November 1, 2011 (Vietnamica) — Nguyen Ngoc Anh and his classmate Pham Duy Linh from Can Tho University have invented a system that uses sunlight to desalinate water, and successfully tested it in a house in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre (TPO, Sep. 22).
November 1, 2011 (Vietnamica) — Greek Prime Minister George A. Papandreou announced that he will seek a referendum on a new EU rescue package for Greece, potentially jeopardizing a fragile agreement (NYT) that includes substantial contributions from fellow eurozone states and private creditors.
October 31, 2011 (Vietnamica) — U.S. dollar gold bullion prices on the spot market dropped sharply to $1708 an ounce Monday morning – a 2.2% fall from Friday’s close – while stocks and commodities also fell and the US Dollar gained following Japan’s intervention aimed at weakening the Yen.
October 28, 2011 (Vietnamica) — The head of the European Financial Stability Facility, Klaus Regling, met with Chinese leaders to discuss potential Chinese investment in the eurozone’s temporary bailout mechanism. The move followed a landmark deal by European leaders to tackle the eurozone sovereign debt crisis by leveraging the EFSF to $1.4 trillion. China may offer $100 billion (BBC) to the fund.
October 28, 2011 (Vietnamica) — Spot market gold prices touched a one-month high of $1752 an ounce during Asian trading on Friday – a 7.9% gain from the start of October – before falling back by lunchtime in London.
October 28, 2011 (Vietnamica) – The world has endured these sorts of crises before .Somehow they come to an end. What happens? Sometimes, someone turns up who can prop up the collapsing debt mountain, and they make it grow higher, for a little bit longer. For a short while they are even called brilliant, but they leave a bigger problem than they started with. Eventually the thing comes crashing down and the creditors pay – always.
