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First on the list

Inheriting an economy in peril, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has assembled his economic team and called on Congress to pass an economic stimulus programme. He warned Americans that the road to economic recovery will not be easy, at his first press conference as President-elect after a meeting with some of the country’s top economic experts. He pledged he would act to help those devastated by lost jobs, disappearing savings and homes seized in foreclosure. But the man who promised change in his campaign speeches cautioned against hopes of quick solutions. “It is not going to be easy for us to dig ourselves out of the hole that we are in,” he said. The No. 1 priority, Obama said, was to get Congress to approve an economic stimulus plan that would extend jobless benefits, send food aid to the poor, and spend tens of billions of dollars on public works projects. If the plan was not approved this month, in a special session of Congress, Obama said “it will be the first thing I get done as President.”

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Alive from Afghanistan

Mellissa Fung, a Canadian TV journalist, has been freed in Afghanistan four weeks after being kidnapped in the capital, Kabul. Armed men seized Mellissa on October 12 as she reported from a refugee camp. Fung was freed after tribal elders negotiated for her release. Fung said in a videotaped message that she had been kept blindfolded in a cave where it was difficult to stand. “I’m fine, really, I’m fine. I’m just happy to be here,” she said. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said no ransom had been paid by his government, or anyone else. But he revealed that hundreds of Canadian and Afghan officials had been involved over the past month in efforts to free her, and that he had called Afghan President Hamid Karzai to thank him. “She sounded in remarkably good spirits under the circumstances. She said that she feels OK,” Harper said.

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New king for Bhutan

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck has been crowned Bhutan’s king. In his coronation address, the 28-year-old monarch said, “Our most important goal is the peace and happiness of our people and the security and sovereignty of the nation,” adding that his deepest concern was the loss of Bhutan’s “fundamental values” and character in a changing world. The Buddhist nation opened to tourism only in 1974, the year of the last coronation, when the former king became the world’s youngest monarch at the age of 17. King Khesar is the eldest son of Jigme Singye Wangchuck and Queen Ashi Tshering Yangdon, the third of four wives and queens, all of them sisters.

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No truce again

Sri Lanka’s government rejected the latest Tamil Tiger truce offer out of hand, again demanding the separatist rebels surrender or be destroyed. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam (LTTE) reiterated what they say is a longstanding desire for a truce in the 25-year-old war, one of Asia’s longest insurgencies. The government has called the offer deceitful. Agriculture Minister Maithripala Sirisena repeated President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s stance, which has been in place since the government scrapped a 2002 cease-fire in January after accusing the LTTE of using it to rearm. The government has little incentive to negotiate now, since their military offensive is nearing the LTTE’s headquarters town of Kilinochchi.

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Mama Africa is no more

Legendary South African singer Miriam Makeba died on November 9, after collapsing at a concert in Italy. She was 76. Makeba’s career spanned six decades and helped bring African music to a global audience. She was known as the “Empress of African Song” and “Mama Africa.” An outspoken critic of apartheid, her South African citizenship was revoked by in 1960. For the next 30 years, Makeba considered herself a “citizen of the world” until her citizenship was restored. Makeba lived in exile for 31 years in the U.S., France, Guinea and Belgium. “I never understood why I couldn’t come home,” Ms. Makeba said upon her return. “I never committed any crime.”

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Talks on

New Zealand’s prime minister-elect, 47-year-old John Key, held talks with minor party allies as he bids to form a government within a week to help tackle the fallout of the global economic crisis. Key, who needs support to ensure a parliamentary majority, wants to have a government sworn into office soon so he can attend a key summit in Peru later this month. Key met the centrist United Future party’s sole legislator Peter Dunne to offer him a portfolio outside the cabinet. “I want to work with Peter, he’s got experience, he’s got skills,” Key has said.

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Still deadlocked

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has rejected a compromise plan aimed at breaking the country’s political deadlock. A summit of southern African leaders had told Zimbabwe’s rival parties they should share control of the disputed home affairs ministry. Tsvangirai said, “This issue of co-sharing does not work. There is no agreement to co-sharing, to rotation, to swapping of ministries.” He said his dispute with Mugabe was about more than who controls the home affairs ministry, which has the police force under its command. “It is about giving the responsibility to the party that won an election and has compromised its position to share a government with a party that lost.”

Compiled by SUBAJAYANTHI

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