INTERNATIONAL SEPTEMBER 2010

INTERNATIONAL SEPTEMBER 2010

• UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon inaugurated UN summit on Millennium Development Goals. The development of a Global Partnership for Development, GPD was stated in the Millennium Development Goal 8 adopted in 2000.
  Targets: To eradicate poverty by 2015. Stop spreading of AIDS. 
• Gates, founder of Microsoft, was the richest person in the United States for the 17th year in a row with an estimated worth of $ 54 billion, up $ 4 billion from last year.
  No. 2 on the list was investor Warren Buffett, worth $ 45 billion, up $ 5 billion. Oracle founder Larry Ellison's net worth was unchanged, in third place, at $ 27 billion. 
• Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment of former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to head a new U.N. body that will seek to improve the lives of women and girls around the world. The body will be known officially as the U.N. Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, but officials say it will be referred to as U.N. Women (www.unwomen.org). 
• The morning the Census Bureau released the poverty rate for 2009. According to the report, 14.3 percent which means 43.6 million Americans are living in poverty which is the largest number of poor people in the United States in the 51 years that records have been kept. 
• As per the WEF's Global Competitiveness Report 2010-11, released today, Switzerland is No. 1 followed by Singapore in the world in terms of its ability to provide the most competitive environment on several fronts.India has slipped by two places to 51st. The global competitiveness rankings are viewed as a barometer of the business climate in 139 countries and mirror the assessments of leading businessmen on a range of political, social, and economic parameters. 
• The new UN survey clearly showed that India is the second most preferred country for investment for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) after China. The next places go to Brazil and USA.
• World Water Week was started in Stockholm, Sweden as a part of Global Water Summit.