U.S. President George W. Bush called on Congress to quickly approve a $700-billion US plan to bail out financial firms that are coping with billions of dollars in bad debt linked to the collapse of the U.S. housing market. In the meantime, more than $13 billion of American taxpayers money that went for reconstruction projects in Iraq was wasted or stolen through elaborate fraud schemes. Salam Adhoob, a former chief investigator for Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity, told the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, an arm of the Democratic caucus, that many of reconstruction projects that were audited, were not needed, were never built or never existed, except on paper. He said that billions of American tax dollars that paid for these projects are now gone. Salam Adhoob said a report went to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other top Iraqi officials but was never published because "nobody cares" about investigating such cases. Many investigators are afraid to speak out because they fear for their safety. 32 of his co-workers have already been murdered.

The crisis in the U.S. financial sector was the lead issue in Friday night's presidential debate between Republican John McCain and his Democratic rival Barack Obama, with both agreeing that Congress needed to take swift action. In the meantime, the main obstacle to approve the bailout comes from a group of conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives whose constituents don't like the idea of giving away taxpayers money to save financial firms from their own folly. While the financial debate continues in Washington, many global financial firms are also in danger of collapsing since the world's largest banks and brokerages have suffered a collective loss of money on loan losses and reserves set aside for bad loans. Those losses have so severely depleted the treasuries of major banks in Europe, which has caused this global melt-down of the economy through their actions, that they had to secure injections of capital from the Middle East and Asia. The global financial system is presently laid up in sick bay, and there's no confident prognosis as to when recovery can be expected.

Well, here is some pleasant news for a change, at least for Quebeckers. Starting next week, they will be able to drive around the province of Quebec in low-speed electric cars. The province of Quebec will allow the Zenn's low-speed vehicles onto its roads on a three-year trial basis. British Columbia had been the first provience in all of Canada to allow low-speed electric cars on its streets and roads. The Zenn Motor's electric cars are a two-seater that tops out at 40 kilometres-per-hour and can travel as far as 80 kilometres on a charge. After that, the car has to be plugged into a conventional electrical outlet for eight hours. The cars are put together in St-Jérôme, Que., and a basic model retails for around $16,000. Plans are in the works for a four-seater that can hit speeds as high as 125-km/h over a greater distance. Quebec is the first jurisdiction in Eastern Canada to allow these low-speed electric vehicles to mingle with regular traffic, which is good enough for commuting around in large cities and towns or go on short runs between towns. People will only be able to use these cars for two months this year in Quebec, before the cold weather set's in. I do not know if these cars are equipped with heaters to enable people to use these cars all year round. In the meantime, our "Liberal" leader, Premier Dalton McGuinty is still studying the matter about letting these low-speed electric vehicles on our Ontario roads. Personally, I find it strange that electric bikes and scooters are being driven on our Ontario roads and are not a problem as they mingle with regular traffic. So why should the Zenn's low-speed electric vehicles be any different?

Environment Canada had issued special weather warnings on Friday for New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island as the storm tracked northward at about 28 kilometres an hour. They are being warned to brace for a wet and windy weekend as tropical storm Kyle gains strength and moves slowly north. Kyle's maximum sustained winds was pegged at about 95 km/h in the Atlantic Ocean. Tropical storm Kyle is about 605 kilometres southwest of Bermuda, and will be heading towards the Canadian maritime proveniences by the weekend.

Sept. 29th. 2008; After having nice warm weather during the past few days, we are now getting some cool weather in the morning (4°C) which rise to around 10°C by afternoon. I read in the news that an Afghan police official said Sunday that a U.S. led coalition airstrike in eastern province of Kunar, had killed three civilians. Apparently they were targeting a suicide bomb cell but it turned out that there were no militants there. Taliban insurgents had killed Gen. Abdul Jalal Jalal, who was a woman in charge of female police officers. Elsewhere, Islamic militants struck back at security forces in Pakistan. Gunmen abducted a Polish engineer in their extended wave of attacks on foreigners. The recent truck bombing of Islamabad's Marriott Hotel has heightened concern about the stability of nuclear-armed Pakistan. The country is caught between the need to tackle rising Islamic militancy and the unpopularity of its alliance with the U.S.A.

Two Canadian soldiers had been wounded by shrapnel from grenades, after Taliban insurgents attacked a combat outpost in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan. It is an area that has long bedevilled NATO forces. One soldier is in serious but stable condition and the other has been released from medical care. Col. Jamie Cade says the attack began Saturday afternoon with small arms fire and progressed to rocket-propelled grendades.

Chinese celebrated their country's first spacewalk. The spacewalk was mainly aimed at testing China's mastery of the technology. Mission commander Zhai Zhigang's sole task was to retrieve a rack attached to the outside of the orbital module containing an experiment involving solid lubricants. Gathering at outdoor TV screens to cheer live video of the milestone for a program that has ambitions of building a space station and challenging the U.S. and Russia in offworld exploration. Stoking national pride one month after the close of the Beijing Olympics, state television's coverage reflected much of the glory onto president and Communist party leader Hu Jintao, who was present at Thursday's launch and watched the spacewalk at Beijing's ground control centre. "Your success represents a new breakthrough in our manned space program. The motherland and the people thank you," said Hu, who is chairman of the powerful Communist party and government military committees that oversee the space program.

U.S. President George Bush will urge the U.S. Congressional leaders this morning to sign off on a $700-billion bailout plan to rescue the nation's financial sector from the weight of bad mortgage debt. The White House-proposed deal would allow the federal government to buy up those bad loans from these struggling lenders, once again giving them the ability to offer other loans, stimulating the economy and helping head off a recession. Congress will have to vote on the deal on Monday, while the U.S. Senate will vote later in the week. Bush warned the plan must pass, or else without this rescue plan, the costs to the American economy could be disastrous, especially for these financial institutions. One of the main concerns over the bailout is that it will trigger inflation, which would cause mortgage rates to rise skyward as investments are directed towards commodities. Bush really needs to help his "Buddies" in their time of destress. After all, he owns them that much.

Dion and the Liberals accused the Tories of engaging in misleading campaign tactics. During a question-and-answer period at the Liberal rally, Dion dismissed suggestions that a resurgent NDP could overtake the Liberals in the coming election. "The NDP is not in the race to be a government. We all know that. The NDP is offering the "moon" but has no way to pay for the new spending that party leader Jack Layton is promising. The NDP proposals will increase corporate taxes and hurt businesses", Dion said. Look who is talking! Given that our Ontario "Liberal" leader, Premier Dalton McGuinty has had two terms in office, and in all that time, he has refused to let pollution free electric cars on our Ontario streets and roads. We can see that the so-called Liberal "green" shift plan or program is nothing but an illusion, a delusion.

News has come this afternoon that members of the U.S. House of Representatives have rejected a massive US $700-billion bailout for the struggling U.S. financial sector. 228 members voted against the bill, compared to 205 who supported the bailout plan. Most of the "No" votes came from Republicans. Stocks on Wall Street and in Toronto plummeted immediately after the vote. The House then moved onto other business. Bush is hoping that the reaction on Wall Street will scare people and induce the House to support his bailout plan. Canadians hear a lot about the term "subprime" mortgage lending. It isn't well known in Canada because most of our mortgage lending is "prime," or conventional. "Subprime" refers to the risk associated with a borrower, not to the interest rate being charged on the mortgage. Typically subprime mortgages are offered at interest rates above prime, to customers with below-average credit ratings or people with a proven record of not paying their debts on time or to anyone who would have trouble getting a mortgage from a conventional lender such as a major bank. These finincial institutions inticed such people to get mortgage loans even though they knew full well it was a very bad risk. Now Bush wants the American taxpayers to take on the bad debts so that these finincial institutions can start over again, so that they can continue to offer loans, which might stimulate the economy and help head off a recession. Frankly, after this fiasco, it will take a lot more to stimulate the economy just by Bush's bailout plan. This is a wake-up call for Americans. Those days of freely spending money like there is no end to it has come to an abrupt halt. Americans are now going to be spending a whole lot less money and make do with what they got, and are going hang onto every cent they get.

In an attempt to appease Quebeckers, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper announced that he would provide a $150-million tax credit to help get kids get involved in the arts. The tax credit would be designed to help defray the costs for parents who want to enroll their kids in arts programs that could inspire them to pursue a career in the field. The tax credit will apply on up to $500 to cover the fees for children under 16 who participate in eligible arts activities. This tax cut will encourage and make it easier for parents to give their children the benefits of activities such as music classes, drama or arts classes, and at the same time, parents will save money on their taxes. In the meantime, the Liberals stepped up their attacks against the Conservatives, stating that Stephen Harper would lead the country into an "economic crisis" if he returns to government.

As to hurricane Kyle, it came ashore north of Yarmouth, N.S., as a Category 1. hurricane. That is where hurricane Kyle had did the most damage. As hurricane Kyle worked its way east, it quickly weakened into a tropical storm. When tropical storm Kyle hit Saint John, New Brunswick, it was still packing some pretty heavy winds and lots of rain but spared most of the Maritime residents from widespread damage as some forecasters thought it would be.

The UN reported that escalating violence in Pakistan's lawless tribal border regions has forced thousands to flee to eastern Afghanistan. It is reported that 20,000 Pakistani refugees have fled the northern tribal region of Bajur to Afghanistan's Kunar province to avoid increased fighting. Tens of thousands of civilians are also believed to have fled to other parts of Pakistan as a result of the two-month-old offensive. Pakistan's military is carrying out an offensive in Bajur, a region mostly controlled by Islamic militants opposed to the Afghan and Pakistani governments. The UN's refugee agency said most of them are expected to return home after the fighting ceases.

Typhoon Jangmi was downgraded to a tropical storm as it headed toward eastern China after lashing Taiwan with torrential rains and powerful winds which killed two people and injured more than 30. It was the fourth and most powerful typhoon to hit Taiwan this year.

British chocolate maker Cadbury, is the latest foreign company affected by China's tainted milk scandal. The company ordered a recall of its Chinese-made products on Monday, saying that tests have "cast doubt" on their safety. Cadbury has recalled 11 chocolate products made at its factory in the Chinese capital Beijing, which are distributed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia. Others companies that make biscuits, cake mix, energy bars, anything that should have protein in it are having to review processes and public relation campaigns. Last week, Kraft Foods Inc. found itself caught up in the scandal after Internet and phone text rumours began circulating that their Oreos may be contaminated with melamine. Kraft hastened to reassure customers that none of its Oreo-brand products contain milk powder from China. That all their milk powder comes from Australia. Tokyo-headquartered Lotte Group, a major snack maker, got caught up in the storm Friday after its popular chocolate-filled Koala cookies were recalled in Hong Kong and Macau because of melamine contamination. Four deaths have been blamed on the bad milk, and some 54,000 children have developed kidney stones or other illnesses after drinking the contaminated baby formula. I wonder if our Canadian authorities are checking products in Chinese stores and Chinese food section in supermarkets that may have the contaminated milk product in them? After all, a lot of food products come from China and find its way on Canadian store shelves.