Names of the Week
- November 8th, 2011
- Posted by EUEditor
Plusses and minuses:
Julia Gillard (picture, left) back in Canberra welcomed the passage of her government’s climate change legislation, having just got back from the G20, and seeing the soldiers in Afghanistan …
Other Prime Ministers not managing quite so well: George Papandreou, in Greece, contemplates life out of office after agreeing to step down, and Silvio Berlusconi. In Italy, continues his rear-guard action against growing numbers who want him out …
Carlos the jackal, aka Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, terrorist and said one-time beneficiary of the late Muamar al-Gaddafi, faced court on fresh charges in Paris …
… while much more innocuously, Casey Stoner, Australian motorbike rider, savoured a difficult victory in the Valencia MotoGT event, underlining his supremacy as outright champion for the series. … Read More »
Heads of government of the twenty largest economies -G20 - got to business, looking at ways to strengthen the world system, at their meeting in Cannes.
Barracking from the sidelines as the European Union, and the Eurozone group within it, grapple for a crisis solution on the Euro and bad debt, could be heard this week all the way from Australia; and from even further away, in terms of mentality – from certain back-benches in the House of Commons. 
The Australian government has taken over ownership of a former British amphibious warfare ship, Largs Bay, as first replacement for the flotilla of support vessels now passing out of service.
Which weekend gatherings would matter most: those like the G20 Finance Ministers at Paris, again discussing the Eurozone; or the tens of thousands demonstrating over gross failings in global finances? 
After the evident panic on global stock markets during the last week, Finance Ministers from the G20 leading economies, together with the IMF on the weekend in Washington, talked about moves towards economic stabilisation.
Samantha Stosur, unblessed so far in European Grand Slam events, has won the US Open Tennis in New York (11.9.11), defeating Serena Williams in straight sets.