Sunday, July 21, 2013

DTN News - FINANCIAL CRISIS: Bankrupt Detroit Cannot Wait For Federal Cavalry-City Manager

DTN News - FINANCIAL CRISIS: Bankrupt Detroit Cannot Wait For Federal Cavalry-City Manager
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 21, 2013: Detroit must dig itself out of the hole it created and cannot wait to see if the federal government will come to its rescue, the city's emergency manager said on Sunday.

Kevyn Orr, charged with guiding the collapsed Motor City out of the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, said any outside assistance would be "great" but he is not banking on it.

"Hope is not a strategy from my perspective. I can't plan on the basis of what may or may not happen or what help may or may not come," Orr said on "Fox News Sunday."

"We are not expecting the cavalry to come charging in," he said. "We have to fix it because we dug the hole."

Detroit filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, setting the stage for a costly court battle with creditors and opening a new chapter in the long struggle to revive the cradle of America's auto industry.

If approved by a federal judge, the bankruptcy would force Detroit's thousands of creditors into negotiations with Orr to resolve an estimated $18.5 billion in debt.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said he was talking to officials in Washington about what they could do to help.

"I'm not sure exactly what to ask for. I mean, money is going (to) help, no doubt about that, but how much?" Bing said on ABC's "This Week."

The mayor has had no executive authority since Orr's appointment as emergency manager in March.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder told CBS' "Face the Nation" the city's problems had been 60 years in the making and he saw no prospect of a federal or state bailout.

Detroit has been hit hard by the move away from industrial manufacturing in America since the 1950s, its problems compounded by chronic mismanagement and a dwindling population. Retirees now far outnumber active workers among the city's 700,000 residents, and unfunded pension liabilities are a key source of its problems.

After the economic collapse of 2008, Washington injected billions of dollars into automakers General Motors Co and Chrysler as the first step of a quick bankruptcy process. But the federal government made no promises this time.

Vice President Joe Biden said on Friday said it was unclear whether Washington could help.

Steven Rattner, who led the auto industry restructuring in 2009, said it would be a mistake for Michigan and the federal government not to provide funds for the city.

"America is just as much about aiding those less fortunate as it is about personal responsibility. Government does this in so many ways; why shouldn't it help Detroit rebuild itself?" Rattner wrote in an opinion piece Friday in The New York Times.

The bankruptcy led investors to dump the city's municipal bonds on Friday but Orr deflected criticism that it will be hard for investors to lend the city money again.

"The reality is, they are going to look at the credit rating of a rehabilitated city. And if that city is capable, they're going to make rational decisions because they are financial institutions," Orr said on the Fox program.

"After some time, after this little kerfuffle, we'll be back in business."

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
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*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - CHINA'S AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR WITH ITS NEIGHBORS OVER TERRITORIAL DISPUTES: 50 Chinese Soldiers on Horses And Ponies Intrude Indian Territory

DTN News - CHINA'S AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR WITH ITS NEIGHBORS OVER TERRITORIAL DISPUTES: 50 Chinese Soldiers on Horses And Ponies Intrude Indian Territory
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Times of India
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 21, 2013: Riding on horses and ponies, around 50 Chinese soldiers intruded into the Indian territory of Chumar in Ladakh on July 16 staking their claim over the area. 

The Chinese troops started their incursion in the Chumar area on the evening of July 16 and they remained in the Indian area till the morning of July 17, sources said. 

Army sources confirmed the incursion saying that Indian troops had intercepted the PLA patrol in the Chumar area and after the usual banner drill between the two sides, the PLA patrol went back into their territory. 

Sources said the intruding Chinese soldiers asked the Indian soldiers to vacate the area claiming that they were standing in Chinese territory. 

The incursion by Chinese land forces comes soon after its two helicopters violated Indian air space on July 11 in the Chumar sector. 

In the same area, PLA troops had intruded and taken away an Indian surveillance camera on June 17. 

The latest incursion took place on the day when India gave approval to the creation of a 50,000-strong Mountain Strike Corps along the border with China. 

The frequency of such incidents increased around the time Defence Minister A K Antony went to China earlier this month and the two countries discussed measures to enhance peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control between them. 

Chumar, located 300km from Leh, has always been an area of discomfort for the Chinese troops as this is the only area along the China-India border where they do not have any direct access to the LAC. 

India and China have been working towards signing a border pact to maintain peace and tranquillity along the LAC where a number of incursion incidents have been observed in recent months. 

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Times of India
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*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - BELGIUM NEWS: King Albert II of Belgium Abdicates To Make Way For Philippe

DTN News - BELGIUM NEWS: King Albert II of Belgium Abdicates To Make Way For Philippe
Source: DTN News 
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 21, 2013: (BRUSSELS) -- Belgium's King Albert II has abdicated to make way for his son Philippe. The monarch spoke with a message of support for his heir and pleaded for unity in the linguistically and politically divided country.




Albert II signed the act of abdication at the royal palace after a 20-year reign.

His eldest son and crown prince Philippe will take the oath as the nation's new king later Sunday.

Albert II announced his abdication decision on July 3, citing "age and health" as the reasons for not continuing to carry out his duties. Albert II was sworn in as Belgium's sixth king in 1993, succeeding his brother Baudouin who died at the age of 62, and has become the first Belgian king to voluntarily step down.

Philippe, 53, is a fighter pilot and parachutist with degrees from the world's top universities.

King Albert II  ~ Related News;
Albert II (born 6 June 1934) reigned as King of the Belgians, following his elder brother's death, from 1993 until his abdication in 2013. He is a member of the royal house "of Belgium"; formerly this house was named Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He is the uncle of the current reigning Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Henri.

On 3 July 2013, King Albert II attended a midday session of the Belgian cabinet. He then announced that on 21 July, he would abdicate the throne for health reasons. He will be succeeded by his son, Prince Philippe of Belgium. He will be the third European monarch to abdicate in 2013, following Pope Benedict XVI and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.[1] In doing so, he will also be the second Belgian king to abdicate following his father, King Leopold III, who abdicated in 1951, albeit under very different circumstances.

Albert is the second son of Leopold III (1901–1983) and his first wife, Astrid of Sweden (1905–1935). He ascended to the throne in 1993, following the death of his older brother, King Baudouin, who died without issue. His godparents were Felix of Bourbon-Parma and his paternal grandmother, Elisabeth of Bavaria. He is the first cousin of King Harald V, Princess Astrid, and Princess Ragnhild of Norway.

Prince Albert was born in Stuyvenberg Castle, Brussels. On 10 May 1940, at the time when Belgium was being invaded, Prince Albert, his elder sister Princess Joséphine-Charlotte and his elder brother Prince Baudouin, left the country for France and later Spain. The Prince and the Princess returned to Belgium on 2 August 1940. They continued their studies until 1944, either at Laeken, or at the Chateau of Ciergnon in the Ardennes. In June 1944, at the time of the Allied landings, King Leopold III, Princess Lilian – whom he married in 1941 – and the royal children were deported by the Germans to Hirschstein, Germany, and later to Strobl, Austria, where they were liberated by the American Army on 7 May 1945. Due to the political situation in Belgium, King Leopold and his family moved to the villa "Le Reposoir" in Pregny, Switzerland, when they left Austria in October 1945 and stayed until July 1950. During that time, Prince Albert would continue his education in a secondary school in Geneva. King Leopold III, accompanied by Prince Baudouin and Prince Albert, returned to Belgium on 22 July 1950.

In 1958, Prince Albert of Liege went to the Vatican to witness the coronation of Pope John XXIII. At a reception at the Belgian embassy, the prince met Italian Princess Paola Ruffo di Calabria. “We were both shy, so we only talked a little,” Paola said later about their first meeting. Shy but smitten, Prince Albert proposed marriage to Paola, and she accepted. Two months after their meeting, the Prince introduced his future wife to his family, and four months later to the press. Upon arriving in Brussels for the first time before her wedding, Princess Paola won over the Belgian media immediately.

They wanted a marriage at the Vatican at first, a setting promoted by both families, but the Belgian government did not approve of that. They did not want to keep a fairy tale wedding from the people of Belgium, who finally had an opportunity for organizing celebrations for their royal family. The Pope, after some diplomatic pressure, refused them a marriage at the Vatican, saying he would understand if the couple would want to get married amidst their people.

King Albert II and Queen Paola with US President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush at the Royal Palace in Brussels in 2005.

On 2 July 1959 he married Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria (born 11 September 1937) in Brussels. She is the daughter of Fulco VIII, Prince Ruffo di Calabria, 6th Duke of Guardia Lombarda and his wife, Countess Luisa Gazelli di Rossana e di Sebastiano (1896–1989). Together they have three children, two sons and a daughter.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith - DTN News
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*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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