Microfinance Monitor NEWS WITH GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

The Hurricane Irene, though weakened by the time it touched the shore off New York to a mere tropical storm from Category 3 hurricane, has caused more than $20 billion in losses, say latest estimates. More than 15 people were reported dead during the its course of destruction. Taking into account two days of lost business activity in the range ...

Now that North Carolina has begun assessing the loss left behind by Hurricane Irene, a look at how natural disasters devastated the United States economy reveals $750 billion in losses to the nation in the last 31 years. The U.S. has sustained 108 weather-related disasters since 1980 with the total normalized losses  exceeding $750 billion, adjusted to 2011 figures using ...

India’s 65th celebrations of Independence marked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort in New Delhi, with corruption topping his focus on one side and social activist Anna Hazare embarking on fast unto death on the other.

PUTTAPARTHI — Indian spiritual guru Sathya Sai Baba passed away on Sunday morning at 6.25 am, said sources at Prashanti Nilayam. Baba, 85, was hospitalized on March 28 with respiratory problems and his condition deteriorated and he was virtually kept on machine support until the end. Sathya Sai Trust said Baba’s body will be kept for public darshan at Sai ...

Here is a brief timeline of Sathya Sai Baba’s life. Nov. 23, 1926 — Born as Sathyanarayana Raju to Eswaramma and Raju Ratnakaram in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh. March 8, 1940 — 14-year-old Sathya was supposedly stung by a scorpion in Uravakonda, a nearby town and was unconscious for hours. He woke up laughing and weeping and singing that changed his ...

Bangladesh Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus has been shown the exit of Grameen Bank not on moral grounds but on archaic rules of  retirement set for banks. The High Court upheld the decision of the board of directors of Grameen Bank to retire Prof Yunus, 70 and gave the ruling in favour of the government which was adamant to oust Prof ...

Norwegian government has cleared Nobel Laureaute Muhammad Yunus from the charge of unauthorised fund-transfers in mid-90s. Minister for Environment and International Development Erik Solheim said in a posting on the foreign ministry website that the Grameen Bank had neither embezzled the funds of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) nor used the money for unintended purposes. Solheim’s remarks came ...