Judging from the market reaction to the much anticipated Obama banking rescue package, the plan has been a huge fiasco. The Dow Industrials index dropped 381 points as investors spurned the plan described as short on details and enormously complicated. Geitner in his press conference said that this plan would strive to create an alliance between public and private finance to invest almost a trillion dollats to buy off bad assets from troubled banks and expand loans to consumers and businesses. Read an article by the Wall Street Journal on this topic here.

With declining exports the Chinese economy is facing the risk of a huge upsurge in unemployment  in 2009. According to the Financial Times, the Chinese government estimates that a massive 20 million of the approximately 130 million migrant workers have lost their jobs in the past couple of months. Access the Financial Times here. Reuters reported that China’s January Exports fell a staggering 17.5%. Access the Reuters report here.

Tehran celebrated the 30th anniversary of its Islamic revolution that led to the overthrow of the Shah and the return of the country's spiritual leader Ayatullah Khomeini. According to Iran's state media thousands of people gathered at Azadi or Freedom Square to express their enthusiasm and display their patriotism on a day that Iranians consider the day they became free from Western influence in domestic affairs. Access the Time article here.

Enormous fires countinue to rage in Australia in what has been described as the country's worst natural disaster in the past 110 years. So far, the fires have claimed atleast 181 lives and this number is likely to increase as government agencies continue to grapple with its fallout. Access this Reuters article here.