New Delhi (PTI): Terror returned to Delhi a fortnight after the serial blasts with two motorcycle-borne youth dropping a tiffin bomb in a crowded south Delhi market that exploded killing a young boy and injuring 18 people.
Riding a black motorcycle, the two men in black dress and wearing helmets, dropped a black polythene bag containing a tiffin box opposite an electronic goods shop in the flower market in Mehrauli at about 2.15 pm, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) H S Dhaliwal told reporters.
A 13-year-old boy picked it up to give it back to the bikers. They refused and fled the place but the boy was still keen on giving it to them when it exploded killing him instantaneously and injuring 18 others.
Eleven of the injured were rushed to AIIMS where doctors said six were in critical condition. Five of them suffered serious head injuries. Three or four of the injured could be required to be operated upon, Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta told reporters.
The explosive shattered the window panes of several adjacent shops in the market located close to the historic Qutab Minar, which was bustling with shoppers.
The blast, which caused a crater, left a gory scene where blood was splattered on the road along with shattered glass panes and furniture.
The explosion comes exactly two weeks after the national capital was rocked by five near simultaneous blasts in which 24 people were killed.
There were reports that police in the neighbouring Faridabad district in Haryana had tipped off about the possibility of explosions on Saturday but Gupta asked the media not to speculate.
Soon after the explosion, Home Minister Shivraj Patil reviewed the situation with top officials of his ministry. Gupta, who talked to Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal, briefed Patil on the situation.
The nature of the explosives used in on Saturday's blast was not immediately known. Forensic experts of the NSG bomb data squad, who visited the spot, found the nails in the explosives were sharpened on both sides.
Immediately after the explosion, shopkeepers and shoppers rushed to help the injured people and took them to nearby hospitals.
"There was a huge sound. I came out of my shop and saw some people were injured and screaming for help," a shopkeeper said.
People in the area displayed their anger by alleging that police came late despite being called several times.
"Police were nowhere to be seen till one hour after the incident. We took the injured to the hospital," a shopkeeper, who was injured in the incident, said.
Police have cordoned off the area and senior police officials have rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.
Sep 27, 2008
Business - Reliance BIG Music ties up with Paramount
MUMBAI: BIG Music & Home Entertainment (BMHE), part of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has entered into a licensing agreement with Paramount Home Entertainment of Hollywood, the company announced on Saturday.
The deal provides BIG Music the exclusive distribution rights for Paramount home video productions in India and Sri Lanka.
Paramount home video library includes productions of DreamWorks Animation SKG, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vintage, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies.
The library contains movies ranging from classics like "The Godfather" series, "The Ten Commandments" and "Roman Holiday" to contemporary blockbusters like "The Mission Impossible" series and "Transformers".
BIG Music had earlier signed similar agreements with Warner Home Video and Universal Pictures to market and distribute their products in India and Sri Lanka exclusively.
BIG Music chief executive Kulmeet Makkar and Paramount Home Asia Pacific regional director Zubair Hassan hailed the cooperation, saying it would work in favour of both the companies.
The deal provides BIG Music the exclusive distribution rights for Paramount home video productions in India and Sri Lanka.
Paramount home video library includes productions of DreamWorks Animation SKG, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vintage, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies.
The library contains movies ranging from classics like "The Godfather" series, "The Ten Commandments" and "Roman Holiday" to contemporary blockbusters like "The Mission Impossible" series and "Transformers".
BIG Music had earlier signed similar agreements with Warner Home Video and Universal Pictures to market and distribute their products in India and Sri Lanka exclusively.
BIG Music chief executive Kulmeet Makkar and Paramount Home Asia Pacific regional director Zubair Hassan hailed the cooperation, saying it would work in favour of both the companies.
Mktg - Brands must be build with PR
Arcopol Chauduri
StrategiCom, a global brand consultancy, was founded in 2003 on the belief that for a business-to-business (B2B) provider, it was more important to have a strong brand than a business-to-customer (B2C) firm as B2B purchases involved more risk and are pricier.Wilson Chew, chief executive officer and principal consultant, Strategicom, leads a team of over 110 consultants and analysts spread across the globe, consulting small and medium enterprises. In India, B2B transactions have a steady rhythm, despite a global slowdown. And it’s this factor that has encouraged him to launch in India. “The timing couldn’t have been better,” Chew told DNA Money’s Arcopol Chaudhuri during his visit to Mumbai recently. Excerpts from the interview:
Why have you decided to launch StrategiCom in India?
The current economic atmosphere looks worrisome for businesses...Our decision to launch in India has got more to do with our own global growth. India is a unique economy, where the business-to-business (B2B) community runs at a good rhythm despite all the noise about a global slowdown. It shows that the Indian market is dynamic. We are in the process of opening an office in Mumbai and I think it couldn’t have happened at a better time.
What is the difference in the approach to branding a B2C company vis-a-vis a B2B firm?
The main difference is in the consumption behaviour. The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) space sees fast-moving consumption. However, it’s slower in the luxury segment. In the B2B space, buying behaviour is generally vigorous across sectors since the per-contract transaction is of a higher value. For B2B firms, corporate branding is based on strength in the relationship between businesses, positive word-of-mouth, core competencies and credibility. Our key focus area is on positioning and differentiation.
What are the challenges that SMEs face when it comes to positioning and differentiation?
We’ve observed that for similar products, the battle is fought on pricing. Actually, there’s nothing wrong with cost-competitive pricing as long as the marketplace creates demand for it. But finding a cheaper alternative is not always a good idea because, with multiple players in the market, there will be competition always at any price point. Today, it’s about choosing the space the company wants to be in. To make this possible, brand strategy and business strategy cannot be mutually exclusive. They need to be formulated in sync.
Traditionally, it’s the large corporates that have been roping in branding consultants. Have SMEs taken branding seriously?
Are there any obstacles your consultants face in convincing clients?Well, in the kind of markets we operate in, most businesses are family-run enterprises. So, these firms, in the first 15-20 years of their existence, start chasing every business opportunity. When they reach a certain scale and size, they can no longer do that. Also, the costs increase as employees, technology and products increase and diversify. These present new challenges too, as new cost structures come in. So, internal processes also have to transform and brand building becomes inevitable. This is the reason why I say that branding is not about generating external-to-inward perspectives. In fact, if internal branding is not in place, then it will do more harm than good to the organisation. There are companies that we consulted where the reality of trying to achieve a brand strategy was not being accepted. The thought of suddenly transforming and modernising is somehow not acceptable to some.Your approach excludes advertising, which is a key branding tool.
How difficult does it become then, considering SMEs don’t spend on advertising anyway?
I think that the principle of branding and principles of marketing (of which advertising is a part) are two exclusive concepts. Business schools will tell you that marketing is a social science. Pure scientists will tell you that branding is a psychological science. But the two must go hand-in-hand. Branding, essentially, is about positioning and differentiation. Marketing is about tools we use to build awareness and relationships. I’m a great advocate of the fact that brands need to be built with public relations and sustained with advertising.
It’s strange you say that, because if you look back to the 1980s (after Marlboro Friday happened) Nike, Adidas built brands purely through advertising...
Maybe you’re right. But I’m referring to B2B brands here — they have been traditionally different than B2C brands. Even if you look at the top 1000 brands listed by Fortune or Forbes or any other organisation, consumer brands don’t make up for more than 20% of the list. In fact, its B2B brands such as General Electric, 3M, Intel, Suzlon, etc that make up for more than 800 of the list.
If you were a branding consultant to Lehman Brothers, a firm facing the consequences of the global economic downturn, what will be your advice to it?
(Laughs) Lehman (or companies similar to it) needs to go back to what made it successful in the first place. That’s where its strength lies. Brand building happens when you are focussed in what you do. Think about it. Traditionally, it’s the housing finance companies and co-operative societies that have been funding sources for mortgage loans. Never the banks. Who would have thought that banks that are global financial services would expose themselves in such a manner? Tata is a global brand, because it has stuck to its core competencies. General Electric spent the first 65 years of its existence creating things it was immensely good at making — light bulbs. Brands like Reliance, which are just a few decades old and are diversifying into so many businesses, will have to identify and stick to their core competencies.
StrategiCom, a global brand consultancy, was founded in 2003 on the belief that for a business-to-business (B2B) provider, it was more important to have a strong brand than a business-to-customer (B2C) firm as B2B purchases involved more risk and are pricier.Wilson Chew, chief executive officer and principal consultant, Strategicom, leads a team of over 110 consultants and analysts spread across the globe, consulting small and medium enterprises. In India, B2B transactions have a steady rhythm, despite a global slowdown. And it’s this factor that has encouraged him to launch in India. “The timing couldn’t have been better,” Chew told DNA Money’s Arcopol Chaudhuri during his visit to Mumbai recently. Excerpts from the interview:
Why have you decided to launch StrategiCom in India?
The current economic atmosphere looks worrisome for businesses...Our decision to launch in India has got more to do with our own global growth. India is a unique economy, where the business-to-business (B2B) community runs at a good rhythm despite all the noise about a global slowdown. It shows that the Indian market is dynamic. We are in the process of opening an office in Mumbai and I think it couldn’t have happened at a better time.
What is the difference in the approach to branding a B2C company vis-a-vis a B2B firm?
The main difference is in the consumption behaviour. The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) space sees fast-moving consumption. However, it’s slower in the luxury segment. In the B2B space, buying behaviour is generally vigorous across sectors since the per-contract transaction is of a higher value. For B2B firms, corporate branding is based on strength in the relationship between businesses, positive word-of-mouth, core competencies and credibility. Our key focus area is on positioning and differentiation.
What are the challenges that SMEs face when it comes to positioning and differentiation?
We’ve observed that for similar products, the battle is fought on pricing. Actually, there’s nothing wrong with cost-competitive pricing as long as the marketplace creates demand for it. But finding a cheaper alternative is not always a good idea because, with multiple players in the market, there will be competition always at any price point. Today, it’s about choosing the space the company wants to be in. To make this possible, brand strategy and business strategy cannot be mutually exclusive. They need to be formulated in sync.
Traditionally, it’s the large corporates that have been roping in branding consultants. Have SMEs taken branding seriously?
Are there any obstacles your consultants face in convincing clients?Well, in the kind of markets we operate in, most businesses are family-run enterprises. So, these firms, in the first 15-20 years of their existence, start chasing every business opportunity. When they reach a certain scale and size, they can no longer do that. Also, the costs increase as employees, technology and products increase and diversify. These present new challenges too, as new cost structures come in. So, internal processes also have to transform and brand building becomes inevitable. This is the reason why I say that branding is not about generating external-to-inward perspectives. In fact, if internal branding is not in place, then it will do more harm than good to the organisation. There are companies that we consulted where the reality of trying to achieve a brand strategy was not being accepted. The thought of suddenly transforming and modernising is somehow not acceptable to some.Your approach excludes advertising, which is a key branding tool.
How difficult does it become then, considering SMEs don’t spend on advertising anyway?
I think that the principle of branding and principles of marketing (of which advertising is a part) are two exclusive concepts. Business schools will tell you that marketing is a social science. Pure scientists will tell you that branding is a psychological science. But the two must go hand-in-hand. Branding, essentially, is about positioning and differentiation. Marketing is about tools we use to build awareness and relationships. I’m a great advocate of the fact that brands need to be built with public relations and sustained with advertising.
It’s strange you say that, because if you look back to the 1980s (after Marlboro Friday happened) Nike, Adidas built brands purely through advertising...
Maybe you’re right. But I’m referring to B2B brands here — they have been traditionally different than B2C brands. Even if you look at the top 1000 brands listed by Fortune or Forbes or any other organisation, consumer brands don’t make up for more than 20% of the list. In fact, its B2B brands such as General Electric, 3M, Intel, Suzlon, etc that make up for more than 800 of the list.
If you were a branding consultant to Lehman Brothers, a firm facing the consequences of the global economic downturn, what will be your advice to it?
(Laughs) Lehman (or companies similar to it) needs to go back to what made it successful in the first place. That’s where its strength lies. Brand building happens when you are focussed in what you do. Think about it. Traditionally, it’s the housing finance companies and co-operative societies that have been funding sources for mortgage loans. Never the banks. Who would have thought that banks that are global financial services would expose themselves in such a manner? Tata is a global brand, because it has stuck to its core competencies. General Electric spent the first 65 years of its existence creating things it was immensely good at making — light bulbs. Brands like Reliance, which are just a few decades old and are diversifying into so many businesses, will have to identify and stick to their core competencies.
Sport - F1;Massa storms to first floodlit pole
Felipe Massa looks to be planning a repeat of his Valencia performance after he took a comfortable pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday evening.The Brazilian upped the ante after McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen had set the fastest times, lapping his F2008 in 1m 44.801s. With Hamilton next on 1m 45.465s ahead of Raikkonen on 1m 45.617s, it is probably safe to assume that Massa is running to a lighter fuel strategy.McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen split the two BMW Saubers on his final run, his 1m 45.873s leaving him between Robert Kubica (1m 45.779s) and Nick Heidfeld (1m 45.964s).Monza winner Sebastian Vettel was the only Red Bull-backed runner to make the top 10 this time, taking his Toro Rosso to seventh on 1m 46.244s ahead of Toyota’s Timo Glock (1m 46.328s) and the Williams duo of Nico Rosberg (1m 46.611s) and Kazuki Nakajima (a top 10 first timer with 1m 47.547s).Q2 weeded out Toyota’s Jarno Trulli (1m 45.038s), Honda’s Jenson Button (1m 45.133s), Red Bull’s Mark Webber and David Coulthard (1m 45.212s and 1m 45.298s respectively), and the unfortunate Fernando Alonso, whose Renault quit on him in Turn 18 during his out lap.Renault’s Nelson Piquet lost out to Coulthard’s final effort in Q1, the Brazilian’s 1m 46.037s leaving him 16th in the line-up. Sebastien Bourdais didn’t get it together either, failing to push his Toro Rosso beyond 1m 46.389s. Rubens Barrichello’s weekend didn’t get any better for Honda, with 1m 46.583s for 18th.The two Force Indias were at the back. Adrian Sutil lapped in 1m 46.940s, but Giancarlo Fisichella did nothing to endear himself to his mechanics, who had worked flat out to get him running near the end of the session following his earlier practice shunt, only for him to put his repaired VJM01 off into the barriers in Turn 3.
Sport - F1;No Indian GP in 2010
Boss Ecclestone says an F1 race cannot be held in India before 2011 as there is no infrastructure
SINGAPORE: Narain Karthikeyan has got it right this time in Formula One. The A1 GP driver, who has had a rather forgettable F1 career, had recently ruled out the possibility of India holding a Formula One GP in 2010. On Friday, Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone echoed his views by saying that he plans to hold an Indian GP in 2011, a year later than what the Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi had planned.
“Right now, there is no infrastructure to hold an F1 race,” Karthikeyan was quoted as saying.
It may be recalled that last year Kalmadi had enthusiastically announced India would be ready to hold its first Grand Prix in 2010. “The first race has been finalised for the year 2010. We’ll be signing the contract for 2010. The month is not finalised but it could be March, the first race, or after the Bahrain Grand Prix,” he had said then.
Kalmadi’s enthusiasm was based on the fact that Ecclestone had approved two sites near Delhi (Noida in UP and Sohna near Gurgaon) to build the circuit. It was left to IOA to choose one among the two.
The IOA had announced in June 2007 that they had received a letter from F1 administration to hold a race in India.
According to Kalmadi, track architect Hermann Tilke had inspected the prospective sites in September 2007 and had reported back to the F1 supremo.
Ecclestone, who is in Singapore to attend the inaugural night Grand Prix didn’t specify a reason for the delay. “Things are going as usual, but things take time,” he was quoted as saying.
SINGAPORE: Narain Karthikeyan has got it right this time in Formula One. The A1 GP driver, who has had a rather forgettable F1 career, had recently ruled out the possibility of India holding a Formula One GP in 2010. On Friday, Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone echoed his views by saying that he plans to hold an Indian GP in 2011, a year later than what the Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi had planned.
“Right now, there is no infrastructure to hold an F1 race,” Karthikeyan was quoted as saying.
It may be recalled that last year Kalmadi had enthusiastically announced India would be ready to hold its first Grand Prix in 2010. “The first race has been finalised for the year 2010. We’ll be signing the contract for 2010. The month is not finalised but it could be March, the first race, or after the Bahrain Grand Prix,” he had said then.
Kalmadi’s enthusiasm was based on the fact that Ecclestone had approved two sites near Delhi (Noida in UP and Sohna near Gurgaon) to build the circuit. It was left to IOA to choose one among the two.
The IOA had announced in June 2007 that they had received a letter from F1 administration to hold a race in India.
According to Kalmadi, track architect Hermann Tilke had inspected the prospective sites in September 2007 and had reported back to the F1 supremo.
Ecclestone, who is in Singapore to attend the inaugural night Grand Prix didn’t specify a reason for the delay. “Things are going as usual, but things take time,” he was quoted as saying.
Sport - Cricket;Srikanth is new Chairman of Selectors - BCCI
MUMBAI: Former India captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth on Saturday became the new Chairman of the National Senior Cricket Selection Committee, replacing Dilip Vengsarkar at the helm of affiars.
He was appointed as the chief selector at the BCCI's 79th Annual General Meeting here, BCCI sources said.
Raja Venkat (East Zone), Surendra Bhave (West Zone), Narendra Hirwani (Central Zone) and Yashpal Sharma (North Zone) are the other four selctors.
Former Mumbai and India pace bowler Abui Kuruvilla was chosen as the junior selection panel chief at the two-day meeting, the sources said.
The other junior selectors picked include Sanjay Desai (South Zone), Sanjeev Sharma (North Zone), Rajesh Bora (East Zone) and R S Hans (Central Zone).
Sharad Pawar, who stepped down as the Board President at the AGM and was succeeded by Shashank Manohar, will head the BCCI's Marketing Committee, while Rajiv Shukla was elected as Chairman of the Finance Committee.
N Srinivasan was elected as the Secretary, Sanjay Jagdale became the new Joint Secretary and M P Pandove will be the new Treasurer. The trio was elected unopposed, they said.
Also elected unopposed were the five Vice-Presidents -- Shivlal Yadav, Chirayu Amin, Arindam Ganguly, Arun Jaitley and Lalit Modi, the sources said.
He was appointed as the chief selector at the BCCI's 79th Annual General Meeting here, BCCI sources said.
Raja Venkat (East Zone), Surendra Bhave (West Zone), Narendra Hirwani (Central Zone) and Yashpal Sharma (North Zone) are the other four selctors.
Former Mumbai and India pace bowler Abui Kuruvilla was chosen as the junior selection panel chief at the two-day meeting, the sources said.
The other junior selectors picked include Sanjay Desai (South Zone), Sanjeev Sharma (North Zone), Rajesh Bora (East Zone) and R S Hans (Central Zone).
Sharad Pawar, who stepped down as the Board President at the AGM and was succeeded by Shashank Manohar, will head the BCCI's Marketing Committee, while Rajiv Shukla was elected as Chairman of the Finance Committee.
N Srinivasan was elected as the Secretary, Sanjay Jagdale became the new Joint Secretary and M P Pandove will be the new Treasurer. The trio was elected unopposed, they said.
Also elected unopposed were the five Vice-Presidents -- Shivlal Yadav, Chirayu Amin, Arindam Ganguly, Arun Jaitley and Lalit Modi, the sources said.
Entertainment - Depp to return as Jack Sparrow
LONDON: Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp has agreed to return to his role of quirky pirate Captain Jack Sparrow in a fourth film of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise.
Executives at Disney, the studio behind the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series based on a popular theme park ride at one of its parks, are delighted that Depp has agreed to play Jack Sparrow once again. The character is said to be modelled on The Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards, reports dailymail.co.uk.
The three films of the franchise produced by Hollywood filmmaker Jerry Bruckheimer have earned a staggering $2.6 billion at the box office.
Depp will also star as the Mad Hatter in a big screen version of Lewis Carrol's “Alice in Wonderland” and as Tonto, the Indian sidekick of the masked cowboy in a version of the 1950s TV series “The Lone Ranger”.
Executives at Disney, the studio behind the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series based on a popular theme park ride at one of its parks, are delighted that Depp has agreed to play Jack Sparrow once again. The character is said to be modelled on The Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards, reports dailymail.co.uk.
The three films of the franchise produced by Hollywood filmmaker Jerry Bruckheimer have earned a staggering $2.6 billion at the box office.
Depp will also star as the Mad Hatter in a big screen version of Lewis Carrol's “Alice in Wonderland” and as Tonto, the Indian sidekick of the masked cowboy in a version of the 1950s TV series “The Lone Ranger”.
Sep 25, 2008
India - Divisive economic zones
The Indian government has approved the creation of 250 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) across the country. Inspired by similar zones established in China, the tax-free enclaves are seen as a way to promote trade. Big companies, including Reliance Industries and Wipro, are among those keen for SEZs to go ahead.
But farmers and landowners are not so enthusiastic, arguing that their land will be compulsorily bought at unfair prices. Debate about SEZs is heated in Maharashtra, one of India's wealthiest states, reports Prachi Pinglay in Mumbai (Bombay).
For BA Patil, a rice farmer in Vashi, a village about 80km (50 miles) away from Mumbai, it is a matter of principle, exercising his rights and safeguarding his livelihood.
He has come early to Vashi village school to submit his opinion in writing before the state government - the first time such a consultation process has taken place in Maharashtra.
The state government has carried out an elaborate exercise to seek public opinion in 22 villages that stand to lose a total of 5,700 acres of land to make way for an SEZ proposed by Reliance Industries.
This SEZ, called Maha Mumbai SEZ (Great Mumbai SEZ), is planned to spread over 45 villages and over 20,000 acres of land.
However, opposition from these 22 villages has been stiff. They say it is wrong to develop them when a nearby dam - almost complete - will ensure high quality irrigation and a double crop on this fertile farmland.
Tense atmosphere
Officials say more than 6,000 farmers have submitted their comments on the proposed SEZ. The data will be collated and forwarded to higher authorities in the coming days.
However, the mandate is not legally binding on the government.
"I had a government job. My children too may do other jobs. But we will never quit farming," said Mr Patil, who is in his early 60s.
"Before taking a decision on our land, someone should have asked us what we wanted. It is not just about more money or compensation. It is my land, my farm and something I cannot give up."
The lush rice fields swaying over several hundred acres of land cannot disguise the tense atmosphere in these villages.
As farmers took part in the consultation process, there was a heavy police presence - at least 700 personnel were deployed in the area.
"There are more police today than on days of elections. This is just to gauge my opinions about my land but see how there is at least one policeman per person," one farmer in the queue said.
'No health care'
Several activists and groups from nearby areas have been mobilizing public support for this exercise since it was first announced in August 2008.
DM Mhatre, who owns seven acres of farmland, is in favour of the SEZ, but at a much higher cost - at least $210,000 per acre - instead of an offer from the authorities of $21,000.
"Women still walk three kilometres to get drinking water," he says.
"There are no health care or education facilities. If we are getting all this and a good price for our land, why should I not want it? We have to change with times. Why should we be denied that option?"
The rehabilitation package recently offered included better financial compensation, better healthcare, more jobs and some percentage of the profits from the developed land.
But a large number of agricultural workers are sceptical about such promises.
"This exercise will show what the farmers want in this region. But it still does not include thousands of landless labourers who earn their livelihood by toiling on other people's farms," said Vaishali Patil, an activist for farmers' and tribal rights.
"Then there are several small businesses depending on the agriculture here. What will they do?" he asked.
Meanwhile, Reliance Industries has filed a petition in the Mumbai (Bombay) High Court challenging the government's decision to hold this kind of vote.
They say after the central government's approval for the SEZ, the state government cannot carry out such a public hearing.
Legal experts say that under the terms of the Land Acquisition Act, the government has powers to acquire any privately owned land in the public interest after a due process which involves notices, hearings and further official declarations.
They say that the whole process should be completed within three years.
At the same time, until the land is actually acquired, the government also has the powers to withdraw the acquisition process.
Most of farmers have not been told about - or do not understand - what they see as these tedious details of the law.
Several, who cannot read or write, have only put a thumb impression on the forms rejecting the SEZ. Nothing convinces them about the merits of giving up their land.
Many feel the same way as 68-year-old Pandurang Thavai, who has been growing rice on his three-acre plot all his life.
For him, this land is not something that can be bought, at any cost.
"I grow enough rice for my family and even more which I sell. We farmers provide food to society. We produce one of the best varieties of rice in this region. It tastes so good. Why take such a good thing away?" he asks.
But farmers and landowners are not so enthusiastic, arguing that their land will be compulsorily bought at unfair prices. Debate about SEZs is heated in Maharashtra, one of India's wealthiest states, reports Prachi Pinglay in Mumbai (Bombay).
For BA Patil, a rice farmer in Vashi, a village about 80km (50 miles) away from Mumbai, it is a matter of principle, exercising his rights and safeguarding his livelihood.
He has come early to Vashi village school to submit his opinion in writing before the state government - the first time such a consultation process has taken place in Maharashtra.
The state government has carried out an elaborate exercise to seek public opinion in 22 villages that stand to lose a total of 5,700 acres of land to make way for an SEZ proposed by Reliance Industries.
This SEZ, called Maha Mumbai SEZ (Great Mumbai SEZ), is planned to spread over 45 villages and over 20,000 acres of land.
However, opposition from these 22 villages has been stiff. They say it is wrong to develop them when a nearby dam - almost complete - will ensure high quality irrigation and a double crop on this fertile farmland.
Tense atmosphere
Officials say more than 6,000 farmers have submitted their comments on the proposed SEZ. The data will be collated and forwarded to higher authorities in the coming days.
However, the mandate is not legally binding on the government.
"I had a government job. My children too may do other jobs. But we will never quit farming," said Mr Patil, who is in his early 60s.
"Before taking a decision on our land, someone should have asked us what we wanted. It is not just about more money or compensation. It is my land, my farm and something I cannot give up."
The lush rice fields swaying over several hundred acres of land cannot disguise the tense atmosphere in these villages.
As farmers took part in the consultation process, there was a heavy police presence - at least 700 personnel were deployed in the area.
"There are more police today than on days of elections. This is just to gauge my opinions about my land but see how there is at least one policeman per person," one farmer in the queue said.
'No health care'
Several activists and groups from nearby areas have been mobilizing public support for this exercise since it was first announced in August 2008.
DM Mhatre, who owns seven acres of farmland, is in favour of the SEZ, but at a much higher cost - at least $210,000 per acre - instead of an offer from the authorities of $21,000.
"Women still walk three kilometres to get drinking water," he says.
"There are no health care or education facilities. If we are getting all this and a good price for our land, why should I not want it? We have to change with times. Why should we be denied that option?"
The rehabilitation package recently offered included better financial compensation, better healthcare, more jobs and some percentage of the profits from the developed land.
But a large number of agricultural workers are sceptical about such promises.
"This exercise will show what the farmers want in this region. But it still does not include thousands of landless labourers who earn their livelihood by toiling on other people's farms," said Vaishali Patil, an activist for farmers' and tribal rights.
"Then there are several small businesses depending on the agriculture here. What will they do?" he asked.
Meanwhile, Reliance Industries has filed a petition in the Mumbai (Bombay) High Court challenging the government's decision to hold this kind of vote.
They say after the central government's approval for the SEZ, the state government cannot carry out such a public hearing.
Legal experts say that under the terms of the Land Acquisition Act, the government has powers to acquire any privately owned land in the public interest after a due process which involves notices, hearings and further official declarations.
They say that the whole process should be completed within three years.
At the same time, until the land is actually acquired, the government also has the powers to withdraw the acquisition process.
Most of farmers have not been told about - or do not understand - what they see as these tedious details of the law.
Several, who cannot read or write, have only put a thumb impression on the forms rejecting the SEZ. Nothing convinces them about the merits of giving up their land.
Many feel the same way as 68-year-old Pandurang Thavai, who has been growing rice on his three-acre plot all his life.
For him, this land is not something that can be bought, at any cost.
"I grow enough rice for my family and even more which I sell. We farmers provide food to society. We produce one of the best varieties of rice in this region. It tastes so good. Why take such a good thing away?" he asks.
Health - Designer vagina trend 'worrying'
A leading urogynaecologist has spoken out against the growing popularity of cosmetic vaginal surgery.
Professor Linda Cardozo, of King's College Hospital, London, says little evidence exists to advise women on the safety or effectiveness of procedures.
These include operations to make the external appearance more "attractive" and reshaping the vagina to counter laxity after childbirth, for example.
She discussed the issues at a medical meeting in Montreal, Canada.
A Google search showed over 45,000 references to cosmetic vaginal surgery, yet on medical databases such as PubMed or Medline there were fewer than 100.
Professor Cardozo said the most established vaginal cosmetic procedure was reduction labioplasty - a procedure to make the labia smaller - which is requested by women either for aesthetic reasons or to alleviate physical discomfort.
"Women want to emulate the supermodel. It's part of a trend. But they should know that all surgery can be risky.
"Most of the procedures are done in the private sector and it's totally unregulated."
The exact numbers of procedures carried out are unknown.
In the past five years there has been a doubling of the number of labial reductions carried out on the NHS from 400 in 2000/1 to 800 in 2004/5.
Growing trend
The evidence from existing case studies shows that the procedure, which costs about £2,000 at a private clinic, does have positive aesthetic results but it is unclear whether it resolves feelings of psychological distress or improves sexual functioning, she said.
And there was little evidence that "vaginal rejuvenation" - the surgical repair of vaginal laxity, with a price tag of about £3,000 - improved symptoms and was any better than doing simple pelvic floor muscle exercises.
She said robust research was needed so that doctors could properly advise their patients. In the meantime, she urged surgeons to remain cautious and operate only as a last resort.
In her presentation at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 7th International Scientific Meeting, Professor Cardozo said: "Cosmetic vaginal procedures raise a number of serious ethical questions.
"Women are paying large sums of money for this type of surgery which may improve the appearance of their genitalia but there is no evidence that it improves function."
Types of cosmetic vaginal surgery
Labioplasty - to make the labia smaller
Vaginal rejuvenation - to make the vagina tighter
Hymenoplasty - to restore the hymen and make the woman appear a virgin
Professor Linda Cardozo, of King's College Hospital, London, says little evidence exists to advise women on the safety or effectiveness of procedures.
These include operations to make the external appearance more "attractive" and reshaping the vagina to counter laxity after childbirth, for example.
She discussed the issues at a medical meeting in Montreal, Canada.
A Google search showed over 45,000 references to cosmetic vaginal surgery, yet on medical databases such as PubMed or Medline there were fewer than 100.
Professor Cardozo said the most established vaginal cosmetic procedure was reduction labioplasty - a procedure to make the labia smaller - which is requested by women either for aesthetic reasons or to alleviate physical discomfort.
"Women want to emulate the supermodel. It's part of a trend. But they should know that all surgery can be risky.
"Most of the procedures are done in the private sector and it's totally unregulated."
The exact numbers of procedures carried out are unknown.
In the past five years there has been a doubling of the number of labial reductions carried out on the NHS from 400 in 2000/1 to 800 in 2004/5.
Growing trend
The evidence from existing case studies shows that the procedure, which costs about £2,000 at a private clinic, does have positive aesthetic results but it is unclear whether it resolves feelings of psychological distress or improves sexual functioning, she said.
And there was little evidence that "vaginal rejuvenation" - the surgical repair of vaginal laxity, with a price tag of about £3,000 - improved symptoms and was any better than doing simple pelvic floor muscle exercises.
She said robust research was needed so that doctors could properly advise their patients. In the meantime, she urged surgeons to remain cautious and operate only as a last resort.
In her presentation at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 7th International Scientific Meeting, Professor Cardozo said: "Cosmetic vaginal procedures raise a number of serious ethical questions.
"Women are paying large sums of money for this type of surgery which may improve the appearance of their genitalia but there is no evidence that it improves function."
Types of cosmetic vaginal surgery
Labioplasty - to make the labia smaller
Vaginal rejuvenation - to make the vagina tighter
Hymenoplasty - to restore the hymen and make the woman appear a virgin
Health - Fish 'reduces early ezceme risk'
Adding fish to a child's diet before the age of nine months could lessen the chances of developing eczema.
The rate of the painful skin condition has risen in Western countries in recent years, and scientists believe diet may be partly to blame.
Swedish scientists tracked the health of children in 5,000 families, and said that early introduction of fish cut the risk by a quarter.
The research was published in Archives of Disease in Childhood.
The children were all part of an ongoing health study looking at almost 17,000 infants born in 2003 in western Sweden.
Some of the families involved agreed to fill in questionnaires about diet and home environment when the child was six months and 12 months old.
Any evidence of eczema was also recorded, and the results analysed. At six months old, 13% of the families said their child had already developed eczema, and this rose to 20% by their first birthday.
Genes appeared have the most powerful effect - children with a sibling or mother with eczema were almost twice as likely to be affected by 12 months.
Breast feeding, the age at which dairy products were introduced, and the presence of a furry pet in the home had no detectable influence on eczema.
However, the introduction of fish before nine months cut the risk by 25%.
Omega-3 link
The researchers wrote: "The fact that fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids could partly explain the effects found in this cohort."
However, they said they found no measureable difference between children who ate white fish, and those who ate other types of fish richer in omega-3, making it hard to say for certain.
Dr George Du Toit, a paediatric allergy specialist, said that fish had been linked to allergic reactions and eczema.
He said: "The connection between diet and eczema is complex.
"Eczema, particularly severe eczema, is commonly associated with the presence of food allergy.
"Parents of young children with eczema may therefore wish to consult with their doctor prior to the introduction of foods that commonly cause allergy, such as cows milk, peanut and even fish."
A spokesman for the National Eczema Society welcomed the study, agreeing that the genetic component of the condition was likely to be the most significant, and urging parents to avoiding harsh soaps and detergents on the skin from a young age in families predisposed to the condition.
The rate of the painful skin condition has risen in Western countries in recent years, and scientists believe diet may be partly to blame.
Swedish scientists tracked the health of children in 5,000 families, and said that early introduction of fish cut the risk by a quarter.
The research was published in Archives of Disease in Childhood.
The children were all part of an ongoing health study looking at almost 17,000 infants born in 2003 in western Sweden.
Some of the families involved agreed to fill in questionnaires about diet and home environment when the child was six months and 12 months old.
Any evidence of eczema was also recorded, and the results analysed. At six months old, 13% of the families said their child had already developed eczema, and this rose to 20% by their first birthday.
Genes appeared have the most powerful effect - children with a sibling or mother with eczema were almost twice as likely to be affected by 12 months.
Breast feeding, the age at which dairy products were introduced, and the presence of a furry pet in the home had no detectable influence on eczema.
However, the introduction of fish before nine months cut the risk by 25%.
Omega-3 link
The researchers wrote: "The fact that fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids could partly explain the effects found in this cohort."
However, they said they found no measureable difference between children who ate white fish, and those who ate other types of fish richer in omega-3, making it hard to say for certain.
Dr George Du Toit, a paediatric allergy specialist, said that fish had been linked to allergic reactions and eczema.
He said: "The connection between diet and eczema is complex.
"Eczema, particularly severe eczema, is commonly associated with the presence of food allergy.
"Parents of young children with eczema may therefore wish to consult with their doctor prior to the introduction of foods that commonly cause allergy, such as cows milk, peanut and even fish."
A spokesman for the National Eczema Society welcomed the study, agreeing that the genetic component of the condition was likely to be the most significant, and urging parents to avoiding harsh soaps and detergents on the skin from a young age in families predisposed to the condition.
Tech - Touring the greenest museum ever
Maggie Shiels
Claude the albino alligator relaxes in a swamp complete with a heated rock while all around him workmen battle against the clock to put the finishing touches to the largest public green building in the world.
The California Academy of Sciences, based in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, opens its doors to the public this weekend following three years of construction and 10 years of planning.
The 410,000 square foot (38,000 square metre) structure is just as big a draw as the exhibits it houses.
Designed by Renzo Piano, a winner of the most respected prize in architecture, the Pritzker, the Academy has green credentials running through every sinew and vein: from the planetarium to the aquarium and from the rainforest to the living roof which mirrors the hills the city is built on.
"People from all around the world are looking at this building," explained Chris Andrews, the chief of public programmes at the Academy and also the director of the Steinhart Aquarium
The list of sustainable design features is seemingly endless: non-toxic insulation, a passive heating and cooling system, a recycled steel structure and electricity provided by some 60,000 photovoltaic cells.
Over the next couple of months the US Green Building Council is expected to confirm its highest award on the building, a platinum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating.
'Science is cool'
But there is more to the Academy than its greenness, and those that run it have said they have a clear mission to "explore, explain and protect the natural world."
"One thing we desperately want to do at the Academy is start to impress upon people that science is cool, science is fun," said Dr Andrews as he wandered through the world's deepest living coral reef display complete with more than 4,000 reef fishes.
"We want to emphasise to people that we are fascinated by the natural world and that we are passionate about it."
To drive home the fun and interactive aspects of the museum, Dr Andrews demonstrated a game with a Wii-type device that visitors wave in the air to catch bugs and butterflies.
Another display employing overhead cameras and sensors lets visitors sweep their hands and feet over the ground to move food around for insects while another lets them play scientist and inspect some of the wonders stored in the Academy's vast research facility.
"We want people to touch the stuff and as far as possible we want it to be the real stuff," an enthusiastic Dr Andrews told BBC News.
'Major change'
The crowning glory of this new $488m (£262m) edifice is the living roof which unites the 12 separate buildings that once comprised the Academy, one of the 10 largest natural science museums in the world.
It boasts 1.7m native Californian plants spread over 2.5 acres (one hectare) and its undultating shape has energy conservation at its heart.
"The aerofoil structure of hills and bumps gives the air movement over the top of the building, which allows fresh air to be drawn into the exhibit halls," said Blair Parkin, chief executive and founder of Visual Acuity, one of the technical consultants on the project.
"We don't need to use air conditioning because we have skylights that use sensors and pop up and allow air and light into the building."
Inside, just as outside, a host of technical considerations have been embedded in the structure of the building to ensure it would leave a light footprint on the planet.
"It's been a major change in the way we work," noted Mr Parkin.
"In the past power was free, heat was free, cooling was free. You didn't worry about it. You just bought the equipment and plugged in
"With this building we had to set a budget for heat and energy. We've had to invent technologies and create standards that are now flowing into more modest public and commercial buildings."
To cope with the state of the art visual, audio and interactive aspects of the exhibits and the building, the company constructed several green data centres and a fibre optic network more common in a stock exchange or huge corporate headquarters.
"Everything in the museum is connected to that network and in some way, shape or form is intelligent," said Mr Parkin.
There is little doubt the Morrison Planetarium, the world's largest, will prove to be a big draw with its tilted seats and ever changing intergalactic show.
"This is a giant 3D replica of the galaxy and it's connected to the computer room in the basement," said Mr Parkin.
"It takes all the known information from a host of instutions from around the world and real time information from NASA and throws it up there for the public to see the universe we live in."
Around the corner, visitors will find a rainforest; beyond that, there are more traditional animal exhibits and the perennial favourites, dinosaurs.
Touching emotions
In the weeks running up to this weekend's public unveiling, the Academy held special open days for members and invited guests.
"I think its really great," said Linda McMullen who was there with her son Morgan.
"He's only two so it's going over his head a bit but when he's older it will be a great resource for learning."
The building's green credentials where what really interested Kumi Ishida, who said, "It's a wonderful way to make the public become more aware of what we can do as individuals."
The Academy said it hopes others take the green message to heart and that it will strive to raise a level of consciousness about the issue.
"A museum can only touch those it attracts," said Dr Andrews.
"Unless you touch people's emotions and get them excited, they're unlikely to care and fundamental to what the Academy has to do is touch people's emotions and make them care about the world we live in."
Claude the albino alligator relaxes in a swamp complete with a heated rock while all around him workmen battle against the clock to put the finishing touches to the largest public green building in the world.
The California Academy of Sciences, based in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, opens its doors to the public this weekend following three years of construction and 10 years of planning.
The 410,000 square foot (38,000 square metre) structure is just as big a draw as the exhibits it houses.
Designed by Renzo Piano, a winner of the most respected prize in architecture, the Pritzker, the Academy has green credentials running through every sinew and vein: from the planetarium to the aquarium and from the rainforest to the living roof which mirrors the hills the city is built on.
"People from all around the world are looking at this building," explained Chris Andrews, the chief of public programmes at the Academy and also the director of the Steinhart Aquarium
The list of sustainable design features is seemingly endless: non-toxic insulation, a passive heating and cooling system, a recycled steel structure and electricity provided by some 60,000 photovoltaic cells.
Over the next couple of months the US Green Building Council is expected to confirm its highest award on the building, a platinum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating.
'Science is cool'
But there is more to the Academy than its greenness, and those that run it have said they have a clear mission to "explore, explain and protect the natural world."
"One thing we desperately want to do at the Academy is start to impress upon people that science is cool, science is fun," said Dr Andrews as he wandered through the world's deepest living coral reef display complete with more than 4,000 reef fishes.
"We want to emphasise to people that we are fascinated by the natural world and that we are passionate about it."
To drive home the fun and interactive aspects of the museum, Dr Andrews demonstrated a game with a Wii-type device that visitors wave in the air to catch bugs and butterflies.
Another display employing overhead cameras and sensors lets visitors sweep their hands and feet over the ground to move food around for insects while another lets them play scientist and inspect some of the wonders stored in the Academy's vast research facility.
"We want people to touch the stuff and as far as possible we want it to be the real stuff," an enthusiastic Dr Andrews told BBC News.
'Major change'
The crowning glory of this new $488m (£262m) edifice is the living roof which unites the 12 separate buildings that once comprised the Academy, one of the 10 largest natural science museums in the world.
It boasts 1.7m native Californian plants spread over 2.5 acres (one hectare) and its undultating shape has energy conservation at its heart.
"The aerofoil structure of hills and bumps gives the air movement over the top of the building, which allows fresh air to be drawn into the exhibit halls," said Blair Parkin, chief executive and founder of Visual Acuity, one of the technical consultants on the project.
"We don't need to use air conditioning because we have skylights that use sensors and pop up and allow air and light into the building."
Inside, just as outside, a host of technical considerations have been embedded in the structure of the building to ensure it would leave a light footprint on the planet.
"It's been a major change in the way we work," noted Mr Parkin.
"In the past power was free, heat was free, cooling was free. You didn't worry about it. You just bought the equipment and plugged in
"With this building we had to set a budget for heat and energy. We've had to invent technologies and create standards that are now flowing into more modest public and commercial buildings."
To cope with the state of the art visual, audio and interactive aspects of the exhibits and the building, the company constructed several green data centres and a fibre optic network more common in a stock exchange or huge corporate headquarters.
"Everything in the museum is connected to that network and in some way, shape or form is intelligent," said Mr Parkin.
There is little doubt the Morrison Planetarium, the world's largest, will prove to be a big draw with its tilted seats and ever changing intergalactic show.
"This is a giant 3D replica of the galaxy and it's connected to the computer room in the basement," said Mr Parkin.
"It takes all the known information from a host of instutions from around the world and real time information from NASA and throws it up there for the public to see the universe we live in."
Around the corner, visitors will find a rainforest; beyond that, there are more traditional animal exhibits and the perennial favourites, dinosaurs.
Touching emotions
In the weeks running up to this weekend's public unveiling, the Academy held special open days for members and invited guests.
"I think its really great," said Linda McMullen who was there with her son Morgan.
"He's only two so it's going over his head a bit but when he's older it will be a great resource for learning."
The building's green credentials where what really interested Kumi Ishida, who said, "It's a wonderful way to make the public become more aware of what we can do as individuals."
The Academy said it hopes others take the green message to heart and that it will strive to raise a level of consciousness about the issue.
"A museum can only touch those it attracts," said Dr Andrews.
"Unless you touch people's emotions and get them excited, they're unlikely to care and fundamental to what the Academy has to do is touch people's emotions and make them care about the world we live in."
Health - Antidepressants 'may harm sperm'
Drugs taken by millions of men to alleviate depression may affect their fertility, say US scientists.
A small number of healthy men given the antidepressant paroxetine for four weeks had far higher levels of sperm with damaged DNA.
The results, reported in New Scientist magazine, do not necessarily mean these men would have serious problems becoming a father.
However, a UK fertility specialist said they were a "cause for concern".
Paroxetine, sold as Seroxat or Paxil, is one of the most commonly prescribed antidepressants in the UK.
This is the second study by a team of researchers at Cornell Medical Center in New York which points to a possible effect on sperm quality.
They recruited 35 healthy volunteers who provided sperm samples before and during paroxetine treatment.
Under the microscope, there appeared to be not much difference between the "before" and "after" samples, with the shape and movement of sperm apparently normal in both samples.
However, tests on "DNA fragmentation" produced a different result.
Some sperm with DNA problems can be found in every sample, and 13.8% of sperm cells in those produced before treatment were found to be fragmented.
However, at the four week mark, this had risen to 30.3%.
A key question is whether this change would be enough to affect overall fertility, or whether the remaining 70% of unaffected sperm would be enough to produce a viable pregnancy.
In couples undergoing IVF, studies have found that couples where the man's sperm has higher levels of DNA damage produce fewer embryos, and their embryos are less likely to implant successfully in the womb.
More work needed
Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in Andrology at the University of Sheffield, said that while there had been "sporadic reports" that antidepressants could affect semen quality, more research would be needed to help scientists evaluate the risk.
"The apparent increase in sperm DNA damage is alarming, although the level at which we think the damage becomes clinically significant is controversial to many scientists.
"It is a shame that the authors appear not to have conducted a randomised controlled trial which would be the most scientific way to investigate the drugs effects, but I agree that the results are of concern and need to be investigated further."
The drug's maker, GlaxoSmithKline said it intended to review the study's findings.
Marjorie Wallace, from the mental health charity Sane, said that patients should wait for larger studies: "While these results may be worrying for people taking antidepressants who hope to conceive, it is important to note that this is a preliminary study with a small sample group.
"We would be worried if this study caused patients to stop their treatment and would urge anyone with concerns to consult their doctor.
"Antidepressants can be a lifeline for many people, and the risk of relapse must be borne in mind in balancing the risks and benefits of these drugs."
Dr Andrew McCulloch, of the Mental Health Foundation, said: "Most medications carry some level of risk, and antidepressants are no different.
"They are powerful drugs, so in a sense it is no surprise that research is discovering more about their impact on the body.
"More investment is needed in other mental health treatments such as talking therapies and exercise therapy.
"However, we should remember that SSRIs have changed many lives for the better and that any decision about changing or stopping your medication should be discussed with your doctor."
A small number of healthy men given the antidepressant paroxetine for four weeks had far higher levels of sperm with damaged DNA.
The results, reported in New Scientist magazine, do not necessarily mean these men would have serious problems becoming a father.
However, a UK fertility specialist said they were a "cause for concern".
Paroxetine, sold as Seroxat or Paxil, is one of the most commonly prescribed antidepressants in the UK.
This is the second study by a team of researchers at Cornell Medical Center in New York which points to a possible effect on sperm quality.
They recruited 35 healthy volunteers who provided sperm samples before and during paroxetine treatment.
Under the microscope, there appeared to be not much difference between the "before" and "after" samples, with the shape and movement of sperm apparently normal in both samples.
However, tests on "DNA fragmentation" produced a different result.
Some sperm with DNA problems can be found in every sample, and 13.8% of sperm cells in those produced before treatment were found to be fragmented.
However, at the four week mark, this had risen to 30.3%.
A key question is whether this change would be enough to affect overall fertility, or whether the remaining 70% of unaffected sperm would be enough to produce a viable pregnancy.
In couples undergoing IVF, studies have found that couples where the man's sperm has higher levels of DNA damage produce fewer embryos, and their embryos are less likely to implant successfully in the womb.
More work needed
Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in Andrology at the University of Sheffield, said that while there had been "sporadic reports" that antidepressants could affect semen quality, more research would be needed to help scientists evaluate the risk.
"The apparent increase in sperm DNA damage is alarming, although the level at which we think the damage becomes clinically significant is controversial to many scientists.
"It is a shame that the authors appear not to have conducted a randomised controlled trial which would be the most scientific way to investigate the drugs effects, but I agree that the results are of concern and need to be investigated further."
The drug's maker, GlaxoSmithKline said it intended to review the study's findings.
Marjorie Wallace, from the mental health charity Sane, said that patients should wait for larger studies: "While these results may be worrying for people taking antidepressants who hope to conceive, it is important to note that this is a preliminary study with a small sample group.
"We would be worried if this study caused patients to stop their treatment and would urge anyone with concerns to consult their doctor.
"Antidepressants can be a lifeline for many people, and the risk of relapse must be borne in mind in balancing the risks and benefits of these drugs."
Dr Andrew McCulloch, of the Mental Health Foundation, said: "Most medications carry some level of risk, and antidepressants are no different.
"They are powerful drugs, so in a sense it is no surprise that research is discovering more about their impact on the body.
"More investment is needed in other mental health treatments such as talking therapies and exercise therapy.
"However, we should remember that SSRIs have changed many lives for the better and that any decision about changing or stopping your medication should be discussed with your doctor."
Sport - Cycling;Armstrong to return with Astana
Lance Armstrong will make his much-anticipated return to professional cycling with Kazakhstan's Astana team.
The Luxembourg-based team is run by Armstrong's friend and former sporting director Johan Bruyneel, who helped the American win all of his seven Tours.
The 37-year-old Armstrong will race in Australia in January but was cautious about aiming for an eighth Tour win.
"I will try to be as prepared as possible. I don't know that that equals victory," he said in New York.
"I have a fair bit of confidence, but not that kind of confidence. I don't know, honestly. I've been off the bike three years. I'll be nearly 38 years old, so I honestly don't know."
Armstrong also suggested he might be tempted to race in the 2010 season as well.
"I don't want to box myself in here," he said. "It's open-ended. I see one season but I wouldn't want to rule out a second season. I will take it season by season."
Armstrong, a survivor of testicular cancer, will start the six-day Tour Down Under race around South Australia, centring on Adelaide, on 20 January and is also planning a global summit to raise cancer awareness in Paris after next year's Tour.
"I look forward to 2009, I look forward to racing again," said Armstrong. "I cannot guarantee an eighth Tour victory, but I can guarantee you the 'Live Strong' message will touch all aspects of our society.
"It's not very often someone gets a chance to spend three or fours years away from something, step back, and then say to themselves, 'I sort of miss that, I'd like to go back and do that again."
With his career dogged by doping allegations, Armstrong will undergo a testing programme developed and headed up by U.S. anti-doping expert Don Catlin when he returns to cycling.
But the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency Dick Pound demanded any testing should be conducted by an International Olympic Committee or WADA accredited laboratory.
"If it's not an (IOC) accredited laboratory the mere fact scientist X says 'I think Lance is ok' (means nothing)," said Pound.
The Kazakh-financed Astana team suffered two high-profile doping scandals in 2007 and were barred from this year's Tour de France despite a substantial overhaul in team management.
Kazakh rider Alexandre Vinokourov, the old Astana team leader, tested positive for blood doping after winning a time-trial stage of the 2007 Tour, and was subsequently sacked and banned for a year.
Astana's current leader Alberto Contador, 2007 Tour de France winner and only the fifth rider in history to win all of cycling's three major Tours when he won the Tour of Spain, has previously hinted the American's presence could cause conflict.
But the Spaniard said suggestions he would leave Astana were "too premature".
"I am going to calmly talk to the team and depending on how it goes, we will see what we do."
And Armstrong said he was looking forward to racing with the Spaniard.
"Alberto is the best rider on the planet right now," he said. "We have to understand that, have to respect that. I'm not sure I can ride that fast right now. I hope it works out."
One rider who believes there could be problems for the Astana team is the Republic of Ireland's 1987 Tour winner Stephen Roche.
"I could see (Contador) walking away. He's finally getting credibility and now next year everybody will be talking about Armstrong. It's going to be very difficult," Roche told BBC Radio 5 Live.
The 49-year-old, whose racing career spanned 13 years, was also asked whether Armstrong had a chance of winning the Tour. "I don't think so," he replied.
Bruyneel said he was honoured and looking forward to working with Armstrong again, 10 years after being asked to direct the rider's US Postal Service team.
"What we saw from 1999 to 2005 was arguably the most exciting time in professional cycling and I know Lance will bring the same level of charisma, passion and influence to the team, sport and global cancer community," he said.
Armstrong nearly lost his life to cancer before battling back to win his first Tour in 1999.
International Cycling Union president Pat McQuaid told BBC Radio 5 Live he did not think Armstrong's "primary motivation" was to win the Tour.
McQuaid said: "I think he has done as much as he can with his cancer foundation in terms of knowledge of it in the US and now he wants to globalise the foundation using the sport of cycling.
"Winning the Tour is secondary but I think he has every intention of trying to do it."
The Luxembourg-based team is run by Armstrong's friend and former sporting director Johan Bruyneel, who helped the American win all of his seven Tours.
The 37-year-old Armstrong will race in Australia in January but was cautious about aiming for an eighth Tour win.
"I will try to be as prepared as possible. I don't know that that equals victory," he said in New York.
"I have a fair bit of confidence, but not that kind of confidence. I don't know, honestly. I've been off the bike three years. I'll be nearly 38 years old, so I honestly don't know."
Armstrong also suggested he might be tempted to race in the 2010 season as well.
"I don't want to box myself in here," he said. "It's open-ended. I see one season but I wouldn't want to rule out a second season. I will take it season by season."
Armstrong, a survivor of testicular cancer, will start the six-day Tour Down Under race around South Australia, centring on Adelaide, on 20 January and is also planning a global summit to raise cancer awareness in Paris after next year's Tour.
"I look forward to 2009, I look forward to racing again," said Armstrong. "I cannot guarantee an eighth Tour victory, but I can guarantee you the 'Live Strong' message will touch all aspects of our society.
"It's not very often someone gets a chance to spend three or fours years away from something, step back, and then say to themselves, 'I sort of miss that, I'd like to go back and do that again."
With his career dogged by doping allegations, Armstrong will undergo a testing programme developed and headed up by U.S. anti-doping expert Don Catlin when he returns to cycling.
But the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency Dick Pound demanded any testing should be conducted by an International Olympic Committee or WADA accredited laboratory.
"If it's not an (IOC) accredited laboratory the mere fact scientist X says 'I think Lance is ok' (means nothing)," said Pound.
The Kazakh-financed Astana team suffered two high-profile doping scandals in 2007 and were barred from this year's Tour de France despite a substantial overhaul in team management.
Kazakh rider Alexandre Vinokourov, the old Astana team leader, tested positive for blood doping after winning a time-trial stage of the 2007 Tour, and was subsequently sacked and banned for a year.
Astana's current leader Alberto Contador, 2007 Tour de France winner and only the fifth rider in history to win all of cycling's three major Tours when he won the Tour of Spain, has previously hinted the American's presence could cause conflict.
But the Spaniard said suggestions he would leave Astana were "too premature".
"I am going to calmly talk to the team and depending on how it goes, we will see what we do."
And Armstrong said he was looking forward to racing with the Spaniard.
"Alberto is the best rider on the planet right now," he said. "We have to understand that, have to respect that. I'm not sure I can ride that fast right now. I hope it works out."
One rider who believes there could be problems for the Astana team is the Republic of Ireland's 1987 Tour winner Stephen Roche.
"I could see (Contador) walking away. He's finally getting credibility and now next year everybody will be talking about Armstrong. It's going to be very difficult," Roche told BBC Radio 5 Live.
The 49-year-old, whose racing career spanned 13 years, was also asked whether Armstrong had a chance of winning the Tour. "I don't think so," he replied.
Bruyneel said he was honoured and looking forward to working with Armstrong again, 10 years after being asked to direct the rider's US Postal Service team.
"What we saw from 1999 to 2005 was arguably the most exciting time in professional cycling and I know Lance will bring the same level of charisma, passion and influence to the team, sport and global cancer community," he said.
Armstrong nearly lost his life to cancer before battling back to win his first Tour in 1999.
International Cycling Union president Pat McQuaid told BBC Radio 5 Live he did not think Armstrong's "primary motivation" was to win the Tour.
McQuaid said: "I think he has done as much as he can with his cancer foundation in terms of knowledge of it in the US and now he wants to globalise the foundation using the sport of cycling.
"Winning the Tour is secondary but I think he has every intention of trying to do it."
Health - Hollywood 'paid fortune to smoke'
Tobacco firms paid huge amounts for endorsements from the stars of Hollywood's "Golden Age".
Industry documents released following anti-smoking lawsuits reveal the extent of the relationship between tobacco and movie studios.
One firm paid more than $3m in today's money in one year to stars.
Researchers writing in the Tobacco Control journal said "classic" films of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s still helped promote smoking today.
Virtually all of the biggest names of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s were involved in paid cigarette promotion, according to the University of California at San Francisco researchers.
They obtained endorsement contracts signed at the times to help them calculate just how much money was involved.
According to the research, stars prepared to endorse tobacco included Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy, Joan Crawford, John Wayne, Bette Davis and Betty Grable.
Big payments
Deals dated from the start of the "talkie" era, with "Jazz Singer" star Al Jolson signing testimonials stating that the "Lucky Strike" brand was "the cigarette of the acting profession".
"The good old flavor of Luckies is as sweet and soothing as the best 'Mammy' song ever written," he wrote.
One of the key documents uncovered by the researchers was a list of payments for a single year in the late 1930s detailing how much stars were paid by American Tobacco, the makers of Lucky Strike.
Leading ladies Carole Lombard, Barbara Stanwyck and Myrna Loy were handed $10,000, equivalent to just under $150,000 in today's money, to endorse the brand, as were Clark Gable, Gary Cooper and Robert Taylor.
Together, the annual price of paying actors was $3.2m in 2008 terms.
Radio adverts
In some cases, tobacco firms would pay movie studios to create radio shows which featured their stars' endorsements.
American Tobacco paid Warner Brothers the equivalent of $13.7m for 1937's "Your Hollywood Parade", and sponsored The Jack Benny Show from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s.
The latter featured stars such as Lauren Bacall giving carefully scripted testimonials.
The researchers, led by Professor Stanton Glantz, said that the effects of the millions poured into Hollywood by "Big Tobacco" could still be felt today, despite a recent self-imposed ban on promotion within films.
They say that smoking imagery in films can influence younger people to start smoking.
They wrote: "As in the 1930s, nothing today prevents the global tobacco industry from influencing the film industry in any number of ways."
"Classic" films with smoking scenes, such as "Casablanca" and "Now, Voyager", and glamorous publicity images helped to "perpetuate public tolerance" of on-screen smoking, they said.
UK anti-smoking group ASH said that while smoking imagery could not be "outlawed completely", there was an argument for clearer warnings before films.
STARS PAID TO PROMOTE LUCKY STRIKE - 1937/8
Actor US$ paid (2008 equivalent)
Gary Cooper 10,000 (146,583)
Joan Crawford 10,000 (146,583)
Henry Fonda 3,000 (43,975)
Clark Gable 10,000 (146,583)
Bob Hope 2,500 (36,646)
Gertrude Lawrence 1,750 (25,652)
Carole Lombard 10,000 (146,583)
Myrna Loy 10,000 (146,583)
Fred MacMurray 6,000 (87,950)
Ray Milland 2,000 (29,317)
George Raft 3,000 (43,975)
Edward Robinson 3,000 (43,975)
Barbara Stanwyck 10,000 (146,583)
Gloria Swanson 1,500 (21,988)
Robert Taylor 10,000 (146,583)
Spencer Tracy 10,000 (146,583)
Source: Tobacco Control 2008
Industry documents released following anti-smoking lawsuits reveal the extent of the relationship between tobacco and movie studios.
One firm paid more than $3m in today's money in one year to stars.
Researchers writing in the Tobacco Control journal said "classic" films of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s still helped promote smoking today.
Virtually all of the biggest names of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s were involved in paid cigarette promotion, according to the University of California at San Francisco researchers.
They obtained endorsement contracts signed at the times to help them calculate just how much money was involved.
According to the research, stars prepared to endorse tobacco included Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy, Joan Crawford, John Wayne, Bette Davis and Betty Grable.
Big payments
Deals dated from the start of the "talkie" era, with "Jazz Singer" star Al Jolson signing testimonials stating that the "Lucky Strike" brand was "the cigarette of the acting profession".
"The good old flavor of Luckies is as sweet and soothing as the best 'Mammy' song ever written," he wrote.
One of the key documents uncovered by the researchers was a list of payments for a single year in the late 1930s detailing how much stars were paid by American Tobacco, the makers of Lucky Strike.
Leading ladies Carole Lombard, Barbara Stanwyck and Myrna Loy were handed $10,000, equivalent to just under $150,000 in today's money, to endorse the brand, as were Clark Gable, Gary Cooper and Robert Taylor.
Together, the annual price of paying actors was $3.2m in 2008 terms.
Radio adverts
In some cases, tobacco firms would pay movie studios to create radio shows which featured their stars' endorsements.
American Tobacco paid Warner Brothers the equivalent of $13.7m for 1937's "Your Hollywood Parade", and sponsored The Jack Benny Show from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s.
The latter featured stars such as Lauren Bacall giving carefully scripted testimonials.
The researchers, led by Professor Stanton Glantz, said that the effects of the millions poured into Hollywood by "Big Tobacco" could still be felt today, despite a recent self-imposed ban on promotion within films.
They say that smoking imagery in films can influence younger people to start smoking.
They wrote: "As in the 1930s, nothing today prevents the global tobacco industry from influencing the film industry in any number of ways."
"Classic" films with smoking scenes, such as "Casablanca" and "Now, Voyager", and glamorous publicity images helped to "perpetuate public tolerance" of on-screen smoking, they said.
UK anti-smoking group ASH said that while smoking imagery could not be "outlawed completely", there was an argument for clearer warnings before films.
STARS PAID TO PROMOTE LUCKY STRIKE - 1937/8
Actor US$ paid (2008 equivalent)
Gary Cooper 10,000 (146,583)
Joan Crawford 10,000 (146,583)
Henry Fonda 3,000 (43,975)
Clark Gable 10,000 (146,583)
Bob Hope 2,500 (36,646)
Gertrude Lawrence 1,750 (25,652)
Carole Lombard 10,000 (146,583)
Myrna Loy 10,000 (146,583)
Fred MacMurray 6,000 (87,950)
Ray Milland 2,000 (29,317)
George Raft 3,000 (43,975)
Edward Robinson 3,000 (43,975)
Barbara Stanwyck 10,000 (146,583)
Gloria Swanson 1,500 (21,988)
Robert Taylor 10,000 (146,583)
Spencer Tracy 10,000 (146,583)
Source: Tobacco Control 2008
World - How Bagram destroyed me
Martin Patience
"They destroyed me financially, mentally and physically," says Mr Ahmad, 21, wearing a traditional shalwar kameez and sporting a thin, wispy beard.
"But most importantly, my mother is taking her last breath in hospital just because of the Americans."
Mr Ahmad was detained for almost a year in the Bagram air base where US forces imprison suspected Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters. He was freed last Saturday.
The facility has a controversial past - two Afghans were beaten to death by their American guards in 2002.
'Don't move'
Jawed Ahmad was a well-known journalist in Kandahar working for Canadian TV and on occasions the BBC. Previously, he had spent two and half years as a translator for American special forces.
So, when a press officer from an American military base asked him to come for a chat, he thought nothing of it - these people were supposed to be his friends after all.
"At once around 15 people surrounded me and dropped me to the floor," says Mr Ahmad, becoming increasingly animated as he spoke.
"They shouted at me saying 'don't move' and then they take me to the prison."
Mr Ahmad says that the prison guards - he assumes they were American - then hit him and threw him against truck containers.
But he says that the abuse did not end there.
"For nine days they didn't allow me sleep. I didn't eat anything - it was a very tough time for me," he says. "Finally, they told me you're going to Guantanamo Bay."
He was accused of supplying weapons to the Taleban and having contacts with the movement.
Mr Ahmad protested, saying that as a journalist it was his job. They then, he says, shaved his head and put him in an orange jump suit.
But before leaving Kandahar - his guards had one final message.
"I will never forget it," he says. "They said 'you know what?', and I said 'what' and they said there is no right of journalists in this war."
'Unconscious'
Despite the threat of being sent to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Mr Ahmad was flown to Bagram air base about 70km (40 miles) north of the capital, Kabul.
It's where the US military detains about 600 prisoners whom they define as unlawful combatants.
"When I landed first of all they stood me in snow for six hours," he says. "It was too cold - I had no socks, no shoes, nothing. I became unconscious two times."
He continued: "They learned one word in Pashto 'jigshaw, jigshaw' - it means 'stand up'. And when I became unconscious they were saying 'jigshaw'."
For the next 11 months Mr Ahmad was held at the facility - he says that he was unsure why he was there, and when, if ever, he would be released.
He says he and his fellow prisoners were taunted continuously by the guards.
"I thought they were animals," he says. "When they cursed me, I cursed them twice. I challenged them."
Mr Ahmad says he was sent into solitary confinement after an article appeared in the New York Times about his incarceration, which apparently irritated the guards.
He says he was chained in the cell in stress positions making it almost impossible to sleep.
But most inflammatory of all, Mr Ahmad says that other prisoners told him that the guards mishandled the Koran.
"They didn't do it only one time, not two times, they did it more than 100 times. They have thrown it, they have torn it, they have kicked it."
The day Mr Ahmad learned he was being set free was an emotional moment.
"Sometimes I laughed, sometimes I cried, sometimes I prayed," he says. " Finally, the next morning they just released me."
Denial
In a statement, the US military at Bagram air base said that there was no evidence to substantiate any claims of mistreatment.
They added that Mr Ahmad had been turned over to the Afghan government as part of a reconciliation programme.
But Mr Ahmad says that he will pursue justice for what has happened to him.
"I will fight to my last breath to get my rights," he says. " I will knock on the door of Congress, I will ask Obama, I will ask Hilary Clinton, even Bush - I will not leave any person."
"They destroyed me financially, mentally and physically," says Mr Ahmad, 21, wearing a traditional shalwar kameez and sporting a thin, wispy beard.
"But most importantly, my mother is taking her last breath in hospital just because of the Americans."
Mr Ahmad was detained for almost a year in the Bagram air base where US forces imprison suspected Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters. He was freed last Saturday.
The facility has a controversial past - two Afghans were beaten to death by their American guards in 2002.
'Don't move'
Jawed Ahmad was a well-known journalist in Kandahar working for Canadian TV and on occasions the BBC. Previously, he had spent two and half years as a translator for American special forces.
So, when a press officer from an American military base asked him to come for a chat, he thought nothing of it - these people were supposed to be his friends after all.
"At once around 15 people surrounded me and dropped me to the floor," says Mr Ahmad, becoming increasingly animated as he spoke.
"They shouted at me saying 'don't move' and then they take me to the prison."
Mr Ahmad says that the prison guards - he assumes they were American - then hit him and threw him against truck containers.
But he says that the abuse did not end there.
"For nine days they didn't allow me sleep. I didn't eat anything - it was a very tough time for me," he says. "Finally, they told me you're going to Guantanamo Bay."
He was accused of supplying weapons to the Taleban and having contacts with the movement.
Mr Ahmad protested, saying that as a journalist it was his job. They then, he says, shaved his head and put him in an orange jump suit.
But before leaving Kandahar - his guards had one final message.
"I will never forget it," he says. "They said 'you know what?', and I said 'what' and they said there is no right of journalists in this war."
'Unconscious'
Despite the threat of being sent to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Mr Ahmad was flown to Bagram air base about 70km (40 miles) north of the capital, Kabul.
It's where the US military detains about 600 prisoners whom they define as unlawful combatants.
"When I landed first of all they stood me in snow for six hours," he says. "It was too cold - I had no socks, no shoes, nothing. I became unconscious two times."
He continued: "They learned one word in Pashto 'jigshaw, jigshaw' - it means 'stand up'. And when I became unconscious they were saying 'jigshaw'."
For the next 11 months Mr Ahmad was held at the facility - he says that he was unsure why he was there, and when, if ever, he would be released.
He says he and his fellow prisoners were taunted continuously by the guards.
"I thought they were animals," he says. "When they cursed me, I cursed them twice. I challenged them."
Mr Ahmad says he was sent into solitary confinement after an article appeared in the New York Times about his incarceration, which apparently irritated the guards.
He says he was chained in the cell in stress positions making it almost impossible to sleep.
But most inflammatory of all, Mr Ahmad says that other prisoners told him that the guards mishandled the Koran.
"They didn't do it only one time, not two times, they did it more than 100 times. They have thrown it, they have torn it, they have kicked it."
The day Mr Ahmad learned he was being set free was an emotional moment.
"Sometimes I laughed, sometimes I cried, sometimes I prayed," he says. " Finally, the next morning they just released me."
Denial
In a statement, the US military at Bagram air base said that there was no evidence to substantiate any claims of mistreatment.
They added that Mr Ahmad had been turned over to the Afghan government as part of a reconciliation programme.
But Mr Ahmad says that he will pursue justice for what has happened to him.
"I will fight to my last breath to get my rights," he says. " I will knock on the door of Congress, I will ask Obama, I will ask Hilary Clinton, even Bush - I will not leave any person."
Business - French restaurants feel the pinch
Hugh Schofield
Economic gloom is hitting the French where it hurts most - their tastebuds - as they rein in their eating habits to balance the monthly budget.
New figures show that the bankruptcy rate among restaurants and cafes has skyrocketed since the start of the year - because ordinary people lack the means to dine out.
A long-standing trend from the sit-down towards the take-away is now being exacerbated by financial penury, and many fear that an essential part of the nation's art de la vie is under threat.
Alarm bells were rung this week following a report by market research company Euler Hermes, which found that about 3,000 establishments went out of business in the six months from January.
Of these, some 1,790 were traditional restaurants - a 25% increase on the year before - 530 were fast-food outlets (up 19%); and 610 were cafes and bars (up 56%).
'No improvement'
"We are very worried," said Daniele Deleval, vice-president of the Union of Hotel and Catering Trades.
"Since the start of the year the number of people going to restaurants has fallen by 20%, and we see no sign of improvement."
There are several reasons for the decline.
For one thing, the move towards American-style snacking is already a long-established phenomenon - with the traditional long lunch steadily being replaced by le sandwich.
Meanwhile, the ban on tobacco in bars and restaurants that came in earlier this year has hit hard - especially in rural areas. Many customers prefer the liberty of domestic indulgence to the half-pleasure of the smokeless meal.
And in Paris and other tourist cities, the strength of the euro has frightened off the Americans - and to a lesser extent the British - who in normal times spend lavishly on French cuisine.
But the major factor is undoubtedly the French public's own money worries.
With spending power in decline, the meal out with friends or family has become a dispensable luxury.
"This is above all an economic crisis," said critic Francois Simon, creator of the Simon-Says food blog.
"Along with some other trades - like building - restaurants are the first to be hit when times are bad.
"People are going out less, and when they do go out they are consuming less. They are cutting down by not having aperitifs or coffee, or by having tap-water instead of mineral water. For a restaurateur, that can make a huge difference."
No starter
According to Simon, some restaurateurs look askance at a growing tendency among clients to order simply a main course with no starter.
For example, at the Aux Lyonnais restaurant owned by top chef Alain Ducasse, waiters pointedly warn that the main course may in that case take rather a long time in coming.
And at Au Quincy near the Gare de Lyon, two couples were recently asked to leave the establishment after they asked for just a main course.
"How do you expect me to survive?" the chef exclaimed.
Jean-Pierre Difolco, who runs the French-Italian restaurant Il Gallo Nero in Montparnasse, says that in recent months the average bill paid by a customer has fallen from more than 30 euros (£23) to under 25 euros (£19).
"Nowadays people take a carafe of house wine instead of ordering a bottle, and the vast majority order the set menu instead of a la carte," he says.
"If I hadn't introduced the set menu option, I would have gone under by now," he says.
"On the one hand, the cost of our raw materials is going up, and on the other, the disposable income of customers is going down.
"It means that we have to cut out anything that gives added value - anything that means we can charge more.
"In effect we have to lower quality in order to satisfy the customer," he laments.
"But then the whole spirit of the restaurant has changed. Ten years ago people played the game. Eating out was fun. Now it's just a way of filling up the stomach. Customers take the menu and their eyes are on the price column, not on the food. It's a great shame."
Economic gloom is hitting the French where it hurts most - their tastebuds - as they rein in their eating habits to balance the monthly budget.
New figures show that the bankruptcy rate among restaurants and cafes has skyrocketed since the start of the year - because ordinary people lack the means to dine out.
A long-standing trend from the sit-down towards the take-away is now being exacerbated by financial penury, and many fear that an essential part of the nation's art de la vie is under threat.
Alarm bells were rung this week following a report by market research company Euler Hermes, which found that about 3,000 establishments went out of business in the six months from January.
Of these, some 1,790 were traditional restaurants - a 25% increase on the year before - 530 were fast-food outlets (up 19%); and 610 were cafes and bars (up 56%).
'No improvement'
"We are very worried," said Daniele Deleval, vice-president of the Union of Hotel and Catering Trades.
"Since the start of the year the number of people going to restaurants has fallen by 20%, and we see no sign of improvement."
There are several reasons for the decline.
For one thing, the move towards American-style snacking is already a long-established phenomenon - with the traditional long lunch steadily being replaced by le sandwich.
Meanwhile, the ban on tobacco in bars and restaurants that came in earlier this year has hit hard - especially in rural areas. Many customers prefer the liberty of domestic indulgence to the half-pleasure of the smokeless meal.
And in Paris and other tourist cities, the strength of the euro has frightened off the Americans - and to a lesser extent the British - who in normal times spend lavishly on French cuisine.
But the major factor is undoubtedly the French public's own money worries.
With spending power in decline, the meal out with friends or family has become a dispensable luxury.
"This is above all an economic crisis," said critic Francois Simon, creator of the Simon-Says food blog.
"Along with some other trades - like building - restaurants are the first to be hit when times are bad.
"People are going out less, and when they do go out they are consuming less. They are cutting down by not having aperitifs or coffee, or by having tap-water instead of mineral water. For a restaurateur, that can make a huge difference."
No starter
According to Simon, some restaurateurs look askance at a growing tendency among clients to order simply a main course with no starter.
For example, at the Aux Lyonnais restaurant owned by top chef Alain Ducasse, waiters pointedly warn that the main course may in that case take rather a long time in coming.
And at Au Quincy near the Gare de Lyon, two couples were recently asked to leave the establishment after they asked for just a main course.
"How do you expect me to survive?" the chef exclaimed.
Jean-Pierre Difolco, who runs the French-Italian restaurant Il Gallo Nero in Montparnasse, says that in recent months the average bill paid by a customer has fallen from more than 30 euros (£23) to under 25 euros (£19).
"Nowadays people take a carafe of house wine instead of ordering a bottle, and the vast majority order the set menu instead of a la carte," he says.
"If I hadn't introduced the set menu option, I would have gone under by now," he says.
"On the one hand, the cost of our raw materials is going up, and on the other, the disposable income of customers is going down.
"It means that we have to cut out anything that gives added value - anything that means we can charge more.
"In effect we have to lower quality in order to satisfy the customer," he laments.
"But then the whole spirit of the restaurant has changed. Ten years ago people played the game. Eating out was fun. Now it's just a way of filling up the stomach. Customers take the menu and their eyes are on the price column, not on the food. It's a great shame."
Entertainment - Metallica nominated for Rock Hall
Rock band Metallica, the Stooges and 1980s rap act Run DMC have been nominated for induction into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Guitarist Jeff Beck, singer Wanda Jackson and disco group Chic are also in the running.
The five leading nominees will enter the hall, which is based in Cleveland, Ohio, in April 2009.
Artists can be considered for the honour 25 years after their first recording.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were the first rap act to be inducted into the Rock Hall in 2007.
Run DMC now have the chance to follow, on the strength its back catalogue of rock and rap mixes such as the 1986 cover of Aerosmith's Walk This Way.
"It truly shows it's never a closed door for any artist to be nominated," said Rock Hall foundation chief Joel Peresman.
Madonna, John Mellencamp, The Ventures, Leonard Cohen and The Dave Clark Five were last year's inductees.
More than 500 musicians, journalists and industry professionals vote on the induction.
Guitarist Jeff Beck, singer Wanda Jackson and disco group Chic are also in the running.
The five leading nominees will enter the hall, which is based in Cleveland, Ohio, in April 2009.
Artists can be considered for the honour 25 years after their first recording.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were the first rap act to be inducted into the Rock Hall in 2007.
Run DMC now have the chance to follow, on the strength its back catalogue of rock and rap mixes such as the 1986 cover of Aerosmith's Walk This Way.
"It truly shows it's never a closed door for any artist to be nominated," said Rock Hall foundation chief Joel Peresman.
Madonna, John Mellencamp, The Ventures, Leonard Cohen and The Dave Clark Five were last year's inductees.
More than 500 musicians, journalists and industry professionals vote on the induction.
Business - India;When 13=120
Sunil Jain
Panicky investors looking for the best investment option in today’s troubled times would do well to invest in telecom licenses, the best return money can get anywhere in the world. Eight months ago, the ministry of communications decided it would give away spectrum for 120 telecom circles across the country (since each state is a separate circle, that works out to a little over five pan-Indian licenses) for the same price paid for the fourth cellular license in June 2001 when there were 4 million mobile subscribers in the country, a number achieved in a fortnight today.
While a pan-Indian license cost Rs 1,651 crore, Swan Telecom paid a lower Rs 1,537 crore in January this year since it bid for only 13 circles. Since UAE firm Etisalat has bought a 45 per cent stake in Swan for $900mn, Swan’s licence is worth Rs 9,000 crore. So, what the government got for 120 circles, Swan got for just 13. Since Swan has yet to get any subscribers (under the license conditions, it has to cover 10 per cent of all district headquarters within a year), the entire valuation is for the licence which it got at a bargain-basement price along with 4.4 MHz of spectrum. Based on this, the effective loss of revenue to the government is Rs 43,700 crore.
Spectrum Scandal
Government equation:
Number of circles sold 120
Amount received (Rs crore) 9,000
Swan equation:
Number of circles sold 13*
Amount paid (Rs crore) 1,537
Amount received (Rs crore)** 9,000
*Swan has actually got spectrum for only 10 circles, making the equation even better from its point of view** Based on Etisalat bid of $900 mn for 45 per cent of Swan’s equity
Panicky investors looking for the best investment option in today’s troubled times would do well to invest in telecom licenses, the best return money can get anywhere in the world. Eight months ago, the ministry of communications decided it would give away spectrum for 120 telecom circles across the country (since each state is a separate circle, that works out to a little over five pan-Indian licenses) for the same price paid for the fourth cellular license in June 2001 when there were 4 million mobile subscribers in the country, a number achieved in a fortnight today.
While a pan-Indian license cost Rs 1,651 crore, Swan Telecom paid a lower Rs 1,537 crore in January this year since it bid for only 13 circles. Since UAE firm Etisalat has bought a 45 per cent stake in Swan for $900mn, Swan’s licence is worth Rs 9,000 crore. So, what the government got for 120 circles, Swan got for just 13. Since Swan has yet to get any subscribers (under the license conditions, it has to cover 10 per cent of all district headquarters within a year), the entire valuation is for the licence which it got at a bargain-basement price along with 4.4 MHz of spectrum. Based on this, the effective loss of revenue to the government is Rs 43,700 crore.
Spectrum Scandal
Government equation:
Number of circles sold 120
Amount received (Rs crore) 9,000
Swan equation:
Number of circles sold 13*
Amount paid (Rs crore) 1,537
Amount received (Rs crore)** 9,000
*Swan has actually got spectrum for only 10 circles, making the equation even better from its point of view** Based on Etisalat bid of $900 mn for 45 per cent of Swan’s equity
India - Similar Technologies,Different prices
Mahesh Uppal
In an unorthodox approach to competition, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) announced on August 1, 2008, separate guidelines for two competing broadband technologies, namely 3G and broadband wireless access (BWA), like WiMax. Amendments to those guidelines, barely six weeks later, have only exacerbated the distortions. This can hurt India’s plans for broadband access at a time when many governments, recognising its importance to future delivery of health, education, entertainment and to competitiveness of their economies are fine-tuning their strategies for universal broadband access.
In developing countries like India with sparse fixed-line networks, it is cheaper and faster to deploy broadband using wireless than alternatives like copper wires or optical fibre. Mischief or mistakes in wireless rules can be expensive.
With under five million broadband subscribers, India has met only half its modest target. A recent International Telecommunication Union (ITU) report says India lags behind most of its peers in Asia and elsewhere. Closing this gap will cost several billion dollars.
Our experience with mobile telephony shows money is not a problem, if investors can compete fairly for the potentially large pie that India’s size and population represent. However, the exponential growth of mobiles and the cheap services came around 2002, after the implementation of India’s ‘new telecom policy’ of 1999 (NTP99) which revised the licensing regime, empowered regulators, affirmed and expanded competition in the sector. Any doubt about the critical role of the regulatory environment in creating and nurturing markets has largely disappeared.
3G and BWA guidelines suggest that DoT has forgotten those lessons. India’s regulators and policymakers are once again picking winners rather than allowing markets or users to do so. Indeed, in an unprecedented letter to the Business Standard, the head of Wireless Planning and Coordination wing (WPC) argued strongly that TDD technologies (like BWA) were superior to FDD technologies (typically, 3G).
3G is older and offers full mobility. WiMax, conceived as a wireless substitute for DSL broadband, is provided by operators who own fixed line infrastructure (like BSNL). New versions of BWA, the 802.16e, offer full mobility and are being deployed worldwide (in Italy, for example). While 3G has matured, the relatively new mobile BWA scores over many wireless technologies since it can provide connectivity without the receiver being direct line of sight of the base station. BWA handsets and modem, it is true, are costlier and heavier — but this disadvantage over 3G will decrease when more deployments can deliver economies of scale. Like computers running Microsoft Windows and Apple’s Mac operating systems, 3G and mobile BWA have their own strengths, but are functionally similar.
But the DoT guidelines for auction of spectrum for these two competing technologies prescribe a reserve price for BWA which is half that for 3G and a spectrum slot (20MHz) that is twice 3G’s (2x5 MHz). The BWA reserve price advantage over 3G is therefore quadrupled.
The amended guidelines have further removed important restrictions on BWA in the original. Like 3G, BWA operators are not limited to data, their obligation to cover 25 per cent of rural ‘short distance charging areas’ within two years has gone. The obligations for BWA and 3G are identical for the first five years.
Such different provisions may still have made sense till October 2007, which is when ITU included BWA services in its IMT standard for 3G. BWA stakeholders had lobbied hard with governments of ITU member countries, including India, for this outcome since it enabled them to participate in international 3G deployments and spectrum auctions. Thus, recently when United States’ Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auctioned the 700 MHz, winners were free to deploy any technology, 3G, BWA or any other.
TRAI recently revised its original recommendations following the inclus ion of BWA in ITU’s IMT standards. In contrast to DoT guidelines, TRAI wants BWA spectrum be auctioned in units of 5Hz, like WCDMA, the 3G route for GSM. (EVDO the 3G option for CDMA mobile players needs 1.25 MHz).
TRAI had recommended a lower reserve price BWA spectrum on the grounds that the average price paid for BWA spectrum in recent years has been lower than that of 3G. This linkage is flawed. Reserve price and final bids are two separate issues.
Auction behaviour is a complex matter. Even so, the final bids in an auction should depend little on a low reserve price if the number of bidders exceeds the spectrum slots. They will reflect the relative perceived value of 3G and BWA. But if the interest in bidding is low, the ‘winner’ pays the reserve price. The final price is a bargain, if reserve price is low, and a rip-off, if it is high.
And, DoT’s unorthodox guidelines will deter many bidders. Prospective foreign players face additional barriers: They must pay $400 million for a 2G licence and comply with whimsical norms for mergers and acquisitions. In many circles, spectrum slots may exceed the number of bidders and the spectrum will attract the reserve price. With 3G reserve price per MHz effectively quadruple of BWA, the latter is at a distinct advantage.
We have seen several controversial decisions recently (for example, spectrum for dual technology use or the hundreds of mobile licences awarded recently at bargain prices). We could expect some more ‘creative’ decisions after spectrum auctions allow one side to gain advantage.
Low reserve prices all round could attract more bidders. They could prevent the overpricing of a low value licence that BWA is implied to be. Markets can settle this. However, different reserve prices for fierce competitors like 3G and BWA are indefensible. In a regulatory regime that professes technology neutrality, there should have been a single auction for both 3G/BWA spectrum to be used for wireless broadband. This may be unrealistic at this advanced stage. However, it may still be possible to contain most of the potential damage. For this, the guidelines must be amended to restore parity in reserve prices. Otherwise, they can severely distort the market and bias technology choices. This is bad for competition, bad for India’s broadband plans.
In an unorthodox approach to competition, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) announced on August 1, 2008, separate guidelines for two competing broadband technologies, namely 3G and broadband wireless access (BWA), like WiMax. Amendments to those guidelines, barely six weeks later, have only exacerbated the distortions. This can hurt India’s plans for broadband access at a time when many governments, recognising its importance to future delivery of health, education, entertainment and to competitiveness of their economies are fine-tuning their strategies for universal broadband access.
In developing countries like India with sparse fixed-line networks, it is cheaper and faster to deploy broadband using wireless than alternatives like copper wires or optical fibre. Mischief or mistakes in wireless rules can be expensive.
With under five million broadband subscribers, India has met only half its modest target. A recent International Telecommunication Union (ITU) report says India lags behind most of its peers in Asia and elsewhere. Closing this gap will cost several billion dollars.
Our experience with mobile telephony shows money is not a problem, if investors can compete fairly for the potentially large pie that India’s size and population represent. However, the exponential growth of mobiles and the cheap services came around 2002, after the implementation of India’s ‘new telecom policy’ of 1999 (NTP99) which revised the licensing regime, empowered regulators, affirmed and expanded competition in the sector. Any doubt about the critical role of the regulatory environment in creating and nurturing markets has largely disappeared.
3G and BWA guidelines suggest that DoT has forgotten those lessons. India’s regulators and policymakers are once again picking winners rather than allowing markets or users to do so. Indeed, in an unprecedented letter to the Business Standard, the head of Wireless Planning and Coordination wing (WPC) argued strongly that TDD technologies (like BWA) were superior to FDD technologies (typically, 3G).
3G is older and offers full mobility. WiMax, conceived as a wireless substitute for DSL broadband, is provided by operators who own fixed line infrastructure (like BSNL). New versions of BWA, the 802.16e, offer full mobility and are being deployed worldwide (in Italy, for example). While 3G has matured, the relatively new mobile BWA scores over many wireless technologies since it can provide connectivity without the receiver being direct line of sight of the base station. BWA handsets and modem, it is true, are costlier and heavier — but this disadvantage over 3G will decrease when more deployments can deliver economies of scale. Like computers running Microsoft Windows and Apple’s Mac operating systems, 3G and mobile BWA have their own strengths, but are functionally similar.
But the DoT guidelines for auction of spectrum for these two competing technologies prescribe a reserve price for BWA which is half that for 3G and a spectrum slot (20MHz) that is twice 3G’s (2x5 MHz). The BWA reserve price advantage over 3G is therefore quadrupled.
The amended guidelines have further removed important restrictions on BWA in the original. Like 3G, BWA operators are not limited to data, their obligation to cover 25 per cent of rural ‘short distance charging areas’ within two years has gone. The obligations for BWA and 3G are identical for the first five years.
Such different provisions may still have made sense till October 2007, which is when ITU included BWA services in its IMT standard for 3G. BWA stakeholders had lobbied hard with governments of ITU member countries, including India, for this outcome since it enabled them to participate in international 3G deployments and spectrum auctions. Thus, recently when United States’ Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auctioned the 700 MHz, winners were free to deploy any technology, 3G, BWA or any other.
TRAI recently revised its original recommendations following the inclus ion of BWA in ITU’s IMT standards. In contrast to DoT guidelines, TRAI wants BWA spectrum be auctioned in units of 5Hz, like WCDMA, the 3G route for GSM. (EVDO the 3G option for CDMA mobile players needs 1.25 MHz).
TRAI had recommended a lower reserve price BWA spectrum on the grounds that the average price paid for BWA spectrum in recent years has been lower than that of 3G. This linkage is flawed. Reserve price and final bids are two separate issues.
Auction behaviour is a complex matter. Even so, the final bids in an auction should depend little on a low reserve price if the number of bidders exceeds the spectrum slots. They will reflect the relative perceived value of 3G and BWA. But if the interest in bidding is low, the ‘winner’ pays the reserve price. The final price is a bargain, if reserve price is low, and a rip-off, if it is high.
And, DoT’s unorthodox guidelines will deter many bidders. Prospective foreign players face additional barriers: They must pay $400 million for a 2G licence and comply with whimsical norms for mergers and acquisitions. In many circles, spectrum slots may exceed the number of bidders and the spectrum will attract the reserve price. With 3G reserve price per MHz effectively quadruple of BWA, the latter is at a distinct advantage.
We have seen several controversial decisions recently (for example, spectrum for dual technology use or the hundreds of mobile licences awarded recently at bargain prices). We could expect some more ‘creative’ decisions after spectrum auctions allow one side to gain advantage.
Low reserve prices all round could attract more bidders. They could prevent the overpricing of a low value licence that BWA is implied to be. Markets can settle this. However, different reserve prices for fierce competitors like 3G and BWA are indefensible. In a regulatory regime that professes technology neutrality, there should have been a single auction for both 3G/BWA spectrum to be used for wireless broadband. This may be unrealistic at this advanced stage. However, it may still be possible to contain most of the potential damage. For this, the guidelines must be amended to restore parity in reserve prices. Otherwise, they can severely distort the market and bias technology choices. This is bad for competition, bad for India’s broadband plans.
World - Cities of hope (G.Read)
Barun Roy
After Beijing, it’s now Shanghai’s turn to wow the world. One and a half years from now, in May 2010, China will once again be the focus of global attention when some 180 countries and 44 organisations will flock to its largest city to mount a World Expo expected to be one of the biggest in history. And just as Beijing had its glitzy Olympic venues, Shanghai will have its dazzlers, too, including a 5.28-sq km Expo Park branded as the largest single construction project the city has ever undertaken, an unprecedented green makeover on which over $26 billion is being spent.
But that’s not the only reason why the world will be travelling to Shanghai — some five million foreigners are expected to visit during the six months that the Expo will be on show, straddling a 31-hectare area on both sides of the Huangpu River. People will go there as much to be entertained as to pick up ideas and lessons, for the Expo theme, “Better City, Better Life”, couldn’t be more appropriate for a world that confronts an urban future with which it doesn’t know how to cope.
The urban challenge is very real and indeed very complex. Half the world’s population already lives in cities and towns. By 2050, two-thirds of humanity will. And, as urbanisation expands, especially in Asia and Africa, villages are becoming half-baked towns, towns are developing as half-baked cities and cities are turning into half-baked metropolises, where living is unhealthy, unsafe, overcrowded and, for most people, sub-human. In a condition of unplanned growth, snarled traffic, polluted air, ill-disposed waste, congested neighbourhoods and a conspicuous lack of public space, it’s not at all surprising that cities, particularly in the developing world, should show disturbing symptoms of social disintegration, unrest, and criminality.
Something must be done to arrest the rot before it goes out of control and then start the healing process. Because most of the world’s population will henceforth be living and working in towns and cities, the task is all the more urgent, and several city governments around the world have taken it head on and found their own ways to mitigate the urban pain. Their efforts constitute a significant body of urban best practices that others could study, follow or draw inspiration from.
Shanghai Expo 2010 is going to present a selection of such practices and showcase what’s actually being done on the ground to deal with the urban crisis. On a 15-hectare site on the Pudong side of the Huangpu, tagged as the Urban Best Practices Area, visitors will see 55 of the world’s most innovative city projects that offer stimulating new ideas on different aspects of urban living.
There will, for example, be the “Wall of Vegetation” from Paris, a concept developed by landscape architect Patrick Blanc that covers up huge wall spaces of buildings with self-sustaining vertical gardens, creates spectacular greenery, enhances building insulation and retards atmospheric pollution. Odense, Denmark’s third largest city and the hometown of Hans Christian Andersen, will be there to show how its strict land use policies have led to compact, mixed-use developments and made possible a remarkable revival of the bicycle. Today, Odense has a bicycle roadway network of more than 550 km with ample bike parking facilities — residents use the bike for all their shorter trips.
People will find out what endows Porto Alegre, in Brazil, with the best quality of life of all large cities in Latin America and why the United Nations considers it to be the world’s most habitable city. By allowing people direct participation in municipal budgeting for all new investments, Porto Alegre has come to be a citizen-designed city, so to say, that people feel very comfortable about.
One will also learn how Mina, the holy place in Saudi Arabia, has become the first fully fire-proof city in the world; what Venice is doing to revive its dying canals; how smart cards have revolutionised people’s lives in Hong Kong; and what Shanghai is seeking to achieve with its eco-housing initiative, where ventilation, lighting, and air-conditioning get automatically adjusted according to people’s needs and electric lights are not required during daytime.
Perhaps most interesting, from a developing world point of view, is Taipei’s “Total Recycling, Zero Landfill” approach to urban solid waste management. Strict recycling, enforced since 2006, and a fee for each disposed bag of garbage, introduced in 2001, have reduced daily domestic waste in the city by one third. People must stuff their waste in government-issued bags, which they have to buy, and throw these bags directly into collection trucks every night. No trash touches the ground. Most of it is taken directly to incinerators to be converted into electricity. Only 17 per cent of the waste goes into landfill, but the goal is to cut that out, too.
After Beijing, it’s now Shanghai’s turn to wow the world. One and a half years from now, in May 2010, China will once again be the focus of global attention when some 180 countries and 44 organisations will flock to its largest city to mount a World Expo expected to be one of the biggest in history. And just as Beijing had its glitzy Olympic venues, Shanghai will have its dazzlers, too, including a 5.28-sq km Expo Park branded as the largest single construction project the city has ever undertaken, an unprecedented green makeover on which over $26 billion is being spent.
But that’s not the only reason why the world will be travelling to Shanghai — some five million foreigners are expected to visit during the six months that the Expo will be on show, straddling a 31-hectare area on both sides of the Huangpu River. People will go there as much to be entertained as to pick up ideas and lessons, for the Expo theme, “Better City, Better Life”, couldn’t be more appropriate for a world that confronts an urban future with which it doesn’t know how to cope.
The urban challenge is very real and indeed very complex. Half the world’s population already lives in cities and towns. By 2050, two-thirds of humanity will. And, as urbanisation expands, especially in Asia and Africa, villages are becoming half-baked towns, towns are developing as half-baked cities and cities are turning into half-baked metropolises, where living is unhealthy, unsafe, overcrowded and, for most people, sub-human. In a condition of unplanned growth, snarled traffic, polluted air, ill-disposed waste, congested neighbourhoods and a conspicuous lack of public space, it’s not at all surprising that cities, particularly in the developing world, should show disturbing symptoms of social disintegration, unrest, and criminality.
Something must be done to arrest the rot before it goes out of control and then start the healing process. Because most of the world’s population will henceforth be living and working in towns and cities, the task is all the more urgent, and several city governments around the world have taken it head on and found their own ways to mitigate the urban pain. Their efforts constitute a significant body of urban best practices that others could study, follow or draw inspiration from.
Shanghai Expo 2010 is going to present a selection of such practices and showcase what’s actually being done on the ground to deal with the urban crisis. On a 15-hectare site on the Pudong side of the Huangpu, tagged as the Urban Best Practices Area, visitors will see 55 of the world’s most innovative city projects that offer stimulating new ideas on different aspects of urban living.
There will, for example, be the “Wall of Vegetation” from Paris, a concept developed by landscape architect Patrick Blanc that covers up huge wall spaces of buildings with self-sustaining vertical gardens, creates spectacular greenery, enhances building insulation and retards atmospheric pollution. Odense, Denmark’s third largest city and the hometown of Hans Christian Andersen, will be there to show how its strict land use policies have led to compact, mixed-use developments and made possible a remarkable revival of the bicycle. Today, Odense has a bicycle roadway network of more than 550 km with ample bike parking facilities — residents use the bike for all their shorter trips.
People will find out what endows Porto Alegre, in Brazil, with the best quality of life of all large cities in Latin America and why the United Nations considers it to be the world’s most habitable city. By allowing people direct participation in municipal budgeting for all new investments, Porto Alegre has come to be a citizen-designed city, so to say, that people feel very comfortable about.
One will also learn how Mina, the holy place in Saudi Arabia, has become the first fully fire-proof city in the world; what Venice is doing to revive its dying canals; how smart cards have revolutionised people’s lives in Hong Kong; and what Shanghai is seeking to achieve with its eco-housing initiative, where ventilation, lighting, and air-conditioning get automatically adjusted according to people’s needs and electric lights are not required during daytime.
Perhaps most interesting, from a developing world point of view, is Taipei’s “Total Recycling, Zero Landfill” approach to urban solid waste management. Strict recycling, enforced since 2006, and a fee for each disposed bag of garbage, introduced in 2001, have reduced daily domestic waste in the city by one third. People must stuff their waste in government-issued bags, which they have to buy, and throw these bags directly into collection trucks every night. No trash touches the ground. Most of it is taken directly to incinerators to be converted into electricity. Only 17 per cent of the waste goes into landfill, but the goal is to cut that out, too.
Business - India 2nd preferred FDI destination
India has retained its position as the second most-preferred global location for foreign investment in 2008 and will continue to do so till 2010, lagging only behind China, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) has said in World Investment Report 2008.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into the country will continue to show the robustness seen in the past couple of years despite the global financial crisis that many feel will impact economies across the world.
The report also mentions a survey by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), in which Japanese transnational manufacturing companies have rated India higher than China for establishing business operations.
“Going by my personal interactions with industry, it could be said that the Indian government’s FDI target of $35 billion for 2008-09 can be achieved. However, we may not see any big inflows into the country. Inflows may be low for sectors like infrastructure, but other sectors are likely to see enough growth,” said Unctad’s policy expert Premila Nazareth Satyanand, who released the report in India today.
However, other experts believe that the global liquidity crunch may impact FDI inflows into the country. “It is possible that the projected FDI inflows may not happen in 2009-09 and get deferred to the next fiscal,” said Partha Mukhopadhyay of the Centre for Policy Research.
The report also points that India has improved its ranking in the inward FDI performance index (which measures the flow of foreign investment into a country relative to its GDP) from 110 in 2006 to 106 in 2007, which is below that of Hong Kong, Indonesia and even Guatemala, but above Germany and Taiwan.
Within Asia, India received the fourth largest amount of FDI inflows in 2007 (after China, Hong Kong and Singapore), which stood at $22.95 billion, translating into a growth of 16.73 per cent over $ 19.66 billion in 2006. “Significantly, India is bridging the gap with Singapore as a destination for FDI inflows,” added Satyanand.
The growth has been attributed to further opening up of telecommunications, single-brand retail, as well as increasing cross-border merger and acquisitions. More than a quarter of 300 international retailers told Unctad that they have either opened their first store in India during 2007 or are planning to do so in the near future.
India was also recognised as the fourth-largest source of FDI in Asia, as Indian companies invested $13.64 billion abroad in 2007, as against $ 12.84 billion in the previous year, an increase of 6.23 per cent.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into the country will continue to show the robustness seen in the past couple of years despite the global financial crisis that many feel will impact economies across the world.
The report also mentions a survey by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), in which Japanese transnational manufacturing companies have rated India higher than China for establishing business operations.
“Going by my personal interactions with industry, it could be said that the Indian government’s FDI target of $35 billion for 2008-09 can be achieved. However, we may not see any big inflows into the country. Inflows may be low for sectors like infrastructure, but other sectors are likely to see enough growth,” said Unctad’s policy expert Premila Nazareth Satyanand, who released the report in India today.
However, other experts believe that the global liquidity crunch may impact FDI inflows into the country. “It is possible that the projected FDI inflows may not happen in 2009-09 and get deferred to the next fiscal,” said Partha Mukhopadhyay of the Centre for Policy Research.
The report also points that India has improved its ranking in the inward FDI performance index (which measures the flow of foreign investment into a country relative to its GDP) from 110 in 2006 to 106 in 2007, which is below that of Hong Kong, Indonesia and even Guatemala, but above Germany and Taiwan.
Within Asia, India received the fourth largest amount of FDI inflows in 2007 (after China, Hong Kong and Singapore), which stood at $22.95 billion, translating into a growth of 16.73 per cent over $ 19.66 billion in 2006. “Significantly, India is bridging the gap with Singapore as a destination for FDI inflows,” added Satyanand.
The growth has been attributed to further opening up of telecommunications, single-brand retail, as well as increasing cross-border merger and acquisitions. More than a quarter of 300 international retailers told Unctad that they have either opened their first store in India during 2007 or are planning to do so in the near future.
India was also recognised as the fourth-largest source of FDI in Asia, as Indian companies invested $13.64 billion abroad in 2007, as against $ 12.84 billion in the previous year, an increase of 6.23 per cent.
Business - India;Mckinsey report says Mom & Pop stores will continue to remain relevant in India
As organised retail evolves, mom and pop stores will continue to remain relevant across both large and small towns in India, said a new report. The report by the management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company projected that India is likely to be a $ 450 billion retail market by 2015. Further, organised retail is expected to grow from the current 5 per cent of the total market to 14-18 per cent of total retail in 2015, it added.The report suggests that retail in India can be profitable but not with ‘cut and paste’ global formats. Profitable retailers will need to keep four mantras in mind as they explore this high potential market, it said.First, develop innovative formats for material differentiation for which three decisions will be critical – where to participate in the retail value chain, which geographies to play in and what price points to offer. Second, craft a customer-insight driven merchandise strategy to stimulate consumption and lock in core customers.Third, create an efficient retail operating platform consisting of a self sufficient system of suppliers, logistics providers and even loyal shoppers.Finally, build an evolving organisation with an empowered front-end selling team that “owns” local catchments.Thus, the greatest challenge will be to maintain the organisation’s focus on profitability while cultivating flexibility, the report said.“Not all Indian households will shop in these new stores. Of the current 204 million households in India, we estimate that only about 13 million households are comfortable and have the income to patronise organised retail.The great news is that this relevant consumer segment will grow five fold from 13 million to 65 million households in the next 8 years,” said Ireena Vittal, Partner, McKinsey & Company and co-leader of the Retail Practice.
Business - India;Karnataka leads race for Nano project
Karnataka is emerging as the front-runner in Tata Motors' search for an alternative site for its ambitious Nano small car project, which is facing problems in Singur, West Bengal, owing to protests by unwilling land losers.
Meanwhile, goods are also being moved out of the factory site at Singur, reinforcing the view that the Nano will not be launched from West Bengal. Sources said vendors in Singur have been asked to stand by for instructions on moving out of the area.
Sources close to the development said critical components, like the die for the car, were being moved out. Officials in the logistics industry added that trucks had been booked to transport materials from the site.
As an alternative strategy till a new mother plant location is finalised and up and running, sources said limited numbers of the Nano will be rolled out both from Tata Motors' plants in Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) and Pune to meet the October deadline.
Both these sites were earlier earmarked as locations for satellite plants that were to be set up across the country to reduce freight costs.
Over the last few weeks, Tata Motors has also held talks with the Gujarat and Uttarakhand governments for a possible relocation of the project, but sources close to the development said Karnataka seems to be the most attractive location at this point.
Tata Motors Managing Director Ravi Kant had met top officials in the state including Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa a week ago. The chief minister offered 1,000 acres of land in the state for the Nano plant and said he would match the incentives provided by the West Bengal government.
The Tata group has 900 acres in the Belur industrial area in Dharwad, 425 km north-west of Bangalore, where it has a joint venture with Hitachi, a car manufacturing unit and a bus plant in joint venture with Marco Polo of Brazil.
In Pantnagar, the Mumbai-based company has over 1,000 acres, including a 350-acre vendor park, to manufacture the Ace mini-truck. Sources, however, said sufficient land might not be available for a mother plant.
Similarly, Pune, which is Tata Motors’ main plant, also does not have enough space for expansion or setting up a new car plant. Singur was to have an annual capacity of 500,000 cars.
Meanwhile, in West Bengal, government sources confirmed that goods were being moved out of the site but said the administration had no information on whether these belonged to the company or to the contractors and vendors working at the site, or even about the nature of the goods.
More than 20 containers have left the site and they included engineering material repacked into containers and pre-packed machinery that had arrived at the site and was not used. Some more containers that had arrived at the Haldia Dock System of Kolkata Port Trust and were booked to Singur had been diverted elsewhere in India, the goods transporter added. The cargo was booked under the Tata Motors name
Meanwhile, goods are also being moved out of the factory site at Singur, reinforcing the view that the Nano will not be launched from West Bengal. Sources said vendors in Singur have been asked to stand by for instructions on moving out of the area.
Sources close to the development said critical components, like the die for the car, were being moved out. Officials in the logistics industry added that trucks had been booked to transport materials from the site.
As an alternative strategy till a new mother plant location is finalised and up and running, sources said limited numbers of the Nano will be rolled out both from Tata Motors' plants in Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) and Pune to meet the October deadline.
Both these sites were earlier earmarked as locations for satellite plants that were to be set up across the country to reduce freight costs.
Over the last few weeks, Tata Motors has also held talks with the Gujarat and Uttarakhand governments for a possible relocation of the project, but sources close to the development said Karnataka seems to be the most attractive location at this point.
Tata Motors Managing Director Ravi Kant had met top officials in the state including Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa a week ago. The chief minister offered 1,000 acres of land in the state for the Nano plant and said he would match the incentives provided by the West Bengal government.
The Tata group has 900 acres in the Belur industrial area in Dharwad, 425 km north-west of Bangalore, where it has a joint venture with Hitachi, a car manufacturing unit and a bus plant in joint venture with Marco Polo of Brazil.
In Pantnagar, the Mumbai-based company has over 1,000 acres, including a 350-acre vendor park, to manufacture the Ace mini-truck. Sources, however, said sufficient land might not be available for a mother plant.
Similarly, Pune, which is Tata Motors’ main plant, also does not have enough space for expansion or setting up a new car plant. Singur was to have an annual capacity of 500,000 cars.
Meanwhile, in West Bengal, government sources confirmed that goods were being moved out of the site but said the administration had no information on whether these belonged to the company or to the contractors and vendors working at the site, or even about the nature of the goods.
More than 20 containers have left the site and they included engineering material repacked into containers and pre-packed machinery that had arrived at the site and was not used. Some more containers that had arrived at the Haldia Dock System of Kolkata Port Trust and were booked to Singur had been diverted elsewhere in India, the goods transporter added. The cargo was booked under the Tata Motors name
World - Green economy can create millions of jobs,says ILO report
Aarti Dhar
Report warns that many of new jobs can be “dirty, dangerous and difficult”Too few green jobs are being created for the most vulnerable
NEW DELHI: A new study on the impact of an emerging global “green economy” suggests that efforts to tackle climate change could result in the creation of new “green jobs” in the coming decades.
The report, “Green Jobs: Towards Decent Works in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World,” brought out by the International Labour Organisation, says changing patterns of employment and investment resulting from efforts to reduce climate change and its effects are already generating new jobs in many sectors and economies, and could create millions more in both developed and developing countries.Urgent action
However, the process of climate change, already under way, will continue to have a negative effect on workers and their families, especially those whose livelihoods depend on agriculture and tourism. Action to tackle climate change as well as to cope with its effects is therefore urgent and should be designed to generate decent jobs.
Though the report is generally optimistic about the creation of new jobs, it warns that many of these jobs could be “dirty, dangerous and difficult.” Sectors of concern, especially but not exclusively in developing economies, include agriculture and recycling, where all too often low pay, insecure employment contracts and exposure to health-hazardous materials need to change fast.
The report says that too few green jobs are being created for the most vulnerable: the 1.3 billion working poor (43 per cent of the global workforce) in the world with earnings too low to lift them and their dependents above the poverty threshold of $ 2 per person per pay, or for the estimated 500 million youths who will be seeking work over the next 10 years.
The global market for environmental products and services is projected to double from the present $ 1,370 billion per year to $ 2,740 billion by 2020, according to this study. Half of this market is in energy efficiency and the balance in sustainable transport, water supply, sanitation and waste management. Key sectors
Sectors that will be particularly important in terms of their environmental, economic and employment impact are energy supply, in particular renewable energy, buildings and construction, transportation, basic industry, agriculture and forestry. The report suggests that 2.3 million people have in the recent years found jobs in the renewable energy sector alone. Employment alternative energies may rise to 2.1 million in wind power and 6.3 million in solar power by 2030.
Renewable energy generates more jobs than employment in fossil fuels. Projected investments of $ 630 billion by 2030 will translate into at least 20 million additional jobs in the renewable energy sector.
Report warns that many of new jobs can be “dirty, dangerous and difficult”Too few green jobs are being created for the most vulnerable
NEW DELHI: A new study on the impact of an emerging global “green economy” suggests that efforts to tackle climate change could result in the creation of new “green jobs” in the coming decades.
The report, “Green Jobs: Towards Decent Works in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World,” brought out by the International Labour Organisation, says changing patterns of employment and investment resulting from efforts to reduce climate change and its effects are already generating new jobs in many sectors and economies, and could create millions more in both developed and developing countries.Urgent action
However, the process of climate change, already under way, will continue to have a negative effect on workers and their families, especially those whose livelihoods depend on agriculture and tourism. Action to tackle climate change as well as to cope with its effects is therefore urgent and should be designed to generate decent jobs.
Though the report is generally optimistic about the creation of new jobs, it warns that many of these jobs could be “dirty, dangerous and difficult.” Sectors of concern, especially but not exclusively in developing economies, include agriculture and recycling, where all too often low pay, insecure employment contracts and exposure to health-hazardous materials need to change fast.
The report says that too few green jobs are being created for the most vulnerable: the 1.3 billion working poor (43 per cent of the global workforce) in the world with earnings too low to lift them and their dependents above the poverty threshold of $ 2 per person per pay, or for the estimated 500 million youths who will be seeking work over the next 10 years.
The global market for environmental products and services is projected to double from the present $ 1,370 billion per year to $ 2,740 billion by 2020, according to this study. Half of this market is in energy efficiency and the balance in sustainable transport, water supply, sanitation and waste management. Key sectors
Sectors that will be particularly important in terms of their environmental, economic and employment impact are energy supply, in particular renewable energy, buildings and construction, transportation, basic industry, agriculture and forestry. The report suggests that 2.3 million people have in the recent years found jobs in the renewable energy sector alone. Employment alternative energies may rise to 2.1 million in wind power and 6.3 million in solar power by 2030.
Renewable energy generates more jobs than employment in fossil fuels. Projected investments of $ 630 billion by 2030 will translate into at least 20 million additional jobs in the renewable energy sector.
Business - Watches;A slew of brands
Very few customers, if any at all, know that the Swatch Group manufactures and markets an awe-inspiring range of watches under some very prominent worldwide brands. At the top end, these brands include Breguet and Blancpain. In the luxury segment,the Swatch brands are Omega, Longines and Rado. Somewhere at the bottom are Tissot and Certina and in the mass market, the brand is Swatch. Not to miss out on jewellery watches — which the Swatch Group did not have till recently — Hayek has just bought over Tiffany & Co. Tiffany has been a cult jewellery brand and we are sure to see new product launches soon.
Most brand managers everywhere in the world know why the Swatch Group has so many brands. The obvious answer is that to be the world leader you need to be present in every segment of the market. What is not obvious is the reason why Hayek is not so visibly associated with any brands other than Swatch. Hayek is the most visible face of Swatch and, of course, its unofficial brand ambassador. However, he has refrained from being associated with any other brand.
The Longines brand positioning is entirely based on “elegance”. Not surprisingly, its worldwide brand ambassador is Aishwarya Rai. How would you like to see Aishwarya sporting a Tag Heuer, for example? Consistency of brand platform over a period of time holds the key to creating a strong brand. Sadly, for many brands in India, the brand positioning undergoes a change every time there is a new marketing manager or worse, a new advertising agency!
This writer asked Hayek if he would like to someday buy out the only two large independent watch brands in the world — Patek Philippe and Rolex. After some serious contemplation, Hayek finally said, “I do not need Patek Philippe (probably suggesting that Breguet could some day take Patek’s place). Then with the enthusiasm of a child he asked, “Do you think Rolex will ever be available for sale?” “If it ever gets freed up, I am certainly interested in the brand.”
The philosophy of several brands under a single umbrella ownership is not new from the Swatch Group. Two other worldwide groups, Richemont (Cartier, Dunhill, Mont Blanc) and LVMH (Tag Heuer), also have several powerful watch brands under their belt.
Many independent watch brands around the world during the last 20 years have been consolidated. The future will tell whether independent watch brands could really make a mark, or for that matter, survive at all!
Most brand managers everywhere in the world know why the Swatch Group has so many brands. The obvious answer is that to be the world leader you need to be present in every segment of the market. What is not obvious is the reason why Hayek is not so visibly associated with any brands other than Swatch. Hayek is the most visible face of Swatch and, of course, its unofficial brand ambassador. However, he has refrained from being associated with any other brand.
The Longines brand positioning is entirely based on “elegance”. Not surprisingly, its worldwide brand ambassador is Aishwarya Rai. How would you like to see Aishwarya sporting a Tag Heuer, for example? Consistency of brand platform over a period of time holds the key to creating a strong brand. Sadly, for many brands in India, the brand positioning undergoes a change every time there is a new marketing manager or worse, a new advertising agency!
This writer asked Hayek if he would like to someday buy out the only two large independent watch brands in the world — Patek Philippe and Rolex. After some serious contemplation, Hayek finally said, “I do not need Patek Philippe (probably suggesting that Breguet could some day take Patek’s place). Then with the enthusiasm of a child he asked, “Do you think Rolex will ever be available for sale?” “If it ever gets freed up, I am certainly interested in the brand.”
The philosophy of several brands under a single umbrella ownership is not new from the Swatch Group. Two other worldwide groups, Richemont (Cartier, Dunhill, Mont Blanc) and LVMH (Tag Heuer), also have several powerful watch brands under their belt.
Many independent watch brands around the world during the last 20 years have been consolidated. The future will tell whether independent watch brands could really make a mark, or for that matter, survive at all!
Mktg - Branding the tech way
Anjali Prayag
India is a nascent retail market and use of technology in branding in retail is almost unheard of. When the Industrial Design Division of Tata Elxsi decided to try its hand at retail design (not so much in space design as in branding for products ina crowded retail store), there was no doubt that technology would dictate this creative foray too, as with everything else that the company has been doing. “In a multi-brand store, the product has to get visibility. Engaging the consumer has also become a big issue. The only way to do this is through use of technology,” says Anil Narayan Sondur, General Manager, Industrial Design Engineering (IDE), Tata Elxsi.
This essentially means engaging the consumer with one’s brand using technology. Radio frequency identification (RFID) and personal identification through biometrics, which are playing a major role in retail processes in other countries, will soon be used in Indian supermarkets too, says Sondur. RFID can help capture customer data and track material movement. Earlier, cards without RFID would work and help only when customers would come to the cashier and present their cards. With RFID, the cards can be sensed from a certain proximity and hence, interactive displays can be set up within the store that will recognise the customer and help in the buying experience. Globally, retail is tracking its customers and their buying habits through image processing that recognises people and their usage of the outlet.
Tata Elxsi has worked with the complete engineering design of one of the Marlboro point-of-sale units – storage and display across all variants. This was to design advertising and branding for its products in the automatic dispensing system seen in supermarkets.
Most retail stores abroad are unmanned and would require a centrally controlled branding system. Tata Elxsi designed various levels of advertisements for the dispensing system that Marlboro could electronically control from its offices. In India, though this kind of work is still not in demand, Tata Elxsi is now helping set up interactive kiosks for clients with Musicon, a company providing music content, where consumers can download music from a kiosk to either a mobile phone or a similar wireless device. This kiosk can then be used for branding by any consumer products or services company.
Though IDE plans for retail are yet to take off in India (Tata Elxsi is in talks with several leading retail players, says Sondur), the company’s work brand and product development services span a range of industries: FMCG (GSK, Unilever, Sara Lee, Emami), transportation (Tata Motors, Jaguar, Ford and even the Light Combat Helicopter for HAL), consumer electronics and appliances (Whirlpool, Kenstar, Unilever) and medical devices.
In fact, in several cases, Tata Elxsi’s designers have changed lab equipment into products that consumers can use. Narendra Ghate, Senior Manager at IDE, recalls the time Unilever in India showed them a large piece of lab equipment that had to be converted into a mass-use water purifier. The end product had to be affordable and user-friendly, allowing effortless cleaning and replacement of consumables.
The result was Pureit, which transformed the way Unilever viewed the “water business, and now having sold 20 lakh pieces, has made water a major business category,” says a smiling Ghate.
Similarly, IDE had a mandate to design a handheld computer to be used by the masses. The device had to be simple with touch-screens and durable batteries. The end-result was the Simputer, a rugged and robust product that enables the end-user to perform many functions with ease.
In the case of Junior Horlicks, GSK came to IDE with a proposition to ‘stir kids’ curiosity and encourage them to drink the beverage.’ After extensive research, it was decided that animal characters would excite kids tremendously and IDE designers chose elephant and lion characters. “But we used technology here to make the characters more attractive for children,” says Sondur. Through the use of ISBM (injection stretch blow moulding) technology, IDE’s designers created sculpted bodies of the animals for the packaging of the product, which, apart from being a success in the market, also won the World Star award for packaging innovation.
Across the world, FMCG and consumer product companies are trying to enhance consumer engagement in the retail point of sale and coupled with technology, this could be more effective. “The rapid development in image processing, display, and wireless technologies can be brought together to provide a completely customised experience to the consumer of a brand of products,” says Sondur.
The scenario of trying to enhance consumer engagement with a brand will also be playing out in the Indian retail space in the next couple of years, and Tata Elxsi would develop its technology-based design offering to help its customers achieve this. “We have done quite a bit of work in product design and now want to extend that capability into retail,” says Sondur.
India is a nascent retail market and use of technology in branding in retail is almost unheard of. When the Industrial Design Division of Tata Elxsi decided to try its hand at retail design (not so much in space design as in branding for products ina crowded retail store), there was no doubt that technology would dictate this creative foray too, as with everything else that the company has been doing. “In a multi-brand store, the product has to get visibility. Engaging the consumer has also become a big issue. The only way to do this is through use of technology,” says Anil Narayan Sondur, General Manager, Industrial Design Engineering (IDE), Tata Elxsi.
This essentially means engaging the consumer with one’s brand using technology. Radio frequency identification (RFID) and personal identification through biometrics, which are playing a major role in retail processes in other countries, will soon be used in Indian supermarkets too, says Sondur. RFID can help capture customer data and track material movement. Earlier, cards without RFID would work and help only when customers would come to the cashier and present their cards. With RFID, the cards can be sensed from a certain proximity and hence, interactive displays can be set up within the store that will recognise the customer and help in the buying experience. Globally, retail is tracking its customers and their buying habits through image processing that recognises people and their usage of the outlet.
Tata Elxsi has worked with the complete engineering design of one of the Marlboro point-of-sale units – storage and display across all variants. This was to design advertising and branding for its products in the automatic dispensing system seen in supermarkets.
Most retail stores abroad are unmanned and would require a centrally controlled branding system. Tata Elxsi designed various levels of advertisements for the dispensing system that Marlboro could electronically control from its offices. In India, though this kind of work is still not in demand, Tata Elxsi is now helping set up interactive kiosks for clients with Musicon, a company providing music content, where consumers can download music from a kiosk to either a mobile phone or a similar wireless device. This kiosk can then be used for branding by any consumer products or services company.
Though IDE plans for retail are yet to take off in India (Tata Elxsi is in talks with several leading retail players, says Sondur), the company’s work brand and product development services span a range of industries: FMCG (GSK, Unilever, Sara Lee, Emami), transportation (Tata Motors, Jaguar, Ford and even the Light Combat Helicopter for HAL), consumer electronics and appliances (Whirlpool, Kenstar, Unilever) and medical devices.
In fact, in several cases, Tata Elxsi’s designers have changed lab equipment into products that consumers can use. Narendra Ghate, Senior Manager at IDE, recalls the time Unilever in India showed them a large piece of lab equipment that had to be converted into a mass-use water purifier. The end product had to be affordable and user-friendly, allowing effortless cleaning and replacement of consumables.
The result was Pureit, which transformed the way Unilever viewed the “water business, and now having sold 20 lakh pieces, has made water a major business category,” says a smiling Ghate.
Similarly, IDE had a mandate to design a handheld computer to be used by the masses. The device had to be simple with touch-screens and durable batteries. The end-result was the Simputer, a rugged and robust product that enables the end-user to perform many functions with ease.
In the case of Junior Horlicks, GSK came to IDE with a proposition to ‘stir kids’ curiosity and encourage them to drink the beverage.’ After extensive research, it was decided that animal characters would excite kids tremendously and IDE designers chose elephant and lion characters. “But we used technology here to make the characters more attractive for children,” says Sondur. Through the use of ISBM (injection stretch blow moulding) technology, IDE’s designers created sculpted bodies of the animals for the packaging of the product, which, apart from being a success in the market, also won the World Star award for packaging innovation.
Across the world, FMCG and consumer product companies are trying to enhance consumer engagement in the retail point of sale and coupled with technology, this could be more effective. “The rapid development in image processing, display, and wireless technologies can be brought together to provide a completely customised experience to the consumer of a brand of products,” says Sondur.
The scenario of trying to enhance consumer engagement with a brand will also be playing out in the Indian retail space in the next couple of years, and Tata Elxsi would develop its technology-based design offering to help its customers achieve this. “We have done quite a bit of work in product design and now want to extend that capability into retail,” says Sondur.
Mktg - Never give up on the idea
Shane Warne was the ultimate celebrity of my time. He exhilarated fans and exasperated authorities and sponsors with the same ease with which he bowled the flipper. Like the great tennis player John McEnroe who was arguably Nike’s greatest flag bearer, Warne, another endorser of the brand, challenged the establishment and yet was a champion, which was the individuality that the brand portrayed and valued in its endorsers. After Warne’s phenomenal performance in the unforgettable 1999 World Cup in England, Nike produced an ad titled “Never give up”.
It was my favourite, as it showed Warne facing a number of challenges that might have seemed insurmountable to ordinary mortals, some of whom competed with him — his shoulder injury, the betting scandal, separation from his family and the ultimate insult — being dropped from the team that he was such an integral and important part of; and then the commercial ends with him making a brilliant comeback in the finals at Lords against a hapless Pakistan, which Australia won in a canter.
Like to all great work the response was extreme and not middle-of-the-road. As per Michael Simon, creative director of the Advertising agency Foot Cone Belding: “Blokes punched the air and went “Come on”. Women said I don’t care how good he is, he’s a nob.” As for me, the commercial made a profound impression on me, not only because Shane Warne was one of my favourite cricketers, but also because the idea was powerful. Warne was in the news for all the wrong reasons and had come out of the depths to the pinnacle as only he can do, and this commercial had captured that. Once again a clever scriptwriter had an idea that the celebrity had taken to the next level with his real-life story and rather than use the celebrity to prop up a weak idea as we see so often.Reel life or real life
All of us are voyeurs in some sense of the term and love to peek into the lives of celebrities. The importance index of socialites seems to be directly proportionate to the gossip that they have access to about the celebrities that we all admire and yet we must concede that these same celebrities constantly provide grist to the gossip mill with their errors of omission and commission. Thank God for that, otherwise we would all be so bored! Of course, some of these are facts and not gossip as celebrity lives are open books.
It is common knowledge that M. S. Dhoni, India’s one-day and T20 captain (and at this point of time the hottest celebrity when it comes to sponsorships), was an indifferent student at best and has just now enrolled for a graduate course years after leaving school. Of course, one can be defensive about one’s lack of education or flaunt it. Or better still, let that be the idea of a television commercial for one of the myriad brands that one is endorsing.
Dhoni and Pepsi have done just that in the new “Youngistan” commercial. Although it is likely that you would have seen the commercial too, as it has got wide exposure, the script is still worth recounting. The commercial begins with Dhoni in an unlikely setting, the classroom, where he is clearly ill at ease. The teacher seems to revel in his role of increasing the young sportsman’s discomfiture and asks him his marks in Mathematics.
I am sure there will soon be another maxim that says that like you do not ask a man his salary and a woman her age, people must remember not to ask youngsters their marks in Maths! Dhoni sheepishly says 41, reminding me of my rank in class X, but back to the script!
The film gets into monologue mode where he says he realises he did not spend much time studying in school though he did spend time studying pitches and opposition bowlers’ minds as he examines someone who at close quarters looks surprisingly like Brett Lee. But he is mortal enough to concede that he has been unable to read the mind of Sreesanth who is gyrating in the background. He ends the commercial by saying that thanks to all his studies he has already won a world cup and the secret is to have a thirst for success.
Why do I like this commercial? Is it because it is true to Pepsi’s character of being for the young and young at heart? Is it because it appeals to the popular sentiment that my children seem to reflect that you do not have to study to be successful? Is it because the brand promise of quenching thirst is so deftly woven into the script? Is it because it is the story of the lad from Ranchi who is so far from us geographically and yet so close to our hearts? Is it because of the power of the idea that builds real life into a commercial that is endearing? Yes. Once again my submission to writers is: “Never give up on the power of the idea”. That and not the celebrity will make your commercial striking.
Clever writers too know the value of the presence and charisma that someone such as Dhoni brings to the script and table. He seems to have the same poise behind and in front of the wicket as he has in front of the camera. I wish I could say the same for some of our other cricketers who seem to be as nervous in front of the camera as they have been in their nineties.Rejection is not the name of the game
There was a time when actors used to reject film scripts that were not challenging or interesting. Or so out-of-work actors claimed.
Looks like actors do not exercise the same level of restraint or judgment when it comes to choosing scripts for products that they endorse. It seems like they are guided by considerations of a quick buck. I recently had the misfortune of seeing another celebrity commercial featuring Preity Zinta of BSNL fame and you must forgive me if I do not get the script right, as the commercial made for agonising watching, much less for remembering. The action happens on a film set and we have a distraught actor saying that she is unable to concentrate on the lines of the film as her washing machine is not working. I am sure out-of-work actors do their own laundry and those that own cricket teams must do the team’s laundry as well, which explains her confusion. Preity Zinta seems to pick real losers when it comes to endorsement scripts. Given the increasing importance of actors in this entire celebrity environment one hopes that actors, who may have a limited understanding of branding, will at least have a better feel for the audience and exercise one level of quality control in the script. Well, there is no harm in hoping, is there? Cricketers, actors, who else?
Our marketers and advertising agencies, despite all the hype about thinking differently and out of the box, end up being surprisingly predictable in their thinking and execution. Cricket and (hold your breath) films or entertainment seem to be the only two genres in their horizon. Dhoni endorses 12 brands at last count. Giving him a run for his money is Saif Ali Khan. Ads which were featuring Saif appeared for about 45 lakh seconds last year leaving behind Shah Rukh Khan with 42 lakh seconds and Big B with a mere 32 lakh seconds.
Younger actors are replacing the older actors. TVS, Sonata, Titan, Brylcreem, Lays, Taj Mahal Tea, Royal Stag, Pepsi, Toshiba, Videocon are all using celebrities. Surely our agencies, marketers and communication experts are taking the easy way out. Yet, there is no denying the fact that celebrities bring instant awareness to the brands they endorse, but yet the question must be asked: How many of these celebrities are part of the long-term strategy of the brand, like the Nike brand that this piece started with? Never give up
Let me end with my familiar refrain. More and more companies are joining the celebrity bandwagon as they seem to be following the herd or getting satisfied with the awareness which is just one part of the whole buying equation. At the risk of sounding nostalgic one can only remember some long-term strategies like a continuing character that Surf Excel created in Lalitaji, Onida’s creation of the devil or Amul’s little moppet that still continues to be the longest running campaign. Maybe there is learning from the life and times of Shane Warne. In cricket and branding there can be no pain without gain.
Are you ready for the pain of the long term?
(Ramanujam Sridhar is the CEO of brandcomm and the author of One Land, One Billion Minds.)
It was my favourite, as it showed Warne facing a number of challenges that might have seemed insurmountable to ordinary mortals, some of whom competed with him — his shoulder injury, the betting scandal, separation from his family and the ultimate insult — being dropped from the team that he was such an integral and important part of; and then the commercial ends with him making a brilliant comeback in the finals at Lords against a hapless Pakistan, which Australia won in a canter.
Like to all great work the response was extreme and not middle-of-the-road. As per Michael Simon, creative director of the Advertising agency Foot Cone Belding: “Blokes punched the air and went “Come on”. Women said I don’t care how good he is, he’s a nob.” As for me, the commercial made a profound impression on me, not only because Shane Warne was one of my favourite cricketers, but also because the idea was powerful. Warne was in the news for all the wrong reasons and had come out of the depths to the pinnacle as only he can do, and this commercial had captured that. Once again a clever scriptwriter had an idea that the celebrity had taken to the next level with his real-life story and rather than use the celebrity to prop up a weak idea as we see so often.Reel life or real life
All of us are voyeurs in some sense of the term and love to peek into the lives of celebrities. The importance index of socialites seems to be directly proportionate to the gossip that they have access to about the celebrities that we all admire and yet we must concede that these same celebrities constantly provide grist to the gossip mill with their errors of omission and commission. Thank God for that, otherwise we would all be so bored! Of course, some of these are facts and not gossip as celebrity lives are open books.
It is common knowledge that M. S. Dhoni, India’s one-day and T20 captain (and at this point of time the hottest celebrity when it comes to sponsorships), was an indifferent student at best and has just now enrolled for a graduate course years after leaving school. Of course, one can be defensive about one’s lack of education or flaunt it. Or better still, let that be the idea of a television commercial for one of the myriad brands that one is endorsing.
Dhoni and Pepsi have done just that in the new “Youngistan” commercial. Although it is likely that you would have seen the commercial too, as it has got wide exposure, the script is still worth recounting. The commercial begins with Dhoni in an unlikely setting, the classroom, where he is clearly ill at ease. The teacher seems to revel in his role of increasing the young sportsman’s discomfiture and asks him his marks in Mathematics.
I am sure there will soon be another maxim that says that like you do not ask a man his salary and a woman her age, people must remember not to ask youngsters their marks in Maths! Dhoni sheepishly says 41, reminding me of my rank in class X, but back to the script!
The film gets into monologue mode where he says he realises he did not spend much time studying in school though he did spend time studying pitches and opposition bowlers’ minds as he examines someone who at close quarters looks surprisingly like Brett Lee. But he is mortal enough to concede that he has been unable to read the mind of Sreesanth who is gyrating in the background. He ends the commercial by saying that thanks to all his studies he has already won a world cup and the secret is to have a thirst for success.
Why do I like this commercial? Is it because it is true to Pepsi’s character of being for the young and young at heart? Is it because it appeals to the popular sentiment that my children seem to reflect that you do not have to study to be successful? Is it because the brand promise of quenching thirst is so deftly woven into the script? Is it because it is the story of the lad from Ranchi who is so far from us geographically and yet so close to our hearts? Is it because of the power of the idea that builds real life into a commercial that is endearing? Yes. Once again my submission to writers is: “Never give up on the power of the idea”. That and not the celebrity will make your commercial striking.
Clever writers too know the value of the presence and charisma that someone such as Dhoni brings to the script and table. He seems to have the same poise behind and in front of the wicket as he has in front of the camera. I wish I could say the same for some of our other cricketers who seem to be as nervous in front of the camera as they have been in their nineties.Rejection is not the name of the game
There was a time when actors used to reject film scripts that were not challenging or interesting. Or so out-of-work actors claimed.
Looks like actors do not exercise the same level of restraint or judgment when it comes to choosing scripts for products that they endorse. It seems like they are guided by considerations of a quick buck. I recently had the misfortune of seeing another celebrity commercial featuring Preity Zinta of BSNL fame and you must forgive me if I do not get the script right, as the commercial made for agonising watching, much less for remembering. The action happens on a film set and we have a distraught actor saying that she is unable to concentrate on the lines of the film as her washing machine is not working. I am sure out-of-work actors do their own laundry and those that own cricket teams must do the team’s laundry as well, which explains her confusion. Preity Zinta seems to pick real losers when it comes to endorsement scripts. Given the increasing importance of actors in this entire celebrity environment one hopes that actors, who may have a limited understanding of branding, will at least have a better feel for the audience and exercise one level of quality control in the script. Well, there is no harm in hoping, is there? Cricketers, actors, who else?
Our marketers and advertising agencies, despite all the hype about thinking differently and out of the box, end up being surprisingly predictable in their thinking and execution. Cricket and (hold your breath) films or entertainment seem to be the only two genres in their horizon. Dhoni endorses 12 brands at last count. Giving him a run for his money is Saif Ali Khan. Ads which were featuring Saif appeared for about 45 lakh seconds last year leaving behind Shah Rukh Khan with 42 lakh seconds and Big B with a mere 32 lakh seconds.
Younger actors are replacing the older actors. TVS, Sonata, Titan, Brylcreem, Lays, Taj Mahal Tea, Royal Stag, Pepsi, Toshiba, Videocon are all using celebrities. Surely our agencies, marketers and communication experts are taking the easy way out. Yet, there is no denying the fact that celebrities bring instant awareness to the brands they endorse, but yet the question must be asked: How many of these celebrities are part of the long-term strategy of the brand, like the Nike brand that this piece started with? Never give up
Let me end with my familiar refrain. More and more companies are joining the celebrity bandwagon as they seem to be following the herd or getting satisfied with the awareness which is just one part of the whole buying equation. At the risk of sounding nostalgic one can only remember some long-term strategies like a continuing character that Surf Excel created in Lalitaji, Onida’s creation of the devil or Amul’s little moppet that still continues to be the longest running campaign. Maybe there is learning from the life and times of Shane Warne. In cricket and branding there can be no pain without gain.
Are you ready for the pain of the long term?
(Ramanujam Sridhar is the CEO of brandcomm and the author of One Land, One Billion Minds.)
Business - Swatch this villain
Nicholas G. Hayek, Founder and Chairman of Swatch, stands on the banks of Lake Constance before the launch earlier this month of the 007 Villain series of Swatches at Bregenz, Austria. Hayek wears on his left wrist the first-ever Swatch made; the second one is the Quantum of Solace from the 007 Villain series. The third watch on his left wrist is a high-end Breguet. On his right wrist Hayek wears an analogue-digital Omega Seamaster he has been wearing since 1992. Also seen above are two of the 007 Villain watches – the one on the left is based on the forthcoming Bond thriller ‘Quantum of Solace’, and the other on ‘Dr. No’.
Pradipta Mohapatra
Nicholas G. Hayek, Founder and Chairman of Swatch Group, otherwise known as “Mr Swatch”, celebrated the 25th anniversary of Swatch, the world’s largest watch company with annual revenues of $6 billion in Bregenz, Austria, on Septemb er 9. For a long while Hayek was the hero of the Swiss watch Industry. Like the Secret Service agent James Bond, who comes in from the cold to save the world from catastrophe in his movies, Hayek arrived from nowhere and saved the Swiss watch industry from the onslaught of Japanese ‘villains’. Like a true James Bond he re-established the Swiss watch industry and has now made Swatch the leader of the worldwide horology industry. And now it is his turn to play villain!
Hayek, who is 82 years old, has the uncanny knack of making his customers express how they feel, which is the very philosophy of Swatch’s brand positioning. The Swatch has been elegant, attractive, spontaneous, provocative, seductive, but never villainous. With the launch of 22 watches as Swatch 007 Villain collection, Hayek has given his customers a chance to take away a slice of James Bond’s life as memorabilia. In the words of Nicholas Hayek, “It’s the art of the villain that interests us. In Ian Fleming’s novels and all the Bond films, the villains play a crucial role. And if Bond is alive and well today, it is thanks in no small part to the enduring power of his enemies.”
Indeed. The Swatch 007 Villain Collection, launched with fanfare and pizzazz at a picturesque venue on Lake Constance which borders Germany, Austria and Switzerland, is a tribute to the Bond saga as a whole. It honours the art of infamy that Bond’s creators developed with perfidious cunning and cinematic flair through 22 thrilling adventures. Each model in the Villain collection evokes one or more wily evildoers. We know them all – armed to the teeth and dressed to kill: there’s Dr. No with his stylish suit and metal hands and Blofeld with his fluffy white cat purring under the sign of Spectre. Rosa Klebb has a nasty knuckle-duster, Xenia Zaragevna Onatopp with a black leather strap to match her killer thighs and deadly Red kiss. There’s a metal-mouthed monster of a man called “Jaws”, who was present at the launch as Richard Kiel, the over seven-foot actor who played the part in the movie, and scheming Soviets whose watches evoke the Empire’s glory days.
Fiendishly clever actors add lustre to the growing legend, the Villains pay tribute to outstanding performances: Christopher Walken’s malevolent Max Zorin deserves his stylish Retrograde; Richard Kiel’s menacing jaws gets a massive, polished steel Irony; Lotte Lenya’s Rosa Klebb is given a pair of knuckle-dusters welded to an Irony Lady. And in homage to Casino Royale, poker-faced master of malice Mads Mikkelsen (alias Le Chiffre) nabs an Irony Big with an Ace of Spades. There are more to come, of course, as Swatch explores the dark side of the story.
More than forty-five years have passed since Dr. No debuted on the silver screen in 1962, but the fascination that has nourished the myth of 007 shows no signs of fading. If anything, it’s growing stronger – Quantum of Solace, Bond flick number twenty-two, premieres this year – and the 22nd Swatch watch in the new collection is a fitting tribute to Dominic Greene, the latest Bond villain we are sure to hate.
How much of imagination does it take for a designer to design a Swatch? And how does the designer arrive at an emotional connect with the customers? Here’s how the Dr. No model of the Villain collection was designed:
The first Bond film features the nefarious, ever elegant Dr. No, the ‘Spectre’ agent played by Julius Wiseman who dies sinking into the bubbling vat of a nuclear reactor. Dr. No and the reactor find a suitably elegant tribute in the form of this distinctive Skin Chrono: its textured white and pale beige synthetic fabric strap evokes Dr. No’s high-collared suit, and the dial recalls the reactor’s instrument panel.
Celebrating the latest dastardly villain to take up arms against James Bond, this darkly elegant Swatch Chrono Plastic presents the distinctive mark of Dominic Greene, the villain of the movie, on a black silicon strap with ivory silicon inserts leading up to the matt black plastic case, which has ivory chrono pushers and a matt black crown. The silicon loop features the famous 007 pistol logo and the words “Green Planet” appear in ivory on the 6 o’clock side of the strap.
The audience comprising worldwide media and Swatch retailers from across the world, received some enormous branding lessons from Hayek. For a start, every new product that is launched must be consistent with the branding philosophy. Then, products are not designed by designers in isolation. The designer needs to design based on a tight brief. Lastly, if a lifestyle brand fails to make an emotional connect with the customer, it damages the brand.
Hayek, who owns 80 per cent of this closely-held company, is also a ‘guru” on low cost promotion. He knows that if a product is written about in the media, it is far more valuable than the money you spend on advertising. In the first one week since the Swatch Villain Collection was launched, the event and the products were written about in the media in about a 100 countries. This is all before the first product advertisement had been released to the media!
Prior to the high-decibel launch of the Swatch villain series, in an exclusive interview to this writer, Hayek had outlined his vision for India by stating that he would like to see a Swatch watch on the hand of every fifth Indian and to achieve a revenue of one billion Swiss francs (about $900 million), both in the span of ten years. Swatch, which has a clutch of high-end brands in its portfolio such as Breguet, Omega, Rado, Tissot and Longines, has already made moves in this direction with intentions of establishing a dedicated distribution network in the Indian market and has finalised a joint venture with an Indian partner. And, Hayek has given his daughter, Nayla Hayek, the responsibility of growing the Indian market. As Swatch would say, its time has come.
(Pradipta Mohapatra writes a regular column on watches for Business Line Smartbuy. He was at the company’s anniversary celebrations at the invitation of Swatch)
India - Honda City third generation launched
NEW DELHI: Car maker Honda Siel Cars India on Thursday launched the third generation model of its Sedan, City, priced between Rs 7.7 lakh and Rs 8.9 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The new Honda City would come in three different grades with both automatic and manual transmissions and would be available with a 1.5 litre i-VTEC engine. Honda City is the one of the most successful car brands in the country. With this launch, India will become the largest market for Honda City, HSCI President and CEO M Takadegawa told reporters here. Before India, the company has recently introduced its new City in Thailand.
Currently, Honda City is being produced in seven countries and sold in 39 countries across the world.
Currently, Honda City is being produced in seven countries and sold in 39 countries across the world.
India - DRDO develops 'laser power' for Indian troops
NEW DELHI: Following in the footsteps of the US Armed Forces, the Indian Army soldiers will soon be armed with laser guns to help take on militants without even firing a single shot. The Laser Science and Technology Centre (LASTEC), a DRDO laboratory, has developed 'Laser Dazzler' - a non-lethal gun - for the armed forces to be used during counter-insurgency and anti-terrorist operations. "The laser gun is a non-lethal anti-personnel weapon, which could be used to disorient or dazzle an armed soldier or a terrorist without causing any collateral damage in the process," LASTEC's Associate Director A K Maini told PTI here today. He said the gun would flash a laser beam, which could virtually "blind" the terrorist or anti-social element for around 40 seconds - time good enough for the troops to nab the culprit. The flash beam of the gun is two to three metres wide, which would provide better chances to the forces in disorienting the target. "The gun can be used effectively in counter-insurgency operations and close combat battles by the defence and paramilitary forces," Maini said. The DRDO-developed gun would be used for trials by the Army in counter-insurgency operations in the next five to six months. It would be tested in "real combat" situations in both Jammu and Kashmir and North Eastern states. The laser guns are also fully compliant with the UN conventions, which prohibit the use of laser guns that cause permanent blindness.
Entertainment - David Blaine completes 60 hour batman stunt
NEW YORK: US magician David Blaine successfully completed late on Wednesday his latest stunt of hanging upside down for 60 hours over New York's Central Park. Blaine had been hanging from a rope 14 metres above the ground since Monday. He ended his "feat of endurance" with a leap to the ground in a live TV show called Dive of Death. Blaine made many interruptions to his batman stunt to drink, urinate and be examined by doctors. One doctor confirmed to New York's NY1 channel that Blaine's blood pressure was fine and all his internal organs were functioning normally. Blaine said shortly before the end of the stunt that it became easier over time and that his body got used to the strange position. The controversial performer is perhaps best known for his 2003 stunt, when he was suspended in a perspex cube over London for 44 days without food. He lost 30 km during the stunt and had to be treated for malnutrition at a London hospital.
India - A town seething with rage
Haidar Naqvi
In the heart of small town India, there is a madrasa where students can walk in wearing T-shirts and denim jeans — rather than the traditional kurta-pyjama and skull caps.
It is a sign of changing aspirations and outlook among Islamic youth over the past decade in Azamgarh, a town in eastern Uttar Pradesh now being labelled as one of the capitals of terror in India.
That is the town from where Atif Amin — named by Mumbai Police on Wednesday as one of the chief conspirators of recent terror attacks — came from.
Cricket-crazy Amin dreamt of playing professionally in Mumbai. He and his close friend Mohammed Saif, now under arrest, were learning English and computers to chase their careers in the metropolis, or in the Gulf countries where thousands from Azamgarh have already gone.
“(Saif) was a gifted player, he was our best,” said Rizwan Ahmed, his neighbour in his village. “He would hit the ball so hard it would disappear in seconds. Bowlers feared Saif and Atif.” He added: “They were implicated by the police.”“(Saif) thought that English was a must if he wanted to learn computers, which in turn might have gotten him a job in an MNC or a job in the Gulf,” said his father Shadab Khan, who had spoken to Saif a day before the shootout at Batla House.
Police say somewhere along the way, Amin and the others joined the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), attended a training session in Vadodara, and began to build a network of angry youth.
Amin quickly became a leader: he used to point out the shortcomings of the young men during namaz, focussed on religious justifications for fighting wrongs, and showed the youth CDs depicting the Gujarat riots, American soldiers fighting in Iraq and local people opposing US actions, and speeches of Osama bin Laden. “Eye for an eye,” announced the e-mail from the Indian Mujahideen group, which police say Amin was a key member of. There is no way to independently corroborate the allegation.
But religious learning ran very deep in Azamgarh, a tradition of more than a century. Different sects of Islam flourished here. There is no college — but more than 300 madrasas across villages in the region, mostly flush with worldwide expatriate funds and not dependent on the government.
The new generation has access to English medium schools — but they go wearing skull caps and hijabs. “They were already religious minded, and working in countries like Saudi Arabia where hard-line Islam is practised made them even more religious,” said an Islamic theologian, declining to be quoted on the sensitive subject.
Religious congregations bring hundreds of thousands of people every year.
The Jamat-e-Islami group, which believes in Nizam-e-Ilahi (rule of God) and not in elected governments — has a large following in the district. A large number of its followers did not vote in any election until 1989 - when they first joined the political mainstream with a common rage after the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
In a story that community watchers say resonates in other parts of India as well, the same rage seeped into the young men of Sarjanpur. Many saw a tenuous link between the theology of institutions like Madarsa Salafia of Ahle Hadis — and terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, connections disputed by Islamic theologians.
After the deaths and arrests of the terror suspects, that rage has spiralled — and residents say it will have an even deadlier impact. Angry villagers huddle together facing an onslaught of media attention, in a town seething with rage — and a threat.
“Let me tell you, the entire country will repent, they have started a very dangerous game,” said village elder Mohammed Haroon.
“If they continue to persecute us like this, then it is a time for … a show down,” he says.
In the heart of small town India, there is a madrasa where students can walk in wearing T-shirts and denim jeans — rather than the traditional kurta-pyjama and skull caps.
It is a sign of changing aspirations and outlook among Islamic youth over the past decade in Azamgarh, a town in eastern Uttar Pradesh now being labelled as one of the capitals of terror in India.
That is the town from where Atif Amin — named by Mumbai Police on Wednesday as one of the chief conspirators of recent terror attacks — came from.
Cricket-crazy Amin dreamt of playing professionally in Mumbai. He and his close friend Mohammed Saif, now under arrest, were learning English and computers to chase their careers in the metropolis, or in the Gulf countries where thousands from Azamgarh have already gone.
“(Saif) was a gifted player, he was our best,” said Rizwan Ahmed, his neighbour in his village. “He would hit the ball so hard it would disappear in seconds. Bowlers feared Saif and Atif.” He added: “They were implicated by the police.”“(Saif) thought that English was a must if he wanted to learn computers, which in turn might have gotten him a job in an MNC or a job in the Gulf,” said his father Shadab Khan, who had spoken to Saif a day before the shootout at Batla House.
Police say somewhere along the way, Amin and the others joined the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), attended a training session in Vadodara, and began to build a network of angry youth.
Amin quickly became a leader: he used to point out the shortcomings of the young men during namaz, focussed on religious justifications for fighting wrongs, and showed the youth CDs depicting the Gujarat riots, American soldiers fighting in Iraq and local people opposing US actions, and speeches of Osama bin Laden. “Eye for an eye,” announced the e-mail from the Indian Mujahideen group, which police say Amin was a key member of. There is no way to independently corroborate the allegation.
But religious learning ran very deep in Azamgarh, a tradition of more than a century. Different sects of Islam flourished here. There is no college — but more than 300 madrasas across villages in the region, mostly flush with worldwide expatriate funds and not dependent on the government.
The new generation has access to English medium schools — but they go wearing skull caps and hijabs. “They were already religious minded, and working in countries like Saudi Arabia where hard-line Islam is practised made them even more religious,” said an Islamic theologian, declining to be quoted on the sensitive subject.
Religious congregations bring hundreds of thousands of people every year.
The Jamat-e-Islami group, which believes in Nizam-e-Ilahi (rule of God) and not in elected governments — has a large following in the district. A large number of its followers did not vote in any election until 1989 - when they first joined the political mainstream with a common rage after the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
In a story that community watchers say resonates in other parts of India as well, the same rage seeped into the young men of Sarjanpur. Many saw a tenuous link between the theology of institutions like Madarsa Salafia of Ahle Hadis — and terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, connections disputed by Islamic theologians.
After the deaths and arrests of the terror suspects, that rage has spiralled — and residents say it will have an even deadlier impact. Angry villagers huddle together facing an onslaught of media attention, in a town seething with rage — and a threat.
“Let me tell you, the entire country will repent, they have started a very dangerous game,” said village elder Mohammed Haroon.
“If they continue to persecute us like this, then it is a time for … a show down,” he says.
Entertainment - When in the pits,try blogging
Jhoomur Bose
Blogging has given vent and voice to many people hitherto lurking in the pages of a Dear Diary somewhere. Blogs can also come back to haunt you. Formerly published literary masterpieces can look like grammatical disasters two months later. Even if you delete them (or rectify them), someone, somewhere will always remember.
Can someone be kind and point this out to ‘the’ Ram Gopal Varma of Bollywood as well? For those who don’t know or have forgotten, Mr Ramu was one of the most exciting directors in the Hindi film industry. At any given time, Mr Ramu’s favourite muse was either the underworld or his leading heroine. Till he started making inane movies, remaking his own inane movies and when that didn’t work, taking other peoples’ good movies and making them inane. It seemed Mr Ramu had run out of ideas.
Now most will tell you how when Hollywood goes ideas bankrupt, it makes movies out of comic book heroes. When that happens in Bollywood, movie-makers use Amitabh Bachchan. Once his movies stopped working at the box office, Mr Ramu did the same and began making most of his movies with Mr Bachchan. Following in the footsteps of his new muse, Mr Ramu also started blogging. And like Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, Ram Gopal Varma ki blog blows hot and cold.
It’s interesting to note that two of the most reticent interview subjects — Amitabh Bachchan (bigb.bigadda.com) — and Mr Ramu — chose blogging to ‘reach out’. One did it for alleged monetary gain and the other because he had nothing to lose. Mr. Ramu’s blog reads much like what we know of him through the interviews he has given. Loves to give his point of view, loves to rubbish everyone else’s point of view and does not listen to sound advice.
While like most personal blogs Mr Ramu’s blog too is a rant against the world, justifications of moves and motives and his perspective on things, Mr Ramu has moments. Particularly when he gives his reactions to reactions and when he takes on film writer Subhash K. Jha. Sample this, “I heard you are remaking Aag. Why would you want to remake your own film?” Mr Ramu replies, “Who else would do it? A flop one at that?”
Blogging has given vent and voice to many people hitherto lurking in the pages of a Dear Diary somewhere. Blogs can also come back to haunt you. Formerly published literary masterpieces can look like grammatical disasters two months later. Even if you delete them (or rectify them), someone, somewhere will always remember.
Can someone be kind and point this out to ‘the’ Ram Gopal Varma of Bollywood as well? For those who don’t know or have forgotten, Mr Ramu was one of the most exciting directors in the Hindi film industry. At any given time, Mr Ramu’s favourite muse was either the underworld or his leading heroine. Till he started making inane movies, remaking his own inane movies and when that didn’t work, taking other peoples’ good movies and making them inane. It seemed Mr Ramu had run out of ideas.
Now most will tell you how when Hollywood goes ideas bankrupt, it makes movies out of comic book heroes. When that happens in Bollywood, movie-makers use Amitabh Bachchan. Once his movies stopped working at the box office, Mr Ramu did the same and began making most of his movies with Mr Bachchan. Following in the footsteps of his new muse, Mr Ramu also started blogging. And like Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, Ram Gopal Varma ki blog blows hot and cold.
It’s interesting to note that two of the most reticent interview subjects — Amitabh Bachchan (bigb.bigadda.com) — and Mr Ramu — chose blogging to ‘reach out’. One did it for alleged monetary gain and the other because he had nothing to lose. Mr. Ramu’s blog reads much like what we know of him through the interviews he has given. Loves to give his point of view, loves to rubbish everyone else’s point of view and does not listen to sound advice.
While like most personal blogs Mr Ramu’s blog too is a rant against the world, justifications of moves and motives and his perspective on things, Mr Ramu has moments. Particularly when he gives his reactions to reactions and when he takes on film writer Subhash K. Jha. Sample this, “I heard you are remaking Aag. Why would you want to remake your own film?” Mr Ramu replies, “Who else would do it? A flop one at that?”
Columnists - Sitaram Yechury;Delivery us from all evil
India’s battle against terror is taking a bizarre turn. At the outset, it needs to be underlined that this is a battle that India must win. On the issue of strengthening internal security, there can be no compromises. At the same time, the unity and integrity of India is non-negotiable. This means, the celebration of our vast plurality and diversity in all its forms.
Seen in this light, the Uttar Pradesh Bar Council’s refusal to appear for those charged with acts of terrorism is not merely unfortunate but counter-productive. This only further emboldens the feeling of alienation among youngsters from the minority communities bolstering their sense of ‘perceived’ injustice.
Such feelings of the system being unfair is also strengthened by conflicting versions of the encounter that took place at Jamia Nagar in Delhi where Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma and two youngsters were killed. The massive house-to-house search operation launched in Azamgarh has also failed to throw up any evidence that the police were confident of obtaining. Bank accounts of alleged terrorists believed to contain some crores turned out to contain a few hundreds.
If these operations, however, lead to nailing the guilty behind the bomb blasts in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Bangalore, then this would be a great advance in our battle against terror.
Further, this battle can’t be won by identifying terrorism with any one single religious (or any other socially categorised) community. At the expense of repetition, it needs to be recollected that we lost Mahatma Gandhi, a Prime Minister and a former Prime Minister to the bullets of terrorists, none of whom were associated with any Muslim outfit. Similarly, various outfits in the North-east — apart from Maoist insurgents — claim the lives of innocent people. The Deoband fatwa declaring that terrorism has nothing to do with Islam has, unfortunately, not stopped the proclivity of many to jump to conclusions. Terrorists, simply, are anti-national criminals. They need to be combated without any sense of prejudice. Failing to do so can only be counterproductive.
The strident calls for the re-enactment of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) by the BJP as the only way to succeed against this battle against terror is missing the woods for the trees. When Pota adorned the statute books, Parliament, the Red Fort, the Raghunath temple, the Akshardham temple etc were attacked by terrorists. Pota, clearly, could neither prevent these attacks nor could it help in apprehending the culprits. It is not the inadequacy of the law but the efficacy of our law and order apparatus and intelligence-gathering system that needs to be strengthened.
Our law and order establishment still functions under the Indian Police Act enacted in 1861 to subjugate the ‘Natives’. It is unfortunate that this anachronism continues despite the recommendations of various commissions set up to look into the issue of police reforms since
Independence. The National Police Commission, the Law Commission, the Ribeiro Commission, the Padmanabhaiah, Soli Sorabjee and Malimath committees — to name a few — have all made various recommendations to bring the law and order apparatus in tune with a modern secular democratic civil society. Many of these recommendations still lie unattended.
Considering the fact that law and order is a State subject, the Union government has posted on the Home Ministry’s website a Model Police Act. So far, no single state government has enacted legislation, due to serious differences that remain unresolved, in full conformity with this. In 2003, the NDA government under L.K. Advani’s Home Ministry had accepted recommendations for the creation of a multi-agency centre to strengthen our intelligence-gathering apparatus. Of the recommended additional 3,000 Intelligence Bureau personnel, 1,400 posts have been sanctioned, the remaining are yet to be filled.
If the battle against terror needs to succeed, then these inadequacies need to be urgently addressed. Simultaneously, the State must not merely appear to be fair in dealing with terrorist outfits of all hues but must establish and practise its impartiality. On this score, the continuing attacks on Christian minorities spilling over into various states is sharpening communal polarisation. This, however, appears precisely to be the objective of the tentacles of the RSS like the Bajrang Dal that have been claiming the responsibility for such attacks in many places. The credibility of the secular democratic republic crucially rests on the impartial manner in which it deals in curbing such attacks.
Unfortunately, the politics of communal polarisation for the sake of petty electoral benefits are tearing asunder the unity and integrity of our country. Majority communalism and minority terrorism only tend to feed off each other. The casualty, as always, is innocent lives and the very foundations of modern India. India and its unity can be preserved only by strengthening the bonds of commonality that run through its vast diversity; not by imposing a uniformity on this diversity. This is precisely what the communal forces seek to do, thereby undermining the modern secular democratic republic. For the sake of India, for the sake of Bharat, these must be defeated.
Sitaram Yechury is a Rajya Sabha MP and member, CPI(M) Politburo.
Seen in this light, the Uttar Pradesh Bar Council’s refusal to appear for those charged with acts of terrorism is not merely unfortunate but counter-productive. This only further emboldens the feeling of alienation among youngsters from the minority communities bolstering their sense of ‘perceived’ injustice.
Such feelings of the system being unfair is also strengthened by conflicting versions of the encounter that took place at Jamia Nagar in Delhi where Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma and two youngsters were killed. The massive house-to-house search operation launched in Azamgarh has also failed to throw up any evidence that the police were confident of obtaining. Bank accounts of alleged terrorists believed to contain some crores turned out to contain a few hundreds.
If these operations, however, lead to nailing the guilty behind the bomb blasts in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Bangalore, then this would be a great advance in our battle against terror.
Further, this battle can’t be won by identifying terrorism with any one single religious (or any other socially categorised) community. At the expense of repetition, it needs to be recollected that we lost Mahatma Gandhi, a Prime Minister and a former Prime Minister to the bullets of terrorists, none of whom were associated with any Muslim outfit. Similarly, various outfits in the North-east — apart from Maoist insurgents — claim the lives of innocent people. The Deoband fatwa declaring that terrorism has nothing to do with Islam has, unfortunately, not stopped the proclivity of many to jump to conclusions. Terrorists, simply, are anti-national criminals. They need to be combated without any sense of prejudice. Failing to do so can only be counterproductive.
The strident calls for the re-enactment of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) by the BJP as the only way to succeed against this battle against terror is missing the woods for the trees. When Pota adorned the statute books, Parliament, the Red Fort, the Raghunath temple, the Akshardham temple etc were attacked by terrorists. Pota, clearly, could neither prevent these attacks nor could it help in apprehending the culprits. It is not the inadequacy of the law but the efficacy of our law and order apparatus and intelligence-gathering system that needs to be strengthened.
Our law and order establishment still functions under the Indian Police Act enacted in 1861 to subjugate the ‘Natives’. It is unfortunate that this anachronism continues despite the recommendations of various commissions set up to look into the issue of police reforms since
Independence. The National Police Commission, the Law Commission, the Ribeiro Commission, the Padmanabhaiah, Soli Sorabjee and Malimath committees — to name a few — have all made various recommendations to bring the law and order apparatus in tune with a modern secular democratic civil society. Many of these recommendations still lie unattended.
Considering the fact that law and order is a State subject, the Union government has posted on the Home Ministry’s website a Model Police Act. So far, no single state government has enacted legislation, due to serious differences that remain unresolved, in full conformity with this. In 2003, the NDA government under L.K. Advani’s Home Ministry had accepted recommendations for the creation of a multi-agency centre to strengthen our intelligence-gathering apparatus. Of the recommended additional 3,000 Intelligence Bureau personnel, 1,400 posts have been sanctioned, the remaining are yet to be filled.
If the battle against terror needs to succeed, then these inadequacies need to be urgently addressed. Simultaneously, the State must not merely appear to be fair in dealing with terrorist outfits of all hues but must establish and practise its impartiality. On this score, the continuing attacks on Christian minorities spilling over into various states is sharpening communal polarisation. This, however, appears precisely to be the objective of the tentacles of the RSS like the Bajrang Dal that have been claiming the responsibility for such attacks in many places. The credibility of the secular democratic republic crucially rests on the impartial manner in which it deals in curbing such attacks.
Unfortunately, the politics of communal polarisation for the sake of petty electoral benefits are tearing asunder the unity and integrity of our country. Majority communalism and minority terrorism only tend to feed off each other. The casualty, as always, is innocent lives and the very foundations of modern India. India and its unity can be preserved only by strengthening the bonds of commonality that run through its vast diversity; not by imposing a uniformity on this diversity. This is precisely what the communal forces seek to do, thereby undermining the modern secular democratic republic. For the sake of India, for the sake of Bharat, these must be defeated.
Sitaram Yechury is a Rajya Sabha MP and member, CPI(M) Politburo.
Lifestyle - Good Sex everyday,keeps the doctor away
You would have never thought that a kiss could help keeping dental worries at bay or a gratifying sexual act at night make you feel fit and fresh the next morning. But that's what studies across the web claim. Healthy sex leads to a healthy life. You may have tried copious measures to get that extra glowing skin and shiny hair. You must have also worked out rigorously to achieve that perfect ten figure you've desired. But the key to your mind and heart is fulfilling sex. Even for those who lose their temper or are always in a depressed state of mind, 'sex' can be the solution. A happy sexual life with your partner not only gets you in shape with better skin texture and silken tresses, it also burns extra calories, keeps you fit, combats asthma, relieves headache, reduces depression and tranquilises your mind. From make-up experts, hair stylists, sexologists and fitness connoisseurs – there's a common consensus that a vigourous sexual life leads to a healthy life – both physically and emotionally. We get them share more on this... There have been several notions stating that 'sex' produces certain hormones that bring happiness, which lead to a fit body and a healthy mind. Shedding some light on this, Dr. Sanjay Chugh, specialist on sexual issues, states, "Sex contributes to general good health. Any sexual intimacy that is enjoyable and pleasurable promotes well being by providing several physical and psychological benefits. It is believed that sex boosts chemicals in the body that protects us against diseases. Research also suggests that sex and masturbation can help ease joint and muscle pain, combat depression, promote heart health and lengthen one's life span." Dr. Samir Parikh, clinical physiatrist adds, "The basic fact is that a good sex life also means in a larger picture, a good relationship with one's partner and this makes the partner happier, less stressed and by virtue of that physically healthier." Not just this, sex also accelerates blood circulation and one's basic metabolic rate, which further enhances the well-being of our mind and soul and helps us calm down. On these emotional benefits, Dr Chugh adds, "A satisfying sexual relationship strengthens the bond between couples, making them feel secure and loved. The feeling of emotional connectedness adds to ones sense of belonging, which in totality helps them achieve a positive physical, psychological and spiritual state that is necessary for one's general health." Elaborating further, on a scientific angle, Dr Avdesh Sharma, a consultant psychiatrist, and an expert on relationship issues shares, "Sex is a way of bonding at the physical, mental and emotional level and leads to health (including psychological) benefits. If it is used as a mechanical process, it may have limited benefits. There are physiological benefits of positive changes in parameters like pulse, heart rate, reduction in blood pressure (after an increase in B.P. specially if vigourous sex is tried), dilation of blood vessels and capillaries of the skin, leading to a 'glow', burning of a few calories (depending on the duration of the act and vigour), exercising of some of the muscles, thus improving lung capacity (during heavy breathing)." However, we also need to understand that sexual acts work more in terms of improving resistance, but are not a safe guard or a treatment to illnesses. Any sexual act can neither be used as a treatment nor would it change your stresses of life, which one would need to resolve irrespective. "The extra edge of sex may be due to the feeling of being wanted, an expression of emotions and certain hormonal and physiological changes that happen as an expression of love for another individual. Unfortunately, the benefits of sexuality are usually quoted out of context and people may look at this as a panacea for everything. But sexuality without emotions have limited value," concludes Dr Avdesh Sharma.
Sport- F1;Kubica can win the championship says BMW
SINGAPORE: BMW Sauber chief Mario Theissen is confident his driver Robert Kubica still has a great chance of overtaking Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa and winning the world championship. The Pole is currently 14 points behind leader Hamilton, in a McLaren, and 13 behind Ferrari's Massa with four races to go, starting with the first-ever night race in Singapore this weekend. Kubica came in third at the last Grand Prix in Italy, picking up valuable points on his main rivals who finished seventh and sixth respectively. "It's a situation still offering Robert the chance of making it to the very top in the world championships," Theissen said. The fact that Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen closed a 17-point gap on Hamilton with two races left to win the championship last year is not lost on Kubica and BMW. But their crack at the world title does not necessarily mean Kubika will be favoured by the team over Nick Heidfeld, insisted Theissen. Heidfeld is currently fifth in the standings on 53 points and mathematically also has a chance of winning the championship. "There is no hierarchy, meaning that we say one of our drivers is number one and the other is our number two, prior to a race," said Theissen. "Our team is set up in a way that both our drivers will be provided with the same support, the same resources and the same know-how. Then, you just have to wait and see what happens in the race. "At the same time, it goes without saying that Robert can rely on our full support." Kubica said he had always liked street circuits and was looking forward to the race this week, which will wind around the Marina Bay circuit under lights. "I am looking forward to it because it's a street circuit and throughout my career I've always performed well on such tracks," he said.
Entertainment - Q&A Sushmita Sen
Hiren Kotwani
You’re known as an actress.. not as a dancer. So what prompted you to take up a reality dance show like Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena?I’ve been getting offers from television for some years, but I wasn’t convinced about the concepts. I was attracted by the show’s concept.. in which cricketers come and dance. Then I had only so much time when the show was offered.. and the money was very good, before you ask me about it.
One would have thought you would debut on TV as a talk show hostess.I haven’t debuted.. debut would be something that has my signature on it. This is judging, it’s been fun. But some day.. I could do a show which has my signature. No plans yet.. unless I have the time and the channel has the budget.. (laughs) I’m very expensive.
So have you started watching cricket more often after shooting the show with cricketers?I started watching cricket religiously for the IPL. It was especially exciting with my film fraternity friends owning teams.
How come you weren’t seen at any of the IPL matches?I don’t like to sit in a box and keep wondering who is playing, where the ball is going. I attended only one match, between Bangalore and Mumbai, for my friend Vijay Mallya, at the Wankhede Stadium. That’s the only match I don’t remember. I’ve been asked by Harbajan Singh to watch his match, I’ll go for it.. he has promised to win it too.
What is your take on high drama becoming an important part of reality shows to earn TRPs?I cant stand it.. that’s why I chose this show. It’s spontaneous, we don’t put any of the contestants down. I don’t want to see people crying, going to hospital. This show is inspiring, it’s for every age group, very clean and dignified, something that I can’t say about some other shows.
Okay, coming to films. What’s ailing Karma Confessions and Holi?I’ve no clue. Ask the producers. Initially, it was to be premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, chaired by Robert De Niro, since his daughter Drena is one of the producers. I don’t know what happened.
Apparently, Dulha Mil Gaya was being shelved since Shah Rukh Khan’s portion may not be shot.Shubh shubh bolo. Shah Rukh’s currently shooting for Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and his own production Billoo Barber. Simultaneously, he’ll shoot for Dulha, soon this year.
Shah Rukh and I had just 15 minutes of screen time together in Main Hoon Naa. It worked so well, that the next time it has to be far more overwhelming.
How come you didn’t make a special appearance in Om Shanti Om?I was travelling when Farah was shooting the song. I asked if we could do it another day, but the set was being pulled down after filming. I can’t say no to Farah but it couldn’t happen.
For your first film as a producer, why take on a daunting project like Rani Lakshmibai?Rani Lakshmibai isn’t my first production.. two other films will be released before that.. they will be announced at the appropriate time. And please, I want to correct the reports calling my film Jhansi ki Rani. It’s Rani Lakshmibai. It’s not about the queen of Jhansi, but a story about a woman.
Who will be directing Rani Lakshmibai?As of now, it looks like yours truly. We’ll see if that really happens.
When are you planning to start it anyway?That’s a big question mark. Everything is yet to fall into place, the cast and the technicians I want. So I’m working backwards, since I’m planning to release it in November 2010.
But four film projects have been announced on Rani Lakshmibai. One has even been launched recently with the Pakistani actress Meera playing the title role.It’s history, anyone can make a film on a certain subject. If you don’t release your film on the same Friday, that should be okay. Soon after, I announced my intentions, the whole world wants to make a film on Rani Lakshmibai. I wish them all the best.
Ketan Mehta wants to make one with Aishwarya Rai.That’s even better.. ha ha..
Do you regret doing any films? Like Chingari and Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag. No. I respect what I do, even if it doesn’t work. If I apologise for a film, then I’m not good at what I do. I’ve come this far doing what I’ve wanted to. Now I want to do more commercial films.
Your daughter Renee was very confident walking the ramp with you on the Simi Garewal show. What if she wants to become an actress on growing up?What do you mean what if? She already wants to.. she’s very mesmerised about mamma and the world.. she sees television for one hour in two-three days.
As a kid I wanted to become a pilot, an airhostess and ended up becoming an actress. I don’t know what she’ll become, but I hope that the poise, confidence and grace remain..
Your mother and brother launched jewellery stores in Dubai and New Delhi. Any more coming up?In good time. It’s named after my daughter. We’re not in a hurry. If you look at my career, I haven’t shown any hurry there too.
You also wanted to start your designer line. What happened?In time.. in time. I don’t like the word ambitious as much as I like aspirational.
You’re known as an actress.. not as a dancer. So what prompted you to take up a reality dance show like Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena?I’ve been getting offers from television for some years, but I wasn’t convinced about the concepts. I was attracted by the show’s concept.. in which cricketers come and dance. Then I had only so much time when the show was offered.. and the money was very good, before you ask me about it.
One would have thought you would debut on TV as a talk show hostess.I haven’t debuted.. debut would be something that has my signature on it. This is judging, it’s been fun. But some day.. I could do a show which has my signature. No plans yet.. unless I have the time and the channel has the budget.. (laughs) I’m very expensive.
So have you started watching cricket more often after shooting the show with cricketers?I started watching cricket religiously for the IPL. It was especially exciting with my film fraternity friends owning teams.
How come you weren’t seen at any of the IPL matches?I don’t like to sit in a box and keep wondering who is playing, where the ball is going. I attended only one match, between Bangalore and Mumbai, for my friend Vijay Mallya, at the Wankhede Stadium. That’s the only match I don’t remember. I’ve been asked by Harbajan Singh to watch his match, I’ll go for it.. he has promised to win it too.
What is your take on high drama becoming an important part of reality shows to earn TRPs?I cant stand it.. that’s why I chose this show. It’s spontaneous, we don’t put any of the contestants down. I don’t want to see people crying, going to hospital. This show is inspiring, it’s for every age group, very clean and dignified, something that I can’t say about some other shows.
Okay, coming to films. What’s ailing Karma Confessions and Holi?I’ve no clue. Ask the producers. Initially, it was to be premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, chaired by Robert De Niro, since his daughter Drena is one of the producers. I don’t know what happened.
Apparently, Dulha Mil Gaya was being shelved since Shah Rukh Khan’s portion may not be shot.Shubh shubh bolo. Shah Rukh’s currently shooting for Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and his own production Billoo Barber. Simultaneously, he’ll shoot for Dulha, soon this year.
Shah Rukh and I had just 15 minutes of screen time together in Main Hoon Naa. It worked so well, that the next time it has to be far more overwhelming.
How come you didn’t make a special appearance in Om Shanti Om?I was travelling when Farah was shooting the song. I asked if we could do it another day, but the set was being pulled down after filming. I can’t say no to Farah but it couldn’t happen.
For your first film as a producer, why take on a daunting project like Rani Lakshmibai?Rani Lakshmibai isn’t my first production.. two other films will be released before that.. they will be announced at the appropriate time. And please, I want to correct the reports calling my film Jhansi ki Rani. It’s Rani Lakshmibai. It’s not about the queen of Jhansi, but a story about a woman.
Who will be directing Rani Lakshmibai?As of now, it looks like yours truly. We’ll see if that really happens.
When are you planning to start it anyway?That’s a big question mark. Everything is yet to fall into place, the cast and the technicians I want. So I’m working backwards, since I’m planning to release it in November 2010.
But four film projects have been announced on Rani Lakshmibai. One has even been launched recently with the Pakistani actress Meera playing the title role.It’s history, anyone can make a film on a certain subject. If you don’t release your film on the same Friday, that should be okay. Soon after, I announced my intentions, the whole world wants to make a film on Rani Lakshmibai. I wish them all the best.
Ketan Mehta wants to make one with Aishwarya Rai.That’s even better.. ha ha..
Do you regret doing any films? Like Chingari and Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag. No. I respect what I do, even if it doesn’t work. If I apologise for a film, then I’m not good at what I do. I’ve come this far doing what I’ve wanted to. Now I want to do more commercial films.
Your daughter Renee was very confident walking the ramp with you on the Simi Garewal show. What if she wants to become an actress on growing up?What do you mean what if? She already wants to.. she’s very mesmerised about mamma and the world.. she sees television for one hour in two-three days.
As a kid I wanted to become a pilot, an airhostess and ended up becoming an actress. I don’t know what she’ll become, but I hope that the poise, confidence and grace remain..
Your mother and brother launched jewellery stores in Dubai and New Delhi. Any more coming up?In good time. It’s named after my daughter. We’re not in a hurry. If you look at my career, I haven’t shown any hurry there too.
You also wanted to start your designer line. What happened?In time.. in time. I don’t like the word ambitious as much as I like aspirational.
Business - Changing Landscape
In a space of just one week, the landscape of the U.S. financial sector has changed quite dramatically. Days after the collapse of Lehman Bothers and the takeover of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, the two remaining independent investments banks, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, have sought to convert themselves into bank holding companies. The development is obviously related to the $700 billion rescue package the Bush administration is seeking to rush through the Congress. Many of the investment banks were used to taking bold bets with their own money and utilising enormous amounts of debt to increase their profits with very little regulatory oversight. In normal times, their aggressive style served them well. Their headline-grabbing deals involving share offerings, mergers, and acquisitions won them accolades around the world. After the sub-prime crisis surfaced over a year ago, the viability of the independent investment banking model was called into question, although the loss of investor confidence came only over the past few weeks. Like many leading players in the financial sector, these investment banks had plunged headlong into esoteric mortgage-backed securities whose risks they did not fully comprehend. Unlike commercial banks, they did not have the back-up of potentially life-saving, retail deposits. As bank holding companies, they will resemble the commercial banks in the matter of rules of governance — more disclosures, higher capital reserves, and tighter regulation. In return, they will have access to emergency funds from the Federal Reserve.
There are significant messages for regulators everywhere. In the U.S., commercial banking and investment banking services were segregated under a 1933 Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act. Even after its repeal in 1999, when financial conglomerates were allowed to undertake a range of activities, they retained the walls between commercial banking and investment banking. As recent events demonstrate, that strategy has cushioned their losses from exposure to the sub-prime crisis. For the two big investment banks, regulatory approval for their transformation can only be the starting point. Evidently both will require hefty doses of capital infusion. Recent reports suggest that they are turning to Japanese investors. Goldman Sachs leveraged every $1 of capital into $22 of assets and Morgan Stanley $1 into $30. Clearly such high leveraging, besides being unacceptable to more prudent conventional banking, might continue to cause problems to the transformed entities irrespective of the other, diversified, financial services they might undertake.
There are significant messages for regulators everywhere. In the U.S., commercial banking and investment banking services were segregated under a 1933 Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act. Even after its repeal in 1999, when financial conglomerates were allowed to undertake a range of activities, they retained the walls between commercial banking and investment banking. As recent events demonstrate, that strategy has cushioned their losses from exposure to the sub-prime crisis. For the two big investment banks, regulatory approval for their transformation can only be the starting point. Evidently both will require hefty doses of capital infusion. Recent reports suggest that they are turning to Japanese investors. Goldman Sachs leveraged every $1 of capital into $22 of assets and Morgan Stanley $1 into $30. Clearly such high leveraging, besides being unacceptable to more prudent conventional banking, might continue to cause problems to the transformed entities irrespective of the other, diversified, financial services they might undertake.
India - Reinvigorate secular nationalism
Malini Parthasarathy
The fundamental duty of any state is to ensure that its citizens are not rendered vulnerable to terrorists out to subvert the nation’s political structure and destroy its social fabric. It is equally the responsibility of the state to ensure that the social and political cohesion built up over decades is not undermined by groups with political agendas that will subvert and destroy national unity.
The deadly terror strikes in the heart of the national capital, which manifested themselves in five bomb explosions within the space of twenty minutes, shattering familiar landmarks, one such in an upscale neighbourhood like Greater Kailash, brought fear into the home of every Indian. With television images in living rooms nationwide relentlessly replaying the horrifying aftermath of the terrorist savagery — the agony of the bereaved, the struggle of the injured for their lives — the police and other authorities appeared to be scrambling to get control of the evidently perilous situation. It was becoming increasingly impossible to ignore the pervasive sense of vulnerability and dread.
The potency of terrorism lies in its disconcertingly accurate reach and seeming ability to penetrate the most inviolable and high-security areas, the safety of which ordinary citizens take for granted. By exposing the fragility of political and social structures, terrorism is able to strike fear at the deepest level of the psyche. Therein lies its strategic utility for its perpetrators.
Historical experience has demonstrated repeatedly that terror tactics are adopted by alienated groups to express their strong anger against the system that they believe has denied them justice. Terrorists bank heavily on creating sharp anxiety and insecurity among citizens so that their faith in the state’s ability to protect them is severely eroded. Certainly, no political or social argument can validate the premise that terror is a legitimate response to any perceived injustice or a denial of rights. Nor can it be suggested that unleashing violence and death constitute morally permissible acts of retaliation.
Yet the undeniable reality, as has been seen elsewhere in Sri Lanka or in the Palestinian crisis, is that the rise of terrorist groups like the LTTE or Hamas reflects extreme responses in polarised situations, in which the minority groups feel pushed to the wall. Terrorism is often the recourse of minorities who turn to fundamentalist doctrines to retaliate against what they see as a suffocating dominance by ethnic or communal majorities. The intention to disrupt political or social structures is a clear reflection of an alienated perspective that sees no light at the end of the tunnel, believing as it does that the entire state machinery, the courts, and other public institutions are in the hands of the majority that it sees as its oppressor.
It is unquestionably the fundamental duty of any state to ensure that its citizens are not rendered vulnerable to the homicidal impulses of terrorists bent on subverting the political structure and destroying the social fabric of the nation. But it is equally the responsibility of the state, especially in India, to ensure that the social and political cohesion built up over decades is not undermined by groups with subversive political agendas, out to destroy national unity for their own strategic gains.
It cannot be disputed that it was a conscious decision taken by the leaders of the Indian nationalist movement after Independence to ensure that India became a democratic republic, secular and pluralist in its moorings. It was this scrupulous adherence to the ethos of secular nationalism and the premium placed on national unity by India’s early leaders, particularly Jawaharlal Nehru, that insulated the Indian nation-state from disintegrative tendencies and allowed it to harness all its productive energies, transforming itself rapidly into a major power among developing countries.
Undeniably, the rise of an abrasive genre of Hindu cultural nationalism in the early 1990s — the first flashpoint being the Rath Yatra campaign of BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani — set in motion a dangerous process of communal polarisation. The destruction of the Babri Masjid was viewed as an ominous sign by the Muslim community that its culture and cultural symbols would no longer be safe in a Hindu India. It must be recalled that the very first instance of horrific retaliation by extremists in the Muslim community was the series of bomb blasts in Mumbai in early 1993, which signalled that the costs of strategies of communal polarisation were indeed going to be high.
If the BJP and its allies in the Sangh Parivar appeared to be determined to mount a challenge to the secular and democratic orientation of the state, the failure of the Congress and other so-called secular formations to grasp the true import of this challenge to Indian nationhood contributed in large measure to the increasing alienation of the minority communities. The carnage in Gujarat in 2002, perceived as having the implicit support of the state administration, which saw more than a thousand people killed in the violence targeting ordinary Muslims, has clearly radicalised some of the elements of the community, driving them to extreme forms of anti-social and destructive behaviour.
The latest wave of terrorist bombings, which surfaced first in Jaipur in May 2008, then in Ahmedabad in July, and recently in Delhi, have an eerily similar pattern in timing and execution. These terrorist strikes have all been traced back to the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and a sinister new group that has emerged from the shadows, calling itself the Indian Mujahideen (IM) and cold-bloodedly claiming responsibility for these gruesome and homicidal attacks.
The sudden escalation of terrorist attacks is clearly designed to suggest that a war of sorts against the Indian state is in progress. The IM aggressively declared that the terror strikes in Gujarat were “revenge” or “Qisaas”, an Islamic concept of “equal punishment,” for the Gujarat pogrom; it has also implied that the terrorist attack in Delhi was a similar retributory act. That Islamist terrorism has become a full-blown phenomenon and taken on a life of its own, with dangerous links to a larger global network, suggests that it is still regrettably able to draw momentum from the fact that there is a continuing crisis of confidence among the minority communities as regards the Indian state.
It is true that initially the Manmohan Singh administration made earnest efforts to reach out to the minority communities. One path-breaking initiative was the commissioning of the Sachar Committee report, which highlighted the deep deficiencies and deprivation that exist among the Muslim community, thus exposing the hollowness of the propaganda that minorities are being ‘appeased.’ However, recent events have served to undermine this promising start. In the controversy relating to the Amarnath Shrine Board, the UPA should have made it emphatically clear that there was no question of entertaining the proposition that state land could be handed over to the Shrine Board.
The failure to unambiguously uphold a basic tenet of the Indian Constitution, that the state should not mediate in religious activities or allow its properties to be used for religious purposes, was a dismaying indication that the UPA was yielding to Hindu cultural nationalist pressures. The provocative economic blockade of the Kashmir Valley by the Jammu-based activists of the Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti, with the encouragement of the BJP and the VHP, reopened old wounds and gave a lease of life to what was until then a moribund separatist agitation. This dalliance with the politics of Hindu cultural nationalism, particularly in the context of the Kashmir issue, marked a senseless tactical blunder on the part of the Congress-led UPA.
It has become imperative for the Congress leadership, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and party president Sonia Gandhi to acknowledge that costly mistakes have been made in the recent period. The latest savagery displayed by Bajrang Dal activists against Christians in Orissa and Karnataka shows that Hindu nationalism is trying to stage a comeback in the political arena. With general elections a few months away, it is clear why the BJP and the Sangh Parivar find it useful to return to the strategies of majoritarian Hindu communalism. A weak-kneed response on the part of the Congress at this critical juncture will invite disaster. The Prime Minister is justifiably elated over his foreign policy coup in having India beat the odds and become a member of an elite group of nuclear power nations. But he must also remember that India’s greatness and national pride lie primarily in the astonishing success story of its secular democracy. It is that ethos of secular nationalism that provided the underpinning for India’s economic advance and increasing global significance.
The failure to act decisively and punitively against anti-social saboteurs, be it Bajrang Dal militants or Islamist terrorists, will cost the UPA dearly. The costs of prevarication are too high. The time has come to affirm assertively that India cannot survive as a republic unless the structure of its democracy is anchored firmly to a secular national vision. The Congress party must take the lead in launching a nationwide struggle against the destructive forces of cultural nationalism. Such a campaign should also make clear that India’s future as a nation-state is critically tied to its capacity to uphold the original commitment to its citizens to provide secular and democratic governance.
The fundamental duty of any state is to ensure that its citizens are not rendered vulnerable to terrorists out to subvert the nation’s political structure and destroy its social fabric. It is equally the responsibility of the state to ensure that the social and political cohesion built up over decades is not undermined by groups with political agendas that will subvert and destroy national unity.
The deadly terror strikes in the heart of the national capital, which manifested themselves in five bomb explosions within the space of twenty minutes, shattering familiar landmarks, one such in an upscale neighbourhood like Greater Kailash, brought fear into the home of every Indian. With television images in living rooms nationwide relentlessly replaying the horrifying aftermath of the terrorist savagery — the agony of the bereaved, the struggle of the injured for their lives — the police and other authorities appeared to be scrambling to get control of the evidently perilous situation. It was becoming increasingly impossible to ignore the pervasive sense of vulnerability and dread.
The potency of terrorism lies in its disconcertingly accurate reach and seeming ability to penetrate the most inviolable and high-security areas, the safety of which ordinary citizens take for granted. By exposing the fragility of political and social structures, terrorism is able to strike fear at the deepest level of the psyche. Therein lies its strategic utility for its perpetrators.
Historical experience has demonstrated repeatedly that terror tactics are adopted by alienated groups to express their strong anger against the system that they believe has denied them justice. Terrorists bank heavily on creating sharp anxiety and insecurity among citizens so that their faith in the state’s ability to protect them is severely eroded. Certainly, no political or social argument can validate the premise that terror is a legitimate response to any perceived injustice or a denial of rights. Nor can it be suggested that unleashing violence and death constitute morally permissible acts of retaliation.
Yet the undeniable reality, as has been seen elsewhere in Sri Lanka or in the Palestinian crisis, is that the rise of terrorist groups like the LTTE or Hamas reflects extreme responses in polarised situations, in which the minority groups feel pushed to the wall. Terrorism is often the recourse of minorities who turn to fundamentalist doctrines to retaliate against what they see as a suffocating dominance by ethnic or communal majorities. The intention to disrupt political or social structures is a clear reflection of an alienated perspective that sees no light at the end of the tunnel, believing as it does that the entire state machinery, the courts, and other public institutions are in the hands of the majority that it sees as its oppressor.
It is unquestionably the fundamental duty of any state to ensure that its citizens are not rendered vulnerable to the homicidal impulses of terrorists bent on subverting the political structure and destroying the social fabric of the nation. But it is equally the responsibility of the state, especially in India, to ensure that the social and political cohesion built up over decades is not undermined by groups with subversive political agendas, out to destroy national unity for their own strategic gains.
It cannot be disputed that it was a conscious decision taken by the leaders of the Indian nationalist movement after Independence to ensure that India became a democratic republic, secular and pluralist in its moorings. It was this scrupulous adherence to the ethos of secular nationalism and the premium placed on national unity by India’s early leaders, particularly Jawaharlal Nehru, that insulated the Indian nation-state from disintegrative tendencies and allowed it to harness all its productive energies, transforming itself rapidly into a major power among developing countries.
Undeniably, the rise of an abrasive genre of Hindu cultural nationalism in the early 1990s — the first flashpoint being the Rath Yatra campaign of BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani — set in motion a dangerous process of communal polarisation. The destruction of the Babri Masjid was viewed as an ominous sign by the Muslim community that its culture and cultural symbols would no longer be safe in a Hindu India. It must be recalled that the very first instance of horrific retaliation by extremists in the Muslim community was the series of bomb blasts in Mumbai in early 1993, which signalled that the costs of strategies of communal polarisation were indeed going to be high.
If the BJP and its allies in the Sangh Parivar appeared to be determined to mount a challenge to the secular and democratic orientation of the state, the failure of the Congress and other so-called secular formations to grasp the true import of this challenge to Indian nationhood contributed in large measure to the increasing alienation of the minority communities. The carnage in Gujarat in 2002, perceived as having the implicit support of the state administration, which saw more than a thousand people killed in the violence targeting ordinary Muslims, has clearly radicalised some of the elements of the community, driving them to extreme forms of anti-social and destructive behaviour.
The latest wave of terrorist bombings, which surfaced first in Jaipur in May 2008, then in Ahmedabad in July, and recently in Delhi, have an eerily similar pattern in timing and execution. These terrorist strikes have all been traced back to the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and a sinister new group that has emerged from the shadows, calling itself the Indian Mujahideen (IM) and cold-bloodedly claiming responsibility for these gruesome and homicidal attacks.
The sudden escalation of terrorist attacks is clearly designed to suggest that a war of sorts against the Indian state is in progress. The IM aggressively declared that the terror strikes in Gujarat were “revenge” or “Qisaas”, an Islamic concept of “equal punishment,” for the Gujarat pogrom; it has also implied that the terrorist attack in Delhi was a similar retributory act. That Islamist terrorism has become a full-blown phenomenon and taken on a life of its own, with dangerous links to a larger global network, suggests that it is still regrettably able to draw momentum from the fact that there is a continuing crisis of confidence among the minority communities as regards the Indian state.
It is true that initially the Manmohan Singh administration made earnest efforts to reach out to the minority communities. One path-breaking initiative was the commissioning of the Sachar Committee report, which highlighted the deep deficiencies and deprivation that exist among the Muslim community, thus exposing the hollowness of the propaganda that minorities are being ‘appeased.’ However, recent events have served to undermine this promising start. In the controversy relating to the Amarnath Shrine Board, the UPA should have made it emphatically clear that there was no question of entertaining the proposition that state land could be handed over to the Shrine Board.
The failure to unambiguously uphold a basic tenet of the Indian Constitution, that the state should not mediate in religious activities or allow its properties to be used for religious purposes, was a dismaying indication that the UPA was yielding to Hindu cultural nationalist pressures. The provocative economic blockade of the Kashmir Valley by the Jammu-based activists of the Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti, with the encouragement of the BJP and the VHP, reopened old wounds and gave a lease of life to what was until then a moribund separatist agitation. This dalliance with the politics of Hindu cultural nationalism, particularly in the context of the Kashmir issue, marked a senseless tactical blunder on the part of the Congress-led UPA.
It has become imperative for the Congress leadership, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and party president Sonia Gandhi to acknowledge that costly mistakes have been made in the recent period. The latest savagery displayed by Bajrang Dal activists against Christians in Orissa and Karnataka shows that Hindu nationalism is trying to stage a comeback in the political arena. With general elections a few months away, it is clear why the BJP and the Sangh Parivar find it useful to return to the strategies of majoritarian Hindu communalism. A weak-kneed response on the part of the Congress at this critical juncture will invite disaster. The Prime Minister is justifiably elated over his foreign policy coup in having India beat the odds and become a member of an elite group of nuclear power nations. But he must also remember that India’s greatness and national pride lie primarily in the astonishing success story of its secular democracy. It is that ethos of secular nationalism that provided the underpinning for India’s economic advance and increasing global significance.
The failure to act decisively and punitively against anti-social saboteurs, be it Bajrang Dal militants or Islamist terrorists, will cost the UPA dearly. The costs of prevarication are too high. The time has come to affirm assertively that India cannot survive as a republic unless the structure of its democracy is anchored firmly to a secular national vision. The Congress party must take the lead in launching a nationwide struggle against the destructive forces of cultural nationalism. Such a campaign should also make clear that India’s future as a nation-state is critically tied to its capacity to uphold the original commitment to its citizens to provide secular and democratic governance.
India - Kashmir defines Indian Identity
Subramanian Swamy
India should henceforth refuse to engage in any dialogue on Kashmir except one in which the other side accepts the whole of Kashmir as an integral and inalienable part of India.
Recently, some columnists have advocated that India should let go of Kashmir. While not wanting to wear patriotism on my sleeve, I would say that the silent suffering majority of India wants none of this. The ‘Kashmir issue,’ in fact, can no more be solved by dialogue either with the Pakistanis or the Hurriyat, leave alone the constitutional impossibility of allowing it to secede. This is because we do not know what kind of Pakistan there will be in a few years from now.
The Pakistan army today, according to all informed sources available to me, has a majority of captains and colonels who owe allegiance to the Taliban and Islamist fundamentalism. In another five years, these middle ranks will reach, through normal promotions, the corps commander level. We know that the government in Pakistan has always been controlled by the seven corps commanders of the army. Therefore a Taliban government in Pakistan five years hence seems a highly probable outcome. Jihad, that is, war against India will be the logical consequence of that outcome.
Since the Hurriyat in Kashmir is an organisation that cannot go against Pakistan, India has about five years to prepare for a decisive and defining struggle with Pakistan. We must prepare to win it to avoid the balkanisation of India. We therefore should refute those Indian columnists, academics, and politicians who crave or preen themselves on being popular in Pakistan, by sounding reasonable and secular on the issue of Kashmir.Never part with it
Kashmir, in fact, is now our defining identity. It is a touchstone for our resolve to preserve our national integrity. The population of that State may be majority Muslim but the land and its history is predominantly Hindu. For our commitment to the survival of the ancient civilisation of India and the composite culture that secularists talk of, we have not only to win that coming inevitable war but also resolve never to part with Kashmir.
I will not blame the jihadis for the coming war. They are, after all, programmed that way by their understanding of Islamist theology. I will blame ourselves for not understanding their understanding of the fundamentals of Islam. It is foolish therefore in the face of this reality to expound the banal sentiment that “all Muslims are not terrorists or fanatics.” Of course that proposition is true.
However, the Islam of the cutting edge of Muslim fundamentalism by leaders such as Osama Bin Laden is in Sira and Hadith, and now increasingly followed in Pakistan. It calls on the faithful to wage war against the infidels (who cannot strike back effectively) and crush them. This is why the Kashmiri Hindu Pandits were driven out in the first place.
The struggle for Kashmir by the jihadis is thus not just for independence. By their own declaration, they want a Darul Islam there, with the state becoming a part of the Caliphate. We cannot allow, in our national security interests, such a state to emerge on our frontiers. Hence the question of parting with Kashmir cannot arise. We have to go all out to retain Kashmir as part of India wherein Hindus and Muslims can live in peace and harmony.
Pakistanis often cite the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir to argue for a plebiscite. This obfuscates the fact of accession of the State to India. The legality of the Instrument of Accession signed in favour of India by the then Maharaja of J&K, Hari Singh, on October 26, 1947 has to prevail anyway. To disregard it will create a plethora of legal issues, including what will become the status of the Maharaja if we abrogate this Instrument and re-open the question of Partition itself. In that case, for example, will Dr. Karan Singh, Maharaja Hari Singh’s son, have a claim to be regarded again as an independent and sovereign King of J&K?
On the Junagadh issue, Pakistan held the Instrument once signed to be “final, irrevocable, and not requiring the wishes of the people to be ascertained [emphasis added].” That is the correct legal position. But the Junagadh Nawab, after signing the Instrument in favour of Pakistan, invaded the neighbouring princely states, states that had acceded to India. This violated the terms of the Indian Independence Act (1947) enacted by the British Parliament. So when the Indian Army was moved by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to defend these areas, the Nawab, fearful of the consequences, ran away to Pakistan. His subjects, mostly Hindu and abandoned, welcomed the Indian army to Junagadh.
Furthermore, on what legal basis can we de novo seek to ascertain the wishes of the people of J&K as Pakistan asks, when the Indian Independence Act makes no provision for this? After all, it was this same Act that created a legal entity called Pakistan, carved out from united India. India under the Act was a settled and continuing entity out which the British Parliament made a new entity called Pakistan. Never in previous history was there was a country called Pakistan. The idea itself was conceptualised as recently as 1940 and legalised only in 1947.
By what mechanism then can Pakistan seek to amend or even disregard the Act, without unwittingly undermining the legal status of Pakistan itself? That is, if the Instrument of Accession is called into question, will not Partition itself be subject to challenge as without legal basis on the same consideration?
I raise this question also because of the constitutional futility of pursuing the issue of the secession of Kashmir. In the case of Beruberi in Eastern India, the transfer of that area to Bangladesh, although agreed to, has been enmeshed in prolonged litigation in the Indian Supreme Court. This is because Article 1 of the Indian Constitution bars the de-merger of any Indian territory after 1950.
Another argument advanced by these columnists is that if Kashmiri Muslims do not want live in India, it is against human rights to force them to do so. That argument is contradicted by the Bangladesh example. The area of that country was first created by Partition. In 1971, Indian army jawans created Bangladesh out of Pakistan in circumstances well known to all. But despite that, millions of Bengali Muslims have come into India as illegal immigrants and are quite happy to be working with Hindus in India. But Partition was agreed to by Hindus for those Muslims whom Jinnah said could not bear to live under alleged Hindu hegemony. Now, after getting their territory, a large number of Bangladeshis Muslims are voting with their feet to proclaim that they are happy to live in India with Hindus.
Similarly, after getting Kashmir as an independent country, Kashmiri Muslims may, like their Bangladesh counterparts, come to live in India anyway! What then is the point of severing Kashmir from India as these columnists suggest?
India should henceforth refuse to engage in any dialogue on Kashmir except one in which the other side accepts the whole of Kashmir as an integral and inalienable part of India. The people of Kashmir should be left in no doubt in their mind where the overwhelming number of citizens of India stand on the future of the State. Therefore, those who, at this crucial juncture of our history, advocate any dilution of this stand are leading the people of Kashmir to more misery. They are encouraging the forces of jihad to keep at their nefarious activities by raising hopes that, with rising costs, India will capitulate. Any democratically elected Indian government knows that it can never capitulate on issues of national integrity and risk an upheaval. The Ramar Setu and Amarnath issues have proved that beyond doubt. Advocating letting go of Kashmir therefore is a dangerous exercise in futility.
(The writer is a former Union Law Minister.)
India should henceforth refuse to engage in any dialogue on Kashmir except one in which the other side accepts the whole of Kashmir as an integral and inalienable part of India.
Recently, some columnists have advocated that India should let go of Kashmir. While not wanting to wear patriotism on my sleeve, I would say that the silent suffering majority of India wants none of this. The ‘Kashmir issue,’ in fact, can no more be solved by dialogue either with the Pakistanis or the Hurriyat, leave alone the constitutional impossibility of allowing it to secede. This is because we do not know what kind of Pakistan there will be in a few years from now.
The Pakistan army today, according to all informed sources available to me, has a majority of captains and colonels who owe allegiance to the Taliban and Islamist fundamentalism. In another five years, these middle ranks will reach, through normal promotions, the corps commander level. We know that the government in Pakistan has always been controlled by the seven corps commanders of the army. Therefore a Taliban government in Pakistan five years hence seems a highly probable outcome. Jihad, that is, war against India will be the logical consequence of that outcome.
Since the Hurriyat in Kashmir is an organisation that cannot go against Pakistan, India has about five years to prepare for a decisive and defining struggle with Pakistan. We must prepare to win it to avoid the balkanisation of India. We therefore should refute those Indian columnists, academics, and politicians who crave or preen themselves on being popular in Pakistan, by sounding reasonable and secular on the issue of Kashmir.Never part with it
Kashmir, in fact, is now our defining identity. It is a touchstone for our resolve to preserve our national integrity. The population of that State may be majority Muslim but the land and its history is predominantly Hindu. For our commitment to the survival of the ancient civilisation of India and the composite culture that secularists talk of, we have not only to win that coming inevitable war but also resolve never to part with Kashmir.
I will not blame the jihadis for the coming war. They are, after all, programmed that way by their understanding of Islamist theology. I will blame ourselves for not understanding their understanding of the fundamentals of Islam. It is foolish therefore in the face of this reality to expound the banal sentiment that “all Muslims are not terrorists or fanatics.” Of course that proposition is true.
However, the Islam of the cutting edge of Muslim fundamentalism by leaders such as Osama Bin Laden is in Sira and Hadith, and now increasingly followed in Pakistan. It calls on the faithful to wage war against the infidels (who cannot strike back effectively) and crush them. This is why the Kashmiri Hindu Pandits were driven out in the first place.
The struggle for Kashmir by the jihadis is thus not just for independence. By their own declaration, they want a Darul Islam there, with the state becoming a part of the Caliphate. We cannot allow, in our national security interests, such a state to emerge on our frontiers. Hence the question of parting with Kashmir cannot arise. We have to go all out to retain Kashmir as part of India wherein Hindus and Muslims can live in peace and harmony.
Pakistanis often cite the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir to argue for a plebiscite. This obfuscates the fact of accession of the State to India. The legality of the Instrument of Accession signed in favour of India by the then Maharaja of J&K, Hari Singh, on October 26, 1947 has to prevail anyway. To disregard it will create a plethora of legal issues, including what will become the status of the Maharaja if we abrogate this Instrument and re-open the question of Partition itself. In that case, for example, will Dr. Karan Singh, Maharaja Hari Singh’s son, have a claim to be regarded again as an independent and sovereign King of J&K?
On the Junagadh issue, Pakistan held the Instrument once signed to be “final, irrevocable, and not requiring the wishes of the people to be ascertained [emphasis added].” That is the correct legal position. But the Junagadh Nawab, after signing the Instrument in favour of Pakistan, invaded the neighbouring princely states, states that had acceded to India. This violated the terms of the Indian Independence Act (1947) enacted by the British Parliament. So when the Indian Army was moved by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to defend these areas, the Nawab, fearful of the consequences, ran away to Pakistan. His subjects, mostly Hindu and abandoned, welcomed the Indian army to Junagadh.
Furthermore, on what legal basis can we de novo seek to ascertain the wishes of the people of J&K as Pakistan asks, when the Indian Independence Act makes no provision for this? After all, it was this same Act that created a legal entity called Pakistan, carved out from united India. India under the Act was a settled and continuing entity out which the British Parliament made a new entity called Pakistan. Never in previous history was there was a country called Pakistan. The idea itself was conceptualised as recently as 1940 and legalised only in 1947.
By what mechanism then can Pakistan seek to amend or even disregard the Act, without unwittingly undermining the legal status of Pakistan itself? That is, if the Instrument of Accession is called into question, will not Partition itself be subject to challenge as without legal basis on the same consideration?
I raise this question also because of the constitutional futility of pursuing the issue of the secession of Kashmir. In the case of Beruberi in Eastern India, the transfer of that area to Bangladesh, although agreed to, has been enmeshed in prolonged litigation in the Indian Supreme Court. This is because Article 1 of the Indian Constitution bars the de-merger of any Indian territory after 1950.
Another argument advanced by these columnists is that if Kashmiri Muslims do not want live in India, it is against human rights to force them to do so. That argument is contradicted by the Bangladesh example. The area of that country was first created by Partition. In 1971, Indian army jawans created Bangladesh out of Pakistan in circumstances well known to all. But despite that, millions of Bengali Muslims have come into India as illegal immigrants and are quite happy to be working with Hindus in India. But Partition was agreed to by Hindus for those Muslims whom Jinnah said could not bear to live under alleged Hindu hegemony. Now, after getting their territory, a large number of Bangladeshis Muslims are voting with their feet to proclaim that they are happy to live in India with Hindus.
Similarly, after getting Kashmir as an independent country, Kashmiri Muslims may, like their Bangladesh counterparts, come to live in India anyway! What then is the point of severing Kashmir from India as these columnists suggest?
India should henceforth refuse to engage in any dialogue on Kashmir except one in which the other side accepts the whole of Kashmir as an integral and inalienable part of India. The people of Kashmir should be left in no doubt in their mind where the overwhelming number of citizens of India stand on the future of the State. Therefore, those who, at this crucial juncture of our history, advocate any dilution of this stand are leading the people of Kashmir to more misery. They are encouraging the forces of jihad to keep at their nefarious activities by raising hopes that, with rising costs, India will capitulate. Any democratically elected Indian government knows that it can never capitulate on issues of national integrity and risk an upheaval. The Ramar Setu and Amarnath issues have proved that beyond doubt. Advocating letting go of Kashmir therefore is a dangerous exercise in futility.
(The writer is a former Union Law Minister.)
Columnists - Hasan Suroor;Whatever happend to good old,simple banking
Hasan Suroor
The very notion of “safe” banking has been turned on its head by recent events.
Is it, then, back to piggy-banks, savings stashed under the pillow and the neighbourhood lender?
Well, not quite yet. But, certainly, the golden era of banking appears to be over after last week’s financial turmoil which saw some of the biggest and supposedly “safest” names in international banking on both sides of the Atlantic keel over.
In Britain, public confidence in banking is at such a low ebb that, in order to prevent panic withdrawals, the government has been forced to guarantee that individual deposits upto £35,000 would be fully protected if a bank collapses; and people are being advised not to put more than £35,000 in any single bank. While once the size of one’s bank account represented financial security (not to mention social status), today the bigger the bank balance the greater the sense of insecurity.
The very notion of “safe” banking has been turned on its head by recent events. Investing in speculative deals and losing is one thing (because you know the risks involved) but losing your life’s saving because your “friendly” bank was playing hooky with your money behind your back is something else. No wonder, bankers and self-styled financial advisers, once much sought after by anyone with cash to spare, have suddenly become hate figures.
Last week, even as the world’s attention was focused on the Wall Street crash Britain’s biggest bank — Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) — teetered on the brink of collapse forcing the government to intervene and hastily arrange its takeover by Lloyds TSB in a £12 billion deal dispensing with normal rules of competition.
If HBOS were allowed to fail, tens of thousands of low and middle-income depositors may have lost their money — besides causing a bloodbath on the shop floor. More importantly, the political cost of allowing such a huge financial operation would have been far too high for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to be able to afford at a time when he is struggling to hold on to his job after a series of crises.
Indeed, some of his current difficulties can be traced to his government’s delayed reaction to the crisis in the Northern Rock Bank last autumn which ultimately collapsed amid scenes of panic with anxious customers flocking to its branches across the country to pull out their money. His government was accused of precipitating the collapse by acting too late. This time around, he didn’t want to make the same mistake — and taking a leaf from American authorities Mr. Brown moved swiftly to pre-empt HBOS’s collapse. Result: a sudden bounce in his personal ratings, small but significant enough to undermine a “plot” by rebel MPs to oust him.
Although the government’s intervention saved HBOS from bankruptcy, the crisis is not over as some 40,000 workers are likely to lose their jobs as a result of the proposed closure of hundreds of overlapping branches of HBOS and Lloyds now that the two banks have merged. Besides, more than two million small investors of HBOS are likely to suffer financial losses. No wonder, anger was palpable among staff and investors alike.
“Someone out there has made a fortune from all this. When the dust settles, I just hope they’re going to be held to account for what they’ve done to us,” one employee, fearing redundancy, told journalists.
Meanwhile, more than 4,000 staff employed in the London offices of the American investment bank Lehman Brothers face an uncertain future after the collapse of the bank. (The sight of young crestfallen Lehman executives leaving their offices for the last time clutching their possessions in little cardboard boxes had a softening effect even those who previously hated them for their “obscene” salaries and perks.) Many, especially those who had stocks in the bank, were said to be facing “financial ruin.”
With the job market already in a slump (unemployment figures released last month were worst for 16 years) the redundancies, sparked by the banking crisis, couldn’t have come at a worst time — either for the government at a time when it is struggling to “reconnect” with voters or those who must now look for new jobs. And with their savings in the hands of unreliable bankers their future doesn’t look exactly bright.
Bin Laden the poet?
Before he took to full-time terrorism, Osama bin Laden apparently wrote poetry to entertain his fundamentalist admirers. According to The Sunday Times, tapes of his poems were found in the compound of his house in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks; and an American academic has been so impressed that he plans to publish them in a literary journal. Professor Flagg Miller, who teaches Arabic poetry at the University of California, also plans to write a book analysing the role of poetry in jihad.
“Bin Laden is a skilled poet with clever rhymes and meters, which was one reason why many people taped him and passed recordings around like pop songs,” he told the newspaper.
Arabic critics, however, are less impressed and some have described the poems as “brutal,” “nasty” and composed with the view to influencing young “susceptible minds.”
“Whatever else bin Laden is, he is now exposed as a disgrace to two millennia of Arabic culture,” one Arab academic is reported as saying.
.....And lastly.
A British Asian lawyer Halima Aziz, who was suspended by the Crown Prosecution Service for being allegedly “security risk” after she jokingly told a court security guard that she was a “friend of bin Laden,” has been awarded £600,000 in damages!
The very notion of “safe” banking has been turned on its head by recent events.
Is it, then, back to piggy-banks, savings stashed under the pillow and the neighbourhood lender?
Well, not quite yet. But, certainly, the golden era of banking appears to be over after last week’s financial turmoil which saw some of the biggest and supposedly “safest” names in international banking on both sides of the Atlantic keel over.
In Britain, public confidence in banking is at such a low ebb that, in order to prevent panic withdrawals, the government has been forced to guarantee that individual deposits upto £35,000 would be fully protected if a bank collapses; and people are being advised not to put more than £35,000 in any single bank. While once the size of one’s bank account represented financial security (not to mention social status), today the bigger the bank balance the greater the sense of insecurity.
The very notion of “safe” banking has been turned on its head by recent events. Investing in speculative deals and losing is one thing (because you know the risks involved) but losing your life’s saving because your “friendly” bank was playing hooky with your money behind your back is something else. No wonder, bankers and self-styled financial advisers, once much sought after by anyone with cash to spare, have suddenly become hate figures.
Last week, even as the world’s attention was focused on the Wall Street crash Britain’s biggest bank — Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) — teetered on the brink of collapse forcing the government to intervene and hastily arrange its takeover by Lloyds TSB in a £12 billion deal dispensing with normal rules of competition.
If HBOS were allowed to fail, tens of thousands of low and middle-income depositors may have lost their money — besides causing a bloodbath on the shop floor. More importantly, the political cost of allowing such a huge financial operation would have been far too high for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to be able to afford at a time when he is struggling to hold on to his job after a series of crises.
Indeed, some of his current difficulties can be traced to his government’s delayed reaction to the crisis in the Northern Rock Bank last autumn which ultimately collapsed amid scenes of panic with anxious customers flocking to its branches across the country to pull out their money. His government was accused of precipitating the collapse by acting too late. This time around, he didn’t want to make the same mistake — and taking a leaf from American authorities Mr. Brown moved swiftly to pre-empt HBOS’s collapse. Result: a sudden bounce in his personal ratings, small but significant enough to undermine a “plot” by rebel MPs to oust him.
Although the government’s intervention saved HBOS from bankruptcy, the crisis is not over as some 40,000 workers are likely to lose their jobs as a result of the proposed closure of hundreds of overlapping branches of HBOS and Lloyds now that the two banks have merged. Besides, more than two million small investors of HBOS are likely to suffer financial losses. No wonder, anger was palpable among staff and investors alike.
“Someone out there has made a fortune from all this. When the dust settles, I just hope they’re going to be held to account for what they’ve done to us,” one employee, fearing redundancy, told journalists.
Meanwhile, more than 4,000 staff employed in the London offices of the American investment bank Lehman Brothers face an uncertain future after the collapse of the bank. (The sight of young crestfallen Lehman executives leaving their offices for the last time clutching their possessions in little cardboard boxes had a softening effect even those who previously hated them for their “obscene” salaries and perks.) Many, especially those who had stocks in the bank, were said to be facing “financial ruin.”
With the job market already in a slump (unemployment figures released last month were worst for 16 years) the redundancies, sparked by the banking crisis, couldn’t have come at a worst time — either for the government at a time when it is struggling to “reconnect” with voters or those who must now look for new jobs. And with their savings in the hands of unreliable bankers their future doesn’t look exactly bright.
Bin Laden the poet?
Before he took to full-time terrorism, Osama bin Laden apparently wrote poetry to entertain his fundamentalist admirers. According to The Sunday Times, tapes of his poems were found in the compound of his house in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks; and an American academic has been so impressed that he plans to publish them in a literary journal. Professor Flagg Miller, who teaches Arabic poetry at the University of California, also plans to write a book analysing the role of poetry in jihad.
“Bin Laden is a skilled poet with clever rhymes and meters, which was one reason why many people taped him and passed recordings around like pop songs,” he told the newspaper.
Arabic critics, however, are less impressed and some have described the poems as “brutal,” “nasty” and composed with the view to influencing young “susceptible minds.”
“Whatever else bin Laden is, he is now exposed as a disgrace to two millennia of Arabic culture,” one Arab academic is reported as saying.
.....And lastly.
A British Asian lawyer Halima Aziz, who was suspended by the Crown Prosecution Service for being allegedly “security risk” after she jokingly told a court security guard that she was a “friend of bin Laden,” has been awarded £600,000 in damages!
Business - He will believe credit crunch will work in his favour
Terry Macalister
A 36-year-old former British air force pilot and his financial backers have placed the biggest ever order for Learjets — worth $1.5b — in the belief that the global credit crunch will not affect high net worth individuals and their need to travel around the world on private aircraft.
Jonathan Breeze, chief executive of the newly launched Jet Republic, has placed an order for 110 Bombardier Learjet 60XRs which will provide customers with airborne internet connections for their BlackBerry mobile phones, special security systems and multilingual flight attendants.
Mr. Breeze, who claims his company offers “a five-star boutique hotel in the sky” believes that the banking crisis could work in his favour and he says the company is quite different from airlines such as Silverjet, EOS and Maxjet that catered for the business community and which have all ceased trading this year.
He believes some successful entrepreneurs and high-net worth individuals could ditch plans to buy their own jets and buy space on his craft which will fly to more than 1,000 airports in Europe. The company, which will be based in Lisbon, Portugal, is promising to use offsetting to ensure carbon-neutral travel.
“We have obviously been following the credit crunch but our opinion is that some people might drop plans to invest $15m to $20m on their own private business jet and come to us,” Mr. Breeze said.
Bob Horner, senior vice-president for sales at Bombardier Business Aircraft, said the private jet market was going from strength to strength.
— © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008
A 36-year-old former British air force pilot and his financial backers have placed the biggest ever order for Learjets — worth $1.5b — in the belief that the global credit crunch will not affect high net worth individuals and their need to travel around the world on private aircraft.
Jonathan Breeze, chief executive of the newly launched Jet Republic, has placed an order for 110 Bombardier Learjet 60XRs which will provide customers with airborne internet connections for their BlackBerry mobile phones, special security systems and multilingual flight attendants.
Mr. Breeze, who claims his company offers “a five-star boutique hotel in the sky” believes that the banking crisis could work in his favour and he says the company is quite different from airlines such as Silverjet, EOS and Maxjet that catered for the business community and which have all ceased trading this year.
He believes some successful entrepreneurs and high-net worth individuals could ditch plans to buy their own jets and buy space on his craft which will fly to more than 1,000 airports in Europe. The company, which will be based in Lisbon, Portugal, is promising to use offsetting to ensure carbon-neutral travel.
“We have obviously been following the credit crunch but our opinion is that some people might drop plans to invest $15m to $20m on their own private business jet and come to us,” Mr. Breeze said.
Bob Horner, senior vice-president for sales at Bombardier Business Aircraft, said the private jet market was going from strength to strength.
— © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008
India - Rs 1,600-crore plan to tackle natural man-made disasters
HYDERABAD: The National Disaster Management Authority on Wednesday unveiled a grandiose plan to combat natural and man-made disasters.
NDMA vice-chairman Gen. N.C. Vij and member M. Shashidhar Reddy said a World Bank-funded, Rs. 1,600-crore National Cyclonic Risk Mitigation Project was being finalised for 13 coastal States and Union Territories.
They were speaking at a function, where a book of guidelines brought out by the NDMA was released by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.
Cyclone shelters, shelter-belt/mangrove plantations, last-mile connectivity and link roads to vulnerable habitations would be taken up under the project.
It would take off in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat and Maharashtra. A digital project report was under preparation.
Gen.Vij said the thrust was not only on natural calamities but also man-made disasters which were on the rise, thanks to industrialisation.
Four battalions, equipped with response teams and materials, were established — including one each in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa — to fight disasters. Four more would be raised shortly.School safety scheme
Gen. Vij said a Rs. 500-crore National Earthquake Mitigation Project was taken up to improve preparedness for seismic upheavals, with 67 per cent funds having been set aside for capacity building. Under this, a “school safety” scheme would be taken up as a pilot project.
Mr. Reddy, who made a presentation, spoke of plans to use aircraft to probe cyclones, as the American National Hurricane Centre did in the case of “Katrina.”
A National Cyclone Management Institute would be set up in Visakhapatnam at a cost of Rs. 80 crore-Rs. 100 crore.
Mr. Reddy and Gen. Vij regretted that the 1,000 cyclone shelters set up along the Andhra Pradesh coast were not maintained properly.
NDMA vice-chairman Gen. N.C. Vij and member M. Shashidhar Reddy said a World Bank-funded, Rs. 1,600-crore National Cyclonic Risk Mitigation Project was being finalised for 13 coastal States and Union Territories.
They were speaking at a function, where a book of guidelines brought out by the NDMA was released by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.
Cyclone shelters, shelter-belt/mangrove plantations, last-mile connectivity and link roads to vulnerable habitations would be taken up under the project.
It would take off in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat and Maharashtra. A digital project report was under preparation.
Gen.Vij said the thrust was not only on natural calamities but also man-made disasters which were on the rise, thanks to industrialisation.
Four battalions, equipped with response teams and materials, were established — including one each in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa — to fight disasters. Four more would be raised shortly.School safety scheme
Gen. Vij said a Rs. 500-crore National Earthquake Mitigation Project was taken up to improve preparedness for seismic upheavals, with 67 per cent funds having been set aside for capacity building. Under this, a “school safety” scheme would be taken up as a pilot project.
Mr. Reddy, who made a presentation, spoke of plans to use aircraft to probe cyclones, as the American National Hurricane Centre did in the case of “Katrina.”
A National Cyclone Management Institute would be set up in Visakhapatnam at a cost of Rs. 80 crore-Rs. 100 crore.
Mr. Reddy and Gen. Vij regretted that the 1,000 cyclone shelters set up along the Andhra Pradesh coast were not maintained properly.
World - Iran,Israel begin nuclear sabre-rattling
Atul Aneja
DUBAI: Iran and Israel have sharpened their accusations against each other about building nuclear weapons amid a breakdown of consensus among UN Security Council members over the imposition of fresh economic sanctions against Iran.
The director of research with the Israeli military intelligence, Yossi Baidatz, told Israel's Cabinet on Sunday that Iran had advanced its nuclear timetable. He said Tehran was already in possession of one-third to half of nuclear material that is required to make an atomic bomb. Iran was ceaselessly working to acquire a nuclear capability, undeterred by the threat of international sanctions, he added.
Iran's Press TV, in its riposte, said Israel had moved towards developing thermonuclear weapons, which can destroy entire cities. The state-run channel quoted a report from The Sunday Times that thermonuclear weapons were being developed in an Israeli factory beneath the Negev Desert. This factory has apparently been producing atomic warheads for the past 20 years.
The report added that the testimony of Mordechai Vanunu, a former employee at Israel's atomic facility in Dimona, had revealed information about Israel 's capacity to manufacture bombs. Vanunu's testimony and pictures, confirm that Israel has the world's sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, including hundreds of nuclear warheads, it said.
Meanwhile, in a new round of sabre-rattling, Iran on Monday began aerial exercises, in which dozens of fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles and surveillance aircraft participated. In mid-August, Iran's Air Force chief, Ahmad Miqani, had announced Iran's jets could fly 3,000 km without refuelling, a range which was sufficient to target Israel.
Israeli media had earlier reported the U.S. was supplying Tel Aviv with the latest bunker buster bombs, which could target Iranian underground nuclear facilities.
Tensions between Israel and Iran have escalated following Russia's conflict with Georgia, and Moscow's assertion that it opposed imposition of fresh sanctions against Tehran. China has also voiced its opposition to targeting Iran with a new round of sanctions.
DUBAI: Iran and Israel have sharpened their accusations against each other about building nuclear weapons amid a breakdown of consensus among UN Security Council members over the imposition of fresh economic sanctions against Iran.
The director of research with the Israeli military intelligence, Yossi Baidatz, told Israel's Cabinet on Sunday that Iran had advanced its nuclear timetable. He said Tehran was already in possession of one-third to half of nuclear material that is required to make an atomic bomb. Iran was ceaselessly working to acquire a nuclear capability, undeterred by the threat of international sanctions, he added.
Iran's Press TV, in its riposte, said Israel had moved towards developing thermonuclear weapons, which can destroy entire cities. The state-run channel quoted a report from The Sunday Times that thermonuclear weapons were being developed in an Israeli factory beneath the Negev Desert. This factory has apparently been producing atomic warheads for the past 20 years.
The report added that the testimony of Mordechai Vanunu, a former employee at Israel's atomic facility in Dimona, had revealed information about Israel 's capacity to manufacture bombs. Vanunu's testimony and pictures, confirm that Israel has the world's sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons, including hundreds of nuclear warheads, it said.
Meanwhile, in a new round of sabre-rattling, Iran on Monday began aerial exercises, in which dozens of fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles and surveillance aircraft participated. In mid-August, Iran's Air Force chief, Ahmad Miqani, had announced Iran's jets could fly 3,000 km without refuelling, a range which was sufficient to target Israel.
Israeli media had earlier reported the U.S. was supplying Tel Aviv with the latest bunker buster bombs, which could target Iranian underground nuclear facilities.
Tensions between Israel and Iran have escalated following Russia's conflict with Georgia, and Moscow's assertion that it opposed imposition of fresh sanctions against Tehran. China has also voiced its opposition to targeting Iran with a new round of sanctions.
India - DoT opens doors for bandwidth resellers
In a move that would improve the availability of cheaper international bandwidth in the country, the Government has decided to allow unlimited number of bandwidth resellers in the country.Bandwidth resellers are companies that do not own any infrastructure, but buy capacity from large international long distance service providers like VSNL or AT&T and then resell it to consumers like business process outsourcing units. This could result in cheaper Internet services and international long distance calls. While this decision was taken a few months ago, DoT has decided to start receiving applications for reselling licences starting today. DoT has, however made it clear that only Indian entities will be given the licence to become a reseller. Beneficiaries The move will benefit larger consumers of bandwidth such as ITeS companies, BPOs and Internet service providers who will be able to buy bandwidth from the resellers at much lower costs.It will also benefit IT services companies as they will be able to expand their product portfolio by bundling international leased lines along with the services that they offer to their customers. ILD operators, who can now ride on the resellers to increase their reach apart from getting assured business.Licence fee However, DoT will also impose a licence fee on the resellers, who will have to pay 6 per cent of their annual revenues. While this is being done to level the playing field with long distance licence holders, the revenue share could act as burden on the service provider. More competition In countries such as Germany, there are 27 resellers offering international bandwidth compared to five licensed ILD operators. Similarly, in the US, of the 32 bandwidth providers, 26 are resellers, making bandwidth available at rock-bottom pricesDoT said that resellers are being permitted with a view to promote competition and affordability in international bandwidth.
Tech - Face-off;N96 Vs iPhone 3G
No clear winner emerges in a comparison between the Nokia N96 and Apple iPhone 3G. If N96 fails in terms of an impressive interface, the iPhone stumbles on security and storage.
The two phones compete ferociously on a host of applications available or bundled.Looks and
Interface: Right away, it’s the iPhone. Nokia N96, though a smart slider phone, shows off none of its power stashed away beneath its boring ‘black’ looks. There’s scarcely any design innovation on Nokia’s part.Multimedia and Applications: Nokia N96 screen (diagonally) is 2.8 inches; the iPhone’s is a comfortable 3.5. Being a video-oriented phone, the N96 adds support for more video formats, including H.264, Flash video, ensuring you can watch YouTube clips on the phone, and Windows Media Video version 9. The N96 includes dedicated DSPs and video acceleration chips.
On the iPhone, the picture quality seems good too and one can watch in either vertical or horizontal mode.The iPhone has a 2 megapixel built-in camera, but it takes adequate photos in daylight. Compared with N96’s 5 megapixels camera (with flash support) it seems inadequate. Nokia has included three great games to begin with, but the iPhone offers more variety in games.
Nokia has taken a lot of pains to make the GPS simpler and detailed, even adding a pedestrian mode. Apple’s newly-added assisted GPS offers pinpoint locations with the help of Google maps, but is nowhere close to Nokia’s accuracy.
Internet and Mail: BlackBerry users are most likely going to be put off by the email options on the iPhone, as there is no push option with consumer email. Mail can be configured to ‘fetch’ (iPhone term) mail every 15 minutes, 30 minutes, hourly, or manually. N96’s symbian OS is a familiar one, with web security and remote lock features weaved in.
Storage: Nokia N96 packs in attention-grabbing features like inclusion of DVB-H digital TV (available in select cities and locations at present) and strikingly high specifications. It comes with 16 GB of onboard and 8 GB of replaceable flash storage, and has a pronounced focus on video and music.Even the form factor and bundled kick-stand suggest this model is a TV-phone, let alone the numerous hardware specifications like the STMicroelectronics chipset that make it video-relevant.
Battery life: Nokia has invested a lot in making the battery life longer and one can happily dismiss the fear that the low-capacity battery used in Nokia N96 (950 mAh) won’t be enough for comfortable operation. N96 averages a solid 6 hours while iPhone battery fizzled out in about 5 hours.
Price: The Nokia N96 (16 GB) is now available for 34,999 while Apple iPhone (16 GB) retails at Rs 36,100 and the 8GB iPhone for Rs 31,000 with Airtel and Vodafone. Nokia’s phone is operator independent.
The two phones compete ferociously on a host of applications available or bundled.Looks and
Interface: Right away, it’s the iPhone. Nokia N96, though a smart slider phone, shows off none of its power stashed away beneath its boring ‘black’ looks. There’s scarcely any design innovation on Nokia’s part.Multimedia and Applications: Nokia N96 screen (diagonally) is 2.8 inches; the iPhone’s is a comfortable 3.5. Being a video-oriented phone, the N96 adds support for more video formats, including H.264, Flash video, ensuring you can watch YouTube clips on the phone, and Windows Media Video version 9. The N96 includes dedicated DSPs and video acceleration chips.
On the iPhone, the picture quality seems good too and one can watch in either vertical or horizontal mode.The iPhone has a 2 megapixel built-in camera, but it takes adequate photos in daylight. Compared with N96’s 5 megapixels camera (with flash support) it seems inadequate. Nokia has included three great games to begin with, but the iPhone offers more variety in games.
Nokia has taken a lot of pains to make the GPS simpler and detailed, even adding a pedestrian mode. Apple’s newly-added assisted GPS offers pinpoint locations with the help of Google maps, but is nowhere close to Nokia’s accuracy.
Internet and Mail: BlackBerry users are most likely going to be put off by the email options on the iPhone, as there is no push option with consumer email. Mail can be configured to ‘fetch’ (iPhone term) mail every 15 minutes, 30 minutes, hourly, or manually. N96’s symbian OS is a familiar one, with web security and remote lock features weaved in.
Storage: Nokia N96 packs in attention-grabbing features like inclusion of DVB-H digital TV (available in select cities and locations at present) and strikingly high specifications. It comes with 16 GB of onboard and 8 GB of replaceable flash storage, and has a pronounced focus on video and music.Even the form factor and bundled kick-stand suggest this model is a TV-phone, let alone the numerous hardware specifications like the STMicroelectronics chipset that make it video-relevant.
Battery life: Nokia has invested a lot in making the battery life longer and one can happily dismiss the fear that the low-capacity battery used in Nokia N96 (950 mAh) won’t be enough for comfortable operation. N96 averages a solid 6 hours while iPhone battery fizzled out in about 5 hours.
Price: The Nokia N96 (16 GB) is now available for 34,999 while Apple iPhone (16 GB) retails at Rs 36,100 and the 8GB iPhone for Rs 31,000 with Airtel and Vodafone. Nokia’s phone is operator independent.
India - Social networking sites are new phishing targets
Eighty per cent of the e-mails is spam or phishing, a fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by showing as an original website, most often of banks and financial institutions.The Indian banks face a six-fold increase in phishing attacks largely due to the new phishing technologies, observed Symantec Software India Private Limited vice-president (Indian product operations) Shantanu Ghosh.Spam and phishing are now a matured underground economy with specialised production and provisioning, outsourcing, multi-variate pricing and flexible models. The terminology used is also different, he said.The web-based social networking sites are the newest targets for phishing. It is estimated that about 5 to 6 million Indians are involved in social networking and spend about 25 to 75 per cent of their time online.According to Ghosh, 51 per cent of the malicious code threats observed in India constitute a threat to confidential information. India is among the top 10 countries where spam is originated. It also ranked high on the global virus and worm prevalence charts, Ghosh pointed out.The phishers and spammers are adapting to security measures and relocating to countries with less developed infrastructures. They are also adopting new tactics rapidly and often, he said that spammers in India have used over 75 techniques and variants to deceive the end users last year.Also the intent (of malicious activity) seems to be to cause loss or benefit from the end user and not just targeting the computers.Two of every three email messages received by today's business is spam and the loss in productivity due to the time spent on identifying and deleting spam is put at $ 712 (about Rs 32,000) per employee.
Business - India;Pay your kirana bills through e-wallet
Electronic payment enabler companies like Oxigen, Obopay, Atom, Indipay, Easy Bill and Suvidha have introduced novel concepts to enable kirana stores transform into e-retailers.They have tied up with these mom-and-pop stores to facilitate cashless payments (electronic wallet) for a host of services. The electronic wallet allows transactions for recharging of prepaid mobiles, telephone bills, electricity and water bills, DTH recharges, travel services and other utility/insurance bill payments through mobile phones.The concept saves consumers the trouble of rushing around to make payments. Pinakiranjan Mishra, partner and leader, retail and consumer products practice, Ernst & Young, points out that kirana stores provide convenient and personalised service that organised retail cannot match.People are more likely to make frequent purchases rather than weekly/monthly purchases. Kirana stores will provide this market to consumers, he notes.Pramod Saxena, Chairman and MD, Oxigen Services India – which currently has 50,000 touch points through kiranas across the country — is planning to expand its retail network to 250,000 stores by 2010. It is adding 1,500-2,000 touch points every month.The bulk of the kirana usage comes from the consumers with saving accounts, but no credit cards. The wallet allows them to do cashless shopping and make payments at a lower charge (Banks charge 2.25 per cent of transaction value, while these payment enablers charge only Rs 2-3 per payment and on some verticals a maximum of Rs 8-10).The kiranas are able to aggregate and lower inventory. Shop owners don’t have to gather cash every day and rush to the bank and able to save on demand draft and are able to save on cheque and demand draft payments.They will also get instant cash and won’t have to give things on credit. Shop owners also earn a commission of up to 3 per cent.The potential of the service is high, if delivered effectively. Dewang Neralla, director, Atom Technologies, says: “We plan to bring 8,000-10,000 touch points in rural areas by next year.”Vijay Balakrishnan, Chief marketing officer, Obopay, says: “Once the RBI guidelines are out, we will start these services from Mumbai or Chennai initially and then spread to Tier-II cities. The ubiquity of mobile phones makes the idea viable.”
World - Why Asia should matter to Canadian voters
Ramesh Thakur
It is because Asia will intrude significantly on issues critical to Canada’s welfare and security.
In the general election next month, Canadian voters should pay more attention to the political parties’ foreign policy platforms than they do normally. As the current market turmoil shows only too vividly, all economics is global. Yet politics remain stubbornly local. Once elected, however, prime ministers spend much of their time grappling with foreign challenges. On the big issues, it is global forces that will determine Canada’s fate. Because Asia will intrude significantly on issues critical to Canada’s welfare and security, its Asia policy needs to be publicly debated.
The structure of Asia’s power relations rests on five powers: America, China, Japan, Russia and India. U.S. influence and prestige have fallen due to Iraq’s demonstration of the limits to American power, its perceived hostility to the Muslim world and its relative retreat from engagement with Asia, but it remains the most influential external actor. Japan’s has continued to decline, albeit slowly over the decades rather than precipitously as with the U.S. Russia is marking time, still. India is starting to recapture the region’s and world attention and interest. The real winner is China with an ascendant economy, growing poise and self-confidence and an expanding array of soft power assets in regional diplomacy.
The two major parties seem equally shy of debating policy towards Afghanistan where Canada has invested much blood and treasure. Ottawa seems to be more in denial about how badly the war is going than Washington, London and Paris. On most objective measures — strikes by the insurgents, numbers of coalition soldiers and Afghan civilians killed, the continuing restiveness among Afghans and foreign observers about lack of economic progress and public corruption — the Taliban are gathering strength, gaining in self-confidence and advancing in audacity.
Where to next? Is it wise to set rigid term limits to Canada’s involvement and risk inviting a self-generating momentum to failure? Is it callous to put soldiers in harm’s way in a doomed cause? The commitment to Afghanistan was made without full understanding of the region and the tasks to hand; it does not make sense to repeat the mistake. The stakes are too big and serious to take refuge in a risk-averse ostrich mentality and refuse to debate the challenges and policy choices.
The Taliban have regrouped in the sanctuary along Pakistan’s tribal areas, aided and abetted by sympathetic elements inside Pakistani intelligence, military and political circles. Foreign terrorists are also on the rise with a regional Talibanisation and a global terrorist agenda. Any NATO withdrawal would risk Afghanistan and Pakistan once again becoming launching pads for attacks on Western interests all over the world.
Time was when Kashmir was dubbed the most dangerous place on earth. In recent times that mantle has been claimed by Pakistan as the world’s terror central. According to the Washington-based National Counter Terrorism Centre, the number of terrorist incidents in Pakistan between January 1, 2004 and March 31, 2008 was 2,248, in which 2,813 people were killed and another 6,448 were wounded.
In the same period, the number of terrorist incidents in India was 3,906, in which 4,506 people were killed and more than 10,000 wounded. India’s terror toll in the last half decade has been second only to Iraq. This reality is yet to register in the public, media and political consciousness of the West, for whom India is the poster child of a stable and relaxed democracy in the third world. Imagine the consequences for the world, including Canada, if India was to join its neighbours — Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal — in being put on the failing states watchlist.
In the meantime, though, India does represent a rare success story on both democracy and development. World income has doubled since 1980 and almost half a billion people have climbed out of poverty since 1990. The number of people living on less than one purchasing power dollar a day will likely halve by 2030. This will result from growth in South and East Asia, whose share of the poor will halve from 60 per cent. China’s and India’s growth could anchor stable economic performance in many other countries, offsetting the recurrent volatility of a suddenly vulnerable America and a still stagnant Japan.
There has also been a proliferation of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements and other preferential trading arrangements. Should we resign ourselves to the collapse of the Doha round of trade talks, which foundered on Chinese and Indian objections to the deal on offer, as the global regime, or should we try to broker a new deal?
The Olympics underlined the great gains being made by China. The organisation and facilities (track and field, swimming pool) of the games were stunning. China is no longer just the world’s factory. It is increasingly a global player. Democracy and human rights deficits are real; how best to promote these values while co-opting China as a force for the good in the world and muting it as a force for the bad? For the sake of better world governance, China must be engaged. Asians are better educated, better read, and better informed than ever. Double standards and hypocrisy in self-serving selective disengagement promote neither Canadian interests nor values.
The costs of not incorporating China and India will doom any global climate change regime to quick failure. A recommitment to multilateral activism is urgently required. That is true on the nuclear front as well. Whether it is Iran, Pakistan, the India-U.S. nuclear deal, or North Korea, the separate pursuits of non-proliferation with a sense of urgency and of disarmament at a far more relaxed pace have contributed to the gathering nuclear crisis. Should Canada not put its weight behind the efforts of Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, William Perry and Sam Nunn to abolish nuclear weapons within a realistic time frame and to severely curtail their numbers, deployments and doctrines in the meantime?
The mantle of being the most heavily militarised region — entailing massive armies, fortified and mined borders, heavy long-range weapons systems and nuclear weapons — has passed from central Europe during the Cold War to Northeast Asia today. Terrorist cells are feared to have taken deep root in parts of Southeast Asia, while Northeast Asia is the setting for such other non-traditional security concerns as worsening water and energy scarcity, environmental degradation and human trafficking.
The diplomatic challenges in Asia are how to dampen prospects for conflict among the major powers and promote cooperation instead; how to encourage policies by the major economic players that will cushion economic shocks for others and draw them into region-wide economic expansion and prosperity; how to promote trade policies, practices and arrangements that are inclusive, open and market-led but also fair and equitable; and how to cope with the growing list of non-traditional security threats like energy and water scarcity, drug and human trafficking, and pandemics.
Does Canada want a voice in answering these vital questions? If so, should Canadian voters not be seeking answers first from their political leaders during the campaign over the next four weeks?
(Ramesh Thakur is the director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and Distinguished Fellow, Centre for International Governance Innovation, Waterloo.)
It is because Asia will intrude significantly on issues critical to Canada’s welfare and security.
In the general election next month, Canadian voters should pay more attention to the political parties’ foreign policy platforms than they do normally. As the current market turmoil shows only too vividly, all economics is global. Yet politics remain stubbornly local. Once elected, however, prime ministers spend much of their time grappling with foreign challenges. On the big issues, it is global forces that will determine Canada’s fate. Because Asia will intrude significantly on issues critical to Canada’s welfare and security, its Asia policy needs to be publicly debated.
The structure of Asia’s power relations rests on five powers: America, China, Japan, Russia and India. U.S. influence and prestige have fallen due to Iraq’s demonstration of the limits to American power, its perceived hostility to the Muslim world and its relative retreat from engagement with Asia, but it remains the most influential external actor. Japan’s has continued to decline, albeit slowly over the decades rather than precipitously as with the U.S. Russia is marking time, still. India is starting to recapture the region’s and world attention and interest. The real winner is China with an ascendant economy, growing poise and self-confidence and an expanding array of soft power assets in regional diplomacy.
The two major parties seem equally shy of debating policy towards Afghanistan where Canada has invested much blood and treasure. Ottawa seems to be more in denial about how badly the war is going than Washington, London and Paris. On most objective measures — strikes by the insurgents, numbers of coalition soldiers and Afghan civilians killed, the continuing restiveness among Afghans and foreign observers about lack of economic progress and public corruption — the Taliban are gathering strength, gaining in self-confidence and advancing in audacity.
Where to next? Is it wise to set rigid term limits to Canada’s involvement and risk inviting a self-generating momentum to failure? Is it callous to put soldiers in harm’s way in a doomed cause? The commitment to Afghanistan was made without full understanding of the region and the tasks to hand; it does not make sense to repeat the mistake. The stakes are too big and serious to take refuge in a risk-averse ostrich mentality and refuse to debate the challenges and policy choices.
The Taliban have regrouped in the sanctuary along Pakistan’s tribal areas, aided and abetted by sympathetic elements inside Pakistani intelligence, military and political circles. Foreign terrorists are also on the rise with a regional Talibanisation and a global terrorist agenda. Any NATO withdrawal would risk Afghanistan and Pakistan once again becoming launching pads for attacks on Western interests all over the world.
Time was when Kashmir was dubbed the most dangerous place on earth. In recent times that mantle has been claimed by Pakistan as the world’s terror central. According to the Washington-based National Counter Terrorism Centre, the number of terrorist incidents in Pakistan between January 1, 2004 and March 31, 2008 was 2,248, in which 2,813 people were killed and another 6,448 were wounded.
In the same period, the number of terrorist incidents in India was 3,906, in which 4,506 people were killed and more than 10,000 wounded. India’s terror toll in the last half decade has been second only to Iraq. This reality is yet to register in the public, media and political consciousness of the West, for whom India is the poster child of a stable and relaxed democracy in the third world. Imagine the consequences for the world, including Canada, if India was to join its neighbours — Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal — in being put on the failing states watchlist.
In the meantime, though, India does represent a rare success story on both democracy and development. World income has doubled since 1980 and almost half a billion people have climbed out of poverty since 1990. The number of people living on less than one purchasing power dollar a day will likely halve by 2030. This will result from growth in South and East Asia, whose share of the poor will halve from 60 per cent. China’s and India’s growth could anchor stable economic performance in many other countries, offsetting the recurrent volatility of a suddenly vulnerable America and a still stagnant Japan.
There has also been a proliferation of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements and other preferential trading arrangements. Should we resign ourselves to the collapse of the Doha round of trade talks, which foundered on Chinese and Indian objections to the deal on offer, as the global regime, or should we try to broker a new deal?
The Olympics underlined the great gains being made by China. The organisation and facilities (track and field, swimming pool) of the games were stunning. China is no longer just the world’s factory. It is increasingly a global player. Democracy and human rights deficits are real; how best to promote these values while co-opting China as a force for the good in the world and muting it as a force for the bad? For the sake of better world governance, China must be engaged. Asians are better educated, better read, and better informed than ever. Double standards and hypocrisy in self-serving selective disengagement promote neither Canadian interests nor values.
The costs of not incorporating China and India will doom any global climate change regime to quick failure. A recommitment to multilateral activism is urgently required. That is true on the nuclear front as well. Whether it is Iran, Pakistan, the India-U.S. nuclear deal, or North Korea, the separate pursuits of non-proliferation with a sense of urgency and of disarmament at a far more relaxed pace have contributed to the gathering nuclear crisis. Should Canada not put its weight behind the efforts of Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, William Perry and Sam Nunn to abolish nuclear weapons within a realistic time frame and to severely curtail their numbers, deployments and doctrines in the meantime?
The mantle of being the most heavily militarised region — entailing massive armies, fortified and mined borders, heavy long-range weapons systems and nuclear weapons — has passed from central Europe during the Cold War to Northeast Asia today. Terrorist cells are feared to have taken deep root in parts of Southeast Asia, while Northeast Asia is the setting for such other non-traditional security concerns as worsening water and energy scarcity, environmental degradation and human trafficking.
The diplomatic challenges in Asia are how to dampen prospects for conflict among the major powers and promote cooperation instead; how to encourage policies by the major economic players that will cushion economic shocks for others and draw them into region-wide economic expansion and prosperity; how to promote trade policies, practices and arrangements that are inclusive, open and market-led but also fair and equitable; and how to cope with the growing list of non-traditional security threats like energy and water scarcity, drug and human trafficking, and pandemics.
Does Canada want a voice in answering these vital questions? If so, should Canadian voters not be seeking answers first from their political leaders during the campaign over the next four weeks?
(Ramesh Thakur is the director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and Distinguished Fellow, Centre for International Governance Innovation, Waterloo.)
Entertainment - Potter,Puttar,So what ?
So Hari Puttar has finally overcome Harry Potter — and this with no use of magic or witchcraft (other than spell-binding defence arguments). The legal battle between Warner Bros and Mirchi Movies, the makers of ‘Hari Puttar – A Comedy of Terrors’ caught the attention of the world media in various ways, including Goliath versus David, Hollywood versus Bollywood, and obscure legalese versus plain common sense. Common sense prevailed with the Delhi High Court’s dismissal of the Warner Bros lawsuit. It contended that the film’s title sought to confuse customers and benefit unfairly from the Harry Potter brand, the rights to which the United States-based entertainment behemoth owns for movies and merchandise. Looking vicariously from the sidelines at this battle over intellectual property rights — replete with arguments as Daedalian and labrynthine as the Enchanted Maze that Potter navigates — it is hard to see what the kerfuffle was all about. All right, Hari Puttar sounds suspiciously like Harry Potter. So what? After all, Harry Potter has spawned a virtual industry of rip-offs and parodies. For instance, the hugely successful series of Barry Trotter books (the first book, published in 2001, sold 700,000 copies in three years) has characters such as Ermine Cringer and Lon Measly who study at the Hogwash School of Wizardry and Witchcrap. Other books on the stands: Hairy Potter and the Marijuana Stone and Hairy Potty and the Underwear of Justice. As for cinema, ‘Harvey Putter and the Ridiculous Premise’ is being readied for release in 2010 with such stars as Hernia Grunger, Lord Moldymort, and K.J. Bowling herself.
Why is Puttar an issue when the Putters, Pottys, and the Potheads escape litigation? The short answer lies in western intellectual property law, where the right to free speech is a defence against copyright and trademark violations in relation to such things as parodies. Ironically, the problem with the Puttar film — about a young boy who grows up in Britain and pits his wits against a don called Kali Mirchi — is that it bears no resemblance at all to the Potter saga! Therefore the title of the film was open to trademark litigation, on the ground that audience could confuse it with a Harry Potter film. The Delhi High Court has rightly concluded that the audience in India and elsewhere is more than capable of discerning one from the other. But where would we be without the majestic inscrutability of the law, in which similar is dissimilar and unlike is like, and which has given us a fascinating ringside view of Potter versus Puttar?
Why is Puttar an issue when the Putters, Pottys, and the Potheads escape litigation? The short answer lies in western intellectual property law, where the right to free speech is a defence against copyright and trademark violations in relation to such things as parodies. Ironically, the problem with the Puttar film — about a young boy who grows up in Britain and pits his wits against a don called Kali Mirchi — is that it bears no resemblance at all to the Potter saga! Therefore the title of the film was open to trademark litigation, on the ground that audience could confuse it with a Harry Potter film. The Delhi High Court has rightly concluded that the audience in India and elsewhere is more than capable of discerning one from the other. But where would we be without the majestic inscrutability of the law, in which similar is dissimilar and unlike is like, and which has given us a fascinating ringside view of Potter versus Puttar?
World - All in place for China's first space walk
BEIJING: All the systems of the Shenzhou-7 manned space program are going well as the mission, including China's first space walk, has begun to count down for Thursday's blastoff, officials said Wednesday night.
Engineers started Wednesday afternoon to load fuel into the Long-March II-F carrier rocket which will lift the spaceship into orbit late on Thursday. The launch has become irreversible after the loading, sources with the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest Gansu Province said.
The spaceship will carry Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, all aged 42, for China's third manned space mission. They would enter the spaceship two hours and 45 minutes ahead of the launch time.
"It is a great honor for all three of us to fly the mission, and we are fully prepared for the challenge," Zhai told a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Liu said 10 years of working, studying and training together has contributed to the smooth cooperation among the trio.
The space environment will be "fine" during the mission, according to the Center for Space Environment Research and Forecast (CSERF) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The space environment tends to be stable and calm as the solar activities have been reductive, which will be favorable for the launch of the spacecraft and extravehicular activity (EVA), or space walk, according to the latest prediction of CSERF.
All five satellite tracking ships are now in position to support the mission, said Jian Shilong, director with the China Maritime Tracking and Control Department.
"The ships, four on the Pacific Ocean and one on the Atlantic, will track and support the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft."
The landing system finished on Tuesday its last drill to improve the searching speed and efficiency. "All the equipments work well so far," said Sui Qisheng, the landing system commander-in-chief.
The spacecraft is expected to return to the landing area in Siziwang Banner (county) of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Most of the searches and rescues will be conducted on helicopters. -- Xinhua
Engineers started Wednesday afternoon to load fuel into the Long-March II-F carrier rocket which will lift the spaceship into orbit late on Thursday. The launch has become irreversible after the loading, sources with the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest Gansu Province said.
The spaceship will carry Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, all aged 42, for China's third manned space mission. They would enter the spaceship two hours and 45 minutes ahead of the launch time.
"It is a great honor for all three of us to fly the mission, and we are fully prepared for the challenge," Zhai told a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Liu said 10 years of working, studying and training together has contributed to the smooth cooperation among the trio.
The space environment will be "fine" during the mission, according to the Center for Space Environment Research and Forecast (CSERF) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The space environment tends to be stable and calm as the solar activities have been reductive, which will be favorable for the launch of the spacecraft and extravehicular activity (EVA), or space walk, according to the latest prediction of CSERF.
All five satellite tracking ships are now in position to support the mission, said Jian Shilong, director with the China Maritime Tracking and Control Department.
"The ships, four on the Pacific Ocean and one on the Atlantic, will track and support the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft."
The landing system finished on Tuesday its last drill to improve the searching speed and efficiency. "All the equipments work well so far," said Sui Qisheng, the landing system commander-in-chief.
The spacecraft is expected to return to the landing area in Siziwang Banner (county) of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Most of the searches and rescues will be conducted on helicopters. -- Xinhua
Tech - Multi function Cell Phone
TOKYO: A new Japanese mobile phone will automatically unlock the doors of its owners’ cars and let drivers start their engines without using an ignition key.
The phone, built by Sharp, uses a technology previously developed by Nissan Motor called ‘Intelligent Key’ that allows drivers enter and start their cars without removing their keys from their pockets or bags.
Cars equipped with the system sense when the correct key is nearby, automatically unlocking their car doors, and allow the engine to be started once the key is brought inside the car.
The new twist on this technology is that it is loaded in a phone. The service will work on the mobile network operated by NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest mobile operator.
The companies said in a joint press release on Wednesday that they will display the technology next week at CEATEC, a major technology conference in Tokyo and aim to bring the phone to market sometime after March 2009. — AP
The phone, built by Sharp, uses a technology previously developed by Nissan Motor called ‘Intelligent Key’ that allows drivers enter and start their cars without removing their keys from their pockets or bags.
Cars equipped with the system sense when the correct key is nearby, automatically unlocking their car doors, and allow the engine to be started once the key is brought inside the car.
The new twist on this technology is that it is loaded in a phone. The service will work on the mobile network operated by NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest mobile operator.
The companies said in a joint press release on Wednesday that they will display the technology next week at CEATEC, a major technology conference in Tokyo and aim to bring the phone to market sometime after March 2009. — AP
Sport - Cricket;Hussey-Great idea to arrive early
Y.B.Sarangi
JAIPUR: The Australians have come prepared. The plans are in place and the focus is clearly on adapting to the challenges, on and off the field, as the team goes through drills at the Rajasthan Cricket Academy here.
The team arrived a week in advance to get acclimatised to the weather and the playing conditions. With the help of their new advisor, Greg Chappell, a former India coach and the consultant at the Rajasthan Cricket Academy’s Centre of Excellence, the Australians are looking ahead to some exciting times.
Michael Hussey spoke to the media on Wednesday, making it a point to talk about the Chappell factor. On Tuesday, Brett Lee also had emphasised the advantage of having Chappell on their side.
“It’s a great idea to come early and try to adapt. Greg has organised practice on different pitches (at the RCA) so that the bowlers and batsmen can come to terms with the surfaces.Well-prepared
“I am sure we are very well-prepared coming into the first Test. It’s nice to have Greg involved, especially on two counts, his vast knowledge and experience. All of us are keen to tap it and use his intimate knowledge of the Indian conditions,” Hussey said.
Talking on the lack of experience of the Australian spinners, Hussey said: “Some of the guys are great friends with Shane (Warne) and tap his knowledge.” The Australians have two rookie slow bowlers in their side — the 36-year-old leg-spinner Bryce McGain with an experience of only 19 first-class matches and the 25-year-old off-spinner Jason Krejza, who has played a mere 23 first-class matches.
“We have a very, very strong first-class system and anyone who comes in is going to have to have put up some good performances. I think they’re very seasoned cricketers,” he said. “It’s dangerous to focus just on the (Indian) spinners. India has some very good quick bowlers too. We are looking at the entire package.” Stay positive
Hussey said the key to good batting would be to stay positive in the difficult circumstances and rotate strike. “Everyone plays differently — Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and myself...we all play differently. We have all our own plans and we will stick to them. It’s a great challenge and we are very clear how to go about it.”
Hussey rated the tour of India as one of the toughest considering the unfamiliar conditions and a few other factors.
“I think it’s one of the toughest places to play. The conditions, pitches and off-field distractions make a Test series in India very tough.”
However, the camaraderie in the side would stand the new-look Australian team in good stead.
“In 2004, there were so many great players in the side. But the guys are excited. There is exuberance and enthusiasm and we have to do hard work. We are a new team and we are trying to make our own history.”
On whether playing Twenty20 cricket would have its effect on the players, Hussey said: “Twenty20 is great for the kids and families. Twenty20 has helped improve skills of the players. But there should be a smooth transition from Twenty20 to ODIs to Test cricket.”
JAIPUR: The Australians have come prepared. The plans are in place and the focus is clearly on adapting to the challenges, on and off the field, as the team goes through drills at the Rajasthan Cricket Academy here.
The team arrived a week in advance to get acclimatised to the weather and the playing conditions. With the help of their new advisor, Greg Chappell, a former India coach and the consultant at the Rajasthan Cricket Academy’s Centre of Excellence, the Australians are looking ahead to some exciting times.
Michael Hussey spoke to the media on Wednesday, making it a point to talk about the Chappell factor. On Tuesday, Brett Lee also had emphasised the advantage of having Chappell on their side.
“It’s a great idea to come early and try to adapt. Greg has organised practice on different pitches (at the RCA) so that the bowlers and batsmen can come to terms with the surfaces.Well-prepared
“I am sure we are very well-prepared coming into the first Test. It’s nice to have Greg involved, especially on two counts, his vast knowledge and experience. All of us are keen to tap it and use his intimate knowledge of the Indian conditions,” Hussey said.
Talking on the lack of experience of the Australian spinners, Hussey said: “Some of the guys are great friends with Shane (Warne) and tap his knowledge.” The Australians have two rookie slow bowlers in their side — the 36-year-old leg-spinner Bryce McGain with an experience of only 19 first-class matches and the 25-year-old off-spinner Jason Krejza, who has played a mere 23 first-class matches.
“We have a very, very strong first-class system and anyone who comes in is going to have to have put up some good performances. I think they’re very seasoned cricketers,” he said. “It’s dangerous to focus just on the (Indian) spinners. India has some very good quick bowlers too. We are looking at the entire package.” Stay positive
Hussey said the key to good batting would be to stay positive in the difficult circumstances and rotate strike. “Everyone plays differently — Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and myself...we all play differently. We have all our own plans and we will stick to them. It’s a great challenge and we are very clear how to go about it.”
Hussey rated the tour of India as one of the toughest considering the unfamiliar conditions and a few other factors.
“I think it’s one of the toughest places to play. The conditions, pitches and off-field distractions make a Test series in India very tough.”
However, the camaraderie in the side would stand the new-look Australian team in good stead.
“In 2004, there were so many great players in the side. But the guys are excited. There is exuberance and enthusiasm and we have to do hard work. We are a new team and we are trying to make our own history.”
On whether playing Twenty20 cricket would have its effect on the players, Hussey said: “Twenty20 is great for the kids and families. Twenty20 has helped improve skills of the players. But there should be a smooth transition from Twenty20 to ODIs to Test cricket.”
World - Aso elected Japan Premier
P. S. Suryanarayana
SINGAPORE: Japan’s former Foreign Minister, Taro Aso, on Wednesday succeeded Yasuo Fukuda as Prime Minister, on the basis of a decisive win in the House of Representatives, the powerful lower chamber of Diet (Parliament) in Tokyo.
The upper chamber, House of Councillors, chose opposition leader Ichiro Ozwa for the same post in a run-off that Mr. Aso lost by 108 votes to 125. However, the preference of the House of Representatives prevailed under the due process, after a joint committee of the two wings of Parliament failed to pick a winner.
Mr. Aso’s winning tally in the lower chamber was 337 out of the 478 ballots cast. His Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner, New Komeito, command a two-thirds majority among the Representatives. And, since July last year, the main opposition outfit, the Democratic Party of Japan, controls the House of Councillors.
Mr. Fukuda’s election one year ago was also marked by a similar power-play in the divided Diet. However, 68-year-old Mr. Aso is now widely expected to call an early general election to seek a mandate to govern in his own right in the face of the gridlock in the Diet.
His agenda of engineering a national economic recovery and stabilising Japan’s ties with its ally, the U.S., would be in focus from now on, according to diplomats and analysts.
Having emerged as the LDP leader in a divisive intra-party battle a few days ago, Mr. Aso accommodated two of his rivals in his Cabinet line-up. Prominent among the other appointees are Hirofumi Nakasone as Foreign Minister and Yasukazu Hamada as Defence Minister. Yuko Obuchi, the 34-year-old daughter of a former Prime Minister, is said to be the youngest Minister since the Second World War
SINGAPORE: Japan’s former Foreign Minister, Taro Aso, on Wednesday succeeded Yasuo Fukuda as Prime Minister, on the basis of a decisive win in the House of Representatives, the powerful lower chamber of Diet (Parliament) in Tokyo.
The upper chamber, House of Councillors, chose opposition leader Ichiro Ozwa for the same post in a run-off that Mr. Aso lost by 108 votes to 125. However, the preference of the House of Representatives prevailed under the due process, after a joint committee of the two wings of Parliament failed to pick a winner.
Mr. Aso’s winning tally in the lower chamber was 337 out of the 478 ballots cast. His Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner, New Komeito, command a two-thirds majority among the Representatives. And, since July last year, the main opposition outfit, the Democratic Party of Japan, controls the House of Councillors.
Mr. Fukuda’s election one year ago was also marked by a similar power-play in the divided Diet. However, 68-year-old Mr. Aso is now widely expected to call an early general election to seek a mandate to govern in his own right in the face of the gridlock in the Diet.
His agenda of engineering a national economic recovery and stabilising Japan’s ties with its ally, the U.S., would be in focus from now on, according to diplomats and analysts.
Having emerged as the LDP leader in a divisive intra-party battle a few days ago, Mr. Aso accommodated two of his rivals in his Cabinet line-up. Prominent among the other appointees are Hirofumi Nakasone as Foreign Minister and Yasukazu Hamada as Defence Minister. Yuko Obuchi, the 34-year-old daughter of a former Prime Minister, is said to be the youngest Minister since the Second World War
Entertainment - Zee Tamil gears up for big ticket launch
Judy Franko
Zee Tamil is all set to hit the airwaves around Vijaya Dasami. Zee News Ltd, part of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), is planning a big-ticket launch with a 45-day media campaign spanning the entire state.
The new channel will air 11 hours of original programming content and one and a half hour of news programme. To start with, Zee Tamil will have three soaps and two more would be added within 4-5 weeks of the launch. The channel, which is testing its signals now, is hopeful of being present in 90 per cent C&S households in Chennai. V Chandrasekaar Barathi, Business Head, Zee Tamil, said that the channel would be available on all major MSOs from day one. Apart from DishTV, the channel would be available on one or two more DTH platforms, he added.
Zee Tamil also plans to have a high-decibel marketing blitzkrieg involving print, cinema, radio and outdoor. The launch campaign will break on October 1 and would be spread across the state for 45 days. The channel would also organise musical nights in six cities preceding the launch, which would feature some popular singers and film stars.
DraftFCB Ulka is the creative agency on the account. Barathi agreed to the fact that the market was already crowded. He said, “There are no two ways about it. We are conscious about the fact that we are the 21st channel to enter the market. Our differentiation would be our narrative style, packaging and focus. Our strategy would be right placements, looking at audience preferences.”
Barathi further said that Tamil Nadu currently had 21 channels, of which 11 were GECs, “but we are talking about only two or three channels, so there is scope for more channels to come and make a difference”.
“When Kalaignar TV was launched, the overall time spent on television went up by 9 per cent. So, it is not that the existing time spend has been taken away, but there has been an increase in the time spent on the channels. Therefore, there is scope for more channels.” Barathi maintained.
Zee Tamil is all set to hit the airwaves around Vijaya Dasami. Zee News Ltd, part of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), is planning a big-ticket launch with a 45-day media campaign spanning the entire state.
The new channel will air 11 hours of original programming content and one and a half hour of news programme. To start with, Zee Tamil will have three soaps and two more would be added within 4-5 weeks of the launch. The channel, which is testing its signals now, is hopeful of being present in 90 per cent C&S households in Chennai. V Chandrasekaar Barathi, Business Head, Zee Tamil, said that the channel would be available on all major MSOs from day one. Apart from DishTV, the channel would be available on one or two more DTH platforms, he added.
Zee Tamil also plans to have a high-decibel marketing blitzkrieg involving print, cinema, radio and outdoor. The launch campaign will break on October 1 and would be spread across the state for 45 days. The channel would also organise musical nights in six cities preceding the launch, which would feature some popular singers and film stars.
DraftFCB Ulka is the creative agency on the account. Barathi agreed to the fact that the market was already crowded. He said, “There are no two ways about it. We are conscious about the fact that we are the 21st channel to enter the market. Our differentiation would be our narrative style, packaging and focus. Our strategy would be right placements, looking at audience preferences.”
Barathi further said that Tamil Nadu currently had 21 channels, of which 11 were GECs, “but we are talking about only two or three channels, so there is scope for more channels to come and make a difference”.
“When Kalaignar TV was launched, the overall time spent on television went up by 9 per cent. So, it is not that the existing time spend has been taken away, but there has been an increase in the time spent on the channels. Therefore, there is scope for more channels.” Barathi maintained.
Sport - Football;India - I League
Sumantha Rathore
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Zee Sports have announced that ONGC will sponsor the second season of I League as well. The event, which starts on September 26, will be called the ONGC I League. This season will be played in Kolkata, Goa, Mumbai and Ludhiana. Zee Sports has bagged the exclusive rights for the live telecast of the matches. The inaugural match of the second season is slated to be played between Kingfisher East Bengal Club and Chirag United on September 26 in Kolkata. Talking to afaqs!, Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, Union minister for information and broadcasting and AIFF president, says, “We are planning a very aggressive marketing strategy this time. With the kind of planning we have done, no football lover will miss any of the matches.”Dasmunsi says though most of the clubs met the selection criteria this time, a lot still has to be done to make football more popular among the masses. “We still have many shortcomings, which can be rectified only with better infrastructure and more corporate backing,” he explains. Explaining the marketing strategies for the league, Dipender Shejpal, senior vice-president, marketing, Zee Sports, tells afaqs!, “A 360 degree campaign, involving television, multimedia, merchandise, mailers and on-ground activities, is being planned. The Zee Network will carry promos of I League throughout the event. There will be TV commercials, news coverage on regional and national channels, and a host of other activities.” Island ads will be booked in print, which will be seen during the matches and work as tune-in alerts for the audience. Many local level activities are also being planned at the venues. There is a content and advertisement tieup with All Sports magazine for extensive promotion of the event. Tieups with several sports bars across the country will enable live telecast of the matches. Cable operators will also be encouraged to increase viewing with merchandise and details regarding match timings. At the regional level, Zee plans to share content with its local channels and Zee Bangla will telecast the matches being played in West Bengal. The minister stresses that this is just the beginning of a new journey to recapture the lost glory of football in India. “We are thankful to the ONGC for its continued support to Indian football. With a strong and ambitious lineup, the respective clubs and the various incentives provided to the clubs for participating in the event, we expect the second edition of I League to be a huge crowd puller and a dazzling and entertaining display of football,” he says. Other I League sponsors are J&K Bank, J&K Tourism and Metlife Insurance. Nike, the official kit provider for the Indian team, will also be a partner in the event. Indian Oil, which was a part of the earlier I League, is also in talks with the organisers regarding participation in the current season. In an official communiqué, ONGC chairperson RS Sharma says, “The success story of the Indian team in the ONGC Nehru Cup and the AFC Challenge has given a boost to football in India. ONGC has been associated with the AIFF in its efforts to improve and promote the game. We have renewed the sponsorship to continue supporting Indian football in achieving new milestones and glory.” Commenting on the launch of the second season, Himanshu Modi, business head, Zee Sports, says in an official statement, “It is heartening to see that the detailing and hard work put in over the past few years is finally taking shape in terms of professional football. From this year onwards, football fans will enjoy an exciting league brought to them at viewer friendly times with indepth analysis and world class graphics.” Modi says, “To make the tournament more viewer friendly, the matches will be played at primetime during weekends. Traditionally, football is played during the day – during office hours. We at Zee are trying to change this trend and, since 2005, we have made a constant endeavour to make sure that all the matches telecast on our channel are played in floodlights, in primetime, to garner more viewership.” In the first season, 10 teams participated in the I League. This time, 12 teams will participate and a total of 130 matches will be played. In order to add a touch of glamour, a cheerleading team has been introduced. The participants of last year’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa – a musical talent hunt show on Zee TV – will perform in Kolkata during the matches. The second season of I League will offer a total prize of Rs 1.25 crore. The winner of the tournament will take home Rs 50 lakh, the first runner up will get Rs 28 lakh, the second runner up, Rs 20 lakh, and the third runner up, Rs 10 lakh. There will also be cash rewards for the best player, goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward, the highest goal scorer and the best coach.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Zee Sports have announced that ONGC will sponsor the second season of I League as well. The event, which starts on September 26, will be called the ONGC I League. This season will be played in Kolkata, Goa, Mumbai and Ludhiana. Zee Sports has bagged the exclusive rights for the live telecast of the matches. The inaugural match of the second season is slated to be played between Kingfisher East Bengal Club and Chirag United on September 26 in Kolkata. Talking to afaqs!, Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, Union minister for information and broadcasting and AIFF president, says, “We are planning a very aggressive marketing strategy this time. With the kind of planning we have done, no football lover will miss any of the matches.”Dasmunsi says though most of the clubs met the selection criteria this time, a lot still has to be done to make football more popular among the masses. “We still have many shortcomings, which can be rectified only with better infrastructure and more corporate backing,” he explains. Explaining the marketing strategies for the league, Dipender Shejpal, senior vice-president, marketing, Zee Sports, tells afaqs!, “A 360 degree campaign, involving television, multimedia, merchandise, mailers and on-ground activities, is being planned. The Zee Network will carry promos of I League throughout the event. There will be TV commercials, news coverage on regional and national channels, and a host of other activities.” Island ads will be booked in print, which will be seen during the matches and work as tune-in alerts for the audience. Many local level activities are also being planned at the venues. There is a content and advertisement tieup with All Sports magazine for extensive promotion of the event. Tieups with several sports bars across the country will enable live telecast of the matches. Cable operators will also be encouraged to increase viewing with merchandise and details regarding match timings. At the regional level, Zee plans to share content with its local channels and Zee Bangla will telecast the matches being played in West Bengal. The minister stresses that this is just the beginning of a new journey to recapture the lost glory of football in India. “We are thankful to the ONGC for its continued support to Indian football. With a strong and ambitious lineup, the respective clubs and the various incentives provided to the clubs for participating in the event, we expect the second edition of I League to be a huge crowd puller and a dazzling and entertaining display of football,” he says. Other I League sponsors are J&K Bank, J&K Tourism and Metlife Insurance. Nike, the official kit provider for the Indian team, will also be a partner in the event. Indian Oil, which was a part of the earlier I League, is also in talks with the organisers regarding participation in the current season. In an official communiqué, ONGC chairperson RS Sharma says, “The success story of the Indian team in the ONGC Nehru Cup and the AFC Challenge has given a boost to football in India. ONGC has been associated with the AIFF in its efforts to improve and promote the game. We have renewed the sponsorship to continue supporting Indian football in achieving new milestones and glory.” Commenting on the launch of the second season, Himanshu Modi, business head, Zee Sports, says in an official statement, “It is heartening to see that the detailing and hard work put in over the past few years is finally taking shape in terms of professional football. From this year onwards, football fans will enjoy an exciting league brought to them at viewer friendly times with indepth analysis and world class graphics.” Modi says, “To make the tournament more viewer friendly, the matches will be played at primetime during weekends. Traditionally, football is played during the day – during office hours. We at Zee are trying to change this trend and, since 2005, we have made a constant endeavour to make sure that all the matches telecast on our channel are played in floodlights, in primetime, to garner more viewership.” In the first season, 10 teams participated in the I League. This time, 12 teams will participate and a total of 130 matches will be played. In order to add a touch of glamour, a cheerleading team has been introduced. The participants of last year’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa – a musical talent hunt show on Zee TV – will perform in Kolkata during the matches. The second season of I League will offer a total prize of Rs 1.25 crore. The winner of the tournament will take home Rs 50 lakh, the first runner up will get Rs 28 lakh, the second runner up, Rs 20 lakh, and the third runner up, Rs 10 lakh. There will also be cash rewards for the best player, goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward, the highest goal scorer and the best coach.
Mktg - BBH comes to India
Savia Jane Pinto
Twenty six years ago, John Bartle (the planner), Nigel Bogle (the business head) and John Hegarty (the creative genius) started what we today know as BBH. With headquarters in London, the agency has six offices around the world. Only one of these (Neogama BBH, Brazil) is an alliance with another agency. In India, too, the creative agency is following the same template of a leadership of three at the top. Subhash Kamath, Partha Sinha and Priti Nair are the three managing partners who will handle BBH’s India operations. They will report to Gwyn Jones, chief operating officer, BBH. The Indian office will be located in Santacruz, Mumbai, for now and will begin operations on November 17. In recent months, India has been witness to a sudden rush of international agencies. It possibly started with Wieden + Kennedy and BBDO entering India earlier this year. After BBH, there is talk of Naked Communications and StrawberryFrog coming in soon.
Partha SinhaWhy India? And why now? Simon Sherwood, global chief executive officer for BBH, tells afaqs!, “We realised that we needed to be in India about 18 months ago. India is a very important market for many of our clients and this is the time to be here, if we want to be a global agency.”Will it be difficult to penetrate India as it is a very diverse market? “Everything is difficult. Nothing is easy,” says Sherwood. The agency has picked three extremely experienced hands from India’s pool of advertising professionals. Kamath, who has been with Bates 141 for a good four years, will join BBH only in January. He had no intention of quitting Bates 141, but the offer made, he says, was hard to resist. “A startup is a different challenge as you start from ground zero and gain value from what you create,” says the man who has been through all the past mergers and acquisitions of Bates 141. He adds that in certain ways, this is a dream come true. “While we were growing up in the ad industry, BBH was spoken of very highly and looked up to as an agency. The advertising created by BBH was used as examples during training programmes. And to be able to create BBH in India now is definitely a dream come true,” an enthusiastic Kamath tells afaqs!Nair seconds this when she tells afaqs!, “This has been my dream agency and when they approached me, I was ecstatic.” Top on her agenda is to make the agency a “rocking” place and to keep the culture of BBH pure. BBH, as an agency, does not create a creative and end there, but creates a solution for the brand which will take it to the next level. All three are equal partners and this is to ensure that there is no compartmentalisation of the process. The idea is to offer the brand a collective opinion and not keep the three departments of advertising separate. “Also,” says Nair, “there’s the thrill of setting up your own place. It’s a brand new start on a new slate.” Prior to taking up her new role, Nair was national creative director at Grey India. Before that, she was executive creative director at Lowe and worked on various brands such as Greenply, Surf Excel and Idea Cellular.“Product, product, product. That’s what’s on my agenda for BBH,” Sinha tells afaqs! He says that it is essential to create beyond just a creative. The key thing about BBH is to give the brand a creative solution. He says, “A good creative and thought make the fundamental difference in creating a solution for a brand.” Earlier, Sinha was the chief strategy officer at Publicis India, Publicis Ambience and Publicis Southeast Asia and had been with the agency for close to six years. On his reasons for leaving, he says, “There comes a time when you want to look at creating something slightly different and creating something new.” The “effective agency”, as he calls BBH, came in at just that time. Sinha has also worked with Zee Telefilms as director of marketing and strategy, Ogilvy as vice-president, planning, and Citibank as marketing manager.All three managing partners say it will be very different now that they will not be working in a predefined setup. Instead, they will be the ones defining the setup. Also, the BBH culture with three at the top was a decision maker for all of them.BBH will have only one office in India, as this is the format followed by BBH in other countries as well. Sherwood shares that they are in conversation with all the agency’s global clients who are present in India. Axe (handled here by Lowe), Perfetti Van Melle (currently with O&M in India) and Levi’s (handled here by JWT) are brands that BBH handles in other countries. There isn’t any talk of aligning these brands with BBH yet, but Sherwood says, “We respect our competition. We aim to put a compelling and attractive proposition to the brands, whether local or global.”In India, BBH does work on Diageo, Unilever (Axe) and Johnnie Walker
Twenty six years ago, John Bartle (the planner), Nigel Bogle (the business head) and John Hegarty (the creative genius) started what we today know as BBH. With headquarters in London, the agency has six offices around the world. Only one of these (Neogama BBH, Brazil) is an alliance with another agency. In India, too, the creative agency is following the same template of a leadership of three at the top. Subhash Kamath, Partha Sinha and Priti Nair are the three managing partners who will handle BBH’s India operations. They will report to Gwyn Jones, chief operating officer, BBH. The Indian office will be located in Santacruz, Mumbai, for now and will begin operations on November 17. In recent months, India has been witness to a sudden rush of international agencies. It possibly started with Wieden + Kennedy and BBDO entering India earlier this year. After BBH, there is talk of Naked Communications and StrawberryFrog coming in soon.
Partha SinhaWhy India? And why now? Simon Sherwood, global chief executive officer for BBH, tells afaqs!, “We realised that we needed to be in India about 18 months ago. India is a very important market for many of our clients and this is the time to be here, if we want to be a global agency.”Will it be difficult to penetrate India as it is a very diverse market? “Everything is difficult. Nothing is easy,” says Sherwood. The agency has picked three extremely experienced hands from India’s pool of advertising professionals. Kamath, who has been with Bates 141 for a good four years, will join BBH only in January. He had no intention of quitting Bates 141, but the offer made, he says, was hard to resist. “A startup is a different challenge as you start from ground zero and gain value from what you create,” says the man who has been through all the past mergers and acquisitions of Bates 141. He adds that in certain ways, this is a dream come true. “While we were growing up in the ad industry, BBH was spoken of very highly and looked up to as an agency. The advertising created by BBH was used as examples during training programmes. And to be able to create BBH in India now is definitely a dream come true,” an enthusiastic Kamath tells afaqs!Nair seconds this when she tells afaqs!, “This has been my dream agency and when they approached me, I was ecstatic.” Top on her agenda is to make the agency a “rocking” place and to keep the culture of BBH pure. BBH, as an agency, does not create a creative and end there, but creates a solution for the brand which will take it to the next level. All three are equal partners and this is to ensure that there is no compartmentalisation of the process. The idea is to offer the brand a collective opinion and not keep the three departments of advertising separate. “Also,” says Nair, “there’s the thrill of setting up your own place. It’s a brand new start on a new slate.” Prior to taking up her new role, Nair was national creative director at Grey India. Before that, she was executive creative director at Lowe and worked on various brands such as Greenply, Surf Excel and Idea Cellular.“Product, product, product. That’s what’s on my agenda for BBH,” Sinha tells afaqs! He says that it is essential to create beyond just a creative. The key thing about BBH is to give the brand a creative solution. He says, “A good creative and thought make the fundamental difference in creating a solution for a brand.” Earlier, Sinha was the chief strategy officer at Publicis India, Publicis Ambience and Publicis Southeast Asia and had been with the agency for close to six years. On his reasons for leaving, he says, “There comes a time when you want to look at creating something slightly different and creating something new.” The “effective agency”, as he calls BBH, came in at just that time. Sinha has also worked with Zee Telefilms as director of marketing and strategy, Ogilvy as vice-president, planning, and Citibank as marketing manager.All three managing partners say it will be very different now that they will not be working in a predefined setup. Instead, they will be the ones defining the setup. Also, the BBH culture with three at the top was a decision maker for all of them.BBH will have only one office in India, as this is the format followed by BBH in other countries as well. Sherwood shares that they are in conversation with all the agency’s global clients who are present in India. Axe (handled here by Lowe), Perfetti Van Melle (currently with O&M in India) and Levi’s (handled here by JWT) are brands that BBH handles in other countries. There isn’t any talk of aligning these brands with BBH yet, but Sherwood says, “We respect our competition. We aim to put a compelling and attractive proposition to the brands, whether local or global.”In India, BBH does work on Diageo, Unilever (Axe) and Johnnie Walker
Business - India;DTH players call a civil war - Part 2
Dhaleta Surendra Kumar
New entrantsSun DirectLaunched about eight months ago, Sun Direct boasts of 2,00,000 bookings in the first 15 days in Tamil Nadu. It started with its stronghold (the South) not out of choice, but because it did not have Hindi channels on board then. Sun offered packages in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam with about 110 channels.But it is the competitive pricing of Rs 75 a month that sets it apart. Says D’Silva, “DTH, in my business model, is not a rich man’s product. It is a means of digitalisation and a means of reaching the customer – Rs 75 is as good as another cable operator. But there are cable operators in the country who charge Rs 400 as well.” Those who want to go in for higher value packages can opt for add-ons such as the Hindi package, the kids’ package, or the English movie package, which cost Rs 20-140 more.“The third important thing we did was that we gave the equipment free of cost to the consumers for as long as they enjoy our services,” says D’Silva. He adds, “Our package of Rs 1,999 included installation with one year’s free subscription.” Sun Direct hopes to go to the Hindi speaking markets in the next one month with the same competitive pricing, and to close the fiscal with three million connections. This month, it launched its services in Himachal Pradesh, its first state in the North. It has budgeted an ad spend of Rs 150 crore for this fiscal and hired McCann Erickson as its creative agency. “Our message will be simple. Pay for what you watch and be a part of our family, which has more than 1.2 million customers already,” D’Silva says.Big TVThis is one entrant that is making a big noise. aiming for 40 per cent share of the paid DTH market in the next 12 months. Big TV’s strategy is simple. If the customer is not walking to you, reach out to him in his home. According to Behl, the brand will go out with “demo-vans which would, at congregation points in colonies and societies across the country, demonstrate the benefits of a Big TV connection”.In the first three weeks after its launch, Big TV took on 15,000 spots on television, 20,000 spots on radio and more than 600 screens in cinema halls. On the Internet, it is advertising through top sites such as Yahoo!, Rediff and Google. Outdoors, it has taken up several thousand hoardings, 80,000 retail signages and digital screens inside malls. It has created special experience zones at more than 2,000 Reliance branded outlets. Besides, it will be doing some targeted campaigns to cover five crore Reliance mobile customers, five million Reliance Energy customers, four million ADAG shareholders and two million Reliance PCO partners. It is already retailing through more than a lakh outlets across the country.According to Behl, there are six strong differentiators: content, technology, experience, reach, packaging and pricing. To start with content, Big TV offers 202 channels – the maximum any service provider is offering currently – of which 32 are movie channels. Of these, 10 are English movie channels and 10 Hindi. The rest are in Marathi, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. It hopes to add Gujarati, Punjabi and Malayalam soon.On the technology front, it is offering an MPEG4 set-top box (STB), a compression technology that not only helps in squeezing out more channels on a limited number of transponders, but also enables hi-definition content to be viewed. “We have had talks with channels like ESPN-STAR, National Geographic and Discovery and they are more than happy to provide hi-definition content to us,” Behl says.Big TV promises to have stronger strength dish antennae for the coastal areas, where it rains heavily. Rains affect picture quality. “It is one of the biggest drawbacks of DTH. And we are trying to minimise it. In fact, many people feel that rains affect only downlinking quality, but uplinking can be affected, too. To curtail quality depreciation during uplinking, we have transmission centres in both Mumbai and Bengaluru. We can switch to either of the transmission centres within a nanosecond,” he adds.Big TV claims to have a next generation user guide, which is indexed rather than tabulated like the others. It has categorised channels into six genres. At the most, 12 channels from a genre can be viewed at the same time as picture in picture (PIP).“Our research indicated that viewers generally like to surf all the channels and then come back. Much time is wasted in that. PIP allows viewers to select the channel they want easily,” Behl says.In packaging, besides having different price point packages, Big TV claims to be the only DTH service provider at the moment to offer a la carte packages – customers can make up their own package. In pricing, Big TV is on par with DishTV and Tata Sky, though it is offering a three month subscription free as a promotional offer.AirtelWith a 75 million subscriber base and a distribution network of close to a million outlets, Bharti’s Airtel is going to launch its DTH service “any day now”. Atul Bindal, president, Airtel Telemedia, says that the brand, Airtel, will be a major plus point. “It is being at home with Airtel with a cellular service and broadband. Our backend system that captures user information will help us give cross-pollinated services,” he says.As far as the number of channels is concerned, Bindal says, “We will be more competitive.” Airtel would also like to synergise the value added services it offers to its mobile customers. Airtel plans to have two pricing points – one at par with the current offerings in the market and the second a superior offering. According to reports, Airtel has hired film actor Saif Ali Khan as its brand ambassador.A matter of choiceWhen the conditional access system (CAS) was rolled out in parts of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata in January 2007, it was expected to envelop the country. But that hasn’t happened so far. But what if the CAS spread intensifies? If CAS is made mandatory across the country, the customer has to either remain content with free to air (FTA) channels or upgrade. The second option forces the customer to make a choice between DTH and CAS. Obviously, all the DTH players are hoping it will be the former they plump for.
New entrantsSun DirectLaunched about eight months ago, Sun Direct boasts of 2,00,000 bookings in the first 15 days in Tamil Nadu. It started with its stronghold (the South) not out of choice, but because it did not have Hindi channels on board then. Sun offered packages in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam with about 110 channels.But it is the competitive pricing of Rs 75 a month that sets it apart. Says D’Silva, “DTH, in my business model, is not a rich man’s product. It is a means of digitalisation and a means of reaching the customer – Rs 75 is as good as another cable operator. But there are cable operators in the country who charge Rs 400 as well.” Those who want to go in for higher value packages can opt for add-ons such as the Hindi package, the kids’ package, or the English movie package, which cost Rs 20-140 more.“The third important thing we did was that we gave the equipment free of cost to the consumers for as long as they enjoy our services,” says D’Silva. He adds, “Our package of Rs 1,999 included installation with one year’s free subscription.” Sun Direct hopes to go to the Hindi speaking markets in the next one month with the same competitive pricing, and to close the fiscal with three million connections. This month, it launched its services in Himachal Pradesh, its first state in the North. It has budgeted an ad spend of Rs 150 crore for this fiscal and hired McCann Erickson as its creative agency. “Our message will be simple. Pay for what you watch and be a part of our family, which has more than 1.2 million customers already,” D’Silva says.Big TVThis is one entrant that is making a big noise. aiming for 40 per cent share of the paid DTH market in the next 12 months. Big TV’s strategy is simple. If the customer is not walking to you, reach out to him in his home. According to Behl, the brand will go out with “demo-vans which would, at congregation points in colonies and societies across the country, demonstrate the benefits of a Big TV connection”.In the first three weeks after its launch, Big TV took on 15,000 spots on television, 20,000 spots on radio and more than 600 screens in cinema halls. On the Internet, it is advertising through top sites such as Yahoo!, Rediff and Google. Outdoors, it has taken up several thousand hoardings, 80,000 retail signages and digital screens inside malls. It has created special experience zones at more than 2,000 Reliance branded outlets. Besides, it will be doing some targeted campaigns to cover five crore Reliance mobile customers, five million Reliance Energy customers, four million ADAG shareholders and two million Reliance PCO partners. It is already retailing through more than a lakh outlets across the country.According to Behl, there are six strong differentiators: content, technology, experience, reach, packaging and pricing. To start with content, Big TV offers 202 channels – the maximum any service provider is offering currently – of which 32 are movie channels. Of these, 10 are English movie channels and 10 Hindi. The rest are in Marathi, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. It hopes to add Gujarati, Punjabi and Malayalam soon.On the technology front, it is offering an MPEG4 set-top box (STB), a compression technology that not only helps in squeezing out more channels on a limited number of transponders, but also enables hi-definition content to be viewed. “We have had talks with channels like ESPN-STAR, National Geographic and Discovery and they are more than happy to provide hi-definition content to us,” Behl says.Big TV promises to have stronger strength dish antennae for the coastal areas, where it rains heavily. Rains affect picture quality. “It is one of the biggest drawbacks of DTH. And we are trying to minimise it. In fact, many people feel that rains affect only downlinking quality, but uplinking can be affected, too. To curtail quality depreciation during uplinking, we have transmission centres in both Mumbai and Bengaluru. We can switch to either of the transmission centres within a nanosecond,” he adds.Big TV claims to have a next generation user guide, which is indexed rather than tabulated like the others. It has categorised channels into six genres. At the most, 12 channels from a genre can be viewed at the same time as picture in picture (PIP).“Our research indicated that viewers generally like to surf all the channels and then come back. Much time is wasted in that. PIP allows viewers to select the channel they want easily,” Behl says.In packaging, besides having different price point packages, Big TV claims to be the only DTH service provider at the moment to offer a la carte packages – customers can make up their own package. In pricing, Big TV is on par with DishTV and Tata Sky, though it is offering a three month subscription free as a promotional offer.AirtelWith a 75 million subscriber base and a distribution network of close to a million outlets, Bharti’s Airtel is going to launch its DTH service “any day now”. Atul Bindal, president, Airtel Telemedia, says that the brand, Airtel, will be a major plus point. “It is being at home with Airtel with a cellular service and broadband. Our backend system that captures user information will help us give cross-pollinated services,” he says.As far as the number of channels is concerned, Bindal says, “We will be more competitive.” Airtel would also like to synergise the value added services it offers to its mobile customers. Airtel plans to have two pricing points – one at par with the current offerings in the market and the second a superior offering. According to reports, Airtel has hired film actor Saif Ali Khan as its brand ambassador.A matter of choiceWhen the conditional access system (CAS) was rolled out in parts of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata in January 2007, it was expected to envelop the country. But that hasn’t happened so far. But what if the CAS spread intensifies? If CAS is made mandatory across the country, the customer has to either remain content with free to air (FTA) channels or upgrade. The second option forces the customer to make a choice between DTH and CAS. Obviously, all the DTH players are hoping it will be the former they plump for.
Entertainment - India;Balaji Tele may buy stake in 9X
Sonali Krishna
MUMBAI: Even before INX Media completes a year of operation, its flagship Hindi general entertainment channel 9X seems to have run into trouble. It is learnt that the company is in talks with Balaji Telefilms to divest a significant stake. Although there is no clarity on how much stake in 9X has been put on the block, the promoters are targeting a valuation of $120-150 million for the channel from the stake sale, according to insiders. Sources close to the development confirmed that the talks were on between the parties. There is a possibility that Balaji may buy a majority stake in the channel, sources added. However, the two parties will take a while to reach a conclusion on the exact size of the stake and the price. Sources added that any possible transaction would take time, as INX Media would have to spin off the channel into a separate entity prior to the sale. Besides 9X, INX Media runs a music channel — 9XM. The promoters — Indrani and Peter Mukherjea — together hold a 50% stake in INX Media. The remaining stake is held by private equity firms — Temasek Holdings, New Silk Route, New Vernon Private Equity, Kotak Mahindra Capital and Srei. When contacted, Balaji Telefilms CEO R Karthik said: “We don’t comment on market speculation.” Mr Mukherjea also declined to comment on the issue. Sources said the possible acquisition would make sense for Balaji, which has always harboured ambitions of getting into the broadcasting space. It shares good relations with Mr Mukherjea as well. “Therefore, a partnership between Balaji and Mr Mukherjea may work,” they added.
The promoters of INX Media are not happy with the channel’s performance, since it has failed to live up to expectations, especially after the entry of Colors. Its visibility has fallen. The channel has been steadily slipping on the ratings chart too. The promoters now need funds for 9X, sources added. The second tranche of fund infusion from the promoters has been delayed. Mr Mukherjea’s relationship with Balaji’s promoters goes back a long way. In fact, the former STAR India CEO was instrumental in mobilising STAR’s investment in Balaji four years ago. Today, Balaji is one of the key content providers for 9X. The past one year has witnessed the entry of three new general entertainment channels. Besides 9X, former STAR CEO Sameer Nair launched NDTV Imagine, and the most-recent launch has been Viacom-owned Colors, which is headed by Rajesh Kamat.
MUMBAI: Even before INX Media completes a year of operation, its flagship Hindi general entertainment channel 9X seems to have run into trouble. It is learnt that the company is in talks with Balaji Telefilms to divest a significant stake. Although there is no clarity on how much stake in 9X has been put on the block, the promoters are targeting a valuation of $120-150 million for the channel from the stake sale, according to insiders. Sources close to the development confirmed that the talks were on between the parties. There is a possibility that Balaji may buy a majority stake in the channel, sources added. However, the two parties will take a while to reach a conclusion on the exact size of the stake and the price. Sources added that any possible transaction would take time, as INX Media would have to spin off the channel into a separate entity prior to the sale. Besides 9X, INX Media runs a music channel — 9XM. The promoters — Indrani and Peter Mukherjea — together hold a 50% stake in INX Media. The remaining stake is held by private equity firms — Temasek Holdings, New Silk Route, New Vernon Private Equity, Kotak Mahindra Capital and Srei. When contacted, Balaji Telefilms CEO R Karthik said: “We don’t comment on market speculation.” Mr Mukherjea also declined to comment on the issue. Sources said the possible acquisition would make sense for Balaji, which has always harboured ambitions of getting into the broadcasting space. It shares good relations with Mr Mukherjea as well. “Therefore, a partnership between Balaji and Mr Mukherjea may work,” they added.
The promoters of INX Media are not happy with the channel’s performance, since it has failed to live up to expectations, especially after the entry of Colors. Its visibility has fallen. The channel has been steadily slipping on the ratings chart too. The promoters now need funds for 9X, sources added. The second tranche of fund infusion from the promoters has been delayed. Mr Mukherjea’s relationship with Balaji’s promoters goes back a long way. In fact, the former STAR India CEO was instrumental in mobilising STAR’s investment in Balaji four years ago. Today, Balaji is one of the key content providers for 9X. The past one year has witnessed the entry of three new general entertainment channels. Besides 9X, former STAR CEO Sameer Nair launched NDTV Imagine, and the most-recent launch has been Viacom-owned Colors, which is headed by Rajesh Kamat.
World - Zimbabwe kids pay fees in Cows
HARARE: Residents in Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo, have called for government action against a school asking for fees in livestock or fuel coupons. Those who do not have coupons have been asked to deliver 700 litres of fuel.
One teacher at Petra High School said it was cash-strapped parents who wanted to pay in kind. Teachers confirmed that if parents failed to raise enough cash, they could pay in whatever they have, including livestock.
It is not clear how many parents have handed over animals. Cows are the usual method of payment because of their higher value, though poor people in rural areas have also used goats.
One teacher at Petra High School said it was cash-strapped parents who wanted to pay in kind. Teachers confirmed that if parents failed to raise enough cash, they could pay in whatever they have, including livestock.
It is not clear how many parents have handed over animals. Cows are the usual method of payment because of their higher value, though poor people in rural areas have also used goats.
India - Girl Child not wanted in India's IT Hub
BANGALORE: As the world observed International Day of the Girl Child on Wednesday, India's IT hub presented a poor picture of itself with a Karnataka government report indicating declining child sex ratio.
The child sex ratio (number of girls for every 1,000 boys aged between zero and six) is better in rural areas than in high income districts like Bangalore Urban, Mandya, and the northern district of Belgaum, says the recently released Karnataka Human Development Report of 2005. The ratio in Karnataka has fallen drastically from 960 to 946 between 1991 and 2001, when the last census was conducted. The ratio stood at 954 in rural areas and 939 in urban areas. Bangalore has a ratio of 941, much lower than some poorer districts like Kolar, in its neighbourhood and Bidar in north Kanataka. The national average is 927/1000, according to 2001 Census. Experts working in the field of protection of rights of girl child believe that easy access to the technology of sex detection through ultrasound machines among the affluent section in Karnataka has lead to the skewed sex ratio in the state. Female foeticide is a known reality in the state and no one is doing anything against it, say experts. According to Vimochana, a women's organisation, there is a spiralling growth of ultra-sound clinics in Bangalore in recent times and there are as many as 40 ultra sound clinics in Mandya town alone.
"Looking at figures one can easily imagine the situation. Doctors are the main culprits. In the name of pre-natal diagnosis, they are detecting the sex of the foetus. Instead of accusing parents who go for sex detection, it is the doctors who conduct such illegal practices that should be first punished," Donna Fernandes, member of Vimochana, told IANS.
"Moreover, there is no monitoring mechanism to check sex detection, mandated under the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act," she added.
Women rights activists say that aversion towards the girl child is obvious in a state like Karnataka, where the system of dowry is highly prevalent.
"Who would like to have a daughter when the parents have to pay hefty amount of dowry during her marriage? Moreover, women in urban areas of Karnataka are vulnerable to violence and abuse on a daily basis. All these leads towards preference of boys in our society," said K.S. Vimala of Janavadi Mahila Sanghatane.
The Sanghatane Wednesday started a campaign on girl child in colleges here to correct the skewed sex ratio in the state. "The figures available with us clearly indicate that mechanism to stop sex selection has not been effective despite promises of improving vigilance and introduction of schemes like Bhagyalakshmi (under which government deposits a certain amount in the name of every girl child born which she will get with interest on reaching 18 years), intended to improve sex ratio in the state," lamented Vimala. Although the state health department has constituted special cells in 13 districts where the sex ratio is adverse as per the 2001 Census, nothing much has been achieved in improving the situation in Karnataka, say women's groups.
"Awareness at the grass root level is needed to tackle the issue. We are cancelling the licences of diagnostic centres and doctors who indulge in sex detection," said an official of health department.
Experts fear that the next Census in 2011 will show further decline in the number of females as compared to males. "The skewed sex ratio has increased violence against women in the state. As an educated woman I am concerned about the status of women in a state like Karnataka, one of the fastest growing states in the country," said Sheela Reddy, an IT professional.
The child sex ratio (number of girls for every 1,000 boys aged between zero and six) is better in rural areas than in high income districts like Bangalore Urban, Mandya, and the northern district of Belgaum, says the recently released Karnataka Human Development Report of 2005. The ratio in Karnataka has fallen drastically from 960 to 946 between 1991 and 2001, when the last census was conducted. The ratio stood at 954 in rural areas and 939 in urban areas. Bangalore has a ratio of 941, much lower than some poorer districts like Kolar, in its neighbourhood and Bidar in north Kanataka. The national average is 927/1000, according to 2001 Census. Experts working in the field of protection of rights of girl child believe that easy access to the technology of sex detection through ultrasound machines among the affluent section in Karnataka has lead to the skewed sex ratio in the state. Female foeticide is a known reality in the state and no one is doing anything against it, say experts. According to Vimochana, a women's organisation, there is a spiralling growth of ultra-sound clinics in Bangalore in recent times and there are as many as 40 ultra sound clinics in Mandya town alone.
"Looking at figures one can easily imagine the situation. Doctors are the main culprits. In the name of pre-natal diagnosis, they are detecting the sex of the foetus. Instead of accusing parents who go for sex detection, it is the doctors who conduct such illegal practices that should be first punished," Donna Fernandes, member of Vimochana, told IANS.
"Moreover, there is no monitoring mechanism to check sex detection, mandated under the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act," she added.
Women rights activists say that aversion towards the girl child is obvious in a state like Karnataka, where the system of dowry is highly prevalent.
"Who would like to have a daughter when the parents have to pay hefty amount of dowry during her marriage? Moreover, women in urban areas of Karnataka are vulnerable to violence and abuse on a daily basis. All these leads towards preference of boys in our society," said K.S. Vimala of Janavadi Mahila Sanghatane.
The Sanghatane Wednesday started a campaign on girl child in colleges here to correct the skewed sex ratio in the state. "The figures available with us clearly indicate that mechanism to stop sex selection has not been effective despite promises of improving vigilance and introduction of schemes like Bhagyalakshmi (under which government deposits a certain amount in the name of every girl child born which she will get with interest on reaching 18 years), intended to improve sex ratio in the state," lamented Vimala. Although the state health department has constituted special cells in 13 districts where the sex ratio is adverse as per the 2001 Census, nothing much has been achieved in improving the situation in Karnataka, say women's groups.
"Awareness at the grass root level is needed to tackle the issue. We are cancelling the licences of diagnostic centres and doctors who indulge in sex detection," said an official of health department.
Experts fear that the next Census in 2011 will show further decline in the number of females as compared to males. "The skewed sex ratio has increased violence against women in the state. As an educated woman I am concerned about the status of women in a state like Karnataka, one of the fastest growing states in the country," said Sheela Reddy, an IT professional.
World - US;How Obama & McCain see the World
Richard.N.Haass
Consider the inbox of the 44th president of the United States. He will face ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan; a Pakistani government that is unable or unwilling to take on the terrorists who have set up shop in the country's western reaches; and an Iran apparently intent on developing nuclear weapons. Beyond the greater Middle East, there are the challenges of a more assertive Russia, a rising China, a warming planet and a cooling world economy.
Making matters worse is that the new president will have to deal with these and other threats with his hands partially tied. The U.S. military is stretched. The American economy faces a financial-market meltdown. The country is politically divided at home and unpopular abroad. Only Washington, Lincoln and FDR faced comparable international challenges and domestic constraints upon taking office.
What makes the outcome of this election even more significant is that the occupant of the Oval Office enjoys tremendous latitude in the conduct of foreign policy. Congress is far more of a factor in domestic affairs. Anyone doubting this need only remind himself of the past eight years. It is thus fitting and fortunate that the first of the three presidential debates focuses on foreign policy and national security. It is appalling that we have thus far paid more attention to lipstick and pigs than to loose nukes in Pakistan (although the Wall Street crisis has at least refocused minds a bit).
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
The Sept. 26 debate in Oxford, Miss., offers an important chance to gain insight into the candidates' views. But it is just that: a chance. Asking the candidates what they are likely to do about a specific situation all but ensures the chance will be lost. For one thing, the careful candidate is wary of committing himself to a course of action in hypothetical situations.
History also teaches us that often the most important foreign-policy decisions a president makes are those in response to crises that cannot be predicted. For good reason, few thought it necessary to ask John F. Kennedy about Soviet missiles in Cuba, Jimmy Carter about a revolution in Iran or George H.W. Bush about how he'd react to an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait—any more than someone could have known to ask his son about Russian tanks rolling into Georgia.
As a result, what we should really be interested in is the candidates' respective philosophies of foreign policy—their thinking about this country's objectives in the world and how the United States should go about translating them into reality. Harry Truman is an instructive example. He learned much from his time in the Army. According to his secretary of state Dean Acheson, "Military power he had experienced in use. He knew its nature, its importance and its limitations." Truman's world view was shaped even more by a lifetime of voracious reading about history. His careful reading of how Lincoln handled a disobedient but reluctant general (McClellan) foreshadowed how a century later he would deal with a disobedient but aggressive one (MacArthur). Anyone who bothered to probe Truman's view of great men would know that he would never change course because of public criticism.
The current president, previously a governor with little international background, is more an example of what can happen absent a developed world view. September 11 arrived eight months after he took office. His instinct was to fall back on the absolutes of religion. Bush branded countries as evil and warned governments that they were either with us or against us, approaches that made little sense in a world in which most countries are neither pure adversaries nor allies and where limited cooperation is preferable to none at all, or to outright opposition. Such intellectual absolutism led to a preoccupation with terrorism and an overreliance on going it alone and on military force.
Understanding how a candidate thinks about the world gives a better sense of how he is likely to react to both opportunity and crisis. As a result, exploring the past during the debate may be a better guide to how either candidate would govern than pressing him about a possible future. It would be useful, for instance, to know what McCain and Obama judge to be the reasons we won the cold war, lost Vietnam and nearly lost in Iraq.
We could also gain insight into their views of diplomacy by asking them whether Bill Clinton was correct to press for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Or whether George W. Bush was wiser to stay aloof. The United States has engaged diplomatically to good effect with the U.S.S.R. and China and even North Korea. What might be the lessons for Iran and Cuba?
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
In the end, what matters when it comes to foreign affairs is not so much knowledge—leaders can be expected to learn who is the prime minister of some country—as judgment. More important than what candidates don't know about the world is what they do. One can only hope the first debate sheds light on this.
Haass, a NEWSWEEK contributor, is president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Consider the inbox of the 44th president of the United States. He will face ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan; a Pakistani government that is unable or unwilling to take on the terrorists who have set up shop in the country's western reaches; and an Iran apparently intent on developing nuclear weapons. Beyond the greater Middle East, there are the challenges of a more assertive Russia, a rising China, a warming planet and a cooling world economy.
Making matters worse is that the new president will have to deal with these and other threats with his hands partially tied. The U.S. military is stretched. The American economy faces a financial-market meltdown. The country is politically divided at home and unpopular abroad. Only Washington, Lincoln and FDR faced comparable international challenges and domestic constraints upon taking office.
What makes the outcome of this election even more significant is that the occupant of the Oval Office enjoys tremendous latitude in the conduct of foreign policy. Congress is far more of a factor in domestic affairs. Anyone doubting this need only remind himself of the past eight years. It is thus fitting and fortunate that the first of the three presidential debates focuses on foreign policy and national security. It is appalling that we have thus far paid more attention to lipstick and pigs than to loose nukes in Pakistan (although the Wall Street crisis has at least refocused minds a bit).
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
The Sept. 26 debate in Oxford, Miss., offers an important chance to gain insight into the candidates' views. But it is just that: a chance. Asking the candidates what they are likely to do about a specific situation all but ensures the chance will be lost. For one thing, the careful candidate is wary of committing himself to a course of action in hypothetical situations.
History also teaches us that often the most important foreign-policy decisions a president makes are those in response to crises that cannot be predicted. For good reason, few thought it necessary to ask John F. Kennedy about Soviet missiles in Cuba, Jimmy Carter about a revolution in Iran or George H.W. Bush about how he'd react to an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait—any more than someone could have known to ask his son about Russian tanks rolling into Georgia.
As a result, what we should really be interested in is the candidates' respective philosophies of foreign policy—their thinking about this country's objectives in the world and how the United States should go about translating them into reality. Harry Truman is an instructive example. He learned much from his time in the Army. According to his secretary of state Dean Acheson, "Military power he had experienced in use. He knew its nature, its importance and its limitations." Truman's world view was shaped even more by a lifetime of voracious reading about history. His careful reading of how Lincoln handled a disobedient but reluctant general (McClellan) foreshadowed how a century later he would deal with a disobedient but aggressive one (MacArthur). Anyone who bothered to probe Truman's view of great men would know that he would never change course because of public criticism.
The current president, previously a governor with little international background, is more an example of what can happen absent a developed world view. September 11 arrived eight months after he took office. His instinct was to fall back on the absolutes of religion. Bush branded countries as evil and warned governments that they were either with us or against us, approaches that made little sense in a world in which most countries are neither pure adversaries nor allies and where limited cooperation is preferable to none at all, or to outright opposition. Such intellectual absolutism led to a preoccupation with terrorism and an overreliance on going it alone and on military force.
Understanding how a candidate thinks about the world gives a better sense of how he is likely to react to both opportunity and crisis. As a result, exploring the past during the debate may be a better guide to how either candidate would govern than pressing him about a possible future. It would be useful, for instance, to know what McCain and Obama judge to be the reasons we won the cold war, lost Vietnam and nearly lost in Iraq.
We could also gain insight into their views of diplomacy by asking them whether Bill Clinton was correct to press for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Or whether George W. Bush was wiser to stay aloof. The United States has engaged diplomatically to good effect with the U.S.S.R. and China and even North Korea. What might be the lessons for Iran and Cuba?
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
In the end, what matters when it comes to foreign affairs is not so much knowledge—leaders can be expected to learn who is the prime minister of some country—as judgment. More important than what candidates don't know about the world is what they do. One can only hope the first debate sheds light on this.
Haass, a NEWSWEEK contributor, is president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Busines - Yahoo launches major upgrade to display ad system
(NEW YORK) Yahoo Inc. launched a much-anticipated upgrade to its online advertising system Wednesday as it tries to bring to graphical display ads some of the innovations that powered Google Inc.'s rapid rise in search marketing.
Playing to Yahoo's strengths in display ads and technology targeting pitches to users' interests, the new "Apt from Yahoo" platform will initially involve just the newspaper companies in a 2-year-old consortium led by Yahoo. Many of the papers joined that effort hoping for relief from the decline in their industry.
The platform, renamed from Amp because of a trademark conflict, is intended to make it easier for advertisers and publishers to buy and sell display ads, borrowing self-service techniques that have made text-based search ads lucrative for Internet companies, especially Google.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
By tapping data Yahoo already collects on users' locations, demographics and surfing habits, Apt aims to help advertisers narrow their pitches to specific groups of customers because sharper targeting will let Web sites charge more for ads.
William Dean Singleton, vice chairman and chief executive with MediaNews Group Inc. and chairman of The Associated Press, said the typical newspaper now sells more than half of its inventory at deeply discounted rates because it can't offer such specific targeting.
Singleton said Apt should help eliminate or reduce the need for deep discounts.
"If we can sell the amount of online advertising we are selling today at rates that were much more normal, you wouldn't be hearing people talk about the woes of the newspaper industry," Singleton said at a launch event during the ad industry's Advertising Week.
Ken Doctor, media analyst for the research firm Outsell Inc., said newspaper Web sites are too small to do much targeting by themselves. Sales through the Yahoo platform, he said, is one of the newspaper industry's top growth potential in 2009.
It's unclear whether the technology will give Yahoo the lift it needs. A previous technology revival focusing on search ads, called Panama, failed to resonate with Wall Street despite accolades from advertisers, and Yahoo has remained in a funk, its stock recently sinking to its lowest level in nearly five years.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
The new platform comes at an inopportune time because advertisers are pulling back spending as the U.S. economy weakens, said David Hallerman, a senior analyst with eMarketer.
But even if it isn't a game-changer, Hallerman said, it can help Yahoo reach the companies that are still advertising.
Apt seeks to automate many of the tasks now handled manually with display ads. Such automation has been crucial to the growth in search, but display ads involve more variables that have made automation challenging.
Addressing those challenges took 18 months, hundreds of employees and hundreds of millions of dollars to buy startups with key technologies.
Apt also allows Web sites to pool their available ad spaces so advertisers can make larger purchases more quickly. That's especially important with targeted advertising because a single site may not deliver enough readers matching an advertiser's criteria.
In an interview with the AP, Yahoo President Sue Decker said Apt positions the company to capture growth in display advertising and replaces legacy systems "created 10 or 15 years ago when the Internet first started."
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
Noting that Google still is weak in display ads, Decker said Yahoo is trying to build the technology and assemble a large enough network of Web sites that it becomes "a must buy" for advertisers.
Hallerman said the technology could help newspapers' Web sites, in particular, because of its large inventory of display ads and the comfort advertisers already have with newspapers' brands.
Online advertising at newspapers has been growing, but too slowly so far to compensate for steep declines in print advertising.
Yahoo is initially offering the platform to Hearst Communications Inc.'s San Francisco Chronicle and MediaNews Group's San Jose Mercury News, both near the company's headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif.
It will extend Apt to the 782 other newspapers in its consortium over the next several months and will open it to other sites, including its own, and to advertisers in 2009.
The company said it will eventually open the system to rivals, too, so companies like Google, Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL can add inventory available through their existing networks of Web sites. Yahoo already has a deal with Google on search ads, but government regulators are assessing whether the alliance will diminish competition.
Shares in Yahoo increased 22 cents, or 1.2 percent, to close at $19.15 Wednesday.
Playing to Yahoo's strengths in display ads and technology targeting pitches to users' interests, the new "Apt from Yahoo" platform will initially involve just the newspaper companies in a 2-year-old consortium led by Yahoo. Many of the papers joined that effort hoping for relief from the decline in their industry.
The platform, renamed from Amp because of a trademark conflict, is intended to make it easier for advertisers and publishers to buy and sell display ads, borrowing self-service techniques that have made text-based search ads lucrative for Internet companies, especially Google.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
By tapping data Yahoo already collects on users' locations, demographics and surfing habits, Apt aims to help advertisers narrow their pitches to specific groups of customers because sharper targeting will let Web sites charge more for ads.
William Dean Singleton, vice chairman and chief executive with MediaNews Group Inc. and chairman of The Associated Press, said the typical newspaper now sells more than half of its inventory at deeply discounted rates because it can't offer such specific targeting.
Singleton said Apt should help eliminate or reduce the need for deep discounts.
"If we can sell the amount of online advertising we are selling today at rates that were much more normal, you wouldn't be hearing people talk about the woes of the newspaper industry," Singleton said at a launch event during the ad industry's Advertising Week.
Ken Doctor, media analyst for the research firm Outsell Inc., said newspaper Web sites are too small to do much targeting by themselves. Sales through the Yahoo platform, he said, is one of the newspaper industry's top growth potential in 2009.
It's unclear whether the technology will give Yahoo the lift it needs. A previous technology revival focusing on search ads, called Panama, failed to resonate with Wall Street despite accolades from advertisers, and Yahoo has remained in a funk, its stock recently sinking to its lowest level in nearly five years.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
The new platform comes at an inopportune time because advertisers are pulling back spending as the U.S. economy weakens, said David Hallerman, a senior analyst with eMarketer.
But even if it isn't a game-changer, Hallerman said, it can help Yahoo reach the companies that are still advertising.
Apt seeks to automate many of the tasks now handled manually with display ads. Such automation has been crucial to the growth in search, but display ads involve more variables that have made automation challenging.
Addressing those challenges took 18 months, hundreds of employees and hundreds of millions of dollars to buy startups with key technologies.
Apt also allows Web sites to pool their available ad spaces so advertisers can make larger purchases more quickly. That's especially important with targeted advertising because a single site may not deliver enough readers matching an advertiser's criteria.
In an interview with the AP, Yahoo President Sue Decker said Apt positions the company to capture growth in display advertising and replaces legacy systems "created 10 or 15 years ago when the Internet first started."
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
Noting that Google still is weak in display ads, Decker said Yahoo is trying to build the technology and assemble a large enough network of Web sites that it becomes "a must buy" for advertisers.
Hallerman said the technology could help newspapers' Web sites, in particular, because of its large inventory of display ads and the comfort advertisers already have with newspapers' brands.
Online advertising at newspapers has been growing, but too slowly so far to compensate for steep declines in print advertising.
Yahoo is initially offering the platform to Hearst Communications Inc.'s San Francisco Chronicle and MediaNews Group's San Jose Mercury News, both near the company's headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif.
It will extend Apt to the 782 other newspapers in its consortium over the next several months and will open it to other sites, including its own, and to advertisers in 2009.
The company said it will eventually open the system to rivals, too, so companies like Google, Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL can add inventory available through their existing networks of Web sites. Yahoo already has a deal with Google on search ads, but government regulators are assessing whether the alliance will diminish competition.
Shares in Yahoo increased 22 cents, or 1.2 percent, to close at $19.15 Wednesday.
Business - GM to put French factory,Hummer brand up for sale
Tom Krisher
(DETROIT) General Motors Corp.'s treasurer said Wednesday that the automaker is planning to put its Strasbourg, France, manufacturing operation and its Hummer truck brand up for sale, and it may announce more asset sales later this year.
Company Treasurer Walter Borst said in a slide presentation at the Deutsche Bank Leveraged Finance Conference that the company expects to distribute marketing materials for both operations in October.
The slides posted on GM's Web site Wednesday say the assets under review are worth $2 billion to $4 billion. The presentation also says GM continues to review other asset sales and will make more announcements in the fourth quarter.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
"We believe that we can monetize certain assets without impacting the strategic direction of the company," Borst said during his presentation, which was posted on GM's investor Web site.
GM and other automakers have faced liquidity problems as losses have mounted and U.S. sales have declined. GM announced a plan in July to cut $10 billion in costs and raise another $5 billion through asset sales and borrowing through the end of next year.
On Friday, the nation's largest automaker gave notice that it would draw the remaining $3.5 billion of a $4.5 billion revolving credit facility to boost its liquidity.
Borst said GM expects the global market to grow from 70.6 million in sales last year to more than 75 million in 2010, and says GM is positioned to capture that growth in emerging markets. The growth, coupled with cost cuts, factory capacity reductions and other management decisions, will set the stage for improved financial results by 2010, he said.
By 2010, GM will sell two-thirds of its vehicles outside the U.S., compared with 59 percent in 2007, he said.
He said GM plans to reduce its North American structural costs from $33.2 billion in 2007 to $26 billion to $27 billion in 2010. That figure includes savings from shifting retiree health care costs to a trust administered by the United Auto Workers, although the accounting of those savings could change, he said.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
By 2010, the company also expects to reduce its hourly health care costs by more than $2 billion. The company spent $3.8 billion in 2007, he said.
Borst said GM is shoring up its liquidity and has the scale to be well positioned for an industry rebound.
"We're making changes to compete and win in what we think is an industry revolution," he said.
(DETROIT) General Motors Corp.'s treasurer said Wednesday that the automaker is planning to put its Strasbourg, France, manufacturing operation and its Hummer truck brand up for sale, and it may announce more asset sales later this year.
Company Treasurer Walter Borst said in a slide presentation at the Deutsche Bank Leveraged Finance Conference that the company expects to distribute marketing materials for both operations in October.
The slides posted on GM's Web site Wednesday say the assets under review are worth $2 billion to $4 billion. The presentation also says GM continues to review other asset sales and will make more announcements in the fourth quarter.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
"We believe that we can monetize certain assets without impacting the strategic direction of the company," Borst said during his presentation, which was posted on GM's investor Web site.
GM and other automakers have faced liquidity problems as losses have mounted and U.S. sales have declined. GM announced a plan in July to cut $10 billion in costs and raise another $5 billion through asset sales and borrowing through the end of next year.
On Friday, the nation's largest automaker gave notice that it would draw the remaining $3.5 billion of a $4.5 billion revolving credit facility to boost its liquidity.
Borst said GM expects the global market to grow from 70.6 million in sales last year to more than 75 million in 2010, and says GM is positioned to capture that growth in emerging markets. The growth, coupled with cost cuts, factory capacity reductions and other management decisions, will set the stage for improved financial results by 2010, he said.
By 2010, GM will sell two-thirds of its vehicles outside the U.S., compared with 59 percent in 2007, he said.
He said GM plans to reduce its North American structural costs from $33.2 billion in 2007 to $26 billion to $27 billion in 2010. That figure includes savings from shifting retiree health care costs to a trust administered by the United Auto Workers, although the accounting of those savings could change, he said.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
By 2010, the company also expects to reduce its hourly health care costs by more than $2 billion. The company spent $3.8 billion in 2007, he said.
Borst said GM is shoring up its liquidity and has the scale to be well positioned for an industry rebound.
"We're making changes to compete and win in what we think is an industry revolution," he said.
Columnists - Fareed Zakaria;How to Spread Democracy (G.Read)
Democracy: If You Want to Free Your Country, First Liberate Its LandSo you want to spread democracy. By now, it's pretty obvious that this is easier said than done. George W. Bush's stirring rhetoric about freedom has suggested a too-simple path: just rid the country of its tyrant and the people will be free. Bush often asserts that people in every country and culture yearn for democracy and are capable of it. To argue otherwise represents cultural condescension. It's not that President Bush is wrong at the abstract level—if Nazi Germany and fascist Japan could become democratic, it can happen most anywhere—but the argument holds at such an elevated plane that it becomes meaningless when applied on the ground. Consider, for example, Haiti, where the United States has attempted to foster democracy on and off for almost a century—with almost no success. Why? Surely Haitians yearn to be free. But there are aspects of its politics, economics and culture that have made it very difficult to establish liberal democracy. Changing these conditions is a hard, complex and long-term challenge. It is not impossible. There are many examples of success. But there are many more of failure. What is needed is careful study, pragmatism and humility.
One simple path to democracy is to hold elections. This has an obvious appeal. It legitimizes the political system, broadens participation and provides a simple answer to the question "Who should rule?" Holding elections is a defining feature of any liberal democracy. But it should not be the first step in building a democracy. Western societies went through centuries of modernization before they held elections. The Magna Carta, which first established limits on governmental power, preceded universal adult suffrage in Britain by about 800 years. It takes time to develop institutions of law and a civil society. Consider the problem of ethnic and sectarian strife, which is endemic to so many modern societies. If you hold elections in newly democratizing countries too fast, people will vote only according to their established ethnic, religious or racial identities— and that will undermine the creation of a genuine liberal democracy.
But if the simple solutions proposed by the right are not really that effective, neither are those suggested by the left. Foreign aid, for example, is not a panacea. More aid will not produce more democracy, or even better governance. Much of the history of foreign aid is one of good intentions leading to hellish situations—massive corruption and the entrenchment of near feudal elites. The early and successful transitions to democracy— in countries like Taiwan and South Korea in East Asia, and Chile in South America—were not the product of aid programs. There are certainly programs that have worked, many of them in medical and scientific areas. But while debt relief, new loans and grants are all worthwhile, how they are structured is absolutely crucial to their success. Otherwise, they can actually undermine the cause by giving foreign assistance a bad reputation.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
If there is a dominant obstacle to building democracy, one that seems to recur in country after country, it is feudalism. In most developing countries, land is the most important asset, and is key to economic and thus political power. And the patterns of land ownership across much of the world are highly unequal. In a country like Pakistan, for example, land ownership has tended to remain concentrated, and as a result, a small group of local elites has wielded power, no matter what the political system. When elections are held, often the candidate elected is a local landowner or someone financed by him. Even in India, the regions where democracy functions worst—the large northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar—are those places where land ownership resembles that same pattern.
The solution is land reform, an orderly redistribution of assets—most often to the farmers who have worked on the land for generations. The results speak for themselves. The United States pushed for land reform in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. All three ended up with functioning democratic systems. On the other hand, in Haiti, Cuba, the Philippines and Nicaragua, despite having the opportunity, America did not pursue land reform. The result is that in all those countries, establishing democracy has been a long, uphill battle.
Land reform has often been thought of as a socialist project. But it is really the opposite. Properly done, the process for the first time puts land—the largest asset in most societies—into the marketplace. Most feudal elites acquired their land by dubious—and decidedly nonmarket—means, usually coercion or royal grants. These feudals rarely used their thousands of acres efficiently, often leaving them fallow. Land reform has tended to give ownership of the land to its users, who most often farm it efficiently or sell it to someone who can. The reforms are crucial in converting a backward peasant society into a modern capitalist one, which then creates the basis for civil society and democracy.
Americans should understand the link between privately held land and freedom. The 1862 Homestead Act, which gave away 10 percent of the land in the United States, was premised on precisely this connection. And the eminent economist-activist Hernando de Soto has argued that the chief obstacle to development in the Third World is the unwillingness of feudal elites and governments to give full-fledged property rights to their tenants and farmers.
A call for land reform is not as stirring as one for freedom. It is not as easy to televise as elections. But in the end, it is what will actually make democracy take root in foreign soil.
One simple path to democracy is to hold elections. This has an obvious appeal. It legitimizes the political system, broadens participation and provides a simple answer to the question "Who should rule?" Holding elections is a defining feature of any liberal democracy. But it should not be the first step in building a democracy. Western societies went through centuries of modernization before they held elections. The Magna Carta, which first established limits on governmental power, preceded universal adult suffrage in Britain by about 800 years. It takes time to develop institutions of law and a civil society. Consider the problem of ethnic and sectarian strife, which is endemic to so many modern societies. If you hold elections in newly democratizing countries too fast, people will vote only according to their established ethnic, religious or racial identities— and that will undermine the creation of a genuine liberal democracy.
But if the simple solutions proposed by the right are not really that effective, neither are those suggested by the left. Foreign aid, for example, is not a panacea. More aid will not produce more democracy, or even better governance. Much of the history of foreign aid is one of good intentions leading to hellish situations—massive corruption and the entrenchment of near feudal elites. The early and successful transitions to democracy— in countries like Taiwan and South Korea in East Asia, and Chile in South America—were not the product of aid programs. There are certainly programs that have worked, many of them in medical and scientific areas. But while debt relief, new loans and grants are all worthwhile, how they are structured is absolutely crucial to their success. Otherwise, they can actually undermine the cause by giving foreign assistance a bad reputation.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
If there is a dominant obstacle to building democracy, one that seems to recur in country after country, it is feudalism. In most developing countries, land is the most important asset, and is key to economic and thus political power. And the patterns of land ownership across much of the world are highly unequal. In a country like Pakistan, for example, land ownership has tended to remain concentrated, and as a result, a small group of local elites has wielded power, no matter what the political system. When elections are held, often the candidate elected is a local landowner or someone financed by him. Even in India, the regions where democracy functions worst—the large northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar—are those places where land ownership resembles that same pattern.
The solution is land reform, an orderly redistribution of assets—most often to the farmers who have worked on the land for generations. The results speak for themselves. The United States pushed for land reform in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. All three ended up with functioning democratic systems. On the other hand, in Haiti, Cuba, the Philippines and Nicaragua, despite having the opportunity, America did not pursue land reform. The result is that in all those countries, establishing democracy has been a long, uphill battle.
Land reform has often been thought of as a socialist project. But it is really the opposite. Properly done, the process for the first time puts land—the largest asset in most societies—into the marketplace. Most feudal elites acquired their land by dubious—and decidedly nonmarket—means, usually coercion or royal grants. These feudals rarely used their thousands of acres efficiently, often leaving them fallow. Land reform has tended to give ownership of the land to its users, who most often farm it efficiently or sell it to someone who can. The reforms are crucial in converting a backward peasant society into a modern capitalist one, which then creates the basis for civil society and democracy.
Americans should understand the link between privately held land and freedom. The 1862 Homestead Act, which gave away 10 percent of the land in the United States, was premised on precisely this connection. And the eminent economist-activist Hernando de Soto has argued that the chief obstacle to development in the Third World is the unwillingness of feudal elites and governments to give full-fledged property rights to their tenants and farmers.
A call for land reform is not as stirring as one for freedom. It is not as easy to televise as elections. But in the end, it is what will actually make democracy take root in foreign soil.
Health - Stop the world from smoking
Michael Bloomberg
Every day around the world, tragedies occur that are entirely avoidable: siblings burying siblings, spouses burying spouses, and children burying parents—all of them dying before their time. What is the leading cause of these preventable deaths? Is it tuberculosis? AIDS? Malaria? Each receives a great deal of media coverage along with hundreds of millions of dollars in funding—and rightly so. But there is another deadly epidemic that kills more people than all three diseases combined, and until recently, it received almost no public attention: tobacco use.
Tobacco has become the world's leading cause of death. How many deaths are we talking about? Picture a college basketball arena filled to capacity. Roughly that many people—14,000— die every single day from smoking tobacco. If we do nothing, tobacco may kill 1 billion people by the end of this century.
But only if we do nothing.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
In New York, we have seen how effective anti-smoking programs can be. In 2002, I signed a law prohibiting smoking in all workplaces. There was a huge outcry, but then something happened: people loved it. Bars and restaurants saw their business increase. Waitresses kissed me and told me I had saved their lives. And pretty soon, cities and states around the country—along with England, Ireland, France, Italy and other countries with high rates of smoking—began passing similar laws. Along with the smoking ban, we raised cigarette taxes in New York, ran hard-hitting public-education campaigns and provided free nicotine patches. The result? After 10 years of seeing no decline in smoking, we've cut smoking rates by 21 percent—and we've cut teen smoking by more than 50 percent. There are 300,000 fewer smokers in New York City than there were six years ago.
While tobacco use is now declining in New York and some industrialized nations, though, it is growing in countries like Russia and Indonesia. More than 80 percent of tobacco deaths in the coming decades will be in developing countries, including China and India. But in talking to philanthropists and public-health experts, I realized that public-health dollars were tied up fighting other causes of death, and almost no funding existed for fighting tobacco.
Two years ago, I decided to change that. Building on an international tobacco-control treaty, I committed $125 million to a new global effort to reduce tobacco use (since raised to $375 million). Bill and Melinda Gates have joined this effort with their own $125 million commitment. And in partnership with the World Health Organization, we have developed a strategy called MPOWER, which includes six solutions that have been proved to save lives:
Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies. I always say, "If you can't measure a problem, you can't manage it." To determine the effectiveness of our efforts, it's essential to monitor which countries adopt which strategies—and how those policies affect smoking rates.
Protect people from second-hand smoke. Smoke-free environments are the only proven way to protect people—and as we have found in New York, they are popular, they improve health and they're good for business.
Offer to help people quit. Most smokers want to quit but find it hard to stop. Counseling and medicines—such as nicotine patches and gum—can triple the success rate.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
Warn about the dangers of tobacco. Despite clear scientific evidence, relatively few tobacco users fully appreciate the extent of the health risk. Together with hard-hitting ad campaigns, large graphic warnings on cigarette packs help smokers quit.
Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Such bans can help counter the billions of dollars the tobacco industry spends on marketing activities each year. Partial bans and voluntary restrictions have little or no effect.
Raise taxes on tobacco. This is the most effective single way to reduce smoking, particularly among the young. Besides creating a disincentive, these taxes generate the revenues needed to fund programs and advertising campaigns that help people quit.
Only 5 percent of the world's people are protected by any one of these strategies, and no country has fully implemented them all. But that is starting to change, thanks in part to the local groups we are supporting around the world, and to government officials who are beginning to stand up to the tobacco companies. From Mexico to Turkey to China, governments are starting to adopt MPOWER strategies.
Of course, the skeptics say that the problem of tobacco use is too culturally entrenched to solve. But part of taking on an entrenched problem—whether it's in health or education or public safety—involves challenging people's expectations of what is possible. As we know from our experience in New York City, when people accepted high crime rates, we had high crime rates. When people accepted low high-school graduation rates, we had low graduation rates. And when people accept high smoking rates, we get high smoking rates—and 5 million tobacco deaths a year. But it doesn't have to be that way! And if more people, community groups, international organizations and government officials take action to stop the world's leading cause of preventable death, it won't.
Fighting tobacco use is the single most effective way we can prevent premature deaths in the developing world. A billion lives hang in the balance.
Bloomberg is mayor of New York City.
Every day around the world, tragedies occur that are entirely avoidable: siblings burying siblings, spouses burying spouses, and children burying parents—all of them dying before their time. What is the leading cause of these preventable deaths? Is it tuberculosis? AIDS? Malaria? Each receives a great deal of media coverage along with hundreds of millions of dollars in funding—and rightly so. But there is another deadly epidemic that kills more people than all three diseases combined, and until recently, it received almost no public attention: tobacco use.
Tobacco has become the world's leading cause of death. How many deaths are we talking about? Picture a college basketball arena filled to capacity. Roughly that many people—14,000— die every single day from smoking tobacco. If we do nothing, tobacco may kill 1 billion people by the end of this century.
But only if we do nothing.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
In New York, we have seen how effective anti-smoking programs can be. In 2002, I signed a law prohibiting smoking in all workplaces. There was a huge outcry, but then something happened: people loved it. Bars and restaurants saw their business increase. Waitresses kissed me and told me I had saved their lives. And pretty soon, cities and states around the country—along with England, Ireland, France, Italy and other countries with high rates of smoking—began passing similar laws. Along with the smoking ban, we raised cigarette taxes in New York, ran hard-hitting public-education campaigns and provided free nicotine patches. The result? After 10 years of seeing no decline in smoking, we've cut smoking rates by 21 percent—and we've cut teen smoking by more than 50 percent. There are 300,000 fewer smokers in New York City than there were six years ago.
While tobacco use is now declining in New York and some industrialized nations, though, it is growing in countries like Russia and Indonesia. More than 80 percent of tobacco deaths in the coming decades will be in developing countries, including China and India. But in talking to philanthropists and public-health experts, I realized that public-health dollars were tied up fighting other causes of death, and almost no funding existed for fighting tobacco.
Two years ago, I decided to change that. Building on an international tobacco-control treaty, I committed $125 million to a new global effort to reduce tobacco use (since raised to $375 million). Bill and Melinda Gates have joined this effort with their own $125 million commitment. And in partnership with the World Health Organization, we have developed a strategy called MPOWER, which includes six solutions that have been proved to save lives:
Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies. I always say, "If you can't measure a problem, you can't manage it." To determine the effectiveness of our efforts, it's essential to monitor which countries adopt which strategies—and how those policies affect smoking rates.
Protect people from second-hand smoke. Smoke-free environments are the only proven way to protect people—and as we have found in New York, they are popular, they improve health and they're good for business.
Offer to help people quit. Most smokers want to quit but find it hard to stop. Counseling and medicines—such as nicotine patches and gum—can triple the success rate.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
Warn about the dangers of tobacco. Despite clear scientific evidence, relatively few tobacco users fully appreciate the extent of the health risk. Together with hard-hitting ad campaigns, large graphic warnings on cigarette packs help smokers quit.
Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Such bans can help counter the billions of dollars the tobacco industry spends on marketing activities each year. Partial bans and voluntary restrictions have little or no effect.
Raise taxes on tobacco. This is the most effective single way to reduce smoking, particularly among the young. Besides creating a disincentive, these taxes generate the revenues needed to fund programs and advertising campaigns that help people quit.
Only 5 percent of the world's people are protected by any one of these strategies, and no country has fully implemented them all. But that is starting to change, thanks in part to the local groups we are supporting around the world, and to government officials who are beginning to stand up to the tobacco companies. From Mexico to Turkey to China, governments are starting to adopt MPOWER strategies.
Of course, the skeptics say that the problem of tobacco use is too culturally entrenched to solve. But part of taking on an entrenched problem—whether it's in health or education or public safety—involves challenging people's expectations of what is possible. As we know from our experience in New York City, when people accepted high crime rates, we had high crime rates. When people accepted low high-school graduation rates, we had low graduation rates. And when people accept high smoking rates, we get high smoking rates—and 5 million tobacco deaths a year. But it doesn't have to be that way! And if more people, community groups, international organizations and government officials take action to stop the world's leading cause of preventable death, it won't.
Fighting tobacco use is the single most effective way we can prevent premature deaths in the developing world. A billion lives hang in the balance.
Bloomberg is mayor of New York City.
World - Feeding the 900 million;Let them Eat Micronutrients
Sharon Begley
There is a good but sobering reason why "ending world hunger" has been a perennial hope of beauty-pageant contestants at least since Miss America contestants began naming that as their greatest wish: we haven't come close to doing it. This year some 900 million people—including 178 million children under 5—are suffering from malnutrition, estimates the United Nations; every day 50,000 starve to death. As the world community scans the horizon for solutions to world hunger, it is seeing visions of amber fields of genetically modified grain. Just as the development of high-yielding rice and other crops created the green revolution of the 1960s and saved tens of millions of people from starvation, so genetically modified crops are the great hope of the 21st century.
GM crops, however, are likely to feed about as many people as Miss America. A new report by agriculture experts from 60 nations foresees "a limited role for biotech crops" in reducing world hunger. (Biotech companies withdrew from the project in protest.) The problems? Yields for GM varieties, in which genes for desirable traits are spliced into a plant's DNA, are unpredictable and often lower than high-yield varieties bred without genetic engineering. GM seeds, which are patent-protected, cost more than the poor can afford (high-yielding varieties of the 1960s green revolution are not patented). The know-how and conditions required to cultivate GM crops hardly exist in Africa or South Asia, the world's hunger hot spots, where farmers can't even eke out subsistence yields of ordinary crops.
Low-tech aid, not cutting-edge science, therefore has the best chance of both feeding the malnourished today and setting farmers on a path to growing enough to eat (and perhaps sell) tomorrow. The adage says giving a man a fish lets him eat today but giving him a fishing rod lets him eat every day; the 900 million need both fish and rods. The most beneficial and cost-effective immediate aid? Providing micronutrients—vitamins and minerals such as iodine, zinc and iron—to kids. The Copenhagen Consensus, a group of economists who take a hard-nosed look at the costs and benefits of a variety of save-the-world proposals, concluded in May that providing vitamin A and zinc supplements to malnourished infants and toddlers under 2 would cost $60 million annually. That would bring a return in lives saved, diseases averted and cognitive benefits gained of just over $1 billion. Providing iron and iodized salt would cost $286 million a year, with benefits of $2.7 billion. Doctors Without Borders is launching a campaign to provide a fortified supplement—it's a sort of spread—that is packed with the required nutrients and, crucially, does not require refrigeration.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
The embrace of micronutrients represents a radical change for food aid. "For the last 40 years, there has been very little effort to figure out what works and what doesn't, or to see how we can improve the effectiveness of food aid," says Buddhima Lokuge of Doctors Without Borders. What doesn't work? Providing malnourished children with blended wheat or corn flour, as donors still do, is a near disaster: the flours typically do not contain dairy compounds (they were dropped in the 1980s, when milk surpluses in donor countries dried up) but do include soy, which inhibits kids' ability to absorb nutrients such as zinc, explains Lokuge. Another fiasco is buying food at home, as U.S. law requires, rather than where the hungry live. "Half of what you spend on food for the needy goes to transport," says Raymond Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America, "so you can buy 50 percent less."
And for the fishing rod? In Africa, just 5 percent of the land that could grow high-yielding rice from the green revolution—a decades-old technology—is doing so. A big reason is soils so depleted they cannot sustain the high-yielding varieties. Fertilizer, which has soared in price in tandem with oil, is beyond the means of most subsistence farmers in Africa today. But here, too, there are low-tech answers. Planting nitrogen-fixing trees, a technique developed by the Earth Institute at Columbia University, supplies soils with that crucial nutrient. But to make it work, says Oxfam's Offenheiser, "you need institutions that provide agricultural extension services," agents who advise farmers on when and how to plant new high-yield seed varieties, and what kind of soil and how much fertilizer they require.
Such a program has worked in Sauri, Kenya, a "Millennium Village" where experts are trying to implement U.N. Millennium Development Goals, including halving the percentage of people suffering from malnutrition by 2015. In Sauri, maize production has soared from 1.9 tons per hectare in 2004 to 6.2 today. (In Africa overall, yields have barely budged in 50 years, remaining stuck at about 1 ton per hectare.) How much does that boost cost? In Sauri, which has 5,300 people, only $50,000, or about $10 per person a year. "The boost of farm productivity has very often been the deus ex machina that triggers the long-term growth process," economist Jeffrey Sachs, president of the institute, argues in his 2008 book "Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet." Hunger stands in the way of every other development goal: malnourished children can't learn, and starving adults can't work.
With Jeneen Interlandi
There is a good but sobering reason why "ending world hunger" has been a perennial hope of beauty-pageant contestants at least since Miss America contestants began naming that as their greatest wish: we haven't come close to doing it. This year some 900 million people—including 178 million children under 5—are suffering from malnutrition, estimates the United Nations; every day 50,000 starve to death. As the world community scans the horizon for solutions to world hunger, it is seeing visions of amber fields of genetically modified grain. Just as the development of high-yielding rice and other crops created the green revolution of the 1960s and saved tens of millions of people from starvation, so genetically modified crops are the great hope of the 21st century.
GM crops, however, are likely to feed about as many people as Miss America. A new report by agriculture experts from 60 nations foresees "a limited role for biotech crops" in reducing world hunger. (Biotech companies withdrew from the project in protest.) The problems? Yields for GM varieties, in which genes for desirable traits are spliced into a plant's DNA, are unpredictable and often lower than high-yield varieties bred without genetic engineering. GM seeds, which are patent-protected, cost more than the poor can afford (high-yielding varieties of the 1960s green revolution are not patented). The know-how and conditions required to cultivate GM crops hardly exist in Africa or South Asia, the world's hunger hot spots, where farmers can't even eke out subsistence yields of ordinary crops.
Low-tech aid, not cutting-edge science, therefore has the best chance of both feeding the malnourished today and setting farmers on a path to growing enough to eat (and perhaps sell) tomorrow. The adage says giving a man a fish lets him eat today but giving him a fishing rod lets him eat every day; the 900 million need both fish and rods. The most beneficial and cost-effective immediate aid? Providing micronutrients—vitamins and minerals such as iodine, zinc and iron—to kids. The Copenhagen Consensus, a group of economists who take a hard-nosed look at the costs and benefits of a variety of save-the-world proposals, concluded in May that providing vitamin A and zinc supplements to malnourished infants and toddlers under 2 would cost $60 million annually. That would bring a return in lives saved, diseases averted and cognitive benefits gained of just over $1 billion. Providing iron and iodized salt would cost $286 million a year, with benefits of $2.7 billion. Doctors Without Borders is launching a campaign to provide a fortified supplement—it's a sort of spread—that is packed with the required nutrients and, crucially, does not require refrigeration.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
The embrace of micronutrients represents a radical change for food aid. "For the last 40 years, there has been very little effort to figure out what works and what doesn't, or to see how we can improve the effectiveness of food aid," says Buddhima Lokuge of Doctors Without Borders. What doesn't work? Providing malnourished children with blended wheat or corn flour, as donors still do, is a near disaster: the flours typically do not contain dairy compounds (they were dropped in the 1980s, when milk surpluses in donor countries dried up) but do include soy, which inhibits kids' ability to absorb nutrients such as zinc, explains Lokuge. Another fiasco is buying food at home, as U.S. law requires, rather than where the hungry live. "Half of what you spend on food for the needy goes to transport," says Raymond Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America, "so you can buy 50 percent less."
And for the fishing rod? In Africa, just 5 percent of the land that could grow high-yielding rice from the green revolution—a decades-old technology—is doing so. A big reason is soils so depleted they cannot sustain the high-yielding varieties. Fertilizer, which has soared in price in tandem with oil, is beyond the means of most subsistence farmers in Africa today. But here, too, there are low-tech answers. Planting nitrogen-fixing trees, a technique developed by the Earth Institute at Columbia University, supplies soils with that crucial nutrient. But to make it work, says Oxfam's Offenheiser, "you need institutions that provide agricultural extension services," agents who advise farmers on when and how to plant new high-yield seed varieties, and what kind of soil and how much fertilizer they require.
Such a program has worked in Sauri, Kenya, a "Millennium Village" where experts are trying to implement U.N. Millennium Development Goals, including halving the percentage of people suffering from malnutrition by 2015. In Sauri, maize production has soared from 1.9 tons per hectare in 2004 to 6.2 today. (In Africa overall, yields have barely budged in 50 years, remaining stuck at about 1 ton per hectare.) How much does that boost cost? In Sauri, which has 5,300 people, only $50,000, or about $10 per person a year. "The boost of farm productivity has very often been the deus ex machina that triggers the long-term growth process," economist Jeffrey Sachs, president of the institute, argues in his 2008 book "Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet." Hunger stands in the way of every other development goal: malnourished children can't learn, and starving adults can't work.
With Jeneen Interlandi
World - India discovers homegrown Islamic terrorists
Jeremy Kahn
India is one of the world's most terror-prone countries, with a death toll second only to Iraq, according to a report last year by the National Counterterrorism Center in Washington. India is at constant war with separatists and Maoists rebels. But when it comes to Islamic extremism, New Delhi has always blamed foreign influence—usually Pakistan's. With reason: the militants fighting for Kashmir's independence have extensive links to Pakistan or Bangladesh, where they've set up camps and been nurtured by local intelligence services.
Now that picture may be changing. Shortly before dusk on Sept. 13, Indian news organizations got an e-mail warning that "to dreadfully terrorize you, we are about to devastate your very first metropolitan center." Around the same time, a bomb ripped through a popular marketplace in New Delhi. Within the next hour, four more explosions hit other crowded markets, killing 24 and wounding more than 100. Three more bombs were also located and defused.
The message claimed the attacks were the work of the Indian Mujahedin (IM): a terrorist group unheard of before November 2007, when it took credit for coordinated bombings in three northern cities. The group also claimed responsibility for lethal attacks in Jaipur in May and Ahmadabad in July, and it's suspected of a similar attack in Bangalore. When the IM first appeared, experts thought it was just a front for one of India's known, foreign-sponsored terrorist outfits. But that view has since shifted, and many Indians now fear their country is developing its own, homegrown Islamic terror problem—and that jihadists are finding more and more recruits among the nation's 140 million Muslims.
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The IM's "command-and-control seems to be totally local," says Bahukutumbi Raman, a former top official with India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), New Delhi's foreign-intelligence branch. So are its grievances, he argues. In e-mails to the Indian media, the IM has denounced the country's discrimination against its Muslim minority and expressed its desire to avenge the 2002 anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat and the destruction of a 16th-century mosque by Hindu fanatics in 1992. After the July Ahmadabad attack, the IM insist-ed that the operation was "planned and executed by Indians only," and it urged Pakistan-linked groups not to claim responsibility for it. The IM never even mentioned Kashmir—the central concern of most foreign-linked terrorists—until this month's e-mail.
More ominous, perhaps, is the fact that several people arrested after the Ahmadabad blasts reportedly told authorities they'd attended paramilitary camps in India—not in Pakistan or Bangladesh. Authorities now fear these camps, in the remote forests of Kerala (in India's southwest), and in Madhya Pradesh (in India's heartland), have trained hundreds of radicalized Indians in the past few years.
The exact nature of the IM remains an enigma, however. Most of those arrested are members of the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), a radical group formed in the late 1970s that advocates turning the country into an Islamic state. The government banned SIMI in 2001 for alleged links to terrorism. But in August a Delhi court ruled the government had failed to prove its case.
Now some experts, including Ajai Sahni of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi, think the IM is a SIMI front that lets SIMI appear nonviolent while secretly using the group as its military wing. They note that this bifurcated structure worked well for other outfits like the PLO, which created the front group Black September in the early 1970s to distance itself from terrorism in Europe.
But not everyone buys the SIMI theory—including the Western intelligence agencies helping the Indian government investigate the attacks. One Western official in New Delhi noted that the Indians have pointed the finger at "the usual suspects" and arrested SIMI activists, but the attacks have continued—suggesting the IM may in fact be a new homegrown group.
The idea that India's Muslims may be radicalizing taps into one of the government's worst nightmares. India's Muslims have historically rejected extreme forms of Islam. But according to a 2006 report, Muslims trail almost every other Indian community in terms of social, economic and educational development, and this could be feeding extremism. Yet New Delhi, fearful of stoking communal animosities, has been loath to acknowledge the growing radicalization. Instead, it has typically blamed attacks on foreign sponsors—and even now has been slow to acknowledge the emergence of purely homegrown Islamic terrorism. Meanwhile, the IM is still out there, perhaps composing the next menacing e-mail.
India is one of the world's most terror-prone countries, with a death toll second only to Iraq, according to a report last year by the National Counterterrorism Center in Washington. India is at constant war with separatists and Maoists rebels. But when it comes to Islamic extremism, New Delhi has always blamed foreign influence—usually Pakistan's. With reason: the militants fighting for Kashmir's independence have extensive links to Pakistan or Bangladesh, where they've set up camps and been nurtured by local intelligence services.
Now that picture may be changing. Shortly before dusk on Sept. 13, Indian news organizations got an e-mail warning that "to dreadfully terrorize you, we are about to devastate your very first metropolitan center." Around the same time, a bomb ripped through a popular marketplace in New Delhi. Within the next hour, four more explosions hit other crowded markets, killing 24 and wounding more than 100. Three more bombs were also located and defused.
The message claimed the attacks were the work of the Indian Mujahedin (IM): a terrorist group unheard of before November 2007, when it took credit for coordinated bombings in three northern cities. The group also claimed responsibility for lethal attacks in Jaipur in May and Ahmadabad in July, and it's suspected of a similar attack in Bangalore. When the IM first appeared, experts thought it was just a front for one of India's known, foreign-sponsored terrorist outfits. But that view has since shifted, and many Indians now fear their country is developing its own, homegrown Islamic terror problem—and that jihadists are finding more and more recruits among the nation's 140 million Muslims.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
The IM's "command-and-control seems to be totally local," says Bahukutumbi Raman, a former top official with India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), New Delhi's foreign-intelligence branch. So are its grievances, he argues. In e-mails to the Indian media, the IM has denounced the country's discrimination against its Muslim minority and expressed its desire to avenge the 2002 anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat and the destruction of a 16th-century mosque by Hindu fanatics in 1992. After the July Ahmadabad attack, the IM insist-ed that the operation was "planned and executed by Indians only," and it urged Pakistan-linked groups not to claim responsibility for it. The IM never even mentioned Kashmir—the central concern of most foreign-linked terrorists—until this month's e-mail.
More ominous, perhaps, is the fact that several people arrested after the Ahmadabad blasts reportedly told authorities they'd attended paramilitary camps in India—not in Pakistan or Bangladesh. Authorities now fear these camps, in the remote forests of Kerala (in India's southwest), and in Madhya Pradesh (in India's heartland), have trained hundreds of radicalized Indians in the past few years.
The exact nature of the IM remains an enigma, however. Most of those arrested are members of the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), a radical group formed in the late 1970s that advocates turning the country into an Islamic state. The government banned SIMI in 2001 for alleged links to terrorism. But in August a Delhi court ruled the government had failed to prove its case.
Now some experts, including Ajai Sahni of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi, think the IM is a SIMI front that lets SIMI appear nonviolent while secretly using the group as its military wing. They note that this bifurcated structure worked well for other outfits like the PLO, which created the front group Black September in the early 1970s to distance itself from terrorism in Europe.
But not everyone buys the SIMI theory—including the Western intelligence agencies helping the Indian government investigate the attacks. One Western official in New Delhi noted that the Indians have pointed the finger at "the usual suspects" and arrested SIMI activists, but the attacks have continued—suggesting the IM may in fact be a new homegrown group.
The idea that India's Muslims may be radicalizing taps into one of the government's worst nightmares. India's Muslims have historically rejected extreme forms of Islam. But according to a 2006 report, Muslims trail almost every other Indian community in terms of social, economic and educational development, and this could be feeding extremism. Yet New Delhi, fearful of stoking communal animosities, has been loath to acknowledge the growing radicalization. Instead, it has typically blamed attacks on foreign sponsors—and even now has been slow to acknowledge the emergence of purely homegrown Islamic terrorism. Meanwhile, the IM is still out there, perhaps composing the next menacing e-mail.
Lifestyle - US;No 'Epidemic' of Teen Oral sex
Raina Kelley
Is it true, as Oprah Winfrey said in 2003, that there is an "oral-sex epidemic" among America's teenagers? Ever since stories emerged in The New York Times and USA Today about the supposed occurrence of "rainbow parties," at which girls put on different shades of lipstick and give oral sex to a group of boys (producing the "rainbow"), there has been an acute interest in and questions about the sexual behavior of teens. But despite all the concerns, no one seemed to ask if the epidemic really existed. Researchers from the Guttmacher Institute have done the first national study of teenagers and noncoital sexual activity and have found that while over half of 15-to-19-year-olds have engaged in oral sex, they do not appear to be substituting oral sex for intercourse, nor are they commonly having oral sex with multiple partners. NEWSWEEK's Raina Kelley spoke to study coauthor Rachel Jones about why the myth has persisted.
NEWSWEEK: Precisely what did your study find? Rachel Jones: Contrary to popular perception, large numbers of teens are not substituting oral sex [or anal sex] for vaginal sex [in order to] maintain their technical virginity.
What was the impetus to do this study? There seemed to be all these media reports sensationalizing rapidly rising rates of oral sex among adolescents ... so we wanted to look at the numbers to see if it was actually true.
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Why did the public think teenagers were substituting noncoital sexual activity for vaginal sex? Were they, in fact, simply having this kind of sexual activity in larger numbers?We really think it was just because of these anecdotal media reports--it [so-called rainbow parties] does occur; but it's not as common as we think. If we hear that some teens are doing it, people start to think that all teens are doing it.
Do you think that pressure to stay abstinent created an atmosphere where we believed teens' sexual patterns had changed in response?All we basically had were anecdotal reports and studies going back a couple of decades showing that teens believed that you could have anal sex and still be a virgin when you get married. In my experience doing this kind of research, the idea of abstinence and teenage sexuality is something that naturally gets sensationalized. And adults tend to pay more attention to the anecdotes rather than the facts.
Who did you survey to get your results?We looked at the government's National Survey of Family Growth from 2002. It is the first and only nationally representative study of sex among male and female adolescents. It looked at 2,271 females and males aged 15-19. In earlier research, studies of oral sex among teens tended to be within one gender or one school or one school district or a convenient sample [such as a health clinic or after-school group].
How well do you think these numbers from 2002 correlate with what's happening with teens now? The government's National Survey of Family Growth from 2006 is being processed in this coming year. So I can't say; but if I had to make an educated guess, there probably hasn't been much change. We compared the numbers from 2002 to other studies going back to 1991, and the numbers have remained very consistent.
How truthful do you think these teens are and do you think using the computer-assisted self-administered interviews helped elicit more truthful answers?As a social scientist, I think most people are honest under these kinds of circumstances--they have nothing to gain by lying, especially when the most sensitive questions [regarding age of onset and frequency of oral and anal sex and number of partners] were anonymous and confidential. Plus, the people that administer these tests are very skilled and sensitive about asking kids these kinds of questions without judgment.
How does your study show that kids aren't actually substituting noncoital sexual activity for vaginal sex? We found that while 87 percent of nonvirgin teens have had oral sex, only 23 percent of virgins had. Plus we discovered that adolescents who disagreed with the statement that sex at 18 is OK were significantly less likely to have engaged in noncoital sex: they just weren't having the same amount of oral sex that sexually active teens were having.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
You also found that most virgins who had oral sex have only had one sexual partner (and only 8 percent reporting four or more). And that again suggests that teens aren't having serial oral sex. While adolescents who had engaged in both oral and vaginal sex were most likely to have four or more lifetime partners--which suggests that oral and vaginal sex are closely related in teens' minds and sexual history and we need to study that further.
You and your coauthor say that a better understanding of noncoital activities among teens is needed--why? The most important reason is that 1 in 10 teenagers has had anal sex. That's not a sizable number, but it's still significant [though data shows little change in the numbers of teens participating in anal sex since 1991], they need to understand the risks of sexually transmitted diseases that go along with this kind of behavior and the risks related to all noncoital sexual activity. It's important to know for a fact what teens are doing so we can adequately prepare them to protect themselves from STDs.
Is it true, as Oprah Winfrey said in 2003, that there is an "oral-sex epidemic" among America's teenagers? Ever since stories emerged in The New York Times and USA Today about the supposed occurrence of "rainbow parties," at which girls put on different shades of lipstick and give oral sex to a group of boys (producing the "rainbow"), there has been an acute interest in and questions about the sexual behavior of teens. But despite all the concerns, no one seemed to ask if the epidemic really existed. Researchers from the Guttmacher Institute have done the first national study of teenagers and noncoital sexual activity and have found that while over half of 15-to-19-year-olds have engaged in oral sex, they do not appear to be substituting oral sex for intercourse, nor are they commonly having oral sex with multiple partners. NEWSWEEK's Raina Kelley spoke to study coauthor Rachel Jones about why the myth has persisted.
NEWSWEEK: Precisely what did your study find? Rachel Jones: Contrary to popular perception, large numbers of teens are not substituting oral sex [or anal sex] for vaginal sex [in order to] maintain their technical virginity.
What was the impetus to do this study? There seemed to be all these media reports sensationalizing rapidly rising rates of oral sex among adolescents ... so we wanted to look at the numbers to see if it was actually true.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
Why did the public think teenagers were substituting noncoital sexual activity for vaginal sex? Were they, in fact, simply having this kind of sexual activity in larger numbers?We really think it was just because of these anecdotal media reports--it [so-called rainbow parties] does occur; but it's not as common as we think. If we hear that some teens are doing it, people start to think that all teens are doing it.
Do you think that pressure to stay abstinent created an atmosphere where we believed teens' sexual patterns had changed in response?All we basically had were anecdotal reports and studies going back a couple of decades showing that teens believed that you could have anal sex and still be a virgin when you get married. In my experience doing this kind of research, the idea of abstinence and teenage sexuality is something that naturally gets sensationalized. And adults tend to pay more attention to the anecdotes rather than the facts.
Who did you survey to get your results?We looked at the government's National Survey of Family Growth from 2002. It is the first and only nationally representative study of sex among male and female adolescents. It looked at 2,271 females and males aged 15-19. In earlier research, studies of oral sex among teens tended to be within one gender or one school or one school district or a convenient sample [such as a health clinic or after-school group].
How well do you think these numbers from 2002 correlate with what's happening with teens now? The government's National Survey of Family Growth from 2006 is being processed in this coming year. So I can't say; but if I had to make an educated guess, there probably hasn't been much change. We compared the numbers from 2002 to other studies going back to 1991, and the numbers have remained very consistent.
How truthful do you think these teens are and do you think using the computer-assisted self-administered interviews helped elicit more truthful answers?As a social scientist, I think most people are honest under these kinds of circumstances--they have nothing to gain by lying, especially when the most sensitive questions [regarding age of onset and frequency of oral and anal sex and number of partners] were anonymous and confidential. Plus, the people that administer these tests are very skilled and sensitive about asking kids these kinds of questions without judgment.
How does your study show that kids aren't actually substituting noncoital sexual activity for vaginal sex? We found that while 87 percent of nonvirgin teens have had oral sex, only 23 percent of virgins had. Plus we discovered that adolescents who disagreed with the statement that sex at 18 is OK were significantly less likely to have engaged in noncoital sex: they just weren't having the same amount of oral sex that sexually active teens were having.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
You also found that most virgins who had oral sex have only had one sexual partner (and only 8 percent reporting four or more). And that again suggests that teens aren't having serial oral sex. While adolescents who had engaged in both oral and vaginal sex were most likely to have four or more lifetime partners--which suggests that oral and vaginal sex are closely related in teens' minds and sexual history and we need to study that further.
You and your coauthor say that a better understanding of noncoital activities among teens is needed--why? The most important reason is that 1 in 10 teenagers has had anal sex. That's not a sizable number, but it's still significant [though data shows little change in the numbers of teens participating in anal sex since 1991], they need to understand the risks of sexually transmitted diseases that go along with this kind of behavior and the risks related to all noncoital sexual activity. It's important to know for a fact what teens are doing so we can adequately prepare them to protect themselves from STDs.
World - Don't reject the Nuclear Deal (G.Read)
Philip Gordon
More than three years after it was first negotiated, the U.S.-India nuclear deal has at last been sent to the U.S. Congress for approval. The agreement is the final stage in a process designed to let Washington provide New Delhi with the civil nuclear technology and fuel that the latter has been denied ever since it first tested a nuclear weapon in 1974. Every hurdle facing the deal—approval by the fractious Indian parliament, the hammering out of a "safeguards agreement" with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and approval by the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group—has been cleared save this one. U.S. legislators are the only remaining barrier to greater U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation.
Congressional opponents of the deal—echoing the arguments of many arms-control experts and some leading U.S. editorial pages—passionately insist that the pact brings little value and will blow a hole in the nuclear nonproliferation regime by authorizing nuclear trade with India without requiring that New Delhi abandon its nuclear weapons or forego testing them. But in fact, while hardly perfect, the deal has major advantages and limited downsides, and its rejection by the U.S. Congress could actually undermine the nonproliferation cause by transforming India from an emerging strategic partner into a resentful victim of what it sees as Western double standards.
Washington should remember that whatever it does, the Indians have no intention of giving up the limited nuclear deterrent they've possessed since 1974. Barring a global deal on nuclear disarmament—which India, unlike most declared nuclear-weapons states, actually supports—New Delhi will maintain its weapons and has both the technology and the natural resources (uranium) to do so on its own. The issue is therefore not whether the world is going to allow India to keep its bombs, but whether the United States and India are going to reap the considerable advantages the pact would offer. The Indian economy would benefit from the easing of restrictions on dual-use goods, while U.S. companies would get to enter India's nuclear-energy market. Promoting civil nuclear energy in India as a clean alternative to coal and oil would also help fight climate change. As for the issue of weapons testing—the main concern of the deal's opponents—the reality is that New Delhi is more likely to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty voluntarily if it feels like its being respected than if Washington tries to make the treaty a condition for nuclear cooperation.
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Congress's passage of the agreement would also be a major boon to America's burgeoning strategic relationship with India, a rising global power. In a world where nations pursue their interests first and foremost, one shouldn't overestimate the gratitude New Delhi will feel toward Washington, or the impact this will have on policy. That said, it would also be a mistake to underestimate the degree to which Indians appreciate the Bush administration's efforts to end what Indians see as deeply unjust nuclear constraints that have been imposed on them. On a mid-September trip to New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, the vast majority of Indians I spoke to voiced real gratitude for Washington's recognition of their democratic system, growing power, and good nonproliferation track record for more than 30 years. They will not soon forget the outcome of this vote, whichever way it goes.
Rejecting the deal at this point would have the ironic effect of isolating not India but the United States. With the Nuclear Suppliers Group already having voted, at U.S. behest, to lift its restrictions on civil nuclear trade with India, a Congressional rejection of the agreement now, would not end such trade but only deny U.S. firms the opportunity to participate in it—to the great advantage of Russian and French competitors. The only way to change that would be to go back to the NSG and try to persuade it to reverse its recent agreement—a move that would not only almost certainly fail, but also undermine the goal of improving U.S.-India relations.
Opponents of the deal insist that its approval would send the wrong message to other countries that are currently threatening the nuclear nonproliferation regime, such as Iran. In fact, the deal does not signal international indifference to proliferation. The pact shows that the international community is prepared to distinguish between countries that abide by, and are increasing cooperation with, the nuclear nonproliferation regime—like India—and those that defy it. Washington will also be better placed to solicit New Delhi's cooperation in efforts to contain Iran if the United States consolidates its strategic relationship with India, than it would be if Congress rejected the deal. Walking away now would only revive all the old Indian complaints about "nuclear apartheid" and encourage Indian solidarity with Iran.
In an ideal world, rejection of the nuclear deal would preserve the sanctity of the nuclear nonproliferation regime and make the world a safer place. In the world we live in, however, it would do little to prevent nonproliferation and significantly harm India, the United States, and their ability to do good things together.
GORDON is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
More than three years after it was first negotiated, the U.S.-India nuclear deal has at last been sent to the U.S. Congress for approval. The agreement is the final stage in a process designed to let Washington provide New Delhi with the civil nuclear technology and fuel that the latter has been denied ever since it first tested a nuclear weapon in 1974. Every hurdle facing the deal—approval by the fractious Indian parliament, the hammering out of a "safeguards agreement" with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and approval by the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group—has been cleared save this one. U.S. legislators are the only remaining barrier to greater U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation.
Congressional opponents of the deal—echoing the arguments of many arms-control experts and some leading U.S. editorial pages—passionately insist that the pact brings little value and will blow a hole in the nuclear nonproliferation regime by authorizing nuclear trade with India without requiring that New Delhi abandon its nuclear weapons or forego testing them. But in fact, while hardly perfect, the deal has major advantages and limited downsides, and its rejection by the U.S. Congress could actually undermine the nonproliferation cause by transforming India from an emerging strategic partner into a resentful victim of what it sees as Western double standards.
Washington should remember that whatever it does, the Indians have no intention of giving up the limited nuclear deterrent they've possessed since 1974. Barring a global deal on nuclear disarmament—which India, unlike most declared nuclear-weapons states, actually supports—New Delhi will maintain its weapons and has both the technology and the natural resources (uranium) to do so on its own. The issue is therefore not whether the world is going to allow India to keep its bombs, but whether the United States and India are going to reap the considerable advantages the pact would offer. The Indian economy would benefit from the easing of restrictions on dual-use goods, while U.S. companies would get to enter India's nuclear-energy market. Promoting civil nuclear energy in India as a clean alternative to coal and oil would also help fight climate change. As for the issue of weapons testing—the main concern of the deal's opponents—the reality is that New Delhi is more likely to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty voluntarily if it feels like its being respected than if Washington tries to make the treaty a condition for nuclear cooperation.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
Congress's passage of the agreement would also be a major boon to America's burgeoning strategic relationship with India, a rising global power. In a world where nations pursue their interests first and foremost, one shouldn't overestimate the gratitude New Delhi will feel toward Washington, or the impact this will have on policy. That said, it would also be a mistake to underestimate the degree to which Indians appreciate the Bush administration's efforts to end what Indians see as deeply unjust nuclear constraints that have been imposed on them. On a mid-September trip to New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, the vast majority of Indians I spoke to voiced real gratitude for Washington's recognition of their democratic system, growing power, and good nonproliferation track record for more than 30 years. They will not soon forget the outcome of this vote, whichever way it goes.
Rejecting the deal at this point would have the ironic effect of isolating not India but the United States. With the Nuclear Suppliers Group already having voted, at U.S. behest, to lift its restrictions on civil nuclear trade with India, a Congressional rejection of the agreement now, would not end such trade but only deny U.S. firms the opportunity to participate in it—to the great advantage of Russian and French competitors. The only way to change that would be to go back to the NSG and try to persuade it to reverse its recent agreement—a move that would not only almost certainly fail, but also undermine the goal of improving U.S.-India relations.
Opponents of the deal insist that its approval would send the wrong message to other countries that are currently threatening the nuclear nonproliferation regime, such as Iran. In fact, the deal does not signal international indifference to proliferation. The pact shows that the international community is prepared to distinguish between countries that abide by, and are increasing cooperation with, the nuclear nonproliferation regime—like India—and those that defy it. Washington will also be better placed to solicit New Delhi's cooperation in efforts to contain Iran if the United States consolidates its strategic relationship with India, than it would be if Congress rejected the deal. Walking away now would only revive all the old Indian complaints about "nuclear apartheid" and encourage Indian solidarity with Iran.
In an ideal world, rejection of the nuclear deal would preserve the sanctity of the nuclear nonproliferation regime and make the world a safer place. In the world we live in, however, it would do little to prevent nonproliferation and significantly harm India, the United States, and their ability to do good things together.
GORDON is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Lifestyle - Despite Livni's rise,Sexism alive in Israel
Kevin Peraino
To Israelis, all the fuss across the ocean about lipstick and pigs seems a little passé. Golda Meir, after all, cracked the Jewish state's glass ceiling some 35 years ago. For the past couple of years, Tzipi Livni, a former Mossad agent turned lawyer, has been running Israeli foreign policy. Now that she won her party's primary last week, she's poised to take over as premier. If she manages to cobble together a coalition, all three branches of Israel's government will be led by women: Dalia Itzik became Israel's first female Speaker of Parliament in 2006 and Dorit Beinisch heads the Supreme Court.
At first glance, the Jewish state's top political echelons might look like an egalitarian paradise—especially in the male-dominated Middle East. But the initial impression is misleading. "It's an optical illusion," says Israeli historian Tom Segev. "It doesn't really reflect any deeper change in the society." A rough-and-tumble frontier mentality has long shaped Israeli gender relations. "It's still a very macho society," says Segev. On average, only 8 percent of the seats in Middle Eastern parliaments are held by women, according to a recent U.N. report.
What about Golda? Though Meir is revered in the United States (she grew up in Milwaukee and Denver), she doesn't enjoy a particularly stellar reputation in the Levant. Among Israelis, Meir is often blamed for failing to avert the Yom Kippur war, which erupted in 1973. Candidates for high office tend to avoid comparisons to Israel's "Iron Lady," even if they respect her toughness. Livni, who was raised in a staunchly right-wing family, has said she didn't grow up with strong role models. "I certainly did not admire Golda," she told a local newspaper.
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Israeli culture can also be slightly schizophrenic. Tel Aviv may tilt toward equal rights, but conservative Jerusalem is still heavily influenced by religious parties. Ultra-orthodox newspapers, which typically don't publish pictures of women, refuse even to print Livni's photograph. Livni, 50, would probably ordinarily laugh off the policy except that Haredi voters comprise a growing portion of the electorate, up to 15 percent. Livni will likely need to depend on the support of even small religious parties if she expects to form a governing coalition.
Even some of Israel's mainstream talking heads have been known to dismiss Livni with the kind of sexist cracks that would raise hackles in the United States. Labor Party head Ehud Barak snarkily refers to Livni by her full name—Tzipora—which means bird in Hebrew. One Israeli newspaper columnist, Sima Kadmon, wrote that Livni "lacked balls." Another dismissed her as "the prettiest girl in kindergarten." Just after Livni won the Kadima Party primary, Barak arranged to meet first with Benjamin Netanyahu—a maneuver that infuriated Livni's camp. "What they're doing is chauvinism," one Livni adviser griped to the Israeli Web site Ynet, adding that "two men are getting together in order to screw the meidele"—a Yiddish word for "young girl." For Golda Meir's successors, maybe that glass ceiling isn't entirely shattered just yet.
With Joanna Chen
To Israelis, all the fuss across the ocean about lipstick and pigs seems a little passé. Golda Meir, after all, cracked the Jewish state's glass ceiling some 35 years ago. For the past couple of years, Tzipi Livni, a former Mossad agent turned lawyer, has been running Israeli foreign policy. Now that she won her party's primary last week, she's poised to take over as premier. If she manages to cobble together a coalition, all three branches of Israel's government will be led by women: Dalia Itzik became Israel's first female Speaker of Parliament in 2006 and Dorit Beinisch heads the Supreme Court.
At first glance, the Jewish state's top political echelons might look like an egalitarian paradise—especially in the male-dominated Middle East. But the initial impression is misleading. "It's an optical illusion," says Israeli historian Tom Segev. "It doesn't really reflect any deeper change in the society." A rough-and-tumble frontier mentality has long shaped Israeli gender relations. "It's still a very macho society," says Segev. On average, only 8 percent of the seats in Middle Eastern parliaments are held by women, according to a recent U.N. report.
What about Golda? Though Meir is revered in the United States (she grew up in Milwaukee and Denver), she doesn't enjoy a particularly stellar reputation in the Levant. Among Israelis, Meir is often blamed for failing to avert the Yom Kippur war, which erupted in 1973. Candidates for high office tend to avoid comparisons to Israel's "Iron Lady," even if they respect her toughness. Livni, who was raised in a staunchly right-wing family, has said she didn't grow up with strong role models. "I certainly did not admire Golda," she told a local newspaper.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
Israeli culture can also be slightly schizophrenic. Tel Aviv may tilt toward equal rights, but conservative Jerusalem is still heavily influenced by religious parties. Ultra-orthodox newspapers, which typically don't publish pictures of women, refuse even to print Livni's photograph. Livni, 50, would probably ordinarily laugh off the policy except that Haredi voters comprise a growing portion of the electorate, up to 15 percent. Livni will likely need to depend on the support of even small religious parties if she expects to form a governing coalition.
Even some of Israel's mainstream talking heads have been known to dismiss Livni with the kind of sexist cracks that would raise hackles in the United States. Labor Party head Ehud Barak snarkily refers to Livni by her full name—Tzipora—which means bird in Hebrew. One Israeli newspaper columnist, Sima Kadmon, wrote that Livni "lacked balls." Another dismissed her as "the prettiest girl in kindergarten." Just after Livni won the Kadima Party primary, Barak arranged to meet first with Benjamin Netanyahu—a maneuver that infuriated Livni's camp. "What they're doing is chauvinism," one Livni adviser griped to the Israeli Web site Ynet, adding that "two men are getting together in order to screw the meidele"—a Yiddish word for "young girl." For Golda Meir's successors, maybe that glass ceiling isn't entirely shattered just yet.
With Joanna Chen
World - Iran Nukes;Out of Reach
Dan Ephron
It wasn't an official military assessment, but retired Gen. John Abizaid's remarks at a Marine Corps University conference last week appeared to echo the thinking of at least some in the upper echelons of the U.S. military: Israel is incapable of seriously damaging Iran's nuclear program. Abizaid, who oversaw military operations in the Middle East as head of U.S. Central Command until 18 months ago, caused a stir last year by publicly asserting the United States could live with a nuclear-armed Iran through a strategy of cold-war-style deterrence. Last week, when asked to reflect on the possible consequences of an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, Abizaid said he doubted whether "the Israelis have the capability to make a lasting impression on the Iranian nuclear program with their military capabilities." An Israel–Iran confrontation, he said, would be "bad for the region, bad for the United States [and would] ultimately move the region into an even more unstable situation."
Israel believes Tehran might be within a year of crossing the uranium-enrichment threshold and has made clear it would not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. (Iran says its program is peaceful.) A year ago, Israel sent warplanes to Syria to destroy what it believed to be a budding nuclear facility. But according to several officers and Pentagon analysts who spoke to NEWSWEEK, the U.S. military thinks Israel would face huge challenges in reaching Iran, refueling its warplanes along the way and penetrating hardened nuclear targets. Earlier this month, the United States agreed to sell Israel 1,000 small-diameter bombs known as GBU-39s, capable of piercing several feet of concrete—an arms deal that analysts believe is linked to the Iran issue. But a spokesman for Boeing, which makes the bombs, estimated that they would not be delivered before 2010. And thus far, according to a source familiar with talks between the two countries, the United States has not granted Israel's request for additional equipment. That order from the Israelis, said one Pentagon analyst who monitors the Middle East and did not want to be named discussing sensitive issues, reinforces the notion that its military does not have the means to conduct a large-scale attack.
It wasn't an official military assessment, but retired Gen. John Abizaid's remarks at a Marine Corps University conference last week appeared to echo the thinking of at least some in the upper echelons of the U.S. military: Israel is incapable of seriously damaging Iran's nuclear program. Abizaid, who oversaw military operations in the Middle East as head of U.S. Central Command until 18 months ago, caused a stir last year by publicly asserting the United States could live with a nuclear-armed Iran through a strategy of cold-war-style deterrence. Last week, when asked to reflect on the possible consequences of an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, Abizaid said he doubted whether "the Israelis have the capability to make a lasting impression on the Iranian nuclear program with their military capabilities." An Israel–Iran confrontation, he said, would be "bad for the region, bad for the United States [and would] ultimately move the region into an even more unstable situation."
Israel believes Tehran might be within a year of crossing the uranium-enrichment threshold and has made clear it would not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. (Iran says its program is peaceful.) A year ago, Israel sent warplanes to Syria to destroy what it believed to be a budding nuclear facility. But according to several officers and Pentagon analysts who spoke to NEWSWEEK, the U.S. military thinks Israel would face huge challenges in reaching Iran, refueling its warplanes along the way and penetrating hardened nuclear targets. Earlier this month, the United States agreed to sell Israel 1,000 small-diameter bombs known as GBU-39s, capable of piercing several feet of concrete—an arms deal that analysts believe is linked to the Iran issue. But a spokesman for Boeing, which makes the bombs, estimated that they would not be delivered before 2010. And thus far, according to a source familiar with talks between the two countries, the United States has not granted Israel's request for additional equipment. That order from the Israelis, said one Pentagon analyst who monitors the Middle East and did not want to be named discussing sensitive issues, reinforces the notion that its military does not have the means to conduct a large-scale attack.
Health - US; Tracking changes in who gets abortions & why
Charles Krupa
Abortion rates have dropped steadily since the 1980s, from a peak of 29.3 abortions per 1,000 women in 1981 to 19.4 in 2005. But behind this general decrease are striking changes in the demographics of abortion. Compared to 30 years ago, women having abortions today are older and more likely to be mothers and minorities, according to a study released Tuesday by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Guttmacher Institute.
The study looked at trends in abortion since 1974, the year after the Supreme Court passed Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion in the United States. What researchers found is contrary to what pop culture phenoms, from "Juno" to Jamie Lynn Spears, might suggest: Teenagers are not the most likely to confront this issue, twenty-somethings are. "We're aware that, today, most of the women having abortions are moms struggling to take care of the children they already have," says Rachel Jones, senior research associate at the institute.
In fact, teens saw a bigger drop in abortion rate than any other demographic over the past 30 years. From 1974 to 1989, women aged 18-19 had the highest abortion rate among all age groups, varying from 32 to 62 per 1,000 women. In 2004, the latest year for which data is available, the abortion rate was 20.5. "We've done a great job educating kids about the risks of sexual behavior and proper contraceptive use," says Jones. So it's not the kids that researchers are most worried about--it's the age groups above them.
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But the news isn't all good. While the teen abortion rate has declined by nearly 30 percent, the rate for women ages 20-24 is almost 10 points higher than it was in 1974. (In that group, rates hit 30.4 abortions per 1,000 women in 1974, spiking to 53.8 in 1989 and declining to 39.9 in 2004.) Women in the next age group, ages 25-29, follow a similar pattern, with a spike in the '80s and a decline in recent years. So while it's encouraging that abortion rates among 20- to 29-year-olds have been steadily declining since the late 1980s, those decreases have been much smaller than those among teenagers, and they still have not brought the abortion rate down to low levels of the 1970s.
Researchers cannot fully explain the reasons behind this trend. Some think it indicates a kind of oversight: Public health initiatives have focused on reducing pregnancy and abortions among teenagers but haven't put as much thought into how to educate older groups. Teenagers, after all, do seem like the most vulnerable group. Millions of dollars have been poured into programs to educate teenagers about safe sex and contraceptives. By most accounts, those efforts have been fairly successful in targeting and changing the sexual health habits of teens. Centers for Disease Control statistics show teenage contraceptive use to have gone up noticeably between 1995 and 2005. The decline in abortion rates among teens mirrors a decline in teen pregnancies--from 107 for every 1,000 teenagers ages 15-19 in 1982, to 75 per 1,000 teenagers in 2002 (the most recent year for which data is available).
But once they're out of high school and on their own, many women don't have an adequate support system when it comes to reproductive health. "We've done a lot for adolescents and teens but need to expand those efforts to reach adult women," says Jones. "We haven't taken care of women in their 20s." Experts say a lack of health insurance, more common among adults than teens, and access to affordable contraceptives are significant factors in causing abortion rates to stay at a level higher than that of the 1970s among older women. "You could full-well know that the pill or IUDs are effective [birth control], but if you don't have health insurance or don't have access to affordable family planning, that's not going to help you much," says Jones.
Financial barriers seem to be one of the most persistent obstacles in the fight to reduce socioeconomic disparities in abortion rates, say experts. Medicaid coverage of birth control varies by state, and the bureaucracy can be difficult to navigate. The current Guttmacher study did not look at the socioeconomic status of women having abortions, but the institute's previous research has shown the abortion rates for women below the federal poverty line to be much higher than for more economically advantaged women. "When you don't have access to affordable birth control, rates of unintended pregnancy are going to be higher. That's a sad and real-life consequence of the health insurance gap," says Laurie Rubiner, Planned Parenthood's vice president of public policy.
Other shifts in demographics bolster Rubiner's claim that the women having abortions today are increasingly under economic duress: Compared with 1974, they are much more likely to already have children, as well as to be unmarried. "Women are making a decision, 'Can I feed another mouth,'" says Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization of Women. "'Did my husband leave me with three other kids? Is this going to mean that I can't feed my kids?' There is a real life decision that a woman has to make." Many women, she thinks, are asking whether they can afford to have another child.
Another trend uncovered by the study that Planned Parenthood's Rubiner finds troubling is the consistently higher rate of abortion among minority women. While the abortion rates among African Americans and Hispanics have decreased since 1994 (the first year for which ethnic data is available), they are still dramatically higher than those of Caucasian women. The abortion rate for black women is 49.7 per 1,000 women, nearly five times that of non-Hispanic white women.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
These sobering numbers leave reproductive health experts looking ahead to a whole new set of challenges even as they celebrate the significant strides they've made in the past 30 years. Closing a socioeconomic health-care gap decades in the making won't be easy.
Abortion rates have dropped steadily since the 1980s, from a peak of 29.3 abortions per 1,000 women in 1981 to 19.4 in 2005. But behind this general decrease are striking changes in the demographics of abortion. Compared to 30 years ago, women having abortions today are older and more likely to be mothers and minorities, according to a study released Tuesday by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Guttmacher Institute.
The study looked at trends in abortion since 1974, the year after the Supreme Court passed Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion in the United States. What researchers found is contrary to what pop culture phenoms, from "Juno" to Jamie Lynn Spears, might suggest: Teenagers are not the most likely to confront this issue, twenty-somethings are. "We're aware that, today, most of the women having abortions are moms struggling to take care of the children they already have," says Rachel Jones, senior research associate at the institute.
In fact, teens saw a bigger drop in abortion rate than any other demographic over the past 30 years. From 1974 to 1989, women aged 18-19 had the highest abortion rate among all age groups, varying from 32 to 62 per 1,000 women. In 2004, the latest year for which data is available, the abortion rate was 20.5. "We've done a great job educating kids about the risks of sexual behavior and proper contraceptive use," says Jones. So it's not the kids that researchers are most worried about--it's the age groups above them.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
But the news isn't all good. While the teen abortion rate has declined by nearly 30 percent, the rate for women ages 20-24 is almost 10 points higher than it was in 1974. (In that group, rates hit 30.4 abortions per 1,000 women in 1974, spiking to 53.8 in 1989 and declining to 39.9 in 2004.) Women in the next age group, ages 25-29, follow a similar pattern, with a spike in the '80s and a decline in recent years. So while it's encouraging that abortion rates among 20- to 29-year-olds have been steadily declining since the late 1980s, those decreases have been much smaller than those among teenagers, and they still have not brought the abortion rate down to low levels of the 1970s.
Researchers cannot fully explain the reasons behind this trend. Some think it indicates a kind of oversight: Public health initiatives have focused on reducing pregnancy and abortions among teenagers but haven't put as much thought into how to educate older groups. Teenagers, after all, do seem like the most vulnerable group. Millions of dollars have been poured into programs to educate teenagers about safe sex and contraceptives. By most accounts, those efforts have been fairly successful in targeting and changing the sexual health habits of teens. Centers for Disease Control statistics show teenage contraceptive use to have gone up noticeably between 1995 and 2005. The decline in abortion rates among teens mirrors a decline in teen pregnancies--from 107 for every 1,000 teenagers ages 15-19 in 1982, to 75 per 1,000 teenagers in 2002 (the most recent year for which data is available).
But once they're out of high school and on their own, many women don't have an adequate support system when it comes to reproductive health. "We've done a lot for adolescents and teens but need to expand those efforts to reach adult women," says Jones. "We haven't taken care of women in their 20s." Experts say a lack of health insurance, more common among adults than teens, and access to affordable contraceptives are significant factors in causing abortion rates to stay at a level higher than that of the 1970s among older women. "You could full-well know that the pill or IUDs are effective [birth control], but if you don't have health insurance or don't have access to affordable family planning, that's not going to help you much," says Jones.
Financial barriers seem to be one of the most persistent obstacles in the fight to reduce socioeconomic disparities in abortion rates, say experts. Medicaid coverage of birth control varies by state, and the bureaucracy can be difficult to navigate. The current Guttmacher study did not look at the socioeconomic status of women having abortions, but the institute's previous research has shown the abortion rates for women below the federal poverty line to be much higher than for more economically advantaged women. "When you don't have access to affordable birth control, rates of unintended pregnancy are going to be higher. That's a sad and real-life consequence of the health insurance gap," says Laurie Rubiner, Planned Parenthood's vice president of public policy.
Other shifts in demographics bolster Rubiner's claim that the women having abortions today are increasingly under economic duress: Compared with 1974, they are much more likely to already have children, as well as to be unmarried. "Women are making a decision, 'Can I feed another mouth,'" says Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization of Women. "'Did my husband leave me with three other kids? Is this going to mean that I can't feed my kids?' There is a real life decision that a woman has to make." Many women, she thinks, are asking whether they can afford to have another child.
Another trend uncovered by the study that Planned Parenthood's Rubiner finds troubling is the consistently higher rate of abortion among minority women. While the abortion rates among African Americans and Hispanics have decreased since 1994 (the first year for which ethnic data is available), they are still dramatically higher than those of Caucasian women. The abortion rate for black women is 49.7 per 1,000 women, nearly five times that of non-Hispanic white women.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
These sobering numbers leave reproductive health experts looking ahead to a whole new set of challenges even as they celebrate the significant strides they've made in the past 30 years. Closing a socioeconomic health-care gap decades in the making won't be easy.
Business - US;How Kansas City's Bats has taken on Wall Street (G.Read)
Daniel Gross
It's 9:30 in the morning and the playgrounds of U.S. capitalism are open for business. On the bustling floor of the NYSE in lower Manhattan, brokers call out orders as CNBC anchors Erin Burnett and Mark Haines try to put a brave face on the latest industrial-production numbers. A few miles uptown, in Times Square, the NASDAQ market electronic bell signals the beginning of trading. And in an upscale suburban strip mall outside Kansas City, Mo.—near Latte Land and the Land of Paws pet boutique—business is just getting underway at BATS, America's third largest stock exchange.
Each trading day, as a bell atop the M&I Bank building next door chimes gently, BATS quietly conducts about 25 times the volume of the venerable American Stock Exchange. Here, 1,200 miles from the financial center of the world, a few dozen employees pad around in shorts and polo shirts, amid green cubicles and whiteboards. On any given day, its servers off in New Jersey will process about 12 percent of the trades made in the vast U.S. markets. In less than 36 months, BATS (it stands for Better Alternative Trading System) has evolved from a start-up into an international stock exchange with powerful partners and a nine-figure valuation. "We've really been able to get to critical mass in a very short time," says CEO Joe Ratterman, who, with his blue jeans and shaved head, resembles a dot-com entrepreneur more than the bespoke-suited managers in New York.
BATS is in fact pretty much a technology start-up. Alternative trading systems like BATS—which are also known as ECNs (electronic communication networks)—are digital swap meets for professional stock traders. They began to proliferate in the 1990s, offering cheaper trades and faster execution than powerful, but less nimble, incumbents like the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. The big shots decided to buy rather than fight; NYSE bought ECN Archipelago in 2000, and NASDAQ bought Inet in 2005.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
Once they became subsidiaries of big exchanges, the ECNs had less incentive to compete with them on price. So the consolidation left a gaping hole in the market. Dave Cumming, founder of a Kansas City-based trading firm, and 12 other people—including Ratterman, 41, a veteran of financial-information companies—started BATS with about $2 million in the summer of 2005. It sounded like a financial version of the movie "300"—a hopelessly undermanned group taking on a giant army. But in the 21st century, you don't have to be a big firm in lower Manhattan to compete on the three factors that made ECNs succeed—speed, cost and service. Not being there proved to be an advantage.
Starting from scratch, the engineers—BATS employs few Wharton M.B.A.s and a whole bunch of computer-science graduates from Midwestern universities—built a financial vehicle designed for speed. "The operating system, the network, the hardware was a large science project designed to eke out maximum performance," says Ratterman. Speed was essential, because the target audience for BATS wasn't retail investors placing orders to buy 100 shares of IBM. Rather, it aimed to appeal to hedge funds and other trading operations that execute thousands of trades per day. And for folks who seek to capture the microscopic gains available when, for example, a stock's price moves from 9.23 to 9.25, speed really matters. "In our world, where we're scouring historical data for market patterns, speed is what separates the very good from the great," says Peter Buckley, head of new business at Tower Research Capital, a New York-based hedge fund that uses BATS. (One of the fund's affiliates is an investor in the company.)
Kansas City may not have much of a financial-services industry. But the region's universities and aerospace industry have produced plenty of talented software writers. And because of the opportunities it afforded, BATS had the pick of the lot and could easily retain them. (On Wall Street, programmers are frequently poached by rivals.) The talent gave BATS a technological edge. In January 2006, when BATS went live, most of the advanced trading platforms could execute a trade in one to 30 milliseconds. BATS started with a speed of one to three milliseconds.
Speed was nice, but BATS also had to compete on cost. And from the outset BATS was able to offer highly favorable economic terms to traders who used the system because it operates in a lower-cost environment than its big-city competitors. Its office space costs less than half what similar space in New York would run. Programming talent is about 35 percent less.
Even so, location put BATS at a slight disadvantage when it sought to sign up customers. It was a challenge to convince sharp-elbowed traders that it was safe to do business with the guys with flat accents out in flyover country. Securities traders go to dozens of conferences a year, where insiders gossip, but BATS found initially that few folks had heard of them. "We went to all of them but one," says Randy Williams, a former Dow Jones reporter who is now BATS's vice president for sales and communications. While attendees all knew the NYSE and NASDAQ, they had no clue what BATS was.
To lure new customers, BATS also experimented with a tried-and-true tactic: discounting. In January 2007, BATS slashed fees and boosted the rebates for users. For a month, instead of making a penny on every trade it executed, it lost 10 cents on every trade. But many firms lured by the obvious bargain to try the system stuck around after the special ended. "We picked up 5 or 6 percentage points of market share for about $5 million," says chief operating officer Chris Isaacson, who grew up on a pig farm in Nebraska and was an All-American decathlete at Nebraska Wesleyan. Volume rose from 100 million shares per day to 265 million during the special, and continued to climb.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
BATS missed its target of racking up a billion-share day by the end of 2007—but only by a few weeks. It hit that milestone on Jan. 23, 2008. And the little exchange is now a big player. Its customers include pretty much every name-brand investment bank, and it has enlisted several financial institutions as owners. Given its success, BATS has the potential to be one of those stocks traded with abandon over its wires. "It's certainly worth hundreds of millions of dollars," says Ed Ditmire, an analyst at Fox-Pitt, Kelton in New York. But Ratterman isn't interested in taking the company public. "We're building a credible, innovative market center with a 20-year time horizon," he says.
Yet BATS maintains the feel of a start-up. Instead of an executive dining room, there's carry-out barbecue for lunch. And BATS is constantly reminded of the vast gulf in size and resources separating it from its competitors. This past spring, it opened a New York sales office at 14 Wall Street, a building that stands across from the corner entrance of the New York Stock Exchange (14 Wall also houses 300 NYSE employees). From these small, unassuming digs, one can look into the window of NYSE CEO Duncan Niederauer's chandeliered office suite. Nonetheless, BATS is raising its profile. This summer, it began providing free quotes to Yahoo Finance, part of a broader effort to boost its name recognition. And this fall, it plans to take its show to Europe by opening a trading platform in London.
As the bells chime 3:30 Central Time, the New York Stock Exchange closes, and the streets of lower Manhattan briefly fill with men and women wearing the distinctive jackets of floor traders. They're off to the bars or the gym or their homes. In the BATS strip mall outside Kansas City, the Midwestern programmers aren't going anywhere. They're hunched over their screens, figuring out how to shave a few more microseconds off the trading pro-cess. "Geeks have taken over Wall Street," Isaacson says. He may yet be right.
It's 9:30 in the morning and the playgrounds of U.S. capitalism are open for business. On the bustling floor of the NYSE in lower Manhattan, brokers call out orders as CNBC anchors Erin Burnett and Mark Haines try to put a brave face on the latest industrial-production numbers. A few miles uptown, in Times Square, the NASDAQ market electronic bell signals the beginning of trading. And in an upscale suburban strip mall outside Kansas City, Mo.—near Latte Land and the Land of Paws pet boutique—business is just getting underway at BATS, America's third largest stock exchange.
Each trading day, as a bell atop the M&I Bank building next door chimes gently, BATS quietly conducts about 25 times the volume of the venerable American Stock Exchange. Here, 1,200 miles from the financial center of the world, a few dozen employees pad around in shorts and polo shirts, amid green cubicles and whiteboards. On any given day, its servers off in New Jersey will process about 12 percent of the trades made in the vast U.S. markets. In less than 36 months, BATS (it stands for Better Alternative Trading System) has evolved from a start-up into an international stock exchange with powerful partners and a nine-figure valuation. "We've really been able to get to critical mass in a very short time," says CEO Joe Ratterman, who, with his blue jeans and shaved head, resembles a dot-com entrepreneur more than the bespoke-suited managers in New York.
BATS is in fact pretty much a technology start-up. Alternative trading systems like BATS—which are also known as ECNs (electronic communication networks)—are digital swap meets for professional stock traders. They began to proliferate in the 1990s, offering cheaper trades and faster execution than powerful, but less nimble, incumbents like the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. The big shots decided to buy rather than fight; NYSE bought ECN Archipelago in 2000, and NASDAQ bought Inet in 2005.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
Once they became subsidiaries of big exchanges, the ECNs had less incentive to compete with them on price. So the consolidation left a gaping hole in the market. Dave Cumming, founder of a Kansas City-based trading firm, and 12 other people—including Ratterman, 41, a veteran of financial-information companies—started BATS with about $2 million in the summer of 2005. It sounded like a financial version of the movie "300"—a hopelessly undermanned group taking on a giant army. But in the 21st century, you don't have to be a big firm in lower Manhattan to compete on the three factors that made ECNs succeed—speed, cost and service. Not being there proved to be an advantage.
Starting from scratch, the engineers—BATS employs few Wharton M.B.A.s and a whole bunch of computer-science graduates from Midwestern universities—built a financial vehicle designed for speed. "The operating system, the network, the hardware was a large science project designed to eke out maximum performance," says Ratterman. Speed was essential, because the target audience for BATS wasn't retail investors placing orders to buy 100 shares of IBM. Rather, it aimed to appeal to hedge funds and other trading operations that execute thousands of trades per day. And for folks who seek to capture the microscopic gains available when, for example, a stock's price moves from 9.23 to 9.25, speed really matters. "In our world, where we're scouring historical data for market patterns, speed is what separates the very good from the great," says Peter Buckley, head of new business at Tower Research Capital, a New York-based hedge fund that uses BATS. (One of the fund's affiliates is an investor in the company.)
Kansas City may not have much of a financial-services industry. But the region's universities and aerospace industry have produced plenty of talented software writers. And because of the opportunities it afforded, BATS had the pick of the lot and could easily retain them. (On Wall Street, programmers are frequently poached by rivals.) The talent gave BATS a technological edge. In January 2006, when BATS went live, most of the advanced trading platforms could execute a trade in one to 30 milliseconds. BATS started with a speed of one to three milliseconds.
Speed was nice, but BATS also had to compete on cost. And from the outset BATS was able to offer highly favorable economic terms to traders who used the system because it operates in a lower-cost environment than its big-city competitors. Its office space costs less than half what similar space in New York would run. Programming talent is about 35 percent less.
Even so, location put BATS at a slight disadvantage when it sought to sign up customers. It was a challenge to convince sharp-elbowed traders that it was safe to do business with the guys with flat accents out in flyover country. Securities traders go to dozens of conferences a year, where insiders gossip, but BATS found initially that few folks had heard of them. "We went to all of them but one," says Randy Williams, a former Dow Jones reporter who is now BATS's vice president for sales and communications. While attendees all knew the NYSE and NASDAQ, they had no clue what BATS was.
To lure new customers, BATS also experimented with a tried-and-true tactic: discounting. In January 2007, BATS slashed fees and boosted the rebates for users. For a month, instead of making a penny on every trade it executed, it lost 10 cents on every trade. But many firms lured by the obvious bargain to try the system stuck around after the special ended. "We picked up 5 or 6 percentage points of market share for about $5 million," says chief operating officer Chris Isaacson, who grew up on a pig farm in Nebraska and was an All-American decathlete at Nebraska Wesleyan. Volume rose from 100 million shares per day to 265 million during the special, and continued to climb.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
BATS missed its target of racking up a billion-share day by the end of 2007—but only by a few weeks. It hit that milestone on Jan. 23, 2008. And the little exchange is now a big player. Its customers include pretty much every name-brand investment bank, and it has enlisted several financial institutions as owners. Given its success, BATS has the potential to be one of those stocks traded with abandon over its wires. "It's certainly worth hundreds of millions of dollars," says Ed Ditmire, an analyst at Fox-Pitt, Kelton in New York. But Ratterman isn't interested in taking the company public. "We're building a credible, innovative market center with a 20-year time horizon," he says.
Yet BATS maintains the feel of a start-up. Instead of an executive dining room, there's carry-out barbecue for lunch. And BATS is constantly reminded of the vast gulf in size and resources separating it from its competitors. This past spring, it opened a New York sales office at 14 Wall Street, a building that stands across from the corner entrance of the New York Stock Exchange (14 Wall also houses 300 NYSE employees). From these small, unassuming digs, one can look into the window of NYSE CEO Duncan Niederauer's chandeliered office suite. Nonetheless, BATS is raising its profile. This summer, it began providing free quotes to Yahoo Finance, part of a broader effort to boost its name recognition. And this fall, it plans to take its show to Europe by opening a trading platform in London.
As the bells chime 3:30 Central Time, the New York Stock Exchange closes, and the streets of lower Manhattan briefly fill with men and women wearing the distinctive jackets of floor traders. They're off to the bars or the gym or their homes. In the BATS strip mall outside Kansas City, the Midwestern programmers aren't going anywhere. They're hunched over their screens, figuring out how to shave a few more microseconds off the trading pro-cess. "Geeks have taken over Wall Street," Isaacson says. He may yet be right.
World - Wave of Palestinian attacks in Israel
Kevin Peraino
Earlier this week, when a 19-year-old Palestinian from East Jerusalem plowed his BMW into a crowd of soldiers at a busy Jerusalem intersection, the international media barely took notice. Though 15 Israelis were injured, nobody was killed, and the major newspapers dispensed with the item in their rundown of briefs. At first glance, the incident seemed no more significant than a bad car crash. But it's part of a bigger trend that's worth watching.
Already this year, four Palestinians from East Jerusalem have gone on rampages in the city; in three cases, the incidents involved plunging a vehicle into a crowd of pedestrians. In recent years, attacks of any kind in Jerusalem have been extremely rare. Incidents involving Palestinians from East Jerusalem are rarer still; usually the attackers come from the West Bank).
Four isolated incidents don't necessarily herald the outbreak of new hostilities. Still, it's worth remembering that the first intifada began with a traffic altercation. (In December 1987, an Israeli tank plowed into a crowd of Palestinians in a Gaza refugee camp, killing four.) With U.S.-sponsored peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians foundering, the political climate is ripe for renewed violence. At the scene of this week's crash, a mob of angry Jewish teenagers shouted "Death to the Arabs!" and chased a fleeing Palestinian along the Old City walls. Any one of these episodes could ignite a larger conflict.
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What set this week's assailant off? A visit Tuesday to the home of Qassem al-Mughrabi, the driver of the BMW in this week's attack, yielded some clues. His uncles and cousins were chatting together on their front porch, which has sweeping views of the concrete barrier that cuts through Jerusalem and the West Bank. They described the 19-year-old as an impetuous young man who liked nightclubs and partying. Two months ago he asked a 15-year-old cousin to marry him, but she said no, according to the girl's father. On the day of the attack, Mughrabi learned that the girl was engaged to marry a different cousin. According to friends, when Mughrabi heard the news, he grabbed the keys to his brother's car and tore out of the driveway. It's easy to imagine how the agitated youth could have singled out the crowd of Israeli soldiers—a convenient scapegoat for his anger.
Each of this year's attackers had his own trigger. The families described grievances from insurmountable debt to a simple broken heart. Yet all the attackers had one thing in common: disappointment. In his novel "The Adventures of Augie March," Saul Bellow describes his main character's motivation as the "refusal to live a disappointed life." Bellow meant it in a positive sense, but in the Middle East, that's also the kind of sentiment that kills. Increasingly, East Jerusalem is full of young men living disappointed lives.
Earlier this week, when a 19-year-old Palestinian from East Jerusalem plowed his BMW into a crowd of soldiers at a busy Jerusalem intersection, the international media barely took notice. Though 15 Israelis were injured, nobody was killed, and the major newspapers dispensed with the item in their rundown of briefs. At first glance, the incident seemed no more significant than a bad car crash. But it's part of a bigger trend that's worth watching.
Already this year, four Palestinians from East Jerusalem have gone on rampages in the city; in three cases, the incidents involved plunging a vehicle into a crowd of pedestrians. In recent years, attacks of any kind in Jerusalem have been extremely rare. Incidents involving Palestinians from East Jerusalem are rarer still; usually the attackers come from the West Bank).
Four isolated incidents don't necessarily herald the outbreak of new hostilities. Still, it's worth remembering that the first intifada began with a traffic altercation. (In December 1987, an Israeli tank plowed into a crowd of Palestinians in a Gaza refugee camp, killing four.) With U.S.-sponsored peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians foundering, the political climate is ripe for renewed violence. At the scene of this week's crash, a mob of angry Jewish teenagers shouted "Death to the Arabs!" and chased a fleeing Palestinian along the Old City walls. Any one of these episodes could ignite a larger conflict.
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What set this week's assailant off? A visit Tuesday to the home of Qassem al-Mughrabi, the driver of the BMW in this week's attack, yielded some clues. His uncles and cousins were chatting together on their front porch, which has sweeping views of the concrete barrier that cuts through Jerusalem and the West Bank. They described the 19-year-old as an impetuous young man who liked nightclubs and partying. Two months ago he asked a 15-year-old cousin to marry him, but she said no, according to the girl's father. On the day of the attack, Mughrabi learned that the girl was engaged to marry a different cousin. According to friends, when Mughrabi heard the news, he grabbed the keys to his brother's car and tore out of the driveway. It's easy to imagine how the agitated youth could have singled out the crowd of Israeli soldiers—a convenient scapegoat for his anger.
Each of this year's attackers had his own trigger. The families described grievances from insurmountable debt to a simple broken heart. Yet all the attackers had one thing in common: disappointment. In his novel "The Adventures of Augie March," Saul Bellow describes his main character's motivation as the "refusal to live a disappointed life." Bellow meant it in a positive sense, but in the Middle East, that's also the kind of sentiment that kills. Increasingly, East Jerusalem is full of young men living disappointed lives.
Tech - A gloomy vista for Microsoft
Dan Lyons
Last year I was meeting with the CEO of a PC company who offered to give me a demo of his company's gorgeous new top-of- the-line notebook, a machine that cost several thousand dollars and came loaded with Windows Vista, the latest version of Microsoft's operating system. He flipped open the laptop, pressed the power button, and … nothing. We waited. And waited. It was excruciating. He tried control-alt-delete. He tried holding down the power button. Finally he removed the battery and snapped it back into place. The machine started up—slowly—while the CEO sat there fuming. Speaking in a carefully measured tone, he acknowledged that he had been less than pleased with Vista, and confided that he'd visited Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Wash., to express this displeasure in person. I would not have wanted to be across the table from him at that meeting.
"Nobody here looks at Vista as a fiasco," says Brad Brooks, a Microsoft marketing vice president. If that's true, and nobody at Microsoft thinks Vista has been a public-relations nightmare, then the company is in trouble. Vista first shipped in January 2007, after several delays, and immediately had problems. It was sluggish. It had trouble going to sleep and waking up. It wouldn't work with some printers and accessories. Users launched a massive online petition begging Microsoft not to discontinue its old operating system, XP, which is stable, fast and, after six years of patches, pretty reliable. Many consumers like me, who'd bought new PCs loaded with Vista, reloaded them with XP.
Microsoft seems to be getting the message. Working in collaboration with its PC-maker partners, it says it has ironed out the glitches. It has embarked on a $300 million advertising blitz aimed at rehabbing Vista's reputation. But that too has gotten off to a rocky start. Microsoft teamed Jerry Seinfeld with Bill Gates in ads, and then, after two weeks, announced there would be no more Seinfeld. Microsoft says this was the plan all along. More likely, it was reacting to the fact that the quirky ads made no sense. Also, hiring a TV star from the 1990s only added to the impression that Microsoft is stuck in a time warp, at a time when Apple is seen as the king of cool and is gaining market share.
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It's important to point out that the struggle to get Vista on its feet hasn't hurt Microsoft financially. In fact, Windows revenue grew 13 percent to $17 billion last fiscal year (a record year for Microsoft), even after the company cut prices on Vista to spur demand. Microsoft says it has sold more than 180 million copies of Vista, which is in line with the adoption rate of Windows XP, and Brooks says 89 percent of users surveyed claim to be satisfied or very satisfied. To drive home that point, Microsoft has launched ads around what it calls the "Mojave experiment," where it grabs people who hold a low opinion of Vista and shows them a new operating system called "Mojave." When the subjects rave about Mojave, Microsoft springs the trick: it's actually Vista.
Yet the fact that Microsoft has to run ads like that speaks to the kind of perception problems Vista has had. Why advertise at all, when almost everyone who buys a PC today will get Vista on it, whether they like it or not? For one thing, big corporations—Microsoft's bread and butter—have been slow to migrate from XP to Vista and need to be convinced that it's now safe to make the move. It's the same with smaller customers like Mouli Ramani, vice president of business development at Lilliputian Systems, a tech company in Wilmington, Mass. He's sticking with XP because he knows it won't conk out on him. "I'm not willing to risk my career on Vista," he says.
Meanwhile, Apple's Mac computers, which run Apple's OS X operating system instead of Windows, have been gaining share, reaching 11 percent of the U.S. consumer market, according to researcher NPD. That's a small slice compared with Microsoft, whose software runs on 90 percent of the world's PCs. But Apple users tend to be the kind of people marketers refer to as "influencers" or "tech elites," the in-the-know folks who adopt the coolest new technology and set trends. Apple's highly effective "I'm a Mac" ads have done a great job of positioning Apple as the machine for hipsters, and Windows-based PCs as the choice for dorks. Remember how AOL used to be cool, but then became the service used only by people who didn't know any better? Microsoft is heading down that path. "You fly business class today, and it's nothing but Macs," says one former Microsoft executive, who's now carrying a Mac himself, albeit with Vista loaded on it.
Yet another challenge for Microsoft comes from PC makers themselves, who are sending mixed messages about Vista. HP insists it is committed to Vista, but also touts the fact that its engineers have created little Linux-based software modules so that HP customers can perform basic tasks, like checking e-mail and playing DVDs, without booting Vista at all. HP calls this "innovating on top of Vista," though "sidestepping" might be a more accurate description. At Lenovo, a team of engineers has been working with Microsoft for the past year to improve Vista. And Lenovo loads Vista on machines it sells to customers. For its own use, however, Lenovo still runs Windows XP as its corporate standard. Make of that what you will
Last year I was meeting with the CEO of a PC company who offered to give me a demo of his company's gorgeous new top-of- the-line notebook, a machine that cost several thousand dollars and came loaded with Windows Vista, the latest version of Microsoft's operating system. He flipped open the laptop, pressed the power button, and … nothing. We waited. And waited. It was excruciating. He tried control-alt-delete. He tried holding down the power button. Finally he removed the battery and snapped it back into place. The machine started up—slowly—while the CEO sat there fuming. Speaking in a carefully measured tone, he acknowledged that he had been less than pleased with Vista, and confided that he'd visited Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Wash., to express this displeasure in person. I would not have wanted to be across the table from him at that meeting.
"Nobody here looks at Vista as a fiasco," says Brad Brooks, a Microsoft marketing vice president. If that's true, and nobody at Microsoft thinks Vista has been a public-relations nightmare, then the company is in trouble. Vista first shipped in January 2007, after several delays, and immediately had problems. It was sluggish. It had trouble going to sleep and waking up. It wouldn't work with some printers and accessories. Users launched a massive online petition begging Microsoft not to discontinue its old operating system, XP, which is stable, fast and, after six years of patches, pretty reliable. Many consumers like me, who'd bought new PCs loaded with Vista, reloaded them with XP.
Microsoft seems to be getting the message. Working in collaboration with its PC-maker partners, it says it has ironed out the glitches. It has embarked on a $300 million advertising blitz aimed at rehabbing Vista's reputation. But that too has gotten off to a rocky start. Microsoft teamed Jerry Seinfeld with Bill Gates in ads, and then, after two weeks, announced there would be no more Seinfeld. Microsoft says this was the plan all along. More likely, it was reacting to the fact that the quirky ads made no sense. Also, hiring a TV star from the 1990s only added to the impression that Microsoft is stuck in a time warp, at a time when Apple is seen as the king of cool and is gaining market share.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
It's important to point out that the struggle to get Vista on its feet hasn't hurt Microsoft financially. In fact, Windows revenue grew 13 percent to $17 billion last fiscal year (a record year for Microsoft), even after the company cut prices on Vista to spur demand. Microsoft says it has sold more than 180 million copies of Vista, which is in line with the adoption rate of Windows XP, and Brooks says 89 percent of users surveyed claim to be satisfied or very satisfied. To drive home that point, Microsoft has launched ads around what it calls the "Mojave experiment," where it grabs people who hold a low opinion of Vista and shows them a new operating system called "Mojave." When the subjects rave about Mojave, Microsoft springs the trick: it's actually Vista.
Yet the fact that Microsoft has to run ads like that speaks to the kind of perception problems Vista has had. Why advertise at all, when almost everyone who buys a PC today will get Vista on it, whether they like it or not? For one thing, big corporations—Microsoft's bread and butter—have been slow to migrate from XP to Vista and need to be convinced that it's now safe to make the move. It's the same with smaller customers like Mouli Ramani, vice president of business development at Lilliputian Systems, a tech company in Wilmington, Mass. He's sticking with XP because he knows it won't conk out on him. "I'm not willing to risk my career on Vista," he says.
Meanwhile, Apple's Mac computers, which run Apple's OS X operating system instead of Windows, have been gaining share, reaching 11 percent of the U.S. consumer market, according to researcher NPD. That's a small slice compared with Microsoft, whose software runs on 90 percent of the world's PCs. But Apple users tend to be the kind of people marketers refer to as "influencers" or "tech elites," the in-the-know folks who adopt the coolest new technology and set trends. Apple's highly effective "I'm a Mac" ads have done a great job of positioning Apple as the machine for hipsters, and Windows-based PCs as the choice for dorks. Remember how AOL used to be cool, but then became the service used only by people who didn't know any better? Microsoft is heading down that path. "You fly business class today, and it's nothing but Macs," says one former Microsoft executive, who's now carrying a Mac himself, albeit with Vista loaded on it.
Yet another challenge for Microsoft comes from PC makers themselves, who are sending mixed messages about Vista. HP insists it is committed to Vista, but also touts the fact that its engineers have created little Linux-based software modules so that HP customers can perform basic tasks, like checking e-mail and playing DVDs, without booting Vista at all. HP calls this "innovating on top of Vista," though "sidestepping" might be a more accurate description. At Lenovo, a team of engineers has been working with Microsoft for the past year to improve Vista. And Lenovo loads Vista on machines it sells to customers. For its own use, however, Lenovo still runs Windows XP as its corporate standard. Make of that what you will
Tech - Is Google Cell phone a good deal for consumers? (G.Read)
Dan Lyons
Unless you're hopelessly dedicated to a landline-only existence, you're going to read a fair amount about the >" target=_blank>G1, a.k.a. the Google Phone. Manufactured by HTC and offered by T-Mobile, the iPhone-like device runs on Google's Android operating system and goes on sale Oct. 22. But the biggest thing to bear in mind is that this phone was not primarily designed to solve a problem that you, the consumer, are having. Rather it was designed to solve a problem that Google has—namely, the need to keep feeding more and more people into the maw of Google's online advertising machine.
Google dominates the search business with a 71-percent market share, according to researcher Hitwise. In the emerging mobile-computing environment, such domination may carry over, or it may not. Imagine, for example, what might happen if a rival like Microsoft were to enhance its Windows Mobile platform in ways that steer people to its online advertising machine rather than to Google's. Or imagine that for whatever reason people simply started using alternatives to Google's online services. To prevent either scenario from happening, Google has gone to the great expense and trouble of developing Android and giving it away free to the world. No licensing deals, no fees. Better yet, you can modify the software any way you want. Such a deal!
What's in it for Google? Plenty. Google loads Android with its own software (including a variant of its Chrome browser) and a slew of its other services, like mail, maps, contact, calendar, and search—and then rakes in money by showing advertisements to users of those services.
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In other words, the phone is a Trojan horse. You get a cool phone for not much money—$179 with a contract from T-Mobile—but then you're caught in Google's Web. Another way to see this is that a quasi-monopolist (Google rules the online advertising business) is attempting to protect and extend its quasi-monopoly by giving away at no cost something for which others charge money. Sound familiar? It's what Microsoft did to Netscape in the 1990s, giving away a free browser to undermine Netscape Navigator.
Now Google is turning the tables and using Microsoft's own tactics against it. Microsoft sells a mobile-phone operating system called Windows Mobile and charges handset makers to use it. Its licensees include Taiwan-based HTC, the star of today's Android show, whose CEO seemed almost gleeful to be on stage with the Google team. "HTC's great excitement about Android is it can build a smartphone using a high-level operating system and not pay any royalty," says Shiv Bakhshi, an analyst at researcher IDC.
The G1 phone itself has a cool touch-screen interface, but overall it's nothing spectacular. It's bigger and clunkier than Apple's iPhone—it's like comparing a Subaru wagon to a Mercedes coupe.
In fact, the G1 is more like the anti-iPhone. For one thing, Android is open-source, meaning anyone can tinker with the software and modify the code. Plus, the software isn't coupled to any particular brand of hardware. Loads of Android-based phones will be hitting the market. Apple's iPhone, by contrast, is a closed system with hardware and software tightly coupled and locked down, kept secret from the world.
Same goes for iPhone applications. If you want to sell an application on the iPhone, you must do so through Apple's online store and you must get Apple's permission. Google is launching something called Android Market, a free-for-all site where anyone can create an application and post it online for others to download.
In techie circles this contrast is known as "the cathedral and the bazaar," based on an essay by a hacker named Eric Raymond in 1997. Raymond was writing about ways to create software, but the concept applies to the market as well. He argued that the old, hierarchical, highly controlled approach where development is controlled by a priesthood of experts (the cathedral) would be outpaced by the freewheeling open-source approach where anyone could contribute (the bazaar).
It's a great theory, but so far it hasn't exactly been proved correct. Open-source programs like the Linux operating system and the Mozilla Firefox Web browser have made a dent in the armor of Microsoft, the king of closed-source software. But so far it's just a dent. Windows still powers more than 90 percent of the world's PCs, and sales keep growing. And Microsoft's browser, Internet Explorer, remains by far the most popular browser with more than 70 percent share.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
But the mobile market may be a different story. With PCs, the market was already fully mature and Windows was already well entrenched as the leader before the open-source wave came roaring along. In the mobile space, open source will be hitting at a much earlier stage, when mobile computing is still evolving and there's no entrenched leader.
The smartphone market is highly fragmented. Competitors include Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry; Palm, maker of the Treo and Centro; Microsoft, with its Windows Mobile platform; Symbian, an operating system used by Nokia and others; and Apple with the iPhone.
Right now these companies are engaged in a replay of the PC wars from the late 1980s, when the market was small but booming and loads of PC makers were constantly leapfrogging one another. Smartphone unit shipments will rise 26 percent this year, according to researcher IDC. These new handheld computers ultimately may become the most popular way of accessing the Internet. Google, king of the Internet, isn't taking any chances on being left behind.
Unless you're hopelessly dedicated to a landline-only existence, you're going to read a fair amount about the >" target=_blank>G1, a.k.a. the Google Phone. Manufactured by HTC and offered by T-Mobile, the iPhone-like device runs on Google's Android operating system and goes on sale Oct. 22. But the biggest thing to bear in mind is that this phone was not primarily designed to solve a problem that you, the consumer, are having. Rather it was designed to solve a problem that Google has—namely, the need to keep feeding more and more people into the maw of Google's online advertising machine.
Google dominates the search business with a 71-percent market share, according to researcher Hitwise. In the emerging mobile-computing environment, such domination may carry over, or it may not. Imagine, for example, what might happen if a rival like Microsoft were to enhance its Windows Mobile platform in ways that steer people to its online advertising machine rather than to Google's. Or imagine that for whatever reason people simply started using alternatives to Google's online services. To prevent either scenario from happening, Google has gone to the great expense and trouble of developing Android and giving it away free to the world. No licensing deals, no fees. Better yet, you can modify the software any way you want. Such a deal!
What's in it for Google? Plenty. Google loads Android with its own software (including a variant of its Chrome browser) and a slew of its other services, like mail, maps, contact, calendar, and search—and then rakes in money by showing advertisements to users of those services.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
In other words, the phone is a Trojan horse. You get a cool phone for not much money—$179 with a contract from T-Mobile—but then you're caught in Google's Web. Another way to see this is that a quasi-monopolist (Google rules the online advertising business) is attempting to protect and extend its quasi-monopoly by giving away at no cost something for which others charge money. Sound familiar? It's what Microsoft did to Netscape in the 1990s, giving away a free browser to undermine Netscape Navigator.
Now Google is turning the tables and using Microsoft's own tactics against it. Microsoft sells a mobile-phone operating system called Windows Mobile and charges handset makers to use it. Its licensees include Taiwan-based HTC, the star of today's Android show, whose CEO seemed almost gleeful to be on stage with the Google team. "HTC's great excitement about Android is it can build a smartphone using a high-level operating system and not pay any royalty," says Shiv Bakhshi, an analyst at researcher IDC.
The G1 phone itself has a cool touch-screen interface, but overall it's nothing spectacular. It's bigger and clunkier than Apple's iPhone—it's like comparing a Subaru wagon to a Mercedes coupe.
In fact, the G1 is more like the anti-iPhone. For one thing, Android is open-source, meaning anyone can tinker with the software and modify the code. Plus, the software isn't coupled to any particular brand of hardware. Loads of Android-based phones will be hitting the market. Apple's iPhone, by contrast, is a closed system with hardware and software tightly coupled and locked down, kept secret from the world.
Same goes for iPhone applications. If you want to sell an application on the iPhone, you must do so through Apple's online store and you must get Apple's permission. Google is launching something called Android Market, a free-for-all site where anyone can create an application and post it online for others to download.
In techie circles this contrast is known as "the cathedral and the bazaar," based on an essay by a hacker named Eric Raymond in 1997. Raymond was writing about ways to create software, but the concept applies to the market as well. He argued that the old, hierarchical, highly controlled approach where development is controlled by a priesthood of experts (the cathedral) would be outpaced by the freewheeling open-source approach where anyone could contribute (the bazaar).
It's a great theory, but so far it hasn't exactly been proved correct. Open-source programs like the Linux operating system and the Mozilla Firefox Web browser have made a dent in the armor of Microsoft, the king of closed-source software. But so far it's just a dent. Windows still powers more than 90 percent of the world's PCs, and sales keep growing. And Microsoft's browser, Internet Explorer, remains by far the most popular browser with more than 70 percent share.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
But the mobile market may be a different story. With PCs, the market was already fully mature and Windows was already well entrenched as the leader before the open-source wave came roaring along. In the mobile space, open source will be hitting at a much earlier stage, when mobile computing is still evolving and there's no entrenched leader.
The smartphone market is highly fragmented. Competitors include Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry; Palm, maker of the Treo and Centro; Microsoft, with its Windows Mobile platform; Symbian, an operating system used by Nokia and others; and Apple with the iPhone.
Right now these companies are engaged in a replay of the PC wars from the late 1980s, when the market was small but booming and loads of PC makers were constantly leapfrogging one another. Smartphone unit shipments will rise 26 percent this year, according to researcher IDC. These new handheld computers ultimately may become the most popular way of accessing the Internet. Google, king of the Internet, isn't taking any chances on being left behind.
World - US;Who pays for Wall Street's $700 billion bailout?
Daniel Gross
To spend is to tax, as capitalist deity Milton Friedman is said to have put it. If so, over the last several months, we've seen an orgy of tax increases, and potential increases. Time was, that prospect would have set off a revolution.
Consider the spree of actions that have the potential—directly and indirectly—to cost taxpayers money: the government accepting $30 billion of Bear Stearns drecky collateral for a $29 billion loan to JPMorgan; giving investment banks access to the Fed's discount window; assuming responsibility for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, guaranteeing money-market funds (up to $50 billion); making a big loan to AIG (up to $85 billion); and now proposing the mother of all bailouts—up to $700 billion.
It's difficult to quantify the costs of these activities for a few reasons. Even though the government has now formally agreed to guarantee the debt of Fannie and Freddie, the White House says it doesn't see the necessity—shock me!—to include the cost of doing so in the budget. In theory, Hank Paulson could drive a good bargain in buying hundreds of billions of dollars of distressed assets. As a result, the government could recoup a lot of the costs of the latest bailout proposal. And most of the other efforts are loans, which are designed to be paid back. To get a sense of how good the government thinks the credit risks are, the Federal Reserve is charging AIG (until last week a Dow component) an interest rate of three-month LIBOR plus 8.5 percent—about 11.4 percent. That's a lower rate than many credit-card customers pay, but a higher rate than most junk-rated companies pay. But it's almost certain that all these bailouts will cost taxpayers tens of billions, possibly hundreds of billions, of dollars. Unless the laws of mathematics are repealed, we will have to pay this money back in the form of higher taxes or lower government spending.
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But have you heard anyone in authority asking about the $700 billion bailout: how do you propose to pay for it?
There seems to be a center-based consensus that some form of bailout is of vital importance to the nation's economy, to its image and to the global financial system. I agree. But important national projects are worth paying for. Especially when the projects in question are a sop to an industry that has asked for—and received—so much from Washington in the past decade. Think about everything Wall Street has been given since the late 1990s: cuts in the capital-gains tax, dividend tax and estate tax, cuts in marginal income tax rates, free-trade agreements, low interest rates, light regulation. The promise was that doing the bidding of the financial-services industry would deliver solid growth and boost incomes for everyone. It didn't. This business cycle, in which job growth was generally anemic, ended with median incomes about where they were at the end of the last business cycle. The S&P 500 is basically where it was 10 years ago. Sure, we got cheap mortgages, all the credit we could eat, and some higher corporate income-tax payments for a few years. But now Wall Street wants it all back in the form of bailouts.
So anybody who pops up on television, or in a congressional hearing, to talk about the vital necessity of this regrettable bailout, should be asked to give a sense of how much it might cost and then to come up with a way to pay for it. Two hundred billion dollars? Fine, please delineate $200 billion in spending cuts over the next two years or $200 billion in tax increases to pay to clean up your mess. Which cabinet-level agency should be zeroed out? Which benefits programs cut? Which component of the defense budget gutted? I'd love to hear what former Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld, or President Bush (who continues to cower behind Paulson's large frame) or Goldman SachsCEO Lloyd Blankfein and Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack, whose butts were just saved, has to propose. After all, every dollar spent by the taxpayers cleaning up Wall Street's mess is one more added to the massive and expanding deficit, one more dollar that will have to be paid back with interest.
There are some ideas out there. Jesse Eisinger of Portfolio magazine has floated a tax on securities transactions. Another possibility would be to make the bailed out companies self-insure against their own incompetence, the way banks have done with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. And of course Congress should abolish the exemption that allows private equity and hedge-fund managers to pay low capital-gains tax rates for the money they earn managing other people's money.
It may seem silly to ask about the long-term budgetary implications of bailouts in the time of an emergency. When a fire engine is racing toward a four-alarm blaze, nobody stops to worry that speeding will put wear and tear on the engine. And what's another few hundred billion dollars of debt on top of a national debt that already reaches $9.7 trillion? But to not ask this question would be acting recklessly with other people's money. Which is how we got into this mess in the first place.
To spend is to tax, as capitalist deity Milton Friedman is said to have put it. If so, over the last several months, we've seen an orgy of tax increases, and potential increases. Time was, that prospect would have set off a revolution.
Consider the spree of actions that have the potential—directly and indirectly—to cost taxpayers money: the government accepting $30 billion of Bear Stearns drecky collateral for a $29 billion loan to JPMorgan; giving investment banks access to the Fed's discount window; assuming responsibility for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, guaranteeing money-market funds (up to $50 billion); making a big loan to AIG (up to $85 billion); and now proposing the mother of all bailouts—up to $700 billion.
It's difficult to quantify the costs of these activities for a few reasons. Even though the government has now formally agreed to guarantee the debt of Fannie and Freddie, the White House says it doesn't see the necessity—shock me!—to include the cost of doing so in the budget. In theory, Hank Paulson could drive a good bargain in buying hundreds of billions of dollars of distressed assets. As a result, the government could recoup a lot of the costs of the latest bailout proposal. And most of the other efforts are loans, which are designed to be paid back. To get a sense of how good the government thinks the credit risks are, the Federal Reserve is charging AIG (until last week a Dow component) an interest rate of three-month LIBOR plus 8.5 percent—about 11.4 percent. That's a lower rate than many credit-card customers pay, but a higher rate than most junk-rated companies pay. But it's almost certain that all these bailouts will cost taxpayers tens of billions, possibly hundreds of billions, of dollars. Unless the laws of mathematics are repealed, we will have to pay this money back in the form of higher taxes or lower government spending.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
But have you heard anyone in authority asking about the $700 billion bailout: how do you propose to pay for it?
There seems to be a center-based consensus that some form of bailout is of vital importance to the nation's economy, to its image and to the global financial system. I agree. But important national projects are worth paying for. Especially when the projects in question are a sop to an industry that has asked for—and received—so much from Washington in the past decade. Think about everything Wall Street has been given since the late 1990s: cuts in the capital-gains tax, dividend tax and estate tax, cuts in marginal income tax rates, free-trade agreements, low interest rates, light regulation. The promise was that doing the bidding of the financial-services industry would deliver solid growth and boost incomes for everyone. It didn't. This business cycle, in which job growth was generally anemic, ended with median incomes about where they were at the end of the last business cycle. The S&P 500 is basically where it was 10 years ago. Sure, we got cheap mortgages, all the credit we could eat, and some higher corporate income-tax payments for a few years. But now Wall Street wants it all back in the form of bailouts.
So anybody who pops up on television, or in a congressional hearing, to talk about the vital necessity of this regrettable bailout, should be asked to give a sense of how much it might cost and then to come up with a way to pay for it. Two hundred billion dollars? Fine, please delineate $200 billion in spending cuts over the next two years or $200 billion in tax increases to pay to clean up your mess. Which cabinet-level agency should be zeroed out? Which benefits programs cut? Which component of the defense budget gutted? I'd love to hear what former Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld, or President Bush (who continues to cower behind Paulson's large frame) or Goldman SachsCEO Lloyd Blankfein and Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack, whose butts were just saved, has to propose. After all, every dollar spent by the taxpayers cleaning up Wall Street's mess is one more added to the massive and expanding deficit, one more dollar that will have to be paid back with interest.
There are some ideas out there. Jesse Eisinger of Portfolio magazine has floated a tax on securities transactions. Another possibility would be to make the bailed out companies self-insure against their own incompetence, the way banks have done with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. And of course Congress should abolish the exemption that allows private equity and hedge-fund managers to pay low capital-gains tax rates for the money they earn managing other people's money.
It may seem silly to ask about the long-term budgetary implications of bailouts in the time of an emergency. When a fire engine is racing toward a four-alarm blaze, nobody stops to worry that speeding will put wear and tear on the engine. And what's another few hundred billion dollars of debt on top of a national debt that already reaches $9.7 trillion? But to not ask this question would be acting recklessly with other people's money. Which is how we got into this mess in the first place.
World - Iraq reschedules Elections.Again
Larry Kaplow
The Iraqi parliament's vote today to hold local elections by Jan. 31 won quick praise by an American official but is actually a reminder of the decreased leverage the United States has here and that, in fact, the elections are in danger.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki promised more than a year ago that the balloting would be held by the end of 2007. That didn't happen. Then the parliament this spring voted to set an Oct. 31 vote. By late summer, no one really expected that to happen, in part because the country still had no rules to govern the voting. Today, in a bill meant to set those rules, parliament chose a new deadline, Jan. 31. State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood told the Associated Press that the vote was a "positive sign" of "maturing Iraqi democracy."At this point, it's more a ratification of the fact that Iraqi leaders don't seem to want the vote as much as the Americans do and it's possibly an ominous sign that the relative calm of the past few months could again deteriorate.
The elections would choose the country's provincial councils, which will then select Iraq's powerful governors. The people holding those jobs now were chosen in 2005, when the incipient political system was at its crudest. Voters selected from big party lists that did not disclose the actual candidates. The winners were considered barely representative of the people and new elections, most observers hope, will be a huge step toward bringing alienated (i.e. potentially violent) factions into their share of power. (Even with the new January schedule, elections won't be held until later still for the three Kurdish provinces and one province disputed between Kurds and Arabs.)As he was installed in his new job as top commander in Iraq last week, Gen. Ray Odierno called the provincial elections "critical" for bringing stability and emphasized the expectation they would take place this year. The holding of provincial elections is one of the benchmarks Congress required the White House to use in measuring progress in Iraq.But to the major Iraqi parties in power, the prospect of elections probably looks more like a threat. They're loath to admit it but members of mainstream Shiite parties worry they will lose governorships to loyalists of radical cleric Muqtada Sadr. The Sunni minority leaders in the government fear they will lose seats in Sunni areas to upstart tribal factions who take credit for fighting off al Qaeda and barely participated in the vote the last time around.In July, NEWSWEEK talked to Baha al-Araji, one of those disaffected Sadr followers in the parliament, and he accused the leading parties of seeking to keep pushing the date into next year. Then, he said, they will argue that it just makes sense to postpone the local vote and hold it along with national elections for parliament at the end of 2009. It seemed a little conspiratorial at the time but only elections by the new deadline will prove him wrong to suspicious Iraqis.
The Iraqi parliament's vote today to hold local elections by Jan. 31 won quick praise by an American official but is actually a reminder of the decreased leverage the United States has here and that, in fact, the elections are in danger.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki promised more than a year ago that the balloting would be held by the end of 2007. That didn't happen. Then the parliament this spring voted to set an Oct. 31 vote. By late summer, no one really expected that to happen, in part because the country still had no rules to govern the voting. Today, in a bill meant to set those rules, parliament chose a new deadline, Jan. 31. State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood told the Associated Press that the vote was a "positive sign" of "maturing Iraqi democracy."At this point, it's more a ratification of the fact that Iraqi leaders don't seem to want the vote as much as the Americans do and it's possibly an ominous sign that the relative calm of the past few months could again deteriorate.
The elections would choose the country's provincial councils, which will then select Iraq's powerful governors. The people holding those jobs now were chosen in 2005, when the incipient political system was at its crudest. Voters selected from big party lists that did not disclose the actual candidates. The winners were considered barely representative of the people and new elections, most observers hope, will be a huge step toward bringing alienated (i.e. potentially violent) factions into their share of power. (Even with the new January schedule, elections won't be held until later still for the three Kurdish provinces and one province disputed between Kurds and Arabs.)As he was installed in his new job as top commander in Iraq last week, Gen. Ray Odierno called the provincial elections "critical" for bringing stability and emphasized the expectation they would take place this year. The holding of provincial elections is one of the benchmarks Congress required the White House to use in measuring progress in Iraq.But to the major Iraqi parties in power, the prospect of elections probably looks more like a threat. They're loath to admit it but members of mainstream Shiite parties worry they will lose governorships to loyalists of radical cleric Muqtada Sadr. The Sunni minority leaders in the government fear they will lose seats in Sunni areas to upstart tribal factions who take credit for fighting off al Qaeda and barely participated in the vote the last time around.In July, NEWSWEEK talked to Baha al-Araji, one of those disaffected Sadr followers in the parliament, and he accused the leading parties of seeking to keep pushing the date into next year. Then, he said, they will argue that it just makes sense to postpone the local vote and hold it along with national elections for parliament at the end of 2009. It seemed a little conspiratorial at the time but only elections by the new deadline will prove him wrong to suspicious Iraqis.
World - Yemen's Revolving Door
Mark Hosenball & Michael Isikoff
The suspected mastermind of last week's assault on the U.S. Embassy in Yemen is a longtime Al Qaeda operative who escaped from a Yemeni prison more than two years ago, according to U.S. national-security officials.
Nasir al-Wahishi, a former bodyguard to Osama bin Laden, is believed to have organized the well-coordinated Sept. 17 attack, according to two U.S. national-security officials, who requested anonymity when discussing sensitive information. Two vehicles, one of them carrying militants armed with automatic weapons and grenade launchers, tried to breach the heavily fortified walls of the American Embassy in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, according to news reports from the region.
Seventeen people—including an 18-year-old American citizen from Lackawanna, N.Y.—were killed in the assault, making it the most deadly terrorist attack on a U.S. government facility since September 11, 2001. This week, Yemeni security forces announced they had arrested six people for complicity in the attacks, including an Islamic militant who had claimed responsibility for the assault in an Internet posting.
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But one of the U.S. officials who spoke to NEWSWEEK said information, gathered since the attack, suggests Wahishi directed or instigated the plot involving the six men who were arrested. The official declined to specify precisely what the evidence was but acknowledged it was not a "smoking gun." If Wahishi's role is confirmed, it is likely to significantly change the way U.S. officials view the attack and further exacerbate tensions between the Bush administration and the Yemeni government headed by President Ali Abudullah Saleh.
A veteran Al Qaeda fighter, trainer and bodyguard, Wahishi pledged bayat (a loyalty oath) to bin Laden and served with him in Afghanistan in the days before 9/11, according to current and former U.S. officials. He later is believed to have assumed command of Al Qaeda operations in Yemen after Qaed al-Harithi, Al Qaeda's previous chief in Yemen, was killed in 2002 by a CIA-operated drone. In June 2007, a tape was released announcing Wahishi as the leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen. Later that summer, the Yemeni government announced that it suspected him of being responsible in part for an attack that killed a group of Spanish tourists.
Wahishi "is very much part of the inner circle of Al Qaeda," said Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent who worked on terrorism investigations in Yemen. "He would never conduct an attack if he did not get approval from bin Laden or people appointed by bin Laden."
What's particularly galling to the Bush administration is that Wahishi is reported to be one of 23 Al Qaeda prisoners who, in February 2006, escaped from what was supposedly one of the most secure security facilities in Yemen. U.S. officials widely suspected it was an inside job. According to NEWSWEEK's account, the suspects were being held in a basement compound beneath the headquarters of the Political Security Office, Yemen's main intelligence service. Over a two-month period, using improvised tools, they managed to dig a tunnel to a nearby mosque and, eventually, make their escape via the womens' bathroom.
Among those who escaped was Jamal al-Badawi, another veteran Al Qaeda operative who has been indicted in the United States for his involvement in the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000, an attack in the Yemeni port of Aden that killed 17 U.S. sailors. The Saleh government later announced that Badawi turned himself in, but Bush administration officials are livid that he has not been handed over to the United States to face trial and believe he is really being kept under "house arrest"—detained under less-than-onerous conditions.
While Badawi's precise status remains unclear, U.S. officials believe other escaped prisoners, including Wahishi, have since returned to terrorist activities and have been involved in current plotting or recent attacks in Yemen, which have been occurring at a regular, though sometimes little-noticed, pace for the last couple of years.
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What makes the recent events in Yemen all the more unsettling is that this was once considered a bright spot in the U.S.'s Global War on Terror. Following the Cole attack, the United States leaned heavily on Yemen's government to crack down on Al Qaeda and other homegrown Islamic militants, and the Yemeni government pledged greater cooperation. But Al Qaeda spokesmen in Yemen began publicly reiterating threats of terrorism after the Great Escape in 2006, and militants subsequently launched a series of regular, if often low-level, attacks. Since then, the Yemeni government's counterterrorist efforts have begun to resemble a revolving door; suspects are captured or turn themselves in, then escape or are released and are implicated in subsequent attacks.
With Katie Paul
The suspected mastermind of last week's assault on the U.S. Embassy in Yemen is a longtime Al Qaeda operative who escaped from a Yemeni prison more than two years ago, according to U.S. national-security officials.
Nasir al-Wahishi, a former bodyguard to Osama bin Laden, is believed to have organized the well-coordinated Sept. 17 attack, according to two U.S. national-security officials, who requested anonymity when discussing sensitive information. Two vehicles, one of them carrying militants armed with automatic weapons and grenade launchers, tried to breach the heavily fortified walls of the American Embassy in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, according to news reports from the region.
Seventeen people—including an 18-year-old American citizen from Lackawanna, N.Y.—were killed in the assault, making it the most deadly terrorist attack on a U.S. government facility since September 11, 2001. This week, Yemeni security forces announced they had arrested six people for complicity in the attacks, including an Islamic militant who had claimed responsibility for the assault in an Internet posting.
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But one of the U.S. officials who spoke to NEWSWEEK said information, gathered since the attack, suggests Wahishi directed or instigated the plot involving the six men who were arrested. The official declined to specify precisely what the evidence was but acknowledged it was not a "smoking gun." If Wahishi's role is confirmed, it is likely to significantly change the way U.S. officials view the attack and further exacerbate tensions between the Bush administration and the Yemeni government headed by President Ali Abudullah Saleh.
A veteran Al Qaeda fighter, trainer and bodyguard, Wahishi pledged bayat (a loyalty oath) to bin Laden and served with him in Afghanistan in the days before 9/11, according to current and former U.S. officials. He later is believed to have assumed command of Al Qaeda operations in Yemen after Qaed al-Harithi, Al Qaeda's previous chief in Yemen, was killed in 2002 by a CIA-operated drone. In June 2007, a tape was released announcing Wahishi as the leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen. Later that summer, the Yemeni government announced that it suspected him of being responsible in part for an attack that killed a group of Spanish tourists.
Wahishi "is very much part of the inner circle of Al Qaeda," said Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent who worked on terrorism investigations in Yemen. "He would never conduct an attack if he did not get approval from bin Laden or people appointed by bin Laden."
What's particularly galling to the Bush administration is that Wahishi is reported to be one of 23 Al Qaeda prisoners who, in February 2006, escaped from what was supposedly one of the most secure security facilities in Yemen. U.S. officials widely suspected it was an inside job. According to NEWSWEEK's account, the suspects were being held in a basement compound beneath the headquarters of the Political Security Office, Yemen's main intelligence service. Over a two-month period, using improvised tools, they managed to dig a tunnel to a nearby mosque and, eventually, make their escape via the womens' bathroom.
Among those who escaped was Jamal al-Badawi, another veteran Al Qaeda operative who has been indicted in the United States for his involvement in the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000, an attack in the Yemeni port of Aden that killed 17 U.S. sailors. The Saleh government later announced that Badawi turned himself in, but Bush administration officials are livid that he has not been handed over to the United States to face trial and believe he is really being kept under "house arrest"—detained under less-than-onerous conditions.
While Badawi's precise status remains unclear, U.S. officials believe other escaped prisoners, including Wahishi, have since returned to terrorist activities and have been involved in current plotting or recent attacks in Yemen, which have been occurring at a regular, though sometimes little-noticed, pace for the last couple of years.
placeAd2(commercialNode,'bigbox',false,'')
What makes the recent events in Yemen all the more unsettling is that this was once considered a bright spot in the U.S.'s Global War on Terror. Following the Cole attack, the United States leaned heavily on Yemen's government to crack down on Al Qaeda and other homegrown Islamic militants, and the Yemeni government pledged greater cooperation. But Al Qaeda spokesmen in Yemen began publicly reiterating threats of terrorism after the Great Escape in 2006, and militants subsequently launched a series of regular, if often low-level, attacks. Since then, the Yemeni government's counterterrorist efforts have begun to resemble a revolving door; suspects are captured or turn themselves in, then escape or are released and are implicated in subsequent attacks.
With Katie Paul
Health - Five ways to trick yourself into Eating less
Tina Peng
Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell UniversityFood and Brand Lab, has spent years studying the unconscious thought processes that lead to our sometimes unfortunate eating habits. Among his findings, published in "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think" (Bantam, 2007) we're bound to think food tastes better if it's described with more flowery adjectives; we eat less when it's warm; and if food is left in front of us, no matter how bad it tastes, there's a good chance we'll keep picking at it as long as we're just sitting there. But fear not, Wansink has also come up with some easy strategies to for us to trick ourselves into thinking we're eating more than we are.
1. Buy Smaller Plates: It's all about presentation: If you put the same amount of food on a smaller plate, it'll look like a bigger serving. Simply switching from a 12.5" plate to a 10.5" plate will make you unconsciously serve 20 percent less food. "A smaller plate suggests what's called a smaller consumption norm," Wansink said. "It suggests a smaller amount of food that's normal, typical and appropriate." A larger plate does the reverse; it suggests that a big portion is normal. Similarly, if you repackage jumbo boxes of cereal or spaghetti into smaller plastic containers or baggies, you'll cut down on the amount of food you pour onto the plate in the first place, according to Wansink.
2. Don't Clean Your Plate. For a Super Bowl party, Wansink and his graduate students laid out a spread of buffalo wings and let a crowd of hungry MBA students have at them. Throughout the night, they had waitresses occasionally clear the bones from some tables, but leave the other tables' remains alone. The students who were left sitting in front of a plate of bones could see exactly how may wings they'd consumed and that knowledge was reflected in how much they ended up eating. Those whose places were cleared ate seven wings throughout the night, while the students whose places weren't cleared, had five each. Wansink adds that readers have emailed him with tips they've come up with to combat this phenomenon. "If they're eating candy, like little candy bars, they'll keep the wrappers in front of them," he said. "If they're at a party, they'll keep caps of bottles in their pockets so they can remember how much they've had to drink."
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3. No Bagging It: Eating straight out of a bag of snack food is dangerous because you don't get a sense of how much you're consuming. For example, Wansink's team gave two groups of adults half-pound and one-pound bags of M&Ms, then had them eat as much as they wanted while watching a video. The people holding the half-pound bags ate 71 M&Ms, on average; in the same amount of time, the people eating the pound bags ate 137 M&Ms, almost twice as much. So, to avoid mindless consumption, don't grab a bag of chips and settle in for your favorite show. Instead, serve all your snacks on a tray or in a bowl.
4. Watch out for Group Grazing. In general, if you eat with someone else instead of alone, you'll ingest 35 percent more than you normally would; if you have seven or more dining partners, you'll eat almost twice as much as you would alone. Why? "You pay less attention to what you're eating," Wansink said. "You're not monitoring how much you eat, compared to when you're eating by yourself. And you tend to sit a lot longer, and the longer you sit the more you tend to eat." When eating in a group, try to start eating last and pace yourself with the slowest eater--that'll ensure you ingest the least possible volume, Wansink counsels. And leave a little bit of food on your plate so you're not tempted to get another serving you don't really want.
5. Don't Trust Your Own Judgment: Most people dramatically underestimate how many calories they've consumed. And their assessments are particularly inaccurate when they think they're eating at a healthy restaurant. Wansink surveyed McDonald's and Subway customers to find that the Subway diners—who assumed they were eating at a healthier restaurant—didn't pay attention to calorie counts and packed on fatty extras such as mayonnaise, potato chips and cookies. As a result, they consumed a third more calories than they thought they had. The McDonald's diners had a more realistic assessment of their meal; they acknowledged that they hadn't chosen the most health-friendly lunchtime locale and only underestimated their calorie intake by 25 percent. Wansink, who calls this effect the "health halo," said its repercussions extend beyond lunchtime. "Later on, some people end up indulging with snacks and even a larger dinner, believing they did their body right [earlier]," he said. Wansink's tip: Double the number of calories you think you've eaten and you'll be much more accurate in your assessment of your intake.
Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell UniversityFood and Brand Lab, has spent years studying the unconscious thought processes that lead to our sometimes unfortunate eating habits. Among his findings, published in "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think" (Bantam, 2007) we're bound to think food tastes better if it's described with more flowery adjectives; we eat less when it's warm; and if food is left in front of us, no matter how bad it tastes, there's a good chance we'll keep picking at it as long as we're just sitting there. But fear not, Wansink has also come up with some easy strategies to for us to trick ourselves into thinking we're eating more than we are.
1. Buy Smaller Plates: It's all about presentation: If you put the same amount of food on a smaller plate, it'll look like a bigger serving. Simply switching from a 12.5" plate to a 10.5" plate will make you unconsciously serve 20 percent less food. "A smaller plate suggests what's called a smaller consumption norm," Wansink said. "It suggests a smaller amount of food that's normal, typical and appropriate." A larger plate does the reverse; it suggests that a big portion is normal. Similarly, if you repackage jumbo boxes of cereal or spaghetti into smaller plastic containers or baggies, you'll cut down on the amount of food you pour onto the plate in the first place, according to Wansink.
2. Don't Clean Your Plate. For a Super Bowl party, Wansink and his graduate students laid out a spread of buffalo wings and let a crowd of hungry MBA students have at them. Throughout the night, they had waitresses occasionally clear the bones from some tables, but leave the other tables' remains alone. The students who were left sitting in front of a plate of bones could see exactly how may wings they'd consumed and that knowledge was reflected in how much they ended up eating. Those whose places were cleared ate seven wings throughout the night, while the students whose places weren't cleared, had five each. Wansink adds that readers have emailed him with tips they've come up with to combat this phenomenon. "If they're eating candy, like little candy bars, they'll keep the wrappers in front of them," he said. "If they're at a party, they'll keep caps of bottles in their pockets so they can remember how much they've had to drink."
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3. No Bagging It: Eating straight out of a bag of snack food is dangerous because you don't get a sense of how much you're consuming. For example, Wansink's team gave two groups of adults half-pound and one-pound bags of M&Ms, then had them eat as much as they wanted while watching a video. The people holding the half-pound bags ate 71 M&Ms, on average; in the same amount of time, the people eating the pound bags ate 137 M&Ms, almost twice as much. So, to avoid mindless consumption, don't grab a bag of chips and settle in for your favorite show. Instead, serve all your snacks on a tray or in a bowl.
4. Watch out for Group Grazing. In general, if you eat with someone else instead of alone, you'll ingest 35 percent more than you normally would; if you have seven or more dining partners, you'll eat almost twice as much as you would alone. Why? "You pay less attention to what you're eating," Wansink said. "You're not monitoring how much you eat, compared to when you're eating by yourself. And you tend to sit a lot longer, and the longer you sit the more you tend to eat." When eating in a group, try to start eating last and pace yourself with the slowest eater--that'll ensure you ingest the least possible volume, Wansink counsels. And leave a little bit of food on your plate so you're not tempted to get another serving you don't really want.
5. Don't Trust Your Own Judgment: Most people dramatically underestimate how many calories they've consumed. And their assessments are particularly inaccurate when they think they're eating at a healthy restaurant. Wansink surveyed McDonald's and Subway customers to find that the Subway diners—who assumed they were eating at a healthier restaurant—didn't pay attention to calorie counts and packed on fatty extras such as mayonnaise, potato chips and cookies. As a result, they consumed a third more calories than they thought they had. The McDonald's diners had a more realistic assessment of their meal; they acknowledged that they hadn't chosen the most health-friendly lunchtime locale and only underestimated their calorie intake by 25 percent. Wansink, who calls this effect the "health halo," said its repercussions extend beyond lunchtime. "Later on, some people end up indulging with snacks and even a larger dinner, believing they did their body right [earlier]," he said. Wansink's tip: Double the number of calories you think you've eaten and you'll be much more accurate in your assessment of your intake.
World - A Paul McCartney concert puts Israel in a Tizzy
Joanna Chen
Forty-three years ago, the Beatles were barred from playing a gig in Israel on the grounds that their music would have a corrupting influence on Israeli youth. Now, after an official apology earlier this year to Beatles members and their families offered by Ron Proser, Israel's ambassador to Britain, Paul McCartney will perform at an open-air concert Thursday night before an unprecedented crowd of more than 50,000 in Tel Aviv. Almost all the tickets have been sold, despite prices ranging from around $150 to $1,500 for mostly standing room at the concert.
For the past week, McCartney has topped news bulletins across Israel, almost crowding out reports on the Kadima Party primaries or Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's predictably anti-Semitic speech at the U.N. General Assembly. Radio stations have been blasting Beatles marathons and talk shows have debated who was the best, or worst, member of the group. The Israeli daily newspaper Ma'ariv invited the public to vote on the songs they wanted to hear and there has been a blanket cancellation of concerts scheduled for the same time. Tel Aviv's popular Tmuna Theater Club canceled a performance of leading Israeli singers. "We were told by the participating artists that they all intended to dump the show and go see McCartney. What could we do?" said Tali Hassin, public-relations manager, who is also going to the concert. The concert will be broadcast live on Israeli radio.
Even threats on McCartney's life from radical Islamist Omar Bakri, who dubbed McCartney "the enemy of every Muslim," haven't dampened Israel's high spirits. Extremist Jewish groups calling for a boycott have been shrugged off, as well. McCartney, whose concert is entitled "Friendship First," has so far kept a low profile, commenting that his performance in Israel is "quite apolitical"—a sentiment that many Israelis, who crave normalcy, long for. Since arriving in Israel early Wednesday morning, Macca has hunkered down in his heavily guarded hotel suite, while local paparazzi hover around, hoping to glimpse the star. Finally, Israelis can see the act they've known for all these years.
Forty-three years ago, the Beatles were barred from playing a gig in Israel on the grounds that their music would have a corrupting influence on Israeli youth. Now, after an official apology earlier this year to Beatles members and their families offered by Ron Proser, Israel's ambassador to Britain, Paul McCartney will perform at an open-air concert Thursday night before an unprecedented crowd of more than 50,000 in Tel Aviv. Almost all the tickets have been sold, despite prices ranging from around $150 to $1,500 for mostly standing room at the concert.
For the past week, McCartney has topped news bulletins across Israel, almost crowding out reports on the Kadima Party primaries or Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's predictably anti-Semitic speech at the U.N. General Assembly. Radio stations have been blasting Beatles marathons and talk shows have debated who was the best, or worst, member of the group. The Israeli daily newspaper Ma'ariv invited the public to vote on the songs they wanted to hear and there has been a blanket cancellation of concerts scheduled for the same time. Tel Aviv's popular Tmuna Theater Club canceled a performance of leading Israeli singers. "We were told by the participating artists that they all intended to dump the show and go see McCartney. What could we do?" said Tali Hassin, public-relations manager, who is also going to the concert. The concert will be broadcast live on Israeli radio.
Even threats on McCartney's life from radical Islamist Omar Bakri, who dubbed McCartney "the enemy of every Muslim," haven't dampened Israel's high spirits. Extremist Jewish groups calling for a boycott have been shrugged off, as well. McCartney, whose concert is entitled "Friendship First," has so far kept a low profile, commenting that his performance in Israel is "quite apolitical"—a sentiment that many Israelis, who crave normalcy, long for. Since arriving in Israel early Wednesday morning, Macca has hunkered down in his heavily guarded hotel suite, while local paparazzi hover around, hoping to glimpse the star. Finally, Israelis can see the act they've known for all these years.
World - What's wrong with US Strategy in Afghan
Dan Ephron
America's war in Afghanistan, soon to enter its eighth year, is arguably at its lowest point since troops drove the Taliban from power in 2001. Throughout the country, Taliban forces are making inroads. Allied casualties are at their highest since the war began. And Al Qaeda operates from a safe haven on the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, just out of America's reach.
Thomas Johnson, a research professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., and an expert on Afghanistan, believes the U.S.-led war now resembles the failed Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, which lasted almost 10 years and cost the mighty Soviet military about 15,000 lives. Johnson recently returned from Afghanistan, where he spent seven weeks talking to military officers, Afghan politicians and tribal leaders and, with the help of an Afghan go-between, Taliban commanders. Johnson shared his findings with NEWSWEEK's Dan Ephron. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: What is flawed about our approach in Afghanistan?Thomas Johnson: It's the same problem the Soviets had in their engagement from 1979 to 1989 … The United States, just as the Soviet Union, controls all the urban areas and especially provincial capitals and Kabul. But this is a rural counterinsurgency, just as the mujahedin's conflict against the Soviets was also a rural insurgency. And you don't win a rural insurgency from Kabul or Jalalabad or Kandahar. You win a rural insurgency by maintaining a presence and insulating the villages in the rural areas. And that's what we don't do—unlike what the mujahedin did in their battle with the Soviets and unlike what the Taliban are presently doing in Afghanistan today, where they operate on the village level on a 7/24 basis, either intimidating or winning the allegiance of the Afghan people. That's what it takes to win an insurgency and that's what it also takes to win a counterinsurgency.
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So let's unpack that. You're saying we're mainly on the big bases, we're not scattered throughout the rural areas. Are there enough troops in Afghanistan to have a presence everywhere? Yes. I believe the problem in Afghanistan isn't necessarily a quantitative manpower problem but rather a manpower distribution problem. We have between 60,000 and 70,000 international troops in Afghanistan presently and the vast majority of these spend their time in the FOBs [forward operating bases]. We have at least 10,000 soldiers, airmen, Marines and the like in Bagram for example, which is at least 150 miles away from the insurgency. And Bagram has a Pizza Hut, a Burger King and even a massage parlor. But it's not the way to win a counterinsurgency. You have to be out in the villages … When I was in Solerno last year, which is a FOB near the Pakistani-Afghan border near Khost, I estimated—and nobody really argued with me—that while there were thousands of people at this base, probably less than 5 percent ever left the wire. And you just can't prosecute a counterinsurgency with those kinds of numbers.
If you have smaller numbers of troops in compounds throughout the country, how do you protect them? How do you make sure their bases don't get overrun by the Taliban?The Taliban up to this point have not, with one exception, shown that they have the capability of overrunning an international force of the size I'm suggesting at the district level. What I talk about is about 75 ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] personnel complemented by 50 Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police and that's complemented by an additional 25 to 45 civilian development specialists—everything from hydrologists to agro-economists and the like … In most of the districts where the Taliban are operating, they're not roaming around in groups of 500 or even groups of 50. We're talking about tens.
And what would be the main mission of the troops at this local level? Is it to provide security for the Afghans who aren't getting it from the central government?South of the Helmand River, where the Pashtun homeland really is, there's been very little reconstruction. So first of all, these district teams will be able to pursue reconstruction and development programs but not at the whims of Kabul … You would be basically building and enhancing the types of things the people themselves are suggesting are needed. This would help to solidify the traditional Pashtun social structure that's had a very sophisticated conflict-mechanism strategy over the years, that's been basically destroyed since 1979 when the Soviets invaded. I argue that what we really want to do is to rebuild this social structure that's been very good at resolving and moderating conflicts and the like. The next thing is that, you know, there's a symbiotic relationship between security and reconstruction. You can't have one without the other, especially in this campaign. We being at the village level would also offer village elders security. We're insulating them against the insurgents, the Taliban. And I think it would eventually drive the Taliban out of these areas, much the way it's been done in some of the urban areas in Iraq through the inkblot strategy.
Now if you're empowering the clans—the tribes—at that level, don't you risk undermining President Karzai's bid to strengthen the central government?One should recognize that Kabul has always been rather symbolic. The national government has never mattered that much to the rural Pashtun hinterland. Afghanistan has never had a strong government such as the present constitution calls for except for a guy named Abdul Rahman, or the Iron Emir, in the late 19th century. And he was a very strong and decisive figure who actually built towers of skulls from his opponents. One of the complaints I heard time and time again is that Karzai doesn't have a lot of respect in many areas because he's a weak president … So the point is that national governments have never been strong in Afghan history and have never had that great of an influence in the hinterland area anyway. These areas have their own governance, tribal governance, they have their own laws, tribal laws and they never looked very favorably on things coming from Kabul. In fact, historically, when Kabul has tried to exert its influence in the Pashtun hinterland it's usually caused insurrection or insurgency.
Some of this sounds familiar from General Petraeus's counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq. Are you talking about replicating the model in Afghanistan?Afghanistan and Iraq are really very, very different. Iraq has traditionally had literacy rates of well above 90 percent of the population, Afghanistan you might have 15 percent of the population. Iraq is basically an urban society with some very major urban centers that have driven the traditional intellectual and social and economic life of the country. Afghanistan is 80 percent rural. The cities have never mattered that much. A rural insurgency is very, very different than an urban insurgency, which we're facing in Iraq, and you have to pursue different policies. Plus, in Iraq you've had a very dynamic pattern of sectarian violence between the Sunni and Shia. And while there are differences between the Afghan Sunni and Shia, it's never been one of the driving historical epics in the country.
Go back to the comparison to the Soviet occupation. The conventional narrative roughly is that the Soviets had a strong hold over the government until the U.S. started supplying the mujahedin with shoulder-fired rockets that brought down their helicopters and that led to the undoing of the Soviet occupation. You're saying their strategy from the start was, like ours, an urban strategy, and that's what led to their failure?Absolutely. And if you look at and analyze the mujahedin presence during the Soviet occupation, they controlled 80 percent of the country, the rural areas. The Soviets controlled the urban areas. And like the present conflict, the c
America's war in Afghanistan, soon to enter its eighth year, is arguably at its lowest point since troops drove the Taliban from power in 2001. Throughout the country, Taliban forces are making inroads. Allied casualties are at their highest since the war began. And Al Qaeda operates from a safe haven on the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, just out of America's reach.
Thomas Johnson, a research professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., and an expert on Afghanistan, believes the U.S.-led war now resembles the failed Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, which lasted almost 10 years and cost the mighty Soviet military about 15,000 lives. Johnson recently returned from Afghanistan, where he spent seven weeks talking to military officers, Afghan politicians and tribal leaders and, with the help of an Afghan go-between, Taliban commanders. Johnson shared his findings with NEWSWEEK's Dan Ephron. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: What is flawed about our approach in Afghanistan?Thomas Johnson: It's the same problem the Soviets had in their engagement from 1979 to 1989 … The United States, just as the Soviet Union, controls all the urban areas and especially provincial capitals and Kabul. But this is a rural counterinsurgency, just as the mujahedin's conflict against the Soviets was also a rural insurgency. And you don't win a rural insurgency from Kabul or Jalalabad or Kandahar. You win a rural insurgency by maintaining a presence and insulating the villages in the rural areas. And that's what we don't do—unlike what the mujahedin did in their battle with the Soviets and unlike what the Taliban are presently doing in Afghanistan today, where they operate on the village level on a 7/24 basis, either intimidating or winning the allegiance of the Afghan people. That's what it takes to win an insurgency and that's what it also takes to win a counterinsurgency.
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So let's unpack that. You're saying we're mainly on the big bases, we're not scattered throughout the rural areas. Are there enough troops in Afghanistan to have a presence everywhere? Yes. I believe the problem in Afghanistan isn't necessarily a quantitative manpower problem but rather a manpower distribution problem. We have between 60,000 and 70,000 international troops in Afghanistan presently and the vast majority of these spend their time in the FOBs [forward operating bases]. We have at least 10,000 soldiers, airmen, Marines and the like in Bagram for example, which is at least 150 miles away from the insurgency. And Bagram has a Pizza Hut, a Burger King and even a massage parlor. But it's not the way to win a counterinsurgency. You have to be out in the villages … When I was in Solerno last year, which is a FOB near the Pakistani-Afghan border near Khost, I estimated—and nobody really argued with me—that while there were thousands of people at this base, probably less than 5 percent ever left the wire. And you just can't prosecute a counterinsurgency with those kinds of numbers.
If you have smaller numbers of troops in compounds throughout the country, how do you protect them? How do you make sure their bases don't get overrun by the Taliban?The Taliban up to this point have not, with one exception, shown that they have the capability of overrunning an international force of the size I'm suggesting at the district level. What I talk about is about 75 ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] personnel complemented by 50 Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police and that's complemented by an additional 25 to 45 civilian development specialists—everything from hydrologists to agro-economists and the like … In most of the districts where the Taliban are operating, they're not roaming around in groups of 500 or even groups of 50. We're talking about tens.
And what would be the main mission of the troops at this local level? Is it to provide security for the Afghans who aren't getting it from the central government?South of the Helmand River, where the Pashtun homeland really is, there's been very little reconstruction. So first of all, these district teams will be able to pursue reconstruction and development programs but not at the whims of Kabul … You would be basically building and enhancing the types of things the people themselves are suggesting are needed. This would help to solidify the traditional Pashtun social structure that's had a very sophisticated conflict-mechanism strategy over the years, that's been basically destroyed since 1979 when the Soviets invaded. I argue that what we really want to do is to rebuild this social structure that's been very good at resolving and moderating conflicts and the like. The next thing is that, you know, there's a symbiotic relationship between security and reconstruction. You can't have one without the other, especially in this campaign. We being at the village level would also offer village elders security. We're insulating them against the insurgents, the Taliban. And I think it would eventually drive the Taliban out of these areas, much the way it's been done in some of the urban areas in Iraq through the inkblot strategy.
Now if you're empowering the clans—the tribes—at that level, don't you risk undermining President Karzai's bid to strengthen the central government?One should recognize that Kabul has always been rather symbolic. The national government has never mattered that much to the rural Pashtun hinterland. Afghanistan has never had a strong government such as the present constitution calls for except for a guy named Abdul Rahman, or the Iron Emir, in the late 19th century. And he was a very strong and decisive figure who actually built towers of skulls from his opponents. One of the complaints I heard time and time again is that Karzai doesn't have a lot of respect in many areas because he's a weak president … So the point is that national governments have never been strong in Afghan history and have never had that great of an influence in the hinterland area anyway. These areas have their own governance, tribal governance, they have their own laws, tribal laws and they never looked very favorably on things coming from Kabul. In fact, historically, when Kabul has tried to exert its influence in the Pashtun hinterland it's usually caused insurrection or insurgency.
Some of this sounds familiar from General Petraeus's counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq. Are you talking about replicating the model in Afghanistan?Afghanistan and Iraq are really very, very different. Iraq has traditionally had literacy rates of well above 90 percent of the population, Afghanistan you might have 15 percent of the population. Iraq is basically an urban society with some very major urban centers that have driven the traditional intellectual and social and economic life of the country. Afghanistan is 80 percent rural. The cities have never mattered that much. A rural insurgency is very, very different than an urban insurgency, which we're facing in Iraq, and you have to pursue different policies. Plus, in Iraq you've had a very dynamic pattern of sectarian violence between the Sunni and Shia. And while there are differences between the Afghan Sunni and Shia, it's never been one of the driving historical epics in the country.
Go back to the comparison to the Soviet occupation. The conventional narrative roughly is that the Soviets had a strong hold over the government until the U.S. started supplying the mujahedin with shoulder-fired rockets that brought down their helicopters and that led to the undoing of the Soviet occupation. You're saying their strategy from the start was, like ours, an urban strategy, and that's what led to their failure?Absolutely. And if you look at and analyze the mujahedin presence during the Soviet occupation, they controlled 80 percent of the country, the rural areas. The Soviets controlled the urban areas. And like the present conflict, the c