Keith Naughton
Hot Wheels are hot again. Parent company Mattel is now worth more than GM. Got an old Beach Bomb VW model in the attic? You're rich!
On weekends, Edwin Norman likes to hit the Richwood Flea Market in northern Kentucky with his sons, Ja'Mon, 5, and Julian, 6. But they don't come to pick up a set of hunting knives. The Cincinnati-area father and his sons are shopping for wheels. The kind that come in a plastic package and cost a buck. Today, the young boys see plenty they like as they rush the table at the Mo Collectibles booth, squealing and squirming over rows of shiny, tiny hot rods. Ja'Mon suddenly spots the car he likes—a metallic midnight-blue Suzuki—snatches it up and waves it in his brother's face. "I want to drive this car when I'm big," he says. Their father looks on wistfully. "This brings me back," says Norman, 50. "I played with Hot Wheels when I was a kid, and they look forward to getting new ones just like I did."
In the fad-driven fantasyland of toys, Hot Wheels has had an incredible ride. Those pocket rockets have been racing down their familiar orange tracks for four decades now and, unlike the real car market, show no signs of slowing down. Last year Hot Wheels set a record, as sales surged by 16 percent, and they continue to accelerate in 2008 even as the economy tanks. In fact, as Motown melts down, Hot Wheels is heating up. The tiny toy cars' parent company, Mattel, now has a market capitalization that surpasses General Motors. That's right—Wall Street thinks the maker of toy cars is worth more than the largest real carmaker in America.
And why not? Hot Wheels is still a growth engine that analysts say does $1 billion a year in global sales. In the $2.3 billion U.S. market for toy vehicles, Hot Wheels has been a leader for years, according to retail researcher NPD Group. Mattel says it has produced 4 billion Hot Wheels since 1968. And Hot Wheels suffers none of the age angst afflicting Mattel's other icon, Barbie, the Norma Desmond of dolls. Now Hot Wheels is getting the star treatment. There's a Saturday-morning cartoon, "Battle Force 5," debuting on Cartoon Network next fall. A Hot Wheels movie from "Matrix" producer Joel Silver and Warner Brothers is in the works. And Wal-Mart, America's No. 1 toy seller, is featuring two Hot Wheels sets, Trick Track and Beast Bash, in its big "Ten Under $10" holiday promotion. "Hot Wheels' basic fantasy is something that is timeless—it's cool, fast and powerful," says toy analyst Chris Byrne.
The brand is riding a hot streak because it reconnected with little boys and their fathers. "Dads would see the old blue box and say, 'I remember those'," says Larry Wood, a former Ford designer who started penning Hot Wheels in 1969 and constituted the entire design staff for much of 1970s. "Our sales took off." Earlier this decade, Hot Wheels took a wrong turn by going after older boys who were getting their car play from videogames like Grand Theft Auto. To try to get those big boys to put down their game controllers, Hot Wheels came up with ever more elaborate—and complicated—play sets. One, the Slimecano, featured a slime-spewing volcano that cars had to navigate—and parents had to try to assemble. But no matter how fancy Hot Wheels became, the vid kids weren't interested. Then about three years ago, Hot Wheels returned to its roots—simple tracks that snap together quickly and fast cars that excite 5-to 8-year-old boys just coming out of their Thomas the Tank Engine years. "We were trying too hard to push the brand older," says Tim Kilpin, the Mattel senior VP who steered Hot Wheels back to basics. "We had to make it cool for the right-age boys."
And that age turns out to be under 10 and over 40. The rust-colored roadways and loop-the-loops of Hot Wheels' latest offerings are descendants of the original tracks that first put the toy in motion. "It's the circle of life," says Hot Wheels marketing executive Geoff Walker. These days, adult collectors make up a quarter of the Hot Wheels basic car business. At a Hot Wheels convention in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, a collector paid $70,000 for a rare pink Beach Bomb model, a 1969 VW bus with a surfboard sticking out the back, which never went into production because it was too small for the track. (The pink color was an attempt to attract girls, which didn't take. Hot Wheels have always been to boys what Barbie is to girls.) A new price threshold might be jumped when collectors bid on a diamond-encrusted Hot Wheels racer, valued at $140,000, being auctioned this month to mark the car line's 40th anniversary.
Among the bidders will be Bruce Pascal, 47, a Washington, D.C., real-estate agent who has a Hot Wheels collection valued at $400,000. As the stock market melted down, he still paid $13,000 for a rare "overchromed" Ford T-bird from the original Hot Wheels catalog. "I've looked over my portfolio and I'm down in everything except Hot Wheels," he says.
Analysts see investor exuberance for two-inch toy cars as adult rationalization for engaging in child's play. "They might think of it as a poor man's commodity exchange," says modern-history professor Gary Cross of Penn State. "But what they're really doing is collecting their youth." And that drives up revenue, though Mattel didn't realize it at first. When adults first started gathering to swap cars 21 years ago, "Mattel didn't want anything to do with us," says Mike Strauss, who has organized the swap meets since the beginning. At his convention at the Hilton LAX this month, $2 million worth of toy cars changed hands, including one $168,000 collection unloaded by a man to help pay for his divorce.
With that kind of money on the table, Mattel now rolls up big, providing product and, most important, its stable of Hot Wheels designers to autograph their creations, which typically don't leave the packages (the better to hold their value). More than 100 grown men lined up in a courtyard at the Hilton to meet the designers they idolize. "A part of me feels like a geek telling people I'm going to a Hot Wheels convention," says Carlyle McCullough, 43, communications director for a Texas church. "But it's not like we're going behind a closed door and going 'vroom, vroom.' Well, not very often anyway."
It hasn't always been a smooth ride. The Hot Wheels story has many twists. It began in 1967, when custom hot rods ruled the road in Mattel's southern California neighborhood. Mattel cofounder Elliot Handler wanted to capitalize on the craze and give boys a toy on par with Barbie. Back then, boys played with toy train sets. Toy cars were crude contraptions, with wheels fused to their die-cast bodies. Handler asked a designer to rig a car from British competitor Matchbox (now owned by Mattel) with wheels that actually spun. An hour later, the designer had a prototype. The boss gave it a flick and it zipped across his desk. "Now those are some hot wheels," Handler reportedly said. And a franchise was born.
When the first flamed-out, chromed-up cars appeared in 1968, with names like Hot Heap and Heavy Chevy, they took off like dragsters. Mattel figured it had a hot product it could ride for a year or two. But the toymaker discovered that as long as it rolled out new models—revved-up reproductions of Detroit muscle along with flights of fancy like the skull-faced Bone Shaker—boys kept coming back for more. "The cars change every year, so you have perpetual contemporaneity," Cross says. "That's what makes Hot Wheels go."
What made them stall was any design change that slowed the cars down. In 1973, to cut costs, Hot Wheels cheapened the cars' piano-wire suspension, which made sales go cold. Designers fixed that and Hot Wheels took off again. In 1977, to save a penny per car, Mattel stopped painting a thin red line around the tire sidewalls. (Keeping the price under a buck a car has always been critical.) Today, collectors pay hundreds for those original "Red Line" Hot Wheels.
These days, Hot Wheels does as much business for Mattel as Barbie, toy analysts say. And there are now 35 designers, kicking out 300 new models a year. Lately, they've been toiling in a "treehouse" on the company's backlot in El Segundo, Calif., while Mattel builds them a new hangar-size studio nearby. You can climb to the second-floor studio on a rope ladder hanging from a faux tree, or you can simply take the stairs. Once aloft, you find a tree fort outfitted like a gearhead's garage, with a gleaming chrome toolbox, a checkerboard-flag floor and corrugated metal bulletin boards where designers hang their latest works with magnetic lug nuts. "This is our brainstorm area," Wood says. Detroit's real-car designers are trying to escape to this toy land. "I got a call today from guy in Detroit asking if we had any positions open," says designer Alec Tam, 37, a second-generation Hot Wheels designer whose father penned the original Beach Bomb. "The little cars are very similar to the real-car business from a design standpoint."
Just like their big-car cousins in Detroit, Hot Wheels designers went to art school and now create cars on computer. They zap their digitized designs to virtual model makers in Asia, who send back encoded files that are then used to produce 3-D renderings. The entire process takes just days, and a car created in January can be hanging on a peg at the toy store by summer. The process in Detroit can take four years. Another contrast: since you don't need a car loan for a 99-cent car, sales for an individual model can top one million units. "I've designed the bestselling production car in GM history; it's crazy," says GM designer Amaury Diaz-Serrano, referring to his Chevroletor retro racer, which became a Hot Wheels model last year in a design contest Mattel conducted with real-world carmakers.
Hot Wheels takes no pleasure in Detroit's pain. "We need Detroit to exist for us to be successful," says Walker. After all, Hot Wheels bestsellers remain replicas of classic Detroit iron. For decades, Motown has shared its top-secret blueprints of upcoming models with Mattel so that the Hot Wheels and real-wheels versions could debut simultaneously. That's happening again in November at the L.A. Auto Show, when Ford unveils a new design for its Mustang. As soon as the wraps come off the candy-red pony car, the journalists covering the introduction will be handed the 1/64th-scale Hot Wheels replica with a matching paint job. "It helps sell the real thing," explains Ford licensing executive John Nens. Barbie might get old. But boys and their toys never grow up.
With Patrick Crowley
Nov 8, 2008
Lifestyle - Q&A Michelle Obama
Richard Wolffe | NEWSWEEK
NEWSWEEK: Settling in with the family in Washington … do you have any idea of how you ' ll do that?
Michelle Obama: We'll be using every second of the transition time to work out timetables and timelines and all that good stuff. But the hope is that everybody settles in at the same time. So that we won't be transitioning portions of the family at different periods of time. But how, when and where—we don't know enough. At this stage, it's difficult to really have good conversations about schools and all that stuff because you don't want to measure the drapes.
This is the first transition for the family — the first move to a different place.
Yes.
So is that daunting?
It's just unknown. And like any new thing, it feels a bit daunting until you have your plan. What I do know is that once the pieces start coming together, I think that's when the excitement can begin. When the girls know what school they're going to be in, they'll have a sense of how that's going to feel, and they'll know what their rooms look like. All my anticipation is really around the girls, making sure that they're OK. Barack and I … it's going to be a hard job. He likes hard jobs [laughs]. We know we have a lot of work to do. That's just a natural part of it. But as soon as I know that the kids are where they need to be, the other stuff is just hard work, which we are used to.
You want to continue what you did with Public Allies [ which trains young people to become leaders of community groups and nonprofits] as First Lady. What ' s your thinking on how to go about that?
Barack is talking about a deeper investment in national service; that's been part of his platform. He's been meeting with some of the leadership of the AmeriCorps national-service movements—the Public Allies, the Teach for Americas, the City Years of the World—and figuring out how do we use that model, expand upon it, and help use that as a more creative way to defray the costs of college for young people and get all Americans really engaged. What AmeriCorps showed me, during the time that I worked on it, is that all these resources of young people, and not-so-young people, as I call them—because AmeriCorps is not just for young adults but people of all ages—you can fill a lot of gaps with the help of community-service hours. The young people in my program worked as program directors. They worked with kids and they worked in parks and they worked with nonprofit organizations that didn't have the resources to bring people in full time. So this is one of those clear win-wins. You can help kids pay for school, you can get needed man-hours into really critical things like the environment, senior care, Head Start—a whole range of things. And you get the country more focused on giving back.
There are elements of this already in place at the national level. Is it just a lack of resources, or insufficient focus and organization?
Fortunately, [President] Bush kept AmeriCorps, but it was significantly defunded. I haven't worked on AmeriCorps in a while, so I don't know how the funding cuts have really affected them ... When I was with Public Allies, and AmeriCorps was at its height, there were resources for expansion. So you had the new program in Chicago that I started. Then there was something going on in Milwaukee, and they were looking at West Coast offices. But I think with those funds reduced, people had to stop that kind of growth. So you're just limited in the number of slots that you can have for young people or seniors or what-have-you.
Public Allies is a diverse organization and you ' ve talked before about your desire to give back to your community. How much is it geared toward people like yourself, who have maybe come out of the inner city and are giving back?
We tried to maintain a balance across the board on not just race but socioeconomic and educational backgrounds ... The notion of AmeriCorps is that service doesn't have a degree or race or an age on it. With training and opportunity, everyone is a potential community leader. The program that I ran, we tried very deliberately to make sure that the class reflected that kind of diversity. Also, there's the notion that there's learning and growth from everyone ... You're constantly pulling these people together for reflection and additional training, and sort of revisiting the notion that the Harvard Law student is going to learn from the 18-year-old with the GED. And if you're on a team together and you have to sit together and work on a project, then that's going to hammer that home.
People expect this to be a pretty tough economic situation. Do you have to scale back the ambition for this kind of public service?
That fortunately isn't my job [laughs]. Those are going to be some of the first major decisions that Barack will have to make in terms of laying out his platform. How much do you invest in what? What do you scale back on and how? We'll have to look to the president for those answers.
You ' ve obviously become engaged with military families and their plight during this campaign. How would you continue with that?
I don't know yet, but when I was having these conversations, I would always have military officials along with me. I know a lot about the issues that families face, but I didn't know as much about the military structure. One former senior official there talked about the past and how the military, because of its flexibility, was often the place that provided the platform for trying new things with regard to family life and family leave. That's not the case any more ... I want to figure out how we explore ways to be creative in terms of support and then use some of those models in the broader society. These conversations with military families—they were an outgrowth of the conversations we were having with women in working families. I periodically would come across the spouse who was living alone out there, the wife or the husband of a reservist living in the regular community, struggling with the same economic, childcare, education issues that everybody else was. But on top of that, they were living alone with a loved one that was shipped away for years on end, with no one around to really support them. Their bosses didn't understand, so they didn't get any extra support time when their loved one was being deployed. There were no support systems. The first thing I'd like to do is to continue those conversations, because it was a shock to me, just as a civilian, to know that these support systems weren't there … I think there are many other families out there who would be shocked and outraged to know that our troops' families are not being taken care of while they are fighting and dying for us … How you take these conversations and come up with real, concrete recommendations that can be turned into change?
They say you ' re the one who keeps it real. So how do you keep it real in the White House? Have you talked to other people about the experience yet?
Not yet. I've talked to Hillary Clinton, who has been a wonderful resource. But again, I've tried not to even come close to being presumptuous. It just seems rude to even begin to have those conversations in the midst of a campaign. Some of the work that I have to do during this transition period is really sit down with people who have been through it and get an understanding of what happens in this bubble. How does it work? And what are the parameters that I have to work in. Our hope is that we do some of what we've been doing for the last year and a half. That we really treat our family life as separate as you can, that we keep the girls' lives very set apart from this whole experience. Which means we have to just pretend like this isn't happening [laughs]. And we've gotten sort of good at it. It'll be a little bit more challenging, but I think that staying connected to friends and family who know you … I'm hoping that my mother will come with me. I'm begging her.
She said there wasn ' t enough space or didn ' t want to intrude.
Yeah, whatever [laughs]. But just continuing to make sure that our first priority is getting them into schools that make sense for them, making sure that they have activities that they care about, that we're there for them to help them with their homework, that we go to their parent-teacher conferences, that we go to all their events. It's important to continue to do that, no matter what their father's job is. And he has to continue to make them a priority even as he's the leader of the free world. I think that's an important thing for him to model for others. It's this notion that if he can do it, then we all have to really fight for it. Because what we're going to be fighting for, for our kids, is what we have to fight for, for all of our kids. They have to be center in this society and this nation. We have to put their education, their needs, their well-being first and foremost. As adults, we can balance the other stuff. We're the grown-ups [laughs].
Looking back, you ' ve been a lightning rod at times. Has the bad stuff, the personal stuff, been worth it?
It's all been worth it, because the truth is that 99 percent of my experience is what you're seeing today. Regardless of how they feel about Barack or the candidates, people are decent and they're kind. They are willing to give you a chance to prove yourself to them. There is nothing but personal gain on that note, and the sidebar stuff is like noise. It just really isn't a reflection of how the country thinks or feels all the time. And it's been fortunate that I have been on the road so much because this has been the primary stimulus, the feedback that I get, and it's been a complete joy.
So you think you can get your mother out?
Yeah. She can live wherever she wants to live. I think she might have felt like she didn't have as many options. But the girls are going to need her, as part of their sense of stability. And what is true for my mom is that she does anything for us and her grandkids. All they have to do is look at her with sad eyes and she's done for [laughs]. It's like, "You're going to say no? You're going to tell your grandkids, 'No, I'm going to stay in Chicago where there are no grandchildren and I'm not going to come and help you get adjusted'.'' No, I think she's going to come [laughs].
The conversations with Hillary Clinton: didn ' t they also involve the subject of raising kids in the White House?
Oh, absolutely. I've always admired what she has been able to do with Chelsea. You can tell from one conversation with Chelsea that she's a mature, decent, well-balanced young lady. And they [the parents] did something right. [Hillary] talked about how they were very protective of her personal space, and how they created some real clear hard boundaries that were never crossed. That went a long way to retaining some normalcy for her. But I also hope to talk to Laura Bush and Tipper Gore and Rosalynn Carter. I'm going to be reaching out to everyone who has ever had any experience who is willing to talk to me. Caroline Kennedy, who probably doesn't remember a lot … but she has also been someone who has been forthcoming. Maria Shriver—even First Ladies of our states have a perspective. I'm an information gatherer. I want to talk to, and get as many perspectives from people, Republicans and Democrats alike, because there are just so few families who have experienced this. If I can talk to all of them, I will.
Where did you have the conversations with Hillary?
We've have had most of our conversations by phone, because she's been campaigning, I've been campaigning. So periodically I try to check in with her. She has been completely forthcoming. She will spend as much time as I need on the phone. She's been completely gracious with her time and her advice, and I am grateful to her for that.
NEWSWEEK: Settling in with the family in Washington … do you have any idea of how you ' ll do that?
Michelle Obama: We'll be using every second of the transition time to work out timetables and timelines and all that good stuff. But the hope is that everybody settles in at the same time. So that we won't be transitioning portions of the family at different periods of time. But how, when and where—we don't know enough. At this stage, it's difficult to really have good conversations about schools and all that stuff because you don't want to measure the drapes.
This is the first transition for the family — the first move to a different place.
Yes.
So is that daunting?
It's just unknown. And like any new thing, it feels a bit daunting until you have your plan. What I do know is that once the pieces start coming together, I think that's when the excitement can begin. When the girls know what school they're going to be in, they'll have a sense of how that's going to feel, and they'll know what their rooms look like. All my anticipation is really around the girls, making sure that they're OK. Barack and I … it's going to be a hard job. He likes hard jobs [laughs]. We know we have a lot of work to do. That's just a natural part of it. But as soon as I know that the kids are where they need to be, the other stuff is just hard work, which we are used to.
You want to continue what you did with Public Allies [ which trains young people to become leaders of community groups and nonprofits] as First Lady. What ' s your thinking on how to go about that?
Barack is talking about a deeper investment in national service; that's been part of his platform. He's been meeting with some of the leadership of the AmeriCorps national-service movements—the Public Allies, the Teach for Americas, the City Years of the World—and figuring out how do we use that model, expand upon it, and help use that as a more creative way to defray the costs of college for young people and get all Americans really engaged. What AmeriCorps showed me, during the time that I worked on it, is that all these resources of young people, and not-so-young people, as I call them—because AmeriCorps is not just for young adults but people of all ages—you can fill a lot of gaps with the help of community-service hours. The young people in my program worked as program directors. They worked with kids and they worked in parks and they worked with nonprofit organizations that didn't have the resources to bring people in full time. So this is one of those clear win-wins. You can help kids pay for school, you can get needed man-hours into really critical things like the environment, senior care, Head Start—a whole range of things. And you get the country more focused on giving back.
There are elements of this already in place at the national level. Is it just a lack of resources, or insufficient focus and organization?
Fortunately, [President] Bush kept AmeriCorps, but it was significantly defunded. I haven't worked on AmeriCorps in a while, so I don't know how the funding cuts have really affected them ... When I was with Public Allies, and AmeriCorps was at its height, there were resources for expansion. So you had the new program in Chicago that I started. Then there was something going on in Milwaukee, and they were looking at West Coast offices. But I think with those funds reduced, people had to stop that kind of growth. So you're just limited in the number of slots that you can have for young people or seniors or what-have-you.
Public Allies is a diverse organization and you ' ve talked before about your desire to give back to your community. How much is it geared toward people like yourself, who have maybe come out of the inner city and are giving back?
We tried to maintain a balance across the board on not just race but socioeconomic and educational backgrounds ... The notion of AmeriCorps is that service doesn't have a degree or race or an age on it. With training and opportunity, everyone is a potential community leader. The program that I ran, we tried very deliberately to make sure that the class reflected that kind of diversity. Also, there's the notion that there's learning and growth from everyone ... You're constantly pulling these people together for reflection and additional training, and sort of revisiting the notion that the Harvard Law student is going to learn from the 18-year-old with the GED. And if you're on a team together and you have to sit together and work on a project, then that's going to hammer that home.
People expect this to be a pretty tough economic situation. Do you have to scale back the ambition for this kind of public service?
That fortunately isn't my job [laughs]. Those are going to be some of the first major decisions that Barack will have to make in terms of laying out his platform. How much do you invest in what? What do you scale back on and how? We'll have to look to the president for those answers.
You ' ve obviously become engaged with military families and their plight during this campaign. How would you continue with that?
I don't know yet, but when I was having these conversations, I would always have military officials along with me. I know a lot about the issues that families face, but I didn't know as much about the military structure. One former senior official there talked about the past and how the military, because of its flexibility, was often the place that provided the platform for trying new things with regard to family life and family leave. That's not the case any more ... I want to figure out how we explore ways to be creative in terms of support and then use some of those models in the broader society. These conversations with military families—they were an outgrowth of the conversations we were having with women in working families. I periodically would come across the spouse who was living alone out there, the wife or the husband of a reservist living in the regular community, struggling with the same economic, childcare, education issues that everybody else was. But on top of that, they were living alone with a loved one that was shipped away for years on end, with no one around to really support them. Their bosses didn't understand, so they didn't get any extra support time when their loved one was being deployed. There were no support systems. The first thing I'd like to do is to continue those conversations, because it was a shock to me, just as a civilian, to know that these support systems weren't there … I think there are many other families out there who would be shocked and outraged to know that our troops' families are not being taken care of while they are fighting and dying for us … How you take these conversations and come up with real, concrete recommendations that can be turned into change?
They say you ' re the one who keeps it real. So how do you keep it real in the White House? Have you talked to other people about the experience yet?
Not yet. I've talked to Hillary Clinton, who has been a wonderful resource. But again, I've tried not to even come close to being presumptuous. It just seems rude to even begin to have those conversations in the midst of a campaign. Some of the work that I have to do during this transition period is really sit down with people who have been through it and get an understanding of what happens in this bubble. How does it work? And what are the parameters that I have to work in. Our hope is that we do some of what we've been doing for the last year and a half. That we really treat our family life as separate as you can, that we keep the girls' lives very set apart from this whole experience. Which means we have to just pretend like this isn't happening [laughs]. And we've gotten sort of good at it. It'll be a little bit more challenging, but I think that staying connected to friends and family who know you … I'm hoping that my mother will come with me. I'm begging her.
She said there wasn ' t enough space or didn ' t want to intrude.
Yeah, whatever [laughs]. But just continuing to make sure that our first priority is getting them into schools that make sense for them, making sure that they have activities that they care about, that we're there for them to help them with their homework, that we go to their parent-teacher conferences, that we go to all their events. It's important to continue to do that, no matter what their father's job is. And he has to continue to make them a priority even as he's the leader of the free world. I think that's an important thing for him to model for others. It's this notion that if he can do it, then we all have to really fight for it. Because what we're going to be fighting for, for our kids, is what we have to fight for, for all of our kids. They have to be center in this society and this nation. We have to put their education, their needs, their well-being first and foremost. As adults, we can balance the other stuff. We're the grown-ups [laughs].
Looking back, you ' ve been a lightning rod at times. Has the bad stuff, the personal stuff, been worth it?
It's all been worth it, because the truth is that 99 percent of my experience is what you're seeing today. Regardless of how they feel about Barack or the candidates, people are decent and they're kind. They are willing to give you a chance to prove yourself to them. There is nothing but personal gain on that note, and the sidebar stuff is like noise. It just really isn't a reflection of how the country thinks or feels all the time. And it's been fortunate that I have been on the road so much because this has been the primary stimulus, the feedback that I get, and it's been a complete joy.
So you think you can get your mother out?
Yeah. She can live wherever she wants to live. I think she might have felt like she didn't have as many options. But the girls are going to need her, as part of their sense of stability. And what is true for my mom is that she does anything for us and her grandkids. All they have to do is look at her with sad eyes and she's done for [laughs]. It's like, "You're going to say no? You're going to tell your grandkids, 'No, I'm going to stay in Chicago where there are no grandchildren and I'm not going to come and help you get adjusted'.'' No, I think she's going to come [laughs].
The conversations with Hillary Clinton: didn ' t they also involve the subject of raising kids in the White House?
Oh, absolutely. I've always admired what she has been able to do with Chelsea. You can tell from one conversation with Chelsea that she's a mature, decent, well-balanced young lady. And they [the parents] did something right. [Hillary] talked about how they were very protective of her personal space, and how they created some real clear hard boundaries that were never crossed. That went a long way to retaining some normalcy for her. But I also hope to talk to Laura Bush and Tipper Gore and Rosalynn Carter. I'm going to be reaching out to everyone who has ever had any experience who is willing to talk to me. Caroline Kennedy, who probably doesn't remember a lot … but she has also been someone who has been forthcoming. Maria Shriver—even First Ladies of our states have a perspective. I'm an information gatherer. I want to talk to, and get as many perspectives from people, Republicans and Democrats alike, because there are just so few families who have experienced this. If I can talk to all of them, I will.
Where did you have the conversations with Hillary?
We've have had most of our conversations by phone, because she's been campaigning, I've been campaigning. So periodically I try to check in with her. She has been completely forthcoming. She will spend as much time as I need on the phone. She's been completely gracious with her time and her advice, and I am grateful to her for that.
India - The news get worse
T.N.Ninan
Forecasting is a hazardous business, doubly so when there is turbulence all around. Still, it is worth noting that when most Indian forecasters (in the government and outside) were still talking of 8-plus per cent growth this financial year, many international forecasters had started talking of 7-plus per cent. The Prime Minister, whose comments on the economic situation in recent weeks have been the most realistic, has lowered his expectation for the current year to 7-7.5 per cent, which is the lowest Indian forecast so far. As for next year, the International Monetary Fund has in the space of a month lowered its forecast from 6.9 per cent to 6.3 per cent—a range where perhaps only one Indian forecaster has dared to tread so far. As the forecasts drop steadily lower, it is clear that Indian observers are still mixing a liberal dose of hope with their knowledge of reality. Perhaps the time has come to become more clear-eyed about the extent of the bad news.
While the financial crisis first hit US charts in the summer of 2007, the watershed was September 15, 2008, when Lehman Brothers went under. In India, the first four quarters of the crisis (July 2007-June 2008) created only mild flutters, and the news was still pretty upbeat (growth in the April-June quarter was a healthy 7.9 per cent), with the main worry being inflation. Then the tide turned: the industrial production index tanked in August, corporate profits for the July-September period fell by a staggering 35 per cent, and business confidence dropped off the cliff. Oil prices peaked in July, then fell by an astonishing 60 per cent in just three months. It is amazing to recall that in the July monetary policy announcement, Reserve Bank of India actually jacked up interest rates!
But even the July-August-September phase now looks like a cakewalk, compared to what October has been. Sales figures have caved in for most automobile companies, Reliance is going easy on the commissioning of its new refinery, and lay-offs are taking place in sectors ranging from textiles to diamond cutting, from truck companies to airlines, and from investment banks to real estate firms. Mutual funds have seen a near-20 per cent drop in the money they manage, hotels admit a similar 20 per cent drop in occupancy though the reality could be worse, the index of shipping freight rates has dropped 90 per cent, and real estate transactions have dropped by a half. What began as a warning breeze spreading some chill in financial circles is now a full-fledged storm battering the real economy.
If you look at the broad numbers, industrial growth in the first five months of this year was 5 per cent, compared to 10 per cent a year earlier. If the remaining seven months get worse, not better, then industrial growth will drop further. Agricultural growth is unlikely to be more than 3 per cent. Between them, these two sectors account for nearly 45 per cent of the economy, and their combined contribution to GDP growth this year will be under 2 per cent. If overall growth is to be 7 per cent, services have to grow by 9 per cent. But there is a slowdown in all the important services sub-sectors (hotels, trade & transport, communications & information technology, insurance & financial services, construction). Only government services will grow, because of the Pay Commission hand-out. Over-all growth in such a scenario could struggle to reach even the lower end of the Prime Minister’s range of 7-7.5 per cent. However much we may hope against it, don’t rule out the possibility that the IMF’s forecast for next year comes true this year itself.
Forecasting is a hazardous business, doubly so when there is turbulence all around. Still, it is worth noting that when most Indian forecasters (in the government and outside) were still talking of 8-plus per cent growth this financial year, many international forecasters had started talking of 7-plus per cent. The Prime Minister, whose comments on the economic situation in recent weeks have been the most realistic, has lowered his expectation for the current year to 7-7.5 per cent, which is the lowest Indian forecast so far. As for next year, the International Monetary Fund has in the space of a month lowered its forecast from 6.9 per cent to 6.3 per cent—a range where perhaps only one Indian forecaster has dared to tread so far. As the forecasts drop steadily lower, it is clear that Indian observers are still mixing a liberal dose of hope with their knowledge of reality. Perhaps the time has come to become more clear-eyed about the extent of the bad news.
While the financial crisis first hit US charts in the summer of 2007, the watershed was September 15, 2008, when Lehman Brothers went under. In India, the first four quarters of the crisis (July 2007-June 2008) created only mild flutters, and the news was still pretty upbeat (growth in the April-June quarter was a healthy 7.9 per cent), with the main worry being inflation. Then the tide turned: the industrial production index tanked in August, corporate profits for the July-September period fell by a staggering 35 per cent, and business confidence dropped off the cliff. Oil prices peaked in July, then fell by an astonishing 60 per cent in just three months. It is amazing to recall that in the July monetary policy announcement, Reserve Bank of India actually jacked up interest rates!
But even the July-August-September phase now looks like a cakewalk, compared to what October has been. Sales figures have caved in for most automobile companies, Reliance is going easy on the commissioning of its new refinery, and lay-offs are taking place in sectors ranging from textiles to diamond cutting, from truck companies to airlines, and from investment banks to real estate firms. Mutual funds have seen a near-20 per cent drop in the money they manage, hotels admit a similar 20 per cent drop in occupancy though the reality could be worse, the index of shipping freight rates has dropped 90 per cent, and real estate transactions have dropped by a half. What began as a warning breeze spreading some chill in financial circles is now a full-fledged storm battering the real economy.
If you look at the broad numbers, industrial growth in the first five months of this year was 5 per cent, compared to 10 per cent a year earlier. If the remaining seven months get worse, not better, then industrial growth will drop further. Agricultural growth is unlikely to be more than 3 per cent. Between them, these two sectors account for nearly 45 per cent of the economy, and their combined contribution to GDP growth this year will be under 2 per cent. If overall growth is to be 7 per cent, services have to grow by 9 per cent. But there is a slowdown in all the important services sub-sectors (hotels, trade & transport, communications & information technology, insurance & financial services, construction). Only government services will grow, because of the Pay Commission hand-out. Over-all growth in such a scenario could struggle to reach even the lower end of the Prime Minister’s range of 7-7.5 per cent. However much we may hope against it, don’t rule out the possibility that the IMF’s forecast for next year comes true this year itself.
Fun - Why blame just Mamata ?
Keya Sarkar
When you stay in Santiniketan you have to reconcile yourself to the fact that entertainment opportunities are severely constrained. There is one movie hall which residents of Santiniketan are really proud of (ACs but no rats) but the problem is that it runs on a staple of Bengali Mithun starrers! There are a few restaurants which can fall into the category of offering a dining out experience. But even in these a waiter walking through the restaurant in a gamcha can mar the feel-good of an evening out.
So one learns to make the most of what is available. The whole Singur drama was the daily soap on TV which offered relief through the dreary monsoon days. The multi-star cast of Ratan Tata, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Gopal K Gandhi and of course the one and only female lead had us glued to our TV sets whenever the state electricity board so ordained.
While all other protagonists added their bit to the execution of the drama there was no denying that Mamata would win any nomination to the Oscars. Her speeches, her TV interviews, her singing, her painting, her Muslim-style covering of the head for added drama, all carried out with the dais in front of the factory as the only prop, had us always asking for more. At least in our household, Travel and Living, Zoom, HBO, all took a back seat as we flipped between Bengali news channels for our daily fix of the Mamata histrionics.
When Mamata started her protests I admired her for being able to bring to the political centrestage the issue of injustice to farmers. But of course as the days progressed, I realised how she was completely incapable of exploiting her support base to make any constructive contribution. But while most of my urban middle class friends and family felt that Mamata had ushered in decades of gloom by her single Singur Act, I disagreed.
For me there was gloom all around already. Every time I travel to Kolkata and have to take a taxi from the station, I am amazed at how the system works. You stand in queue and when you come to the head of it, the policeman in charge asks you where you wish to go. What what he would do with the knowledge? One taxi driver pointed out how there were two taxi lines which formed; one line was of those cabbies that were willing to pay a bribe and the other queue of those who did not. Depending on what the passenger says, the policeman allots a taxi. If the passenger has to go a long distance he allots it to a cab which has paid the bribe of Rs 10. Knowing the number of trains which come into Howrah station, the number of passengers who then hail a taxi, one can make some calculations on what the policemen takes home every day.
At the airport too there is enough provision for spoils. Unlike other metro airports where passenger pays for a prepaid coupon and waits in the taxi queue, in Kolkata the system has been put on its head. The passenger buys a prepaid taxi coupon which has a specific taxi number on it. The passenger then has to walk, family, trolley in toe, looking for that particular taxi. Doesn’t take much intelligence to figure how this system can match cabbies that pay bribes to the clerks who man the prepaid taxi counter to passengers who wish to travel long distance. In a state where basic administration and infrastructure is so appalling, is Mamata’s Singur Act really a catastrophe? Having lived outside of West Bengal for so many years has unfortunately made me aware of how it could have been. But staying in Santiniketan insulates you from much of the chaos that is West Bengal. How can I explain all this to friends who fail to appreciate why I seek my pleasures in Santiniketan and refuse to travel unless I absolutely have to.
When you stay in Santiniketan you have to reconcile yourself to the fact that entertainment opportunities are severely constrained. There is one movie hall which residents of Santiniketan are really proud of (ACs but no rats) but the problem is that it runs on a staple of Bengali Mithun starrers! There are a few restaurants which can fall into the category of offering a dining out experience. But even in these a waiter walking through the restaurant in a gamcha can mar the feel-good of an evening out.
So one learns to make the most of what is available. The whole Singur drama was the daily soap on TV which offered relief through the dreary monsoon days. The multi-star cast of Ratan Tata, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Gopal K Gandhi and of course the one and only female lead had us glued to our TV sets whenever the state electricity board so ordained.
While all other protagonists added their bit to the execution of the drama there was no denying that Mamata would win any nomination to the Oscars. Her speeches, her TV interviews, her singing, her painting, her Muslim-style covering of the head for added drama, all carried out with the dais in front of the factory as the only prop, had us always asking for more. At least in our household, Travel and Living, Zoom, HBO, all took a back seat as we flipped between Bengali news channels for our daily fix of the Mamata histrionics.
When Mamata started her protests I admired her for being able to bring to the political centrestage the issue of injustice to farmers. But of course as the days progressed, I realised how she was completely incapable of exploiting her support base to make any constructive contribution. But while most of my urban middle class friends and family felt that Mamata had ushered in decades of gloom by her single Singur Act, I disagreed.
For me there was gloom all around already. Every time I travel to Kolkata and have to take a taxi from the station, I am amazed at how the system works. You stand in queue and when you come to the head of it, the policeman in charge asks you where you wish to go. What what he would do with the knowledge? One taxi driver pointed out how there were two taxi lines which formed; one line was of those cabbies that were willing to pay a bribe and the other queue of those who did not. Depending on what the passenger says, the policeman allots a taxi. If the passenger has to go a long distance he allots it to a cab which has paid the bribe of Rs 10. Knowing the number of trains which come into Howrah station, the number of passengers who then hail a taxi, one can make some calculations on what the policemen takes home every day.
At the airport too there is enough provision for spoils. Unlike other metro airports where passenger pays for a prepaid coupon and waits in the taxi queue, in Kolkata the system has been put on its head. The passenger buys a prepaid taxi coupon which has a specific taxi number on it. The passenger then has to walk, family, trolley in toe, looking for that particular taxi. Doesn’t take much intelligence to figure how this system can match cabbies that pay bribes to the clerks who man the prepaid taxi counter to passengers who wish to travel long distance. In a state where basic administration and infrastructure is so appalling, is Mamata’s Singur Act really a catastrophe? Having lived outside of West Bengal for so many years has unfortunately made me aware of how it could have been. But staying in Santiniketan insulates you from much of the chaos that is West Bengal. How can I explain all this to friends who fail to appreciate why I seek my pleasures in Santiniketan and refuse to travel unless I absolutely have to.
World - Obama's acceptance speech partly written in London
Barack Obama's electrifying presidential acceptance speech in Chicago in the US, widely lauded all over the globe, was partly written by a Liberal Democrat tax lobbyist in a London flat in Notting Hill.
Obama's speech to hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago on Tuesday night was one of the most widely-watched and repeated political addresses in recent history.
According to 'The Daily Telegraph', parts of the speech were crafted by Jacob Rigg, 27, a volunteer adviser to the Obama campaign, in his flat in Notting Hill, west London.
Rigg works for 'The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners', which lobbies and advises on tax issues.
Rigg said the inspiration for the Chicago speech was the most celebrated piece of oratory in American history, Abraham Lincoln's 1863 address at Gettysburg.
Lincoln's speech, made two years before the end of the American Civil War, spoke of the "unfinished work" and the "great task remaining" of building a democratic republic.
In his speech, Obama had said: "The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America — I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you — we as a people will get there.”
Having worked in Washington as a lobbyist, Rigg has links with some of Obama's Senate staff, the report said.
Working from home in his own time, Rigg was involved in writing the President-elect's speech, contributing via phone, e-mail and video conferences.
Rigg said he had also drafted a significant speech the world will never hear, the one that Obama would have given if he had lost the election, according to the daily.
Meanwhile, copies of major American newspapers announcing the historic victory of Barack Obama are now being auctioned on e-Bay for a price ranging between a few dollars to more than a hundred, as they could become a collectors’ item.
The papers containing the results were snapped up fast on November 5 and it was perhaps a rare occasion that by mid-morning, most of the papers had been sold out.
Among the papers, 20 copies of the New York Times are being offered for more than $255 and a single copy up to $75.
Those seeking to bid are being assured that they are first hand copies with some warning them to beware of fakes.
The Washington Post has got bids up to $50 for one copy. A bundle of 50 Los Angeles Times victory edition are being offered for $1,800 one copy for up to $25.
Other papers too were being auctioned and bringing bids several times the cover price.
Obama's speech to hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago on Tuesday night was one of the most widely-watched and repeated political addresses in recent history.
According to 'The Daily Telegraph', parts of the speech were crafted by Jacob Rigg, 27, a volunteer adviser to the Obama campaign, in his flat in Notting Hill, west London.
Rigg works for 'The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners', which lobbies and advises on tax issues.
Rigg said the inspiration for the Chicago speech was the most celebrated piece of oratory in American history, Abraham Lincoln's 1863 address at Gettysburg.
Lincoln's speech, made two years before the end of the American Civil War, spoke of the "unfinished work" and the "great task remaining" of building a democratic republic.
In his speech, Obama had said: "The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America — I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you — we as a people will get there.”
Having worked in Washington as a lobbyist, Rigg has links with some of Obama's Senate staff, the report said.
Working from home in his own time, Rigg was involved in writing the President-elect's speech, contributing via phone, e-mail and video conferences.
Rigg said he had also drafted a significant speech the world will never hear, the one that Obama would have given if he had lost the election, according to the daily.
Meanwhile, copies of major American newspapers announcing the historic victory of Barack Obama are now being auctioned on e-Bay for a price ranging between a few dollars to more than a hundred, as they could become a collectors’ item.
The papers containing the results were snapped up fast on November 5 and it was perhaps a rare occasion that by mid-morning, most of the papers had been sold out.
Among the papers, 20 copies of the New York Times are being offered for more than $255 and a single copy up to $75.
Those seeking to bid are being assured that they are first hand copies with some warning them to beware of fakes.
The Washington Post has got bids up to $50 for one copy. A bundle of 50 Los Angeles Times victory edition are being offered for $1,800 one copy for up to $25.
Other papers too were being auctioned and bringing bids several times the cover price.
Business - India;Raja favours lock-in for new telecom promoters
Stung by growing accusations, especially from the Left, that the government sold spectrum for second-generation (2G) licences cheaply, Union Minister for Communications and IT A Raja has directed the Telecom Commission to revise licence terms for new telecom operators.
The Commission, which will hold a meeting on Tuesday, is looking at imposing a promoter lock-in of three to five years for the eight new licence-holders. The moratorium will be imposed on promoters who have more than 10 per cent equity in the telecom company and whose net worth has been considered by the government when it issued the licences. Promoters, however, will be allowed to bring in a new partner by expanding the company’s equity.
New operators said they would be forced to seek court intervention since a lock-in would violate the licence agreement signed with the government. The agreement does not have a clause prohibiting a promoter from selling equity.
“You can’t just change the licence conditions whenever you feel like. We will surely challenge any decision by the government to prohibit the sale of promoter equity,” said the director of a leading new all-India licence holder.
Raja has come under fierce attack for selling scarce 2G spectrum for a song and allowing companies like Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom to make a windfall by selling equity in their companies at huge valuations. A statement from the Left yesterday said the manner in which 2G spectrum was allocated is a big financial scam because the government has lost over Rs 60,000 crore in revenues.
Realtor Unitech paid around Rs 1,650 crore for an all-India licence in 22 circles and sold 60 per cent in the telecom venture to Norway-based Telenor for an enterprise value of Rs 11,620 crore, nearly six times the value paid for the spectrum.
The Commission, which will hold a meeting on Tuesday, is looking at imposing a promoter lock-in of three to five years for the eight new licence-holders. The moratorium will be imposed on promoters who have more than 10 per cent equity in the telecom company and whose net worth has been considered by the government when it issued the licences. Promoters, however, will be allowed to bring in a new partner by expanding the company’s equity.
New operators said they would be forced to seek court intervention since a lock-in would violate the licence agreement signed with the government. The agreement does not have a clause prohibiting a promoter from selling equity.
“You can’t just change the licence conditions whenever you feel like. We will surely challenge any decision by the government to prohibit the sale of promoter equity,” said the director of a leading new all-India licence holder.
Raja has come under fierce attack for selling scarce 2G spectrum for a song and allowing companies like Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom to make a windfall by selling equity in their companies at huge valuations. A statement from the Left yesterday said the manner in which 2G spectrum was allocated is a big financial scam because the government has lost over Rs 60,000 crore in revenues.
Realtor Unitech paid around Rs 1,650 crore for an all-India licence in 22 circles and sold 60 per cent in the telecom venture to Norway-based Telenor for an enterprise value of Rs 11,620 crore, nearly six times the value paid for the spectrum.
Food - Sushi Bullies (V.G.Read)
Caty McLaughlin / WSJ
If you’re seated at the sushi bar at Sasabune in New York, Sushi Nozawa in Los Angeles, or Sawa Sushi in Sunnyvale, California, a few words of advice: Don’t try to order—the chef will decide what you eat. Use extra soy sauce at your own risk. And don’t ask for a California roll. You might get kicked out.
You have entered the domain of the sushi bullies—top sushi chefs who serve only what they want, how they want it and to whom they want. Their rules are often posted on signs throughout their restaurants. Some chefs are notorious for ejecting patrons who annoy them.
Geri-Ayn Gaul had her first encounter with a raw-fish autocrat in August at Ino, in San Francisco. First, she tried to add some soy sauce to her seaweed salad. Big mistake. Chef Noboru Inoue scolded her, she says, telling her: “No, no, no. No soy sauce!” Then, she had the temerity to scrape some wasabi off a piece of sushi, because she doesn’t like spicy food. The chef’s response, she says: “No. It needs the wasabi.” She obeyed, and choked down the fish.
“I was so nervous, I spilled my miso soup,” says Gaul, whose meal for two, with no alcohol, cost $75 (around Rs3,700)—before tip.
While unaccommodating service may sound like a recipe for a failing restaurant, these domineering sushi chefs can have lines of supplicants outside the door. Some are expanding their reach with new restaurants, and their protégés are opening places of their own, bringing with them some of the attitude they learnt from their former bosses.
Each sushi dictator has his own pet peeves, but there is common ground. Most do not allow sushi bar patrons to order off the menu. Instead, diners must accept whatever the chef gives them, a tradition known as omakase—a Japanese expression that can be loosely translated as “trust the chef”. They reserve special enmity for spicy tuna rolls—typically made with scraps of raw tuna, mayonnaise and chilli powder—which they say were only invented so that restaurants could mask the taste of substandard fish. And they generally loathe the ubiquitous California roll. Not only is it a newfangled American invention that combines avocado and cucumber, but it usually contains imitation crab—anathema to chefs who have spent so much of their energy and money securing pristine seafood.
In Los Angeles, a veritable breeding ground for despotic sushi masters, Sushi Nozawa is one of the highest-rated restaurants in the local Zagat guide; the description says Kazunori Nozawa “makes the Soup Nazi look polite”.
In August, Nozawa opened a second Los Angeles restaurant, SugarFish. About half as expensive as his flagship, the restaurant also offers takeout that comes with an instruction card on exactly how the sushi should be consumed once it gets home. Nozawa and his associates hope to expand SugarFish into a chain around Los Angeles and other cities.
During a visit there in August, 19-year-old student Jillian Kasimow thought she might get away with a request she knows Nozawa would never allow at his flagship restaurant: She asked for more “delicious ponzu sauce”. The waiter’s response was swift and unyielding. “Nozawa never gives extra ponzu sauce,” Kasimow says she was told.
Higher gas prices may be partly to blame for the sushi dictators’ increasingly inflexible ways. Chefs say they are paying 30-50% more for staples such as tuna and yellowtail, compared to two years ago, because the spike in fuel costs makes both deep-sea fishing and transporting the catch more expensive. At the same time, disappearing fish populations around the world have made some chefs particularly passionate about serving sushi in its purest and simplest form.
“You’re not going to be able to taste this fish forever,” says Nobi Kusuhara, chef and owner of Sushi Sasabune in Los Angeles, referring to dwindling varieties such as bluefin tuna and abalone. He says that’s why he won’t use mayonnaise and other non-traditional ingredients that mask the flavours of the fish—even if customers beg for such things. Two of Kusuhara’s former employees have opened Sasabune restaurants in New York and Honolulu, respectively, complete with signs reading “Today’s Special: Trust Me”.
Dealing with American diners who are unfamiliar with centuries-old Japanese culinary traditions can be agonizing for some chefs, says Andy Matsuda, head of Sushi Chef Institute, a Los Angeles cooking school. Requesting fried soft shell crab rolls at a traditional sushi bar is akin to “going to your grandma’s Thanksgiving dinner and someone brings a pizza,” Matsuda says. Dousing sushi in soy sauce is like pouring ketchup over the entrée at a three-star French restaurant. Other offences, such as ordering miso soup at the beginning of the meal, only add to chefs’ frustration.
But some chefs say that strict adherence to tradition is also a way to stand out in an increasingly crowded market. There are about 9,700 full-service Japanese restaurants in the US, up from 7,800 a decade ago, according to Technomic, a Chicago-based restaurant consulting firm. Many of them, along with many Chinese restaurants, takeout places and even supermarket refrigerator sections, offer sushi. There is one sushi restaurant for every quarter mile in Beverly Hills, according to the Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau.
Steve Sawa of Sawa Sushi in Sunnyvale, California, decides what his customers eat, doles out soy sauce by the droplet and has a ban on California rolls. Patrons who rudely demand miso soup and extra rice are often shown the door.
Ousting annoying diners makes the ones who get to stay feel like they are part of a special club—a fringe benefit, Sawa says. “Some people love it when I kick people out,” he adds.
Some chefs inspire a sort of love-hate relationship with their patrons. Atlanta lost its feared (but beloved) sushi despot when Sotohiro Kosugi closed his restaurant, called Soto, in 2006. Kosugi, who reopened in New York last year, would occasionally berate staff in front of diners, and scowl so darkly that the entire restaurant ambience would sour, says John Kessler; the former restaurant critic for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says he ate at Soto about 30 times
Ted Golden, a 29-year-old technology entrepreneur, says he would sometimes try to converse with Kosugi, whom he knew well—he estimates that he ate at Soto roughly 100 times—but the chef would be so focused on his work that he would refuse to answer.
For his part, Kosugi says he is deeply disturbed by characterizations of him as a tyrant, and that many stories about him are untrue. He admits, though, that the pressure can make him moody and that he is “very ashamed and cannot sleep at night” after behaving badly. He moved to New York, he says, because he felt the market there was more conducive to serving only traditional, high-end food. Targeting a narrower audience, he says, helps avoid the problem of unmanageable customer expectations—and his resulting bad humour.
Sushi dictators, like the American sushi restaurant trend itself, first surfaced in Los Angeles, according to Sasha Issenberg, author of the Sushi Economy, which examines the cuisine’s prevalence around the world. The California roll was invented in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s for diners who wanted to try sushi but were squeamish about eating raw fish, Issenberg says. Throughout the 1980s, creative takes on sushi proliferated, giving rise to everything from Philadelphia rolls, which contain cream cheese and salmon, to sushi made with brown rice.
Then, in 1987, Kazunori Nozawa opened Sushi Nozawa in a strip mall in Studio City, California. The little restaurant soon became as famous for its authentic, fresh sushi as for Nozawa’s notorious strictures, including his habit of throwing out customers, including Hollywood bigwigs, who displeased him.
Nozawa says he ejects about one customer per month. Actionable offences include taking too long to eat—the restaurant only has 21 seats and it’s not fair to people who are waiting, Nozawa says—and pestering him with requests to use a cellphone. Some patrons are so chagrined over being banned that they try to come back disguised in baseball caps, sunglasses and, in one case, a wig, says restaurant manager Yumiko Nozawa. As his reputation as a sushi despot has grown, Nozawa says more people have attempted to goad him into kicking them out by deliberately breaking the rules.
“It’s for people who don’t have proper sushi-eating etiquette. Those are the people I’m hard on,” Nozawa says, adding that his 45 years of experience, including a 10-year apprenticeship in Japan, and a rigorous work schedule (he shops for fish at 5am daily) give him the right to do things his way.
Some of the behaviour that scandalizes American diners is the norm in Japan. To be sure, traditional training in Japan encourages a polite and friendly approach, much like the demeanour of American bartenders, says Frank Toshi Sugiyura, owner of California Sushi Academy in Los Angeles. But in Japan, customers understand that they should never offend the chef by dismantling a piece of sushi or using too much sauce.
Fans of the despots say they put up with the chefs’ behaviour because the food is so good and they feel they are getting an authentic meal. Gaul, a 27-year-old pharmaceutical saleswoman, says she loved the monkfish liver and fresh sea urchin at Ino so much that she plans to go back, even though she is “afraid” to go without a Japanese-speaking companion.
“I will take his somewhat abrasive advice because he’s teaching me about Japanese culture,” Gaul says of Chef Inoue. Inoue says he realizes that he scares some patrons, but that he is merely trying to explain proper sushi etiquette with limited English and very little time—he is the only chef in the restaurant. In 30 years, he says, he has never kicked anyone out of the restaurant.
Deeper forces may also explain why customers put up with being put down. Part of it is the “scarcity principal”, says David Stewart, a psychologist who teaches courses in consumer behaviour at the University of California at Riverside’s business school. People value praise more when it comes from people who don’t give it out easily, Stewart says. People go to these restaurants in search of both “modest risk” and “approbation”, Stewart says, perhaps in the form of a uni handroll.
It’s a point of pride for Teddy Zee, a movie producer in Los Angeles, that Kazunori Nozawa will make him sushi with slightly less rice than usual. Zee says he “had the chutzpah” to make the request after going golfing with the chef. “In a stupid way, it makes you feel a bit special,” Zee says.
Yukari Iwatani Kane and Phred Dvorak contributed to this story
Steve Sawa’s special sauce
How best it can be used for salmon and cod
At his Sunnyvale, California, restaurant Sawa Sushi, chef Sawa uses this miso sauce on marinated salmon and ocean trout sashimi, and a variation of it on sake-steamed Alaskan king crab.
We developed a method for applying this sauce, using his recipe, to roasted salmon and cod.
Miso Sauce
Yield: about 1 cup
Prep time: 5 minutes
N cup sake
V to N tsp S&B hot-mustard powder or other mustard powder
1 cup fine white miso paste, also known as shiro miso
N cup sugar
2 tbsp rice vinegar (not seasoned)
A drop of yuzu (a Japanese citrus fruit) or lemon juice
A drop of toasted sesame oil
• Bring the sake to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Boil for 20 seconds to let the alcohol evaporate. Set aside to cool.
• Transfer about a tablespoon of the sake into a small bowl and mix in the mustard powder until dissolved; return to the pot. Add the miso, sugar, vinegar, yuzu or lemon juice, and sesame oil and whisk until smooth and well-combined.
Oven-Roasted Salmon or Cod With Miso Sauce
Serves: 4
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: about 10 minutes
4 (6 ounce, 1-inch thick) skinless, boneless salmon or cod (or other thick white fish such as halibut) fillets
6-8 tbsp miso sauce
• Preheat oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit (204.4 degree Celsius). Line a sheet pan with aluminium foil.
• Pat fish dry. Generously slather fish all over with miso sauce. Arrange fish in a single layer, skin side down, on the prepared sheet pan. Roast until fish is just slightly undercooked in the centre, 6-7 minutes.
• Preheat broiler and broil fish 4 inches from the heating source, until the sauce on the fish is lightly golden and the fish is just opaque in the centre, about another 2 minutes. Transfer fish to 4 plates and serve immediately.
Personality - Uday Shankar;STAR India CEO
Neelam Verjee
It almost sounds too good to be true—a job that involves watching copious amounts of television, while helping to shape the face of public debate in the world’s most populous democracy.
But this is indeed the remit of the man I am meeting at the Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai, one-time journalist and self-confessed television addict Uday Shankar, who now heads Star TV’s Indian operations.
Dressed semi-formally in a blue shirt and trousers, Shankar is bang on time and greets me with a warm smile and handshake. He is experimenting with a new detox diet. “We abuse our bodies so much,” he explains when I inquire into his austere choice of cut fruit and Darjeeling tea. “I also like to try out new things. I love to eat fruit…but I am not a health nut,” he laughs. “I like my single malt too.”
We take a seat in the lobby lounge, The Bar and Verandah, where the whirring of a blender behind the bar competes with piped music and conversations among other patrons to drown out his voice on my tape recorder. A diminutive man with an acute intellect and keen appreciation of the absurd, Shankar, 47, explains that his “love affair” with television started in the early 1990s, following the liberalization of the medium in India.
“I love television,” he says. “I love anything on television. I can watch television for 24, 48, 72 hours...you name it. Without a break.”
Shankar, who was promoted last year to take over at News Corp.-owned Star India in the wake of a management exodus, trained as a journalist at The Times of India media school where, by his own admission, he was “a good student, but not particularly studious or disciplined”.
He went on to cover politics for the daily newspaper before starting the environment-focused publication Down to Earth. But for all his “love for television” it had never occurred to Shankar to switch careers till his wife suggested it.
Although Shankar claims his migration from journalism to management happened “inadvertently”, he concedes that his journalism background proved to be the ideal preparation for a role in management.
“As a journalist, every day you walk into a new situation, hear a new story, look at a new set of facts, try to make sense out of them and see where the obvious logical holes exist,” says Shankar, who chooses each word with care. “And once you have done that for several years, frankly, I didn’t find it very difficult to manage the business. I think being a journalist is actually a very good training ground for training to be a chief executive.”
He gained his reputation as an astute television head with the launch of Aaj Tak seven years ago, as he steered the Hindi news channel to the top spot in the ratings charts. His success there took him to Star News in 2004, and the simultaneous departures of Peter Mukerjea and Sameer Nair as the respective heads of Star Group and Star Entertainment in early 2007 cleared the way for his ascent to the top job at Star India.
Shankar, however, remains close to his origins as a journalist—and an inquiry into his thoughts on the role of the media and standards of journalism across the country today triggers a weighted response.
“There are two things you need to distinguish,” he declares, of some decisions taken by the fourth estate. “One is a conscious choice to do certain (dubious) things, and the other one is a lack of competence, or ignorance. I think both those challenges exist in the Indian news media. Not just in television, but in print as much.”
Yet, Shankar was head of the newly-launched Aaj Tak at a time when rumours about a “monkey man”, or human predator on the loose, were stoking hysteria in Delhi. The channel’s coverage of the incident included a graphic, depicting the creature as a monster with lights for eyes, which reportedly contributed to the panic.
“You have to understand,” says Shankar, leaning forward for emphasis when I ask him how that style of coverage ties in with his thoughts on responsible journalism. “That story happened in the infancy of live television in this country and the tradition of television was very recent. So everyone was groping to come to terms with how to handle the medium and sometimes you went overboard. Our pitch was that people were making mischief. I don’t think these things are particularly dangerous.”
Demonstrating faultless courtesy, Shankar pauses to inquire whether my budget might extend to a second pot of tea, joking that if he had known Lounge always insists on footing the bill, he would have picked a day when he wasn’t experimenting with detox diets. We order more tea, and I ask him what he would do if he was granted total power for a day.
“I would call every media house and tell them to create a very transparent code of self-governance and tell them to keep it ready,” he says after a moment’s pause for thought. “I would also withdraw all regulation that artificially seeks to restrict media content. All regulation (governing the media) is regressive and is basically to protect people in power.”
While Shankar conveys a sense of immense satisfaction with his career, there is one issue that irks him. His appointment to the top job at Star India meant relocating to Mumbai from Delhi and leaving behind his wife and 15-year old daughter—who is studying for board exams. He refers to their absence as “the only disappointment currently in my life”.
However, the move enabled Shankar to work in close proximity to the media mogul behind News Corp., Rupert Murdoch—an experience that he describes as “fabulous”—as well as Murdoch’s son and heir apparent, James.
“I think he has an amazing mind,” he says of Murdoch senior. “Every meeting with him leaves you recharged and his grasp over fundamentals is outstanding.”
In practical terms, Shankar’s tenure at Star India has seen him maintain the group’s lead in television ratings—with Star Plus holding an 8.35% share of eyeballs, against the 7.17% claimed by Colors and Zee’s 5.97% —despite setbacks, including the failure of game show Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hain?, starring actor Shah Rukh Khan. Shankar’s Star Plus channel also recently pulled the plug on super-soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi after an eight-year run that topped national ratings and firmly placed Star Plus on the top.
“There were questions that were being asked about the leadership and direction of Star in this country. I think we have answered a lot of those questions,” says Shankar, who entirely unselfconsciously describes himself as “very clever”, as well as “a sharp observer and a very quick learner” with the ability to “quietly pick up things that I think are useful in other people”.
However, observers have picked up on the irony of his decision to air Paanchvi Paas, an imitation of US-based Fox television network’s Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, given Shankar’s vocal criticism of the copycat culture across Indian television.
“By copycat I mean copying the same kind of programming that others are doing,” rebuts Shankar, who relishes the opportunity to air his point of view. “It does not mean that we do not tap into the best in global programming.”
“We are not going to be swadeshi or patriotic in a stupid manner,” he asserts, presaging perhaps the future of his brand of television.
Curriculum Vitae
Uday Shankar
Born: 16 September 1962
Education: MPhil in economic history from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi; postgraduate diploma in journalism from Times School of Journalism
Current Designation: Chief executive officer, Star India
Work Profile: Shankar began his career with ‘The Times of India’ and then helped to start ‘Down to Earth’ magazine. He joined Star News in 2004 after stints with TV Today and Sahara TV. Shankar was promoted as CEO of Star India in October 2007
Reading: Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe’ by Bill Bryson
Favourite TV Programme: All the Star shows
Favourite Holiday Destination: The Himalayas
It almost sounds too good to be true—a job that involves watching copious amounts of television, while helping to shape the face of public debate in the world’s most populous democracy.
But this is indeed the remit of the man I am meeting at the Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai, one-time journalist and self-confessed television addict Uday Shankar, who now heads Star TV’s Indian operations.
Dressed semi-formally in a blue shirt and trousers, Shankar is bang on time and greets me with a warm smile and handshake. He is experimenting with a new detox diet. “We abuse our bodies so much,” he explains when I inquire into his austere choice of cut fruit and Darjeeling tea. “I also like to try out new things. I love to eat fruit…but I am not a health nut,” he laughs. “I like my single malt too.”
We take a seat in the lobby lounge, The Bar and Verandah, where the whirring of a blender behind the bar competes with piped music and conversations among other patrons to drown out his voice on my tape recorder. A diminutive man with an acute intellect and keen appreciation of the absurd, Shankar, 47, explains that his “love affair” with television started in the early 1990s, following the liberalization of the medium in India.
“I love television,” he says. “I love anything on television. I can watch television for 24, 48, 72 hours...you name it. Without a break.”
Shankar, who was promoted last year to take over at News Corp.-owned Star India in the wake of a management exodus, trained as a journalist at The Times of India media school where, by his own admission, he was “a good student, but not particularly studious or disciplined”.
He went on to cover politics for the daily newspaper before starting the environment-focused publication Down to Earth. But for all his “love for television” it had never occurred to Shankar to switch careers till his wife suggested it.
Although Shankar claims his migration from journalism to management happened “inadvertently”, he concedes that his journalism background proved to be the ideal preparation for a role in management.
“As a journalist, every day you walk into a new situation, hear a new story, look at a new set of facts, try to make sense out of them and see where the obvious logical holes exist,” says Shankar, who chooses each word with care. “And once you have done that for several years, frankly, I didn’t find it very difficult to manage the business. I think being a journalist is actually a very good training ground for training to be a chief executive.”
He gained his reputation as an astute television head with the launch of Aaj Tak seven years ago, as he steered the Hindi news channel to the top spot in the ratings charts. His success there took him to Star News in 2004, and the simultaneous departures of Peter Mukerjea and Sameer Nair as the respective heads of Star Group and Star Entertainment in early 2007 cleared the way for his ascent to the top job at Star India.
Shankar, however, remains close to his origins as a journalist—and an inquiry into his thoughts on the role of the media and standards of journalism across the country today triggers a weighted response.
“There are two things you need to distinguish,” he declares, of some decisions taken by the fourth estate. “One is a conscious choice to do certain (dubious) things, and the other one is a lack of competence, or ignorance. I think both those challenges exist in the Indian news media. Not just in television, but in print as much.”
Yet, Shankar was head of the newly-launched Aaj Tak at a time when rumours about a “monkey man”, or human predator on the loose, were stoking hysteria in Delhi. The channel’s coverage of the incident included a graphic, depicting the creature as a monster with lights for eyes, which reportedly contributed to the panic.
“You have to understand,” says Shankar, leaning forward for emphasis when I ask him how that style of coverage ties in with his thoughts on responsible journalism. “That story happened in the infancy of live television in this country and the tradition of television was very recent. So everyone was groping to come to terms with how to handle the medium and sometimes you went overboard. Our pitch was that people were making mischief. I don’t think these things are particularly dangerous.”
Demonstrating faultless courtesy, Shankar pauses to inquire whether my budget might extend to a second pot of tea, joking that if he had known Lounge always insists on footing the bill, he would have picked a day when he wasn’t experimenting with detox diets. We order more tea, and I ask him what he would do if he was granted total power for a day.
“I would call every media house and tell them to create a very transparent code of self-governance and tell them to keep it ready,” he says after a moment’s pause for thought. “I would also withdraw all regulation that artificially seeks to restrict media content. All regulation (governing the media) is regressive and is basically to protect people in power.”
While Shankar conveys a sense of immense satisfaction with his career, there is one issue that irks him. His appointment to the top job at Star India meant relocating to Mumbai from Delhi and leaving behind his wife and 15-year old daughter—who is studying for board exams. He refers to their absence as “the only disappointment currently in my life”.
However, the move enabled Shankar to work in close proximity to the media mogul behind News Corp., Rupert Murdoch—an experience that he describes as “fabulous”—as well as Murdoch’s son and heir apparent, James.
“I think he has an amazing mind,” he says of Murdoch senior. “Every meeting with him leaves you recharged and his grasp over fundamentals is outstanding.”
In practical terms, Shankar’s tenure at Star India has seen him maintain the group’s lead in television ratings—with Star Plus holding an 8.35% share of eyeballs, against the 7.17% claimed by Colors and Zee’s 5.97% —despite setbacks, including the failure of game show Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hain?, starring actor Shah Rukh Khan. Shankar’s Star Plus channel also recently pulled the plug on super-soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi after an eight-year run that topped national ratings and firmly placed Star Plus on the top.
“There were questions that were being asked about the leadership and direction of Star in this country. I think we have answered a lot of those questions,” says Shankar, who entirely unselfconsciously describes himself as “very clever”, as well as “a sharp observer and a very quick learner” with the ability to “quietly pick up things that I think are useful in other people”.
However, observers have picked up on the irony of his decision to air Paanchvi Paas, an imitation of US-based Fox television network’s Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, given Shankar’s vocal criticism of the copycat culture across Indian television.
“By copycat I mean copying the same kind of programming that others are doing,” rebuts Shankar, who relishes the opportunity to air his point of view. “It does not mean that we do not tap into the best in global programming.”
“We are not going to be swadeshi or patriotic in a stupid manner,” he asserts, presaging perhaps the future of his brand of television.
Curriculum Vitae
Uday Shankar
Born: 16 September 1962
Education: MPhil in economic history from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi; postgraduate diploma in journalism from Times School of Journalism
Current Designation: Chief executive officer, Star India
Work Profile: Shankar began his career with ‘The Times of India’ and then helped to start ‘Down to Earth’ magazine. He joined Star News in 2004 after stints with TV Today and Sahara TV. Shankar was promoted as CEO of Star India in October 2007
Reading: Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe’ by Bill Bryson
Favourite TV Programme: All the Star shows
Favourite Holiday Destination: The Himalayas
Business - Mahindra Renault Pvt Ltd cuts Logan Production by half
Sudha Menon
Pune: Auto maker Mahindra Renault Pvt. Ltd has scaled back production of Logan sedan by at least half, after sales sharply fell in the past months. The car maker will produce about 1,000 Logans at its Nashik plant in November, compared with the average 2,500 units a month it had been rolling out hitherto, suppliers familiar with the development said.
A company spokesperson said chief executive Nalin Mehta was in France and could not be contacted for comment.
Mahindra Renault, a venture of India’s biggest tractor maker Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd and French auto company Renault SA, had invested Rs700 crore in the Nashik facility and had initially aimed producing 50,000 cars a year.
The sedan’s sales have been steadily declining this year as an economic slowdown and high interest rates kept customers away.Vendors say the car maker is offering to sell the sedan to its suppliers and associates at a 10% discount
After reaching a peak of 3,068 units in March, sales dropped to 1,531 cars in May, 1,464 in August, and 1,067 in October, a festive month that typically sees more car purchases, according to monthly sales data put out by the company.
Indian auto sales typically slow after the festival season in October because cars bought in November or December get tagged with the vintage of that year and could see a dip in resale value in future. Sales pick up in January as consumers wait to buy that year’s model.
Some car makers also shut production for a week in December for scheduled maintenance, but a scaling back by as much as 50% is rare.
Some of India’s top auto manufacturers saw their October sales drop this year and are also likely to slow production.
“(Logan) sales have been sliding continuously and, while other manufacturers are also witnessing a slowdown, the performance of the Logan in the marketplace is worrying, since a lot of time and effort has been put in by us for this project,” said one vendor. “It is a cause for concern when the vendor is asked to plan for 3,000 units per month and suddenly we are asked to scale this down so much.”
Mahindra Renault, looking at ways to drive sales, is offering to sell the Logan to its suppliers and business associates in 35 cities at a 10% discount, two vendors said. The offer is open for its 1.4 GLE, 1.6 GLX and 1.6 GLS models in the entry- and mid-segment range.
Mahindra Renault is not the first car maker to turn to its vendors and business associates with special schemes when the going gets tough. Last year, the country’s largest car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, sought to fuel demand in the face of rising interest rates by offering lower rates to auto parts makers and their employees. Then managing director Jagdish Khattar promoted the project, travelling to Mumbai and other cities to meet at least 200 vendors.
Maruti did not comment on the response to the scheme when contacted by Mint.
Mahindra Renault recently launched a new line of Logan cars with additional safety and convenience features, and had manufactured 3,000 units in October in anticipation of increased sales during the festive season.
Car sales in India fell for the first time in 2.5 years in July-August as the economy slowed significantly and interest rates climbed. Sales for Maruti Suzuki dropped 7% year-on-year in October, while that of Tata Motors Ltd dropped 6%, according to monthly sales data from the companies.
Two months ago, trade body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers lowered its sales growth outlook for the industry in 2008-09 to 8-10% from 12-15%.
Pune: Auto maker Mahindra Renault Pvt. Ltd has scaled back production of Logan sedan by at least half, after sales sharply fell in the past months. The car maker will produce about 1,000 Logans at its Nashik plant in November, compared with the average 2,500 units a month it had been rolling out hitherto, suppliers familiar with the development said.
A company spokesperson said chief executive Nalin Mehta was in France and could not be contacted for comment.
Mahindra Renault, a venture of India’s biggest tractor maker Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd and French auto company Renault SA, had invested Rs700 crore in the Nashik facility and had initially aimed producing 50,000 cars a year.
The sedan’s sales have been steadily declining this year as an economic slowdown and high interest rates kept customers away.Vendors say the car maker is offering to sell the sedan to its suppliers and associates at a 10% discount
After reaching a peak of 3,068 units in March, sales dropped to 1,531 cars in May, 1,464 in August, and 1,067 in October, a festive month that typically sees more car purchases, according to monthly sales data put out by the company.
Indian auto sales typically slow after the festival season in October because cars bought in November or December get tagged with the vintage of that year and could see a dip in resale value in future. Sales pick up in January as consumers wait to buy that year’s model.
Some car makers also shut production for a week in December for scheduled maintenance, but a scaling back by as much as 50% is rare.
Some of India’s top auto manufacturers saw their October sales drop this year and are also likely to slow production.
“(Logan) sales have been sliding continuously and, while other manufacturers are also witnessing a slowdown, the performance of the Logan in the marketplace is worrying, since a lot of time and effort has been put in by us for this project,” said one vendor. “It is a cause for concern when the vendor is asked to plan for 3,000 units per month and suddenly we are asked to scale this down so much.”
Mahindra Renault, looking at ways to drive sales, is offering to sell the Logan to its suppliers and business associates in 35 cities at a 10% discount, two vendors said. The offer is open for its 1.4 GLE, 1.6 GLX and 1.6 GLS models in the entry- and mid-segment range.
Mahindra Renault is not the first car maker to turn to its vendors and business associates with special schemes when the going gets tough. Last year, the country’s largest car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, sought to fuel demand in the face of rising interest rates by offering lower rates to auto parts makers and their employees. Then managing director Jagdish Khattar promoted the project, travelling to Mumbai and other cities to meet at least 200 vendors.
Maruti did not comment on the response to the scheme when contacted by Mint.
Mahindra Renault recently launched a new line of Logan cars with additional safety and convenience features, and had manufactured 3,000 units in October in anticipation of increased sales during the festive season.
Car sales in India fell for the first time in 2.5 years in July-August as the economy slowed significantly and interest rates climbed. Sales for Maruti Suzuki dropped 7% year-on-year in October, while that of Tata Motors Ltd dropped 6%, according to monthly sales data from the companies.
Two months ago, trade body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers lowered its sales growth outlook for the industry in 2008-09 to 8-10% from 12-15%.
Sport - Cricket;ICC to push for common visa during 2011 World Cup
Karachi (PTI): In a bid to make the 2011 World Cup a hit with the spectators, the International Cricket Council will soon write to the governments of hosts India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to allow a common visa for the fans.
This was one of the decisions taken at the two-day meeting of the World Cup organising committee held in India this week which was chaired by the ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat.
"There is unanimity that there should be one visa for the four South Asian countries for the World Cup and the ICC will be approaching the governments to facilitate them in this," Pakistan Cricket Board Director General Saleem Altaf said.
The ICC and the West Indies also had a common visa (Caricom) for the last World Cup held in the islands in 2007.
"Having a common visa will help attract more visitors and tourists and increase revenues," Altaf said.
He said the ICC also made it clear to all four host countries that they were at least 10 months behind schedule in their preparations for the mega event.
The joint World Cup committee was formed in June 2007 in Bhurban, Pakistan but has not met regularly since then. The meeting in New Delhi was its first formal one in a year.
This was one of the decisions taken at the two-day meeting of the World Cup organising committee held in India this week which was chaired by the ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat.
"There is unanimity that there should be one visa for the four South Asian countries for the World Cup and the ICC will be approaching the governments to facilitate them in this," Pakistan Cricket Board Director General Saleem Altaf said.
The ICC and the West Indies also had a common visa (Caricom) for the last World Cup held in the islands in 2007.
"Having a common visa will help attract more visitors and tourists and increase revenues," Altaf said.
He said the ICC also made it clear to all four host countries that they were at least 10 months behind schedule in their preparations for the mega event.
The joint World Cup committee was formed in June 2007 in Bhurban, Pakistan but has not met regularly since then. The meeting in New Delhi was its first formal one in a year.
World - Girl Child & US Elections
Lalith Mohna
The victory of Barack Obama in the US presidential race suggests that daughters are lucky for people seeking election to the highest office in the
US. In the last half century, girls outnumber boys 2:1 among the winners’ progeny. In 1960, when John F Kennedy won, he had only one daughter, Caroline. His son John was born later.
The next president, Lyndon Johnson, had two daughters. Richard Nixon, again, had two girls. Gerald Ford, who followed him, was not elected to the national office and doesn’t count. After him came Jimmy Carter who had three sons and one daughter, though only the latter lived with him in the White House. His successor Ronald Reagan sired three daughters and one son.
George Bush Sr had two girls and four boys, including one who, most people believe, would have been better not born! Bill Clinton, who defeated him in the next election, had only one female child. His successor, George Bush Jr, the current president, has two daughters.
And now Obama will move into the White House with two girls, Malia and Sasha. If he completes his full term and decides not to have another go at parenthood, then for 20 years no male children will have taken residence in the White House with their parents. The score since 1960 is 16-8 in favour of girls.
However, what does not augur well for presidential hopefuls is a ‘heroic’ war record. John McCain was a war hero. Another winner of several medals for bravery, John Kerry, lost in 2004 and the loser before him, Al Gore, was a Vietnam war veteran. Both lost to George Bush Jr, who dodged army service and never did anything worthwhile in his life.
Bill Clinton, who came before him, was an anti-war protester. He won against ‘heroes’ Bush Sr and Bob Dole in 1992 and 1996, though the former did get elected in 1988 against another navy veteran, Jimmy Carter. Ronald Reagan won two terms, but he never saw overseas service in the military on account of his nearsightedness.
In fact, the last authentic war hero in the US never to have lost a presidential election was John Kennedy back in 1960. Americans, it seems, don’t believe any longer that governance is a game of cowboys and Indians.
The victory of Barack Obama in the US presidential race suggests that daughters are lucky for people seeking election to the highest office in the
US. In the last half century, girls outnumber boys 2:1 among the winners’ progeny. In 1960, when John F Kennedy won, he had only one daughter, Caroline. His son John was born later.
The next president, Lyndon Johnson, had two daughters. Richard Nixon, again, had two girls. Gerald Ford, who followed him, was not elected to the national office and doesn’t count. After him came Jimmy Carter who had three sons and one daughter, though only the latter lived with him in the White House. His successor Ronald Reagan sired three daughters and one son.
George Bush Sr had two girls and four boys, including one who, most people believe, would have been better not born! Bill Clinton, who defeated him in the next election, had only one female child. His successor, George Bush Jr, the current president, has two daughters.
And now Obama will move into the White House with two girls, Malia and Sasha. If he completes his full term and decides not to have another go at parenthood, then for 20 years no male children will have taken residence in the White House with their parents. The score since 1960 is 16-8 in favour of girls.
However, what does not augur well for presidential hopefuls is a ‘heroic’ war record. John McCain was a war hero. Another winner of several medals for bravery, John Kerry, lost in 2004 and the loser before him, Al Gore, was a Vietnam war veteran. Both lost to George Bush Jr, who dodged army service and never did anything worthwhile in his life.
Bill Clinton, who came before him, was an anti-war protester. He won against ‘heroes’ Bush Sr and Bob Dole in 1992 and 1996, though the former did get elected in 1988 against another navy veteran, Jimmy Carter. Ronald Reagan won two terms, but he never saw overseas service in the military on account of his nearsightedness.
In fact, the last authentic war hero in the US never to have lost a presidential election was John Kennedy back in 1960. Americans, it seems, don’t believe any longer that governance is a game of cowboys and Indians.
World - Internet revolution that elected Obama could save Earth;Gore
SAN FRANCISCO: Former US vice president Al Gore said an Internet revolution carrying Barack Obama to the White House should now focus its power on
stopping Earth's climate crisis.
The one-time presidential contender turned environmental champion told Web 2.0 Summit goers in San Francisco on Friday that technology has provided tools to save the planet while creating jobs and stimulating the crippled economy.
"The young people who have been inspired by Barack Obama's campaign and the movement that powered Barack Obama's campaign want a purpose," Gore said.
"One of the reasons we were all thrilled Tuesday night is it was pretty obvious this was a collectively intelligent decision."
The Internet's critical role in Democrat Obama's victory in the presidential race against Republican John McCain was a "great blow for victory" in addressing a "democracy crisis" stifling action against climate change, Gore said.
The Web has "revolutionized" nearly every aspect of running for US president and delivered an "electrifying redemption" of the founding national principle that all people are created equal, according to Gore.
"Some week," Gore said in greeting to an audience that leapt to its feet cheering. "It really was overwhelming. It couldn't have happened without the Internet."
Obama's victory, seen by many as a repudiation of policies of president George W. Bush, was validation of sorts for Gore, who lost to Bush in a controversial election outcome in 2000.
"Belated redemption is part of what we are celebrating this week," Gore said.
Since leaving politics Gore has been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his relentless efforts to combat climate change and starred in an Academy Award-winning global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."
He also founded Current TV, a cable television operation that taps into user-generated videos and news coverage fed to its website.
The one-time newspaper reporter said his reasons for creating Current included a belief in the need to "democratize television media."
"One of the main reasons why our political system has not been operating well until this election is the unhealthy influence of the television medium as it has operated," Gore said.
"The Internet comes in and democratizes information again and it is so exciting. All the vibrant forms of information are living on the Internet but TVs are still dampening it."
Current TV teamed with Twitter and Digg on election night to weave feeds from the popular Internet websites into its coverage of the vote.
The Web has the potential to "revolutionize almost every aspect" of running for US president, according to Gore. He believes that social activism made possible by people connecting and sharing information online is in its infancy.
"What happened in the election opens a full new range of possibilities and now is the time to really move swiftly to exploit these new possibilities," Gore said of turning the power of the Internet to cooling global warming.
Gore said Obama should announce a national goal of getting all US electric power from renewable and non-carbon energy within the next decade and spend the billions necessary to build an "electrinet" smart power grid.
"Web 2.0 has to have a purpose" Gore said.
"The purpose I would urge is to bring about a higher level of consciousness about our relationship to this planet and the imminent danger we face. We have everything we need to save it."
stopping Earth's climate crisis.
The one-time presidential contender turned environmental champion told Web 2.0 Summit goers in San Francisco on Friday that technology has provided tools to save the planet while creating jobs and stimulating the crippled economy.
"The young people who have been inspired by Barack Obama's campaign and the movement that powered Barack Obama's campaign want a purpose," Gore said.
"One of the reasons we were all thrilled Tuesday night is it was pretty obvious this was a collectively intelligent decision."
The Internet's critical role in Democrat Obama's victory in the presidential race against Republican John McCain was a "great blow for victory" in addressing a "democracy crisis" stifling action against climate change, Gore said.
The Web has "revolutionized" nearly every aspect of running for US president and delivered an "electrifying redemption" of the founding national principle that all people are created equal, according to Gore.
"Some week," Gore said in greeting to an audience that leapt to its feet cheering. "It really was overwhelming. It couldn't have happened without the Internet."
Obama's victory, seen by many as a repudiation of policies of president George W. Bush, was validation of sorts for Gore, who lost to Bush in a controversial election outcome in 2000.
"Belated redemption is part of what we are celebrating this week," Gore said.
Since leaving politics Gore has been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his relentless efforts to combat climate change and starred in an Academy Award-winning global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."
He also founded Current TV, a cable television operation that taps into user-generated videos and news coverage fed to its website.
The one-time newspaper reporter said his reasons for creating Current included a belief in the need to "democratize television media."
"One of the main reasons why our political system has not been operating well until this election is the unhealthy influence of the television medium as it has operated," Gore said.
"The Internet comes in and democratizes information again and it is so exciting. All the vibrant forms of information are living on the Internet but TVs are still dampening it."
Current TV teamed with Twitter and Digg on election night to weave feeds from the popular Internet websites into its coverage of the vote.
The Web has the potential to "revolutionize almost every aspect" of running for US president, according to Gore. He believes that social activism made possible by people connecting and sharing information online is in its infancy.
"What happened in the election opens a full new range of possibilities and now is the time to really move swiftly to exploit these new possibilities," Gore said of turning the power of the Internet to cooling global warming.
Gore said Obama should announce a national goal of getting all US electric power from renewable and non-carbon energy within the next decade and spend the billions necessary to build an "electrinet" smart power grid.
"Web 2.0 has to have a purpose" Gore said.
"The purpose I would urge is to bring about a higher level of consciousness about our relationship to this planet and the imminent danger we face. We have everything we need to save it."
Entertainment - Deepa Mehta to make film on Midnight's Children
MUMBAI: Salman Rushdie's acclaimed novel Midnight's Children is set to hit the silver screen, with Deepa Mehta coming forward to produce and direct a film based on the Bookers prize novel.
The film is expected to be completed by 2010. Rushdie and Mehta said they will be co-writing the screenplay on the novel, which is spread over 600 pages.
Shabana Azmi and Seema Biswas will be acting in the proposed film.
Published in 1981, Midnight’s Children is the fictional story of Saleem Sinai, who was born at the stroke of midnight on 15 August, 1947, the moment of India's independence.
Mehta is known for issue-based movies Earth (1996), Fire (1998) and the Oscar-nominated Water (2005).
The film is expected to be completed by 2010. Rushdie and Mehta said they will be co-writing the screenplay on the novel, which is spread over 600 pages.
Shabana Azmi and Seema Biswas will be acting in the proposed film.
Published in 1981, Midnight’s Children is the fictional story of Saleem Sinai, who was born at the stroke of midnight on 15 August, 1947, the moment of India's independence.
Mehta is known for issue-based movies Earth (1996), Fire (1998) and the Oscar-nominated Water (2005).
India - Indian companies climb on B-schools wishlist
Sujata Dutta Sachdeva
NEW DELHI: There may be a silver lining to the dark clouds of the meltdown for Indian corporates — top-notch talent is available, and willing to
settle for reasonable packages.
A survey conducted among final year students of India's best MBA schools — including the IIMs, XLRI Jamshedpur and Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management — shows that 71% would rather work in India than abroad, and don't expect a rise in average compensation packages from last year.
Besides, leading Indian groups like the Tatas and Reliance are among their most preferred employers, following the fall of top investment banks like Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan.
The study, ‘B-school Pulse' done by leading staffing company TeamLease, global research company Synovate and management portal MBA Universe throws up some interesting results. Traditional favourites like McKinsey, Hindustan Unilever, Boston Consulting Group and Proctor & Gamble make up the top four, while the MBA students shrugged off recent rumours about ICICI Bank to make it their fifth most preferred employer.
Tata Group moved up four places in the list of ‘Top 25 Most Coveted MBA Recruiters of 2008' to the sixth most coveted company to work for. A similar survey done in 25 B-schools last year ranked Tata Group at number 10.
The rise of Reliance Group is even more remarkable. It moved up a whopping 10 places and has become the seventh most attractive place to work for. Last year, the Reliance Group was ranked number 17. The Aditya Birla Group moved up two notches to No. 19 while Mahindra and Mahindra debuted on the list at No. 20.
"The recent meltdown of the financial markets has made a significant impact on majority of the B-school graduates. They prefer to tread cautiously in making career choices,'' says Sampath Shetty, VP, Permanent Staffing, TeamLease Services.
The fall of big investment bank like nine pins has meant they have lost their sheen among MBAs. Lehman Brothers, ranked number four last year and JP Morgan ranked number 11 last year have fallen off the list. Other foreign banks like Deutsche Bank and Barclay's Bank, too are no longer part of this coveted list. The void created by them is being filled by strong Indian brands like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HSBC and others.
In fact, MBA graduates feel that the sectors most likely to benefit and pull more quality talent due to the meltdown is: Management Consulting, FMCG, Telecom and Retailing. Diversified and Manufacturing is also likely to benefit. Interestingly, the meltdown has also meant compensation package which hovered between Rs 6 to Rs 15 lakh last year has not really changed. Their expectations have not risen at all this year.
NEW DELHI: There may be a silver lining to the dark clouds of the meltdown for Indian corporates — top-notch talent is available, and willing to
settle for reasonable packages.
A survey conducted among final year students of India's best MBA schools — including the IIMs, XLRI Jamshedpur and Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management — shows that 71% would rather work in India than abroad, and don't expect a rise in average compensation packages from last year.
Besides, leading Indian groups like the Tatas and Reliance are among their most preferred employers, following the fall of top investment banks like Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan.
The study, ‘B-school Pulse' done by leading staffing company TeamLease, global research company Synovate and management portal MBA Universe throws up some interesting results. Traditional favourites like McKinsey, Hindustan Unilever, Boston Consulting Group and Proctor & Gamble make up the top four, while the MBA students shrugged off recent rumours about ICICI Bank to make it their fifth most preferred employer.
Tata Group moved up four places in the list of ‘Top 25 Most Coveted MBA Recruiters of 2008' to the sixth most coveted company to work for. A similar survey done in 25 B-schools last year ranked Tata Group at number 10.
The rise of Reliance Group is even more remarkable. It moved up a whopping 10 places and has become the seventh most attractive place to work for. Last year, the Reliance Group was ranked number 17. The Aditya Birla Group moved up two notches to No. 19 while Mahindra and Mahindra debuted on the list at No. 20.
"The recent meltdown of the financial markets has made a significant impact on majority of the B-school graduates. They prefer to tread cautiously in making career choices,'' says Sampath Shetty, VP, Permanent Staffing, TeamLease Services.
The fall of big investment bank like nine pins has meant they have lost their sheen among MBAs. Lehman Brothers, ranked number four last year and JP Morgan ranked number 11 last year have fallen off the list. Other foreign banks like Deutsche Bank and Barclay's Bank, too are no longer part of this coveted list. The void created by them is being filled by strong Indian brands like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HSBC and others.
In fact, MBA graduates feel that the sectors most likely to benefit and pull more quality talent due to the meltdown is: Management Consulting, FMCG, Telecom and Retailing. Diversified and Manufacturing is also likely to benefit. Interestingly, the meltdown has also meant compensation package which hovered between Rs 6 to Rs 15 lakh last year has not really changed. Their expectations have not risen at all this year.
Business - Google CEO says no to tech czar job in Obama's adminstration
SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Friday he would not serve as technology czar in Barack Obama's administration if he was
asked.
"I love working at Google and I'm very happy to stay at Google, so the answer is no," Schmidt said in response to a question from CNBC host Jim Cramer in an appearance on his television show. Schmidt, who was one of the president-elect's most high-profile supporters, was in Chicago Friday as part of Obama's 17-person economic transition economic advisory board. The group met to discuss how to deal with the ongoing financial crisis. Schmidt said he detected a sense of urgency in Obama, who he expects to "listen carefully" and act.
The meeting was one of "great seriousness," he said. Schmidt favors a new stimulus package that is more carefully focused than the previous effort. He said the first stimulus plan was "a bad decision on their part. A much better decision is to give out money that solves some other problem, like infrastructure."
He also said Obama shares his belief that green technology can help to revitalize the economy. Laid-off autoworkers in Michigan could be put back to work building batteries for use in hybrid vehicles, Schmidt offered. Google has been active in investing in green technology companies, and Schmidt has expressed a deep personal interest in the area. When asked about the current state of advertising, Schmidt acknowledged that times were tough.
Google is the dominant player in Internet search advertising. "Advertising is one of the first things that get cut, and its almost always a mistake, because you advertise to get revenue." However, Schmidt said he expects advertising to bounce back quickly. Shares of Google closed the regular session down 8 cents at $331.14.
asked.
"I love working at Google and I'm very happy to stay at Google, so the answer is no," Schmidt said in response to a question from CNBC host Jim Cramer in an appearance on his television show. Schmidt, who was one of the president-elect's most high-profile supporters, was in Chicago Friday as part of Obama's 17-person economic transition economic advisory board. The group met to discuss how to deal with the ongoing financial crisis. Schmidt said he detected a sense of urgency in Obama, who he expects to "listen carefully" and act.
The meeting was one of "great seriousness," he said. Schmidt favors a new stimulus package that is more carefully focused than the previous effort. He said the first stimulus plan was "a bad decision on their part. A much better decision is to give out money that solves some other problem, like infrastructure."
He also said Obama shares his belief that green technology can help to revitalize the economy. Laid-off autoworkers in Michigan could be put back to work building batteries for use in hybrid vehicles, Schmidt offered. Google has been active in investing in green technology companies, and Schmidt has expressed a deep personal interest in the area. When asked about the current state of advertising, Schmidt acknowledged that times were tough.
Google is the dominant player in Internet search advertising. "Advertising is one of the first things that get cut, and its almost always a mistake, because you advertise to get revenue." However, Schmidt said he expects advertising to bounce back quickly. Shares of Google closed the regular session down 8 cents at $331.14.
India - I&B ministry bats for political ads on radio
NEW DELHI: The information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry has recommended that radio should be permitted to carry political advertisements on the same lines as television channels, giving a revenue boost to the sector.
The recommendation has been made to the Election Commission on the eve of formal notification of elections to four states including the National Capital Territory of Delhi and a few months ahead of the next general elections.
Confirming the move, ministry joint secretary (broadcasting) Zohra Chatterjee said the recommendation had been made as TV had been carrying such advertising following a Supreme Court order. She said private FM broadcasters had for some time been urging the Government to permit them to carry the ads since TV had been permitted.
Another senior ministry source said "the ball is now in the court of the Commission" but expected the latter to agree on grounds of equity.
Hailing the decision, Association of Radio Operators of India (AROI) general secretary Uday Chawla said the step was long overdue. Allowing political advertisements on radio would enhance the sector's revenue which is also shared with the government.
It is expected that if the recommendation is accepted, the radio and particularly the FM radio industry may rake in revenue to the extent of Rs 1.2 billion between now and the general elections, expected in May next year, sources said.
Advertisements on radio had been banned on the commission through a letter sent to chief electoral officers on 8 November on the ground that "the Code for Commercial Advertising on the All India Radio prohibits advertisement of political nature."
The I&B ministry confirmed that the Code for Advertising on the AIR is also applicable for advertisements on FM Channels. Therefore, it may be seen that advertisements of political nature are prohibited on all Radio Channels.
The clarification was issued following some queries by broadcasters subsequent to a Supreme Court judgment of 13 April 2004.
Earlier in February 2004, the Commission had banned election-related and political advertisements on both radio and television. Both the Ministry and the Commission had also said that television channels would not be allowed to carry political ads as the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 prohibited them from doing so.
According to the provisions in the Advertisement Code, "No advertisement shall be permitted, the objects whereof, are wholly or mainly of a religious or political nature; advertisements must not be directed towards any religious or political end."
However, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) had protested, saying broadcasters should be treated at par with the print media and should not be deprived of this advertising opportunity. It had, therefore, said television channels must also not be barred from carrying political ads, estimating revenues worth about Rs 600 million at that time.
Broadcasters had also decided to go ahead and carry political ads based on letters issued by the Election Commission in 2002 and 2003 when it permitted them to carry such ads after the Andhra Pradesh High Court judgment in 1999. Sun Group had also filed a petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court on this issue around that time.
The recommendation has been made to the Election Commission on the eve of formal notification of elections to four states including the National Capital Territory of Delhi and a few months ahead of the next general elections.
Confirming the move, ministry joint secretary (broadcasting) Zohra Chatterjee said the recommendation had been made as TV had been carrying such advertising following a Supreme Court order. She said private FM broadcasters had for some time been urging the Government to permit them to carry the ads since TV had been permitted.
Another senior ministry source said "the ball is now in the court of the Commission" but expected the latter to agree on grounds of equity.
Hailing the decision, Association of Radio Operators of India (AROI) general secretary Uday Chawla said the step was long overdue. Allowing political advertisements on radio would enhance the sector's revenue which is also shared with the government.
It is expected that if the recommendation is accepted, the radio and particularly the FM radio industry may rake in revenue to the extent of Rs 1.2 billion between now and the general elections, expected in May next year, sources said.
Advertisements on radio had been banned on the commission through a letter sent to chief electoral officers on 8 November on the ground that "the Code for Commercial Advertising on the All India Radio prohibits advertisement of political nature."
The I&B ministry confirmed that the Code for Advertising on the AIR is also applicable for advertisements on FM Channels. Therefore, it may be seen that advertisements of political nature are prohibited on all Radio Channels.
The clarification was issued following some queries by broadcasters subsequent to a Supreme Court judgment of 13 April 2004.
Earlier in February 2004, the Commission had banned election-related and political advertisements on both radio and television. Both the Ministry and the Commission had also said that television channels would not be allowed to carry political ads as the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 prohibited them from doing so.
According to the provisions in the Advertisement Code, "No advertisement shall be permitted, the objects whereof, are wholly or mainly of a religious or political nature; advertisements must not be directed towards any religious or political end."
However, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) had protested, saying broadcasters should be treated at par with the print media and should not be deprived of this advertising opportunity. It had, therefore, said television channels must also not be barred from carrying political ads, estimating revenues worth about Rs 600 million at that time.
Broadcasters had also decided to go ahead and carry political ads based on letters issued by the Election Commission in 2002 and 2003 when it permitted them to carry such ads after the Andhra Pradesh High Court judgment in 1999. Sun Group had also filed a petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court on this issue around that time.
India - Chandrayaan to enter lunar orbit on Saturday evening
Srinivas Laxman
MUMBAI: Saturday evening would mark the D-day for India’s prestigious Rs 386-crore moon mission, Chandrayaan-1 , when the tricky lunar orbit
insertion (LOI) takes place – expectedly between 5 pm and 6 pm. The success of the moon mission, which lifted off on October 22, depends on this.
According to space experts, LOI is not without danger because it means traversing through an area in which the gravitational forces of the earth and moon nearly cancel each other out. Consequently, even a small deviation could send the spacecraft into a crash course towards the moon or earth – or on a path leading into deep space. Experts recall that about 30% of unmanned moon missions of the US and the former Soviet Union failed during an LOI.
On the eve of Chandrayaan’s LOI, an Isro official said: “Despite the challenging manouevre on Saturday, the professionalism of scientists and engineers makes us approach the task with optimism , although I admit to a feeling of nervous apprehension . It will be a test for everyone , including the deep space network at Byalalu and the electronic brain of the Chandrayaan spacecraft,’’ he said.
He said the main challenge before LOI was targetting the spacecraft accurately to pass near the moon on Saturday at a “safe’ ’ distance of a few hundred kilometres. The distance between the earth and the moon is 3,86,000 km. “At that distance, it will be a big challenge for us to track the spacecraft, because the moon itself will be moving around the earth at the speed of 3,600 km per hour,’’ he said. It will take about 1.3 seconds for a signal to travel from Isro’s command network at Bangalore to Chandrayaan.
Other Isro officials said that during an LOI, the orientation of the spacecraft, while firing its liquid apogee motor for about 800 seconds, will be very important.
MUMBAI: Saturday evening would mark the D-day for India’s prestigious Rs 386-crore moon mission, Chandrayaan-1 , when the tricky lunar orbit
insertion (LOI) takes place – expectedly between 5 pm and 6 pm. The success of the moon mission, which lifted off on October 22, depends on this.
According to space experts, LOI is not without danger because it means traversing through an area in which the gravitational forces of the earth and moon nearly cancel each other out. Consequently, even a small deviation could send the spacecraft into a crash course towards the moon or earth – or on a path leading into deep space. Experts recall that about 30% of unmanned moon missions of the US and the former Soviet Union failed during an LOI.
On the eve of Chandrayaan’s LOI, an Isro official said: “Despite the challenging manouevre on Saturday, the professionalism of scientists and engineers makes us approach the task with optimism , although I admit to a feeling of nervous apprehension . It will be a test for everyone , including the deep space network at Byalalu and the electronic brain of the Chandrayaan spacecraft,’’ he said.
He said the main challenge before LOI was targetting the spacecraft accurately to pass near the moon on Saturday at a “safe’ ’ distance of a few hundred kilometres. The distance between the earth and the moon is 3,86,000 km. “At that distance, it will be a big challenge for us to track the spacecraft, because the moon itself will be moving around the earth at the speed of 3,600 km per hour,’’ he said. It will take about 1.3 seconds for a signal to travel from Isro’s command network at Bangalore to Chandrayaan.
Other Isro officials said that during an LOI, the orientation of the spacecraft, while firing its liquid apogee motor for about 800 seconds, will be very important.
Business - iPhone make headway in corporate market
SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Inc's new iPhone, already racking up blockbuster sales with consumers, appears to be making small but steady inroads into the
coveted US corporate market dominated by Research in Motion Ltd's BlackBerry.
While most companies are unwilling to abandon their trusted BlackBerries, analysts say a grassroots movement may be taking place among employees, particularly at small and mid-size companies, who have bought their own iPhone and are convincing their employers to support it.
"I see very few companies turning off BlackBerries," said Jack Gold, founder of research firm J Gold Associates. "I see more companies turning on support for the iPhone."
Gold estimates at least 15 to 20 percent of people who buy the iPhone are going to use it for business reasons. "Those are people who have gone out and bought these things and have taken it to a company and said 'make it work,' or have made it work somehow," he said.
Apple sold 6.9 million units of its new 3G iPhone in the September quarter, versus 6.1 million BlackBerries. Although iPhone sales are widely expected to be hurt by the economic downturn, the gadget's fast start had the industry buzzing.
Apple fired its opening salvo in the battle for the enterprise market last March, when it announced that the 3G iPhone would feature Microsoft Corp's Exchange for corporate e-mail and other new security standards.
At the time, big names like Genentech Inc, Nike Inc and Walt Disney Co announced they would support the iPhone. Genentech said it would deploy 3,000 to employees.
Still, no one doubts that the BlackBerry continues to own the enterprise space. Apple will have a tough time cracking industries such as finance and government, which have higher email security requirements, analysts say.
And Apple may view the enterprise market as simply icing on the cake of its consumer success. The time, effort and money required to satisfy corporate customers may not be something Apple is interested in.
Of course, RIM is making its own push in the opposite direction. Its as-yet-unreleased touch-screen Storm smartphone is a play for the consumer market.
iPhone targets BlackBerry's turf
Surveys of IT managers typically give RIM 70 to 80 percent of the enterprise market, and Apple 10 to 15 percent. But some analysts say this just measures corporate smartphone purchases. When measured by enterprise "email seats," or accounts, the iPhone is showing some traction.
"IT managers rarely make top-down decisions on new technologies, which often enter from the side or the bottom, and the iPhone will probably come along those same routes," said Cowen & Co analyst Matthew Hoffman, adding that Apple's progress is happening somewhat below the radar. He said the iPhone's powerful Web browser shouldn't be overlooked for its appeal to business people on the road.
Michelle Wilcove, who works in sales for Bluewolf Inc, a "cloud" computing consulting firm, bought her own iPhone because she prefers its user interface. She estimates around 25 percent of her company's 200 employees are using iPhones, saying, "it's growing fast."
Ken Dulaney, vice president of mobile computing at research group Gartner Inc, expects the iPhone to double its share of the enterprise wireless email market in a year. "I think they're having a lot of luck getting into the enterprise, although still to a limited extent," he said.
IDC senior analyst Ryan Reith sees a "slow-moving" trend toward the iPhone with small and medium-sized companies. But he notes that large companies will buy few, if any, iPhones for employees as they are unlikely to scrap long-standing security standards and purchasing networks any time soon.
Nonetheless, Reith said, "It's inevitable that Apple will move into the enterprise space."
coveted US corporate market dominated by Research in Motion Ltd's BlackBerry.
While most companies are unwilling to abandon their trusted BlackBerries, analysts say a grassroots movement may be taking place among employees, particularly at small and mid-size companies, who have bought their own iPhone and are convincing their employers to support it.
"I see very few companies turning off BlackBerries," said Jack Gold, founder of research firm J Gold Associates. "I see more companies turning on support for the iPhone."
Gold estimates at least 15 to 20 percent of people who buy the iPhone are going to use it for business reasons. "Those are people who have gone out and bought these things and have taken it to a company and said 'make it work,' or have made it work somehow," he said.
Apple sold 6.9 million units of its new 3G iPhone in the September quarter, versus 6.1 million BlackBerries. Although iPhone sales are widely expected to be hurt by the economic downturn, the gadget's fast start had the industry buzzing.
Apple fired its opening salvo in the battle for the enterprise market last March, when it announced that the 3G iPhone would feature Microsoft Corp's Exchange for corporate e-mail and other new security standards.
At the time, big names like Genentech Inc, Nike Inc and Walt Disney Co announced they would support the iPhone. Genentech said it would deploy 3,000 to employees.
Still, no one doubts that the BlackBerry continues to own the enterprise space. Apple will have a tough time cracking industries such as finance and government, which have higher email security requirements, analysts say.
And Apple may view the enterprise market as simply icing on the cake of its consumer success. The time, effort and money required to satisfy corporate customers may not be something Apple is interested in.
Of course, RIM is making its own push in the opposite direction. Its as-yet-unreleased touch-screen Storm smartphone is a play for the consumer market.
iPhone targets BlackBerry's turf
Surveys of IT managers typically give RIM 70 to 80 percent of the enterprise market, and Apple 10 to 15 percent. But some analysts say this just measures corporate smartphone purchases. When measured by enterprise "email seats," or accounts, the iPhone is showing some traction.
"IT managers rarely make top-down decisions on new technologies, which often enter from the side or the bottom, and the iPhone will probably come along those same routes," said Cowen & Co analyst Matthew Hoffman, adding that Apple's progress is happening somewhat below the radar. He said the iPhone's powerful Web browser shouldn't be overlooked for its appeal to business people on the road.
Michelle Wilcove, who works in sales for Bluewolf Inc, a "cloud" computing consulting firm, bought her own iPhone because she prefers its user interface. She estimates around 25 percent of her company's 200 employees are using iPhones, saying, "it's growing fast."
Ken Dulaney, vice president of mobile computing at research group Gartner Inc, expects the iPhone to double its share of the enterprise wireless email market in a year. "I think they're having a lot of luck getting into the enterprise, although still to a limited extent," he said.
IDC senior analyst Ryan Reith sees a "slow-moving" trend toward the iPhone with small and medium-sized companies. But he notes that large companies will buy few, if any, iPhones for employees as they are unlikely to scrap long-standing security standards and purchasing networks any time soon.
Nonetheless, Reith said, "It's inevitable that Apple will move into the enterprise space."
World - Carbon Dioxide levels in Danger Zone
WASHINGTON: Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have entered the danger zone and must be reduced if climate disasters are to be averted,
according to researchers.
US, British and French scientists, including two from Yale, said in a study that optimum CO2 level should be less than 350 parts per million (ppm) - a dramatic change from most studies that have pegged the danger level for CO2 at 450 ppm or higher.
Atmospheric CO2 is currently 385 ppm and is increasing by about two ppm every year from the burning of coal, oil, gas and forests.
"This work and other recent publications suggest that we have reached CO2 levels that compromise the stability of the polar ice sheets," said author Mark Pagani, Yale professor of geology and geophysics.
"How fast ice sheets and sea level will respond are still poorly understood, but given the potential size of the disaster, I think it's best not to learn this lesson firsthand," he said.
The statement is based on improved data on the earth's climate history and ongoing observations of change, especially in the polar regions, said an Yale University release.
The authors use evidence of how the earth responded to past changes of CO2 along with more recent patterns of climate changes to show that atmospheric CO2 has already entered a danger zone.
Coal is the largest source of atmospheric CO2 and the one that would be most practical to eliminate. Oil resources already may be about half depleted, depending upon the magnitude of undiscovered reserves, and it is still not practicable to capture CO2 emerging from vehicle tailpipes, the way it can be with coal-burning facilities, note the scientists, the study said.
These findings have ben published in Open Atmospheric Science Journal.
according to researchers.
US, British and French scientists, including two from Yale, said in a study that optimum CO2 level should be less than 350 parts per million (ppm) - a dramatic change from most studies that have pegged the danger level for CO2 at 450 ppm or higher.
Atmospheric CO2 is currently 385 ppm and is increasing by about two ppm every year from the burning of coal, oil, gas and forests.
"This work and other recent publications suggest that we have reached CO2 levels that compromise the stability of the polar ice sheets," said author Mark Pagani, Yale professor of geology and geophysics.
"How fast ice sheets and sea level will respond are still poorly understood, but given the potential size of the disaster, I think it's best not to learn this lesson firsthand," he said.
The statement is based on improved data on the earth's climate history and ongoing observations of change, especially in the polar regions, said an Yale University release.
The authors use evidence of how the earth responded to past changes of CO2 along with more recent patterns of climate changes to show that atmospheric CO2 has already entered a danger zone.
Coal is the largest source of atmospheric CO2 and the one that would be most practical to eliminate. Oil resources already may be about half depleted, depending upon the magnitude of undiscovered reserves, and it is still not practicable to capture CO2 emerging from vehicle tailpipes, the way it can be with coal-burning facilities, note the scientists, the study said.
These findings have ben published in Open Atmospheric Science Journal.
India - Advani tries an Obama;To launch website
Mohua Chatterjee
NEW DELHI: For voters with questions or issues to take up with L K Advani in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP's prime ministerial
candidate is ready for a direct interaction with them from Saturday.
Advani will communicate with his voters, specially the young and tech-savvy, through an interactive website in both Hindi and English being launched by the BJP to coincide with his 81st birthday on Saturday. This would be the first Hindi political website in the country, pointed out the man behind the idea, Sudheendra Kulkarni.
In a first of its kind, where a prime ministerial candidate will be open to questions and online discussions, Advani plans to devote enough attention to it throughout his campaign period leading to Lok Sabha polls.
The website will be launched by former J&K governor Gen S K Sinha at the party headquarters here in the presence of top party leaders including Advani. In the interactive section, anybody can post their views or questions, which will also be a feedback for Advani, his office said. The website has been designed keeping in mind that India is progressing rapidly in technology, a lot of young people are tech-savvy and young voters are important for the party.
"The idea is to project Advani as a PM candidate in the most innovative and creative manner for the voters. Also, we want to create a platform for media, to access all information about his campaign," explained Kulkarni. "We will also collate the ideas and views that come in from young people as feedback for Advani," he added. The opening page of the website shows Advani pitching for a "strong, self-confident and prosperous India".
NEW DELHI: For voters with questions or issues to take up with L K Advani in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP's prime ministerial
candidate is ready for a direct interaction with them from Saturday.
Advani will communicate with his voters, specially the young and tech-savvy, through an interactive website in both Hindi and English being launched by the BJP to coincide with his 81st birthday on Saturday. This would be the first Hindi political website in the country, pointed out the man behind the idea, Sudheendra Kulkarni.
In a first of its kind, where a prime ministerial candidate will be open to questions and online discussions, Advani plans to devote enough attention to it throughout his campaign period leading to Lok Sabha polls.
The website will be launched by former J&K governor Gen S K Sinha at the party headquarters here in the presence of top party leaders including Advani. In the interactive section, anybody can post their views or questions, which will also be a feedback for Advani, his office said. The website has been designed keeping in mind that India is progressing rapidly in technology, a lot of young people are tech-savvy and young voters are important for the party.
"The idea is to project Advani as a PM candidate in the most innovative and creative manner for the voters. Also, we want to create a platform for media, to access all information about his campaign," explained Kulkarni. "We will also collate the ideas and views that come in from young people as feedback for Advani," he added. The opening page of the website shows Advani pitching for a "strong, self-confident and prosperous India".
Entertainment - India;Hindi TV Producers cease production
MUMBAI: 7 November will go down in history as the night when India's television industry began the process of shutting down production.
Following a meeting of the core committee of producers under the Association of Motion Pictures and Television Programme Producers of India (AMPTPP), it was decided that weekday general entertainment TV show producers would cease production or set construction from midnight.
Producers of Hindi general entertainment shows which were to be shown over this weekend could, however, continue to film until Sunday midnight, was the message sent out to the community.
"From Monday onwards, TV viewers will have to make do with a slate consisting of programming re-runs," says an industry observer. The only exception to this stand from the industry is Big Boss on Colors, in which participants have been holed up in a house, which will continue filming till the show ends on 22 November.
"We have informed our producers to stop filming from tonight," said the business head of a leading general entertainment channel.
A cross section of producers Indiantelevision.com correspondents spoke to agreed that they would follow the industry in the shutdown plan.
According to sources close to the situation, the producers had given the workers' federation till 3.30 pm this evening to revert. But that did not happen. And hence broadcasters and producers took the hard stance, following a long meeting in the evening.
Clearly, it will be interesting to see how this soap opera unravels.
Following a meeting of the core committee of producers under the Association of Motion Pictures and Television Programme Producers of India (AMPTPP), it was decided that weekday general entertainment TV show producers would cease production or set construction from midnight.
Producers of Hindi general entertainment shows which were to be shown over this weekend could, however, continue to film until Sunday midnight, was the message sent out to the community.
"From Monday onwards, TV viewers will have to make do with a slate consisting of programming re-runs," says an industry observer. The only exception to this stand from the industry is Big Boss on Colors, in which participants have been holed up in a house, which will continue filming till the show ends on 22 November.
"We have informed our producers to stop filming from tonight," said the business head of a leading general entertainment channel.
A cross section of producers Indiantelevision.com correspondents spoke to agreed that they would follow the industry in the shutdown plan.
According to sources close to the situation, the producers had given the workers' federation till 3.30 pm this evening to revert. But that did not happen. And hence broadcasters and producers took the hard stance, following a long meeting in the evening.
Clearly, it will be interesting to see how this soap opera unravels.
Business - India;Audi lines up new launches
Chanchal Pal Chauhan
DELHI: German luxury car maker Audi will launch an array of new products to triple its annual sales to 3,000 units by 2010. The company has already launched five models in the last 22 months of its operations in India.
It had achieved sales growth of 312% to 884 units in the January-October period against 292 units in the corresponding period last year. Audi plans to launch a series of coupes, convertibles, and the small sedan A1 in India in near future to sustain its current top gear growth.
The company launched its award-winning super sports car R8 at a price of Rs 1.17 crore (excluding local taxes and transportation cost) in Delhi on Friday.
Audi India managing director Benoit Tiers told ET, “India is the fastest growing market in the world for Audi, even faster than China, where we sell a lakh units every year.
It makes sense to bring our new cars here to tap the potential by extending our portfolio which will be done in a phased manner. We are looking at building volumes to gradually emerge one of the top three luxury car companies in India.”
Audi has invested 30 million euros at its Aurangabad facility in Maharashtra which has a capacity of 1,500 units per annum and currently produces 1,000 units annually. It will be putting in more money into the Indian operations to raise capacity.
DELHI: German luxury car maker Audi will launch an array of new products to triple its annual sales to 3,000 units by 2010. The company has already launched five models in the last 22 months of its operations in India.
It had achieved sales growth of 312% to 884 units in the January-October period against 292 units in the corresponding period last year. Audi plans to launch a series of coupes, convertibles, and the small sedan A1 in India in near future to sustain its current top gear growth.
The company launched its award-winning super sports car R8 at a price of Rs 1.17 crore (excluding local taxes and transportation cost) in Delhi on Friday.
Audi India managing director Benoit Tiers told ET, “India is the fastest growing market in the world for Audi, even faster than China, where we sell a lakh units every year.
It makes sense to bring our new cars here to tap the potential by extending our portfolio which will be done in a phased manner. We are looking at building volumes to gradually emerge one of the top three luxury car companies in India.”
Audi has invested 30 million euros at its Aurangabad facility in Maharashtra which has a capacity of 1,500 units per annum and currently produces 1,000 units annually. It will be putting in more money into the Indian operations to raise capacity.
Lifestyle - 10 things irresistible in men
Monika Rawal
Sense of humour
This one undeniably tops the list as most women find it irresistible when men are at their wittiest best. One of the biggest turn-ons, it also helps scoring over many arguments and thus is the top secret for a blissful conjugal life.
"Wit is a rare commodity, which reflects intellect and presence of mind. A good sense of humour also helps you and your partner avoid fights, as most of the issues are treated in a lighter way. Physical beauty may fade away, but a man must know how to keep his girl smiling forever," shares 26-year-old Kanishka Datta.
Hidden benefit : In case of an argument, women love being sardonic to their partners. If you learn to laugh that sarcasm away and do not react harshly, more than half of the spat moments can be avoided. And, may be, sooner or later, she will realise that she was just overreacting and will be thankful for your patience and love.
Clean shaven chest
Here comes an element of sex appeal that women find hard to resist. While waxing body parts used to be a female prerogative earlier, it has now become an accepted norm in men. Flaunting a clean shaven look and a dare to bare attitude is a sure bet to turn heads. After all, which woman will like to miss that peek-a-boo masculinity quotient that comes from unbuttoning the top three buttons of a man's shirt? Twenty nine year-old Garima Khurana, a Delhi based boutique owner states, "I find men with a clean shaven look super cool, sexy and more attractive to make love to. During those passionate moments also, you can enjoy his body's warmth with more pleasure."
Hidden benefit : In moments of passion, while kissing a man all over, women wish for a cleaner body that brings a smooth feel to the whole act.
Body art
Metro sexual males have changed the gender notions, as piercing is no longer associated with women alone. Women are equally turned on by guys who carry funky body art. Ankita Basu, (33) a Bangalore-based advertising professional recalls, "I thought men look horrible with piercing on any body part, but when my boyfriend got his upper lip pierced, it looked really cool. Not only did it enhance his personality, but even provoked me to get going for a tender lip kiss every time I saw him."
Expressing her obsession for tattooed men, Shipra Arora, a college student says, "A completely tattooed body might not be a fad, but I find men with a huge tattoo on either side of their neck or just near the abdomen, really hot. Moreover, the fact that men flaunt it overtly without any fears of skin show, wearing low-waist jeans and deep neck tees makes it all the more appealing."
Hidden benefit : Piercing done on moan zones such as the tongue, ears and belly button spices up the lovemaking act.
Toned body and six pack wonder
With the Bollywood brigade going gaga over six packs abs, women are drooling over the muscular look. Women confess that a flat chest or a flabby tummy is no more a turn on. Shaped thighs, well toned hips and a lean waistline complemented with visible six pack abs make up for a perfect package. Parul Sood, (39), a house-maker feels, "I find men with a well toned physique and in shape body an ultimate symbol of seduction. They score highly on sex appeal, personality and attraction quotient. Being in bed with someone with a ten-on-ten body makes all your sexual fantasies come alive."
Hidden benefit : A toned body is great to make love to and can give you an idea about the energy level of your man.
Hygiene lover
If you find impeccable cleanliness to be extremely feminine, think again! The fact that females are very particular about personal hygiene makes them seek men with similar attributes. Dr. Keerti Mehra, (43) says, "Men who are extra cautious about personal and surrounding hygiene appeal to me the most. Their desire to smell and look fresh all day creates a broader comfort zone."
Hidden benefit : Women love the feel good factor that comes from being hygienically safe. So a man taking showers, brushing teeth at least twice a day, wearing clean clothes and good shoes, besides smelling good are considered as the right pick.
Sweaty dampness
The wet and moist skin, be it after a warm shower or a shave, acts like an aphrodisiac for women, as it spreads a lasting aura. Rashmi Sinha, (30), a software engineer says, "It's a pleasant feeling when I kiss my husband after he's through over with his shave. I also enjoy giving him a hug right after a shower when his body is a little soggy, it simply adds on to the mood. Most of the times, it's during the wee hours that his sweaty body sensation tempts me and I just can't resist falling for him."
Hidden benefit : The get-wet sweaty sensation brings a similar feel that a couple enjoys during and after a sex session; where the body reduces heat due to ignited love hormones.
Flirtatious attitude
Stop suspecting your man all the time! Let him enjoy, flirt and hang out with other girls as most women feel that flirtatious behaviour in men is an enticing feature. Not only does it hint at a man's comfort level with women, but also injects a feeling of security because flirtatious men turn out to be more loyal to their partners. "Of course my man is not a commodity, but I love having someone who is open minded and liberal. So, I find it great when my fiancé flirts with my female friends. I do not see any harm being done to our relationship, rather it lets him come out of the closet and that's how I want my man to be."
Hidden benefit : Women know how to act smart! Allowing your man to be flirtatious is a clear indication for him that the same rule applies to his female counterpart.
Gelled hair
Many men think that the gelled hair look with long, untrimmed spikes is a turn on, but what women are looking for is neat hair. Furthermore, women find hair gel a complete add-on to get that cool dude look right in place. "I love the way some men sweep off their hair in a backwards direction with their fingers. The identical gap formed between the layers looks quite attractive and can easily woo a woman," says Amrita Bhanot, an MBA student.
Hidden benefit : While hugging or kissing, women love moving their fingers through a man's hair and the hair gel softens their hair further, making the act more passionate.
Tempting fragrance
Be it a nice perfume, a hair gel or an after-shave lotion, the way a man smells is the ultimate gratification. It immediately draws a woman's attention and is one of the few things that attract a woman in their first meeting. "I love to smell good, so I want men around me to smell good too. But more importantly, a good smell evokes my senses and I feel more attracted towards such a man. Such fragrances through perfumes or shaving lotions, add more flavour to romance as it kind of pushes you towards your man," feels Sarika Majumdar, (27), a PR professional.
Hidden benefit : Fragrances act as mood lifters and women are in love with certain smells, so men need not put in an extra effort; so the right choice of a scent can help.
Macho man
A man with extended sideburns, trimmed moustaches (optional) and a beard (goatee, French or just regular) is certainly the forever look a woman longs for. Though Gen X males are opting for an uber cool look, but there are still women, who find macho men charming. "I feel a well kept moustache is synonymous with 'a real man'. Even when men with moustaches start ageing, you won't notice any major changes in their personality and that's what I adore about them," says 43-year-old Sushma, married for 17 years.
Hidden benefit : It's 'a matter of pride' for women to be the arm-candy to a man who portrays a typical macho personality and has a distinct image from that of a metro sexual male.
Sense of humour
This one undeniably tops the list as most women find it irresistible when men are at their wittiest best. One of the biggest turn-ons, it also helps scoring over many arguments and thus is the top secret for a blissful conjugal life.
"Wit is a rare commodity, which reflects intellect and presence of mind. A good sense of humour also helps you and your partner avoid fights, as most of the issues are treated in a lighter way. Physical beauty may fade away, but a man must know how to keep his girl smiling forever," shares 26-year-old Kanishka Datta.
Hidden benefit : In case of an argument, women love being sardonic to their partners. If you learn to laugh that sarcasm away and do not react harshly, more than half of the spat moments can be avoided. And, may be, sooner or later, she will realise that she was just overreacting and will be thankful for your patience and love.
Clean shaven chest
Here comes an element of sex appeal that women find hard to resist. While waxing body parts used to be a female prerogative earlier, it has now become an accepted norm in men. Flaunting a clean shaven look and a dare to bare attitude is a sure bet to turn heads. After all, which woman will like to miss that peek-a-boo masculinity quotient that comes from unbuttoning the top three buttons of a man's shirt? Twenty nine year-old Garima Khurana, a Delhi based boutique owner states, "I find men with a clean shaven look super cool, sexy and more attractive to make love to. During those passionate moments also, you can enjoy his body's warmth with more pleasure."
Hidden benefit : In moments of passion, while kissing a man all over, women wish for a cleaner body that brings a smooth feel to the whole act.
Body art
Metro sexual males have changed the gender notions, as piercing is no longer associated with women alone. Women are equally turned on by guys who carry funky body art. Ankita Basu, (33) a Bangalore-based advertising professional recalls, "I thought men look horrible with piercing on any body part, but when my boyfriend got his upper lip pierced, it looked really cool. Not only did it enhance his personality, but even provoked me to get going for a tender lip kiss every time I saw him."
Expressing her obsession for tattooed men, Shipra Arora, a college student says, "A completely tattooed body might not be a fad, but I find men with a huge tattoo on either side of their neck or just near the abdomen, really hot. Moreover, the fact that men flaunt it overtly without any fears of skin show, wearing low-waist jeans and deep neck tees makes it all the more appealing."
Hidden benefit : Piercing done on moan zones such as the tongue, ears and belly button spices up the lovemaking act.
Toned body and six pack wonder
With the Bollywood brigade going gaga over six packs abs, women are drooling over the muscular look. Women confess that a flat chest or a flabby tummy is no more a turn on. Shaped thighs, well toned hips and a lean waistline complemented with visible six pack abs make up for a perfect package. Parul Sood, (39), a house-maker feels, "I find men with a well toned physique and in shape body an ultimate symbol of seduction. They score highly on sex appeal, personality and attraction quotient. Being in bed with someone with a ten-on-ten body makes all your sexual fantasies come alive."
Hidden benefit : A toned body is great to make love to and can give you an idea about the energy level of your man.
Hygiene lover
If you find impeccable cleanliness to be extremely feminine, think again! The fact that females are very particular about personal hygiene makes them seek men with similar attributes. Dr. Keerti Mehra, (43) says, "Men who are extra cautious about personal and surrounding hygiene appeal to me the most. Their desire to smell and look fresh all day creates a broader comfort zone."
Hidden benefit : Women love the feel good factor that comes from being hygienically safe. So a man taking showers, brushing teeth at least twice a day, wearing clean clothes and good shoes, besides smelling good are considered as the right pick.
Sweaty dampness
The wet and moist skin, be it after a warm shower or a shave, acts like an aphrodisiac for women, as it spreads a lasting aura. Rashmi Sinha, (30), a software engineer says, "It's a pleasant feeling when I kiss my husband after he's through over with his shave. I also enjoy giving him a hug right after a shower when his body is a little soggy, it simply adds on to the mood. Most of the times, it's during the wee hours that his sweaty body sensation tempts me and I just can't resist falling for him."
Hidden benefit : The get-wet sweaty sensation brings a similar feel that a couple enjoys during and after a sex session; where the body reduces heat due to ignited love hormones.
Flirtatious attitude
Stop suspecting your man all the time! Let him enjoy, flirt and hang out with other girls as most women feel that flirtatious behaviour in men is an enticing feature. Not only does it hint at a man's comfort level with women, but also injects a feeling of security because flirtatious men turn out to be more loyal to their partners. "Of course my man is not a commodity, but I love having someone who is open minded and liberal. So, I find it great when my fiancé flirts with my female friends. I do not see any harm being done to our relationship, rather it lets him come out of the closet and that's how I want my man to be."
Hidden benefit : Women know how to act smart! Allowing your man to be flirtatious is a clear indication for him that the same rule applies to his female counterpart.
Gelled hair
Many men think that the gelled hair look with long, untrimmed spikes is a turn on, but what women are looking for is neat hair. Furthermore, women find hair gel a complete add-on to get that cool dude look right in place. "I love the way some men sweep off their hair in a backwards direction with their fingers. The identical gap formed between the layers looks quite attractive and can easily woo a woman," says Amrita Bhanot, an MBA student.
Hidden benefit : While hugging or kissing, women love moving their fingers through a man's hair and the hair gel softens their hair further, making the act more passionate.
Tempting fragrance
Be it a nice perfume, a hair gel or an after-shave lotion, the way a man smells is the ultimate gratification. It immediately draws a woman's attention and is one of the few things that attract a woman in their first meeting. "I love to smell good, so I want men around me to smell good too. But more importantly, a good smell evokes my senses and I feel more attracted towards such a man. Such fragrances through perfumes or shaving lotions, add more flavour to romance as it kind of pushes you towards your man," feels Sarika Majumdar, (27), a PR professional.
Hidden benefit : Fragrances act as mood lifters and women are in love with certain smells, so men need not put in an extra effort; so the right choice of a scent can help.
Macho man
A man with extended sideburns, trimmed moustaches (optional) and a beard (goatee, French or just regular) is certainly the forever look a woman longs for. Though Gen X males are opting for an uber cool look, but there are still women, who find macho men charming. "I feel a well kept moustache is synonymous with 'a real man'. Even when men with moustaches start ageing, you won't notice any major changes in their personality and that's what I adore about them," says 43-year-old Sushma, married for 17 years.
Hidden benefit : It's 'a matter of pride' for women to be the arm-candy to a man who portrays a typical macho personality and has a distinct image from that of a metro sexual male.
Lifestyle - Sexercise for a slim figure
Forget treadmills, long walks and Atkins diet, an expert has come up with a new way of staying in shape-and it has nothing to do with cutting out on carbs - it's indulging in plenty of sex.
Yes, you heard it right, "sexercise" makes a person slimmer - if you do enough of it. Combining sex and fitness is like killing two birds with one stone. Sex gets you fit. And being fit makes you want to have more sex. This is, in large part, because of all of the benefits a good sexercise routine offers, like: improved blood flow in strengthening your heart, better cholesterol, changing more of your bad cholesterol (LDL) to good cholesterol (HDL), weight control, better sleep and greater energy, including longer life and a better quality of life.
According to Fox News, women, in particular, feel more attractive with sexual fitness, since they produce more estrogen. This makes for shinier, smoother hair. Both sexes glow as their skin pores become cleansed, thanks to sweating. They feel sexier than ever. But how do you start this sexercise routine? Well, sex educator Dr.Yvonne Kristín Fulbright has come to your rescue.
Get a physical if you haven't in a while . While it may be laughable to do this, you're going to be physically active, accelerating your heart rate, pulse, and blood pressure. You're also going to be testing and developing your strength, stamina, and flexibility. As with any form of exercise, you need to make sure that you're good to go. Aim for half-hour romps 3-5 times a week. This may seem like a lot, but this is actually not very time-consuming. Consider the amount of time you put into your favorite TV show.
Remind yourself of the rewards. Sex for 30 minutes burns anywhere from 15-350 calories, depending on how physically active you are. This is the equivalent of calories burned during a half an hour of brisk walking,
running, or lifting weights. Vigorous or longer sex sessions five times per week can burn up to 1,650
calories! The active partner - typically the one on top - tends to burn more.
Don't lose focus. You can easily get distracted with all of sex's delights. But your goal is to make it burn. In a matter of weeks, you can notice improvements in the tone and strength of your stomach, back, buttocks, legs and arms.
Aim for variety. Your sexercise routine doesn't have to be routine. You can't take it for granted that sexercising won't be boring, at least not in the same way as your treadmill. So get creative.
Watch what you eat . Also maintain moderate exercise out of the bedroom. Take care of each other post-workout. After working up a good sweat, you'll have to hit the shower.
Yes, you heard it right, "sexercise" makes a person slimmer - if you do enough of it. Combining sex and fitness is like killing two birds with one stone. Sex gets you fit. And being fit makes you want to have more sex. This is, in large part, because of all of the benefits a good sexercise routine offers, like: improved blood flow in strengthening your heart, better cholesterol, changing more of your bad cholesterol (LDL) to good cholesterol (HDL), weight control, better sleep and greater energy, including longer life and a better quality of life.
According to Fox News, women, in particular, feel more attractive with sexual fitness, since they produce more estrogen. This makes for shinier, smoother hair. Both sexes glow as their skin pores become cleansed, thanks to sweating. They feel sexier than ever. But how do you start this sexercise routine? Well, sex educator Dr.Yvonne Kristín Fulbright has come to your rescue.
Get a physical if you haven't in a while . While it may be laughable to do this, you're going to be physically active, accelerating your heart rate, pulse, and blood pressure. You're also going to be testing and developing your strength, stamina, and flexibility. As with any form of exercise, you need to make sure that you're good to go. Aim for half-hour romps 3-5 times a week. This may seem like a lot, but this is actually not very time-consuming. Consider the amount of time you put into your favorite TV show.
Remind yourself of the rewards. Sex for 30 minutes burns anywhere from 15-350 calories, depending on how physically active you are. This is the equivalent of calories burned during a half an hour of brisk walking,
running, or lifting weights. Vigorous or longer sex sessions five times per week can burn up to 1,650
calories! The active partner - typically the one on top - tends to burn more.
Don't lose focus. You can easily get distracted with all of sex's delights. But your goal is to make it burn. In a matter of weeks, you can notice improvements in the tone and strength of your stomach, back, buttocks, legs and arms.
Aim for variety. Your sexercise routine doesn't have to be routine. You can't take it for granted that sexercising won't be boring, at least not in the same way as your treadmill. So get creative.
Watch what you eat . Also maintain moderate exercise out of the bedroom. Take care of each other post-workout. After working up a good sweat, you'll have to hit the shower.
Sports - Cricket;Sourav,a man of second chances
Bobilli Vijay Kumar
NAGPUR: A dream debut. A fairytale ending. Sadly, it didn’t exactly turn out that way. Sourav Ganguly was just 15 runs away from a perfect ending to
his gripping but tumultuous career when a thin edge came along and stole his thunder.
But then isn't that how the Sourav story has unfolded over the last 17 years? How could it end without a touch of bitter-sweet irony? The irony, like it has always been in his case, doesn't end here though; in fact, it might not really be all over yet.
Yes, the virgin track here at the new VCA stadium, true to form, has already swayed from one extreme mood to the other: after being all lovey-dovey towards batsmen on the first day, she showered her affection on spinners just after lunch.
By the evening, though, she went back to her first love; so now you can't be sure who she will eventually grant her favours too. It is, therefore, quite possible that Ganguly would get another shot at completing his fairytale. After all, isn't he the original destiny's child?
Indeed, right from the beginning, Ganguly has been a man of second chances. He made his international debut in 1992 but was immediately sent back to his palace: there was no place for the Maharaja among the commoners.
Four years later, though, he came back and made his dream debut in Tests; his magical timing and divine drives catapulted him into the elite class straightaway. But then, equally quickly, bowlers noted his hate-hate relationship with bouncers.
Even as vicious rumours were spreading, Ganguly was carving a place for himself elsewhere: in One-dayers. With severe restrictions on the use of short-pitched deliveries here, he used his hand-eye superiority to reinvent himself. Soon, he became the other part of a formidable opening pair with Tendulkar.
By 2000, Indian cricket had been through a catharsis. Shortly after Tendulkar's misadventure with captaincy, Azharuddin came back to the helm; but then, the match-fixing scourge emerged from its dark alleys.
Tendulkar, then, had another torrid affair with the crown before he gave it away. Dravid was in the race too but then Ganguly, really, is the man with all the chances. He took over and breathed a new life, and a new fighting spirit, into the team. Steadily, he created a mean machine and India were winning matches abroad too; almost inevitably, he became the country's most successful captain.
The black clouds were, however, gathering again. Entrapped in a destructive cocoon created by himself, he was soon scampering for runs, form and friends. As irony would have it, the one man who he thought would help him, turned against him.
As the fight with Greg Chappell spilled over, Ganguly found himself in the black corner: alone, bitter and exposed. Eventually, he was haunted out of the team, and seemingly, there was no way back. Only that nobody realized the power of his second chance.
As the Indian run-machine sputtered in South Africa, the selectors turned to him again. After a dramatic, and not so welcome return, he rediscovered his form, friends and appetite for short-pitched bowling.
It wasn't easy but he braved through this tough phase with grit and steadfastness. On Friday, as he battled for his fairytale finish, he displayed the same grit and determination all over again. He took his time to re-gauge the pitch and recover the middle of his bat; once that was achieved he went about looking for his elegance and beautiful shots.
As the day progressed, he found most of them: a delicate breeze through the covers, a soaring six over long on, delicate flicks, glances and a couple of late cuts too. In the end it was a virtuoso display, nearly reminiscent of the old Ganguly.
It's just so ironic that the fairytale ending eluded him; maybe, it is just the beginning of something equally beautiful.
NAGPUR: A dream debut. A fairytale ending. Sadly, it didn’t exactly turn out that way. Sourav Ganguly was just 15 runs away from a perfect ending to
his gripping but tumultuous career when a thin edge came along and stole his thunder.
But then isn't that how the Sourav story has unfolded over the last 17 years? How could it end without a touch of bitter-sweet irony? The irony, like it has always been in his case, doesn't end here though; in fact, it might not really be all over yet.
Yes, the virgin track here at the new VCA stadium, true to form, has already swayed from one extreme mood to the other: after being all lovey-dovey towards batsmen on the first day, she showered her affection on spinners just after lunch.
By the evening, though, she went back to her first love; so now you can't be sure who she will eventually grant her favours too. It is, therefore, quite possible that Ganguly would get another shot at completing his fairytale. After all, isn't he the original destiny's child?
Indeed, right from the beginning, Ganguly has been a man of second chances. He made his international debut in 1992 but was immediately sent back to his palace: there was no place for the Maharaja among the commoners.
Four years later, though, he came back and made his dream debut in Tests; his magical timing and divine drives catapulted him into the elite class straightaway. But then, equally quickly, bowlers noted his hate-hate relationship with bouncers.
Even as vicious rumours were spreading, Ganguly was carving a place for himself elsewhere: in One-dayers. With severe restrictions on the use of short-pitched deliveries here, he used his hand-eye superiority to reinvent himself. Soon, he became the other part of a formidable opening pair with Tendulkar.
By 2000, Indian cricket had been through a catharsis. Shortly after Tendulkar's misadventure with captaincy, Azharuddin came back to the helm; but then, the match-fixing scourge emerged from its dark alleys.
Tendulkar, then, had another torrid affair with the crown before he gave it away. Dravid was in the race too but then Ganguly, really, is the man with all the chances. He took over and breathed a new life, and a new fighting spirit, into the team. Steadily, he created a mean machine and India were winning matches abroad too; almost inevitably, he became the country's most successful captain.
The black clouds were, however, gathering again. Entrapped in a destructive cocoon created by himself, he was soon scampering for runs, form and friends. As irony would have it, the one man who he thought would help him, turned against him.
As the fight with Greg Chappell spilled over, Ganguly found himself in the black corner: alone, bitter and exposed. Eventually, he was haunted out of the team, and seemingly, there was no way back. Only that nobody realized the power of his second chance.
As the Indian run-machine sputtered in South Africa, the selectors turned to him again. After a dramatic, and not so welcome return, he rediscovered his form, friends and appetite for short-pitched bowling.
It wasn't easy but he braved through this tough phase with grit and steadfastness. On Friday, as he battled for his fairytale finish, he displayed the same grit and determination all over again. He took his time to re-gauge the pitch and recover the middle of his bat; once that was achieved he went about looking for his elegance and beautiful shots.
As the day progressed, he found most of them: a delicate breeze through the covers, a soaring six over long on, delicate flicks, glances and a couple of late cuts too. In the end it was a virtuoso display, nearly reminiscent of the old Ganguly.
It's just so ironic that the fairytale ending eluded him; maybe, it is just the beginning of something equally beautiful.
Columnists - Barkha Dutt;A star-spangled banner
I huddled closer to the journalist on my right, both of us finally looking up from our Blackberries to take in the extraordinariness of the moment. He wasn’t anyone I knew, but then this was a night built on the intimacy of strangers, all connected by a strange, electrifying energy. There were dozens of us, all crammed together on a tiny wooden riser that was beginning to heave under the weight of our excitement. Right below us, hundreds of thousands of people were yelping with joyous disbelief, as an unassuming man held the tiny hand of his little daughter and walked out into the world’s embrace. Oprah was leaning on the shoulder of a man she didn’t know either and openly weeping as Barack Obama made his acceptance speech. And I have to confess to more than a tear or two of my own.
The morning after the twin towers fell in September 2001, Le Monde had carried a front page editorial called, ‘We are all American,’ to capture the collective sense of tragedy that united the world. Well, on November 5, 2008, on an unusually warm night for Chicago, we were all American again. This time our dots were connected by the power of change and the possibility of hope. The real story of Obama’s presidency was the fact that so many people still believed in a better future and in their own ability to forge it. This is what made Chicago’s catharsis that night compelling enough to move anyone to tears.
Obama’s speech, at first, may have seemed smaller than the moment; even somewhat anti-climactic. He held a quiet, understated tone in glaring contrast to the hysteria whipped up around him. But it was the same restraint that has defined his campaign and on a night
like this made him seem naturally presidential.
And yet, this is a man who has broken every rule of politics as we know it. He has defied the conventional wisdom of the political game. That may be why — outsourcing issues and manufactured controversies on Kashmir notwithstanding — we Indians are riveted by him. He is wholesome yet audacious and thus both believable and inspiring. A young Black man who saw the White House for the first time in 1984 is today President in a country that, as the Los Angeles Times describes it, “was founded by slave owners and seared by civil war”. How can a story like that not have universal resonance?
But Obama’s appeal goes well beyond the racial barriers he has broken through. In fact, there are two things that separate him from the pack and make him different from any politician we have known anywhere. He has ended the politics of pity and victimhood and he isn’t scared to show vulnerability.
An African-American President in a country that barely has any people of colour in the House or the Senate may have been what marked this election as historic. But what makes the story truly remarkable is the fact that Obama was able to take his campaign well beyond race. Other than an exceptionally complex and blunt speech in March this year, race was never a big part of the campaign. Though his book talks about how “to think clearly about race requires us to see the world on a split screen — the America we want while looking squarely at America as it is”, Obama also rubbishes hardliners in his own community who refuse to recognise how much has changed and for the better. His definitive address on racial issues acknowledged the legitimacy of White anger and was indulgent of the understandable extremism of some in his own community, while simultaneously distancing himself from it. Confronted with the inflammatory hate rhetoric of his old pastor, Obama said, “He’s like an old Uncle I don’t always agree with,” telling his supporters that we all had someone like that in our families. And it’s true; we do. It’s just that we have never heard a politician mirror our own lives and yet seem better than us.
America will debate for years whether Obama is “Black enough” or whether he dressed up colour in a sanitised rhetoric. But either way, he has ended the ghettoised separation of the Black people and changed their self-image from victim to victor. In the opening chapter of his book, he rejects a politics that is “based solely on racial identity, gender identity, sexual orientation, or victimhood generally”. It is this, I suspect, that has catapulted him to universal stardom.
And yet he warns you that he won’t be perfect. This, after all, is a President who once did drugs. The point isn’t so much about the morality of smoking pot. It’s more the contrast with an erstwhile President that makes Obama’s candour so compelling.
After Bill Clinton’s laboured lies and “I didn't inhale” obfuscations, Obama’s upfront admission made him seem all grown up. “I think that, at this stage, my life is an open book, literally and figuratively,” he said. “Voters can make a judgement as to whether dumb things that I did when I was a teenager are relevant to the work that I’ve done since that time.” And yes, “I did inhale,” he said, “That was the point.”
It seems almost unbelievable that a politician running for office can concede to that and still be embraced in an overwhelming affirmation of belief.
The thing about Obama is that he makes you believe in that old cliché: be true to yourself. In a cynical, crumbling world, that alone is a miracle. That’s why Oprah cried. And so did the rest of us who were lucky enough to watch a night that will change America and the world.
Barkha Dutt is Group Editor,English News, NDTV
The morning after the twin towers fell in September 2001, Le Monde had carried a front page editorial called, ‘We are all American,’ to capture the collective sense of tragedy that united the world. Well, on November 5, 2008, on an unusually warm night for Chicago, we were all American again. This time our dots were connected by the power of change and the possibility of hope. The real story of Obama’s presidency was the fact that so many people still believed in a better future and in their own ability to forge it. This is what made Chicago’s catharsis that night compelling enough to move anyone to tears.
Obama’s speech, at first, may have seemed smaller than the moment; even somewhat anti-climactic. He held a quiet, understated tone in glaring contrast to the hysteria whipped up around him. But it was the same restraint that has defined his campaign and on a night
like this made him seem naturally presidential.
And yet, this is a man who has broken every rule of politics as we know it. He has defied the conventional wisdom of the political game. That may be why — outsourcing issues and manufactured controversies on Kashmir notwithstanding — we Indians are riveted by him. He is wholesome yet audacious and thus both believable and inspiring. A young Black man who saw the White House for the first time in 1984 is today President in a country that, as the Los Angeles Times describes it, “was founded by slave owners and seared by civil war”. How can a story like that not have universal resonance?
But Obama’s appeal goes well beyond the racial barriers he has broken through. In fact, there are two things that separate him from the pack and make him different from any politician we have known anywhere. He has ended the politics of pity and victimhood and he isn’t scared to show vulnerability.
An African-American President in a country that barely has any people of colour in the House or the Senate may have been what marked this election as historic. But what makes the story truly remarkable is the fact that Obama was able to take his campaign well beyond race. Other than an exceptionally complex and blunt speech in March this year, race was never a big part of the campaign. Though his book talks about how “to think clearly about race requires us to see the world on a split screen — the America we want while looking squarely at America as it is”, Obama also rubbishes hardliners in his own community who refuse to recognise how much has changed and for the better. His definitive address on racial issues acknowledged the legitimacy of White anger and was indulgent of the understandable extremism of some in his own community, while simultaneously distancing himself from it. Confronted with the inflammatory hate rhetoric of his old pastor, Obama said, “He’s like an old Uncle I don’t always agree with,” telling his supporters that we all had someone like that in our families. And it’s true; we do. It’s just that we have never heard a politician mirror our own lives and yet seem better than us.
America will debate for years whether Obama is “Black enough” or whether he dressed up colour in a sanitised rhetoric. But either way, he has ended the ghettoised separation of the Black people and changed their self-image from victim to victor. In the opening chapter of his book, he rejects a politics that is “based solely on racial identity, gender identity, sexual orientation, or victimhood generally”. It is this, I suspect, that has catapulted him to universal stardom.
And yet he warns you that he won’t be perfect. This, after all, is a President who once did drugs. The point isn’t so much about the morality of smoking pot. It’s more the contrast with an erstwhile President that makes Obama’s candour so compelling.
After Bill Clinton’s laboured lies and “I didn't inhale” obfuscations, Obama’s upfront admission made him seem all grown up. “I think that, at this stage, my life is an open book, literally and figuratively,” he said. “Voters can make a judgement as to whether dumb things that I did when I was a teenager are relevant to the work that I’ve done since that time.” And yes, “I did inhale,” he said, “That was the point.”
It seems almost unbelievable that a politician running for office can concede to that and still be embraced in an overwhelming affirmation of belief.
The thing about Obama is that he makes you believe in that old cliché: be true to yourself. In a cynical, crumbling world, that alone is a miracle. That’s why Oprah cried. And so did the rest of us who were lucky enough to watch a night that will change America and the world.
Barkha Dutt is Group Editor,English News, NDTV
Columnists - Khushwant Singh;Saffron has a go at history
I wasn’t aware that the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS had set up many schools across the country, known as Saraswati Shishu Mandirs and Vidya Bharati Schools. The number of teachers employed runs into thousands; the number of students into hundreds of thousands. They also have a publishing house to print their own text books. I was happy to learn this as our country needs more schools — the more the better — as well as more text-books. However, when I discovered what they teach in these schools, I was sorely disappointed. It is make-believe historical fiction to boost our morale and foster suspicion and hatred against Indian-born minorities who don’t share the same kind of pride in our past, notably Muslims and Christians.
To start with, it is assumed that Bharat Varsha is co-terminous with Aryavarta: Dravidians, who were Indians before the Aryans came to inhabit the southern half of our country, are ignored. Their role model is Adolf Hitler who purged Aryan Germany of semitic races by gassing millions of Jews and Gypsies, while Germans of today regard Hitler as the devil-incarnate and are ashamed of him. RSS & Sena leaders hero-worship him.
Buddhism and its great propagator, Emperor Ashoka, who preached ahimsa (non-violence) were, according to them, unmitigated disasters as they robbed us of our martial qualities, made us cowardly and unable to resist marauding Muslim armies wielding swords in one hand and Koran in the other: they were, according to K.B.Hedgewar, founder of the RSS, “hissing Yavana snakes”. A few examples from these textbooks are pertinent: Muslims’ greatest wish to have a darshan of the black stone, shivalinga, installed in Mecca. The Qutub Minar of Delhi was built by Emperor Samudragupta and known as the Vishnu Stambha. (The fact that it is festooned with verses from the Koran is not mentioned).
It is asserted that the Babri Masjid was never a Masjid because namaaz was never performed in it. (Photographs of the building before demolition showed three domes and a wall facing Mecca). An outrageous statement was made by the present head of the RSS, K.S. Sudarshan, in November 2001 in which he dismissed eminent historians as ‘anti-Hindu’ Euro-Indians.
He claimed that “in ancient India, we knew about nuclear energy and sage Bharadwaja and Raja Bhoj not only described the construction of aeroplanes, but also discussed details like what types of aeroplanes would fly and at what height.” It is not surprising that all this so-called history fabricated earlier was given respectability during the tenure of Murli Manohar Joshi as education minister in the Vajpayee-led BJP government. Joshiji also initiated astrology as a subject in universities. However, while his horoscope assured him victory, he lost the election to the Lok Sabha.
A significant outcome of the kind of history being taught in these schools is down-grading the role of Mahatma Gandhi in the freedom movement and exalting that of Veer Savarkar. Though Savarkar was acquitted on technical grounds of the charge of conspiracy to kill Gandhi, the Justice Kapur Commission later squarely implicated him as the man who inspired the foul deed. His portrait was installed in Parliament House during the rule of the BJP. Before you accuse me of anti-RSS and BJP bias, take a look at a booklet — RSS, School Texts and the Murder of Mahatma Gandhi (Sage). It is compiled by three distinguished professors of history at JNU (Aditya Mukherjee, Mridula Mukherjee and Sucheta Mahajan). The source of every quotation is given to prove its authenticity. The basic text is barely 80 pages.
Finally, ask yourself, is this kind of brain-washing of young minds and filling them with hate good for the country? It will turn our sweet dreams of a hate-free Hindustan into a nightmare of vicious civil strife.
To start with, it is assumed that Bharat Varsha is co-terminous with Aryavarta: Dravidians, who were Indians before the Aryans came to inhabit the southern half of our country, are ignored. Their role model is Adolf Hitler who purged Aryan Germany of semitic races by gassing millions of Jews and Gypsies, while Germans of today regard Hitler as the devil-incarnate and are ashamed of him. RSS & Sena leaders hero-worship him.
Buddhism and its great propagator, Emperor Ashoka, who preached ahimsa (non-violence) were, according to them, unmitigated disasters as they robbed us of our martial qualities, made us cowardly and unable to resist marauding Muslim armies wielding swords in one hand and Koran in the other: they were, according to K.B.Hedgewar, founder of the RSS, “hissing Yavana snakes”. A few examples from these textbooks are pertinent: Muslims’ greatest wish to have a darshan of the black stone, shivalinga, installed in Mecca. The Qutub Minar of Delhi was built by Emperor Samudragupta and known as the Vishnu Stambha. (The fact that it is festooned with verses from the Koran is not mentioned).
It is asserted that the Babri Masjid was never a Masjid because namaaz was never performed in it. (Photographs of the building before demolition showed three domes and a wall facing Mecca). An outrageous statement was made by the present head of the RSS, K.S. Sudarshan, in November 2001 in which he dismissed eminent historians as ‘anti-Hindu’ Euro-Indians.
He claimed that “in ancient India, we knew about nuclear energy and sage Bharadwaja and Raja Bhoj not only described the construction of aeroplanes, but also discussed details like what types of aeroplanes would fly and at what height.” It is not surprising that all this so-called history fabricated earlier was given respectability during the tenure of Murli Manohar Joshi as education minister in the Vajpayee-led BJP government. Joshiji also initiated astrology as a subject in universities. However, while his horoscope assured him victory, he lost the election to the Lok Sabha.
A significant outcome of the kind of history being taught in these schools is down-grading the role of Mahatma Gandhi in the freedom movement and exalting that of Veer Savarkar. Though Savarkar was acquitted on technical grounds of the charge of conspiracy to kill Gandhi, the Justice Kapur Commission later squarely implicated him as the man who inspired the foul deed. His portrait was installed in Parliament House during the rule of the BJP. Before you accuse me of anti-RSS and BJP bias, take a look at a booklet — RSS, School Texts and the Murder of Mahatma Gandhi (Sage). It is compiled by three distinguished professors of history at JNU (Aditya Mukherjee, Mridula Mukherjee and Sucheta Mahajan). The source of every quotation is given to prove its authenticity. The basic text is barely 80 pages.
Finally, ask yourself, is this kind of brain-washing of young minds and filling them with hate good for the country? It will turn our sweet dreams of a hate-free Hindustan into a nightmare of vicious civil strife.
India - Financial Crisis & its ramifications
C.Rangarajan
The international financial crisis has assumed panic proportions. It originated in the sub-prime mortgage crisis which surfaced over a year ago in the United States. Once interest rates started rising and home prices started falling, there were defaults and foreclosures. However, it would have remained a purely mortgage market crisis, had it not been for the fact that these sub-prime mortgages were securitised and packaged into products that were rated as investment grade. Once doubts about these assets arose, they not only rapidly turned illiquid but also became very hard to price. As a result, the mortgage crisis started affecting a host of institutions which had invested in these products. Since these assets had become globally distributed, many banks and other financial institutions in Europe and to a much lesser extent in East Asia also had such assets on their books. With the failure of a few leading institutions, the entire financial system was enveloped in an acute crisis.
The crisis in the financial system has now moved to affect the real sector. At this point it is not very clear how deep the recession in the U.S. and Europe will be and how long it will last and to what extent direct and indirect effects will erode growth prospects in India and other emerging economies. However, there is no doubt that this will be the deepest recession in the U.S. since the first half of the 1970s.
Two characteristics
The severity of the crisis in the developed world has taken by surprise everyone, including the regulators. The regulators failed to see the impact of the derivative products which clouded the weaknesses of the underlying transactions. Quite clearly, there was a mismatch between financial innovation and the ability of the regulators to monitor. Regulatory failure comes out glaringly.
Two things stand out of the crisis. First, there was imperfect understanding of the implications of the various derivative products. In one sense, derivative products are a natural corollary of financial development. However, if the derivate products become too complex to discern, where risk lies, they become sources of concern. In the present case, rating agencies played havoc by certifying the derivative products as investment grade, trapping many financial institutions into investing in these products. Even as the authorities deal with the immediate problems arising from the crisis, the regulators need to pay attention to how to deal with derivatives.
The second issue relates to leveraging. The institutions that have fallen into trouble are those which are highly leveraged. In fact, the entire U.S. economy is highly leveraged. Almost every segment of society including households is a net borrower. The net savings rate of the household sector has turned negative. It is true that in a globalised system a country’s investment rate is not determined by its own savings rate. Nevertheless, the extent of leverage is an issue to which regulators and policymakers have to pay attention, if financial stability is to be achieved.
Fixing the system
In a situation such as the one faced by the developed countries today, the most immediate concern is to provide liquidity to institutions which are locked into assets that cannot be easily realised. That is what the U.S. and the European countries have done. The recovery package of $700 billion approved by the U.S. Congress is a massive effort in this direction. These funds are being utilised to inject capital into banks. They may also be used to buy distressed assets.
Injection of capital into banks will provide additional liquidity and improve solvency. Buying of assets will lead to revival of markets such as housing. Only if housing prices start to rise, there can be a solution to the basic mortgage crisis. Since the tail of the financial system is wagging the dog of the economy, the primary focus has to be on fixing the financial system.
Impact on India
The crisis is no longer confined to the developed world. The heat is being felt by the developing world, including India. The impact on India can be both direct and indirect. The direct impact comes from exposure to the ‘toxic’ or ‘distressed’ assets by Indian banks and other financial institutions. This is expected to be minimal. Indian banks, in general, have very little exposure to the asset markets of the developed world. Indian banks have very few branches abroad. The indirect impact will be through trade and capital flows. With the fall of international commodity prices such as crude oil, the import bill will come down sharply from earlier estimates.
On the other hand, export growth will be adversely affected by the recession in the developed world. It will have an impact both on merchandise exports and service exports. Taking exports and imports together, the current account deficit will moderate and may be in the range of 2 per cent of GDP in the current year. The deceleration in export growth may sharply affect some segments of the economy which are export-oriented. Given the nature of the crisis, it is only to be expected that capital inflows into the country will dry up. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have already disinvested and taken out close to $10 billion. This has had the most serious impact on the stock market.
Stock prices have fallen by 60 per cent from the peak they had reached 10 months ago. Apart from the loss to stock-holders, this will have the most serious impact on the primary market. Inability to raise fresh funds will affect investment and capital formation in the corporate sector. Conversion of positive flows to negative flows on portfolio capital can also lead to a fall in the value of the rupee.
Disinvestment by FIIs will put additional pressure on dollar demand. The availability of dollars is affected by the difficulties faced by Indian firms in raising funds abroad. This, in turn, will put pressure on the domestic financial system for additional credit. Though the initial impact of the financial crisis has been limited to the stock market and the foreign exchange market, it is spreading to the rest of the financial system, and all of these are bound to affect the real sector. Some slowdown in real growth is inevitable.
The first priority should be to ensure that the financial system is liquid and is able to meet the legitimate credit needs of different segments of the economy. As external sources of funds dry up, the pressure on the domestic banking system will increase. The Reserve Bank of India’s decisions to reduce CRR and Repo rates are in the right direction and taken on time. As the reserves come down, this will also suck out liquidity. It is, therefore, important for the RBI to keep a watch on liquidity and take such actions as reduction in CRR and Repo rates to enlarge the availability of liquidity.
The RBI’s ability to help other institutions such as mutual funds and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) directly is limited right now. It can only help them indirectly by reducing the pressure of the corporates on them for redemption through the enlargement of liquidity of the banking system. The pressure of the corporates will come down only if banks use the additional liquidity made available to them to provide the needed credit to corporates.
It has been argued that along with the measures to support the financial system, we must increase public spending. There can be no dispute with the contention that public spending should remain at a high level in a situation like the present one. With the Supplementary Grants approved recently by Parliament, it is almost apparent that the fiscal deficit of the Centre in the current year may touch 4 per cent of GDP, at least 1 per cent above the fiscal responsibility and budget management (FRBM) target. While it can be argued that the fiscal deficit target should be an average over the cycle, we need to remember that even in boom years we have not been able to hold the deficit at the target level. The level of public spending currently envisaged is appropriate and should be adequate to meet the situation.
What is needed at present is to focus on the financial system and enable it to fulfil adequately its functions in terms of the provision of credit to productive sectors. The domestic credit system must also fill the gap created by the drying up of external sources. We ought to be thinking of a scheme to provide additional funds for long term capital requirements, since the ability to raise funds from the capital market is bleak. There will be some tendency for the rupee to depreciate, which cannot be avoided. In relation to the exchange rate, the monetary authority should use the reserves to prevent extreme volatility in the market.
(Dr. C. Rangarajan, MP, is a former Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, and a former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.)
The international financial crisis has assumed panic proportions. It originated in the sub-prime mortgage crisis which surfaced over a year ago in the United States. Once interest rates started rising and home prices started falling, there were defaults and foreclosures. However, it would have remained a purely mortgage market crisis, had it not been for the fact that these sub-prime mortgages were securitised and packaged into products that were rated as investment grade. Once doubts about these assets arose, they not only rapidly turned illiquid but also became very hard to price. As a result, the mortgage crisis started affecting a host of institutions which had invested in these products. Since these assets had become globally distributed, many banks and other financial institutions in Europe and to a much lesser extent in East Asia also had such assets on their books. With the failure of a few leading institutions, the entire financial system was enveloped in an acute crisis.
The crisis in the financial system has now moved to affect the real sector. At this point it is not very clear how deep the recession in the U.S. and Europe will be and how long it will last and to what extent direct and indirect effects will erode growth prospects in India and other emerging economies. However, there is no doubt that this will be the deepest recession in the U.S. since the first half of the 1970s.
Two characteristics
The severity of the crisis in the developed world has taken by surprise everyone, including the regulators. The regulators failed to see the impact of the derivative products which clouded the weaknesses of the underlying transactions. Quite clearly, there was a mismatch between financial innovation and the ability of the regulators to monitor. Regulatory failure comes out glaringly.
Two things stand out of the crisis. First, there was imperfect understanding of the implications of the various derivative products. In one sense, derivative products are a natural corollary of financial development. However, if the derivate products become too complex to discern, where risk lies, they become sources of concern. In the present case, rating agencies played havoc by certifying the derivative products as investment grade, trapping many financial institutions into investing in these products. Even as the authorities deal with the immediate problems arising from the crisis, the regulators need to pay attention to how to deal with derivatives.
The second issue relates to leveraging. The institutions that have fallen into trouble are those which are highly leveraged. In fact, the entire U.S. economy is highly leveraged. Almost every segment of society including households is a net borrower. The net savings rate of the household sector has turned negative. It is true that in a globalised system a country’s investment rate is not determined by its own savings rate. Nevertheless, the extent of leverage is an issue to which regulators and policymakers have to pay attention, if financial stability is to be achieved.
Fixing the system
In a situation such as the one faced by the developed countries today, the most immediate concern is to provide liquidity to institutions which are locked into assets that cannot be easily realised. That is what the U.S. and the European countries have done. The recovery package of $700 billion approved by the U.S. Congress is a massive effort in this direction. These funds are being utilised to inject capital into banks. They may also be used to buy distressed assets.
Injection of capital into banks will provide additional liquidity and improve solvency. Buying of assets will lead to revival of markets such as housing. Only if housing prices start to rise, there can be a solution to the basic mortgage crisis. Since the tail of the financial system is wagging the dog of the economy, the primary focus has to be on fixing the financial system.
Impact on India
The crisis is no longer confined to the developed world. The heat is being felt by the developing world, including India. The impact on India can be both direct and indirect. The direct impact comes from exposure to the ‘toxic’ or ‘distressed’ assets by Indian banks and other financial institutions. This is expected to be minimal. Indian banks, in general, have very little exposure to the asset markets of the developed world. Indian banks have very few branches abroad. The indirect impact will be through trade and capital flows. With the fall of international commodity prices such as crude oil, the import bill will come down sharply from earlier estimates.
On the other hand, export growth will be adversely affected by the recession in the developed world. It will have an impact both on merchandise exports and service exports. Taking exports and imports together, the current account deficit will moderate and may be in the range of 2 per cent of GDP in the current year. The deceleration in export growth may sharply affect some segments of the economy which are export-oriented. Given the nature of the crisis, it is only to be expected that capital inflows into the country will dry up. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have already disinvested and taken out close to $10 billion. This has had the most serious impact on the stock market.
Stock prices have fallen by 60 per cent from the peak they had reached 10 months ago. Apart from the loss to stock-holders, this will have the most serious impact on the primary market. Inability to raise fresh funds will affect investment and capital formation in the corporate sector. Conversion of positive flows to negative flows on portfolio capital can also lead to a fall in the value of the rupee.
Disinvestment by FIIs will put additional pressure on dollar demand. The availability of dollars is affected by the difficulties faced by Indian firms in raising funds abroad. This, in turn, will put pressure on the domestic financial system for additional credit. Though the initial impact of the financial crisis has been limited to the stock market and the foreign exchange market, it is spreading to the rest of the financial system, and all of these are bound to affect the real sector. Some slowdown in real growth is inevitable.
The first priority should be to ensure that the financial system is liquid and is able to meet the legitimate credit needs of different segments of the economy. As external sources of funds dry up, the pressure on the domestic banking system will increase. The Reserve Bank of India’s decisions to reduce CRR and Repo rates are in the right direction and taken on time. As the reserves come down, this will also suck out liquidity. It is, therefore, important for the RBI to keep a watch on liquidity and take such actions as reduction in CRR and Repo rates to enlarge the availability of liquidity.
The RBI’s ability to help other institutions such as mutual funds and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) directly is limited right now. It can only help them indirectly by reducing the pressure of the corporates on them for redemption through the enlargement of liquidity of the banking system. The pressure of the corporates will come down only if banks use the additional liquidity made available to them to provide the needed credit to corporates.
It has been argued that along with the measures to support the financial system, we must increase public spending. There can be no dispute with the contention that public spending should remain at a high level in a situation like the present one. With the Supplementary Grants approved recently by Parliament, it is almost apparent that the fiscal deficit of the Centre in the current year may touch 4 per cent of GDP, at least 1 per cent above the fiscal responsibility and budget management (FRBM) target. While it can be argued that the fiscal deficit target should be an average over the cycle, we need to remember that even in boom years we have not been able to hold the deficit at the target level. The level of public spending currently envisaged is appropriate and should be adequate to meet the situation.
What is needed at present is to focus on the financial system and enable it to fulfil adequately its functions in terms of the provision of credit to productive sectors. The domestic credit system must also fill the gap created by the drying up of external sources. We ought to be thinking of a scheme to provide additional funds for long term capital requirements, since the ability to raise funds from the capital market is bleak. There will be some tendency for the rupee to depreciate, which cannot be avoided. In relation to the exchange rate, the monetary authority should use the reserves to prevent extreme volatility in the market.
(Dr. C. Rangarajan, MP, is a former Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, and a former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.)
World - Learning from Obama's path to presidency
Prabhudev Konana
The phenomenon called Obamania is a great learning experience. This is especially so for India, which needs to tackle inequities and develop social opportunity through a portfolio approach with meaningful goals.
Finally, the U.S. presidential election 2008 comes to a historical end. This election will go down as one of the greatest victories for democracy and a symbolic victory for One America. It was a triumph of hope over fear. Barack Obama’s success is also a victory for the pursuit of that perfect Union with peace, liberty, equality, and opportunity for all.
The Austin American-Statesman, a local newspaper in Austin, Texas, reported a fascinating story of Amanda Jones, a 109-year-old woman born to a man who was once a slave, as she proudly cast her vote for Mr. Obama. After 50 years, 106-year-old nun Sister Cecilia Gaudette, a U.S. citizen living in a convent in Rome, chose to exercise her rights to vote for him. Mr. Obama received numerous endorsements from individuals who formed the backbone of the conservative movement in the United States. The long lines and massive crowds of over 200,000 in Berlin to over 100,000 in St. Louis to hear him gave credence to this phenomenon called Obamania.
This election was indeed a great learning experience of U.S. history, the racial and cultural divide, reconciliation, and progress.
Mr. Obama’s presidency has not come easy. Martin Luther King, the slain Civil Rights leader, Rosa Parks, who defiantly refused to give up her seat for a white passenger, and numerous other individuals laid the foundation. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 signalling the end of discrimination that was ubiquitous in everyday activity in schools, buses, restaurants, and jobs. Before that, in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlawed segregationist hiring policies in federal contracts.
Richard Cohen, a columnist of The Washington Post, said LBJ was a transformational figure who signed this Act into law despite being aware that his Democratic party could lose southern states (barring a few exceptions, this was true even in the recent election). The columnist rightly characterises Mr. Obama as a conformational figure in relation to the actions taken four decades ago. The revolution happened silently during this time.
It took the U.S. four decades to make transformation as a concept into a reality. However, without large support from white Americans, this would not have become a reality. Many things have happened — a societal transformation that understood, recognised, and appreciated different races and created opportunities. The younger generation, untainted by the past, is at the heart of this transformation. Exit polls suggest that 66 per cent of the younger population voted for Mr. Obama, while a majority of those over 65 years of age voted for his opponent. Why such stark differences? Clearly the younger population is more likely to interact with minorities in schools, universities, and workplaces where there is an increasing focus on diversity and opportunities for all. The message of hope resonated with the younger population deeply embedded in social networks and instant messaging rather than race or fear. Interestingly, the Obama campaign encouraged and channelled the young to convince their parents and grandparents who were unwilling to look beyond race issues.
I spoke to my colleagues, including Reuben McDaniel, who was among the first few African American professors in the 1960s in a mostly white campus, to understand this transformation over the last four decades.
There are many events and initiatives that have collectively made transformation a reality. Governmental actions played a key role in creating opportunities. These included the Civil Rights Act of 1964; affirmative action that gave preference based on race or ethnicity in education; and regulations to promote minority businesses in government contracts. Several States introduced innovative legislation to bring diversity in higher education. In the State of Texas, students in the top 10 per cent of their graduating class could get automatic admission to any State school, which allowed students from predominantly minority population to enter top public universities.
There were highly respected white Americans who championed diversity and invited African Americans of exceptional talent to key positions in major universities and governments. Often these champions poached on talent in lesser-known institutions to fill positions of greater public exposure and visibility as role models. There were key African American leaders who continued to bring attention to inequities through public dialogue. There was greater discourse in understanding U.S. history, including slavery and discrimination, at the very early stages of education. It is common across the nation for students to participate in events to celebrate black history and culture each year. Irrespective of the background, the younger generation has grown up understanding past injustices and inequities.
Businesses played a crucial role in encouraging diversity. Practically all major businesses and universities in the U.S. have diversity offices and active programmes to recruit minorities, including women. Fortune magazine routinely publishes a list of the top 50 best companies that hire, retain, and promote minorities. Large businesses set goals in their diversity initiatives and to monitor progress. Universities now work with high schools to recognise and attract talented minority students. There are organisations (such as DiversityInc.com) that actively monitor and promote diversity in various institutions and businesses. These organisations publicly recognise businesses for their achievements. Even Hollywood programmes are monitored for diversity.
Finally, college sports have also played an important role in bringing blacks into traditionally white-only universities. Some key college coaches recognised that winning (American) football or basketball games transcends any initial resistance to having black athletes. As more talented black athletes brought results to college sports, more schools were eager to accept them. We now see Tiger Woods a phenomenon by himself in golf. Most leading football and basketball stars are blacks and have huge mainstream following and endorsements.
The younger generation has grown up with changing times and readily accepts blacks and other minority groups. So it is not just laws that created opportunities and acceptance, but a portfolio of actions involving individuals, sports, and public, private and non-profit entities.
In the Indian context, there is much to learn from all this. Granted that the problems of minorities in the U.S. are problems for the majority of people in India. Disparities and discrimination run thousands of years deep and are deeply woven into the social fabric. Hence, we need even greater focus and intensity in a portfolio approach to nip at the social evils and create opportunities for the underprivileged. The younger generation will make that difference.
Affirmative actions — not necessarily quotas — play an important role in creating opportunities. However, some elites argue that democracy leads to more populist measures like quotas and that these are a cancer that breeds mediocrity. While there is some truth in these arguments, they are naïve in their assessment. It is true that well-off individuals exploit the system at the expense of the deserving students from under-represented or over-represented communities. However, some form of affirmative action creates immediate opportunities for students who have the passion to succeed, despite inferior preparation at the early stages of education. The system cannot continually punish underprivileged youth and lose another generation without opportunities.
One can criticise affirmative actions ideologically. But those who work with rural and poor urban schools can vouch for the horrendous learning environment and non-existent family support for children to succeed. Affirmative action is a ‘risk’ worth taking since, even if these children fail, they will work harder to educate their next generation. One can address poor preparation with remedial programmes. I do acknowledge that excessive reliance on government-mandated quotas or preference is not desirable in the long run. However, those who object need to have patience. What is clear is that the collective role of the broader community — individuals, non-profit organisations, and public and private sectors — will have a greater impact to create opportunities.
Some business leaders, including N.R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys, joined together to experiment with a programme to train promising Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes students and to place them in reputed firms. The experiment was a great success and is in the right direction. However, this programme was ostensibly to ward off government quotas in the private sector. It would be ideal if businesses treated such programmes as strategic initiatives rather than a favour or charity to the country. The efforts will lead to a greater pool of talent, improve corporate reputation, and create huge ripple effects as future customers. Government contracts and incentives should reward those who create such social benefits. There should be tax incentives for satisfying social objectives of creating jobs for the underprivileged rather than imposing higher taxes.
The media and NGOs have a role to play here: bringing transparency and awareness on diversity issues. They can monitor and reward businesses that enhance diversity and opportunities for the underprivileged. If the private sector does not take some ownership of increasing diversity, then the government may impose an even greater burden with unwanted laws. In fact, decades of inaction to reach the broader community in premier educational institutions have now resulted in greater governmental interference and quota. Social activists should work towards creating opportunities for underprivileged rather than becoming a hindrance to progress in the name of fighting for their rights. They need to work with government and businesses in creating opportunities rather than just focussing on protests.
India needs to tackle inequities through a portfolio approach with meaningful goals. Government is just one piece of the puzzle and not a substitute for everything. It can play a positive role in nudging society and stakeholders to create opportunities for all. There is need for greater collective transformational efforts involving governments, individuals, universities, businesses, and NGOs. We can then hope to see thousands of successful Obamas from the underprivileged communities.
The phenomenon called Obamania is a great learning experience. This is especially so for India, which needs to tackle inequities and develop social opportunity through a portfolio approach with meaningful goals.
Finally, the U.S. presidential election 2008 comes to a historical end. This election will go down as one of the greatest victories for democracy and a symbolic victory for One America. It was a triumph of hope over fear. Barack Obama’s success is also a victory for the pursuit of that perfect Union with peace, liberty, equality, and opportunity for all.
The Austin American-Statesman, a local newspaper in Austin, Texas, reported a fascinating story of Amanda Jones, a 109-year-old woman born to a man who was once a slave, as she proudly cast her vote for Mr. Obama. After 50 years, 106-year-old nun Sister Cecilia Gaudette, a U.S. citizen living in a convent in Rome, chose to exercise her rights to vote for him. Mr. Obama received numerous endorsements from individuals who formed the backbone of the conservative movement in the United States. The long lines and massive crowds of over 200,000 in Berlin to over 100,000 in St. Louis to hear him gave credence to this phenomenon called Obamania.
This election was indeed a great learning experience of U.S. history, the racial and cultural divide, reconciliation, and progress.
Mr. Obama’s presidency has not come easy. Martin Luther King, the slain Civil Rights leader, Rosa Parks, who defiantly refused to give up her seat for a white passenger, and numerous other individuals laid the foundation. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 signalling the end of discrimination that was ubiquitous in everyday activity in schools, buses, restaurants, and jobs. Before that, in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlawed segregationist hiring policies in federal contracts.
Richard Cohen, a columnist of The Washington Post, said LBJ was a transformational figure who signed this Act into law despite being aware that his Democratic party could lose southern states (barring a few exceptions, this was true even in the recent election). The columnist rightly characterises Mr. Obama as a conformational figure in relation to the actions taken four decades ago. The revolution happened silently during this time.
It took the U.S. four decades to make transformation as a concept into a reality. However, without large support from white Americans, this would not have become a reality. Many things have happened — a societal transformation that understood, recognised, and appreciated different races and created opportunities. The younger generation, untainted by the past, is at the heart of this transformation. Exit polls suggest that 66 per cent of the younger population voted for Mr. Obama, while a majority of those over 65 years of age voted for his opponent. Why such stark differences? Clearly the younger population is more likely to interact with minorities in schools, universities, and workplaces where there is an increasing focus on diversity and opportunities for all. The message of hope resonated with the younger population deeply embedded in social networks and instant messaging rather than race or fear. Interestingly, the Obama campaign encouraged and channelled the young to convince their parents and grandparents who were unwilling to look beyond race issues.
I spoke to my colleagues, including Reuben McDaniel, who was among the first few African American professors in the 1960s in a mostly white campus, to understand this transformation over the last four decades.
There are many events and initiatives that have collectively made transformation a reality. Governmental actions played a key role in creating opportunities. These included the Civil Rights Act of 1964; affirmative action that gave preference based on race or ethnicity in education; and regulations to promote minority businesses in government contracts. Several States introduced innovative legislation to bring diversity in higher education. In the State of Texas, students in the top 10 per cent of their graduating class could get automatic admission to any State school, which allowed students from predominantly minority population to enter top public universities.
There were highly respected white Americans who championed diversity and invited African Americans of exceptional talent to key positions in major universities and governments. Often these champions poached on talent in lesser-known institutions to fill positions of greater public exposure and visibility as role models. There were key African American leaders who continued to bring attention to inequities through public dialogue. There was greater discourse in understanding U.S. history, including slavery and discrimination, at the very early stages of education. It is common across the nation for students to participate in events to celebrate black history and culture each year. Irrespective of the background, the younger generation has grown up understanding past injustices and inequities.
Businesses played a crucial role in encouraging diversity. Practically all major businesses and universities in the U.S. have diversity offices and active programmes to recruit minorities, including women. Fortune magazine routinely publishes a list of the top 50 best companies that hire, retain, and promote minorities. Large businesses set goals in their diversity initiatives and to monitor progress. Universities now work with high schools to recognise and attract talented minority students. There are organisations (such as DiversityInc.com) that actively monitor and promote diversity in various institutions and businesses. These organisations publicly recognise businesses for their achievements. Even Hollywood programmes are monitored for diversity.
Finally, college sports have also played an important role in bringing blacks into traditionally white-only universities. Some key college coaches recognised that winning (American) football or basketball games transcends any initial resistance to having black athletes. As more talented black athletes brought results to college sports, more schools were eager to accept them. We now see Tiger Woods a phenomenon by himself in golf. Most leading football and basketball stars are blacks and have huge mainstream following and endorsements.
The younger generation has grown up with changing times and readily accepts blacks and other minority groups. So it is not just laws that created opportunities and acceptance, but a portfolio of actions involving individuals, sports, and public, private and non-profit entities.
In the Indian context, there is much to learn from all this. Granted that the problems of minorities in the U.S. are problems for the majority of people in India. Disparities and discrimination run thousands of years deep and are deeply woven into the social fabric. Hence, we need even greater focus and intensity in a portfolio approach to nip at the social evils and create opportunities for the underprivileged. The younger generation will make that difference.
Affirmative actions — not necessarily quotas — play an important role in creating opportunities. However, some elites argue that democracy leads to more populist measures like quotas and that these are a cancer that breeds mediocrity. While there is some truth in these arguments, they are naïve in their assessment. It is true that well-off individuals exploit the system at the expense of the deserving students from under-represented or over-represented communities. However, some form of affirmative action creates immediate opportunities for students who have the passion to succeed, despite inferior preparation at the early stages of education. The system cannot continually punish underprivileged youth and lose another generation without opportunities.
One can criticise affirmative actions ideologically. But those who work with rural and poor urban schools can vouch for the horrendous learning environment and non-existent family support for children to succeed. Affirmative action is a ‘risk’ worth taking since, even if these children fail, they will work harder to educate their next generation. One can address poor preparation with remedial programmes. I do acknowledge that excessive reliance on government-mandated quotas or preference is not desirable in the long run. However, those who object need to have patience. What is clear is that the collective role of the broader community — individuals, non-profit organisations, and public and private sectors — will have a greater impact to create opportunities.
Some business leaders, including N.R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys, joined together to experiment with a programme to train promising Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes students and to place them in reputed firms. The experiment was a great success and is in the right direction. However, this programme was ostensibly to ward off government quotas in the private sector. It would be ideal if businesses treated such programmes as strategic initiatives rather than a favour or charity to the country. The efforts will lead to a greater pool of talent, improve corporate reputation, and create huge ripple effects as future customers. Government contracts and incentives should reward those who create such social benefits. There should be tax incentives for satisfying social objectives of creating jobs for the underprivileged rather than imposing higher taxes.
The media and NGOs have a role to play here: bringing transparency and awareness on diversity issues. They can monitor and reward businesses that enhance diversity and opportunities for the underprivileged. If the private sector does not take some ownership of increasing diversity, then the government may impose an even greater burden with unwanted laws. In fact, decades of inaction to reach the broader community in premier educational institutions have now resulted in greater governmental interference and quota. Social activists should work towards creating opportunities for underprivileged rather than becoming a hindrance to progress in the name of fighting for their rights. They need to work with government and businesses in creating opportunities rather than just focussing on protests.
India needs to tackle inequities through a portfolio approach with meaningful goals. Government is just one piece of the puzzle and not a substitute for everything. It can play a positive role in nudging society and stakeholders to create opportunities for all. There is need for greater collective transformational efforts involving governments, individuals, universities, businesses, and NGOs. We can then hope to see thousands of successful Obamas from the underprivileged communities.
Science - New hope for stem cell research
The seven-year embryonic stem cell research winter brought about by George W. Bush’s reactionary ‘pro-life’ policy seems to be finally coming to an end. By restricting federal funding for research on embryonic stem cell lines created before August 2001, the Bush administration stifled research and created a big roadblock to the progress of science. Researchers, frustrated by the decision that was not taken on scientific merit, can heave a sigh of relief because President-elect Barack Obama has made it clear that he is a strong supporter of embryonic stem cell research. The fact that he was the co-sponsor of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, which sought the expansion of federal funding, is testimony to his political commitment to remove the hurdles in this important field of medicine. In an April 2008 statement, the man who was going to be elected the 44th President of the United States said the current policy was “preventing the advancement of important science that could potentially impact millions of suffering Americans,” and added reassuringly that “we must all work together to expand federal funding for stem cell research.”
Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama, with their opposing standpoints on embryonic stem cell research, make for an interesting comparison. If in Mr. Bush’s blinkered view, using adult stem cells in the treatment of certain diseases is all right, Mr. Obama sees them as no substitute for embryonic stem cells. Mr. Bush’s right-wing ideology, which sees the harvesting of stem cells from embryos stored in infertility clinics as destroying life, fails to take cognisance of the ultimate destruction of such embryos. Mr. Obama, on the other hand, sees them as an ideal source of stem cells. If the Bush administration’s failure to regulate stem cell research, where the possibilities of misuse are high, is shocking, the President-elect understands the need to have appropriate oversight. The lack of regulation is not the only reason why the U.S. is far behind the United Kingdom in this exciting field. By not going the whole hog in allowing the creation of embryos expressly for research, Mr. Obama will still keep his country a step behind the U.K. But he is on the right track to unfetter this promising field of medicine. He has the persuasive skills to get the 2007 Act amended by Congress so that expanded federal funding can be provided, as the community of American scientists has demanded. After his overwhelming victory of November 4, 2008, Mr. Obama certainly has the political and moral authority to get the legislative branch to do what has been overdue.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama, with their opposing standpoints on embryonic stem cell research, make for an interesting comparison. If in Mr. Bush’s blinkered view, using adult stem cells in the treatment of certain diseases is all right, Mr. Obama sees them as no substitute for embryonic stem cells. Mr. Bush’s right-wing ideology, which sees the harvesting of stem cells from embryos stored in infertility clinics as destroying life, fails to take cognisance of the ultimate destruction of such embryos. Mr. Obama, on the other hand, sees them as an ideal source of stem cells. If the Bush administration’s failure to regulate stem cell research, where the possibilities of misuse are high, is shocking, the President-elect understands the need to have appropriate oversight. The lack of regulation is not the only reason why the U.S. is far behind the United Kingdom in this exciting field. By not going the whole hog in allowing the creation of embryos expressly for research, Mr. Obama will still keep his country a step behind the U.K. But he is on the right track to unfetter this promising field of medicine. He has the persuasive skills to get the 2007 Act amended by Congress so that expanded federal funding can be provided, as the community of American scientists has demanded. After his overwhelming victory of November 4, 2008, Mr. Obama certainly has the political and moral authority to get the legislative branch to do what has been overdue.
Personality - Bhimsen Joshi
Every time India’s highest civilian honour goes to an artist, especially in troubled times, hope surges anew that there is place in our fiercely competitive lives for joy and tranquillity. What can symbolise this optimism better than the decoration of 86-year-old Pandit Bhimsen Joshi? The announcement of the Bharat Ratna for this Hindustani vocalist of the Kirana gharana is fitting reward for a man who remained true to the classical tradition, yet made his music accessible to millions. His voice and image in the Doordarshan tune, ‘Mile sur mera tumhara,’ transcended propaganda to become a signature ode for national integration. From the time he ran away from home to wander far in quest of the right guru, only to find him in Sawai Gandharva in his native Dharwad, Joshi’s musical journey has been focussed on self-realisation in art. He might have remained within the cloisters of the cognoscenti but for his penchant for Kannada and Marathi poets and his robust renderings of their bhakti verse ‘Santvani.’ This was music for the people — voicing their thoughts and aspirations, forging a sense of oneness and intimacy. Joshi’s major khyal renderings too refract this quality of resonance — integrating art, science, and bhakti seamlessly but never descending from the classical to the populist ‘devotional’ mode. That his full-throated vocalisation casts a spell on his audience has been an indisputable part of his charisma. Through the years, he has been both warmly applauded and fastidiously criticised for amalgamating features and techniques of other schools to craft a style of his own. The huge Sawai Gandharva Festival he organises annually has been as much a homage to his guru as his contribution to the future of the art form. Many performers acknowledged on that stage have become confident professionals enriching Hindustani music.
It is a long-known attribute of artistic genius that the person does not, in everyday life, conform to the conventions of society. Love of football and fast cars, an eagerness to don the role of the mechanic, and an unconventional lifestyle are all part of the Bhimsen Joshi persona, as is his streak of unworldliness. Hitting a roadblock midway in his career, Joshi’s music went from the sublime to the pedestrian. Family support and his own inner strength enabled the master to overcome alcohol addiction and regain his greatness as a musician. For Bhimsen Joshi, the national award is not only recognition of pre-eminence in the realm of music. It is also a reminder of the triumph of imperishable art and a heroic spirit over personal vicissitudes, the emergence of the artist from the troughs of depression to scale the heights.
It is a long-known attribute of artistic genius that the person does not, in everyday life, conform to the conventions of society. Love of football and fast cars, an eagerness to don the role of the mechanic, and an unconventional lifestyle are all part of the Bhimsen Joshi persona, as is his streak of unworldliness. Hitting a roadblock midway in his career, Joshi’s music went from the sublime to the pedestrian. Family support and his own inner strength enabled the master to overcome alcohol addiction and regain his greatness as a musician. For Bhimsen Joshi, the national award is not only recognition of pre-eminence in the realm of music. It is also a reminder of the triumph of imperishable art and a heroic spirit over personal vicissitudes, the emergence of the artist from the troughs of depression to scale the heights.
India - TN;Temple's treasures wiped out
T.S. Subramanian
PHOTOS: S. THANTHONI
EFFACED LEGACY: (Clockwise from top left): The prakara wall of the Vyagrapurisvara temple at Tiruppulivanam sans its frescoes that were sandblasted recently; one of the Chola frescoes as it existed, in a file image provided by the Archaeological Survey of India; pillars with sculptures at the temple, also sandblasted and disfigured.
CHENNAI: A 1,200-year-old Siva temple of the Pallava period at Tiruppulivanam village in Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu, has been wiped clean of its beautiful Chola-period paintings. The frescoes, about 975 years old, have been sand-blasted out of existence.
Ironically, at a seminar organised on the temple premises on August 27, 2007, archaeologists, epigraphists and artists had decided on measures to preserve the paintings and inscriptions in the temple.
Two 16-pillared mantapas are among the temple’s treasures that have been destroyed. One of the mantapas, which was commonly called ‘madapalli’ or kitchen, had Tamil inscriptions dating back to Kulotunga Chola III (1215 A.D.), the Telugu Chola Vijayakanda Gopaladeva, Rajanarayana Sambuvaraya and others. The other mantapa, called Alankara Mantapa, belonged to the 16th century Vijayanagara period.
This destruction has taken place during “renovation” that the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) Department officials are undertaking. As part of this exercise, they plan to pull down a 100-pillared mantapa just outside the temple and “rebuild it.”
The Vyagrapurisvara temple at Tiruppulivanam, near Uttraramerur, 95 km from Chennai, was one of the three temples in Tamil Nadu where Chola paintings existed. The others where they still exist are the Brihadeesvara temple in Thanjavur and the Vijayalaya Cholisvara temple near Pudukottai.
Earthmover at work
When this correspondent and a photographer visited the temple on November 2, an earthmover was piling up the dismembered granite slabs of the Alankara Mantapa.
In the main temple itself, sandblasting had been done on the southern, northern and western walls of the prakara, on the sculptures on pillars and on the ancient Tamil inscriptions — in violation of a State government directive against sandblasting for renovating temples. The inscriptions on the outer wall of the sanctum sanctorum and the sculptures stand disfigured.
The temple existed during the reign of the Pallava king Nandivarman II in the 8th century A.D. The Rashtrakuta king Krishna III, the Chola kings Parantaka I, Rajendra I and Kulotunga I, the Sambuvaraya chieftain Rajanarayana and the Vijayanagara rulers added structures to it.
What stood out were the Chola frescoes, painted perhaps during the rule of Rajendra I, on the northern prakara wall. Dr. A. Padmavathy, retired Senior Epigraphist, Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, said the paintings were of Siva as Tripurantaka (riding a chariot and armed with a bow and arrows to kill the demons of the three worlds) and Nataraja, and of Dakshinamurti, Narasimha, and Vishnu in “ananthasayana” posture. There were murals of Raja Raja Chola’s teacher Karuvur Thevar and of princes, princesses, dancing girls, ponds with lily and lotus flowers and wild animals. These frescoes do not exist today. The mantapas, one with ancient inscriptions, are gone.
When contacted, the temple’s executive officer, S. Senthil Kumar, of the HR & CE Department, said that “no paintings ever existed in the temple” and “no structure called Alankara Mantapa ever existed.”
He added that the ‘madapalli’ mantapa was demolished long before he took charge of the temple eight months ago. He said that “no sandblasting was ever done” and that only “water-wash and air-wash” were done.
However, informed sources asserted that the frescoes were sandblasted four months ago, the ‘madapalli’ mantapa demolished about six months ago and the Alankara Mantapa brought down a year ago.
Sports Columnists - Peter Roebuck;Assessment of Dravid
Rahul Dravid’s place is in jeopardy. Amidst all the emotions about the retirements of Anil Kumble, the colossus, and Sourav Ganguly, the fearless leader, the deteriorating form of India’s staunchest batsman cannot be overlooked. Dravid averages 33 in his last 25 Test matches.
Meanwhile fine players like Rohit Sharma seek opportunities. Time is running out for the cerebral batsman. Unless he recaptures the consistency and authority shown in his pomp he will not survive the year. He cannot stay merely because his experience is needed. The opening pair and remaining middle order men can provide that. Nor can outstanding service prolong a career. Runs alone can save him, and plenty of them.
Dravid’s decline has come as a surprise. Ordinarily well organised batsmen last longer than those reliant on eye and touch. After all sight may fade but technique endures.
Dravid’s famous wall was built with cement not dust. As a rule, too, heavy batsmen fall back before those light on their legs. They start to lumber, arrive a fraction late to play their shots and make a mistake. Dravid is as light as a dancer. His footwork and reflexes ought to be unchanged from his days of clover.
But he is not scoring runs. Two faults have been detected. Curiously his strokes seem to have lost power. Indeed his bat sounds tinny. Accordingly it has become hard to beat the field. Runs have slowed to a trickle. Throughout the last Australian tour he had to graft for every notch, and it has been the same in this series.
Previously it was enough to occupy the crease and runs came along. Now he has to search for them. As a result he has widened his range of shots.
Facing Mitchell Johnson, he has been favouring a wristy cover drive essayed at wildish deliveries moving further away. Since the ball is angling across, Dravid is effectively executing the stroke with half a bat. It is a shot with precious little margin for error. Dravid plays it because his confidence is in his boots.
He cannot think of any other way to collect runs. In the past he made bowlers come to him, played the game on his own terms. Now they know they can prey on his nerves.
Dravid’s other deficiency lies in his technique. He has started to move his front foot laterally as opposed to forwards, an arrangement that forces him to play across straight deliveries and makes him vulnerable to anything cutting back. At his best his game worked as efficiently as a Swiss clock. Now anyone seeking the time would be better advised to look at the sun.
It is hard to avoid thinking that something has broken in Dravid and that putting it back together might prove difficult. At such times it is natural to speculate on his state of mind, searching for forces the player himself might not recognise. Dravid is an intelligent man and has been playing cricket at the highest levels for fifteen years.
Throughout he has occupied the toughest position in the order. Occasionally he has also kept wicket.
Throughout his brain has been his strong point.
Blessed with formidable concentration, determination and analytical powers, he was able to think himself to the top. Perhaps his mind is exhausted. Perhaps it no longer has the capacity to focus for long periods.
Or perhaps the loss of the captaincy in contentious circumstances took a toll. Dravid has no resentment in him but the subconscious is not so easily assuaged.
Whatever the reason, the supply of runs has slowed, a fact it is no longer possible to ignore.
Meanwhile fine players like Rohit Sharma seek opportunities. Time is running out for the cerebral batsman. Unless he recaptures the consistency and authority shown in his pomp he will not survive the year. He cannot stay merely because his experience is needed. The opening pair and remaining middle order men can provide that. Nor can outstanding service prolong a career. Runs alone can save him, and plenty of them.
Dravid’s decline has come as a surprise. Ordinarily well organised batsmen last longer than those reliant on eye and touch. After all sight may fade but technique endures.
Dravid’s famous wall was built with cement not dust. As a rule, too, heavy batsmen fall back before those light on their legs. They start to lumber, arrive a fraction late to play their shots and make a mistake. Dravid is as light as a dancer. His footwork and reflexes ought to be unchanged from his days of clover.
But he is not scoring runs. Two faults have been detected. Curiously his strokes seem to have lost power. Indeed his bat sounds tinny. Accordingly it has become hard to beat the field. Runs have slowed to a trickle. Throughout the last Australian tour he had to graft for every notch, and it has been the same in this series.
Previously it was enough to occupy the crease and runs came along. Now he has to search for them. As a result he has widened his range of shots.
Facing Mitchell Johnson, he has been favouring a wristy cover drive essayed at wildish deliveries moving further away. Since the ball is angling across, Dravid is effectively executing the stroke with half a bat. It is a shot with precious little margin for error. Dravid plays it because his confidence is in his boots.
He cannot think of any other way to collect runs. In the past he made bowlers come to him, played the game on his own terms. Now they know they can prey on his nerves.
Dravid’s other deficiency lies in his technique. He has started to move his front foot laterally as opposed to forwards, an arrangement that forces him to play across straight deliveries and makes him vulnerable to anything cutting back. At his best his game worked as efficiently as a Swiss clock. Now anyone seeking the time would be better advised to look at the sun.
It is hard to avoid thinking that something has broken in Dravid and that putting it back together might prove difficult. At such times it is natural to speculate on his state of mind, searching for forces the player himself might not recognise. Dravid is an intelligent man and has been playing cricket at the highest levels for fifteen years.
Throughout he has occupied the toughest position in the order. Occasionally he has also kept wicket.
Throughout his brain has been his strong point.
Blessed with formidable concentration, determination and analytical powers, he was able to think himself to the top. Perhaps his mind is exhausted. Perhaps it no longer has the capacity to focus for long periods.
Or perhaps the loss of the captaincy in contentious circumstances took a toll. Dravid has no resentment in him but the subconscious is not so easily assuaged.
Whatever the reason, the supply of runs has slowed, a fact it is no longer possible to ignore.
World - US;Islam & Obama
Lorraine Ali
Beyond the use of the term Muslim as a pejorative, and accusations by the far right that Obama was himself a secret follower of the Quran, what did real Muslim-Americans think of the Chicago senator? And how did they vote? The American Muslim Task Force on Civil Rights and Elections released a poll today of over 600 Muslims from more than ten states, including Florida and Pennsylvania, and it revealed that 89% of respondents voted for Obama, while only 2% voted for McCain. It also indicated that 95% of Muslims polled cast a ballot in this year's presidential election—the highest turnout in a U.S. election ever—and 14% of those were first-time voters. The Gallup Center for Muslim studies estimates that U.S. Muslims favored Obama in greater numbers than did Hispanics (67% of whom voted for Obama)—and nearly matched that of African-Americans, 93% of whom voted for Obama. More than two-thirds who were polled said the economy was the most important issue affecting their decision on November 4th, while 16% said the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan informed their vote—numbers that put Muslims roughly on a par with the general population.
Many Muslim Americans also changed their party affiliations for this election. The country's Muslim population, estimated at between 7 to 8 million, has traditionally voted along conservative, Republican lines. Today, more than two-thirds of American Muslims polled say they consider themselves to be Democrats, while only 4% see themselves as Republicans (29% identified as Independents.) The shift began in 2004—in part because of the GOP's handling of civil liberties, from wiretapping American citizens to detaining Muslims in the US and Guantanamo without trail, and because of the war in Iraq. This year, many more were drawn into the Democratic party by Obama himself. Muslims across the country were captivated by the senator's promise of unity and hope. On the Muslim-Americans for Obama website (or "Mafo2008.com"), their mission statement includes the following: "That we support Barack Obama because, among other reasons, he rejects the politics of fear, challenging our nation to embrace its collective identity, where each American has a stake in the success and well-being of every American."
"All the Muslim Americans I know were excited and electrified by him," says Salman Ahmed, the New York-based guitarist and singer of the Pakistani-American rock band Junoon. He's dedicated several recent concerts to getting the vote out for Obama. "It was not like 'Good, Obama gets the Muslim world.' It was 'Oh My God! Here's a guy who understands the world, us, America.' Voting for him was a no brainer."
But many Muslims kept their presidential preference a secret in the months leading up to Super Tuesday, fearing that an endorsement from them might in fact work against Obama. After all, this was an election year in which the word "Muslim" was used as shorthand to connote anti-American leanings and a hidden love of terrorism. A recent study by Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a media watchdog group, found that the mainstream press didn't do enough to challenge the election-year smears of Islam by such conservative talk show hosts as Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage, or counter accusations that Obama was "one of them" by detractors such as "Obama Nation" author Jerome Corsi. "We are the bogeyman now," joked a secular Muslim women last month during a conversation regarding Obama (she preferred to remain anonymous). "Yes, I want to shout my endorsement of him from the rooftops, but I do not want to mess up any chance of Obama becoming the next president. How crazy is his position we've been put in?"
But the ploy to connect Obama to a demonized Islam may have backfired. Weeks before the election, a non-profit group which calls itself the Clarion Fund sent out an anti-Muslim DVD titled "Obsession" in Sunday papers across America; copies were also mailed to various voters in swing states. The DVD paired images of Nazis with images of Muslims, over and over and over again. Its arrival on the eve of the election was clearly intended to scare voters into supporting McCain, turning them against the candidate whose middle name happens to be "Hussein." "It was intended to be a way of linking Obama to Islam, but it backfired when a lot of people began saying wait, what's going on?" says Jen'nan Read, a professor of sociology at Duke University. "It not only mobilized many Muslim-American voters, but brought out other undecided voters in support of Obama rather than McCain."
Did Muslims have any apprehensions of their own about Obama? The candidate's stance on Pakistan, and his willingness to sanction military strikes against the nation if the government there did not hunt down terrorist threats to the Americans' satisfaction, certainly troubled some of Pakistani descent. But a greater worry, shared by American Muslims of all stripes, was that Obama rarely seemed to defend them when the word "Muslim" was used as a slur. Instead, it took others like CNN's Campbell Brown and, remarkably, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, to say "and so what if he was?" whenever someone inaccurately accused Obama of being a Muslim. "That was not a deal-breaker for me," says immigration attorney Engy Abdelkader, a New Jersey native and Obama supporter. "I was a little disappointed I didn't hear more from him, but he did say on Larry King that the comments were not only untrue, but insulting to Muslims." Salman Ahmed says he was disappointed too, but felt the need to cut his candidate some slack. "We understood that we could not hold him up to defend the entire Muslim community. It was just an unspoken thing--that he was treading this very fine line."
Muslim-American websites, blogs and myspace pages have gone wild with enthusiastic posts since Obama's win ("Yes We Did!" read one on Mafo2008.com).Supporters like Abdelkader say they couldn't be happier, and that Obama's victory reignited their faith in the American dream. "His victory is a reaffirmation of what we were taught growing up in America," she says. "That you're not supposed to judge by religion or the color of someone's skin. I remember during one of his rallies. It was reported that women in hijabs were asked to move out of camera shot. When Obama found out what his staffers did, his response was to pick up the phone and call those women and apologize. It really resonated with me. What other politician would do that?"
Beyond the use of the term Muslim as a pejorative, and accusations by the far right that Obama was himself a secret follower of the Quran, what did real Muslim-Americans think of the Chicago senator? And how did they vote? The American Muslim Task Force on Civil Rights and Elections released a poll today of over 600 Muslims from more than ten states, including Florida and Pennsylvania, and it revealed that 89% of respondents voted for Obama, while only 2% voted for McCain. It also indicated that 95% of Muslims polled cast a ballot in this year's presidential election—the highest turnout in a U.S. election ever—and 14% of those were first-time voters. The Gallup Center for Muslim studies estimates that U.S. Muslims favored Obama in greater numbers than did Hispanics (67% of whom voted for Obama)—and nearly matched that of African-Americans, 93% of whom voted for Obama. More than two-thirds who were polled said the economy was the most important issue affecting their decision on November 4th, while 16% said the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan informed their vote—numbers that put Muslims roughly on a par with the general population.
Many Muslim Americans also changed their party affiliations for this election. The country's Muslim population, estimated at between 7 to 8 million, has traditionally voted along conservative, Republican lines. Today, more than two-thirds of American Muslims polled say they consider themselves to be Democrats, while only 4% see themselves as Republicans (29% identified as Independents.) The shift began in 2004—in part because of the GOP's handling of civil liberties, from wiretapping American citizens to detaining Muslims in the US and Guantanamo without trail, and because of the war in Iraq. This year, many more were drawn into the Democratic party by Obama himself. Muslims across the country were captivated by the senator's promise of unity and hope. On the Muslim-Americans for Obama website (or "Mafo2008.com"), their mission statement includes the following: "That we support Barack Obama because, among other reasons, he rejects the politics of fear, challenging our nation to embrace its collective identity, where each American has a stake in the success and well-being of every American."
"All the Muslim Americans I know were excited and electrified by him," says Salman Ahmed, the New York-based guitarist and singer of the Pakistani-American rock band Junoon. He's dedicated several recent concerts to getting the vote out for Obama. "It was not like 'Good, Obama gets the Muslim world.' It was 'Oh My God! Here's a guy who understands the world, us, America.' Voting for him was a no brainer."
But many Muslims kept their presidential preference a secret in the months leading up to Super Tuesday, fearing that an endorsement from them might in fact work against Obama. After all, this was an election year in which the word "Muslim" was used as shorthand to connote anti-American leanings and a hidden love of terrorism. A recent study by Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a media watchdog group, found that the mainstream press didn't do enough to challenge the election-year smears of Islam by such conservative talk show hosts as Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage, or counter accusations that Obama was "one of them" by detractors such as "Obama Nation" author Jerome Corsi. "We are the bogeyman now," joked a secular Muslim women last month during a conversation regarding Obama (she preferred to remain anonymous). "Yes, I want to shout my endorsement of him from the rooftops, but I do not want to mess up any chance of Obama becoming the next president. How crazy is his position we've been put in?"
But the ploy to connect Obama to a demonized Islam may have backfired. Weeks before the election, a non-profit group which calls itself the Clarion Fund sent out an anti-Muslim DVD titled "Obsession" in Sunday papers across America; copies were also mailed to various voters in swing states. The DVD paired images of Nazis with images of Muslims, over and over and over again. Its arrival on the eve of the election was clearly intended to scare voters into supporting McCain, turning them against the candidate whose middle name happens to be "Hussein." "It was intended to be a way of linking Obama to Islam, but it backfired when a lot of people began saying wait, what's going on?" says Jen'nan Read, a professor of sociology at Duke University. "It not only mobilized many Muslim-American voters, but brought out other undecided voters in support of Obama rather than McCain."
Did Muslims have any apprehensions of their own about Obama? The candidate's stance on Pakistan, and his willingness to sanction military strikes against the nation if the government there did not hunt down terrorist threats to the Americans' satisfaction, certainly troubled some of Pakistani descent. But a greater worry, shared by American Muslims of all stripes, was that Obama rarely seemed to defend them when the word "Muslim" was used as a slur. Instead, it took others like CNN's Campbell Brown and, remarkably, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, to say "and so what if he was?" whenever someone inaccurately accused Obama of being a Muslim. "That was not a deal-breaker for me," says immigration attorney Engy Abdelkader, a New Jersey native and Obama supporter. "I was a little disappointed I didn't hear more from him, but he did say on Larry King that the comments were not only untrue, but insulting to Muslims." Salman Ahmed says he was disappointed too, but felt the need to cut his candidate some slack. "We understood that we could not hold him up to defend the entire Muslim community. It was just an unspoken thing--that he was treading this very fine line."
Muslim-American websites, blogs and myspace pages have gone wild with enthusiastic posts since Obama's win ("Yes We Did!" read one on Mafo2008.com).Supporters like Abdelkader say they couldn't be happier, and that Obama's victory reignited their faith in the American dream. "His victory is a reaffirmation of what we were taught growing up in America," she says. "That you're not supposed to judge by religion or the color of someone's skin. I remember during one of his rallies. It was reported that women in hijabs were asked to move out of camera shot. When Obama found out what his staffers did, his response was to pick up the phone and call those women and apologize. It really resonated with me. What other politician would do that?"
Business - India;Global aviation giants eye $300bn potential
NEW DELHI: Despite daily losses of Rs100-150 million ($2-3 million) being incurred by some Indian carriers due to the general economic downturn, global aerospace giants continue to make a strong pitch for a share in the country's aviation pie, officially estimated at $300 billion by 2020, experts said.
"Much of the world is flat or declining. Only India is growing," said Daniel J Magoon, director of Indian business development, transportation and security solutions with the US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.
"We want to become the supplier of choice for air traffic control and security systems," Magoon said, adding his job was to change the company's business mix in India from major supplier of wares to the defence sector to gaining a foothold in the civil aviation space.
India's flight penetration is at a mere 0.2 per capita, compared to 2.2 in the US and 1.2 in China, and with only 40 busy airports serving a population of more than a billion, companies like Lockheed sees a huge growth potential here.
And it was none other than Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who said in Hyderabad recently during a major civil aviation show that India offered a $300 billion market by 2020 for new aircraft, infrastructure and air traffic control, navigation and security systems.
"The entire world now thinks India is the place to grow and we are very much focussed on the Indian market as our business here can grow to as much as $1 billion in the next few years," said Fred A Treyz III of another US giant Raytheon.
"China may be growing too but most American aviation companies who also have a presence in the defence sector are not allowed to do business with Chinese companies, so we have to focus on India," said Treyz who is the company's director of business development and strategic planning.
As aviation infrastructure suppliers slug it out for the Indian market, aircraft makers, too, see India as the place to grow. Bell Helicopter, for example, took 52 years to sell its first 100 choppers in India, but now expects to sell the next 100 in less than five years.
"India is our fastest growing market," says Greg Hubbard, director of communications for Bell Helicopter, which claims a 52 percent market share in the chopper market, followed closely by Franco-German-Spanish Eurocopter with 40 percent.
"We believe that the helicopter market in the country has the potential of doubling in the next few years," said Norbert Ducrot, Eurocopter's senior vice president for sales and marketing in Asia.
India is also a hot market for corporate and business jets. Outside the US, India is the second-largest market after Brazil for Hawker Beechcraft, said Sean McGeough, the company's vice president of international sales.
Despite being a little slow to take off, Montreal-based Bombardier, another leading manufacturer of business jets, now has three sales representatives in India and will also set up a regional customer support office for the sub-continent next year.
"The potential for Bombardier as a regional carrier in this market is vast and it is our hope and expectation to build on that in the months and years to come," Bombardier's senior adviser John Arnone said recently.
But what about the current troubles of Indian carriers? The two major commercial aircraft manufacturing giants Airbus and Boeing think it is a temporary aberration and will soon correct itself.
"There is now too much overcapacity but the potential for growth in India is huge," says Kiran Rao, European aircraft giant Airbus's executive vice-president of sales and marketing.
"If the Indian economy is growing at 7-8 percent, then air traffic growth will be 14-15 percent. So we are very much focussed on India," he said.
This perception is also shared by Dinesh A Keskar, Boeing's senior vice president of sales of commercial airplanes.
"India is the growth story of the world and it is going to be the future," he said
"Much of the world is flat or declining. Only India is growing," said Daniel J Magoon, director of Indian business development, transportation and security solutions with the US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.
"We want to become the supplier of choice for air traffic control and security systems," Magoon said, adding his job was to change the company's business mix in India from major supplier of wares to the defence sector to gaining a foothold in the civil aviation space.
India's flight penetration is at a mere 0.2 per capita, compared to 2.2 in the US and 1.2 in China, and with only 40 busy airports serving a population of more than a billion, companies like Lockheed sees a huge growth potential here.
And it was none other than Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who said in Hyderabad recently during a major civil aviation show that India offered a $300 billion market by 2020 for new aircraft, infrastructure and air traffic control, navigation and security systems.
"The entire world now thinks India is the place to grow and we are very much focussed on the Indian market as our business here can grow to as much as $1 billion in the next few years," said Fred A Treyz III of another US giant Raytheon.
"China may be growing too but most American aviation companies who also have a presence in the defence sector are not allowed to do business with Chinese companies, so we have to focus on India," said Treyz who is the company's director of business development and strategic planning.
As aviation infrastructure suppliers slug it out for the Indian market, aircraft makers, too, see India as the place to grow. Bell Helicopter, for example, took 52 years to sell its first 100 choppers in India, but now expects to sell the next 100 in less than five years.
"India is our fastest growing market," says Greg Hubbard, director of communications for Bell Helicopter, which claims a 52 percent market share in the chopper market, followed closely by Franco-German-Spanish Eurocopter with 40 percent.
"We believe that the helicopter market in the country has the potential of doubling in the next few years," said Norbert Ducrot, Eurocopter's senior vice president for sales and marketing in Asia.
India is also a hot market for corporate and business jets. Outside the US, India is the second-largest market after Brazil for Hawker Beechcraft, said Sean McGeough, the company's vice president of international sales.
Despite being a little slow to take off, Montreal-based Bombardier, another leading manufacturer of business jets, now has three sales representatives in India and will also set up a regional customer support office for the sub-continent next year.
"The potential for Bombardier as a regional carrier in this market is vast and it is our hope and expectation to build on that in the months and years to come," Bombardier's senior adviser John Arnone said recently.
But what about the current troubles of Indian carriers? The two major commercial aircraft manufacturing giants Airbus and Boeing think it is a temporary aberration and will soon correct itself.
"There is now too much overcapacity but the potential for growth in India is huge," says Kiran Rao, European aircraft giant Airbus's executive vice-president of sales and marketing.
"If the Indian economy is growing at 7-8 percent, then air traffic growth will be 14-15 percent. So we are very much focussed on India," he said.
This perception is also shared by Dinesh A Keskar, Boeing's senior vice president of sales of commercial airplanes.
"India is the growth story of the world and it is going to be the future," he said
Entertainment - India;Mani Ratnam's Ravan
Prithwish Ganguly
The actor has been asked to get into shape by the film-maker for his next film, which is a period drama, reports PRITHWISH GANGULY
Film-maker Mani Ratnam wants Abhishek Bachchan to shed a lot of extra baggage, literally. Mani has asked Abhishek to lose around 15 kilos for his next film Raavan and get into shape for a leaner and fitter look that the role demands. Abhishek plays the role of Rama in the period drama.
Abhishek was criticised for the way he looked in Drona. And if one assesses the costumes to be used in Raavan — a film inspired by Ramayana — men would have to carry off bare bodies for some of the shots. So flaunting a good body becomes a pre-requisite.
“The film requires both lead actors (Abhishek and south Indian star Vikram who plays Raavan) to look fit. It is a period film and actors have to flaunt their chiseled bodies in quite some portions of the movie.
There are war scenes, a marriage scene in which the actors will go bare bodied and Mani wanted his heroes to carry off a perfect body. He has asked Abhishek to shed around 15 kilos and work out regularly to develop a muscular physique. Abhishek has paid heed to Mani’s words and is working out religiously.
Both actors need to do many action stunts themselves and a fitter body only helps in making the shooting process smooth as your body becomes capable to undergo those grueling and challenging action shots,” says an insider.
Mani seems to have added a twist to the tale of Raavan. The film will not recount the known tale of Ramayana in which Raavan, the king of Lanka, kidnaps Sita and then Rama wages a war to win back his wife.
Instead, it will narrate the story from the point of view of the king of Lanka and how Sita takes his side when Rama asks her to go through purification by fire to prove her chastity as she was kept as a hostage by Raavan.
The film will be made in two languages — Hindi and Tamil — simultaneously. In the Tamil version Vikram will essay the role of Rama and Prithviraj will don the garb of Raavan. Aishwarya Rai will play Sita in both versions.
The actor has been asked to get into shape by the film-maker for his next film, which is a period drama, reports PRITHWISH GANGULY
Film-maker Mani Ratnam wants Abhishek Bachchan to shed a lot of extra baggage, literally. Mani has asked Abhishek to lose around 15 kilos for his next film Raavan and get into shape for a leaner and fitter look that the role demands. Abhishek plays the role of Rama in the period drama.
Abhishek was criticised for the way he looked in Drona. And if one assesses the costumes to be used in Raavan — a film inspired by Ramayana — men would have to carry off bare bodies for some of the shots. So flaunting a good body becomes a pre-requisite.
“The film requires both lead actors (Abhishek and south Indian star Vikram who plays Raavan) to look fit. It is a period film and actors have to flaunt their chiseled bodies in quite some portions of the movie.
There are war scenes, a marriage scene in which the actors will go bare bodied and Mani wanted his heroes to carry off a perfect body. He has asked Abhishek to shed around 15 kilos and work out regularly to develop a muscular physique. Abhishek has paid heed to Mani’s words and is working out religiously.
Both actors need to do many action stunts themselves and a fitter body only helps in making the shooting process smooth as your body becomes capable to undergo those grueling and challenging action shots,” says an insider.
Mani seems to have added a twist to the tale of Raavan. The film will not recount the known tale of Ramayana in which Raavan, the king of Lanka, kidnaps Sita and then Rama wages a war to win back his wife.
Instead, it will narrate the story from the point of view of the king of Lanka and how Sita takes his side when Rama asks her to go through purification by fire to prove her chastity as she was kept as a hostage by Raavan.
The film will be made in two languages — Hindi and Tamil — simultaneously. In the Tamil version Vikram will essay the role of Rama and Prithviraj will don the garb of Raavan. Aishwarya Rai will play Sita in both versions.
Entertainment - India;Priyanka Chopra Talks
Prithwish Ganguly
Basking in the success of Fashion, Priyanka Chopra talks to Prithwish Ganguly about how she felt when she was going through a flop run
Priyanka Chopra has finally salvaged her dipping fortunes the box office. Piggy Chops was riding on bad luck all through this year with four back-to-back flops (Love Story 2050, God Tussi Great Ho, Chamku and Drona).
But Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion has finally stopped the dry run and put the limelight back on her.
In these good times, this model-turned-actor hasn’t forgotten how her heart broke every time she used to be told that one more film has nose-dived at the box office.
“My heart used to break every time I heard that my film hasn’t done well at the box office. I used to get affected every time I used to hear that (her film turning out to be a box office dud). I am happy that Fashion has become such a huge hit but I haven’t got over those feelings yet. Fashion was my fifth release and I had a lot of responsibility as the solo lead,” she told After Hrs.
“Honestly, I had thought that Drona and God Tussi Great Ho would work well (at the box office). Some of my earlier films were released back-to-back and they
didn’t do well. Now that Fashion got a great opening and good reviews as well, it’s a sone pe suhaga situation for me,” she laughs.
The 26-year-old dusky former Miss World is also doing a special item number in Shah Rukh Khan’s Billoo Barber. We quizzed the actor on whether she would settle for a
de-glam image for a film post all the compliments that she has got for her looks in her earlier films like Drona.
“I don’t believe that if you take off your make-up, you become a better actor. You can look beautiful and glamourous and still act well. I dress up according to the character I have in a film. For example, in half of Fashion, I’m not wearing any make-up. I’ll take off my make-up if my role demands it but not to prove anything to anyone,” she says.
There are lots of promising projects for Priyanka to look forward to. She has been roped in by Ashutosh Gowariker for What’s Your Raashee? which has Harman Baweja playing the male lead.
She is also a part of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Kameenay which will see her pair up with Shahid Kapur. But as of now, she is kicked about Dostana as she plays a character which is closest to her real self.
“My character in the film (Dostana) is very interesting. She is a very confident girl. I can tell you that out of all the films that I have done, this character is closest to what I’m in real life. I could relate to her throughout the film. I loved the script when it was narrated to me. It is extremely funny and the situations are hilarious. The film is about urban relationships. The Miami setting is just brilliant,” she signs off.
Watch out for Manish Malhotra’s swimsuit
Priyanka Chopra has worn a swimsuit in the movie Dostana. This is the first time she has worn a swimsuit on screen and she has worked on her body a lot.
The sequinned swimsuit she has worn has been designed by Manish Malhotra and it has a golden metallic finish to it.
She emerges out of the sea (like Halle Berry in the Bond movie Die Another Day) on the Miami beach where she had gone with her live-in partners (John and Abhishek). John and Abhishek pretend to be gay characters in this movie while both are in love with Priyanka.
Basking in the success of Fashion, Priyanka Chopra talks to Prithwish Ganguly about how she felt when she was going through a flop run
Priyanka Chopra has finally salvaged her dipping fortunes the box office. Piggy Chops was riding on bad luck all through this year with four back-to-back flops (Love Story 2050, God Tussi Great Ho, Chamku and Drona).
But Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion has finally stopped the dry run and put the limelight back on her.
In these good times, this model-turned-actor hasn’t forgotten how her heart broke every time she used to be told that one more film has nose-dived at the box office.
“My heart used to break every time I heard that my film hasn’t done well at the box office. I used to get affected every time I used to hear that (her film turning out to be a box office dud). I am happy that Fashion has become such a huge hit but I haven’t got over those feelings yet. Fashion was my fifth release and I had a lot of responsibility as the solo lead,” she told After Hrs.
“Honestly, I had thought that Drona and God Tussi Great Ho would work well (at the box office). Some of my earlier films were released back-to-back and they
didn’t do well. Now that Fashion got a great opening and good reviews as well, it’s a sone pe suhaga situation for me,” she laughs.
The 26-year-old dusky former Miss World is also doing a special item number in Shah Rukh Khan’s Billoo Barber. We quizzed the actor on whether she would settle for a
de-glam image for a film post all the compliments that she has got for her looks in her earlier films like Drona.
“I don’t believe that if you take off your make-up, you become a better actor. You can look beautiful and glamourous and still act well. I dress up according to the character I have in a film. For example, in half of Fashion, I’m not wearing any make-up. I’ll take off my make-up if my role demands it but not to prove anything to anyone,” she says.
There are lots of promising projects for Priyanka to look forward to. She has been roped in by Ashutosh Gowariker for What’s Your Raashee? which has Harman Baweja playing the male lead.
She is also a part of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Kameenay which will see her pair up with Shahid Kapur. But as of now, she is kicked about Dostana as she plays a character which is closest to her real self.
“My character in the film (Dostana) is very interesting. She is a very confident girl. I can tell you that out of all the films that I have done, this character is closest to what I’m in real life. I could relate to her throughout the film. I loved the script when it was narrated to me. It is extremely funny and the situations are hilarious. The film is about urban relationships. The Miami setting is just brilliant,” she signs off.
Watch out for Manish Malhotra’s swimsuit
Priyanka Chopra has worn a swimsuit in the movie Dostana. This is the first time she has worn a swimsuit on screen and she has worked on her body a lot.
The sequinned swimsuit she has worn has been designed by Manish Malhotra and it has a golden metallic finish to it.
She emerges out of the sea (like Halle Berry in the Bond movie Die Another Day) on the Miami beach where she had gone with her live-in partners (John and Abhishek). John and Abhishek pretend to be gay characters in this movie while both are in love with Priyanka.
India - Star Power in Andhra Elections
HYDERABAD: The assembly election in Andhra Pradesh next year is likely to witness a battle royal among top stars of the Telugu film industry, with the ruling Congress planning to rope in popular star Akkineni Nagarjuna to counter superstar-turned-politician Chiranjeevi as well as the late chief minister NT Rama Rao’s sons and grandsons.
With Chiranjeevi launching his Praja Rajyam party and the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) banking on its founder NTR’s family, the ruling party too has decided to use film glamour.
After roping in Nagarjuna to act in some TV advertisements to publicise its welfare schemes, the Congress is trying to persuade him to campaign for it in the election, due in March-April.
The Congress began its effort to rope in Nagarjuna soon after a massive public meeting organised by the TDP in Guntur where NTR’s son and popular actor Nandamuri Balakrishna took the plunge into politics.
The meeting was also attended by two actor grandsons of NTR. Meanwhile, Chiranjeevi’s state-wide yatra is drawing huge crowds.
Nagarjuna, 49, son of thespian Akkineni Nageswara Rao, had appeared in a few advertisements for the TDP before the 2004 election.
Though Congress leaders have often claimed that chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy was capable of taking on actors like Chiranjeevi and Balakrishna, the party seems to have realised that it needs star charisma to retain power.
The Congress has already made efforts to woo young star Mahesh Babu to campaign for it. While Mahesh Babu has remained non-committal, his father, yesteryear superstar Krishna, has already announced that he would support the ruling party. Krishna, a former Congress MP, has also formed an association of fans called the Krishna-Mahesh Sena.
The ruling party recently also inducted actors like Rajasekhar, his wife Jeevitha, Jayasudha, and Srihari to add glamour in its ranks.
Though TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu has not yet succeeded in roping in NTR’s grandson Junior NTR, one of the top young actors in the state, his party is confident after the success of the Guntur meeting that the star appeal of Balakrishna, his brother and TDP MP Harikrishna, and NTR’s grandsons Tarakaranta and Kalyan Ram is enough to bring it back to power.
With Chiranjeevi launching his Praja Rajyam party and the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) banking on its founder NTR’s family, the ruling party too has decided to use film glamour.
After roping in Nagarjuna to act in some TV advertisements to publicise its welfare schemes, the Congress is trying to persuade him to campaign for it in the election, due in March-April.
The Congress began its effort to rope in Nagarjuna soon after a massive public meeting organised by the TDP in Guntur where NTR’s son and popular actor Nandamuri Balakrishna took the plunge into politics.
The meeting was also attended by two actor grandsons of NTR. Meanwhile, Chiranjeevi’s state-wide yatra is drawing huge crowds.
Nagarjuna, 49, son of thespian Akkineni Nageswara Rao, had appeared in a few advertisements for the TDP before the 2004 election.
Though Congress leaders have often claimed that chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy was capable of taking on actors like Chiranjeevi and Balakrishna, the party seems to have realised that it needs star charisma to retain power.
The Congress has already made efforts to woo young star Mahesh Babu to campaign for it. While Mahesh Babu has remained non-committal, his father, yesteryear superstar Krishna, has already announced that he would support the ruling party. Krishna, a former Congress MP, has also formed an association of fans called the Krishna-Mahesh Sena.
The ruling party recently also inducted actors like Rajasekhar, his wife Jeevitha, Jayasudha, and Srihari to add glamour in its ranks.
Though TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu has not yet succeeded in roping in NTR’s grandson Junior NTR, one of the top young actors in the state, his party is confident after the success of the Guntur meeting that the star appeal of Balakrishna, his brother and TDP MP Harikrishna, and NTR’s grandsons Tarakaranta and Kalyan Ram is enough to bring it back to power.
Business - Little House on the Prairie,adults-only version!
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland has rated the DVD release of the much-loved children's television series "Little House on the Prairie" suitable for adult viewing only.
To save money, Universal Pictures decided not to submit the series to state inspection, the company's Finland marketing manager Meri Suomela told Reuters on Wednesday.
Finnish authorities charge 2 euros ($2.57) per minute for assessing the correct age limit on films and television series. Distributors who forego this can only sell their shows with a sticker saying "Banned for under-18s."
"Long series can get quite expensive to check, and some use this exemption in the law to their advantage," said Matti Paloheimo, Director at the Finnish Board of Film Classification.
"Such unchecked material should not be shown to children publicly," he added.
Little House on the Prairie, which ran from 1974 to 1983, portrayed life in the U.S. West in the late 1800s and was based on the Laura Ingalls Wilder's children's book of the same name.
It remains popular in Finland, and is still shown weekly on Sunday mornings on state-owned broadcaster YLE.
(Reporting by Sakari Suoninen; Editing by Louise Ireland)
To save money, Universal Pictures decided not to submit the series to state inspection, the company's Finland marketing manager Meri Suomela told Reuters on Wednesday.
Finnish authorities charge 2 euros ($2.57) per minute for assessing the correct age limit on films and television series. Distributors who forego this can only sell their shows with a sticker saying "Banned for under-18s."
"Long series can get quite expensive to check, and some use this exemption in the law to their advantage," said Matti Paloheimo, Director at the Finnish Board of Film Classification.
"Such unchecked material should not be shown to children publicly," he added.
Little House on the Prairie, which ran from 1974 to 1983, portrayed life in the U.S. West in the late 1800s and was based on the Laura Ingalls Wilder's children's book of the same name.
It remains popular in Finland, and is still shown weekly on Sunday mornings on state-owned broadcaster YLE.
(Reporting by Sakari Suoninen; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Business - Berkshire Hathaway profit tumbles 77%
Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(BRKb.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Friday third-quarter profit fell 77 percent, the fourth straight quarterly decline, hurt by weaker results from insurance underwriting and a big loss on derivatives contracts.
Net income for the Omaha, Nebraska-based insurance and investment company declined to $1.06 billion, or $682 per Class A share, from $4.55 billion, or $2,942, a year earlier.
Operating profit fell 18 percent to $2.07 billion, or $1,335 per share, from $2.56 billion, or $1,655. It fell short of analysts' average expectation for $1,429 per share, according to Reuters Estimates. Revenue fell 7 percent to $27.93 billion. Berkshire's net worth nevertheless rose to $120.2 billion from $118 billion at the end of June.
"You can look at the results as a glass half-full or half- empty," said Frank Betz, a principal at Carret/Zane Capital Management LLP in Warren, New Jersey, which owns Berkshire stock. "Earnings were down, but book value went up. Berkshire hasn't been battered by extraordinary insurance claims and there's nothing alarming in the results that's tied to Berkshire's exposure to the economy."
Berkshire is a roughly $175 billion conglomerate that owns several dozen businesses in such areas as insurance, energy, housing, kitchen supplies, clothing and food.
It also tries to invest in out-of-favor companies with strong earnings and management. Insurance typically generates half of results. Buffett is the second-richest American according to Forbes magazine and an economic adviser to President-elect Barack Obama.
HURRICANES HURT RESULTS
Profit from insurance underwriting fell 83 percent to $81 million, hurt by increased price competition and about $1.05 billion of losses tied to Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
Berkshire boosted insurance premiums following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but prices and profit margins have fallen. The 2007 hurricane season was also quiet, making this year's results look comparably worse.
Insurance investment income declined 12 percent in the quarter to $809 million and profit from other businesses declined 8 percent to $1.08 billion. The latter included a decline of 8 percent in utilities and energy and an increase of 3 percent in manufacturing, retailing and services.
Berkshire also had $1.26 billion of pre-tax losses from derivatives contracts. The bulk of this related to previously disclosed contracts tied to the long-term performance of the Standard & Poor's 500 .SPX and three foreign stock indexes and to the credit quality of high-yield bonds.
Accounting rules require Berkshire to regularly report unrealized gains and losses on the contracts.
But Berkshire can invest the cash it got up front to enter the contracts. It would also pay on the stock index contracts only if various indexes are lower between the 2019 and 2027 than when the contracts were created.
Buffett entered the contracts, although he has called derivatives "financial weapons of mass destruction."
Berkshire's Class A shares closed up $800 at $113,000 on Friday, while its Class B shares fell $14 to $3,686. The company released results after U.S. markets closed.
NO EYEDROPPER
Buffett has committed more than $27 billion of Berkshire's money this year to make acquisitions, finance takeovers and invest in blue-chip companies such as General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
The investments give Berkshire new ways to grow as the credit crisis drives asset values down and makes it harder for other companies to borrow.
Despite the investments, Berkshire increased its cash stake to $33.37 billion as of September 30 from $31.16 billion in June, although it was down from $44.33 billion at the end of 2007.
"When you can move money from cash earning 2 percent to distressed assets that can earn 20 percent, it creates a lot of value," said James Armstrong, president of Henry H. Armstrong Associates in Pittsburgh, which owns Berkshire stock. "Buffett isn't doing it with an eyedropper."
Last month, Buffett pledged to move all his personal holdings apart from Berkshire stock, which is pledged to charity, into U.S. stocks from government bonds, citing long- term optimism in corporate America.
Within insurance, pre-tax underwriting gains at auto insurer Geico Corp fell 27 percent to $246 million, hurt by higher claims. Gains before taxes fell 66 percent to $54 million at General Re Corp, which rejected business where it did not believe it was getting paid enough.
Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, meanwhile, had a $166 million pre-tax loss, hurt by hurricanes and lower premiums.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Gary Hill and Andre Grenon)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(BRKb.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Friday third-quarter profit fell 77 percent, the fourth straight quarterly decline, hurt by weaker results from insurance underwriting and a big loss on derivatives contracts.
Net income for the Omaha, Nebraska-based insurance and investment company declined to $1.06 billion, or $682 per Class A share, from $4.55 billion, or $2,942, a year earlier.
Operating profit fell 18 percent to $2.07 billion, or $1,335 per share, from $2.56 billion, or $1,655. It fell short of analysts' average expectation for $1,429 per share, according to Reuters Estimates. Revenue fell 7 percent to $27.93 billion. Berkshire's net worth nevertheless rose to $120.2 billion from $118 billion at the end of June.
"You can look at the results as a glass half-full or half- empty," said Frank Betz, a principal at Carret/Zane Capital Management LLP in Warren, New Jersey, which owns Berkshire stock. "Earnings were down, but book value went up. Berkshire hasn't been battered by extraordinary insurance claims and there's nothing alarming in the results that's tied to Berkshire's exposure to the economy."
Berkshire is a roughly $175 billion conglomerate that owns several dozen businesses in such areas as insurance, energy, housing, kitchen supplies, clothing and food.
It also tries to invest in out-of-favor companies with strong earnings and management. Insurance typically generates half of results. Buffett is the second-richest American according to Forbes magazine and an economic adviser to President-elect Barack Obama.
HURRICANES HURT RESULTS
Profit from insurance underwriting fell 83 percent to $81 million, hurt by increased price competition and about $1.05 billion of losses tied to Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
Berkshire boosted insurance premiums following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but prices and profit margins have fallen. The 2007 hurricane season was also quiet, making this year's results look comparably worse.
Insurance investment income declined 12 percent in the quarter to $809 million and profit from other businesses declined 8 percent to $1.08 billion. The latter included a decline of 8 percent in utilities and energy and an increase of 3 percent in manufacturing, retailing and services.
Berkshire also had $1.26 billion of pre-tax losses from derivatives contracts. The bulk of this related to previously disclosed contracts tied to the long-term performance of the Standard & Poor's 500 .SPX and three foreign stock indexes and to the credit quality of high-yield bonds.
Accounting rules require Berkshire to regularly report unrealized gains and losses on the contracts.
But Berkshire can invest the cash it got up front to enter the contracts. It would also pay on the stock index contracts only if various indexes are lower between the 2019 and 2027 than when the contracts were created.
Buffett entered the contracts, although he has called derivatives "financial weapons of mass destruction."
Berkshire's Class A shares closed up $800 at $113,000 on Friday, while its Class B shares fell $14 to $3,686. The company released results after U.S. markets closed.
NO EYEDROPPER
Buffett has committed more than $27 billion of Berkshire's money this year to make acquisitions, finance takeovers and invest in blue-chip companies such as General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
The investments give Berkshire new ways to grow as the credit crisis drives asset values down and makes it harder for other companies to borrow.
Despite the investments, Berkshire increased its cash stake to $33.37 billion as of September 30 from $31.16 billion in June, although it was down from $44.33 billion at the end of 2007.
"When you can move money from cash earning 2 percent to distressed assets that can earn 20 percent, it creates a lot of value," said James Armstrong, president of Henry H. Armstrong Associates in Pittsburgh, which owns Berkshire stock. "Buffett isn't doing it with an eyedropper."
Last month, Buffett pledged to move all his personal holdings apart from Berkshire stock, which is pledged to charity, into U.S. stocks from government bonds, citing long- term optimism in corporate America.
Within insurance, pre-tax underwriting gains at auto insurer Geico Corp fell 27 percent to $246 million, hurt by higher claims. Gains before taxes fell 66 percent to $54 million at General Re Corp, which rejected business where it did not believe it was getting paid enough.
Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, meanwhile, had a $166 million pre-tax loss, hurt by hurricanes and lower premiums.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Gary Hill and Andre Grenon)
Science - Scientists say a rock can soak up Carbon dioxide
Timothy Gardner
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A rock found mostly in Oman can be harnessed to soak up the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide at a rate that could help slow global warming, scientists say.
When carbon dioxide comes in contact with the rock, peridotite, the gas is converted into solid minerals such as calcite.
Geologist Peter Kelemen and geochemist Juerg Matter said the naturally occurring process can be supercharged 1 million times to grow underground minerals that can permanently store 2 billion or more of the 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide emitted by human activity every year.
Their study will appear in the November 11 edition of the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences.
Peridotite is the most common rock found in the Earth's mantle, or the layer directly below the crust. It also appears on the surface, particularly in Oman, which is conveniently close to a region that produces substantial amounts of carbon dioxide in the production of fossil fuels.
"To be near all that oil and gas infrastructure is not a bad thing," Matter said in an interview.
They also calculated the costs of mining the rock and bringing it directly to greenhouse gas emitting power plants, but determined it was too expensive.
The scientists, who are both at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York, say they could kick-start peridotite's carbon storage process by boring down and injecting it with heated water containing pressurized carbon dioxide. They have a preliminary patent filing for the technique.
They say 4 billion to 5 billion tons a year of the gas could be stored near Oman by using peridotite in parallel with another emerging technique developed by Columbia's Klaus Lackner that uses synthetic "trees" which suck carbon dioxide out of the air.
More research needs to be done before either technology could be used on a commercial scale.
Peridotite also occurs in the Pacific islands of Papua New Guinea and Caledonia, and along the coast of the Adriatic Sea and in smaller amounts in California.
Big greenhouse gas emitters like the United States, China and India, where abundant surface supplies of the rock are not found, would have to come up with other ways of storing or cutting emissions.
Rock storage would be safer and cheaper than other schemes, Matter said.
Many companies are hoping to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by siphoning off large amounts of carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants and storing it underground.
That method could require thousands of miles of pipelines and nobody is sure whether the potentially dangerous gas would leak back out into the atmosphere in the future.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner, editing by Eric Beech)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A rock found mostly in Oman can be harnessed to soak up the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide at a rate that could help slow global warming, scientists say.
When carbon dioxide comes in contact with the rock, peridotite, the gas is converted into solid minerals such as calcite.
Geologist Peter Kelemen and geochemist Juerg Matter said the naturally occurring process can be supercharged 1 million times to grow underground minerals that can permanently store 2 billion or more of the 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide emitted by human activity every year.
Their study will appear in the November 11 edition of the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences.
Peridotite is the most common rock found in the Earth's mantle, or the layer directly below the crust. It also appears on the surface, particularly in Oman, which is conveniently close to a region that produces substantial amounts of carbon dioxide in the production of fossil fuels.
"To be near all that oil and gas infrastructure is not a bad thing," Matter said in an interview.
They also calculated the costs of mining the rock and bringing it directly to greenhouse gas emitting power plants, but determined it was too expensive.
The scientists, who are both at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York, say they could kick-start peridotite's carbon storage process by boring down and injecting it with heated water containing pressurized carbon dioxide. They have a preliminary patent filing for the technique.
They say 4 billion to 5 billion tons a year of the gas could be stored near Oman by using peridotite in parallel with another emerging technique developed by Columbia's Klaus Lackner that uses synthetic "trees" which suck carbon dioxide out of the air.
More research needs to be done before either technology could be used on a commercial scale.
Peridotite also occurs in the Pacific islands of Papua New Guinea and Caledonia, and along the coast of the Adriatic Sea and in smaller amounts in California.
Big greenhouse gas emitters like the United States, China and India, where abundant surface supplies of the rock are not found, would have to come up with other ways of storing or cutting emissions.
Rock storage would be safer and cheaper than other schemes, Matter said.
Many companies are hoping to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by siphoning off large amounts of carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants and storing it underground.
That method could require thousands of miles of pipelines and nobody is sure whether the potentially dangerous gas would leak back out into the atmosphere in the future.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner, editing by Eric Beech)
World - US;Should Kids Be Able to Graduate After 10th Grade?
KATHLEEN KINGSBURY
High school sophomores should be ready for college by age 16. That's the message from New Hampshire education officials, who announced plans Oct. 30 for a new rigorous state board of exams to be given to 10th graders. Students who pass will be prepared to move on to the state's community or technical colleges, skipping the last two years of high school.
Once implemented, the new battery of tests is expected to guarantee higher competency in core school subjects, lower dropout rates and free up millions of education dollars. Students may take the exams - which are modeled on existing AP or International Baccalaureate tests - as many times as they need to pass. Or those who want to go to a prestigious university may stay and finish the final two years, taking a second, more difficult set of exams senior year. "We want students who are ready to be able to move on to their higher education," says Lyonel Tracy, New Hampshire's Commissioner for Education. "And then we can focus even more attention on those kids who need more help to get there."
But can less schooling really lead to better-prepared students at an earlier age? Outside of the U.S., it's actually a far less radical notion than it sounds. Dozens of industrialized countries expect students to be college-ready by age 16, and those teenagers consistently outperform their American peers on international standardized tests.
With its new assessment system, New Hampshire is adopting a key recommendation of a blue-ribbon panel called the New Commission on Skills of the American Workforce. In 2006, the group issued a report called Tough Choices or Tough Times , a blueprint for how it believes the U.S. must dramatically overhaul education policies in order to maintain a globally competitive economy. "Forty years ago, the United States had the best educated workforce in the world," says William Brock, one of the commission's chairs and a former U.S. Secretary of Labor. "Now we're No. 10 and falling."
As more and more jobs head overseas, Brock and others on the commission can't stress enough how dire the need is for educational reform. "The nation is running out of time," he says.
New Hampshire's announcement comes as Utah and Massachusetts declared that they, too, plan to enact some of the commission's other proposals, such as universal Pre-K and better teacher pay and training. Still more states are expected to sign on in December. And the largest teacher union in the U.S., the National Education Association, is encouraging its affiliates to support such efforts.
Some reform advocates would like to see the report's testing proposals replace current No Child Left Behind legislation. "It makes accountability much more meaningful by stressing critical thinking and true mastery," says Tracy.
No date has been set for when New Hampshire will start administering the new set of exams, which have yet to be developed. But to achieve the goal of sending kids to college at 16, Tracy and his colleagues recognize preparation will have to start early. Nearly four years ago, New Hampshire began an initiative called Follow the Child. Starting practically from birth, educators are expected to chart children's educational progress year to year. In the future, this effort will be bolstered by formalized curricula that specify exactly what kids should know by the end of each grade level.
That should help minimize the need for review year to year. It will also bring New Hampshire's education framework much closer to what occurs in many high-performing European and Asian nations. "It's about defining what lessons students should master and then teaching to those points," says Marc Tucker, co-chair of the commission and president of the National Center for Education and the Economy in Washington. "Kids at every level will be taking tough courses and working hard."
Right now, Tucker argues, most American teenagers slide through high school, viewing it as a mandatory pit stop to hang out and socialize. Of those who do go to college, half attend community college. So Tucker's thinking is why not let them get started earlier? If that happened nationwide, he estimates the cost savings would add up to $60 billion a year. "All money that can be spent either on early childhood education or elsewhere," he says.
Critics of cutting high school short, however, worry that proposals such as New Hampshire's could exacerbate existing socioeconomic gaps. One key concern is whether test results, at age 16, are really valid enough to indicate if a child should go to university or instead head to a technical school - with the latter almost certainly guaranteeing lower future earning potential. "You know that the kids sent in that direction are going to be from low-income, less-educated families while wealthy parents won't permit it," says Iris Rotberg, a George Washington University education policy professor, who notes similar results in Europe and Asia. She predicts, in turn, that disparity will mean "an even more polarized higher education structure - and ultimately society - than we already have."
It's a charge that Tracy denies. "We're simply telling students it's okay to go at their own pace," he says. Especially if that pace is a little quicker than the status quo.
High school sophomores should be ready for college by age 16. That's the message from New Hampshire education officials, who announced plans Oct. 30 for a new rigorous state board of exams to be given to 10th graders. Students who pass will be prepared to move on to the state's community or technical colleges, skipping the last two years of high school.
Once implemented, the new battery of tests is expected to guarantee higher competency in core school subjects, lower dropout rates and free up millions of education dollars. Students may take the exams - which are modeled on existing AP or International Baccalaureate tests - as many times as they need to pass. Or those who want to go to a prestigious university may stay and finish the final two years, taking a second, more difficult set of exams senior year. "We want students who are ready to be able to move on to their higher education," says Lyonel Tracy, New Hampshire's Commissioner for Education. "And then we can focus even more attention on those kids who need more help to get there."
But can less schooling really lead to better-prepared students at an earlier age? Outside of the U.S., it's actually a far less radical notion than it sounds. Dozens of industrialized countries expect students to be college-ready by age 16, and those teenagers consistently outperform their American peers on international standardized tests.
With its new assessment system, New Hampshire is adopting a key recommendation of a blue-ribbon panel called the New Commission on Skills of the American Workforce. In 2006, the group issued a report called Tough Choices or Tough Times , a blueprint for how it believes the U.S. must dramatically overhaul education policies in order to maintain a globally competitive economy. "Forty years ago, the United States had the best educated workforce in the world," says William Brock, one of the commission's chairs and a former U.S. Secretary of Labor. "Now we're No. 10 and falling."
As more and more jobs head overseas, Brock and others on the commission can't stress enough how dire the need is for educational reform. "The nation is running out of time," he says.
New Hampshire's announcement comes as Utah and Massachusetts declared that they, too, plan to enact some of the commission's other proposals, such as universal Pre-K and better teacher pay and training. Still more states are expected to sign on in December. And the largest teacher union in the U.S., the National Education Association, is encouraging its affiliates to support such efforts.
Some reform advocates would like to see the report's testing proposals replace current No Child Left Behind legislation. "It makes accountability much more meaningful by stressing critical thinking and true mastery," says Tracy.
No date has been set for when New Hampshire will start administering the new set of exams, which have yet to be developed. But to achieve the goal of sending kids to college at 16, Tracy and his colleagues recognize preparation will have to start early. Nearly four years ago, New Hampshire began an initiative called Follow the Child. Starting practically from birth, educators are expected to chart children's educational progress year to year. In the future, this effort will be bolstered by formalized curricula that specify exactly what kids should know by the end of each grade level.
That should help minimize the need for review year to year. It will also bring New Hampshire's education framework much closer to what occurs in many high-performing European and Asian nations. "It's about defining what lessons students should master and then teaching to those points," says Marc Tucker, co-chair of the commission and president of the National Center for Education and the Economy in Washington. "Kids at every level will be taking tough courses and working hard."
Right now, Tucker argues, most American teenagers slide through high school, viewing it as a mandatory pit stop to hang out and socialize. Of those who do go to college, half attend community college. So Tucker's thinking is why not let them get started earlier? If that happened nationwide, he estimates the cost savings would add up to $60 billion a year. "All money that can be spent either on early childhood education or elsewhere," he says.
Critics of cutting high school short, however, worry that proposals such as New Hampshire's could exacerbate existing socioeconomic gaps. One key concern is whether test results, at age 16, are really valid enough to indicate if a child should go to university or instead head to a technical school - with the latter almost certainly guaranteeing lower future earning potential. "You know that the kids sent in that direction are going to be from low-income, less-educated families while wealthy parents won't permit it," says Iris Rotberg, a George Washington University education policy professor, who notes similar results in Europe and Asia. She predicts, in turn, that disparity will mean "an even more polarized higher education structure - and ultimately society - than we already have."
It's a charge that Tracy denies. "We're simply telling students it's okay to go at their own pace," he says. Especially if that pace is a little quicker than the status quo.
Lifestyle - 5 Natural ways to boost sex drive
Deborah Kotz
It strikes me as bizarre that pharmaceutical companies are still pursuing a drug to treat a "disorder"--low sexual desire in women--that appears manufactured, in my opinion, by the companies trying to treat it. In this week's New England Journal of Medicine, researchers triumphantly tout a testosterone patch, saying that it appears to increase the number of satisfying sexual encounters that women have.
Those on a 300-microgram dose of the patch, called Intrinsa, had gratifying sex an average of 2.1 times in four weeks, compared with 1.2 times for those on a lower dose and 0.7 time for those on a placebo. (Before you ask what constitutes seven tenths of a sex act, remember: These were averages.)
The trade-off for slightly better sex? Unwanted hair growth in manly places like the face and chest. And the possibility of increased breast cancer. Four cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in the study, which involved 800 postmenopausal women; none of the four were on the placebo patch. While the researchers say these "may be due to chance," they add that "the possibility of a causal relationship must be considered."
But the bigger issue, as I see it, is whether women lacking libido truly need to be treated with drugs. Some experts worry that low sexual desire has been overmedicalized in women, as my colleague Lindsay Lyon previously reported. And a study in the November issue of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology finds that while 40 percent of women have sexual problems, only 12 percent are distressed about them.
Hmm. Doesn't sound like a sickness to me. Of course, while many women may not be severely upset about their less-than-par sex lives, I'm sure most would be happy to improve their situation. Some of the moves below can boost desire without any nasty side effects.
1. Exercise. Aerobic workouts (running, biking, swimming) not only improve blood flow to sex organs but can also boost your mood, pumping up "feel good" brain chemicals called endorphins. An increase in testosterone levels about one hour after working out can also leave you feeling sexier. Do avoid overstraining yourself, though, since extreme exercise actually lowers testosterone levels.
2. Relax. Too much stress increases the stress hormone cortisol, which causes testosterone to plummet. Find a way to tune out for 15 minutes a day, whether through meditation, yoga, chilling to music, or schmoozing with a friend.
3. Add a little novelty. Recent research shows that partaking in new and challenging experiences with your partner can boost the brain chemical dopamine, which helps fuel sex drive. These don't even need to be in the bedroom. Enter a race together, on a tandem bike. Get a little lost on a wilderness hike--without a map. Host a game night with friends where each couple kicks in $30 and the winning pair takes all.
4. Consider supplements. Ginkgo biloba has been used to treat sexual dysfunction, although the Mayo Clinic website says the evidence that it works is speculative at best. Still, it's relatively safe (just don't take it if you're on a blood thinner), and the placebo effect may be enough to put you in the mood. Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) could be useful, since it's critical for the manufacture of sex hormones in the adrenal glands. Choline, meanwhile, purportedly helps to enhance levels of acetylcholine, a brain chemical that sends sexual impulses from your brain to your sex organs.
5. Inhale. Certain scents are known to be attractive to women, according to this article. Supposedly, we're most attracted to sweaty men and musky odors, though I'm guessing it's probably pretty individualized. To each her own.
It strikes me as bizarre that pharmaceutical companies are still pursuing a drug to treat a "disorder"--low sexual desire in women--that appears manufactured, in my opinion, by the companies trying to treat it. In this week's New England Journal of Medicine, researchers triumphantly tout a testosterone patch, saying that it appears to increase the number of satisfying sexual encounters that women have.
Those on a 300-microgram dose of the patch, called Intrinsa, had gratifying sex an average of 2.1 times in four weeks, compared with 1.2 times for those on a lower dose and 0.7 time for those on a placebo. (Before you ask what constitutes seven tenths of a sex act, remember: These were averages.)
The trade-off for slightly better sex? Unwanted hair growth in manly places like the face and chest. And the possibility of increased breast cancer. Four cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in the study, which involved 800 postmenopausal women; none of the four were on the placebo patch. While the researchers say these "may be due to chance," they add that "the possibility of a causal relationship must be considered."
But the bigger issue, as I see it, is whether women lacking libido truly need to be treated with drugs. Some experts worry that low sexual desire has been overmedicalized in women, as my colleague Lindsay Lyon previously reported. And a study in the November issue of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology finds that while 40 percent of women have sexual problems, only 12 percent are distressed about them.
Hmm. Doesn't sound like a sickness to me. Of course, while many women may not be severely upset about their less-than-par sex lives, I'm sure most would be happy to improve their situation. Some of the moves below can boost desire without any nasty side effects.
1. Exercise. Aerobic workouts (running, biking, swimming) not only improve blood flow to sex organs but can also boost your mood, pumping up "feel good" brain chemicals called endorphins. An increase in testosterone levels about one hour after working out can also leave you feeling sexier. Do avoid overstraining yourself, though, since extreme exercise actually lowers testosterone levels.
2. Relax. Too much stress increases the stress hormone cortisol, which causes testosterone to plummet. Find a way to tune out for 15 minutes a day, whether through meditation, yoga, chilling to music, or schmoozing with a friend.
3. Add a little novelty. Recent research shows that partaking in new and challenging experiences with your partner can boost the brain chemical dopamine, which helps fuel sex drive. These don't even need to be in the bedroom. Enter a race together, on a tandem bike. Get a little lost on a wilderness hike--without a map. Host a game night with friends where each couple kicks in $30 and the winning pair takes all.
4. Consider supplements. Ginkgo biloba has been used to treat sexual dysfunction, although the Mayo Clinic website says the evidence that it works is speculative at best. Still, it's relatively safe (just don't take it if you're on a blood thinner), and the placebo effect may be enough to put you in the mood. Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) could be useful, since it's critical for the manufacture of sex hormones in the adrenal glands. Choline, meanwhile, purportedly helps to enhance levels of acetylcholine, a brain chemical that sends sexual impulses from your brain to your sex organs.
5. Inhale. Certain scents are known to be attractive to women, according to this article. Supposedly, we're most attracted to sweaty men and musky odors, though I'm guessing it's probably pretty individualized. To each her own.
Lifestyle - Global Survey;Youths see spiritual dimension to life
Jane Lampman
Around the globe, the vast majority of young people share a conviction that life has a spiritual dimension. Seventy-five percent in a recent survey believe in God or a higher power. And while some can't easily define spirituality, the majority say they have had a transcendent experience, believe in life after death, and think it's "probably true" that all living things are connected.
For two years, a project involving some 7,000 youths ages 12 to 25 in 17 countries has explored spiritual beliefs and experiences – and found youths eager to discuss them. It's the most ambitious such project to date.
"It's how I see good in the world," explains participant Ryan Mooney, a college freshman in Portland, Ore., who is Jewish but spends hours reading the teachings of other faiths. "That all these religions formed by different societies come around to this sentiment of striving toward goodness gives me faith in the world."
The initial findings were released Wednesday by the Search Institute, a Minneapolis-based independent research group. The group intends to plumb the results further and carry out additional research in countries around the world.
"I was surprised by the similarities we found across different cultures, even though they may have different languages and worldviews," says Eugene Roehlkepartain, the Search Institute's vice president. The institute hopes to encourage a broader look at the impact of spiritual development on other aspects of life.
Along with partner organizations, the institute conducted surveys in eight countries, focus groups in 13 nations, and in-depth interviews with young people whom others consider to be "spiritual exemplars." The youths represented more than a dozen faiths as well as nonbelievers.
The results of the report – "With Their Own Voices: A Global Exploration of How Today's Young People Think About and Experience Spiritual Development" – can't be considered representative of the countries or traditions, Mr. Roehlkepartain cautions.
But they "help us understand the dynamics of what is happening with young people. Kids live in a global world today, and to understand them, we need to see them in a global context."
Religion has trumped spirituality as a topic of study in the past, says Roehlkepartain. A study released last spring by the German research firm Berthlesmann Stiftung found that 85 percent of young people in 21 nations called themselves religious, and 44 percent said they were deeply religious.
In the US, a UCLA study of undergraduates from 2003 to 2007 broke some ground on spirituality. It found that while attendance at religious services decreased dramatically for most, their overall level of spirituality – defined as seeking meaning in life and developing values and self-understanding – increased.
When asked what it means to be spiritual, young people in the Search survey most commonly responded: believing there is a purpose to life, believing in God, or being true to one's inner self. In Thailand and Cameroon, "being a moral person" made the top three. "Having a deep sense of inner peace and happiness" was highly valued in Canada and the US.
Young people see spiritual development as both "part of who you are" and an intentional choice, the study shows. As a young man from South Africa puts it, "The more spiritual you are, the more you understand. It's like sport, everyone can do sport, but the more you do it, the better you get at it."
Some 55 percent felt their spirituality had increased over the past two or three years. Emma, a young Christian in the United Kingdom, said that "the ideal spiritual person is somebody who spends as much time as possible with God," which she does through daily prayer, devotional reading, and social activism.
Young people say they engage in a range of activities and practices to nurture spiritual growth. The most common include reading books, praying or meditating alone, and helping others.
But practice varies greatly. Youths from Australia and the UK were the least likely to ever engage in such activities, while youths in Cameroon, the US, and India were the most likely to do so.
On several scales measuring spiritual concerns, Australia, the UK, and Ukraine showed much lower values than other countries. For instance, while only 7 percent of youths overall did not see a spiritual dimension to life, among young Australians, that figure was 28 percent.
More than three-quarters of those surveyed said their spiritual development was enhanced by time in nature, from music, and from helping other people in their community. The project revealed that "serving people out of your spiritual conviction" holds young people together and can bridge differences," says Roehlkepartain.
Arin Ghosh, a Hindu college student in California, has found his calling in working with the handicapped and with youths. "It's one thing to believe in religion and another to practice it and the moral values it teaches," he says in an interview. "Your personal connection to God is important, but spirituality is based in serving God through serving others."
Identified as one of the "exemplars," Arin is also active in interfaith work. "When people become more spiritual, they are more open to others and other viewpoints," he says.
While the youths see a difference between religion and spirituality, the great majority said they view both as "usually good." An Australian teen explains the difference this way: "Religion is kind of knowing the things in your head, but 'spiritual' is knowing them in your heart."
When asked which people, groups, or institutions were most helpful in their spiritual life, 44 percent named family. Between one-third and one-half, however, had not engaged in spiritual or religious activities with parents in the past year. Just 14 percent mentioned their religious institution as helpful, and close to 20 percent said "no one."
The institute wants to encourage parents, friends, and others to fill this vacuum. "Young people expressed to us some hunger to talk about spiritual development," Roehlkepartain says, "and we want people to say, 'If that's what kids in the survey think, what about the kids I know?'
Around the globe, the vast majority of young people share a conviction that life has a spiritual dimension. Seventy-five percent in a recent survey believe in God or a higher power. And while some can't easily define spirituality, the majority say they have had a transcendent experience, believe in life after death, and think it's "probably true" that all living things are connected.
For two years, a project involving some 7,000 youths ages 12 to 25 in 17 countries has explored spiritual beliefs and experiences – and found youths eager to discuss them. It's the most ambitious such project to date.
"It's how I see good in the world," explains participant Ryan Mooney, a college freshman in Portland, Ore., who is Jewish but spends hours reading the teachings of other faiths. "That all these religions formed by different societies come around to this sentiment of striving toward goodness gives me faith in the world."
The initial findings were released Wednesday by the Search Institute, a Minneapolis-based independent research group. The group intends to plumb the results further and carry out additional research in countries around the world.
"I was surprised by the similarities we found across different cultures, even though they may have different languages and worldviews," says Eugene Roehlkepartain, the Search Institute's vice president. The institute hopes to encourage a broader look at the impact of spiritual development on other aspects of life.
Along with partner organizations, the institute conducted surveys in eight countries, focus groups in 13 nations, and in-depth interviews with young people whom others consider to be "spiritual exemplars." The youths represented more than a dozen faiths as well as nonbelievers.
The results of the report – "With Their Own Voices: A Global Exploration of How Today's Young People Think About and Experience Spiritual Development" – can't be considered representative of the countries or traditions, Mr. Roehlkepartain cautions.
But they "help us understand the dynamics of what is happening with young people. Kids live in a global world today, and to understand them, we need to see them in a global context."
Religion has trumped spirituality as a topic of study in the past, says Roehlkepartain. A study released last spring by the German research firm Berthlesmann Stiftung found that 85 percent of young people in 21 nations called themselves religious, and 44 percent said they were deeply religious.
In the US, a UCLA study of undergraduates from 2003 to 2007 broke some ground on spirituality. It found that while attendance at religious services decreased dramatically for most, their overall level of spirituality – defined as seeking meaning in life and developing values and self-understanding – increased.
When asked what it means to be spiritual, young people in the Search survey most commonly responded: believing there is a purpose to life, believing in God, or being true to one's inner self. In Thailand and Cameroon, "being a moral person" made the top three. "Having a deep sense of inner peace and happiness" was highly valued in Canada and the US.
Young people see spiritual development as both "part of who you are" and an intentional choice, the study shows. As a young man from South Africa puts it, "The more spiritual you are, the more you understand. It's like sport, everyone can do sport, but the more you do it, the better you get at it."
Some 55 percent felt their spirituality had increased over the past two or three years. Emma, a young Christian in the United Kingdom, said that "the ideal spiritual person is somebody who spends as much time as possible with God," which she does through daily prayer, devotional reading, and social activism.
Young people say they engage in a range of activities and practices to nurture spiritual growth. The most common include reading books, praying or meditating alone, and helping others.
But practice varies greatly. Youths from Australia and the UK were the least likely to ever engage in such activities, while youths in Cameroon, the US, and India were the most likely to do so.
On several scales measuring spiritual concerns, Australia, the UK, and Ukraine showed much lower values than other countries. For instance, while only 7 percent of youths overall did not see a spiritual dimension to life, among young Australians, that figure was 28 percent.
More than three-quarters of those surveyed said their spiritual development was enhanced by time in nature, from music, and from helping other people in their community. The project revealed that "serving people out of your spiritual conviction" holds young people together and can bridge differences," says Roehlkepartain.
Arin Ghosh, a Hindu college student in California, has found his calling in working with the handicapped and with youths. "It's one thing to believe in religion and another to practice it and the moral values it teaches," he says in an interview. "Your personal connection to God is important, but spirituality is based in serving God through serving others."
Identified as one of the "exemplars," Arin is also active in interfaith work. "When people become more spiritual, they are more open to others and other viewpoints," he says.
While the youths see a difference between religion and spirituality, the great majority said they view both as "usually good." An Australian teen explains the difference this way: "Religion is kind of knowing the things in your head, but 'spiritual' is knowing them in your heart."
When asked which people, groups, or institutions were most helpful in their spiritual life, 44 percent named family. Between one-third and one-half, however, had not engaged in spiritual or religious activities with parents in the past year. Just 14 percent mentioned their religious institution as helpful, and close to 20 percent said "no one."
The institute wants to encourage parents, friends, and others to fill this vacuum. "Young people expressed to us some hunger to talk about spiritual development," Roehlkepartain says, "and we want people to say, 'If that's what kids in the survey think, what about the kids I know?'
Business - GM could soon run out of cash
TOM KRISHER
DETROIT – The American auto industry is running on fumes. General Motors, the nation's largest automaker, warned Friday that it may run out of money by the end of the year after piling up billions in third-quarter losses and burning through cash at an alarming rate. Ford sustained heavy losses, too.
The situation is so severe, GM has suspended talks to acquire Chrysler and is appealing to the government for help as the slumping economy drags cars sales to their lowest level in a quarter century.
GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said the company will "take every action" possible to avoid bankruptcy.
"We're convinced that the consequences of bankruptcy would be dire," he said, adding that the company would use every source of potential funding. "We need to find a way to get through this, and that's really our focus," he said.
GM also planned more job cuts, including another 5,500 salaried and factory workers. But company officials cautioned that those measures alone would not be enough and that federal aid is essential.
Ford saw its cash supply decline rapidly and announced its own job cuts Friday. But it's in better shape because the company borrowed billions of dollars in 2007 by mortgaging its factories. The Dearborn-based manufacturer said it had enough cash to make it through 2010.
Friday's events called into question the future of Detroit's three automakers and heightened pressure on the government to take action.
President-elect Barack Obama on Friday indicated that help may be on the way. At a Chicago news conference, he said Congress must pass an economic stimulus measure either before or just after he takes office in January, and he mentioned aid for the auto industry.
Top executives of General Motors, Ford, Chrysler LLC and the president of the UAW met with Congressional leaders Thursday to discuss some $50 billion more in loans, participants said. The loans would include $25 billion to help the companies withstand the weak economy and another $25 billion for future. The money would be in addition to the $25 billion in loans that Congress passed in September to help retool auto plants to build more fuel-efficient vehicles.
IHS Global Insight analyst George Magliano said the cash problems reported by GM and Ford were worse than experts had thought. And that raised the risk of bankruptcy.
"It's close," he said about the possibility of one of the U.S. automakers filing for Chapter 11 protection. "Up until now, we knew the cash numbers were tough, but we didn't know how bad."
Companies that run out of cash generally can sell assets, cut costs or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to keep creditors at bay while they reorganize.
GM has said it could fall short of cash needed to operate in the first few months of next year, and Ford has said it has about seven months of money, Magliano noted.
If GM files for bankruptcy, Fitch Ratings analyst Mark Oline said there is "a very high risk" that it would pull in Ford and Chrysler, too, because GM probably would be forced to discount vehicles deeply to generate cash for creditors, and other automakers would be forced to follow.
GM said it lost $2.5 billion in the third quarter, but more important, it spent $6.9 billion more than it took in — nearly double the spending rate of the second quarter.
The news came just hours after Ford announced it had lost $129 million for the quarter. The company burned through $7.7 billion in cash, but said it could keep going through 2009. Ford also said it would cut another 2,260 white-collar workers in North America.
GM called off talks with Chrysler to concentrate on its own business.
Privately held Chrysler wouldn't comment on GM's remarks, but said it remains focused on returning to profitability. It also said it will continue to "explore multiple strategic alliances or partnerships."
GM's cuts included the indefinite layoff of about 3,600 workers beginning early next year as it slows production at 10 assembly plants to match anticipated weaker sales.
"We are cutting to the bone," said Fritz Henderson, GM's president and chief operating officer. "What we want to try to do is size the business for this kind of volume level ... and frankly, put us in much better shape when the industry improves."
GM reported a net loss of $4.45 per share during the quarter, compared with a record-setting loss of $39 billion, or $68.85 per share, a year earlier. Its automotive operations saw an adjusted loss of $2.8 billion.
Revenue fell to $37.9 billion from $43.7 billion.
The results exceeded Wall Street estimates. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted a loss of $3.70 per share on sales of $39.4 billion.
The company announced it would bolster its cash reserves by $5 billion by the end of next year through reduction of sales promotions and further production cuts in the first quarter.
GM will cut capital spending to $4.8 billion from $7.2 billion and delay several vehicle models. But GM said it will continue funding for the Chevrolet Volt electric car and the Chevrolet Cruze, a small fuel-efficient model. Both are due out in 2010.
GM also suspended its matching contribution for employee 401k plans, and suspended tuition reimbursement. In addition, salaried employees will not receive incentive pay next year for their work in 2008, GM said.
GM, which has about 123,000 employees in North America, will also cut another 1,900 salaried jobs on top of the 5,100 announced last summer.
But the cuts and delays may not be enough to keep the company's cash supply from falling dangerously low.
"GM's estimated liquidity during the remainder of 2008 will approach the minimum amount necessary to operate its business," the company said in a news release.
And the company's cash shortage in the first two quarters of 2009 could fall significantly short of the minimum amount unless industry conditions improve or GM gets government funding, GM said.
GM shares fell 44 cents, or 9.2 percent, to $4.36 in Friday trading. Ford shares rose 4 cents, or 2 percent, to $2.02.
___
AP Business writers James Prichard and Jeff Karoub in Detroit and Vinnee Tong and Bree Fowler in New York contributed to this report.
DETROIT – The American auto industry is running on fumes. General Motors, the nation's largest automaker, warned Friday that it may run out of money by the end of the year after piling up billions in third-quarter losses and burning through cash at an alarming rate. Ford sustained heavy losses, too.
The situation is so severe, GM has suspended talks to acquire Chrysler and is appealing to the government for help as the slumping economy drags cars sales to their lowest level in a quarter century.
GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said the company will "take every action" possible to avoid bankruptcy.
"We're convinced that the consequences of bankruptcy would be dire," he said, adding that the company would use every source of potential funding. "We need to find a way to get through this, and that's really our focus," he said.
GM also planned more job cuts, including another 5,500 salaried and factory workers. But company officials cautioned that those measures alone would not be enough and that federal aid is essential.
Ford saw its cash supply decline rapidly and announced its own job cuts Friday. But it's in better shape because the company borrowed billions of dollars in 2007 by mortgaging its factories. The Dearborn-based manufacturer said it had enough cash to make it through 2010.
Friday's events called into question the future of Detroit's three automakers and heightened pressure on the government to take action.
President-elect Barack Obama on Friday indicated that help may be on the way. At a Chicago news conference, he said Congress must pass an economic stimulus measure either before or just after he takes office in January, and he mentioned aid for the auto industry.
Top executives of General Motors, Ford, Chrysler LLC and the president of the UAW met with Congressional leaders Thursday to discuss some $50 billion more in loans, participants said. The loans would include $25 billion to help the companies withstand the weak economy and another $25 billion for future. The money would be in addition to the $25 billion in loans that Congress passed in September to help retool auto plants to build more fuel-efficient vehicles.
IHS Global Insight analyst George Magliano said the cash problems reported by GM and Ford were worse than experts had thought. And that raised the risk of bankruptcy.
"It's close," he said about the possibility of one of the U.S. automakers filing for Chapter 11 protection. "Up until now, we knew the cash numbers were tough, but we didn't know how bad."
Companies that run out of cash generally can sell assets, cut costs or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to keep creditors at bay while they reorganize.
GM has said it could fall short of cash needed to operate in the first few months of next year, and Ford has said it has about seven months of money, Magliano noted.
If GM files for bankruptcy, Fitch Ratings analyst Mark Oline said there is "a very high risk" that it would pull in Ford and Chrysler, too, because GM probably would be forced to discount vehicles deeply to generate cash for creditors, and other automakers would be forced to follow.
GM said it lost $2.5 billion in the third quarter, but more important, it spent $6.9 billion more than it took in — nearly double the spending rate of the second quarter.
The news came just hours after Ford announced it had lost $129 million for the quarter. The company burned through $7.7 billion in cash, but said it could keep going through 2009. Ford also said it would cut another 2,260 white-collar workers in North America.
GM called off talks with Chrysler to concentrate on its own business.
Privately held Chrysler wouldn't comment on GM's remarks, but said it remains focused on returning to profitability. It also said it will continue to "explore multiple strategic alliances or partnerships."
GM's cuts included the indefinite layoff of about 3,600 workers beginning early next year as it slows production at 10 assembly plants to match anticipated weaker sales.
"We are cutting to the bone," said Fritz Henderson, GM's president and chief operating officer. "What we want to try to do is size the business for this kind of volume level ... and frankly, put us in much better shape when the industry improves."
GM reported a net loss of $4.45 per share during the quarter, compared with a record-setting loss of $39 billion, or $68.85 per share, a year earlier. Its automotive operations saw an adjusted loss of $2.8 billion.
Revenue fell to $37.9 billion from $43.7 billion.
The results exceeded Wall Street estimates. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted a loss of $3.70 per share on sales of $39.4 billion.
The company announced it would bolster its cash reserves by $5 billion by the end of next year through reduction of sales promotions and further production cuts in the first quarter.
GM will cut capital spending to $4.8 billion from $7.2 billion and delay several vehicle models. But GM said it will continue funding for the Chevrolet Volt electric car and the Chevrolet Cruze, a small fuel-efficient model. Both are due out in 2010.
GM also suspended its matching contribution for employee 401k plans, and suspended tuition reimbursement. In addition, salaried employees will not receive incentive pay next year for their work in 2008, GM said.
GM, which has about 123,000 employees in North America, will also cut another 1,900 salaried jobs on top of the 5,100 announced last summer.
But the cuts and delays may not be enough to keep the company's cash supply from falling dangerously low.
"GM's estimated liquidity during the remainder of 2008 will approach the minimum amount necessary to operate its business," the company said in a news release.
And the company's cash shortage in the first two quarters of 2009 could fall significantly short of the minimum amount unless industry conditions improve or GM gets government funding, GM said.
GM shares fell 44 cents, or 9.2 percent, to $4.36 in Friday trading. Ford shares rose 4 cents, or 2 percent, to $2.02.
___
AP Business writers James Prichard and Jeff Karoub in Detroit and Vinnee Tong and Bree Fowler in New York contributed to this report.
Science - EPA;Mercury not needed in many consumer products
Trey Granger
The U.S. EPA has concluded that mercury is not a necessary ingredient in a number of consumer products, and subsequently developed a searchable database of products that contain mercury and possible non-mercury alternatives.
Mercury is a commonly known ingredient in many thermometers and thermostats, but it's also found in batteries, fluorescent lamps and the switches in cars and electronics. It can be used as a corrosion inhibitor along with other heavy metals like lead.
Mercury poses both a health concern and an environmental concern. Because it is colorless and odorless, it is hard to clean up. If a mercury-containing product breaks, it can damage the kidneys and nervous system if inhaled. If these products break in a landfill, the mercury can contaminate soil and groundwater. For this reason, recycling is the prescribed solution for any products containing mercury.
The U.S. EPA has concluded that mercury is not a necessary ingredient in a number of consumer products, and subsequently developed a searchable database of products that contain mercury and possible non-mercury alternatives.
Mercury is a commonly known ingredient in many thermometers and thermostats, but it's also found in batteries, fluorescent lamps and the switches in cars and electronics. It can be used as a corrosion inhibitor along with other heavy metals like lead.
Mercury poses both a health concern and an environmental concern. Because it is colorless and odorless, it is hard to clean up. If a mercury-containing product breaks, it can damage the kidneys and nervous system if inhaled. If these products break in a landfill, the mercury can contaminate soil and groundwater. For this reason, recycling is the prescribed solution for any products containing mercury.
Business - Digg founder says economic meltdown prime time for Internet startups
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Digg founder Kevin Rose on Friday shined light on a stormy economic landscape, saying the climate is right for launching Internet startups.
Difficulty getting financing means fewer competitors entering the market and that there will be more media attention focused on young technology firms, Rose told those gathered at a Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.
"It will be one of these little valleys where I believe it will be a great time to do something new," Rose said of the economic meltdown blamed for tightly clamping credit markets and venture capitalists' wallets.
"Funding for consumer-oriented Web companies is going away and there will be a lot of opportunities out there."
Formidable social websites such as Digg, Facebook, and Flickr launched in 2004 when it was a "tough time" to get funding for websites geared to Internet surfers, according to Rose.
"We didn't launch during Web 2.0," Rose said, using a common reference to a second-generation Internet defined by online communities and user-shaped content.
"It is a very difficult time to launch new companies when there is a lot of other stuff going on."
News-ranking website Digg didn't face much competition during its first six to eight months, got generous coverage in the press and attracted a fan base of "early adopters whose time wasn't split with other products," Rose said.
Rose urges Internet entrepreneurs to learn from his experience, saying he "kept his day job" and worked on Digg at night and on weekends. He saved money by paying a developer in Nova Scotia to help construct the website.
Rose said he cut marketing costs by being Digg's front man and getting his message out in "Diggnation" podcasts delivered to iPod MP3 players through Apple's online iTunes store.
"With just a few thousand dollars I had to get a little scrappy," Rose said of launching Digg on a lean budget.
Hot micro-blogging service Twitter provides a cost-free way for startup founders to build followings and keep their fans informed.
Twitter lets people keep each other appraised of their every move by sending Haiku-style text messages to their mobile telephones.
"I really believe email communication is dead," Rose said. "I believe Twitter has helped me get messages out or in any kind of communication."
Fledgling Internet companies can improve chances of getting attention by posting online blog commentaries regarding competitors or hot issues in the marketplace.
Computer servers and bandwidth can be rented to save young companies from having to invest in expensive equipment, according to Rose.
Difficulty getting financing means fewer competitors entering the market and that there will be more media attention focused on young technology firms, Rose told those gathered at a Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.
"It will be one of these little valleys where I believe it will be a great time to do something new," Rose said of the economic meltdown blamed for tightly clamping credit markets and venture capitalists' wallets.
"Funding for consumer-oriented Web companies is going away and there will be a lot of opportunities out there."
Formidable social websites such as Digg, Facebook, and Flickr launched in 2004 when it was a "tough time" to get funding for websites geared to Internet surfers, according to Rose.
"We didn't launch during Web 2.0," Rose said, using a common reference to a second-generation Internet defined by online communities and user-shaped content.
"It is a very difficult time to launch new companies when there is a lot of other stuff going on."
News-ranking website Digg didn't face much competition during its first six to eight months, got generous coverage in the press and attracted a fan base of "early adopters whose time wasn't split with other products," Rose said.
Rose urges Internet entrepreneurs to learn from his experience, saying he "kept his day job" and worked on Digg at night and on weekends. He saved money by paying a developer in Nova Scotia to help construct the website.
Rose said he cut marketing costs by being Digg's front man and getting his message out in "Diggnation" podcasts delivered to iPod MP3 players through Apple's online iTunes store.
"With just a few thousand dollars I had to get a little scrappy," Rose said of launching Digg on a lean budget.
Hot micro-blogging service Twitter provides a cost-free way for startup founders to build followings and keep their fans informed.
Twitter lets people keep each other appraised of their every move by sending Haiku-style text messages to their mobile telephones.
"I really believe email communication is dead," Rose said. "I believe Twitter has helped me get messages out or in any kind of communication."
Fledgling Internet companies can improve chances of getting attention by posting online blog commentaries regarding competitors or hot issues in the marketplace.
Computer servers and bandwidth can be rented to save young companies from having to invest in expensive equipment, according to Rose.
Tech - Digital albums now offer liner notes, lyrics
DENVER (Billboard) - CDs come with booklets filled with liner notes, lyrics, photos and more. But a digital album or single comes with bupkis -- an omission that started at the dawn of downloadable music.
Now technology has brought a solution: downloadable artist-branded applications for cell phones and handheld media players. And the first of these work on -- not surprisingly -- Apple's iPhone.
Before the December 16 release of Fall Out Boy's "Folie a Deux," the band will release an iPhone app that at first blush looks like its Web site.
It's actually more than that -- it's basically an interactive CD booklet, one that's far more advanced than the PDF files that some labels have included with albums from iTunes. The Fall Out Boy app will contain track listings, photos and lyrics from the band's entire discography that can be accessed directly from the iPhone, as well as links to buy its songs from iTunes.
Perhaps best of all, they can be updated automatically. Just like iTunes and Internet Explorer can receive updates that add functionality, Fall Out Boy will improve its app in the weeks to come. Eventually it will include a mobile social network integrated with the community on falloutboyrock.com, Twitter-like microblogging tools, photo uploading and the ability to find other nearby app users with the iPhone's GPS location technology.
Including such features in a standard music download has proved too difficult from both a licensing and a technology perspective. On the licensing side, embedding lyrics into each song downloaded from iTunes would raise prices. And such files wouldn't be compatible with all the devices meant to play them.
Making apps for the iPhone could be the first workaround to that problem. Pink, Snow Patrol and David Cook have already released iPhone apps like Fall Out Boy's with the same kinds of features: Pink has streaming video; Snow Patrol has a touch-screen "game" that lets users find lyrics and artwork; Cook has a flickering image of a cigarette lighter that's meant to replace an actual lighter at concerts.
If these programs find an audience, artist-branded iPhone apps may become as common as artist Web sites are today. But creating these programs -- particularly the more sophisticated ones -- requires an investment of time and money, so labels are being selective about creating them.
"We can't do for everybody what we're doing for Fall Out Boy," Island Def Jam senior VP of new media and commerce Christian Jorg says. "This is an artist we think has the right target demo, we know the iPhone is successful with that demo and has great capabilities, and we'd like to put a product out there that speaks to that demo."
Labels want to see other devices -- both mobile phones and MP3 players -- with Internet access and open-development platforms before creating such applications for their entire catalogs. The 7 million iPhones worldwide simply aren't enough of a market. But they could just be the beginning.
"This isn't just about the iPhone," says Sony Music Entertainment VP of mobile marketing, sales and business development Sean Rosenberg, who worked on the Pink app. "That's a very small part of the handset market. But, within the music environment and content usage, it's a great place to test out what people like, how they use these and whether there is a long-term play toward packaging not just our music but also our artist's properties and Web site assets in this new fashion so it's easier for fans to interact with on all mobile devices."
From the very beginning, the gatefold LPs and the booklets in CDs were meant to deepen fan interaction with artists. Artist Web sites, MySpace pages and YouTube videos have expanded that idea but at the expense of the portable device. Applications that deliver additional content to portable music devices could expand the audience for digital music and give fans a new way to connect with artists.
"The whole experience of being a fan of a band has completely turned upside down," says Dan Kruchkow of Crush Management, which handles Fall Out Boy.
"You used to listen to the radio, watch MTV or go to a show, and that's all you could do. Now, the possibilities are limitless. Anything you can think of, you can do."
Now technology has brought a solution: downloadable artist-branded applications for cell phones and handheld media players. And the first of these work on -- not surprisingly -- Apple's iPhone.
Before the December 16 release of Fall Out Boy's "Folie a Deux," the band will release an iPhone app that at first blush looks like its Web site.
It's actually more than that -- it's basically an interactive CD booklet, one that's far more advanced than the PDF files that some labels have included with albums from iTunes. The Fall Out Boy app will contain track listings, photos and lyrics from the band's entire discography that can be accessed directly from the iPhone, as well as links to buy its songs from iTunes.
Perhaps best of all, they can be updated automatically. Just like iTunes and Internet Explorer can receive updates that add functionality, Fall Out Boy will improve its app in the weeks to come. Eventually it will include a mobile social network integrated with the community on falloutboyrock.com, Twitter-like microblogging tools, photo uploading and the ability to find other nearby app users with the iPhone's GPS location technology.
Including such features in a standard music download has proved too difficult from both a licensing and a technology perspective. On the licensing side, embedding lyrics into each song downloaded from iTunes would raise prices. And such files wouldn't be compatible with all the devices meant to play them.
Making apps for the iPhone could be the first workaround to that problem. Pink, Snow Patrol and David Cook have already released iPhone apps like Fall Out Boy's with the same kinds of features: Pink has streaming video; Snow Patrol has a touch-screen "game" that lets users find lyrics and artwork; Cook has a flickering image of a cigarette lighter that's meant to replace an actual lighter at concerts.
If these programs find an audience, artist-branded iPhone apps may become as common as artist Web sites are today. But creating these programs -- particularly the more sophisticated ones -- requires an investment of time and money, so labels are being selective about creating them.
"We can't do for everybody what we're doing for Fall Out Boy," Island Def Jam senior VP of new media and commerce Christian Jorg says. "This is an artist we think has the right target demo, we know the iPhone is successful with that demo and has great capabilities, and we'd like to put a product out there that speaks to that demo."
Labels want to see other devices -- both mobile phones and MP3 players -- with Internet access and open-development platforms before creating such applications for their entire catalogs. The 7 million iPhones worldwide simply aren't enough of a market. But they could just be the beginning.
"This isn't just about the iPhone," says Sony Music Entertainment VP of mobile marketing, sales and business development Sean Rosenberg, who worked on the Pink app. "That's a very small part of the handset market. But, within the music environment and content usage, it's a great place to test out what people like, how they use these and whether there is a long-term play toward packaging not just our music but also our artist's properties and Web site assets in this new fashion so it's easier for fans to interact with on all mobile devices."
From the very beginning, the gatefold LPs and the booklets in CDs were meant to deepen fan interaction with artists. Artist Web sites, MySpace pages and YouTube videos have expanded that idea but at the expense of the portable device. Applications that deliver additional content to portable music devices could expand the audience for digital music and give fans a new way to connect with artists.
"The whole experience of being a fan of a band has completely turned upside down," says Dan Kruchkow of Crush Management, which handles Fall Out Boy.
"You used to listen to the radio, watch MTV or go to a show, and that's all you could do. Now, the possibilities are limitless. Anything you can think of, you can do."
Health - Bleeding between Periods
Menstrual bleeding typically occurs about every 28 days, and lasts for about four days at a time.
Vaginal bleeding that occurs outside of the menstrual cycle has many potential causes, and should be evaluated by a doctor.
Here are possible reasons for vaginal bleeding between menstrual cycles, courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine:
Cancer of the cervix, uterus or, rarely, fallopian tubes.
A side effect of certain procedures, including cervical or endometrial biopsy.
Stress or changing hormone levels.
Uterine fibroids or polyps, or vaginal dryness.
Pregnancy complications, including ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage.
Disease or injury to the vaginal opening.
Using an IUD, or stopping or starting the birth control pill.
An underactive thyroid.
Taking a blood thinner.
Vaginal bleeding that occurs outside of the menstrual cycle has many potential causes, and should be evaluated by a doctor.
Here are possible reasons for vaginal bleeding between menstrual cycles, courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine:
Cancer of the cervix, uterus or, rarely, fallopian tubes.
A side effect of certain procedures, including cervical or endometrial biopsy.
Stress or changing hormone levels.
Uterine fibroids or polyps, or vaginal dryness.
Pregnancy complications, including ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage.
Disease or injury to the vaginal opening.
Using an IUD, or stopping or starting the birth control pill.
An underactive thyroid.
Taking a blood thinner.
Lifestyle - Muxlim.com to launch virtual world site for Muslims
HELSINKI (AFP) - Finnish-based Muxlim.com, the world's largest Muslim online community, will in a few weeks launch a prototype of a Muslim-friendly virtual world, the company said Friday.
"The launch of the beta-version of Muxlim Pal, planned to take place in a few weeks, will be global since anybody can access it and test it and provide us with useful user feedback," Muxlim chief executive Mohamed El-Fatatry wrote to AFP in an email.
At Muxlim Pal, which El-Fatatry compares to the popular Habbo teenage networking and virtual world site, users will be able to create their own spaces and interact with their friends.
The launch of the full version of Muxlim Pal, which will offer additional features, will be announced later, El-Fatatry said.
Muxlim Pal will aim to bring Muslim communities around the world together, but everybody interested in socialising in a virtual world without fear of stumbling across offensive content is welcome, regardless of their religion, he said.
"Some Muslim countries block access to some of the general virtual worlds since they are not Muslim and family-friendly," he noted.
Tehran for instance prevents Iranians from accessing the YouTube video-sharing site because authorities consider some of the content immoral, while Saudi Arabia has set up a commission to filter the Internet, according to Reporters Without Borders.
"We are focused on the Muslim lifestyle as part of a diverse, all-inclusive world, which recognises and welcomes people of all faiths and backgrounds who want to share, learn and have fun," El-Fatatry said.
Since he and Pietari Paeivaenen launched the Muxlim.com website in December 2006, the site has registered more than 1.5 million visitors from some 190 different countries each month.
Among other things, Muxlim.com offers users news and the possibility to join discussion and picture-sharing forums, as well as the opportunity to listen to the Koran.
"The launch of the beta-version of Muxlim Pal, planned to take place in a few weeks, will be global since anybody can access it and test it and provide us with useful user feedback," Muxlim chief executive Mohamed El-Fatatry wrote to AFP in an email.
At Muxlim Pal, which El-Fatatry compares to the popular Habbo teenage networking and virtual world site, users will be able to create their own spaces and interact with their friends.
The launch of the full version of Muxlim Pal, which will offer additional features, will be announced later, El-Fatatry said.
Muxlim Pal will aim to bring Muslim communities around the world together, but everybody interested in socialising in a virtual world without fear of stumbling across offensive content is welcome, regardless of their religion, he said.
"Some Muslim countries block access to some of the general virtual worlds since they are not Muslim and family-friendly," he noted.
Tehran for instance prevents Iranians from accessing the YouTube video-sharing site because authorities consider some of the content immoral, while Saudi Arabia has set up a commission to filter the Internet, according to Reporters Without Borders.
"We are focused on the Muslim lifestyle as part of a diverse, all-inclusive world, which recognises and welcomes people of all faiths and backgrounds who want to share, learn and have fun," El-Fatatry said.
Since he and Pietari Paeivaenen launched the Muxlim.com website in December 2006, the site has registered more than 1.5 million visitors from some 190 different countries each month.
Among other things, Muxlim.com offers users news and the possibility to join discussion and picture-sharing forums, as well as the opportunity to listen to the Koran.
Health - Early exposure to peanuts may prevent allergy
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Contrary to widespread recommendations, the consumption of peanuts in infancy is associated with a low prevalence of peanut allergy, the results of a new study suggest.
"Our study findings raise the question of whether early introduction rather than avoidance of peanut in infancy is the better strategy for the prevention of peanut allergy," write researchers in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
In the UK, Australia and, until recently, the United States, guidelines have recommended that women avoid peanuts during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and should not introduce peanuts into their children's diets during infancy, note Dr. George Du Toit of King's College London and colleagues.
The researchers analyzed the prevalence of peanut allergy and diet histories for 5,171 Jewish children from the UK and 5,615 Jewish children from Israel.
They found that children from the UK had a prevalence of peanut allergy that was 10-fold higher than that of children from Israel -- 1.85 percent versus 0.17 percent.
"This difference is not accounted for by differences in atopy," the investigators write. Atopy is the inherited tendency to develop common allergic diseases such as eczema, hay fever or asthma.
They also found no differences between the two groups in environmental exposure to common causes of allergy, such as house dust mite and grass pollen, social class or genetic background.
"The most obvious difference in the diet of infants in both populations occurs in the introduction of peanut," they note. Approximately 69 percent of infants in Israel consume peanuts by 9 months of age, compared with just 10 percent of those in the UK.
Likewise, when compared with the UK mothers, the Israeli mothers consumed significantly more peanuts during pregnancy, Du Toit and colleagues point out.
The researchers suggest that recommendations to avoid peanut in early infancy could be behind the increase in peanut allergy in the UK, Australia and the US.
In a written statement, Dr. Jacqueline A. Pongracic, who is vice chair of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) committee on Adverse Reactions to Foods, cautions that while this study's findings "provide optimism for prevention of peanut allergy in the future, randomized, controlled trials are needed to verify that early introduction of peanut is indeed effective."
The Learning Early about Peanut Allergy (LEAP) study, a large randomized study in the UK, is currently testing the effects of early peanut exposure.
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, November 2008.
"Our study findings raise the question of whether early introduction rather than avoidance of peanut in infancy is the better strategy for the prevention of peanut allergy," write researchers in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
In the UK, Australia and, until recently, the United States, guidelines have recommended that women avoid peanuts during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and should not introduce peanuts into their children's diets during infancy, note Dr. George Du Toit of King's College London and colleagues.
The researchers analyzed the prevalence of peanut allergy and diet histories for 5,171 Jewish children from the UK and 5,615 Jewish children from Israel.
They found that children from the UK had a prevalence of peanut allergy that was 10-fold higher than that of children from Israel -- 1.85 percent versus 0.17 percent.
"This difference is not accounted for by differences in atopy," the investigators write. Atopy is the inherited tendency to develop common allergic diseases such as eczema, hay fever or asthma.
They also found no differences between the two groups in environmental exposure to common causes of allergy, such as house dust mite and grass pollen, social class or genetic background.
"The most obvious difference in the diet of infants in both populations occurs in the introduction of peanut," they note. Approximately 69 percent of infants in Israel consume peanuts by 9 months of age, compared with just 10 percent of those in the UK.
Likewise, when compared with the UK mothers, the Israeli mothers consumed significantly more peanuts during pregnancy, Du Toit and colleagues point out.
The researchers suggest that recommendations to avoid peanut in early infancy could be behind the increase in peanut allergy in the UK, Australia and the US.
In a written statement, Dr. Jacqueline A. Pongracic, who is vice chair of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) committee on Adverse Reactions to Foods, cautions that while this study's findings "provide optimism for prevention of peanut allergy in the future, randomized, controlled trials are needed to verify that early introduction of peanut is indeed effective."
The Learning Early about Peanut Allergy (LEAP) study, a large randomized study in the UK, is currently testing the effects of early peanut exposure.
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, November 2008.
Entertainment - Disney trying to cure Hannah Montana Diabetes plot
Natalie Finn
Los Angeles (E! Online) – Hannah Montana's latest checkup resulted in a troubling diagnosis.
The Disney Channel confirmed to E! News that the network scrapped the episode it had intended to open the hit series' third season—an episode titled "No Sugar, Sugar" that features a character (Hannah's pal Oliver) dealing with diabetes—after some initial concerns as to how the disease was portrayed.
According to a network executive, the Disney Channel's Standards and Practices team consulted with medical experts during the script-writing process "to inform the story and be sure it was told responsibly."
"Notwithstanding the measures we took, and based on the episode's preview and early feedback from parents, we removed the episode from Sunday's schedule and are now reevaluating it," the Disney rep said.
"We will await the results of the episode review by a variety of experts and then will make a determination on the episode's future. Most importantly, we listened to those who expressed their concerns and consulted with the creative team (programmers and producers)."
It was then that they chose to pull the Nov. 2 episode, opting to make "He Ain't a Hottie, He's My Brother" the sitcom's season-three premiere instead. Episode No. 2, "Ready, Set, Don't Drive" (Billy Ray's message to the almost-16-year-old Miley, perhaps?) premieres Sunday.
"Still, there is great interest, especially from parents, in seeing the subject of living with diabetes somehow incorporated into our storytelling for kids and families, so we're hopeful we'll do so in the future," added the Disney Channel exec.
And it's not as if the Mouse House doesn't have a handle on the subject matter already. Also on Nov. 2, the Disney Channel aired an installment of Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream that explored how Nick Jonas manages his diabetes both at home and on tour. The 16-year-old JoBro appeared in a PSA afterward in support of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Los Angeles (E! Online) – Hannah Montana's latest checkup resulted in a troubling diagnosis.
The Disney Channel confirmed to E! News that the network scrapped the episode it had intended to open the hit series' third season—an episode titled "No Sugar, Sugar" that features a character (Hannah's pal Oliver) dealing with diabetes—after some initial concerns as to how the disease was portrayed.
According to a network executive, the Disney Channel's Standards and Practices team consulted with medical experts during the script-writing process "to inform the story and be sure it was told responsibly."
"Notwithstanding the measures we took, and based on the episode's preview and early feedback from parents, we removed the episode from Sunday's schedule and are now reevaluating it," the Disney rep said.
"We will await the results of the episode review by a variety of experts and then will make a determination on the episode's future. Most importantly, we listened to those who expressed their concerns and consulted with the creative team (programmers and producers)."
It was then that they chose to pull the Nov. 2 episode, opting to make "He Ain't a Hottie, He's My Brother" the sitcom's season-three premiere instead. Episode No. 2, "Ready, Set, Don't Drive" (Billy Ray's message to the almost-16-year-old Miley, perhaps?) premieres Sunday.
"Still, there is great interest, especially from parents, in seeing the subject of living with diabetes somehow incorporated into our storytelling for kids and families, so we're hopeful we'll do so in the future," added the Disney Channel exec.
And it's not as if the Mouse House doesn't have a handle on the subject matter already. Also on Nov. 2, the Disney Channel aired an installment of Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream that explored how Nick Jonas manages his diabetes both at home and on tour. The 16-year-old JoBro appeared in a PSA afterward in support of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Entertainment - US;Sc-Fi takes over Friday Night TV
Matt Brady
Dig science fiction? Make plans to stay home Friday nights.
Fox has announced its midseason schedule which means returns and changes for its genre shows, including Dollhouse and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Joss Whedon's Dollhouse will finally debut on Friday, February 13th at 9:00 pm. While the evening proved to be the kiss of death for Whedon's Firefly, Fox is supporting the new sci-fi series starring Eliza Dushku by moving Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles to the same night in the 8:00 time slot, where it will live for the remainder of its sophomore season.
While the pairing sounds like it makes logical sense, it seems to suggest an instability in Fox's scheduling. Originally, Dollhouse was to be paired on Monday nights with the ratings powerhouse 24, while the troubled Sarah Connor Chronicles was due to go on hiatus, despite being picked up for a full season by the network. Likewise, Dollhouse has had its share of pre-season problems, which culminated in Whedon shutting down production for two weeks in early September.
The x factor in all of this, of course, is Friday. While the night was the final resting place for Whedon's Firefly, it was also the orginal home to both Fox's The X-Files and Millennium, and could possibly be seen as a "nerd sanctuary," that is, a place to offer shows that have the potential to develop a cult following which can then be cultivated into a larger audience. Also to be considered of course, is the fact that Sci Fi will begin the final ten episode run of Battlestar Galactica on January 16th at 10pm, giving science fiction fans a solid three hour block of programming.
Speaking of BSG, Sci Fi has announced that it will air BSG: Essential Elements at 11:00pm EST, a half-hour special leading up to the final episodes of the fourth season; and will debut the latest Galactica webisodes Thursday, January 15th during the network's presentation of Pitch Black.
Also in Fox's announcements - 24 will return Sunday and Monday, January 11th and 12th for two, consecutive two-hour engagements. The two-hour prequel movie 24: Redemption setting up the new season, and starring Jon Voight as the antagonist for the season will air on Fox Sunday, November 23rd.
The new season of 24 will open with the CTU (Counter Terrorism Unit) shut down and dismantled and Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) on trial. Carlos Bernard, who plays Tony Almeida, returns to the series, though he was presumed dead.
The debut in January will mark the first time new 24 episodes have been aired in nearly two years. Filming on the new season was shut down late last year due to the Writer's Strike, which led Fox to hold the season back until midseason 2008-2009. Work stopped on the season this past September due to quality-control issues with scripts.
Dig science fiction? Make plans to stay home Friday nights.
Fox has announced its midseason schedule which means returns and changes for its genre shows, including Dollhouse and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Joss Whedon's Dollhouse will finally debut on Friday, February 13th at 9:00 pm. While the evening proved to be the kiss of death for Whedon's Firefly, Fox is supporting the new sci-fi series starring Eliza Dushku by moving Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles to the same night in the 8:00 time slot, where it will live for the remainder of its sophomore season.
While the pairing sounds like it makes logical sense, it seems to suggest an instability in Fox's scheduling. Originally, Dollhouse was to be paired on Monday nights with the ratings powerhouse 24, while the troubled Sarah Connor Chronicles was due to go on hiatus, despite being picked up for a full season by the network. Likewise, Dollhouse has had its share of pre-season problems, which culminated in Whedon shutting down production for two weeks in early September.
The x factor in all of this, of course, is Friday. While the night was the final resting place for Whedon's Firefly, it was also the orginal home to both Fox's The X-Files and Millennium, and could possibly be seen as a "nerd sanctuary," that is, a place to offer shows that have the potential to develop a cult following which can then be cultivated into a larger audience. Also to be considered of course, is the fact that Sci Fi will begin the final ten episode run of Battlestar Galactica on January 16th at 10pm, giving science fiction fans a solid three hour block of programming.
Speaking of BSG, Sci Fi has announced that it will air BSG: Essential Elements at 11:00pm EST, a half-hour special leading up to the final episodes of the fourth season; and will debut the latest Galactica webisodes Thursday, January 15th during the network's presentation of Pitch Black.
Also in Fox's announcements - 24 will return Sunday and Monday, January 11th and 12th for two, consecutive two-hour engagements. The two-hour prequel movie 24: Redemption setting up the new season, and starring Jon Voight as the antagonist for the season will air on Fox Sunday, November 23rd.
The new season of 24 will open with the CTU (Counter Terrorism Unit) shut down and dismantled and Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) on trial. Carlos Bernard, who plays Tony Almeida, returns to the series, though he was presumed dead.
The debut in January will mark the first time new 24 episodes have been aired in nearly two years. Filming on the new season was shut down late last year due to the Writer's Strike, which led Fox to hold the season back until midseason 2008-2009. Work stopped on the season this past September due to quality-control issues with scripts.
Lifestyle - Chocolate only a Superhero could resist
Renata Espinosa
New York – While there are some people in the world who profess to hate chocolate, there's still very little arguing with the New York Chocolate Show, now in its 11th year, and the sheer joy a show-goer gets from its feats of chocolate engineering both edible and otherwise - "otherwise" being the all-chocolate fashion show, featuring several former "Project Runway" designers, that kicked off the three-day chocolate trade show in New York on Thursday, Nov. 6.
Pastry chefs and fashion designers paired up to create a "Superhero" themed collection of one-of-a-kind chocolate ensembles, showcasing some of the most elaborate and delicate uses imaginable for the beloved cocoa confection. Ironman, Barbarella, Wonder Woman and Lara Croft Tomb Raider were just some of the impressive creations. Chocolate was shaped in daring bustiers, gladiator-like skirts and fashioned into superhero capes.
Backstage, the scene was a chaotic and heady blend of models and pastry chefs dashing around trying to carefully apply various chocolate details to the costumes. "Put it on at the last minute," was one assistant chef's summary of how to keep the chocolate from melting as she applied bits of a fabric fastener to one side of a chocolate panel intended for the "Ironman" costume suit, designed by Faith Drobin and Michelle Tampakis.
"Project Runway" Season 4 alum Kit Scarbo designed a chocolate costume with Knipschildt Chocolatier. Her superhero character, Black Phoenix from "X-Men," combined wings of "fire" made from unusual items sprayed with liquid chocolate: pheasant feathers, a Christmas garland and even drinking straws. But it wasn't easy, said Scarbo, who said working with the chocolate had been challenging.
"The chocolate stuck to everything except for the silver bits," Scarbo said. "So we had to paint the silver and then spray the chocolate over that." In other words, don't eat that one.
Artist Laurance Rassin invented his own superhero, which he called "Bittersweet Black Widow." "She's killing her prey with her bittersweet chocolate," Rassin quipped. He combined silk fabric printed with his images from his paintings with chocolate details designed by chef Jansen Chan like chopsticks in her hair and a white and dark chocolate "paillette" bikini.
New York – While there are some people in the world who profess to hate chocolate, there's still very little arguing with the New York Chocolate Show, now in its 11th year, and the sheer joy a show-goer gets from its feats of chocolate engineering both edible and otherwise - "otherwise" being the all-chocolate fashion show, featuring several former "Project Runway" designers, that kicked off the three-day chocolate trade show in New York on Thursday, Nov. 6.
Pastry chefs and fashion designers paired up to create a "Superhero" themed collection of one-of-a-kind chocolate ensembles, showcasing some of the most elaborate and delicate uses imaginable for the beloved cocoa confection. Ironman, Barbarella, Wonder Woman and Lara Croft Tomb Raider were just some of the impressive creations. Chocolate was shaped in daring bustiers, gladiator-like skirts and fashioned into superhero capes.
Backstage, the scene was a chaotic and heady blend of models and pastry chefs dashing around trying to carefully apply various chocolate details to the costumes. "Put it on at the last minute," was one assistant chef's summary of how to keep the chocolate from melting as she applied bits of a fabric fastener to one side of a chocolate panel intended for the "Ironman" costume suit, designed by Faith Drobin and Michelle Tampakis.
"Project Runway" Season 4 alum Kit Scarbo designed a chocolate costume with Knipschildt Chocolatier. Her superhero character, Black Phoenix from "X-Men," combined wings of "fire" made from unusual items sprayed with liquid chocolate: pheasant feathers, a Christmas garland and even drinking straws. But it wasn't easy, said Scarbo, who said working with the chocolate had been challenging.
"The chocolate stuck to everything except for the silver bits," Scarbo said. "So we had to paint the silver and then spray the chocolate over that." In other words, don't eat that one.
Artist Laurance Rassin invented his own superhero, which he called "Bittersweet Black Widow." "She's killing her prey with her bittersweet chocolate," Rassin quipped. He combined silk fabric printed with his images from his paintings with chocolate details designed by chef Jansen Chan like chopsticks in her hair and a white and dark chocolate "paillette" bikini.
World - Cash strapped Pak may ink agreement with IMF
Financially-wrecked Pakistan is expected to sign an agreement with the IMF next week to avail a bailout package of $9 billion.
The agreement, aimed at shoring up dwindling foreign exchange reserves and addressing concerns over a balance of payments crisis, is likely to be signed on November 10-12, Dawn News channel quoted an unnamed official as saying. There was no official word on the move from the Pakistan government or the IMF, which recently concluded negotiations in UAE on a possible aid package for the country. Pakistan is expected to get $ 9 bilion in aid over two years once the agreement with the IMF is signed, the Dawn reported.
The country will immediately receive 1.5 billion dollars while the remaining amount will be released quarterly on the basis of its economic performance.
The IMF is expected to ask Pakistan to cut its fiscal deficit, improve tax collection and reduce spending. Some reports have also suggested that the IMF might ask the country to slash its defence budget by as much as 30 per cent over the next five years to be eligible for aid. President Asif Ali Zardari had, earlier, said that Pakistan will not accept any tough conditions from the IMF but experts believe the country is running out of options to address its economic problems.
Islamabad's traditional allies, China and Saudi Arabia are yet to respond to its requests for immediate economic assistance and oil supplies against deferred payments. —PTI
The agreement, aimed at shoring up dwindling foreign exchange reserves and addressing concerns over a balance of payments crisis, is likely to be signed on November 10-12, Dawn News channel quoted an unnamed official as saying. There was no official word on the move from the Pakistan government or the IMF, which recently concluded negotiations in UAE on a possible aid package for the country. Pakistan is expected to get $ 9 bilion in aid over two years once the agreement with the IMF is signed, the Dawn reported.
The country will immediately receive 1.5 billion dollars while the remaining amount will be released quarterly on the basis of its economic performance.
The IMF is expected to ask Pakistan to cut its fiscal deficit, improve tax collection and reduce spending. Some reports have also suggested that the IMF might ask the country to slash its defence budget by as much as 30 per cent over the next five years to be eligible for aid. President Asif Ali Zardari had, earlier, said that Pakistan will not accept any tough conditions from the IMF but experts believe the country is running out of options to address its economic problems.
Islamabad's traditional allies, China and Saudi Arabia are yet to respond to its requests for immediate economic assistance and oil supplies against deferred payments. —PTI
India - Contract Labourers likely to get social security package on lines of China
The labour ministry is contemplating a social security package for contract labourers across the country on the lines of China. In China, contract labour is rewarded with adequate compensation package after the expiry of their contracts.
A detailed documentation has been released to this effect to various industry associations, apparently to seek the support of India Inc. Industry sources said that they have already circulated the labour ministry s recommendations to their members to seek their support to enable the government take policy decision to this effect. The labour ministry has specifically mentioned that after the contract of labourers have expired with their respective organisation and is not considered for renewal, the organisation in such cases should award certain welfare benefits to such employees like social safety and insurance benefits.
The state shall develop social insurance system and set up social insurance funds so that labourers may achieve assistance and compensations under such circumstances as old age, illness, work-related injury, unemployment and child-bearing. The state shall also consider various measures through various channels to expand vocational training undertakings so as to develop professional skills of labourers and raise their employment capability and work ability. This would be done so that the workforce is not rendered unarmed and can seek their redeployment with the employers.
As far as the industry associations are concerned, they are supportive of the social security packages to contract labourers as per the consensus among their members. Sources however add that the government is very keen to come out with safety package in consultant with Indian Inc.
Being an election year, the UPA government is taking steps to increase its popularity within the labour force across the country as it is the biggest vote bank during the election time.
A detailed documentation has been released to this effect to various industry associations, apparently to seek the support of India Inc. Industry sources said that they have already circulated the labour ministry s recommendations to their members to seek their support to enable the government take policy decision to this effect. The labour ministry has specifically mentioned that after the contract of labourers have expired with their respective organisation and is not considered for renewal, the organisation in such cases should award certain welfare benefits to such employees like social safety and insurance benefits.
The state shall develop social insurance system and set up social insurance funds so that labourers may achieve assistance and compensations under such circumstances as old age, illness, work-related injury, unemployment and child-bearing. The state shall also consider various measures through various channels to expand vocational training undertakings so as to develop professional skills of labourers and raise their employment capability and work ability. This would be done so that the workforce is not rendered unarmed and can seek their redeployment with the employers.
As far as the industry associations are concerned, they are supportive of the social security packages to contract labourers as per the consensus among their members. Sources however add that the government is very keen to come out with safety package in consultant with Indian Inc.
Being an election year, the UPA government is taking steps to increase its popularity within the labour force across the country as it is the biggest vote bank during the election time.
World - US;Unemployment rate touches 6.5pc,highest in 14 years
New York, Nov 7 (PTI) The US unemployment rate touched a 14-year high of 6.5 per cent in the month of October, showing yet another sign of deepening economic crisis. According to the US Labor Department, the unemployment rose by 0.4 per cent from 6.1 per cent in September.
The number of unemployed people increased by 6,03,000 to 10.1 million in October. The last time, America witnessed an unemployment rate of 6.5 per cent was in March 1994.
Further, for the first 10 months of this year, the employment has declined by 1.2 million and majority of the happened in the last three months. "October's drop in payroll employment followed declines of 1,27,000 in August and 2,84,000 in September, as revised.
Employment has fallen by 1.2 million in the first 10 months of 2008; over half of the decrease has occurred in the past 3 months. In October, job losses continued in manufacturing, construction and several service-providing industries.
Health care and mining continued to add jobs," the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is part of the Labor Department said in a statement. Meanwhile, the depressing data is expected to trigger a selling spree on the Wall Street, which is already witnessing turbulence from the deepening global financial crisis
The number of unemployed people increased by 6,03,000 to 10.1 million in October. The last time, America witnessed an unemployment rate of 6.5 per cent was in March 1994.
Further, for the first 10 months of this year, the employment has declined by 1.2 million and majority of the happened in the last three months. "October's drop in payroll employment followed declines of 1,27,000 in August and 2,84,000 in September, as revised.
Employment has fallen by 1.2 million in the first 10 months of 2008; over half of the decrease has occurred in the past 3 months. In October, job losses continued in manufacturing, construction and several service-providing industries.
Health care and mining continued to add jobs," the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is part of the Labor Department said in a statement. Meanwhile, the depressing data is expected to trigger a selling spree on the Wall Street, which is already witnessing turbulence from the deepening global financial crisis
Business - India to have 230 mn 3G subscribers by 2013
New Delhi, Nov 7 (IANS) With prices of third generation (3G)-enabled mobile phone handsets coming down to $50 (Rs.2,000) levels, India should have around 230 million 3G subscribers by 2013, a top industry representative said here Friday.
'The cost of 3G handsets have come down from $200 levels to $50 levels and our projection is that there will be 230 million 3G subscribers in India by 2013,' Irwin Jacobs, chairman of wireless and data products major Qualcomm Inc., said while delivering the theme address at a seminar.
At the seminar on 'Diffusion of wireless innovation - enriching lives' organised by industry lobby Confederation of Indian Industry, Jacobs said his company's Wireless Reach initiative was aimed at developing technologies that would provide tools to boost inclusive growth.
Qualcomm has, for example, developed an application called Fisher Friend through which fishermen can quickly access crucial information such as weather conditions, where they can and cannot fish, and market prices - all in their local language.
In 2007, the company gave mobile phone handsets to tsunami-hit fishermen in Tamil Nadu to increase their safety, besides providing other crucial information concerning their livelihood, Jacobs said.
Fisher Friend is the result of a collaboration with M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Tata Teleservices and the Indore-based Astute Systems Technology Pvt. Ltd.
MSSRF is a non-profit organisation and was instrumental in providing information about the fishing communities.
Telecom operator Tata Teleservices provided the handsets and 3G CDMA coverage in the fishing communities, while Astute developed and created the BREW programme on which the Fisher Friend application runs.
CDMA stands for code division multiple access, a mobile phone technology while BREW stands for Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless, a programme that can be used for developing various wireless applications.
Azim H. Premji, the chairman of Indian information technology major Wipro, said Wipro Foundation had taken up a major project to upgrade the quality and reach of elementary education in rural India using information and communication technologies including wireless technology.
'More than 90 percent of all schools in rural India are government-funded and we are using structured innovation to develop and transform the quality of education in these schools,' Premji said.
'We are taking a comprehensive view of what wireless technology can do for rural India,' he said, adding: 'For example, one job in the mobile industry creates four support jobs, that means employing one person in the industry really means employing five persons.'
In the inaugural address, Subas Pani, the Planning Commission secretary, said the government was looking to use wireless technology extensively to deliver services to the people at a low cost.
'Inclusive growth requires inclusive banking and only wireless technology can do that,' Pani said
'The cost of 3G handsets have come down from $200 levels to $50 levels and our projection is that there will be 230 million 3G subscribers in India by 2013,' Irwin Jacobs, chairman of wireless and data products major Qualcomm Inc., said while delivering the theme address at a seminar.
At the seminar on 'Diffusion of wireless innovation - enriching lives' organised by industry lobby Confederation of Indian Industry, Jacobs said his company's Wireless Reach initiative was aimed at developing technologies that would provide tools to boost inclusive growth.
Qualcomm has, for example, developed an application called Fisher Friend through which fishermen can quickly access crucial information such as weather conditions, where they can and cannot fish, and market prices - all in their local language.
In 2007, the company gave mobile phone handsets to tsunami-hit fishermen in Tamil Nadu to increase their safety, besides providing other crucial information concerning their livelihood, Jacobs said.
Fisher Friend is the result of a collaboration with M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Tata Teleservices and the Indore-based Astute Systems Technology Pvt. Ltd.
MSSRF is a non-profit organisation and was instrumental in providing information about the fishing communities.
Telecom operator Tata Teleservices provided the handsets and 3G CDMA coverage in the fishing communities, while Astute developed and created the BREW programme on which the Fisher Friend application runs.
CDMA stands for code division multiple access, a mobile phone technology while BREW stands for Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless, a programme that can be used for developing various wireless applications.
Azim H. Premji, the chairman of Indian information technology major Wipro, said Wipro Foundation had taken up a major project to upgrade the quality and reach of elementary education in rural India using information and communication technologies including wireless technology.
'More than 90 percent of all schools in rural India are government-funded and we are using structured innovation to develop and transform the quality of education in these schools,' Premji said.
'We are taking a comprehensive view of what wireless technology can do for rural India,' he said, adding: 'For example, one job in the mobile industry creates four support jobs, that means employing one person in the industry really means employing five persons.'
In the inaugural address, Subas Pani, the Planning Commission secretary, said the government was looking to use wireless technology extensively to deliver services to the people at a low cost.
'Inclusive growth requires inclusive banking and only wireless technology can do that,' Pani said
Mktg - India;Elections & Technology
New Delhi, Nov 7 (IANS) Expect a slew of electronic appeals for your vote in the coming Delhi assembly elections as political parties are planning to harness new technologies to reach out to voters.
Leaders of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are holding meetings with IT experts to make best use of the technologies in order to impress the voters.
'Things are changing with time and we have to search for new ways to impress voters. The electronic and computer technology can play an important role during the campaigning process,' J.P Aggarwal, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president, told IANS.
The DPCC is holding a campaign committee meeting later Friday to chart out a campaign strategy. The party has also set up a 24-hour control room at its office to cater to candidates.
'All wings of the party will meet to discuss the campaign strategy. You need to keep in mind interests of different kinds of voters, ranging from a college student to a business executive to a rickshaw puller to a retired person. We have to plan the campaign accordingly,' Aggarwal said.
The party plans to use SMSes and e-mails besides sending computerised voice recorded messages that will be played to telephone subscribers.
On voice recorded messages, candidates will introduce themselves and list what they plan to do for the constituency if they are elected.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Mewa Ram Arya also said: 'Our pre-recorded message will be heard on mobile phones and landline telephones. Besides, there will be SMSes and e-mails.'
Both the parties have decided to upload profiles of all their candidates on their party website. Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley is heading his party's hi-tech campaign strategy.
'We are also planning to make short documentaries, audio-video clips and songs to publicise the work done by the Congress party government in the last 10 years,' Aggarwal added.
The Congress wants to rope in some stars to add glamour at campaign rallies. The names will be decided at the campaign committee meeting.
As for the BJP, 'the party is also organising special sessions for the candidates to make them conversant with the nomination process and filing of nomination papers,' Arya said.
Leaders of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are holding meetings with IT experts to make best use of the technologies in order to impress the voters.
'Things are changing with time and we have to search for new ways to impress voters. The electronic and computer technology can play an important role during the campaigning process,' J.P Aggarwal, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president, told IANS.
The DPCC is holding a campaign committee meeting later Friday to chart out a campaign strategy. The party has also set up a 24-hour control room at its office to cater to candidates.
'All wings of the party will meet to discuss the campaign strategy. You need to keep in mind interests of different kinds of voters, ranging from a college student to a business executive to a rickshaw puller to a retired person. We have to plan the campaign accordingly,' Aggarwal said.
The party plans to use SMSes and e-mails besides sending computerised voice recorded messages that will be played to telephone subscribers.
On voice recorded messages, candidates will introduce themselves and list what they plan to do for the constituency if they are elected.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Mewa Ram Arya also said: 'Our pre-recorded message will be heard on mobile phones and landline telephones. Besides, there will be SMSes and e-mails.'
Both the parties have decided to upload profiles of all their candidates on their party website. Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley is heading his party's hi-tech campaign strategy.
'We are also planning to make short documentaries, audio-video clips and songs to publicise the work done by the Congress party government in the last 10 years,' Aggarwal added.
The Congress wants to rope in some stars to add glamour at campaign rallies. The names will be decided at the campaign committee meeting.
As for the BJP, 'the party is also organising special sessions for the candidates to make them conversant with the nomination process and filing of nomination papers,' Arya said.
Science - Ingredients in plastic test tubes may skew results of drug tests
London, November 7 (ANI): Ingredients in plastic test tubes can block some biological reactions while testing the efficacy of drugs, and thereby lead researchers to bogus conclusions, according to a new study.
University of Alberta researcher Andrew Holt says that water alone can leach such chemicals out of plastic tubes.
He has revealed that the his team noticed the effect while testing experimental drugs that could potentially treat Parkinson's disease.
According to him, his team's work supports anecdotal evidence from various studies that plastics seem to affect some experiments.
"People are clearly aware that plastics can cause problems. Quite remarkably, nobody appears to have done what we were forced to do," New Scientist magazine quoted him as saying.
He believes that a lot of data in the public domain may be skewed in some way, though he hasn't yet identified papers with erroneous data or conclusions.
"The end result is that researchers are wasting massive amounts of time and massive amounts of money," he said.
Simonetta Sipione, who is also at the University of Alberta, though was not involved in the study, said that the problem might even extend to sterile plastic containers that were used to grow cells.
She said that leaching from plastics might have caused the mysterious death of cultured brain cells in her lab, while studying Huntington's disease.
An article on the current study has been published in the journal Science. (ANI)
University of Alberta researcher Andrew Holt says that water alone can leach such chemicals out of plastic tubes.
He has revealed that the his team noticed the effect while testing experimental drugs that could potentially treat Parkinson's disease.
According to him, his team's work supports anecdotal evidence from various studies that plastics seem to affect some experiments.
"People are clearly aware that plastics can cause problems. Quite remarkably, nobody appears to have done what we were forced to do," New Scientist magazine quoted him as saying.
He believes that a lot of data in the public domain may be skewed in some way, though he hasn't yet identified papers with erroneous data or conclusions.
"The end result is that researchers are wasting massive amounts of time and massive amounts of money," he said.
Simonetta Sipione, who is also at the University of Alberta, though was not involved in the study, said that the problem might even extend to sterile plastic containers that were used to grow cells.
She said that leaching from plastics might have caused the mysterious death of cultured brain cells in her lab, while studying Huntington's disease.
An article on the current study has been published in the journal Science. (ANI)
Science - Sunlight has more powerful influence on ocean circulation and climate
Washington, Nov 7 (ANI): A new study has suggested that the distribution of sunlight, rather than the size of North American ice sheets, is the key variable in changes in the North Atlantic deep-water formation during the last four glacial cycles.
The study, by Lorraine Lisiecki, assistant professor in the Department of Earth Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her team, goes back 425,000 years.
Lisiecki and her co-authors studied 24 separate locations in the Atlantic by analyzing information from ocean sediment cores.
By observing the properties of the shells of tiny marine organisms, called foraminifera, found in these cores, they were able to deduce information about the North Atlantic deep water formation.
Scientists can discern historical ocean temperature and circulation patterns through the analysis of the chemical composition of these marine animals.
Previously, scientists relied on a study called "Specmap," performed in 1992, to find out how different parts of the climate system interacted with one another during glacial cycles.
Specmap analyzed ocean circulation at only one place in the Atlantic.
"What I found was that the one site that the Specmap study used actually didn't match most of the other sites in the Atlantic," said Lisiecki.
Lisiecki explained that the new data changes our understanding about how the different parts of the climate system are interacting with one another and in particular the influence of the ice sheets on climate.
"Because the ice sheets are so large, it was a nice simple story to say that they were having the predominant influence on all the parts of the climate system," said Lisiecki.
"But our study showed that this wasn't the only important part of the changes in climate. The distribution of sunlight is the controlling factor for North Atlantic deep water formation," she added.
According to Lisiecki, "Our study tells us a lot about how the ocean circulation is affected by changes in climate."
"The ocean does not always follow the climate; it exerts its own impact on climate processes. In other words, the ocean circulation doesn't just follow along with the rest of the climate, it actually changes in different ways than the ice sheets during glacial cycles," she added. (ANI)
The study, by Lorraine Lisiecki, assistant professor in the Department of Earth Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her team, goes back 425,000 years.
Lisiecki and her co-authors studied 24 separate locations in the Atlantic by analyzing information from ocean sediment cores.
By observing the properties of the shells of tiny marine organisms, called foraminifera, found in these cores, they were able to deduce information about the North Atlantic deep water formation.
Scientists can discern historical ocean temperature and circulation patterns through the analysis of the chemical composition of these marine animals.
Previously, scientists relied on a study called "Specmap," performed in 1992, to find out how different parts of the climate system interacted with one another during glacial cycles.
Specmap analyzed ocean circulation at only one place in the Atlantic.
"What I found was that the one site that the Specmap study used actually didn't match most of the other sites in the Atlantic," said Lisiecki.
Lisiecki explained that the new data changes our understanding about how the different parts of the climate system are interacting with one another and in particular the influence of the ice sheets on climate.
"Because the ice sheets are so large, it was a nice simple story to say that they were having the predominant influence on all the parts of the climate system," said Lisiecki.
"But our study showed that this wasn't the only important part of the changes in climate. The distribution of sunlight is the controlling factor for North Atlantic deep water formation," she added.
According to Lisiecki, "Our study tells us a lot about how the ocean circulation is affected by changes in climate."
"The ocean does not always follow the climate; it exerts its own impact on climate processes. In other words, the ocean circulation doesn't just follow along with the rest of the climate, it actually changes in different ways than the ice sheets during glacial cycles," she added. (ANI)
Sport - F1;Force India snaps tie with Ferrari
New Delhi, Nov 7 (PTI) Determined to do better in the next season, Force India today formally snapped ties with Ferrari and is all set to ink a new deal with McLaren-Mercedes as its engine supplier for the 2009 season. The Vijay Mallya-owned outfit announced in a statement that Force India requested Ferrari to prematurely terminate the deal, which was scheduled to expire in 2010.
"The agreement signed in 2007 also provided for a supply of engines in 2009 but will now terminate ahead of schedule at the request of Force India," the statement said. "Force India wishes to thank Ferrari for its much appreciated and valued support to date, which has always been carried out at the highest level; technically and professionally and within an excellent relationship," it added.
Though the Force India camp is tight-lipped about the deal with McLaren, sources said the outfit would reveal the details in the next few days. Before the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix, Mallya had disclosed that talks were on with McLaren and ruled out the possibility of any bitterness following a premature snapping of ties with Ferrari.
"Ferrari and us are very, very close friends, we have an excellent relationship. We have told them exactly what we want.
We are in discussion. They are aware that I have talked to McLaren, so everything is completely transparent from our point of view," Mallya had said.
PTI.
"The agreement signed in 2007 also provided for a supply of engines in 2009 but will now terminate ahead of schedule at the request of Force India," the statement said. "Force India wishes to thank Ferrari for its much appreciated and valued support to date, which has always been carried out at the highest level; technically and professionally and within an excellent relationship," it added.
Though the Force India camp is tight-lipped about the deal with McLaren, sources said the outfit would reveal the details in the next few days. Before the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix, Mallya had disclosed that talks were on with McLaren and ruled out the possibility of any bitterness following a premature snapping of ties with Ferrari.
"Ferrari and us are very, very close friends, we have an excellent relationship. We have told them exactly what we want.
We are in discussion. They are aware that I have talked to McLaren, so everything is completely transparent from our point of view," Mallya had said.
PTI.
Columnists - Haile Gebreselassie;Even on bloody feet
I came of age under a communist military regime in Ethiopia. I could have become a farmer like my father or a soldier like many of my friends. Instead, I became a long-distance runner. And on Sept. 28 in Berlin, I broke my previous marathon record, finishing in 2:03:59—the fastest time in history.
Audacity is not always a valued trait in the Ethiopian countryside where I grew up. You cannot afford to take risks when you are feeding 10 children from a 12-acre plot of land as my father did. And when you live in a dictatorship, any disdain for authority can be taken as a sign of treasonous intent. Yet in spite of my father's and the regime's best efforts to subdue me, I remained headstrong, which is why as a young man I ran two races I never should have.
When I was 15, my high school needed a runner for the 1,500-meter race at a county track meet, so I volunteered—and was ridiculed. At that time, I was smaller than most kids my own age, and the older boys towered above me. The spectators laughed when I burst onto the sand track in a sprint. I could hear them jeering from the metal bleachers, saying, "You'll never make it like that!" They stopped laughing when I pulled farther and farther ahead, however. And they cheered and lifted me in the air when I won.
At 16, I was invited to represent my county in the nationals in Addis Ababa. I'd never even seen a multistory building before. I was still staring at the skyline when my coach returned from the stadium's office, frowning. It turned out my race had been canceled. They'd tried to call ahead to warn us, but back then the only reliable form of communication was face-to-face. I decided that I could not return to my village without competing, however, so I asked my coach if I could enter the marathon. He refused. I was too young, he said, and I had not trained for it. He only changed his mind when I began to cry.
As the race began, I could not see past the runners in front of me. I had no clue how to pace myself and I ran in spurts. By the last five miles, my locally made shoes, made of flimsy rubber and canvas, were coming apart. The fabric between the soles and my feet had worn away and the heat from the sun-baked pavement was beginning to burn. An older, more experienced runner from my village sailed past me on the final stretch, whispering encouragement; as he disappeared into the pack, I understood the importance of leaving something for last.
I would have quit—I wanted to quit—but I kept thinking of my classmates who had joined the Army, their grueling training and their willingness to die. Under such a regime, everything, even homework or plowing a field, became part of an ongoing war—even in a time of peace. I too would make a sacrifice, I thought, though not for the tyrants that ran the country, but for my community.
And I made it. Though just 16, I finished the race in 2 hours and 48 minutes, putting me among the top 100 runners. Crossing the finish line, someone steadied me before I collapsed. As I drank some water, I noticed the blood. The exposed rubber soles had torn through the blisters on my feet. I stayed an extra day in Addis Ababa because the pain was too excruciating to walk to the bus stop.
I swore I would never run again, but a week later I was standing in front of the regional president and an Army colonel who were reminding the athletes of our patriotic obligation to persevere. Though perhaps not in the intended way, the meeting inspired me to keep running. Sometimes we persevere in spite of what we're made to suffer and sometimes because of it.
That first marathon was the most painful competition of my career, and I often think back to it as I run today. Since then I have been world champion four times and have twice won the Olympic 10,000-meter race. In the past four years I have focused my energy increasingly on the marathon, a race that often goes to the mature athlete. Looking back at my fortunate career, I hope I have saved the best for last.
Audacity is not always a valued trait in the Ethiopian countryside where I grew up. You cannot afford to take risks when you are feeding 10 children from a 12-acre plot of land as my father did. And when you live in a dictatorship, any disdain for authority can be taken as a sign of treasonous intent. Yet in spite of my father's and the regime's best efforts to subdue me, I remained headstrong, which is why as a young man I ran two races I never should have.
When I was 15, my high school needed a runner for the 1,500-meter race at a county track meet, so I volunteered—and was ridiculed. At that time, I was smaller than most kids my own age, and the older boys towered above me. The spectators laughed when I burst onto the sand track in a sprint. I could hear them jeering from the metal bleachers, saying, "You'll never make it like that!" They stopped laughing when I pulled farther and farther ahead, however. And they cheered and lifted me in the air when I won.
At 16, I was invited to represent my county in the nationals in Addis Ababa. I'd never even seen a multistory building before. I was still staring at the skyline when my coach returned from the stadium's office, frowning. It turned out my race had been canceled. They'd tried to call ahead to warn us, but back then the only reliable form of communication was face-to-face. I decided that I could not return to my village without competing, however, so I asked my coach if I could enter the marathon. He refused. I was too young, he said, and I had not trained for it. He only changed his mind when I began to cry.
As the race began, I could not see past the runners in front of me. I had no clue how to pace myself and I ran in spurts. By the last five miles, my locally made shoes, made of flimsy rubber and canvas, were coming apart. The fabric between the soles and my feet had worn away and the heat from the sun-baked pavement was beginning to burn. An older, more experienced runner from my village sailed past me on the final stretch, whispering encouragement; as he disappeared into the pack, I understood the importance of leaving something for last.
I would have quit—I wanted to quit—but I kept thinking of my classmates who had joined the Army, their grueling training and their willingness to die. Under such a regime, everything, even homework or plowing a field, became part of an ongoing war—even in a time of peace. I too would make a sacrifice, I thought, though not for the tyrants that ran the country, but for my community.
And I made it. Though just 16, I finished the race in 2 hours and 48 minutes, putting me among the top 100 runners. Crossing the finish line, someone steadied me before I collapsed. As I drank some water, I noticed the blood. The exposed rubber soles had torn through the blisters on my feet. I stayed an extra day in Addis Ababa because the pain was too excruciating to walk to the bus stop.
I swore I would never run again, but a week later I was standing in front of the regional president and an Army colonel who were reminding the athletes of our patriotic obligation to persevere. Though perhaps not in the intended way, the meeting inspired me to keep running. Sometimes we persevere in spite of what we're made to suffer and sometimes because of it.
That first marathon was the most painful competition of my career, and I often think back to it as I run today. Since then I have been world champion four times and have twice won the Olympic 10,000-meter race. In the past four years I have focused my energy increasingly on the marathon, a race that often goes to the mature athlete. Looking back at my fortunate career, I hope I have saved the best for last.
World - Pakistan Journalists come under attack
Fasih Ahmed
The enemy must be fought. That seems to be the consensus in Pakistan, but who exactly might the enemy be? With the government led by President Asif Ali Zardari making no overtures of peace with armed militants, Pakistan's right-wing commentators are recklessly redirecting their anger against the few individuals who have either been raising their voice against those they see as being responsible for the country's tilt toward the Taliban, or who fail to conform to Islamic social conventions.
The latest salvo came at the end of October as a marathon two-week parliamentary session on what to do about the militants was winding to a close. A popular television talk-show host, writing in an Urdu-language daily, hurled accusations at Najam Sethi, a Cambridge-educated journalist who has won numerous awards, that could be construed as an incitement to his murder.
The columnist, Javed Chaudhry, tried to stoke suspicion of Sethi by referring to him as "the mafia lord" of Pakistan's NGO community—which champions human rights, gender equality and education—and the recipient of "Indian and American funding." But the most incredulous and dangerous allegations accused Sethi of "making fun of Islam" and instigating last year's military operation against Islamabad's Red Mosque, the militant stronghold. Charges of un-Islamic behavior can be fatal in Pakistan. "I am stunned by this unprovoked attack," Sethi told NEWSWEEK in Lahore.
The column is only the latest headache for Sethi and his journalist wife, Jugnu Mohsin, who run the Daily Timesand the popular weekly The Friday Times. He and his papers were described in a local newspaper in one of the tribal areas in September of being the "enemy of the Taliban and stooges of America," and in July, he received death threats after a flap over a cartoon about the Red Mosque, whose stick-wielding women students last year kidnapped Chinese masseuses. Last year, a little known jihadist outfit sent Sethi a letter calling him "an anti-Islam American agent" and attached a bloodcurdling picture of a man whose throat had been slit for the same sin. Since July, the government has provided Sethi with round-the-clock security.
Sethi is not the only recent target of intolerance. In September, the Red Mosque issued a fatwa against Zardari for his easy banter with Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. In August, fashion designer Sheikh-Amer Hassan was murdered at his Karachi home; the press was dismissive, and one popular English daily carried a piece that openly sympathized with his killers. According to the Interior Ministry, Information Minister Sherry Rehman, a former journalist and aide to Benazir Bhutto who neither covers her head nor apologizes for her party's liberal positions, has also received death threats.
So frightened are people of the militants' wrath that on Oct. 10, storeowners reacting to an anonymous letter warning them against peddling "obscenity" burned pirated CDs and DVDs in a bonfire in Lahore's electronic mecca, Hall Road. The country's rampant anti-Americanism, which seems to dissolve seamlessly into support for the Taliban, continues to pose a challenge—and a danger—to prominent Pakistanis and to much of the country.
The enemy must be fought. That seems to be the consensus in Pakistan, but who exactly might the enemy be? With the government led by President Asif Ali Zardari making no overtures of peace with armed militants, Pakistan's right-wing commentators are recklessly redirecting their anger against the few individuals who have either been raising their voice against those they see as being responsible for the country's tilt toward the Taliban, or who fail to conform to Islamic social conventions.
The latest salvo came at the end of October as a marathon two-week parliamentary session on what to do about the militants was winding to a close. A popular television talk-show host, writing in an Urdu-language daily, hurled accusations at Najam Sethi, a Cambridge-educated journalist who has won numerous awards, that could be construed as an incitement to his murder.
The columnist, Javed Chaudhry, tried to stoke suspicion of Sethi by referring to him as "the mafia lord" of Pakistan's NGO community—which champions human rights, gender equality and education—and the recipient of "Indian and American funding." But the most incredulous and dangerous allegations accused Sethi of "making fun of Islam" and instigating last year's military operation against Islamabad's Red Mosque, the militant stronghold. Charges of un-Islamic behavior can be fatal in Pakistan. "I am stunned by this unprovoked attack," Sethi told NEWSWEEK in Lahore.
The column is only the latest headache for Sethi and his journalist wife, Jugnu Mohsin, who run the Daily Timesand the popular weekly The Friday Times. He and his papers were described in a local newspaper in one of the tribal areas in September of being the "enemy of the Taliban and stooges of America," and in July, he received death threats after a flap over a cartoon about the Red Mosque, whose stick-wielding women students last year kidnapped Chinese masseuses. Last year, a little known jihadist outfit sent Sethi a letter calling him "an anti-Islam American agent" and attached a bloodcurdling picture of a man whose throat had been slit for the same sin. Since July, the government has provided Sethi with round-the-clock security.
Sethi is not the only recent target of intolerance. In September, the Red Mosque issued a fatwa against Zardari for his easy banter with Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. In August, fashion designer Sheikh-Amer Hassan was murdered at his Karachi home; the press was dismissive, and one popular English daily carried a piece that openly sympathized with his killers. According to the Interior Ministry, Information Minister Sherry Rehman, a former journalist and aide to Benazir Bhutto who neither covers her head nor apologizes for her party's liberal positions, has also received death threats.
So frightened are people of the militants' wrath that on Oct. 10, storeowners reacting to an anonymous letter warning them against peddling "obscenity" burned pirated CDs and DVDs in a bonfire in Lahore's electronic mecca, Hall Road. The country's rampant anti-Americanism, which seems to dissolve seamlessly into support for the Taliban, continues to pose a challenge—and a danger—to prominent Pakistanis and to much of the country.
World - US attacks on Pakistan Soil aren't helping
Ron Moreau
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Mahmud Ali Durrani has been a key player in Pakistan's national-security policy for the past few years. As ambassador to Washington from 2006 until April, he was at the center of his country's strategic, and often difficult, relations with the United States. Now as National Security Adviser, he not only counsels President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, he also delivers tough messages to Washington, protesting military strikes inside Pakistani territory, and serves as a liaison between the country's two top political leaders and powerful Army Chief of Staff, Ashfaq Kayani. In an exclusive interview with Newsweek's Ron Moreau in his corner office in the prime minister's secretariat in Islamabad, Durrani, 67, discussed how American attacks are undercutting the country's struggle against militants, Pakistan's commitment to battling extremists in its own way, and how the historically testy relations between the country's political leaders and the military are, at least for now, proceeding smoothly. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: It has been reported that you made an urgent trip to Washington immediately following an unprecedented U.S. military ground attack in Pakistan's tribal area early last September. What was your message to the Bush administration?
Durrani: I did go, but not immediately [following the attack]. First the president [Zardari] said we have to do something about this. Everyone was upset. So first I sent a letter three days [after the attack] to [U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen] Hadley, giving our point of view and strongly suggesting our opposition to this. I said it was highly unpopular in Pakistan and was causing greater anti-Americanism; that the [Pakistani] military is unhappy with this, and most important that it is not helping your cause and is counterproductive. It is doing exactly the opposite of what you are trying to do. We are trying to separate the good guys from the bad guys, trying to separate the tribes from the militants. We made it abundantly clear that this [attack] was pushing them together and creating sympathy for the militants. Soon after that I went to Washington and repeated my message personally to the White House.
What was the response?
Mr. Hadley told me that our letter has been passed to the highest levels, which I assumed meant the big boss. No promises were made. Hardly any comments were made by the other side, but my assessment is that the point did sink in—certainly about the land incursions, but not quite about [stopping] the Predator strikes.
The land incursions may have ceased but the drone attacks are escalating. Are the Predator strikes more acceptable than the ground forays?
No, they are not acceptable either. Actually the ground incursion triggered all this sentiment. There were Predator strikes before this too. People didn't quite like it but it went on. But the ground incursion brought the whole thing to the forefront. It had a double-negative effect. It solidified opposition not only to the ground incursions but to the Predator strikes as well. That [the ground operation] was not a very smart thing to do. From our perspective neither is good for us or for the U.S.
Did you give the same message to U.S. Central Command ' s new commander General David Petraeus, who visited Islamabad this past week?
I think General Petraeus's visit was very useful. We appreciate he came here so soon after he took over. It shows his, the military's, and the U.S.'s commitment to the region. We were very happy. There were two levels of discussion. One was with his military counterparts, the Chief of Army Staff (Gen. Ashfaq Kayani) and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Gen. Tariq Majid.) They discussed more military matters, more focused on how to fight the war, what and what not to do. I think a message was given to him there also: "No Predators please. You are not helping." On the broader political level this same message was put to him very clearly without any ambiguity by the president and the prime minister: no Predator strikes. I think he understood the problem and our point of view. I think there was a realization that when the Predator strikes started there was a feeling in Washington that Pakistan was not doing enough. Now Pakistan is doing more than enough. So these strikes become spoilers, rather than helping.
The Pakistani military is still in the midst of a big and apparently successful operation in the Bajaur tribal area, while at the same time Predators are striking to the south in North and South Waziristan. Are those hits undermining the progress in Baj aur?
It is very distracting for us. There's collateral damage as well, which upsets the people. So it is not helping our plan. It really throws a spanner in the works.
It sounds like there is a strategic disconnect between Pakistan and the United States over the war on armed militancy with the United States hitting areas that you are not targeting?
My assessment is that the disconnect is inside America. It's there, not here. There are some elements in your security system that feel the Predator is not the right way to go. And there are some elements in your security apparatus that think you have to [continue the drone attacks]. So the disconnect is in Washington.
It may be up to Barack Obama after his inauguration to finally decide on the Predator strikes?
Of course, this is a decision that has to be taken at the highest political level, not just by CENTCOM or by the local U.S. commander sitting in Afghanistan. Going into someone's sovereign territory has to be cleared at the top level. I have a feeling that Washington is finally getting the message on the land as well as the Predator strikes.
Does Pakistan have the will and capability to hit these Al Qaeda and Taliban elements that the United States is targeting?
Let me put it this way: Pakistan is committed to it, has the will, and the resolve, but lacks certain capabilities. But the automatic [U.S.] response is that since [Pakistan] doesn't have the capability, therefore so and so should come in and do it for us. That is incorrect logic because by coming in, you become spoilers. It doesn't help. As far as I'm concerned, the logical answer is to support Pakistan to do its job, to do what it wants to do, and what you want it to do. That is a more cost-effective and efficient system.
So what does Pakistan need to make it capable of tackling the militants?
Pakistan is not a banana republic. We have a strong government, a very professional and strong military. Still, we need the capability. As I've told my many friends in Washington, we are fighting a war. We have one-half of our army deployed and fighting [along the Afghan border]. We are on a war footing. But your supply chain, which is supporting us, is working on a peacetime basis. You have to support us at much greater speed.
And with better equipment as well?
At a greater speed. Forget better equipment. At least deliver what you have committed to and quickly. For example, we need some [more] attack helicopters. We use them all day. We can't use them at night. Now the enemy is there all the time. So we need the equipment today. Yet we are told: "We are looking in our junkyard, and if we find some, we will repair them and give them to you. But it will take two to three years." That's not the way. Let me not undervalue what your government and military are doing for us. But what I am saying is: "Guys, put it on the fast track."
One of your key jobs is to provide a crucial liaison between the executive branch and General Kayani. How would you describe the relations between the civilian leadership and the military that have proved so problematic in the past?
Right now the relationship between the army chief, the president and prime minister is outstanding. Of course, there is historical evidence that leads you to ask that question because of the dominant role the military has played in our lives. One of our good fortunes is that we have a leader like Kayani who is trying very hard to work under the [control of the] political leadership. He is making every effort because he believes in democracy. He believes in the ascendancy of the political leadership, and that the military should be a subordinate department.
So Gen. Kayani and the president and prime minister are on the same page in terms of tactics and strategy in the fight against extremism?
Absolutely. The political leadership, of which I am a part now, gives very broad direction to the military. But sometimes there are pitfalls when the political leadership tries to run battles and campaigns. That happens in all countries. That is a dangerous game. We should leave it to the professionals. It should only be the broad guidance, directives and objectives that the political leadership should give to the military. If it gets involved in the nitty-gritty [of tactics] then we have a problem. So far things are going all right.
Last month's parliamentary resolution on militancy seems to have something for everyone: something for those who want to get tough with militants, something for those who favor talks. So will it really boost popular support for the military campaign?
I think [support] is building up slowly. It hasn't exploded as we would have liked. But overall, the document is good because it acknowledges in the very first sentence that: "Extremism, militancy and terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, pose a great danger to the stability and integrity of the nation state." It does lay a lot of emphasis on dialogue with people who want to go in a peaceful direction, who are willing to give up the battle. We will listen to them. But if they shoot at you, you shoot back. Since the parliamentary resolution there has been no letup in the military action. I think the difference between this and past military action is that this one is going to be taken to its logical conclusion. That means you don't stop and start, because you lose out doing that. We have learned that to our great sorrow. The intentions were good back then but the strategy followed was flawed. You don't leave jobs half done. If you do, then the bad guys benefit from it.
Will you talk to militants before they lay down their arms?
These matters are kept hazy by design. I would say that if there is a militant who has a weapon in his hand and is ready to shoot me then there is no dialogue with him. However if there's a militant who says I will sheath my sword and I'm ready to talk, then we will probably talk to him. This fine distinction is necessary because of the traditions of our tribal area where boys get weapons when they start getting a hint of a beard at 14 or 15. To them, a weapon is a mark of pride. Asking them to lay down their arms may mean more to them than you can imagine.
There have been civilian casualties, and towns and villages in Bajaur have been razed in the fighting. How do you rebuild support among the population and win hearts and minds?
When the operation finishes, there has to be a big push to re-establish the lives of the people, to help with their homes, wells, their broken roads and to re-establish the markets. But this movement from military operations to civil rule has to be a seamless connection. This is very important. In the past we have conducted military operations and then there's been a halt and nothing has happened except that the bad guys come back in a better position. This is the first time that after many months, even years, that local lashkars [tribal militias] have come out in support of the military's action. The locals, who were initially intimidated and terrorized by the extremists, will get up and fight when they know they have a chance of winning. There were some elected members [of parliament] who raised a hue and cry, demanding a stop to the [military] operations. But on the ground, people whispered messages in our ear saying, "Don't stop."
Is the Al Qaeda threat in the tribal area as serious as Washington says it is?
It's difficult to criticize an assessment. Washington has a better intelligence system than we have. But there aren't armies of the bad guys getting ready in the tribal area to march. There may be five chaps here and three caps there, sitting in huts, plotting, preparing. It is possible and likely. But there aren't hundreds of cells working in bunkers that look like Pentagon military operations centers. I don't think they are up there preparing and training people to go and hit Washington, New York and Chicago. The tribal area gives them peace and quiet, but it doesn't give them any communications. You can sit in a remote hut and contemplate destroying the whole world, but your connectivity is very poor from there
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Mahmud Ali Durrani has been a key player in Pakistan's national-security policy for the past few years. As ambassador to Washington from 2006 until April, he was at the center of his country's strategic, and often difficult, relations with the United States. Now as National Security Adviser, he not only counsels President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, he also delivers tough messages to Washington, protesting military strikes inside Pakistani territory, and serves as a liaison between the country's two top political leaders and powerful Army Chief of Staff, Ashfaq Kayani. In an exclusive interview with Newsweek's Ron Moreau in his corner office in the prime minister's secretariat in Islamabad, Durrani, 67, discussed how American attacks are undercutting the country's struggle against militants, Pakistan's commitment to battling extremists in its own way, and how the historically testy relations between the country's political leaders and the military are, at least for now, proceeding smoothly. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: It has been reported that you made an urgent trip to Washington immediately following an unprecedented U.S. military ground attack in Pakistan's tribal area early last September. What was your message to the Bush administration?
Durrani: I did go, but not immediately [following the attack]. First the president [Zardari] said we have to do something about this. Everyone was upset. So first I sent a letter three days [after the attack] to [U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen] Hadley, giving our point of view and strongly suggesting our opposition to this. I said it was highly unpopular in Pakistan and was causing greater anti-Americanism; that the [Pakistani] military is unhappy with this, and most important that it is not helping your cause and is counterproductive. It is doing exactly the opposite of what you are trying to do. We are trying to separate the good guys from the bad guys, trying to separate the tribes from the militants. We made it abundantly clear that this [attack] was pushing them together and creating sympathy for the militants. Soon after that I went to Washington and repeated my message personally to the White House.
What was the response?
Mr. Hadley told me that our letter has been passed to the highest levels, which I assumed meant the big boss. No promises were made. Hardly any comments were made by the other side, but my assessment is that the point did sink in—certainly about the land incursions, but not quite about [stopping] the Predator strikes.
The land incursions may have ceased but the drone attacks are escalating. Are the Predator strikes more acceptable than the ground forays?
No, they are not acceptable either. Actually the ground incursion triggered all this sentiment. There were Predator strikes before this too. People didn't quite like it but it went on. But the ground incursion brought the whole thing to the forefront. It had a double-negative effect. It solidified opposition not only to the ground incursions but to the Predator strikes as well. That [the ground operation] was not a very smart thing to do. From our perspective neither is good for us or for the U.S.
Did you give the same message to U.S. Central Command ' s new commander General David Petraeus, who visited Islamabad this past week?
I think General Petraeus's visit was very useful. We appreciate he came here so soon after he took over. It shows his, the military's, and the U.S.'s commitment to the region. We were very happy. There were two levels of discussion. One was with his military counterparts, the Chief of Army Staff (Gen. Ashfaq Kayani) and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Gen. Tariq Majid.) They discussed more military matters, more focused on how to fight the war, what and what not to do. I think a message was given to him there also: "No Predators please. You are not helping." On the broader political level this same message was put to him very clearly without any ambiguity by the president and the prime minister: no Predator strikes. I think he understood the problem and our point of view. I think there was a realization that when the Predator strikes started there was a feeling in Washington that Pakistan was not doing enough. Now Pakistan is doing more than enough. So these strikes become spoilers, rather than helping.
The Pakistani military is still in the midst of a big and apparently successful operation in the Bajaur tribal area, while at the same time Predators are striking to the south in North and South Waziristan. Are those hits undermining the progress in Baj aur?
It is very distracting for us. There's collateral damage as well, which upsets the people. So it is not helping our plan. It really throws a spanner in the works.
It sounds like there is a strategic disconnect between Pakistan and the United States over the war on armed militancy with the United States hitting areas that you are not targeting?
My assessment is that the disconnect is inside America. It's there, not here. There are some elements in your security system that feel the Predator is not the right way to go. And there are some elements in your security apparatus that think you have to [continue the drone attacks]. So the disconnect is in Washington.
It may be up to Barack Obama after his inauguration to finally decide on the Predator strikes?
Of course, this is a decision that has to be taken at the highest political level, not just by CENTCOM or by the local U.S. commander sitting in Afghanistan. Going into someone's sovereign territory has to be cleared at the top level. I have a feeling that Washington is finally getting the message on the land as well as the Predator strikes.
Does Pakistan have the will and capability to hit these Al Qaeda and Taliban elements that the United States is targeting?
Let me put it this way: Pakistan is committed to it, has the will, and the resolve, but lacks certain capabilities. But the automatic [U.S.] response is that since [Pakistan] doesn't have the capability, therefore so and so should come in and do it for us. That is incorrect logic because by coming in, you become spoilers. It doesn't help. As far as I'm concerned, the logical answer is to support Pakistan to do its job, to do what it wants to do, and what you want it to do. That is a more cost-effective and efficient system.
So what does Pakistan need to make it capable of tackling the militants?
Pakistan is not a banana republic. We have a strong government, a very professional and strong military. Still, we need the capability. As I've told my many friends in Washington, we are fighting a war. We have one-half of our army deployed and fighting [along the Afghan border]. We are on a war footing. But your supply chain, which is supporting us, is working on a peacetime basis. You have to support us at much greater speed.
And with better equipment as well?
At a greater speed. Forget better equipment. At least deliver what you have committed to and quickly. For example, we need some [more] attack helicopters. We use them all day. We can't use them at night. Now the enemy is there all the time. So we need the equipment today. Yet we are told: "We are looking in our junkyard, and if we find some, we will repair them and give them to you. But it will take two to three years." That's not the way. Let me not undervalue what your government and military are doing for us. But what I am saying is: "Guys, put it on the fast track."
One of your key jobs is to provide a crucial liaison between the executive branch and General Kayani. How would you describe the relations between the civilian leadership and the military that have proved so problematic in the past?
Right now the relationship between the army chief, the president and prime minister is outstanding. Of course, there is historical evidence that leads you to ask that question because of the dominant role the military has played in our lives. One of our good fortunes is that we have a leader like Kayani who is trying very hard to work under the [control of the] political leadership. He is making every effort because he believes in democracy. He believes in the ascendancy of the political leadership, and that the military should be a subordinate department.
So Gen. Kayani and the president and prime minister are on the same page in terms of tactics and strategy in the fight against extremism?
Absolutely. The political leadership, of which I am a part now, gives very broad direction to the military. But sometimes there are pitfalls when the political leadership tries to run battles and campaigns. That happens in all countries. That is a dangerous game. We should leave it to the professionals. It should only be the broad guidance, directives and objectives that the political leadership should give to the military. If it gets involved in the nitty-gritty [of tactics] then we have a problem. So far things are going all right.
Last month's parliamentary resolution on militancy seems to have something for everyone: something for those who want to get tough with militants, something for those who favor talks. So will it really boost popular support for the military campaign?
I think [support] is building up slowly. It hasn't exploded as we would have liked. But overall, the document is good because it acknowledges in the very first sentence that: "Extremism, militancy and terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, pose a great danger to the stability and integrity of the nation state." It does lay a lot of emphasis on dialogue with people who want to go in a peaceful direction, who are willing to give up the battle. We will listen to them. But if they shoot at you, you shoot back. Since the parliamentary resolution there has been no letup in the military action. I think the difference between this and past military action is that this one is going to be taken to its logical conclusion. That means you don't stop and start, because you lose out doing that. We have learned that to our great sorrow. The intentions were good back then but the strategy followed was flawed. You don't leave jobs half done. If you do, then the bad guys benefit from it.
Will you talk to militants before they lay down their arms?
These matters are kept hazy by design. I would say that if there is a militant who has a weapon in his hand and is ready to shoot me then there is no dialogue with him. However if there's a militant who says I will sheath my sword and I'm ready to talk, then we will probably talk to him. This fine distinction is necessary because of the traditions of our tribal area where boys get weapons when they start getting a hint of a beard at 14 or 15. To them, a weapon is a mark of pride. Asking them to lay down their arms may mean more to them than you can imagine.
There have been civilian casualties, and towns and villages in Bajaur have been razed in the fighting. How do you rebuild support among the population and win hearts and minds?
When the operation finishes, there has to be a big push to re-establish the lives of the people, to help with their homes, wells, their broken roads and to re-establish the markets. But this movement from military operations to civil rule has to be a seamless connection. This is very important. In the past we have conducted military operations and then there's been a halt and nothing has happened except that the bad guys come back in a better position. This is the first time that after many months, even years, that local lashkars [tribal militias] have come out in support of the military's action. The locals, who were initially intimidated and terrorized by the extremists, will get up and fight when they know they have a chance of winning. There were some elected members [of parliament] who raised a hue and cry, demanding a stop to the [military] operations. But on the ground, people whispered messages in our ear saying, "Don't stop."
Is the Al Qaeda threat in the tribal area as serious as Washington says it is?
It's difficult to criticize an assessment. Washington has a better intelligence system than we have. But there aren't armies of the bad guys getting ready in the tribal area to march. There may be five chaps here and three caps there, sitting in huts, plotting, preparing. It is possible and likely. But there aren't hundreds of cells working in bunkers that look like Pentagon military operations centers. I don't think they are up there preparing and training people to go and hit Washington, New York and Chicago. The tribal area gives them peace and quiet, but it doesn't give them any communications. You can sit in a remote hut and contemplate destroying the whole world, but your connectivity is very poor from there
World - Ashley Judd on her experience in Congo (Must Read)
Christopher Dickey
I wonder about the girl, the very little girl, in the tattered pink tutu. It's been a little more than six months now since the American actress Ashley Judd caught a glimpse of her through the mud-streaked window of a battered car rattling toward Goma in eastern Congo. Today the headlines, mostly in the news-roundup columns, the "also in the world today" segments, say that tens of thousands of refugees are fleeing toward Goma, which already had so many. They are the miserable survivors of one of those wars the world hasn't quite forgotten, but just doesn't really give a damn about. Have a million people been killed there this decade? Actually, many more—but faceless people, African people, victims bereft of significance in a 24/7 news cycle that fixates on Sarah Palin's wardrobe.
That Judd fixated on that little girl's wardrobe struck me as much more important when I read the description in Judd's diary of a brief trip into Congolese hell published recently on the TheCommunity.com. And then I met Judd in New York a few weeks ago. I've talked to any number of stars who've adopted causes, but she was the first I'd interviewed since Audrey Hepburn back in 1992 whose descriptions of what she saw made me see the suffering for myself. Both were incredibly vulnerable to what they experienced, Hepburn working with UNICEF, Judd with Population Services International. The difference is that Judd is just so American, so Southern, so earthy, in fact.
"Tell me about the girl in the tutu," I said.
"Well, Goma," said Judd, choosing a word very deliberately, "is a s---hole." The description is perfectly accurate. "There are no paved roads, there are giant potholes, there is loose dust and dirt, there is strewn rubble: just massive scenes of garbage and rubbish. There is a different look in people's eyes, very cagey and challenging and suspicious, sinister, because of the sense that you don't know what's getting ready to happen. Random armed men would just come up to the car and knock on the window. There was a volcanic eruption not that long ago, so literally, the world is grey. Goma is just grey, grey, grey."
And Judd wondered, "How does a child—3- or 4-years old, or maybe an 8-year-old whose growth is so badly stunted by malnutrition if not outright starvation—come across a pink tutu?" The cast-off clothes of the world wind up in Africa, in fact, barely clothing a cast-off people.
Judd thought of America's abundance, and those little girls she sees going to church on a Sunday in Tennessee who, having proudly dressed themselves, wear colorful mismatched elastics and rosettes in their hair and maybe a little tutu-type dress. They are so safe and happy, as they should be. And then there was this vision of the little girl in Goma, and seeing her was one of those moments that anybody who visits war zones and refugee camps experiences. Surrounded by so much incredible suffering, you glimpse something incongruous, something you can't quite process, and it releases emotions like flame exploding from a burning home. "That torn, filthy, ragged tutu on this child just seared into my soul," said Judd.
"Why do you think people don't pay more attention, given that there is so much suffering?" I asked. "Do you think it's because it's so hard to figure out the good guys from the bad guys?" In the current fighting, the Tutsis—the tribe slaughtered in Rwanda during the genocide of 1994—are leading a rebel army against the government of Congo. They claim, with reason, that Congolese military is allied to the Rwandan Hutu killers who sought refuge in the countryside surrounding Goma after their defeat 14 years ago. Those armies, and others that have splintered off, are also looking to control vast deposits of valuable tin and colombo-tantalite, or coltan, a metal useful in the manufacture of cell phones and computers. All sides turn children into soldiers, all sides use rape as a weapon of war. And the biggest peacekeeping contingent deployed by the United Nations anywhere in the world has neither the ability nor, it would seem, the will to impose order. "It's hard to build a narrative here of anything except suffering," I suggested.
"Maybe the numbers are too staggering," said Judd. The International Rescue Committee has counted 5.4 million people who've died from war-related causes in the Congo since 1998, which it calls "the world’s deadliest documented conflict since WW II." The vast majority have died from "secondary" causes, which bring on protracted suffering as horrible as that inflicted by any bullet or bomb. Under other circumstances, the fatal malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition would be "easily preventable and treatable," as the IRC concludes.
"Maybe this concept of secondary deaths isn't something that we respect yet," said Judd. "I don't know. I do think that women and children tend to be the most vulnerable and the most exploited and the most underserved and so there is probably a gender inequality factor that contributes to the lack of attention that's being given."
"Why do you do this?" I asked.
"Because I have to," she said. The journey to Rwanda and Congo in May, like many others she has taken with PSI, seems to have been intensely personal, at once exploration and expiation, and completely exhausting. "I know when it's time to go back," she said. "I was flat on my back for three weeks after the Democratic Republic of Congo." She went to her family doctor, and then to a psychologist in Nashville who deals with post-traumatic stress disorder. And the psychologist said, "Actually, this isn't trauma, this is just plain old straight-up grief."
During the genocide in Rwanda and in Bosnia in the 1990s, and in so many other horrible conflicts before and since, journalists, diplomats and not a few celebrities have witnessed horrors and warned of worse to come, and nothing effective is done to stop the impending tragedy. Even when a cause becomes as celebrated as saving Darfur, it's hard to see positive results. So what can you do in a place as vastly grim and as widely ignored as eastern Congo?
"I have to put my faith in the power of an individual," said Judd. "A few sips of water made safe, averting a single case of HIV, preventing an unintended pregnancy—those moments matter.
"My grandmother taught me that what comes from the head goes over the head, what comes from the heart goes to the heart," said Judd. Her colleagues at PSI and YouthAIDS do the heavy analytical and organizational lifting needed to sustain clinics and deliver other kinds of help around the world, Judd said, leaving her to work "entirely from the heart."
"Inevitably, there are people who say that you are a voyeur," I said.
"Let them come with me—Come 'voyeur' with me," she said.
"There is a powerful scene in your diary about women waiting outside the clinic in Goma that treats rape victims," I said. "There are so many that they wait for days, weeks, months, living hand to mouth."
"This epidemic of rape; it's like a contagion," said Judd. "When one man does it, it activates other men, and then the more brutal it becomes—looking for pregnant women to rape, and children. It's so unbelievably heinous that it's hard for us to wrap our minds around."
"Sit with a woman, who, through word of mouth, heard there was a clinic which could help a woman who had been raped," said Judd. "She had to figure out—in the midst of being stigmatized, in the midst of her physical agony, in the midst of incontinence and starvation—how to get herself walking, crawling to this clinic, only to find that it's overcrowded, because there are so many women, hundreds, if not thousands, just like her. And just imagine, this is a clinic that does nothing but genital reconstruction."
"What exactly are we talking about here?"
"Well, the vagina will tear when being forced to accommodate either a rapist's anatomy or objects that are introduced: wood, rock, sticks, guns, bayonets. There will be perforation of the vaginal walls, perforation and ripping of the cervix, potentially, based on the extent of the penetration into the uterus. The wall between the rectum and vagina is ripped apart. The urethra, which goes to the bladder, is damaged. There is incontinence. The urine is constantly seeping out, because the muscles and mechanisms that hold the bladder intact are ruined; there is faecal incontinency, which of course can introduce faecal matter into the gut, which results in horrific infections. Does that paint the picture?"
It did. So I asked Judd if she thought people ought to have a stronger sense of just how horrible these scenes are—or would people simply turn their backs… again?
"Well, I think that it's abusive to point out a problem without also pointing out a solution. So unless there is a call to action and a practical plan for participating in the solution, I don't think that those pictures that truly depict the misery are helpful." Those are precisely the kinds of plans that PSI and the IRC and TheCommunity.com and other groups are trying to foster, of course, which is why Judd does talk about what is happening, and does hope people will listen.
And that would seem to be all there is to say about the voyeur question, but it is not.
"There was a time about two and a half years ago when I was so emotionally distressed and disturbed by everything I had seen, I got caught in some really negative, rigid, black and white thinking," she said. "I thought I had to chuck my whole life. I thought, 'I have to sell my farm. I have to walk away from the first world altogether.' I had to say to the global north: 'Bye, bye. I'm outta here.' And I thought the only way I can truly make a difference is living in a refugee camp." Only after much counselling did she come to believe again that she could lead a moderate, balanced life and still be useful in the world by witnessing, and talking about rape in Congo, workplace programs in Vietnam, or victims of human trafficking in Ethiopia. Some people will listen, someone may act, someday.
But on Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council condemned the fighting in the Congo while taking no major action. On Thursday, reports came out of Goma that the city was in a state of chaos. What has happened to the little girl in the pink tutu, no one can say.
I wonder about the girl, the very little girl, in the tattered pink tutu. It's been a little more than six months now since the American actress Ashley Judd caught a glimpse of her through the mud-streaked window of a battered car rattling toward Goma in eastern Congo. Today the headlines, mostly in the news-roundup columns, the "also in the world today" segments, say that tens of thousands of refugees are fleeing toward Goma, which already had so many. They are the miserable survivors of one of those wars the world hasn't quite forgotten, but just doesn't really give a damn about. Have a million people been killed there this decade? Actually, many more—but faceless people, African people, victims bereft of significance in a 24/7 news cycle that fixates on Sarah Palin's wardrobe.
That Judd fixated on that little girl's wardrobe struck me as much more important when I read the description in Judd's diary of a brief trip into Congolese hell published recently on the TheCommunity.com. And then I met Judd in New York a few weeks ago. I've talked to any number of stars who've adopted causes, but she was the first I'd interviewed since Audrey Hepburn back in 1992 whose descriptions of what she saw made me see the suffering for myself. Both were incredibly vulnerable to what they experienced, Hepburn working with UNICEF, Judd with Population Services International. The difference is that Judd is just so American, so Southern, so earthy, in fact.
"Tell me about the girl in the tutu," I said.
"Well, Goma," said Judd, choosing a word very deliberately, "is a s---hole." The description is perfectly accurate. "There are no paved roads, there are giant potholes, there is loose dust and dirt, there is strewn rubble: just massive scenes of garbage and rubbish. There is a different look in people's eyes, very cagey and challenging and suspicious, sinister, because of the sense that you don't know what's getting ready to happen. Random armed men would just come up to the car and knock on the window. There was a volcanic eruption not that long ago, so literally, the world is grey. Goma is just grey, grey, grey."
And Judd wondered, "How does a child—3- or 4-years old, or maybe an 8-year-old whose growth is so badly stunted by malnutrition if not outright starvation—come across a pink tutu?" The cast-off clothes of the world wind up in Africa, in fact, barely clothing a cast-off people.
Judd thought of America's abundance, and those little girls she sees going to church on a Sunday in Tennessee who, having proudly dressed themselves, wear colorful mismatched elastics and rosettes in their hair and maybe a little tutu-type dress. They are so safe and happy, as they should be. And then there was this vision of the little girl in Goma, and seeing her was one of those moments that anybody who visits war zones and refugee camps experiences. Surrounded by so much incredible suffering, you glimpse something incongruous, something you can't quite process, and it releases emotions like flame exploding from a burning home. "That torn, filthy, ragged tutu on this child just seared into my soul," said Judd.
"Why do you think people don't pay more attention, given that there is so much suffering?" I asked. "Do you think it's because it's so hard to figure out the good guys from the bad guys?" In the current fighting, the Tutsis—the tribe slaughtered in Rwanda during the genocide of 1994—are leading a rebel army against the government of Congo. They claim, with reason, that Congolese military is allied to the Rwandan Hutu killers who sought refuge in the countryside surrounding Goma after their defeat 14 years ago. Those armies, and others that have splintered off, are also looking to control vast deposits of valuable tin and colombo-tantalite, or coltan, a metal useful in the manufacture of cell phones and computers. All sides turn children into soldiers, all sides use rape as a weapon of war. And the biggest peacekeeping contingent deployed by the United Nations anywhere in the world has neither the ability nor, it would seem, the will to impose order. "It's hard to build a narrative here of anything except suffering," I suggested.
"Maybe the numbers are too staggering," said Judd. The International Rescue Committee has counted 5.4 million people who've died from war-related causes in the Congo since 1998, which it calls "the world’s deadliest documented conflict since WW II." The vast majority have died from "secondary" causes, which bring on protracted suffering as horrible as that inflicted by any bullet or bomb. Under other circumstances, the fatal malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition would be "easily preventable and treatable," as the IRC concludes.
"Maybe this concept of secondary deaths isn't something that we respect yet," said Judd. "I don't know. I do think that women and children tend to be the most vulnerable and the most exploited and the most underserved and so there is probably a gender inequality factor that contributes to the lack of attention that's being given."
"Why do you do this?" I asked.
"Because I have to," she said. The journey to Rwanda and Congo in May, like many others she has taken with PSI, seems to have been intensely personal, at once exploration and expiation, and completely exhausting. "I know when it's time to go back," she said. "I was flat on my back for three weeks after the Democratic Republic of Congo." She went to her family doctor, and then to a psychologist in Nashville who deals with post-traumatic stress disorder. And the psychologist said, "Actually, this isn't trauma, this is just plain old straight-up grief."
During the genocide in Rwanda and in Bosnia in the 1990s, and in so many other horrible conflicts before and since, journalists, diplomats and not a few celebrities have witnessed horrors and warned of worse to come, and nothing effective is done to stop the impending tragedy. Even when a cause becomes as celebrated as saving Darfur, it's hard to see positive results. So what can you do in a place as vastly grim and as widely ignored as eastern Congo?
"I have to put my faith in the power of an individual," said Judd. "A few sips of water made safe, averting a single case of HIV, preventing an unintended pregnancy—those moments matter.
"My grandmother taught me that what comes from the head goes over the head, what comes from the heart goes to the heart," said Judd. Her colleagues at PSI and YouthAIDS do the heavy analytical and organizational lifting needed to sustain clinics and deliver other kinds of help around the world, Judd said, leaving her to work "entirely from the heart."
"Inevitably, there are people who say that you are a voyeur," I said.
"Let them come with me—Come 'voyeur' with me," she said.
"There is a powerful scene in your diary about women waiting outside the clinic in Goma that treats rape victims," I said. "There are so many that they wait for days, weeks, months, living hand to mouth."
"This epidemic of rape; it's like a contagion," said Judd. "When one man does it, it activates other men, and then the more brutal it becomes—looking for pregnant women to rape, and children. It's so unbelievably heinous that it's hard for us to wrap our minds around."
"Sit with a woman, who, through word of mouth, heard there was a clinic which could help a woman who had been raped," said Judd. "She had to figure out—in the midst of being stigmatized, in the midst of her physical agony, in the midst of incontinence and starvation—how to get herself walking, crawling to this clinic, only to find that it's overcrowded, because there are so many women, hundreds, if not thousands, just like her. And just imagine, this is a clinic that does nothing but genital reconstruction."
"What exactly are we talking about here?"
"Well, the vagina will tear when being forced to accommodate either a rapist's anatomy or objects that are introduced: wood, rock, sticks, guns, bayonets. There will be perforation of the vaginal walls, perforation and ripping of the cervix, potentially, based on the extent of the penetration into the uterus. The wall between the rectum and vagina is ripped apart. The urethra, which goes to the bladder, is damaged. There is incontinence. The urine is constantly seeping out, because the muscles and mechanisms that hold the bladder intact are ruined; there is faecal incontinency, which of course can introduce faecal matter into the gut, which results in horrific infections. Does that paint the picture?"
It did. So I asked Judd if she thought people ought to have a stronger sense of just how horrible these scenes are—or would people simply turn their backs… again?
"Well, I think that it's abusive to point out a problem without also pointing out a solution. So unless there is a call to action and a practical plan for participating in the solution, I don't think that those pictures that truly depict the misery are helpful." Those are precisely the kinds of plans that PSI and the IRC and TheCommunity.com and other groups are trying to foster, of course, which is why Judd does talk about what is happening, and does hope people will listen.
And that would seem to be all there is to say about the voyeur question, but it is not.
"There was a time about two and a half years ago when I was so emotionally distressed and disturbed by everything I had seen, I got caught in some really negative, rigid, black and white thinking," she said. "I thought I had to chuck my whole life. I thought, 'I have to sell my farm. I have to walk away from the first world altogether.' I had to say to the global north: 'Bye, bye. I'm outta here.' And I thought the only way I can truly make a difference is living in a refugee camp." Only after much counselling did she come to believe again that she could lead a moderate, balanced life and still be useful in the world by witnessing, and talking about rape in Congo, workplace programs in Vietnam, or victims of human trafficking in Ethiopia. Some people will listen, someone may act, someday.
But on Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council condemned the fighting in the Congo while taking no major action. On Thursday, reports came out of Goma that the city was in a state of chaos. What has happened to the little girl in the pink tutu, no one can say.
World - Violence against Aid workers in Somalia
Morgan Brennan
Last month Somali pirates hijacked a ship bound for Kenya, snatching both $30 million in military equipment and prolonged international attention. The true crisis, however, is on the mainland, where escalating civil strife is exacting a dramatic humanitarian toll. In the past nine months, more than 870,000 civilians have fled their homes. Over 50 humanitarian aid organizations have helicoptered into Mogadishu and elsewhere to provide emergency relief for those who remain in the failed state. Now, both extreme Islamic militant groups and money-seeking criminal gangs are targeting the aid workers themselves; 111 serious incidences ranging from abduction to murder have been reported this year. Many agencies are suspending their operations or fleeing Somalia altogether, making the plight of the 3.25 million internal refugees all the worse. The result, warn some experts, could be a catastrophic famine.
NEWSWEEK's Morgan Brennan spoke with David Gilmour, the Somalia country director for CARE, one of the largest international NGOs providing food and water there, about aid-worker abductions, clan justice and the looming threat of famine.
NEWSWEEK: What ' s the situation on the ground like right now?
David Gilmour: It's the worst it's been here since 1991-92, when the formal government fell. There are 1.1 million people displaced because of the recent fighting, and more than 40 percent of the population needs humanitarian assistance. Fighting has made it extremely dangerous for aid operations to function effectively. The infrastructure is completely broken. There have been many consecutive years of drought. Coupled with skyrocketing food and fuel prices and no employment opportunities, the immediate emergency needs are food and water.
Who exactly is responsible for this violence?
It can be attributed to many different groups that are in Somalia—politically motivated groups or criminal groups looking for personal gain. Opportunists taking advantage of the situation see aid workers as an easy target for extorting money. Extreme [political] groups see them as potential targets, too.
But why the sudden increase in violence?
Imagine a whole generation of kids born 17 years ago who have known nothing else but civil strife. With no formal government in power, the clans have held their communities together with their own forms of justice. In the past when there have been security incidences, the elders would resolve them within hours, maybe a couple of days. They no longer have that control.
What kind of violence is taking place?
It has been very random, unpredictable. This year, there have been 28 deaths and 12 aid workers currently kidnapped. The number [of kidnappings] was much higher earlier this year, but some have been released. In some cases, there has been contact by the groups for money. Two of our national workers have been kidnapped, but there have been no demands placed on CARE, just silence, which is very worrying.
There have been a number of prominent clan members and influential people who have been killed because they have spoken out against these actions. Numerous threats have been directed at organizations and individuals. The threats are followed by assassinations by pistol or, in more dramatic cases, with remote-control explosive devices targeting vehicles.
How are aid organizations responding to the violence and what will this mean for Somalis dependent upon aid?
There are a number of organizations like CARE, who have suspended their efforts in certain locations for a period of time until hopefully the situation resolves itself. We haven't closed, but we have suspended certain locations. We are hopeful that we can return to those locations. The last thing we want to do is abandon them. If it is totally impossible for humanitarian access, we are looking at one of the largest catastrophes that the world will see in this decade.
We are faced with horrible questions: Do we risk our staff or our partners' lives to deliver aid when there have been threats or when one of our staff has been abducted? Do we suspend or stop our operations when the Somali people who are relying on our aid to survive would not be able to receive it? We look for creative solutions to be able to meet our humanitarian objectives. Millions of people need emergency food and water, and we need access to get to these people.
Just how close are we to a severe famine?
If the rains fail and there is increased drought, the projection toward a humanitarian catastrophe where thousands, maybe millions, would die will be fast-tracked.
Last month Somali pirates hijacked a ship bound for Kenya, snatching both $30 million in military equipment and prolonged international attention. The true crisis, however, is on the mainland, where escalating civil strife is exacting a dramatic humanitarian toll. In the past nine months, more than 870,000 civilians have fled their homes. Over 50 humanitarian aid organizations have helicoptered into Mogadishu and elsewhere to provide emergency relief for those who remain in the failed state. Now, both extreme Islamic militant groups and money-seeking criminal gangs are targeting the aid workers themselves; 111 serious incidences ranging from abduction to murder have been reported this year. Many agencies are suspending their operations or fleeing Somalia altogether, making the plight of the 3.25 million internal refugees all the worse. The result, warn some experts, could be a catastrophic famine.
NEWSWEEK's Morgan Brennan spoke with David Gilmour, the Somalia country director for CARE, one of the largest international NGOs providing food and water there, about aid-worker abductions, clan justice and the looming threat of famine.
NEWSWEEK: What ' s the situation on the ground like right now?
David Gilmour: It's the worst it's been here since 1991-92, when the formal government fell. There are 1.1 million people displaced because of the recent fighting, and more than 40 percent of the population needs humanitarian assistance. Fighting has made it extremely dangerous for aid operations to function effectively. The infrastructure is completely broken. There have been many consecutive years of drought. Coupled with skyrocketing food and fuel prices and no employment opportunities, the immediate emergency needs are food and water.
Who exactly is responsible for this violence?
It can be attributed to many different groups that are in Somalia—politically motivated groups or criminal groups looking for personal gain. Opportunists taking advantage of the situation see aid workers as an easy target for extorting money. Extreme [political] groups see them as potential targets, too.
But why the sudden increase in violence?
Imagine a whole generation of kids born 17 years ago who have known nothing else but civil strife. With no formal government in power, the clans have held their communities together with their own forms of justice. In the past when there have been security incidences, the elders would resolve them within hours, maybe a couple of days. They no longer have that control.
What kind of violence is taking place?
It has been very random, unpredictable. This year, there have been 28 deaths and 12 aid workers currently kidnapped. The number [of kidnappings] was much higher earlier this year, but some have been released. In some cases, there has been contact by the groups for money. Two of our national workers have been kidnapped, but there have been no demands placed on CARE, just silence, which is very worrying.
There have been a number of prominent clan members and influential people who have been killed because they have spoken out against these actions. Numerous threats have been directed at organizations and individuals. The threats are followed by assassinations by pistol or, in more dramatic cases, with remote-control explosive devices targeting vehicles.
How are aid organizations responding to the violence and what will this mean for Somalis dependent upon aid?
There are a number of organizations like CARE, who have suspended their efforts in certain locations for a period of time until hopefully the situation resolves itself. We haven't closed, but we have suspended certain locations. We are hopeful that we can return to those locations. The last thing we want to do is abandon them. If it is totally impossible for humanitarian access, we are looking at one of the largest catastrophes that the world will see in this decade.
We are faced with horrible questions: Do we risk our staff or our partners' lives to deliver aid when there have been threats or when one of our staff has been abducted? Do we suspend or stop our operations when the Somali people who are relying on our aid to survive would not be able to receive it? We look for creative solutions to be able to meet our humanitarian objectives. Millions of people need emergency food and water, and we need access to get to these people.
Just how close are we to a severe famine?
If the rains fail and there is increased drought, the projection toward a humanitarian catastrophe where thousands, maybe millions, would die will be fast-tracked.
World - Finalizing a plan for U.S office in Iran
Mark Hosenball andMichael Isikoff
With barely two months left in office, the Bush administration is moving toward restoring partial diplomatic relations with Iran—a country President Bush once denounced as a part of the "Axis of Evil."
An administration plan to open a "U.S.-interests section" in the Swiss Embassy in Tehran has been endorsed by career State Department officials and has won the backing of some senior policymakers inside the White House, according to administration officials who asked not to be identified talking about sensitive matters. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice favors the move but is reviewing details before making a final recommendation to the president. The United States has not yet asked the Iranian government if it would accept such a delegation, though in the past Iranian officials have indicated an interest in the idea. An administration official said an announcement of such a move was likely "before Thanksgiving."
The change would likely be interpreted as a retreat from past administration policies aimed at isolating the Iranian regime. It could create opportunities—and pitfalls—for the incoming foreign-policy team of President-elect Barack Obama. The new president's approach to such issues as Iranian support for Shiite militias in Iraq and Tehran's nuclear program is certain to receive intense scrutiny.
As recently as last summer, Vice President-elect Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed strong approval for the notion of a U.S.-interests section in Tehran. However, officially the Obama campaign and transition team is declining to discuss the subject. Obama's team has not been consulted on the Tehran plan, said one administration official. Not only is the current administration under no legal obligation to consult with its successors, but the incoming administration might find it advantageous for outgoing policymakers to take responsibility for potentially controversial foreign-policy moves like this, the official said.
In what might be a gesture to placate remaining administration hardliners before the new diplomatic initiative is launched, the Treasury Department announced on Wednesday that it was tightening U.S. economic sanctions on Iran. The new regulations will stop U.S. banks from processing transactions by foreign banks that indirectly involve Iran. The Treasury said it was taking this action to crack down on alleged efforts by the Iranians to support terrorism and advance its nuclear interests.
Over the last two years, factions within the Bush administration have squabbled over the "interests section" proposal—which would partially restore a U.S. diplomatic presence in Tehran, ties that have been broken since the 1979-1980 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis. Administration hard-liners allegedly have vehemently opposed such a development, and only a few months ago associates of Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly were seriously discussing the possibility of a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites. Some hard-liners still argue strongly against the plan, as demonstrated in a new broadside by Michael Rubin, an American Enterprise Institute scholar who advised Pentagon officials before the Iraq war. But Rice and other administration officials have argued that the proposal should move ahead.
A U.S.-interests section in Tehran would be comprised of a small team of American diplomats working from an office inside the Swiss Embassy. Such an office—similar to, but probably smaller than, the one the State Department maintains in Havana—would expand diplomatic contacts between the United States and Iran. But it would not constitute the re-establishment of full U.S. diplomatic relations between the two countries, ruptured when a mob of radicalized Iranian "students" invaded the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held dozens of U.S. personnel hostage for more than a year. Iran already maintains a small interests section based in Pakistan's embassy in Washington, as well as a fully accredited diplomatic mission to the United Nations in New York.
Arguments in favor of re-opening a U.S. diplomatic mission in Tehran, however limited its purview, have been advanced both by liberal proponents of greater U.S. diplomatic engagement with Iran's theocratic regime and by some conservative hard-liners advocating confrontation with Iran. One conservative argument in favor of the idea is that it would demonstrate to the world that the United States, which under the Bush administration has spent much energy bashing Iran but little on diplomacy, is going the extra mile to try to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions.
If such U.S. diplomacy fails, the conservative argument goes, then the world (and the American public) might be more inclined to take more dramatic action to quash Iran's nuclear program—such as a bombing attack. Moderate and liberal advocates of a wider U.S. diplomatic opening to Tehran argue the only sensible way forward is through diplomacy.
U.S. officials said the diplomatic thaw would have other benefits. A visible American presence in Tehran could help ease relations by making it easier for Iranians to obtain travel visas to the United States. Cultural "outreach" programs could dispel myths and suspicion about the United States. At the same time, it would also give U.S. officials a greater ability to monitor what is happening on the ground in Iran.
Terror Watch appears weekly on Newsweek.com.
With barely two months left in office, the Bush administration is moving toward restoring partial diplomatic relations with Iran—a country President Bush once denounced as a part of the "Axis of Evil."
An administration plan to open a "U.S.-interests section" in the Swiss Embassy in Tehran has been endorsed by career State Department officials and has won the backing of some senior policymakers inside the White House, according to administration officials who asked not to be identified talking about sensitive matters. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice favors the move but is reviewing details before making a final recommendation to the president. The United States has not yet asked the Iranian government if it would accept such a delegation, though in the past Iranian officials have indicated an interest in the idea. An administration official said an announcement of such a move was likely "before Thanksgiving."
The change would likely be interpreted as a retreat from past administration policies aimed at isolating the Iranian regime. It could create opportunities—and pitfalls—for the incoming foreign-policy team of President-elect Barack Obama. The new president's approach to such issues as Iranian support for Shiite militias in Iraq and Tehran's nuclear program is certain to receive intense scrutiny.
As recently as last summer, Vice President-elect Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed strong approval for the notion of a U.S.-interests section in Tehran. However, officially the Obama campaign and transition team is declining to discuss the subject. Obama's team has not been consulted on the Tehran plan, said one administration official. Not only is the current administration under no legal obligation to consult with its successors, but the incoming administration might find it advantageous for outgoing policymakers to take responsibility for potentially controversial foreign-policy moves like this, the official said.
In what might be a gesture to placate remaining administration hardliners before the new diplomatic initiative is launched, the Treasury Department announced on Wednesday that it was tightening U.S. economic sanctions on Iran. The new regulations will stop U.S. banks from processing transactions by foreign banks that indirectly involve Iran. The Treasury said it was taking this action to crack down on alleged efforts by the Iranians to support terrorism and advance its nuclear interests.
Over the last two years, factions within the Bush administration have squabbled over the "interests section" proposal—which would partially restore a U.S. diplomatic presence in Tehran, ties that have been broken since the 1979-1980 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis. Administration hard-liners allegedly have vehemently opposed such a development, and only a few months ago associates of Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly were seriously discussing the possibility of a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites. Some hard-liners still argue strongly against the plan, as demonstrated in a new broadside by Michael Rubin, an American Enterprise Institute scholar who advised Pentagon officials before the Iraq war. But Rice and other administration officials have argued that the proposal should move ahead.
A U.S.-interests section in Tehran would be comprised of a small team of American diplomats working from an office inside the Swiss Embassy. Such an office—similar to, but probably smaller than, the one the State Department maintains in Havana—would expand diplomatic contacts between the United States and Iran. But it would not constitute the re-establishment of full U.S. diplomatic relations between the two countries, ruptured when a mob of radicalized Iranian "students" invaded the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held dozens of U.S. personnel hostage for more than a year. Iran already maintains a small interests section based in Pakistan's embassy in Washington, as well as a fully accredited diplomatic mission to the United Nations in New York.
Arguments in favor of re-opening a U.S. diplomatic mission in Tehran, however limited its purview, have been advanced both by liberal proponents of greater U.S. diplomatic engagement with Iran's theocratic regime and by some conservative hard-liners advocating confrontation with Iran. One conservative argument in favor of the idea is that it would demonstrate to the world that the United States, which under the Bush administration has spent much energy bashing Iran but little on diplomacy, is going the extra mile to try to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions.
If such U.S. diplomacy fails, the conservative argument goes, then the world (and the American public) might be more inclined to take more dramatic action to quash Iran's nuclear program—such as a bombing attack. Moderate and liberal advocates of a wider U.S. diplomatic opening to Tehran argue the only sensible way forward is through diplomacy.
U.S. officials said the diplomatic thaw would have other benefits. A visible American presence in Tehran could help ease relations by making it easier for Iranians to obtain travel visas to the United States. Cultural "outreach" programs could dispel myths and suspicion about the United States. At the same time, it would also give U.S. officials a greater ability to monitor what is happening on the ground in Iran.
Terror Watch appears weekly on Newsweek.com.
World - Talibans aren't talking
Sami Yousafzai & Ron Moreau
Don't even ask Mullah Sabir about peace talks. There's nothing to talk about, says the tall, burly Afghan, one of the Taliban's highest-ranking commanders. "This is not a political campaign for policy change or power sharing or cabinet ministries," he tells NEWSWEEK at a textiles shop on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. "We are waging jihad to bring Islamic law back to Afghanistan." The refusal to negotiate comes straight from the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, says Sabir, who did not want his full name used: "The tone of his rejection has been so strong from the first that no one would dare to raise the subject with him." The trouble is, Sabir hasn't seen Mullah Omar in years, and he doesn't know of anyone who has. Internet posts released in Mullah Omar's name on Muslim holy days are the only hint that the one-eyed Commander of the Faithful is still alive. All the same, Sabir says he and thousands of other Taliban won't stop fighting until they're back in power.
Everyone seems eager to talk peace in Afghanistan—except the only people who can turn the wish into a fact. The Taliban's brutal insurgent ally Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has endorsed the idea of negotiations; so has the U.S. defense secretary, Robert Gates. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah personally hosted an exploratory discussion in Mecca between Afghan and Pakistani officials and former Taliban members during Ramadan, and last week Afghan and Pakistani tribal elders and politicians held a two-day meeting in Islamabad. But Mullah Omar's fighters aren't about to quit while they're on a roll. The number of Coalition deaths in Afghanistan since May has exceeded U.S. deaths in Iraq for the first time since the invasion of Iraq. The Afghan insurgency, which seemed as good as dead in 2004, has come back strong.
The Americans aren't racing to the peace table either, despite Gates's in-principle support for negotiations. Big moves are likely to wait until the next U.S. president takes office, and the consensus in any case is that the situation on the ground isn't right yet. "If you go into these talks when you appear to be militarily weak, you're negotiating a partial surrender," warns Robert Neumann, who was U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from 2005 to 2007. The hope is that Gen. David Petraeus, the architect of the surge strategy in Iraq, will find a way to fix that problem in his new role as CINCCENT—commander in chief, U.S. Central Command.
Iraq's turnaround came when tribal leaders in Anbar province, fed up with the brutality of Al Qaeda in Iraq, banded together against the insurgency. But the Taliban are running their own war, not taking orders from psychopathic foreigners. Taliban commanders say Osama bin Laden's global jihadists are not a significant force in Afghanistan anymore. "If they want to hide and fight here with us, we won't stop them," says Mullah Sabir. "But they have no bases here, and we will not let them use our territory as they did before their strikes on the United States." The 9/11 attacks and the resulting U.S. invasion are a source of deep resentment among the Taliban. "Today we are fighting because of Al Qaeda," Sabir complains. "We lost our Islamic state. Al Qaeda lost nothing." Still, talks with any segment of the Taliban will have to be predicated on a complete break with Al Qaeda.
If that condition can be met, there are fissures that Petraeus might find ways to exploit. Some fighters are Pashtun nationalists; others are strict Islamists; still others are mere thugs. "Based on what we heard while we were there, a lot of these guys are involved in the insurgency for economic reasons first and ideological reasons second," says Nathaniel Fick, who served as a Marine officer in Afghanistan during the first year of the war and returned this summer to do research for the Center for a New American Security. "Eighty percent of the fighters are part-timers. We know that from data the military has collected. Most of those part-timers, one would think, are 'reconcilable' "—that is, they could be persuaded to leave the insurgency. Even some high-ranking members are showing interest in the Saudi meeting. "Now the Taliban know there's another way besides the military option," says Zabibullah, a senior Taliban political operative in Pakistan. "Talks may be something to consider." (Nevertheless, a Taliban spokesman adamantly denies reports that Mullah Omar sent representatives or even a list of demands to Mecca.)
The Taliban has always been basically a loose amalgam of regional and tribal militias. Individual commanders have enormous autonomy in their home areas: some continue to enforce the medieval dictates of Mullah Omar's defunct regime, but others tolerate music, Qur'an classes for girls, even televisions. In hard-line Helmand province, barbers are allowed to trim beards.
Distrust is spreading in the ranks. Off the battlefield, Taliban fighters wonder aloud what has become of Mullah Omar. Some think he may have been put under house arrest—or worse—by his second in command and brother-in-law, Mullah Baradar. "He may have removed himself, or someone may have removed him," says a former Mullah Omar aide, unnamed so his worries don't land him in trouble. "For the past two years, no one that I know has any hard evidence of where he is or what he's doing." What would Mullah Omar say about mowing down civilians and beheading captives in the name of jihad? the aide asks, describing his former boss as a simple, decent village mullah who was always upset to hear of his men doing bad things.
Taliban members say bad things happen to Baradar's rivals. One was killed in 2006 by a U.S. airstrike in Kandahar. Pakistani forces arrested another in early 2007. Soon afterward, a U.S. commando raid blasted the notorious Mullah Dadullah Akhund. His brother, Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, took his place, only to be cashiered by Baradar. When Mansoor refused to step down, Pakistani forces seized him on his way into Afghanistan. All four victims belonged to the Kakar tribe, and rumors soon spread that Baradar, a member of the Popalzai clan, may have passed information to the Pakistanis and the Americans in order to eliminate Kakars from the Taliban leadership. (Baradar could not be reached for comment.)
Still, the Taliban are united in their visceral hatred of Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai. Taliban commanders say they might talk to the Americans, but they will never talk to him. Not that Washington's plan to send more combat troops is very popular in or out of the Taliban. "None of my Afghan friends outside official circles are asking us to send more forces," says a senior Western diplomat in Kabul, asking not to be named so he could speak more freely. "Foreign forces, no matter how careful they want to be, still create civilian deaths and make mistakes."
Every time an airstrike kills civilians or U.S. ground troops target the wrong house for a raid, popular support grows for the insurgents. "This isn't a scientific fact, but what we say is that for every guy we kill, we probably are recruiting at least three new guys," says a Western military officer who operates on both sides of the border and asked not to be quoted by name on sensitive issues. "You kill one guy, and then his brother or his cousin joins up to avenge his death." Many U.S. troops say the Taliban deliberately use Afghan civilians as human shields. Still, the U.S. military is preparing to send in 3,500 additional troops, and Pentagon planners say they might need as many as 20,000 more before the Taliban start to crumble. No one knows where those troops would come from.
The Taliban's border sanctuaries are a major focus. "Our weakest point is our dependence on Pakistan," says Zabibullah, who lives there himself. "Pakistan has the capacity to attack and dismantle us." Petraeus will be in Islamabad this week. A senior Pakistani official, asking not to be named discussing military plans, says the general has already sketched out his basic plan for a joint campaign against the Taliban. The official calls it a "hammer and anvil" approach, with U.S. forces pounding the insurgents inside Afghanistan and the Pakistanis as the anvil, stopping their retreat cold at the border. The Pakistani official says his country's military is willing to do its part.
The next president still needs to plan on a long, hard fight. NEWSWEEK asked both candidates for their views on Afghanistan, and John McCain's chief foreign-policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, responded via e-mail: "As Gen. David Petraeus has pointed out, one of the central lessons from the war in Iraq is that we can't simply kill our way out of an insurgency. Rather, insurgencies end when a critical mass of insurgents has made the calculus that they are better off if they switch sides … Simply put, insurgent ranks are more likely to begin to break when they are under pressure on all sides, and when they believe they are losing on the battlefield."
For his part, Barack Obama expressed doubts about how far the Iraqi template would stretch. "I agree with Gen. Petraeus that a topic worth exploring is whether similar types of opportunities exist in Afghanistan," he replied, also via e-mail. "[But] Iraq and Afghanistan are very different countries. We cannot expect to simply export the Awakening strategy from the tribes of Al-Anbar to the tribes of Helmand ... Any initiative to separate moderate from radical elements will have to be deeply rooted in the efforts of Afghans themselves."
It's an open question whether anyone in Afghanistan is capable of such efforts. Getting fighters like Mullah Sabir to the table will take some powerful convincing. He doesn't seem to care how long the war continues. "We don't have any time frame for victory or defeat," he says. "Our duty is to continue fighting." It's hard to defeat that kind of determination. But as Petraeus likes to say: "Hard is not hopeless."
With John Barry, Dan Ephron, Mark Hosenball, Jeffrey Bartholet, Suzanne Smalley and Richard Wolffe in Washington
Don't even ask Mullah Sabir about peace talks. There's nothing to talk about, says the tall, burly Afghan, one of the Taliban's highest-ranking commanders. "This is not a political campaign for policy change or power sharing or cabinet ministries," he tells NEWSWEEK at a textiles shop on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. "We are waging jihad to bring Islamic law back to Afghanistan." The refusal to negotiate comes straight from the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, says Sabir, who did not want his full name used: "The tone of his rejection has been so strong from the first that no one would dare to raise the subject with him." The trouble is, Sabir hasn't seen Mullah Omar in years, and he doesn't know of anyone who has. Internet posts released in Mullah Omar's name on Muslim holy days are the only hint that the one-eyed Commander of the Faithful is still alive. All the same, Sabir says he and thousands of other Taliban won't stop fighting until they're back in power.
Everyone seems eager to talk peace in Afghanistan—except the only people who can turn the wish into a fact. The Taliban's brutal insurgent ally Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has endorsed the idea of negotiations; so has the U.S. defense secretary, Robert Gates. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah personally hosted an exploratory discussion in Mecca between Afghan and Pakistani officials and former Taliban members during Ramadan, and last week Afghan and Pakistani tribal elders and politicians held a two-day meeting in Islamabad. But Mullah Omar's fighters aren't about to quit while they're on a roll. The number of Coalition deaths in Afghanistan since May has exceeded U.S. deaths in Iraq for the first time since the invasion of Iraq. The Afghan insurgency, which seemed as good as dead in 2004, has come back strong.
The Americans aren't racing to the peace table either, despite Gates's in-principle support for negotiations. Big moves are likely to wait until the next U.S. president takes office, and the consensus in any case is that the situation on the ground isn't right yet. "If you go into these talks when you appear to be militarily weak, you're negotiating a partial surrender," warns Robert Neumann, who was U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from 2005 to 2007. The hope is that Gen. David Petraeus, the architect of the surge strategy in Iraq, will find a way to fix that problem in his new role as CINCCENT—commander in chief, U.S. Central Command.
Iraq's turnaround came when tribal leaders in Anbar province, fed up with the brutality of Al Qaeda in Iraq, banded together against the insurgency. But the Taliban are running their own war, not taking orders from psychopathic foreigners. Taliban commanders say Osama bin Laden's global jihadists are not a significant force in Afghanistan anymore. "If they want to hide and fight here with us, we won't stop them," says Mullah Sabir. "But they have no bases here, and we will not let them use our territory as they did before their strikes on the United States." The 9/11 attacks and the resulting U.S. invasion are a source of deep resentment among the Taliban. "Today we are fighting because of Al Qaeda," Sabir complains. "We lost our Islamic state. Al Qaeda lost nothing." Still, talks with any segment of the Taliban will have to be predicated on a complete break with Al Qaeda.
If that condition can be met, there are fissures that Petraeus might find ways to exploit. Some fighters are Pashtun nationalists; others are strict Islamists; still others are mere thugs. "Based on what we heard while we were there, a lot of these guys are involved in the insurgency for economic reasons first and ideological reasons second," says Nathaniel Fick, who served as a Marine officer in Afghanistan during the first year of the war and returned this summer to do research for the Center for a New American Security. "Eighty percent of the fighters are part-timers. We know that from data the military has collected. Most of those part-timers, one would think, are 'reconcilable' "—that is, they could be persuaded to leave the insurgency. Even some high-ranking members are showing interest in the Saudi meeting. "Now the Taliban know there's another way besides the military option," says Zabibullah, a senior Taliban political operative in Pakistan. "Talks may be something to consider." (Nevertheless, a Taliban spokesman adamantly denies reports that Mullah Omar sent representatives or even a list of demands to Mecca.)
The Taliban has always been basically a loose amalgam of regional and tribal militias. Individual commanders have enormous autonomy in their home areas: some continue to enforce the medieval dictates of Mullah Omar's defunct regime, but others tolerate music, Qur'an classes for girls, even televisions. In hard-line Helmand province, barbers are allowed to trim beards.
Distrust is spreading in the ranks. Off the battlefield, Taliban fighters wonder aloud what has become of Mullah Omar. Some think he may have been put under house arrest—or worse—by his second in command and brother-in-law, Mullah Baradar. "He may have removed himself, or someone may have removed him," says a former Mullah Omar aide, unnamed so his worries don't land him in trouble. "For the past two years, no one that I know has any hard evidence of where he is or what he's doing." What would Mullah Omar say about mowing down civilians and beheading captives in the name of jihad? the aide asks, describing his former boss as a simple, decent village mullah who was always upset to hear of his men doing bad things.
Taliban members say bad things happen to Baradar's rivals. One was killed in 2006 by a U.S. airstrike in Kandahar. Pakistani forces arrested another in early 2007. Soon afterward, a U.S. commando raid blasted the notorious Mullah Dadullah Akhund. His brother, Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, took his place, only to be cashiered by Baradar. When Mansoor refused to step down, Pakistani forces seized him on his way into Afghanistan. All four victims belonged to the Kakar tribe, and rumors soon spread that Baradar, a member of the Popalzai clan, may have passed information to the Pakistanis and the Americans in order to eliminate Kakars from the Taliban leadership. (Baradar could not be reached for comment.)
Still, the Taliban are united in their visceral hatred of Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai. Taliban commanders say they might talk to the Americans, but they will never talk to him. Not that Washington's plan to send more combat troops is very popular in or out of the Taliban. "None of my Afghan friends outside official circles are asking us to send more forces," says a senior Western diplomat in Kabul, asking not to be named so he could speak more freely. "Foreign forces, no matter how careful they want to be, still create civilian deaths and make mistakes."
Every time an airstrike kills civilians or U.S. ground troops target the wrong house for a raid, popular support grows for the insurgents. "This isn't a scientific fact, but what we say is that for every guy we kill, we probably are recruiting at least three new guys," says a Western military officer who operates on both sides of the border and asked not to be quoted by name on sensitive issues. "You kill one guy, and then his brother or his cousin joins up to avenge his death." Many U.S. troops say the Taliban deliberately use Afghan civilians as human shields. Still, the U.S. military is preparing to send in 3,500 additional troops, and Pentagon planners say they might need as many as 20,000 more before the Taliban start to crumble. No one knows where those troops would come from.
The Taliban's border sanctuaries are a major focus. "Our weakest point is our dependence on Pakistan," says Zabibullah, who lives there himself. "Pakistan has the capacity to attack and dismantle us." Petraeus will be in Islamabad this week. A senior Pakistani official, asking not to be named discussing military plans, says the general has already sketched out his basic plan for a joint campaign against the Taliban. The official calls it a "hammer and anvil" approach, with U.S. forces pounding the insurgents inside Afghanistan and the Pakistanis as the anvil, stopping their retreat cold at the border. The Pakistani official says his country's military is willing to do its part.
The next president still needs to plan on a long, hard fight. NEWSWEEK asked both candidates for their views on Afghanistan, and John McCain's chief foreign-policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, responded via e-mail: "As Gen. David Petraeus has pointed out, one of the central lessons from the war in Iraq is that we can't simply kill our way out of an insurgency. Rather, insurgencies end when a critical mass of insurgents has made the calculus that they are better off if they switch sides … Simply put, insurgent ranks are more likely to begin to break when they are under pressure on all sides, and when they believe they are losing on the battlefield."
For his part, Barack Obama expressed doubts about how far the Iraqi template would stretch. "I agree with Gen. Petraeus that a topic worth exploring is whether similar types of opportunities exist in Afghanistan," he replied, also via e-mail. "[But] Iraq and Afghanistan are very different countries. We cannot expect to simply export the Awakening strategy from the tribes of Al-Anbar to the tribes of Helmand ... Any initiative to separate moderate from radical elements will have to be deeply rooted in the efforts of Afghans themselves."
It's an open question whether anyone in Afghanistan is capable of such efforts. Getting fighters like Mullah Sabir to the table will take some powerful convincing. He doesn't seem to care how long the war continues. "We don't have any time frame for victory or defeat," he says. "Our duty is to continue fighting." It's hard to defeat that kind of determination. But as Petraeus likes to say: "Hard is not hopeless."
With John Barry, Dan Ephron, Mark Hosenball, Jeffrey Bartholet, Suzanne Smalley and Richard Wolffe in Washington
World - US;Why taxing the rich won't save the economy
Robert J Samuelson
For years, we've debated rising economic inequality. On one side, liberals denounce it as unjust. Redistribute wealth to the poor and middle class, they say. On the other, conservatives minimize its importance. What matters most is overall economic growth, they retort. Well, the conjunction of the presidential campaign and the financial crisis is giving the debate a curious twist. Liberals have triumphed politically; soaking the rich has become more acceptable. But conservatives may have won the intellectual argument; making the rich poorer doesn't make everyone else richer.
If Barack Obama and John McCain agreed on anything, it was this: Greed is bad. They competed in denunciations of reckless investment bankers and avaricious CEOs. Obama proposed raising taxes on higher incomes (couples making more than $250,000); though McCain didn't, he suggested that much recent wealth accumulation was ill-gotten. Unintentionally, perhaps, he buttressed the moral case for more redistribution. Let's tap the gold mine of the rich.
Unfortunately, the mine has less gold. All the financial turmoil has left the wealthy—however they are definedcmuch less wealthy. Stock ownership is highly concentrated. In 2001, the richest 1 percent owned 34 percent of stocks and mutual funds, estimates economist Edward N. Wolff of New York University. Let's see. Since the market's high in October 2007, stocks are down (through Oct. 31) 38 percent, or $7.5 trillion, reports Wilshire Associates.
That will mean lower capital gains taxes, because capital gains—profits on the sale of stocks and other assets—will plunge. In recent years, capital gains taxes have been running at $100 billion or more. That amount could drop sharply, even if the top rate on capital gains were raised from 15 percent to its pre-2003 level, 20 percent.
Thousands of well-paid investment bankers, traders, portfolio managers and securities analysts are losing their jobs. Though Wall Street bonuses will continue, their total is likely to decrease. Gains in executive compensation may be similarly squeezed. Profits are down; the political climate is hostile. In 2005, the richest 1 percent of Americans had 18 percent of total income and paid 28 percent of all federal taxes, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Their income won't grow much. Even if higher tax rates increase government revenue, the effect will be less than before.
Judged only by economic inequality, the financial crisis is a godsend. It will probably narrow the gap—though still vast—between the rich and everybody else. But what good will that do? Economic inequality also declined in the Great Depression. The country wasn't better off. By and large, the poor aren't poor because the rich are rich. They're usually poor for their own reasons: family breakdown, low skills, destructive personal habits and plain bad luck.
The presumption implicit in the criticism of growing economic inequality is that society's income is a given and, if the rich have less, others will have more. Up to a point, that's true. The government already redistributes much income, often for the good. During the boom years, companies might have been less lavish with top executives and slightly more generous to other workers or shareholders. Some new fortunes stem from self-dealing and financial razzle-dazzle, not the creation of real economic value. It's just deserts that some of this wealth has evaporated.
But the redistributionist argument is at best a half-truth. The larger truth is that much of the income of the rich and well-to-do comes from what they do. If they stop doing it, then the income and wealth vanish. No one gets it. It can't be redistributed because it doesn't exist. Everyone's poorer.
This isn't just theory. Last week, New York Gov. David Paterson pleaded with Congress to provide emergency aid to states. Heavily dependent on Wall Street for taxes, he testified, New York faces a $12.5 billion budget deficit next year and expects joblessness to rise by 160,000. Wall Street bonuses will drop by 43 percent and capital gains income by 35 percent, he estimated. People in New York would be better off if the securities industry were still booming, even if there were more economic inequality.
Americans legitimately resent Wall Street types who profited from dubious investment strategies that aggravated today's crisis. And government properly redistributes income to reduce hardship and poverty. But that's different from attempting to deduce and engineer some optimal distribution of income. Government can't do that and shouldn't try. Scapegoating and punishing all of the rich won't do us any good if the resulting taxes dull investment and risk-taking, discouraging economic growth that benefits everyone.
For years, we've debated rising economic inequality. On one side, liberals denounce it as unjust. Redistribute wealth to the poor and middle class, they say. On the other, conservatives minimize its importance. What matters most is overall economic growth, they retort. Well, the conjunction of the presidential campaign and the financial crisis is giving the debate a curious twist. Liberals have triumphed politically; soaking the rich has become more acceptable. But conservatives may have won the intellectual argument; making the rich poorer doesn't make everyone else richer.
If Barack Obama and John McCain agreed on anything, it was this: Greed is bad. They competed in denunciations of reckless investment bankers and avaricious CEOs. Obama proposed raising taxes on higher incomes (couples making more than $250,000); though McCain didn't, he suggested that much recent wealth accumulation was ill-gotten. Unintentionally, perhaps, he buttressed the moral case for more redistribution. Let's tap the gold mine of the rich.
Unfortunately, the mine has less gold. All the financial turmoil has left the wealthy—however they are definedcmuch less wealthy. Stock ownership is highly concentrated. In 2001, the richest 1 percent owned 34 percent of stocks and mutual funds, estimates economist Edward N. Wolff of New York University. Let's see. Since the market's high in October 2007, stocks are down (through Oct. 31) 38 percent, or $7.5 trillion, reports Wilshire Associates.
That will mean lower capital gains taxes, because capital gains—profits on the sale of stocks and other assets—will plunge. In recent years, capital gains taxes have been running at $100 billion or more. That amount could drop sharply, even if the top rate on capital gains were raised from 15 percent to its pre-2003 level, 20 percent.
Thousands of well-paid investment bankers, traders, portfolio managers and securities analysts are losing their jobs. Though Wall Street bonuses will continue, their total is likely to decrease. Gains in executive compensation may be similarly squeezed. Profits are down; the political climate is hostile. In 2005, the richest 1 percent of Americans had 18 percent of total income and paid 28 percent of all federal taxes, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Their income won't grow much. Even if higher tax rates increase government revenue, the effect will be less than before.
Judged only by economic inequality, the financial crisis is a godsend. It will probably narrow the gap—though still vast—between the rich and everybody else. But what good will that do? Economic inequality also declined in the Great Depression. The country wasn't better off. By and large, the poor aren't poor because the rich are rich. They're usually poor for their own reasons: family breakdown, low skills, destructive personal habits and plain bad luck.
The presumption implicit in the criticism of growing economic inequality is that society's income is a given and, if the rich have less, others will have more. Up to a point, that's true. The government already redistributes much income, often for the good. During the boom years, companies might have been less lavish with top executives and slightly more generous to other workers or shareholders. Some new fortunes stem from self-dealing and financial razzle-dazzle, not the creation of real economic value. It's just deserts that some of this wealth has evaporated.
But the redistributionist argument is at best a half-truth. The larger truth is that much of the income of the rich and well-to-do comes from what they do. If they stop doing it, then the income and wealth vanish. No one gets it. It can't be redistributed because it doesn't exist. Everyone's poorer.
This isn't just theory. Last week, New York Gov. David Paterson pleaded with Congress to provide emergency aid to states. Heavily dependent on Wall Street for taxes, he testified, New York faces a $12.5 billion budget deficit next year and expects joblessness to rise by 160,000. Wall Street bonuses will drop by 43 percent and capital gains income by 35 percent, he estimated. People in New York would be better off if the securities industry were still booming, even if there were more economic inequality.
Americans legitimately resent Wall Street types who profited from dubious investment strategies that aggravated today's crisis. And government properly redistributes income to reduce hardship and poverty. But that's different from attempting to deduce and engineer some optimal distribution of income. Government can't do that and shouldn't try. Scapegoating and punishing all of the rich won't do us any good if the resulting taxes dull investment and risk-taking, discouraging economic growth that benefits everyone.
Business - Demise of Chrysler
Keith Naughton
As Chrysler commemorated its first anniversary under the ownership of private-equity player Cerberus Capital Management this summer, CEO Bob Nardelli issued a five-page letter to rally the troops. After all, things hadn't really worked out as Cerberus expected when it paid $7.4 billion to take Chrysler off Daimler's hands in 2007. Rather than "restoring an American icon," as Cerberus chairman John Snow declared back then, Chrysler sunk even further into the muck as gas prices soared and showroom traffic came to a standstill. Chrysler's guzzler-heavy lineup of SUVs and trucks did worse than most, with sales plummeting 25 percent and profits nowhere to be found. Still, Nardelli, once an acolyte of GE's Jack Welch, oozed optimism when he closed his long letter with these words of encouragement: "Chrysler may be down, but we're a long way from out. It's time for us to prove the naysayers wrong with another one of our patented comebacks!"
But it looks like Chrysler has run out of comebacks. Shortly after Nardelli wrote those words, Cerberus entered talks with General Motors to unload its Motown mistake. Despite reports of an impasse, a deal still appears to be just around the corner—if GM and a growing chorus of politicians can convince the federal government to put up $10 billion to $15 billion to finance the two ailing automakers' marriage of convenience. That means Chrysler, after defying death for decades, will finally succumb. Analysts expect GM to slash 34,000 Chrysler jobs—half its workforce—and shut down production of all but a handful of its slow-selling models. "Chrysler as we know it will cease to exist very soon," says auto consultant Kimberly Rodriguez of Grant Thornton, which predicts half of Chrysler's 14 factories will close.
It's an ignominious end for the company of Lee Iacocca and once-hot models like the Dodge Viper, PT Cruiser and the Hemi 300C. Daimler, which paid $36 billion for Chrysler in 1998, put a fitting coda on its investment last week. It valued its remaining 20 percent stake in Chrysler at zero.
So why would GM want a worthless automaker? Well, it certainly isn't about Chrysler's cars. It's about the cash. Chrysler said it had $11.7 billion in the till this summer, and GM desperately needs that money to survive. It also wants to get rid of one of its crosstown rivals so it doesn't have to match the outrageous rebates Chrysler puts on its models any more. "The real reason GM is doing this is to get their hands on that cash," says auto economist Sean McAlinden of the Center for Automotive Research, "and to put their competitor down. It's called 'buying the business.' In that way, you save GM."
If this sounds ruthless, that's because it is. GM is backed into a corner, running out of money, time and options. Its sales have tanked, it has lost $18.8 billion so far this year, and bankers will no longer lend it a penny. It's burning through more than $1 billion a month, and Wall Street expects it to run out of money by the middle of next year. To raise funds, GM is desperately trying to sell assets—the Hummer line, its riverfront headquarters—but has found no takers. Chrysler's cash stash might be its last hope. To put that money to work for its own interests, though, GM has to hollow out Chrysler. "GM will be hard pressed to clean out the Chrysler organization as quickly as possible," says University of Michigan business professor Gerald Meyers, who was CEO of American Motors when Chrysler bought it in 1987. "It's a nasty job."
But GM won't just get quick cash from Chrysler. It will also acquire substantial liabilities. That $11.7 billion came to Cerberus in the form of loans from banks, which expects that debt to be paid, with interest. There's also a new union fund that covers workers' health-care costs, to which GM will be expected to contribute $11 billion. Then there are all those workers and dealers who will have to be culled with billions in buyouts. Combined, the two companies will employ 205,000 workers in North America and have 22,000 dealers—half the total number of showrooms in the America.
To service these staggering obligations, GM is counting on taxpayer funding and might have to sell off bits of Chrysler to the highest bidder. Jeep, Chrysler's most precious possession, might fetch $2 billion, says McAlinden. (That's down from $5 billion a few years ago, when SUVs were still hip.) Nissan might be interested in buying the Dodge pickup-truck business. GM might want to hang onto Chrysler's profitable minivans, unless someone makes them a good offer. Chrysler's slow-selling cars aren't expected to attract much interest, but the automaker is already trying to sell its Viper sports-car line. "We'll see who is around to pick over the bones," says Meyers.
Why would the government want anything to do with this car carnage? The alternative is automotive Armageddon. Without the GM-Chrysler combo, its advocates argue, all of Detroit will tumble into bankruptcy. And that will take down thousands of parts suppliers, dealers and other businesses that depend on the American automakers. Even the Toyota, Honda and Nissan auto factories in America could shut down because their U.S. suppliers would go belly up. Total job loss: 2 million Americans, according to a study by the Center for Automotive Research. "A graceful exit for Chrysler is highly preferable to a catastrophe," says Cole. That's why the governors of six states just asked Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke to take "immediate action" to bail out Detroit. The White House says it is talking to the automakers, but Paulson is reportedly reluctant to dip into the $700 billion in bailout money at his disposal. Rather, the administration is working to speed delivery of the $25 billion authorized by Congress last month to help automakers retool to make fuel-efficient cars.
In order for Detroit to live, by this reasoning, then Chrysler must die. Before it goes, though, it is worth having its illustrious, tempestuous, life flash before our eyes. It burst on the scene at the 1924 New York Auto Show, where former railroad mechanic Walter P. Chrysler wowed the crowds by introducing the Chrysler Six, a mechanical marvel with a powerful six-cylinder engine. After adding Dodge, Plymouth and De Soto to his empire, Chrysler overtook Henry Ford in the 1930s to become America's No. 2 automaker. During World War II, Chrysler cranked out 18,000 Sherman tanks, the main combat vehicle of the Allied forces. In 1952, Chrysler produced the Jupiter missile that carried two monkeys into space. In the muscle-car era, Chrysler produced memorable models like Plymouth Road Runner and the Dodge Challenger (which just came back to life). And finally, there was Iacocca, who engineered his K-car driven turnaround in the 1980s, paying off his government loans seven years early and with a $400 million profit to taxpayers.
I tried to reach Iacocca to hear his epitaph for the company he once saved. But his secretary says he doesn't want to talk about it. Friends, though, say he's saddened by this turn of events. Meyers, who once sold his company to Iacocca, sees no irony or even much similarity in Chrysler's fate today. "Back then you had a very successful company, Chrysler, buying into an unsuccessful company, AMC," says Meyers. "Now you have one unsuccessful company buying another unsuccessful company."
In the end, Chrysler lost its way. It survived wars, recessions and a depression. But after nine years of German ownership and one year in private equity's grip, Chrysler had become a shadow of the feisty company that did its best work when its back was against the wall. Instead, insiders say, the new product pipeline has run dry and now workers just fear for their future. There is neither the will, nor the wherewithal to mount that final comeback Nardelli asked for. "There's no economic reason for Chrysler to exist anymore," says Meyers. "This time, it's done for."
As Chrysler commemorated its first anniversary under the ownership of private-equity player Cerberus Capital Management this summer, CEO Bob Nardelli issued a five-page letter to rally the troops. After all, things hadn't really worked out as Cerberus expected when it paid $7.4 billion to take Chrysler off Daimler's hands in 2007. Rather than "restoring an American icon," as Cerberus chairman John Snow declared back then, Chrysler sunk even further into the muck as gas prices soared and showroom traffic came to a standstill. Chrysler's guzzler-heavy lineup of SUVs and trucks did worse than most, with sales plummeting 25 percent and profits nowhere to be found. Still, Nardelli, once an acolyte of GE's Jack Welch, oozed optimism when he closed his long letter with these words of encouragement: "Chrysler may be down, but we're a long way from out. It's time for us to prove the naysayers wrong with another one of our patented comebacks!"
But it looks like Chrysler has run out of comebacks. Shortly after Nardelli wrote those words, Cerberus entered talks with General Motors to unload its Motown mistake. Despite reports of an impasse, a deal still appears to be just around the corner—if GM and a growing chorus of politicians can convince the federal government to put up $10 billion to $15 billion to finance the two ailing automakers' marriage of convenience. That means Chrysler, after defying death for decades, will finally succumb. Analysts expect GM to slash 34,000 Chrysler jobs—half its workforce—and shut down production of all but a handful of its slow-selling models. "Chrysler as we know it will cease to exist very soon," says auto consultant Kimberly Rodriguez of Grant Thornton, which predicts half of Chrysler's 14 factories will close.
It's an ignominious end for the company of Lee Iacocca and once-hot models like the Dodge Viper, PT Cruiser and the Hemi 300C. Daimler, which paid $36 billion for Chrysler in 1998, put a fitting coda on its investment last week. It valued its remaining 20 percent stake in Chrysler at zero.
So why would GM want a worthless automaker? Well, it certainly isn't about Chrysler's cars. It's about the cash. Chrysler said it had $11.7 billion in the till this summer, and GM desperately needs that money to survive. It also wants to get rid of one of its crosstown rivals so it doesn't have to match the outrageous rebates Chrysler puts on its models any more. "The real reason GM is doing this is to get their hands on that cash," says auto economist Sean McAlinden of the Center for Automotive Research, "and to put their competitor down. It's called 'buying the business.' In that way, you save GM."
If this sounds ruthless, that's because it is. GM is backed into a corner, running out of money, time and options. Its sales have tanked, it has lost $18.8 billion so far this year, and bankers will no longer lend it a penny. It's burning through more than $1 billion a month, and Wall Street expects it to run out of money by the middle of next year. To raise funds, GM is desperately trying to sell assets—the Hummer line, its riverfront headquarters—but has found no takers. Chrysler's cash stash might be its last hope. To put that money to work for its own interests, though, GM has to hollow out Chrysler. "GM will be hard pressed to clean out the Chrysler organization as quickly as possible," says University of Michigan business professor Gerald Meyers, who was CEO of American Motors when Chrysler bought it in 1987. "It's a nasty job."
But GM won't just get quick cash from Chrysler. It will also acquire substantial liabilities. That $11.7 billion came to Cerberus in the form of loans from banks, which expects that debt to be paid, with interest. There's also a new union fund that covers workers' health-care costs, to which GM will be expected to contribute $11 billion. Then there are all those workers and dealers who will have to be culled with billions in buyouts. Combined, the two companies will employ 205,000 workers in North America and have 22,000 dealers—half the total number of showrooms in the America.
To service these staggering obligations, GM is counting on taxpayer funding and might have to sell off bits of Chrysler to the highest bidder. Jeep, Chrysler's most precious possession, might fetch $2 billion, says McAlinden. (That's down from $5 billion a few years ago, when SUVs were still hip.) Nissan might be interested in buying the Dodge pickup-truck business. GM might want to hang onto Chrysler's profitable minivans, unless someone makes them a good offer. Chrysler's slow-selling cars aren't expected to attract much interest, but the automaker is already trying to sell its Viper sports-car line. "We'll see who is around to pick over the bones," says Meyers.
Why would the government want anything to do with this car carnage? The alternative is automotive Armageddon. Without the GM-Chrysler combo, its advocates argue, all of Detroit will tumble into bankruptcy. And that will take down thousands of parts suppliers, dealers and other businesses that depend on the American automakers. Even the Toyota, Honda and Nissan auto factories in America could shut down because their U.S. suppliers would go belly up. Total job loss: 2 million Americans, according to a study by the Center for Automotive Research. "A graceful exit for Chrysler is highly preferable to a catastrophe," says Cole. That's why the governors of six states just asked Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke to take "immediate action" to bail out Detroit. The White House says it is talking to the automakers, but Paulson is reportedly reluctant to dip into the $700 billion in bailout money at his disposal. Rather, the administration is working to speed delivery of the $25 billion authorized by Congress last month to help automakers retool to make fuel-efficient cars.
In order for Detroit to live, by this reasoning, then Chrysler must die. Before it goes, though, it is worth having its illustrious, tempestuous, life flash before our eyes. It burst on the scene at the 1924 New York Auto Show, where former railroad mechanic Walter P. Chrysler wowed the crowds by introducing the Chrysler Six, a mechanical marvel with a powerful six-cylinder engine. After adding Dodge, Plymouth and De Soto to his empire, Chrysler overtook Henry Ford in the 1930s to become America's No. 2 automaker. During World War II, Chrysler cranked out 18,000 Sherman tanks, the main combat vehicle of the Allied forces. In 1952, Chrysler produced the Jupiter missile that carried two monkeys into space. In the muscle-car era, Chrysler produced memorable models like Plymouth Road Runner and the Dodge Challenger (which just came back to life). And finally, there was Iacocca, who engineered his K-car driven turnaround in the 1980s, paying off his government loans seven years early and with a $400 million profit to taxpayers.
I tried to reach Iacocca to hear his epitaph for the company he once saved. But his secretary says he doesn't want to talk about it. Friends, though, say he's saddened by this turn of events. Meyers, who once sold his company to Iacocca, sees no irony or even much similarity in Chrysler's fate today. "Back then you had a very successful company, Chrysler, buying into an unsuccessful company, AMC," says Meyers. "Now you have one unsuccessful company buying another unsuccessful company."
In the end, Chrysler lost its way. It survived wars, recessions and a depression. But after nine years of German ownership and one year in private equity's grip, Chrysler had become a shadow of the feisty company that did its best work when its back was against the wall. Instead, insiders say, the new product pipeline has run dry and now workers just fear for their future. There is neither the will, nor the wherewithal to mount that final comeback Nardelli asked for. "There's no economic reason for Chrysler to exist anymore," says Meyers. "This time, it's done for."
Hollywood - Sex Symbols;Old Edition
Cathleen McGuigan
In 1954, Life Magazine ran a photograph of a trio of Hollywood heartthrobs. Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis and Robert Wagner posed hanging off a ladder, looking squeaky-clean in their penny loafers and Pepsodent smiles. The photo, like an ancient Greek potsherd depicting young Olympians, is a fragmentary glimpse into a bygone era: the last days of the studio system, when publicists held a firm grip on actors' images. That era was almost bygone when the picture was snapped: Marlon Brando had already appeared in "The Wild One," and James Dean's "Rebel Without a Cause" was only a year away. Movie heroes were changing, and so were the carefully crafted connections between the stars and their fans. But in the early '50s, all those young Tabs, Troys and Rorys were still investments for the studios—Hollywood tadpoles who'd started at $75 a week and whose worth was measured in the volume of their fan mail. Stars, and the studios, went to considerable lengths to protect their value. Rock Hudson, on the highest rung of that ladder, would soon marry his agent's secretary to quash the rumors that he was gay.
That emblematic ladder photo finds its way into new memoirs by both Curtis ("American Prince") and Wagner ("Pieces of My Heart"). George Hamilton, who also has a new autobiography ("Don't Mind If I Do"), missed that photo op by about a decade, but he's very much a part of the same Old Hollywood culture that produced Curtis and Wagner. They started out long before the mainstream tabloidization of the culture, with its torrents of celebrity magazines, cable shows and wildfire Internet gossip. With far fewer media outlets in the '50s and '60s, things were easier to control—and it was all about quid pro quo: the studios and their stars courted the top two syndicated columnists, Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. On the other side, the movie magazines—Modern Screen, Photoplay—depended on the studios for access and pictures, and in their pages, Hollywood marriages and romances were idealized—or sometimes just made up.
Was it worth it? Wagner and Curtis certainly thought so. Since childhood, both men had been consumed with a passion for movies and movie stars—and a powerful ambition to crack that elite world. Wagner, who grew up in a fairly prosperous Los Angeles family, opens his story with an indelible memory of the Bel-Air Country Club, where, at the age of 12, he watched awestruck as a foursome approached on the golf course—Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Randolph Scott and Fred Astaire (he had the best swing). Curtis's beginnings could not have been more different—a hardscrabble childhood in New York as the son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants. Though Curtis changed his name from Bernie Schwartz, he never stopped feeling the sting of anti-Semitism, or the insecurity that came from his impoverished roots and lack of education. Hamilton, less driven, seemed to slide into show business. But he was born debonair. The original metrosexual, he haunted thrift shops for bespoke suits until he could afford his own tailor. He also may be the only straight guy in history who, while trying to decide whether to splurge on a battered Rolls-Royce that once belonged to the Queen of England, asked himself, "What would Gloria Swanson do?"
All three books are awash in sex. Curtis's makes for particularly exhausting reading. Hamilton is more of a gentleman, though the word "love" is not in his vocabulary. Wagner is also fairly discreet, yet he supplies some surprises. His one-night stand with Joan Crawford (25 years his senior) that began in her swimming pool is memorable—as are his longer relationships, especially a quiet four-year liaison with Barbara Stanwyck (only 23 years older).
And of course there was Natalie Wood. The luminous former child star left him the first time after she made "Splendor in the Grass" with Warren Beatty. Wagner still prefers to think she didn't take up with Beatty until after their separation—though in a shocking moment, he writes, "I was hanging around outside [Beatty's] house with a gun." Gentlemen, please! We do believe in his heartbreak—one so profound that he moved to Europe, though it happened his career was stalled, too. The couple's remarriage 10 years later seemed a true Hollywood ending—and genuinely happy, he writes—until Wood drowned off their yacht in 1981.
Wagner sheds no new light on that tragedy. Nevertheless, his is the best of the three memoirs by far, with its wonderful glimpses into the older generation of screen stars who became his friends and mentors—Spencer Tracy, David Niven, Frank Sinatra—and its always astute delineations of how exactly Old Hollywood worked: who knew how to take care of a felonious assault without it ever hitting the papers, or who could make a girl go away who claimed she was pregnant after a one-night stand. Of course, the studios wanted something for their trouble. At one point, Twentieth Century Fox announced, to Wagner's fury, that he was engaged to Terry Moore, his costar in "Beneath the 12-Mile Reef"—after she discovered she was pregnant by her boyfriend Howard Hughes. Curtis tells a similar story: Universal offered him $30,000 to marry his costar Piper Laurie—about the only one of his leading ladies that he didn't want to bed.
Natalie Wood once said that Wagner was "a star before he was an actor." She could have said the same thing about Hamilton and Curtis. All three wanted to be Cary Grant at a time when most actors wanted to be Brando. Curtis was the most talented—see "The Sweet Smell of Success" or "Some Like It Hot"—but he made an appalling number of bad films. Hamilton was fun to watch when he could mock his own image. Wagner was the most self-aware: he succeeded in television, he says, because, finally, "I had to be me." In shows like "It Takes a Thief" and "Hart to Hart," he became a small-screen Cary Grant.
George Hamilton now appears on "Dancing With the Stars" and R. J. Wagner doesn't (his wife, Jill St. John, won't let him). Tony Curtis lives in Vegas with wife No. 5. Though it's not yet the final curtain, as Sinatra sang, it's sweeter to think of these stars when they were young, just swinging from the rungs of Hollywood's ladder.
In 1954, Life Magazine ran a photograph of a trio of Hollywood heartthrobs. Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis and Robert Wagner posed hanging off a ladder, looking squeaky-clean in their penny loafers and Pepsodent smiles. The photo, like an ancient Greek potsherd depicting young Olympians, is a fragmentary glimpse into a bygone era: the last days of the studio system, when publicists held a firm grip on actors' images. That era was almost bygone when the picture was snapped: Marlon Brando had already appeared in "The Wild One," and James Dean's "Rebel Without a Cause" was only a year away. Movie heroes were changing, and so were the carefully crafted connections between the stars and their fans. But in the early '50s, all those young Tabs, Troys and Rorys were still investments for the studios—Hollywood tadpoles who'd started at $75 a week and whose worth was measured in the volume of their fan mail. Stars, and the studios, went to considerable lengths to protect their value. Rock Hudson, on the highest rung of that ladder, would soon marry his agent's secretary to quash the rumors that he was gay.
That emblematic ladder photo finds its way into new memoirs by both Curtis ("American Prince") and Wagner ("Pieces of My Heart"). George Hamilton, who also has a new autobiography ("Don't Mind If I Do"), missed that photo op by about a decade, but he's very much a part of the same Old Hollywood culture that produced Curtis and Wagner. They started out long before the mainstream tabloidization of the culture, with its torrents of celebrity magazines, cable shows and wildfire Internet gossip. With far fewer media outlets in the '50s and '60s, things were easier to control—and it was all about quid pro quo: the studios and their stars courted the top two syndicated columnists, Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. On the other side, the movie magazines—Modern Screen, Photoplay—depended on the studios for access and pictures, and in their pages, Hollywood marriages and romances were idealized—or sometimes just made up.
Was it worth it? Wagner and Curtis certainly thought so. Since childhood, both men had been consumed with a passion for movies and movie stars—and a powerful ambition to crack that elite world. Wagner, who grew up in a fairly prosperous Los Angeles family, opens his story with an indelible memory of the Bel-Air Country Club, where, at the age of 12, he watched awestruck as a foursome approached on the golf course—Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Randolph Scott and Fred Astaire (he had the best swing). Curtis's beginnings could not have been more different—a hardscrabble childhood in New York as the son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants. Though Curtis changed his name from Bernie Schwartz, he never stopped feeling the sting of anti-Semitism, or the insecurity that came from his impoverished roots and lack of education. Hamilton, less driven, seemed to slide into show business. But he was born debonair. The original metrosexual, he haunted thrift shops for bespoke suits until he could afford his own tailor. He also may be the only straight guy in history who, while trying to decide whether to splurge on a battered Rolls-Royce that once belonged to the Queen of England, asked himself, "What would Gloria Swanson do?"
All three books are awash in sex. Curtis's makes for particularly exhausting reading. Hamilton is more of a gentleman, though the word "love" is not in his vocabulary. Wagner is also fairly discreet, yet he supplies some surprises. His one-night stand with Joan Crawford (25 years his senior) that began in her swimming pool is memorable—as are his longer relationships, especially a quiet four-year liaison with Barbara Stanwyck (only 23 years older).
And of course there was Natalie Wood. The luminous former child star left him the first time after she made "Splendor in the Grass" with Warren Beatty. Wagner still prefers to think she didn't take up with Beatty until after their separation—though in a shocking moment, he writes, "I was hanging around outside [Beatty's] house with a gun." Gentlemen, please! We do believe in his heartbreak—one so profound that he moved to Europe, though it happened his career was stalled, too. The couple's remarriage 10 years later seemed a true Hollywood ending—and genuinely happy, he writes—until Wood drowned off their yacht in 1981.
Wagner sheds no new light on that tragedy. Nevertheless, his is the best of the three memoirs by far, with its wonderful glimpses into the older generation of screen stars who became his friends and mentors—Spencer Tracy, David Niven, Frank Sinatra—and its always astute delineations of how exactly Old Hollywood worked: who knew how to take care of a felonious assault without it ever hitting the papers, or who could make a girl go away who claimed she was pregnant after a one-night stand. Of course, the studios wanted something for their trouble. At one point, Twentieth Century Fox announced, to Wagner's fury, that he was engaged to Terry Moore, his costar in "Beneath the 12-Mile Reef"—after she discovered she was pregnant by her boyfriend Howard Hughes. Curtis tells a similar story: Universal offered him $30,000 to marry his costar Piper Laurie—about the only one of his leading ladies that he didn't want to bed.
Natalie Wood once said that Wagner was "a star before he was an actor." She could have said the same thing about Hamilton and Curtis. All three wanted to be Cary Grant at a time when most actors wanted to be Brando. Curtis was the most talented—see "The Sweet Smell of Success" or "Some Like It Hot"—but he made an appalling number of bad films. Hamilton was fun to watch when he could mock his own image. Wagner was the most self-aware: he succeeded in television, he says, because, finally, "I had to be me." In shows like "It Takes a Thief" and "Hart to Hart," he became a small-screen Cary Grant.
George Hamilton now appears on "Dancing With the Stars" and R. J. Wagner doesn't (his wife, Jill St. John, won't let him). Tony Curtis lives in Vegas with wife No. 5. Though it's not yet the final curtain, as Sinatra sang, it's sweeter to think of these stars when they were young, just swinging from the rungs of Hollywood's ladder.
World - The Paperless Paper
Johnnie L Roberts
By deciding this week to end its daily print edition and publish only online, the distinguished but struggling—The Christian Science Monitor has simultaneously become the newspaper industry's worst fear and its model for salvation. Beginning next April, the Monitor will become the first national newspaper to switch from daily print to online—though, perhaps to hedge its bets, it will launch a weekly print edition.
Even in the face of Wednesday's announcement, which followed a jarring report earlier in the week that newspaper circulation is declining more quickly than anticipated, several top newspaper executives and analysts were quick to rebuff the prediction that print is dead. "Daily newspapers are rooted in an economic model dependent on the print side of the business," says John Morton, the veteran newspaper analyst. "So far, the advertising revenue that [the Internet editions] pull in isn't nearly enough to replace what they get from the print side." The sentiment is echoed by the Newspaper Association of America, one of the $55-billion industry's main trade groups. "The print newspaper product will be around for a long time," says Randy Bennett, senior vice president, business development. "The focus may change. It may be a tighter product, and it may not be delivered seven days a week. But print still has a strong audience that likes it." Robert Thompson, editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, says the fate of The Christian Science Monitor, "is not indicative at all of all newspapers and certainly not of the opportunity that awaits The Wall Street Journal."
Celebrating its centennial next month, The Christian Science Monitor was launched by Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, which continues to be the newspaper's benefactor. Covering national and international affairs, the paper, based in Boston, isn't a tool for evangelizing and has won seven Pulitzer Prizes. For the past four decades, however, it has endured steadily declining circulation—dropping to 52,000 from 220,000 in 1970. The Monitor expects to post a loss of almost $19 million in the current fiscal year ending next April, with the church kicking in a subsidy of $12 million, and other sources the rest, to cover the deficit.
The Monitor's financial woes mirror those of the industry. On Monday, the Audit Bureau of Circulation reported an accelerating shrinkage of sales for much of this year. For the six months ending Sept. 30, the bureau measured a nearly 5 percent decline in weekly and Sunday circulation among the more than 500 newspapers that report their numbers to the bureau (until last year, circulation overall was declining at a rate of around 2 percent). The nation's largest metropolitan newspapers suffered declines ranging from almost 2 percent for The Washington Post (whose parent company also owns NEWSWEEK), to 13.6 percent for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Compounding the industry' problems, print advertising has been dropping as more companies chose to hawk their wares on the Web. The sputtering economy will probably only compound matters.
Over the past several years, the industry has aggressively embraced the Internet as a survival strategy, though so far, not as the panacea the Monitor hopes it will be. The shrinking print business still accounts for some 90 percent of industry revenues, and the rate of growth in online revenues is dramatically slowing from the double-digit annual gains of the past several years. One bright spot, notes analyst Morton, is that "you get the same amount of profit from 50-cents of online ads as you do from a dollar of print ads. You don't have to replace print ads dollar-for-dollar to stay even."
For now, most of the industry continues to pursue a hybrid strategy, in part because print still has a strong appeal with readers 35 and older. "The endgame for the print product," says Bennett of the Newspaper Association, "is to create niche publications." Similarly, many local papers are launching online products designed to appeal to different segments of local markets. For example, he notes, the Minneapolis Star Tribune launched vita.mn, an entertainment-focused site, aimed at a younger audience, that includes social networking features. It also has a print version.
In some quarters of the Internet, the Monitor is winning kudos for its decision. "I think it is a very courageous move," says Chris Tolles, chief executive of Topix.com, a Website that is a forum for what is popularly known as "citizen journalism." While Tolles says most publishers have stopped at merely studying the idea of abandoning print, Topix represents a dipping-of-the-toe in the digital waters for several print newspaper giants. It's largely owned by Gannett, McClatchy and Tribune Co., the nation's three largest owners of local newspapers. You can be certain they will be monitoring the Monitor.
By deciding this week to end its daily print edition and publish only online, the distinguished but struggling—The Christian Science Monitor has simultaneously become the newspaper industry's worst fear and its model for salvation. Beginning next April, the Monitor will become the first national newspaper to switch from daily print to online—though, perhaps to hedge its bets, it will launch a weekly print edition.
Even in the face of Wednesday's announcement, which followed a jarring report earlier in the week that newspaper circulation is declining more quickly than anticipated, several top newspaper executives and analysts were quick to rebuff the prediction that print is dead. "Daily newspapers are rooted in an economic model dependent on the print side of the business," says John Morton, the veteran newspaper analyst. "So far, the advertising revenue that [the Internet editions] pull in isn't nearly enough to replace what they get from the print side." The sentiment is echoed by the Newspaper Association of America, one of the $55-billion industry's main trade groups. "The print newspaper product will be around for a long time," says Randy Bennett, senior vice president, business development. "The focus may change. It may be a tighter product, and it may not be delivered seven days a week. But print still has a strong audience that likes it." Robert Thompson, editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, says the fate of The Christian Science Monitor, "is not indicative at all of all newspapers and certainly not of the opportunity that awaits The Wall Street Journal."
Celebrating its centennial next month, The Christian Science Monitor was launched by Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, which continues to be the newspaper's benefactor. Covering national and international affairs, the paper, based in Boston, isn't a tool for evangelizing and has won seven Pulitzer Prizes. For the past four decades, however, it has endured steadily declining circulation—dropping to 52,000 from 220,000 in 1970. The Monitor expects to post a loss of almost $19 million in the current fiscal year ending next April, with the church kicking in a subsidy of $12 million, and other sources the rest, to cover the deficit.
The Monitor's financial woes mirror those of the industry. On Monday, the Audit Bureau of Circulation reported an accelerating shrinkage of sales for much of this year. For the six months ending Sept. 30, the bureau measured a nearly 5 percent decline in weekly and Sunday circulation among the more than 500 newspapers that report their numbers to the bureau (until last year, circulation overall was declining at a rate of around 2 percent). The nation's largest metropolitan newspapers suffered declines ranging from almost 2 percent for The Washington Post (whose parent company also owns NEWSWEEK), to 13.6 percent for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Compounding the industry' problems, print advertising has been dropping as more companies chose to hawk their wares on the Web. The sputtering economy will probably only compound matters.
Over the past several years, the industry has aggressively embraced the Internet as a survival strategy, though so far, not as the panacea the Monitor hopes it will be. The shrinking print business still accounts for some 90 percent of industry revenues, and the rate of growth in online revenues is dramatically slowing from the double-digit annual gains of the past several years. One bright spot, notes analyst Morton, is that "you get the same amount of profit from 50-cents of online ads as you do from a dollar of print ads. You don't have to replace print ads dollar-for-dollar to stay even."
For now, most of the industry continues to pursue a hybrid strategy, in part because print still has a strong appeal with readers 35 and older. "The endgame for the print product," says Bennett of the Newspaper Association, "is to create niche publications." Similarly, many local papers are launching online products designed to appeal to different segments of local markets. For example, he notes, the Minneapolis Star Tribune launched vita.mn, an entertainment-focused site, aimed at a younger audience, that includes social networking features. It also has a print version.
In some quarters of the Internet, the Monitor is winning kudos for its decision. "I think it is a very courageous move," says Chris Tolles, chief executive of Topix.com, a Website that is a forum for what is popularly known as "citizen journalism." While Tolles says most publishers have stopped at merely studying the idea of abandoning print, Topix represents a dipping-of-the-toe in the digital waters for several print newspaper giants. It's largely owned by Gannett, McClatchy and Tribune Co., the nation's three largest owners of local newspapers. You can be certain they will be monitoring the Monitor.
Lifestyle - Shopping Oprah: Winfrey's wares now online
CARYN ROUSSEAU
(CHICAGO) Short of a coveted ticket for a taping of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," an easier way to surround yourself with the presence of the queen of talk is to go to her official store across from Harpo studios in what was once a Chicago warehouse district.
With its dim lighting, hardwood floors and urban-loft feel, The Oprah Store is a hybrid souvenir shop and trendy boutique. It's been open since January — almost a year — and has hosted an average 250 post-Oprah show shoppers and curious Winfrey fans a day.
Now Harpo is taking that demand and putting it online, launching http://www.theoprahstore.com Friday. It's an expansion of a small shopping Web site that carried keychains and T-shirts. The new online store will sell 800-plus items, about 90 percent of what's available at the Chicago shop.
Fans say going to the Chicago store is one way they can feel closer to someone they admire.
Catherine Hinkle, 52, a pharmacist from Overland Park, Kan., recently spent more than $200 after a taping.
"I don't mind spending money here," Hinkle said, lifting her two large lime green shopping bags with "The Oprah Store" written on the side. "I feel like I'm supporting who she is."
At the 5,500-square-foot brick-and-mortar boutique, fans can buy "O" apparel, umbrellas, coffee mugs, baby bibs and pet collars. Tote bags and note cards are printed with Winfrey quotes like "Live your own dreams." Non-branded clothing such as cashmere sweaters and lounge outfits project a certain calm.
Store manager Darcy Rogers said everything was selected with Winfrey's style and taste in mind.
Customers are "really specific," Rogers said. "They want something with Oprah's signature or just the O."
It is rare for a talk show host like Winfrey to have an official store.
Not even Regis Philbin, whose television tenure has lasted decades, can pull it off, said Wendy Liebmann, the CEO of WSL Strategic Retail based in New York.
"She's the annointer of all things," Liebmann said. "She, more than anyone else in pop culture, has been able to leverage her celebrity in a way that people consider fairly reasonable...That gives her the authority to reach out across all these categories," Liebmann said.
One of the only other comparable examples of a celebrity having an official store is Celine Dion, who had a boutique at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas during her five-year run there.
At Winfrey's store, the real draw for some die-hard Winfrey fans is "Oprah's Closet," a dark wooden armoire filled with clothes and shoes that Winfrey herself once wore or kept in her own closet. Proceeds from that section go to Winfrey's Angel Network, which contributes to a number of projects.
"Can you imagine wearing that dress and telling people where it's from?" Hinkle, looking at tiered, buttercream evening gown, size 16, for $500.
But with those items being sold at prices ranging from $80 to $500, many fans are more likely to stick to keychains or the workout wear, available in a wide range of sizes.
"Her stuff was very normal," said Lori Nimmo, 43, of Highland, Mich., who tapes Winfrey's shows all week and watches them on Saturday morning. "Stuff that we would wear. That's what makes her accessible."
Associated Press Writer Sophia Tareen contributed to this story.
(CHICAGO) Short of a coveted ticket for a taping of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," an easier way to surround yourself with the presence of the queen of talk is to go to her official store across from Harpo studios in what was once a Chicago warehouse district.
With its dim lighting, hardwood floors and urban-loft feel, The Oprah Store is a hybrid souvenir shop and trendy boutique. It's been open since January — almost a year — and has hosted an average 250 post-Oprah show shoppers and curious Winfrey fans a day.
Now Harpo is taking that demand and putting it online, launching http://www.theoprahstore.com Friday. It's an expansion of a small shopping Web site that carried keychains and T-shirts. The new online store will sell 800-plus items, about 90 percent of what's available at the Chicago shop.
Fans say going to the Chicago store is one way they can feel closer to someone they admire.
Catherine Hinkle, 52, a pharmacist from Overland Park, Kan., recently spent more than $200 after a taping.
"I don't mind spending money here," Hinkle said, lifting her two large lime green shopping bags with "The Oprah Store" written on the side. "I feel like I'm supporting who she is."
At the 5,500-square-foot brick-and-mortar boutique, fans can buy "O" apparel, umbrellas, coffee mugs, baby bibs and pet collars. Tote bags and note cards are printed with Winfrey quotes like "Live your own dreams." Non-branded clothing such as cashmere sweaters and lounge outfits project a certain calm.
Store manager Darcy Rogers said everything was selected with Winfrey's style and taste in mind.
Customers are "really specific," Rogers said. "They want something with Oprah's signature or just the O."
It is rare for a talk show host like Winfrey to have an official store.
Not even Regis Philbin, whose television tenure has lasted decades, can pull it off, said Wendy Liebmann, the CEO of WSL Strategic Retail based in New York.
"She's the annointer of all things," Liebmann said. "She, more than anyone else in pop culture, has been able to leverage her celebrity in a way that people consider fairly reasonable...That gives her the authority to reach out across all these categories," Liebmann said.
One of the only other comparable examples of a celebrity having an official store is Celine Dion, who had a boutique at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas during her five-year run there.
At Winfrey's store, the real draw for some die-hard Winfrey fans is "Oprah's Closet," a dark wooden armoire filled with clothes and shoes that Winfrey herself once wore or kept in her own closet. Proceeds from that section go to Winfrey's Angel Network, which contributes to a number of projects.
"Can you imagine wearing that dress and telling people where it's from?" Hinkle, looking at tiered, buttercream evening gown, size 16, for $500.
But with those items being sold at prices ranging from $80 to $500, many fans are more likely to stick to keychains or the workout wear, available in a wide range of sizes.
"Her stuff was very normal," said Lori Nimmo, 43, of Highland, Mich., who tapes Winfrey's shows all week and watches them on Saturday morning. "Stuff that we would wear. That's what makes her accessible."
Associated Press Writer Sophia Tareen contributed to this story.
World - US;Hollywood joins the furor over gay marriage ban
Derrik J Lang
Thousands of protesters are angry about California's ban on gay marriage — and so are the stars.
Many celebrities grieved the passing of Proposition 8 in California this week. Some — such as Wanda Sykes, Rose McGowen and Lance Bass — attended a Wednesday protest criticizing the state's gay marriage ban. Others — like Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O'Donnell, Samantha Ronson and Melissa Etheridge — vented their frustrations online, on TV, and onstage.
Blocks away from the Thursday rally of more than 2,000 gay-rights advocates outside the gates of a Mormon temple, several stars — including James Cromwell, Patricia Clarkson, Anjelica Huston and Sean Penn — said they supported the protesters while walking the red carpet at the BAFTA L.A. Brittania Awards at Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel.
"I think it might be an idea to go out and join them shortly," Penn said. "It was a shameful decision that was made."
Etheridge, who exchanged vows with her longtime partner in a 2003 ceremony, declared she wouldn't pay her taxes in a blog entry posted Thursday on TheDailyBeast.com. The gay Oscar- and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter said without the right to marry in California, she didn't think she should have to pay taxes because "I am not a full citizen."
"I don't mean to get too personal here," Etheridge wrote. "But there is a lot I can do with the extra half a million dollars that I will be keeping instead of handing it over to the state of California. Oh, and I am sure Ellen will be a little excited to keep her bazillion bucks that she pays in taxes, too."
DeGeneres posted a brief message of support for President-elect Barack Obama and the gay-rights advocates protesting against Proposition 8 on her show's Web site Friday. The talk show host, who married actress Portia de Rossi in August, previously donated $100,000 against the ballot initiative and starred in a commercial lamenting the measure.
"So there was a demonstration here on Wednesday night," DeGeneres wrote, "and just before I walked out here, I was watching the news and there is a huge, huge, peaceful demonstration going on in the streets, and I say, good for you, and I support you, and if I weren't here, I'd be out there with you."
O'Donnell, who lives in New York, responded to comments and questions about her stance on the issue on her Web site. When one person said he understood why she didn't come out against the proposition, O'Donnell responded: "I AM AGAINST PROP 8. DUH." She also wrote she believes the estimated 18,000 gay marriages would be annulled "like mine was years ago."
The former talk show host, who lives in New York with partner Kelli Carpenter and their four children, publicly wed Carpenter in San Francisco in 2004, two weeks after Mayor Gavin Newsom authorized granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The licenses were later voided by the California Supreme Court.
Also ranting online was celebrity disc jockey Samantha Ronson. Lindsay Lohan's gal pal blogged Thursday that she was shocked California voters approved an animal-rights initiative but that ballot measures about gay marriage and adoption in California, Florida, Arizona and Arkansas were shot down.
"I guess people care more about farm animals than they do their fellow man, that's really sad to me," Ronson wrote on her MySpace blog. "Yes, I am glad that the chickens will have more room and better conditions as they wait to die, but I just think it's frightening that people show more compassion for tomorrow's dinner than for the chef."
Other celebs used time in the spotlight to decry the decision. Madonna took a moment during her concert at Dodger Stadium to declare to the audience that she was sad "because African-Americans are equal finally, but gay marriage is not." Former teen queen Christina Aguilera also spoke out against the ban.
"I think it's discrimination," Aguilera said in a Thursday interview with MTV News. "I don't understand how people can be so close-minded and so judgmental. We chose an African-American president who means so much in a time in history of great change and open-mindedness. Why is this any different? It just doesn't make sense to me."
— — —
AP Television reporters Marcela Isaza and Natalie Rotman contributed to this report.
Thousands of protesters are angry about California's ban on gay marriage — and so are the stars.
Many celebrities grieved the passing of Proposition 8 in California this week. Some — such as Wanda Sykes, Rose McGowen and Lance Bass — attended a Wednesday protest criticizing the state's gay marriage ban. Others — like Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O'Donnell, Samantha Ronson and Melissa Etheridge — vented their frustrations online, on TV, and onstage.
Blocks away from the Thursday rally of more than 2,000 gay-rights advocates outside the gates of a Mormon temple, several stars — including James Cromwell, Patricia Clarkson, Anjelica Huston and Sean Penn — said they supported the protesters while walking the red carpet at the BAFTA L.A. Brittania Awards at Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel.
"I think it might be an idea to go out and join them shortly," Penn said. "It was a shameful decision that was made."
Etheridge, who exchanged vows with her longtime partner in a 2003 ceremony, declared she wouldn't pay her taxes in a blog entry posted Thursday on TheDailyBeast.com. The gay Oscar- and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter said without the right to marry in California, she didn't think she should have to pay taxes because "I am not a full citizen."
"I don't mean to get too personal here," Etheridge wrote. "But there is a lot I can do with the extra half a million dollars that I will be keeping instead of handing it over to the state of California. Oh, and I am sure Ellen will be a little excited to keep her bazillion bucks that she pays in taxes, too."
DeGeneres posted a brief message of support for President-elect Barack Obama and the gay-rights advocates protesting against Proposition 8 on her show's Web site Friday. The talk show host, who married actress Portia de Rossi in August, previously donated $100,000 against the ballot initiative and starred in a commercial lamenting the measure.
"So there was a demonstration here on Wednesday night," DeGeneres wrote, "and just before I walked out here, I was watching the news and there is a huge, huge, peaceful demonstration going on in the streets, and I say, good for you, and I support you, and if I weren't here, I'd be out there with you."
O'Donnell, who lives in New York, responded to comments and questions about her stance on the issue on her Web site. When one person said he understood why she didn't come out against the proposition, O'Donnell responded: "I AM AGAINST PROP 8. DUH." She also wrote she believes the estimated 18,000 gay marriages would be annulled "like mine was years ago."
The former talk show host, who lives in New York with partner Kelli Carpenter and their four children, publicly wed Carpenter in San Francisco in 2004, two weeks after Mayor Gavin Newsom authorized granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The licenses were later voided by the California Supreme Court.
Also ranting online was celebrity disc jockey Samantha Ronson. Lindsay Lohan's gal pal blogged Thursday that she was shocked California voters approved an animal-rights initiative but that ballot measures about gay marriage and adoption in California, Florida, Arizona and Arkansas were shot down.
"I guess people care more about farm animals than they do their fellow man, that's really sad to me," Ronson wrote on her MySpace blog. "Yes, I am glad that the chickens will have more room and better conditions as they wait to die, but I just think it's frightening that people show more compassion for tomorrow's dinner than for the chef."
Other celebs used time in the spotlight to decry the decision. Madonna took a moment during her concert at Dodger Stadium to declare to the audience that she was sad "because African-Americans are equal finally, but gay marriage is not." Former teen queen Christina Aguilera also spoke out against the ban.
"I think it's discrimination," Aguilera said in a Thursday interview with MTV News. "I don't understand how people can be so close-minded and so judgmental. We chose an African-American president who means so much in a time in history of great change and open-mindedness. Why is this any different? It just doesn't make sense to me."
— — —
AP Television reporters Marcela Isaza and Natalie Rotman contributed to this report.
Personality - Cloris Leachmen
Ramin Setoodeh
Cloris Leachman— At 82, the oldest (and spunkiest) contestant ever on "Dancing With the Stars"—was voted off the show last week. She spoke to Ramin Setoodeh.
Are you demanding a recount?
I should have. I don't know what possessed me not to. I'm sure it would all be different.
I bet you took Florida, with the senior vote.
Hahaha. Oh, I don't know if seniors like me at all. I think they're a little sick of me. I think they say, "Get off! We just want to rest." I thought I was wonderful. Then I saw a replay. I couldn't believe I was just one, two, three, turn. I didn't have the spunk I thought I had.
You have as much spunk as Mary Tyler Moore.
But Lou Grant never liked spunk. "I hate spunk"—remember?
Was it your decision to show all that cleavage?
No. I don't know what happens. Everything gets pushed up a bit.
Did you wear a special dancing bra?
Just a bra sewn in the costume.
Still, your cleavage must have helped you stay on the show.
No doubt. All those seniors are turned on.
I hear you're doing a movie with Brad Pitt next.
Yes. "Inglourious Basterds."
Should Angelina Jolie be nervous?
No. I don't think I have a thing with Brad—yet.
Something could develop.
Once I get to Berlin, you never know what's going to happen. No, I'll just take care of the kids.
There are a lot of them.
I can handle all of it.
Were you really a voice in the "My Little Pony" movie?
Was I? I never saw it.
Don't you see all your movies?
No. I didn't see the one with Diane Keaton, "Hanging Up." I played Meg Ryan's mother. But I didn't like the way Diane Keaton directed me, so I didn't see the movie.
Why?
She was having Meg say odd things to me, to get a reaction. It turned me off on the movie.
What about "Scary Movie 4"?
I was in it. I saw some of it.
Is it true Mel Brooks wants you to reprise your part in "Young Frankenstein" on Broadway?
Yeah. We're negotiating.
He once said you were so old, he worried you'd die onstage.
He's not worried anymore. Corky [Ballas, her dance partner on the show] threw me around today on "The View," and I thought I was dead when I stood up. I can't tell you—I really thought I died! I thought I was in heaven.
Did you need to see a doctor before you went on "Stars"?
Six different doctors. One doctor said he wouldn't let me do it because of my bad knee. I have no cartilage in the back.
Are you going to retire from dancing now?
Where would I dance? That's the big question. And with whom? I asked Fred Astaire to dance once, and he said, "No!" I don't know who I would ask anymore.
Where did you meet Astaire?
I was at Gene Kelly's house one afternoon, and Fred Astaire was there.
How did you end up at Gene Kelly's house?
We were friends—he, my husband and I. A lot of volleyball games went on over there.
Why did Astaire turn you down?
I don't know. I think all the women wanted to dance with him, and he couldn't do it.
But you're Cloris Leachman.
But I wasn't Cloris Leachman then
Cloris Leachman— At 82, the oldest (and spunkiest) contestant ever on "Dancing With the Stars"—was voted off the show last week. She spoke to Ramin Setoodeh.
Are you demanding a recount?
I should have. I don't know what possessed me not to. I'm sure it would all be different.
I bet you took Florida, with the senior vote.
Hahaha. Oh, I don't know if seniors like me at all. I think they're a little sick of me. I think they say, "Get off! We just want to rest." I thought I was wonderful. Then I saw a replay. I couldn't believe I was just one, two, three, turn. I didn't have the spunk I thought I had.
You have as much spunk as Mary Tyler Moore.
But Lou Grant never liked spunk. "I hate spunk"—remember?
Was it your decision to show all that cleavage?
No. I don't know what happens. Everything gets pushed up a bit.
Did you wear a special dancing bra?
Just a bra sewn in the costume.
Still, your cleavage must have helped you stay on the show.
No doubt. All those seniors are turned on.
I hear you're doing a movie with Brad Pitt next.
Yes. "Inglourious Basterds."
Should Angelina Jolie be nervous?
No. I don't think I have a thing with Brad—yet.
Something could develop.
Once I get to Berlin, you never know what's going to happen. No, I'll just take care of the kids.
There are a lot of them.
I can handle all of it.
Were you really a voice in the "My Little Pony" movie?
Was I? I never saw it.
Don't you see all your movies?
No. I didn't see the one with Diane Keaton, "Hanging Up." I played Meg Ryan's mother. But I didn't like the way Diane Keaton directed me, so I didn't see the movie.
Why?
She was having Meg say odd things to me, to get a reaction. It turned me off on the movie.
What about "Scary Movie 4"?
I was in it. I saw some of it.
Is it true Mel Brooks wants you to reprise your part in "Young Frankenstein" on Broadway?
Yeah. We're negotiating.
He once said you were so old, he worried you'd die onstage.
He's not worried anymore. Corky [Ballas, her dance partner on the show] threw me around today on "The View," and I thought I was dead when I stood up. I can't tell you—I really thought I died! I thought I was in heaven.
Did you need to see a doctor before you went on "Stars"?
Six different doctors. One doctor said he wouldn't let me do it because of my bad knee. I have no cartilage in the back.
Are you going to retire from dancing now?
Where would I dance? That's the big question. And with whom? I asked Fred Astaire to dance once, and he said, "No!" I don't know who I would ask anymore.
Where did you meet Astaire?
I was at Gene Kelly's house one afternoon, and Fred Astaire was there.
How did you end up at Gene Kelly's house?
We were friends—he, my husband and I. A lot of volleyball games went on over there.
Why did Astaire turn you down?
I don't know. I think all the women wanted to dance with him, and he couldn't do it.
But you're Cloris Leachman.
But I wasn't Cloris Leachman then
Lifestyle - What Michelle Obama can teach us
Allison Samuels
Throughout this long, tense election, everyone has focused on the presidential candidates and how they'll change America. Rightly so. But selfishly, I'm more fascinated by Michelle Obama and what she might be able to do, not just for this country, but for me as an African-American woman. As the potential First Lady, she would have the world's attention. And that means that for the first time people will have a chance to get up close and personal with the type of African-American woman they so rarely see.
Usually, the lives of black women go largely unexamined. The prevailing theory seems to be that we're all hot-tempered single mothers who can't keep a man and, according to CNN's "Black in America," documentary, those of us who aren't street-walking crack addicts are on the verge of dying from AIDS. As writer Rebecca Walker put it on her Facebook page: "CNN should call me next time they really want to show diversity and meet real black women that nobody seems to talk about.''
Like Walker, I too know more than my share of black women who have little in common with the black female images I see in the media. My "sistafriends" are mostly college educated, in healthy, productive relationships and have a major aversion to sassy one-liners. They are teachers, doctors and business owners. Of course, there are those of us who never get the chance to pull it together. And we accept and embrace them—but their stories can't and shouldn't be the only ones told.
Yet pop culture continues to hold a very unevolved view of African-American women. Take HBO's new vampire saga "True Blood." Even in the world of make-believe, black women still can't escape the stereotype of being neck-swirling, eye-rolling, oversexed females raised by our never-married, alcoholic mothers. Where is Claire Huxtable when you need her?
These images have helped define the way all black women are viewed, including Michelle Obama. Before she ever gets the chance to commit to a cause, charity or foundation as First Lady, her most urgent and perhaps most complicated duty may be simply to be herself.
It won't be easy. Since her emergence on the national scene, Obama has been deemed radical, divisive and the adjective that no modern-day black woman can live without: angry. Thankfully, so far, she's endured these demeaning accusations with a smile and shrug—at least in public. But if she does end up in the White House, continuing to dial back her straightforward, vibrant personality isn't the answer. In the same way that Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy and Hillary Clinton each redefined what it meant to be First Lady, Michelle will forge her own path. Not only will she draw the usual criticisms, but she'll be open to some new ones too. I eagerly await the public reaction if Sasha and Malia ever sport cornrows or afro puffs on the South Lawn. And if Michelle decides to champion a program that benefits black youth, will her critics slam her for being too parochial?
To be fair, Hillary Clinton's early involvement in her husband's administration (think health-care reform) brought a major backlash. But there's no real evidence of Michelle Obama's desire to be a huge presence in her husband's potential administration. Besides helping military families, we don't even have many clues about what projects she might tackle.
Whatever she does, I hope she doesn't fall victim to critics with little point of reference. Take this month's issue of Town and Country magazine. An article—written by a white female reporter—offers advice to both potential First Ladies. The writer suggests Cindy McCain let her "personality and experience shine" and motivate others to give back.
For Michelle, the writer suggests that she avoid "popping off when your guard is down" and to be careful "about how, when and if she injects her ethnicity … into her platform as First Lady."
The underlying message is that the last thing anyone needs to be reminded of is that Michelle Obama is all black, unlike her husband, who is mixed—as the writer points out for seemingly no reason.
And that speaks to the larger issue that Michelle Obama could pose for the media. Because few mainstream publications have done in-depth features on regular African American women (and no, Halle Berry, Oprah and Beyoncé don't count), little is known about who we are, what we think and what we face on a regular basis. For better or worse, Michelle will become a stand-in for us all.
Just as she will have her critics, she will also have millions of adoring fans who usually have little interest in the First Lady. African-American blogs such as Sisterlicious, Black Girls Rock and That Black Girl Group have all written about what they'd like to see Michelle bring to the White House—mainly showing the world that a black woman can support her man and raise a strong black family. As contributor Felicia Jones wrote on one blog, "Michelle Obama will be the hero my little girls have been looking for. The hero doesn't have to shake her booty or point her finger to get noticed and respected. My little girls finally have a role model." Michelle will have to work to please everyone—an impossible task. But for many African-American women like me, just a little of her poise, confidence and intellect will go a long way in changing an image that's been around for far too long.
Throughout this long, tense election, everyone has focused on the presidential candidates and how they'll change America. Rightly so. But selfishly, I'm more fascinated by Michelle Obama and what she might be able to do, not just for this country, but for me as an African-American woman. As the potential First Lady, she would have the world's attention. And that means that for the first time people will have a chance to get up close and personal with the type of African-American woman they so rarely see.
Usually, the lives of black women go largely unexamined. The prevailing theory seems to be that we're all hot-tempered single mothers who can't keep a man and, according to CNN's "Black in America," documentary, those of us who aren't street-walking crack addicts are on the verge of dying from AIDS. As writer Rebecca Walker put it on her Facebook page: "CNN should call me next time they really want to show diversity and meet real black women that nobody seems to talk about.''
Like Walker, I too know more than my share of black women who have little in common with the black female images I see in the media. My "sistafriends" are mostly college educated, in healthy, productive relationships and have a major aversion to sassy one-liners. They are teachers, doctors and business owners. Of course, there are those of us who never get the chance to pull it together. And we accept and embrace them—but their stories can't and shouldn't be the only ones told.
Yet pop culture continues to hold a very unevolved view of African-American women. Take HBO's new vampire saga "True Blood." Even in the world of make-believe, black women still can't escape the stereotype of being neck-swirling, eye-rolling, oversexed females raised by our never-married, alcoholic mothers. Where is Claire Huxtable when you need her?
These images have helped define the way all black women are viewed, including Michelle Obama. Before she ever gets the chance to commit to a cause, charity or foundation as First Lady, her most urgent and perhaps most complicated duty may be simply to be herself.
It won't be easy. Since her emergence on the national scene, Obama has been deemed radical, divisive and the adjective that no modern-day black woman can live without: angry. Thankfully, so far, she's endured these demeaning accusations with a smile and shrug—at least in public. But if she does end up in the White House, continuing to dial back her straightforward, vibrant personality isn't the answer. In the same way that Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy and Hillary Clinton each redefined what it meant to be First Lady, Michelle will forge her own path. Not only will she draw the usual criticisms, but she'll be open to some new ones too. I eagerly await the public reaction if Sasha and Malia ever sport cornrows or afro puffs on the South Lawn. And if Michelle decides to champion a program that benefits black youth, will her critics slam her for being too parochial?
To be fair, Hillary Clinton's early involvement in her husband's administration (think health-care reform) brought a major backlash. But there's no real evidence of Michelle Obama's desire to be a huge presence in her husband's potential administration. Besides helping military families, we don't even have many clues about what projects she might tackle.
Whatever she does, I hope she doesn't fall victim to critics with little point of reference. Take this month's issue of Town and Country magazine. An article—written by a white female reporter—offers advice to both potential First Ladies. The writer suggests Cindy McCain let her "personality and experience shine" and motivate others to give back.
For Michelle, the writer suggests that she avoid "popping off when your guard is down" and to be careful "about how, when and if she injects her ethnicity … into her platform as First Lady."
The underlying message is that the last thing anyone needs to be reminded of is that Michelle Obama is all black, unlike her husband, who is mixed—as the writer points out for seemingly no reason.
And that speaks to the larger issue that Michelle Obama could pose for the media. Because few mainstream publications have done in-depth features on regular African American women (and no, Halle Berry, Oprah and Beyoncé don't count), little is known about who we are, what we think and what we face on a regular basis. For better or worse, Michelle will become a stand-in for us all.
Just as she will have her critics, she will also have millions of adoring fans who usually have little interest in the First Lady. African-American blogs such as Sisterlicious, Black Girls Rock and That Black Girl Group have all written about what they'd like to see Michelle bring to the White House—mainly showing the world that a black woman can support her man and raise a strong black family. As contributor Felicia Jones wrote on one blog, "Michelle Obama will be the hero my little girls have been looking for. The hero doesn't have to shake her booty or point her finger to get noticed and respected. My little girls finally have a role model." Michelle will have to work to please everyone—an impossible task. But for many African-American women like me, just a little of her poise, confidence and intellect will go a long way in changing an image that's been around for far too long.
Entertainment - Groos-Out Comedies
David Ansen
If a new American comedy starts out with curses that would have made your great-grandmother blush and an obsession with poop and penises just this side of X-rated, you can be sure that it will end as warm and fuzzy as an old Andy Hardy movie. Raunch, scatology and four-letter words are nothing new in Hollywood comedies. They may have begun as underground outrages ("Pink Flamingos"), but by the time of "Porky's," "American Pie" and the Farrelly brothers they were as mainstream as, well, apple pie. What is new is the shotgun wedding of obscenity and sentimentality. If the bad boy-man hero (it's always a guy) seems stuck in the eternal pigpen of adolescence, you can be sure that by the end he'll have learned his lessons, shouldered responsibility and earned the love of the gorgeous, competent woman he pines for.
How did this formula become the new comic orthodoxy? We can all thank Judd Apatow, whose "40-Year-Old Virgin," "Knocked Up," "Superbad" and "Step Brothers" ushered in the new Hollywood math: scrotums + swear words + third-act saccharin = success. The spirit of Apatow looms heavily over two new comedies, though he had nothing to do with either. Kevin Smith's "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" and David Wain's "Role Models" are both cast with Apatow rep company players, and both share the striking but suddenly ubiquitous conjunction of lowdown raunch and huggable humanism. If this combo came as a sweet surprise in a movie like "Superbad," it's now threatening to become a cliché.
This must all seem very strange to a veteran outré filmmaker like Smith. When his low-budget, trash-talking "Clerks" came out in 1994, it seemed shaggily revolutionary. Its verbose, scruffy store clerks, who could wax eloquent on the fine points of oral sex, paved the way for the slob-prince heroes Seth Rogen now plays. And now Rogen is starring, alongside Elizabeth Banks, in Smith's own "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," a sex-obsessed love story that looks a lot more conventional than its creator may have imagined. The title characters (Rogen and Banks), friends since childhood, platonically share a run-down Pittsburgh apartment made worse when their water and electricity are shut off. Unable to pay the bills, Zack turns to porno for financial rescue. This means convincing his old pal, Miri, to have on-camera sex with him. Guess what? Their coupling is an earth-shaking event that leads each to realize How They Truly Feel About Each Other. As good as Rogen and Banks are, their love story feels born of design, not desire. Despite some scabrously funny dialogue, "Zack and Miri" can't compete with the best of the Apatow comedies, which have wrung finer variations on the moves Smith pioneered. Which puts him in the odd position of looking like a shadow of his shadow.
"Role Models" is even more formulaic, but also a whole lot funnier. The cynical, burnt-out Danny (Paul Rudd) and the swaggering horndog Wheeler (Seann William Scott), energy-drink salesmen, are arrested after a property-destroying freakout and given an option: jail or 150 hours of service as big brothers to troubled kids in the Sturdy Wings program. The sour Danny, who's just been dumped by his lawyer girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks again), is saddled with the superdork Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, a.k.a. "McLovin"), who's totally obsessed with acting out his medieval sword-and-sorcery fantasies. Wheeler gets the incorrigible Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson), a foulmouthed fifth grader who has scared off all previous mentors.
Predictable? Yes, yet within the all-too-familiar uplifting arc of "Role Models" there's real wit and lots of opportunities for the beguiling cast to show off its comic chops. The fun is in the details: Rudd's snarky rant in a coffee shop where the large is called "vente" will resonate with anybody who's ever wondered why Starbucks calls a small a "tall." Scott, who's gone from being a hormone-revved adolescent to a hormone-revved overaged adolescent, gets better at it with every attempt: he and Rudd, at each other's throats, create delightful comic friction. Wain ("Wet Hot American Summer") does his best not to bog down in the puddles of redemption that accumulate in the final reel. Comedies by definition have happy endings, but "Role Models" would have left a deeper mark had it found a way to leave us smiling and surprised. This new comic formula needs shaking up; when the rules get this entrenched, it's time for a new rule book.
If a new American comedy starts out with curses that would have made your great-grandmother blush and an obsession with poop and penises just this side of X-rated, you can be sure that it will end as warm and fuzzy as an old Andy Hardy movie. Raunch, scatology and four-letter words are nothing new in Hollywood comedies. They may have begun as underground outrages ("Pink Flamingos"), but by the time of "Porky's," "American Pie" and the Farrelly brothers they were as mainstream as, well, apple pie. What is new is the shotgun wedding of obscenity and sentimentality. If the bad boy-man hero (it's always a guy) seems stuck in the eternal pigpen of adolescence, you can be sure that by the end he'll have learned his lessons, shouldered responsibility and earned the love of the gorgeous, competent woman he pines for.
How did this formula become the new comic orthodoxy? We can all thank Judd Apatow, whose "40-Year-Old Virgin," "Knocked Up," "Superbad" and "Step Brothers" ushered in the new Hollywood math: scrotums + swear words + third-act saccharin = success. The spirit of Apatow looms heavily over two new comedies, though he had nothing to do with either. Kevin Smith's "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" and David Wain's "Role Models" are both cast with Apatow rep company players, and both share the striking but suddenly ubiquitous conjunction of lowdown raunch and huggable humanism. If this combo came as a sweet surprise in a movie like "Superbad," it's now threatening to become a cliché.
This must all seem very strange to a veteran outré filmmaker like Smith. When his low-budget, trash-talking "Clerks" came out in 1994, it seemed shaggily revolutionary. Its verbose, scruffy store clerks, who could wax eloquent on the fine points of oral sex, paved the way for the slob-prince heroes Seth Rogen now plays. And now Rogen is starring, alongside Elizabeth Banks, in Smith's own "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," a sex-obsessed love story that looks a lot more conventional than its creator may have imagined. The title characters (Rogen and Banks), friends since childhood, platonically share a run-down Pittsburgh apartment made worse when their water and electricity are shut off. Unable to pay the bills, Zack turns to porno for financial rescue. This means convincing his old pal, Miri, to have on-camera sex with him. Guess what? Their coupling is an earth-shaking event that leads each to realize How They Truly Feel About Each Other. As good as Rogen and Banks are, their love story feels born of design, not desire. Despite some scabrously funny dialogue, "Zack and Miri" can't compete with the best of the Apatow comedies, which have wrung finer variations on the moves Smith pioneered. Which puts him in the odd position of looking like a shadow of his shadow.
"Role Models" is even more formulaic, but also a whole lot funnier. The cynical, burnt-out Danny (Paul Rudd) and the swaggering horndog Wheeler (Seann William Scott), energy-drink salesmen, are arrested after a property-destroying freakout and given an option: jail or 150 hours of service as big brothers to troubled kids in the Sturdy Wings program. The sour Danny, who's just been dumped by his lawyer girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks again), is saddled with the superdork Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, a.k.a. "McLovin"), who's totally obsessed with acting out his medieval sword-and-sorcery fantasies. Wheeler gets the incorrigible Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson), a foulmouthed fifth grader who has scared off all previous mentors.
Predictable? Yes, yet within the all-too-familiar uplifting arc of "Role Models" there's real wit and lots of opportunities for the beguiling cast to show off its comic chops. The fun is in the details: Rudd's snarky rant in a coffee shop where the large is called "vente" will resonate with anybody who's ever wondered why Starbucks calls a small a "tall." Scott, who's gone from being a hormone-revved adolescent to a hormone-revved overaged adolescent, gets better at it with every attempt: he and Rudd, at each other's throats, create delightful comic friction. Wain ("Wet Hot American Summer") does his best not to bog down in the puddles of redemption that accumulate in the final reel. Comedies by definition have happy endings, but "Role Models" would have left a deeper mark had it found a way to leave us smiling and surprised. This new comic formula needs shaking up; when the rules get this entrenched, it's time for a new rule book.
Entertainment - Sopranos;DVD
Sarah Ball
HBO thought it was making "Sopranos" fans an offer they couldn't refuse: "The Sopranos: The Complete Series," due out Nov. 11, is a 33-disc, 86-episode cinder block of a DVD set, handsomely housed in a black-linen-backed book that tips the scale at 10 pounds. That's more than, say, a human head in a bowling bag. There's only one problem: who's got an extra $400 to spend on a gift this year? At $40 per pound, the set is pricier than organic swordfish. Or a 2009 BMW 328i convertible.
Should HBO be worried? Fuggedaboutit. Individual seasons of "The Sopranos" have killed, grossing $386 million and consistently ranking in the TV-to-DVD top 10. And while the overall DVD market has flatlined, TV shows continue to do very well. (Films are another matter.) Why? Given the glut of DVD options, consumers are choosing to save and splurge on investment sets rather than a bunch of one-off movies—hence the sustained success of oldies such as "Friends." Still, says industry analyst Jan Saxton, "there are only so many boxed sets you're going to have sit on your shelf at home."
But this box is tempting: it has more than three days of footage, featuring nuggets for "Sopranos" obsessives, such as Edie Falco's admission that she forgot to wear Carmela's rings for the final diner scene. Bear in mind, "Sex and the City" DVD sales helped pave the way for the blockbuster movie, so maybe "The Sopranos" isn't dead just yet.
HBO thought it was making "Sopranos" fans an offer they couldn't refuse: "The Sopranos: The Complete Series," due out Nov. 11, is a 33-disc, 86-episode cinder block of a DVD set, handsomely housed in a black-linen-backed book that tips the scale at 10 pounds. That's more than, say, a human head in a bowling bag. There's only one problem: who's got an extra $400 to spend on a gift this year? At $40 per pound, the set is pricier than organic swordfish. Or a 2009 BMW 328i convertible.
Should HBO be worried? Fuggedaboutit. Individual seasons of "The Sopranos" have killed, grossing $386 million and consistently ranking in the TV-to-DVD top 10. And while the overall DVD market has flatlined, TV shows continue to do very well. (Films are another matter.) Why? Given the glut of DVD options, consumers are choosing to save and splurge on investment sets rather than a bunch of one-off movies—hence the sustained success of oldies such as "Friends." Still, says industry analyst Jan Saxton, "there are only so many boxed sets you're going to have sit on your shelf at home."
But this box is tempting: it has more than three days of footage, featuring nuggets for "Sopranos" obsessives, such as Edie Falco's admission that she forgot to wear Carmela's rings for the final diner scene. Bear in mind, "Sex and the City" DVD sales helped pave the way for the blockbuster movie, so maybe "The Sopranos" isn't dead just yet.
Health - Worst Home Acne Cures
Tina Peng
Remember that middle-school classmate who swore that a dab of toothpaste was the best way to zap a zit? She was wrong, says Dr. Doris Day, a New York City-based dermatologist. A lot of "home remedies" for acne don't help and can even make the problem worse. Here are some of most misguided self-treatments she's seen.
Picking at the Problem. Using your hands to pick at a pimple is one of the worst things you can do for acne. It increases risks of scarring and of the acne coming back in the exact same spot. Picking can also make the inflammation worse and raises the risk of introducing infection into the open sore, Day says. "It just makes [the acne] mad, basically," she says.
Neosporin. Day says some people assume that because Neosporin works as an antibiotic for cuts, it'll also kill the bacteria that causes acne. That's not the case. The ointment clogs pores, has no effect on acne-causing bacteria and can't even reach the base of the skin's follicle, where acne actually forms. Any noticeable improvement is actually due to Neosporin's emollient nature; often the area around the pimple is dried out and Neosporin softens and moisturizes it, making it look better.
Toothpaste. "It's meant to dry out the pimple a little faster," Day says, but don't go for this home remedy. Newer toothpastes are usually equipped with ingredients aimed at controlling tartar, and those chemicals provide "food for the bacteria"—exacerbating acne—or irritate the skin further, making it red and inflamed and sometimes resulting in peri-oral dermatitis, which can cause itchy red patches around the mouth and nose.
Avoiding grease. Staying away from oily foods won't keep your skin from being oily. "There are no studies that we've been able to identify that show fried foods make your skin break out," Day says. Similarly, chocolate and spicy foods have no known effect on acne. There's one caveat: in a very small percentage of the population dairy can make acne worse because of the hormones from the cows. But "that's not the typical person," she says.
So what does work? Day says that a dermatologist may prescribe a Retin A-based ointment, which helps skin cells slough off and regenerate, but these can be too strong for some skin types. There are milder over-the-counter retinoid ointments and creams such as Retin-A Micro. Acne face washes and creams can be useful, but be sure that they have benzoyl peroxide or 2 percent or less salicylic acid for the best results. And, says Day, there's Thermaclear—a device sold for home use that that zaps pimples with a burst of concentrated heat. Finally, she adds, managing stress and controlling hormonal imbalances (some doctors may recommend the birth control pill to women with severe acne) can also help.
Remember that middle-school classmate who swore that a dab of toothpaste was the best way to zap a zit? She was wrong, says Dr. Doris Day, a New York City-based dermatologist. A lot of "home remedies" for acne don't help and can even make the problem worse. Here are some of most misguided self-treatments she's seen.
Picking at the Problem. Using your hands to pick at a pimple is one of the worst things you can do for acne. It increases risks of scarring and of the acne coming back in the exact same spot. Picking can also make the inflammation worse and raises the risk of introducing infection into the open sore, Day says. "It just makes [the acne] mad, basically," she says.
Neosporin. Day says some people assume that because Neosporin works as an antibiotic for cuts, it'll also kill the bacteria that causes acne. That's not the case. The ointment clogs pores, has no effect on acne-causing bacteria and can't even reach the base of the skin's follicle, where acne actually forms. Any noticeable improvement is actually due to Neosporin's emollient nature; often the area around the pimple is dried out and Neosporin softens and moisturizes it, making it look better.
Toothpaste. "It's meant to dry out the pimple a little faster," Day says, but don't go for this home remedy. Newer toothpastes are usually equipped with ingredients aimed at controlling tartar, and those chemicals provide "food for the bacteria"—exacerbating acne—or irritate the skin further, making it red and inflamed and sometimes resulting in peri-oral dermatitis, which can cause itchy red patches around the mouth and nose.
Avoiding grease. Staying away from oily foods won't keep your skin from being oily. "There are no studies that we've been able to identify that show fried foods make your skin break out," Day says. Similarly, chocolate and spicy foods have no known effect on acne. There's one caveat: in a very small percentage of the population dairy can make acne worse because of the hormones from the cows. But "that's not the typical person," she says.
So what does work? Day says that a dermatologist may prescribe a Retin A-based ointment, which helps skin cells slough off and regenerate, but these can be too strong for some skin types. There are milder over-the-counter retinoid ointments and creams such as Retin-A Micro. Acne face washes and creams can be useful, but be sure that they have benzoyl peroxide or 2 percent or less salicylic acid for the best results. And, says Day, there's Thermaclear—a device sold for home use that that zaps pimples with a burst of concentrated heat. Finally, she adds, managing stress and controlling hormonal imbalances (some doctors may recommend the birth control pill to women with severe acne) can also help.