Sheikh Manages Sovereign Wealth

Sheikh Hamad Al-Thani manages Qatar's sovereign wealth fund.We are affected by the financial crisis,the sheikh said,but the banking system is still strong;the economy is still strong,thank God.For us in Qatar,our acquisitions are not bad.No doubt there is a tough road.We have two or three quarters to watch it very carefully,the sheikh cautioned.

Nature Note:February Thaw

While January was nine degrees colder than normal,February has so far seemed about nine degrees warmer than normal.That is the way of nature:always balancing things out.With the rising temperatures,bird song volume has markedly increased.When you go out in the morning,you are greeted with quite an avian chorus.By this weekend,however,we will be back to cold conditions,with a possibility of a little snow.We will listen for any change in song with the return of the north wind.

Brown Calls For Unity

Gordon Brown,the British Prime Minister,said that the economic downturn can only be ended by international cooperation.Individual countries can do a great deal to help their own economies,but only global efforts can provide a long term solution,through better regulation and coordinated intervention.The International Monetary Fund and World Bank must play a larger role in crisis prevention and resolution.Only a truly international response of policy and governance can be effective,Mr.Brown stated.If we all coordinate our response,there will be a quicker global,and therefore British,recovery,he maintained.Mr.Brown plans to meet with CEOs of the largest international banks in April to discuss dealing with global financial problems.

Nature Note:Rabbit Tracks

Every morning I've been finding cottontail tracks in the snow.The front feet leave a single,small track,while the rear feet leave separate,larger tracks.Its favorite food,grass,has been covered for some time by a layer of frozen snow.I could walk on the snow without sinking in.It had become porcelain snow from the cycle of thawing and re-freezing overnight.A number of mild days are ahead,which should bring the crocuses up and help the rabbits.

China Creates Stimulus

China has unveiled a 586 billion dollar economic stimulus package.It consists of price breaks,tax cuts and subsidies.China needs exceptional growth just to keep up with its expanding population.The effects of the financial crisis are spreading from small and medium to large enterprises,closing factories across the country.University graduates are finding it difficult to find jobs,and of the 200 million migrant workers who came home for Chinese New Year celebrations,as many as 10 million of them have no jobs to go back to in the big cities.This aspect of the largest human migration in the world is,frankly,worrying to the authorities,who wonder just what these unsettled workers will do now.Small comfort that China has just surpassed Germany,and is now considered the third largest economy in the world,behind the U.S. and Japan.

Nature Note:Soggy Snow

What could have been a pleasant snow turned into a heavy,wet one as a wedge of warm air sliced into the cold,causing freezing rain and plain rain.Nonetheless,the first northern cardinal song was heard yesterday,and house finches were singing this morning,which is one of the first reminders of spring.It can't be called a sign of spring,as that season is two months off,but the birdsong is a presaging of it.Certainly the days are noticeably longer and the tree buds are a little bigger then they were a month ago.

Please Note

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