A Piece of Earth

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© 2009 - Ben Heine
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A visual souvenir I brought back from Normandy.
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Come Dream like
a Cloud Above

By Peter S. Quinn

Come dream like a cloud above
Uplifting deep and its sunshine
So much of misty worthy of
In every faraway horizon line
Deep as the river is giving
From its watery stream going
Where every gleam is living
And from both sides flowing

A day that has come from deep
Just to bring you shine things
With hours and moments to keep
That with every enjoyment sings
Rain that comes to drip drop
Making freshness more clear
Giving its flow and its loop
In everything that's now near

Come dream in liking of July
Shift windblown grass like hair
Everyone’s fate there must lie
In completeness of emerging year
Where light touches soft earth
Never a fraction in icily fears
And blossoms of bright is worth
Each of the day ongoing careers

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Africa Africa!
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© 2009 - Ben Heine
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Africa, My Africa

By Ola Joseph Kolawole

Back in the years of the b.c.
When I was but a spirit in the heavenlies
Spying over the happenings on this miraculous planet,
I majored on the study of continents…

I had special interest in this spectacular one
Traced back to Cush, a man of colour
Blessed by Eledua – the Creator of creation
Obviously vast, leading her equals

Her land expanded by the hours –
They called it Ethiopia and the Egyptian empire
She was first in making wonderful inventions
And not lagging behind in linguistics and education

Her map became a riddle for the WISE:

Looking at the map from the west,
I see a gun.
Firing out intellects and academics
Imparting the whole wide world with wisdom.

Looking from the east,
I see a big foot,
Walking around the world
Preaching her precious cultural heritages

>>> read the full poem
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Global Crisis

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© 2008 - Ben Heine

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Global Recession,
Is it Possible?

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By Nextwave.org

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“The world economy is now entering a major downturn in the face of the most dangerous shock in mature financial markets since the 1930s,” claims the International Monetary Fund (imf.org).

It appears that the IMF, the European Union, and World Bank have been quite busy bailing out one country or another. The latest $25 billion financing package for Hungary comes on the heels of two other financing packages distributed as emergency loans to Iceland and the Ukraine. These countries are dealing with their own problems of oversees borrowing and rapid credit growth.

The IMF has a $200 billion loanable fund and other resources from which to draw to stem the fallout from the global financial turmoil. The IMF works by parachuting in when a member country faces extenuating circumstances that threaten its financial stability. A rapid response is needed to contain the damage to the country or the international monetary system. Judging by all the money loaned out so far, there’s indication that some countries are either in a recession or tipping into one. In early October, the world’s central banks administered emergency measures, including a round of coordinated interest rate cuts.

If that weren’t enough, the financial turmoil is already beginning to slow growth in some emerging markets, such as China. When emerging and developing economies are feeling the impact of the global financial crisis, it is an indicator of a major slowdown in the global economy. This, coupled with global growth slowing down sharply, all point to a global recession. The following are some of the factors that can cause crises in emerging countries:

- collapse of export prices
- drastic increase in import prices
- anemic foreign investments and capital flows
- large depreciation or devaluation of the currency of a close trading partner. In this case, the U.S.
- sharp increase in interest rates in world markets

>>> Read the full article

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