Great Britain has paid off the last of the loans it received to rebuild the country after World War II, sixty years ago. The last payment of US$83.25 million was transferred electronically to the United States on the last business day of 2006, along with an additional US$22.7 million to clear a similar debt owed to Canada.
The original loan of US$4.34 billion, equivalent to about $27 billion in today's dollars, was negotiated in 1945 by John Maynard Keynes to protect the country from bankruptcy. Canada contributed US$1.2 billion, or an equivalent of about $7.5 billion today. The loan was required after the U.S. terminated grants in aid to Britain under the Lend Lease Act, signed by then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941. On 2nd September 1945, with the decision to terminate aid, some of the goods were still in transit and it was necessary for Britain to arrange new loans to finance reconstruction.
Read more Add your comments (1) 20.01.2008. 18:41
A tree known as the Anne Frank Tree, a 150 year-old chestnut tree that was made famous in the writings of Anne Frank's diary, has been saved from being chopped down by a Dutch court. Frank was a Jewish girl who was hiding from the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II and often referred to the tree as being "comforting" as she looked out the hidden apartment skylight. Officials for the city of Amsterdam and the Anne Frank Museum state that the tree is infected with a fungus and poses a public health hazard as they argue that it was in imminent danger of falling over. It had been scheduled to be cut down on Tuesday, but was saved after an emergency court ruling.
Read more Add your comments (0) 20.01.2008. 12:39
