary system evolves,� he said.
�It�s inevitable that with the euro we�re moving into a bi-polar world where the two dominant currencies of the world will be the dollar and the euro.
�But there is a certain possibility that you could have a third area out there where it would be appropriate for countries that don�t have direct connections either to the dollar or the euro area.
�It would be very nice in a way if countries had the option to fix their currencies to gold.
�Right now it doesn�t stand much chance because transactions in gold are like commodities transactions and many countries have to pay value-added tax.
�You would have to have a completely free market in gold. It could also be a protection in case the dollar or the euro start to misbehave, if either areas went under an inflation binge. If a war broke out, then these currencies might depreciate and it would be nice if these countries had an option.�
Mundell called gold sales by national central banks over the last five years �idiotic.�
�They were idiotic,� he said, adding that central banks had proven to be poor forecasters of the gold market.
�As the custodian of the nation�s reserves, it was just to me insane for Britain to sell off a small amount of its gold at the lowest price in a long long time,� he said.
�They completely misjudged the market. It was a big mistake.�
Countries that held large gold reserves in 1980, when the price per ounce went up to 850 dollars, had by contrast made a mistake in not selling, according to Mundell.
Gold prices in the last several months fell to 260 dollars an ounce, their lowest levels in 20 years, before climbing back to 340 dollars follow
Akhtar Jamal
Islamabad, Oct 20
(THE GLOBE)
General Pervez Musharraf who overthrew the elected government of Pakistan told his nation by radio and television on October 17 that he would appoint a National Security Council of six people with himself as its head to run the country. He also laid out a seven point agenda to revive the economy.
Mushareraf�s coup has gained a rapid measure of legitimacy not only because of the support of public opinion but last week Saudi Arabia gave the new government a vote of confidence and a highly respected international diplomat, Jamshed Marker was named as a possible member of the Security Council to oversee foreign affairs.
Marker, who has been living with his wife in the state of Florida in the U.S.A. served as Pakistan�s ambassador to the UN and most recently was the UN�s special envoy to Indonesia and East Timor and was largely responsible for the referendum in which East Timorese voted for independence.
While he has suspended the Constitution, Musharraf said he had not put the country under martial law. President Rafiq Tarar has consented to stay on in his post, a decision welcomed by Musharraf.
Musharraf gave a list of justifications for his coup, focused on the deposed governments alleged efforts to dismantle military authority.
The general�s vision of a newly united Pakistan rests on his stated intention of a �devolution of power� from Islamabad to the provinces and local governments. With this devolution of government power, he also said he would consider establishing private radio and television channels, suggesting that state controlled media had not informed the public about the �exploitation of religion.�
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
© 1998 IPA House. All Rights Reserved.