LyrArc Article Gist
Iranian president Ahmadinejad's populist agenda covers- 1. Social goals: A $4 billion national school renovation program. Raised salaries for workers in Iran's government run companies and raised minimum wage 50%. Has plans to give shares in government controlled companies to the poor and working classes. Iran subsidizes basic staples and gasoline. These subsidies existed before Ahmadinejad. Gasoline costs 40 cents a gallon. Against these social goals are committments by Iran as part of its plan to join the WTO, which includes limiting the subsidy on gasoline to only a certain number of gallons per user. 2. Economic costs of the programs. Dipping into the Oil Stabilization Fund to finance subsidies. Iran imports about half of its gasoline as it lacks enough oil refineries to supply itself. This means as gasoline prices go up Iran has to dip into the stabilization fund to finance subsidies. Inflation is running at 15%. Will oil spending fuel inflation further is a looming question. In 2005 $7.7 billion was taken out of the Oil Stabilization Fund to fund subsidies for wheat, gasoline and other items. 3. Ahmadinejad's election promise was "to put the oil revenue on the dinner table of every Iranian." 4. After the runup in oil prices Iran now generates $49 billion from oil and natural gas. This is twice the amount compared to four years ago....

LyrArc Article Gist
Friedman quotes the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on the intransigence of both the Palestinians under Abbas and Israelis under Likud leader Netanyahu. The Haaretz account of the currrent state of Israeli-Palestinian relations said the situation was close to where it was at the turn of the century, when it was considered a goal just to have Palestinians and Israelis sit down and talk to each other. Friedman suggests Netanyahu offer a 6 month freeze on new settlements as a way to get the Palestinians to negotiate a new peace; saying it costs Israel little as there are already 300,000 new settlers, and the prospects for a settlement make this worthwhile. He also recounts the fears of both sides. The Palestinian side sees the new settlements as sending the message that Israel wants two states, one in the pre-1967 borders and the other in the post-1967 borders, both belonging to Israel. The Israelis fear the Palestinian's covet some of the land that is now inside Israel, but was once part of the old Palestine; and have never reconciled to the co-existence of a Jewish state alongside a Palestinian state, or a Jewish people's co-existence alongside a Palestinian people....

LyrArc Article Gist
Andres Lopez Obrador is the presidential candidate of the Party of the Democratic Revolution or P.R.D. in the 2012 presidential elections in Mexico. The current president Felipe Calderon, won the 2006 elections by half a percentage point over Lopez Obrador.

LyrArc Article Gist
Nigeria's Excess Crude Account is down to $5 billion from a 2007 balance in the account of $20 billion, according to Mr Aganga, the Minster of Finance. About $27.5 billion has been spent from that account to cushion the impact of the global financial crisis. But this amount of spending also fuels corruption and misallocation of resources. The Revenue Watch Institute, which focusses on financial transparency in government says this drawdown leaves not enough money in the account to meet a new shock in oil prices or an economic crisis. Mr Aganga says he has no oversight on how the money is spent when it goes to the Nigerian states. He also said that "it is not my job," to address the lack of disclosure and the lack of financial transparency. Aganga is a former Goldman Sachs executive who was appointed finance minister in April 2010. He said that $8.2 billion was spent on improving the power sector. Yet most Nigerians know that the power supply is erratic and does not provide electricity to Nigerians for weeks at a time. Most Nigerians depend on the use of small generators for electricity....

LyrArc Article Gist
Reporters at the Washington Post put together the events leading to the formation of a bloc of freshman Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives who refused to compromise on debt ceiling and deficit reduction negotiations. The role of Cantor, McCarthy and Ryan in these events.

LyrArc Article Gist
Koizumi's legacy 2001-2006, five years of change and a break with the past in Japanese economic policy. Sebastian Moffett review's Koizumi's achievements, bringing Japanese government and policy closer to the people bypassing the bureaucracy and ministries, appealing directly to the people and carrying on conversations with the public on television on critical economic policies such as privatization of the post office savings accounts system, and hiring newcomers such as Takenaka to implement reduction of bank debt that stifled Japanese economic growth. Koizumi also created an effective Prime Minister's office to execute policy and provide new directions to Japan.

LyrArc Article Gist
The struggles and triumphs over adversity and difficulties of Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine. Daughter of immigrant parents- a father who is a Greek immigrant and a mother who is a child of immigrants- Olympia is raised by an aunt who works at a textile mill in Maine in the 1950's, after losing both parents by the age of 10. She goes to the University of Maine where she studies political science. She marries a member of the House of Representatives from Maine, but her husband is killed in a car accident by the time she is 26. She decides to run for the Maine House of Representatives, and follows this by being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978. In 1994 she is elected to the U.S. Senate. Here she describes this experience of meeting personal tragedy with courage and faith.

LyrArc Article Gist
This piece by Lyman and Bienvenu in the NYT shows Hungary under the Orban administration keen on restoring its frayed ties to the European Union. Compared to the atmosphere earlier the Orban administration has moderated its positions following the economic crisis in Russia, say the NYT reporters. Hungarians have memories of the 1956 freedom struggle put down by the Russians, and while many Hungarians are looking for the relief from high mortgage payments provided by the Orban administration, they see the ties to the European Union as important for Hungary's future. Both Merkel and Putin visited Hungary recently.