News: News of 2010-May-17

Loads of things are happening these days...... many bothers me quite a bit, thus my mind isn't very clear these days. I do want some time to clear my thoughts, but the world doesn't serve anyone in particular.

It seems to me that we are, at present, in a time of trouble. Of course, if you are in Hong Kong, you won't feel too troubled, which once again proves that Hong Kong is a city of blessings, but other places around the world aren't looking too good. Here are some of the things that everyone should know:


Volcanic ash from the eruption of Icelandic volcano...

Mega oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:

Gordon Brown's resignation and David Cameron's takeover.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8676336.stm

Bangkok's situation got worse:

Greece takes legal action against US banks for the crisis she is in now:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601010&sid=aDxF1YfeViEc


Hang Seng Index hit 14-week low, hitting the lowest 19594:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-17/hong-kong-s-stock-index-declines-to-14-week-low-foxconn-slumps.html


Nothing seems to be good, and nothing much we can do, or need to do, but being aware of it is helpful enough. Will these happenings affect us greatly? I doubt it. But will these eventually affect us? To a certain extent, yes. This is because we are living in a city that is crucial to the world's economy, and eventually, anything big that is happening will, sooner or later, affect our lives and our living. The more you know about the world, the more you can be prepared for any sudden changes.

What will the changes be? I have no idea, but following the news I posted above, at least I can tell that ...

1. we can't enjoy carefree shopping in Bangkok anytime soon.
2. prices of the products such as rice, mangoes, durians from Bangkok will continue to rise.
3. volcanoes never care how you feel, they erupt whenever they want to.
4. the ash will continue to suffer the airline industry, airlines that mostly fly to Europe will suffer the most.
5. Cameron has a very hot potato on his hands.
6. poor fish, seabirds and corals will continue to die as long as the oil spill has not been completely cleaned up.
7. the value of Euro will continue to fall until X months later, where X is a number.
8. holding more Euro than you will spend in a week is a very bad idea.
9. going to Europe for travelling will get cheaper and cheaper while US dollars remains high.
10. US dollars will stay high as long as the crisis in Europe is still ongoing.
11. if the Euro keeps falling, the Euro zone countries will lose their trust in the currency, and more news about countries wanting to quit the Euro zone will appear.
12. Hong Kong's stock market will continually be affected in a negative way, but ironically, many listed companies will continue to do well, particularly those which are China-based.
13. panic-selling will continue, that people will sell even when stock prices are very cheap.
14. gold price will continue to go up, but when it falls, it could really hurt.
15. it is alright to keep cash now, but not alright when the market stops falling and finally rebounds.

While the world's entire atmosphere seems grey and dull, there was at least one happy piece of news for me, which was Inter Milan's winning double -- Coppa Italia and Serie A.

Article: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=787484&sec=europe&cc=4716
Video: http://www.kyte.tv/ch/soccernet/press-pass-la-liga-serie-a-titles-c/c=339821&s=897524

I watched the entire match and I was on cloud nine to see their win. It has proven that one's hard work does get rewarded. Let's hope Inter Milan will keep going, and I will keep going too!

Vocabulary:
hot potato -- from "drop sb/sth like a hot potato", meaning big trouble.

Resources:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/drop-sb-sth-like-a-hot-potato#drop-sb-sth-like-a-hot-potato__1