The news is quite grim this Inauguration Eve. In Australia, the stock market fell 4% after a sharp sell-off on Monday. In the UK, shares of the Royal Bank of Scotland plunged 68% after the bank admits it is poised to report £28bn in losses. And the European Central Bank, released its projected growth estimate for the Eurozone. The ECB forecast calls for a 2% decline in Eurozone GDP.

More from the UK Guardian:

The eurozone will this year suffer the first recession in its 10-year history, and the contraction could be even deeper than the 1.9% forecast yesterday by the European commission.

The EC, giving its grimmest outlook yet for the 16-country bloc, said growth would resume in the second half of this year, but only if the economic stimulus packages and bank rescue schemes implemented by governments throughout Europe work swiftly. Eleven countries, including the eurozone’s biggest economies, will be in recession this year.

The seriousness of the crisis was underlined by the decision of ratings agency Standard and Poor’s to downgrade Spain, the eurozone’s fourth-biggest economy, and by events in Ireland, where the banking system edged nearer towards being completely nationalised.

The euro fell sharply against the dollar to finish the day at $1.3135.

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It was a true joy to see and hear Pete Seeger sing Woody Guthrie’s This Land is Your Landyesterday on the National Mall. Having grown up for a time in the Hudson Valley, I have long been a fan of Pete Seeger and The Weavers, the 1940s folk group, in which he sang and played the banjo. Through music, I learned politics. As I say good bye and good riddance to George W. Bush tonight I am mostly listening to The Weavers and I think Sinnerman, the old Negro spiritual, most appropriate.

Some of you might prefer the Nina Simone version:

George Bush, where you gonna run to? (more…)

From Agence France Presse:

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates will sit out Barack Obama’s inauguration at an undisclosed location as the “designated successor” in the event of a catastrophe, the White House announced Monday.

While the eyes of the world are glued Tuesday to Obama’s historic swearing-in, attended by outgoing US President George W. Bush and both outgoing and incoming senior aides, Gates will stay away, said spokeswoman Dana Perino.

“In order to ensure continuity of government, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been designated by the outgoing administration, with the concurrence of the incoming administration, to serve as the designated successor during Inauguration Day, Tuesday, January 20th,” Perino said.

It is common practice for one senior US official to sit out major events, like the annual State of the Union speech, to ensure that the US government has clear leadership in the event of a disaster or terrorist attack.

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Dr. Jill Biden today on the Oprah Winfrey show said that her husband Joe Biden, the Vice President-elect, had been given a choice by the President-elect of being either Vice President or Secretary of State. Apparently the gift of candor runs in the family. Well, at least, we now know how Joe Biden chose but one does wonder what it he had chosen the other post, who would have been picked as the number two? I doubt it would have been Hillary Clinton.

From Jake Tapper’s ABC News blog:

During the taping of the Oprah Winfrey show today, Dr. Jill Biden said that her husband, the vice president-elect, was given a choice of being either vice president or secretary of State.

This revelation came after Vice President-elect Joe Biden told Oprah that after then-Sen. Obama offered the job of VP he asked for some time to think about it and talk it over with his family.

Mrs. Biden interjected: “Joe had the choice of being secretary of State or vice president.” She then seemed to realize she’d said something she wasn’t supposed to have said.

Her husband laughed.

Said Oprah, trying to continue the conversation, “You said, ‘Joe…?’”

“I said, ‘Joe if you are secretary of State you will be away, I’ll never see you,’” Mrs. Biden said. “We will see you at a state dinner once in a while. But I said if you are vice president, the entire family, because they worked so hard for the election, they can be involved … They can come to our home, they can go to events, they can be with us and that is what is important to us.”

Oprah turned to the VP-elect, asking “Were you worried about being number 2 because you wanted to be number one?”

“I think Barack was worried about it,” the former senator said with a laugh.

This can’t be the kind of thing that would please Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY.

All this is rather interesting. Some do consider the Vice Presidency to be a political exile. Daniel Webster once quipped on being offered the Vice Presidency by General Zachary Taylor that “I do not propose to be buried until I am dead.” Granted the Vice Presidency has changed and the office is now what the President and Vice President choose to make of it though the Constitutional role remains that of an irregular tiebreaker and there just in case.

I am also not sure if this does, as Jake Tapper suggests, open a Clinton can of worms but perhaps it does. I am going to guess that apart from the lunatic PUMA fringe, this story, while amusing, won’t matter at all.

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On Friday, an emergency though sparsely attended Arab summit took place in Doha, the Qatari capital. In protest against the war on Gaza, Qatar and Mauritania suspended their ties with Israel and urged other states to follow. The only other countries to have ruptured relations with Israel over Operation Cast Lead to this point had been Venezuela and Bolivia. The Doha gathering was attended only by the heads of state of Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, Qatar and Algeria – and from the more minor Arab League members, the Comoros Islands and Mauritania.

Also attending were Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashal and other leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and representatives from nine other Arab and African nations. Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia boycotted the meeting.

Qatar does not have full diplomatic relations with Israel but had maintained lower-level ties, allowing an Israeli trade mission to operate and hosting Israeli leaders at conferences. These are now ended. Mauritania, however, did have full relations with Israel. Earlier this month, the Western African nation which suffered a coup last year recalled its ambassador from Israel amid street protests over Gaza.

In other diplomatic developments, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah warned Israel that his 2002 peace initiative would not remain an option forever. More on this from Haaretz:

Saudi Arabian King Abdullah warned on Monday that a 2002 Arab initiative offering peace with Israel would not remain on the table forever. Israel must understand that the choice between war and peace would not always stay open, Abdullah told delegates in Kuwait City at a summit focused on boosting economic growth and development in the Arab world. The Arab peace initiative was first proposed in 2002. It offers pan-Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for Israel’s withdrawal from lands captured in 1967.

Abdullah’s warning came after Israel and Hamas separately declared on Sunday a fragile cease-fire in the Gaza Strip following Israel’s three-week offensive against the Palestinian Islamist group. More than 1,250 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed during the hostilities.

Abdullah also announced at the conference on Monday that his country would donate $1 billion for reconstruction in war-ravaged Gaza.

In October, Defense Minister and Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak said that Israeli leaders have been discussing pursuing the peace plan.

While outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has welcomed the initiative, he and other leaders want to keep small parts of the territories captured in the 1967 Six Day War.

Israel also objects to language in the plan that appears to endorse a large-scale return of Palestinian refugees to lands inside Israel. Israel says a massive influx of Palestinians would destroy the country’s Jewish character.

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As the nation awaits the inauguration of Barack Obama, the legacy of Abraham Lincoln is taking center stage. Pulitzer Prize-winning Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. sits down with the American News Project to discuss why, even after all these years, misconceptions remain about the 16th president and his views on race.

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More from All Africa News:

Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai began make-or-break talks in Harare at lunchtime on Monday on the formation of a unity government, amid reports the two parties are still worlds apart.

Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara signed an agreement for a government of national unity in September last year. But the division of ministerial posts has remained as a major obstacle, with Mugabe clearly determined to hold on to power.

President Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa, his predecessor Thabo Mbeki and Mozambican President Armando Emilio Guebuza are mediating in the latest round of talks at the Rainbow Towers in Harare. Analysts have pointed out that Motlanthe has done nothing significant to depart from Mbeki’s ineffectual ‘quiet diplomacy,’ despite the MDC urging Motlanthe to use this opportunity to pressurize Mugabe to implement in full, the provisions of the Global Political Agreement.

Before the talks began, Tsvangirai addressed a meeting of all his MPs and Senators where he sounded pessimistic that Mugabe would agree to meet all their demands. Mugabe had told the state controlled Sunday Mail that he had made enough concessions to the MDC and that they should accept the agreement made in September; otherwise it would be better to scrap the deal.

The contentious issues also include the executive appointments of the RBZ Governor Gideon Gono and the Attorney-General, Johannes Tomana, plus the continued abduction and illegal detention of MDC and civic activists on trumped-up charges.

But expectations for a breakthrough are low as both leaders vow to stick to their guns. Mugabe warned Tsvangirai that Monday would be their ‘last chance’ to join the government and that any outstanding issues should be dealt with afterwards. Isaac Dziya, a political commentator said without any compromises from Mugabe, the deal was as good as dead.

‘If there is goodwill all round, they might salvage something but historically Mugabe has never been a good negotiator, so chances are high that he will dig in and the deal will collapse,’ Dziya said.

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