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What are the 2010 G20 Nations?

9:41am 9:41 am / Leave a Comment /

Member countries and organizations

In 2010, there are 20 members of the G-20. These include, at the leaders summits, the leaders of 19 countries and of the European Union and, at the ministerial-level meetings, the finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries and of the European Union :[2][6]

Region Member Leader Finance Minister Central Bank Governor GDP (nominal·PPP)
$Million USD		 Population
Africa South Africa President Jacob Zuma Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan Gill Marcus 287,219 492,684 49,320,500
North
America		 Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty Mark Carney 1,336,427 1,281,064 34,088,000
Mexico President Felipe Calderón Secretary of Finance Ernesto Cordero Arroyo Agustín Carstens 874,903 1,465,726 111,211,789
United States President Barack Obama Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner Ben Bernanke 14,256,275 14,256,275 309,173,000
South
America		 Argentina President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Minister of Economy Amado Boudou Mercedes Marcó del Pont 310,065 584,392 40,134,425
Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Minister of Finance Guido Mantega Henrique Meirelles 1,574,039 2,013,186 192,859,000
East Asia China President Hu Jintao Minister of Finance Xie Xuren Zhou Xiaochuan 4,326,187 7,903,235 1,338,612,968
Japan Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama Minister of Finance Naoto Kan Masaaki Shirakawa 5,068,059 4,159,432 127,390,000
South Korea President Lee Myung-bak Minister of Strategy
and Finance		 Yoon Jeung-hyun Kim Joong-soo 832,512 1,364,148 50,060,000
South Asia India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Minister of Finance Pranab Mukherjee Duvvuri Subbarao 1,235,975 3,526,124 1,180,251,000
Southeast
Asia		 Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Minister of Finance Agus Martowardojo Darmin Nasution 539,337 962,471 231,369,500
Southwest
Asia		 Saudi Arabia King Abdullah I Minister of Finance Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf Muhammed Al-jasser 369,671 593,385 25,721,000
Europe European Union E. Council President[7]

Commission President[7]

 Herman Van Rompuy

José Manuel Barroso

 Commissioner for Economic
and Monetary Affairs		 Olli Rehn Jean-Claude Trichet 16,447,259 14,793,979 501,259,840
France President Nicolas Sarkozy Minister of the Economy,
Industry and Employment		 Christine Lagarde Christian Noyer 2,675,951 2,108,228 65,447,374
Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble Axel A. Weber 3,352,742 2,806,226 81,757,600
Italy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi Minister of Economy
and Finance		 Giulio Tremonti Mario Draghi 2,118,264 1,740,123 60,325,805
Russia President Dmitry Medvedev Minister of Finance Alexei Leonidovich Kudrin Sergey Mikhaylovich Ignatyev 1,229,227 2,109,551 141,927,297
Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Minister of Finance Mehmet Şimşek Durmuş Yılmaz 615,329 880,061 72,561,312
United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne Mervyn King 2,183,607 2,139,400 62,041,708
Oceania Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Treasurer Wayne Swan Glenn Stevens 997,201 851,170 22,328,632

In addition to these 20 members, the following forums and institutions, as represented by their respective chief executive officers, participate in meetings of the G-20:[2]

Membership does not reflect exactly the 19 largest national economies of the world in any given year. The organization states:[1]

“ In a forum such as the G-20, it is particularly important for the number of countries involved to be restricted and fixed to ensure the effectiveness and continuity of its activity. There are no formal criteria for G-20 membership and the composition of the group has remained unchanged since it was established. In view of the objectives of the G-20, it was considered important that countries and regions of systemic significance for the international financial system be included. Aspects such as geographical balance and population representation also played a major part.
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G20 2010 Canada Toronto Why one Billion Dollars?

6:59am 6:59 am / Leave a Comment /

Could they use teleconferencing? What a waste of money. There are so many more ways to spend the money.

If you need to spend that much on security, then cancel the meeting.

Why not meet in Yellowknife?

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G20 Is It Worth It ? Toronto One Billion Dollars Seems Incredible

6:53am 6:53 am / Leave a Comment /

The G8 and G20 summits being held here next month will cost Canada a record $1.1 billion – the most expensive 72 hours in the country’s history.

With these summits become a magnet for anti-globalization protesters, Canada is spending as much as $933 million to provide security for the two summits which together will last three days.

Another $160 million will be spent on logistics and stay arrangements for the world leaders. Food alone for summit leaders will cost more than $1 million.

While the G8 summits will be held June 25-26 at the resort of Huntsville which is more than 200 kilometres from Toronto, the G20 summit will be held in the city June 26-27.

A number of groups, including Amnesty International, Greenpeace, World Vision, and the Canadian Labour Congress and others, are already gearing up to throw the G20 summit out of gear.

In the biggest security operations ever mounted in Canada, security and intelligence agencies are already questioning protest leaders.

Since it lies next door to the venue of the summit in the heart of Toronto, the University of Toronto – the biggest in the country – is shutting down, rescheduling exams and getting hostels vacated during the summit.

While critics have called the summits the most expensive 72 hours in Canadian history, the government says it is not going to compromise on security for world leaders.

Justifying the huge cost, Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Wednesday that Canada has an obligation to safeguard world leaders during their stay in the country.

With pitched battles between security forces and protesters on the cards, Toronto hospital officials also said Wednesday that they are making arrangements to deal with emergencies and high volume of injured patients.

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Football Soccer 2010 – Are You Ready ?[ All 32 Nations ]

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ITV World Cup Promo 2010

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The Old Phone -Information – Emotional Story

7:30am 7:30 am / Leave a Comment /

THE OLD PHONE
When I was quite young, my father had one of the first telephones in our neighborhood. I remember the polished, old case fastened to the wall. The shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. I was too little to reach the telephone, but used to listen with fascination when my mother talked to it.

Then I discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful device lived an amazing person. Her name was ‘Information Please’ and there was nothing she did not know. Information Please could supply anyone’s number and the correct time.

My personal experience with the genie-in-a-bottle came one day while my Mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing myself at the tool bench in the basement, I whacked my finger with a hammer, the pain was terrible, but there seemed no point in crying because there was no one home to give sympathy.

I walked around the house sucking my thro bbing finger, finally arriving at the stairway. The telephone! Quickly, I ran for the footstool in the Parlor and dragged it to the landing climbing up; I unhooked the receiver in the parlor and held it to my ear.
‘Information, please,’ I said into the mouthpiece just above my head. A click or two and a small clear voice spoke into my ear.

‘Information.’

‘I hurt my finger,’ I wailed into the phone, the tears came readily enough now that I had an audience.

‘Isn’t your mother home?’ came the question.

‘Nobody’s home but me,’ I blubbered.

‘Are you bleeding?’ the voice asked.

‘No,’ I replied. ‘I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts.’
‘Can you open the icebox?’ she asked.

I said I could.

‘Then chip off a little bit of ice and hold it to your finger,’ said the voice.

After that, I called ‘Information Please’ for everything. I asked her for help with my geography, and she told me where  Philadelphia  was. She helped me with my math. She told me my pet chipmunk that I had caught in the park just the day before, would eat fruit and nuts.

Then, there was the time Petey, our pet canary, died. I called, ‘Information Please,’ and told her the sad story. She listened, and then said things grown-ups say to soothe a child. But I was not consoled. I asked her, ‘Why is it that birds should sing so beautifully and bring Joy to all families, only to end up as a heap of feathers on the bottom of a cage?’

She must have sensed my deep concern, for she said quietly, ‘  Wayne , always remember that there are other worlds to sing in.’

Somehow I felt better.

Another day I was on the telephone, ‘Information Please.’
‘Information,’ said in the now familiar voice.
‘How do I spell fix?’ I asked.

All this took place in a small town in thePacific Northwest. When I was nine years old, we moved across the country to  Boston . I missed my friend very much. ‘Information Please’ belonged in that old wooden box back home and I somehow never thought of trying the shiny new phone that sat on the table in the hall. As I grew into my teens, the memories of those childhood conversations never really left me.

Often, in moments of doubt and perplexity I would recall the serene sense of security I had then. I appreciated now how patient, understanding, and kind she was to have spent her time on a little boy.

A few years later, on my way west to college, my plane put down in  Seattle  I had about a ha lf-hour or so between planes. I spent 15 minutes or so on the phone with my sister, who lived there now. Then without thinking what I was doing, I dialed my hometown Operator and said, ‘Information Please.’

Miraculously, I heard the small, clear voice I knew so well. ‘Information.’

I hadn’t planned this, but I heard myself saying, ‘Could you please tell me how to spell fix?’

There was a long pause. Then came the soft spoken answer, ‘I guess your finger must have healed by now.’

I laughed, ‘So it’s really you,’ I said. ‘I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during that time?’

‘I wonder,’ she said, ‘if you know how much your call meant to me. I never had any children and I used to look forward to your calls.’

I told her how often I had thought of her over the years and I asked if I could call her again when I came back to visit my sister.

‘Please do,’ she said. ‘Just ask for Sally.’

Three months later I was back in  Seattle  a different voice answered:  Information.’ I asked for Sally.

‘Are you a friend?’ she said.

‘Yes, a very old friend,’ I answered.

‘I’m sorry to have to tell you this,’ she said. ‘Sally had been working part-time the last few years because she was sick. She died five weeks ago.’

Before I could hang up she said, ‘Wait a minute, did you say your name was  Wayne ?’
‘Yes.’ I answered.

‘Well, Sally left a message for you. She wrote it down in case you called. Let me read it to you.’ The note said, ‘Tell him there are other worlds to sing in. He’ll know what I mean.’

I thanked her and hung up. I knew what Sally meant.

Never underestimate the impression you may make on others.

Whose life have you touched today?

Why not pass this on? I just did….

Lifting you on eagle’s wings. May you find the joy and peace you long for.

Life is a journey . NOT a guided tour. So don’t miss the ride and have a great time going around.  You don’t get a second shot at it.

I loved this story and just had to pass it on. I hope you enjoy it and get a blessing from it just as I did.

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Real Mothers -Mommy to Mom to Mother

7:23am 7:23 am / Leave a Comment /

MOTHERS

Real Mothers don’t eat quiche;
They don’t have time to make it.

Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils
Are probably in the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors,
Filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough
Doesn’t come out of carpets.

Real Mothers don’t want to know what
The vacuum just sucked up…

Real Mothers sometimes ask ‘Why me?’
And get their answer when a little
Voice says, ‘Because I love you best.’

Real Mothers know that a child’s growth
Is not measured by height or years or grade…
It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother…..

The Images of Mother

4 YEARS OF AGE – My Mommy can do anything!

8 YEARS OF AGE – My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!

12 YEARS OF AGE – My Mother doesn’t know everything!

14 YEARS OF AGE – My Mother? She wouldn’t have a clue.
.
16 YEARS OF AGE – Mother? She’s so five minutes ago.

18 YEARS OF AGE – That old woman? She’s way out of date!

25 YEARS OF AGE – Well, she might know a little bit about it!

35 YEARS OF AGE – Before we decide, let’s get Mom’s opinion.

45 YEARS OF AGE – Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?

65 YEARS OF AGE – Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,
Because that is the doorway to her heart,
The place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,
But true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.
It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she
Shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

Please send this to 5 Moms today.

If you don’t, nothing bad will happen,
But if you do, something good will:
You’ll boost a Mother’s spirits.

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Switzerland – 32 Teams, 1 Dream

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Nigeria – 32 Teams, 1 Dream Kanu

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Chile: 32 Teams, 1 Dream

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ESPN  One Game Changes Everything

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