Brasil generó un récord de 1,47 millones de nuevos empleos en el primer semestre

Brasil generó un récord de 1,47 millones de nuevos empleos en el primer semestre

Posted By Marisa Valcárcel On 16 Julio, 2010 @ 01:29 In La Noticia | No Comments

Brasil generó en el primer semestre del año 1,47 millones de nuevos empleos formales, un récord para el período y un número casi cinco veces superior a los 299.500 de los seis primeros meses de 2009, informó el Ministerio de Trabajo.
Se trata del mayor número de empleos formales creados en el país en un primer semestre desde 2008, cuando la cifra ascendió a 1,36 millones, según las cifras divulgadas por el Ministerio. La generación de empleo en Brasil venía subiendo gradualmente desde 2006, pero ese ciclo se interrumpió en 2009 como consecuencia de la crisis mundial.
El año pasado, pese a la crisis, el país generó 995.110 empleos formales, el peor saldo desde 2003.
La estadística se refiere solo a los empleos con contrato firmado y garantías sociales, por lo que es independiente del índice de desempleo oficial, que también incluye a los trabajadores irregulares.
Según el Ministerio de Trabajo, con los 1.473.320 empleos generados en los primeros seis meses de este año, el número de puestos de trabajo formales en Brasil a finales de junio era en un 4,43 por ciento superior al de finales de diciembre de 2009. En los doce meses entre julio de 2009 y junio de 2010, Brasil generó 2,17 millones de nuevos empleos formales.
En la rueda de prensa en la que anunció los números, el ministro de Trabajo, Carlos Lupi, reafirmó su previsión de que Brasil generará este año un récord de 2,5 millones de nuevos puestos de trabajo. De confirmarse tal previsión, el resultado sería prácticamente igual a la suma de los dos últimos años (2,44 millones de empleos) y superará en cerca del 50 por ciento el récord de 2007 (1,62 millones).
Lupi atribuyó el buen resultado del primer semestre al fuerte crecimiento de la economía impulsado principalmente por la expansión de la producción industrial y el aumento del consumo interno. La economía brasileña, que creció un nueve por ciento en el primer trimestre, puede cerrar el año con una expansión por encima del siete por ciento, según las últimas previsiones del Gobierno.
El sector que más empleos generó entre enero y junio fue el de servicios (490.028 puestos), seguido por los de la industria de la transformación (394.148), la construcción civil (230.019) y el comercio (144.135).
El aumento del empleo formal ayudó a reducir la tasa oficial de desempleo hasta el 7,5 por ciento en mayo, el menor índice para el mes en los últimos nueve años.

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Three Strikes: Famous quotes from the revolution’s leader « The Devil’s Excrement

Three Strikes: Famous quotes from the revolution’s leader  
May 13, 2010

(You struck out)

Uno.- January 13th. 2010. Hugo Chavez: We are going to pull down the swap rate, the intervention is going to be sustained, permanent and strong as far down as the Central Bank wants”
Dos.- May 9th. 2010. Hugo Chavez: “You can be assured that you could burn, Nelson (referering to Merentes Presiden of the Central Bank), all of interational reserves and we would not lower the paralll rate”
Tres.- May 12th. 2010. Hugo Chavez: “We are going to hit speculators where it hurts (darles en la madre)”
With Hugo, he seems to get as many strikes as he wants, he never really gets to ever strike out, even when he is always wrong.

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The MasterBlog

Venezuela Projects 4.6 Million BPD of Production from Orinoco Belt - Latin American Herald Tribune

Venezuela Projects 4.6 Million BPD of Production from Orinoco Belt
PDVSA's head Rafael Ramirez said that level of output will be reached in 2020 thanks to “an accelerated development plan” that includes plans to invest a total of some $80 billion in a series of oil blocks

CARACAS – State oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA and its joint-venture partners will eventually extract 4.6 million barrels of oil per day from the Orinoco Belt, the head of PDVSA said.

Rafael Ramirez, who is also Venezuela’s energy minister, said that level of output will be reached in 2020 thanks to “an accelerated development plan” that includes plans to invest a total of some $80 billion in a series of oil blocks.

The Orinoco Belt is a 55,000-sq.-kilometer (21,235 sq.-mile) area of northeastern Venezuela that contains some 234 billion barrels of heavy and extra-heavy crude, according to the Venezuelan government’s preliminary estimates.

PDVSA and its operating partners in Orinoco currently produce some 600,000 bpd, according to official Venezuelan figures.

Ramirez noted that multi-national oil firms from China, Vietnam, Italy, Spain, the United States and Russia, among other countries, thus far have agreed to form joint ventures – with PDVSA holding at least a 60 percent stake – to develop two areas of the Orinoco Belt, Junin and Carabobo.

No blocks have yet been awarded in two other Orinoco areas, Boyaca and Ayacucho.

Four joint ventures have been formed to develop an equal number of blocks in the Junin area, with the foreign firms paying a combined $2.23 billion in “entry bonuses,” Ramirez said, adding that total production from those blocks is projected to reach 1.29 million bpd.

In the Carabobo area, “two joint ventures (have been created) to extract 800,000 bpd,” while $1.55 billion in entry bonuses have been paid and $2.05 billion in financing provided to PDVSA, Ramirez said.

He added that joint ventures will be formed in the near future to develop the Carabobo 1 and Carabobo 3 blocks and that PDVSA’s partners will pay out $1.05 billion and $500 million, respectively, for their participation.

U.S. oil major Chevron, Spain’s Repsol, Russia’s Gazprom and Lukoil, China’s CNPC, Italy’s Eni and Japan’s Mitsubishi are some of the companies that have formed joint ventures with PDVSA to develop Orinoco blocks.

The U.S. Geological Survey said earlier this year that the Orinoco Belt holds an estimated 513 billion barrels of technically recoverable heavy oil, or almost double the Venezuelan government’s current estimate.

The USGS, which said the Orinoco belt was the largest oil accumulation it had ever assessed, noted that the oil in that region is very thick and does not flow easily but added that through the use of specialized production and refining processes a wide range of petroleum products can be generated.

Part of the money invested in Orinoco will be spent on upgraders to turn the heavy oil into lighter, higher-quality crude.

Venezuela, which currently produces 3.1 million bpd, most from other areas of the country, is the world’s fifth-leading oil exporter and – despite its leftist government’s poor relations with Washington – one of the leading suppliers of crude to the United States.

Latin American Herald Tribune - Venezuela Projects 4.6 Million BPD of Production from Orinoco Belt

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The MasterBlog

[El Universal] Como en Cuba

La pesadilla no para... 

Elides J. Rojas L. // Como en Cuba

Ya viene la estatua de Fidel, verdadero amo del petróleo, de las cárceles, de la soberanía

Si algo tiene esta revolución digno de reconocimiento es su inmensa capacidad para crear e inventar nombres, estampar eslogan, rebautizar instituciones y hacer ver como nuevo algo que tiene muchos años de construido y funcionando.

Lo malo es que el engendro socialista naciente será irremediablemente un fracaso, como lo demuestra la historia reciente. A la cubana.

La estrategia chavista de dinamitar las formas prerevolucionarias y penetrar las instituciones para aprovecharlas en beneficio propio y de todo los que rodean al jefe, el cogollo del golpe de 1992 y los civiles asimilados.

TSJ, CNE, AN, CICPC, SIAME, República Bolivariana de Venezuela, Saime o Sebin son apenas algunos ejemplos. Pero ¿qué diferencia puede haber entre la vieja Onidex y esta tal Saime o la antigua DIM y esta Sebin? nada. Logo nuevo, apenas. Y esa retahíla de ministerios MinPopo... ¿acaso han significado algo en términos de resultados? Diosdado Cabello, que se ha paseado por varios popos de esos, ha sido vicepresidente y gobernador, es un ejemplo ambulante de cómo la incapacidad no es disimulable con un cambio de nombre ministerial. ¿Cuántas casas de más ha construido Chávez o Diosdado Cabello a cuenta de MinPoPo? ¿Cuánto ha disminuido la criminalidad y el delito a cuenta de Policía Nacional o CICPC? ¿Cuántas más vacas andan en plan lechero a cuenta de MinPopo agrario? Nada. Lo de los nombres es otra cubanada y la estrategia también. Ya es imposible ocultar la mano de Cuba en el manejo del país. Y, además de la ridícula e inútil cambiadera de nombres, con Cuba viene pegada la línea antiestadounidense y toda la pavosería del discurso castrista, ahora chavista, de los años 50 y 60. Incluido el tonito. ¡Eeeehhhh!

En breve los estados pasarán a ser provincias, como en Cuba. Muy poco para que sector privado termine de morir, como en Cuba. Los consejos comunales muestran su nariz, como en Cuba. Los presos políticos no ven una con la justicia, como en Cuba. El Banco Central es del líder, como en Cuba. Todo lo decide una persona, líder eterno e insustituible, como en Cuba. Todo es verde oliva y militar, como en Cuba. Los medios de comunicación privado sobran, como en Cuba. La palabra expropiación o nacionalización está a tiro de micrófono, como en Cuba. El insulto y la amenaza es parte del guión oficial, como en Cuba. El narcisismo y el personalísimo son la esencia del régimen, como en Cuba. La adulación pierde la pena, como en Cuba. Afiches, vallas y mucha propaganda exaltan el caudillo, como en Cuba. En poco tiempo vendrán las estatuas y los bustos, como en Cuba. Y nuevos ricos revolucionarios.

Sí. Como en Cuba.

EROJAS@ELUNIVERSAL.COM

TWITTER: @EJRL

Para conocer en detalle la noticia siga este link

Mineweb - Colombia to attract $4.5 billion for gold mining over 10 years - POLITICAL ECONOMY

Colombia to attract $4.5 billion for gold mining over 10 years

Colombia in Latin America is a new gold exploration hotspot with gold companies due to invest $400 million in 2010

Author: Diana Delgado
Posted: Monday , 19 Apr 2010

BOGOTA (REUTERS) -

Gold mining companies will invest as much as $4.5 billion over the next ten years in Colombia, attracted by rich unexplored areas and soaring prices, the head of the country's Asomineros miners group told Reuters.

Gold companies are expected to invest as much as $400 million in exploration and production this year, up from $300 million in 2009, Arturo Quiros, executive director of Asomineros said on the sidelines of a mining seminar in capital city Bogota.

Areas of exploration have opened up in Colombia under President Alvaro Uribe, who is popular for increasing security with his U.S.-backed crackdown drug-running guerrillas.

"The gold boom has continued due to high prices of the metal," Quiros said.

"Improved security conditions and relatively unexplored areas compared to other countries in Latin America explain why there is such a high interest to explore in Colombia," he said.

In all, Colombia will double its gold production over the next five years. The Andean country could produce around 3 million troy ounces of gold in 2015, twice as much as the 1.57 million troy ounces produced last year and much higher than the 501,500 troy ounces produced in 2006, Quiros said.

Colombia attracted a record $3.24 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in mining last year, compared with $2.11 billion in 2008. Of that amount, the coal sector saw the biggest inflows, Silvana Giaimo, vice minister of mines and energy, said.

Mining weighted 40 percent of the country's total foreign direct investment last year, much higher than the 19 percent in 2008.

"Foreign direct investment in mining will continue. The potential is huge," Giaimo said, noting that Canadian companies are especially interested in exploring precious metals in Colombia.

Canadian Greystar Resources (GSL.TO) plans to invest about $39.3 million this year in its Angostura gold and silver project, more than double the $19.6 million invested last year, Geoff Chater, vice president of corporate development told Reuters.

Of the total, Greystar has allocated approximately $24.5 million for infrastructure related to the Angostura project. The remaining $14.7 million will be used to complete the feasibility study and exploration drilling, Chater added.

Greystar plans to begin the construction of the mine in 2011, Chater noted.

The company plans to invest $600 million at its Angostura gold and silver mine with output beginning in the second half of 2012, Frederick Felder, Greystar's executive vice president had said.

Angostura is expected to produce an average of 2.3 million ounces of silver per year over the expected 15-year life of the mine.

Canadian Medoro Resources (MRS.V) plans to invest about $100 million in exploration, production and related activities this year at its recently acquired gold companies Frontino, Mineros Nacionales, Colombia Gold PLC and Colombia Gold.

AngloGold Ashanti's (ANGJ.J) is also expected to invest $100 million in exploration at its La Colosa mine in Tolima province, where the company announced it had found unproven reserves of 12.3 million ounces. (Reporting by Diana Delgado; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Mineweb - Colombia to attract $4.5 billion for gold mining over 10 years - POLITICAL ECONOMY

A Satirical Site Skewers Chávez and Politics

A Satirical Site Skewers Chávez and Politics

By SIMON ROMERO

NY Times

March 20, 2010

CARACAS, Venezuela — This may be a perilous time to operate a Web site focused on politics here, given President Hugo Chávez’s recent push for new controls of Internet content. But one plucky Venezuelan satirical site is emerging as a runaway success in Latin America as it repeatedly skewers Mr. Chávez and a host of other leaders.

Named in honor of the capybara, the Labrador retriever-sized rodent that Venezuelans are fond of hunting and eating, the 2-year-old Web site, El Chigüire Bipolar, or Bipolar Capybara, is rivaling or surpassing in page views leading Venezuelan newspapers like the Caracas daily El Nacional.

The rise of Chigüire Bipolar, which has already drawn the wrath of state-controlled media here, and a handful of other popular Venezuelan sites focused on politics is taking place within a journalistic atmosphere here that international press groups say is marked increasingly by fear, intimidation and self-censorship.

Before threatening to impose unspecified Internet controls this month, Mr. Chávez pushed RCTV, a critical television network, off the airwaves andrevoked the licenses of 34 radio stations across the country. Mr. Chávez has also forced broadcasters to transmit live his speeches and televised appearances, which last hours.

“Chávez is a master communicator and a natural-born comedian, but one who doesn’t realize he’s at the center of the joke,” said Juan Andrés Ravell, 28, a part-time television scriptwriter who is one of the three founders of Chigüire (Tchee-GWEE-reh).

Mr. Ravell ascribes much of their success to the use of social media like Twitter and Facebook to lure readers to the site. Once there, they are treated to satirical videos and photo montages lambasting Mr. Chavez and other Venezuelan figures, sometimes even from the anti-Chavez camp.

Other Latin American leaders are frequent targets, too. For instance, Chigüire mocks the feel-good diplomacy of Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, portraying him as a bong-smoking bon vivant with a taste for Twinkies. Another montage derides frequent visits here by Iran’s president,Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, contending that he and Mr. Chávez have grown so close that they have glued their hands together.

Chigüire Bipolar’s biggest success so far arrived in February in the form of a 5-minute video inspired by the American television series “Lost,” in which Latin American leaders of various ideologicals stripes find themselves shipwrecked on a deserted tropical island, forced to fend for themselves.

The video, called “Presidential Island” and viewed more than 450,000 times on YouTube, depicts Mr. Chávez and Bolivia’s leftist president, Evo Morales, as star-crossed lovers who dine on American bald eagle. Colombia’s right-wing president, Álvaro Uribe, comes across as a prude, and Argentina’s president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, as a temptress who entrances Brazil’s Mr. da Silva. King Juan Carlos of Spain makes an appearance in which his dentures fall into the sea.

Oswaldo Graziani, 30, another of the site’s founders, said they drew inspiration from American television shows like “The Colbert Report” and Web sites like The Onion and also from a rich tradition here of political satire, including defunct humor magazines named after Venezuelan fauna like Morrocoy Azul (The Blue Tortoise) and Camaleón (Chameleon).

Mr. Graziani said going after Mr. Chávez’s critics, in addition to the president himself, and critiquing certain aspects of Venezuelan society were also priorities. For instance, Chigüire Bipolar has lampooned the student movement here by showing students more interested in swilling beer on the beach than in protests.

Another frequent target of ridicule is Mr. Ravell’s own father, Alberto Federico Ravell, a strident critic of Mr. Chávez and a prominent media executive here who said he was fired this year by the television network Globovisión as part of an effort to alleviate pressure exerted on the organization by Mr. Chávez’s government.

“We make it a principle that no one is immune, not even ourselves,” said Mr. Graziani, noting that their motto is “Partial, unfounded news from a rodent with psychological issues.”

“It’s difficult for anyone to battle against the supremacy of humor,” he said.

Some here try to wage that fight, however.

Mario Silva, the host of “La Hojilla,” or “The Razorblade,” a somber nightly talk show on state television that Mr. Chávez’s government uses to attack its critics, has condemned Chigüire Bipolar, describing its founders in February as partisan anti-Chávez drug-addicts. “We appreciated the publicity,” Mr. Ravell said in response to the state-television tirade against them.

In a separate episode this year, Mr. Chávez’s information minister, Blanca Eekhout, demanded that Laureano Márquez, a humorist who writes for the newspaper Tal Cual, be prosecuted after writing a short column imagining Venezuela free from the grasp of a ruler named “Esteban,” a code name for Mr. Chávez.

“Chávez’s government unfortunately doesn’t have much of a sense of humor about itself, which is why Bipolar Capybara has become an essential fixture in the national debate,” said Andrés Cañizález, a researcher on media freedom here for the Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders.

Others fixtures persist in criticizing Mr. Chávez, especially print media like Tal Cual, El Universal and El Nacional. And the surging use of Twitterhere to transmit antigovernment missives has prompted a sharp reaction from Mr. Chávez, who recently warned Venezuelans against using social networks.

Pressure is building now for political Web sites to bend to the government’s will. Noticias24, a leading news site here, barred visitors from commenting on articles this month after Mr. Chávez threatened to introduce Internet controls.

Mr. Chávez issued his threat after another site, Noticiero Digital, published in its comments section a false claim that at least one of his ministers had been assassinated.

The government has not announced any official measures, and so far Noticiero Digital is the only site under investigation. However, several pro-Chávez officials have said that site administrators should follow the law applied to broadcasters and be held responsible for comments.

Mr. Ravell and Mr. Graziani, who earn a living as freelance television producers and scriptwriters, finance Chigüire Bipolar out of their own pockets and with a meager revenue stream from advertising and sale of T-shirts printed with their logo.

They produce the site with a third Venezuelan partner based in Miami, Elio Casale, in a chaotic flurry of e-mail, instant-messaging and BlackBerry text messages.

“We don’t actually talk to each other that much,” Mr. Ravell said.

In an interview, Mr. Ravell said he remained hopeful that Chigüire Bipolar was opening the way for more multifaceted debate in Venezuela instead of representing a final burst of expressive ebullience online in a scenario in which Mr. Chávez might succeed in exerting control over a medium that until now has largely escaped his sway.

“Satire,” he said, “always evolves to resist the attempts to extinguish it.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/world/americas/21venezuela.html
The MasterBlog

The Top 10 Craziest Things Ever Said at the U.N. General Assembly - Joshua Keating | Foreign Policy

The Top 10 Craziest Things Ever Said During a U.N. Speech

History is rich with memorable orations delivered by the world's leaders as nations convene to discuss the critical issues of the day. From the impassioned to the provocative to the truly bizarre, here are  the 10 most unforgettable remarks to come out of the United Nations general assembly speeches in the last sixty years. 

BY JOSHUA KEATING | SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

Indian Diplomat Filibusters Himself to (near) Death

Year: 1957

Quote: "The Security Council regards this as a dispute. It is not a dispute for territory. There is only one problem before you ... that problem is the problem of aggression."

Impact: With this epic filibuster during a debate on Kashmir, Indian U.N. envoy Krishna Menon holds the record for the longest speech in the history of the U.N. Security Council. In total it lasted over eight hours. Menon actually collapsed from exhaustion partway through and had to be hospitalized. He returned later and continued for another hour while a doctor monitored his blood pressure.

Michael Nagle/Getty Images

Castro Goes Long

Year: 1960

Quote: ''Were Kennedy not a millionaire, illiterate, and ignorant, then he would obviously understand that you cannot revolt against the peasants.''

Impact: He's not quite in Menon's league, but Cuban President Fidel Castro's  debut speech at the U.N. clocked in at four and a half hours, the longest ever in the General Assembly. Castro's first visit to the United States in 1959 had been a bit friendlier, but by 1960 he was firmly in the Soviet Camp and used his speech to blast U.S. imperialism and insult John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, the U.S. presidential candidates at the time. Castro provided another bizarre memory from that year's assembly by keeping live chickens in his hotel room.

TOMMY WEBER/AFP/Getty Images

Krushchev Puts His Foot Down

Year: 1960

Quote: "Mr. President, call that toady of American imperialism to order."

Impact: Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev provided one of the cold war's most iconic moments when, in an attempt to silence a Filipino delegate who was railing against Soviet imperialism, he issued the above epithet, removed his shoe, and began banging it on the table. The gesture has become a classic example of overheated rhetoric, but it shouldn't have been all that surprising coming from the man who coined the phrase, "we will bury you."

Lodge Spies a Bug

Year: 1960

Quote: "It so happens that I have here today a concrete example of Soviet espionage so that you can see for yourself."

Impact: Colin Powell famously used a vial of "anthrax" while trying in vain to win Security Council support for military action in Iraq, but there are times when props have been used a bit more effectively. During a debate over the shooting down of an American U-2 spy plane over Soviet territory, U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge decided to go on the offensive. He took out a wooden seal that had been presented to the U.S. embassy in Moscow by the Soviet-American Friendship Society and then proceeded to extract a tiny microphone out of the eagle's beak with a pair of tweezers. The Soviet resolution condemning the U.S. spy flights was defeated.

Arafat Preps for Battle

Year: 1974

Quote: "An old world order is crumbling before our eyes, as imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism, and racism, whose chief form is Zionism, ineluctably perish."

Impact: The Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman was invited to address the General Assembly for the first time at the request of the non-aligned movement, a coalition of developing countries that has been historically critical of Israel in the U.N., Palestinian leader Yasser Arafattook the stage wearing fatigues and delivered a blistering attack on Zionism. One year later, the notorious "Zionism equals racism" was passed and Israel's relations with the U.N. have been, at best, uneasy ever since.

AFP/Getty Images

Ortega Goes Rambo on Reagan

Year: 1987

Quote: "Before consulting the hotheads who present various military options such as a military invasion: remember, President Reagan, Rambo only exists in the movies.''

Impact: Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega used the platform of the U.N. to assail U.S policy in Central America, particularly the financing of the Contra rebels and supporting the Somoza dictatorship, which Ortega said "bled the Nicaraguan people dry." The angry speech prompted a walkout from the U.S. delegation. "The people of Nicaragua may have to sit and listen to him, but I don't," said then U.S. Ambassador Vernon Walters.

Chavez Sniffs out a Sinner

Year: 2006

Quote: "The devil came here yesterday, and it smells of sulfur still."

Impact: Venezuela's theatrical president, Hugo Chavez, has always loved the spotlight that the General Assembly provides and it was never more in evidence than when, with a flourish, he compared U.S. president, George W. Bush, to Satan. Chavez also began his regular habit of using his speeches to plug books by prominent leftists authors, when he held up a book by U.S. professor Noam Chomsky. Chavez referred to this famous moment in his speech this year, saying that it "no longer smells like sulfur" now that Barack Obama is president.

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

Bashir Denies a Genocide

Year: 2006

Quote: "The picture that volunteer organizations try to give in order to solicit more assistance and more aid, have given a negative result."

Impact: At the 2006 speech, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir claimed that the ongoing slaughter in Darfur, which then President George W. Bush had recently referred to as "genocide," was in fact a scheme cooked up by Western aid organizations to solicit funding. On the sidelines of the meeting, Bashir went further, blaming Israel and Zionist organizations for spreading lies in order to weaken the Sudanese government. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made this claim as well.

Ahmadinejad Hates on Zionists

Year: 2008

Quote: "The dignity, integrity and rights of the American and European people are being played with by a small but deceitful number of people called Zionists. Although they are a miniscule minority, they have been dominating an important portion of the financial and monetary centers as well as the political decision-making centers of some European countries and the U.S. in a deceitful, complex and furtive manner."

Impact: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has regularly used the UN as a platform to rail against Western powers, particularly his arch-enemy Israel. In his 2008 speech he accused "the Zionist entity" of an array of crimes including causing the South Ossetia war. Another notable feature of Ahmadinejad's speech is the heavy use of religious rhetoric and his use of Shiite religious teachings.

What is Qaddafi Doing?

Year: 2009

Quote: "It should not be called a security council, it should be called a terror council."

Impact: After 40 years in power, Libyan Leader Muammar al-Qaddafi spoke to the United Nations for the first time at this year's general assembly and certainly made up for lost time. In his 100 minute speech, Qaddafi listed half a century's worth of grievances and conspiracy theories including accusing the Untied States of developing swine flu and questioning the official record of the Kennedy assassination. Most of Qaddafi's wrath was reserved for the U.N. Security Council, which he likened to al Qaeda. Qaddafi's accommodations provided another sideshow at this year's assembly, as the Libyan leader was rebuffed in his attempts to set up a Bedouin tent in several New York-area locations before finally making up camp in Donald Trump's backyard.

STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images

The Top 10 Craziest Things Ever Said at the U.N. General Assembly - Joshua Keating | Foreign Policy

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