London, Dec 1 (ANI): A historian has discovered what he believes is the world's first credit crunch, dating back to 88 BC in Rome, which might be the precedent for the current financial turmoil.

According to a report in the Guardian, the historian in question is Philip Kay from the University of Oxford.

"The essential similarity between what happened 21 centuries ago and what is happening in today's UK economy is that a massive increase in monetary liquidity culminated with problems in another country causing a credit crisis at home," said Kay.

"In both cases, distance and over-optimism obscured the risk," he added.

Kay said that evidence for the world's first financial turmoil is visible in the speech that Cicero, the ancient Roman orator, gave in 66 BC, in which he alluded to the credit crunch.

Cicero argued in his speech that Pompey the Great should be given military command against Mithridates VI, king of Pontus on the Black sea coast of what is now Turkey.

He reminded his audience of events in 88 BC, when the same Mithridates invaded the Roman province of Asia, on the western coast of Turkey.

Cicero claimed the invasion caused the loss of so much Roman money that credit was destroyed in Rome itself.

"Defend the republic from this danger and believe me when I tell you - what you see for yourselves - that this system of monies, which operates at Rome in the Forum, is bound up in, and is linked with, those Asian monies; the loss of one inevitably undermines the other and causes its collapse," the orator had told his audience.

Kay said that the words were "remarkable" for their contemporary tone.

"Substitute US sub-prime for 'the Asian monies' and the UK banking system for 'the system of monies which operates in the Roman Forum', and it could have been written about the current credit crisis," he said.

According to Kay, "In second-century and early first-century BC Rome, increased inflows of bullion combined with an expansion in the availability of credit to produce a massive growth in Rome's money supply."

"This increase in the supply and availability of money in turn resulted both in a major increase in Roman economic activity and, eventually, in the credit crisis which Cicero describes," he added.

As to how did the Roman republic solved the credit crisis, Kay said, "There's very little information about what happened over the next 20 years. We just don't know." (ANI)

Kathmandu, Dec 30 (ANI): A high level Nepal Government official has said that the ongoing global financial crisis has not yet affected the employment of Nepali youths abroad.

While speaking at an interaction program on "Global Financial Crisis and Its Impact on Foreign Employment" Krishna Hai Baskota, revenue secretary at the Ministry of Finance, said," The layoffs in the job destinations had been limited to highly paid employees and workers in the lower rungs were untouched.

"As Nepali migrant workers fall under the second category, it is unlikely that they will lose their jobs en masse," he added

He said that the government was watching the developments in the world economy very closely so that it could take appropriate and timely measures.

" There was no need for panic as the crisis was yet to be felt in Nepal," he added

However, former chairman of Security Board of Nepal Dr Chiranjivi Nepal said that as Malaysia and the Gulf countries have started to feel the heat of the global financial crisis, they are laying off unskilled workers like Nepalis.

According to Nepalnews, Tilak Bahadur Ranabhat, president of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) urged the government to come up with concrete packages to help the remittance business that contributes around 17.4 percent to the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). (ANI)

London, Jan 13 (ANI): Hollywood actress Kate Winslet got so emotional during her Golden Globes acceptance speech that she failed to remember Angelina Jolie's name while acknowledging her fellow nominees.