Elise Ackerman
Mercury News
Article Launched: 10/30/2008 06:25:39 PM PDT
As talks between Google, Yahoo and the U.S. Department of Justice drag on, investors are betting that the two Internet companies will walk away from a deal to jointly sell advertising on Yahoo's Web sites, and that Yahoo will end up selling its search business to Microsoft.
Investors bid up Yahoo's stock nearly 7 percent during regular trading Thursday after a flurry of conflicting news reports predicted Yahoo would soon announce another move, such as combining its search business with either Microsoft or AOL.
Representatives for Google and Yahoo issued statements saying they were continuing to talk to the Justice Department. Both companies declined to say when the talks might conclude.
"As we have said, we believe strongly that this agreement will strengthen Yahoo's competitive position in online advertising and will help to drive a more robust, higher-quality Yahoo marketplace for our advertisers, publishers and users," Yahoo spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said in an e-mail.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported that the companies could abandon the partnership as early as the middle of next week if differences with regulators are not resolved.
Yahoo announced in June that it had agreed to display Google advertisements on its Web sites in the United States and Canada in response to certain search queries. At the time, the companies said they would delay implementation for regulatory review.
This month the companies announced they had agreed to another delay. Meanwhile, the Justice Department brought in Sandy Litvack, former head of the antitrust division, to consult on the deal, indicating that they were considering filing suit to stop it.
Nov 1, 2008
India - Northeast;Spreading fires
Sunil Sethi
Of all of India’s far-flung geographical outposts, the northeast has long been the most vulnerable and inflammable. Thursday’s blasts in Assam—harsher in intensity, synchronised in their spread and with higher casualties—were the result of decades of pent-up, simmering resentments waiting to boil over. The region may have the smallest electorate (less than 4 per cent of the country’s population) but it also shares the shortest border with the rest of the country (only 21 km). Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh flank the boundaries of the Seven Sisters, some of it thick, impenetrable rain forest or precipitous passes or the broad, unruly swathe of the Brahmaputra.
The biggest continuing grievance in Assam has been the steady percolation of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, the unchecked swell becoming so great that the state’s demography has changed dramatically. By current estimates 35 to 40 per cent of Assam’s population is Muslim, mainly recent settlers. Other estimates claim that seven of Assam’s 23 districts are now dominated by Bangladeshis, thereby changing the entire demography of lower Assam. Ten years ago the governor Lt Gen S K Sinha reported that the “continued silent demographic invasion (of the Northeast) posed a great threat both to the identity of the Assamese people and our national security.”
Yet most political parties, regional or national, including the BJP which rode the anti-foreigner plank at election time, have turned a blind eye to the Illegal Migrants Determination Act—part of the 25-year-old Assam Accord—and some want it scrapped. Bangladeshi settlers have become important vote-banks and some of them hotbeds of jihadi activity. Protests broke out not long ago when a Guwahati High Court judgement ordered the deportation of 50 illegal immigrants. As evidence it cited the state administration’s—the police as well the regional passport office—complicity in helping the migrants register as voters and even acquire passports after furnishing false documents. Justice B K Sharma noted that the lapses in the system were used by a Pakistani national, who had sneaked into Assam via Dhaka, to contest elections. “The day is not far off when the indigenous people of Assam, both Hindus and Muslims and other religious groups, will be reduced to minorities in their own land,” said the judge.
Indigenous Assamese Muslims are among the most well-integrated section of the minority community anywhere in India. Inter-faith marriages are common in a tradition of harmonious relations. Yet as sections of the immigrant population turns radical, fuelled by outlawed secessionist and militant groups, the communal divide has intensified.
Decades of tribal conflict and insurgency have lead to rampant unemployment and lack of infrastructure elsewhere in the Northeast that no number of special economic packages and battalions of soldiers sent by New Delhi have helped assuage. In a recent essay, “The Lost Generation of Manipur,” the writer Siddhatha Deb portrays the bleak, broken-down and threatening towns of Manipur and Nagaland graphically: “The periodic infusions of cash from Delhi seemed to remain in the pockets of local politicians and bureaucrats…harsh authoritarianism…gave security forces the right to arrest and kill without having to answer to the local administration…as if this mix of violence, poverty, and corruption isn’t enough Manipur has, since the 1980s, been flooded by heroin and amphetamines.”
The free flow of drugs from Burma has led to one of the largest populations of drug addicts who, through shared syringes, constitute a major pool of Indians afflicted by HIV AIDS. His descriptions of unemployed young men and women, trapped between shooting up or taking up the militants’ guns, driven to drug use and prostitution is a sobering portrait of India marooned.
These miseries, says Deb, seem to take place offstage, in an invisible corner of India that seems to have received nothing from modernity. Drugs, guns and unchecked immigrants from porous borders—can the fires of militancy and terrorist strikes in the northeast be doused easily?
Of all of India’s far-flung geographical outposts, the northeast has long been the most vulnerable and inflammable. Thursday’s blasts in Assam—harsher in intensity, synchronised in their spread and with higher casualties—were the result of decades of pent-up, simmering resentments waiting to boil over. The region may have the smallest electorate (less than 4 per cent of the country’s population) but it also shares the shortest border with the rest of the country (only 21 km). Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh flank the boundaries of the Seven Sisters, some of it thick, impenetrable rain forest or precipitous passes or the broad, unruly swathe of the Brahmaputra.
The biggest continuing grievance in Assam has been the steady percolation of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, the unchecked swell becoming so great that the state’s demography has changed dramatically. By current estimates 35 to 40 per cent of Assam’s population is Muslim, mainly recent settlers. Other estimates claim that seven of Assam’s 23 districts are now dominated by Bangladeshis, thereby changing the entire demography of lower Assam. Ten years ago the governor Lt Gen S K Sinha reported that the “continued silent demographic invasion (of the Northeast) posed a great threat both to the identity of the Assamese people and our national security.”
Yet most political parties, regional or national, including the BJP which rode the anti-foreigner plank at election time, have turned a blind eye to the Illegal Migrants Determination Act—part of the 25-year-old Assam Accord—and some want it scrapped. Bangladeshi settlers have become important vote-banks and some of them hotbeds of jihadi activity. Protests broke out not long ago when a Guwahati High Court judgement ordered the deportation of 50 illegal immigrants. As evidence it cited the state administration’s—the police as well the regional passport office—complicity in helping the migrants register as voters and even acquire passports after furnishing false documents. Justice B K Sharma noted that the lapses in the system were used by a Pakistani national, who had sneaked into Assam via Dhaka, to contest elections. “The day is not far off when the indigenous people of Assam, both Hindus and Muslims and other religious groups, will be reduced to minorities in their own land,” said the judge.
Indigenous Assamese Muslims are among the most well-integrated section of the minority community anywhere in India. Inter-faith marriages are common in a tradition of harmonious relations. Yet as sections of the immigrant population turns radical, fuelled by outlawed secessionist and militant groups, the communal divide has intensified.
Decades of tribal conflict and insurgency have lead to rampant unemployment and lack of infrastructure elsewhere in the Northeast that no number of special economic packages and battalions of soldiers sent by New Delhi have helped assuage. In a recent essay, “The Lost Generation of Manipur,” the writer Siddhatha Deb portrays the bleak, broken-down and threatening towns of Manipur and Nagaland graphically: “The periodic infusions of cash from Delhi seemed to remain in the pockets of local politicians and bureaucrats…harsh authoritarianism…gave security forces the right to arrest and kill without having to answer to the local administration…as if this mix of violence, poverty, and corruption isn’t enough Manipur has, since the 1980s, been flooded by heroin and amphetamines.”
The free flow of drugs from Burma has led to one of the largest populations of drug addicts who, through shared syringes, constitute a major pool of Indians afflicted by HIV AIDS. His descriptions of unemployed young men and women, trapped between shooting up or taking up the militants’ guns, driven to drug use and prostitution is a sobering portrait of India marooned.
These miseries, says Deb, seem to take place offstage, in an invisible corner of India that seems to have received nothing from modernity. Drugs, guns and unchecked immigrants from porous borders—can the fires of militancy and terrorist strikes in the northeast be doused easily?
World - Towards Asian Power equilibrium
Brahma Chellaney
Last week’s Indo-Japanese security accord is momentous, with Tokyo concluding such an agreement with only one other country, Australia. Its significance actually parallels the 2005 Indo-U.S. defence framework accord. But while the latter seeks to mould India into America’s junior partner, the former is between equals to help contribute to Asian power stability.
The India-Japan security agreement signed last week marks a significant milestone in building Asian power equilibrium. A constellation of Asian states linked by strategic cooperation and sharing common interests is becoming critical to instituting power stability at a time when major shifts in economic and political power are accentuating Asia’s security challenges.
What Tokyo and New Delhi have signed is a framework agreement, to be followed up with “an action plan with specific measures to advance security cooperation” in particular areas, ranging from sea-lane safety and defence collaboration to disaster management and counterterrorism. How momentous this accord is can be seen from the fact that Japan has such a security agreement with only one other country — Australia.
Tokyo, of course, has been tied to the United States militarily since 1951 through a treaty that was designed to meet American demands that U.S. troops remain stationed in Japan even after the end of the American occupation of Japan. Today, that treaty — revised in 1960 — is the linchpin of the American forward-military deployment strategy in the Asian theatre.
The Indo-Japanese security agreement, signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit, is actually modelled on the March 2007 Japan-Australia defence accord. Both are in the form of a joint declaration on security cooperation. And both, while recognising a common commitment to democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law, obligate the two sides to work together to build not just bilateral defence cooperation but also security in the Asia-Pacific.
But unlike distant Australia with its relatively benign security environment, India and Japan are China’s next-door neighbours and worry that Beijing’s accumulating power could fashion a Sino-centric Asia. Canberra, quite the opposite, wishes to balance its relations with Tokyo and Beijing, and loves to cite the new reality that, for the first time, Australia’s largest trading partner (China) is no longer the same as its main security anchor (the U.S.).
But there is nothing unique about this situation. It is a testament to Beijing’s rising global economic clout that China is also Japan’s largest trade partner now and is poised to similarly become India’s in a couple of years. On the other hand, two of India’s most-important bilateral relationships — with Russia and Japan — suffer from hideously low trade volumes.
Trade in today’s market-driven world is not constrained by political differences — unless political barriers have been erected, as the U.S. has done against Cuba and Burma, for example. In fact, as world history testifies, booming trade is not a guarantee of moderation and restraint between states. The new global fault lines show that that it was a mistake to believe that greater economic interdependence by itself would improve international geopolitics. Better politics is as important as better economics.
Canberra has consciously sought to downplay its defence accord with Tokyo to the extent that, nearly a year after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd took office, a visitor seeking to access the text of that agreement on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) website is greeted by this message: “Sorry, the page you asked for has been temporarily removed from the site — Following the recent Australian federal election, the content of this page is under review until further notice.” Indeed, Mr. Rudd’s Labour Party, while in opposition ranks, had openly cast doubt on the diplomatic utility of that agreement.
In that light, it is no surprise that beyond their similarly structured format, including the mirrored requirement for a follow-up action plan, the Japanese-Australian and Indo-Japanese agreements carry different strategic import. The one between Tokyo and New Delhi is plainly designed to contribute to building Asian power equilibrium. The Indo-Japanese partnership, as the two Prime Ministers said in their separate joint statement, forms an “essential pillar for the future architecture” of security in the Asia-Pacific.
By contrast, the Australian-Japanese agreement carries little potential to become an abiding element of a future Asian-Pacific security architecture, given the two parties’ contrasting strategic motivations and Canberra’s attempts from the outset to package it as a functional arrangement devoid of geopolitical aims. Tellingly, the push for that accord had come from the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the architect of the Quadrilateral Initiative. And it was Mr. Rudd who this year pulled the plug on that initiative, founded on the concept of democratic peace.
The significance of the Indo-Japanese agreement truly parallels the 2005 Indo-U.S. defence framework accord, which signalled a major transformation of the once-estranged relationship between the world’s most populous and most powerful democracies. Both those agreements focus on counterterrorism, disaster response, safety of sea-lanes of communications, non-proliferation, bilateral and multilateral military exercises, peace operations, and defence dialogue and cooperation. But the former has not only been signed at a higher level — prime ministerial — but also comes with a key element: “policy coordination on regional affairs in the Asia-Pacific region and on long-term strategic and global issues.”
This is an agreement between equals on enhancing mutual security. By contrast, the U.S.-India defence agreement, with its emphasis on U.S. arms sales, force interoperability and intelligence sharing, aims to build India as a new junior partner (or spoke) in a web of interlocking bilateral arrangements meshing with America’s hub-and-spoke alliance system, designed to undergird U.S. interests.
It is, however, doubtful that the U.S., despite the defence accord and the subsequent nuclear deal, would succeed in roping in India as a new ally in a patron-client framework. In a fast-changing world characterised by a qualitative reordering of power — with even Tokyo and Berlin seeking to discreetly reclaim their foreign policy autonomy — U.S. policymakers are unlikely to be able to mould India into a new Japan or Germany to America, notwithstanding the help from Indian neocons.
In keeping with its long-standing preference for strategic independence, India is likely to retain the option to forge different partnerships with varied players to pursue a variety of interests in diverse settings. That means that from being nonaligned, India is likely to become multialigned. The security agreement with Japan — still the world’s second largest economic powerhouse after the U.S. — jibes well with India’s desire to pursue omnidirectional cooperation for mutual benefit with key players.
Japan and India indeed are natural allies, with no negative historical legacy and no conflict of strategic interest. Rather, they share common goals to build stability and institutionalised cooperation in Asia and to make the 20th century international institutions and rules more suitable for the 21st century world. They are establishing a “strategic and global partnership” that is driven, as their new agreement states, “by converging long-term political, economic and strategic interests, aspirations and concerns.”
Such is the fast-developing nature of this relationship that the two, besides holding a yearly summit meeting, have instituted multiple strategic dialogues involving their Foreign and Defence Ministers and national security advisers, as well as “service-to-service exchanges including bilateral and multilateral exercises.” After all, the balance of power in Asia will be determined by events as much in the Indian Ocean rim as in East Asia. The Indian and Japanese space agencies are also to cooperate as part of capacity-building efforts in disaster management.
It will be simplistic to see such cooperation one-dimensionally, as aimed at countervailing China’s growing might. Beijing itself is pursuing a range of bilateral and multilateral initiatives in Asia to underpin its strategic objectives and help shape Asian security trends — from weapon sales to countries stretching from Iran to Indonesia and port building projects in the Indian Ocean rim, to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and north-south strategic corridors through Pakistan and Burma.
Given China’s territorial size, population (a fifth of the human race) and economic dynamism, few can question or grudge its right to be a world power. In fact, such is its sense of where it wishes to go that China cannot be dissuaded from the notion that it is destined to emerge, in the words of the then President Jiang Zemin, as “a world power second to none.”
Against that background, why begrudge the efforts of Asia’s two largest and most established democracies to work together to avert an Asian power disequilibrium? Never before in history have China, India and Japan been all strong at the same time. Today, they need to find ways to reconcile their interests in Asia so that they can peacefully coexist and prosper. But there can be no denying that these three leading Asian powers and the U.S. have different playbooks: the U.S. wants a unipolar world but a multipolar Asia; China seeks a multipolar world but a unipolar Asia; and India and Japan desire a multipolar Asia and multipolar world.
(Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, is the author, most recently, of Asian Juggernaut: The Rise of China, India and Japan.)
Last week’s Indo-Japanese security accord is momentous, with Tokyo concluding such an agreement with only one other country, Australia. Its significance actually parallels the 2005 Indo-U.S. defence framework accord. But while the latter seeks to mould India into America’s junior partner, the former is between equals to help contribute to Asian power stability.
The India-Japan security agreement signed last week marks a significant milestone in building Asian power equilibrium. A constellation of Asian states linked by strategic cooperation and sharing common interests is becoming critical to instituting power stability at a time when major shifts in economic and political power are accentuating Asia’s security challenges.
What Tokyo and New Delhi have signed is a framework agreement, to be followed up with “an action plan with specific measures to advance security cooperation” in particular areas, ranging from sea-lane safety and defence collaboration to disaster management and counterterrorism. How momentous this accord is can be seen from the fact that Japan has such a security agreement with only one other country — Australia.
Tokyo, of course, has been tied to the United States militarily since 1951 through a treaty that was designed to meet American demands that U.S. troops remain stationed in Japan even after the end of the American occupation of Japan. Today, that treaty — revised in 1960 — is the linchpin of the American forward-military deployment strategy in the Asian theatre.
The Indo-Japanese security agreement, signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit, is actually modelled on the March 2007 Japan-Australia defence accord. Both are in the form of a joint declaration on security cooperation. And both, while recognising a common commitment to democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law, obligate the two sides to work together to build not just bilateral defence cooperation but also security in the Asia-Pacific.
But unlike distant Australia with its relatively benign security environment, India and Japan are China’s next-door neighbours and worry that Beijing’s accumulating power could fashion a Sino-centric Asia. Canberra, quite the opposite, wishes to balance its relations with Tokyo and Beijing, and loves to cite the new reality that, for the first time, Australia’s largest trading partner (China) is no longer the same as its main security anchor (the U.S.).
But there is nothing unique about this situation. It is a testament to Beijing’s rising global economic clout that China is also Japan’s largest trade partner now and is poised to similarly become India’s in a couple of years. On the other hand, two of India’s most-important bilateral relationships — with Russia and Japan — suffer from hideously low trade volumes.
Trade in today’s market-driven world is not constrained by political differences — unless political barriers have been erected, as the U.S. has done against Cuba and Burma, for example. In fact, as world history testifies, booming trade is not a guarantee of moderation and restraint between states. The new global fault lines show that that it was a mistake to believe that greater economic interdependence by itself would improve international geopolitics. Better politics is as important as better economics.
Canberra has consciously sought to downplay its defence accord with Tokyo to the extent that, nearly a year after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd took office, a visitor seeking to access the text of that agreement on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) website is greeted by this message: “Sorry, the page you asked for has been temporarily removed from the site — Following the recent Australian federal election, the content of this page is under review until further notice.” Indeed, Mr. Rudd’s Labour Party, while in opposition ranks, had openly cast doubt on the diplomatic utility of that agreement.
In that light, it is no surprise that beyond their similarly structured format, including the mirrored requirement for a follow-up action plan, the Japanese-Australian and Indo-Japanese agreements carry different strategic import. The one between Tokyo and New Delhi is plainly designed to contribute to building Asian power equilibrium. The Indo-Japanese partnership, as the two Prime Ministers said in their separate joint statement, forms an “essential pillar for the future architecture” of security in the Asia-Pacific.
By contrast, the Australian-Japanese agreement carries little potential to become an abiding element of a future Asian-Pacific security architecture, given the two parties’ contrasting strategic motivations and Canberra’s attempts from the outset to package it as a functional arrangement devoid of geopolitical aims. Tellingly, the push for that accord had come from the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the architect of the Quadrilateral Initiative. And it was Mr. Rudd who this year pulled the plug on that initiative, founded on the concept of democratic peace.
The significance of the Indo-Japanese agreement truly parallels the 2005 Indo-U.S. defence framework accord, which signalled a major transformation of the once-estranged relationship between the world’s most populous and most powerful democracies. Both those agreements focus on counterterrorism, disaster response, safety of sea-lanes of communications, non-proliferation, bilateral and multilateral military exercises, peace operations, and defence dialogue and cooperation. But the former has not only been signed at a higher level — prime ministerial — but also comes with a key element: “policy coordination on regional affairs in the Asia-Pacific region and on long-term strategic and global issues.”
This is an agreement between equals on enhancing mutual security. By contrast, the U.S.-India defence agreement, with its emphasis on U.S. arms sales, force interoperability and intelligence sharing, aims to build India as a new junior partner (or spoke) in a web of interlocking bilateral arrangements meshing with America’s hub-and-spoke alliance system, designed to undergird U.S. interests.
It is, however, doubtful that the U.S., despite the defence accord and the subsequent nuclear deal, would succeed in roping in India as a new ally in a patron-client framework. In a fast-changing world characterised by a qualitative reordering of power — with even Tokyo and Berlin seeking to discreetly reclaim their foreign policy autonomy — U.S. policymakers are unlikely to be able to mould India into a new Japan or Germany to America, notwithstanding the help from Indian neocons.
In keeping with its long-standing preference for strategic independence, India is likely to retain the option to forge different partnerships with varied players to pursue a variety of interests in diverse settings. That means that from being nonaligned, India is likely to become multialigned. The security agreement with Japan — still the world’s second largest economic powerhouse after the U.S. — jibes well with India’s desire to pursue omnidirectional cooperation for mutual benefit with key players.
Japan and India indeed are natural allies, with no negative historical legacy and no conflict of strategic interest. Rather, they share common goals to build stability and institutionalised cooperation in Asia and to make the 20th century international institutions and rules more suitable for the 21st century world. They are establishing a “strategic and global partnership” that is driven, as their new agreement states, “by converging long-term political, economic and strategic interests, aspirations and concerns.”
Such is the fast-developing nature of this relationship that the two, besides holding a yearly summit meeting, have instituted multiple strategic dialogues involving their Foreign and Defence Ministers and national security advisers, as well as “service-to-service exchanges including bilateral and multilateral exercises.” After all, the balance of power in Asia will be determined by events as much in the Indian Ocean rim as in East Asia. The Indian and Japanese space agencies are also to cooperate as part of capacity-building efforts in disaster management.
It will be simplistic to see such cooperation one-dimensionally, as aimed at countervailing China’s growing might. Beijing itself is pursuing a range of bilateral and multilateral initiatives in Asia to underpin its strategic objectives and help shape Asian security trends — from weapon sales to countries stretching from Iran to Indonesia and port building projects in the Indian Ocean rim, to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and north-south strategic corridors through Pakistan and Burma.
Given China’s territorial size, population (a fifth of the human race) and economic dynamism, few can question or grudge its right to be a world power. In fact, such is its sense of where it wishes to go that China cannot be dissuaded from the notion that it is destined to emerge, in the words of the then President Jiang Zemin, as “a world power second to none.”
Against that background, why begrudge the efforts of Asia’s two largest and most established democracies to work together to avert an Asian power disequilibrium? Never before in history have China, India and Japan been all strong at the same time. Today, they need to find ways to reconcile their interests in Asia so that they can peacefully coexist and prosper. But there can be no denying that these three leading Asian powers and the U.S. have different playbooks: the U.S. wants a unipolar world but a multipolar Asia; China seeks a multipolar world but a unipolar Asia; and India and Japan desire a multipolar Asia and multipolar world.
(Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, is the author, most recently, of Asian Juggernaut: The Rise of China, India and Japan.)
India - Why money is scarce
T N Ninan
The overnight call money market is back to where it was a fortnight ago, with interest rates in the sky-high, 14-21 per cent range. The 1 percentage point cut in the repo rate announced at the beginning of last week had a temporary effect, because call rates crashed, but the underlying shortage of money has once again manifested itself; so the repo rate cut announced 12 days ago looks now like doing you-know-what in the wind. In other words, the clamour for lower interest rates may be missing the point. High interest rates are only symptoms of the real problem, which is the shortage of money.
The numbers tell the story. Foreign exchange reserves dipped by $15 billion this past week, were flat the week before, and dipped by about $10 billion the week before that. In both weeks when the rates in the call money market went through the roof, RBI was busy selling dollars and sucking rupees out of the system—ie, tightening liquidity. In October as a whole, RBI sold $33 billion, almost certainly the largest monthly sale figure ever. In the previous four months of 2008 (after RBI reserves peaked in May), the total decline in RBI reserves was only $24 billion.
RBI must have good reason for selling dollars and sucking rupees out of the market. There would have been substantial pressure in terms of dollar outflows, which could send the rupee on a nose-dive if RBI did not intervene; and there are few (if any) people who would want that. But the price of protecting the rupee’s exchange value is being paid by domestic borrowers, as rupees become scarce in the market.
Don’t blame foreign institutional investors for the dollar outflows; they sold less than $4 billion worth of stock in all of October. There are other, much larger forces at work—like the drying of international trade credit, forcing Indian firms trading internationally to borrow from Indian banks instead. The big Indian companies have also been busy financing their overseas acquisitions with Indian money, because overseas money is not available—that’s more rupees taken out of circulation. And Indian banks with liquidity-strapped international operations have been supporting them with money sent from here—yet another way in which rupees have been sucked out. All three are manifestations of the global liquidity problem forcing domestic entities to look to domestic money, so that demand for rupees has shot up precisely when it is scarce. But there is a purely domestic issue as well: people have been pulling money out of mutual funds and putting them in banks; but close to a third of bank money is immediately impounded—for holding as cash, or investing in government securities. As people take mutual fund money and put it in banks, they are helping to reduce the amount of money available to the non-government sector.
With all these forces combining to suck out money, RBI’s primary task has to be to put money back in circulation. The best and easiest way to do that is to halve the cash reserve ratio to the statutory minimum of 3 per cent. That might sound like drastic action, but it will immediately release about Rs 1,23,000 crore into the market. If nothing else, that will neutralise the domestic monetary impact of RBI’s actions in October, when it sold dollars equivalent to Rs 1,65,000 crore. That kind of injection of liquidity will make a difference to the money market, banks will suddenly have money that they will hopefully lend (after all, they have cut the borrowing limits for many of their corporate clients), and the over-all credit situation will ease. And, for good measure, interest rates will come down
The overnight call money market is back to where it was a fortnight ago, with interest rates in the sky-high, 14-21 per cent range. The 1 percentage point cut in the repo rate announced at the beginning of last week had a temporary effect, because call rates crashed, but the underlying shortage of money has once again manifested itself; so the repo rate cut announced 12 days ago looks now like doing you-know-what in the wind. In other words, the clamour for lower interest rates may be missing the point. High interest rates are only symptoms of the real problem, which is the shortage of money.
The numbers tell the story. Foreign exchange reserves dipped by $15 billion this past week, were flat the week before, and dipped by about $10 billion the week before that. In both weeks when the rates in the call money market went through the roof, RBI was busy selling dollars and sucking rupees out of the system—ie, tightening liquidity. In October as a whole, RBI sold $33 billion, almost certainly the largest monthly sale figure ever. In the previous four months of 2008 (after RBI reserves peaked in May), the total decline in RBI reserves was only $24 billion.
RBI must have good reason for selling dollars and sucking rupees out of the market. There would have been substantial pressure in terms of dollar outflows, which could send the rupee on a nose-dive if RBI did not intervene; and there are few (if any) people who would want that. But the price of protecting the rupee’s exchange value is being paid by domestic borrowers, as rupees become scarce in the market.
Don’t blame foreign institutional investors for the dollar outflows; they sold less than $4 billion worth of stock in all of October. There are other, much larger forces at work—like the drying of international trade credit, forcing Indian firms trading internationally to borrow from Indian banks instead. The big Indian companies have also been busy financing their overseas acquisitions with Indian money, because overseas money is not available—that’s more rupees taken out of circulation. And Indian banks with liquidity-strapped international operations have been supporting them with money sent from here—yet another way in which rupees have been sucked out. All three are manifestations of the global liquidity problem forcing domestic entities to look to domestic money, so that demand for rupees has shot up precisely when it is scarce. But there is a purely domestic issue as well: people have been pulling money out of mutual funds and putting them in banks; but close to a third of bank money is immediately impounded—for holding as cash, or investing in government securities. As people take mutual fund money and put it in banks, they are helping to reduce the amount of money available to the non-government sector.
With all these forces combining to suck out money, RBI’s primary task has to be to put money back in circulation. The best and easiest way to do that is to halve the cash reserve ratio to the statutory minimum of 3 per cent. That might sound like drastic action, but it will immediately release about Rs 1,23,000 crore into the market. If nothing else, that will neutralise the domestic monetary impact of RBI’s actions in October, when it sold dollars equivalent to Rs 1,65,000 crore. That kind of injection of liquidity will make a difference to the money market, banks will suddenly have money that they will hopefully lend (after all, they have cut the borrowing limits for many of their corporate clients), and the over-all credit situation will ease. And, for good measure, interest rates will come down
Business - India;Q&A A.Raja;Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology
R.K.Radhakrishnan
Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology A. Raja says he is seeking to ensure a level playing field in the telecommunications sector while taking care of the interests of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), the public sector entities. In an interview to The Hindu in New Delhi, he attributes the controversies generated by his Ministry’s decisions to his efforts to break the cartel of established telecom operators. There has been no departure from the National Telecom Policy 1999 in the grant of Unified Access Service Licence or allocation of spectrum to new operators, he says.
Your Ministry allocated spectrum to new operators. There seems to be a fair amount of controversy surrounding this decision…
If the spectrum were shared with the existing operators, there would have been no controversy. I tried to break the cartel. I am the first Minister who has tried to break the cartel.
Even though the Cabinet had specified that operators can be given only 6.2 MHz, they [private mobile operators] were given more than this — till I assumed office. But this was not made out to be a controversy. It would have been smart of me to follow the existing system. The existing system involved giving spectrum to the existing players once they fulfilled some conditions. The Ministry withheld spectrum [allocation] and waited for the existing operators to fulfil the conditions. Is this the way to treat a scarce resource like the spectrum? The loss on account of this would run to several thousand crores [of rupees]. Imagine how much revenue the Government of India would have got if more operators were allowed in earlier.
There is a feeling that you are against the existing operators…
I am not against anyone. The existing operators do not want competition. There are four or five operators in all circles. I added another four or five. This will only mean more people will benefit. The reach will be much larger. The new operators will go to the rural and semi-urban areas. I have allowed telecom companies to share towers. Wait and watch rural teledensity grow in the next few years. Then you will say that my actions were right. I am presiding over a silent revolution in the telecom sector.
We are using subscriber base as a criterion to ensure spectrum efficiency and optimum usage. When I made a presentation on this at a conference in Malaysia, there was all-round appreciation. Many who spoke there said that India’s model should be adopted. Because many of the countries there were not able to force their operators to go to the rural areas.
The charge is also that once the new operators were given the UAS Licence and allotted spectrum, they offloaded a major part of their stake and made huge profits. And that the Ministry did nothing to stop this…
You have to look at my mandate. My Ministry needs to look at the [application] papers, see when the money was paid, make sure if the applicant has fulfilled all the obligations listed. You have to realise that for 2G spectrum we have followed the first-come first- served policy as per the National Telecom Policy 1999. NTP 99 recommended the first-come first-served policy because of the failure of the spectrum auction [exercise] in 1994.
All the new operators who have been given licence and allocated spectrum have fulfilled each of these conditions. The conditions stipulate that they have to complete their roll-out within a specified period of time. If they do not complete, then I can take action. The other criterion is that they cannot sell off within a period of five years.
But if they find an investor willing to pick up a stake, there is nothing much I can do. It is for the Finance Ministry to look into this. What I find strange is that some people are talking about loss to the government based on stock market fluctuations. Am I responsible for stocks rising or falling? It is true that some companies have made a windfall. I have been talking to Mr. Chidambaram [Union Finance Minister] on this. I will again meet him next week for a discussion. I have told him that from my end I am willing to impose any conditions to ensure that companies do not make undue profits.
How much spectrum did you allot since July 2007? How much had been allotted earlier? And who were given this?
All circles combined, I have allocated 463.8 MHz from July 2007. Before the UPA Government came to power, 525.6 MHz was allotted. From June 2004 to July 2007, 172.6 MHz was allotted.
I have followed all procedures while allotting spectrum for 2G services. I have not allotted over the Cabinet-prescribed limit of 6.2 MHz to a single operator apart from BSNL and MTNL, which are state-owned entities. Any private operator who is holding more spectrum than he can hold as per the Cabinet decision, was allotted the spectrum before my time.
The other question that needs clarification is the allocation of 2G spectrum on first-come first-served basis. You have explained that this is because auctions failed in 1994. Was there any loss in revenue because you allocated 2G instead of auctioning it?
This is the other point I want to clarify. I am of the firm view that the allocation route is superior to the auction route in the case of 2G for three reasons. One, the revenue is steady and increasing exponentially each year. Two, there is a social obligation component in 2G and this can be best served only if the government does not do an outright sale of the spectrum. The world over, 2G is used as a means by governments to improve teledensity. If I auction, I cannot have any control over it. Three, as per NTP 99 we should not auction: it spoke of improving rural teledensity at affordable cost.
I talked about revenue growth. Let me explain. The total amount collected in 2004-05 by way of licence fee and spectrum charges from all operators was Rs.7,953.13 crore. In 2006-07, this grew to Rs.10,747.42 crore. The next financial year, 2007-08, this more than doubled and stood at Rs.24,381.88 crore. In the first quarter of this year, we have received Rs.4,083.05 crore. In all, from 2004-05 to now — the first quarter of 2008-09 included — we have received a revenue of Rs.55,055.15 crore.
If we had auctioned the 2G spectrum, we would have received a one-time payment. But with this method, we have created a goose that lays golden eggs.
As the number of subscribers grows, we will have even better revenue from 2G operators. We [all the telecom companies] are adding 3 lakh subscribers each day. AGR [Adjusted Gross Revenue] is being collected on the basis of the number of subscribers. This has happened with a low rural teledensity. The number of subscribers now is 300 million. By 2012, the NTP says that the number of subscribers would have grown to 600 million. Every year, we are going to collect about Rs.25,000 crore because of the revenue sharing model we have adopted.
In that case, why cannot you follow the same in the case of 3G spectrum allocations?
As I told you earlier, 2G has a social component. 3G does not have [that]. In very simple terms, 3G is for very quick data transfer and high-end applications. It is not meant for the poor man. It is a value-added service. Also, in most countries, while 2G has been allocated, 3G has been auctioned. That is why the Government of India also wants to use the same methods here. There is a small check, though. This is that 3G cannot stand alone. This has to go with 2G… Of course, 3G will stimulate the economy. It is essential for the economic betterment of the country.
Is there any re-think on the dates for the 3G auction given the current depressed market sentiment?
No. As on date we are going on with the process as scheduled and hope to complete it by January. We do not have a re-think. So far there has been no directions from the Finance Ministry or the Cabinet.
Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology A. Raja says he is seeking to ensure a level playing field in the telecommunications sector while taking care of the interests of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), the public sector entities. In an interview to The Hindu in New Delhi, he attributes the controversies generated by his Ministry’s decisions to his efforts to break the cartel of established telecom operators. There has been no departure from the National Telecom Policy 1999 in the grant of Unified Access Service Licence or allocation of spectrum to new operators, he says.
Your Ministry allocated spectrum to new operators. There seems to be a fair amount of controversy surrounding this decision…
If the spectrum were shared with the existing operators, there would have been no controversy. I tried to break the cartel. I am the first Minister who has tried to break the cartel.
Even though the Cabinet had specified that operators can be given only 6.2 MHz, they [private mobile operators] were given more than this — till I assumed office. But this was not made out to be a controversy. It would have been smart of me to follow the existing system. The existing system involved giving spectrum to the existing players once they fulfilled some conditions. The Ministry withheld spectrum [allocation] and waited for the existing operators to fulfil the conditions. Is this the way to treat a scarce resource like the spectrum? The loss on account of this would run to several thousand crores [of rupees]. Imagine how much revenue the Government of India would have got if more operators were allowed in earlier.
There is a feeling that you are against the existing operators…
I am not against anyone. The existing operators do not want competition. There are four or five operators in all circles. I added another four or five. This will only mean more people will benefit. The reach will be much larger. The new operators will go to the rural and semi-urban areas. I have allowed telecom companies to share towers. Wait and watch rural teledensity grow in the next few years. Then you will say that my actions were right. I am presiding over a silent revolution in the telecom sector.
We are using subscriber base as a criterion to ensure spectrum efficiency and optimum usage. When I made a presentation on this at a conference in Malaysia, there was all-round appreciation. Many who spoke there said that India’s model should be adopted. Because many of the countries there were not able to force their operators to go to the rural areas.
The charge is also that once the new operators were given the UAS Licence and allotted spectrum, they offloaded a major part of their stake and made huge profits. And that the Ministry did nothing to stop this…
You have to look at my mandate. My Ministry needs to look at the [application] papers, see when the money was paid, make sure if the applicant has fulfilled all the obligations listed. You have to realise that for 2G spectrum we have followed the first-come first- served policy as per the National Telecom Policy 1999. NTP 99 recommended the first-come first-served policy because of the failure of the spectrum auction [exercise] in 1994.
All the new operators who have been given licence and allocated spectrum have fulfilled each of these conditions. The conditions stipulate that they have to complete their roll-out within a specified period of time. If they do not complete, then I can take action. The other criterion is that they cannot sell off within a period of five years.
But if they find an investor willing to pick up a stake, there is nothing much I can do. It is for the Finance Ministry to look into this. What I find strange is that some people are talking about loss to the government based on stock market fluctuations. Am I responsible for stocks rising or falling? It is true that some companies have made a windfall. I have been talking to Mr. Chidambaram [Union Finance Minister] on this. I will again meet him next week for a discussion. I have told him that from my end I am willing to impose any conditions to ensure that companies do not make undue profits.
How much spectrum did you allot since July 2007? How much had been allotted earlier? And who were given this?
All circles combined, I have allocated 463.8 MHz from July 2007. Before the UPA Government came to power, 525.6 MHz was allotted. From June 2004 to July 2007, 172.6 MHz was allotted.
I have followed all procedures while allotting spectrum for 2G services. I have not allotted over the Cabinet-prescribed limit of 6.2 MHz to a single operator apart from BSNL and MTNL, which are state-owned entities. Any private operator who is holding more spectrum than he can hold as per the Cabinet decision, was allotted the spectrum before my time.
The other question that needs clarification is the allocation of 2G spectrum on first-come first-served basis. You have explained that this is because auctions failed in 1994. Was there any loss in revenue because you allocated 2G instead of auctioning it?
This is the other point I want to clarify. I am of the firm view that the allocation route is superior to the auction route in the case of 2G for three reasons. One, the revenue is steady and increasing exponentially each year. Two, there is a social obligation component in 2G and this can be best served only if the government does not do an outright sale of the spectrum. The world over, 2G is used as a means by governments to improve teledensity. If I auction, I cannot have any control over it. Three, as per NTP 99 we should not auction: it spoke of improving rural teledensity at affordable cost.
I talked about revenue growth. Let me explain. The total amount collected in 2004-05 by way of licence fee and spectrum charges from all operators was Rs.7,953.13 crore. In 2006-07, this grew to Rs.10,747.42 crore. The next financial year, 2007-08, this more than doubled and stood at Rs.24,381.88 crore. In the first quarter of this year, we have received Rs.4,083.05 crore. In all, from 2004-05 to now — the first quarter of 2008-09 included — we have received a revenue of Rs.55,055.15 crore.
If we had auctioned the 2G spectrum, we would have received a one-time payment. But with this method, we have created a goose that lays golden eggs.
As the number of subscribers grows, we will have even better revenue from 2G operators. We [all the telecom companies] are adding 3 lakh subscribers each day. AGR [Adjusted Gross Revenue] is being collected on the basis of the number of subscribers. This has happened with a low rural teledensity. The number of subscribers now is 300 million. By 2012, the NTP says that the number of subscribers would have grown to 600 million. Every year, we are going to collect about Rs.25,000 crore because of the revenue sharing model we have adopted.
In that case, why cannot you follow the same in the case of 3G spectrum allocations?
As I told you earlier, 2G has a social component. 3G does not have [that]. In very simple terms, 3G is for very quick data transfer and high-end applications. It is not meant for the poor man. It is a value-added service. Also, in most countries, while 2G has been allocated, 3G has been auctioned. That is why the Government of India also wants to use the same methods here. There is a small check, though. This is that 3G cannot stand alone. This has to go with 2G… Of course, 3G will stimulate the economy. It is essential for the economic betterment of the country.
Is there any re-think on the dates for the 3G auction given the current depressed market sentiment?
No. As on date we are going on with the process as scheduled and hope to complete it by January. We do not have a re-think. So far there has been no directions from the Finance Ministry or the Cabinet.
Entertainment - Germany's first gay channel starts this week
BERLIN: Germany's first television station for gay men will go on air this week offering entertainment and news with homosexual themes via satellite
and cable, the new TIMM channel said on Friday.
The line-up will include popular series such as "Queer as Folk," "The L-Word" and "Absolutely Fabulous" dubbed into German as well as documentaries on gay stars or celebrities who are big in the gay community such as Rupert Everett, Susan Sarandon and Liza Minnelli, the station said in a statement.
With the slogan "We love men," TIMM said it was aimed at the estimated 3.6 million gay men who live in Germany, and also hoped to draw their family and friends, lesbians and a few "metrosexuals".
"TIMM enriches the existing television landscape with programming from and by the target group -- simply for everyone who loves men," it said.
"The highly positive feedback from the target group in the last 12 months has shown us how high the demand is for tailored information, entertainment and service."
The channel also promises to tackle hard-hitting issues such as the discrimination faced by Muslim gays and the persecution of homosexuals under Adolf Hitler.
TIMM, produced by German production company Deutsche Fernsehwerke, noted it targeted a demographic popular with advertisers: men with relatively high disposable income.
The channel will be viewable in about 15 million German households via digital television every night from 6:00 pm until midnight and later on weekends.
and cable, the new TIMM channel said on Friday.
The line-up will include popular series such as "Queer as Folk," "The L-Word" and "Absolutely Fabulous" dubbed into German as well as documentaries on gay stars or celebrities who are big in the gay community such as Rupert Everett, Susan Sarandon and Liza Minnelli, the station said in a statement.
With the slogan "We love men," TIMM said it was aimed at the estimated 3.6 million gay men who live in Germany, and also hoped to draw their family and friends, lesbians and a few "metrosexuals".
"TIMM enriches the existing television landscape with programming from and by the target group -- simply for everyone who loves men," it said.
"The highly positive feedback from the target group in the last 12 months has shown us how high the demand is for tailored information, entertainment and service."
The channel also promises to tackle hard-hitting issues such as the discrimination faced by Muslim gays and the persecution of homosexuals under Adolf Hitler.
TIMM, produced by German production company Deutsche Fernsehwerke, noted it targeted a demographic popular with advertisers: men with relatively high disposable income.
The channel will be viewable in about 15 million German households via digital television every night from 6:00 pm until midnight and later on weekends.
Entertainment - India;Star Pravah to launch on 24 november
MUMBAI: Star India is launching its Marathi general entertainment channel (GEC) Star Pravah on 24 November.
Star Pravah will launch with original programming between 7-10.30 pm in the prime time band.
Star Entertainment Media EVP and GM - regional channels JC Giri says, "After the successful launch of our Bengali GEC Star Jalsha, this is our next offering for Marathi audience. We will launch the channel on 24 November." Star also runs Tamil GEC Star Vijay.
The channel will bank on two of its driver shows Raja Shivchhatrapati and Agnihotra. Also in line are 24-episode drama Goshta Eka Lagnachi, comic-thriller J3 Junction, daily soaps Jyvlaga and Kulswamini, comedy sitcom Kukuchku, fiction-talk show Ase Ka Ghadle and celebrity talk show Star Durbar.
Star will kickstart a 360 degree marketing campaign from 10 November throughout Maharashtra. The focus will be mainly on four cities - Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik. The new channel will be promoted on TV, radio, print and outdoors and through on-ground activities. The channel has booked spots on Star's own network as well as other networks.
Star India EVP marketing and communication Prem Kamat adds, "We will start our promotion from 10 November. It will be backed by PR events, mass media as well as on-ground activities. On TV, we are in talks with news, regional and kids channels as well. The main focus will be on Raja Shivchatrapati and Agnihotra."
Star Pravah will be an encrypted pay-channel and will be distributed by Star Den.
The channel's main driver show Raja Shivchhatrapati will be aired Monday-Wednesday at 8.30 pm. The show will also be backed by a talk-show Shiv Dhanush every Sunday, where historians will throw light on the life of Shivaji and history of the Maratha dynasty.
Agnihotra, Jyvalaga, and Kulaswamini will be aired six days a week from Monday-Saturday. Ase Ka Ghadle, and Goshta Eka Lagnachi will be aired four days a week while J3 Junction and Kukuchku will be aired three days a week. Additionally, the celebrity talk-show Star Darbar will be aired on Sundays.
Nitin Chandrakant Desai will be making Raja Shivchatrapati while BAG Network is producing Star Darbar. Indian Magic Eye is doing Agnihotra, which is supported by big star cast including Mohan Agashe, Vikram Gokhle, Vinay Apte and others. Smita Talwarkar's Asmita Chitra is producing Goshta Eka Lagnachi and Smita Thackray's Rahul Productions is making Kulaswamini. J3 Junction is being produced by Siddhivanayak Creations and Ase Ka Ghadle is by Madhvi Mutatkar. Rakesh Sarang's Cams Club is producing Kukuchku whereas Shashank Solanki's Seventhsense Media is doing Jyvalaga.
Star Pravah will launch with original programming between 7-10.30 pm in the prime time band.
Star Entertainment Media EVP and GM - regional channels JC Giri says, "After the successful launch of our Bengali GEC Star Jalsha, this is our next offering for Marathi audience. We will launch the channel on 24 November." Star also runs Tamil GEC Star Vijay.
The channel will bank on two of its driver shows Raja Shivchhatrapati and Agnihotra. Also in line are 24-episode drama Goshta Eka Lagnachi, comic-thriller J3 Junction, daily soaps Jyvlaga and Kulswamini, comedy sitcom Kukuchku, fiction-talk show Ase Ka Ghadle and celebrity talk show Star Durbar.
Star will kickstart a 360 degree marketing campaign from 10 November throughout Maharashtra. The focus will be mainly on four cities - Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik. The new channel will be promoted on TV, radio, print and outdoors and through on-ground activities. The channel has booked spots on Star's own network as well as other networks.
Star India EVP marketing and communication Prem Kamat adds, "We will start our promotion from 10 November. It will be backed by PR events, mass media as well as on-ground activities. On TV, we are in talks with news, regional and kids channels as well. The main focus will be on Raja Shivchatrapati and Agnihotra."
Star Pravah will be an encrypted pay-channel and will be distributed by Star Den.
The channel's main driver show Raja Shivchhatrapati will be aired Monday-Wednesday at 8.30 pm. The show will also be backed by a talk-show Shiv Dhanush every Sunday, where historians will throw light on the life of Shivaji and history of the Maratha dynasty.
Agnihotra, Jyvalaga, and Kulaswamini will be aired six days a week from Monday-Saturday. Ase Ka Ghadle, and Goshta Eka Lagnachi will be aired four days a week while J3 Junction and Kukuchku will be aired three days a week. Additionally, the celebrity talk-show Star Darbar will be aired on Sundays.
Nitin Chandrakant Desai will be making Raja Shivchatrapati while BAG Network is producing Star Darbar. Indian Magic Eye is doing Agnihotra, which is supported by big star cast including Mohan Agashe, Vikram Gokhle, Vinay Apte and others. Smita Talwarkar's Asmita Chitra is producing Goshta Eka Lagnachi and Smita Thackray's Rahul Productions is making Kulaswamini. J3 Junction is being produced by Siddhivanayak Creations and Ase Ka Ghadle is by Madhvi Mutatkar. Rakesh Sarang's Cams Club is producing Kukuchku whereas Shashank Solanki's Seventhsense Media is doing Jyvalaga.
Entertainment - India;Farhan Akhtar to host TV show
If you happen to switch on the TV anytime of the day or night, chances are bright that, you will be treated with is some sort of a 'reality' show, wherein all that the judges do is fighting and quarrelling ...so much for the TRPs! Well, in such a television scenario, NDTV Imagine has come up with a show called 'Oye... It's Friday', which truly promises to be one of its kind.
The show will consist of one hour of sheer cutting edge humour, dazzling performances; news making guests etc... And to host the show, the channel has roped in none other than the 'Rocking' Director cum actor Farhan Akhtar, who, about his association with the show, said, "This show is something I want to watch... it has no rules and no boundaries... and its only aim is to entertain. I've done a lot of different things in my life and career and the reason I want to be a part of 'Oye... Its Friday' is because it is so excitingly unconventional.
There will be other celebrities hosts too who will switch and swap over the course of the series! If the pre-show hysteria is anything to go by, then, it only becomes needles to say that Fridays will just not be the same again! What say Farhan!
The show will consist of one hour of sheer cutting edge humour, dazzling performances; news making guests etc... And to host the show, the channel has roped in none other than the 'Rocking' Director cum actor Farhan Akhtar, who, about his association with the show, said, "This show is something I want to watch... it has no rules and no boundaries... and its only aim is to entertain. I've done a lot of different things in my life and career and the reason I want to be a part of 'Oye... Its Friday' is because it is so excitingly unconventional.
There will be other celebrities hosts too who will switch and swap over the course of the series! If the pre-show hysteria is anything to go by, then, it only becomes needles to say that Fridays will just not be the same again! What say Farhan!
Lifestyle - Where the math doesn't add up for women
Shobha Narayan
Why are there no female Indian architects? Recently, I was invited to watch a documentary on Balkrishna Doshi, one of India’s premier architects. Although it could have been edited a shade more tightly, the 2-hour-long piece offered a wonderful glimpse into the minds of famous Indian architects such as Charles Correa and of course, the protagonist, Doshi. Since documentaries are largely free of commercial constraints, they are able to be more edgy; the creative voice comes through more honestly since it is not trying to please all sides of the theatrical aisle.
I am at a stage in life when I enjoy documentaries; just as I enjoy non-fiction more than fiction. Good movies, like great fiction, can be transporting—they take you away to another place and time. They make you forget the banality of your own life. But documentaries, like non-fiction books, are inspiring. They make you examine your own life and make changes. Doshi, the documentary, did both. It was thought-provoking and inspiring and addressed a great many things that I too happen to be thinking about.
The fact that the documentary was about an architect was the reason I went to see it in the first place. I like architecture, and architects. To me, the field is a perfect meld of science and art; practicality and idealism; form and functionality; beauty and reality. That said, pretty much every architect who was interviewed in the documentary was male. There was Charles Correa, Sen Kapadia, Graham Morrison, Jignesh Patel, and many more men. From viewing the documentary, it appeared that Doshi had neither taught nor mentored any female architect of any standing, which was strange for a man who was surrounded by women. In the documentary, Doshi mentions his mother-in-law as a source of great influence. He speaks lovingly of his wife, Kamala, after whom their house is named. His three daughters (and granddaughters) appear in the documentary and speak of how clued in their father was—and is—to their lives and hopes.
But not a single female architect made an appearance. All of which led me straightaway to the question: Where are the great female Indian architects?
Admittedly, architecture is a famously male-dominated field. For women, being an architect (and being a chef, I might add) is to survive a brutally hard field that thrives on testosterone. Women have made strides in other areas that ride roughshod over the female sensibility—investment banking for instance, it could be argued, is as brutal as it gets. But there are women i-bankers, and corporate CEOs (including our own Indra Nooyi). But architecture, at least in India, seems to be the province of the male.
This will change as a growing number of women enrol in architecture schools. The reason why I consider Zaha Hadid a “rock star” (to use a tired but eminently suitable cliché) is because she has taken on the men at their own game, and won the Pritzker Prize in the bargain.
But she is a lone ranger (to use another cliché, sorry). Lindy Roy and Jeanne Gang are moving up the ranks, but they too are a minority. I am particularly excited about Jeanne Gang, who heads a Chicago architectural firm and is building a series of apartment blocks in Hyderabad for Tishman Speyer. But even in the West, women architects are a minority. Deborah Burke, who designed the 48 Bond Street building in Manhattan, thinks it is because "developers don't like to work with women".
In India, women architects exist in almost every city and do good work. Chitra Vishwanath in Bangalore is noted for her eco-friendly, sustainable buildings. She designed Our Native Village, a resort outside Bangalore that bills itself as “India’s first 100% eco-resort”, with a swimming pool that is cleaned and maintained sans chlorine or other chemicals. Similarly, Renu Mistry designs beautiful homes with quirky ethnic touches—her firm Mistry Architects built Ranga Shankara, a theatre that we Bangaloreans are justly proud of. Mumbai and Delhi, too, have their female architects and also a famous non-practising architect, Arundhati Roy.
I am a feminist. But I also feel that the male and female brains perform differently. Men are better at some fields than women. Although he got a lot of flak for his “gaffe” about women not being good at math, I happen to agree with Larry Summers. There are exceptions—Sujata Ramadorai being one—but in general, women somehow don’t do so well in math. None of the Fields Medal winners so far has been a women. Part of the reason why women don’t excel in certain fields could be that they don’t “grab” us. Engineering, for instance, is a male-dominated field perhaps because it doesn’t engage the female mind as much as say, photography or design.
Other fields, like working in a restaurant kitchen, are hard for women to excel in because they are not conducive for raising children or maintaining a family. To be a world class chef like Clare Smyth, head chef of the Michelin three-starred Gordon Ramsey restaurant in London; or Anne Sophie Pic, whose family restaurant La Maison Pic in Valence, France, was awarded three Michelin stars, requires a level of commitment that excludes pretty much every other pursuit. And women, unlike men, either choose not to or cannot afford the reclusive celibacy that fields such as math demand. We are daughters, sisters, mothers and also professionals. Most women I know enjoy the gamut of roles that we are born to play.
Architecture is a wild card. It doesn’t demand one-dimensional celibacy. Then why are there no great female architects?
Why are there no female Indian architects? Recently, I was invited to watch a documentary on Balkrishna Doshi, one of India’s premier architects. Although it could have been edited a shade more tightly, the 2-hour-long piece offered a wonderful glimpse into the minds of famous Indian architects such as Charles Correa and of course, the protagonist, Doshi. Since documentaries are largely free of commercial constraints, they are able to be more edgy; the creative voice comes through more honestly since it is not trying to please all sides of the theatrical aisle.
I am at a stage in life when I enjoy documentaries; just as I enjoy non-fiction more than fiction. Good movies, like great fiction, can be transporting—they take you away to another place and time. They make you forget the banality of your own life. But documentaries, like non-fiction books, are inspiring. They make you examine your own life and make changes. Doshi, the documentary, did both. It was thought-provoking and inspiring and addressed a great many things that I too happen to be thinking about.
The fact that the documentary was about an architect was the reason I went to see it in the first place. I like architecture, and architects. To me, the field is a perfect meld of science and art; practicality and idealism; form and functionality; beauty and reality. That said, pretty much every architect who was interviewed in the documentary was male. There was Charles Correa, Sen Kapadia, Graham Morrison, Jignesh Patel, and many more men. From viewing the documentary, it appeared that Doshi had neither taught nor mentored any female architect of any standing, which was strange for a man who was surrounded by women. In the documentary, Doshi mentions his mother-in-law as a source of great influence. He speaks lovingly of his wife, Kamala, after whom their house is named. His three daughters (and granddaughters) appear in the documentary and speak of how clued in their father was—and is—to their lives and hopes.
But not a single female architect made an appearance. All of which led me straightaway to the question: Where are the great female Indian architects?
Admittedly, architecture is a famously male-dominated field. For women, being an architect (and being a chef, I might add) is to survive a brutally hard field that thrives on testosterone. Women have made strides in other areas that ride roughshod over the female sensibility—investment banking for instance, it could be argued, is as brutal as it gets. But there are women i-bankers, and corporate CEOs (including our own Indra Nooyi). But architecture, at least in India, seems to be the province of the male.
This will change as a growing number of women enrol in architecture schools. The reason why I consider Zaha Hadid a “rock star” (to use a tired but eminently suitable cliché) is because she has taken on the men at their own game, and won the Pritzker Prize in the bargain.
But she is a lone ranger (to use another cliché, sorry). Lindy Roy and Jeanne Gang are moving up the ranks, but they too are a minority. I am particularly excited about Jeanne Gang, who heads a Chicago architectural firm and is building a series of apartment blocks in Hyderabad for Tishman Speyer. But even in the West, women architects are a minority. Deborah Burke, who designed the 48 Bond Street building in Manhattan, thinks it is because "developers don't like to work with women".
In India, women architects exist in almost every city and do good work. Chitra Vishwanath in Bangalore is noted for her eco-friendly, sustainable buildings. She designed Our Native Village, a resort outside Bangalore that bills itself as “India’s first 100% eco-resort”, with a swimming pool that is cleaned and maintained sans chlorine or other chemicals. Similarly, Renu Mistry designs beautiful homes with quirky ethnic touches—her firm Mistry Architects built Ranga Shankara, a theatre that we Bangaloreans are justly proud of. Mumbai and Delhi, too, have their female architects and also a famous non-practising architect, Arundhati Roy.
I am a feminist. But I also feel that the male and female brains perform differently. Men are better at some fields than women. Although he got a lot of flak for his “gaffe” about women not being good at math, I happen to agree with Larry Summers. There are exceptions—Sujata Ramadorai being one—but in general, women somehow don’t do so well in math. None of the Fields Medal winners so far has been a women. Part of the reason why women don’t excel in certain fields could be that they don’t “grab” us. Engineering, for instance, is a male-dominated field perhaps because it doesn’t engage the female mind as much as say, photography or design.
Other fields, like working in a restaurant kitchen, are hard for women to excel in because they are not conducive for raising children or maintaining a family. To be a world class chef like Clare Smyth, head chef of the Michelin three-starred Gordon Ramsey restaurant in London; or Anne Sophie Pic, whose family restaurant La Maison Pic in Valence, France, was awarded three Michelin stars, requires a level of commitment that excludes pretty much every other pursuit. And women, unlike men, either choose not to or cannot afford the reclusive celibacy that fields such as math demand. We are daughters, sisters, mothers and also professionals. Most women I know enjoy the gamut of roles that we are born to play.
Architecture is a wild card. It doesn’t demand one-dimensional celibacy. Then why are there no great female architects?
Columnists - Vir Sanghvi;The fat cat bankers had it coming
I was contrasting the public reaction to the news that Jet Airways and Kingfisher were to lay off hundreds of employees to the stony indifference (at best) that greeted the news of the sackings in the financial sector. When people heard about the dismissed airline employees, saw photos of young girls in tears, there was a general outpouring of sympathy. Editors commissioned sympathetic pieces on the air hostess training schools that have sprung up all over the country and the newspapers asked, “What will become of these poor girls now? Their dream has died”. Eventually, the uproar forced Naresh Goyal to take back the Jet employees.
In contrast, nobody seemed to care too much about the sacked investment bankers or their dreams. You could argue that some of the apathy was due to geography: Pictures of unemployed Wall Street bankers do not have the same power as footage of the children of the new India, denied the life that we told them could be theirs.
But it went deeper than that. Many people I know actually gloated at the sight of bankers filing out of the Lehman Brothers office, cardboard boxes in hand. And though the media did the obvious follow-up stories—“When will the sackings begin in India?”—there was little sympathy in their tone. Rather, the stories were edged with breathless anticipation, as though the journos were getting ready for the next big collapse.
Nor was the indifference (if not perverse delight) restricted to lefties and those who were, in any case, opposed to the capitalist system. Ordinary middle-class professionals seemed actually pleased by the prospect of havoc in the investment banking sector. There was a sense of “they had it coming” or “they were ready for a fall”.
Some went further. They recalled how investment bankers would lecture bureaucrats and economists on how India should liberalize further. What were we so scared of, they would ask. Globalization was a good thing. We should open up our economy. We should trade in more adventurous instruments. We should make credit much more readily available. And so on.
Well, say the bureaucrats and economists now, what happened to the collective wisdom of Wall Street? If they were so sure of what was good for the Indian economy then how come they couldn’t work out what was good for themselves? “Thank God we didn’t listen to these jokers,” I’ve heard it said. “Otherwise we would be in the same mess as the US.”
The hostility to the financial sector and the utter lack of sympathy for the human beings caught up in the centre of the financial turmoil is not an exclusively Indian phenomenon. I have friends in England who are gloating over the prospect of mayhem in the City. And in the US, the anger towards the financial sector has become an important component of public policy. “Why should ordinary Americans bail out Wall Street fat cats who are in this mess because of their own greed?” is pretty much a constant refrain this election year.
And yet, on most objective criteria, we should be sympathizing more with the financially troubled bankers than with the young air hostesses. The sacked airline employees were all probationers in their early 20s. Many live at home, few have responsibilities, and most can switch careers quite easily at this young age. The bankers, on the other hand, have wives, children, school fees, loans and many other responsibilities. They are not young enough to start all over again. Their lives have been truly destroyed by the financial turmoil. And their school and college-going children are the ones who will suffer the most.
Yet few of us see it that way. Our view is that (a) the bankers had it too good for too long, (b) that they were all overpaid anyway and (c) they are the architects of their own downfall (and possibly the downfall of the air hostesses and everybody else who will suffer because of the global economic crisis).
At the root of the hostility or indifference is our ambivalence towards the financial sector. All over the world—and now, even in India—we celebrate great capitalist success stories. There may have been questions about Dhirubhai Ambani’s methods but he remains a public hero because he came out of nowhere to create wealth. Even his son Anil regularly wins youth icon polls. We admire the founders of Infosys, celebrate the achievements of the software billionaires and laud someone like Sunil Mittal.
But we have no heroes from the financial sector. Our problem is that nobody on the outside (which I suppose excludes readers of Mint) understands what investment bankers do. As far as we can see, they create nothing. They don’t produce even a safety pin, they have no factories and they do not visibly add to India’s wealth. Rather they shuffle bits of papers around, advise wealth creators, live a parasitic existence off genuine industrialists and make vast sums of money merely by manipulating figures, and employing no workers at all. Worse still, they are then arrogant, self-satisfied and vastly overpaid.
So why should we shed any tears for them when they are discovered to be leveraging their money by a factor of 30 to 1? Obviously this caricature cannot represent the whole truth. But, sadly for the financial sector, this is its global image. It may come from envy (at salaries) or ignorance (because we don’t understand finance) but this crisis should serve as a wake-up call for everybody in that sector.
How hated do you have to be by society that hardly anybody sheds any tears for you in your darkest hour? When people actually delight in your misfortune?
Obviously this crisis will end one day and the financial sector will get back on its feet. But when it does, it should be wary of repeating the mistakes of the last decade—mistakes that have left it friendless and alone.
In contrast, nobody seemed to care too much about the sacked investment bankers or their dreams. You could argue that some of the apathy was due to geography: Pictures of unemployed Wall Street bankers do not have the same power as footage of the children of the new India, denied the life that we told them could be theirs.
But it went deeper than that. Many people I know actually gloated at the sight of bankers filing out of the Lehman Brothers office, cardboard boxes in hand. And though the media did the obvious follow-up stories—“When will the sackings begin in India?”—there was little sympathy in their tone. Rather, the stories were edged with breathless anticipation, as though the journos were getting ready for the next big collapse.
Nor was the indifference (if not perverse delight) restricted to lefties and those who were, in any case, opposed to the capitalist system. Ordinary middle-class professionals seemed actually pleased by the prospect of havoc in the investment banking sector. There was a sense of “they had it coming” or “they were ready for a fall”.
Some went further. They recalled how investment bankers would lecture bureaucrats and economists on how India should liberalize further. What were we so scared of, they would ask. Globalization was a good thing. We should open up our economy. We should trade in more adventurous instruments. We should make credit much more readily available. And so on.
Well, say the bureaucrats and economists now, what happened to the collective wisdom of Wall Street? If they were so sure of what was good for the Indian economy then how come they couldn’t work out what was good for themselves? “Thank God we didn’t listen to these jokers,” I’ve heard it said. “Otherwise we would be in the same mess as the US.”
The hostility to the financial sector and the utter lack of sympathy for the human beings caught up in the centre of the financial turmoil is not an exclusively Indian phenomenon. I have friends in England who are gloating over the prospect of mayhem in the City. And in the US, the anger towards the financial sector has become an important component of public policy. “Why should ordinary Americans bail out Wall Street fat cats who are in this mess because of their own greed?” is pretty much a constant refrain this election year.
And yet, on most objective criteria, we should be sympathizing more with the financially troubled bankers than with the young air hostesses. The sacked airline employees were all probationers in their early 20s. Many live at home, few have responsibilities, and most can switch careers quite easily at this young age. The bankers, on the other hand, have wives, children, school fees, loans and many other responsibilities. They are not young enough to start all over again. Their lives have been truly destroyed by the financial turmoil. And their school and college-going children are the ones who will suffer the most.
Yet few of us see it that way. Our view is that (a) the bankers had it too good for too long, (b) that they were all overpaid anyway and (c) they are the architects of their own downfall (and possibly the downfall of the air hostesses and everybody else who will suffer because of the global economic crisis).
At the root of the hostility or indifference is our ambivalence towards the financial sector. All over the world—and now, even in India—we celebrate great capitalist success stories. There may have been questions about Dhirubhai Ambani’s methods but he remains a public hero because he came out of nowhere to create wealth. Even his son Anil regularly wins youth icon polls. We admire the founders of Infosys, celebrate the achievements of the software billionaires and laud someone like Sunil Mittal.
But we have no heroes from the financial sector. Our problem is that nobody on the outside (which I suppose excludes readers of Mint) understands what investment bankers do. As far as we can see, they create nothing. They don’t produce even a safety pin, they have no factories and they do not visibly add to India’s wealth. Rather they shuffle bits of papers around, advise wealth creators, live a parasitic existence off genuine industrialists and make vast sums of money merely by manipulating figures, and employing no workers at all. Worse still, they are then arrogant, self-satisfied and vastly overpaid.
So why should we shed any tears for them when they are discovered to be leveraging their money by a factor of 30 to 1? Obviously this caricature cannot represent the whole truth. But, sadly for the financial sector, this is its global image. It may come from envy (at salaries) or ignorance (because we don’t understand finance) but this crisis should serve as a wake-up call for everybody in that sector.
How hated do you have to be by society that hardly anybody sheds any tears for you in your darkest hour? When people actually delight in your misfortune?
Obviously this crisis will end one day and the financial sector will get back on its feet. But when it does, it should be wary of repeating the mistakes of the last decade—mistakes that have left it friendless and alone.
Entertainment - India;Meet Television's new A-Team (G.Read)
Priya Ramani
By now it’s clear that Colors CEO Rajesh Kamat’s disruptive programming strategy has paid off. Pit actor Akshay Kumar, his stubble and a gaggle of glamorous women (without make-up) performing scary stunts against the collective shrieks of all those dark-lipstick-wearing mothers- and daughters-in-law. Introduce action in family drama viewing time. Disrupt and get noticed—by male and female viewers. Then gather the perfect mix of imperfect people to ensure that the buzz around your next big show, Bigg Boss, makes front-page news. Don’t underestimate the popularity of family drama. Or religious soaps. Depend on your killer team. Even as Kamat’s former colleagues Sameer Nair and Peter Mukherjea struggle to manage their new general entertainment channels (NDTV Imagine and 9X, respectively), dark horse Colors snagged the No. 2 spot. Analysts say the channel was probably the catalyst for Kyunki’s demise next week. We met the team that got the formula right
SIMRAN HOON,37
Head, advertising sales
“GEC is my passion,” says Simran Hoon, who loves the dynamism of a “bigger picture” general entertainment channel. “One show can take you up and down.” Hoon, who joined Sony Entertainment Television three days before it was launched in 1995, enjoys being part of successful start-up teams. “To build a brand right from scratch, to help set up systems, to figure out what is saleable and what is not is a big high,” she says. Hoon joined Zee TV as head of sales in 2005, the year the channel zipped past Sony to the No. 2 slot. She has also worked with Star India and ‘The Times of India’. If she wasn’t in sales, Hoon says, she would be a horse riding instructor (now I know where Lakshminarayan got the idea). Whenever she can, she escapes to a riding school a couple of hours out of town for the weekend. In fact, escaping has always been a passion. Her father was in the Army and Hoon grew up across India. She still travels a lot and favourite destinations include Barcelona, Majorca, Paris and Cape Town.
Favourite TV programme: ‘Friends’. “I can keep watching it over and over.”
Stressbuster: Camping, travelling, horse riding.
KARTHIK LAKSHMINARAYAN, 36
Head, business planning and strategy
“The unity factor is playing a huge role,” says Karthik Lakshminarayan of the Colors leadership team. “We’re together every living moment.” Lakshminarayan’s the business guy—he handles budgets, manages the profit and loss account and finalizes the telecast log. After eight years as COO of Madison Media Infinity, a place where, Lakshminarayan jokes, “at some point people thought I was part of the furniture”, the move to broadcast gave him something new to look forward to. Previous career highs have included snagging the Procter and Gamble account at Leo Burnett and winning an award in Cannes in 2006 for an innovative cellphone campaign for Cadbury’s. He’s an insomniac who loves hockey, cricket and every other sport. “I want to learn horse riding now,” he says.
Favourite TV programme: News and sports. He’s even watched the World Dartboard Championships on Ten Sports.
Stressbuster: Playing badminton for an hour daily and for two-and-a-half hours on weekends.
RAJESH KAMAT,35
CEO
Advertisers have gone from 10 on the first day to 129 currently. Financial goals have already been updated to keep pace with the robust ratings. Rajesh Kamat, who graduated in biomedical engineering with a specialization in medical instrumentation before he got an MBA, is happy and stressed: “Sustaining is pressure. You could drop.” Both ‘Bigg Boss’ and ‘Fear Factor’ are from the Endemol stable, where Kamat was managing director for two years. Before that, he was part of Sameer Nair’s crack team at Star India. Nair, he says, taught him about “playing the game at a certain scale” and about having “mental strength in times of adversity”. The best compliment Kamat received recently was an SMS from a friend who said that in a world where stocks were falling and jobs were being cut, the only thing that was going up week on week was Colors’ ratings. Kamat says his team’s biggest strength is their passion. “It makes a difference to them if there is a point drop (in ratings). It hurts.”
Favourite TV programme: Currently, ‘Moment of Truth’ on Star World.
Stressbuster: His two-year-old daughter Riddhima.
RAMEET SINGH ARORA, 32
Head, marketing
Rameet Singh Arora doesn’t know he’s the youngest member of the Colors team. This is Arora’s first television job—he’s previously worked with brands such as Airtel, Complan, Hitachi and McDonald’s. General entertainment, he says, is the FMCG of television. “I can’t think of any other category in any industry in India where people are fighting for market share as we are in television,” he says. And, since 70-80% of us are single-television families, “everyone is chasing the same remote control”. That’s where Kamat’s disruption and differentiation strategy comes handy, says Arora, who wanted to become an economist at 19, but then switched tracks. So, does he have a favourite economist? “Given the way the economy is right now, everyone should be taking only one name and that is Keynes,” he says. It’s difficult to keep Arora away from food; the most unusual food he’s eaten recently was oxtail after a bullfight in Spain. “It was horrible,” he says.
Favourite TV programme: Friends
Stressbuster: Eating, sleeping, walking
ASHVINI YARDI,36
Head, programming
Ashvini Yardi spends most of her time thinking of new concepts and show formats, and then worries about whether they’re good enough. She’s probably the one who headed the team responsible for putting together the inhabitants of ‘Bigg Boss’. “It takes a lot of guts to be on the show. It’s a huge learning in terms of human psychology,” she says. Yardi was responsible for getting ‘Balika Vadhu’, the channel’s top-rated show about child marriage, on air. She has known its writer Purnendu Shekhar for 14 years and when Shekhar said he had a film script, Vardi told him it was perfect for TV. Earlier, they had worked together on Zee’s popular ‘Saat Phere’, which was based on her son Vivan’s dark-skinned maid. That was the show that propelled Zee past Sony to the No. 2 spot, says Yardi. The best part about the Colors team, she says, is that “each one has their own area of expertise and the others respect that. We understand each other’s needs and we have the space to do our own thing.” When she’s not working, she spends her time cleaning her house or catching up with friends.
Favourite TV programme: ‘Sex and the City’, ‘Seinfeld’.
Stressbuster: Four-year-old Vivan.
By now it’s clear that Colors CEO Rajesh Kamat’s disruptive programming strategy has paid off. Pit actor Akshay Kumar, his stubble and a gaggle of glamorous women (without make-up) performing scary stunts against the collective shrieks of all those dark-lipstick-wearing mothers- and daughters-in-law. Introduce action in family drama viewing time. Disrupt and get noticed—by male and female viewers. Then gather the perfect mix of imperfect people to ensure that the buzz around your next big show, Bigg Boss, makes front-page news. Don’t underestimate the popularity of family drama. Or religious soaps. Depend on your killer team. Even as Kamat’s former colleagues Sameer Nair and Peter Mukherjea struggle to manage their new general entertainment channels (NDTV Imagine and 9X, respectively), dark horse Colors snagged the No. 2 spot. Analysts say the channel was probably the catalyst for Kyunki’s demise next week. We met the team that got the formula right
SIMRAN HOON,37
Head, advertising sales
“GEC is my passion,” says Simran Hoon, who loves the dynamism of a “bigger picture” general entertainment channel. “One show can take you up and down.” Hoon, who joined Sony Entertainment Television three days before it was launched in 1995, enjoys being part of successful start-up teams. “To build a brand right from scratch, to help set up systems, to figure out what is saleable and what is not is a big high,” she says. Hoon joined Zee TV as head of sales in 2005, the year the channel zipped past Sony to the No. 2 slot. She has also worked with Star India and ‘The Times of India’. If she wasn’t in sales, Hoon says, she would be a horse riding instructor (now I know where Lakshminarayan got the idea). Whenever she can, she escapes to a riding school a couple of hours out of town for the weekend. In fact, escaping has always been a passion. Her father was in the Army and Hoon grew up across India. She still travels a lot and favourite destinations include Barcelona, Majorca, Paris and Cape Town.
Favourite TV programme: ‘Friends’. “I can keep watching it over and over.”
Stressbuster: Camping, travelling, horse riding.
KARTHIK LAKSHMINARAYAN, 36
Head, business planning and strategy
“The unity factor is playing a huge role,” says Karthik Lakshminarayan of the Colors leadership team. “We’re together every living moment.” Lakshminarayan’s the business guy—he handles budgets, manages the profit and loss account and finalizes the telecast log. After eight years as COO of Madison Media Infinity, a place where, Lakshminarayan jokes, “at some point people thought I was part of the furniture”, the move to broadcast gave him something new to look forward to. Previous career highs have included snagging the Procter and Gamble account at Leo Burnett and winning an award in Cannes in 2006 for an innovative cellphone campaign for Cadbury’s. He’s an insomniac who loves hockey, cricket and every other sport. “I want to learn horse riding now,” he says.
Favourite TV programme: News and sports. He’s even watched the World Dartboard Championships on Ten Sports.
Stressbuster: Playing badminton for an hour daily and for two-and-a-half hours on weekends.
RAJESH KAMAT,35
CEO
Advertisers have gone from 10 on the first day to 129 currently. Financial goals have already been updated to keep pace with the robust ratings. Rajesh Kamat, who graduated in biomedical engineering with a specialization in medical instrumentation before he got an MBA, is happy and stressed: “Sustaining is pressure. You could drop.” Both ‘Bigg Boss’ and ‘Fear Factor’ are from the Endemol stable, where Kamat was managing director for two years. Before that, he was part of Sameer Nair’s crack team at Star India. Nair, he says, taught him about “playing the game at a certain scale” and about having “mental strength in times of adversity”. The best compliment Kamat received recently was an SMS from a friend who said that in a world where stocks were falling and jobs were being cut, the only thing that was going up week on week was Colors’ ratings. Kamat says his team’s biggest strength is their passion. “It makes a difference to them if there is a point drop (in ratings). It hurts.”
Favourite TV programme: Currently, ‘Moment of Truth’ on Star World.
Stressbuster: His two-year-old daughter Riddhima.
RAMEET SINGH ARORA, 32
Head, marketing
Rameet Singh Arora doesn’t know he’s the youngest member of the Colors team. This is Arora’s first television job—he’s previously worked with brands such as Airtel, Complan, Hitachi and McDonald’s. General entertainment, he says, is the FMCG of television. “I can’t think of any other category in any industry in India where people are fighting for market share as we are in television,” he says. And, since 70-80% of us are single-television families, “everyone is chasing the same remote control”. That’s where Kamat’s disruption and differentiation strategy comes handy, says Arora, who wanted to become an economist at 19, but then switched tracks. So, does he have a favourite economist? “Given the way the economy is right now, everyone should be taking only one name and that is Keynes,” he says. It’s difficult to keep Arora away from food; the most unusual food he’s eaten recently was oxtail after a bullfight in Spain. “It was horrible,” he says.
Favourite TV programme: Friends
Stressbuster: Eating, sleeping, walking
ASHVINI YARDI,36
Head, programming
Ashvini Yardi spends most of her time thinking of new concepts and show formats, and then worries about whether they’re good enough. She’s probably the one who headed the team responsible for putting together the inhabitants of ‘Bigg Boss’. “It takes a lot of guts to be on the show. It’s a huge learning in terms of human psychology,” she says. Yardi was responsible for getting ‘Balika Vadhu’, the channel’s top-rated show about child marriage, on air. She has known its writer Purnendu Shekhar for 14 years and when Shekhar said he had a film script, Vardi told him it was perfect for TV. Earlier, they had worked together on Zee’s popular ‘Saat Phere’, which was based on her son Vivan’s dark-skinned maid. That was the show that propelled Zee past Sony to the No. 2 spot, says Yardi. The best part about the Colors team, she says, is that “each one has their own area of expertise and the others respect that. We understand each other’s needs and we have the space to do our own thing.” When she’s not working, she spends her time cleaning her house or catching up with friends.
Favourite TV programme: ‘Sex and the City’, ‘Seinfeld’.
Stressbuster: Four-year-old Vivan.
India -Q&A Pranab Mukherjee
Vinod Sharma
Q) Are Bangladesh-based groups with Pakistani linkages behind the Guwahati serial blasts? Is Pakistan using Bangladeshi territory to launch terror attacks on India?
A) We have had this type of information and we have been sharing it with the Pakistani authorities. Umpteen times, we have brought to Dhaka's notice the presence of camps and insurgent groups operating from Bangladesh to India. When Khaleda Zia was Prime Minister, I personally mentioned to her the number of places and number of cases (of terrorist activities). But all along, Bangladesh's attitude has been of flat denials. I am not quite sure. But there are reports that certain agencies and elements of Pakistan might be involved with terrorists and insurgent groups that have the tendency of building linkages with terrorist groups operating in other parts of the world. Terrorism has no respect for boundaries.
Q) Have you drawn your Bangladeshi counterpart's attention to the Guwahati blasts?
A) Information is shared on a regular basis through institutional mechanisms such as meetings at the level of foreign and home secretaries.
Q) Amid frequent terrorist attacks, economic slowdown, loss of jobs and chauvinistic, parochial sentiments are at their ugliest. One gets a feeling that there is no government at the Centre or in states.
A) India cannot be insulated from major international crisis in the area of money and finance. Similarly, terrorism and insurgency have a long history in India. I told the UN Secretary General that we are, as a country, the worst sufferers of cross-border terrorism. Unfortunately, various terrorist groups have attacked in a short span of time this year. As for the performance of various state governments, it's substantially due to the body politic that has degenerated. You cannot expect better result if politics is based on caste, religion and communalism. You may blame the government of the day. But if the rot starts from the stem and is manifested at the top, you have to go at the root to have the redress. (The answer is) is secular politics that does not compromise with terrorism. The BJP from the top of the house is shouting for a strong law but one has to be convinced as to how a strong law will help.
Could POTA prevent the attack on Parliament or the J&K Assembly? The point I'm making is that terrorist incidents occurred when there was a strong law and they are occurring when-- as per the allegations of the principal Opposition party--- there is no strong law. But it's not factually correct to say there is no strong law. All the hard elements of POTA or TADA have been incorporated in the regular Indian Penal Code. The fact is that you cannot rule merely by law. There is a famous saying of political philosopher Thomas Hill Green. When he was asked what the basis of State is, he said "Will, not force, is the basis of State." This aspect has to be kept in mind.
Q) But the will isn't coming across very clearly.
A) You shouldn't expect it to come merely from the government of the day. It has to come from the body politic, from the people. The political parties that are coming up today are propagating hatred. What is happening in Maharashtra, Orissa or Karnataka?
Q) How is Vilasrao Deshmukh any different from Naveen Patnaik? One backed the chauvinistic Raj Thackeray and the other the communal Bajrang Dal.
A) I am not discussing individual parties. The point I'm making is that it becomes difficult to handle the situation if the entire body politic is vitiated.
Q) How can the CM of national party like the Congress be sitting on his hands to let Raj Thackeray's goons hold the State to ransom?
A) I am not going to make any comment (on Vilasrao's conduct). Only the party spokesman can explain it. I am on the symptoms. For instances, the Guwahati blasts were followed by television images of street urchins who were inciting, throwing stone. They could be seen taking out things from the boots of the waiting cars. Who were they?
Q) You mean there was a political force behind the post-blasts mob-frenzy?
A) I don't know which force. Or who are they? The investigating agencies will be able to identify them after going through the footage. Perhaps it was in Ganeshpuri or somewhere.
Q) The onus for forging a national response to such threats is primarily on the party in power that in the instant case is the Congress-led UPA.
A) This is over-simplification of the problem. Just a couple of weeks back we had a meeting of the National Integration Council marked by the absence of the Leader of Opposition L K Advani. His party president Rajnath Singh was present and he made a comment that Advani was not invited.
Q) Advani was invited as an eminent person.
A) If he does not come then what can be done. The NIC was held in the context of what is happening. Good words were said (at the meeting). But what's important is the implementation of what is stated.
Q) It's alleged the Congress' political priorities in Maharashtra are coming in the way of tough action against Raj's MNS.
A) The question isn't of tough or soft action. This is not a new phenomenon. The Shiv Sena had declared at the Villa Parle by-election that it did not want Muslim votes. That election was cancelled long before they came to power in Maharashtra. Even after that they were given respectability (by the BJP) by sharing power at the Centre and in the State. If you allow these things to go on, parties based on caste, religion and communities will grow, leaving an adverse effect on the system. Each one of us should remember that when we raise an accusing finger at others, we have two pointing towards us.
Q) The BJP is known for its exclusive politics, but in Maharashtra where the Congress is in power….
A) I am sorry I cannot comment on Maharashtra. You may be obsessed with Maharashtra or Assam. But you did not see this obsession when Christians were burnt alive and nuns were raped in Kandhamal and churches were burnt in Karnataka. Please don't be exclusive in your objectivity.
Q) The same tough questions were asked of Naveen Patnaik.
A) It's not about Patnaik, Vilasrao Deshmukh or Tarun Gogoi. We are talking about the state of play at the national level, the Centre, where the politics of consensus has been destroyed by the BJP from day one. Look at their performance in Parliament. The Ministers accountable to the 14th Lok Sabha were prevented from being introduced in the House. There hasn't been a single session of Parliament that was not disturbed at least for a few days. You cannot destroy one institution after another and yet expect that every thing will go on as usual.
Q) Even the PM hasn't kept his promise of reverting to Parliament after finalising the nuclear deal with the US.
A) When the PM said it on July 22, after that the voting took place and the trust motion was carried. Before that, the deal was discussed as many as seven times on the floor of the House. The PM was not allowed to read his speech before the vote. You will demand a statement from the PM but not allow him to make it in the House.
Q) You mean to say the trust vote was good enough.
A) Of course. That was the crucial test. Go through the entire debate and (find out) what it was except the nuclear deal. Are we naïve or are we children? The speeches, whether for or against the motion, were on the nuclear deal. But when the PM was to reply, the minimum, elementary courtesy (of listening to him) was not extended. That is the worst crime they (the BJP) have committed against the parliamentary system. Before raising their accusing finger, they should stand before the mirror and see what they have done to this country.
Q) Are Bangladesh-based groups with Pakistani linkages behind the Guwahati serial blasts? Is Pakistan using Bangladeshi territory to launch terror attacks on India?
A) We have had this type of information and we have been sharing it with the Pakistani authorities. Umpteen times, we have brought to Dhaka's notice the presence of camps and insurgent groups operating from Bangladesh to India. When Khaleda Zia was Prime Minister, I personally mentioned to her the number of places and number of cases (of terrorist activities). But all along, Bangladesh's attitude has been of flat denials. I am not quite sure. But there are reports that certain agencies and elements of Pakistan might be involved with terrorists and insurgent groups that have the tendency of building linkages with terrorist groups operating in other parts of the world. Terrorism has no respect for boundaries.
Q) Have you drawn your Bangladeshi counterpart's attention to the Guwahati blasts?
A) Information is shared on a regular basis through institutional mechanisms such as meetings at the level of foreign and home secretaries.
Q) Amid frequent terrorist attacks, economic slowdown, loss of jobs and chauvinistic, parochial sentiments are at their ugliest. One gets a feeling that there is no government at the Centre or in states.
A) India cannot be insulated from major international crisis in the area of money and finance. Similarly, terrorism and insurgency have a long history in India. I told the UN Secretary General that we are, as a country, the worst sufferers of cross-border terrorism. Unfortunately, various terrorist groups have attacked in a short span of time this year. As for the performance of various state governments, it's substantially due to the body politic that has degenerated. You cannot expect better result if politics is based on caste, religion and communalism. You may blame the government of the day. But if the rot starts from the stem and is manifested at the top, you have to go at the root to have the redress. (The answer is) is secular politics that does not compromise with terrorism. The BJP from the top of the house is shouting for a strong law but one has to be convinced as to how a strong law will help.
Could POTA prevent the attack on Parliament or the J&K Assembly? The point I'm making is that terrorist incidents occurred when there was a strong law and they are occurring when-- as per the allegations of the principal Opposition party--- there is no strong law. But it's not factually correct to say there is no strong law. All the hard elements of POTA or TADA have been incorporated in the regular Indian Penal Code. The fact is that you cannot rule merely by law. There is a famous saying of political philosopher Thomas Hill Green. When he was asked what the basis of State is, he said "Will, not force, is the basis of State." This aspect has to be kept in mind.
Q) But the will isn't coming across very clearly.
A) You shouldn't expect it to come merely from the government of the day. It has to come from the body politic, from the people. The political parties that are coming up today are propagating hatred. What is happening in Maharashtra, Orissa or Karnataka?
Q) How is Vilasrao Deshmukh any different from Naveen Patnaik? One backed the chauvinistic Raj Thackeray and the other the communal Bajrang Dal.
A) I am not discussing individual parties. The point I'm making is that it becomes difficult to handle the situation if the entire body politic is vitiated.
Q) How can the CM of national party like the Congress be sitting on his hands to let Raj Thackeray's goons hold the State to ransom?
A) I am not going to make any comment (on Vilasrao's conduct). Only the party spokesman can explain it. I am on the symptoms. For instances, the Guwahati blasts were followed by television images of street urchins who were inciting, throwing stone. They could be seen taking out things from the boots of the waiting cars. Who were they?
Q) You mean there was a political force behind the post-blasts mob-frenzy?
A) I don't know which force. Or who are they? The investigating agencies will be able to identify them after going through the footage. Perhaps it was in Ganeshpuri or somewhere.
Q) The onus for forging a national response to such threats is primarily on the party in power that in the instant case is the Congress-led UPA.
A) This is over-simplification of the problem. Just a couple of weeks back we had a meeting of the National Integration Council marked by the absence of the Leader of Opposition L K Advani. His party president Rajnath Singh was present and he made a comment that Advani was not invited.
Q) Advani was invited as an eminent person.
A) If he does not come then what can be done. The NIC was held in the context of what is happening. Good words were said (at the meeting). But what's important is the implementation of what is stated.
Q) It's alleged the Congress' political priorities in Maharashtra are coming in the way of tough action against Raj's MNS.
A) The question isn't of tough or soft action. This is not a new phenomenon. The Shiv Sena had declared at the Villa Parle by-election that it did not want Muslim votes. That election was cancelled long before they came to power in Maharashtra. Even after that they were given respectability (by the BJP) by sharing power at the Centre and in the State. If you allow these things to go on, parties based on caste, religion and communities will grow, leaving an adverse effect on the system. Each one of us should remember that when we raise an accusing finger at others, we have two pointing towards us.
Q) The BJP is known for its exclusive politics, but in Maharashtra where the Congress is in power….
A) I am sorry I cannot comment on Maharashtra. You may be obsessed with Maharashtra or Assam. But you did not see this obsession when Christians were burnt alive and nuns were raped in Kandhamal and churches were burnt in Karnataka. Please don't be exclusive in your objectivity.
Q) The same tough questions were asked of Naveen Patnaik.
A) It's not about Patnaik, Vilasrao Deshmukh or Tarun Gogoi. We are talking about the state of play at the national level, the Centre, where the politics of consensus has been destroyed by the BJP from day one. Look at their performance in Parliament. The Ministers accountable to the 14th Lok Sabha were prevented from being introduced in the House. There hasn't been a single session of Parliament that was not disturbed at least for a few days. You cannot destroy one institution after another and yet expect that every thing will go on as usual.
Q) Even the PM hasn't kept his promise of reverting to Parliament after finalising the nuclear deal with the US.
A) When the PM said it on July 22, after that the voting took place and the trust motion was carried. Before that, the deal was discussed as many as seven times on the floor of the House. The PM was not allowed to read his speech before the vote. You will demand a statement from the PM but not allow him to make it in the House.
Q) You mean to say the trust vote was good enough.
A) Of course. That was the crucial test. Go through the entire debate and (find out) what it was except the nuclear deal. Are we naïve or are we children? The speeches, whether for or against the motion, were on the nuclear deal. But when the PM was to reply, the minimum, elementary courtesy (of listening to him) was not extended. That is the worst crime they (the BJP) have committed against the parliamentary system. Before raising their accusing finger, they should stand before the mirror and see what they have done to this country.
Columnists - Rajdeep Sardesai;You've lost the plot (G.Read)
My dear Raj,
My apologies for having to communicate through the editorial pages of a newspaper, but frankly I am left with little choice since you seem to have decided to stay away from the so-called ‘national’ non-Marathi media. At the very outset, let me say that I am impressed with the manner in which you have carved a niche in Maharashtra’s political landscape. I remember meeting you after the Mumbai municipal corporation elections in February last year. It wasn’t the best of times for you: your party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena was marginalised, while your cousin Uddhav Thackeray and the Shiv Sena had captured power in the city. With many of your supporters deserting you, you appeared down, if not quite out. Twenty months later, I see you’ve bounced back: local and national dailies have you on the front page, you are the subject of TV debates and your politics has even united Bihar’s warring netas.
And yet, my friend, there is a thin line between fame and notoriety, more so in the fickle world of politics. Bashing north Indian students may grab the headlines, getting arrested may even get you sympathy and strident rhetoric will always have a constituency, but will they be enough to secure your ultimate dream of succeeding your uncle Bal Thackeray as the flagbearer of Marathi asmita (pride)?
If Balasaheb in the 1960s rose to prominence by targeting the south Indian “lungiwala”, you have made the north Indian “bhaiyya” the new ‘enemy’. In the 1960s, the Maharashtrian middle-class in Mumbai was feeling the pressure of competition for white-collar clerical jobs. Today, it seems that there is a similar sense of frustration at losing out economically and culturally to other social groups in Mumbai’s endless battle for scarce resources. With the Congress and the NCP having become the real estate agents of the state’s rural-urban bourgeoisie and the Shiv Sena a pale shadow of its original avatar, the space has been created for a charismatic leader to emerge as a rabble-rouser espousing the sons of the soil platform.
But Raj, I must remind you that electoral politics is very different from street agitations. Sure, the round-the-clock coverage of taxis being stoned and buses burnt will get you instant recognition. Yes, your name may inspire fear like your uncle’s once did. And perhaps there will always be a core group of lumpen youth who will be ready to do your bidding. But how much of this will translate into votes? Identity politics based on hatred and violence is subject to the law of diminishing returns, especially in a city like Mumbai, the ultimate melting pot of commerce. Your cousin Uddhav tried a ‘Mee Mumbaikar’ campaign a few years ago. It was far more inclusive, but yet was interpreted as being anti-migrant. The result was that the Shiv Sena lost the 2004 elections — Lok Sabha and assembly — in its original citadel of Mumbai. Some statistics suggest that one in every four Mumbaikars is now a migrant from UP or Bihar. Can any political party afford to alienate such a large constituency in highly competitive elections?
Maybe, you are not even looking at winning seats at the moment, but staking claim to the Sena legacy in a post-Bal Thackeray scenario. Perhaps, that’s exactly what the ruling Congress-NCP combine in Maharashtra wants: like a market leader who gets competing brands to crush each other, the Congress-NCP leadership seems to be practising divide and rule politics once again. They did it with Balasaheb and the communists in the 1960s, with Bhindranwale and the Akalis in the 1980s, even with the Kashmir Valley politicians in the 1990s. A larger-than-life Raj Thackeray suits the ruling arrangement in the state because it could erode its principal rival, the Shiv Sena’s support base. It’s a dangerous game, but often when politicians run out of ideas, they prefer to play with fire. It’s a fire that could leave Mumbai scarred for life.
Now, before you see my writings as the outpourings of an anglicised non-resident Maharashtrian, let me just say that like you, I too am proud of my roots. I too, would like to see the cultural identity of Maharashtrians preserved and the economic well-being of the community assured. Where we differ is that I am a citizen of the Republic of India first, a proud Goan-Maharashtrian later. Fourteen years ago, I left Mumbai for Delhi to seek professional growth and was fortunate to be embraced by the Capital. Like millions of Indians, I too am a migrant and a beneficiary of a nation whose borders don’t stop at state checkpoints.
Moreover, I cannot accept that ‘goondaism’ is the way forward for forging a robust Maharashtrian identity. By vandalising a shop or stoning a taxi, what kind of mindless regional chauvinism are we promoting? Taking away the livelihood of a poor taxi driver or beating up some defenceless Bihari students reflects a fake machismo that is no answer to what ails Maharashtrian society today. The Maharashtra we are all proud off was inspired by the progressive ideals of the Bhakti movement, by a Shahu-Phule-Ambedkar legacy of social reform. Are we going to dismantle that legacy under the weight of hate politics?
When you started the MNS a few years ago, it had been pitched as a party committed to a ‘modern’ Maharashtra. If that vision still stands, why don’t you take it forward in real terms? Why don’t you, for example, set up vocational courses and technical institutes for young Maharashtrians to make them competitive in the job market? If cultural identity is such a concern, why not launch a statewide campaign to promote Marathi art, theatre and cinema by financially supporting such ventures?
If Mumbai’s collapsing infrastructure worries you, then target the politician-builder nexus first. And isn’t it also time we realised that Mumbai is not Maharashtra, that the long suffering Vidarbha and Marathwada farmer needs urgent attention? Why not use your political and financial muscle to start projects in rural Maharashtra instead of focusing your energies on Mumbai’s bright lights alone? An employment generation scheme in a Jalna or a Gadchiroli may not make the front pages, but it will have far greater value for securing Maharashtra’s future.
Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra!
Rajdeep Sardesai is Editor-in-Chief, IBN Network
My apologies for having to communicate through the editorial pages of a newspaper, but frankly I am left with little choice since you seem to have decided to stay away from the so-called ‘national’ non-Marathi media. At the very outset, let me say that I am impressed with the manner in which you have carved a niche in Maharashtra’s political landscape. I remember meeting you after the Mumbai municipal corporation elections in February last year. It wasn’t the best of times for you: your party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena was marginalised, while your cousin Uddhav Thackeray and the Shiv Sena had captured power in the city. With many of your supporters deserting you, you appeared down, if not quite out. Twenty months later, I see you’ve bounced back: local and national dailies have you on the front page, you are the subject of TV debates and your politics has even united Bihar’s warring netas.
And yet, my friend, there is a thin line between fame and notoriety, more so in the fickle world of politics. Bashing north Indian students may grab the headlines, getting arrested may even get you sympathy and strident rhetoric will always have a constituency, but will they be enough to secure your ultimate dream of succeeding your uncle Bal Thackeray as the flagbearer of Marathi asmita (pride)?
If Balasaheb in the 1960s rose to prominence by targeting the south Indian “lungiwala”, you have made the north Indian “bhaiyya” the new ‘enemy’. In the 1960s, the Maharashtrian middle-class in Mumbai was feeling the pressure of competition for white-collar clerical jobs. Today, it seems that there is a similar sense of frustration at losing out economically and culturally to other social groups in Mumbai’s endless battle for scarce resources. With the Congress and the NCP having become the real estate agents of the state’s rural-urban bourgeoisie and the Shiv Sena a pale shadow of its original avatar, the space has been created for a charismatic leader to emerge as a rabble-rouser espousing the sons of the soil platform.
But Raj, I must remind you that electoral politics is very different from street agitations. Sure, the round-the-clock coverage of taxis being stoned and buses burnt will get you instant recognition. Yes, your name may inspire fear like your uncle’s once did. And perhaps there will always be a core group of lumpen youth who will be ready to do your bidding. But how much of this will translate into votes? Identity politics based on hatred and violence is subject to the law of diminishing returns, especially in a city like Mumbai, the ultimate melting pot of commerce. Your cousin Uddhav tried a ‘Mee Mumbaikar’ campaign a few years ago. It was far more inclusive, but yet was interpreted as being anti-migrant. The result was that the Shiv Sena lost the 2004 elections — Lok Sabha and assembly — in its original citadel of Mumbai. Some statistics suggest that one in every four Mumbaikars is now a migrant from UP or Bihar. Can any political party afford to alienate such a large constituency in highly competitive elections?
Maybe, you are not even looking at winning seats at the moment, but staking claim to the Sena legacy in a post-Bal Thackeray scenario. Perhaps, that’s exactly what the ruling Congress-NCP combine in Maharashtra wants: like a market leader who gets competing brands to crush each other, the Congress-NCP leadership seems to be practising divide and rule politics once again. They did it with Balasaheb and the communists in the 1960s, with Bhindranwale and the Akalis in the 1980s, even with the Kashmir Valley politicians in the 1990s. A larger-than-life Raj Thackeray suits the ruling arrangement in the state because it could erode its principal rival, the Shiv Sena’s support base. It’s a dangerous game, but often when politicians run out of ideas, they prefer to play with fire. It’s a fire that could leave Mumbai scarred for life.
Now, before you see my writings as the outpourings of an anglicised non-resident Maharashtrian, let me just say that like you, I too am proud of my roots. I too, would like to see the cultural identity of Maharashtrians preserved and the economic well-being of the community assured. Where we differ is that I am a citizen of the Republic of India first, a proud Goan-Maharashtrian later. Fourteen years ago, I left Mumbai for Delhi to seek professional growth and was fortunate to be embraced by the Capital. Like millions of Indians, I too am a migrant and a beneficiary of a nation whose borders don’t stop at state checkpoints.
Moreover, I cannot accept that ‘goondaism’ is the way forward for forging a robust Maharashtrian identity. By vandalising a shop or stoning a taxi, what kind of mindless regional chauvinism are we promoting? Taking away the livelihood of a poor taxi driver or beating up some defenceless Bihari students reflects a fake machismo that is no answer to what ails Maharashtrian society today. The Maharashtra we are all proud off was inspired by the progressive ideals of the Bhakti movement, by a Shahu-Phule-Ambedkar legacy of social reform. Are we going to dismantle that legacy under the weight of hate politics?
When you started the MNS a few years ago, it had been pitched as a party committed to a ‘modern’ Maharashtra. If that vision still stands, why don’t you take it forward in real terms? Why don’t you, for example, set up vocational courses and technical institutes for young Maharashtrians to make them competitive in the job market? If cultural identity is such a concern, why not launch a statewide campaign to promote Marathi art, theatre and cinema by financially supporting such ventures?
If Mumbai’s collapsing infrastructure worries you, then target the politician-builder nexus first. And isn’t it also time we realised that Mumbai is not Maharashtra, that the long suffering Vidarbha and Marathwada farmer needs urgent attention? Why not use your political and financial muscle to start projects in rural Maharashtra instead of focusing your energies on Mumbai’s bright lights alone? An employment generation scheme in a Jalna or a Gadchiroli may not make the front pages, but it will have far greater value for securing Maharashtra’s future.
Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra!
Rajdeep Sardesai is Editor-in-Chief, IBN Network
World Gulf citizens beg for bailout after stock rout
Abdullah Hajeri led a march on the Emir's palace in Kuwait this week, demanding the oil-rich nation's ruler stop stocks from plunging. Adnan Mohammed Saleh, down the Persian Gulf coast in Dubai, said he wants more government protection from the global financial crisis.
“Every day the market is crashing,” said Saleh, a 42-year-old trader, staring dumbfounded last Tuesday as company names scrolled across the Dubai Stock Exchange's outdoor ticker in red.
The region's rulers are under pressure from citizens to shore up investors, not just banks, as they try to fend off what may be the worst economic crisis since December 1998, when oil at $10.35 a barrel forced them to slash spending. Crude prices have fallen 50 per cent from a record $147.27 in July, and stock indexes in Dubai and Saudi Arabia are down by as much this year.
Gulf economies are more susceptible to financial turmoil than in the past because of their greater dependency on international expertise, investment and tourists to diversify away from oil. While Dubai, home to the world's tallest building and the man-made Palm Island, is considered most at risk, no part of the Persian Gulf will go untouched.
“There is no way you can say that any trouble in Dubai is going to be isolated,” Georges Makhoul, Morgan Stanley's president for the West Asia and North Africa, said in an interview in London. “The biggest threat is going to be local confidence in the local economy, whether it's in Dubai or Abu Dhabi or anywhere else.”
No Investors Left: There aren't many international investors left in the region, he added.
Regional competition to attract investors and tourists from around the world led to a surge in record-breaking projects.
Dubai is racing against Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's investment company to build the world's first kilometer-tall tower. Saudi Arabia has turned a spot on its Red Sea coast into the biggest property development in the West Asia. Now little more than sand and construction cranes, the $120 billion King Abdullah Economic City is meant to create 1 million jobs and be home to 2 million residents.
Projects risk going unfinished or becoming white elephants if economies around the world go into recession, keeping international investors and tourists closer to home.
Dubai's plans, including the Disneyland-style “Dubailand” that will be three times the size of Manhattan, are predicated on doubling the number of tourists annually to reach 15 million visitors by 2015.
“Many of the projects being marketed in the Gulf today will get shelved,” Kamel Lazaar, chairman of Riyadh-based financial advisory firm Swicorp, said October 7. “The price of land has been inflated. It will have to correct.”
‘Better Suited’: Kuwait on Wednesday became the third Gulf state to prop up its banking system. It did so after losses on currency derivatives at Gulf Bank KSC, the country's second-largest lender by assets, sparked a surge in customer withdrawals from the bank.
The United Arab Emirates said October 12 it would guarantee deposits of all local lenders and large foreign banks. It also set up a $19 billion facility to help banks make loans. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, put $2.7 billion into a government-run bank in Riyadh to provide no-fee loans to low- income citizens.
“We are going to be impacted, but we are better suited than anyone else to deal with the problems,” Hareb Al-Darmaki, executive director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, said October 28 at a London conference for companies from the United Arab Emirates' richest member. “We have the ammunition.”
Societal Setback: The emirate has almost 8 per cent of the world's oil reserves and a sovereign wealth fund with assets between $250 billion and $875 billion, according to a range of estimates compiled by the International Monetary Fund. Even with its decline, oil still averages $110 a barrel for the year.
Residents of the region are used to government intervention. All Gulf countries are run by unelected rulers who maintain political power through tribal allegiances and marriages. Generous state welfare programs have traditionally damped demands for more political participation.
How the region's rulers cope with the turmoil may define relations with their people in the future, as they try to wean their subjects off state handouts and encourage them to find jobs and embrace market capitalism.
“There's no question that it sets back the move from socialist, paternalistic societies toward more modern capitalist states,” said Gabriel Stein, a director at London's Lombard Street Research, which provides economic analysis to investors and companies. “It is a trend that we have seen all over the world. The immediate reaction is that you told us to do this, so now things are going wrong it's up to you to help us out.”
Market ‘Destruction’: On October 27, Hajeri, an independent equity trader, and 20 peers marched from the Kuwait Stock Exchange's trading floor to the emir's office to demand that the government close the exchange. Rebuffed, Hajeri said it meant “destruction to the market and the Kuwait people.”
All capital markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have declined and interest rates have increased since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc sought bankruptcy protection on September 15.
Foreign investors were net sellers of more than 5 billion dirhams ($1.4 billion) of shares on the Dubai Stock Exchange since the beginning of August, more than 1 per cent of its current market value, according to bourse data.
‘More Integrated’: “The US financial crisis has ramifications for all countries, including the Gulf,” US Deputy Secretary of Treasury Robert Kimmitt said this week during a speech in Dubai, where he met representatives of sovereign wealth funds. ''Our capital markets are more integrated than ever before, allowing opportunities, but also financial difficulties, to spread rapidly across borders.''
Of the Gulf states, Dubai may be hardest hit by a global economic slowdown because it has borrowed more to finance its transformation from a Persian Gulf trading post to a financial and tourist hub, and has only 4 billion barrels of oil reserves.
Government-controlled companies owe at least $47 billion, more than Dubai's gross domestic product, and they will continue to accumulate debt faster than the economy grows, Moody's Investors Service estimated in an Oct. 13 report. It concluded that Dubai may need financing help from Abu Dhabi.
Dubai-based Emaar Properties PJSC has shed more than 26 percent since Sept. 15 as investors lost confidence in the ability of the Middle East's biggest publicly traded real-estate developer to finance projects by borrowing through local and international banks.
Real Estate Bust?
Dubai property prices will likely remain unchanged through 2010 after quadrupling in the past five years, Colliers CRE Plc said Oct. 5.
''There is a liquidity and credit crunch and now oil prices have fallen from $140 to $70,'' said Nouriel Roubini, a professor at New York University. ''I see the risk of a real-estate bust throughout the Gulf, but specifically in Dubai, and there's a huge amount of excess capacity being built.''
That's not keeping investors from betting on pain across the region. The cost of protecting debt from default has jumped more than fivefold since July for Abu Dhabi and Dubai, according to trading in credit default swaps. The cost of insuring Saudi Arabian government debt has risen 51 percent since Sept. 18.
The price of oil may determine whether governments can maintain government spending and support economic growth.
''If prices drop by $15 a barrel from the $60 to $70 mark, then they will probably not break even in terms of their budgets,'' said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Saudi British Bank in Riyadh
“Every day the market is crashing,” said Saleh, a 42-year-old trader, staring dumbfounded last Tuesday as company names scrolled across the Dubai Stock Exchange's outdoor ticker in red.
The region's rulers are under pressure from citizens to shore up investors, not just banks, as they try to fend off what may be the worst economic crisis since December 1998, when oil at $10.35 a barrel forced them to slash spending. Crude prices have fallen 50 per cent from a record $147.27 in July, and stock indexes in Dubai and Saudi Arabia are down by as much this year.
Gulf economies are more susceptible to financial turmoil than in the past because of their greater dependency on international expertise, investment and tourists to diversify away from oil. While Dubai, home to the world's tallest building and the man-made Palm Island, is considered most at risk, no part of the Persian Gulf will go untouched.
“There is no way you can say that any trouble in Dubai is going to be isolated,” Georges Makhoul, Morgan Stanley's president for the West Asia and North Africa, said in an interview in London. “The biggest threat is going to be local confidence in the local economy, whether it's in Dubai or Abu Dhabi or anywhere else.”
No Investors Left: There aren't many international investors left in the region, he added.
Regional competition to attract investors and tourists from around the world led to a surge in record-breaking projects.
Dubai is racing against Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's investment company to build the world's first kilometer-tall tower. Saudi Arabia has turned a spot on its Red Sea coast into the biggest property development in the West Asia. Now little more than sand and construction cranes, the $120 billion King Abdullah Economic City is meant to create 1 million jobs and be home to 2 million residents.
Projects risk going unfinished or becoming white elephants if economies around the world go into recession, keeping international investors and tourists closer to home.
Dubai's plans, including the Disneyland-style “Dubailand” that will be three times the size of Manhattan, are predicated on doubling the number of tourists annually to reach 15 million visitors by 2015.
“Many of the projects being marketed in the Gulf today will get shelved,” Kamel Lazaar, chairman of Riyadh-based financial advisory firm Swicorp, said October 7. “The price of land has been inflated. It will have to correct.”
‘Better Suited’: Kuwait on Wednesday became the third Gulf state to prop up its banking system. It did so after losses on currency derivatives at Gulf Bank KSC, the country's second-largest lender by assets, sparked a surge in customer withdrawals from the bank.
The United Arab Emirates said October 12 it would guarantee deposits of all local lenders and large foreign banks. It also set up a $19 billion facility to help banks make loans. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, put $2.7 billion into a government-run bank in Riyadh to provide no-fee loans to low- income citizens.
“We are going to be impacted, but we are better suited than anyone else to deal with the problems,” Hareb Al-Darmaki, executive director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, said October 28 at a London conference for companies from the United Arab Emirates' richest member. “We have the ammunition.”
Societal Setback: The emirate has almost 8 per cent of the world's oil reserves and a sovereign wealth fund with assets between $250 billion and $875 billion, according to a range of estimates compiled by the International Monetary Fund. Even with its decline, oil still averages $110 a barrel for the year.
Residents of the region are used to government intervention. All Gulf countries are run by unelected rulers who maintain political power through tribal allegiances and marriages. Generous state welfare programs have traditionally damped demands for more political participation.
How the region's rulers cope with the turmoil may define relations with their people in the future, as they try to wean their subjects off state handouts and encourage them to find jobs and embrace market capitalism.
“There's no question that it sets back the move from socialist, paternalistic societies toward more modern capitalist states,” said Gabriel Stein, a director at London's Lombard Street Research, which provides economic analysis to investors and companies. “It is a trend that we have seen all over the world. The immediate reaction is that you told us to do this, so now things are going wrong it's up to you to help us out.”
Market ‘Destruction’: On October 27, Hajeri, an independent equity trader, and 20 peers marched from the Kuwait Stock Exchange's trading floor to the emir's office to demand that the government close the exchange. Rebuffed, Hajeri said it meant “destruction to the market and the Kuwait people.”
All capital markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have declined and interest rates have increased since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc sought bankruptcy protection on September 15.
Foreign investors were net sellers of more than 5 billion dirhams ($1.4 billion) of shares on the Dubai Stock Exchange since the beginning of August, more than 1 per cent of its current market value, according to bourse data.
‘More Integrated’: “The US financial crisis has ramifications for all countries, including the Gulf,” US Deputy Secretary of Treasury Robert Kimmitt said this week during a speech in Dubai, where he met representatives of sovereign wealth funds. ''Our capital markets are more integrated than ever before, allowing opportunities, but also financial difficulties, to spread rapidly across borders.''
Of the Gulf states, Dubai may be hardest hit by a global economic slowdown because it has borrowed more to finance its transformation from a Persian Gulf trading post to a financial and tourist hub, and has only 4 billion barrels of oil reserves.
Government-controlled companies owe at least $47 billion, more than Dubai's gross domestic product, and they will continue to accumulate debt faster than the economy grows, Moody's Investors Service estimated in an Oct. 13 report. It concluded that Dubai may need financing help from Abu Dhabi.
Dubai-based Emaar Properties PJSC has shed more than 26 percent since Sept. 15 as investors lost confidence in the ability of the Middle East's biggest publicly traded real-estate developer to finance projects by borrowing through local and international banks.
Real Estate Bust?
Dubai property prices will likely remain unchanged through 2010 after quadrupling in the past five years, Colliers CRE Plc said Oct. 5.
''There is a liquidity and credit crunch and now oil prices have fallen from $140 to $70,'' said Nouriel Roubini, a professor at New York University. ''I see the risk of a real-estate bust throughout the Gulf, but specifically in Dubai, and there's a huge amount of excess capacity being built.''
That's not keeping investors from betting on pain across the region. The cost of protecting debt from default has jumped more than fivefold since July for Abu Dhabi and Dubai, according to trading in credit default swaps. The cost of insuring Saudi Arabian government debt has risen 51 percent since Sept. 18.
The price of oil may determine whether governments can maintain government spending and support economic growth.
''If prices drop by $15 a barrel from the $60 to $70 mark, then they will probably not break even in terms of their budgets,'' said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Saudi British Bank in Riyadh
Business - India;Travel agents refuse to levy transaction fee
Seema Sindhu & Anirban Chowdhury
Most travel agents in India have refused to levy the transaction fees of Rs 350-10,000 on air passengers. The transaction fee was recently proposed to them by Indian carriers, in lieu of the 5 per cent commission that will be stopped from November 1.
“We have refused to go ahead with the transaction fees. This will put an unnecessary burden on the customer, thus decreasing demand for travel even more. The modalities under which the transaction fees are to be charged make it very vague for us to understand whether the transaction fees will actually come to us,” said Ajay Prakash, general secretary, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI).
On Wednesday, Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines had given a proposal to the travel agents saying that in lieu of the 5 per cent commission that an airline pays to the agent, the agent should now levy a transaction fee between Rs 350 and Rs 10,000 per ticket on passengers. Sources said that until December 2009, the airlines had agreed that the transaction fees would be simultaneously levied by airlines and travel agents and would be thus part of the overall base fare of the ticket, so that the customer sees it as just a normal price increase.
“But the airlines also told us that the transaction fees that we were collecting would have to be deposited with them and they would reimburse it to us at a later date,” said P Sampat of TAFI.
“Also, after December 31, 2009, the airlines might stop levying the transaction fee when the customer buys its from their offices or online. But we would still levy it. The customer would then notice the difference in rates when he buys from an agent and from the airline. He would then stop buying from us,” he added.
Also, even if airlines levy the transaction fees in the current scenario, agents fear whether the amount will be the same. Moreover airlines will incentivise the deals on their website. They fear the system to go the US way where it was implemented few years back and agents were forced to keep higher fee and airlines have lower fares on their own websites.
“On an immediate note, I would say that transaction fee will make our business healthier in terms of revenue, the long-term impact will be clear in a month or so,” says Noel Swain, VP, marketing, Cleartrip.
Online travel business, which is worth $20 billion, might also get hit in long run. As more and more passengers book their tickets online, they will notice the difference in fares between the online travel websites and the airline websites and will prefer the latter which might not charge transaction fees.
In the last quarter, travel industry has seen a slowdown of 15-17 per cent in business. Dhruv Shringi, CEO, Yatra, says: “Though October being a festival month has been normal, there is growing concern post-October season (rising air fares, Jet-Kingfisher alliance).”
Corporate travel has been hit very badly. Aseem Sadana, COO, Isango, says: “Business class travel has been hit badly. Out of MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and events) category, sales incentive based travel has been least affected. Companies are still keeping their incentive commitments to dealers, as in times of slowdown sales force becomes more important. But in extreme cases, international tours are being turned into domestic tours.”
Incentive based travel comprise 80 per cent of the overall corporate travel. To offset air booking dip, companies will need to look beyond ticket booking to other streams like experiential travel (tours, activities and adventures). The commission on this vertical is more lucrative, 5-10 per cent depending on the volume.
To add to the woes, the Jet-Kingfisher alliance has put agents under more pressure. Travel agents say it will lead to lesser choice for them as well as passengers and the the volume will go down and thus the business.
Bruce Hanna, president and CEO, InterGlobe Technology Quotient, the official distributor of Galileo (a link between travel suppliers and travel agents) in India, says: "While common flier will be left with lesser choice, frequent fliers will get an advantage. Frequent flier points earned from Jet will be applicable to Kingfisher and vice versa. Travel agents will also be under pressure to give additional value on the booking, like hotel, restaurant booking etc.”
Most travel agents in India have refused to levy the transaction fees of Rs 350-10,000 on air passengers. The transaction fee was recently proposed to them by Indian carriers, in lieu of the 5 per cent commission that will be stopped from November 1.
“We have refused to go ahead with the transaction fees. This will put an unnecessary burden on the customer, thus decreasing demand for travel even more. The modalities under which the transaction fees are to be charged make it very vague for us to understand whether the transaction fees will actually come to us,” said Ajay Prakash, general secretary, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI).
On Wednesday, Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines had given a proposal to the travel agents saying that in lieu of the 5 per cent commission that an airline pays to the agent, the agent should now levy a transaction fee between Rs 350 and Rs 10,000 per ticket on passengers. Sources said that until December 2009, the airlines had agreed that the transaction fees would be simultaneously levied by airlines and travel agents and would be thus part of the overall base fare of the ticket, so that the customer sees it as just a normal price increase.
“But the airlines also told us that the transaction fees that we were collecting would have to be deposited with them and they would reimburse it to us at a later date,” said P Sampat of TAFI.
“Also, after December 31, 2009, the airlines might stop levying the transaction fee when the customer buys its from their offices or online. But we would still levy it. The customer would then notice the difference in rates when he buys from an agent and from the airline. He would then stop buying from us,” he added.
Also, even if airlines levy the transaction fees in the current scenario, agents fear whether the amount will be the same. Moreover airlines will incentivise the deals on their website. They fear the system to go the US way where it was implemented few years back and agents were forced to keep higher fee and airlines have lower fares on their own websites.
“On an immediate note, I would say that transaction fee will make our business healthier in terms of revenue, the long-term impact will be clear in a month or so,” says Noel Swain, VP, marketing, Cleartrip.
Online travel business, which is worth $20 billion, might also get hit in long run. As more and more passengers book their tickets online, they will notice the difference in fares between the online travel websites and the airline websites and will prefer the latter which might not charge transaction fees.
In the last quarter, travel industry has seen a slowdown of 15-17 per cent in business. Dhruv Shringi, CEO, Yatra, says: “Though October being a festival month has been normal, there is growing concern post-October season (rising air fares, Jet-Kingfisher alliance).”
Corporate travel has been hit very badly. Aseem Sadana, COO, Isango, says: “Business class travel has been hit badly. Out of MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and events) category, sales incentive based travel has been least affected. Companies are still keeping their incentive commitments to dealers, as in times of slowdown sales force becomes more important. But in extreme cases, international tours are being turned into domestic tours.”
Incentive based travel comprise 80 per cent of the overall corporate travel. To offset air booking dip, companies will need to look beyond ticket booking to other streams like experiential travel (tours, activities and adventures). The commission on this vertical is more lucrative, 5-10 per cent depending on the volume.
To add to the woes, the Jet-Kingfisher alliance has put agents under more pressure. Travel agents say it will lead to lesser choice for them as well as passengers and the the volume will go down and thus the business.
Bruce Hanna, president and CEO, InterGlobe Technology Quotient, the official distributor of Galileo (a link between travel suppliers and travel agents) in India, says: "While common flier will be left with lesser choice, frequent fliers will get an advantage. Frequent flier points earned from Jet will be applicable to Kingfisher and vice versa. Travel agents will also be under pressure to give additional value on the booking, like hotel, restaurant booking etc.”
Business - India;Govt withdraws 15% export duty on steel
The government today withdrew the 15 per cent export duty on pig iron, iron and steel ingots, bars and rods, angles and sections. It also replaced the 15 per cent ad valorem export duty on iron ore fines. The export duty on scrap and iron ore lump remains unchanged.
The export duties on steel products and iron ore were imposed in May and June this year, respectively, to discourage exports and rein in the rise in domestic prices. The government, in a statement, said this was done after the steep fall in global steel and iron ore prices in order to make exports remunerative and save jobs in the sector.
Steel exporters hope these steps would bring some relief for them, though international prices are currently low and there is little incentive to export.
“We are the largest exporter of billets from the country but international prices are very low. However, this is a good message from the government,” said Neeraj Singal, managing director, Bhushan Steel.
Apart from direct exports, the move would also benefit players which send semi-finished products to their own finishing mills outside India.
Ankit Miglani, director (commercial) of Uttam Galva Steels, said the move was extremely positive because it showed that the government was concerned and was willing to help the industry. He, however, felt that while it (the decision) would not push up prices, it would help check prices from collapsing.
Since September, steel prices had slumped about 10 per cent and some of the large producers expect prices to fall further.
However, the specific duty of Rs 200 per tonne on iron ore fines versus an ad valorem duty was unlikely to benefit the steel industry. Miglani said iron ore prices had dropped so much that an ad valorem duty would probably have worked out better for the steel industry than the specific duty. Prices of iron ore fines with more than 63 per cent iron content was now available for $50 a tonne as compared with $155 this April.
R K Sharma, secretary-general of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, said there was no buyer for Indian iron ore and the duty should have been withdrawn. The steel industry was hoping that there would be more support from the government over the next few days. The industry was expecting an import duty of 5-10 per cent on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanised steel products.
The export duties on steel products and iron ore were imposed in May and June this year, respectively, to discourage exports and rein in the rise in domestic prices. The government, in a statement, said this was done after the steep fall in global steel and iron ore prices in order to make exports remunerative and save jobs in the sector.
Steel exporters hope these steps would bring some relief for them, though international prices are currently low and there is little incentive to export.
“We are the largest exporter of billets from the country but international prices are very low. However, this is a good message from the government,” said Neeraj Singal, managing director, Bhushan Steel.
Apart from direct exports, the move would also benefit players which send semi-finished products to their own finishing mills outside India.
Ankit Miglani, director (commercial) of Uttam Galva Steels, said the move was extremely positive because it showed that the government was concerned and was willing to help the industry. He, however, felt that while it (the decision) would not push up prices, it would help check prices from collapsing.
Since September, steel prices had slumped about 10 per cent and some of the large producers expect prices to fall further.
However, the specific duty of Rs 200 per tonne on iron ore fines versus an ad valorem duty was unlikely to benefit the steel industry. Miglani said iron ore prices had dropped so much that an ad valorem duty would probably have worked out better for the steel industry than the specific duty. Prices of iron ore fines with more than 63 per cent iron content was now available for $50 a tonne as compared with $155 this April.
R K Sharma, secretary-general of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, said there was no buyer for Indian iron ore and the duty should have been withdrawn. The steel industry was hoping that there would be more support from the government over the next few days. The industry was expecting an import duty of 5-10 per cent on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanised steel products.
World - West Africa slavery still widespread
Sold into slavery at the age of 12, Hadijatou Mani says she was forced to labour for her master and his family for 10 years.
She quickly became one of several sexual slaves, or "sadakas" and was made to bear her master's children. She was subjected to regular beatings.
Now the former slave from Niger has won a landmark case against her government, which a regional West African court found had failed to protect her.
The court has ordered the government to pay her 10m CFA francs (£12,430; $19,750) in compensation.
"I will be able to build a house, raise animals and farm land to support my family. I will also be able to send my children to school so they can have the education I was never allowed as a slave," Ms Mani said afterwards.
The ruling could have broad implications for countries nearby where slavery is still practised, including Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Mali, according to observers.
Human rights organisations say more than 40,000 people are still in slavery in Niger, though the government says this figure is exaggerated.
Most live in conditions little changed over centuries, forced to look after animals or domestic work such as cooking and cleaning without pay.
Born into an established slave caste, they inherit a status from their mothers that it is almost impossible to shake off.
Romana Cacchioli, Africa Programme Coordinator for Anti-Slavery International, says this form of slavery began centuries ago when North African Berbers and Arabs raided the settlements of black Africans to the south and enslaved them.
Bigamy
Hadijatou Mani's case was different - she was sold by her Berber, Tuareg family to a master from the Hausa community.
She says he bought her for the equivalent of about $500 (£315).
"My master has four wives. We, the slaves, were doing all the housework like cooking, fetching water and firewood and working on farms," she told the BBC.
I wanted the court to vindicate me, to give my rights
Hadijatou Mani
"I was beaten so many times I would run to my family. Then, after a day or two, I would be brought back."
But one day she heard that Niger had banned slavery, a decision that was announced in 2003.
"One of the anti-slavery activists from the Timidria association went to see the local chief who summoned my master.
"He was told that slavery had now been abolished, that he had to free his seven slaves, but he denied having seven slaves - he said he had only three, including myself.
"They told him if he loved us and we agreed, he could marry us. Otherwise he should just let us go. When he came back home he didn't tell us what happened, he just took us to another location so that we could not hear the news.
"After a while we came back, and that was when I heard that slavery no longer exists. I decided not to go back to my master but he kept going to the court saying that I am his wife."
According to Anti-Slavery International, which helped Ms Mani bring the case, she was finally freed by her master and given her "liberation certificate" in 2005.
A court initially blocked his attempt to prevent her marrying another man, but this was later overruled and Ms Mani was convicted of bigamy and sent to prison for six months.
"I was wrongly jailed, not because of anything I did but because of slavery, and today there is no more slavery so I wanted the court to vindicate me, to give my rights which I was denied some four years ago, to compensate me," she said.
'Charm-offensive'
Ilguilas Weila, head of the local human rights group Timidria, said the situation in Niger had barely changed since the country announced that it was banning slavery.
"There has been a lack of political will," he said. "The law was only passed for Westerners. It was a charm-offensive aimed at those who were asking why slavery had not been made illegal."
Slaves are kept in humiliating and degrading conditions, he said. They can be beaten, sold, or given away as wedding presents.
"They wake up before their masters, and they are the last to go to sleep. During the day, the men look after the animals, the women collect water feed the family and gather wood."
"Almost the whole of the slave's day is spent working for their master."
Mr Weila said his group had estimated that in 2002 about 8% of the population in six of Niger's eight regions were living in slavery.
Ms Cacchioli says Anti-Slavery International has helped free about 80 women in Niger over the past five years.
She says that leaving their master is more difficult for women, as this also means abandoning any children she has had with him.
And the deeply-rooted practice has persisted in some neighbouring countries.
Ms Cacchioli says there are no reliable figures for the number of slaves in Mali.
Mauritania has also officially abolished slavery, but Anti-Slavery International says 18% of the population are estimated to be slaves.
The government there strongly disputes these figures.
Officials and some ordinary Mauritanians argue that it is difficult to define who is a slave - few records are kept, unlike during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
They point out that abolishing slavery - and its scars - is not straightforward.
The practise is most widespread in remote, rural areas. Few have been to school and so they not be aware that slavery has been abolished.
And if they do manage to leave their masters, without training and land, they could just add to the ranks of the unemployed in the cities
She quickly became one of several sexual slaves, or "sadakas" and was made to bear her master's children. She was subjected to regular beatings.
Now the former slave from Niger has won a landmark case against her government, which a regional West African court found had failed to protect her.
The court has ordered the government to pay her 10m CFA francs (£12,430; $19,750) in compensation.
"I will be able to build a house, raise animals and farm land to support my family. I will also be able to send my children to school so they can have the education I was never allowed as a slave," Ms Mani said afterwards.
The ruling could have broad implications for countries nearby where slavery is still practised, including Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Mali, according to observers.
Human rights organisations say more than 40,000 people are still in slavery in Niger, though the government says this figure is exaggerated.
Most live in conditions little changed over centuries, forced to look after animals or domestic work such as cooking and cleaning without pay.
Born into an established slave caste, they inherit a status from their mothers that it is almost impossible to shake off.
Romana Cacchioli, Africa Programme Coordinator for Anti-Slavery International, says this form of slavery began centuries ago when North African Berbers and Arabs raided the settlements of black Africans to the south and enslaved them.
Bigamy
Hadijatou Mani's case was different - she was sold by her Berber, Tuareg family to a master from the Hausa community.
She says he bought her for the equivalent of about $500 (£315).
"My master has four wives. We, the slaves, were doing all the housework like cooking, fetching water and firewood and working on farms," she told the BBC.
I wanted the court to vindicate me, to give my rights
Hadijatou Mani
"I was beaten so many times I would run to my family. Then, after a day or two, I would be brought back."
But one day she heard that Niger had banned slavery, a decision that was announced in 2003.
"One of the anti-slavery activists from the Timidria association went to see the local chief who summoned my master.
"He was told that slavery had now been abolished, that he had to free his seven slaves, but he denied having seven slaves - he said he had only three, including myself.
"They told him if he loved us and we agreed, he could marry us. Otherwise he should just let us go. When he came back home he didn't tell us what happened, he just took us to another location so that we could not hear the news.
"After a while we came back, and that was when I heard that slavery no longer exists. I decided not to go back to my master but he kept going to the court saying that I am his wife."
According to Anti-Slavery International, which helped Ms Mani bring the case, she was finally freed by her master and given her "liberation certificate" in 2005.
A court initially blocked his attempt to prevent her marrying another man, but this was later overruled and Ms Mani was convicted of bigamy and sent to prison for six months.
"I was wrongly jailed, not because of anything I did but because of slavery, and today there is no more slavery so I wanted the court to vindicate me, to give my rights which I was denied some four years ago, to compensate me," she said.
'Charm-offensive'
Ilguilas Weila, head of the local human rights group Timidria, said the situation in Niger had barely changed since the country announced that it was banning slavery.
"There has been a lack of political will," he said. "The law was only passed for Westerners. It was a charm-offensive aimed at those who were asking why slavery had not been made illegal."
Slaves are kept in humiliating and degrading conditions, he said. They can be beaten, sold, or given away as wedding presents.
"They wake up before their masters, and they are the last to go to sleep. During the day, the men look after the animals, the women collect water feed the family and gather wood."
"Almost the whole of the slave's day is spent working for their master."
Mr Weila said his group had estimated that in 2002 about 8% of the population in six of Niger's eight regions were living in slavery.
Ms Cacchioli says Anti-Slavery International has helped free about 80 women in Niger over the past five years.
She says that leaving their master is more difficult for women, as this also means abandoning any children she has had with him.
And the deeply-rooted practice has persisted in some neighbouring countries.
Ms Cacchioli says there are no reliable figures for the number of slaves in Mali.
Mauritania has also officially abolished slavery, but Anti-Slavery International says 18% of the population are estimated to be slaves.
The government there strongly disputes these figures.
Officials and some ordinary Mauritanians argue that it is difficult to define who is a slave - few records are kept, unlike during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
They point out that abolishing slavery - and its scars - is not straightforward.
The practise is most widespread in remote, rural areas. Few have been to school and so they not be aware that slavery has been abolished.
And if they do manage to leave their masters, without training and land, they could just add to the ranks of the unemployed in the cities
World - US;Obama pushes for McCain territory
Democrat Barack Obama is extending his campaign advertising into traditionally Republican territory, as polls there show him closing on rival John McCain.
Mr Obama is to run ads in Arizona, his rival's home state, as well as Georgia and North Dakota, with only three days to go before the presidential election.
On Friday Mr Obama's campaign took him from the state of Iowa to Indiana.
Meanwhile, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gave Mr McCain strong backing in the swing state of Ohio.
In a rousing speech, the former Hollywood film star said the Republican candidate was the real action hero.
Arnold Schwarzenegger attacks Obama's spending
"John McCain has served this country longer in a [prisoner of war] camp than his opponent has served in the United States Senate," said the star of The Terminator, Predator and Conan the Barbarian.
Halloween warning
Speaking to big crowds at a rally in Iowa and Indiana, Mr Obama warned Mr McCain's campaign was likely to escalate into a final crescendo of attacks on him.
Voters would see "more of the slash-and-burn, say-anything, do-anything politics that's calculated to divide and distract, to tear us apart, rather than bring us together", he said in Des Moines, Iowa.
The Illinois senator then made a brief stop in his home city of Chicago to see his two young daughters at Halloween before moving on to Indiana, where he addressed more than 40,000 supporters in Highland, Indiana.
Meanwhile, former Vice-President Al Gore campaigned for Mr Obama in Florida, another important swing state.
He referred to his own defeat there in 2000, saying "it's been a long eight years" - and urged Florida's voters to "make good" on the challenge of electing Mr Obama as president.
Polls tightening
The Obama campaign plans to run two adverts in North Dakota and Georgia, both states which have usually voted Republican.
One seeks to link Mr McCain, 72, to President George W Bush, suggesting the Republican would continue the same economic policies.
The other relies on Mr Obama's message of "unity over division", highlighting his endorsement by such high-profile Republican figures as former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
If the polls hold, the American people will elect Barack Obama as their 44th president... And he would be a very bad choice
Peter Wehner Former deputy assistant to President Bush
Polls suggest Mr Obama is closing the gap on Mr McCain in Georgia, with a CNN/Time/Opinion Research poll giving the Republican a five-point lead among likely voters.
The same poll shows third-party candidate Bob Barr, a Libertarian and former Georgia congressman, with 4% support, which could affect the race.
By early Friday, some 31% of voters in Georgia had chosen to take advantage of early voting and cast their ballot in advance. Obama aides said the numbers were "highly encouraging".
McCain campaign manager Rick Davis dismissed the advance into Republican territory, saying he advised Mr Obama, 47, to focus his spending on states which Mr McCain intended to prise from him on 4 November.
Mr Davis also told reporters that the campaign was "jazzed up" about Mr McCain's prospects, saying that he was living up to his reputation as the underdog who fights back.
"We are witnessing, I believe, probably one of the greatest comebacks that you've seen since John McCain won the primary," he said.
Mr McCain told a crowd of several thousand in Steubenville, Ohio, that he felt his campaign had a new momentum in the state.
"You're going to be the battleground state again," he said. "You're going to be the one who decides. I need Ohio and I need you."
Earlier, he told a rally in Hanoverton that Mr Obama was "in the liberal left-lane of politics" and intended to raise their taxes.
Final stretch
Ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, campaigning for his former rival for the Republican nomination, said Mr McCain was the candidate sticking up for ordinary Americans.
"He's going to fight to see that your taxes are low and that the economy recovers," he said.
Mr McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, in Pennsylvania also focused on the economy, telling supporters that Mr Obama was "for bigger government and he's going to raise your taxes".
The McCain campaign's efforts come a day after the Arizona senator made a late plea for donations in an effort to pull off a surprise victory.
His appeal to supporters came less than a day after Mr Obama spent an estimated $5m (£3.1m) on a 30-minute primetime "infomercial" aired on US TV networks.
Mr McCain is spending two days campaigning in Ohio, which is seen as a must-win state if he is to have any chance of overall victory.
The latest national poll by CBS and the New York Times puts him 13% behind the Illinois senator.
Polls in battleground states suggest the differences in support between the two candidates are much slimmer.
Mr Obama is to run ads in Arizona, his rival's home state, as well as Georgia and North Dakota, with only three days to go before the presidential election.
On Friday Mr Obama's campaign took him from the state of Iowa to Indiana.
Meanwhile, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gave Mr McCain strong backing in the swing state of Ohio.
In a rousing speech, the former Hollywood film star said the Republican candidate was the real action hero.
Arnold Schwarzenegger attacks Obama's spending
"John McCain has served this country longer in a [prisoner of war] camp than his opponent has served in the United States Senate," said the star of The Terminator, Predator and Conan the Barbarian.
Halloween warning
Speaking to big crowds at a rally in Iowa and Indiana, Mr Obama warned Mr McCain's campaign was likely to escalate into a final crescendo of attacks on him.
Voters would see "more of the slash-and-burn, say-anything, do-anything politics that's calculated to divide and distract, to tear us apart, rather than bring us together", he said in Des Moines, Iowa.
The Illinois senator then made a brief stop in his home city of Chicago to see his two young daughters at Halloween before moving on to Indiana, where he addressed more than 40,000 supporters in Highland, Indiana.
Meanwhile, former Vice-President Al Gore campaigned for Mr Obama in Florida, another important swing state.
He referred to his own defeat there in 2000, saying "it's been a long eight years" - and urged Florida's voters to "make good" on the challenge of electing Mr Obama as president.
Polls tightening
The Obama campaign plans to run two adverts in North Dakota and Georgia, both states which have usually voted Republican.
One seeks to link Mr McCain, 72, to President George W Bush, suggesting the Republican would continue the same economic policies.
The other relies on Mr Obama's message of "unity over division", highlighting his endorsement by such high-profile Republican figures as former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
If the polls hold, the American people will elect Barack Obama as their 44th president... And he would be a very bad choice
Peter Wehner Former deputy assistant to President Bush
Polls suggest Mr Obama is closing the gap on Mr McCain in Georgia, with a CNN/Time/Opinion Research poll giving the Republican a five-point lead among likely voters.
The same poll shows third-party candidate Bob Barr, a Libertarian and former Georgia congressman, with 4% support, which could affect the race.
By early Friday, some 31% of voters in Georgia had chosen to take advantage of early voting and cast their ballot in advance. Obama aides said the numbers were "highly encouraging".
McCain campaign manager Rick Davis dismissed the advance into Republican territory, saying he advised Mr Obama, 47, to focus his spending on states which Mr McCain intended to prise from him on 4 November.
Mr Davis also told reporters that the campaign was "jazzed up" about Mr McCain's prospects, saying that he was living up to his reputation as the underdog who fights back.
"We are witnessing, I believe, probably one of the greatest comebacks that you've seen since John McCain won the primary," he said.
Mr McCain told a crowd of several thousand in Steubenville, Ohio, that he felt his campaign had a new momentum in the state.
"You're going to be the battleground state again," he said. "You're going to be the one who decides. I need Ohio and I need you."
Earlier, he told a rally in Hanoverton that Mr Obama was "in the liberal left-lane of politics" and intended to raise their taxes.
Final stretch
Ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, campaigning for his former rival for the Republican nomination, said Mr McCain was the candidate sticking up for ordinary Americans.
"He's going to fight to see that your taxes are low and that the economy recovers," he said.
Mr McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, in Pennsylvania also focused on the economy, telling supporters that Mr Obama was "for bigger government and he's going to raise your taxes".
The McCain campaign's efforts come a day after the Arizona senator made a late plea for donations in an effort to pull off a surprise victory.
His appeal to supporters came less than a day after Mr Obama spent an estimated $5m (£3.1m) on a 30-minute primetime "infomercial" aired on US TV networks.
Mr McCain is spending two days campaigning in Ohio, which is seen as a must-win state if he is to have any chance of overall victory.
The latest national poll by CBS and the New York Times puts him 13% behind the Illinois senator.
Polls in battleground states suggest the differences in support between the two candidates are much slimmer.
World - Blind S Korea masseurs win case
A South Korean law which states that only the visually impaired can be licensed masseurs has been upheld in the country's Constitutional Court.
The licensed masseurs - who must be registered blind - have been protesting against moves to change the law.
They say it is a legal protection that provides many blind people with autonomy and an income.
Sighted masseurs said that the law infringed on free employment rights and criminalised them in their trade.
"The court decision is not only a verdict on our right to live but also a measure of South Korea's conscientiousness," said Lee Gyu-seong from the Korean Association of Masseurs.
Noisy protests
The group - which has about 7,100 visually impaired members - has led noisy protests over the court case, with some blind masseurs even jumping off bridges into the Han river which runs through Seoul.
The law goes back to 1912 when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule. The US military government abolished the protection in 1946 but it was reinstated in 1963.
South Korea's estimated 200,000 unlicensed masseurs said the law denied them the right to practise their trade.
Unlicensed masseurs can face heavy fines and even prison sentences, but they say there is high demand for their skills.
Although they won a 2006 court decision to overturn the law, parliament has now agreed to continue the monopoly for the blind as licensed masseurs.
"Massage is in effect the only occupation available for the visually handicapped and there is little alternative to guarantee earnings for those persons," said the Constitutional Court in a statement.
Welfare experts say that although the law helps blind people to make a living, it makes employers in other fields less likely to hire the visually impaired, thus adding to workplace discrimination.
The licensed masseurs - who must be registered blind - have been protesting against moves to change the law.
They say it is a legal protection that provides many blind people with autonomy and an income.
Sighted masseurs said that the law infringed on free employment rights and criminalised them in their trade.
"The court decision is not only a verdict on our right to live but also a measure of South Korea's conscientiousness," said Lee Gyu-seong from the Korean Association of Masseurs.
Noisy protests
The group - which has about 7,100 visually impaired members - has led noisy protests over the court case, with some blind masseurs even jumping off bridges into the Han river which runs through Seoul.
The law goes back to 1912 when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule. The US military government abolished the protection in 1946 but it was reinstated in 1963.
South Korea's estimated 200,000 unlicensed masseurs said the law denied them the right to practise their trade.
Unlicensed masseurs can face heavy fines and even prison sentences, but they say there is high demand for their skills.
Although they won a 2006 court decision to overturn the law, parliament has now agreed to continue the monopoly for the blind as licensed masseurs.
"Massage is in effect the only occupation available for the visually handicapped and there is little alternative to guarantee earnings for those persons," said the Constitutional Court in a statement.
Welfare experts say that although the law helps blind people to make a living, it makes employers in other fields less likely to hire the visually impaired, thus adding to workplace discrimination.
World - Indonesia;Aceh's rebels turn politicians
Lucy Williamson
BBC News, Banda Aceh
Balanced on the north-west tip of Indonesia, its nose pointing up across the Indian Ocean to India and the Middle East, is the slender province of Aceh, a place of religious passion and fierce identity.
It is the place where Islam is first thought to have reached Indonesia, and where, until a few years ago, separatist guerrillas fought the Indonesian army in a bloody war.
One of those guerrillas was Adi Sulaiman. Small and wiry, with a quiet authority, he fought side by side with his comrades from the Free Aceh Movement (Gam), in Aceh's jungles.
But since the peace deal signed between Gam and the Indonesian government three years ago Adi, like many of Aceh's former rebels, is fighting a different kind of battle - not for independence, but for parliament.
Parliamentary elections
Indonesia is due to hold parliamentary elections next April, and under the terms of the peace deal, Aceh has been given special autonomy, allowing local parties to contest the polls for the first time.
And of the six new local parties to have sprung from that agreement, the one that is tipped to do best in next year's polls is the one formed by Gam: called simply the Aceh Party.
Adi is one of the Aceh Party's young hopefuls.
He told me it was no big deal switching from fighter to politician; that Gam still holds the real power.
But when we met him in the Gam stronghold of Pidie, several hours' drive outside the provincial capital, he was looking harassed and was hard to pin down.
The peace deal hasn't been fully implemented. It's incomplete and the Indonesian government is cheating itself by betraying what it agreed to
Adi Sulaiman, Aceh Party
Gam security guards in red-and-white sashes stood around under plastic awning, set with rows of chairs, grizzled old fighters greeted each other with wrinkled smiles; and lines of civil police were being drilled on the road outside.
Adi was moving briskly between them all, giving orders, and smoking a lot of cigarettes.
Former rebel
He was preparing for a visit by Gam's founder and leader, Hasan di Tiro, who returned to Aceh this month after 30 years in exile.
But with the war Mr di Tiro waged for independence over, what is Adi's political fight about now?
"The peace deal hasn't been fully implemented," Adi told me. "It's incomplete. And the Indonesian government is cheating itself by betraying what it agreed to."
What the central government agreed to is to give Aceh broad, day-to-day control over its own affairs, while keeping authority over six key national areas, such as foreign policy and defence.
But much of the province's new autonomy has yet to be implemented, and there are tensions between Aceh and Jakarta over the detail of exactly what that autonomy means.
The Aceh Party wants to be seen as the guardian of that new autonomy.
And who better to make that point than the man who started the war, and then backed the peace? Mr di Tiro is a powerful brand here.
The Aceh party flags that trailed him during his visit told the story: "He's ours," they said.
Intimidation
Aceh Party officials have already complained about their rivals "provoking conflict" by claiming they too have links to GAM.
But those rival parties have their own complaints in turn: complaints that they have been threatened and intimidated when trying to campaign in certain areas; that some of their offices have been burned; that their representatives have been kidnapped.
No-one wants publicly to name names, and the culprits probably bear more than one political colour, but privately some in Aceh point the finger towards Gam's new politicians.
There are six new local parties contesting these elections - as well as the existing national ones.
The Aceh Party already has a few advantages: existing village networks, for example, and huge amounts of funding - reportedly more than their national party rivals.
They are expected to do very well in April's elections, sweeping district posts in the north and east, and perhaps even winning control of the provincial parliament.
The question is whether the Aceh Party's policies will deliver what the Aceh people want.
Most of those we talked to in Pidie's local coffee shop were, perhaps unsurprisingly, Aceh Party supporters.
But they were more interested in keeping the peace and making a bit of money than the minutiae of power relations with Jakarta.
That may change of course, as pressure gathers to roll out all of Aceh's new autonomy, but after three decades of war and a devastating tsunami, many people are simply glad for a bit of normality.
And whoever wins, this election will be a key test of Aceh's new stability.
As one politician put it: people think it's the end of the peace process here. Actually, it's the beginning.
BBC News, Banda Aceh
Balanced on the north-west tip of Indonesia, its nose pointing up across the Indian Ocean to India and the Middle East, is the slender province of Aceh, a place of religious passion and fierce identity.
It is the place where Islam is first thought to have reached Indonesia, and where, until a few years ago, separatist guerrillas fought the Indonesian army in a bloody war.
One of those guerrillas was Adi Sulaiman. Small and wiry, with a quiet authority, he fought side by side with his comrades from the Free Aceh Movement (Gam), in Aceh's jungles.
But since the peace deal signed between Gam and the Indonesian government three years ago Adi, like many of Aceh's former rebels, is fighting a different kind of battle - not for independence, but for parliament.
Parliamentary elections
Indonesia is due to hold parliamentary elections next April, and under the terms of the peace deal, Aceh has been given special autonomy, allowing local parties to contest the polls for the first time.
And of the six new local parties to have sprung from that agreement, the one that is tipped to do best in next year's polls is the one formed by Gam: called simply the Aceh Party.
Adi is one of the Aceh Party's young hopefuls.
He told me it was no big deal switching from fighter to politician; that Gam still holds the real power.
But when we met him in the Gam stronghold of Pidie, several hours' drive outside the provincial capital, he was looking harassed and was hard to pin down.
The peace deal hasn't been fully implemented. It's incomplete and the Indonesian government is cheating itself by betraying what it agreed to
Adi Sulaiman, Aceh Party
Gam security guards in red-and-white sashes stood around under plastic awning, set with rows of chairs, grizzled old fighters greeted each other with wrinkled smiles; and lines of civil police were being drilled on the road outside.
Adi was moving briskly between them all, giving orders, and smoking a lot of cigarettes.
Former rebel
He was preparing for a visit by Gam's founder and leader, Hasan di Tiro, who returned to Aceh this month after 30 years in exile.
But with the war Mr di Tiro waged for independence over, what is Adi's political fight about now?
"The peace deal hasn't been fully implemented," Adi told me. "It's incomplete. And the Indonesian government is cheating itself by betraying what it agreed to."
What the central government agreed to is to give Aceh broad, day-to-day control over its own affairs, while keeping authority over six key national areas, such as foreign policy and defence.
But much of the province's new autonomy has yet to be implemented, and there are tensions between Aceh and Jakarta over the detail of exactly what that autonomy means.
The Aceh Party wants to be seen as the guardian of that new autonomy.
And who better to make that point than the man who started the war, and then backed the peace? Mr di Tiro is a powerful brand here.
The Aceh party flags that trailed him during his visit told the story: "He's ours," they said.
Intimidation
Aceh Party officials have already complained about their rivals "provoking conflict" by claiming they too have links to GAM.
But those rival parties have their own complaints in turn: complaints that they have been threatened and intimidated when trying to campaign in certain areas; that some of their offices have been burned; that their representatives have been kidnapped.
No-one wants publicly to name names, and the culprits probably bear more than one political colour, but privately some in Aceh point the finger towards Gam's new politicians.
There are six new local parties contesting these elections - as well as the existing national ones.
The Aceh Party already has a few advantages: existing village networks, for example, and huge amounts of funding - reportedly more than their national party rivals.
They are expected to do very well in April's elections, sweeping district posts in the north and east, and perhaps even winning control of the provincial parliament.
The question is whether the Aceh Party's policies will deliver what the Aceh people want.
Most of those we talked to in Pidie's local coffee shop were, perhaps unsurprisingly, Aceh Party supporters.
But they were more interested in keeping the peace and making a bit of money than the minutiae of power relations with Jakarta.
That may change of course, as pressure gathers to roll out all of Aceh's new autonomy, but after three decades of war and a devastating tsunami, many people are simply glad for a bit of normality.
And whoever wins, this election will be a key test of Aceh's new stability.
As one politician put it: people think it's the end of the peace process here. Actually, it's the beginning.
Lifestyle - Chinese images win global prize
Nick Higham
BBC News
http://www.prixpictet.com/artists/view/193
A Canadian photographer has won what is said to be the world's richest photographic prize, the Prix Pictet.
Benoit Aquin travelled to northern China to record an ecological disaster which is turning 400,000 square km of once-fertile farmland into desert.
The Prix Pictet - sponsored by a private Swiss bank - is worth 100,000 Swiss francs (£50,000; $90,000) and aims to foster environmental awareness.
It was presented in Paris by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
For the inaugural prize, awarded by Swiss bank Pictet et Cie, photographers were invited to submit pictures on the theme of water - though in fact the winner, Mr Aquin, took the absence of water as his subject.
His pictures show people struggling in arid streets and landscapes against the dust storms which blow almost constantly in the affected area.
Mr Aquin's photos are on show, with those of the other 17 photographers shortlisted from among almost 250 entries, in Paris at the Palais de Tokyo.
Dust and desolation
In one of Mr Aquin's photographs, two women, smartly dressed but swathed in scarves and sunglasses against the dust, stride across a street of ramshackle houses in Inner Mongolia.
Another shows a street in the town of Hongsibao in Ningxia Province, now overwhelmed by "ecological refugees" from the surrounding countryside whose livelihoods have disappeared.
A third shows a farmer standing in the cracked and dried out bed of what used to be a pond.
The crisis has been caused by over-grazing and by pumping too much water for irrigation from underground aquifers, which are now running dry.
The parched soil is blown away by the wind and creates dust storms which reach as far as Beijing, Korea, Japan and even North America.
Mr Aquin told the BBC he has made several visits to the region, and hopes to return.
The dust makes photography difficult - and in an age before digital cameras it would have made changing film well-nigh impossible.
Mr Aquin says his personal favourite among his pictures is an especially desolate shot of a motorcyclist, her face invisible beneath her scarves, riding along a road lined by sand-coloured poplars and through a cloud of thick smoke from a burning truck beside the road.
The chairman of the Prix Pictet judges, Frances Hodgson, head of the photographs department at Sotheby's, said the aim of the prize was to persuade decision-makers in business, politics and non-governmental organisations to take notice and to act.
The exhibition will later tour to other cities around the world, starting with Dubai, where it will coincide with a meeting of the World Economic Forum.
See it here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7700551.stm
BBC News
http://www.prixpictet.com/artists/view/193
A Canadian photographer has won what is said to be the world's richest photographic prize, the Prix Pictet.
Benoit Aquin travelled to northern China to record an ecological disaster which is turning 400,000 square km of once-fertile farmland into desert.
The Prix Pictet - sponsored by a private Swiss bank - is worth 100,000 Swiss francs (£50,000; $90,000) and aims to foster environmental awareness.
It was presented in Paris by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
For the inaugural prize, awarded by Swiss bank Pictet et Cie, photographers were invited to submit pictures on the theme of water - though in fact the winner, Mr Aquin, took the absence of water as his subject.
His pictures show people struggling in arid streets and landscapes against the dust storms which blow almost constantly in the affected area.
Mr Aquin's photos are on show, with those of the other 17 photographers shortlisted from among almost 250 entries, in Paris at the Palais de Tokyo.
Dust and desolation
In one of Mr Aquin's photographs, two women, smartly dressed but swathed in scarves and sunglasses against the dust, stride across a street of ramshackle houses in Inner Mongolia.
Another shows a street in the town of Hongsibao in Ningxia Province, now overwhelmed by "ecological refugees" from the surrounding countryside whose livelihoods have disappeared.
A third shows a farmer standing in the cracked and dried out bed of what used to be a pond.
The crisis has been caused by over-grazing and by pumping too much water for irrigation from underground aquifers, which are now running dry.
The parched soil is blown away by the wind and creates dust storms which reach as far as Beijing, Korea, Japan and even North America.
Mr Aquin told the BBC he has made several visits to the region, and hopes to return.
The dust makes photography difficult - and in an age before digital cameras it would have made changing film well-nigh impossible.
Mr Aquin says his personal favourite among his pictures is an especially desolate shot of a motorcyclist, her face invisible beneath her scarves, riding along a road lined by sand-coloured poplars and through a cloud of thick smoke from a burning truck beside the road.
The chairman of the Prix Pictet judges, Frances Hodgson, head of the photographs department at Sotheby's, said the aim of the prize was to persuade decision-makers in business, politics and non-governmental organisations to take notice and to act.
The exhibition will later tour to other cities around the world, starting with Dubai, where it will coincide with a meeting of the World Economic Forum.
See it here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7700551.stm
Business - Alitalia gets last-minute rescue
An Italian investors' group has said it will go ahead with a rescue offer for the airline Alitalia, despite the lack of agreement with some trade unions.
The group, the Cai, said it had made a binding offer - shortly after walking out of negotiations over the airline.
Talks had earlier broken down because only four out of Alitalia's nine unions had agreed to the Cai's terms.
The Cai had set a Friday night deadline for a deal to be reached over securing Alitalia's future.
Without a binding rescue offer, Alitalia would have been forced to seek new funding within weeks to keep itself going - or risk bankruptcy.
The investors, the Compagnia Aerea Italiana (Cai), have been holding lengthy talks with Alitalia's trade unions over job cuts and other savings.
The unions had accepted Cai's takeover of Alitalia in principle - but the airline's pilot and flight staff unions have not agreed to the Cai's detailed terms
Bankruptcy risk
The Cai group's earlier decision to walk away from the talks was the second time it had pulled back from making a bid, threatening the future of the cash-strapped carrier.
During the lengthy talks, both sides accused the other of being inflexible.
The Cai had always stressed that union backing was a pre-requisite for making a binding offer.
The group has pledged to inject more than 1bn euros ($1.27bn; £789m) into Alitalia and merge it with Italy's much smaller Air One airline.
"Everything is ready as far as Cai is concerned to complete a very difficult rescue," said Corrado Passera, the CEO of the Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo, which helped draft the rescue plan.
The negotiations have been chaired by Gianni Letta, a senior aide to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Mr Letta had warned the unions that the only alternative to the deal for Alitalia would be bankruptcy.
Keeping Alitalia alive was one of the main election planks on which Mr Berlusconi ran for office in April, and his government has since rewritten the bankruptcy laws to pave the way for a bail-out by the Cai consortium.
The group, the Cai, said it had made a binding offer - shortly after walking out of negotiations over the airline.
Talks had earlier broken down because only four out of Alitalia's nine unions had agreed to the Cai's terms.
The Cai had set a Friday night deadline for a deal to be reached over securing Alitalia's future.
Without a binding rescue offer, Alitalia would have been forced to seek new funding within weeks to keep itself going - or risk bankruptcy.
The investors, the Compagnia Aerea Italiana (Cai), have been holding lengthy talks with Alitalia's trade unions over job cuts and other savings.
The unions had accepted Cai's takeover of Alitalia in principle - but the airline's pilot and flight staff unions have not agreed to the Cai's detailed terms
Bankruptcy risk
The Cai group's earlier decision to walk away from the talks was the second time it had pulled back from making a bid, threatening the future of the cash-strapped carrier.
During the lengthy talks, both sides accused the other of being inflexible.
The Cai had always stressed that union backing was a pre-requisite for making a binding offer.
The group has pledged to inject more than 1bn euros ($1.27bn; £789m) into Alitalia and merge it with Italy's much smaller Air One airline.
"Everything is ready as far as Cai is concerned to complete a very difficult rescue," said Corrado Passera, the CEO of the Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo, which helped draft the rescue plan.
The negotiations have been chaired by Gianni Letta, a senior aide to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Mr Letta had warned the unions that the only alternative to the deal for Alitalia would be bankruptcy.
Keeping Alitalia alive was one of the main election planks on which Mr Berlusconi ran for office in April, and his government has since rewritten the bankruptcy laws to pave the way for a bail-out by the Cai consortium.
Lifestyle - Priests to face 'sex drive tests'
The Roman Catholic Church has issued guidance for future priests to have psychological tests to weed out those unable to control their sexual urges.
A senior churchman said a series of sex scandals had contributed to the rewriting of the guidelines.
The authors said screening would help avoid "tragic situations" caused by what they termed psychological defects.
The guidance says the voluntary tests should also aim to vet for those with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies".
Among other traits that might make a candidate unsuitable for the priesthood, the advice lists "uncertain sexual identity," "excessive rigidity of character" and "strong affective dependencies".
The document also makes reference to heterosexual urges.
Seminarians should be barred if testing makes it "evident the candidate has difficulty living in celibacy: That is, if celibacy for him is lived as a burden so heavy that it compromises his affective and relational equilibrium", it says
The advice stipulates priests must have a "positive and stable sense of one's masculine identity".
The document, approved by Pope Benedict XVI and made public on Thursday, stresses that the screening must always have the candidate's consent.
The Catholic Church has been rocked by a series of sex scandals in recent years involving paedophile priests, notably in the US, Latin America and Europe, triggering lawsuits that have cost hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.
And a seminary in Austria was shut down in August 2004 after revelations that students openly indulged in homosexual conduct.
Gay rights groups have accused the Church of using homosexuals as scapegoats for abuse scandals.
The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a US-based group of victims of sexual abuse, said the revised guidelines did not go far enough.
"Catholic officials continue to fixate on the offenders and ignore the larger problem: The Church's virtually unchanged culture of secrecy and unchecked power in the hierarchy," it said in a statement.
"These broader factors are deeply rooted in the Church and contribute heavily to extensive and ongoing clergy sex abuse and cover up."
A senior churchman said a series of sex scandals had contributed to the rewriting of the guidelines.
The authors said screening would help avoid "tragic situations" caused by what they termed psychological defects.
The guidance says the voluntary tests should also aim to vet for those with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies".
Among other traits that might make a candidate unsuitable for the priesthood, the advice lists "uncertain sexual identity," "excessive rigidity of character" and "strong affective dependencies".
The document also makes reference to heterosexual urges.
Seminarians should be barred if testing makes it "evident the candidate has difficulty living in celibacy: That is, if celibacy for him is lived as a burden so heavy that it compromises his affective and relational equilibrium", it says
The advice stipulates priests must have a "positive and stable sense of one's masculine identity".
The document, approved by Pope Benedict XVI and made public on Thursday, stresses that the screening must always have the candidate's consent.
The Catholic Church has been rocked by a series of sex scandals in recent years involving paedophile priests, notably in the US, Latin America and Europe, triggering lawsuits that have cost hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.
And a seminary in Austria was shut down in August 2004 after revelations that students openly indulged in homosexual conduct.
Gay rights groups have accused the Church of using homosexuals as scapegoats for abuse scandals.
The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a US-based group of victims of sexual abuse, said the revised guidelines did not go far enough.
"Catholic officials continue to fixate on the offenders and ignore the larger problem: The Church's virtually unchanged culture of secrecy and unchecked power in the hierarchy," it said in a statement.
"These broader factors are deeply rooted in the Church and contribute heavily to extensive and ongoing clergy sex abuse and cover up."
Business - Man Utd sponsor deal for Hublot
Manchester United has signed a new multi-million pound sponsorship deal with Swiss watch manufacturers Hublot.
Hublot, which provided the timing at Euro 2008, has paid a reported £4m for a three-year partnership deal with the Champions League holders.
It joins Saudi Telecom, Budweiser, and Seoul Metropolitan Government as sponsors who have committed themselves to Manchester United this season.
The Swiss firm will now have its brand name around Old Trafford stadium.
United's shirt sponsor AIG has recently been, in effect, nationalised by the US Federal Reserve.
AIG required an $85bn (£52bn) loan last month from the US central bank in order to avoid financial collapse in the face of the global credit crisis.
At the time, United refused to comment on whether AIG's plight endangered any sponsorship money it might be owed by the giant US insurer.
After signing the Hublot deal, Man Utd chief executive David Gill said: "We are delighted to welcome such a prestigious partner as Hublot to the Manchester United family."
Jean-Claude Biver, chief executive of Hublot, said it was "an extraordinary partnership for Hublot".
Hublot was founded in 1980 by Carlo Crocco. As part of the sponsorship deal, the luxury watchmaker is to produce a Red Devil watch, with a 45-minute counter - the time of a half of play in football
Hublot, which provided the timing at Euro 2008, has paid a reported £4m for a three-year partnership deal with the Champions League holders.
It joins Saudi Telecom, Budweiser, and Seoul Metropolitan Government as sponsors who have committed themselves to Manchester United this season.
The Swiss firm will now have its brand name around Old Trafford stadium.
United's shirt sponsor AIG has recently been, in effect, nationalised by the US Federal Reserve.
AIG required an $85bn (£52bn) loan last month from the US central bank in order to avoid financial collapse in the face of the global credit crisis.
At the time, United refused to comment on whether AIG's plight endangered any sponsorship money it might be owed by the giant US insurer.
After signing the Hublot deal, Man Utd chief executive David Gill said: "We are delighted to welcome such a prestigious partner as Hublot to the Manchester United family."
Jean-Claude Biver, chief executive of Hublot, said it was "an extraordinary partnership for Hublot".
Hublot was founded in 1980 by Carlo Crocco. As part of the sponsorship deal, the luxury watchmaker is to produce a Red Devil watch, with a 45-minute counter - the time of a half of play in football
World - Oil sheikhs eye 'global player' role
Christian Fraser
BBC News, Abu Dhabi
Al-Wahda is one of the most popular football clubs in the United Arab Emirates, yet in their modern 12,000-seat stadium the recent cup competition attracted barely 1,000 supporters.
Home games are always attended by a well-marshalled band of drummers, but the crowd is hardly partisan.
Saturdays at al-Wahda are about as far removed from the English Premiership as it is possible to get.
But in football - as in business - the Emiratis are hugely ambitious. Their eyes always fixed on the global stage.
So when the ruling sheikhs decided to spend £200m ($320m) on a football club - it was Manchester City not al-Wahda that became the target.
September's deal to buy Man City was the latest in a string of deals struck by the fabulously wealthy sovereign wealth funds.
They have been pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into western companies, banks and trophy assets to help diversify their oil-dependent economies.
The International Monetary Funds estimates the assets managed by these wealth funds at between $2-3 trillion. By 2013, that figure is expected to have soared to between $7 trillion and $11 trillion.
Gone 'shopping'
Abu Dhabi has a number of sovereign wealth funds. The biggest, created in the early 1970s, is worth twice as much as any other country's - an estimated $875bn and rising - and it enjoys flexing financial muscle.
It has benefited from record oil prices even as world economies reel from the dual effects of the credit crunch and recession.
Before buying into English football, Abu Dhabi funds had taken large stakes in Citigroup, General Electric and even the Chrysler Building in New York.
Anil Bhoyrul, the Dubai-based editorial director of the magazine Arabian Business, says the men from the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment - purchasers of Manchester City - proved tough negotiators.
"They want to see something exciting, something that's glamorous, but they negotiate very hard," he says.
"It was a three-week negotiation for the Man City deal. Arguing about the price of a £200m deal when you have 40 billion shows you're taking it very seriously."
Peter Barker-Homek is the chief executive of TAQA, one of Abu Dhabi's smaller sovereign wealth funds with "just" $23bn in assets and $5bn in cash waiting to be spent.
He has completed seven transactions in 14 months, including the acquisition of BP Netherlands.
"We've been shopping,'" he acknowledges with a laugh. "My staff often say they don't like letting me out to go shopping."
Abu Dhabi's sheikhs, he says, are looking beyond the simple financial return: they want to become true global players.
"A lot of the sovereign wealth has been reinvested in Europe, the United States and Canada but they've been passive investments.
"Your typical employee doesn't know they're actually helping support the economy, helping it grow.
"Part of our role is really to close the divide between east and west. The end state will be a company that we hope will be one of the top 50 global employers."
Culture of respect
Some 75% of TAQA's investments belong to the government of Abu Dhabi, which perhaps explains why some politicians in the west are looking on nervously as their assets are "cherry-picked".
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, recently suggested that European leaders should set up their own wealth funds to head off the foreign raiders.
His remarks echoed concerns expressed in the US Congress in 2006 when a proposed buyout of six American ports by a Dubai fund sparked a national security debate.
Critics described the deal as "outrageous, reckless and irresponsible" and the buyout - which had been backed by President Bush - was blocked.
Anil Bhoyrul believes that the Americans made a "fundamental mistake", pointing out that with the economy faltering, external investment would now be very welcome.
"The Americans have lost out," he says. "The culture here is very much one of respect. Snubbing a big deal, and making grand statements in Congress, doesn't show respect and there's no second chance. That money will have gone somewhere else."
Emiratis make no apologies for offending the sentiments of the west.
Their aggressive spending is all part of a five-year plan to buy up strategic assets to help their people and country diversify away from oil.
'Intelligent' investment
In a recent newspaper interview, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, the ruler of Abu Dhabi and head of state of the UAE, explained their philosophy.
"In many cases, we depend on long-term investments because we believe that our investments are part of our commitment to future generations, which may not have the same resources available now," he said.
"That is especially true if one takes into consideration that oil resources are depleting and global demand on energy is on the rise."
While the sheikhs know that in the hard years of recession their enormous funds will buy influence with the world's biggest companies, their ambitions are not confined overseas.
Just 20km from downtown Abu Dhabi, a vision of the future is rising from the barren desert.
No longer willing to rely on the oil beneath their feet, the Emiratis are looking to the sun for power as they build Masdar - the world's first carbon-free city.
The rows upon rows of solar panels, installed bang in the middle of the oil-rich Middle East, are a visible sign of what is to come.
There are plans to harness wind and geothermal energy, too. By 2011, Masdar is intended to become a testing ground for the world's leading energy scientists; a city that will outlive the oil wells.
Khalid Awad, the director of property at Masdar, is witnessing first-hand the benefits of the money returning to the Emirates.
"The wealth is being invested now in a very intelligent manner," he says. "It's getting the oil to build knowledge. This is the legacy - energy transformed into a research and development hub that will provide better times for the future."
BBC News, Abu Dhabi
Al-Wahda is one of the most popular football clubs in the United Arab Emirates, yet in their modern 12,000-seat stadium the recent cup competition attracted barely 1,000 supporters.
Home games are always attended by a well-marshalled band of drummers, but the crowd is hardly partisan.
Saturdays at al-Wahda are about as far removed from the English Premiership as it is possible to get.
But in football - as in business - the Emiratis are hugely ambitious. Their eyes always fixed on the global stage.
So when the ruling sheikhs decided to spend £200m ($320m) on a football club - it was Manchester City not al-Wahda that became the target.
September's deal to buy Man City was the latest in a string of deals struck by the fabulously wealthy sovereign wealth funds.
They have been pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into western companies, banks and trophy assets to help diversify their oil-dependent economies.
The International Monetary Funds estimates the assets managed by these wealth funds at between $2-3 trillion. By 2013, that figure is expected to have soared to between $7 trillion and $11 trillion.
Gone 'shopping'
Abu Dhabi has a number of sovereign wealth funds. The biggest, created in the early 1970s, is worth twice as much as any other country's - an estimated $875bn and rising - and it enjoys flexing financial muscle.
It has benefited from record oil prices even as world economies reel from the dual effects of the credit crunch and recession.
Before buying into English football, Abu Dhabi funds had taken large stakes in Citigroup, General Electric and even the Chrysler Building in New York.
Anil Bhoyrul, the Dubai-based editorial director of the magazine Arabian Business, says the men from the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment - purchasers of Manchester City - proved tough negotiators.
"They want to see something exciting, something that's glamorous, but they negotiate very hard," he says.
"It was a three-week negotiation for the Man City deal. Arguing about the price of a £200m deal when you have 40 billion shows you're taking it very seriously."
Peter Barker-Homek is the chief executive of TAQA, one of Abu Dhabi's smaller sovereign wealth funds with "just" $23bn in assets and $5bn in cash waiting to be spent.
He has completed seven transactions in 14 months, including the acquisition of BP Netherlands.
"We've been shopping,'" he acknowledges with a laugh. "My staff often say they don't like letting me out to go shopping."
Abu Dhabi's sheikhs, he says, are looking beyond the simple financial return: they want to become true global players.
"A lot of the sovereign wealth has been reinvested in Europe, the United States and Canada but they've been passive investments.
"Your typical employee doesn't know they're actually helping support the economy, helping it grow.
"Part of our role is really to close the divide between east and west. The end state will be a company that we hope will be one of the top 50 global employers."
Culture of respect
Some 75% of TAQA's investments belong to the government of Abu Dhabi, which perhaps explains why some politicians in the west are looking on nervously as their assets are "cherry-picked".
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, recently suggested that European leaders should set up their own wealth funds to head off the foreign raiders.
His remarks echoed concerns expressed in the US Congress in 2006 when a proposed buyout of six American ports by a Dubai fund sparked a national security debate.
Critics described the deal as "outrageous, reckless and irresponsible" and the buyout - which had been backed by President Bush - was blocked.
Anil Bhoyrul believes that the Americans made a "fundamental mistake", pointing out that with the economy faltering, external investment would now be very welcome.
"The Americans have lost out," he says. "The culture here is very much one of respect. Snubbing a big deal, and making grand statements in Congress, doesn't show respect and there's no second chance. That money will have gone somewhere else."
Emiratis make no apologies for offending the sentiments of the west.
Their aggressive spending is all part of a five-year plan to buy up strategic assets to help their people and country diversify away from oil.
'Intelligent' investment
In a recent newspaper interview, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, the ruler of Abu Dhabi and head of state of the UAE, explained their philosophy.
"In many cases, we depend on long-term investments because we believe that our investments are part of our commitment to future generations, which may not have the same resources available now," he said.
"That is especially true if one takes into consideration that oil resources are depleting and global demand on energy is on the rise."
While the sheikhs know that in the hard years of recession their enormous funds will buy influence with the world's biggest companies, their ambitions are not confined overseas.
Just 20km from downtown Abu Dhabi, a vision of the future is rising from the barren desert.
No longer willing to rely on the oil beneath their feet, the Emiratis are looking to the sun for power as they build Masdar - the world's first carbon-free city.
The rows upon rows of solar panels, installed bang in the middle of the oil-rich Middle East, are a visible sign of what is to come.
There are plans to harness wind and geothermal energy, too. By 2011, Masdar is intended to become a testing ground for the world's leading energy scientists; a city that will outlive the oil wells.
Khalid Awad, the director of property at Masdar, is witnessing first-hand the benefits of the money returning to the Emirates.
"The wealth is being invested now in a very intelligent manner," he says. "It's getting the oil to build knowledge. This is the legacy - energy transformed into a research and development hub that will provide better times for the future."
Entertainment - Rickshaw men excel in 'Pop Idol'
Mark Dummett
BBC News, Dhaka
Omar Ali is Bangladesh's unlikely new music star - he's a white-bearded rickshaw puller from an impoverished village a day's drive from the capital, Dhaka.
But his voice is golden and millions of viewers voted for him to win a television "Pop Idol"-style talent show, which has just reached its climax.
Magic Tin Chakar Taroka, or Three Wheel Star, was only open to the riders and drivers of Bangladesh's one million-plus three-wheelers - its cycle- and auto-rickshaws.
Their work is badly-paid and back-breaking and they seldom have anything to cheer about.
But Omar Ali's final performance of the Bengali folk song Lovers Never Drown was so powerful it had the audience, which included many of Bangladesh's leading pop stars who have backed the show and coached the rickshaw-men, dancing in their seats.
With the release of a CD and DVD - and prize winnings of nearly $2,000 - the wiry Mr Ali can now afford to abandon his rickshaw cart, with which he used to transport goods to market.
'Not about money'
He is now hoping for a career in music in Dhaka.
"It is not about the money I have won, but my devotion to music," the 45-year old said.
The hit show was aired on the channel ATN Bangla.
All 10 finalists, who together received 10 million text message votes from Bangladeshi viewers around the world, were awarded at least $300, enough for them to at least buy their own rickshaws.
Most rent them and have to share their earnings with the owner.
One of the finalists said that he planned to invest the money in a small business. "I'll buy a poultry farm and then use the earnings from that to pay for my sister to go to school," he said.
Abdul Rahman Khokon, who came third, said he would use his winnings to discover the fate of his 80-year-old mother.
She disappeared suddenly from their one-room home on the southern edge of Dhaka three years ago. She was not carrying a mobile phone or any money, and Mr Khokon is afraid she had an accident and died and that no one was able to inform him.
Love of music
"With this money I will now be able to place adverts and her photo in the newspapers. I really want to find out what happened to her. I pray someone gave her a decent burial," he told me.
According to the programme's host, Asadduzaman Nur, Bangladeshis are able to deal with such hardship in their lives through their love of music.
"These people are working from morning until dusk to earn their bread and butter, in fact not even butter, just their bread and salt," Mr Nur, an MP and popular actor told me.
"And then when they get home they still have the strength to sing and to live for music.
"Everywhere you go you will see poverty stricken people singing," he said. "They are a very happy people and possibly they overcome all the miseries of life through music and culture."
Omar Ali and the other "Three Wheel Stars" may have had a bumpy ride in life so far, but they hope that from now onwards they will not have to pedal so hard.
BBC News, Dhaka
Omar Ali is Bangladesh's unlikely new music star - he's a white-bearded rickshaw puller from an impoverished village a day's drive from the capital, Dhaka.
But his voice is golden and millions of viewers voted for him to win a television "Pop Idol"-style talent show, which has just reached its climax.
Magic Tin Chakar Taroka, or Three Wheel Star, was only open to the riders and drivers of Bangladesh's one million-plus three-wheelers - its cycle- and auto-rickshaws.
Their work is badly-paid and back-breaking and they seldom have anything to cheer about.
But Omar Ali's final performance of the Bengali folk song Lovers Never Drown was so powerful it had the audience, which included many of Bangladesh's leading pop stars who have backed the show and coached the rickshaw-men, dancing in their seats.
With the release of a CD and DVD - and prize winnings of nearly $2,000 - the wiry Mr Ali can now afford to abandon his rickshaw cart, with which he used to transport goods to market.
'Not about money'
He is now hoping for a career in music in Dhaka.
"It is not about the money I have won, but my devotion to music," the 45-year old said.
The hit show was aired on the channel ATN Bangla.
All 10 finalists, who together received 10 million text message votes from Bangladeshi viewers around the world, were awarded at least $300, enough for them to at least buy their own rickshaws.
Most rent them and have to share their earnings with the owner.
One of the finalists said that he planned to invest the money in a small business. "I'll buy a poultry farm and then use the earnings from that to pay for my sister to go to school," he said.
Abdul Rahman Khokon, who came third, said he would use his winnings to discover the fate of his 80-year-old mother.
She disappeared suddenly from their one-room home on the southern edge of Dhaka three years ago. She was not carrying a mobile phone or any money, and Mr Khokon is afraid she had an accident and died and that no one was able to inform him.
Love of music
"With this money I will now be able to place adverts and her photo in the newspapers. I really want to find out what happened to her. I pray someone gave her a decent burial," he told me.
According to the programme's host, Asadduzaman Nur, Bangladeshis are able to deal with such hardship in their lives through their love of music.
"These people are working from morning until dusk to earn their bread and butter, in fact not even butter, just their bread and salt," Mr Nur, an MP and popular actor told me.
"And then when they get home they still have the strength to sing and to live for music.
"Everywhere you go you will see poverty stricken people singing," he said. "They are a very happy people and possibly they overcome all the miseries of life through music and culture."
Omar Ali and the other "Three Wheel Stars" may have had a bumpy ride in life so far, but they hope that from now onwards they will not have to pedal so hard.
World - America's unlikely Afghan allies
The BBC Urdu service's Haroon Rashid meets Afghans who once fought against invading Soviet forces but now support the presence of US troops.
Afghanistan's history is full of changing loyalties that have shaped its history.
In the beautiful green valley of Naray, close to the border with Pakistan, I met Afghans who once waged war against the invading Soviet forces, denouncing them as foreigners, who are now actively supporting American forces.
Many believe this is what counts in this war - to win the hearts and minds of Afghans and so make US forces more acceptable to ordinary people.
A glimpse of this policy is visible at the US forces' Bostick forward operation base in northeast Kunar province.
Teaching girls
Thirty-five-year-old Sher Ali handled lethal surface-to-air Stinger missile operations against the Soviet forces in the mid-1980s
Losses inflicted by Stinger missiles were one of the main factors leading to the eventual withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan.
Sher Ali now teaches at a girls' school in Shamser village near the US base. The school was built with American aid.
He says that at the age of 16 he headed a team of 10 fighters that downed four Soviet fighter jets with the Stingers.
He was then supporting the party of the former Afghan Prime Minister and mujahideen commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
Hekmatyar has now joined hands with the Taleban in his drive against foreign forces and is believed to still be active in Kunar and Nooristan provinces.
But Sher Ali says he has lost contact with his former bosses.
He defends his decision to take up arms against the Soviets, but not against the Americans.
"The Soviets were brought by a handful of Afghans to occupy Afghanistan. The Americans have come on the request of the majority of Afghans. Those now fighting the coalition forces are a small minority."
However, Sher Ali warns that one day he could oppose the Americans and fight them.
"That time has not yet arrived. They have not adopted the ways of the Russians. They are building schools and roads. They have our support at the moment."
Another former mujahideen fighter who supports the Americans is 48-year-old Ghulam Rahim who has run an FM radio station at the US base in Naray district for the last four years.
"The Soviets came to occupy Afghanistan illegally, while the Americans came under Bonn agreement on the request of the Afghans. The other difference is the Americans are here to help develop Afghanistan.
"It's now question of economics. Whoever will help Afghanistan financially will win."
'Safe from US influences'
Sometimes people's motives are not obvious. Take the case of one former Taleban official rubbing shoulders with the Americans at their base.
Thirty five-year-old Inayatur Rehman now serves in the Afghan National Army, but his heart and mind is still very much influenced by the Taleban.
"I joined the army and came here to make sure Afghan soldiers are kept safe from American influences. I wish to see the soldiers develop with strong Islamic beliefs and emerge as an Islamic army."
He even is hopeful that an Islamic government will soon emerge in Afghanistan. "All these sacrifices and blood will not go to waste," he says.
Afghanistan's history is full of changing loyalties that have shaped its history.
In the beautiful green valley of Naray, close to the border with Pakistan, I met Afghans who once waged war against the invading Soviet forces, denouncing them as foreigners, who are now actively supporting American forces.
Many believe this is what counts in this war - to win the hearts and minds of Afghans and so make US forces more acceptable to ordinary people.
A glimpse of this policy is visible at the US forces' Bostick forward operation base in northeast Kunar province.
Teaching girls
Thirty-five-year-old Sher Ali handled lethal surface-to-air Stinger missile operations against the Soviet forces in the mid-1980s
Losses inflicted by Stinger missiles were one of the main factors leading to the eventual withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan.
Sher Ali now teaches at a girls' school in Shamser village near the US base. The school was built with American aid.
He says that at the age of 16 he headed a team of 10 fighters that downed four Soviet fighter jets with the Stingers.
He was then supporting the party of the former Afghan Prime Minister and mujahideen commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
Hekmatyar has now joined hands with the Taleban in his drive against foreign forces and is believed to still be active in Kunar and Nooristan provinces.
But Sher Ali says he has lost contact with his former bosses.
He defends his decision to take up arms against the Soviets, but not against the Americans.
"The Soviets were brought by a handful of Afghans to occupy Afghanistan. The Americans have come on the request of the majority of Afghans. Those now fighting the coalition forces are a small minority."
However, Sher Ali warns that one day he could oppose the Americans and fight them.
"That time has not yet arrived. They have not adopted the ways of the Russians. They are building schools and roads. They have our support at the moment."
Another former mujahideen fighter who supports the Americans is 48-year-old Ghulam Rahim who has run an FM radio station at the US base in Naray district for the last four years.
"The Soviets came to occupy Afghanistan illegally, while the Americans came under Bonn agreement on the request of the Afghans. The other difference is the Americans are here to help develop Afghanistan.
"It's now question of economics. Whoever will help Afghanistan financially will win."
'Safe from US influences'
Sometimes people's motives are not obvious. Take the case of one former Taleban official rubbing shoulders with the Americans at their base.
Thirty five-year-old Inayatur Rehman now serves in the Afghan National Army, but his heart and mind is still very much influenced by the Taleban.
"I joined the army and came here to make sure Afghan soldiers are kept safe from American influences. I wish to see the soldiers develop with strong Islamic beliefs and emerge as an Islamic army."
He even is hopeful that an Islamic government will soon emerge in Afghanistan. "All these sacrifices and blood will not go to waste," he says.
Personality - Nasheed;'Anni' heralds new era in Maldives
Olivia Lang in Male
The man who has won the election to become the next president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, is arguably the country's most famous political activist.
He has now also earned a place in the history books as the person who brought an end to the 30-year rule of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Asia's longest serving leader.
Mr Nasheed - a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience - is known locally as Anni. He has been a constant critic of the regime of Mr Gayoom over the years and has spent long periods in jail for his political activities.
To his supporters Mr Nasheed is a latter day Nelson Mandela, overcoming the hardships of prison to secure an inspirational election win against the odds.
But his critics say that he has little policy-making experience beyond his direct action campaigns against the government.
His more strident detractors during the campaign accused him of trying to spread Christianity to the Islamic nation.
They argued that Mr Nasheed - a Sunni Muslim - enjoyed close links to foreign organisations such as Britain's Conservative Party which undermined the country's faith. He has strenuously denied the allegations.
Drugs culture
The 41-year-old now finds himself on the verge of leading a tiny nation - made up of about of 1,192 islands off the tip of India - whose very existence is under threat from global warming.
He argued throughout the presidential campaign that the Maldives also faced other grave challenges: maintaining its lucrative tourist trade, ensuring a fairer distribution of wealth and tackling the drugs culture among bored youths.
Depicting himself as a harbinger of change throughout the campaign, Mr Nasheed has pledged economic prosperity through privatisation once he was in power.
Educated in the Maldives and then the UK, Mr Nasheed was one of the earliest and boldest dissidents in the islands, pursuing an early career as a journalist until he was persecuted for his writing.
In the early 1990s he established a reputation for his political commentaries in the Sangu magazine at a time when vocal criticism of the government was almost non-existent.
Sangu was later banned, and he was put under house arrest and imprisoned after giving an interview to the international press about his ill-treatment in detention.
Mr Nasheed spent 18 months in solitary confinement, alleging torture at the hands of the then National Security Services (NSS), which has since been split into the police and armed forces.
Punishments included severe sleep and water deprivation, being fed food with crushed glass and being chained to a chair outside for 12 days.
After spending some time abroad upon his release, Mr Nasheed was later jailed again for political writing, becoming an Amnesty Prisoner of Conscience in 1997.
During periods spent in jail, he studied and later wrote three books on Maldivian history both in English and the local Dhivehi script.
Elected as an MP in 1999, he was later forced from his seat following a theft charge which was widely condemned at the time as politically motivated.
He was prosecuted for taking files from outside the former residence of ex-President Ibrahim Nasir, an action classed by the state as theft.
In 2001 he unsuccessfully tried - along with other dissident politicians - to register the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
Mr Nasheed now lives in the capital island of Male with his wife, who works for the UN, and two daughters.
In September 2003, he intervened when 19-year-old Hassan Evan Naseem died in the country's largest prison, asking a doctor to see the body before the death certificate was signed.
It was later found he was tortured to death in by eight NSS officers.
The event marked a turning point in the country's history, sparking mass street and jail riots which resulted in the shooting of three prisoners.
Grassroots activists
Along with other reformists, Mr Nasheed finally managed to register the MDP on 26 June 2005.
But two months later he was arrested again after staging a sit-in in Male's Republican Square in protest over police handling of "Black Friday" demonstrations a year earlier.
In frustration at the slow pace of reforms, the MDP was close to calling for a revolution in November 2006.
That resulted in the defection of some of its senior members who argued that that the party should be pursuing a path of diplomacy and negotiation instead.
But grassroots activists remained loyal, and the MDP continued to lobby for freedom of speech and assembly.
Between then and now, Mr Nasheed oversaw the evolution of his party from an anti-Gayoom group into a government-in-waiting, successfully rebranding its identity.
In July, he and other party leaders visited Delhi to foster relations with the Indian government, which has previously had a close relationship to Mr Gayoom.
Mr Nasheed argues that his party seeks to offer a vision of a new Maldives, with campaign materials showing petals of white flowers representing pledges, including better transport, education and housing.
The man who has won the election to become the next president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, is arguably the country's most famous political activist.
He has now also earned a place in the history books as the person who brought an end to the 30-year rule of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Asia's longest serving leader.
Mr Nasheed - a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience - is known locally as Anni. He has been a constant critic of the regime of Mr Gayoom over the years and has spent long periods in jail for his political activities.
To his supporters Mr Nasheed is a latter day Nelson Mandela, overcoming the hardships of prison to secure an inspirational election win against the odds.
But his critics say that he has little policy-making experience beyond his direct action campaigns against the government.
His more strident detractors during the campaign accused him of trying to spread Christianity to the Islamic nation.
They argued that Mr Nasheed - a Sunni Muslim - enjoyed close links to foreign organisations such as Britain's Conservative Party which undermined the country's faith. He has strenuously denied the allegations.
Drugs culture
The 41-year-old now finds himself on the verge of leading a tiny nation - made up of about of 1,192 islands off the tip of India - whose very existence is under threat from global warming.
He argued throughout the presidential campaign that the Maldives also faced other grave challenges: maintaining its lucrative tourist trade, ensuring a fairer distribution of wealth and tackling the drugs culture among bored youths.
Depicting himself as a harbinger of change throughout the campaign, Mr Nasheed has pledged economic prosperity through privatisation once he was in power.
Educated in the Maldives and then the UK, Mr Nasheed was one of the earliest and boldest dissidents in the islands, pursuing an early career as a journalist until he was persecuted for his writing.
In the early 1990s he established a reputation for his political commentaries in the Sangu magazine at a time when vocal criticism of the government was almost non-existent.
Sangu was later banned, and he was put under house arrest and imprisoned after giving an interview to the international press about his ill-treatment in detention.
Mr Nasheed spent 18 months in solitary confinement, alleging torture at the hands of the then National Security Services (NSS), which has since been split into the police and armed forces.
Punishments included severe sleep and water deprivation, being fed food with crushed glass and being chained to a chair outside for 12 days.
After spending some time abroad upon his release, Mr Nasheed was later jailed again for political writing, becoming an Amnesty Prisoner of Conscience in 1997.
During periods spent in jail, he studied and later wrote three books on Maldivian history both in English and the local Dhivehi script.
Elected as an MP in 1999, he was later forced from his seat following a theft charge which was widely condemned at the time as politically motivated.
He was prosecuted for taking files from outside the former residence of ex-President Ibrahim Nasir, an action classed by the state as theft.
In 2001 he unsuccessfully tried - along with other dissident politicians - to register the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
Mr Nasheed now lives in the capital island of Male with his wife, who works for the UN, and two daughters.
In September 2003, he intervened when 19-year-old Hassan Evan Naseem died in the country's largest prison, asking a doctor to see the body before the death certificate was signed.
It was later found he was tortured to death in by eight NSS officers.
The event marked a turning point in the country's history, sparking mass street and jail riots which resulted in the shooting of three prisoners.
Grassroots activists
Along with other reformists, Mr Nasheed finally managed to register the MDP on 26 June 2005.
But two months later he was arrested again after staging a sit-in in Male's Republican Square in protest over police handling of "Black Friday" demonstrations a year earlier.
In frustration at the slow pace of reforms, the MDP was close to calling for a revolution in November 2006.
That resulted in the defection of some of its senior members who argued that that the party should be pursuing a path of diplomacy and negotiation instead.
But grassroots activists remained loyal, and the MDP continued to lobby for freedom of speech and assembly.
Between then and now, Mr Nasheed oversaw the evolution of his party from an anti-Gayoom group into a government-in-waiting, successfully rebranding its identity.
In July, he and other party leaders visited Delhi to foster relations with the Indian government, which has previously had a close relationship to Mr Gayoom.
Mr Nasheed argues that his party seeks to offer a vision of a new Maldives, with campaign materials showing petals of white flowers representing pledges, including better transport, education and housing.
Lifestyle - Bosses 'should embrace Facebook'
Companies should not dismiss staff who use social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo at work as merely time-wasters, a Demos study suggests.
Attempts to control employees' use of such software could damage firms in the long run by limiting the way staff communicate, the think tank said.
Social networking can encourage employees to build relationships with colleagues across a firm, it added.
However, businesses are warned to be strict with those who abuse access.
'Intuitive interaction'
Firms are increasingly using networking software to share documents and collaborate in ideas, the research found.
And while more work-specific systems, such as LinkedIn or bespoke in-house software tended to be used for work matters, the likes of Facebook, Bebo and MySpace still had a place, said Peter Bradwell, a Demos researcher and the report's author.
"They are part of the way in which people communicate which they find intuitive," he said.
"Banning Facebook and the like goes against the grain of how people want to interact. Often people are friends with colleagues through these networks and it is how some develop their relationships."
Using technology to build closer links with ex-employees and potential customers could also boost productivity, innovation and create a more democratic working environment, Mr Bradwell added.
"In today's difficult business environment, the instinctive reaction can be to batten down the hatches and return to the traditional command-and-control techniques that enable managers to closely monitor and measure productivity.
"Allowing workers to have more freedom and flexibility might seem counter-intuitive, but it appears to create businesses more capable of maintaining stability."
'Business goal'
The popularity of social networking showed that there was a desire to connect with others and socialise, said Mark Turrell, chief executive of Imaginatik, which develops bespoke networking software.
"Being able to see a photo of colleagues, or knowing what they are up to, can be incredibly useful for businesses, especially if a firm employs thousands of people," added Mr Turrell, whose firm took part in the study.
But he argued the use of networking sites "must be tied to a business goal".
He said his customers used the software to set out problems which they faced and then threw them open to employees.
"The first people to respond might not know the answer, but they could suggest somebody who does," he said.
"Within a few days, they are able to get enough people from across the organisation with the right expertise to work on it.
"And by focusing the minds of a group of people on a specific task, you can find a solution much more quickly than you would do otherwise."
Younger employees who have grown up with e-mail, mobile phones and social networking want their employers to adapt to new technology, he added, saying this put pressure on older employees to adapt.
"The key questions are, how do you get the brightest people to work for you, and then, how do you get the most out of them," Mr Turrell said.
"Organisations need to give their employees physical and virtual space to grow and explore their ideas.
"In today's new world, employees expect and require sophisticated enterprise social networking tools to shine."
'Aware of tensions'
The report's authors said that clear guidelines needed to be set out about appropriate use of social networking.
And there should be no hesitation in telling employees who spent "unreasonable" amounts of time using technology for non-work related activity that their behaviour must change, they added.
Mobile phone and broadband firm Orange, which commissioned the research, is currently building its own in-house social networking platform for staff.
"The profile and significance of social networking is increasing now, because of the proliferation of new technologies that enable us to connect to each other in our personal and professional lives," said Robert Ainger, Orange Business UK.
"But it is also good for companies to be aware of the tensions and look at deploying practical guidelines which will protect the positive impact of networks, not hamper it."
Attempts to control employees' use of such software could damage firms in the long run by limiting the way staff communicate, the think tank said.
Social networking can encourage employees to build relationships with colleagues across a firm, it added.
However, businesses are warned to be strict with those who abuse access.
'Intuitive interaction'
Firms are increasingly using networking software to share documents and collaborate in ideas, the research found.
And while more work-specific systems, such as LinkedIn or bespoke in-house software tended to be used for work matters, the likes of Facebook, Bebo and MySpace still had a place, said Peter Bradwell, a Demos researcher and the report's author.
"They are part of the way in which people communicate which they find intuitive," he said.
"Banning Facebook and the like goes against the grain of how people want to interact. Often people are friends with colleagues through these networks and it is how some develop their relationships."
Using technology to build closer links with ex-employees and potential customers could also boost productivity, innovation and create a more democratic working environment, Mr Bradwell added.
"In today's difficult business environment, the instinctive reaction can be to batten down the hatches and return to the traditional command-and-control techniques that enable managers to closely monitor and measure productivity.
"Allowing workers to have more freedom and flexibility might seem counter-intuitive, but it appears to create businesses more capable of maintaining stability."
'Business goal'
The popularity of social networking showed that there was a desire to connect with others and socialise, said Mark Turrell, chief executive of Imaginatik, which develops bespoke networking software.
"Being able to see a photo of colleagues, or knowing what they are up to, can be incredibly useful for businesses, especially if a firm employs thousands of people," added Mr Turrell, whose firm took part in the study.
But he argued the use of networking sites "must be tied to a business goal".
He said his customers used the software to set out problems which they faced and then threw them open to employees.
"The first people to respond might not know the answer, but they could suggest somebody who does," he said.
"Within a few days, they are able to get enough people from across the organisation with the right expertise to work on it.
"And by focusing the minds of a group of people on a specific task, you can find a solution much more quickly than you would do otherwise."
Younger employees who have grown up with e-mail, mobile phones and social networking want their employers to adapt to new technology, he added, saying this put pressure on older employees to adapt.
"The key questions are, how do you get the brightest people to work for you, and then, how do you get the most out of them," Mr Turrell said.
"Organisations need to give their employees physical and virtual space to grow and explore their ideas.
"In today's new world, employees expect and require sophisticated enterprise social networking tools to shine."
'Aware of tensions'
The report's authors said that clear guidelines needed to be set out about appropriate use of social networking.
And there should be no hesitation in telling employees who spent "unreasonable" amounts of time using technology for non-work related activity that their behaviour must change, they added.
Mobile phone and broadband firm Orange, which commissioned the research, is currently building its own in-house social networking platform for staff.
"The profile and significance of social networking is increasing now, because of the proliferation of new technologies that enable us to connect to each other in our personal and professional lives," said Robert Ainger, Orange Business UK.
"But it is also good for companies to be aware of the tensions and look at deploying practical guidelines which will protect the positive impact of networks, not hamper it."
Lifestyle - Light drinking 'no risk to baby'
Caroline Parkinson
Health reporter, BBC News
Women who drink a small amount of alcohol while pregnant do not increase their child's risk of behavioural problems, a study has suggested.
The University College London team classed "light" drinking as up to two drinks a week throughout pregnancy.
The study of 12,500 three-year-olds even found a lower risk of some problems in children of such drinkers.
But experts were divided over whether the study was reassuring or could lull women into a false sense of security.
Government advice says pregnant women, or those trying to conceive, should avoid drinking alcohol.
But if they do choose to drink, they should drink no more than one or two units of alcohol once or twice a week and should not get drunk.
Social advantage
The relationship between sustained heavy drinking in pregnancy and health problems for the child is well-established.
In the most severe cases, it can cause miscarriage or stillbirth, or permanent damage to the growing foetus.
A small number of babies in the most severe cases can be born with "foetal alcohol syndrome", with symptoms including physical and mental developmental problems.
The University College London team asked mothers about how much alcohol they had drunk during pregnancy when their babies were nine months old.
Light drinking was classed as ranging from one drink every so often to two drinks per week, while moderate drinking was between three and six units per week or three to five per one occasion.
Heavy drinking was regarded as seven or more units per week or at least six per occasion.
While 63% of the mothers had abstained from alcohol completely during pregnancy, 29% had been light drinkers, 6% moderate and 2% heavy.
Vocabulary tests
The researchers then went back when the children were three to ask about their behaviour and understanding.
The study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, found boys born to light drinkers were 40% less likely to have conduct problems and 30% less likely to be hyperactive than those whose mothers had abstained.
They also scored more highly on vocabulary tests and on identifying colours, shapes, letters and numbers.
Girls born to light drinkers were 30% less likely to have emotional problems than those born to abstainers, although the researchers say this could be due to family and social backgrounds.
Light drinkers were more likely to be better educated and from higher income households and were less likely to have smoked during pregnancy than abstainers.
Dr Yvonne Kelly, the epidemiologist who led the study, said: "Our research has found that light drinking by pregnant mothers does not increase the risk of behavioural problems and cognitive defects.
"The reasons behind these findings might in part be because light drinkers tend to be more socially advantaged than abstainers, rather than being due to the physical benefits of low level alcohol consumption seen, for example, in heart disease.
"However, it may also be that light-drinking mothers tend to be more relaxed themselves and this contributes to better behavioural and cognitive outcomes in their children."
Dr Kelly added: "Our study's findings do raise questions as to whether the current push for policy to recommend complete abstinence during pregnancy is merited and suggest that further research needs to be done."
'Simplest is safest'
But Dr Vivienne Nathanson, head of science and ethics at the British Medical Association, said: "We are concerned that the findings from the UCL study may lull women into a false sense of security and give them the green light that there is no problem with drinking during pregnancy. This is not the case.
"So-called 'heavy' and 'moderate' drinking harm the unborn baby. Very light drinking may or may not.
"The BMA believes the simplest and safest advice is for women not to drink alcohol during pregnancy."
Patrick O'Brien, a spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said women should not set out to drink during pregnancy, but that they could be relaxed about the occasional drink.
"This is further evidence that pregnant women should not be worried about having a small amount of alcohol."
Health reporter, BBC News
Women who drink a small amount of alcohol while pregnant do not increase their child's risk of behavioural problems, a study has suggested.
The University College London team classed "light" drinking as up to two drinks a week throughout pregnancy.
The study of 12,500 three-year-olds even found a lower risk of some problems in children of such drinkers.
But experts were divided over whether the study was reassuring or could lull women into a false sense of security.
Government advice says pregnant women, or those trying to conceive, should avoid drinking alcohol.
But if they do choose to drink, they should drink no more than one or two units of alcohol once or twice a week and should not get drunk.
Social advantage
The relationship between sustained heavy drinking in pregnancy and health problems for the child is well-established.
In the most severe cases, it can cause miscarriage or stillbirth, or permanent damage to the growing foetus.
A small number of babies in the most severe cases can be born with "foetal alcohol syndrome", with symptoms including physical and mental developmental problems.
The University College London team asked mothers about how much alcohol they had drunk during pregnancy when their babies were nine months old.
Light drinking was classed as ranging from one drink every so often to two drinks per week, while moderate drinking was between three and six units per week or three to five per one occasion.
Heavy drinking was regarded as seven or more units per week or at least six per occasion.
While 63% of the mothers had abstained from alcohol completely during pregnancy, 29% had been light drinkers, 6% moderate and 2% heavy.
Vocabulary tests
The researchers then went back when the children were three to ask about their behaviour and understanding.
The study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, found boys born to light drinkers were 40% less likely to have conduct problems and 30% less likely to be hyperactive than those whose mothers had abstained.
They also scored more highly on vocabulary tests and on identifying colours, shapes, letters and numbers.
Girls born to light drinkers were 30% less likely to have emotional problems than those born to abstainers, although the researchers say this could be due to family and social backgrounds.
Light drinkers were more likely to be better educated and from higher income households and were less likely to have smoked during pregnancy than abstainers.
Dr Yvonne Kelly, the epidemiologist who led the study, said: "Our research has found that light drinking by pregnant mothers does not increase the risk of behavioural problems and cognitive defects.
"The reasons behind these findings might in part be because light drinkers tend to be more socially advantaged than abstainers, rather than being due to the physical benefits of low level alcohol consumption seen, for example, in heart disease.
"However, it may also be that light-drinking mothers tend to be more relaxed themselves and this contributes to better behavioural and cognitive outcomes in their children."
Dr Kelly added: "Our study's findings do raise questions as to whether the current push for policy to recommend complete abstinence during pregnancy is merited and suggest that further research needs to be done."
'Simplest is safest'
But Dr Vivienne Nathanson, head of science and ethics at the British Medical Association, said: "We are concerned that the findings from the UCL study may lull women into a false sense of security and give them the green light that there is no problem with drinking during pregnancy. This is not the case.
"So-called 'heavy' and 'moderate' drinking harm the unborn baby. Very light drinking may or may not.
"The BMA believes the simplest and safest advice is for women not to drink alcohol during pregnancy."
Patrick O'Brien, a spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said women should not set out to drink during pregnancy, but that they could be relaxed about the occasional drink.
"This is further evidence that pregnant women should not be worried about having a small amount of alcohol."
Tech - Saving lives in a virtual world (V.G.Read)
Jane Elliott
Health reporter, BBC News
The call comes through. A young female has collapsed in the street outside a nightclub.
The paramedic is dispatched to the scene, parks his ambulance and starts to assess the situation.
The young woman appears drunk and is singing in a slurred way, but after an examination and blood and glucose tests the paramedic discovers she is also diabetic and in need of immediate treatment.
It's a testing scenario for a student paramedic, and one where there is the potential to make some dangerous errors.
Virtual care
But this is one time when errors do not matter - for this is Second Life, a 3D virtual world where characters can create their own scenarios.
Paramedic students at St George's Hospital, University of London and Kingston University use Second Life to aid their learning.
In the virtual world they can treat patients by checking a pulse, dressing wounds and administering drugs.
They can also access a toolkit, including all the equipment typically found in an ambulance, such as oxygen masks and an electrocardiogram (ECG) to test electrical activity in the heart.
After assessing and treatment the 'patient' at the scene, students have to decide how to get the patient into the ambulance and then set a GPS device to take them to the hospital where they hand over the patient notes - which are then emailed to a real-life tutor for feedback.
Dr Ahmed Younis, principle lecturer, said that as well as providing a fun and novel way of learning the course, believed to be the first in this country, was also a valuable aid allowing students to practise newly learnt skills in a safe environment.
"The most important thing is that they can afford to make mistakes online, which they could not afford to do in real life.
"When they make a mistake, they are always keen not to make this mistake again."
Popular with students
And Dr Younis said 90% of students who tested the system said Second Life had aided their learning and would help them handle real-life cases more smoothly.
James Lafferty, a second year paramedic said: “Although it is not better than going out on the road it is the next best thing.
"Everything you do has a consequence. So if you want to give a certain drug and you do it wrong it can result in something bad.
"It is a very good way of learning. I find it a lot better than sitting down and reading notes."
"As second years we have now all had all had a little experience on the road, but we thought that if we had the chance to use it earlier in our training it would have helped."
Helpful scenarios
Students face five scenarios, including a suspected heart attack in a tube station.
Each week they are emailed a Second Life URL, which will takes them directly to a scene, where they will encounter a mannequin who needs their help.
Emily Conradi, e-Projects Manager at St George's, said the course was proving invaluable.
"Paramedic students spend a lot of time in work placements, which can be based anywhere in the country, so it can be hard for them to meet face-to-face with each other and with their tutors.
"The advantage of Second Life is that it feels more real.
"Students get a sense of being there together and can decide what to do from what they can see in front of them."
The e-learning unit now plans to expand Second Life lessons to students on a range of other healthcare courses such as midwifery and physiotherapy.
Health reporter, BBC News
The call comes through. A young female has collapsed in the street outside a nightclub.
The paramedic is dispatched to the scene, parks his ambulance and starts to assess the situation.
The young woman appears drunk and is singing in a slurred way, but after an examination and blood and glucose tests the paramedic discovers she is also diabetic and in need of immediate treatment.
It's a testing scenario for a student paramedic, and one where there is the potential to make some dangerous errors.
Virtual care
But this is one time when errors do not matter - for this is Second Life, a 3D virtual world where characters can create their own scenarios.
Paramedic students at St George's Hospital, University of London and Kingston University use Second Life to aid their learning.
In the virtual world they can treat patients by checking a pulse, dressing wounds and administering drugs.
They can also access a toolkit, including all the equipment typically found in an ambulance, such as oxygen masks and an electrocardiogram (ECG) to test electrical activity in the heart.
After assessing and treatment the 'patient' at the scene, students have to decide how to get the patient into the ambulance and then set a GPS device to take them to the hospital where they hand over the patient notes - which are then emailed to a real-life tutor for feedback.
Dr Ahmed Younis, principle lecturer, said that as well as providing a fun and novel way of learning the course, believed to be the first in this country, was also a valuable aid allowing students to practise newly learnt skills in a safe environment.
"The most important thing is that they can afford to make mistakes online, which they could not afford to do in real life.
"When they make a mistake, they are always keen not to make this mistake again."
Popular with students
And Dr Younis said 90% of students who tested the system said Second Life had aided their learning and would help them handle real-life cases more smoothly.
James Lafferty, a second year paramedic said: “Although it is not better than going out on the road it is the next best thing.
"Everything you do has a consequence. So if you want to give a certain drug and you do it wrong it can result in something bad.
"It is a very good way of learning. I find it a lot better than sitting down and reading notes."
"As second years we have now all had all had a little experience on the road, but we thought that if we had the chance to use it earlier in our training it would have helped."
Helpful scenarios
Students face five scenarios, including a suspected heart attack in a tube station.
Each week they are emailed a Second Life URL, which will takes them directly to a scene, where they will encounter a mannequin who needs their help.
Emily Conradi, e-Projects Manager at St George's, said the course was proving invaluable.
"Paramedic students spend a lot of time in work placements, which can be based anywhere in the country, so it can be hard for them to meet face-to-face with each other and with their tutors.
"The advantage of Second Life is that it feels more real.
"Students get a sense of being there together and can decide what to do from what they can see in front of them."
The e-learning unit now plans to expand Second Life lessons to students on a range of other healthcare courses such as midwifery and physiotherapy.
Health - A guide to the Hippocratic Oath
Dr Daniel Sokol
Medical ethicist
When I asked my medical students to name famous doctors in the history of medicine, their first answer was Harold Shipman, the GP who murdered hundreds of patients.
I nearly swallowed my tongue.
Their second answer was House, the fictional doctor from the American TV series.
Tears of frustration welled up in my eyes.
Their third answer was Hippocrates, presumed author of the Hippocratic Oath - I breathed a sigh of relief.
Written nearly 2,500 years ago, the Oath is the most famous text in Western medicine, yet most people (including doctors) know precious little about it.
One GP recounted the story of an elderly patient who believed the Oath instructed doctors never to tell patients the truth. It contains no such advice.
Here is a brief guide to the Oath.
The Oath starts: "I swear by Apollo the physician and by Asclepius and Hygieia and Panacea... to bring the following oath to fulfilment."
Apollo, the god of healing, fell in love with a human, Coronis.
I will use treatments for the benefit of the ill in accordance with my ability and my judgment, but from what is to their harm and injustice I will keep them
Hippocratic Oath
In his absence, Apollo sent a white crow to look after her.
When the crow informed Apollo that Coronis loved another man, Apollo's rage turned the crow black.
To avenge her brother, Apollo's sister shot Coronis with an arrow and, as she lay dying, Coronis told Apollo that she was bearing his child.
Although Apollo could not save Coronis, he rescued the unborn child, Asclepius.
Hygieia, the goddess of health, and Panacea, the goddess of cures, are the daughters of Asclepius.
According to legend, Hippocrates was a descendant of one of Asclepius' sons.
Inspiration
Doctors taking the Oath would doubtless have been inspired by this illustrious lineage of healers.
The next section instructs the doctor to treat his teachers as his parents, and to pass on the art of medicine to the next generation of healers.
In a pure and holy way, I will guard my life and my art and science
Hippocratic Oath
The Oath continues: "And I will use treatments for the benefit of the ill in accordance with my ability and my judgment, but from what is to their harm and injustice I will keep them."
In other words, doctors should act in the best interests of their patients, and when unjust circumstances arise - for instance, a certain life-prolonging drug may not be available on the NHS - they should strive to correct the injustice harming their patients.
The next part seemingly concerns euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, saying: "And I will not give a drug that is deadly to anyone if asked, nor will I suggest the way to such a counsel."
Two leading scholars of the Oath, Littre and Miles, have however suggested that this passage alludes to the then common practice of using doctors as skilled political assassins.
Steven Miles notes: "Fear of the physician-poisoner may be traced very close to the time of the Oath."
The word "euthanasia" (meaning "easeful death") was only coined a century after the writing of the Oath.
Abortion
The text continues: "And likewise I will not give a woman a destructive pessary."
This passage is often interpreted as a rejection of abortion.
However, abortion was legal at the time and the text only mentions pessaries (a soaked piece of wool inserted in the vagina to induce abortion), not the oral methods of abortion also used in ancient Greece.
As pessaries could cause lethal infections, the author of the Oath may have had a clinical objection to the method, rather than a moral objection to abortion itself.
The next sentence - "In a pure and holy way, I will guard my life and my art and science" - is a call for professional integrity.
Doctors should refrain from immoral behaviour and resist the temptations that accompany their privileged position (today, from drug companies offering generous gifts, for example).
Surgery
The Oath continues: "I will not cut, and certainly not those suffering from stone, but I will cede this to men who are practitioners of this activity."
Another common misconception is that the Oath forbids surgery.
About whatever I may see or hear in treatment, or even without treatment, in the life of human beings, I will remain silent, holding such things to be unutterable
Hippocratic Oath
In fact, it instructs doctors to acknowledge the limits of their competence and to refer cases to more specialised practitioners.
Next, the doctor enters the patient's house: "Into as many houses as I may enter, I will go for the benefit of the ill, while being far from all voluntary and destructive injustice, especially from sexual acts both upon women's bodies and upon men's."
The need for such a statement reflects the wide distrust in healers at the time.
In a competitive marketplace where quacks abounded, it was necessary to reassure the public that doctors would not exploit patients.
Confidentiality
The penultimate section deals with confidentiality and reads: "And about whatever I may see or hear in treatment, or even without treatment, in the life of human beings, I will remain silent, holding such things to be unutterable."
As today, patients in ancient times shared deeply personal information with doctors on the assumption that their details would not be revealed to others.
Without this trust, patients may withhold facts that would help the doctor make an accurate diagnosis.
The text ends with the rewards that await those who respect the Oath ("the benefits both of life and of art and science, being held in good repute among all human beings for time eternal") and the punishment of those who do not ("if, however, I transgress and swear falsely, the opposite of these").
This whistle-stop tour of the Oath gives some idea of the content and spirit of this ancient text.
In an age of technological developments, cosmetic surgery, complementary medicine, drug companies, and many other temptations for patients and doctors alike, the spirit of the Oath is as relevant as ever.
• Dr Daniel Sokol is a medical ethicist at St George's, University of London, and Director of the Applied Clinical Ethics (ACE) programme at Imperial College, London.
Medical ethicist
When I asked my medical students to name famous doctors in the history of medicine, their first answer was Harold Shipman, the GP who murdered hundreds of patients.
I nearly swallowed my tongue.
Their second answer was House, the fictional doctor from the American TV series.
Tears of frustration welled up in my eyes.
Their third answer was Hippocrates, presumed author of the Hippocratic Oath - I breathed a sigh of relief.
Written nearly 2,500 years ago, the Oath is the most famous text in Western medicine, yet most people (including doctors) know precious little about it.
One GP recounted the story of an elderly patient who believed the Oath instructed doctors never to tell patients the truth. It contains no such advice.
Here is a brief guide to the Oath.
The Oath starts: "I swear by Apollo the physician and by Asclepius and Hygieia and Panacea... to bring the following oath to fulfilment."
Apollo, the god of healing, fell in love with a human, Coronis.
I will use treatments for the benefit of the ill in accordance with my ability and my judgment, but from what is to their harm and injustice I will keep them
Hippocratic Oath
In his absence, Apollo sent a white crow to look after her.
When the crow informed Apollo that Coronis loved another man, Apollo's rage turned the crow black.
To avenge her brother, Apollo's sister shot Coronis with an arrow and, as she lay dying, Coronis told Apollo that she was bearing his child.
Although Apollo could not save Coronis, he rescued the unborn child, Asclepius.
Hygieia, the goddess of health, and Panacea, the goddess of cures, are the daughters of Asclepius.
According to legend, Hippocrates was a descendant of one of Asclepius' sons.
Inspiration
Doctors taking the Oath would doubtless have been inspired by this illustrious lineage of healers.
The next section instructs the doctor to treat his teachers as his parents, and to pass on the art of medicine to the next generation of healers.
In a pure and holy way, I will guard my life and my art and science
Hippocratic Oath
The Oath continues: "And I will use treatments for the benefit of the ill in accordance with my ability and my judgment, but from what is to their harm and injustice I will keep them."
In other words, doctors should act in the best interests of their patients, and when unjust circumstances arise - for instance, a certain life-prolonging drug may not be available on the NHS - they should strive to correct the injustice harming their patients.
The next part seemingly concerns euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, saying: "And I will not give a drug that is deadly to anyone if asked, nor will I suggest the way to such a counsel."
Two leading scholars of the Oath, Littre and Miles, have however suggested that this passage alludes to the then common practice of using doctors as skilled political assassins.
Steven Miles notes: "Fear of the physician-poisoner may be traced very close to the time of the Oath."
The word "euthanasia" (meaning "easeful death") was only coined a century after the writing of the Oath.
Abortion
The text continues: "And likewise I will not give a woman a destructive pessary."
This passage is often interpreted as a rejection of abortion.
However, abortion was legal at the time and the text only mentions pessaries (a soaked piece of wool inserted in the vagina to induce abortion), not the oral methods of abortion also used in ancient Greece.
As pessaries could cause lethal infections, the author of the Oath may have had a clinical objection to the method, rather than a moral objection to abortion itself.
The next sentence - "In a pure and holy way, I will guard my life and my art and science" - is a call for professional integrity.
Doctors should refrain from immoral behaviour and resist the temptations that accompany their privileged position (today, from drug companies offering generous gifts, for example).
Surgery
The Oath continues: "I will not cut, and certainly not those suffering from stone, but I will cede this to men who are practitioners of this activity."
Another common misconception is that the Oath forbids surgery.
About whatever I may see or hear in treatment, or even without treatment, in the life of human beings, I will remain silent, holding such things to be unutterable
Hippocratic Oath
In fact, it instructs doctors to acknowledge the limits of their competence and to refer cases to more specialised practitioners.
Next, the doctor enters the patient's house: "Into as many houses as I may enter, I will go for the benefit of the ill, while being far from all voluntary and destructive injustice, especially from sexual acts both upon women's bodies and upon men's."
The need for such a statement reflects the wide distrust in healers at the time.
In a competitive marketplace where quacks abounded, it was necessary to reassure the public that doctors would not exploit patients.
Confidentiality
The penultimate section deals with confidentiality and reads: "And about whatever I may see or hear in treatment, or even without treatment, in the life of human beings, I will remain silent, holding such things to be unutterable."
As today, patients in ancient times shared deeply personal information with doctors on the assumption that their details would not be revealed to others.
Without this trust, patients may withhold facts that would help the doctor make an accurate diagnosis.
The text ends with the rewards that await those who respect the Oath ("the benefits both of life and of art and science, being held in good repute among all human beings for time eternal") and the punishment of those who do not ("if, however, I transgress and swear falsely, the opposite of these").
This whistle-stop tour of the Oath gives some idea of the content and spirit of this ancient text.
In an age of technological developments, cosmetic surgery, complementary medicine, drug companies, and many other temptations for patients and doctors alike, the spirit of the Oath is as relevant as ever.
• Dr Daniel Sokol is a medical ethicist at St George's, University of London, and Director of the Applied Clinical Ethics (ACE) programme at Imperial College, London.
Health - 'Full' artificial heart implant
Scientists say they have a working prototype of a fully artificial heart ready for implanting in humans.
The device beats almost exactly like the real thing using electronic sensors to regulate heart rate and blood flow.
Developers Carmat now need approval from the French authorities before pushing ahead with clinical trials.
But heart experts warned it was still early days as previous attempts to create a fully artificial heart had failed during human testing.
Several teams from around the world have been working to develop the perfect artificial heart that could be fitted into the 20,000 patients worldwide unable to receive a life-saving heart transplant because of a shortage of donor organs.
Pitfalls
Heart specialist Alain Carpentier said it had taken him 15 years to perfect and claimed his device overcomes some of the drawbacks with other prototypes.
The new heart is covered with specially treated tissue to avoid rejection by the body's immune system and the formation of blood clots.
However, the power supply for the heart remains a significant hurdle. Carmat, the company founded by Professor Carpentier and Europe's aerospace and defence giant EADS, says the battery could last for between five and 16 hours after which it would have to be recharged to prevent the artificial heart stopping.
Professor Carpentier's team is studying two options that do not require wires crossing the skin because these pose an infection risk. Professor Carpentier said the heart was necessary given the chronic shortage of heart donors and growing heart patient waiting lists.
"I couldn't stand seeing young, active people dying aged 40 from massive heart attacks," he said.
Heart disease claims some 17 million lives a year. Existing pneumatic heart implants are intended only to be used as a stop-gap during transplant operations or while patients await a donor organ.
Peter Weissberg of the British Heart Foundation said: "This is the latest attempt to engineer an artificial heart that will do the heart's job effectively without any dangerous side effects.
"Despite their early promise in laboratory experiments most versions so far have not performed as well as predicted when tried in patients - they either fail to do the job properly or, more commonly, cause debilitating side effects like infections or blood clots.
"Only properly conducted clinical trials will establish whether this version will live up to the claims made by its manufacturers
The device beats almost exactly like the real thing using electronic sensors to regulate heart rate and blood flow.
Developers Carmat now need approval from the French authorities before pushing ahead with clinical trials.
But heart experts warned it was still early days as previous attempts to create a fully artificial heart had failed during human testing.
Several teams from around the world have been working to develop the perfect artificial heart that could be fitted into the 20,000 patients worldwide unable to receive a life-saving heart transplant because of a shortage of donor organs.
Pitfalls
Heart specialist Alain Carpentier said it had taken him 15 years to perfect and claimed his device overcomes some of the drawbacks with other prototypes.
The new heart is covered with specially treated tissue to avoid rejection by the body's immune system and the formation of blood clots.
However, the power supply for the heart remains a significant hurdle. Carmat, the company founded by Professor Carpentier and Europe's aerospace and defence giant EADS, says the battery could last for between five and 16 hours after which it would have to be recharged to prevent the artificial heart stopping.
Professor Carpentier's team is studying two options that do not require wires crossing the skin because these pose an infection risk. Professor Carpentier said the heart was necessary given the chronic shortage of heart donors and growing heart patient waiting lists.
"I couldn't stand seeing young, active people dying aged 40 from massive heart attacks," he said.
Heart disease claims some 17 million lives a year. Existing pneumatic heart implants are intended only to be used as a stop-gap during transplant operations or while patients await a donor organ.
Peter Weissberg of the British Heart Foundation said: "This is the latest attempt to engineer an artificial heart that will do the heart's job effectively without any dangerous side effects.
"Despite their early promise in laboratory experiments most versions so far have not performed as well as predicted when tried in patients - they either fail to do the job properly or, more commonly, cause debilitating side effects like infections or blood clots.
"Only properly conducted clinical trials will establish whether this version will live up to the claims made by its manufacturers
World - 'Oldest Hebrew script' is found
Five lines of ancient script on a shard of pottery could be the oldest example of Hebrew writing ever discovered, an archaeologist in Israel says.
The shard was found by a teenage volunteer during a dig about 20km (12 miles) south-west of Jerusalem.
Experts at Hebrew University said dating showed it was written 3,000 years ago - about 1,000 years earlier than the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Other scientists cautioned that further study was needed to understand it.
Preliminary investigations since the shard was found in July have deciphered some words, including judge, slave and king.
The characters are written in proto-Canaanite, a precursor of the Hebrew alphabet.
King David
Lead archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel identified it as Hebrew because of a three-letter verb meaning "to do" which he said was only used in Hebrew.
"That leads us to believe that this is Hebrew, and that this is the oldest Hebrew inscription that has been found," he said.
The shard and other artefacts were found at the site of Khirbet Qeiyafa, overlooking the Valley of Elah where the Bible says the Israelite David fought the Philistine giant Goliath.
Mr Garfinkel said the findings could shed significant light on the period of King David's reign.
"The chronology and geography of Khirbet Qeiyafa create a unique meeting point between the mythology, history, historiography and archaeology of King David."
But his colleagues at Hebrew University said the Israelites were not the only ones using proto-Canaanite characters, therefore making it difficult to prove it was Hebrew and not a related tongue spoken in the area at the time.
Hebrew University archaeologist Amihai Mazar said the inscription was "very important", as it is the longest proto-Canaanite text ever found.
"The differentiation between the scripts, and between the languages themselves in that period, remains unclear," he said.
The shard was found by a teenage volunteer during a dig about 20km (12 miles) south-west of Jerusalem.
Experts at Hebrew University said dating showed it was written 3,000 years ago - about 1,000 years earlier than the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Other scientists cautioned that further study was needed to understand it.
Preliminary investigations since the shard was found in July have deciphered some words, including judge, slave and king.
The characters are written in proto-Canaanite, a precursor of the Hebrew alphabet.
King David
Lead archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel identified it as Hebrew because of a three-letter verb meaning "to do" which he said was only used in Hebrew.
"That leads us to believe that this is Hebrew, and that this is the oldest Hebrew inscription that has been found," he said.
The shard and other artefacts were found at the site of Khirbet Qeiyafa, overlooking the Valley of Elah where the Bible says the Israelite David fought the Philistine giant Goliath.
Mr Garfinkel said the findings could shed significant light on the period of King David's reign.
"The chronology and geography of Khirbet Qeiyafa create a unique meeting point between the mythology, history, historiography and archaeology of King David."
But his colleagues at Hebrew University said the Israelites were not the only ones using proto-Canaanite characters, therefore making it difficult to prove it was Hebrew and not a related tongue spoken in the area at the time.
Hebrew University archaeologist Amihai Mazar said the inscription was "very important", as it is the longest proto-Canaanite text ever found.
"The differentiation between the scripts, and between the languages themselves in that period, remains unclear," he said.
Health - Old blood 'boosts infection risk'
Storing donated blood too long increases the chance of an infection, US researchers claim.
The risk of blood poisoning or pneumonia doubled once the 29-day mark passed, Cooper University Hospital in New Jersey found.
The study, presented at a US conference, calls for increased care over the way blood is used and stored.
UK authorities said blood took 10 days on average to reach hospitals and daily deliveries meant it was not stockpiled.
The US does not allow the use of blood stored for longer than 42 days - in the UK this is lower, at 35 days.
After two weeks in storage, red blood cells start to undergo changes which lead to the release of chemicals called "cytokines".
These are known to hinder immune function, and in high levels could possibly make patients more susceptible to infection.
Researchers looked at the rate of hospital infections in 422 patients against the age of the blood transfusion they received.
They found that the average age of the blood was 26 days, and 70 percent of patients had received blood older than 21 days.
Blood shortage fears
In total, 57 patients developed an infection - and these patients had received older blood than the others - on average it had been stored for three and a half days longer.
Patients who had received blood older than 28 days were twice as likely to develop an infection, and the more units of blood given, the higher was the chance of infection.
Dr David Gerber, who led the research, and presented the results at the American College of Chest Physicians conference in Philadelphia, said that any change to the time limit could lead to a blood shortage.
"More cautious utilisation of blood might help to alleviate, at in least part, a diminished blood supply that might result from such a change in policy." about
A spokesman for the National Blood Service said that UK hospitals were not as reliant on using older blood stocks.
"The shelf life of blood in the UK is shorter than in the US."
She said that the average age of blood arriving at hospitals was just over 10 days, and daily deliveries meant that hospitals were less inclined to stockpile blood.
She said: "We continue to work hard with hospitals to improve blood stocks management and ensure a safe, sufficient supply of blood to meet patients' needs."
The risk of blood poisoning or pneumonia doubled once the 29-day mark passed, Cooper University Hospital in New Jersey found.
The study, presented at a US conference, calls for increased care over the way blood is used and stored.
UK authorities said blood took 10 days on average to reach hospitals and daily deliveries meant it was not stockpiled.
The US does not allow the use of blood stored for longer than 42 days - in the UK this is lower, at 35 days.
After two weeks in storage, red blood cells start to undergo changes which lead to the release of chemicals called "cytokines".
These are known to hinder immune function, and in high levels could possibly make patients more susceptible to infection.
Researchers looked at the rate of hospital infections in 422 patients against the age of the blood transfusion they received.
They found that the average age of the blood was 26 days, and 70 percent of patients had received blood older than 21 days.
Blood shortage fears
In total, 57 patients developed an infection - and these patients had received older blood than the others - on average it had been stored for three and a half days longer.
Patients who had received blood older than 28 days were twice as likely to develop an infection, and the more units of blood given, the higher was the chance of infection.
Dr David Gerber, who led the research, and presented the results at the American College of Chest Physicians conference in Philadelphia, said that any change to the time limit could lead to a blood shortage.
"More cautious utilisation of blood might help to alleviate, at in least part, a diminished blood supply that might result from such a change in policy." about
A spokesman for the National Blood Service said that UK hospitals were not as reliant on using older blood stocks.
"The shelf life of blood in the UK is shorter than in the US."
She said that the average age of blood arriving at hospitals was just over 10 days, and daily deliveries meant that hospitals were less inclined to stockpile blood.
She said: "We continue to work hard with hospitals to improve blood stocks management and ensure a safe, sufficient supply of blood to meet patients' needs."
Entertainment - Mamma Mia! breaks UK film record
Musical Mamma Mia!, starring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan, has become the highest-grossing British film at the UK box office.
The film, which features the songs of Abba, has taken £67.2m in the UK since its release in July - and continues to be shown in British cinemas.
It is now the second highest-grossing film in the UK behind Titanic.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which grossed £66.1m, was the previous holder of the British record.
Mamma Mia! could be on its way to beating Titanic's box office haul of £69m as cinema-goers continue to flock to see it.
Now in its 16th week of release in the UK, the film has also become the number one film of the year in 13 countries including Germany, New Zealand, South Africa and Sweden.
TOP BRITISH FILMS AT UK BOX OFFICE
1. Mamma Mia! - £67.2m
2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - £66.1m
3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - £54.8
4. The Full Monty - £52.2m
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - £49.4m
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - £48.8m
7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - £46.1m
8. Bridget Jones's Diary - £42m
9. Love Actually - £36.9m
10. Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason - £36m
Source: Neilsen EDI
Sing-along versions of the film in cinemas have also helped boost the film's success.
"What is interesting is the speed at which it has gotten to this level," David Kosse, president of Universal Pictures International told industry paper Screen International.
"We are ahead of Harry Potter and continue to be ahead of Titanic at this stage, and we think it still has some life in it.
"One driver is the multiple viewings with people going back to see it again and again. It really is happening on a scale that we haven't seen before."
The three women who created the worldwide stage hit - producer Judy Craymer, writer Catherine Johnson and director Phyllida Lloyd, repeated their roles in bringing the musical to the big screen in the British/US collaboration with Universal Pictures.
The rest of the top 10 highest-grossing British films in the UK is completed by the Harry Potter and Bridget Jones franchises, comedy The Full Monty and romantic comedy Love Actually.
The film, which features the songs of Abba, has taken £67.2m in the UK since its release in July - and continues to be shown in British cinemas.
It is now the second highest-grossing film in the UK behind Titanic.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which grossed £66.1m, was the previous holder of the British record.
Mamma Mia! could be on its way to beating Titanic's box office haul of £69m as cinema-goers continue to flock to see it.
Now in its 16th week of release in the UK, the film has also become the number one film of the year in 13 countries including Germany, New Zealand, South Africa and Sweden.
TOP BRITISH FILMS AT UK BOX OFFICE
1. Mamma Mia! - £67.2m
2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - £66.1m
3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - £54.8
4. The Full Monty - £52.2m
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - £49.4m
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - £48.8m
7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - £46.1m
8. Bridget Jones's Diary - £42m
9. Love Actually - £36.9m
10. Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason - £36m
Source: Neilsen EDI
Sing-along versions of the film in cinemas have also helped boost the film's success.
"What is interesting is the speed at which it has gotten to this level," David Kosse, president of Universal Pictures International told industry paper Screen International.
"We are ahead of Harry Potter and continue to be ahead of Titanic at this stage, and we think it still has some life in it.
"One driver is the multiple viewings with people going back to see it again and again. It really is happening on a scale that we haven't seen before."
The three women who created the worldwide stage hit - producer Judy Craymer, writer Catherine Johnson and director Phyllida Lloyd, repeated their roles in bringing the musical to the big screen in the British/US collaboration with Universal Pictures.
The rest of the top 10 highest-grossing British films in the UK is completed by the Harry Potter and Bridget Jones franchises, comedy The Full Monty and romantic comedy Love Actually.
Lifestyle - Pakistan 'child wedding' halted
M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Karachi
Police in southern Pakistan have arrested two people for attempting to wed a seven-year-old boy to a four-year-old girl, officials say.
It is believed to be the first time they have broken up such a marriage as the wedding was taking place.
The arrested men - the father of the groom and a cleric who performed the ceremony - say the wedding was meant to end a feud between the two families.
Child marriages are more common in remote tribal areas of Pakistan.
In the latest case, family members of the children involved argued that they wanted them to get married in advance of their real wedding which will be held when the pair reach the marriageable age of 18.
Child marriages are strictly against the law in Pakistan.
Acting on a complaint, the police raided the ceremony in a northern neighbourhood of the port city of Karachi on Thursday evening.
It is suspected that the girl was being married off by her father for about 500,000 rupees ($6,138).
'Wedding vows'
Video footage of the marriage, shot by some television teams that accompanied the police, show the two children in bride and groom ceremonial outfits.
They started crying when the police raided the scene.
Mohammad Ismail, the father of the groom, told the media that he worked in Saudi Arabia and was not aware that Pakistani laws prohibited child marriages.
He said that he had agreed to the wedding following advice from family elders that it would put an end to an old feud his family had with the family of the bride.
The cleric who was called to supervise and record the exchange of wedding vows by the couple and to record the witnesses, told the media he did not know that he was being invited to a child marriage.
However, police say they have recovered the marriage certificate from the scene which had been duly filled in by the cleric - except for the age columns for the bride and the groom.
Child marriages are often performed to settle feuds or pay off debts but the authorities say they are determined to bring them to an end.
BBC News, Karachi
Police in southern Pakistan have arrested two people for attempting to wed a seven-year-old boy to a four-year-old girl, officials say.
It is believed to be the first time they have broken up such a marriage as the wedding was taking place.
The arrested men - the father of the groom and a cleric who performed the ceremony - say the wedding was meant to end a feud between the two families.
Child marriages are more common in remote tribal areas of Pakistan.
In the latest case, family members of the children involved argued that they wanted them to get married in advance of their real wedding which will be held when the pair reach the marriageable age of 18.
Child marriages are strictly against the law in Pakistan.
Acting on a complaint, the police raided the ceremony in a northern neighbourhood of the port city of Karachi on Thursday evening.
It is suspected that the girl was being married off by her father for about 500,000 rupees ($6,138).
'Wedding vows'
Video footage of the marriage, shot by some television teams that accompanied the police, show the two children in bride and groom ceremonial outfits.
They started crying when the police raided the scene.
Mohammad Ismail, the father of the groom, told the media that he worked in Saudi Arabia and was not aware that Pakistani laws prohibited child marriages.
He said that he had agreed to the wedding following advice from family elders that it would put an end to an old feud his family had with the family of the bride.
The cleric who was called to supervise and record the exchange of wedding vows by the couple and to record the witnesses, told the media he did not know that he was being invited to a child marriage.
However, police say they have recovered the marriage certificate from the scene which had been duly filled in by the cleric - except for the age columns for the bride and the groom.
Child marriages are often performed to settle feuds or pay off debts but the authorities say they are determined to bring them to an end.
Health - C. diff testing 'is often wrong'
Many carriers of the potentially lethal Clostridium difficile bug are missed by unreliable tests, researchers say.
Analysis of 18 studies by St George's, University of London, found one test had wrongly given the all-clear to a quarter of those infected.
The variation in performance between the six tests studied could mean misleading infection rate comparisons between different hospitals.
The study was published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.
Bacteria balance
While deaths related to the "superbug" MRSA have shown falls in recent years, those related to Clostridium difficile are rising fast.
The bug is found naturally in the gut of approximately 3% of adults, and presents no threat as long as the normal balance of gut bacteria is maintained.
However, in weak or frail patients, particularly those on antibiotics, which can disrupt this balance, the bacterium can cause diarrhoea and severe inflammation of the bowel, which can be fatal.
Quick and accurate diagnosis is key, so that patients can be isolated, and other measures taken to try to control the spread of the bug to other vulnerable people.
Currently, a single test is used on a stool sample from the patient, looking for higher levels of a toxin produced by the active bacteria.
However, the London analysis suggests this may not be enough to find the right patients.
While most tests produce a small proportion of "false positives" and "false negatives", the percentage of cases missed ranged from 5% to just over 24.3%, and the percentage of "false positives" ranged from 3% to 45%.
Double test
Dr Timothy Planche, a clinician at St George's Healthcare NHS Trust, who led the study, said: "A false negative result could mean that infected patients don't get the right treatment and could pass the infection on to others.
"Conversely, patients receiving a false positive result may receive inappropriate treatment and be placed in wards along with infected patients, putting them at risk of contracting the infection."
He recommends improving the performance of the tests by using a second test to check the first one.
Most hospitals would tend to rely on just one variety of test, and this could skew any comparisons of C. diff rates between trusts.
Professor Richard James, from Nottingham University, said the "deficiencies" of current tests were a "serious problem".
He added: "Rapid molecular tests have recently been introduced for MRSA and will become available for C. difficile shortly, but they are more costly than the current tests used in the NHS.
"NHS microbiology laboratories have been under-resourced for many years, and will find it difficult to perform these more rapid tests unless the NHS takes a more holistic economic view that the benefits in reducing infections to both the NHS and society justify the extra costs of more rapid tests for serious infections such as C.difficile and MRSA."
Analysis of 18 studies by St George's, University of London, found one test had wrongly given the all-clear to a quarter of those infected.
The variation in performance between the six tests studied could mean misleading infection rate comparisons between different hospitals.
The study was published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.
Bacteria balance
While deaths related to the "superbug" MRSA have shown falls in recent years, those related to Clostridium difficile are rising fast.
The bug is found naturally in the gut of approximately 3% of adults, and presents no threat as long as the normal balance of gut bacteria is maintained.
However, in weak or frail patients, particularly those on antibiotics, which can disrupt this balance, the bacterium can cause diarrhoea and severe inflammation of the bowel, which can be fatal.
Quick and accurate diagnosis is key, so that patients can be isolated, and other measures taken to try to control the spread of the bug to other vulnerable people.
Currently, a single test is used on a stool sample from the patient, looking for higher levels of a toxin produced by the active bacteria.
However, the London analysis suggests this may not be enough to find the right patients.
While most tests produce a small proportion of "false positives" and "false negatives", the percentage of cases missed ranged from 5% to just over 24.3%, and the percentage of "false positives" ranged from 3% to 45%.
Double test
Dr Timothy Planche, a clinician at St George's Healthcare NHS Trust, who led the study, said: "A false negative result could mean that infected patients don't get the right treatment and could pass the infection on to others.
"Conversely, patients receiving a false positive result may receive inappropriate treatment and be placed in wards along with infected patients, putting them at risk of contracting the infection."
He recommends improving the performance of the tests by using a second test to check the first one.
Most hospitals would tend to rely on just one variety of test, and this could skew any comparisons of C. diff rates between trusts.
Professor Richard James, from Nottingham University, said the "deficiencies" of current tests were a "serious problem".
He added: "Rapid molecular tests have recently been introduced for MRSA and will become available for C. difficile shortly, but they are more costly than the current tests used in the NHS.
"NHS microbiology laboratories have been under-resourced for many years, and will find it difficult to perform these more rapid tests unless the NHS takes a more holistic economic view that the benefits in reducing infections to both the NHS and society justify the extra costs of more rapid tests for serious infections such as C.difficile and MRSA."
Lifestyle - Dig finds camp of 'real Crusoe'
Archaeologists have unearthed evidence of the campsite of a marooned sailor who is said to have inspired the fictional castaway Robinson Crusoe.
The findings, carried in the journal Post-Medieval Archaeology, follow digs on a Pacific island west of Chile.
Daniel Defoe is believed to have based Crusoe on Alexander Selkirk, a Scotsman rescued from the island in 1709.
Postholes suggest the sailor built two shelters near a stream, with a look-out point to watch for approaching ships.
The island used to be known as Aguas Buenas, but has been renamed Robinson Crusoe Island after the character created by Defoe in his 18th Century classic.
The team also unearthed a pair of navigational dividers from the period, which they believe belonged to Selkirk.
The captain of the ship which found Selkirk referred to a number of mathematical instruments in his possession.
He also spoke of Selkirk shooting wild goats to help his survival on the Pacific island, although there were no relics of that activity.
David Caldwell, from National Museums Scotland, said: "The evidence uncovered at Aguas Buenas corroborates the stories of Alexander Selkirk's stay on the island and provides a fascinating insight into his existence there.
"We hope that Aguas Buenas, with careful management, may be a site enjoyed by the increasing number of tourists searching for the inspiration behind Defoe's masterpiece."
The findings, carried in the journal Post-Medieval Archaeology, follow digs on a Pacific island west of Chile.
Daniel Defoe is believed to have based Crusoe on Alexander Selkirk, a Scotsman rescued from the island in 1709.
Postholes suggest the sailor built two shelters near a stream, with a look-out point to watch for approaching ships.
The island used to be known as Aguas Buenas, but has been renamed Robinson Crusoe Island after the character created by Defoe in his 18th Century classic.
The team also unearthed a pair of navigational dividers from the period, which they believe belonged to Selkirk.
The captain of the ship which found Selkirk referred to a number of mathematical instruments in his possession.
He also spoke of Selkirk shooting wild goats to help his survival on the Pacific island, although there were no relics of that activity.
David Caldwell, from National Museums Scotland, said: "The evidence uncovered at Aguas Buenas corroborates the stories of Alexander Selkirk's stay on the island and provides a fascinating insight into his existence there.
"We hope that Aguas Buenas, with careful management, may be a site enjoyed by the increasing number of tourists searching for the inspiration behind Defoe's masterpiece."
Entertainment - Michael denies Jackson 5 reunion
Singer Michael Jackson has denied that he is to take part in a Jackson 5 reunion tour.
In a statement, the 50-year-old said he had "no plans to record or tour" with his siblings.
The statement comes a day after elder brother Jermaine said Michael was on board with the project.
Rumours of a reunion have circulated for years with Jermaine suggesting similar things before, in 2003 and again last year.
"My brothers and sisters have my full love and support, and we've certainly shared many great experiences, but at this time I have no plans to record or tour with them," he said.
"I am now in the studio developing new and exciting projects that I look forward to sharing with my fans in concert soon," he added.
Jermaine Jackson told the Australian Associated Press on Wednesday that the singing family was working on the music and logistics for a tour next year.
"It is going to be more like a family affair - Janet's going to open and, of course, the original Jackson 5 ... Michael, Randy and the whole family... we're in the studio, we're planning on being out there next year," he said.
The last time the original members performed together was at a concert in 2001 to celebrate Michael Jackson's 30 years in music.
The group last toured in 1984 by which time Michael Jackson was a huge star in his own right
The Jacksons - featuring Tito, Marlon, Jackie, Jermaine, Michael and Randy - found fame in the 1970s with hits such as I Want You Back, ABC and Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground).
In a statement, the 50-year-old said he had "no plans to record or tour" with his siblings.
The statement comes a day after elder brother Jermaine said Michael was on board with the project.
Rumours of a reunion have circulated for years with Jermaine suggesting similar things before, in 2003 and again last year.
"My brothers and sisters have my full love and support, and we've certainly shared many great experiences, but at this time I have no plans to record or tour with them," he said.
"I am now in the studio developing new and exciting projects that I look forward to sharing with my fans in concert soon," he added.
Jermaine Jackson told the Australian Associated Press on Wednesday that the singing family was working on the music and logistics for a tour next year.
"It is going to be more like a family affair - Janet's going to open and, of course, the original Jackson 5 ... Michael, Randy and the whole family... we're in the studio, we're planning on being out there next year," he said.
The last time the original members performed together was at a concert in 2001 to celebrate Michael Jackson's 30 years in music.
The group last toured in 1984 by which time Michael Jackson was a huge star in his own right
The Jacksons - featuring Tito, Marlon, Jackie, Jermaine, Michael and Randy - found fame in the 1970s with hits such as I Want You Back, ABC and Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground).
World - Crucial battle on Pakistan frontline
Barbara Plett
BBC News, Bajaur
Entering the combat zone, we drive past mile after mile of flattened buildings, crops and trees, razed to prevent ambushes.
Even still, soldiers are on high alert, watchful for possible attacks.
They race down the road at top speed, firing occasional rounds from the guns mounted on the backs of their vehicles. Cobra attack helicopters circle overhead.
This is the tribal area of Bajaur near the Afghan border, or rather a small part of it.
The Pakistan army has wrested control of a 38km (24-mile) region from the Taleban, and it has given us rare access to the frontline.
We arrive in the town of Loi Sam, now in ruins. Militants here were targeted by the air force and artillery, followed by a ground offensive that lasted five days.
Civilians fled long ago - hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the fighting.
Key crossroads
A tank guards one of the approaches to the town, firing whenever there is movement in the distance.
Already a bulldozer has begun clearing away the blasted shells of buildings.
"You have to either occupy or remove the structures," says one soldier, "otherwise the militants will return to them once we've left."
Barbara Plett reports on fighting between Pakistani troops and Taleban-linked militants
For the army, this is a crucial victory: Loi Sam lies at a key crossroads between Afghanistan and Pakistan. From here local and Afghan insurgents could launch attacks in both countries.
"The militant activities from this tribal agency were radiating in different directions, towards Afghanistan, the rest of the border region and [Pakistan's] settled areas," says army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas.
"Now we have this area under control, it will affect militant activities elsewhere, and we'll capitalise on that."
"The worst is over," agrees Maj Gen Tariq Khan, who is in charge of the offensive. "I think we have turned the corner."
Guerrilla warfare
The battle has been slow and deliberate. It took six weeks for the army to secure the road from the headquarters of the local security forces, the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC), to Loi Sam, a distance of 13km.
Troops fought compound to compound in a terrain ideal for guerrilla warfare
Pakistan's PM calls for more US cooperation "There are road bends, there are depressions, there are houses located inside the depressions, trenches prepared, caves, tunnels, everything prepared," says Col Javed Baloch, commander of one of the posts along the road, "so it was difficult to find them, to spot them, and then take the area."
The Taleban has made extensive use of bunkers and tunnels which connected different compounds.
One commanding officer, Maj Kamal, took me 5m underground for a tour of the network.
He says his men blocked 20 or 30 passageways, including one that stretched 100m to a stream.
Many in Bajaur trace the roots of the uprising to a suspected US missile strike on an Islamic seminary, or madrassa, in November 2006, which killed around 80 people.
That radicalised local Islamists, they say, who were reinforced by militants from other Pakistani tribal areas. There was also an influx of fighters from Afghanistan.
The battle for Bajaur was triggered when the FC tried to re-establish a check post in Loi Sam in early August. Fierce resistance led to the siege of the FC base before the army was called in.
Like other army officers, Maj Gen Tariq Khan criticises unilateral US air strikes on suspected insurgent targets as deeply counter productive.
But, he says, during the Bajaur operation there has been improved intelligence sharing and co-ordination with coalition forces, which has reduced cross-border militant infiltration from Afghanistan. "We've seen practical on-ground adjustments in relevance to our operations," he says.
"I've got a very positive response and I feel we've set up some system in which we're in some kind of regular touch, and I think that's the way to go."
Hearts and minds
Now that the fighting has subsided, attention is turning to reconstruction and development: acknowledgement that winning hearts and minds in the impoverished tribal region along the border is essential to fighting the insurgency.
But that won't be enough, says Shafir Ullah, the government representative in Bajaur who deals with tribal elders.
"The reasons [for the insurgency] are poverty, backwardness and others, but the real problem is linked with Afghanistan," he says.
"Until and unless Afghanistan is made stable, you can do a million development activities in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and there will be no result."
The Taleban have been pushed back - the army claims it has killed 1,500 - but they haven't been defeated.
Two soldiers were killed by rocket fire in Loi Sam shortly after we left the town, bringing the army's death toll to 75. Nearly 100 civilians have also died, says Shafir Ullah.
One hillside post is so exposed to Taleban fire that the soldiers have dug in for protection.
Forty men can fit in the massive bunker at any one time, a few are saying their prayers and reciting the Koran in a makeshift underground mosque when we visit.
This is not a popular war in Pakistan: some have criticised the military for killing fellow Muslims.
Others accuse it of fighting "America's War". But the army insists it is fighting to defend Pakistan, not just responding to US pressure for action against the Taleban.
Even as dusk falls artillery guns continue to pound militant positions. The war in Afghanistan has spilled over into Pakistan.
This is the other, rarely seen, side of the battle against the Taleban
BBC News, Bajaur
Entering the combat zone, we drive past mile after mile of flattened buildings, crops and trees, razed to prevent ambushes.
Even still, soldiers are on high alert, watchful for possible attacks.
They race down the road at top speed, firing occasional rounds from the guns mounted on the backs of their vehicles. Cobra attack helicopters circle overhead.
This is the tribal area of Bajaur near the Afghan border, or rather a small part of it.
The Pakistan army has wrested control of a 38km (24-mile) region from the Taleban, and it has given us rare access to the frontline.
We arrive in the town of Loi Sam, now in ruins. Militants here were targeted by the air force and artillery, followed by a ground offensive that lasted five days.
Civilians fled long ago - hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the fighting.
Key crossroads
A tank guards one of the approaches to the town, firing whenever there is movement in the distance.
Already a bulldozer has begun clearing away the blasted shells of buildings.
"You have to either occupy or remove the structures," says one soldier, "otherwise the militants will return to them once we've left."
Barbara Plett reports on fighting between Pakistani troops and Taleban-linked militants
For the army, this is a crucial victory: Loi Sam lies at a key crossroads between Afghanistan and Pakistan. From here local and Afghan insurgents could launch attacks in both countries.
"The militant activities from this tribal agency were radiating in different directions, towards Afghanistan, the rest of the border region and [Pakistan's] settled areas," says army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas.
"Now we have this area under control, it will affect militant activities elsewhere, and we'll capitalise on that."
"The worst is over," agrees Maj Gen Tariq Khan, who is in charge of the offensive. "I think we have turned the corner."
Guerrilla warfare
The battle has been slow and deliberate. It took six weeks for the army to secure the road from the headquarters of the local security forces, the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC), to Loi Sam, a distance of 13km.
Troops fought compound to compound in a terrain ideal for guerrilla warfare
Pakistan's PM calls for more US cooperation "There are road bends, there are depressions, there are houses located inside the depressions, trenches prepared, caves, tunnels, everything prepared," says Col Javed Baloch, commander of one of the posts along the road, "so it was difficult to find them, to spot them, and then take the area."
The Taleban has made extensive use of bunkers and tunnels which connected different compounds.
One commanding officer, Maj Kamal, took me 5m underground for a tour of the network.
He says his men blocked 20 or 30 passageways, including one that stretched 100m to a stream.
Many in Bajaur trace the roots of the uprising to a suspected US missile strike on an Islamic seminary, or madrassa, in November 2006, which killed around 80 people.
That radicalised local Islamists, they say, who were reinforced by militants from other Pakistani tribal areas. There was also an influx of fighters from Afghanistan.
The battle for Bajaur was triggered when the FC tried to re-establish a check post in Loi Sam in early August. Fierce resistance led to the siege of the FC base before the army was called in.
Like other army officers, Maj Gen Tariq Khan criticises unilateral US air strikes on suspected insurgent targets as deeply counter productive.
But, he says, during the Bajaur operation there has been improved intelligence sharing and co-ordination with coalition forces, which has reduced cross-border militant infiltration from Afghanistan. "We've seen practical on-ground adjustments in relevance to our operations," he says.
"I've got a very positive response and I feel we've set up some system in which we're in some kind of regular touch, and I think that's the way to go."
Hearts and minds
Now that the fighting has subsided, attention is turning to reconstruction and development: acknowledgement that winning hearts and minds in the impoverished tribal region along the border is essential to fighting the insurgency.
But that won't be enough, says Shafir Ullah, the government representative in Bajaur who deals with tribal elders.
"The reasons [for the insurgency] are poverty, backwardness and others, but the real problem is linked with Afghanistan," he says.
"Until and unless Afghanistan is made stable, you can do a million development activities in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and there will be no result."
The Taleban have been pushed back - the army claims it has killed 1,500 - but they haven't been defeated.
Two soldiers were killed by rocket fire in Loi Sam shortly after we left the town, bringing the army's death toll to 75. Nearly 100 civilians have also died, says Shafir Ullah.
One hillside post is so exposed to Taleban fire that the soldiers have dug in for protection.
Forty men can fit in the massive bunker at any one time, a few are saying their prayers and reciting the Koran in a makeshift underground mosque when we visit.
This is not a popular war in Pakistan: some have criticised the military for killing fellow Muslims.
Others accuse it of fighting "America's War". But the army insists it is fighting to defend Pakistan, not just responding to US pressure for action against the Taleban.
Even as dusk falls artillery guns continue to pound militant positions. The war in Afghanistan has spilled over into Pakistan.
This is the other, rarely seen, side of the battle against the Taleban
Entertainment - Pulitzer winner Terkel dies at 96
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Studs Terkel has died at his home in Chicago, aged 96, his son has announced.
He was renowned for relating US history through personal stories from a cross-section of society in books such as Working and Division Street:America.
Born Louis Terkel, he won a Pulitzer in 1985 for his chronicling of World War II in his oral history, The Good War.
"My dad led a long, full, eventful, sometimes tempestuous, but very satisfying life," his son said.
For four decades, Studs Terkel entertained listeners on his Chicago-based radio show.
Born in 1912 in New York to Russian Jewish parents, Studs Terkel moved with his parents to Chicago, Illinois, eight years later where he spent most of his life.
His prodigious career spanned acting, writing and broadcasting, but it was for his oral histories that he became best-known.
In his 1970 book Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, the writer assembled recollections from across the socio-economic spectrum, from prison inmates to the wealthy.
Terkel's working methods were perhaps best illustrated by the subtitle of Working, published in 1974: "People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do".
He was renowned for relating US history through personal stories from a cross-section of society in books such as Working and Division Street:America.
Born Louis Terkel, he won a Pulitzer in 1985 for his chronicling of World War II in his oral history, The Good War.
"My dad led a long, full, eventful, sometimes tempestuous, but very satisfying life," his son said.
For four decades, Studs Terkel entertained listeners on his Chicago-based radio show.
Born in 1912 in New York to Russian Jewish parents, Studs Terkel moved with his parents to Chicago, Illinois, eight years later where he spent most of his life.
His prodigious career spanned acting, writing and broadcasting, but it was for his oral histories that he became best-known.
In his 1970 book Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, the writer assembled recollections from across the socio-economic spectrum, from prison inmates to the wealthy.
Terkel's working methods were perhaps best illustrated by the subtitle of Working, published in 1974: "People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do".
Lifestyle - Move over,my pretty,ugly is here
Sarah Kershaw
It would be close to impossible to tally all the magazine articles, scholarly treatises and philosophical works, reality shows and Internet sites, college courses, lectures and books devoted to the subject of beauty.
But what about ugliness?
It is an awkward topic, a wretched concept, really, and, of course, a terrible insult when flung in your direction.
When a woman once told Winston Churchill he was drunk, he is said to have replied: "And you, madam, are ugly. But I shall be sober tomorrow, whereas you will still be ugly."
Ugliness is associated with evil and fear, with villains and monsters: the Wicked Witch of the West, Freddy Krueger and Harry Potter's arch-meanie, Lord Voldemort, with his veiny skull, creepy slits in his nose for nostrils and rotten teeth.
There are the gentle souls, too, plagued through no fault of their own by their disturbing appearance: Dr. Frankenstein's monster, the Elephant Man and Shrek, who is ugly and green but in a cute way.
Ugliness has recently emerged as a serious subject of study and academic interest unto itself, in some small part because of the success of television's "Ugly Betty," which ABC promoted with a "Be Ugly" campaign stressing self-esteem for girls and young women. Sociologists, writers, lawyers and economists have begun to examine ugliness, suggesting that the subject has been marginalized in history and that discrimination against the unattractive, while difficult to document or prevent, is a quiet but widespread injustice.
Researchers who have tried to measure appearance discrimination, or "uglyism" and "looksism," and the impact of what they call the "beauty premium" and the "plainness penalty" on income, say that the time has come for ugly to peek out from beauty's shadow.
"It hasn't been politically correct to talk about uglyism," said Anthony Synnott, a professor of sociology at Concordia University in Montreal, who is publishing a paper next month on ugliness. "But there's no reason for us to think that beautiful people are actually good and ugly people evil, yet we do."
One pioneering study, "Beauty and the Labor Market,"; published in the American Economic Review in 1994, estimated that unattractive men and women earn five to 10 percent less than those considered attractive or beautiful, and that less attractive women marry men with less money.
Another study, in 2005, determined that the discrimination was consistent across occupations, so that even a computer programmer buried behind a desk could suffer from the plainness penalty.
"People who are physically attractive might develop better communication skills because the tendency is that from an early age they get more attention from all their caregivers, including their own mothers onward," said Tanya Rosenblat, an associate professor of economics at Iowa State University, and an author of the 2005 study, "Why Beauty Matters," published in the American Economic Review. The study tested how volunteers, in the role of employers, rated the ability of "employees" to complete computer mazes. The volunteers predicted that the more attractive employees could complete more of the mazes.
The study authors concluded that because attractiveness has no bearing on the ability to complete computer mazes — unlike a job in which beauty may be an occupational asset like retail sales — discrimination based on looks occurs across occupations.
Few laws prohibit employment discrimination based on lack of attractiveness, although some plaintiffs have pursued cases under broader statutes: a Vermont chambermaid who was missing her front teeth and was fired won a case against her employer when in 1992 the State Supreme Court upheld her suit, ruling that she was protected by the state's Fair Employment Practices Act.
Some cities, including Washington, San Francisco and Santa Cruz, California, have passed ordinances banning discrimination based on looks. But legal action on behalf of the unattractive can be complicated.
"One pitfall is the distinction between people's identities as members of a race or a religious group or gender versus as a member of a group of ugly people," said Sherry Colb, a law professor at Cornell. "Because of successful identity politics, people have come to identify profoundly with other kinds of groups — 'I am a Jew,' or 'a French person.' But it's not likely with 'I am an ugly person and let's have a meeting of all ugly people.' Most people in general would want to disclaim membership. It's like declaring yourself a member of the clueless."
Defining ugliness is difficult. Beyond a predictable visceral response to cartoon ogres or Halloween witches, is there any agreement on what makes someone or something ugly? Warts and scars? Hook noses and beady eyes? Social scientists investigating beauty have found that people across age groups, races and cultures tend to agree on what constitutes facial attraction; but there is no corresponding body of study that measures homeliness. Synnott of Concordia University, who has written and taught courses on beauty for more than a decade, was recently contacted by an online journal to contribute another article on the topic. But he suggested instead that he write about the neglected topic of ugliness.
In his article, "Ugliness, Visibility and the Invisible Prejudice," to appear next month in the first issue Glimpses Journal, Synnott notes that judgments about appearance imply values about good and evil — the "halo-horns effect." These conclusions are "false, unfair, dangerous and silly; yet it is perpetuated by our language, literature, media, many philosophers and our simple binary perspectives," Synnott writes in his paper. Many colloquialisms, like "beauty is only skin deep," suggest that there is collective acknowledgment that the fixation on physical beauty is superficial," Synnott writes.
By contrast, the phrase "ugliness is only skin deep," is rarely heard, Synnott said, adding that the booming cosmetic surgery industry underscores the plainness prejudice.
"Beautiful people are considered to be more intelligent, sexier, more trustworthy and they have more partners," Synnott said. "And this implies that ugly people are assumed to be less trustworthy and less intelligent."
Last year, the Italian novelist and critic Umberto Eco published "On Ugliness," a 450-page book largely devoted to ugliness in art.
"In every century, philosophers and artists have supplied definitions of beauty, and thanks to their works it is possible to reconstruct a history of aesthetic ideas over time," the author writes in his introduction. "But this did not happen with ugliness. Most of the time it was defined as the opposite of beauty but almost no one ever devoted a treatise of any length to ugliness, which was relegated to passing mentions in marginal works."
In "On Ugliness," Eco addresses the fascination in painting, sculpture, poetry and literature with the grotesque and disgusting, chronicling formulations of ugliness from Plato to punk rock. His subjects include witches and monsters, as well as "the Avant-Garde and the triumph of ugliness," in which he points out that the general public was once scandalized by the deformed images of women in Picasso's paintings and other art works, but eventually they gained universal acceptance.
"What will be appreciated tomorrow as great art could seem distasteful today," Eco writes.
The popularity of "Ugly Betty," which made its debut in 2006, has spawned a wide conversation about whether the show portends a greater tolerance in society for the unattractive. ABC's "Be Ugly" campaign last year, urged women and girls to "Be real, be smart, be passionate, be true to yourself and be ugly."
More recently, the producers of "Shrek the Musical," which is coming to Broadway, adopted another up-with-homely tagline, "Bringing Ugly Back."
Researching the phenomenon of "Ugly Betty," Madeleine Shufeldt Esch, an adjunct assistant professor in communications at Tulane, contributed a paper, "Ugly Is the New Beautiful," to a meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Media.
"The show's willingness to challenge conventional notions of beauty has been championed by audiences and television critics," Esch wrote. "It has been pegged as part of a larger shift away from the unreal perfection of stick-thin and airbrushed models and the fashion fetishism of the 'Sex and the City' set."
"Anytime that there are images that show diversity of acceptable appearances, that's a positive thing," Esch said. "Even if Betty isn't what we could call ugly, by any objective standard."
Indeed, the show's star, America Ferrara, is universally considered attractive. She makes a Cinderella transformation from a frizzy-haired character with braces and too-tight clothing into a conventional Hollywood beauty whenever she appears on a red carpet or magazine cover.
For this reason, some critics have labeled the "Be Ugly" campaign as a marketing ploy, and they argue that the show has done little to increase acceptance of the homely. On the contrary, American society continues to move aggressively in the opposite direction, critics say, placing an ever-higher importance on beauty.
Synnott, among others, attributed the growth of the $13 billion cosmetic-surgery industry, in part, to a deep and widely held fear of ugliness. The distaste is reinforced by the increasing possibility of altering the appearance of one's face and body through medicine, hygiene and nutrition. A ceaseless stream of mass media imagery extols physical perfection, they say.
Synnott, Esch and others said that despite growing attention to discrimination based on appearances, the majority of messages in society continue to shout, in essence, "Don't be ugly."
"I think there was a brief ugly moment," Esch said. "But it may have been a passing fancy."
It would be close to impossible to tally all the magazine articles, scholarly treatises and philosophical works, reality shows and Internet sites, college courses, lectures and books devoted to the subject of beauty.
But what about ugliness?
It is an awkward topic, a wretched concept, really, and, of course, a terrible insult when flung in your direction.
When a woman once told Winston Churchill he was drunk, he is said to have replied: "And you, madam, are ugly. But I shall be sober tomorrow, whereas you will still be ugly."
Ugliness is associated with evil and fear, with villains and monsters: the Wicked Witch of the West, Freddy Krueger and Harry Potter's arch-meanie, Lord Voldemort, with his veiny skull, creepy slits in his nose for nostrils and rotten teeth.
There are the gentle souls, too, plagued through no fault of their own by their disturbing appearance: Dr. Frankenstein's monster, the Elephant Man and Shrek, who is ugly and green but in a cute way.
Ugliness has recently emerged as a serious subject of study and academic interest unto itself, in some small part because of the success of television's "Ugly Betty," which ABC promoted with a "Be Ugly" campaign stressing self-esteem for girls and young women. Sociologists, writers, lawyers and economists have begun to examine ugliness, suggesting that the subject has been marginalized in history and that discrimination against the unattractive, while difficult to document or prevent, is a quiet but widespread injustice.
Researchers who have tried to measure appearance discrimination, or "uglyism" and "looksism," and the impact of what they call the "beauty premium" and the "plainness penalty" on income, say that the time has come for ugly to peek out from beauty's shadow.
"It hasn't been politically correct to talk about uglyism," said Anthony Synnott, a professor of sociology at Concordia University in Montreal, who is publishing a paper next month on ugliness. "But there's no reason for us to think that beautiful people are actually good and ugly people evil, yet we do."
One pioneering study, "Beauty and the Labor Market,"; published in the American Economic Review in 1994, estimated that unattractive men and women earn five to 10 percent less than those considered attractive or beautiful, and that less attractive women marry men with less money.
Another study, in 2005, determined that the discrimination was consistent across occupations, so that even a computer programmer buried behind a desk could suffer from the plainness penalty.
"People who are physically attractive might develop better communication skills because the tendency is that from an early age they get more attention from all their caregivers, including their own mothers onward," said Tanya Rosenblat, an associate professor of economics at Iowa State University, and an author of the 2005 study, "Why Beauty Matters," published in the American Economic Review. The study tested how volunteers, in the role of employers, rated the ability of "employees" to complete computer mazes. The volunteers predicted that the more attractive employees could complete more of the mazes.
The study authors concluded that because attractiveness has no bearing on the ability to complete computer mazes — unlike a job in which beauty may be an occupational asset like retail sales — discrimination based on looks occurs across occupations.
Few laws prohibit employment discrimination based on lack of attractiveness, although some plaintiffs have pursued cases under broader statutes: a Vermont chambermaid who was missing her front teeth and was fired won a case against her employer when in 1992 the State Supreme Court upheld her suit, ruling that she was protected by the state's Fair Employment Practices Act.
Some cities, including Washington, San Francisco and Santa Cruz, California, have passed ordinances banning discrimination based on looks. But legal action on behalf of the unattractive can be complicated.
"One pitfall is the distinction between people's identities as members of a race or a religious group or gender versus as a member of a group of ugly people," said Sherry Colb, a law professor at Cornell. "Because of successful identity politics, people have come to identify profoundly with other kinds of groups — 'I am a Jew,' or 'a French person.' But it's not likely with 'I am an ugly person and let's have a meeting of all ugly people.' Most people in general would want to disclaim membership. It's like declaring yourself a member of the clueless."
Defining ugliness is difficult. Beyond a predictable visceral response to cartoon ogres or Halloween witches, is there any agreement on what makes someone or something ugly? Warts and scars? Hook noses and beady eyes? Social scientists investigating beauty have found that people across age groups, races and cultures tend to agree on what constitutes facial attraction; but there is no corresponding body of study that measures homeliness. Synnott of Concordia University, who has written and taught courses on beauty for more than a decade, was recently contacted by an online journal to contribute another article on the topic. But he suggested instead that he write about the neglected topic of ugliness.
In his article, "Ugliness, Visibility and the Invisible Prejudice," to appear next month in the first issue Glimpses Journal, Synnott notes that judgments about appearance imply values about good and evil — the "halo-horns effect." These conclusions are "false, unfair, dangerous and silly; yet it is perpetuated by our language, literature, media, many philosophers and our simple binary perspectives," Synnott writes in his paper. Many colloquialisms, like "beauty is only skin deep," suggest that there is collective acknowledgment that the fixation on physical beauty is superficial," Synnott writes.
By contrast, the phrase "ugliness is only skin deep," is rarely heard, Synnott said, adding that the booming cosmetic surgery industry underscores the plainness prejudice.
"Beautiful people are considered to be more intelligent, sexier, more trustworthy and they have more partners," Synnott said. "And this implies that ugly people are assumed to be less trustworthy and less intelligent."
Last year, the Italian novelist and critic Umberto Eco published "On Ugliness," a 450-page book largely devoted to ugliness in art.
"In every century, philosophers and artists have supplied definitions of beauty, and thanks to their works it is possible to reconstruct a history of aesthetic ideas over time," the author writes in his introduction. "But this did not happen with ugliness. Most of the time it was defined as the opposite of beauty but almost no one ever devoted a treatise of any length to ugliness, which was relegated to passing mentions in marginal works."
In "On Ugliness," Eco addresses the fascination in painting, sculpture, poetry and literature with the grotesque and disgusting, chronicling formulations of ugliness from Plato to punk rock. His subjects include witches and monsters, as well as "the Avant-Garde and the triumph of ugliness," in which he points out that the general public was once scandalized by the deformed images of women in Picasso's paintings and other art works, but eventually they gained universal acceptance.
"What will be appreciated tomorrow as great art could seem distasteful today," Eco writes.
The popularity of "Ugly Betty," which made its debut in 2006, has spawned a wide conversation about whether the show portends a greater tolerance in society for the unattractive. ABC's "Be Ugly" campaign last year, urged women and girls to "Be real, be smart, be passionate, be true to yourself and be ugly."
More recently, the producers of "Shrek the Musical," which is coming to Broadway, adopted another up-with-homely tagline, "Bringing Ugly Back."
Researching the phenomenon of "Ugly Betty," Madeleine Shufeldt Esch, an adjunct assistant professor in communications at Tulane, contributed a paper, "Ugly Is the New Beautiful," to a meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Media.
"The show's willingness to challenge conventional notions of beauty has been championed by audiences and television critics," Esch wrote. "It has been pegged as part of a larger shift away from the unreal perfection of stick-thin and airbrushed models and the fashion fetishism of the 'Sex and the City' set."
"Anytime that there are images that show diversity of acceptable appearances, that's a positive thing," Esch said. "Even if Betty isn't what we could call ugly, by any objective standard."
Indeed, the show's star, America Ferrara, is universally considered attractive. She makes a Cinderella transformation from a frizzy-haired character with braces and too-tight clothing into a conventional Hollywood beauty whenever she appears on a red carpet or magazine cover.
For this reason, some critics have labeled the "Be Ugly" campaign as a marketing ploy, and they argue that the show has done little to increase acceptance of the homely. On the contrary, American society continues to move aggressively in the opposite direction, critics say, placing an ever-higher importance on beauty.
Synnott, among others, attributed the growth of the $13 billion cosmetic-surgery industry, in part, to a deep and widely held fear of ugliness. The distaste is reinforced by the increasing possibility of altering the appearance of one's face and body through medicine, hygiene and nutrition. A ceaseless stream of mass media imagery extols physical perfection, they say.
Synnott, Esch and others said that despite growing attention to discrimination based on appearances, the majority of messages in society continue to shout, in essence, "Don't be ugly."
"I think there was a brief ugly moment," Esch said. "But it may have been a passing fancy."
Lifestyle - Dusseldorf adding luxury homes
Sara Seddon-Kilbinger
For years, Düsseldorf has been best known for its fashion and trade fairs. But as more international companies move in and its economic position goes from strength to strength, this city at the center of the Rhine-Ruhr industrial region is jumping aboard the luxury housing bandwagon with some unexpected results.
There are around €700 million worth, or more than $885 million, of housing projects being built there - totaling around 153,000 square meters, or almost 1.65 million square feet - many of which are upmarket, according to the real estate consultancy Dr. Lübke in Frankfurt.
"This growth is driven by several factors, including Düsseldorf's emergence as an increasingly international city," said Christian Dillenberger, managing director of Dr. Lübke in Düsseldorf. "Also, there is a move to re-embrace 'city life' with more and more people choosing to live in the city center rather than in the suburbs."
Düsseldorf's housing boom is more pronounced than those in other second-tier German cities because of the combination of its economic strength - the city rapidly reinvented itself after it was badly damaged in World War II, and it successfully paid off all its debts last year - and because there are millions of people living in the region, said Uwe Willer, managing director of investment at the real estate agency Savills in Germany.
"It is less than 30 minutes away from other cities, such as Cologne, and there are around 12 million inhabitants within a one-hour radius of Düsseldorf, which is also driving growth for top-end homes," Willer said.
Despite the continuing turbulence in the world's real estate and financial markets, Düsseldorf's upmarket housing sector has been holding up well so far, largely because such houses are rare, said Sascha Hettrich, a managing partner of the real estate advisory company King Sturge, in Berlin.
Overall, the German residential market has been holding up better than many others in Europe because most prices have remained flat over the past decade, as cheap rentals made it more attractive for many people to rent than to buy, keeping house prices in check.
That is in stark contrast to markets like Britain, Spain and Ireland, where the price of many homes doubled from 2000 to 2007 and now are falling sharply.
"In Düsseldorf and markets such as Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt, prices for exclusive homes are rising because demand is greater than supply," said Kai Enders, managing director of the agency Engel & Völkers Residential, in Hamburg. "The more exclusive the location, the higher the rise in prices."
Düsseldorf is seen as offering good value for money, with many upmarket homes starting at €5,000 a square meter, or $580 a square foot. That is far less than in Munich, where similar homes cost upwards of €10,000 a square meter, according to Savills.
Many businesses, like the pharmaceutical company Henkel, have their headquarters in Düsseldorf. In addition, there are numerous law firms, drawn by the city's High Court, which also fuel real estate demand, Enders said.
The city's airport expansion is also a factor, said Boris Griesshaber, a partner at the Düsseldorf developer Robiné Projektmanagement.
"The airport is being extensively expanded, including 250,000 square meters of offices, which will also boost demand for upmarket homes," he said.
Popular residential areas include Kaiserswerth in the north, Niederkassel in the west and the Zoo quarter in the center, Griesshaber said. These areas have several parks, which gives them a leafy appearance and makes them popular with families.
Single urban professionals often prefer Oberkassel, slightly west of the city center, because of its good infrastructure and wide range of restaurants and shops.
Exclusive homes in these areas typically start from €5,000 a square meter, Griesshaber said.
The rapidly expanding Media Harbor, an area just south of the city center that is home to many media companies, also is becoming popular, and a number of luxury developments are planned there.
The area already benefits from a number of architecturally imposing buildings by the likes of Frank Gehry, Steven Holl and David Chipperfield. Now, the German developer Frankonia Eurobau will start work later this year on its Königskinder project, meaning "King's children," which encompasses two luxury residential towers. As the name suggests, it pays homage to a prince and princess with sculptures on the roofs.
"We got our inspiration from a German fairytale about a prince and a princess who are separated," said Alexander Schmitz, head of Frankonia's Düsseldorf office. "Our sculptures, which will be made of steel and several meters high, will stand facing each other on the two roofs,"
When completed in 2010, the two towers will have a total of about 80 apartments and lofts, ranging from 100 square meters to 400 square meters. Prices for the apartments, which will include concierge service, have not been determined, Schmitz said.
"Media Harbor is going to be a real hit," said Dillenberger of Dr. Lübke. "The architecture is very stylish and there are some restaurants to rival top restaurants in world cities such as London."
Near the zoo, in the city center, construction also is increasing. The developer Bema Rheinland Projekte is working on 85 luxury apartments overlooking the neighboring park in Graf-Recke Street. They will range from 75 square meters to 200 square meters, with prices likely to be €4,000 to €7,000 a square meter, said Fabian Maus at Bema, who is working on the project. Construction started this month and is due to be completed by mid-2010, he said.
There is also a growing trend of developing townhouses that can be divided into apartments. Robiné Projektmanagement is developing three townhouses, each with four to five apartments of around 200 square meters, on Cecilienallee on the eastern side of the Rhine. Two have just been completed and the third is expected to be finished by May. Each apartment comes with a price tag of around €1.1 million, according to Griesshaber at Robiné.
Robiné Projektmanagement will shortly start work on a townhouse development in Oberkassel, which will be divided up into four apartments of around 200 square meters each. The luxury apartments, with a view of the Rhine, are expected to be finished by the end of next year and will be offered for sale at about €2 million.
Apartments in townhouses appeal to chief executives and also to owners of large homes who want to downsize, Griesshaber said.
For years, Düsseldorf has been best known for its fashion and trade fairs. But as more international companies move in and its economic position goes from strength to strength, this city at the center of the Rhine-Ruhr industrial region is jumping aboard the luxury housing bandwagon with some unexpected results.
There are around €700 million worth, or more than $885 million, of housing projects being built there - totaling around 153,000 square meters, or almost 1.65 million square feet - many of which are upmarket, according to the real estate consultancy Dr. Lübke in Frankfurt.
"This growth is driven by several factors, including Düsseldorf's emergence as an increasingly international city," said Christian Dillenberger, managing director of Dr. Lübke in Düsseldorf. "Also, there is a move to re-embrace 'city life' with more and more people choosing to live in the city center rather than in the suburbs."
Düsseldorf's housing boom is more pronounced than those in other second-tier German cities because of the combination of its economic strength - the city rapidly reinvented itself after it was badly damaged in World War II, and it successfully paid off all its debts last year - and because there are millions of people living in the region, said Uwe Willer, managing director of investment at the real estate agency Savills in Germany.
"It is less than 30 minutes away from other cities, such as Cologne, and there are around 12 million inhabitants within a one-hour radius of Düsseldorf, which is also driving growth for top-end homes," Willer said.
Despite the continuing turbulence in the world's real estate and financial markets, Düsseldorf's upmarket housing sector has been holding up well so far, largely because such houses are rare, said Sascha Hettrich, a managing partner of the real estate advisory company King Sturge, in Berlin.
Overall, the German residential market has been holding up better than many others in Europe because most prices have remained flat over the past decade, as cheap rentals made it more attractive for many people to rent than to buy, keeping house prices in check.
That is in stark contrast to markets like Britain, Spain and Ireland, where the price of many homes doubled from 2000 to 2007 and now are falling sharply.
"In Düsseldorf and markets such as Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt, prices for exclusive homes are rising because demand is greater than supply," said Kai Enders, managing director of the agency Engel & Völkers Residential, in Hamburg. "The more exclusive the location, the higher the rise in prices."
Düsseldorf is seen as offering good value for money, with many upmarket homes starting at €5,000 a square meter, or $580 a square foot. That is far less than in Munich, where similar homes cost upwards of €10,000 a square meter, according to Savills.
Many businesses, like the pharmaceutical company Henkel, have their headquarters in Düsseldorf. In addition, there are numerous law firms, drawn by the city's High Court, which also fuel real estate demand, Enders said.
The city's airport expansion is also a factor, said Boris Griesshaber, a partner at the Düsseldorf developer Robiné Projektmanagement.
"The airport is being extensively expanded, including 250,000 square meters of offices, which will also boost demand for upmarket homes," he said.
Popular residential areas include Kaiserswerth in the north, Niederkassel in the west and the Zoo quarter in the center, Griesshaber said. These areas have several parks, which gives them a leafy appearance and makes them popular with families.
Single urban professionals often prefer Oberkassel, slightly west of the city center, because of its good infrastructure and wide range of restaurants and shops.
Exclusive homes in these areas typically start from €5,000 a square meter, Griesshaber said.
The rapidly expanding Media Harbor, an area just south of the city center that is home to many media companies, also is becoming popular, and a number of luxury developments are planned there.
The area already benefits from a number of architecturally imposing buildings by the likes of Frank Gehry, Steven Holl and David Chipperfield. Now, the German developer Frankonia Eurobau will start work later this year on its Königskinder project, meaning "King's children," which encompasses two luxury residential towers. As the name suggests, it pays homage to a prince and princess with sculptures on the roofs.
"We got our inspiration from a German fairytale about a prince and a princess who are separated," said Alexander Schmitz, head of Frankonia's Düsseldorf office. "Our sculptures, which will be made of steel and several meters high, will stand facing each other on the two roofs,"
When completed in 2010, the two towers will have a total of about 80 apartments and lofts, ranging from 100 square meters to 400 square meters. Prices for the apartments, which will include concierge service, have not been determined, Schmitz said.
"Media Harbor is going to be a real hit," said Dillenberger of Dr. Lübke. "The architecture is very stylish and there are some restaurants to rival top restaurants in world cities such as London."
Near the zoo, in the city center, construction also is increasing. The developer Bema Rheinland Projekte is working on 85 luxury apartments overlooking the neighboring park in Graf-Recke Street. They will range from 75 square meters to 200 square meters, with prices likely to be €4,000 to €7,000 a square meter, said Fabian Maus at Bema, who is working on the project. Construction started this month and is due to be completed by mid-2010, he said.
There is also a growing trend of developing townhouses that can be divided into apartments. Robiné Projektmanagement is developing three townhouses, each with four to five apartments of around 200 square meters, on Cecilienallee on the eastern side of the Rhine. Two have just been completed and the third is expected to be finished by May. Each apartment comes with a price tag of around €1.1 million, according to Griesshaber at Robiné.
Robiné Projektmanagement will shortly start work on a townhouse development in Oberkassel, which will be divided up into four apartments of around 200 square meters each. The luxury apartments, with a view of the Rhine, are expected to be finished by the end of next year and will be offered for sale at about €2 million.
Apartments in townhouses appeal to chief executives and also to owners of large homes who want to downsize, Griesshaber said.
Entertainment - MTV cuts deal to use Beatles songs in video game
MTV Networks announced a deal Thursday to use songs by the Beatles in a custom video game similar to its popular "Rock Band" games, the first major appearance of the defunct band's songs in the digital arena.
There is no set sale price for the game, which is scheduled to be released worldwide in about a year, said MTV Networks and Apple Corps, the company that handles the Beatles' commercial interests.
The companies released few details about the game, which will be a custom video game and not a "Rock Band" game, saying that the interactive music game was still in development.
"Rock Band" was developed by Harmonix, which is owned by Viacom, and published by Electronic Arts. It competes against "Guitar Hero," which is made by Activision Blizzard and lets fans play plastic guitars along with music on television screens.
Jeff Jones, chief executive of Apple Corps, said the new game would use music from the Beatles' entire career.
MTV Networks, which is also owned by Viacom, said the game was conceived with the creative input of the former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and by the wives the two Beatles who have died, Yoko Ono Lennon, the wife of John Lennon, and Olivia Harrison, the wife of George Harrison.
"The project is a fun idea which broadens the appeal of the Beatles and their music," McCartney said in a statement. "I like people having the opportunity to get to know the music from the inside out."
Starr said the Beatles' legacy "will find its natural progression into the 21st century through the computerized world we live in. Let the games commence."
There is no set sale price for the game, which is scheduled to be released worldwide in about a year, said MTV Networks and Apple Corps, the company that handles the Beatles' commercial interests.
The companies released few details about the game, which will be a custom video game and not a "Rock Band" game, saying that the interactive music game was still in development.
"Rock Band" was developed by Harmonix, which is owned by Viacom, and published by Electronic Arts. It competes against "Guitar Hero," which is made by Activision Blizzard and lets fans play plastic guitars along with music on television screens.
Jeff Jones, chief executive of Apple Corps, said the new game would use music from the Beatles' entire career.
MTV Networks, which is also owned by Viacom, said the game was conceived with the creative input of the former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and by the wives the two Beatles who have died, Yoko Ono Lennon, the wife of John Lennon, and Olivia Harrison, the wife of George Harrison.
"The project is a fun idea which broadens the appeal of the Beatles and their music," McCartney said in a statement. "I like people having the opportunity to get to know the music from the inside out."
Starr said the Beatles' legacy "will find its natural progression into the 21st century through the computerized world we live in. Let the games commence."
World - Afghanistan;Not my grandfather's country (G.Read)
Fatima Ayub
A suicide bomber attacked the Ministry of Information and Culture today. The building, decrepit though still in use after Afghanistan's many wars, was blown apart.
It was just another security incident in Afghanistan's downward spiral, except that my grandfather, 35 years ago, served as head of this ministry, shortly before Afghanistan fell prey to revolutions, occupation and endless war. The contrast between Afghanistan then - progressing, optimistic - and Afghanistan today - violent, besieged, uncertain - could not be sharper, or more disheartening.
Once upon a time, Afghanistan was on the cusp of change. A spell of reform before Mohammad Daoud Shah's 1973 coup seemed to promise a new and better future. But it was merely a last breath of air before an unrelenting choke hold of war and violence.
My grandfather, an outspoken journalist and proponent of political freedoms, was taken prisoner for two years at Kabul's infamous Pul-e-Charkhi prison during the upheavals following the 1978 Communist coup.
Lucky to be released with his life under a surprise political amnesty, my grandfather fled. The rest of my family - parents, aunts, uncles - trickled out over the months and years following the 1979 Soviet invasion. Using forged documents and passports, hiring traffickers, my parents followed my grandfather to Pakistan, then to Germany, and finally to the United States.
From Soviet occupation, Afghanistan plunged into civil war, snuffing out the flickering hopes my grandfather had for returning to work in Afghanistan.
In my childhood, Afghanistan was only an idea, a place "over there," with war and orphans and mujahedin. It was no place I ever intended to visit, and it carried an indefinable mythical quality. Thousands of Afghans in the diaspora were desperate to visit their homeland after the fall of the Taliban in 2001; my parents were not among them. Friends of mine went and came back; some spent several years working under the new transitional government or with international agencies.
Precious few Afghans from the diaspora come to Afghanistan anymore now that the original allure has faded into the ever-thickening mists of war.
I never "returned" to Afghanistan, as I had never left. I simply came. Traveling to Afghanistan in 2007 for the first time as a researcher for a human rights organization, I came with no sense of national pride or longing for the land of my ancestors, but merely the same sense of curious wonderment that endured from childhood.
Though I came with no expectation, I could not and cannot easily process the realities of life in Afghanistan. Crushing poverty, growing violence, inept governance and the corresponding collapse of hope suggest a grim future for the average person in Afghanistan today.
The general consensus, after seven years of a haphazard nation-building process, is that the country is now more violent and conflicted than before the fall of the Taliban. Kabul, formerly a safe haven, is now rocked by violence that was inconceivable four years ago.
That the insurgency, once limited to the Afghan-Pakistani border, has literally infiltrated the halls of government is explosive in more ways than one. Last year, much of the debate in the international community was whether Afghanistan had reached a turning point. They should not have to look any further for an answer. Afghanistan has again turned a corner, but it has not been for better.
No doubt, in the last seven years, Afghanistan has seen a number of luminaries, thinkers and activists dedicated to meaningful, lasting development and political progress - not simply for the benefit of their own ethnic group or region, but for every citizen of the nation. They are and will remain in the minority.
The international community in Afghanistan still fails to acknowledge its first critical missteps, as early as 2001 and 2002. Supporting a heavily centralized government in Kabul, failing to encourage the growth of legitimate government at the local level and drawing former paramilitary leaders - many of whom are accused of widespread human rights abuses - to posts of power , the international advisors in Afghanistan undermined themselves from the outset.
No one, goes the constant refrain among Afghans, wants to live in a country ruled by thieves, murderers and criminals. In no small part, this reckless insurgency owes its survival to the corrupt and inefficient apparatus that is the Afghan government.
Tonight, almost exactly eight years to the day of my grandfather's passing, I stand disconsolately in front of the Ministry of Information and Culture, its windows shattered and dark, its entrance blown open. Thirty-five years after my grandfather walked through the halls of this very building, I try to resurrect his vision and his pains for his country. I find only death and dust.
Fatima Ayub is a researcher on human rights in Afghanistan. Her grandfather, Sabahuddin Kushkaki, served as minister of information and culture in 1972-1973 under Prime Minister Musa Shafiq.
A suicide bomber attacked the Ministry of Information and Culture today. The building, decrepit though still in use after Afghanistan's many wars, was blown apart.
It was just another security incident in Afghanistan's downward spiral, except that my grandfather, 35 years ago, served as head of this ministry, shortly before Afghanistan fell prey to revolutions, occupation and endless war. The contrast between Afghanistan then - progressing, optimistic - and Afghanistan today - violent, besieged, uncertain - could not be sharper, or more disheartening.
Once upon a time, Afghanistan was on the cusp of change. A spell of reform before Mohammad Daoud Shah's 1973 coup seemed to promise a new and better future. But it was merely a last breath of air before an unrelenting choke hold of war and violence.
My grandfather, an outspoken journalist and proponent of political freedoms, was taken prisoner for two years at Kabul's infamous Pul-e-Charkhi prison during the upheavals following the 1978 Communist coup.
Lucky to be released with his life under a surprise political amnesty, my grandfather fled. The rest of my family - parents, aunts, uncles - trickled out over the months and years following the 1979 Soviet invasion. Using forged documents and passports, hiring traffickers, my parents followed my grandfather to Pakistan, then to Germany, and finally to the United States.
From Soviet occupation, Afghanistan plunged into civil war, snuffing out the flickering hopes my grandfather had for returning to work in Afghanistan.
In my childhood, Afghanistan was only an idea, a place "over there," with war and orphans and mujahedin. It was no place I ever intended to visit, and it carried an indefinable mythical quality. Thousands of Afghans in the diaspora were desperate to visit their homeland after the fall of the Taliban in 2001; my parents were not among them. Friends of mine went and came back; some spent several years working under the new transitional government or with international agencies.
Precious few Afghans from the diaspora come to Afghanistan anymore now that the original allure has faded into the ever-thickening mists of war.
I never "returned" to Afghanistan, as I had never left. I simply came. Traveling to Afghanistan in 2007 for the first time as a researcher for a human rights organization, I came with no sense of national pride or longing for the land of my ancestors, but merely the same sense of curious wonderment that endured from childhood.
Though I came with no expectation, I could not and cannot easily process the realities of life in Afghanistan. Crushing poverty, growing violence, inept governance and the corresponding collapse of hope suggest a grim future for the average person in Afghanistan today.
The general consensus, after seven years of a haphazard nation-building process, is that the country is now more violent and conflicted than before the fall of the Taliban. Kabul, formerly a safe haven, is now rocked by violence that was inconceivable four years ago.
That the insurgency, once limited to the Afghan-Pakistani border, has literally infiltrated the halls of government is explosive in more ways than one. Last year, much of the debate in the international community was whether Afghanistan had reached a turning point. They should not have to look any further for an answer. Afghanistan has again turned a corner, but it has not been for better.
No doubt, in the last seven years, Afghanistan has seen a number of luminaries, thinkers and activists dedicated to meaningful, lasting development and political progress - not simply for the benefit of their own ethnic group or region, but for every citizen of the nation. They are and will remain in the minority.
The international community in Afghanistan still fails to acknowledge its first critical missteps, as early as 2001 and 2002. Supporting a heavily centralized government in Kabul, failing to encourage the growth of legitimate government at the local level and drawing former paramilitary leaders - many of whom are accused of widespread human rights abuses - to posts of power , the international advisors in Afghanistan undermined themselves from the outset.
No one, goes the constant refrain among Afghans, wants to live in a country ruled by thieves, murderers and criminals. In no small part, this reckless insurgency owes its survival to the corrupt and inefficient apparatus that is the Afghan government.
Tonight, almost exactly eight years to the day of my grandfather's passing, I stand disconsolately in front of the Ministry of Information and Culture, its windows shattered and dark, its entrance blown open. Thirty-five years after my grandfather walked through the halls of this very building, I try to resurrect his vision and his pains for his country. I find only death and dust.
Fatima Ayub is a researcher on human rights in Afghanistan. Her grandfather, Sabahuddin Kushkaki, served as minister of information and culture in 1972-1973 under Prime Minister Musa Shafiq.
Columnists - Paul Krugman;When consumers capitulate (G.Read)
The long-feared capitulation of American consumers has arrived. According to Thursday's GDP report, real consumer spending fell at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the third quarter; real spending on durable goods (stuff like cars and TVs) fell at an annual rate of 14 percent.
To appreciate the significance of these numbers, you need to know that American consumers almost never cut spending. Consumer demand kept rising right through the 2001 recession; the last time it fell even for a single quarter was in 1991, and there hasn't been a decline this steep since 1980, when the economy was suffering from a severe recession combined with double-digit inflation.
Also, these numbers are from the third quarter - the months of July, August, and September. So these data are basically telling us what happened before confidence collapsed after the fall of Lehman Brothers in mid-September, not to mention before the Dow plunged below 10,000. Nor do the data show the full effects of the sharp cutback in the availability of consumer credit, which is still under way.
So this looks like the beginning of a very big change in consumer behavior. And it couldn't have come at a worse time.
It's true that American consumers have long been living beyond their means. In the mid-1980s Americans saved about 10 percent of their income. Lately, however, the savings rate has generally been below 2 percent - sometimes it has even been negative - and consumer debt has risen to 98 percent of GDP, twice its level a quarter-century ago.
Some economists told us not to worry because Americans were offsetting their growing debt with the ever-rising values of their homes and stock portfolios. Somehow, though, we're not hearing that argument much lately.
Sooner or later, then, consumers were going to have to pull in their belts. But the timing of the new sobriety is deeply unfortunate. One is tempted to echo St. Augustine's plea: "Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet." For consumers are cutting back just as the U.S. economy has fallen into a liquidity trap - a situation in which the Federal Reserve has lost its grip on the economy.
Some background: One of the high points of the semester, if you're a teacher of introductory macroeconomics, comes when you explain how individual virtue can be public vice, how attempts by consumers to do the right thing by saving more can leave everyone worse off. The point is that if consumers cut their spending, and nothing else takes the place of that spending, the economy will slide into a recession, reducing everyone's income.
In fact, consumers' income may actually fall more than their spending, so that their attempt to save more backfires - a possibility known as the paradox of thrift.
At this point, however, the instructor hastens to explain that virtue isn't really vice: In practice, if consumers were to cut back, the Fed would respond by slashing interest rates, which would help the economy avoid recession and lead to a rise in investment. So virtue is virtue after all, unless for some reason the Fed can't offset the fall in consumer spending.
I'll bet you can guess what's coming next.
For the fact is that we are in a liquidity trap right now: Fed policy has lost most of its traction. It's true that Ben Bernanke hasn't yet reduced interest rates all the way to zero, as the Japanese did in the 1990s. But it's hard to believe that cutting the federal funds rate from 1 percent to nothing would have much positive effect on the economy. In particular, the financial crisis has made Fed policy largely irrelevant for much of the private sector: The Fed has been steadily cutting away, yet mortgage rates and the interest rates many businesses pay are higher than they were early this year.
The capitulation of the American consumer, then, is coming at a particularly bad time. But it's no use whining. What we need is a policy response.
The ongoing efforts to bail out the financial system, even if they work, won't do more than slightly mitigate the problem. Maybe some consumers will be able to keep their credit cards, but as we've seen, Americans were overextended even before banks started cutting them off.
No, what the economy needs now is something to take the place of retrenching consumers. That means a major fiscal stimulus. And this time the stimulus should take the form of actual government spending rather than rebate checks that consumers probably wouldn't spend.
Let's hope, then, that Congress gets to work on a package to rescue the economy as soon as the election is behind us. And let's also hope that the lame-duck Bush administration doesn't get in the way.
To appreciate the significance of these numbers, you need to know that American consumers almost never cut spending. Consumer demand kept rising right through the 2001 recession; the last time it fell even for a single quarter was in 1991, and there hasn't been a decline this steep since 1980, when the economy was suffering from a severe recession combined with double-digit inflation.
Also, these numbers are from the third quarter - the months of July, August, and September. So these data are basically telling us what happened before confidence collapsed after the fall of Lehman Brothers in mid-September, not to mention before the Dow plunged below 10,000. Nor do the data show the full effects of the sharp cutback in the availability of consumer credit, which is still under way.
So this looks like the beginning of a very big change in consumer behavior. And it couldn't have come at a worse time.
It's true that American consumers have long been living beyond their means. In the mid-1980s Americans saved about 10 percent of their income. Lately, however, the savings rate has generally been below 2 percent - sometimes it has even been negative - and consumer debt has risen to 98 percent of GDP, twice its level a quarter-century ago.
Some economists told us not to worry because Americans were offsetting their growing debt with the ever-rising values of their homes and stock portfolios. Somehow, though, we're not hearing that argument much lately.
Sooner or later, then, consumers were going to have to pull in their belts. But the timing of the new sobriety is deeply unfortunate. One is tempted to echo St. Augustine's plea: "Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet." For consumers are cutting back just as the U.S. economy has fallen into a liquidity trap - a situation in which the Federal Reserve has lost its grip on the economy.
Some background: One of the high points of the semester, if you're a teacher of introductory macroeconomics, comes when you explain how individual virtue can be public vice, how attempts by consumers to do the right thing by saving more can leave everyone worse off. The point is that if consumers cut their spending, and nothing else takes the place of that spending, the economy will slide into a recession, reducing everyone's income.
In fact, consumers' income may actually fall more than their spending, so that their attempt to save more backfires - a possibility known as the paradox of thrift.
At this point, however, the instructor hastens to explain that virtue isn't really vice: In practice, if consumers were to cut back, the Fed would respond by slashing interest rates, which would help the economy avoid recession and lead to a rise in investment. So virtue is virtue after all, unless for some reason the Fed can't offset the fall in consumer spending.
I'll bet you can guess what's coming next.
For the fact is that we are in a liquidity trap right now: Fed policy has lost most of its traction. It's true that Ben Bernanke hasn't yet reduced interest rates all the way to zero, as the Japanese did in the 1990s. But it's hard to believe that cutting the federal funds rate from 1 percent to nothing would have much positive effect on the economy. In particular, the financial crisis has made Fed policy largely irrelevant for much of the private sector: The Fed has been steadily cutting away, yet mortgage rates and the interest rates many businesses pay are higher than they were early this year.
The capitulation of the American consumer, then, is coming at a particularly bad time. But it's no use whining. What we need is a policy response.
The ongoing efforts to bail out the financial system, even if they work, won't do more than slightly mitigate the problem. Maybe some consumers will be able to keep their credit cards, but as we've seen, Americans were overextended even before banks started cutting them off.
No, what the economy needs now is something to take the place of retrenching consumers. That means a major fiscal stimulus. And this time the stimulus should take the form of actual government spending rather than rebate checks that consumers probably wouldn't spend.
Let's hope, then, that Congress gets to work on a package to rescue the economy as soon as the election is behind us. And let's also hope that the lame-duck Bush administration doesn't get in the way.
Columnists - David Brooks;A national mobility project
David Brooks
America's government spending is growing at an astounding pace. Congress and the president have thrown hundreds of billions into stimulus packages, domestic programs, military spending and other initiatives. Total federal spending is growing at a 13.8 percent annual rate.
Has all this money done anything to actually stimulate private economic activity? Not that you'd notice. Consumption is cratering. The U.S. economy just experienced the sharpest real drop in consumer spending since 1974.
The lesson here is that we have a right to be skeptical of so-called stimulus packages. The Federal Reserve can effectively stimulate the economy. There are certain automatic government programs, like unemployment insurance, which also do it. But the history of the past century suggests that politically designed, ad hoc stimulus packages rarely work.
Often they get the timing wrong; they come too late to do any real good. Often they get the pressure points wrong; the economy is simply too complicated for lawmakers to know where to apply the stimulus patch. Almost always, they get psychology wrong. When you give people a chunk of money in the midst of economic turmoil, they don't spend most of it. They save it.
Nevertheless, economists continue to propose new stimulus ideas with unshaken confidence and over the next six months, the government will almost certainly pass more gigantic programs. Republican economists are talking of plans larger than $100 billion, and Democratic ones are hatching plans in the $300 billion range.
Bad policy ideas are coming in profusion. There are plans to bail out automakers. There are plans to issue more rebate checks (even though the last ones didn't work). Barack Obama is proposing one-time tax credits for small businesses that are hiring. This is an ineffectual ploy that would shower federal money on those few firms that would be hiring anyway while doing nothing for companies in struggling sectors.
These and other plans amount to an economic sugar rush. And yet the political climate being what it is, something big is going to pass.
In times like these, the best a sensible leader can do is to take the short-term panic and channel into a program that is good on its own merits even if it does nothing to stimulate the economy over the next year. That's why I'm hoping the next president takes the general resolve to spend gobs of money, and channels it into a National Mobility Project, a long-term investment in the country's infrastructure.
Major highway projects take about 13 years from initiation to completion - too long to counteract any recession. But at least they create a legacy that can improve the economic environment for decades to come.
A major infrastructure initiative would create jobs for the less-educated workers who have been hit hardest by the transition to an information economy. It would allow the U.S. to return to the fundamentals. There is a real danger that the U.S. is going to leap from one over-consuming era to another, from one finance-led bubble to another. Focusing on infrastructure would at least get Americans thinking about the real economy, asking hard questions about what will increase real productivity, helping people who are expanding companies rather than hedge funds.
Moreover, an infrastructure resurgence is desperately needed. Americans now spend 3.5 billion hours a year stuck in traffic, a figure expected to double by 2020. The U.S. population is projected to increase by 50 percent over the next 42 years. American residential patterns have radically changed. Workplaces have decentralized.
Commuting patterns are no longer radial, from suburban residences to central cities. Now they are complex weaves across broad megaregions. Yet the infrastructure system hasn't adapted.
The smart thing to do is announce a short-term infrastructure initiative to accelerate all those repair projects that can be done within a few years. Then, begin a long-term National Mobility Project.
Create a base-closings-like commission to organize federal priorities (Congress has forfeited its right to micromanage). Streamline the regulations that can now delay project approval by five years. Explore all the new ideas that are burgeoning in the transportation world - congestion pricing, smart highways, rescue plans for shrinking Midwestern cities, new rail and airplane technologies. When you look into this sector, you see America is on the cusp of another transportation revolution.
A mobility project would dovetail with the energy initiatives both presidential candidates have offered. It would benefit from broad political support from liberals and business groups alike. It would rebalance the economy, so there is more productive weight to go along with Wall Street wizardry.
Smart investors are going to take advantage of the current panic to make money. A smart president could take advantage of it to build something that will last for decades and decades to come.
America's government spending is growing at an astounding pace. Congress and the president have thrown hundreds of billions into stimulus packages, domestic programs, military spending and other initiatives. Total federal spending is growing at a 13.8 percent annual rate.
Has all this money done anything to actually stimulate private economic activity? Not that you'd notice. Consumption is cratering. The U.S. economy just experienced the sharpest real drop in consumer spending since 1974.
The lesson here is that we have a right to be skeptical of so-called stimulus packages. The Federal Reserve can effectively stimulate the economy. There are certain automatic government programs, like unemployment insurance, which also do it. But the history of the past century suggests that politically designed, ad hoc stimulus packages rarely work.
Often they get the timing wrong; they come too late to do any real good. Often they get the pressure points wrong; the economy is simply too complicated for lawmakers to know where to apply the stimulus patch. Almost always, they get psychology wrong. When you give people a chunk of money in the midst of economic turmoil, they don't spend most of it. They save it.
Nevertheless, economists continue to propose new stimulus ideas with unshaken confidence and over the next six months, the government will almost certainly pass more gigantic programs. Republican economists are talking of plans larger than $100 billion, and Democratic ones are hatching plans in the $300 billion range.
Bad policy ideas are coming in profusion. There are plans to bail out automakers. There are plans to issue more rebate checks (even though the last ones didn't work). Barack Obama is proposing one-time tax credits for small businesses that are hiring. This is an ineffectual ploy that would shower federal money on those few firms that would be hiring anyway while doing nothing for companies in struggling sectors.
These and other plans amount to an economic sugar rush. And yet the political climate being what it is, something big is going to pass.
In times like these, the best a sensible leader can do is to take the short-term panic and channel into a program that is good on its own merits even if it does nothing to stimulate the economy over the next year. That's why I'm hoping the next president takes the general resolve to spend gobs of money, and channels it into a National Mobility Project, a long-term investment in the country's infrastructure.
Major highway projects take about 13 years from initiation to completion - too long to counteract any recession. But at least they create a legacy that can improve the economic environment for decades to come.
A major infrastructure initiative would create jobs for the less-educated workers who have been hit hardest by the transition to an information economy. It would allow the U.S. to return to the fundamentals. There is a real danger that the U.S. is going to leap from one over-consuming era to another, from one finance-led bubble to another. Focusing on infrastructure would at least get Americans thinking about the real economy, asking hard questions about what will increase real productivity, helping people who are expanding companies rather than hedge funds.
Moreover, an infrastructure resurgence is desperately needed. Americans now spend 3.5 billion hours a year stuck in traffic, a figure expected to double by 2020. The U.S. population is projected to increase by 50 percent over the next 42 years. American residential patterns have radically changed. Workplaces have decentralized.
Commuting patterns are no longer radial, from suburban residences to central cities. Now they are complex weaves across broad megaregions. Yet the infrastructure system hasn't adapted.
The smart thing to do is announce a short-term infrastructure initiative to accelerate all those repair projects that can be done within a few years. Then, begin a long-term National Mobility Project.
Create a base-closings-like commission to organize federal priorities (Congress has forfeited its right to micromanage). Streamline the regulations that can now delay project approval by five years. Explore all the new ideas that are burgeoning in the transportation world - congestion pricing, smart highways, rescue plans for shrinking Midwestern cities, new rail and airplane technologies. When you look into this sector, you see America is on the cusp of another transportation revolution.
A mobility project would dovetail with the energy initiatives both presidential candidates have offered. It would benefit from broad political support from liberals and business groups alike. It would rebalance the economy, so there is more productive weight to go along with Wall Street wizardry.
Smart investors are going to take advantage of the current panic to make money. A smart president could take advantage of it to build something that will last for decades and decades to come.
World - Japan General fired for war views
Norimitsu Onishi
TOKYO: A high-ranking Japanese military official was dismissed Friday for writing an essay stating that the United States had ensnared Japan into World War II, denying that Japan had waged wars of aggression in Asia and justifying Japanese colonialism.
The Defense Ministry fired General Toshio Tamogami, chief of staff of Japan's air force, late Friday night, only hours after his essay was posted on a private company's Web site. The quick dismissal seemed intended to head off criticism from China, South Korea and other Asian nations that have reacted angrily to previous Japanese denials of its militarist past.
The Defense Minister, Yasukazu Hamada, said the essay included an "inappropriate" assessment of the war, adding: "It was improper for a person in his capacity as air force chief of staff to publicly state a view clearly different from the government's."
In the essay, Tamogami, 60, elaborated a rightist view of Japan's wartime history shared by many nationalist politicians. But it was a rare formulation from inside Japan's military, which, as Japan has been shedding its postwar pacifism in recent years, has gained a more prominent role.
Japan's military — whose operations are restricted by the nation's war-renouncing Constitution — should be allowed to possess "offensive weaponry" and widen its defense activities with allies, the general also wrote.
The article was posted on the Web site of a real estate developer called Apa Group after taking the $30,000 first prize in an essay-writing contest sponsored by the company.
General Tamogami wrote that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941 and thereby drew the United States into World War II after being caught in "a trap" set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
"Roosevelt had become president on his public pledge not to go to war, so in order to start a war between the United States and Japan, it had to appear that Japan took the first shot," he wrote.
He denied that Japan had invaded China and the Korean Peninsula, arguing that Japanese forces became embroiled in domestic conflicts on the Asian continent.
"Even now, there are many people who think that our country's aggression caused unbearable suffering to the countries of Asia during the Greater East Asia War," he wrote, using the term favored by Japan's right to refer to World War II. "But we need to realize that many Asian countries take a positive view of the Greater East Asia War. It is certainly a false accusation to say that our country was an aggressor nation."
Since the mid-1990's, the Japanese government has officially apologized for its wartime past and acknowledged its aggression in Asia. But in recent years, nationalist politicians belonging to the rightist of the long-governing Liberal Democratic Party have waged a campaign to revise Japan's wartime history.
Few politicians have spoken as comprehensively as General Tamogami did, telegraphing instead their sympathies with the rightist view of history. The current prime minister, Taro Aso, in the past publicly praised Japanese colonial rule on the Korean Peninsula. Aso, whose family's mining business used forced laborers during World War II, also said Koreans gladly adopted Japanese names.
Hours before the general's dismissal, Aso said, "Even though he published it in a private capacity, given his position, it is not appropriate."
Last year, Shinzo Abe, the prime minister at the time, caused anger in Asia and the United States by denying the Japanese military's involvement in recruiting wartime sex slaves known euphemistically as "comfort women."
His comments led the House of Representatives to adopt a non-binding resolution calling on Japan to acknowledge and apologize for its wartime sex slavery. Japan has yet to respond.
TOKYO: A high-ranking Japanese military official was dismissed Friday for writing an essay stating that the United States had ensnared Japan into World War II, denying that Japan had waged wars of aggression in Asia and justifying Japanese colonialism.
The Defense Ministry fired General Toshio Tamogami, chief of staff of Japan's air force, late Friday night, only hours after his essay was posted on a private company's Web site. The quick dismissal seemed intended to head off criticism from China, South Korea and other Asian nations that have reacted angrily to previous Japanese denials of its militarist past.
The Defense Minister, Yasukazu Hamada, said the essay included an "inappropriate" assessment of the war, adding: "It was improper for a person in his capacity as air force chief of staff to publicly state a view clearly different from the government's."
In the essay, Tamogami, 60, elaborated a rightist view of Japan's wartime history shared by many nationalist politicians. But it was a rare formulation from inside Japan's military, which, as Japan has been shedding its postwar pacifism in recent years, has gained a more prominent role.
Japan's military — whose operations are restricted by the nation's war-renouncing Constitution — should be allowed to possess "offensive weaponry" and widen its defense activities with allies, the general also wrote.
The article was posted on the Web site of a real estate developer called Apa Group after taking the $30,000 first prize in an essay-writing contest sponsored by the company.
General Tamogami wrote that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941 and thereby drew the United States into World War II after being caught in "a trap" set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
"Roosevelt had become president on his public pledge not to go to war, so in order to start a war between the United States and Japan, it had to appear that Japan took the first shot," he wrote.
He denied that Japan had invaded China and the Korean Peninsula, arguing that Japanese forces became embroiled in domestic conflicts on the Asian continent.
"Even now, there are many people who think that our country's aggression caused unbearable suffering to the countries of Asia during the Greater East Asia War," he wrote, using the term favored by Japan's right to refer to World War II. "But we need to realize that many Asian countries take a positive view of the Greater East Asia War. It is certainly a false accusation to say that our country was an aggressor nation."
Since the mid-1990's, the Japanese government has officially apologized for its wartime past and acknowledged its aggression in Asia. But in recent years, nationalist politicians belonging to the rightist of the long-governing Liberal Democratic Party have waged a campaign to revise Japan's wartime history.
Few politicians have spoken as comprehensively as General Tamogami did, telegraphing instead their sympathies with the rightist view of history. The current prime minister, Taro Aso, in the past publicly praised Japanese colonial rule on the Korean Peninsula. Aso, whose family's mining business used forced laborers during World War II, also said Koreans gladly adopted Japanese names.
Hours before the general's dismissal, Aso said, "Even though he published it in a private capacity, given his position, it is not appropriate."
Last year, Shinzo Abe, the prime minister at the time, caused anger in Asia and the United States by denying the Japanese military's involvement in recruiting wartime sex slaves known euphemistically as "comfort women."
His comments led the House of Representatives to adopt a non-binding resolution calling on Japan to acknowledge and apologize for its wartime sex slavery. Japan has yet to respond.
Entertainment - 2 rivals in talks to finance 'Tintin' films
Michael Cieply
LOS ANGELES: Is Hollywood's next big adventure: "Tintin in Culver City"?
After months of deal-making turmoil, the elaborate, two-film "Tintin" series planned by the directors Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson may find its financiers in a partnership being forged by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Paramount Pictures.
Sony, the Culver City, California-based parent of Columbia Pictures, is in advanced negotiations toward a deal to co-finance the films with Paramount, its Hollywood-based rival. The talks were described by people who were briefed on them, and who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid conflict among the parties.
Kathleen Kennedy, a producer of Spielberg's project, did not respond to a query. Peter Nelson, a lawyer for Jackson, declined to comment, as did a Sony Pictures spokesman, Steve Elzer. A spokeswoman for Paramount could not immediately be reached.
The negotiations began after Universal Pictures last month backed away from an arrangement under which it would have shared the project, based on the long-running Belgian comic strip about a globetrotting young reporter, with Paramount.
Spielberg has been eager to begin shooting the first movie as early as this year. Using motion capture technology that combines live actors with computer animation, he has already filmed parts of the picture. But Universal, which had an option to become involved because Spielberg started the project there 25 years ago, shocked many in Hollywood by declaring it too risky, despite the participation of Spielberg, who has kept his offices on Universal's lot for decades.
The first film's budget of about $130 million is not exceptionally large by contemporary standards. But Spielberg and Jackson, as two of the industry's most prestigious directors, were demanding nearly a third of the movie's gross receipts — terms that proved difficult at a time when studios were tightening belts.
Paramount later offered to make the movie on terms it found more favorable, but the directors' representatives pressed for alternatives. Sony offered to take the movie under a deal more to the filmmakers' liking, but Paramount was reluctant to let go entirely and began discussing a partnership, according to one of the people briefed on the discussions.
Under the deal now being discussed, Paramount would distribute the "Tintin" movies in North America and some English-speaking territories, while Sony would distribute the picture in various foreign territories, including Europe and Latin America, according to a person briefed on the talks.. In recent years, studios have routinely split some of their more expensive movies, usually by leaving one studio with foreign distribution rights, and another with domestic.
Thus, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," a coming film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, will be distributed by Paramount in the United States and by Warner Brothers abroad.
For Sony, a deal would be the first time Spielberg has worked with the studio as a director since 1991, when he made "Hook" for the company's TriStar Pictures unit. In 1977, Spielberg made "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," one of his biggest hits, for Columbia, long before the studio was acquired by Sony.
The first "Tintin" movie is expected to be ready for release in 2010. Jackson's installment would come some time after, but does not yet have a completed script.
For Paramount, a deal would be one more step in the readjustment of its relations with Spielberg and his new DreamWorks company. The studio had acquired DreamWorks in 2006, but Spielberg and his associates left to form a new venture under the same name last month.
Spielberg is expected to remain involved with a number of Paramount projects in coming months. He has a producing role, for instance, on "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," a sequel set for release in June.
Meanwhile, his new company remains entangled with Paramount through their mutual interest in dozens of development projects that are owned by the big studio, but may be produced and distributed through collaborative arrangements between them over the coming years
LOS ANGELES: Is Hollywood's next big adventure: "Tintin in Culver City"?
After months of deal-making turmoil, the elaborate, two-film "Tintin" series planned by the directors Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson may find its financiers in a partnership being forged by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Paramount Pictures.
Sony, the Culver City, California-based parent of Columbia Pictures, is in advanced negotiations toward a deal to co-finance the films with Paramount, its Hollywood-based rival. The talks were described by people who were briefed on them, and who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid conflict among the parties.
Kathleen Kennedy, a producer of Spielberg's project, did not respond to a query. Peter Nelson, a lawyer for Jackson, declined to comment, as did a Sony Pictures spokesman, Steve Elzer. A spokeswoman for Paramount could not immediately be reached.
The negotiations began after Universal Pictures last month backed away from an arrangement under which it would have shared the project, based on the long-running Belgian comic strip about a globetrotting young reporter, with Paramount.
Spielberg has been eager to begin shooting the first movie as early as this year. Using motion capture technology that combines live actors with computer animation, he has already filmed parts of the picture. But Universal, which had an option to become involved because Spielberg started the project there 25 years ago, shocked many in Hollywood by declaring it too risky, despite the participation of Spielberg, who has kept his offices on Universal's lot for decades.
The first film's budget of about $130 million is not exceptionally large by contemporary standards. But Spielberg and Jackson, as two of the industry's most prestigious directors, were demanding nearly a third of the movie's gross receipts — terms that proved difficult at a time when studios were tightening belts.
Paramount later offered to make the movie on terms it found more favorable, but the directors' representatives pressed for alternatives. Sony offered to take the movie under a deal more to the filmmakers' liking, but Paramount was reluctant to let go entirely and began discussing a partnership, according to one of the people briefed on the discussions.
Under the deal now being discussed, Paramount would distribute the "Tintin" movies in North America and some English-speaking territories, while Sony would distribute the picture in various foreign territories, including Europe and Latin America, according to a person briefed on the talks.. In recent years, studios have routinely split some of their more expensive movies, usually by leaving one studio with foreign distribution rights, and another with domestic.
Thus, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," a coming film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, will be distributed by Paramount in the United States and by Warner Brothers abroad.
For Sony, a deal would be the first time Spielberg has worked with the studio as a director since 1991, when he made "Hook" for the company's TriStar Pictures unit. In 1977, Spielberg made "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," one of his biggest hits, for Columbia, long before the studio was acquired by Sony.
The first "Tintin" movie is expected to be ready for release in 2010. Jackson's installment would come some time after, but does not yet have a completed script.
For Paramount, a deal would be one more step in the readjustment of its relations with Spielberg and his new DreamWorks company. The studio had acquired DreamWorks in 2006, but Spielberg and his associates left to form a new venture under the same name last month.
Spielberg is expected to remain involved with a number of Paramount projects in coming months. He has a producing role, for instance, on "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," a sequel set for release in June.
Meanwhile, his new company remains entangled with Paramount through their mutual interest in dozens of development projects that are owned by the big studio, but may be produced and distributed through collaborative arrangements between them over the coming years
Sport - F1;Massa pips Hami in first Brazil Practice
Alan Baldwin
Renault's Fernando Alonso set the pace in Brazilian Grand Prix practice on Friday while home hero Felipe Massa lapped comfortably quicker than title favourite Lewis Hamilton.
Alonso, who took his two Formula One titles at Interlagos in 2005 and 2006 but is out of the reckoning this time, set a best time of one minute 12.296 seconds on a damp and blustery afternoon.
Ferrari's Massa was fastest in the morning in 1:12.305 and led the timesheets after lunch until Alonso put in a late quick lap.
The Brazilian, seven points behind McLaren's Hamilton, is embarking on the final stage of what some see as a Mission Impossible to prevent the 23-year-old becoming Formula One's youngest champion on Sunday.
"It might only be Friday, but it's important to get off to a good start on such an important weekend," said Massa. "We found a good set-up for the car, which seemed to be well balanced in both sessions.
"Racing at home, with the crowd on your side, is a great motivation for me."
Hamilton, who blew his title chance in the Brazilian season-ender last year, was second in the morning and ninth in the afternoon after repeatedly locking his brakes on the wet track.
"Our car was blindingly quick this morning despite the cold weather, which made the track feel quite slippery," said Hamilton.
"This afternoon we focussed on our race pace but we were interrupted by the threat of rain and the changeable wind direction."
Ferrari's outgoing champion Kimi Raikkonen, the Finn who made up a seven-point deficit to beat Hamilton by a single point in 2007, was third and fourth respectively.
Hamilton needs only finish fifth on Sunday to be champion, even if Massa wins his home race as expected, and will be unlikely to push too hard in what will be the second race for his Mercedes engine.
Both the Ferraris have new engines for Brazil, a boost for their bid to retain the constructors' championship. They lead McLaren by 11 points with a maximum 18 to be won.
"We don't have to win (the race) so that is a pressure off our shoulders," Hamilton said after his arrival at the circuit on Thursday.
"We have not come here to finish further down the order but we obviously know it is not do or die."
Poland's Robert Kubica, fighting to end the season in third place for BMW-Sauber, was fourth fastest in the morning with McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen fifth.
Toyota's Italian Jarno Trulli was third in the afternoon.
(Editing by Tony Jimenez and Ken Ferris)
Renault's Fernando Alonso set the pace in Brazilian Grand Prix practice on Friday while home hero Felipe Massa lapped comfortably quicker than title favourite Lewis Hamilton.
Alonso, who took his two Formula One titles at Interlagos in 2005 and 2006 but is out of the reckoning this time, set a best time of one minute 12.296 seconds on a damp and blustery afternoon.
Ferrari's Massa was fastest in the morning in 1:12.305 and led the timesheets after lunch until Alonso put in a late quick lap.
The Brazilian, seven points behind McLaren's Hamilton, is embarking on the final stage of what some see as a Mission Impossible to prevent the 23-year-old becoming Formula One's youngest champion on Sunday.
"It might only be Friday, but it's important to get off to a good start on such an important weekend," said Massa. "We found a good set-up for the car, which seemed to be well balanced in both sessions.
"Racing at home, with the crowd on your side, is a great motivation for me."
Hamilton, who blew his title chance in the Brazilian season-ender last year, was second in the morning and ninth in the afternoon after repeatedly locking his brakes on the wet track.
"Our car was blindingly quick this morning despite the cold weather, which made the track feel quite slippery," said Hamilton.
"This afternoon we focussed on our race pace but we were interrupted by the threat of rain and the changeable wind direction."
Ferrari's outgoing champion Kimi Raikkonen, the Finn who made up a seven-point deficit to beat Hamilton by a single point in 2007, was third and fourth respectively.
Hamilton needs only finish fifth on Sunday to be champion, even if Massa wins his home race as expected, and will be unlikely to push too hard in what will be the second race for his Mercedes engine.
Both the Ferraris have new engines for Brazil, a boost for their bid to retain the constructors' championship. They lead McLaren by 11 points with a maximum 18 to be won.
"We don't have to win (the race) so that is a pressure off our shoulders," Hamilton said after his arrival at the circuit on Thursday.
"We have not come here to finish further down the order but we obviously know it is not do or die."
Poland's Robert Kubica, fighting to end the season in third place for BMW-Sauber, was fourth fastest in the morning with McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen fifth.
Toyota's Italian Jarno Trulli was third in the afternoon.
(Editing by Tony Jimenez and Ken Ferris)
Sports - Football;Maradona compares Argentina team to dirty Rolls Royce
Brian Homewood
Diego Maradona, expected to be confirmed as Argentina's new coach on Tuesday, has likened his future team to a grimy Rolls Royce.
Maradona also said Sergio Batista and Jose Luis Brown, two of his team mates in the 1986 World Cup-winning side, had agreed to join former coach Carlos Bilardo on his backroom staff.
Argentina boast one of the best squads in world football, led by Lionel Messi and Juan Roman Riquelme. But they have failed to perform this year, winning only one of their last eight games.
The impending appointment of Maradona, one of the game's greatest players but also one of its most troubled, is an attempt to galvanise the team.
"The Argentine national side is like a Rolls Royce covered in dirt, it needs to be cleaned," the 48-year-old told reporters after a meeting at the Football Association's training camp outside Buenos Aires.
Maradona, who failed three doping tests in his career, said talks had gone as planned with Batista and Brown, a defender who scored in the 1986 World Cup final against West Germany.
"It was a very positive meeting, I'm very happy. I saw they were just as enthusiastic as myself and this is what I wanted," he said.
Maradona is set to take charge for the first time in the friendly in Scotland on November 19.
Batista, who coached the under-23 team which won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in August, had at one stage been a candidate to lead the senior side and according to media reports was reluctant to work as an assistant.
"I wanted to know what was going to happen to the youth teams," Batista said.
"Diego is a good choice, he has a strong personality, he's full of enthusiasm and he's really looking forward to getting to work.
"We will do the impossible for the Argentina team."
Maradona's impending appointment is a remarkable personal achievement for a man who has suffered from drug addiction, alcohol problems and obesity since retiring, at one stage spending 10 days in intensive care.
(Editing by Tony Jimenez)
Diego Maradona, expected to be confirmed as Argentina's new coach on Tuesday, has likened his future team to a grimy Rolls Royce.
Maradona also said Sergio Batista and Jose Luis Brown, two of his team mates in the 1986 World Cup-winning side, had agreed to join former coach Carlos Bilardo on his backroom staff.
Argentina boast one of the best squads in world football, led by Lionel Messi and Juan Roman Riquelme. But they have failed to perform this year, winning only one of their last eight games.
The impending appointment of Maradona, one of the game's greatest players but also one of its most troubled, is an attempt to galvanise the team.
"The Argentine national side is like a Rolls Royce covered in dirt, it needs to be cleaned," the 48-year-old told reporters after a meeting at the Football Association's training camp outside Buenos Aires.
Maradona, who failed three doping tests in his career, said talks had gone as planned with Batista and Brown, a defender who scored in the 1986 World Cup final against West Germany.
"It was a very positive meeting, I'm very happy. I saw they were just as enthusiastic as myself and this is what I wanted," he said.
Maradona is set to take charge for the first time in the friendly in Scotland on November 19.
Batista, who coached the under-23 team which won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in August, had at one stage been a candidate to lead the senior side and according to media reports was reluctant to work as an assistant.
"I wanted to know what was going to happen to the youth teams," Batista said.
"Diego is a good choice, he has a strong personality, he's full of enthusiasm and he's really looking forward to getting to work.
"We will do the impossible for the Argentina team."
Maradona's impending appointment is a remarkable personal achievement for a man who has suffered from drug addiction, alcohol problems and obesity since retiring, at one stage spending 10 days in intensive care.
(Editing by Tony Jimenez)
Sport - Tennis;Federer & Nadal pull out injured in Paris
Julien Pretot
Hopes of a dream final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were dashed on Friday when the top two seeds pulled out injured from their quarter-final matches at the Paris Masters.
Federer withdrew with a back injury a few hours before his match against American James Blake, while Nadal quit his showdown with world number six Nikolay Davydenko after losing the first set 6-1.
Wimbledon champion Nadal had the trainer massaging his right thigh and knee at the change of ends when trailing 4-1 and threw in the towel two games later.
The duo's exit left the tournament without any of its top four seeds after number three Novak Djokovic was beaten earlier in the week while fourth-ranked Andy Murray also perished on Friday, going down 7-6 6-3 to an inspired David Nalbandian.
Argentina's Nalbandian kept his Masters Cup hopes alive when he ended Murray's 14-match winning streak in the most spectacular match of the tournament and will meet Davydenko in the last four on Saturday.
Nalbandian, 14th in the ATP Race, will qualify for the season-ending tournament if he retains his Paris title. He was, however, reluctant to say if he would take part in the season-ending tournament he won in 2005.
"It's not my goal. I'm not thinking about Shanghai because we have the Davis Cup right after, so that's why," he said.
Nalbandian is scheduled to play the November 21-23 Davis Cup final with Argentina against Spain in Mar del Plata.
DROP SHOTS
Federer was confident of defending his title in Shanghai despite his injury setback.
"I've had a lot of back pain over all the years of playing tennis... (but) it's just the first time it's acute during a tournament and it makes me pull out. I'll check it out for the next few days," the Swiss told reporters.
"The flight (to Shanghai) is scheduled for Monday. I hope I can recover ... otherwise I'll postpone that. I'm confident that hopefully it's going to get better in the next few days."
Nadal also struggled with aches and pains during his match and, unlike Federer, was unsure if he would be able to participate in the final event of the year.
Asked if he was worried about Shanghai, the Spaniard said: "For sure. Hopefully, it will be fine... (but) I don't know."
Nadal's retirement left the fans frustrated and they started booing when it was announced that Federer had handed Blake a walkover into the semi-finals.
Blake will now meet local favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who saved 10 break points in the second set en route to beating American Andy Roddick 5-7 6-4 7-6.
Both players need to reach the Paris final to book a trip to China for the Masters Cup, which starts on November 9.
Murray, who won the Madrid Masters and St Petersburg Open this month, struggled with his first serve in the opening set and smashed his racket to the ground after being broken in the fourth game.
The Scot then converted his only break chance to draw level and picked up his game, trying to keep Nalbandian at bay with his slice.
However, the Argentine, with a mix of cunning drop shots and powerful ground strokes, took the tiebreak 7-3.
Nalbandian then shifted up another gear, breaking four times in the second set to wrap up the victory.
"I thought the standard of points was excellent," said Murray. "I'm obviously disappointed to lose but I'm glad that I played against a guy as good as him and it took him playing a great match to beat me."
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar and Ken Ferris)
Hopes of a dream final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were dashed on Friday when the top two seeds pulled out injured from their quarter-final matches at the Paris Masters.
Federer withdrew with a back injury a few hours before his match against American James Blake, while Nadal quit his showdown with world number six Nikolay Davydenko after losing the first set 6-1.
Wimbledon champion Nadal had the trainer massaging his right thigh and knee at the change of ends when trailing 4-1 and threw in the towel two games later.
The duo's exit left the tournament without any of its top four seeds after number three Novak Djokovic was beaten earlier in the week while fourth-ranked Andy Murray also perished on Friday, going down 7-6 6-3 to an inspired David Nalbandian.
Argentina's Nalbandian kept his Masters Cup hopes alive when he ended Murray's 14-match winning streak in the most spectacular match of the tournament and will meet Davydenko in the last four on Saturday.
Nalbandian, 14th in the ATP Race, will qualify for the season-ending tournament if he retains his Paris title. He was, however, reluctant to say if he would take part in the season-ending tournament he won in 2005.
"It's not my goal. I'm not thinking about Shanghai because we have the Davis Cup right after, so that's why," he said.
Nalbandian is scheduled to play the November 21-23 Davis Cup final with Argentina against Spain in Mar del Plata.
DROP SHOTS
Federer was confident of defending his title in Shanghai despite his injury setback.
"I've had a lot of back pain over all the years of playing tennis... (but) it's just the first time it's acute during a tournament and it makes me pull out. I'll check it out for the next few days," the Swiss told reporters.
"The flight (to Shanghai) is scheduled for Monday. I hope I can recover ... otherwise I'll postpone that. I'm confident that hopefully it's going to get better in the next few days."
Nadal also struggled with aches and pains during his match and, unlike Federer, was unsure if he would be able to participate in the final event of the year.
Asked if he was worried about Shanghai, the Spaniard said: "For sure. Hopefully, it will be fine... (but) I don't know."
Nadal's retirement left the fans frustrated and they started booing when it was announced that Federer had handed Blake a walkover into the semi-finals.
Blake will now meet local favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who saved 10 break points in the second set en route to beating American Andy Roddick 5-7 6-4 7-6.
Both players need to reach the Paris final to book a trip to China for the Masters Cup, which starts on November 9.
Murray, who won the Madrid Masters and St Petersburg Open this month, struggled with his first serve in the opening set and smashed his racket to the ground after being broken in the fourth game.
The Scot then converted his only break chance to draw level and picked up his game, trying to keep Nalbandian at bay with his slice.
However, the Argentine, with a mix of cunning drop shots and powerful ground strokes, took the tiebreak 7-3.
Nalbandian then shifted up another gear, breaking four times in the second set to wrap up the victory.
"I thought the standard of points was excellent," said Murray. "I'm obviously disappointed to lose but I'm glad that I played against a guy as good as him and it took him playing a great match to beat me."
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar and Ken Ferris)
World - Montenegro becomes Russia's window of opportunity
Dan Bilefsky
BUDVA, Montenegro: The global financial crisis has buffeted the balance sheets of Russia's legion of billionaires. But suitcases of cash, and a flotilla of Russian-owned luxury yachts, keep arriving in this idyllic town on the Adriatic, helping to earn Montenegro the nickname Moscow-on-the-Sea.
Among the biggest investors is the Russian developer Vyentseslav Leibman, a young millionaire who is pressing ahead with investments of €240 million, or $313 million, including plans for a 27-floor modernist hotel, luxury seaside villas, docks for the pleasure boats of the Russian super-rich and a water park for their children.
The investment might seem daring given the way the economic downturn has hit several of his fellow wealthy Russians. But Leibman, a Muscovite who is managing partner at Mirax Group, the company owned by the Russian billionaire developer Sergei Polonsky, insists that he can barely keep up with demand.
He said more than half of the sprawling condominiums in Mirax's new complex - which sell for €8,000 a square foot and come with outdoor marble Jacuzzis - had been sold to executives from the likes of Gazprom, Lukoil and the banking giant VTB. They paid, he said, upfront and in cash.
When people invest big money during a global financial crisis, it might seem absurd, said Leibman, who recently helped bring Madonna to Budva. "But the money keeps coming, and hopefully the global financial crisis will help sober up the cost of land here, which is now more expensive than Monaco."
Thanks in large part to Russian investment, Montenegro has been getting more foreign investment per capita than any other country on the Continent. In recent years, Russian investors have gobbled up land, a fashionable alternative to the south of France and the Turkish coast for moneyed Russians. Russians - including the heavily leveraged Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska - have also invested hugely in the country's industrial sector.
In neighboring Serbia, the Russian state energy monopoly Gazprom recently bought a majority stake in the national energy company, Petroleum Industry of Serbia, for €400 million and agreed to invest a further €500 million by 2012. The deal will give Gazprom a dominant position in Serbia's energy market while transforming Serbia into a gateway for the transport of Russian gas into Western Europe.
As governments across the western Balkans have turned toward the United States and the European Union - and actively seek EU and NATO membership - the influx of Russian capital is seen by some in Brussels and Washington as a retaliatory move by Moscow to assert influence in a formerly communist region with which it has long had close ties.
But Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of Russia, dismissed the notion as "utter nonsense." When British people 30 years ago were investing in Spanish coastal areas, it would never come into anyone's mind to speak about "enhancing political influence," he said.
When tens or hundreds of thousands of British or American people are investing in the Gulf countries, this is not political pressure, he said. "But every time, when it comes to Russia or Russians, it is immediately treated as flexing political muscle."
Nevertheless, alarm at Russian investment is such that General Blagoje Grahovac, a senior adviser to the speaker of Montenegro's Parliament, warned in a recent interview with Nedeljni Telegraf, a Serbian newspaper, that the United States, the European Union and NATO were being "outmaneuvered" in the western Balkans. "Whoever holds the upper hand economically will also do so politically," he said.
The European Parliament late last year commissioned a study of Russian investment; among EU concerns is a burgeoning property market that provides an ideal front for illegal transactions. The European Commission has repeatedly warned of money laundering in Montenegro.
Russians can be seen and heard everywhere - on the beaches, in clubs, in upmarket restaurants and in a recently opened Russian-language elementary school. Until recently, a billboard at the airport in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital, greeted visitors in Russian: "Come where they like you!"
Lazar Radenovic, Budva's young deputy mayor, said Russians had started to invest about eight years ago when real estate prices were severely depressed after the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Russian investment had since grown to more than €10 billion, he said. In Budva, he noted, the Russian influx had created a new class of millionaires - 500 at last count - who he said had improved the town's tax base and development.
Leibman said Russians were attracted to the Balkans and to Montenegro in particular by a cultural connection stretching back to the 18th century.
Some are uncomfortable with the perception of Russian economic colonization. Zarko Radulovic, co-owner of Hotel Splendid - luxury penthouse suites, swimming pools and boutiques backed by a Russian investment fund - insisted that the influence was exaggerated.
"The perception that the Russians have bought everything is wrong," he said. "Only 1 percent of Montenegro is owned by foreigners."
But the European Parliament report countered that the scale of Russian investment was obfuscated in official statistics since many Russians invested through third countries or by teaming up with Montenegrins.
Radulovic said most businesspeople support Montenegro's entry into the EU, since being outside the bloc hampers business. When he recently decided to invest €9 million in new air conditioning for the hotel kitchen to make it compatible with EU regulations, he waited two days for a visa to travel to Belgium to buy it - an annoyance that "makes me want to buy Russian technology instead."
Many here think that Russian investment will, paradoxically, help to westernize Balkan countries by aiding economic development, thereby accelerating readiness to join the EU and NATO.
Branimir Gvozdenovic, Montenegro's minister for economic development and a close ally of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic of Montenegro, said Russia was the second biggest foreign investor after Hungary, while Russians accounted for 12 percent of tourists last year.
"We welcome investments from more than 80 countries, so why not Russia?"
Yet there does appear to be a political dimension. Russia's emergency situations minister, Sergei Shoigu, has warned that relations between Russia and Montenegro could be damaged if Montenegro pursues NATO membership.
Two years ago, when Putin received Djukanovic at his residence in Sochi, the Russian Black Sea resort, Putin praised Montenegro for facilitating business with Russia and urged closer ties. More recently, in July, Putin moved to facilitate visa-free travel between the two countries.
Meanwhile, in Serbia, where the pro-Western government of President Boris Tadic has been pressing for EU membership, some critics argue that Russia is using pipeline politics to keep Belgrade in Russia's sphere of influence.
In a recently announced energy deal, Gazprom has agreed to make Serbia a transit country for its South Stream pipeline, a €10 billion pipeline Gazprom is building in cooperation ENI of Italy, that will stretch 900 kilometers, or 560 miles, undersea from Russia to Europe. The project - which Gazprom says will forge ahead, despite the global financial crisis - is a direct challenge to Nabucco, a pipeline championed by the United States and the EU to bring natural gas to Europe via Central Asia, offsetting energy dependence on Russia.
Danica Popovic, chief economist at the Center for Liberal Democratic Studies in Belgrade, a think tank, argued that economic relations shifted fundamentally in Russia's favor after Moscow repeatedly invoked its veto in the United Nations Security Council to prevent Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in February, from gaining international legitimacy.
"By Moscow controlling our energy sector, we can become vassals of Russia just like South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia," she said, noting that attitudes toward the EU were hardening in Serbia, even among members of the pro-Western government increasingly frustrated with EU conditions for membership.
Milutin Nikolic, director of Citadel, a mergers-and-acquisitions firm based in Belgrade that has advised on the biggest Russian deals in Serbia - including acquisitions by Lukoil, the Bank of Moscow and Deripaska - said he did not believe the recent influx of Russian investments reflected a coordinated Kremlin strategy. Indeed, the region has long sought to forge a path between East and West, particularly in the days of the Yugoslav leader Tito.
If Moscow had influence, Nikolic contended, it was because Serbs were still smarting over recent history, including the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999 and the West's backing of Kosovo's independence.
"Russia doesn't need to economically colonize Serbia," he said, "because Moscow already has serious political influence here."
BUDVA, Montenegro: The global financial crisis has buffeted the balance sheets of Russia's legion of billionaires. But suitcases of cash, and a flotilla of Russian-owned luxury yachts, keep arriving in this idyllic town on the Adriatic, helping to earn Montenegro the nickname Moscow-on-the-Sea.
Among the biggest investors is the Russian developer Vyentseslav Leibman, a young millionaire who is pressing ahead with investments of €240 million, or $313 million, including plans for a 27-floor modernist hotel, luxury seaside villas, docks for the pleasure boats of the Russian super-rich and a water park for their children.
The investment might seem daring given the way the economic downturn has hit several of his fellow wealthy Russians. But Leibman, a Muscovite who is managing partner at Mirax Group, the company owned by the Russian billionaire developer Sergei Polonsky, insists that he can barely keep up with demand.
He said more than half of the sprawling condominiums in Mirax's new complex - which sell for €8,000 a square foot and come with outdoor marble Jacuzzis - had been sold to executives from the likes of Gazprom, Lukoil and the banking giant VTB. They paid, he said, upfront and in cash.
When people invest big money during a global financial crisis, it might seem absurd, said Leibman, who recently helped bring Madonna to Budva. "But the money keeps coming, and hopefully the global financial crisis will help sober up the cost of land here, which is now more expensive than Monaco."
Thanks in large part to Russian investment, Montenegro has been getting more foreign investment per capita than any other country on the Continent. In recent years, Russian investors have gobbled up land, a fashionable alternative to the south of France and the Turkish coast for moneyed Russians. Russians - including the heavily leveraged Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska - have also invested hugely in the country's industrial sector.
In neighboring Serbia, the Russian state energy monopoly Gazprom recently bought a majority stake in the national energy company, Petroleum Industry of Serbia, for €400 million and agreed to invest a further €500 million by 2012. The deal will give Gazprom a dominant position in Serbia's energy market while transforming Serbia into a gateway for the transport of Russian gas into Western Europe.
As governments across the western Balkans have turned toward the United States and the European Union - and actively seek EU and NATO membership - the influx of Russian capital is seen by some in Brussels and Washington as a retaliatory move by Moscow to assert influence in a formerly communist region with which it has long had close ties.
But Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of Russia, dismissed the notion as "utter nonsense." When British people 30 years ago were investing in Spanish coastal areas, it would never come into anyone's mind to speak about "enhancing political influence," he said.
When tens or hundreds of thousands of British or American people are investing in the Gulf countries, this is not political pressure, he said. "But every time, when it comes to Russia or Russians, it is immediately treated as flexing political muscle."
Nevertheless, alarm at Russian investment is such that General Blagoje Grahovac, a senior adviser to the speaker of Montenegro's Parliament, warned in a recent interview with Nedeljni Telegraf, a Serbian newspaper, that the United States, the European Union and NATO were being "outmaneuvered" in the western Balkans. "Whoever holds the upper hand economically will also do so politically," he said.
The European Parliament late last year commissioned a study of Russian investment; among EU concerns is a burgeoning property market that provides an ideal front for illegal transactions. The European Commission has repeatedly warned of money laundering in Montenegro.
Russians can be seen and heard everywhere - on the beaches, in clubs, in upmarket restaurants and in a recently opened Russian-language elementary school. Until recently, a billboard at the airport in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital, greeted visitors in Russian: "Come where they like you!"
Lazar Radenovic, Budva's young deputy mayor, said Russians had started to invest about eight years ago when real estate prices were severely depressed after the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Russian investment had since grown to more than €10 billion, he said. In Budva, he noted, the Russian influx had created a new class of millionaires - 500 at last count - who he said had improved the town's tax base and development.
Leibman said Russians were attracted to the Balkans and to Montenegro in particular by a cultural connection stretching back to the 18th century.
Some are uncomfortable with the perception of Russian economic colonization. Zarko Radulovic, co-owner of Hotel Splendid - luxury penthouse suites, swimming pools and boutiques backed by a Russian investment fund - insisted that the influence was exaggerated.
"The perception that the Russians have bought everything is wrong," he said. "Only 1 percent of Montenegro is owned by foreigners."
But the European Parliament report countered that the scale of Russian investment was obfuscated in official statistics since many Russians invested through third countries or by teaming up with Montenegrins.
Radulovic said most businesspeople support Montenegro's entry into the EU, since being outside the bloc hampers business. When he recently decided to invest €9 million in new air conditioning for the hotel kitchen to make it compatible with EU regulations, he waited two days for a visa to travel to Belgium to buy it - an annoyance that "makes me want to buy Russian technology instead."
Many here think that Russian investment will, paradoxically, help to westernize Balkan countries by aiding economic development, thereby accelerating readiness to join the EU and NATO.
Branimir Gvozdenovic, Montenegro's minister for economic development and a close ally of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic of Montenegro, said Russia was the second biggest foreign investor after Hungary, while Russians accounted for 12 percent of tourists last year.
"We welcome investments from more than 80 countries, so why not Russia?"
Yet there does appear to be a political dimension. Russia's emergency situations minister, Sergei Shoigu, has warned that relations between Russia and Montenegro could be damaged if Montenegro pursues NATO membership.
Two years ago, when Putin received Djukanovic at his residence in Sochi, the Russian Black Sea resort, Putin praised Montenegro for facilitating business with Russia and urged closer ties. More recently, in July, Putin moved to facilitate visa-free travel between the two countries.
Meanwhile, in Serbia, where the pro-Western government of President Boris Tadic has been pressing for EU membership, some critics argue that Russia is using pipeline politics to keep Belgrade in Russia's sphere of influence.
In a recently announced energy deal, Gazprom has agreed to make Serbia a transit country for its South Stream pipeline, a €10 billion pipeline Gazprom is building in cooperation ENI of Italy, that will stretch 900 kilometers, or 560 miles, undersea from Russia to Europe. The project - which Gazprom says will forge ahead, despite the global financial crisis - is a direct challenge to Nabucco, a pipeline championed by the United States and the EU to bring natural gas to Europe via Central Asia, offsetting energy dependence on Russia.
Danica Popovic, chief economist at the Center for Liberal Democratic Studies in Belgrade, a think tank, argued that economic relations shifted fundamentally in Russia's favor after Moscow repeatedly invoked its veto in the United Nations Security Council to prevent Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in February, from gaining international legitimacy.
"By Moscow controlling our energy sector, we can become vassals of Russia just like South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia," she said, noting that attitudes toward the EU were hardening in Serbia, even among members of the pro-Western government increasingly frustrated with EU conditions for membership.
Milutin Nikolic, director of Citadel, a mergers-and-acquisitions firm based in Belgrade that has advised on the biggest Russian deals in Serbia - including acquisitions by Lukoil, the Bank of Moscow and Deripaska - said he did not believe the recent influx of Russian investments reflected a coordinated Kremlin strategy. Indeed, the region has long sought to forge a path between East and West, particularly in the days of the Yugoslav leader Tito.
If Moscow had influence, Nikolic contended, it was because Serbs were still smarting over recent history, including the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999 and the West's backing of Kosovo's independence.
"Russia doesn't need to economically colonize Serbia," he said, "because Moscow already has serious political influence here."
Business - India;ATF prices cut,duty abolished
State-owned oil marketing companies today cut aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices by 16 per cent, while the government abolished the 5 per cent Customs duty on the fuel. This will help the airlines cut their fuel bill by another 3-4 per cent.
The measures are also expected to push airlines towards financial break-even. Experts have pegged the aviation sector losses at Rs 8,000 crore for the current financial year on account of high ATF prices.
Currently, ATF accounts for 45-50 per cent of an airline’s costs. The two steps together will help them pare their overall costs by 9-10 per cent, and bridge almost two-thirds of the 15 per cent gap between revenue and costs. Inclusive of today’s cut, ATF price decrease since August has been 33 per cent.
The new ATF prices will come into effect from November 1. According to a recent decision of the petroleum ministry, the next revision in ATF prices will happen on November 15. The price cuts due to abolition of the Customs duty will, however, come into effect after the oil companies take a decision on it.
“I look forward to other issues relating to this sector being favourably resolved. Such initiatives will help the sector and benefit passengers in the long run,” Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said after Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced the Customs duty abolition.
“The exemption will result in lowering of the base price of ATF and, consequently, lowering of the incidence of excise duty and VAT, giving substantial relief to the aviation sector,” the finance ministry said in a statement.
The government, however, is not likely to lose any revenue due to the exemption as the country’s oil companies do not import the fuel. The zero duty will, however, reduce the selling price of the fuel for the refiners, which benchmark the ATF prices against the landed import costs.
Low-cost as well as full-service carriers expressed their happiness over today’s developments. While SpiceJet said that this benefit would be passed on to the customers, full-service carriers like Kingfisher said they could not immediately take a call on it.
“We are very happy with the proactive decision of the government, but we will have to look at the numbers before taking a decision. Also, the major impact will only come if the sales tax on ATF becomes a uniform 4 per cent,” said Kingfisher Airlines Executive Vice-President Hitesh Patel.
The cut in ATF prices is the latest in a string of benefits that the cash-strapped oil companies have given to the airlines. Recently, they announced benefits on the Rs 2,500 crore dues that the airlines owe them, including interest-free repayment of the dues in six monthly installments till March 31, 2009.
The measures are also expected to push airlines towards financial break-even. Experts have pegged the aviation sector losses at Rs 8,000 crore for the current financial year on account of high ATF prices.
Currently, ATF accounts for 45-50 per cent of an airline’s costs. The two steps together will help them pare their overall costs by 9-10 per cent, and bridge almost two-thirds of the 15 per cent gap between revenue and costs. Inclusive of today’s cut, ATF price decrease since August has been 33 per cent.
The new ATF prices will come into effect from November 1. According to a recent decision of the petroleum ministry, the next revision in ATF prices will happen on November 15. The price cuts due to abolition of the Customs duty will, however, come into effect after the oil companies take a decision on it.
“I look forward to other issues relating to this sector being favourably resolved. Such initiatives will help the sector and benefit passengers in the long run,” Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said after Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced the Customs duty abolition.
“The exemption will result in lowering of the base price of ATF and, consequently, lowering of the incidence of excise duty and VAT, giving substantial relief to the aviation sector,” the finance ministry said in a statement.
The government, however, is not likely to lose any revenue due to the exemption as the country’s oil companies do not import the fuel. The zero duty will, however, reduce the selling price of the fuel for the refiners, which benchmark the ATF prices against the landed import costs.
Low-cost as well as full-service carriers expressed their happiness over today’s developments. While SpiceJet said that this benefit would be passed on to the customers, full-service carriers like Kingfisher said they could not immediately take a call on it.
“We are very happy with the proactive decision of the government, but we will have to look at the numbers before taking a decision. Also, the major impact will only come if the sales tax on ATF becomes a uniform 4 per cent,” said Kingfisher Airlines Executive Vice-President Hitesh Patel.
The cut in ATF prices is the latest in a string of benefits that the cash-strapped oil companies have given to the airlines. Recently, they announced benefits on the Rs 2,500 crore dues that the airlines owe them, including interest-free repayment of the dues in six monthly installments till March 31, 2009.
Business - Barclays to raise 7.3 billion pounds in share sales,mostly to Mideast Nations
Julia Werdigier
Friday, October 31, 2008
LONDON: Barclays plans to raise £7.3 billion by selling shares to Abu Dhabi and Qatar to meet Britain's new capital requirements for banks without the government's help.
Barclays, one of Britain's biggest banks, said Friday that it would sell £5.8 billion, or $9.4 billion, of convertible notes, which could leave the Middle Eastern investors with as much as 32 percent of the bank. An additional £1.5 billion would be raised by selling securities to new and existing institutional shareholders.
"One has to give Barclays credit for being able to raise that capital," said Adrian Darley of Resolution Asset Management in London. "But it is also dilutive for shareholders, and even though this is enough to keep them operating, the question for Barclays remains whether it's enough to give them flexibility to go after opportunities in the current market."
Barclays said the new investments would also help broaden the its relationships in the Middle East and Asia, regions that gained clout in the global economy and expect to benefit from Barclays's expertise in risk management, equities and acquisition advice.
Unlike Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB, Barclays has turned down government assistance to reach the new capital requirements because the money came with restrictions on bonuses, lending and dividend payments. The Barclays chief executive, John Varley, said that raising the capital itself would give Barclays more flexibility to benefit from opportunities that could arise because of the financial market downturn.
Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi and chairman of the International Petroleum Investment Co., will own as much 16 percent of Barclays while Qatar Holding will have a 12.7 percent stake. Challenger Universal, another Qatari investment vehicle, will own as much as 2.8 percent of the bank.
Barclays's efforts to weather the financial crisis without government help are being watched by those investors and lawmakers, who believe they are a benchmark for the success of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's bank bailout package. Britain's plan to offer its banks as much as £50 billion to shore up their capital in exchange for preferred shares was initially applauded around the world as an efficient way to strengthen the country's ailing banking sector but recently caused controversy.
Some investors and opposition politicians questioned the long-term effects of government intervention on Britain's banking industry and whether the government would indeed be able to recoup taxpayers money as planned. Their argument is that current shareholders in the three lenders are under pressure to buy additional shares as the banks raise capital to avoid the government becoming a stakeholder because it would suspend the dividend. At the same time, the shareholders might be reluctant to throw good money after bad.
After initially rising, Barclays's shares fell 12.8 percent Friday in London on concern that existing shareholders' investments would be diluted. Its shares have fallen 63 percent this year, less than those of Royal Bank of Scotland, one of the lenders that became partly government-owned as part of the bailout plan.
Barclays also decided to withhold its second-half dividend but said it planned to resume payouts in the second half of 2009. Barclays said Friday that it regretted that private shareholders would not be able to participate in the capital raising, citing time constraints.
Roger Lawson, a spokesman for a British association representing private shareholders, said small shareholders preferred Barclays's plan to the government bailout. "We don't particularly like it, but it's a necessary evil," Lawson said. "Under the government plan, no dividend for five years is very damaging for shareholders. They're fed up of giving money to banks and not getting anything in return."
The shareholder group said Friday that it was preparing a campaign against the government's plans to halt dividends, saying that the restrictions would make it harder for the banks to raise further money themselves.
For Barclays, it is the second time in four months that it tapped Middle Eastern investors to improve its capital base. Qatar, Temasek Holdings, China Development Bank and the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking agreed to invest a total of £4.5 billion in the bank in June.
Barclays's shares have fallen more than 40 percent since then.
"Given the continuing uncertainties in the world capital markets, the board of Barclays resolved to satisfy the capital raising requirements agreed with the U.K. authorities without delay," said Barclays's chairman, Marcus Agius. "This maintains Barclays as a strong, independent and well-capitalized bank."
Friday, October 31, 2008
LONDON: Barclays plans to raise £7.3 billion by selling shares to Abu Dhabi and Qatar to meet Britain's new capital requirements for banks without the government's help.
Barclays, one of Britain's biggest banks, said Friday that it would sell £5.8 billion, or $9.4 billion, of convertible notes, which could leave the Middle Eastern investors with as much as 32 percent of the bank. An additional £1.5 billion would be raised by selling securities to new and existing institutional shareholders.
"One has to give Barclays credit for being able to raise that capital," said Adrian Darley of Resolution Asset Management in London. "But it is also dilutive for shareholders, and even though this is enough to keep them operating, the question for Barclays remains whether it's enough to give them flexibility to go after opportunities in the current market."
Barclays said the new investments would also help broaden the its relationships in the Middle East and Asia, regions that gained clout in the global economy and expect to benefit from Barclays's expertise in risk management, equities and acquisition advice.
Unlike Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB, Barclays has turned down government assistance to reach the new capital requirements because the money came with restrictions on bonuses, lending and dividend payments. The Barclays chief executive, John Varley, said that raising the capital itself would give Barclays more flexibility to benefit from opportunities that could arise because of the financial market downturn.
Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi and chairman of the International Petroleum Investment Co., will own as much 16 percent of Barclays while Qatar Holding will have a 12.7 percent stake. Challenger Universal, another Qatari investment vehicle, will own as much as 2.8 percent of the bank.
Barclays's efforts to weather the financial crisis without government help are being watched by those investors and lawmakers, who believe they are a benchmark for the success of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's bank bailout package. Britain's plan to offer its banks as much as £50 billion to shore up their capital in exchange for preferred shares was initially applauded around the world as an efficient way to strengthen the country's ailing banking sector but recently caused controversy.
Some investors and opposition politicians questioned the long-term effects of government intervention on Britain's banking industry and whether the government would indeed be able to recoup taxpayers money as planned. Their argument is that current shareholders in the three lenders are under pressure to buy additional shares as the banks raise capital to avoid the government becoming a stakeholder because it would suspend the dividend. At the same time, the shareholders might be reluctant to throw good money after bad.
After initially rising, Barclays's shares fell 12.8 percent Friday in London on concern that existing shareholders' investments would be diluted. Its shares have fallen 63 percent this year, less than those of Royal Bank of Scotland, one of the lenders that became partly government-owned as part of the bailout plan.
Barclays also decided to withhold its second-half dividend but said it planned to resume payouts in the second half of 2009. Barclays said Friday that it regretted that private shareholders would not be able to participate in the capital raising, citing time constraints.
Roger Lawson, a spokesman for a British association representing private shareholders, said small shareholders preferred Barclays's plan to the government bailout. "We don't particularly like it, but it's a necessary evil," Lawson said. "Under the government plan, no dividend for five years is very damaging for shareholders. They're fed up of giving money to banks and not getting anything in return."
The shareholder group said Friday that it was preparing a campaign against the government's plans to halt dividends, saying that the restrictions would make it harder for the banks to raise further money themselves.
For Barclays, it is the second time in four months that it tapped Middle Eastern investors to improve its capital base. Qatar, Temasek Holdings, China Development Bank and the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking agreed to invest a total of £4.5 billion in the bank in June.
Barclays's shares have fallen more than 40 percent since then.
"Given the continuing uncertainties in the world capital markets, the board of Barclays resolved to satisfy the capital raising requirements agreed with the U.K. authorities without delay," said Barclays's chairman, Marcus Agius. "This maintains Barclays as a strong, independent and well-capitalized bank."
Business - Bank of Japan cuts rates for first time in 7 years
Martin Fackler
TOKYO: The Japanese central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for the first time in seven years on Friday, joining earlier moves by the Federal Reserve and other central banks to soften the brunt of a possible global recession.
The Bank of Japan's policy board voted to lower the overnight lending rate between banks by 0.2 percentage point to 0.3 percent, reducing borrowing costs in order to rekindle growth in the country, which has the largest economy in Asia. The bank also seemed to confirm fears here that Japan was heading into a recession by lowering its forecasted growth rate for the current year to around zero percent, citing higher energy prices and weakening demand for Japanese exports.
The loosening Friday was also aimed at easing a growing credit crunch in Japan, which had long seemed immune to the international financial contagion. As an additional credit-easing measure, the bank said it would start paying interest on some of the reserves that commercial banks keep at the central bank, a step that would provide more cash to lenders.
This was the first interest rate cut during the current financial crisis by Japan, where short-term interest rates, already near zero, have constrained the central bank's room for maneuver.
Bank officials have said that they feel hard pressed to find ways to coordinate with the Fed, which cut its benchmark rate to 1 percent on Wednesday, and other world central banks in combating the current economic downturn. The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Reserve Bank of Australia, which have all already lowered rates in recent weeks, are also widely forecast to deliver another cut next week.
The unorthodox size of the rate cut in Japan, whose central bank usually makes in quarter or half percentage-point steps, seemed to reflect a desire to maintain as much space as possible for additional cuts if needed, economists said. The eight current members of the policy board were split 4-4 on the cut, with the bank governor, Masaaki Shirakawa, casting the deciding vote in favor, the bank said.
Borrowing rates have been stuck at low levels here for more than a decade, as domestic growth in the export-driven Japanese economy never fully recovered from the collapse of its late-1980s real estate and stock market bubbles. The Bank of Japan had until now limited itself to less dramatic moves, like supplying dollars and yen to money markets to ease the global credit crunch.
Economists said that the easing Friday had symbolic value as a sign of Japan's willingness to coordinate with other governments in treating the global economic malaise. But they said the small size of the move would make it unlikely to stimulate much of an increase in actual borrowing.
The Japanese stock market reacted badly to the rate cut - investors had expected a larger cut - sending the Nikkei 225 down 5 percent on Friday. Despite a rally earlier in the week, the index lost a total of 24 percent in October - its worst month on record.
"The bank is making an effort to offset some damage from declining exports," said Richard Jerram, an economist in Tokyo for Macquarie Securities. "But a cut of this size is not really going to change anybody's world."
With low interest rates and a huge fiscal deficit, Japan has few real options for stimulating its $5 trillion economy, the world's second-largest, after the United States. The government has released a series of spending packages, including one Thursday valued at $51 billion that would give income tax rebates to households.
With the United States now apparently heading into recession, Japanese policy makers have looked for ways to pick up some of the slack in global growth. But like many Asian countries, Japan appears highly vulnerable to the U.S. slowdown because of its continued reliance on exports, and relatively weak consumption at home.
Japanese exporters have also been hurt by the yen's sharp rise against other key currencies in the past few months. The rally has made exporters' goods more expensive in markets like the United States and Europe, prompting a string of companies to slash their earnings forecasts. The latest to do so were Nissan and Suzuki, which revised their outlooks on Friday.
Also on Friday, a survey of purchasing managers showed that manufacturing activity had fallen to a near-seven year low in October, evidence of the deteriorating conditions in Japan's manufacturing sector.
The Bank of Japan cited declining demand in the United States in particular in making its forecast of no growth this year, followed by around 0.5 percent growth next year.
Previously, the bank had forecast growth of 1.2 percent this year and 1.5 percent next year.
"Increased sluggishness in economic activity will likely remain until around the middle of fiscal 2009," the forecast said.
With the loosening Friday, the bank appeared to decide that now was the time to send a stronger signal to restore confidence in panic-stricken financial markets. Reports in the Japanese press earlier this week that a rate cut was in the works were enough to spark a rally in Tokyo's beleaguered stock markets.
The stressed state of the Japanese banking sector was apparent Friday, when the country's two largest banks, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group, cut their earnings outlooks by more than half.
The central bank also decided to lower the so-called Lombard rate, the rate at which the central bank lends to commercial banks, by a quarter percentage point to 0.5 percent.
As the Japanese economy has faltered, there have been increasing complaints by smaller businesses that they are having trouble getting new loans. The decision to pay interest on reserves at the central bank is meant to combat this by effectively stuffing private banks with extra cash, in hopes that they would lend more of it to businesses and consumers. The Bank of Japan took similar steps to end a domestic cash crunch in the late 1990s, when its domestic economy suffered a banking crisis.
According to Jerram, of Macquarie, one lesson of Japan's experience with such indirect measures is that they work only if bankers are confident that they will remain in place until the economy actually revives. To make this clear, he said the bank should accompany such an easing with public commitments not to raise borrowing costs again until some target is met, such as a rebound by consumer prices.
Bettina Wassener contributed reporting from Hong Kong.
TOKYO: The Japanese central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for the first time in seven years on Friday, joining earlier moves by the Federal Reserve and other central banks to soften the brunt of a possible global recession.
The Bank of Japan's policy board voted to lower the overnight lending rate between banks by 0.2 percentage point to 0.3 percent, reducing borrowing costs in order to rekindle growth in the country, which has the largest economy in Asia. The bank also seemed to confirm fears here that Japan was heading into a recession by lowering its forecasted growth rate for the current year to around zero percent, citing higher energy prices and weakening demand for Japanese exports.
The loosening Friday was also aimed at easing a growing credit crunch in Japan, which had long seemed immune to the international financial contagion. As an additional credit-easing measure, the bank said it would start paying interest on some of the reserves that commercial banks keep at the central bank, a step that would provide more cash to lenders.
This was the first interest rate cut during the current financial crisis by Japan, where short-term interest rates, already near zero, have constrained the central bank's room for maneuver.
Bank officials have said that they feel hard pressed to find ways to coordinate with the Fed, which cut its benchmark rate to 1 percent on Wednesday, and other world central banks in combating the current economic downturn. The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Reserve Bank of Australia, which have all already lowered rates in recent weeks, are also widely forecast to deliver another cut next week.
The unorthodox size of the rate cut in Japan, whose central bank usually makes in quarter or half percentage-point steps, seemed to reflect a desire to maintain as much space as possible for additional cuts if needed, economists said. The eight current members of the policy board were split 4-4 on the cut, with the bank governor, Masaaki Shirakawa, casting the deciding vote in favor, the bank said.
Borrowing rates have been stuck at low levels here for more than a decade, as domestic growth in the export-driven Japanese economy never fully recovered from the collapse of its late-1980s real estate and stock market bubbles. The Bank of Japan had until now limited itself to less dramatic moves, like supplying dollars and yen to money markets to ease the global credit crunch.
Economists said that the easing Friday had symbolic value as a sign of Japan's willingness to coordinate with other governments in treating the global economic malaise. But they said the small size of the move would make it unlikely to stimulate much of an increase in actual borrowing.
The Japanese stock market reacted badly to the rate cut - investors had expected a larger cut - sending the Nikkei 225 down 5 percent on Friday. Despite a rally earlier in the week, the index lost a total of 24 percent in October - its worst month on record.
"The bank is making an effort to offset some damage from declining exports," said Richard Jerram, an economist in Tokyo for Macquarie Securities. "But a cut of this size is not really going to change anybody's world."
With low interest rates and a huge fiscal deficit, Japan has few real options for stimulating its $5 trillion economy, the world's second-largest, after the United States. The government has released a series of spending packages, including one Thursday valued at $51 billion that would give income tax rebates to households.
With the United States now apparently heading into recession, Japanese policy makers have looked for ways to pick up some of the slack in global growth. But like many Asian countries, Japan appears highly vulnerable to the U.S. slowdown because of its continued reliance on exports, and relatively weak consumption at home.
Japanese exporters have also been hurt by the yen's sharp rise against other key currencies in the past few months. The rally has made exporters' goods more expensive in markets like the United States and Europe, prompting a string of companies to slash their earnings forecasts. The latest to do so were Nissan and Suzuki, which revised their outlooks on Friday.
Also on Friday, a survey of purchasing managers showed that manufacturing activity had fallen to a near-seven year low in October, evidence of the deteriorating conditions in Japan's manufacturing sector.
The Bank of Japan cited declining demand in the United States in particular in making its forecast of no growth this year, followed by around 0.5 percent growth next year.
Previously, the bank had forecast growth of 1.2 percent this year and 1.5 percent next year.
"Increased sluggishness in economic activity will likely remain until around the middle of fiscal 2009," the forecast said.
With the loosening Friday, the bank appeared to decide that now was the time to send a stronger signal to restore confidence in panic-stricken financial markets. Reports in the Japanese press earlier this week that a rate cut was in the works were enough to spark a rally in Tokyo's beleaguered stock markets.
The stressed state of the Japanese banking sector was apparent Friday, when the country's two largest banks, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group, cut their earnings outlooks by more than half.
The central bank also decided to lower the so-called Lombard rate, the rate at which the central bank lends to commercial banks, by a quarter percentage point to 0.5 percent.
As the Japanese economy has faltered, there have been increasing complaints by smaller businesses that they are having trouble getting new loans. The decision to pay interest on reserves at the central bank is meant to combat this by effectively stuffing private banks with extra cash, in hopes that they would lend more of it to businesses and consumers. The Bank of Japan took similar steps to end a domestic cash crunch in the late 1990s, when its domestic economy suffered a banking crisis.
According to Jerram, of Macquarie, one lesson of Japan's experience with such indirect measures is that they work only if bankers are confident that they will remain in place until the economy actually revives. To make this clear, he said the bank should accompany such an easing with public commitments not to raise borrowing costs again until some target is met, such as a rebound by consumer prices.
Bettina Wassener contributed reporting from Hong Kong.
Oct 31, 2008
Business - India;Telecom;Licensed to make a killing
Even if Communications Minister A Raja is not willing to concede that he handed over scarce spectrum (used for mobile communications) to a few select firms for a virtual song, the evidence is now mounting. Just last month, one of the firms (Swan Telecom), which had paid Rs 1,537 crore for its 13 telecom circles in the country, was able to sell 45 per cent of its equity for $900 million (the enterprise value was therefore $2 billion). At the going exchange rate, that meant Swan had got a value 5.9 times what it had paid just eight months earlier. Since the Rs 1,537 crore that Swan paid was based on the auction price for the fourth cellular licence way back in June 2001, when there were just four million mobile phone users in the country (today, that number is added every two weeks), it was always obvious that the government would get a much higher price if it auctioned the spectrum. Since the government got Rs 9,000 crore from the companies to whom it sold the spectrum last January, using the Swan valuation meant the government had got around Rs 44,100 crore less than it should have got. But even this valuation, it now appears, may have been an underestimate.
Just a couple of days ago, the real estate firm Unitech, another beneficiary of Mr Raja’s largesse, sold a 60 per cent stake in its telecom firm (it applied for all 23 circles and paid Rs1,651 crore as licence fee) to Telenor of Norway. Since, like Swan, Unitech has not rolled out any of its network and does not have a single subscriber, and since the company has no knowledge of the telecom business, the Rs 6,120 crore paid is only for the spectrum that Unitech got. Including the debt component that will be taken on by Telenor, the company says its enterprise value is now Rs 11,620 crore — that is, Unitech has got a valuation that is more than seven times what it paid. Given that Telenor has got a majority stake in the firm, which Etisalat did not, the Norwegian firm has naturally paid more. Based on this, the loss to the government is Rs 54,300 crore, or a substantial portion of that (assuming you have to leave something on the table for investors to be attracted). By way of contrast, the entire Bofors contract, and not the 14 per cent commission paid secretly to various middlemen, was worth Rs 1,600 crore, and that was enough to bring down a government two decades ago.
On the flip side, the promoters of the Unitech group (which is the second largest real estate enterprise in the country) have made more money out of grabbing a telecom licence and selling a majority stake in it, than they have done through decades of building their real estate business. And how were they and the other lucky people chosen to be given spectrum? On the basis of the ‘first come, first served’ principle that was announced arbitrarily and shut the door on potential applicants, and which then created the equivalent of a rugby scrum to be first through the door, on the appointed morning! Is anyone shocked enough to cry ‘Foul!’, or has the country ceased to care?
Since this has happened despite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh being against it (at a Ficci function, he stated publicly that auctions were the best way to go), it is clear that he is helpless in the face of coalition politics. That is, the communications ministry is with the DMK, without whose support the government would not survive; Mr Raja’s appointment as the communications minister was first made by Mr Karunanidhi in Chennai, not by the Prime Minister or President; and the DMK and its minister seem to enjoy free rein, with collective Cabinet responsibility being a convenient piece of fiction. The message to the country is that, if the next government is as beholden to its coalition partners as this one is, crony capitalism will continue to flourish. Indeed, what has just happened in telecom is likely to be repeated when it comes to the impending 3G auctions, from which new players are sought to be excluded. But that will only drop bid prices, because there will be fewer bidders. Any takers for the public interest?
Just a couple of days ago, the real estate firm Unitech, another beneficiary of Mr Raja’s largesse, sold a 60 per cent stake in its telecom firm (it applied for all 23 circles and paid Rs1,651 crore as licence fee) to Telenor of Norway. Since, like Swan, Unitech has not rolled out any of its network and does not have a single subscriber, and since the company has no knowledge of the telecom business, the Rs 6,120 crore paid is only for the spectrum that Unitech got. Including the debt component that will be taken on by Telenor, the company says its enterprise value is now Rs 11,620 crore — that is, Unitech has got a valuation that is more than seven times what it paid. Given that Telenor has got a majority stake in the firm, which Etisalat did not, the Norwegian firm has naturally paid more. Based on this, the loss to the government is Rs 54,300 crore, or a substantial portion of that (assuming you have to leave something on the table for investors to be attracted). By way of contrast, the entire Bofors contract, and not the 14 per cent commission paid secretly to various middlemen, was worth Rs 1,600 crore, and that was enough to bring down a government two decades ago.
On the flip side, the promoters of the Unitech group (which is the second largest real estate enterprise in the country) have made more money out of grabbing a telecom licence and selling a majority stake in it, than they have done through decades of building their real estate business. And how were they and the other lucky people chosen to be given spectrum? On the basis of the ‘first come, first served’ principle that was announced arbitrarily and shut the door on potential applicants, and which then created the equivalent of a rugby scrum to be first through the door, on the appointed morning! Is anyone shocked enough to cry ‘Foul!’, or has the country ceased to care?
Since this has happened despite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh being against it (at a Ficci function, he stated publicly that auctions were the best way to go), it is clear that he is helpless in the face of coalition politics. That is, the communications ministry is with the DMK, without whose support the government would not survive; Mr Raja’s appointment as the communications minister was first made by Mr Karunanidhi in Chennai, not by the Prime Minister or President; and the DMK and its minister seem to enjoy free rein, with collective Cabinet responsibility being a convenient piece of fiction. The message to the country is that, if the next government is as beholden to its coalition partners as this one is, crony capitalism will continue to flourish. Indeed, what has just happened in telecom is likely to be repeated when it comes to the impending 3G auctions, from which new players are sought to be excluded. But that will only drop bid prices, because there will be fewer bidders. Any takers for the public interest?
Business - India;Govt approves Insurance Bill;to hike FDI cap to 49%
The government today approved the much-awaited comprehensive Insurance Bill, which seeks to raise foreign direct investment cap in private sector to 49 per cent from 26 per cent, and said it would be tabled in the Parliament in December.
"The Union Cabinet gave its approval for introduction of the Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2008 for amendment to Insurance Act 1938, General Insurance Business Act, 1972, and Insurance Regulatory and Development Act, 1999, in the Rajya Sabha on the basis of recommendations made by GoM," Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here this morning.
However, the Bill is unlikely to be passed in this Parliament mainly due to lack of time, Chidambaram said while briefing on decision taken in the Cabinet last night.
The amendments, he said, will remove archaic and redundant provisions in the legislations and would incorporate certain provisions to provide IRDA with flexibility to discharge its functions effectively and efficiently.
The Cabinet also decided to introduce the Life Insurance Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2008 in the Lok Sabha, he said.
"The Union Cabinet gave its approval for introduction of the Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2008 for amendment to Insurance Act 1938, General Insurance Business Act, 1972, and Insurance Regulatory and Development Act, 1999, in the Rajya Sabha on the basis of recommendations made by GoM," Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here this morning.
However, the Bill is unlikely to be passed in this Parliament mainly due to lack of time, Chidambaram said while briefing on decision taken in the Cabinet last night.
The amendments, he said, will remove archaic and redundant provisions in the legislations and would incorporate certain provisions to provide IRDA with flexibility to discharge its functions effectively and efficiently.
The Cabinet also decided to introduce the Life Insurance Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2008 in the Lok Sabha, he said.
Business-India;Transaction fee may hurt your flight plans
Chanchal Pal Chauhan
NEW DELHI: Indian air travellers will have to shell out an extra Rs 350 to Rs 10,000 from November 1 for both domestic and international travel in the form of transaction fee, to be paid to travel agents.
This transaction fee will replace the conventional 5% commission of the travel agents, which is being done away from Friday.
All major carriers — Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines — will move from a ‘commission’ format to a ‘transaction fee’ format from Friday night. International airlines, too, are expected to move towards the transaction fee format soon.
The critical difference between the commission and transaction fee is that while the former was being deducted by the travel agent from the airline, the latter will be paid by the customer to the travel agent. The transaction fee will be part of the ticket price. It will be collected by airlines and handed over to the travel agent. While the travel agent had the flexibility to waive off or reduce the commission percentage, the transaction fee will be fixed and mandatory. However, it will be not applicable for tickets booked directly.
From Saturday morning, domestic passengers will have to shell out an extra Rs 350 for an economy class ticket and Rs 500 for a business class ticket. However, the real hit will be for international passengers who will be charged anything between Rs 1,200 for economy class tickets and Rs 10,000 for first class tickets.
The transaction fee will be applicable for both domestic as well as international sectors. It will be applicable per ticket, irrespective of the type of journey and the number of sectors, and would vary depending upon the area of travel. The system is already being practised by low-cost airlines — SpiceJet, Indigo and GoAir — in the domestic market, where agents charge a transaction fee on every ticket sold.
Air India executive director of corporate communication Jitendra Bhargava told ET: “We have taken the decision to migrate to the transaction-fee model. The travel agents will no longer cut their 5% commission currently being charged from us, but will take a transaction fee that will be part of the ticket price.” The three domestic airlines are expected to save around Rs 1,000 crore as commission payments to travel agents on air ticket sales. Air India and Jet are expected to save Rs 450 crore each and Kingfisher could be saving up to Rs 100 crore annually.
NEW DELHI: Indian air travellers will have to shell out an extra Rs 350 to Rs 10,000 from November 1 for both domestic and international travel in the form of transaction fee, to be paid to travel agents.
This transaction fee will replace the conventional 5% commission of the travel agents, which is being done away from Friday.
All major carriers — Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines — will move from a ‘commission’ format to a ‘transaction fee’ format from Friday night. International airlines, too, are expected to move towards the transaction fee format soon.
The critical difference between the commission and transaction fee is that while the former was being deducted by the travel agent from the airline, the latter will be paid by the customer to the travel agent. The transaction fee will be part of the ticket price. It will be collected by airlines and handed over to the travel agent. While the travel agent had the flexibility to waive off or reduce the commission percentage, the transaction fee will be fixed and mandatory. However, it will be not applicable for tickets booked directly.
From Saturday morning, domestic passengers will have to shell out an extra Rs 350 for an economy class ticket and Rs 500 for a business class ticket. However, the real hit will be for international passengers who will be charged anything between Rs 1,200 for economy class tickets and Rs 10,000 for first class tickets.
The transaction fee will be applicable for both domestic as well as international sectors. It will be applicable per ticket, irrespective of the type of journey and the number of sectors, and would vary depending upon the area of travel. The system is already being practised by low-cost airlines — SpiceJet, Indigo and GoAir — in the domestic market, where agents charge a transaction fee on every ticket sold.
Air India executive director of corporate communication Jitendra Bhargava told ET: “We have taken the decision to migrate to the transaction-fee model. The travel agents will no longer cut their 5% commission currently being charged from us, but will take a transaction fee that will be part of the ticket price.” The three domestic airlines are expected to save around Rs 1,000 crore as commission payments to travel agents on air ticket sales. Air India and Jet are expected to save Rs 450 crore each and Kingfisher could be saving up to Rs 100 crore annually.
World - India;Pakistan - How the men of honour rose to the occassion (V.G.Read)
Hamid Hussain
During the dark days of Partition the soldiers of both India and Pakistan did a splendid job of protecting the people, upholding the highest traditions of the British Indian Army.
India and Pakistan are known to the outside world for their 60 years of dispute, and their complicated, brutal internal struggles. While a new wave of horrific violence perpetrated by religious extremists is shaking the very foundation of the Pakistani state, in India ugly communal forces are gaining in strength by the day. The armed forces of both countries are engaged in countering the violence emanating from the internal threats.
Perhaps the darkest chapter in the troubled history of both countries was Partition, which accompanied their independence. Countless number of innocent people were massacred on both sides. What is little known is that in those times of hatred and bigotry, soldiers of all religions and ethnic groups behaved splendidly. It was amazing to see the way the men of honour conducted themselves while their religious compatriots were killing one another on the streets.
In 1947, the British Indian Army was divided and officers and men were moved from one country to the other to join their new units. Major Nisar Ahmad Qureshi was designated Assistant Military Secretary of the Pakistan army. His family moved from Simla to Ambala, where it stayed with Nisar’s classmate Squadron Leader Mehra. From Ambala, the family members went to Delhi, where Major J.A.L. Kama was their host until they were safely flown to Pakistan. In December 1947, Captain Sri Ram’s family was in Muzaffarabad. He sent a message to his friend and wartime comrade Captain Anwar Qureshi, who moved his family to Rawalpindi. Anwar made arrangements for the family to stay at Major Abdul Rahman’s house. He got hold of an army truck and drove it himself to Lahore, where he handed over the family to the Indian High Commissioner for safe repatriation. Such men on both sides deserve our respect for, they lost neither their discipline nor humanity in the days when many around them were blinded by hate.
A majority of soldiers and officers of all religious and ethnic communities upheld the tradition of a fine institution. In one instance, a number of soldiers were on a train taking Hindu refugees from Pakistan to India. The guard van had a Hindu and a Punjabi Muslim soldier protecting their charge. A Sikh subedar, a Hindu sepoy and a Punjabi Muslim havaldar were travelling together on this train. The Sikh subedar was kept out of sight and protected by the Muslim havaldar when the train passed through Pakistan as mobs were roaming the railway stations. Once it entered India, the subedar took the Muslim havaldar to his first-class compartment where a retired Sikh captain was also present. The two Sikh soldiers threatened large mobs with their weapons to prevent them from entering their cabin. Risking their lives, they protected the Muslim havaldar and dropped him safely at Meerut.
The First Mahar is a battalion of the Indian army. In 1947, it consisted of an equal number of Marhattas and Sikhs. Captain Syed Ahmad Mansur was the commander of a Marhatta Company of the battalion. In August 1947, he was on internal security duty in Delhi but was in charge of Hindu soldiers who did not belong to his battalion. He was asked if he would escort Muslim refugee trains. He agreed on condition that he would be given a platoon from his own company of Marhattas of the First Mahar. When Mansur and his indomitable Marhatta soldiers were escorting some Muslim passengers near Jalandhar, the engine was derailed by rioters. A large mob converged on the train and Mansur’s Marhattas opened fire to protect Muslim refugees. The train reached Pakistan safely. On their way back to India, Mansur and his men escorted a train of non-Muslim refugees. They performed their task without favour or prejudice, protecting every life under their charge, Muslim or non-Muslim.
Several Gurkha and Garhwal Rifles battalions, which performed internal security duties, never hesitated to open fire on bloodthirsty mobs. A patrol of the First Kumaon fired on a Hindu mob, killing more than 50 people. Many of the killed rioters were Ahirs belonging to the same villages from where the regiment recruited its men. At the Regimental Centre in Agra, some soldiers complained about the incident. However, when it was made clear that only a thoroughly professional and first-class regiment can act without favour and prejudice, all was well. These were truly shining moments in the history of the proud Kumaon regiment.
In Pakistan, too, battalions consisting of Muslims performed their duty with the utmost devotion. When the 7th Battalion of 10 Baluch Regiment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Gulzar Ahmad was stationed in Karachi, a Muslim mob attacked a group of Sikhs near a gurdwara. A patrol was rushed to the scene and soldiers shot at the rioters without hesitation. Muhammad Ali Jinnah complimented the battalion on performing its duty without fear or favour. 11 Cavalry escorted non-Muslim refugees from Abbotabad and the Gujar Khan area and a Squadron of 11 Cavalry commanded by Captain Akhtar Aslam protected the lives and property of non-Muslims in Mianwali.
Major Muhammad Aslam of the 7th Field Battery was in charge of law and order in Mandi Bahauddin. Some local hooligans gathered around his party and told him they planned to loot the homes of non-Muslims. Aslam warned them to disperse but they rushed at the military detachment. Soldiers opened fire, killing six rioters and the rest ran away. The Chief of the Pakistan Army General Frank Messervy sent a letter of commendation to Aslam, in which he said: “It is essential for the future of Pakistan that the present disturbances are stopped as soon as possible. The police in these disturbances have become so communal minded as to be unreliable and under such circumstances, if the Army becomes communal minded the whole future of Pakistan is at stake.” The same could have been said about the Indian Army.
Many non-Muslim families lived among frontier tribesmen at the time of Independence. The local Pushtun code of conduct assured them some protection. When it was decided to repatriate the families to India, their protection was entrusted to the army and scouts. The 2nd Battalion of 15 Punjab stationed in Kohat was given the task of escorting them from Parachinar. The second-in-command, Major Sardar, brought the families safely to Kohat where they were placed in a safe camp. The camp was protected by soldiers of the Pakistan Army.
The Kurram militia set up a camp for non-Muslims in Parachinar and protected it from the depredations of fellow Muslims. In Peshawar city, two platoons of the militia rescued several Sikh families. South Waziristan Scouts were assigned the task of escorting a Gurkha battalion and a Sikh mountain battery from Wana. The proud Pushtuns were responsible for the safety of their erstwhile and equally brave comrades who happened to be Sikhs and Gurkhas.
An Afridi platoon led by Jemadar Shera Baz was escorting non-Muslim soldiers from Sarwakai to Jandola when their convoy was ambushed. Shera Baz and several scouts laid down their lives protecting the soldiers. It was a matter of honour for them to protect their charge. They performed their duty against enormous odds and pressure from their own kith and kin. Such actions are part of the collective heritage of the Pakistan Army.
Hatred begins against the ‘other’ who belongs to a different linguistic, ethnic or religious group. Unfortunately, it gets internalised quickly. Long after the ‘other’ ceases to be relevant, bigotry and hatred continue to take their toll. Pakistan supported non-state actors, inflaming them with the most retrogressive ideology to keep India busy. It is now reaping the harvest with the same forces devouring the country. This should serve as a lesson for those who sub-contract national security to non-state actors. In India, fear and suspicion of Pakistan reared a whole generation on the gospel of hate. These demons are now eating away the foundation of India.
There is a lesson for everyone in the way the soldiers of the British Indian Army conducted themselves in 1947. Men belonging to different ethnic groups and religions stood firm while performing a difficult and painful task. They fired at co-religionists who were bent on killing and looting. The people of India and Pakistan owe a lot to the brave men who provided a ray of light in the dark days of wanton murder, looting and destruction.
(Dr. Hamid Hussain is an independent analyst based in New York.)
During the dark days of Partition the soldiers of both India and Pakistan did a splendid job of protecting the people, upholding the highest traditions of the British Indian Army.
India and Pakistan are known to the outside world for their 60 years of dispute, and their complicated, brutal internal struggles. While a new wave of horrific violence perpetrated by religious extremists is shaking the very foundation of the Pakistani state, in India ugly communal forces are gaining in strength by the day. The armed forces of both countries are engaged in countering the violence emanating from the internal threats.
Perhaps the darkest chapter in the troubled history of both countries was Partition, which accompanied their independence. Countless number of innocent people were massacred on both sides. What is little known is that in those times of hatred and bigotry, soldiers of all religions and ethnic groups behaved splendidly. It was amazing to see the way the men of honour conducted themselves while their religious compatriots were killing one another on the streets.
In 1947, the British Indian Army was divided and officers and men were moved from one country to the other to join their new units. Major Nisar Ahmad Qureshi was designated Assistant Military Secretary of the Pakistan army. His family moved from Simla to Ambala, where it stayed with Nisar’s classmate Squadron Leader Mehra. From Ambala, the family members went to Delhi, where Major J.A.L. Kama was their host until they were safely flown to Pakistan. In December 1947, Captain Sri Ram’s family was in Muzaffarabad. He sent a message to his friend and wartime comrade Captain Anwar Qureshi, who moved his family to Rawalpindi. Anwar made arrangements for the family to stay at Major Abdul Rahman’s house. He got hold of an army truck and drove it himself to Lahore, where he handed over the family to the Indian High Commissioner for safe repatriation. Such men on both sides deserve our respect for, they lost neither their discipline nor humanity in the days when many around them were blinded by hate.
A majority of soldiers and officers of all religious and ethnic communities upheld the tradition of a fine institution. In one instance, a number of soldiers were on a train taking Hindu refugees from Pakistan to India. The guard van had a Hindu and a Punjabi Muslim soldier protecting their charge. A Sikh subedar, a Hindu sepoy and a Punjabi Muslim havaldar were travelling together on this train. The Sikh subedar was kept out of sight and protected by the Muslim havaldar when the train passed through Pakistan as mobs were roaming the railway stations. Once it entered India, the subedar took the Muslim havaldar to his first-class compartment where a retired Sikh captain was also present. The two Sikh soldiers threatened large mobs with their weapons to prevent them from entering their cabin. Risking their lives, they protected the Muslim havaldar and dropped him safely at Meerut.
The First Mahar is a battalion of the Indian army. In 1947, it consisted of an equal number of Marhattas and Sikhs. Captain Syed Ahmad Mansur was the commander of a Marhatta Company of the battalion. In August 1947, he was on internal security duty in Delhi but was in charge of Hindu soldiers who did not belong to his battalion. He was asked if he would escort Muslim refugee trains. He agreed on condition that he would be given a platoon from his own company of Marhattas of the First Mahar. When Mansur and his indomitable Marhatta soldiers were escorting some Muslim passengers near Jalandhar, the engine was derailed by rioters. A large mob converged on the train and Mansur’s Marhattas opened fire to protect Muslim refugees. The train reached Pakistan safely. On their way back to India, Mansur and his men escorted a train of non-Muslim refugees. They performed their task without favour or prejudice, protecting every life under their charge, Muslim or non-Muslim.
Several Gurkha and Garhwal Rifles battalions, which performed internal security duties, never hesitated to open fire on bloodthirsty mobs. A patrol of the First Kumaon fired on a Hindu mob, killing more than 50 people. Many of the killed rioters were Ahirs belonging to the same villages from where the regiment recruited its men. At the Regimental Centre in Agra, some soldiers complained about the incident. However, when it was made clear that only a thoroughly professional and first-class regiment can act without favour and prejudice, all was well. These were truly shining moments in the history of the proud Kumaon regiment.
In Pakistan, too, battalions consisting of Muslims performed their duty with the utmost devotion. When the 7th Battalion of 10 Baluch Regiment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Gulzar Ahmad was stationed in Karachi, a Muslim mob attacked a group of Sikhs near a gurdwara. A patrol was rushed to the scene and soldiers shot at the rioters without hesitation. Muhammad Ali Jinnah complimented the battalion on performing its duty without fear or favour. 11 Cavalry escorted non-Muslim refugees from Abbotabad and the Gujar Khan area and a Squadron of 11 Cavalry commanded by Captain Akhtar Aslam protected the lives and property of non-Muslims in Mianwali.
Major Muhammad Aslam of the 7th Field Battery was in charge of law and order in Mandi Bahauddin. Some local hooligans gathered around his party and told him they planned to loot the homes of non-Muslims. Aslam warned them to disperse but they rushed at the military detachment. Soldiers opened fire, killing six rioters and the rest ran away. The Chief of the Pakistan Army General Frank Messervy sent a letter of commendation to Aslam, in which he said: “It is essential for the future of Pakistan that the present disturbances are stopped as soon as possible. The police in these disturbances have become so communal minded as to be unreliable and under such circumstances, if the Army becomes communal minded the whole future of Pakistan is at stake.” The same could have been said about the Indian Army.
Many non-Muslim families lived among frontier tribesmen at the time of Independence. The local Pushtun code of conduct assured them some protection. When it was decided to repatriate the families to India, their protection was entrusted to the army and scouts. The 2nd Battalion of 15 Punjab stationed in Kohat was given the task of escorting them from Parachinar. The second-in-command, Major Sardar, brought the families safely to Kohat where they were placed in a safe camp. The camp was protected by soldiers of the Pakistan Army.
The Kurram militia set up a camp for non-Muslims in Parachinar and protected it from the depredations of fellow Muslims. In Peshawar city, two platoons of the militia rescued several Sikh families. South Waziristan Scouts were assigned the task of escorting a Gurkha battalion and a Sikh mountain battery from Wana. The proud Pushtuns were responsible for the safety of their erstwhile and equally brave comrades who happened to be Sikhs and Gurkhas.
An Afridi platoon led by Jemadar Shera Baz was escorting non-Muslim soldiers from Sarwakai to Jandola when their convoy was ambushed. Shera Baz and several scouts laid down their lives protecting the soldiers. It was a matter of honour for them to protect their charge. They performed their duty against enormous odds and pressure from their own kith and kin. Such actions are part of the collective heritage of the Pakistan Army.
Hatred begins against the ‘other’ who belongs to a different linguistic, ethnic or religious group. Unfortunately, it gets internalised quickly. Long after the ‘other’ ceases to be relevant, bigotry and hatred continue to take their toll. Pakistan supported non-state actors, inflaming them with the most retrogressive ideology to keep India busy. It is now reaping the harvest with the same forces devouring the country. This should serve as a lesson for those who sub-contract national security to non-state actors. In India, fear and suspicion of Pakistan reared a whole generation on the gospel of hate. These demons are now eating away the foundation of India.
There is a lesson for everyone in the way the soldiers of the British Indian Army conducted themselves in 1947. Men belonging to different ethnic groups and religions stood firm while performing a difficult and painful task. They fired at co-religionists who were bent on killing and looting. The people of India and Pakistan owe a lot to the brave men who provided a ray of light in the dark days of wanton murder, looting and destruction.
(Dr. Hamid Hussain is an independent analyst based in New York.)
World - Britain;Stink over MPs’ love for smell of big money
Hasan Suroor
Anyone going simply by media headlines would think that British politics was mired in corruption. Yet, for all the breathless reporting of corruption “scandals” (the latest centres on Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson and senior Tory leader George Osborne partying with a controversial Russian businessman on his luxury yacht in Greece) the truth is that, by and large, Britain’s political culture remains relatively clean.
Indeed, many of the so-called scandals may not even get a look-in in a lot of other countries — and , I mean, developed western countries with strict anti-corruption rules, not Third World “banana” republics.
It is difficult to imagine, for example, something like Watergate –or even “Troopergate” (of Sarah Palin fame) — happening in Britain. Even the cash-for-peerage scandal, involving allegations that Labour party offered peerages to rich businessmen in return for donation to the party, which was seen as a real “biggie” collapsed after the police failed to find sufficient evidence to prosecute anyone.
So far, so good. But there is one area where British politicians of all parties have been found to be extremely vulnerable: their tendency to flirt with the rich and the famous. Their weakness for high life and freebies (rides in super-duper private jets of rich businessmen, foreign holidays in exotic places and invitations to celebrity-studded parties on fancy yachts) lies at the root of most of the scandals. And the Mandelson-Osborne kerfuffle is no different.
Neither Mr. Mandelson nor Mr. Osborne is accused of breaking any rules when, in August, they met Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire, on his supposedly £80- million yacht off the exotic Greek island of Corfu where they were staying as guests of their common friend Nathaniel Rothschild, a British hedge fund tycoon.
The criticism is that they showed poor judgement by hobnobbing with an allegedly dodgy businessman despite knowing about his reputation and their actions had the effect of blurring the all-too-critical line between their professional and private lives.
The allegation against Mr. Osborne is that he solicited a donation for his party from Mr. Deripaska though he is not registered as a voter in Britain and therefore cannot donate directly to a British political party. Mr. Osborne denies this.
But what if Mr. Osborne did solicit donation, as his friend Mr. Rothschild insists? Soliciting party donations is not illegal; nor, indeed, is it illegal to accept it even if the potential donor is not a British resident provided that the money is given through legal channels such as through one of his U.K.-based companies. In this case, no money passed hands. So, there was nothing scandalous about Mr. Osborne’s behaviour except that he fell prey to a failing common among Britain’s political class: its pursuit of high-jinks.
That meeting on Mr. Derispaska’s yacht was a perfect “snapshot of money and power in the sun,” as The Times vividly put it.
The charge against Mr. Mandelson is a little more serious. It is alleged that his relationship with Mr. Deripaska whom he has apparently known since 2004 might have influenced his decision when as the European Union’s Trade Commissioner he lowered import tariffs on aluminium: a decision that benefited the Russian tycoon’s aluminium business. Mr. Mandelson denies there was any conflict of interest — and, so far, the European Commission has stood by him.
Mr. Mandelson has been in trouble before for “embracing tycoons and their trophies,” to quote one commentator. A trait he shares with his friend and former Prime Minister Tony Blair who acquired a reputation for taking his summer and Christmas holidays in expensive foreign tourist resorts, courtesy his rich friends routinely sparking accusations of conflict of interest.
But, as historian Tristram Hunt pointed out, there is a long line of some very honourable British political leaders — Benjamin Disraeli, Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden among them — who couldn’t resist the smell of big money.
``From Robert Walpole (regarded as the “first prime minister” of Britain though at the time the position was not officially recognised) on, politics has always mixed with finance and some of our finest leaders have gravitated towards the friendship of the rich and suspect,” he wrote in The Observer.
So, what’s the fuss about? All that Messrs Mandelson and Osborne did was to carry forward a very British political tradition.
Anyone going simply by media headlines would think that British politics was mired in corruption. Yet, for all the breathless reporting of corruption “scandals” (the latest centres on Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson and senior Tory leader George Osborne partying with a controversial Russian businessman on his luxury yacht in Greece) the truth is that, by and large, Britain’s political culture remains relatively clean.
Indeed, many of the so-called scandals may not even get a look-in in a lot of other countries — and , I mean, developed western countries with strict anti-corruption rules, not Third World “banana” republics.
It is difficult to imagine, for example, something like Watergate –or even “Troopergate” (of Sarah Palin fame) — happening in Britain. Even the cash-for-peerage scandal, involving allegations that Labour party offered peerages to rich businessmen in return for donation to the party, which was seen as a real “biggie” collapsed after the police failed to find sufficient evidence to prosecute anyone.
So far, so good. But there is one area where British politicians of all parties have been found to be extremely vulnerable: their tendency to flirt with the rich and the famous. Their weakness for high life and freebies (rides in super-duper private jets of rich businessmen, foreign holidays in exotic places and invitations to celebrity-studded parties on fancy yachts) lies at the root of most of the scandals. And the Mandelson-Osborne kerfuffle is no different.
Neither Mr. Mandelson nor Mr. Osborne is accused of breaking any rules when, in August, they met Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire, on his supposedly £80- million yacht off the exotic Greek island of Corfu where they were staying as guests of their common friend Nathaniel Rothschild, a British hedge fund tycoon.
The criticism is that they showed poor judgement by hobnobbing with an allegedly dodgy businessman despite knowing about his reputation and their actions had the effect of blurring the all-too-critical line between their professional and private lives.
The allegation against Mr. Osborne is that he solicited a donation for his party from Mr. Deripaska though he is not registered as a voter in Britain and therefore cannot donate directly to a British political party. Mr. Osborne denies this.
But what if Mr. Osborne did solicit donation, as his friend Mr. Rothschild insists? Soliciting party donations is not illegal; nor, indeed, is it illegal to accept it even if the potential donor is not a British resident provided that the money is given through legal channels such as through one of his U.K.-based companies. In this case, no money passed hands. So, there was nothing scandalous about Mr. Osborne’s behaviour except that he fell prey to a failing common among Britain’s political class: its pursuit of high-jinks.
That meeting on Mr. Derispaska’s yacht was a perfect “snapshot of money and power in the sun,” as The Times vividly put it.
The charge against Mr. Mandelson is a little more serious. It is alleged that his relationship with Mr. Deripaska whom he has apparently known since 2004 might have influenced his decision when as the European Union’s Trade Commissioner he lowered import tariffs on aluminium: a decision that benefited the Russian tycoon’s aluminium business. Mr. Mandelson denies there was any conflict of interest — and, so far, the European Commission has stood by him.
Mr. Mandelson has been in trouble before for “embracing tycoons and their trophies,” to quote one commentator. A trait he shares with his friend and former Prime Minister Tony Blair who acquired a reputation for taking his summer and Christmas holidays in expensive foreign tourist resorts, courtesy his rich friends routinely sparking accusations of conflict of interest.
But, as historian Tristram Hunt pointed out, there is a long line of some very honourable British political leaders — Benjamin Disraeli, Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden among them — who couldn’t resist the smell of big money.
``From Robert Walpole (regarded as the “first prime minister” of Britain though at the time the position was not officially recognised) on, politics has always mixed with finance and some of our finest leaders have gravitated towards the friendship of the rich and suspect,” he wrote in The Observer.
So, what’s the fuss about? All that Messrs Mandelson and Osborne did was to carry forward a very British political tradition.
Sport - Chess;World Champion again
In what marks a new chapter in the 122-year history of the world chess title contests, India’s Viswanathan Anand became the champion, beating Russian challenger Vladimir Kramnik with a round to spare in their 12-game match in Bonn. He is the first player from outside the erstwhile Soviet Union region — after the legendary American Bobby Fischer in 1972 — to hold the champion’s crown with a victory in the match-play format. It was far more than just a war of pieces in the German city. It was a stage where Anand proved that he could win in any format of competition against the toughest of opponents. For long, a battle had been brewing between those who believed that Anand was worthy of the world champion status and others — mainly from the western world — who wanted the Indian to prove his prowess in the match-play format. Eight years ago, he won a 128-player knock-out event for the world title and last year he beat a field including Kramnik in an eight-player round-robin competition. Anand has silenced for ever the doubters who had been sceptical about his record in the time-honoured match-play format, with his effortless 6.5-4.5 victory over Kramnik. Defeating a player of Kramnik’s calibre by a two-point margin is itself a remarkable feat given that the Russian is a player who has been undefeated in head-to-head clashes since 2000 and has the distinction of having dethroned the redoubtable Garry Kasparov as the world champion. At one stage, the Indian ace had a commanding three-point lead before Kramnik bounced back with a win in the 10th game.
The victory should help Anand climb back to the No.1 spot in world rankings and it is undoubtedly one of the biggest successes for India in an individual sport. Coming as it does after Abhinav Bindra’s Olympic gold in Beijing, Anand’s triumph does highlight afresh the potential for India to excel at the world level in sports, if there is a greater focus in this regard. If the genius of Anand has left the connoisseurs around the world in awe, his amazing accomplishments have also set off a silent chess revolution in the country. His excellence has inspired fresh talent to enter this extremely challenging game with four junior Grandmasters in India, apart from 12 other GMs. After becoming India’s first Grandmaster in 1987, Anand soon showed his willingness to master the time-tested Soviet system of training. Today, many aspiring grandmasters in India follow the great man’s footsteps. Anand is sure to renew his search for excellence, explore fresh challenges, and scale new peaks even as he remains one of the most admired sporting icons of the country.
The victory should help Anand climb back to the No.1 spot in world rankings and it is undoubtedly one of the biggest successes for India in an individual sport. Coming as it does after Abhinav Bindra’s Olympic gold in Beijing, Anand’s triumph does highlight afresh the potential for India to excel at the world level in sports, if there is a greater focus in this regard. If the genius of Anand has left the connoisseurs around the world in awe, his amazing accomplishments have also set off a silent chess revolution in the country. His excellence has inspired fresh talent to enter this extremely challenging game with four junior Grandmasters in India, apart from 12 other GMs. After becoming India’s first Grandmaster in 1987, Anand soon showed his willingness to master the time-tested Soviet system of training. Today, many aspiring grandmasters in India follow the great man’s footsteps. Anand is sure to renew his search for excellence, explore fresh challenges, and scale new peaks even as he remains one of the most admired sporting icons of the country.
India - Rousing welcome to Guru Granth Sahib
S.Harpal Singh
NANDED (MAHARASHTRA): The Guru Granth Sahib was given a rousing welcome at the Takhat Sachkhand Shri Hazur Abchalnagar Sahib Gurdwara here on Thursday as it arrived for consecration in connection with 300 years of its elevation as the eternal Guru of Sikhs.
This Gurdwara is central to the ‘Gurta Gaddi’ celebrations, for which pilgrims from across the world have been registering since October 27 when the festivities actually began. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was among the devotees who paid their obeisance at the Gurdwara on Thursday.
Music and colours that are typical of Sikhs characterised the Gurta Gaddi ‘nagar keertan’ procession, which started in the morning from the Nagina Ghat Sahib Gurdwara on the banks of Godavari. The Guru Granth Sahib was carried in a ‘palki’ (palanquin) placed in a specially designed vehicle.
The Gurta Gaddi diwas was one of the two most important days, the other being the observance of Guru Gobind Singh’s ‘parlok gaman’ (departure for the heavenly abode) on November 3.
The straight road between the two Gurdwaras was choked with an estimated 3 lakh pilgrims. The bright saffron and blue of the Nihangs and Akalis and the white clothes worn by other devotees lent colour to the procession. Devotees danced ‘bhangda’ to the robust beats of the dhol and the band and sang devotional songs. Some marched to Sikh martial tunes. The bhangda dance provided for the folk component, while the keertans gave a touch of devotion. The martial slogan Bole so nihal ... Sat Sri Akal and the tune Deh Shiva bar mohe ehe shubh karman te kabhon na taraun ... ” complemented the other kinds of music.
The sacred Guru Granth Sahib was received at the main gate amid the ‘shastra salami’ of swords. The process of enthroning it included its ‘prakash’ and application of sandalwood tilak and aarti. The Guru Granth Sahib was opened at random for the ‘hukamnama’ or the edict for the day.
NANDED (MAHARASHTRA): The Guru Granth Sahib was given a rousing welcome at the Takhat Sachkhand Shri Hazur Abchalnagar Sahib Gurdwara here on Thursday as it arrived for consecration in connection with 300 years of its elevation as the eternal Guru of Sikhs.
This Gurdwara is central to the ‘Gurta Gaddi’ celebrations, for which pilgrims from across the world have been registering since October 27 when the festivities actually began. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was among the devotees who paid their obeisance at the Gurdwara on Thursday.
Music and colours that are typical of Sikhs characterised the Gurta Gaddi ‘nagar keertan’ procession, which started in the morning from the Nagina Ghat Sahib Gurdwara on the banks of Godavari. The Guru Granth Sahib was carried in a ‘palki’ (palanquin) placed in a specially designed vehicle.
The Gurta Gaddi diwas was one of the two most important days, the other being the observance of Guru Gobind Singh’s ‘parlok gaman’ (departure for the heavenly abode) on November 3.
The straight road between the two Gurdwaras was choked with an estimated 3 lakh pilgrims. The bright saffron and blue of the Nihangs and Akalis and the white clothes worn by other devotees lent colour to the procession. Devotees danced ‘bhangda’ to the robust beats of the dhol and the band and sang devotional songs. Some marched to Sikh martial tunes. The bhangda dance provided for the folk component, while the keertans gave a touch of devotion. The martial slogan Bole so nihal ... Sat Sri Akal and the tune Deh Shiva bar mohe ehe shubh karman te kabhon na taraun ... ” complemented the other kinds of music.
The sacred Guru Granth Sahib was received at the main gate amid the ‘shastra salami’ of swords. The process of enthroning it included its ‘prakash’ and application of sandalwood tilak and aarti. The Guru Granth Sahib was opened at random for the ‘hukamnama’ or the edict for the day.
Entertainment - India is the next big thing in Global Rock Music
New Delhi (IANS): India is the next big thing on the global rock music map with international bands culling heavily from this country, say Indian and international rock musicians.
Many of them are performing at the two-day Fuel-Great Indian Rock festival that began in Mumbai Thursday. The Delhi leg of the festival is to take place Nov 1-2 at the Hamsadhwani open air theatre in Pragati Maidan.
The 13-year-old festival, one of the oldest international rock music festivals in the country, will travel to seven cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Shillong, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune.
"Indian rock musicians are innovating. Bands in this country are incorporating elements from Indian classical and religious music into hard rock and heavy metal. They sound very good. Asia is where all the action will take place in the future. I just heard Pentagram, a Mumbai-based band, yesterday and I liked their music," Mattias Seklunth, guitarist and vocalist of the 16-year-old Swedish rock band Freak Kitchen, told IANS here Thursday.
The Great Indian Rock Festival over the years has featured some of the biggest names in home-grown rock like Parikrama, Orange Street and Indian Ocean. It has been a platform for Indian bands to showcase their skills and talent - with several crediting the festival for their journey to the global stage.
This year, the festival will feature indigenous bands like Them Clones, Level 9, Cyanide, Cassini's Division, Half Step Down, Skinny Alley, Undying Inc, and The Supersonics. The West will be represented by Freak Kitchen from Sweden and Sahg and Satyricon from Norway.
Amit Saigal, editor of the Rock Street Journal told reporters here on the eve of the festival that it was a "privilege and a pleasure to have so many good musicians despite the initial hiccups".
"It has taken us 12 years to reach here. The festival is a big platform to connect," Saigal said, clarifying that it was not a competitive event.
International rock, the musicians asserted, was culling heavily from India.
Groups like the Sahg and the Freak Kitchen have been inspired by Indian music and have tried to adapt Indian classical scales and Carnatic music in their new scores.
"The idea to play in India occurred to us after an Indian drummer auditioned for us. Though he didn't make it to the stage, we were curious about India and wanted to play our music there," said Olav Iversen of the Norwegian heavy metal band Sahg, which models its music on the likes of legends like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, REM and Metallica.
Freak Kitchen, on its part, is more rooted in India.
"In my childhood, my brother-in-law hired a sitarist from India to teach him the instrument. My mother also learnt to play the instrument," said Seklunth, who has picked up tonalities from Carnatic music.
Freak Kitchen has an Indian violinist Radhakrishna, who plays the double violin.
Selkunth has also performed with Selvaganesh, who plays the khanjira, a traditional percussion instrument.
Many of them are performing at the two-day Fuel-Great Indian Rock festival that began in Mumbai Thursday. The Delhi leg of the festival is to take place Nov 1-2 at the Hamsadhwani open air theatre in Pragati Maidan.
The 13-year-old festival, one of the oldest international rock music festivals in the country, will travel to seven cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Shillong, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune.
"Indian rock musicians are innovating. Bands in this country are incorporating elements from Indian classical and religious music into hard rock and heavy metal. They sound very good. Asia is where all the action will take place in the future. I just heard Pentagram, a Mumbai-based band, yesterday and I liked their music," Mattias Seklunth, guitarist and vocalist of the 16-year-old Swedish rock band Freak Kitchen, told IANS here Thursday.
The Great Indian Rock Festival over the years has featured some of the biggest names in home-grown rock like Parikrama, Orange Street and Indian Ocean. It has been a platform for Indian bands to showcase their skills and talent - with several crediting the festival for their journey to the global stage.
This year, the festival will feature indigenous bands like Them Clones, Level 9, Cyanide, Cassini's Division, Half Step Down, Skinny Alley, Undying Inc, and The Supersonics. The West will be represented by Freak Kitchen from Sweden and Sahg and Satyricon from Norway.
Amit Saigal, editor of the Rock Street Journal told reporters here on the eve of the festival that it was a "privilege and a pleasure to have so many good musicians despite the initial hiccups".
"It has taken us 12 years to reach here. The festival is a big platform to connect," Saigal said, clarifying that it was not a competitive event.
International rock, the musicians asserted, was culling heavily from India.
Groups like the Sahg and the Freak Kitchen have been inspired by Indian music and have tried to adapt Indian classical scales and Carnatic music in their new scores.
"The idea to play in India occurred to us after an Indian drummer auditioned for us. Though he didn't make it to the stage, we were curious about India and wanted to play our music there," said Olav Iversen of the Norwegian heavy metal band Sahg, which models its music on the likes of legends like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, REM and Metallica.
Freak Kitchen, on its part, is more rooted in India.
"In my childhood, my brother-in-law hired a sitarist from India to teach him the instrument. My mother also learnt to play the instrument," said Seklunth, who has picked up tonalities from Carnatic music.
Freak Kitchen has an Indian violinist Radhakrishna, who plays the double violin.
Selkunth has also performed with Selvaganesh, who plays the khanjira, a traditional percussion instrument.
World - UN votes to lift curbs on Cuba
United Nations: Friends and foes of the United States joined with full force in the United Nations General Assembly to denounce Washington for continuing to defy world opinion and asked it to lift the 46-year economic embargo against Cuba.
For the 17th consecutive year, the 192-member Assembly urged the U.S. to lift its economic, commercial and financial embargo, but it will have little impact on the Bush administration, which is again expected to ignore it.
As many as 185 members, including EU states, voted for the resolution. It was opposed by the U.S., Israel and Palau. Micronesia and Marshall Islands abstained. Last year’s resolution was carried by 184 votes to four.
India was among the states that asked the U.S. to lift the sanctions. Intervening in the debate, Indian delegate Rajeev Shukla criticised the American domestic laws which prohibit foreign companies and foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies from doing business with Cuba.
Unlike Security Council resolutions, the ones adopted by the Assembly are not enforceable and are recommendatory in nature. — PTI
For the 17th consecutive year, the 192-member Assembly urged the U.S. to lift its economic, commercial and financial embargo, but it will have little impact on the Bush administration, which is again expected to ignore it.
As many as 185 members, including EU states, voted for the resolution. It was opposed by the U.S., Israel and Palau. Micronesia and Marshall Islands abstained. Last year’s resolution was carried by 184 votes to four.
India was among the states that asked the U.S. to lift the sanctions. Intervening in the debate, Indian delegate Rajeev Shukla criticised the American domestic laws which prohibit foreign companies and foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies from doing business with Cuba.
Unlike Security Council resolutions, the ones adopted by the Assembly are not enforceable and are recommendatory in nature. — PTI
Entertainment - ITV to remake 8 Agatha Christie films
MUMBAI: The British commercial broadcaster ITV has renewed an output deal with producer Chorion for eight new Agatha Christie films.
The deal includes a new adaptation of Christie’s most famous novel, Murder on the Orient Express.
ITV said that it will air a new take on Murder on the Orient Express next year, featuring an all-star cast. It will be filmed during the 75th anniversary year of the first publication of Christie’s original 1934 novel.
The deal with Chorion, who owns rights to the Christie estate, also includes the production of four new Miss Marple films, starring Julia McKenzie, and four Hercule Poirot films, featuring David Suchet, expected to air in 2009-10.
ITV director of drama Laura Mackie said, “The franchises have enduring appeal for viewers. There is always an appetite for a really good whodunit, and these really are the best whodunits on television."
The deal includes a new adaptation of Christie’s most famous novel, Murder on the Orient Express.
ITV said that it will air a new take on Murder on the Orient Express next year, featuring an all-star cast. It will be filmed during the 75th anniversary year of the first publication of Christie’s original 1934 novel.
The deal with Chorion, who owns rights to the Christie estate, also includes the production of four new Miss Marple films, starring Julia McKenzie, and four Hercule Poirot films, featuring David Suchet, expected to air in 2009-10.
ITV director of drama Laura Mackie said, “The franchises have enduring appeal for viewers. There is always an appetite for a really good whodunit, and these really are the best whodunits on television."
Business - India;DTH subscribers double in 7 months
Soma Das
The number of new subscribers added by Direct to Home operators in the past seven months is almost equal to the subscriber base it had acquired since the first commercial DTH operations began in 2003.
That is if claims made by DTH players are anything to go by. As of today, the total subscriber base of DTH (excluding Doordarshan's non-commercial DTH venture) has crossed 8.9 million, a sharp escalation overthe 4.5 million connections in March.
DTH market leader Dish TV Ltd, promoted by Subhash Chandra's Zee group that launched its service in 2003, accounts for more than 4 million customers. Salil Kapoor, COO, Dishtv told FE, "Dish TV continues to be a market leader with a 54% market share".
Apart from the CAS roll out in metros last year, various other factors have helped DTH operators get new customers. Primary among them are multiplication of players leading to competitive pricing by subsidising hardware, increased awareness, increase in the number of places where the service is available, better picture quality in DTH vis-à-vis cable (95% of which still operates on analogue). Analysts believe that the credibility and brand image of the companies that ventured into the business have also played a significant role.
The second largest player, Tata Sky Ltd, an 80:20 JV between the Tata Group and Star TV, claimed a subscriber base of 2.7 million in mid-October. CEO of Tata Sky, Vikram Kaushik, said, "We are targeting around 8 million customers by fiscal 2012".
Asked if the recent DTH launches by telecom players -- Big TV and Airtel Digital -- has impacted its subscriber acquisition, Kaushik said, "It has actually resulted in increasing our rate of subscriber acquisition".
Jawahar Goel, managing director, Dish Tv and Tony D'Silva, COO, Sun Direct, a JV between Marans and Malaysia's Astro group, feel that the entry of new players from the world of telecom have expedited the rate of their subscriber acquisition. D'silva told FE, "We have grown our subscriber base from half a million in March to 1.7 million in October and aim to touch 3 million by this fiscal end."
Big TV claimed that by mid-October, it crossed 5-lakh customer milestone. Arun Kapoor, president, Big TV said, "We are fully-geared to add over 400,000 subscribers every month, with an on-ground infrastructure spanning 6500 towns." President of the latest entrant Airtel Digital, Atul Bindal expects his company to gain 20% market share among new additions to the category in its first year. If the above claims are accurate and the growth momentum sustains itself for a longer period, the industry may surpass Ernst & Young's projection of 19 million households by 2010.
The number of new subscribers added by Direct to Home operators in the past seven months is almost equal to the subscriber base it had acquired since the first commercial DTH operations began in 2003.
That is if claims made by DTH players are anything to go by. As of today, the total subscriber base of DTH (excluding Doordarshan's non-commercial DTH venture) has crossed 8.9 million, a sharp escalation overthe 4.5 million connections in March.
DTH market leader Dish TV Ltd, promoted by Subhash Chandra's Zee group that launched its service in 2003, accounts for more than 4 million customers. Salil Kapoor, COO, Dishtv told FE, "Dish TV continues to be a market leader with a 54% market share".
Apart from the CAS roll out in metros last year, various other factors have helped DTH operators get new customers. Primary among them are multiplication of players leading to competitive pricing by subsidising hardware, increased awareness, increase in the number of places where the service is available, better picture quality in DTH vis-à-vis cable (95% of which still operates on analogue). Analysts believe that the credibility and brand image of the companies that ventured into the business have also played a significant role.
The second largest player, Tata Sky Ltd, an 80:20 JV between the Tata Group and Star TV, claimed a subscriber base of 2.7 million in mid-October. CEO of Tata Sky, Vikram Kaushik, said, "We are targeting around 8 million customers by fiscal 2012".
Asked if the recent DTH launches by telecom players -- Big TV and Airtel Digital -- has impacted its subscriber acquisition, Kaushik said, "It has actually resulted in increasing our rate of subscriber acquisition".
Jawahar Goel, managing director, Dish Tv and Tony D'Silva, COO, Sun Direct, a JV between Marans and Malaysia's Astro group, feel that the entry of new players from the world of telecom have expedited the rate of their subscriber acquisition. D'silva told FE, "We have grown our subscriber base from half a million in March to 1.7 million in October and aim to touch 3 million by this fiscal end."
Big TV claimed that by mid-October, it crossed 5-lakh customer milestone. Arun Kapoor, president, Big TV said, "We are fully-geared to add over 400,000 subscribers every month, with an on-ground infrastructure spanning 6500 towns." President of the latest entrant Airtel Digital, Atul Bindal expects his company to gain 20% market share among new additions to the category in its first year. If the above claims are accurate and the growth momentum sustains itself for a longer period, the industry may surpass Ernst & Young's projection of 19 million households by 2010.
Business - Google's version of Wikipedia goes multi-lingual
SAN FRANCISCO: Google on Thursday made its version of communally-constructed online encyclopedia Wikipedia multi-lingual, opening its Knol compendium to nuggets of knowledge shared in French, Italian or German.
The Internet search powerhouse is inviting people to submit written "knols," to indicate units of knowledge, in those languages as well as in English.
Google's free Knol service has floundered since its July launch and international contributors could help it better compete with Wikipedia, which is consistently ranked among the most visited websites on the Internet.
"Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it," Google vice president of engineering Udi Manber said at the unveiling of the Knol service.
"There are millions of people who possess useful knowledge that they would love to share, and there are billions of people who can benefit from it."
While Wikipedia lets visitors make changes to its online pages, trusting that people with accurate information will correct errors and misleading entries, Google invites folks to author their own articles.
Pictures of authors are displayed on their knol web pages. Editorial responsibility rests with authors, whose reputations are at stake, according to Manber.
While Wikipedia merges topic entries in single articles, knols written on the same subjects remain separate and "compete" for the attention of visitors, who can give online feedback.
Knol authors have the option of letting Google post ads on their pages and sharing in the revenues.
Google is the world's most used Internet search engine and a proven master at mining revenue from online advertising targeted at those making queries and using its free Web-based services.
Luring Wikipedia users to its own community-created online encyclopedia promises to be another rich vein of ad income for the US Internet search giant
The Internet search powerhouse is inviting people to submit written "knols," to indicate units of knowledge, in those languages as well as in English.
Google's free Knol service has floundered since its July launch and international contributors could help it better compete with Wikipedia, which is consistently ranked among the most visited websites on the Internet.
"Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it," Google vice president of engineering Udi Manber said at the unveiling of the Knol service.
"There are millions of people who possess useful knowledge that they would love to share, and there are billions of people who can benefit from it."
While Wikipedia lets visitors make changes to its online pages, trusting that people with accurate information will correct errors and misleading entries, Google invites folks to author their own articles.
Pictures of authors are displayed on their knol web pages. Editorial responsibility rests with authors, whose reputations are at stake, according to Manber.
While Wikipedia merges topic entries in single articles, knols written on the same subjects remain separate and "compete" for the attention of visitors, who can give online feedback.
Knol authors have the option of letting Google post ads on their pages and sharing in the revenues.
Google is the world's most used Internet search engine and a proven master at mining revenue from online advertising targeted at those making queries and using its free Web-based services.
Luring Wikipedia users to its own community-created online encyclopedia promises to be another rich vein of ad income for the US Internet search giant
World - US;33.6 million watch Obama's infomercial
David Bauder
NEW YORK – Nielsen Media Research estimated that 33.6 million people watched Barack Obama's half-hour television commercial Wednesday night.
The spot ran simultaneously on CBS, NBC, Fox, BET, Univision, MSNBC and TV One, and aides said it cost the campaign roughly $4 million. It profiled several Americans struggling with a tough economy, and Obama offered his ideas for a turnaround.
Toward the end of his 1992 campaign for president, Ross Perot ran a half-hour infomercial that was watched by 22.7 million people, according to Nielsen.
ABC did not run Obama's commercial, instead showing "Pushing Daisies," which was slightly helped by the lack of entertainment competition. The drama was seen Wednesday by 6.6 million people; its season average is 5.9 million.
Obama's spot had its biggest audience on NBC, with 7.7 million viewers.
Two months ago, Obama was seen by more than 40 million people when he delivered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. That speech was carried live on 12 networks.
The Democratic candidate also proved a late-night draw on Wednesday. "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central had a record 3.6 million viewers, when Obama was interviewed by satellite from Florida by Jon Stewart. It shattered the show's previous mark by 700,000 viewers — set earlier in the month when Obama's wife, Michelle, appeared.
"The Colbert Report" also had record ratings, when Stephen Colbert's character endorsed Obama, saying he was doing it for the attention
NEW YORK – Nielsen Media Research estimated that 33.6 million people watched Barack Obama's half-hour television commercial Wednesday night.
The spot ran simultaneously on CBS, NBC, Fox, BET, Univision, MSNBC and TV One, and aides said it cost the campaign roughly $4 million. It profiled several Americans struggling with a tough economy, and Obama offered his ideas for a turnaround.
Toward the end of his 1992 campaign for president, Ross Perot ran a half-hour infomercial that was watched by 22.7 million people, according to Nielsen.
ABC did not run Obama's commercial, instead showing "Pushing Daisies," which was slightly helped by the lack of entertainment competition. The drama was seen Wednesday by 6.6 million people; its season average is 5.9 million.
Obama's spot had its biggest audience on NBC, with 7.7 million viewers.
Two months ago, Obama was seen by more than 40 million people when he delivered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. That speech was carried live on 12 networks.
The Democratic candidate also proved a late-night draw on Wednesday. "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central had a record 3.6 million viewers, when Obama was interviewed by satellite from Florida by Jon Stewart. It shattered the show's previous mark by 700,000 viewers — set earlier in the month when Obama's wife, Michelle, appeared.
"The Colbert Report" also had record ratings, when Stephen Colbert's character endorsed Obama, saying he was doing it for the attention
Sports - Russia scores again (G.Read)
Andrew Meier
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Andrew Meier is the author of "Black Earth: A Journey Through Russia After the Fall." His most recent book is "The Lost Spy." This article will appear in Play, The New York Times sports magazine, this weekend.
On a chill Friday night in October with seconds left to play in the most anticipated hockey game of a young season, tied three goals apiece, Avangard Omsk, the pride of southwestern Siberia, and Atlant Mytishchi, an upstart from the Moscow suburbs, have players from seven countries on the ice — young men whose hometowns stretch from Canada to Kazakhstan. This is professional hockey in Russia now, at its best. And across the land of the old Soviet sports machine, whether the place is a rink, soccer pitch or basketball court, the scene repeats itself: few countries better reflect the newest face of globalization in sports. In Russia, foreigners round out the pro teams — legionery, legionnaires, they call them, with a mix of awe and disdain. In Omsk, the transcontinental gap matters little. With more than 10,000 fans screaming at the top of their lungs, communication is rendered moot. As the final seconds tick by, and both clubs express a level of hustle, stick work and hunger worthy of any match in North America, one man towers above all others: Jaromir Jagr. In Omsk, a black-collar city of 1.2 million souls, where the oil flares burn all night, marking the edge of town and the promise of the future, Jagr, the superstar who until midsummer reigned as the captain of the New York Rangers and a winner of nearly every trophy in the National Hockey League, now rules what he calls "the big ice."
On the weekend when his old team is preparing to open the NHL season in Prague, where the stands will be filled with Czechs wearing his old jersey, Jagr tells me that he couldn't be happier. And, he adds, "I never look back."
Why should he? In this remote post-Soviet hinterland, Jagr, at 36, is revered as the Second Coming (he played 32 games in Omsk during the NHL's 2004-5 lockout season), and his face has been ubiquitous throughout Russia in the months since he signed with Omsk. There is a new league, the Kontinental'naya Khokkeinaya Liga, the Continental Hockey League, or K.H.L, that has supplanted the old Super League, a shambolic enterprise that never managed to pull Russian hockey into the present. Coming at a time when the specter of a new cold war hovers over the relations between the United States and Russia, the KHL's creation is a deliberate, and direct, slap shot at the NHL With 24 teams and a porous salary cap for each team of 620 million rubles ($24 million), the KHL will have its own version of the Stanley Cup: the Gagarin Cup, in honor of the first man in space, the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. And in Jagr, the KHL has its icon. There are plenty of familiar faces to keep him company: the league has lured dozens of former NHL players, including Alexei Yashin, Alexei Morozov and the goalies in Omsk that night, Ray Emery and John Grahame. But Jagr, as he will make abundantly clear to me long after the game, feels the weight. In his outsize hands, he holds, perhaps more than any other athlete in the country, the hope for the rise of pro sports in Russia.
IT'S A TALL ORDER. Try to remember way back, to the darkest days of the U.S.S.R., when Americans once feared the Big Red Machine. For decades, the Soviet sports monolith cast a pall over East-West athletic competitions. In the minds of Western coaches, the Soviet machine was a seemingly invincible state apparatus, unfettered, or so they imagined, by budgetary constraints or amateur regulations and blessed with endless conveyer belts that scooped up the genetically gifted at age 2 and churned out the likes of Olga Korbut, Sergei Bubka, Arvydas Sabonis and Slava Fetisov.
The fall of the U.S.S.R. in 1991 brought an end to all that. The first post-Soviet decade became known as another Time of Troubles in the nation's history as it lurched from political upheaval to economic crisis. Sports were among the first to suffer. Russians soon knew less about statistics and technique than about the metastasizing crime groups, organized or not, that were strangling their teams. NHL teams would usually pay clubs whose players moved to North America, but it was never clear how much made it to the clubs. In 1996, Vladimir Bogach, the business manager of the Central Army Sports Club, which comprises hockey, soccer and basketball teams, was shot dead while playing tennis at the club. The following spring, Valentin Sych, a longtime hockey power broker, was gunned down as he left his dacha outside Moscow. Amid the anarchy, athletes and coaches — all but the oldest and most exhausted — fled for the exits, and the Soviet sports machine ended up in the ash can of history. In its wake, Russian sports, both amateur and professional, floundered. The Olympics became a quadrennial debacle, the hockey leagues cheap colonies for the NHL, and when it came to soccer, you had to mention only two words, "World Cup," to ignite diatribes about the need to restore the lost empire.
What a difference a sea of oil and gas makes. Russia, as oil-company executives in Houston can tell you, boasts the largest reserves of oil and natural gas outside OPEC. Even after this year's precipitous drop in Russia's stock market and the beating that the global financial crisis has administered to its banks and business titans, Russians have enjoyed one of the greatest booms of the new century. Thanks to a combination of Kremlin muscle, oligarchic fealty and the surging price of Ural crude under Putin, the country's gross domestic product has risen nearly ninefold in nine years, and Russia is again an emerging market. And sports, once considered a luxury, are back on center stage.
Across the country, dozens of sleek stadiums, arenas and rinks are rising. The state and a host of petro-rich biznesmeny have invested billions into a new generation of pro clubs — and the results have stunned Europe. Even the casual observer of tennis knows that Russian has become the second lingua franca on the women's tour, but Russia's rise extends far beyond the WTA rankings, where 7 of the top 14 women are Russian. Last September, the national basketball team, coached by David Blatt, an American-born Israeli, won the European championship for the first time since the Soviet collapse.
In the spring, the march continued. Zenit, the St. Petersburg soccer club beloved by many in the Kremlin, pulled off a triumph that resounded across 11 time zones by winning a major season-long European club tournament in Manchester, England, in May. Days after that UEFA Cup victory, the national hockey team beat Canada, 5-4 in overtime, for its first world championship in 15 years. Then in June, the national soccer team, under the guidance of a Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink, and led by Zenit's star playmaker, Andrei Arshavin, made it to the semifinals of the European championships.
The greatest comeback may be yet to come. The advent of the hockey league has been the biggest news since the Americans stole the gold with "the miracle on ice" at Lake Placid in 1980. "Once Again We've Surpassed the Americans," a headline announced on the sports page of Komsomol'skaya Pravda, a popular tabloid. In its inaugural season, the KHL has already raised expectations at home and fears in the United States. Even as the NHL is finally entering Europe — last month, a quartet of NHL teams played their season openers in Prague and Stockholm; last year, two teams began the season in London — it is experiencing a reverse migration. Instead of Russian players moving only west, NHL players — many but by no means all of them Russian — are heading east. In 2001, 77 Russians played in the NHL Now the number is 26. As tensions rise and the two leagues remain unable to agree to a new international transfer agreement, the trend is set to increase. And the eastern pull may yet draw more. When a Russian reporter asked Kobe Bryant at the Beijing Games if he'd consider coming to Russia, Bryant floated a balloon that he later called a joke: "Without a doubt, $40 million a year — and I'm there," adding, "You cut the check, and I'll bring my Nikes."
The Russians, as they like to say, whether in the Siberian hinterland or in the cigar clubs of Moscow, are back. Nowhere is the resurgence of power, patriotism and pride felt more than on the country's athletic battlegrounds.
WHILE BORIS YELTSIN'S love of tennis sparked a tennis boom, his enduring gift to the sports renaissance was his chosen heir. The first time I encountered Vladimir Putin, it was courtside at the Kremlin Cup, a post-Soviet tourney dreamed up to extend the pro tour eastward. As an event, the Moscow tournament had yet to establish itself, but Putin was there at midcourt, surrounded by bodyguards and sitting stiffly in a polo shirt and boxy black blazer. It was late in the fall of 1999. Putin, most recently the head of the Federal Security Service, had just been catapulted to power; he was serving as Yeltsin's prime minister, still utterly unknown to the vast majority of his compatriots. But sports for Putin, as his subjects would soon learn, were no minor obsession, no flash dance of machismo born of advancing middle age and a latent exhibitionist streak. Instead, as he embarked on a campaign to make Russia once again a velikaya derzhava (great power) — a small man's drive to pump up the shrinking post-Soviet sphere of influence — sports would dominate his tenure.
One of Putin's first acts upon settling into the Kremlin was to install a private gym in the remodeled presidential offices. In "First Person," Putin's version of a campaign memoir (it's largely a Q & A with Russian journalists, published in 2000), he revealed that sports — and a preadolescent yearning for a KGB career — saved him from going astray in Leningrad. Putin "didn't like socializing much," a schoolteacher remembered. "He preferred sports. He started doing martial arts in order to learn how to defend himself." He became expert in sambo, a Soviet mix of judo and wrestling. "If I hadn't gotten involved in sports," Putin was quoted as saying, "I'm not sure how my life would have turned out. It was sports that dragged me off the streets."
Nine years since his appearance at the Kremlin Cup, Putin nominally no longer runs the Kremlin, but he still rules Russia. He remains, moreover, the arbiter of all things athletic, from the ski slopes of the North Caucasus to the rise of his hometown club, Zenit, to his ultimate dream: Sochi 2014, the Winter Games that he secured with a virtuoso display of English and oligarchic prowess. Although Sochi lies only a short drive from Abkhazia, one of the restive provinces in neighboring Georgia, preparations for the Games promise to be historic in scale. A massive Olympic village is under construction, and a new port, large enough to hold the yachts of tycoons who have pledged troths of hundreds of millions, is set to dominate the Black Sea shoreline. (In April, a government official warned that the price tag could rise to $24 billion.)
Young Putin soon graduated from sambo to judo. Martial arts, as he said at the start of his political ascent, is not just a sport: "It's respect for your elders and for your opponent. It's not for weaklings." On his 56th birthday, I sit in Moscow traffic under black skies and hear a news bulletin: Putin, now prime minister, has given a "birthday present" to his subjects, an instructional DVD, "Learning Judo With Vladimir Putin." The level of sports development in the country, Putin declares, defines the development of the country itself. "Because without sport, it's impossible to speak of a healthy way of life, or even a healthy nation."
A JOCK IN THE KREMLIN would not have been enough had Russia not possessed the riches to sustain a revival. The three clubs I visited during a tour of Russia last month, Zenit, Dynamo and Avangard, are not only centers of attention in Russia. They also reflect, not coincidentally, the narrow spectrum of ownership models in the country. Zenit is owned by a state-controlled company, Dynamo is associated with a state-security organization, with additional private support, and Avangard, like the KHL, seems to be an amalgam of three models, a combination of state-controlled companies, oligarchic empires and the state itself. A spokesman for the league, Vladimir Mikheev, offers a description that only underscores its contradictory nature: It "may be a state-run, but not a state-owned, company, with a mixture of state and private interests."
Visit the Zenit soccer club in St. Petersburg, and you quickly see how those resources can "accelerate success," as its Dutch coach, Dick Advocaat, put it. Zenit, formerly known as Stalinets, was founded the year after Lenin's death and for most of the Soviet century languished in the shadow of the more muscular Moscow teams. That changed in 2005, when Gazprom, the natural-gas giant, bought a controlling stake. Gazprom went on a shopping spree, investing around $100 million in mostly foreign players (13 of the team's 25 players hold non-Russian passports), hiring Advocaat — like Hiddink, a well-regarded import from the West — and starting construction on a 65,000-seat stadium designed by a Japanese architect. The results followed in short order. And it's a measure of that success, perhaps, that two Spanish newspapers, El Pais and ABC, published stories this fall, based on alleged police leaks, claiming that the Tambov gang, one of Russia's most infamous mafia groups and long the shadow power in St. Petersburg, paid an opponent, Bayern Munich, to take a dive, paving the way for Zenit's UEFA Cup championship last spring. (The club issued a heated denial and threatened to sue the papers. "There is a lot of jealousy about what we have achieved," Advocaat told a Scottish paper.)
Gazprom, one of the world's largest corporations, is not so much a company as a state within the state. It is also one of the financial powers behind the KHL The president of the league, Alexander Medvedev, happens to head Gazprom Export. "Flip a switch around here," goes an old joke at Gazprom headquarters in Moscow, "and the lights go out in Frankfurt." Indeed, natural gas from Russia supplies more than 25 percent of the European market, and Medvedev controls that flow. Aides are quick to point out that the 53-year-old KHL boss is no relation to Russia's new president, Dmitri Medvedev, who is 43 — though the latter is Gazprom's most famous alumnus (he was chairman of Gazprom's board).
The Dynamo basketball team coached by David Blatt is part of a large sports behemoth in Moscow, once the core, alongside the Central Army clubs, of the Soviet machine. Dynamo has traditionally been associated with the police, or MVD, as the Ministry of Internal Affairs is known. On a tour of Dynamo's stunning new arena, Blatt makes clear how things have changed in the age of Putin. Blatt, who played at Princeton under Pete Carril and has won championships everywhere from Tel Aviv to Italy, is considered one of the best coaches outside of the N.B.A. (Blatt's players include Jannero Pargo and Bostjan Nachbar, who moved to Russia this year after eight seasons in the N.B.A.) He would like to show me the downstairs health club, he says, but he can't. It's the preserve of the FSB, the Federal Security Service. In the arena lobby, I glance at a wall of keys hanging behind an attendant's desk. Small black tags, above more than a dozen keys, are marked "ZONA FSB" — the FSB zone.
The All-Russian Sports Society Dynamo includes soccer, hockey and other teams and is the athletic home for a host of law-enforcement ministries, from the federal police to the tax agencies. "But it's more connected to the FSB these days," Blatt says as we walk the halls. The front office makes no attempt to hide the relations: Vladimir Pronichev, the FSB deputy director and head of the border-guard service, acts as chairman; Sergei Stepashin, a former head of the FSB under Yeltsin, leads the board of trustees; Nikolai Patrushev, another former FSB boss, is involved with the Dynamo volleyball team.
But in Putin's Russia, even the secret policemen need corporate sponsorship. Most prominent among private patrons has been Metalloinvest, the metals giant owned by Alisher Usmanov, a 55-year-old magnate who lately has backed the Dynamo soccer club, as well as Arsenal in London (he bought nearly 25 percent of the English Premier League team last year for more than $200 million). Usmanov, one of the unheralded titans to rise under Putin, is an ethnic Uzbek who served six years in Soviet jails for fraud and embezzlement. (The Uzbek Supreme Court overturned the convictions, and he was later pardoned.) Usmanov, who regards the Soviet charges to be a political conspiracy, has powerful friends in the Kremlin and in security bureaus.
In Omsk, you find all sorts of interests. Avangard players wear their sponsors on their jerseys in all capitals: across the chest, Gazprom Neft (the oil company, formerly known as Sibneft before Gazprom acquired it in 2005), and across their backs, Omskaya Oblast, the regional administration, which is publicly credited with financing the team and delivering Jagr to Siberia. Avangard's biggest sponsor, however, is not advertised on the team uniform. Despite public denials to the contrary, the club, as its president, Konstantin Potapov, explained to me, is 40 percent owned by the Prodo Group, a Russian company "close to Roman Abramovich" — one of Putin's favorite oligarchs and the former owner of Sibneft, who now divides his time between London (where he owns Chelsea, the EPL team he bankrolled to its first league championship in 50 years), Moscow and a growing flotilla of megayachts.
Whatever the "sponsor," the ultimate power in Russian pro sports remains political. "The oligarchs are fighting each other for the chance to sponsor a team," Andrei Illarionov, once a top economic adviser to Putin and now in self-exile in Washington, told me. "But it's not their initiative. It's an order from the Kremlin. It was Putin, and now Medvedev, who tells them to support this or that team."
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE, it's like nowhere else in the world." After the game, Jagr and I sit in the team's swank restaurant. It is late, and the players' wives and girlfriends, whippet-thin women wearing stilettos and short skirts, have taken their leave. Their table remains filled with scarcely nibbled dinners and an unfinished bottle of red wine — a rare sight in Russia. For a time, two or three other players sit nearby, regarding the strange scene — one of the world's greatest athletes plying an American reporter with a plate of farm-fresh grilled chicken and mashed potatoes — at a respectful distance.
Chris Drury, his former teammate and now the Rangers captain, told me to convey his regards to Jagr. "He's one of the best of all times," Drury said. "And his leaving, that's not something that goes away easily." In Moscow, no less an authority than Slava Fetisov, the former Soviet and Detroit Red Wings star, would tell me sternly that "Jagr was no PR gamble, no marketing decoration." In 2002, Fetisov returned to Russia at Putin's behest, to head up Rossport, a new federal agency dedicated to reviving the country's sports infrastructure. (After we meet, Rossport would be folded into a new entity, the Ministry for Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy, and Fetisov kicked upstairs, to the upper house of the Russian Parliament.) Jagr, he told me, is "one of the greatest players to come out of Europe in the last 20 years — maybe ever." Fetisov went on, "I should know, I had to play against him."
The roster says 6-foot-3, 240 pounds, but Jagr somehow seems much taller, and leaner. His quickness and strength are legendary, and tonight the Russian fans have seen a giant sinewy cat cover every inch of the ice. He is playing well these days. But with the pads off, wearing a T-shirt and shorts, he projects something contradictory, a 36-year-old kid who cannot help but fidget, a mass of statuary that cannot sit still. If when we first met the talk was slow, the sparse phrases tinged with regret, now, after the game, an unexpected confessional, in Jagr's own version of English, heavy on Slavic sibilants and short on definite articles, comes cascading forth.
"I didn't come here just to hang out," Jagr says, although I hadn't asked. I had only raised the reports of his salary — $7 million a year, taxes included, for two years, with an option for a third. Exaggeration, he said, echoing the front office. "I came to play — and win," he goes on, adding an expletive. "It means everything, to win here. Did you see those fans? Did you hear them? We're doing something so new, this is fun, but it's not so easy. I mean this" — his enormous forearms fill the air between us — "is a huge challenge."
Earlier, after a morning skate-around, Jagr could only laugh when I asked about Avangard's business ledger, given the expense of a glittery new arena, the price of season tickets (the top seats cost almost $800), the lack of a merchandising tradition. "They don't care about the money," he said. "It's about the oil. It's all about sponsors here, and no sponsor's going to get their money back. If the oil is sponsoring you, and the price of oil went up three times, instead of making whatever, $100 million a day, you get $300 million a day."
"It's not a business," concedes Potapov, the Avangard president who spent 18 years at the Omsk refinery and wooed Jagr in Prague during the lockout at the request of the regional governor. "This is sports — we're blessed with backers, people who give money not for a return in profits."
Jagr is the industry standard. "We needed a superstar," Fetisov told me in Moscow. "Someone who we could hold up to the world and say, 'Look who wants to come to Russia, to play for Russian fans.' That's the difference, the way Russia will change world sports."
Jagr, who once signed the richest contract in NHL history back in 2001, is well aware of his pivotal position and its attendant ironies. He is, after all, a boy who grew up on a Czech farm, whose grandfathers were jailed for political reasons and who has always worn the number 68 out of respect for the 1968 "revolution," as he calls it, when his countrymen challenged their Soviet occupiers — and were crushed. But he feels a tie to this corner of Siberia, one that stretches back to the years after World War I. "Thousands of Czech soldiers were here," he says, "to fight the Russians." Omsk served as the base of Aleksander Kolchak, the White Russian leader who fought the Bolsheviks until 1920. The Czechs came in the employ of the allied interventionists, the British and the Americans. "Many of them," Jagr says he has heard, "stayed and never left."
There is no chance of this history repeating itself. Jagr says he will end his career where it began, with his hometown club, Kladno. But he says that in Russia he wants "to prove I can play." It was not an easy shift. KHL teams play fewer regular-season games than their NHL counterparts (56 rather than 82), but they start earlier. Jagr signed on July 5, and Avangard was on the ice 10 days later — training three months before the NHL season opened. The biggest adjustment was "the big ice." Russian (and European) rinks are about 15 feet wider than NHL rinks, which are 85 feet wide. The bigger rink demands more of you, Jagr says. "If you want to get the puck, you have to skate. If you don't skate, you don't have a chance. The Russians have more skills because you can use skills on this ice. In the U.S., you don't have time to play with skills. It's hockey, with the same rules, but it's a different sport. You cannot dump and chase, because you'll never get the puck back."
When Wayne Fleming, the Canadian coach who arrived just six days earlier to take over Avangard, stops by our table, Jagr shares his worries about the future of Russia's relations with the NHL His reasoning is economic. In the NHL, he tells Fleming, "the top three or four guys eat up half the salary cap." Fleming nods. "That leaves all the rest of the guys far below, not making a ton of money." Fleming, a nice guy who was recommended to Jagr to be the team's new coach, nods again. "But now they're going to find out how it is over here. That they can make much better money, and you can live over here. They'll see it soon enough." Again Fleming nods.
"I've always thought the NHL's wanted to do something big in Europe," the coach says, "like a division."
"But I think they've missed it," Jagr says. "The Russians are ahead of them."
Just as the talk of a new cold war dominates political circles in Moscow these days, the fear of an eastward expansion by the NHL preoccupies Russian hockey officials. In Moscow, I would hear Fetisov echo Jagr's prediction. Fetisov was the first Russian star to leave for the NHL He not only "stood up to the system," as he put it, but he also proved that Russians could thrive in the American game. When Detroit fielded the first five-man Russian unit in 1995-96, Fetisov led the way to two consecutive Stanley Cups. He was living in New Jersey, pondering an NHL coaching career, when the Kremlin called: "I told Putin I was thinking about the NHL, but he said he could give me a bigger team." As the prime mover behind the new hockey league, Fetisov worries about how the West will react to Russia's sports revival.
"I warned Gary Bettman five years ago," he tells me, referring to the NHL commissioner. "You've got your business model, but if you take the best players out of Europe and Russia for cheap — you'll kill the game, and your own market." North America, Fetisov argues, is "a small hockey market." He continues: "For years I've tried to tell the Americans to think big. Look beyond Russia and Europe. What about Asia? China? Even in India they play field hockey. Why can't the NHL see it? They're afraid. They want to preserve their market. Now it's too late. We're gonna take our market share. And you'll see, it'll be good for the game."
On my last night in Omsk, long after the locker room has emptied, Jagr and I close down the arena. We pass in front of Alexei Cherepanov's locker, the Rangers' 19-year-old first-round pick in 2007, who 11 days later would collapse and die during a game, succumbing to an enlarged heart. ("I used to think I had one of the best shots in the league," Jagr tells me. "But his — it's better.") It's after midnight; he insists on driving me to the hotel. We sit in Jagr's Mercedes, a dark sedan that slips unnoticed around town. As we cross over the broad Irtysh River, Russian pop fills the car, and I'm struck by an unlikely conclusion: Jagr is at home in Omsk, a city the size of Dallas but with all the luster of Albany. The team has found him an apartment (which he shares with his 22-year-old Czech girlfriend) and he loves it more than the rental he had in Trump Tower. Not that he had a problem in New York, he says. He never suffered the pressure, nor the press. "For hockey players, New York's not that bad," he says as we cruise past Lenin Square, where a statue of Lenin still stands. "Because you've got the Yankees, you got baseball and American football. Hockey? Maybe it's No. 5 in popularity. After fishing."
"Here, it's not like in the U.S.," Jagr says at a different point. "You got such freedom, it's hard to believe. In the U.S. you have so many rules, everything's regulated and structured. When you make a mistake you pay for it — a lot." It is a theme that Jagr returns to often, the freedom of this strange place. It is not so much that his departure from New York has left a disquieting wake, but that he has discovered the unlikely and unexpected promise of Siberia. "Look at A-Rod," he says. "No matter how well you do — they always want more. Expectations only climb higher. In Russia you don't have to worry if you make a mistake. And that's what I love about living here. There's always another way to make up for it. Nothing's too serious. Nothing is a problem, and at the same time, everything's a problem. But somehow no matter how bad things are, you can always work it out."
How, I ask, can he untangle the contradiction?
"I can't. I don't understand it myself," Jagr says. "It's not something you explain. You have to live it."
AFTER OMSK, after St. Petersburg, after making the rounds of sports officials across Moscow, on an unusually balmy afternoon in the Russian capital, I went to pay a visit to a Soviet legend. I went to the old Central Army rink to see Viktor Tikhonov, the premier coach of Soviet hockey whose coaching career spanned from Brezhnev to Putin and who at a robust 78 years old is one of the chief backers of the new KHL I knew I would hear the set refrains, the glory of the old days, when "athleticism" was not yet a dreaded synonym for modern Western techniques. Who needed all that, Tikhonov would tell me, "when our guys had unparalleled technique and training and intelligence?" The chorus, I was not surprised, remained the same, but the bark was gone. I had made the pilgrimage, though, to hear something else, the latest turn in one of the most improbable family sagas in Russian sports.
The irony could not be greater. Here was the dictator of Soviet ice, whose ironclad regime molded champions and brought gold home to the U.S.S.R., and the old-school contrarian who, when the stars started to defect one by one, fought hardest to maintain his grip. For years, Tikhonov chased NHL scouts out of his rink. As we sat in his office, beneath a massive map of Russia, amid black-and-white photographs dating to his years as a soccer star under Stalin's rule, it was clear that the coach had mellowed. But he seemed in an unusually sunny mood. His grandson, young Viktor, 20 years old and fluent in English and the suburban ways of Northern California, had just made the final cut — with the Phoenix Coyotes.
"Gretzky's happy," Tikhonov told me straight off, referring to the Hall of Fame player and current Coyotes coach, "and that makes me happy."
Tikhonov concedes it is odd that, after the end of an empire and the rebirth of a country, the godfather of Soviet hockey could boast of a grandson poised for an American debut. But after an hour spent rewinding memories of his start under Stalin, after almost the entire national hockey team was killed in a plane crash in 1950 and "we soccer players were ordered to play hockey" and his time with the four hockey legends whose names now adorn the KHL divisions, Tikhonov drops his guard. His lips curl at the edges and he nearly winks as he leans forward to share a secret: young Tikhonov has an unusual clause in his Phoenix contract. "If he doesn't make the team," the old coach says, "he's not going to be demoted and get lost on some farm club — he's got an out. He can come straight home." [?][?][?] ANDREW MEIER
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Andrew Meier is the author of "Black Earth: A Journey Through Russia After the Fall." His most recent book is "The Lost Spy." This article will appear in Play, The New York Times sports magazine, this weekend.
On a chill Friday night in October with seconds left to play in the most anticipated hockey game of a young season, tied three goals apiece, Avangard Omsk, the pride of southwestern Siberia, and Atlant Mytishchi, an upstart from the Moscow suburbs, have players from seven countries on the ice — young men whose hometowns stretch from Canada to Kazakhstan. This is professional hockey in Russia now, at its best. And across the land of the old Soviet sports machine, whether the place is a rink, soccer pitch or basketball court, the scene repeats itself: few countries better reflect the newest face of globalization in sports. In Russia, foreigners round out the pro teams — legionery, legionnaires, they call them, with a mix of awe and disdain. In Omsk, the transcontinental gap matters little. With more than 10,000 fans screaming at the top of their lungs, communication is rendered moot. As the final seconds tick by, and both clubs express a level of hustle, stick work and hunger worthy of any match in North America, one man towers above all others: Jaromir Jagr. In Omsk, a black-collar city of 1.2 million souls, where the oil flares burn all night, marking the edge of town and the promise of the future, Jagr, the superstar who until midsummer reigned as the captain of the New York Rangers and a winner of nearly every trophy in the National Hockey League, now rules what he calls "the big ice."
On the weekend when his old team is preparing to open the NHL season in Prague, where the stands will be filled with Czechs wearing his old jersey, Jagr tells me that he couldn't be happier. And, he adds, "I never look back."
Why should he? In this remote post-Soviet hinterland, Jagr, at 36, is revered as the Second Coming (he played 32 games in Omsk during the NHL's 2004-5 lockout season), and his face has been ubiquitous throughout Russia in the months since he signed with Omsk. There is a new league, the Kontinental'naya Khokkeinaya Liga, the Continental Hockey League, or K.H.L, that has supplanted the old Super League, a shambolic enterprise that never managed to pull Russian hockey into the present. Coming at a time when the specter of a new cold war hovers over the relations between the United States and Russia, the KHL's creation is a deliberate, and direct, slap shot at the NHL With 24 teams and a porous salary cap for each team of 620 million rubles ($24 million), the KHL will have its own version of the Stanley Cup: the Gagarin Cup, in honor of the first man in space, the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. And in Jagr, the KHL has its icon. There are plenty of familiar faces to keep him company: the league has lured dozens of former NHL players, including Alexei Yashin, Alexei Morozov and the goalies in Omsk that night, Ray Emery and John Grahame. But Jagr, as he will make abundantly clear to me long after the game, feels the weight. In his outsize hands, he holds, perhaps more than any other athlete in the country, the hope for the rise of pro sports in Russia.
IT'S A TALL ORDER. Try to remember way back, to the darkest days of the U.S.S.R., when Americans once feared the Big Red Machine. For decades, the Soviet sports monolith cast a pall over East-West athletic competitions. In the minds of Western coaches, the Soviet machine was a seemingly invincible state apparatus, unfettered, or so they imagined, by budgetary constraints or amateur regulations and blessed with endless conveyer belts that scooped up the genetically gifted at age 2 and churned out the likes of Olga Korbut, Sergei Bubka, Arvydas Sabonis and Slava Fetisov.
The fall of the U.S.S.R. in 1991 brought an end to all that. The first post-Soviet decade became known as another Time of Troubles in the nation's history as it lurched from political upheaval to economic crisis. Sports were among the first to suffer. Russians soon knew less about statistics and technique than about the metastasizing crime groups, organized or not, that were strangling their teams. NHL teams would usually pay clubs whose players moved to North America, but it was never clear how much made it to the clubs. In 1996, Vladimir Bogach, the business manager of the Central Army Sports Club, which comprises hockey, soccer and basketball teams, was shot dead while playing tennis at the club. The following spring, Valentin Sych, a longtime hockey power broker, was gunned down as he left his dacha outside Moscow. Amid the anarchy, athletes and coaches — all but the oldest and most exhausted — fled for the exits, and the Soviet sports machine ended up in the ash can of history. In its wake, Russian sports, both amateur and professional, floundered. The Olympics became a quadrennial debacle, the hockey leagues cheap colonies for the NHL, and when it came to soccer, you had to mention only two words, "World Cup," to ignite diatribes about the need to restore the lost empire.
What a difference a sea of oil and gas makes. Russia, as oil-company executives in Houston can tell you, boasts the largest reserves of oil and natural gas outside OPEC. Even after this year's precipitous drop in Russia's stock market and the beating that the global financial crisis has administered to its banks and business titans, Russians have enjoyed one of the greatest booms of the new century. Thanks to a combination of Kremlin muscle, oligarchic fealty and the surging price of Ural crude under Putin, the country's gross domestic product has risen nearly ninefold in nine years, and Russia is again an emerging market. And sports, once considered a luxury, are back on center stage.
Across the country, dozens of sleek stadiums, arenas and rinks are rising. The state and a host of petro-rich biznesmeny have invested billions into a new generation of pro clubs — and the results have stunned Europe. Even the casual observer of tennis knows that Russian has become the second lingua franca on the women's tour, but Russia's rise extends far beyond the WTA rankings, where 7 of the top 14 women are Russian. Last September, the national basketball team, coached by David Blatt, an American-born Israeli, won the European championship for the first time since the Soviet collapse.
In the spring, the march continued. Zenit, the St. Petersburg soccer club beloved by many in the Kremlin, pulled off a triumph that resounded across 11 time zones by winning a major season-long European club tournament in Manchester, England, in May. Days after that UEFA Cup victory, the national hockey team beat Canada, 5-4 in overtime, for its first world championship in 15 years. Then in June, the national soccer team, under the guidance of a Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink, and led by Zenit's star playmaker, Andrei Arshavin, made it to the semifinals of the European championships.
The greatest comeback may be yet to come. The advent of the hockey league has been the biggest news since the Americans stole the gold with "the miracle on ice" at Lake Placid in 1980. "Once Again We've Surpassed the Americans," a headline announced on the sports page of Komsomol'skaya Pravda, a popular tabloid. In its inaugural season, the KHL has already raised expectations at home and fears in the United States. Even as the NHL is finally entering Europe — last month, a quartet of NHL teams played their season openers in Prague and Stockholm; last year, two teams began the season in London — it is experiencing a reverse migration. Instead of Russian players moving only west, NHL players — many but by no means all of them Russian — are heading east. In 2001, 77 Russians played in the NHL Now the number is 26. As tensions rise and the two leagues remain unable to agree to a new international transfer agreement, the trend is set to increase. And the eastern pull may yet draw more. When a Russian reporter asked Kobe Bryant at the Beijing Games if he'd consider coming to Russia, Bryant floated a balloon that he later called a joke: "Without a doubt, $40 million a year — and I'm there," adding, "You cut the check, and I'll bring my Nikes."
The Russians, as they like to say, whether in the Siberian hinterland or in the cigar clubs of Moscow, are back. Nowhere is the resurgence of power, patriotism and pride felt more than on the country's athletic battlegrounds.
WHILE BORIS YELTSIN'S love of tennis sparked a tennis boom, his enduring gift to the sports renaissance was his chosen heir. The first time I encountered Vladimir Putin, it was courtside at the Kremlin Cup, a post-Soviet tourney dreamed up to extend the pro tour eastward. As an event, the Moscow tournament had yet to establish itself, but Putin was there at midcourt, surrounded by bodyguards and sitting stiffly in a polo shirt and boxy black blazer. It was late in the fall of 1999. Putin, most recently the head of the Federal Security Service, had just been catapulted to power; he was serving as Yeltsin's prime minister, still utterly unknown to the vast majority of his compatriots. But sports for Putin, as his subjects would soon learn, were no minor obsession, no flash dance of machismo born of advancing middle age and a latent exhibitionist streak. Instead, as he embarked on a campaign to make Russia once again a velikaya derzhava (great power) — a small man's drive to pump up the shrinking post-Soviet sphere of influence — sports would dominate his tenure.
One of Putin's first acts upon settling into the Kremlin was to install a private gym in the remodeled presidential offices. In "First Person," Putin's version of a campaign memoir (it's largely a Q & A with Russian journalists, published in 2000), he revealed that sports — and a preadolescent yearning for a KGB career — saved him from going astray in Leningrad. Putin "didn't like socializing much," a schoolteacher remembered. "He preferred sports. He started doing martial arts in order to learn how to defend himself." He became expert in sambo, a Soviet mix of judo and wrestling. "If I hadn't gotten involved in sports," Putin was quoted as saying, "I'm not sure how my life would have turned out. It was sports that dragged me off the streets."
Nine years since his appearance at the Kremlin Cup, Putin nominally no longer runs the Kremlin, but he still rules Russia. He remains, moreover, the arbiter of all things athletic, from the ski slopes of the North Caucasus to the rise of his hometown club, Zenit, to his ultimate dream: Sochi 2014, the Winter Games that he secured with a virtuoso display of English and oligarchic prowess. Although Sochi lies only a short drive from Abkhazia, one of the restive provinces in neighboring Georgia, preparations for the Games promise to be historic in scale. A massive Olympic village is under construction, and a new port, large enough to hold the yachts of tycoons who have pledged troths of hundreds of millions, is set to dominate the Black Sea shoreline. (In April, a government official warned that the price tag could rise to $24 billion.)
Young Putin soon graduated from sambo to judo. Martial arts, as he said at the start of his political ascent, is not just a sport: "It's respect for your elders and for your opponent. It's not for weaklings." On his 56th birthday, I sit in Moscow traffic under black skies and hear a news bulletin: Putin, now prime minister, has given a "birthday present" to his subjects, an instructional DVD, "Learning Judo With Vladimir Putin." The level of sports development in the country, Putin declares, defines the development of the country itself. "Because without sport, it's impossible to speak of a healthy way of life, or even a healthy nation."
A JOCK IN THE KREMLIN would not have been enough had Russia not possessed the riches to sustain a revival. The three clubs I visited during a tour of Russia last month, Zenit, Dynamo and Avangard, are not only centers of attention in Russia. They also reflect, not coincidentally, the narrow spectrum of ownership models in the country. Zenit is owned by a state-controlled company, Dynamo is associated with a state-security organization, with additional private support, and Avangard, like the KHL, seems to be an amalgam of three models, a combination of state-controlled companies, oligarchic empires and the state itself. A spokesman for the league, Vladimir Mikheev, offers a description that only underscores its contradictory nature: It "may be a state-run, but not a state-owned, company, with a mixture of state and private interests."
Visit the Zenit soccer club in St. Petersburg, and you quickly see how those resources can "accelerate success," as its Dutch coach, Dick Advocaat, put it. Zenit, formerly known as Stalinets, was founded the year after Lenin's death and for most of the Soviet century languished in the shadow of the more muscular Moscow teams. That changed in 2005, when Gazprom, the natural-gas giant, bought a controlling stake. Gazprom went on a shopping spree, investing around $100 million in mostly foreign players (13 of the team's 25 players hold non-Russian passports), hiring Advocaat — like Hiddink, a well-regarded import from the West — and starting construction on a 65,000-seat stadium designed by a Japanese architect. The results followed in short order. And it's a measure of that success, perhaps, that two Spanish newspapers, El Pais and ABC, published stories this fall, based on alleged police leaks, claiming that the Tambov gang, one of Russia's most infamous mafia groups and long the shadow power in St. Petersburg, paid an opponent, Bayern Munich, to take a dive, paving the way for Zenit's UEFA Cup championship last spring. (The club issued a heated denial and threatened to sue the papers. "There is a lot of jealousy about what we have achieved," Advocaat told a Scottish paper.)
Gazprom, one of the world's largest corporations, is not so much a company as a state within the state. It is also one of the financial powers behind the KHL The president of the league, Alexander Medvedev, happens to head Gazprom Export. "Flip a switch around here," goes an old joke at Gazprom headquarters in Moscow, "and the lights go out in Frankfurt." Indeed, natural gas from Russia supplies more than 25 percent of the European market, and Medvedev controls that flow. Aides are quick to point out that the 53-year-old KHL boss is no relation to Russia's new president, Dmitri Medvedev, who is 43 — though the latter is Gazprom's most famous alumnus (he was chairman of Gazprom's board).
The Dynamo basketball team coached by David Blatt is part of a large sports behemoth in Moscow, once the core, alongside the Central Army clubs, of the Soviet machine. Dynamo has traditionally been associated with the police, or MVD, as the Ministry of Internal Affairs is known. On a tour of Dynamo's stunning new arena, Blatt makes clear how things have changed in the age of Putin. Blatt, who played at Princeton under Pete Carril and has won championships everywhere from Tel Aviv to Italy, is considered one of the best coaches outside of the N.B.A. (Blatt's players include Jannero Pargo and Bostjan Nachbar, who moved to Russia this year after eight seasons in the N.B.A.) He would like to show me the downstairs health club, he says, but he can't. It's the preserve of the FSB, the Federal Security Service. In the arena lobby, I glance at a wall of keys hanging behind an attendant's desk. Small black tags, above more than a dozen keys, are marked "ZONA FSB" — the FSB zone.
The All-Russian Sports Society Dynamo includes soccer, hockey and other teams and is the athletic home for a host of law-enforcement ministries, from the federal police to the tax agencies. "But it's more connected to the FSB these days," Blatt says as we walk the halls. The front office makes no attempt to hide the relations: Vladimir Pronichev, the FSB deputy director and head of the border-guard service, acts as chairman; Sergei Stepashin, a former head of the FSB under Yeltsin, leads the board of trustees; Nikolai Patrushev, another former FSB boss, is involved with the Dynamo volleyball team.
But in Putin's Russia, even the secret policemen need corporate sponsorship. Most prominent among private patrons has been Metalloinvest, the metals giant owned by Alisher Usmanov, a 55-year-old magnate who lately has backed the Dynamo soccer club, as well as Arsenal in London (he bought nearly 25 percent of the English Premier League team last year for more than $200 million). Usmanov, one of the unheralded titans to rise under Putin, is an ethnic Uzbek who served six years in Soviet jails for fraud and embezzlement. (The Uzbek Supreme Court overturned the convictions, and he was later pardoned.) Usmanov, who regards the Soviet charges to be a political conspiracy, has powerful friends in the Kremlin and in security bureaus.
In Omsk, you find all sorts of interests. Avangard players wear their sponsors on their jerseys in all capitals: across the chest, Gazprom Neft (the oil company, formerly known as Sibneft before Gazprom acquired it in 2005), and across their backs, Omskaya Oblast, the regional administration, which is publicly credited with financing the team and delivering Jagr to Siberia. Avangard's biggest sponsor, however, is not advertised on the team uniform. Despite public denials to the contrary, the club, as its president, Konstantin Potapov, explained to me, is 40 percent owned by the Prodo Group, a Russian company "close to Roman Abramovich" — one of Putin's favorite oligarchs and the former owner of Sibneft, who now divides his time between London (where he owns Chelsea, the EPL team he bankrolled to its first league championship in 50 years), Moscow and a growing flotilla of megayachts.
Whatever the "sponsor," the ultimate power in Russian pro sports remains political. "The oligarchs are fighting each other for the chance to sponsor a team," Andrei Illarionov, once a top economic adviser to Putin and now in self-exile in Washington, told me. "But it's not their initiative. It's an order from the Kremlin. It was Putin, and now Medvedev, who tells them to support this or that team."
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE, it's like nowhere else in the world." After the game, Jagr and I sit in the team's swank restaurant. It is late, and the players' wives and girlfriends, whippet-thin women wearing stilettos and short skirts, have taken their leave. Their table remains filled with scarcely nibbled dinners and an unfinished bottle of red wine — a rare sight in Russia. For a time, two or three other players sit nearby, regarding the strange scene — one of the world's greatest athletes plying an American reporter with a plate of farm-fresh grilled chicken and mashed potatoes — at a respectful distance.
Chris Drury, his former teammate and now the Rangers captain, told me to convey his regards to Jagr. "He's one of the best of all times," Drury said. "And his leaving, that's not something that goes away easily." In Moscow, no less an authority than Slava Fetisov, the former Soviet and Detroit Red Wings star, would tell me sternly that "Jagr was no PR gamble, no marketing decoration." In 2002, Fetisov returned to Russia at Putin's behest, to head up Rossport, a new federal agency dedicated to reviving the country's sports infrastructure. (After we meet, Rossport would be folded into a new entity, the Ministry for Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy, and Fetisov kicked upstairs, to the upper house of the Russian Parliament.) Jagr, he told me, is "one of the greatest players to come out of Europe in the last 20 years — maybe ever." Fetisov went on, "I should know, I had to play against him."
The roster says 6-foot-3, 240 pounds, but Jagr somehow seems much taller, and leaner. His quickness and strength are legendary, and tonight the Russian fans have seen a giant sinewy cat cover every inch of the ice. He is playing well these days. But with the pads off, wearing a T-shirt and shorts, he projects something contradictory, a 36-year-old kid who cannot help but fidget, a mass of statuary that cannot sit still. If when we first met the talk was slow, the sparse phrases tinged with regret, now, after the game, an unexpected confessional, in Jagr's own version of English, heavy on Slavic sibilants and short on definite articles, comes cascading forth.
"I didn't come here just to hang out," Jagr says, although I hadn't asked. I had only raised the reports of his salary — $7 million a year, taxes included, for two years, with an option for a third. Exaggeration, he said, echoing the front office. "I came to play — and win," he goes on, adding an expletive. "It means everything, to win here. Did you see those fans? Did you hear them? We're doing something so new, this is fun, but it's not so easy. I mean this" — his enormous forearms fill the air between us — "is a huge challenge."
Earlier, after a morning skate-around, Jagr could only laugh when I asked about Avangard's business ledger, given the expense of a glittery new arena, the price of season tickets (the top seats cost almost $800), the lack of a merchandising tradition. "They don't care about the money," he said. "It's about the oil. It's all about sponsors here, and no sponsor's going to get their money back. If the oil is sponsoring you, and the price of oil went up three times, instead of making whatever, $100 million a day, you get $300 million a day."
"It's not a business," concedes Potapov, the Avangard president who spent 18 years at the Omsk refinery and wooed Jagr in Prague during the lockout at the request of the regional governor. "This is sports — we're blessed with backers, people who give money not for a return in profits."
Jagr is the industry standard. "We needed a superstar," Fetisov told me in Moscow. "Someone who we could hold up to the world and say, 'Look who wants to come to Russia, to play for Russian fans.' That's the difference, the way Russia will change world sports."
Jagr, who once signed the richest contract in NHL history back in 2001, is well aware of his pivotal position and its attendant ironies. He is, after all, a boy who grew up on a Czech farm, whose grandfathers were jailed for political reasons and who has always worn the number 68 out of respect for the 1968 "revolution," as he calls it, when his countrymen challenged their Soviet occupiers — and were crushed. But he feels a tie to this corner of Siberia, one that stretches back to the years after World War I. "Thousands of Czech soldiers were here," he says, "to fight the Russians." Omsk served as the base of Aleksander Kolchak, the White Russian leader who fought the Bolsheviks until 1920. The Czechs came in the employ of the allied interventionists, the British and the Americans. "Many of them," Jagr says he has heard, "stayed and never left."
There is no chance of this history repeating itself. Jagr says he will end his career where it began, with his hometown club, Kladno. But he says that in Russia he wants "to prove I can play." It was not an easy shift. KHL teams play fewer regular-season games than their NHL counterparts (56 rather than 82), but they start earlier. Jagr signed on July 5, and Avangard was on the ice 10 days later — training three months before the NHL season opened. The biggest adjustment was "the big ice." Russian (and European) rinks are about 15 feet wider than NHL rinks, which are 85 feet wide. The bigger rink demands more of you, Jagr says. "If you want to get the puck, you have to skate. If you don't skate, you don't have a chance. The Russians have more skills because you can use skills on this ice. In the U.S., you don't have time to play with skills. It's hockey, with the same rules, but it's a different sport. You cannot dump and chase, because you'll never get the puck back."
When Wayne Fleming, the Canadian coach who arrived just six days earlier to take over Avangard, stops by our table, Jagr shares his worries about the future of Russia's relations with the NHL His reasoning is economic. In the NHL, he tells Fleming, "the top three or four guys eat up half the salary cap." Fleming nods. "That leaves all the rest of the guys far below, not making a ton of money." Fleming, a nice guy who was recommended to Jagr to be the team's new coach, nods again. "But now they're going to find out how it is over here. That they can make much better money, and you can live over here. They'll see it soon enough." Again Fleming nods.
"I've always thought the NHL's wanted to do something big in Europe," the coach says, "like a division."
"But I think they've missed it," Jagr says. "The Russians are ahead of them."
Just as the talk of a new cold war dominates political circles in Moscow these days, the fear of an eastward expansion by the NHL preoccupies Russian hockey officials. In Moscow, I would hear Fetisov echo Jagr's prediction. Fetisov was the first Russian star to leave for the NHL He not only "stood up to the system," as he put it, but he also proved that Russians could thrive in the American game. When Detroit fielded the first five-man Russian unit in 1995-96, Fetisov led the way to two consecutive Stanley Cups. He was living in New Jersey, pondering an NHL coaching career, when the Kremlin called: "I told Putin I was thinking about the NHL, but he said he could give me a bigger team." As the prime mover behind the new hockey league, Fetisov worries about how the West will react to Russia's sports revival.
"I warned Gary Bettman five years ago," he tells me, referring to the NHL commissioner. "You've got your business model, but if you take the best players out of Europe and Russia for cheap — you'll kill the game, and your own market." North America, Fetisov argues, is "a small hockey market." He continues: "For years I've tried to tell the Americans to think big. Look beyond Russia and Europe. What about Asia? China? Even in India they play field hockey. Why can't the NHL see it? They're afraid. They want to preserve their market. Now it's too late. We're gonna take our market share. And you'll see, it'll be good for the game."
On my last night in Omsk, long after the locker room has emptied, Jagr and I close down the arena. We pass in front of Alexei Cherepanov's locker, the Rangers' 19-year-old first-round pick in 2007, who 11 days later would collapse and die during a game, succumbing to an enlarged heart. ("I used to think I had one of the best shots in the league," Jagr tells me. "But his — it's better.") It's after midnight; he insists on driving me to the hotel. We sit in Jagr's Mercedes, a dark sedan that slips unnoticed around town. As we cross over the broad Irtysh River, Russian pop fills the car, and I'm struck by an unlikely conclusion: Jagr is at home in Omsk, a city the size of Dallas but with all the luster of Albany. The team has found him an apartment (which he shares with his 22-year-old Czech girlfriend) and he loves it more than the rental he had in Trump Tower. Not that he had a problem in New York, he says. He never suffered the pressure, nor the press. "For hockey players, New York's not that bad," he says as we cruise past Lenin Square, where a statue of Lenin still stands. "Because you've got the Yankees, you got baseball and American football. Hockey? Maybe it's No. 5 in popularity. After fishing."
"Here, it's not like in the U.S.," Jagr says at a different point. "You got such freedom, it's hard to believe. In the U.S. you have so many rules, everything's regulated and structured. When you make a mistake you pay for it — a lot." It is a theme that Jagr returns to often, the freedom of this strange place. It is not so much that his departure from New York has left a disquieting wake, but that he has discovered the unlikely and unexpected promise of Siberia. "Look at A-Rod," he says. "No matter how well you do — they always want more. Expectations only climb higher. In Russia you don't have to worry if you make a mistake. And that's what I love about living here. There's always another way to make up for it. Nothing's too serious. Nothing is a problem, and at the same time, everything's a problem. But somehow no matter how bad things are, you can always work it out."
How, I ask, can he untangle the contradiction?
"I can't. I don't understand it myself," Jagr says. "It's not something you explain. You have to live it."
AFTER OMSK, after St. Petersburg, after making the rounds of sports officials across Moscow, on an unusually balmy afternoon in the Russian capital, I went to pay a visit to a Soviet legend. I went to the old Central Army rink to see Viktor Tikhonov, the premier coach of Soviet hockey whose coaching career spanned from Brezhnev to Putin and who at a robust 78 years old is one of the chief backers of the new KHL I knew I would hear the set refrains, the glory of the old days, when "athleticism" was not yet a dreaded synonym for modern Western techniques. Who needed all that, Tikhonov would tell me, "when our guys had unparalleled technique and training and intelligence?" The chorus, I was not surprised, remained the same, but the bark was gone. I had made the pilgrimage, though, to hear something else, the latest turn in one of the most improbable family sagas in Russian sports.
The irony could not be greater. Here was the dictator of Soviet ice, whose ironclad regime molded champions and brought gold home to the U.S.S.R., and the old-school contrarian who, when the stars started to defect one by one, fought hardest to maintain his grip. For years, Tikhonov chased NHL scouts out of his rink. As we sat in his office, beneath a massive map of Russia, amid black-and-white photographs dating to his years as a soccer star under Stalin's rule, it was clear that the coach had mellowed. But he seemed in an unusually sunny mood. His grandson, young Viktor, 20 years old and fluent in English and the suburban ways of Northern California, had just made the final cut — with the Phoenix Coyotes.
"Gretzky's happy," Tikhonov told me straight off, referring to the Hall of Fame player and current Coyotes coach, "and that makes me happy."
Tikhonov concedes it is odd that, after the end of an empire and the rebirth of a country, the godfather of Soviet hockey could boast of a grandson poised for an American debut. But after an hour spent rewinding memories of his start under Stalin, after almost the entire national hockey team was killed in a plane crash in 1950 and "we soccer players were ordered to play hockey" and his time with the four hockey legends whose names now adorn the KHL divisions, Tikhonov drops his guard. His lips curl at the edges and he nearly winks as he leans forward to share a secret: young Tikhonov has an unusual clause in his Phoenix contract. "If he doesn't make the team," the old coach says, "he's not going to be demoted and get lost on some farm club — he's got an out. He can come straight home." [?][?][?] ANDREW MEIER
World - US;Future with Russia
James Carroll
What most sharply defines the difference between Barack Obama and John McCain? Every reader could suggest an answer, but perhaps the most consequential issue separating the candidates is the future of U.S.-Russia relations.
McCain has been relentless in his anti-Moscow belligerence, harping especially on rapid NATO expansion to squeeze Russia, and even calling for its expulsion from the G-8, the consortium of leading industrial nations. A staple of McCain's stump speech has been his leering claim to have looked into Vladimir Putin's eyes and seen not soul, but three letters - K-G-B. On Russia, McCain makes George W. Bush seem like a prudent statesman.
One of Obama's political triumphs is the way he outflanked McCain on national security issues, preventing the Republican from portraying him as dangerously timid. Thus, when Russia went to war in Georgia, Obama, while more measured than McCain, was fierce in his criticism of Moscow.
Obama has spoken positively about the ambitions of Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO, although with the cagey caveat that their admissions depend on meeting NATO "criteria for membership" - which neither nation will do anytime soon. McCain is prepped for a new Cold War; Obama is looking for a thaw.
During the old Cold War, ironically, a vigorous structure of dialogue and cooperation defined East-West relations - everything from nongovernmental interchanges among scientists to the arms control regime. That structure was dismantled, with nothing doing more damage to the "trust but verify" mutuality that Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev achieved than the Bush administration's cavalier abandonment of treaty obligations - especially the American abrogation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (which led immediately to Russia's repudiation of START II), and the disregard of obligations under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. If Obama becomes president, his simple reaffirmation of American intentions to abide by treaties would begin a transformation of U.S.-Russia relations.
Indeed, the issue of treaties will be immediately targeted by the next president because the START I treaty, which provides the only mechanism for verified arms reduction, is set to expire in 2009. In 2010, the NPT is set to be reviewed by its signatories.
Judging from the candidates' overall approaches, it seems clear that McCain would do nothing to invigorate these agreements, or to fulfill their legally binding terms, while Obama would seize these deadlines as an opportunity to restore the Moscow-Washington structure of cooperation on what remains the world's most pressing piece of unfinished business. U.S.-Soviet partnership on the urgent project of getting rid of nuclear weapons was what ended the Cold War; a renewal of that partnership now could usher in a new era of international collaboration.
Both sides need it. Without Russian support, the United States will never bring its disastrous entanglements with Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran to resolution, and Obama knows that. He also knows, conversely, that Russian sensitivity about adjacent territories through which a dozen invasions have come over the centuries is not to be waved away with rhetoric about democracy. Moscow's near-abroad security matters.
Beyond policies that separate McCain and Obama, there is the question of temperament. Cold War history is instructive. If the judicious Franklin D. Roosevelt, instead of the hot-headed Harry Truman, had presided over the crucial post-World War II period, would the deadly conflict with Stalin's tyranny have unfolded the way it did? When the demonic Stalin died in 1953, might a less belligerent response from Washington (as even Winston Churchill hoped) have checked the arms race right then?
Presidents who used martial swagger to cloak personal insecurity took America disastrously to war in Asia three times. Psychological animus of the sort that defines McCain has been a feature of this country's most significant foreign policy failures. Obama represents another mode of leadership altogether.
The financial crisis that continues to roll across the globe, like an endless earthquake, is irrefutable proof that old categories of regional and national dispute - including the East-West divide - no longer apply. What the world needs now is an unprecedented strategic partnership between Moscow and Washington, bridging Europe and Asia, north and south, as the ground of political and economic renewal. McCain, stuck in the past, hasn't a clue of this future. Obama speaks from it.
What most sharply defines the difference between Barack Obama and John McCain? Every reader could suggest an answer, but perhaps the most consequential issue separating the candidates is the future of U.S.-Russia relations.
McCain has been relentless in his anti-Moscow belligerence, harping especially on rapid NATO expansion to squeeze Russia, and even calling for its expulsion from the G-8, the consortium of leading industrial nations. A staple of McCain's stump speech has been his leering claim to have looked into Vladimir Putin's eyes and seen not soul, but three letters - K-G-B. On Russia, McCain makes George W. Bush seem like a prudent statesman.
One of Obama's political triumphs is the way he outflanked McCain on national security issues, preventing the Republican from portraying him as dangerously timid. Thus, when Russia went to war in Georgia, Obama, while more measured than McCain, was fierce in his criticism of Moscow.
Obama has spoken positively about the ambitions of Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO, although with the cagey caveat that their admissions depend on meeting NATO "criteria for membership" - which neither nation will do anytime soon. McCain is prepped for a new Cold War; Obama is looking for a thaw.
During the old Cold War, ironically, a vigorous structure of dialogue and cooperation defined East-West relations - everything from nongovernmental interchanges among scientists to the arms control regime. That structure was dismantled, with nothing doing more damage to the "trust but verify" mutuality that Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev achieved than the Bush administration's cavalier abandonment of treaty obligations - especially the American abrogation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (which led immediately to Russia's repudiation of START II), and the disregard of obligations under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. If Obama becomes president, his simple reaffirmation of American intentions to abide by treaties would begin a transformation of U.S.-Russia relations.
Indeed, the issue of treaties will be immediately targeted by the next president because the START I treaty, which provides the only mechanism for verified arms reduction, is set to expire in 2009. In 2010, the NPT is set to be reviewed by its signatories.
Judging from the candidates' overall approaches, it seems clear that McCain would do nothing to invigorate these agreements, or to fulfill their legally binding terms, while Obama would seize these deadlines as an opportunity to restore the Moscow-Washington structure of cooperation on what remains the world's most pressing piece of unfinished business. U.S.-Soviet partnership on the urgent project of getting rid of nuclear weapons was what ended the Cold War; a renewal of that partnership now could usher in a new era of international collaboration.
Both sides need it. Without Russian support, the United States will never bring its disastrous entanglements with Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran to resolution, and Obama knows that. He also knows, conversely, that Russian sensitivity about adjacent territories through which a dozen invasions have come over the centuries is not to be waved away with rhetoric about democracy. Moscow's near-abroad security matters.
Beyond policies that separate McCain and Obama, there is the question of temperament. Cold War history is instructive. If the judicious Franklin D. Roosevelt, instead of the hot-headed Harry Truman, had presided over the crucial post-World War II period, would the deadly conflict with Stalin's tyranny have unfolded the way it did? When the demonic Stalin died in 1953, might a less belligerent response from Washington (as even Winston Churchill hoped) have checked the arms race right then?
Presidents who used martial swagger to cloak personal insecurity took America disastrously to war in Asia three times. Psychological animus of the sort that defines McCain has been a feature of this country's most significant foreign policy failures. Obama represents another mode of leadership altogether.
The financial crisis that continues to roll across the globe, like an endless earthquake, is irrefutable proof that old categories of regional and national dispute - including the East-West divide - no longer apply. What the world needs now is an unprecedented strategic partnership between Moscow and Washington, bridging Europe and Asia, north and south, as the ground of political and economic renewal. McCain, stuck in the past, hasn't a clue of this future. Obama speaks from it.
World - South Koreans lose faith in president's business skills
Martin Fackler
SEOUL, South Korea: Many South Koreans have taken to blaming LeeMan Brothers for their nation's economic woes.
No, they do not mean the failed American investment bank Lehman Brothers. Rather, they are making a play on the names of South Korea's president, Lee Myung-bak, and his finance minister, Kang Man-soo, whom many here criticize as handling the recent market turmoil inconsistently.
Dubbed the CEO President, Lee swept into office in February promising to use his business acumen as a former construction company executive to revive the nation's economy. Instead, he stumbled from the start, and now finds himself fighting to regain credibility as South Korea, buffeted by the global financial turbulence, careens unsteadily toward a recession.
On Thursday, his government seemed to get a much-needed boost when the United States Federal Reserve agreed to open credit lines worth up to $30 billion to South Korea to alleviate a shortage of foreign currency that has hobbled its banks.
Still, critics say Lee and his cabinet responded slowly to the crisis, which has struck South Korea and other emerging market nations with a vengeance. The country's stock market and its currency, the won, have been down more than 30 percent this year, though they gained some ground on Thursday. Critics also say Lee's government sent confusing and even contradictory signals at a time when communication was crucial for restoring confidence.
But supporters say much of that criticism is unfair, given that the crisis originated in the United States. They also say that Lee is starting to find his stride, coming up with tax cuts and public money to stem the crisis.
Backers and opponents alike agree that Lee still has a battle ahead to win back the faith of South Korea's often fickle public, which turned against him soon after he took office because of a trade deal resuming American beef imports. "He is still struggling to live down the beef fiasco," said Jasper Kim, a professor of international relations at Ewha Women's University in Seoul. "The public's loss of faith has hung over him during this financial crisis."
Lee still appears to have a long way to go in regaining that trust. An Oct. 20 opinion poll showed 24 percent of Koreans supporting Lee, and 31 percent approving of his handling of the economic crisis. That is up from an approval rating of 15 percent in June, when Seoul streets were filled with huge candlelight vigils against the American beef deal. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus five percentage points.
"People had high expectations of Lee Myung-bak with his image as being the economic president," said Yoon Hee-woong, a researcher at the Korea Society Opinion Institute, which conducted the polls. "People got disappointed because they have yet to see the government perform."
After first playing down the threat, Lee changed his tune, saying last week that the financial crisis was worse than the crash of 1998, when the won plummeted. He has also taken measures aimed at shoring up the banking system and the broader economy, including cutting taxes, approving $4 billion in spending to stimulate construction and pledging $130 billion to ease banks' foreign currency shortages.
On Monday he made a rare address to the National Assembly, warning South Koreans to "pull together their strength and wisdom again," a reference to the nation's recovery from 1998.
"President Lee was slow to realize the seriousness of the crisis," said Kim Jung-sik, an economics professor at Yonsei University in Seoul. "But he realizes it now."
Still, the perception remains that Lee and his ministers have been inconsistent on important economic issues and particularly on currency policy. The finance minister, Kang, initially backed a weak won to bolster exports. However, when that led to politically unpopular price increases for imported oil and other commodities, the government intervened to jack up the currency. When financial markets started tumbling last month, the government appeared to change again, not intervening to halt the won's fall.
Critics say Lee's administration has also appeared inconsistent on another crucial issue, foreign reserves. The administration has said that South Korea holds enough dollars to repay all its loans from overseas, but has also urged companies and individuals to help the nation by exchanging their dollars for won.
"One day, he says we're O.K. The next day, he says we are in trouble," said Dr. Lee Geun, a professor of international studies at Seoul National University. "His flip-flopping has been very confusing."
Analysts say the president badly needs to appear effective during the current crisis, after the setbacks on his major economic initiatives so far. The slowing economy makes it unlikely that he can deliver on campaign pledges of achieving 7 percent growth and a doubling of average annual incomes to $40,000. A former chief executive of Hyundai Construction, he has also shelved for now his pet project of building a 336-mile canal across South Korea.
"Lee Myung-bak has not had a single big policy success so far," said Lee of Seoul National University. "He needs something to show."
SEOUL, South Korea: Many South Koreans have taken to blaming LeeMan Brothers for their nation's economic woes.
No, they do not mean the failed American investment bank Lehman Brothers. Rather, they are making a play on the names of South Korea's president, Lee Myung-bak, and his finance minister, Kang Man-soo, whom many here criticize as handling the recent market turmoil inconsistently.
Dubbed the CEO President, Lee swept into office in February promising to use his business acumen as a former construction company executive to revive the nation's economy. Instead, he stumbled from the start, and now finds himself fighting to regain credibility as South Korea, buffeted by the global financial turbulence, careens unsteadily toward a recession.
On Thursday, his government seemed to get a much-needed boost when the United States Federal Reserve agreed to open credit lines worth up to $30 billion to South Korea to alleviate a shortage of foreign currency that has hobbled its banks.
Still, critics say Lee and his cabinet responded slowly to the crisis, which has struck South Korea and other emerging market nations with a vengeance. The country's stock market and its currency, the won, have been down more than 30 percent this year, though they gained some ground on Thursday. Critics also say Lee's government sent confusing and even contradictory signals at a time when communication was crucial for restoring confidence.
But supporters say much of that criticism is unfair, given that the crisis originated in the United States. They also say that Lee is starting to find his stride, coming up with tax cuts and public money to stem the crisis.
Backers and opponents alike agree that Lee still has a battle ahead to win back the faith of South Korea's often fickle public, which turned against him soon after he took office because of a trade deal resuming American beef imports. "He is still struggling to live down the beef fiasco," said Jasper Kim, a professor of international relations at Ewha Women's University in Seoul. "The public's loss of faith has hung over him during this financial crisis."
Lee still appears to have a long way to go in regaining that trust. An Oct. 20 opinion poll showed 24 percent of Koreans supporting Lee, and 31 percent approving of his handling of the economic crisis. That is up from an approval rating of 15 percent in June, when Seoul streets were filled with huge candlelight vigils against the American beef deal. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus five percentage points.
"People had high expectations of Lee Myung-bak with his image as being the economic president," said Yoon Hee-woong, a researcher at the Korea Society Opinion Institute, which conducted the polls. "People got disappointed because they have yet to see the government perform."
After first playing down the threat, Lee changed his tune, saying last week that the financial crisis was worse than the crash of 1998, when the won plummeted. He has also taken measures aimed at shoring up the banking system and the broader economy, including cutting taxes, approving $4 billion in spending to stimulate construction and pledging $130 billion to ease banks' foreign currency shortages.
On Monday he made a rare address to the National Assembly, warning South Koreans to "pull together their strength and wisdom again," a reference to the nation's recovery from 1998.
"President Lee was slow to realize the seriousness of the crisis," said Kim Jung-sik, an economics professor at Yonsei University in Seoul. "But he realizes it now."
Still, the perception remains that Lee and his ministers have been inconsistent on important economic issues and particularly on currency policy. The finance minister, Kang, initially backed a weak won to bolster exports. However, when that led to politically unpopular price increases for imported oil and other commodities, the government intervened to jack up the currency. When financial markets started tumbling last month, the government appeared to change again, not intervening to halt the won's fall.
Critics say Lee's administration has also appeared inconsistent on another crucial issue, foreign reserves. The administration has said that South Korea holds enough dollars to repay all its loans from overseas, but has also urged companies and individuals to help the nation by exchanging their dollars for won.
"One day, he says we're O.K. The next day, he says we are in trouble," said Dr. Lee Geun, a professor of international studies at Seoul National University. "His flip-flopping has been very confusing."
Analysts say the president badly needs to appear effective during the current crisis, after the setbacks on his major economic initiatives so far. The slowing economy makes it unlikely that he can deliver on campaign pledges of achieving 7 percent growth and a doubling of average annual incomes to $40,000. A former chief executive of Hyundai Construction, he has also shelved for now his pet project of building a 336-mile canal across South Korea.
"Lee Myung-bak has not had a single big policy success so far," said Lee of Seoul National University. "He needs something to show."
Lifestyle - For war widows,Hamas recruits army of husbands
Taghreed El-Khodary
Friday, October 31, 2008
GAZA: The grooms were resplendent in white shirts while the brides all wore black. At a sports stadium one recent October evening, thousands of Palestinians — 300 newly married couples along with relatives and friends — gathered for a mass wedding celebration, the 10th here this year courtesy of Hamas.
Hamas, the militant Islamist group that controls Gaza, has been observing a truce with Israel since June, allowing its underground fighters to resurface but leaving them without much to do. At the same time, hundreds of the group's women have been recently widowed, their husbands having been killed either in confrontations with Israel or in the fighting last year between Hamas and its secular rival, Fatah.
Taking advantage of the pause in violence, the Hamas leaders have turned to matchmaking, bringing together single fighters and widows, and providing dowries and wedding parties for the many here who cannot afford such trappings of matrimony.
"Marriage is the same as jihad," or holy war, said Muhammad Yousef, one recently married member of the Qassam Brigades, the Hamas underground. "With marriage, you are producing another generation that believes in resistance."
About 300 Qassam members, mostly in their 20s, signed up with their new wives for the most recent celebration, held at a sports stadium in the Tuffah district, east of Gaza City. Local mosques spread the word about the event and offered to help find spouses for single men whose families had not yet managed to arrange them a match.
As an added inducement, couples were promised a cash grant in lieu of a dowry, which few families could afford. But the economic embargo on Gaza, spearheaded by the Israelis who, like the United States and the European Union, classify Hamas as a terrorist organization, somewhat dampened the celebrations. While the poorest couples received a gift equivalent to $2,000, many others in less dire straits came away with only $200.
"That's the cost of a plank of wood for a bedroom suite," said one disappointed bride, Ola Dalo, 21, as she leaned her head on her new husband, Ali Msabah, 24.
Wael al-Zard, head of Al Taysir, an association affiliated with Hamas that tries to provide its fighters with the means to marry, said that many Muslims who used to contribute money from the Gulf states had stopped transferring funds "out of fear."
To make up some of the shortfall, Ismail Haniya, the head of the Hamas government in Gaza, made a personal contribution of $30,000 to the Tuffah group wedding, while another senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, contributed $10,000.
"Your money is not going to casinos," Zard declared during the wedding event. His point was that the donations would be devoted only to furthering the Islamist agenda, and not going to line officials' pockets, an accusation widely leveled against the previous rulers from Fatah. "There will be more weddings, and no one will remain single."
The 300 grooms were dressed in black pants, white shirts and colorful ties but no jackets, because of recent budget cuts. The brides, sitting separately among the women, wore head scarves and black robes over their evening dresses but were easily spotted by their heavy makeup. The couples had all signed marriage contracts before the event.
The grooms danced on the stage as a male singer extolled the virtues of married life. Ehab Adas, 25, one of the grooms, said he missed fighting but was keeping busy working as a secretary at the Interior Ministry. He pointed out his bride in the crowd, and proudly displayed the last text message he had received from her on his mobile phone. "Today is my real wedding," it read. He had replied simply, "I love you."
Although Hamas has long organized joint weddings, it is now doing so with more verve, placing special emphasis on remarrying its war widows. One of them, Amani Saed, 24, attended the mass wedding with her two young sons from her first marriage, Rami, 5, and Muhammad, 3. Their father, Khaled Saed, was killed at the age of 28 during the clashes between Hamas and Fatah in August 2007.
Eight months after Khaled's death, his father sought Amani's hand for his younger son, Muhammad, 22, who also worked at the Interior Ministry. Amani said she reluctantly agreed. "Muhammad is younger. It's hard, but it's good for the kids," she said.
Muhammad Yousef, the groom who equated marriage with jihad, came to celebrate and collect $200 even though his family is considered reasonably well off. In July 2006, an Israeli tank crew fired in his direction as he and his group fired rockets at Israel. He was badly wounded in the chest and both legs, and his friends took him for dead and celebrated his "martyrdom" on the way to the hospital morgue.
But he survived, and because of his severe physical injuries, moved from firing rockets to manufacturing them instead. Yousef said he shared all the details of his past with his wife before they married, and she accepted his way of life wholeheartedly. The night before the mass wedding party, he said, his wife shared with him her ultimate wish: to carry out a joint suicide attack against Israel.
Friday, October 31, 2008
GAZA: The grooms were resplendent in white shirts while the brides all wore black. At a sports stadium one recent October evening, thousands of Palestinians — 300 newly married couples along with relatives and friends — gathered for a mass wedding celebration, the 10th here this year courtesy of Hamas.
Hamas, the militant Islamist group that controls Gaza, has been observing a truce with Israel since June, allowing its underground fighters to resurface but leaving them without much to do. At the same time, hundreds of the group's women have been recently widowed, their husbands having been killed either in confrontations with Israel or in the fighting last year between Hamas and its secular rival, Fatah.
Taking advantage of the pause in violence, the Hamas leaders have turned to matchmaking, bringing together single fighters and widows, and providing dowries and wedding parties for the many here who cannot afford such trappings of matrimony.
"Marriage is the same as jihad," or holy war, said Muhammad Yousef, one recently married member of the Qassam Brigades, the Hamas underground. "With marriage, you are producing another generation that believes in resistance."
About 300 Qassam members, mostly in their 20s, signed up with their new wives for the most recent celebration, held at a sports stadium in the Tuffah district, east of Gaza City. Local mosques spread the word about the event and offered to help find spouses for single men whose families had not yet managed to arrange them a match.
As an added inducement, couples were promised a cash grant in lieu of a dowry, which few families could afford. But the economic embargo on Gaza, spearheaded by the Israelis who, like the United States and the European Union, classify Hamas as a terrorist organization, somewhat dampened the celebrations. While the poorest couples received a gift equivalent to $2,000, many others in less dire straits came away with only $200.
"That's the cost of a plank of wood for a bedroom suite," said one disappointed bride, Ola Dalo, 21, as she leaned her head on her new husband, Ali Msabah, 24.
Wael al-Zard, head of Al Taysir, an association affiliated with Hamas that tries to provide its fighters with the means to marry, said that many Muslims who used to contribute money from the Gulf states had stopped transferring funds "out of fear."
To make up some of the shortfall, Ismail Haniya, the head of the Hamas government in Gaza, made a personal contribution of $30,000 to the Tuffah group wedding, while another senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, contributed $10,000.
"Your money is not going to casinos," Zard declared during the wedding event. His point was that the donations would be devoted only to furthering the Islamist agenda, and not going to line officials' pockets, an accusation widely leveled against the previous rulers from Fatah. "There will be more weddings, and no one will remain single."
The 300 grooms were dressed in black pants, white shirts and colorful ties but no jackets, because of recent budget cuts. The brides, sitting separately among the women, wore head scarves and black robes over their evening dresses but were easily spotted by their heavy makeup. The couples had all signed marriage contracts before the event.
The grooms danced on the stage as a male singer extolled the virtues of married life. Ehab Adas, 25, one of the grooms, said he missed fighting but was keeping busy working as a secretary at the Interior Ministry. He pointed out his bride in the crowd, and proudly displayed the last text message he had received from her on his mobile phone. "Today is my real wedding," it read. He had replied simply, "I love you."
Although Hamas has long organized joint weddings, it is now doing so with more verve, placing special emphasis on remarrying its war widows. One of them, Amani Saed, 24, attended the mass wedding with her two young sons from her first marriage, Rami, 5, and Muhammad, 3. Their father, Khaled Saed, was killed at the age of 28 during the clashes between Hamas and Fatah in August 2007.
Eight months after Khaled's death, his father sought Amani's hand for his younger son, Muhammad, 22, who also worked at the Interior Ministry. Amani said she reluctantly agreed. "Muhammad is younger. It's hard, but it's good for the kids," she said.
Muhammad Yousef, the groom who equated marriage with jihad, came to celebrate and collect $200 even though his family is considered reasonably well off. In July 2006, an Israeli tank crew fired in his direction as he and his group fired rockets at Israel. He was badly wounded in the chest and both legs, and his friends took him for dead and celebrated his "martyrdom" on the way to the hospital morgue.
But he survived, and because of his severe physical injuries, moved from firing rockets to manufacturing them instead. Yousef said he shared all the details of his past with his wife before they married, and she accepted his way of life wholeheartedly. The night before the mass wedding party, he said, his wife shared with him her ultimate wish: to carry out a joint suicide attack against Israel.
World - Somalia's pirates flourish in a lawless nation
Jeffrey Gettleman
BOOSAASO, Somalia: This may be one of the most dangerous towns in Somalia, a place where you can get kidnapped faster than you can wipe the sweat off your brow. But it is also one of the most prosperous.
Money changers walk around with thick wads of hundred-dollar bills. Palatial new houses are rising up next to tin-roofed shanties. Men in jail reminisce, with a twinkle in their eyes, about their days living like kings.
This is the story of Somalia's booming, not-so-underground pirate economy. The country is in chaos, countless children are starving and people are killing one another in the streets of Mogadishu, the capital, for a handful of grain.
But one particular line of work — piracy — seems to be benefiting quite openly from all this lawlessness and desperation. This year, Somali officials say, pirate profits are on track to reach a record $50 million, all of it tax free.
"These guys are making a killing," said Mohamud Muse Hirsi, the top Somali official in Boosaaso, who himself is widely suspected of working with the pirates, though he vigorously denies it.
More than 75 vessels have been attacked this year, far more than any other year in recent memory. About a dozen have been set upon in the past month alone, including a Ukrainian freighter packed with tanks, antiaircraft guns and other heavy weaponry, which was brazenly seized in September.
The pirates use fast-moving skiffs to pull alongside their prey and scamper on board with ladders or sometimes even rusty grappling hooks. Once on deck, they hold the crew at gunpoint until a ransom is paid, usually $1 million to $2 million. Negotiations for the Ukrainian freighter are still going on, and it is likely that because of all the publicity, the price for the ship could top $5 million.
In Somalia, it seems, crime does pay. Actually, it is one of the few industries that does.
"All you need is three guys and a little boat, and the next day you're millionaires," said Abdullahi Omar Qawden, a former captain in Somalia's long-defunct navy.
People in Garoowe, a town south of Boosaaso, describe a certain high-rolling pirate swagger. Flush with cash, the pirates drive the biggest cars, run many of the town's businesses — like hotels — and throw the best parties, residents say. Fatuma Abdul Kadir said she went to a pirate wedding in July that lasted two days, with nonstop dancing and goat meat, and a band flown in from neighboring Djibouti.
"It was wonderful," said Fatuma, 21. "I'm now dating a pirate."
This is too much for many Somali men to resist, and criminals from all across this bullet-pocked land are now flocking to Boosaaso and other notorious pirate dens along the craggy Somali shore. They have turned these waters into the most dangerous shipping lanes in the world.
With the situation clearly out of control, warships from the United States, Russia, NATO, the European Union and India are steaming into Somalia's waters as part of a reinvigorated, worldwide effort to crush the pirates.
But it will not be easy. The pirates are sea savvy. They are fearless. They are rich and getting richer, with the latest high-tech gadgetry like handheld GPS units. And they are united. The immutable clan lines that have pitted Somalis against one another for decades are not a problem here. Several captured pirates interviewed in Boosaaso's main jail said that they had recently crossed clan lines to open new, lucrative, multiclan franchises.
"We work together," said Jama Abdullahi, a jailed pirate. "Good for business, you know?"
The pirates are also sprinkled across thousands of square miles of water, from the Gulf of Aden, at the narrow doorway to the Red Sea, to the Kenyan border along the Indian Ocean. Even if the naval ships manage to catch pirates in the act, it is not clear what they can do. In September, a Danish warship captured 10 men suspected of being pirates cruising around the Gulf of Aden with rocket-propelled grenades and a long ladder. But after holding the suspects for nearly a week, the Danes concluded that they did not have jurisdiction to prosecute, so they dumped the pirates on a beach, minus their guns.
Nobody, it seems, has a clear plan for how to tame Somalia's unruly seas. Several fishermen along the Gulf of Aden talked about seeing barrels of toxic waste bobbing in the middle of the ocean. They spoke of clouds of dead fish floating nearby and rogue fishing trawlers sucking up not just fish and lobsters but also the coral and the plants that sustain them. It was abuses like these, several men said, that turned them from fishermen into pirates.
Nor is it even clear whether Somali authorities universally want the piracy to stop. While many pirates have been arrested, several fishermen, Western researchers and more than a half-dozen pirates in jail spoke of nefarious relationships among fishing companies, private security contractors and Somali government officials, especially those working for the semiautonomous regional government of Puntland.
"Believe me, a lot of our money has gone straight into the government's pockets," said Farah Ismail Eid, a pirate who was captured in nearby Berbera and sentenced to 15 years in jail. His pirate team, he said, typically divided up the loot this way: 20 percent for their bosses, 20 percent for future missions (to cover essentials like guns, fuel and cigarettes), 30 percent for the gunmen on the ship and 30 percent for government officials.
Abdi Waheed Johar, the director general of the fisheries and ports ministry of Puntland, openly acknowledged in an interview this spring that "there are government people working with the pirates."
But, he was quick to add, "It's just not us."
What is happening off Somalia's shores is basically an extension of the corrupt, violent free-for-all that has raged on land for 17 years since the central government imploded in 1991. The vast majority of Somalis lose out. Young thugs who are willing to serve as muscle get a job, albeit a low-paying one, that significantly reduces their life expectancy. And a select few warlords, who have sat down and figured out how to profit off the anarchy, make a fortune.
Take Boosaaso, once a thriving port town on the Gulf of Aden. Piracy is killing off the remains of the local fishing industry because export companies are staying away. It has spawned a kidnapping business on shore, which in turn has scared away many humanitarian agencies and the food, medicine and other forms of desperately needed assistance they bring. Reporting in Boosaaso two weeks ago required no fewer than 10 hired gunmen provided by the Puntland government to discourage any would-be kidnappers.
Few large cargo ships come here anymore, depriving legitimate government operations of much-needed port taxes. Just about the only ships willing to risk the voyage are small, wooden, putt-putt freighters from India, essentially floating jalopies from another era.
"We can't survive off this," said Bile Qabowsade, a Puntland official.
The shipping problems have contributed to food shortages, skyrocketing inflation and less work for the sinewy stevedores who trudge out to Boosaaso's beach every morning and stare in vain at the bright horizon, their bare feet planted in the hot sand, hoping a ship will materialize so they will be able to make a few pennies hauling 100-pound sacks of sugar on their backs.
And yet, suspiciously, there has been a lot of new construction in Boosaaso. There is an emerging section of town called New Boosaaso with huge homes rising above the bubble-shaped huts of refugees and the iron-sided shacks that many fishermen call home. These new houses cost several hundred thousand dollars. Many are painted in garish colors and protected by high walls.
Even so, Boosaaso is still a crumbling, broke, rough-and-tumble place, decaying after years of neglect like so much of war-ravaged Somalia. It is also dangerous in countless ways. On Wednesday, suicide bombers blew up two government offices, most likely the work of Islamist radicals trying to turn Somalia into an Islamist state.
Of course, no Somali government official would openly admit that New Boosaaso's minicastles were built with pirate proceeds. But many people, including United Nations officials and Western diplomats, suspect that is the case.
Several jailed pirates have accused Muse, a former warlord who is now Puntland's president, of being paid off. Officials in neighboring Somaliland, a breakaway region of northwestern Somalia, said they recently organized an antipiracy sting operation and arrested Muse's nephew, who was carrying $22,000 in cash.
"Top Puntland officials benefit from piracy, even if they might not be instigating it," said Roger Middleton, a researcher at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. Actually, he added, "all significant political actors in Somalia are likely benefiting from piracy."
But Muse said he did not know anything about this. "We are the leaders of this country," he said. "Everybody we suspect, we fire from work."
He said that Puntland was taking aggressive action against the pirates. And Boosaaso's main jail may be proof of that. The other day, a dozen pirates were hanging out in the yard under a basketball hoop. And that was just the beginning.
"Pirates, pirates, pirates," said Gure Ahmed, a Canadian-Somali inmate of the jail, charged with murder. "This jail is full of pirates. This whole city is pirates."
In other well-known pirate dens, like Garoowe, Eyl, Hobyo and Xarardheere, pirates have become local celebrities.
Said Farah, 32, a shopkeeper in Garoowe, said the pirates seemed to have money to burn.
"If they see a good car that a guy is driving," he said, "they say, 'How much? If it's 30 grand, take 40 and give me the key.' "
Every time a seized ship tosses its anchor, it means a pirate shopping spree. Sheep, goats, water, fuel, rice, spaghetti, milk and cigarettes — the pirates buy all of this, in large quantities, from small towns up and down the Somali coast. Somalia's seafaring thieves are not like the Barbary pirates, who terrorized European coastal towns hundreds of years ago and often turned their hostages into galley slaves chained to the oars. Somali pirates are known as relatively decent hosts, usually not beating their hostages and keeping them well-fed until payday comes.
"They are normal people," said Said. "Just very, very rich."
BOOSAASO, Somalia: This may be one of the most dangerous towns in Somalia, a place where you can get kidnapped faster than you can wipe the sweat off your brow. But it is also one of the most prosperous.
Money changers walk around with thick wads of hundred-dollar bills. Palatial new houses are rising up next to tin-roofed shanties. Men in jail reminisce, with a twinkle in their eyes, about their days living like kings.
This is the story of Somalia's booming, not-so-underground pirate economy. The country is in chaos, countless children are starving and people are killing one another in the streets of Mogadishu, the capital, for a handful of grain.
But one particular line of work — piracy — seems to be benefiting quite openly from all this lawlessness and desperation. This year, Somali officials say, pirate profits are on track to reach a record $50 million, all of it tax free.
"These guys are making a killing," said Mohamud Muse Hirsi, the top Somali official in Boosaaso, who himself is widely suspected of working with the pirates, though he vigorously denies it.
More than 75 vessels have been attacked this year, far more than any other year in recent memory. About a dozen have been set upon in the past month alone, including a Ukrainian freighter packed with tanks, antiaircraft guns and other heavy weaponry, which was brazenly seized in September.
The pirates use fast-moving skiffs to pull alongside their prey and scamper on board with ladders or sometimes even rusty grappling hooks. Once on deck, they hold the crew at gunpoint until a ransom is paid, usually $1 million to $2 million. Negotiations for the Ukrainian freighter are still going on, and it is likely that because of all the publicity, the price for the ship could top $5 million.
In Somalia, it seems, crime does pay. Actually, it is one of the few industries that does.
"All you need is three guys and a little boat, and the next day you're millionaires," said Abdullahi Omar Qawden, a former captain in Somalia's long-defunct navy.
People in Garoowe, a town south of Boosaaso, describe a certain high-rolling pirate swagger. Flush with cash, the pirates drive the biggest cars, run many of the town's businesses — like hotels — and throw the best parties, residents say. Fatuma Abdul Kadir said she went to a pirate wedding in July that lasted two days, with nonstop dancing and goat meat, and a band flown in from neighboring Djibouti.
"It was wonderful," said Fatuma, 21. "I'm now dating a pirate."
This is too much for many Somali men to resist, and criminals from all across this bullet-pocked land are now flocking to Boosaaso and other notorious pirate dens along the craggy Somali shore. They have turned these waters into the most dangerous shipping lanes in the world.
With the situation clearly out of control, warships from the United States, Russia, NATO, the European Union and India are steaming into Somalia's waters as part of a reinvigorated, worldwide effort to crush the pirates.
But it will not be easy. The pirates are sea savvy. They are fearless. They are rich and getting richer, with the latest high-tech gadgetry like handheld GPS units. And they are united. The immutable clan lines that have pitted Somalis against one another for decades are not a problem here. Several captured pirates interviewed in Boosaaso's main jail said that they had recently crossed clan lines to open new, lucrative, multiclan franchises.
"We work together," said Jama Abdullahi, a jailed pirate. "Good for business, you know?"
The pirates are also sprinkled across thousands of square miles of water, from the Gulf of Aden, at the narrow doorway to the Red Sea, to the Kenyan border along the Indian Ocean. Even if the naval ships manage to catch pirates in the act, it is not clear what they can do. In September, a Danish warship captured 10 men suspected of being pirates cruising around the Gulf of Aden with rocket-propelled grenades and a long ladder. But after holding the suspects for nearly a week, the Danes concluded that they did not have jurisdiction to prosecute, so they dumped the pirates on a beach, minus their guns.
Nobody, it seems, has a clear plan for how to tame Somalia's unruly seas. Several fishermen along the Gulf of Aden talked about seeing barrels of toxic waste bobbing in the middle of the ocean. They spoke of clouds of dead fish floating nearby and rogue fishing trawlers sucking up not just fish and lobsters but also the coral and the plants that sustain them. It was abuses like these, several men said, that turned them from fishermen into pirates.
Nor is it even clear whether Somali authorities universally want the piracy to stop. While many pirates have been arrested, several fishermen, Western researchers and more than a half-dozen pirates in jail spoke of nefarious relationships among fishing companies, private security contractors and Somali government officials, especially those working for the semiautonomous regional government of Puntland.
"Believe me, a lot of our money has gone straight into the government's pockets," said Farah Ismail Eid, a pirate who was captured in nearby Berbera and sentenced to 15 years in jail. His pirate team, he said, typically divided up the loot this way: 20 percent for their bosses, 20 percent for future missions (to cover essentials like guns, fuel and cigarettes), 30 percent for the gunmen on the ship and 30 percent for government officials.
Abdi Waheed Johar, the director general of the fisheries and ports ministry of Puntland, openly acknowledged in an interview this spring that "there are government people working with the pirates."
But, he was quick to add, "It's just not us."
What is happening off Somalia's shores is basically an extension of the corrupt, violent free-for-all that has raged on land for 17 years since the central government imploded in 1991. The vast majority of Somalis lose out. Young thugs who are willing to serve as muscle get a job, albeit a low-paying one, that significantly reduces their life expectancy. And a select few warlords, who have sat down and figured out how to profit off the anarchy, make a fortune.
Take Boosaaso, once a thriving port town on the Gulf of Aden. Piracy is killing off the remains of the local fishing industry because export companies are staying away. It has spawned a kidnapping business on shore, which in turn has scared away many humanitarian agencies and the food, medicine and other forms of desperately needed assistance they bring. Reporting in Boosaaso two weeks ago required no fewer than 10 hired gunmen provided by the Puntland government to discourage any would-be kidnappers.
Few large cargo ships come here anymore, depriving legitimate government operations of much-needed port taxes. Just about the only ships willing to risk the voyage are small, wooden, putt-putt freighters from India, essentially floating jalopies from another era.
"We can't survive off this," said Bile Qabowsade, a Puntland official.
The shipping problems have contributed to food shortages, skyrocketing inflation and less work for the sinewy stevedores who trudge out to Boosaaso's beach every morning and stare in vain at the bright horizon, their bare feet planted in the hot sand, hoping a ship will materialize so they will be able to make a few pennies hauling 100-pound sacks of sugar on their backs.
And yet, suspiciously, there has been a lot of new construction in Boosaaso. There is an emerging section of town called New Boosaaso with huge homes rising above the bubble-shaped huts of refugees and the iron-sided shacks that many fishermen call home. These new houses cost several hundred thousand dollars. Many are painted in garish colors and protected by high walls.
Even so, Boosaaso is still a crumbling, broke, rough-and-tumble place, decaying after years of neglect like so much of war-ravaged Somalia. It is also dangerous in countless ways. On Wednesday, suicide bombers blew up two government offices, most likely the work of Islamist radicals trying to turn Somalia into an Islamist state.
Of course, no Somali government official would openly admit that New Boosaaso's minicastles were built with pirate proceeds. But many people, including United Nations officials and Western diplomats, suspect that is the case.
Several jailed pirates have accused Muse, a former warlord who is now Puntland's president, of being paid off. Officials in neighboring Somaliland, a breakaway region of northwestern Somalia, said they recently organized an antipiracy sting operation and arrested Muse's nephew, who was carrying $22,000 in cash.
"Top Puntland officials benefit from piracy, even if they might not be instigating it," said Roger Middleton, a researcher at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. Actually, he added, "all significant political actors in Somalia are likely benefiting from piracy."
But Muse said he did not know anything about this. "We are the leaders of this country," he said. "Everybody we suspect, we fire from work."
He said that Puntland was taking aggressive action against the pirates. And Boosaaso's main jail may be proof of that. The other day, a dozen pirates were hanging out in the yard under a basketball hoop. And that was just the beginning.
"Pirates, pirates, pirates," said Gure Ahmed, a Canadian-Somali inmate of the jail, charged with murder. "This jail is full of pirates. This whole city is pirates."
In other well-known pirate dens, like Garoowe, Eyl, Hobyo and Xarardheere, pirates have become local celebrities.
Said Farah, 32, a shopkeeper in Garoowe, said the pirates seemed to have money to burn.
"If they see a good car that a guy is driving," he said, "they say, 'How much? If it's 30 grand, take 40 and give me the key.' "
Every time a seized ship tosses its anchor, it means a pirate shopping spree. Sheep, goats, water, fuel, rice, spaghetti, milk and cigarettes — the pirates buy all of this, in large quantities, from small towns up and down the Somali coast. Somalia's seafaring thieves are not like the Barbary pirates, who terrorized European coastal towns hundreds of years ago and often turned their hostages into galley slaves chained to the oars. Somali pirates are known as relatively decent hosts, usually not beating their hostages and keeping them well-fed until payday comes.
"They are normal people," said Said. "Just very, very rich."
Business - The runaway costs of a-la carte air fares
Roger Collis
Travelers will welcome the cascade of cuts in fuel surcharges by airlines such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, Air France/KLM, Thai Airways, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and El Al, in response to a sustained fall in the price of oil, with jet fuel now half the price it was in the summer. Air Canada has eliminated fuel surcharges altogether on North American flights, instead "folding them into advertised base fares."
This raises some questions: What is the "benchmark" price for jet fuel on which surcharges are based? And with the price of jet fuel accounting for more than a third of most airlines' costs, are surcharges just the means of protecting airline profits during the downturn?
But what incenses travelers more than anything is that the price of an air ticket they have purchased online can just about double when it comes to the final amount charged. Just as we have become reconciled to a raft of taxes - as wide-ranging as the U.S. Animal & Plant Health Inspection Tax, the Sydney Noise Tax and the Canadian Airport Improvement Tax - here come the airlines with charges for almost everything, from checked baggage to onboard beverages, even soft drinks and water, to changing tickets.
The airlines believe that "à la carte," pay-for-all-the-extras pricing is the magic bullet for restoring profitability.
"Airline customers clearly resent these often unclear fees, but they have incredible potential to boost the bottom line of an airline," said Christopher Staab, a managing partner at Airline Information (www.airlineinformation.org), a consulting firm in Miami. So much so, he continued, that despite the worldwide economic downturn expected to hit most airlines very hard in 2009, many of the mainstream U.S. airlines "are expected to be very profitable next year thanks to à la carte pricing."
But there's still a lot of anger out t
Travelers will welcome the cascade of cuts in fuel surcharges by airlines such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, Air France/KLM, Thai Airways, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and El Al, in response to a sustained fall in the price of oil, with jet fuel now half the price it was in the summer. Air Canada has eliminated fuel surcharges altogether on North American flights, instead "folding them into advertised base fares."
This raises some questions: What is the "benchmark" price for jet fuel on which surcharges are based? And with the price of jet fuel accounting for more than a third of most airlines' costs, are surcharges just the means of protecting airline profits during the downturn?
But what incenses travelers more than anything is that the price of an air ticket they have purchased online can just about double when it comes to the final amount charged. Just as we have become reconciled to a raft of taxes - as wide-ranging as the U.S. Animal & Plant Health Inspection Tax, the Sydney Noise Tax and the Canadian Airport Improvement Tax - here come the airlines with charges for almost everything, from checked baggage to onboard beverages, even soft drinks and water, to changing tickets.
The airlines believe that "à la carte," pay-for-all-the-extras pricing is the magic bullet for restoring profitability.
"Airline customers clearly resent these often unclear fees, but they have incredible potential to boost the bottom line of an airline," said Christopher Staab, a managing partner at Airline Information (www.airlineinformation.org), a consulting firm in Miami. So much so, he continued, that despite the worldwide economic downturn expected to hit most airlines very hard in 2009, many of the mainstream U.S. airlines "are expected to be very profitable next year thanks to à la carte pricing."
But there's still a lot of anger out t