Pocketbook worries outweigh voters' concerns over war in Iraq

By JIM KUHNHENN and TREVOR TOMPSON, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters began to worry more about their pocketbooks over the last month — even more than about the war in Iraq.

More than half the voters in an ongoing survey for The Associated Press and Yahoo! News now say the economy and health care are extremely important to them personally. They fear they will face unexpected medical expenses, their homes will lose value or mortgage and credit card payments will overwhelm them.

Events, however, can quickly change public opinion. Thursday's assassination of Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto could draw more attention to terrorism and national security, an issue that still ranked highly with the public and which 45 percent of those polled considered extremely important.

This latest AP-Yahoo! News survey of more than 1,800 people by Knowledge Networks offers a unique opportunity to track changes in public attitudes as the presidential campaign unfolds. The first poll was last month and set a base line to measure national sentiment.

In the new results, men and women approaching retirement were especially attentive to the economy and health care, with six out of 10 ranking both issues extremely important. Politically, the attention to such domestic issues hangs darkly over Republicans. Voters say they are far more likely to trust Democrats to handle the economy and health care.

(http://news.yahoo.com)

Four cardinal principles of security violated, say Indian experts

Praveen Swami

New Delhi: While Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Mahmud Ali Durrani, maintains that Pervez Musharraf’s government provided “unprecedented security” to Benazir Bhutto, Indian security experts disagree.

Speaking to The Hindu, a senior Special Protection Group official who reviewed available footage of the attack described Ms. Bhutto’s security as “dismal, almost as bad as if it was designed to facilitate her assassination.” Set up in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s assassination, the elite SPG provides security to both serving and past Indian Prime Ministers and their families.

The content of an e-mail sent in October 2007 by Ms Bhutto to an American confidant, Mark Siegel, who has been interviewed by CNN, was referred to the Indian experts. In the e-mail, she charged President Pervez Musharraf with failing to upgrade her security despite a near-successful assassination attempt. She complained that she had been “made to feel insecure by his minions and there is no way what is happening in terms of stopping me from taking private cars or using tinted windows or giving jammers or four police mobiles cld [could] happen without him.”

The SPG official is of the firm opinion that the upgrades might have saved Ms Bhutto’s life. According to him, four cardinal principles of security for high-risk targets were violated in the course of Ms. Bhutto’s campaign rally at the Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi:

Access-control protocols common among security services worldwide were violated. All those allowed close proximity with Ms Bhutto’s person, vehicles, or campaign podium should have been identified and screened long before her rally.

Long, medium and close-range security cordons should have been in place to ensure that all those close enough to launch an attack on Ms Bhutto had passed through at least three layers of physical frisking and metal-detector searches.

Technologies to prevent remote-controlled bomb detonation and detect concealed explosives should have been in place, even though these would not have deterred this particular attack. In addition, incognito guards should have been infiltrated into the crowd around Ms Bhutto to immediately interdict an attack. This might well have saved her life.

Ms Bhutto’s vehicle should have been shielded from the crowd by the presence of other escort cars, which would have rendered it more difficult for an attacker to find a suitable line of fire. This was indeed one of the complaints listed in her e-mail.

“We’ve repeatedly rehearsed scenarios similar to that played out in Rawalpindi,” the SPG official noted, “and have found that the elaborate systems we have in place to protect the Prime Minister of India are the sole means to defeat them. My assessment is that it is impossible for such an attack to have been prevented other than by a specialist security service.”

More likely than not, the SPG official noted, “the terrorist group that attacked Ms Bhutto had carried out several reconnaissance operations at past congregations. They would have noted that she often waved at crowds from her car’s sun-roof, and identified this as a weakness. However, Pakistan’s intelligence services should have warned her to end this habit, and also looked out for cells conducting reconnaissance.”

Another expert, an officer responsible for the security of a high-risk target in Jammu & Kashmir, noted that Indian politicians were routinely protected amidst large, unruly crowds – a factor some have said facilitated the successful terrorist attack on Ms Bhutto.

(http://www.hindu.com)

Lobbyists Debut at Bottom of Honesty and Ethics List

Dec 10, 2007

(http://www.gallip.com)

Dwindling dollar may be next US security threat

By Daniel Dombey

Published: December 27 2007 17:41 | Last updated: December 27 2007 17:41

At the end of a year in which the dollar has endured a marked decline against other currencies, an unsettling question is beginning to be voiced: can the troubles of the US currency be confined to the financial world or are they set to undermine Washington’s place on the international stage?

“This is the neglected dimension of the dollar’s decline,” says Flynt Leverett, a former senior National Security Council official under President George W. Bush. “What has been said about the fall of the dollar is almost all couched in economic terms. But currency politics is very, very powerful and is part of what has made the US a hegemon for so long, like Britain before it.”

Along with some other commentators, Mr Leverett brackets the dollar’s recent fragility with related phenomena, such as the greater international use of rival currencies. He argues that if such trends continue, the result will be costly for the US. While a lower dollar is associated with greater financing costs for America’s twin current account and budget deficits, he says, currency movements can be determined by politics as well as economics – and the US security could be damaged if America’s creditor nations move against the dollar.

“Americans will certainly find global hegemony a lot more expensive if the dollar falls off its perch,” adds Kenneth Rogoff, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, in an article published this month.

He maintains that the US has been fortunate to be able to use the huge low-interest dollar holdings of the central banks of China and Japan to finance higher return investments elsewhere, “but between the sub-prime US mortgage crisis and the dollar’s ongoing decline, America’s exorbitant privilege now looks a bit shaky . . . American voters, who are famously loath to increase taxes, might start thinking a lot harder about the real economic costs of their country’s superpower status.”

The tumble of the greenback – by more than 25 per cent against its trading partners since February 2002 when adjusted for inflation – may lead other nations to turn away from using dollars for their central bank reserves, international transactions or currency pegs, with expensive results for the US.

Indeed, central banks have begun to move in such a direction. China, which keeps the composition of its huge foreign exchange reserves a state secret, has hinted that it plans gradually to reduce the proportion held in dollars – some analysts put the current level at more than two-thirds. Yet while the dollar’s role as the most popular reserve currency is not under imminent threat, for cash it is a different story: last year, the value of euro notes in circulation overtook the value of circulating dollar notes.

“The US is extraordinarily fortunate in that its currency is also the international standard of value – if that would disappear, US leverage in many dimensions would also go,” says Benn Steil, director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He highlights the US’s ability to further its influence by bailing other countries out of financial crises. “What countries need in a financial crisis is dollars and that gives the US enormous leverage.”

Mr Steil adds that the dollar’s all but indispensable role also gives Washington an important tool against countries such as Iran and North Korea, since by limiting their banks’ access to dollar financing – a step Washington has taken several times over the past year – the US can damage such countries’ financial systems and make financing more expensive to obtain.

Mr Leverett says the US could relatively soon become vulnerable to the kind of financial pressure that the strength of the dollar has allowed it to exercise in the past. In the classic example, Washington used the threat of a run on the pound to put pressure on the UK to withdraw troops from Egypt during the Suez crisis in 1956.

In future, that kind of leverage may belong to China. “Right now China wants to keep a close hold on how fast the renminbi appreciates,” he says. “But it’s increasingly likely that they decide their strategic interest to constrain the US at some point outweighs the economic considerations.”

Mr Leverett also points to what he says has been a series of unwritten but explicit understandings between the US and the oil producing countries of the Gulf that underpin the dollar’s role as the world’s leading currency by denominating oil contracts in dollars and linking local currencies to dollars in return for security guarantees.

Many economists play down such agreements – the dollar price of oil should not be affected by what currency it is priced in, determined as it is by supply and demand. But the way the US has pursued and cultivated such understandings for decades – Mr Leverett says from the 1940s on – highlights their significance for US policymakers.

“The arguments now on economic grounds are overwhelming that the Gulf Co-operation Council states, including Saudi Arabia, should drop the dollar peg” because of the currency’s decline, he says, alluding to many Gulf states’ worries that they are importing inflation because of the link to the low dollar. “Saudi officials will tell you it’s a strategic decision, not an economic one, that they are sticking with the dollar. That should be a real indicator to American policymakers and citizens that this is a real vulnerability.”

Indeed, at an Opec summit last month, Saudi Arabia headed off a push by Iran and Venezuela to price oil with reference to a basket of currencies rather than the dollar. In television footage apparently screened to reporters by mistake, Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, argued that even mentioning the issue in the summit communiqué would weaken the dollar still further.

After the summit ended, Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president, declared that the “empire of the dollar is crashing”. Most economists and foreign policy analysts disagree, arguing that economic and foreign policy reasons mean that the dollar will maintain its pre-eminent role for the medium term. Many countries view the US Navy’s work in protecting oil flows out of the Gulf as a public good, providing a reason why the dollar-oil link is likely to persist.

Few economists expect a catastrophic collapse in the value of the dollar and many expect it to remain the world’s chief reserve currency for years to come.

But, challenging the consensus view, Menzie Chinn and Jeffrey Frankel of the US’s National Bureau of Economic Research argued in a research paper last year that, if the dollar’s decline continued, the euro could overtake it as the lead international reserve currency by 2022. Other economists have speculated that in the long term China will establish the renminbi as the dominant currency in Asia.

The effect of either scenario would not be confined to currency markets but could also have an impact on Washington’s spending patterns and financial clout – the nuts and bolts of 21st-century national security. The dollar might no longer be the source of the US’s power, but instead a factor in its decline.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007

(http://ft.com)

Malaysia signs $16bn gas deal with Iran

By Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran

Published: December 26 2007 20:50 | Last updated: December 26 2007 20:50

Iran has signed a $16bn gas contract with Malaysia, intensifying its efforts to shift its flow of oil and gas deals towards eastern countries and bypass US-led pressure to thwart investment by western companies.

The contract, signed on Wednesday between Iran’s Pars Oil and Gas Company and Malaysia’s SKS Ventures, owned by Malaysian billionaire Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukary, includes the $6bn development of the Golshan and Ferdows gas fields in the next five-and-a-half years.

The second leg of the contract is worth $10bn and is earmarked for the production of liquefied natural gas from two offshore fields in the southern province of Bushehr. It was not clear what the time frame for the LNG project would be.

The Iranian oil and gas sector is in dire need of foreign investment to help meet mounting domestic consumption and to preserve its production rates.

While the US government has put pressure on its western allies to halt investments in Iran because of suspicions over its nuclear programme, Iran, which has the world’s second largest oil and gas reserves, has openly pushed ahead with deals with Asian companies.

Wednesday’s agreement follows the signing of a $2bn oil contract with China’s Sinopec this month. ...

(http://www.ft.com)

You're only as good as Google says you are

You're only as good as Google says you are

Face it, you're going to get 'Googled'. Here's how to burnish your digital brand.

NEW YORK (Money Magazine) -- Who's Scott Burkett? A small-time actor; a family lawyer; a techie at the University of North Carolina. But if you Google "Scott Burkett," eight of the top 10 results, and most of the next 20, point to the 38-year-old chief executive of PlayMotion, a small video-game company. That's no coincidence. Over the past decade, video-game Scott has carefully nurtured his digital dossier. Why bother? "Everyone is going to see this stuff," says Burkett. "It's not just customers and investors who look you up. It's everyone."Including the person who may find you your next job.

According to ExecuNet, a career-networking company for executives, more than 80% of recruiters use Google to uncover information on candidates. While you can't completely control what appears under your name on search engines, it's not that hard to burnish your digital brand.

Start a Weblog Blogging can quickly shoot your name from obscurity to the top of search indexes, says Robyn Greenspan, senior editor at ExecuNet. Try to update it at least three times a week and use keywords that you think searchers are likely to look for. An aeronautical engineer might naturally use words like "aviation" and "altitude" in his blog, for example. Blogger.com is a commonly used (and free) place to get started. The site will guide you every step of the way. You'll also want to set up a social-networking profile.

Buy your domain Purchase your first and last name as a Web address. Even if you don't plan to set up a Web site now, it's a good idea to park it - GoDaddy.com will let you reserve a dotcom name for $9.99 a year. Don't let someone beat you to it. Buying on the secondary market can be expensive. If your name is common, try variations like "Firstname-Lastname.com" or your name followed by your profession.

Bury the bad stuff. If you've got a reasonably high profile in a competitive field or if you've ever jilted an employee, uncomplimentary words about you may find their way onto an industry message board or blog. The poster will use a pseudonym - but he or she will make sure that the reader knows who you are. Sweeping dirt to the second or third page of a Google search by buying your domain and blogging is usually enough. But if the stuff is really toxic, you can try having it removed. If contact information for a Webmaster isn't readily apparent on the site where you're being maligned, go to CheckDomain.com and search for the domain name. The search will spit back the e-mail address of the site's owner and may reveal a phone number and mailing address. Ask nicely. The site can't really be forced to do anything without getting lawyers involved, a costly and often ineffective strategy.

(http://money.cnn.com/)

India's outsourcing industry takes toll on workforce

updated 4 hours, 49 minutes ago Story Highlights

Outsourced businesses employ more than 1.6 million Indians in their 20s and 30s
They typically make much more than their contemporaries They face sleep disorders, heart disease, depression and family discord, say experts Brewing crisis could undermine India's hugely profitable outsourcing industry

NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- The job came with a good salary, and good perks. Call center employees face sleep disorders, heart disease, depression and family discord, according to experts. But, 26-year-old Vaibhav Vats will tell you, it was doing him no good. His weight had grown to 265 pounds and he was missing out on social life as he worked long overnight hours at a call center. Eventually, he quit. "You are making nice money. But the tradeoff is also big," said Vats, who spent nearly two years at IBM Corp.'s call center arm in India, answering customer calls from the United States. Call centers and other outsourced businesses such as software writing, medical transcription and back-office work employ more than 1.6 million young men and women in India, mostly in their 20s and 30s, who make much more than their contemporaries in most other professions.

They are, however, facing sleep disorders, heart disease, depression and family discord, according to doctors and several industry surveys. Experts warn the brewing crisis could undermine the success of India's hugely profitable outsourcing industry that earns billions in dollars annually and has shaped much of the country's transformation into an emerging economic power.

Heart disease, strokes and diabetes cost India an estimated $9 billion in lost productivity in 2005. But the losses could grow to a staggering $200 billion over the next 10 years if corrective action is not taken quickly, said a study by New Delhi-based Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations.

The outsourcing industry would be hardest hit, it warned. Reliable estimates on the number of people affected are hard to come by, but government officials and experts agree that it is a growing problem. Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss wants to enforce a special health policy for employees in the information technology industry. "After working, they party for the rest of the time ... (They) have bad diet, excessive smoking and drinking," he said at a public meeting last month. "We don't want these young people to burn out."

The minister's comments have since infuriated the technology sector, which says it has been unfairly singled out for problems that also exist in other professions. The outsourcing industry has come under fire because the sedentary lifestyle ofits employees combined with often stressful working conditions makes them more vulnerable to heart disease, digestive problems and weight gain than others. Some complain of psychological distress.

Most call center jobs involve responding to phone calls through the night from customers in the United States and Europe -- some of whom can be angry and rude. It is monotonous and there is little meaningful personal interaction among co-workers. That can also be true of other jobs such as software writing and back-office work. "There are times when the stress is so overwhelming that they fail to cope with it. Then they come to us," said Archana Bisht who set up a counseling company, 1to1help.net, in Bangalore six years ago.

Her clientele has since grown to 25 companies -- seven of them were added in the past two months -- including such names as Intel Corp., IBM Corp., Hewlett Packard Co. and Mindtree Consulting Ltd. Each day, about 60 to 70 employees at these companies seek counseling from 1to1help.net. The complaints are many, but marital incompatibility and relationship issues top the list, Bisht said, often because the long, odd working hours means couples don't have much time together.

More women than men ask for help, she said. The outsourcing boom has created new employment opportunities for Indian women, but there has been little change in social expectations. Adding workplace demands to responsibilities at home, which often includes taking care of in-laws, leaves women workers with multiple stresses, Bisht said. Loneliness can also take a toll. "There is no social life," said Vats, who worked at night and either slept or watched television during these problems. The National Association of Software Services Companies, the main trade body of the outsourcing industry, said many of its member firms are already providing facilities like advice on health, gyms and money for regular checkups.

Companies like Infosys Technologies Ltd. have set up 24-hour help lines for counseling by psychologists, while others have tied up with companies like 1to1help.net. Some like HCL Technologies Ltd. have built daycare centers for children and routinely sponsor group outings by their employees. But the industry insists it would do nothing to impose any lifestyle on its employees. "We do not think it is for companies or for the government to interfere in the personal life of adult Indians," NASSCOM said in a statement. Also, there is little it can do to change the nighttime work hours of many outsourcing jobs. "The odd hours can play havoc with your health," said Vats. "I never got good sleep because everyone was up and getting ready to go to work when I got home ... Your diet goes for a toss. You get acidity, develop gastric problems."

Vats' weight has dropped to 214 pounds since leaving IBM Daksh two years ago. He's still overweight for his 5 feet 9 inch frame, but is much happier now working with a law firm for a much lower salary.

A recent survey by Dataquest magazine and technology consulting company IDC showed sleep disorders topped health complaints among outsourcing industry workers. About 32 percent of respondents complained of sleep disorders; 25 percent had digestive troubles; and 20 percent reported eyesight problems, said the survey, which covered 1,749 employees at 19 outsourcing companies. Yet, they would not talk about it openly. Several call center employees contacted by the Associated Press admitted to having many of these ailments, but they refused to be named or identify their employer. Sleep and digestive disorders, doctors say, can grow into bigger problems: hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.

Doctors say the rise in these diseases, alongside growing urbanization and fast-paced economic growth, is not surprising. But India's case is alarming because of the sheer number of people affected and the factors that make them vulnerable to these diseases, said Ravi Kasliwal, a cardiologist at New Delhi's Indraprastha Apollo Hospital. These include India's fat-rich diet, genetic factors make them highly vulnerable to diabetes, and abdominal obesity that gives rise to insulin resistance and heart disease.

"To top it all, there is lack of awareness," Kasliwal said. "One out of 10 persons aged 35 years or more in this country is prone to heart attack." Heart disease is projected to account for 35 percent of deaths among India's working age population between 2000 and 2030, Kasliwal said, citing a World Health Organization study. That number is about 12 percent for the United States, 22 percent for China and 25 percent for Russia.

"This is a very serious issue for this country," Kasliwal said. "But nobody wants to talk about.

(http://www.cnn.com/)

Foreign buyers snap up 2nd homes in US

By LESLIE WINES, AP Business WriterMon Dec 24, 1:10 PM ET

Panden Rota, a Nepalese producer of fine rugs, is about to become a Manhattanite, the owner of a sumptuous apartment in the luxurious downtown neighborhood of Battery Park City.

His primary residence will remain Katmandu, but his new home will allow him to spend more time at U.S. showrooms that display his rugs and with a brother and sister in New York. "I looked at many places and I decided that a Manhattan apartment will always hold its value," he said.

Rota is part of a growing wave of foreigners who buy second homes in the U.S. for work and play and as an investment.

Cosmopolitan cities like New York and Miami have long served as second homes for affluent and accomplished foreigners. But the trend is growing. One in five American realtors has sold a home to a foreign investor in the past year, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The events of 2007 have made the U.S. much more affordable for international home buyers. Severe dollar declines against the euro and pound have made U.S. homes much cheaper for Europeans. But even foreign buyers without that sort of currency advantage are benefiting from sharp drops in housing prices at a time when problems in mortgage lending are keeping many Americans out of the market.

At the same time, many foreign real estate markets, especially in Europe, have experienced sharp increases in home prices.

"There are markets like Paris and London and the South of France where some home values have gone up 100 percent," said Christian Voelkers of the Hamburg realtor Engel & Volkers Group. "At the same time, U.S. prices have either stayed put or come down."

Volkers' firm is eager to take advantage of this opportunity. Engel & Volkers, which caters to wealthy clients, plans to open 300 residential sales offices across the U.S. in the next few years. So far, it has offices in Florida, Connecticut and two in New York. The company said it is on track to open 30 more locations on the East Coast by the end of 2008.

The currency advantage is greatest for British citizens, given that each pound is worth well over $2. By contrast, the euro currently is worth about $1.45 while the Canadian dollar in recent weeks is hovering near parity with its U.S. counterpart.

"At this point the English are more actively looking in Manhattan than American buyers," said Ivan Hakimian of New York's Itzhaki Properties.

Mia Wilkinson, a transplanted Englishwoman who works for Rubloff Residential Properties in Chicago, deals often with British and other foreign executives transferred to the U.S. for a few years. "Before, people would stay in corporate rentals," she said. "But now these same people are turning around and buying properties."

Wilkinson, who has been in the U.S. six years, has bought property in Chicago herself.

The expansion of foreign real estate investment in the U.S. also means that areas that once were not popular with international buyers are now receiving interest. Doug Aitkin, who works for North Carolina's World Trade Center, said the Research Triangle area — comprising the cities of Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill — is now getting inquiries from French and Scandinavian home buyers, a new phenomenon.

Constantine Valhouli, a principal with Boston's Hammersmith Group, which advises real estate developers, said foreign home buying appears to have varied drivers in different cities. In Boston, property purchases by foreigners are strongly linked to the city's booming biotechnology and life sciences industries. In addition, Boston venture funds are drawing large numbers of German, Swiss and Irish workers, some of whom take advantage of favorable dollar rates against the euro to help buy some real estate.

Even some foreign students at Boston's large collection of colleges and universities are able to join the ranks of home buyers. "There are some Boston neighborhood where it makes sense for students to buy and some where it does not," Valhouli said. For instance, many one-bedroom apartments in attractive neighborhoods near the colleges rent for $1,300 to $1,800 a month, which equals the mortgage payment on a condo worth $200,000 to $300,000.

Similarly, Charlie Jefferson, a Philadelphia developer, was surprised when two units in a new development in the University City area, home to the University of Pennsylvania, were purchased by foreign students. "We had never seen that before," he said. "In the past we didn't see foreign students with that kind of money."

In Los Angeles, demand from wealthy South Koreans for attractive condo towers and mid-level rise buildings has helped revitalize the once forlorn downtown neighborhood, according to Johanna Gunther, a senior vice president with the Ryness Co. there. "Downtown has not been an attractive urban residential market until recently, but Korean demand has been a big factor in the change," she said. In recent years, the South Korean government has loosened restrictions on foreign exchange transactions, facilitating a large rise in Korean purchases of U.S. properties.

And Scottsdale's phlegmatic residential real estate market reportedly is getting a boost from Canadian buyers eager to enjoy Arizona's dry warm climate.

The National Association of Realtors found that 7.3 percent of the houses sold last year in Florida were sold to foreign buyers. Miami in particular is a magnet for buyers from throughout Latin America and Europe, helping to mitigate the fallout from the area's housing slump.

Despite the news waves of foreign buyers in many U.S. markets, few suggest international investors by themselves can entirely offset the nation's housing crisis, brought on by the failure of many subprime mortgage loans made to home buyers with weak credit histories. Hammersmith Group's Valhouli stressed that the fact that international investors are helping to prop up some troubled housing markets only emphasizes the level of stress in residential real estate.

"Relying on foreign real estate investors is fundamentally as risky as relying on subprime mortgages," he said, noting that both phenomena distort demand and can conceal the depths of the problem U.S. home buyers and sellers face. "Foreign buyers aren't going to save the U.S. housing market. They're just a temporary fix like a finger in the dike. Fundamentals matter."

(http://news.yahoo.com)

Vroom with a whew! Tatas set for motown debut

21 Dec 2007, 0052 hrs IST,TNN

WASHINGTON: When the patriarch Jamshedji Tata traveled to the United States in 1902, he visited many cities in the country’s rust belt, looking for technology for his proposed steel mill in India. But India's greatest business visionary searched for other opportunities too.

He went as far down as Georgia looking into the cotton industry, and in the north, he touched Michigan. There was only one reason he did not eye Motown and its most famous product. It wasn't even born. By the time the Ford T-model debuted in 1908, Tata had been dead four years.

Nearly a century later, Tata scions are poised to set right that historical missed opportunity by buying Ford's premier brand Jaguar and Land Rover, for an estimated $ 2 billion plus. The deal could be announced as early as Friday, various business media outlets are reporting, although Ford itself maintained a studied silence. But the natter in the auto industry is that the auto giant wants to get the deal out of the way before the Christmas holidays.

The world greatest automotive society is agog -- even horrified -- at the prospect of a Tata-owned Jaguar and Land Rover. Much of the debate has centered around Tata’s ability to handle luxury brands at a time there is great attention on its Rs 1 lakh car ($ 2500), whose January 10 debut is also the talk of the auto world.

How can Tatas own both the world's cheapest car and a luxury brand? For the record, Ford has announced that the latest model of the Jaguar 2009 XF sedan will go on sale March 1, 2008 at an MSRP of just under $50,000 with a standard V8 engine.

In contrast, Tata's $ 2500 scoop is less than the price of a Segway or some specialty bicycles sold in the US.

But if the Tata legacy is any indication, the US fears may be overstated. Tata's Indian Hotels run some of the world's finest luxury resorts.

During his 1902 visit to the US, the patriarch was so shocked by the condition in the American steel cities that he wrote to his son Dorab, who was handling the Jamshedpur project: "Be sure to lay wide streets planted with shady trees....Be sure there is plenty of space for lawns and gardens ...Reserve large areas for football, hockey and parks. Earmark areas for Hindu temples, Mohammedan mosques, and Christian churches."

Still, the image of India as a poor country incapable of making or marketing luxury brands persists -- perhaps for good reasons. One blogger wrote last week that "Instead of the Jaguar XK-R, we may soon see an XK-Vindaloo."

But early this week, as the inevitability of the Tata take over sunk in, another called the deal 'Gandhi's Revenge.'

"Family-run Tata certainly has the means, and the metal," Todd Lassa wrote on the Motor Trends website, referring to the Tata's acquisition of steel-maker Corus.

"For the Indians, owning these symbols of British civilisation is nothing less than poetic justice."

Ford has had a long and enduring relationship with India going back to pre-Independence days. Many Indian leaders of that era used Ford automobiles and there were Ford dealerships across India. The Ford patriarch, Henry Ford, exchanged correspondence with Mahatma Gandhi even though they were poles apart in their approach to life -- one a champion of the machine age and the other a fan of human labor.

Gandhi once sent Ford a "Charka" (a spinning wheel) as a gift. Little could Ford have foreseen that his scions would be turning over two luxury brands to an Indian company in return.

(http://timesofindia.com)

China blasts U.S. presidential hopeful for suggesting toy import ban

BEIJING, Dec. 20 KYODO

China on Thursday criticized U.S. presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama for suggesting he would ban Chinese toy imports if elected because of concerns over their safety.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the overwhelming majority of Chinese toys are safe and he indicated that any suggestion of an important ban is a complete overreaction.

(http://home.kyodo.co.jp)

Children who are allowed to go out unsupervised grow up to be healthier and more sociable, according to a new study.

WASHINGTON: Children who are allowed to go out unsupervised grow up to be healthier and more sociable, according to a new study.

The study, led by Professor Roger Mackett of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at the University College London, found that kids who are permitted to leave the house without an adult supervision are more active and enjoy a richer social life than those who are constantly supervised.

For the study, the team studied 330 pupils from two schools in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, all aged between 8 and 11. The children completed questionnaires, kept travel diaries, had their movements logged using GPS monitors and wore portable motion sensors to measure their speed of travel, changes in direction and the number of ‘activity calories’ they consumed.

“We asked children whether they were allowed out without an adult and then looked at where they go and how they behave. In general, children who aren’t constantly supervised tend to leave the house more often – exploring their surroundings, playing with other children and using up more calories than their sedentary, house-bound peers,” Prof Mackett said.

They found that children allowed out without adults were more active and burnt more calories than their constantly supervised peers.

The study also showed that children walk faster and take a more direct route when an adult is present, but they do not use more energy than unaccompanied children. This is because unsupervised children move in a more meandering fashion as they investigate their environment and socialise with other children.

The results indicated that access to local open space is a noteworthy factor in determining whether boys are allowed out of the house without an adult. 71 percent of those with access to open space were allowed out, compared to just 51 percent of those without such access.

The team also found that of the three types of activity monitored during the study (walking, unstructured play and participation in organised clubs), walking used up the most activity calories.

“Fears over road safety and ‘stranger danger’ need to be balanced against soaring levels of childhood obesity and poor health. Letting a child out to play is one of the best things a parent can do for their child’s physical health and personal development,” Prof Mackett said.

“Allowing children to leave the house without an accompanying adult has significant benefits, but we need to design and build environments that children feel comfortable in and that parents feel confident to let them use on their own. The health benefits are clear, but without action the less tangible benefits of increased independence, self-reliance and general ‘growing up’ are in danger of being lost,” he added.

The study is published in a special edition of the journal Built Environment .

(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

IBM's Employee Count in India 73,000 - up from 9000 in 2003

BOSTON: IBM Corp's expansion in developing countries shows no sign of relenting. The technology company revealed that it now has 73,000 employees in India, almost a 40 per cent leap from last year.

IBM did not provide updated figures for its work force in the US, which has held steady around 125,000 people in recent years.

Nor did IBM project its total head count. It had 355,766 employees worldwide at the end of 2006.

If the total has risen by the same rate as in 2006, almost one in five IBM workers now is in India, its second-largest center.

Like many other technology providers, IBM has rushed to take advantage of the lower labour costs India offers even for highly skilled workers. IBM's base in India numbered only 9,000 people in 2003, but it was about 53,000 last year.

IBM has been stressing not only the lower expense of working in India but the potential of the Indian market. IBM executives said that the company expected to see revenue from the Indian market jump to nearly $1 billion this year, from $700 million in 2006.

Armonk, NY-based IBM is also ramping up in other key developing markets. Its chairman and chief executive, Sam Palmisano, recently formed a new organisation that will spur IBM's investment in emerging economies.

The plan is meant to capitalise on the higher growth rates in the so-called “BRIC” countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. IBM's revenue from these countries rose 18 per cent in the first three quarters of this year, even after discounting the benefit of currency fluctuations.

IBM's total employee count in these countries now is nearly 100,000, up from 70,000 a year ago.

IBM's vice president of financial management, Jesse J Greene Jr, would not forecast how much more hiring the company still might do in emerging markets.

However, he said “we see continuing good stability in the BRIC countries in general and good opportunity for growth in these countries as well.”

(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

Conservative wins S Korea presidency

From correspondents in Seoul

December 20, 2007 05:10am

LEE Myung-Bak won South Korea's presidential election by a landslide overnight, as voters backed the former Hyundai chief executive to revive the economy and disregarded fraud allegations against him.

Mr Lee's two closest rivals conceded defeat to the opposition conservative candidate, whose victory ends a decade of left-leaning rule.

Official results with 89 per cent of the vote counted gave him 48.2 per cent to his closest challenger's 26.7 per cent, the biggest victory margin in the nation's democratic history.

"Dear people, today you gave me overwhelming support," the Grand National Party (GNP) candidate said in brief comments to the electorate after a rapturous welcome at party HQ.

"I will serve you politely and humbly...I will do my best to revive the country's economy which is facing a crisis."

Mr Lee's nearest rival, Chung Dong-Young of the liberal pro-government United New Democratic Party, and right-wing independent Lee Hoi-Chang conceded defeat.

"I humbly accept the people's choice," said Mr Chung, who seemed close to tears.

Koreans grappling with high youth unemployment, an ever-widening income gap and soaring property prices gave the candidate whose slogan was "Economy First!" the unprecedented mandate despite a looming fraud investigation.

GNP headquarters erupted with joy when exit polls flashed on a screen. Officials and supporters hugged each other, wept and yelled "Hurrah!"

Thousands of others celebrated in the streets in near-zero temperatures, chanting "Lee Myung-Bak!" setting off firecrackers and cheering and dancing.

Mr Lee, who turned 66 on polling day, will be the nation's first leader from a business background and the first president-elect to face a criminal inquiry.

He will be inaugurated on February 25 to replace incumbent Roh Moo-Hyun, who congratulated his successor on his victory.

State prosecutors cleared Mr Lee early this month of involvement in a 2001 share-rigging fraud involving his former business partner, an issue which had dogged his campaign.

But apparent new video evidence surfaced on Monday of Mr Lee's past connection to a firm linked to the scandal, prompting rivals in parliament to vote for an inquiry by an independent prosecutor.

Media reports said the prosecutor may report just before the inauguration but most voters were clearly willing to accept the awkward situation.

"I saw the video clip but I don't care about anything else but my livelihood," said a small restaurant owner who gave his name as Han. "My business is so bad these days."

Despite the share scandal, in which Mr Lee strongly denies involvement, many see him as having the best background to boost the economy.

The man once nicknamed the "bulldozer" rose from childhood poverty to become a Hyundai construction executive and mayor of Seoul, where he pushed through an ambitious and hugely popular waterway beautification scheme.

Mr Lee's "747" campaign pledge aims to achieve seven percent growth, increase per capita income to $US40,000 ($46,606.47) and make South Korea the world's seventh largest economy by encouraging market forces.

"I know many people are now in a difficult situation," he told cheering supporters in a televised message.

"I will solve their problems... I will show you that we can do anything if we all work together."

Apart from the economy, Mr Lee promises a firmer line on North Korea, accusing the Roh government of pampering the communist state with unconditional aid. He said he would offer it massive help but strictly tied to denuclearisation.

"The election outcome was amazing," Sungkyunkwan University political science professor Kim Il-Young said.

Prof Kim said Mr Lee might have benefited from the lowest ever turnout in a Korean presidential election of 62.9 per cent.

"The disclosure of the video claim prompted conservative voters to band together while many liberal voters gave up and did not vote," Prof Kim said.

"The outcome reflected widespread public despair at President Roh's administration."

(http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph)

Research Request #5 (U.S. Prison Population Sets Record)

Associated Press
Friday, December 1, 2006; Page A03

A record 7 million people -- one in every 32 U.S. adults -- were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of last year, a Justice Department report released yesterday shows.

Of those, 2.2 million were in prison or jail, an increase of 2.7 percent over the previous year, according to the report.

More than 4.1 million people were on probation and 784,208 were on parole at the end of 2005. Prison releases are increasing, but admissions are increasing more.

Men still far outnumber women in prisons and jails, but the female population is growing faster. Over the past year, the female population in state or federal prison increased 2.6 percent and the number of male inmates rose 1.9 percent. By year's end, 7 percent of inmates were women. The gender figures do not include inmates in local jails.

"Misguided policies that create harsher sentences for nonviolent drug offenses are disproportionately responsible for the increasing rates of women in prisons and jails," Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based group that supports criminal justice reform, said in a statement....

(http://www.washingtonpost.com)

Is India Bad for Jaguar?

Friday, Dec. 14, 2007 By SIMON ROBINSON/NEW DELHI

The Orient Express Hotel Chain's Hotel Cipriani in Venice; a Jaguar XF

Orient Express Hotels; Jaguar

India likes to trumpet its corporate successes, and this week the emerging global power had plenty to shout about with the appointment of Indian-born Vikram Pandit to head troubled financial giant Citigroup. But even as it celebrated, India Inc. was also up in arms over perceived slights to its ability to run two of the world's most prestigious brands.

India's currency comes of age, spurring complaints among exporters and bringing cheer to wealthy globetrotters

First, a group of U.S. Jaguar dealers said they opposed the possibility that Ford, Jaguar's owner, might sell the British luxury car brand to an Indian firm. Two of the three firms that Ford has shortlisted as potential purchasers are Indian: Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors. The dealers said that the sale to an Indian company would hurt Jaguar's image. "I don't believe the U.S. public is ready for ownership out of India of a luxury car make," Ken Gorin, chairman of the Jaguar Business Operations Council, told the Wall Street Journal. "And I believe it would severely throw a tremendous cast of doubt over the viability of the brand."

A few days later Indian Hotels, which owns the luxury Taj hotel chain and is itself a branch of the Tata empire, was told its overtures to New York Stock Exchange-listed luxury hotel and cruise firm Orient-Express were unwelcome — and potentially damaging. Indian Hotels recently upped its stake in Orient-Express to 11.5%. But Orient-Express CEO Paul White, in a letter to Indian Hotels Vice-Chairman R. K. Krishna Kumar, wrote that "any association of our luxury brands and properties with your brands and properties would result in a reduction of our brands and of our business and would likely lead to erosion."

Indian Hotels' Kumar told TIME that his first reaction upon receiving the letter "was that Paul White could not possibly have drafted [it]... I came to the conclusion that the person who drafted this letter needs counseling." Indian Hotels, he said, had proposed a friendly partnership in which each company would take an equity stake in the other, share expertise but remain independent. "At no time did we moot the the idea of a merger," Kumar says. White's letter, he says, "will go down as one of the most uncivilized exchanges of views between two companies in the 21st century." Its sentiments, Kumar says, reflect "an era that is now prehistoric."

Many Indians shared Kumar's sense of outrage. Commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath warned that, "There cannot be any discrimination against outward investment from India." In an era of globalization, he said, "trade and investment [is] a two-way street." Industrialist Venugopal Dhoot, who heads the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, told the Press Trust of India that Orient-Express had shown "arrogance toward one of India's most respected business houses." The discriminatory tone of Orient-Express's letter was "close to racism, barely camouflaged in the language of branding," opined an angry editorial (entitled "Racism Can't Halt Indian Takeovers") in India's Economic Times. The days of "white supremacy are disappearing rapidly, and white brand value with it," the piece went on. "When Arab financiers are needed to rescue Citigroup, notions of white cachet seem ludicrous."

Both Orient-Express and Jaguar's Gorin emphasize that their judgments were based on business strategy alone. Gorin told the Wall Street Journal that his sentiments also applied to a Chinese company buying Jaguar and should not be read as a judgment on Mahindra or Tata's management abilities. "My concern is perception," he said. "And perception is reality." Pippa Isbell, an Orient-Express spokesperson, says that "our letter was purely based on business rationale." Orient-Express, she says, owns properties around the world, and the company's decision to decline a closer relationship with Indian Hotels "is not related to the fact that the company is Indian but is based entirely on the rationale that their dominant business in India is not a strategic fit with our business."

To be sure, the image of a luxury brand requires delicate and careful grooming. And while Tata and other Indian manufacturers could soon be world beaters in producing ultra cheap cars, their track record in running a luxury auto brand is untested. At the same time, however, America's Ford has not exactly made a great success of Jaguar over the past few years: that's one reason the company is selling it. And when it comes to hotels, the Taj chain owns, among its wide range of properties, some of the most luxurious hotels in the world. It is also expanding: in the past few years it has snapped up properties in Boston, Manhattan and San Francisco. "It would be very easy for us to make an open offer [for Orient-Express]," says Kumar. "Except for our own restraint."

Indeed, if history is any guide, Indian companies take rebuttal as a challenge. When British-based Indian-born businessman Lakshmi Mittal first bid for French steel maker Arcelor last year, the company's French CEO said he was horrified by the idea of an Indian taking over, likening Mittal Steel to eau de Cologne and Arcelor to perfume. Within months, Mittal had won out. A century earlier, when Tata founder Jamsetji Tata suggested making steel for the colonial railway system, a British administrator dismissed the idea with barely concealed contempt. Earlier this year, Tata paid almost $14 billion to buy Corus, British Steel's successor. The moral of that story is not lost on India's corporate captains. They say that Western companies had better get used to the idea of Indians taking over.

(http://www.time.com)

Russia delivers first nuclear fuel to Iran

By Reuters, December 17

Iran will not halt uranium enrichment even with delivery of fuel from Russia for its first nuclear power plant, a senior Iranian official said on Monday, adding he could not yet confirm Iran had received the fuel.

The Russian state agency building the station said in a statement on Monday it had delivered the first fuel shipment for the Bushehr plant. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the move would create the conditions for Iran to suspend enrichment....

(http://ft.com)

A Health-Insurance Solution

By Merrill Mathews, The Wall Street Journal
December 12, 2007; Page A18

Why can't people living in New Jersey buy health insurance available to residents of, say, Pennsylvania?

Rep. John Shadegg, an Arizona Republican, thinks they should -- and today will reintroduce legislation to make that possible.

The Health Care Choice Act would allow residents in one state to buy health insurance that is available in and regulated by another state. If enacted, the law would create a competitive, 50-state market for health insurance, likely making it cheaper. It would do this without imposing a large cost on taxpayers and without creating a new government bureaucracy.

This should be a no-brainer for Congress. But a few years ago, Mr. Shadegg went looking for a Democratic cosponsor for his bill. He found one who initially signed on, then withdrew under pressure from Democratic House leaders who wanted to dismiss the Shadegg bill with the excuse that it lacked bipartisan support.

The health-insurance market can be divided into three segments. The first consists of mostly large employers, with self-funded plans, and are regulated by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and thus not subject to state regulation. The two remaining segments of the health-insurance market are heavily regulated by states: those that serve small-group plans (typically covering two to 50 people), and individuals who pay for their own insurance. Mr. Shadegg's bill only applies to the individual market.

Because regulations vary from state to state, the cost of health insurance for these last two segments of the insurance market vary widely. Some states ensure that residents have access to a wide range of affordable policies. Others -- New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, for instance -- have all but destroyed their individual health-insurance markets with over-regulation.

One of the most expensive state-level regulations is "guaranteed issue," which requires insurers to sell insurance to anyone willing to buy it, regardless of their health, or other factors that may make it much more expensive to cover them. New Jersey, for example, enacted guaranteed issue in 1994. At the time, a family policy could be purchased in the state for as little as $463 a month or as much as $1,076, depending on which of the 14 participating insurers a family chose. Now there are just 10 insurance companies offering plans in the state and the cost has soared to $1,726 per month on the low end and $14,062 on the high end.

In New Jersey then, residents who buy their own insurance have to pay at least $20,000 a year for the cheapest family policy. Meanwhile, in neighboring Pennsylvania similar health-insurance policies cost a third of what they cost in New Jersey. What Mr. Shadegg wants to do is to let New Jersey residents buy what's now for sale in Pennsylvania.

Mandates are another reason the cost of health insurance varies from state to state. States impose those mandates on what an insurance plan must cover -- such as chiropractic care or mental-health services. The Council for Affordable Health Insurance, which tracks mandates, estimates that there are more than 1,900 state mandates nationwide. These mandates can increase the cost of health insurance by as much as 50%, which can then force residents in many states to decide between "Cadillac coverage" -- insurance that covers nearly everything and costs a mini fortune -- or no coverage at all.

Typically, state mandates are justified by the belief that they make health insurance more comprehensive. But consider this: Idaho has just 14 state mandates, the fewest in the nation, while Minnesota, with 63, has the most. Yet, the people of Idaho aren't dying in the streets for lack of mandates.

Critics of the Health Care Choice Act claim that it would limit the ability of states to protect their residents. The assertion is that cross-state health-insurance purchases are a risky experiment. In truth, millions of people already have access to health insurance across state lines. Employees of large companies with plans covered by ERISA are one example.

But there are others. Some small businesses cover employees working across state lines. And, because people are mobile, some people buy individual insurance in one state and then end up moving to another. In many cases, they can take their health-insurance policies with them. A person living in Pennsylvania with an individual policy now could retain that policy even if he moved to New Jersey. Premiums would likely increase, but they would be cheaper than if he had started out with a New Jersey policy.

If states are worried about losing regulatory control over health insurance, they might try making their regulations competitive with other states. Health insurers would likely respond by returning and offering a wide range of affordable policies. As it stands, many states are "protecting" their residents right into the uninsured camp.

The Health Care Choice Act won't solve every problem. But it would increase competition and consumer choices currently denied to residents in many states.

Mr. Matthews is executive director of the Council for Affordable Health Insurance and a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation.

URL for this article:
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119742880091722751.html)

First major increase by Congress in required automobile fuel efficiency in 32 years

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 6 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Senate passed a trimmed-back energy bill Thursday that would bring higher-gas mileage cars and SUVs into showrooms in the coming decade and fill their tanks with ethanol.

The measure was approved with strong bipartisan support 86-8 after Democrats abandoned efforts to impose billions of dollars in new taxes on the biggest oil companies, unable by one vote to overcome a Republican filibuster against the new taxes.

The bill now goes to the House, where a vote is expected next week. The White House issued a statement saying President Bush will sign the legislation if it reaches his desk, as is expected. Bush had promised a veto if the oil industry taxes were not removed.

The bill calls for the first major increase by Congress in required automobile fuel efficiency in 32 years, something the auto companies have fought for two decades.

The car companies will have to achieve an industrywide average 35 mile per gallon for cars, small trucks and SUVs over the next 13 years, an increase of 10 mpg over what the entire fleet averages today.

And it would boost use of ethanol to 36 billion gallons a year by 2022, a nearly sixfold increase, and impose an array of new requirements to promote efficiency in appliances, lighting and buildings.

This bill "will begin to reverse our addiction to oil. It's a step to fight global warming," said Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

The increased auto efficiency by 2020 will save 1.1 million barrels of oil a day, equal to half the oil now imported from the Persian Gulf, save consumers $22 billion at the pump, and reduce annual greenhouse gases emissions by 200 million tons, said Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii., whose committee crafted the measure.

"It demonstrates to the world that America is a leader in fighting global warming," he said.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., a longtime protector of the auto industry that is so important to his state, called the fuel economy measure "ambitious but achievable."

For consumers, the legislation will mean that over the next dozen years auto companies will likely build more diesel-powered SUVs and gas-electric hybrid cars as well as vehicles that can run on 85 percent ethanol. They will push engineers to develop new technologies to save fuel.

"Automakers can meet the new standards with today's technology," said David Friedman, research director at the Union of Concerned Scientists Clean Vehicle Program. "Cars and trucks will be the same size and perform the same way they do today."

But they may be using a different fuel.

The energy legislation would require that ethanol use as a motor fuel be ramped up at an unprecedented pace to 36 billion gallons a year by 2022. And at least 21 billion gallons will have to be ethanol from feedstock other than corn such as prairie grasses, switchgrass and wood chips.

About 6.5 billion gallons of ethanol were expected to be used as a gasoline additive this year, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, which represents ethanol producers.

The legislation also would increase energy efficiency requirements for appliances and federal and commercial buildings and require faster approval of federal energy efficiency standards.

These measures, said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., "will eventually save more energy than all our previous energy efficiency measures combined."

Tax breaks for a wide range of clean energy industries, including wind, solar, biomass and carbon capture from coal plants, were part of the tax package that was dropped. Senate Democrats earlier also abandoned a House-passed provision that would have required investor-owned utilities nationwide to generate 15 percent of their electricity from solar, wind and other renewable sources.

While many environmentalists viewed almost certain approval of the automobile fuel economy increase as a major victory, some were critical Thursday of the Democrats' inability to push through taxes on major oil companies, which have been making huge profits in recent years.

"The Senate Democrats should show some backbone," said Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth. "If Republicans want to block progress on clean energy and global warming, they should be forced to mount a real filibuster — for weeks if necessary."

Republicans had made it clear they would require the Democrats to find 60 votes on the oil taxes and the White House had said repeatedly the $13.5 billion in taxes on the five largest oil companies over 10 years would assure a veto.

On the 59-40 vote that failed to overcome a GOP filibuster, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., whose state's economy is dominated by oil and energy activities, was the only Democrat to break ranks. Nine Republicans supported the tax measures.

The White House has said the taxes would lead to higher energy costs and unfairly single out the oil industry for punishment. A Democratic analysis showed that the $13.5 billion over 10 years amounted to 1.1 percent of the net profits that five largest oil companies would be expected to earn given today's oil prices.

(http://news.yahoo.com)

China's ship building poses big challenge: Top US admiral

14 Dec 2007, 0545 hrs IST,AFP

WASHINGTON: The chief of the US naval operations expressed concern on Thursday about competition from China's flourishing ship building sector, while a lawmaker said that it could soon be building more warships that the United States.

"The fact that our shipbuilding capacity and industry is not as competitive as other builders around the world is cause for concern," Admiral Gary Roughead told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.

Singling out China, he said: "They are very competitive on the world market. There is no question that their ship building capability is increasing rapidly."

Republican lawmaker Duncan Hunter told the hearing that China was turning out 5,000 commercial ships a year, against 300 by the United States, and an average of three submarines a year, to the United States' one.

China is also producing nearly five times as much steel as the United States, he said - some 480 million tons a year.

"All that is giving them the industrial base that could allow the Chinese naval capability to outstrip the United States if they turn that commercial ship building capability into warship-building capability," Hunter said.

Roughead added: "I believe that not in a distant future they will likely surpass Korea as the prominent ship builder in the world."

(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

AMT: House passes fix, Senate likely to kill.

AMT: House passes fix, Senate likely to kill.

The move is a protest of the recently passed Senate bill, which doesn't offer provisions to pay for the protection of 21 million from the 'wealth' tax.

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer

December 12 2007: 7:05 PM EST

... Bottom Line ...

Since 2001, Congress has temporarily increased income exemption levels. The last "patch" - for 2006 - put the exemption levels at $62,550 for joint filers and $42,250 for single filers. The bill passed by the House calls for an increase in those levels to $66,250 and $44,350, respectively.

Without a patch, the 2007 exemption amounts will fall to $45,000 for joint filers and $33,750 for single filers.

Research Request #4 - Oil Prices Jump on Inventories, Fed

AP
Oil Prices Jump on Inventories, Fed
Wednesday December 12, 3:37 pm ET

By John Wilen, AP Business Writer

Crude Futures Spike After Energy Department Reports Supplies Fell, Fed Announces Credit Plan

NEW YORK (AP) -- Energy futures rose sharply Wednesday after the government reported unexpected declines in supplies of crude and heating oil last week and the Federal Reserve announced a plan to help banks weather the credit crisis.

Crude supplies fell 700,000 barrels during the week ended Dec. 7, according to a weekly inventory report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration. Analysts had expected a 100,000 barrel increase.

And supplies of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, fell 800,000 barrels; analysts had expected inventories to rise by 300,000 barrels.

"Traders are concerned about that drop in distillate supplies," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp., in Chicago.

Earlier, the Fed said it was working with other central banks to try to counter the credit crisis. That alleviated some of investors' disappointment that the Fed on Tuesday cut interest rates by just a quarter percentage point. Many investors had hoped for a larger half-point cut.

"Anything the Fed is doing to help out is going to support oil prices," said Brad Samples, commodities analyst at Summit Energy Services Inc. in Louisville, Ky.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose $4.37 to settle at $94.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and January heating oil futures jumped 12.02 cents to settle at $2.6432 a gallon.

It was crude's highest close since Nov. 27....

(http://biz.yahoo.com/ap)

Wall Street Bonus for Year 2007 (to be updated daily)

		Wall Street Bonus for Year 2007
		(Pay, Restricted Stocks etc)
12/12/2007		Goldman Sachs	Lloyd Blankfein	$70	(http://ft.com)
12/12/2007		Lehman Brothers	Dick Fuld	$41	(http://ft.com)

Beijing lectures US on weak dollar

Beijing lectures US on weak dollar

By Richard McGregor in Xianghe

Published: December 12 2007 07:23 | Last updated: December 12 2007 20:20

Beijing turned the tables on the US on Wednesday after years of criticism from Washington of its handling of the Chinese economy, warning of the serious global implications of the weak dollar, recent US interest rate cuts and the subprime crisis.

Beijing highlighted US economic problems at the opening of a twice-yearly meeting between ministers from both countries ...

(http://ft.com)

Poll: Economy outpaces war on list of voters' worries

My Comment -

"Its not the Economy Silly, Its Education, Energy, and Emergency Health Care"

updated 6:22 p.m. EST, Tue December 11, 2007

From Bill Schneider
CNN senior political analyst

DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) -- The 2004 election was about terrorism. The 2006 election was about Iraq.

As the stock market continues to suffer losses, the economy is now the top issue in the presidential race.

What's the big issue going to be for 2008?

Remember "the economy, stupid"? That was in 1992 -- the last time the U.S. had an economic election. Another Bush, another Clinton, and that year the nation experienced an economic downturn.

Now, for the first time in more than four years, a majority of Americans, 57 percent, believe the nation is in a recession, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Tuesday.

The poll's margin of error on that question was plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

The economy is now the biggest issue in the presidential campaign. Twenty-nine percent of poll respondents said the economy was their top issue, compared with 23 percent who listed the Iraq war -- a reversal from October's results, when 28 percent listed the war and 22 percent pointed to the economy.

Rounding out the list of top five issues, health care was the top issue for 20 percent of respondents, illegal immigration was the most important issue for 14 percent and terrorism was the key issue for 10 percent.

The poll's margin of error on the top issues was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Is the economy really that bad? Democrats say yes.

"I'd describe the economy as kind of a trap door where you're one medical diagnosis or a pink slip or a missed mortgage payment away from dropping through and losing everything," said Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, the front-runner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Republicans prefer to look at the big picture.

"What country has had more success in creating a society of fairness and decency, in creating a society in which people move out of poverty, in which people have social mobility, have a chance to succeed?" said former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, one of the leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination.

Undoubtedly true, but what about gas prices, home foreclosures, lagging wages and stock market jitters?

Can Republicans look to national security to save them? Terrorism -- Giuliani's issue -- ranks fifth in importance out of five issues right now.

The security situation in Iraq may be improving, although that, too, is in dispute.

"The senator from New York, Sen. Clinton, said, quote, 'I would have to suspend disbelief in order to believe that the surge is working,' " said Sen. John McCain of Arizona, another Republican presidential hopeful. "Well, anyone today would have to suspend disbelief to not believe that the surge is working."

But there's no evidence of any increase in public support for the war in Iraq. According to the poll, 69 percent, the highest number yet, want to withdraw some or all U.S. troops.

There's been some good news about Iran. A National Intelligence Estimate finds that Iran may have halted its nuclear weapons program for the time being.

But that news may not do Republicans much good. Nearly half of Americans, 54 percent, believe the Bush administration deliberately misled them about whether Iran was attempting to develop nuclear weapons. The poll's margin of error on that question was plus-or-minus 4.5 percent.

President Bush's job approval is 32 percent. No wonder Republicans as well as Democrats are trying to run as agents of change.

(http://www.cnn.com)