CHRISTMAS MEANS LOVE PAR EXCELLENCE

 CHRISTMAS MEANS LOVE PAR EXCELLENCE

“From the Books of Speaking Tree”

Incarnation of Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God’s infinite love for human kind.

In order to set people free from the clutches of sin.God reveals His divine power and benevolent love by sendingJesus as love par excellence.

Jesus lived a fully human life,experiencing difficulties of the world.He was human in everything except sin.He came to redeem the world and to give love.He became a baby to teach us love,proclaim love and live together in love.

Unlike any other baby, the one born that night in Bethlehem was unique in all history. He was not created by a human father and mother. He had a heavenly pre-existence. He is God, the Son- Creator of the Universe and Messiah.

This is why Christmas is called the incarnation, a word that means "in the flesh". In the birth of Jesus, the eternal, all-powerful and all-knowing Creator came to earth in the human form.

Why would God do such a thing?Why would he come as a baby, instead of appearing in power and majesty? Why make himself a true man and live among us, when he knew well how terribly he would be treated? It was love par excellence. It was necessary if we were to be saved from sin. "This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our

sins".The Son of God came in human form to die as a willing sacrifice for the sins of humankind. He did this to provide

 

eternal salvation as a gift to all who will accept it and follow Him- "The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" . Therefore, the birth of Jesus brings the message of love into the world. Love, which is unconditional, TREE selfless, forgiving, and above all sacrificial, makes Jesus Christ take human form and incarnate into the world to intrinsically germinate the seed of faith, love and hope.

The essential aspect to be remembered is that Christmas is not an external of the heart. It reaches to completion through forming a good cradle in our hearts so as to welcome Jesus in our lives. which manifests love. In totality,Christmas is a celebration of love and love alone. If we are ready to share this love of God with all, then this Christmas will become a meaningful one or else it will remain a ritual practice of celebrating Jesus's birthday year after year.

In order to make Christmas a unique commemoration of life, let us share the message of love par excellence with all. Friendly feelings, helping nature, sharing basic goods with the poor, self-introspection, modesty in living and loving attitude with neighbours can feel the atmosphere with the breeze of love speaking with the heart.

Inflation in the US is dropping faster than what the rate-setters had expected 3 months ago

 US Fed finally flags end of hikes, sees lower rates in '24

Inflation in the US is dropping faster than what the rate-setters had expected 3 months ago

Central Bank Holds Rates | 75 Bps Cuts Expected Next Year

SHIFT IN TONE, OUTLOOK AFTER LONG PAUSE

 The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on 13^th December 2023 and signalled in new economic projections that the historic tightening of US monetary policy engineered over the last two years is at an end and lower borrowing costs are coming in 2024

In a new policy statement, US central bank officials took explicit account of the fact that inflation "has eased over the past year", and said it would watch the economy to see if "any" additional rates hikes are needed implying directly that, after months of ag gressive tightening and a bias towards moving rates higher, they may not need to move higher again.

Indeed, a near unanimous 17 of 19 Federal Reserve officials project that the policy rate will be lower by the end of 2024 than it is now with the median projection showing the rate falling three-quarters of a percentage point from the current 6.25-6.5% range. No officials  see rates higher by the end of next year.

For an institution that has been reluctant to declare victory over inflation that spiked last year to a 40-year high, the updated pro jections and new statement mark a notable shift in tone and outlook.

Headline personal consumption expenditures inflation is seen ending 2023 at 2.8%, and falling further to 2.4% by the end of next year, within striking distance of the Fed's2% target. That co mes at little comparative cost in terms of higher job lessness, with the unemployment rate seen rising from the current 3.7% to 4.1%, the same rate projected in September while economic growth is seen slowing from an estimated 2.0% this year to 1.4% over 2024.

While officials remain free to raise the Fed's bench mark overnight interest rate again in coming months if inflation resurges, that seems increasingly unlikely given the recent perfor mance of inflation that has edged steadily towards the central bank's target.

After raising the policy rate by 5.25 percentage points since March 2022 in one of the swiftest Fed reactions to rising inflation, the central bank has now kept the policy rate on hold since July as inflation edges closer to its target.

Global rate-cut standoff looms in '23 policy finale

 Global rate-cut standoff looms in '23 policy finale

Central bankers meet against a backdrop of how the global inflation cycle is turning

 From Washington to Frankfurt to London and beyond, central bankers are approaching their final decisions of the year against a backdrop of unease at how the global inflation cycle is turning.

Policymakers from fully half of the Group of 10 jurisdictions of most-traded currencies are scheduled to meet in the coming days, and interest rates for 60% of the world economy will be set in a whirlwind 60-hour window.

Most notable will be the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday, followed on Thursday by central banks including those of the eurozone and the UK.

With the exception of Norway-which may conceivably raise borrowing costs- most monetary officials are confronting financial market pressures to explain why they seem unhurried about pivoting to monetary easing.

Most central banks in Latin America have begun cutting rates.Brazil and Peru may reduce rates in the coming week.

In India,RBI last week decided not to increase repo rates for the Fifith time in a row.

Synchronised weakening in inflation data and weakening in inflation data and some evidence data and some evidence of softening economies have prompted investors to ramp up bets on rate cuts in the first half of 2024.

That’s a view that could clash with the mantra the Fed and its peers expounded little more than three months ago,of higher for longer.

In Latin America,which led the push upwards with rate hikes,most central banks are already on the way down,and Brazil  and Peru may both cut in the coming week

28th Session of Conference on Parties on Climate Change at DUBAI

 World 'Badly Offtrack' to Achieve Paris Climate Goals

COP28UAE

As negotiators focus identifying necessary measures and commitments to put the world back on track to limiting temperature rise to 1.5degree C, a group of experts led by eminent economists Vera Songwe and Lord Nicholas Stern have suggested a financial system to make it possible.

The primary reason why the world is "badly offtrack" to achieve the Paris goals is the insufficient investment in key areas, particularly the emerging markets and developing countries outside China, according to a new report by the Independent High-Level Expert Group (IHLEG) on Climate Finance.

Following their 2022 report on the scale of investment required to meet the Paris Agreement goals, the expert group chaired by Songwe and Stern was tasked by the COP26 (UK) and COP27 (Egypt) and the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions was asked to develop a climate fi nance system that would be "fit for purpose”.

The first report released at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh concluded that by 2030 an annual in vestment of about $2.4 trillion would be required by emerging markets and developing coun tries outside China.

The new report, A Climate Finance Framework: Decisive Action to Deliver on the Paris Agreement', launched on Monday focus es on the actions required to put in place a reformed holistic framework for cli mate finance that can accelerate and implement the necessary climate action.

Much of the current investment is "misdirected". Investment in fossil fuel production and power generation still continues to out strip investment in renewable energy. The report finds that emerging markets and developing countries other than China are being left behind. More than 90% of the Increase in investments in solar PVand electric vehicles since 2021 has been in developed economies and China. Low and low-middle income countries only accounted for 7% of clean energy spending in 2022 At the same time, adaptation costs and needs are rising. It is estimated that adaptation costs and needs are around 10 to18 times current international flows of public finance. Yet international public finance commitments for adaptation fell by 15% in 2021.

The report suggests that the first task is to act to unlock investment at scale by tackling impediments and buttressing institutional structures that can create an investable pipeline of projects. This requires co-creation of invest ment opportunities and tackling obstacles with the combined involvement of countries, the private sector and development finance Institutions. It also requires tackling debt constraints and the lack of fiscal space that limits the ability of many countries to invest.

It identifies four sources of finance domestic public resources, private sector, multilateral development banks, and concessional. The deployment of different combinations of finance from these sources will be necessary for investment and activities in different countries.