Obama names his economic team

The president-elect Barack Obama, second from the right, introduces his economic team during a news conference, Monday, Nov 24 2008, in Chicago. From left are, Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner, Council of Economic Advisers Chair-designate Christina Romer, and National Economic Council Director-designate Lawrence Summers. Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP Photo

WASHINGTON // The US president-elect Barack Obama named his economic team last night, tapping the New York Federal Reserve president Tim Geithner as treasury secretary to deal with “an economic crisis of historic proportions”.

At a news conference 57 days before his inauguration, Mr Obama also said Lawrence Summers would be director of his National Economic Council.

Mr Summers was treasury secretary under the former president Bill Clinton and a former president of Harvard University.

Mr Obama said that recent news “has made it even more clear that we are facing an economic crisis of historic proportions”.

Offering a grim prediction, he added, “Most experts now believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year”.

He said his newly named economic team offered “sound judgment and fresh thinking” at a time of economic peril. Mr Obama stepped to the microphones one day after his aides urged the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress to work with unusual speed in passing an economic stimulus package.

Some lawmakers have said a measure in the range of $700 billion over two years may be passed, in hopes of achieving the president-elect’s goal of securing 2.5 million jobs. Mr Obama takes the oath of office on Jan 20 as the nation’s 44th president, and will confront economic difficulties as great as any since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

“The economy is likely to get worse before it gets better,” he said in a downbeat forecast. At the same time, he expressed confidence the nation would weather the crisis “because we’ve done it before”.

He called on Congress to start work on an aggressive plan when it is sworn in January, so that his administration can, as he put it, “hit the ground running”.

Mr Obama pledged to honour the commitments the outgoing Bush administration has made to rescue financial markets.

Mr Obama wants action that will stabilise the financial system and get credit flowing, as well as create jobs in areas including rebuilding infrastructure and creating clean energy.

U.S. President George W. Bush's family Obama

U.S. President George W. Bush's family say they enjoyed a bonding moment with U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's two daughters during a White House tour.

Bush's 26-year-old daughter Barbara said she and her sister, Jenna Hager, took Sasha and Malia Obama on a tour of the presidential home Tuesday and even showed the young girls how to have some White House fun, People magazine reported Friday.

"We helped them jump on the beds," Barbara said. "We used to jump on the beds when we were little, too."

First lady Laura Bush echoed her daughter's comments, saying Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10, were shown the inside scoop on White House bed-jumping.

"They're really tall beds; you need to get a running start," the first lady said.

Also taking the personalized tour were Obama's wife Michelle and her mother Marian Robinson.

An unidentified source told People the next White House family was very impressed by their future home.

"They all just said, 'Oh my God, it's just so beautiful,'" the source said.

The pirates who seized a Saoudi gian

Somalia - the pirates who seized a Saoudi giant tanker charged with $100 million out of crude anchored the boat in the sight of the Somali villages of fishing impoverished Tuesday, whereas other gangsters took the ordering of an Iranian cargo liner - the seventh ship diverted in 12 days.

Saudi Arabia stated Tuesday that it will join the international combat against piracy, and Somali civils servant dedicated to try to save the diverted Saoudi giant oil tanker by the force with the need.

But with the naval forces little laid out to intervene, the cases of piracy of become ship-owners inside upwards finished paying ransoms their boats, cargoes and crew.

The last seized boat was a carrier of cargo in block beating house of HongKong and functioned by the Islamic Republic of the maritime lines of Iran. The United States Ordering Jane Campbell of navy of the 5th fleet Bahrain-based said that the statute of the crew and the cargo was not known.

The maritime office international Sunday brought back five hijackings since November 7, before the hijackings of the boats Saoudi and Iranian were announced.

The United States and other naval forces decided against the intervention in the seizure of the giant tanker. NATO indicated it would not divert any of its three men-of-war of the Gulf of Aden and marinates it American 'Fleet of S 5th also said that it did not intend to send boats to try to stop the Saoudi giant tanker, the star of system mv Sirius. The tanker was seized during the weekend approximately 450 marine miles in addition to Kenyan coast.

Never before have Somali the pirates seized a so giant boat up to now outside with the sea - and never a so large ship. The kidnappers of star of Sirius anchored the boat, with a complete loading of 2 million barrels of petrol and 25 team members, close to a principal den of pirate on the Somali coast, Harardhere.

As usual, I awoke at 3 o'clock in the morning and am directed to me so that the sea fishes, but I saw very, less anchored very large boat than three miles in addition to shore, of Hadji known as of Abdinur, a fisherman in Harardhere.

I had fished here during three decades, but I never saw a boat as large as this one, it indicated Associated Press in an interview of telephone. There is dozen spectators on the shore trying to catch an outline of the large boat.

He said two small boats far away from the shore to the boat and 18 men - probably of other pirates - assembled on board with a rung and cable ladder. The spectators observed as small boat carried food and the qat, a popular narcotic sheet to Somalia, with the giant tanker.

Prince Saud al-Faisal of Foreign Minister of Saoudi called the hijacking act makes indignant and said piracy, like terrorism, is a disease which is against everyone, and everyone must address it together.

Speaking during a visit in Athens Tuesday, he said that Saudi Arabia would adhere to an international initiative against piracy in the area of the Red Sea, where more than 80 attacks of pirate took place this year.

He did not work out on which stages the kingdom would take to better protect its essential tankers. Saudi Arabia 'marine French-equipped by S.A. 18.000-20.000 personnel, but taken part forever in any combat of high-seas.

Musa Abdullkadir, the minister of seaport of deputy in Scandinavian Somalia 'area detached of S Puntland, said if the boat tries to anchor anywhere close to Eyl - where the United States earlier indicated it was title - then its forces will try to save it.

The forces of Puntland sometimes confronted the pirates, however Somalia 's the central government that weak, which fights the Islamic insurrectionists, could not assemble an answer to increasing piracy.

The forces of Puntland, their guns blazing, released a cargo liner Panama-during pirates on October 14.

The owner based in Dubai of the Saoudi tanker, international soldier of navy Ltd of veils, said that it is thought that the tanker 'the team members of S 25 are sure. Rapport did not draw up any mention of a ransom or contacts with the gangsters.

The star of Sirius the 'cargo of S is worth approximately $100 million with the current prices, but the pirates do not have any known manner to discharge it from the tanker.

To Vienna, UL-Haq d' Ehsan, analyst as a chief with the energy of JBC, indicated that the seizure did not affect oil prices, since tradesmen were concentrated in the place on total economy.

The navy American always Surrounds an Ukrainian boat charged with tanks and other armaments which were seized in September 25 of pirates in addition to Somali coast.