In haste, the IMF arrived on the scene, waving 10 billion at the problem.

Ever since, Gabriel has been fascinated by the seemingly infinite possibilities of having 60 billion.

Not UBS who stung mortgage borrowers for up to 67 interest?

France remains a strong industrial power in traditional areas such as automobile and aerospace industries, but it is falling behind in innovative markets, where smaller companies spread new technologies. France, for instance, spends only 30 billion annually on high tech R D, compared with 51 billion in Germany, 98 billion in Japan, and 265 billion in the US.

France, for instance, spends only 30 billion annually on high tech R amp D, compared with 51 billion in Germany, 98 billion in Japan, and 265 billion in the US.

Now they stand ready to deliver a third runway, backed by 16 billion of private investment.

One or both of these agencies would then have an account with several billion dollars.

With the costs of ousting Saddam Hussein and occupying Iraq likely to run at anywhere from 100 to 600 billion over the next decade, the US will want to internationalize Iraq's reconstruction.

But what happened is that the entire underside was full of these billions of amphipods and copepods moving around and feeding on the underside of the ice, giving birth and living out their entire life cycle.

Iraq's 20 billion annual oil revenues cannot meet such costs.

There are now seven billion people on the planet, compared to just three billion a half century ago. Today, average per capita income is 10,000, with the rich world averaging around 40,000 and the developing world around 4,000.

There has been an enormous decrease in (perceived) wealth, in the trillions, with the decline in house and stock prices.

There are now seven billion people on the planet, compared to just three billion a half century ago.

Torrential downpours destroyed crops, and wiped away billions of dollars of roads, bridges, and electricity pylons.

It is time to shift from inaction to urgent combat against the pandemic, backed by billions of dollars in assistance from rich countries.

More important, the economic burden of TB has been put as high as 20 billion annually and even higher if the losses in human capital are included.

Projects like these are being replicated across the continent, generating billions of dollars in value in terms of reduced costs, productivity gains, and increased revenues.

Estimates of the amounts needed by developing countries to help them adapt to these challenges vary between 50 and 100 billion per year.

As scandalous as it might be, these sums are mere peanuts compared to the 4.5 billions in oil revenues supposedly siphoned away from African government coffers over the last decade.

The United States government, for example, spends about 22 billion on foreign aid, while Americans privately donate perhaps another 10 billion.

The total, 12 billion per year for an expanded Global Fund, might seem unrealistically large compared to the 3 billion per year spent now.

Frankly, four billion clean cars on the road are still four billion cars, and a traffic jam with no emissions is still a traffic jam.

Others have to fight endlessly in order to obtain their construction permit from a myriad of government authorities, or clarify their property rights to the land they wish to build on.

A billion dollars used to be a lot of money now one trillion is the new normal or to paraphrase the novel and film The Devil Wears Prada a trillion is the new ten billion!

Nearly 45 billion in foreign direct investment entered China in 2000, compared with about 10 billion for Japan and even less for Asia's tigers.

Americans, incredibly generous people over 300 billion a year, donated to charity every year, compared with the amount of foreign aid given by the top 17 industrialized nations at 120 billion.

We would die by the billions, and very quickly The wolves would get us, we would be defenseless, we would be unable to grow enough food, or find enough food.

Consider Renesas Electronics, a medium size company, with 150 billion ( 1.9 billion) in annual sales, which accounts for more than half of worldwide production of essential micro computing components for automobiles.

With about 220 billion dollars, based on market capitalisation, IBM has become the second largest technology company (Apple being number one) this year, overrunning Microsoft for the first time since 1996.

Because Latin American countries enjoy the billions of dollars that their countrymen in the United States send home, they should take note of how many of their benefactors are being treated by American officials.

Migrants from poor countries already send home 200 billion a year perhaps another 400 billion informally compared to the 80 billion in aid given by Western governments.

That may seem like a lot of money, but not in comparison with the 25 trillion in income each year earned by rich countries, or the roughly 500 billion spent each year on their militaries.

That may seem like a lot of money, but not in comparison with the 25 trillion in income each year earned by rich countries, or the roughly 500 billion spent each year on their militaries.

Doubling US foreign aid would, however, still leave it below 50 billion a year a modest sum compared to the 685 billion that the US spent on defense in 2008.

Similarly, when companies with billions of users scattered around the world suffer data breaches or choose to pursue profits at the expense of universal human rights, it is not currently clear who can hold them to account.

It might have once, but the amount now pales in significance next to the 12 billion in economic assistance recently rushed to the generals by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.

The previous Karmapa Lama died in 1981, and the controversy over his successor that has raged ever since also epitomizes a struggle for control of the 1.5 billion in assets held by the Kagyu order, the richest in Tibetan Buddhism. With control of the Rumtek monastery embroiled in rival lawsuits, the New Delhi based Karmapa has, not surprisingly, greeted the recent cash seizure as exposing his Chinese appointed rival.

Indeed, the second ranked country in terms of total annual military spending, the United Kingdom, lags far behind, at 55 billion, followed by France ( 45 billion), Japan ( 41 billion), and Germany ( 35 billion).

The previous Karmapa Lama died in 1981, and the controversy over his successor that has raged ever since also epitomizes a struggle for control of the 1.5 billion in assets held by the Kagyu order, the richest in Tibetan Buddhism.