Politics this week: 6th - 12th January 2007

In a speech broadcast on American television, George Bush outlined a new military plan for Iraq, involving an increase of more than 20,000 troops, in an effort to stem the current sectarian bloodbath, especially in Baghdad. The Democrats grumbled, but it is unlikely they will use their congressional majority to try to scupper the plan. See article

Mr Bush also made some personnel changes and nominated Mike McConnell, a former head of the National Security Agency, as the director of national intelligence. Mr McConnell replaces John Negroponte, who is moving to the State Department as Condoleezza Rice's deputy. See article

Also appointed was a new White House counsel to replace Harriet Miers. Fred Fielding was a deputy counsel during the Watergate scandal and was once, wrongly, thought to be “Deep Throat”.

Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a radical shake-up of California's health-care system, presenting a $12 billion blueprint that requires Californians to have health insurance and provides help to those on low income to achieve that goal. The governor said his plan was intended to control some of the spiralling health-care costs that California, like most other states, is facing. See article

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed legislation raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. The bill must still be approved by the Senate and signed by the president.

The hunt goes on

America launched air strikes against Islamist fighters fleeing from the advance of government and Ethiopian troops in southern Somalia. Scores of Somali civilians were reported to have been killed. See article

Khaled Meshal, the overall leader of Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian movement which governs the West Bank and Gaza, hinted that he might recognize Israel at some point, should a Palestinian state be established on the 1967 ceasefire lines. “It is true that in reality there will be an entity or state called Israel on the rest of Palestinian land,” he said.

Nigeria's government said it lost $4.4 billion in oil revenues last year because of an increasing number of kidnappings and assaults on oil installations in the Niger Delta region. In the latest incident, nine South Koreans were seized from an energy facility; five Chinese, kidnapped last week, are still missing.

Sudan's government and rebel groups in Darfur agreed to a 60-day ceasefire leading up to a peace summit to be hosted by the African Union. The breakthrough came after talks between Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, and Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico who is a former American ambassador to the UN.

Wake up, Europe

Belarus canceled a transit tax on Russian oil. The tax, imposed after Russia doubled the price of gas supplies to Belarus, had prompted Russia to shut down a main oil pipeline to European Union countries, causing renewed alarm about Russia's reliability as an energy supplier. See article

In a step towards a common European energy policy, the European Commission unveiled a plan for EU members to cut greenhouse gases by 20% by 2020. The plan stresses renewable sources of energy, with all new power stations to be “carbon neutral”. See article

Stanislaw Wielgus, about to be installed as Roman Catholic archbishop of Warsaw, resigned after admitting collaborating with Poland's communist-era secret police. The dean of Cracow's cathedral resigned for similar reasons, adding to the Vatican's embarrassment. See article

Prosecutors in Sweden began an inquiry into share options given to Carl Bildt, the country's foreign minister (and former prime minister), when he was on the board of a firm linked to Russia's Gazprom. Mr Bildt says the shares, which he sold for $690,000, were a legitimate reward.

Austria's two main parties formed a coalition government, three months after the election. The Social Democrat's leader, Alfred Gusenbauer, becomes chancellor.

Looking backwards

Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chávez, began a new six-year term in office by saying he would nationalize the telecoms and electricity industries and take other measures to accelerate his country's transformation into a socialist state. The main telephone and electricity companies are controlled by American firms; officials indicated that they would receive compensation. See article

Daniel Ortega, the leader of the left-wing Sandinistas, was sworn in as president of Nicaragua. He pledged good relations with the United States, which in the 1980s backed guerrillas trying to oust Mr Ortega's government, as well as with Venezuela and Cuba. See article

During a riot at an overcrowded prison in El Salvador 21 inmates were killed by members of a youth gang. More than 2,000 members of the security forces later regained control of the prison.

A former government minister in Colombia who was kidnapped by FARC guerrillas in 2000 managed to escape from his captors during a military operation.

Election woes

A state of emergency was declared in Bangladesh, after weeks of violent protests. An alliance of political parties is calling for electoral reform or the postponement of the general election due on January 22nd. The alliance claims the election would be rigged.

Bombings and shootings in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam killed some 70 migrant workers from other Indian states. The attacks were blamed on the United Liberation Front of Asom, a separatist insurgency. See article

America presented a draft resolution to the UN Security Council calling for political reform in Myanmar. The draft argues that Myanmar poses serious risks to peace and security in the region.

Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, arrived in China for talks with his counterpart, Wen Jiabao. China has signaled it wants a greater role in the Middle East. Mr Olmert asked China to support tougher measures against Iran unless it halts work on its nuclear program. See article

Chinese officials acknowledged that China is failing to meet its own targets for improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions. One called 2006 the grimmest year for China's environment.

Click here to here to read the original political news summary and relevant pictures from Economist.com

Business this week: 6th - 12th January 2007

George Bush and Susan Schwab, America's trade chief, met José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, and Peter Mandelson, the European Union's trade commissioner, at the White House in an effort to push forward the stalled Doha round of trade negotiations. No new offers overcame the sticking points of American farm subsidies or European agricultural tariffs, but trade officials promised to continue talking. See article

US Airways increased the value of its bid to buy Delta Air Lines by 20%, to $10.2 billion, putting pressure on Delta's creditors to accept the offer. Delta's management rejected US Airways' initial advance last November, deciding to stick with a bankruptcy restructuring plan instead.

The next big thing

Apple held the annual jamboree designed to show off its new products. The highlight was the unveiling of the touch-screen iPhone, which Steve Jobs, the company's chief executive, claimed would revolutionize the mobile-communications industry just as the iPod changed the music industry. The share prices of some of Apple's putative competitors suffered. See article

Motorola's share price slipped further following last week's profit warning, which analysts blamed on the low profit margins to be had from the company's bestselling range of RAZR ultra-thin mobile phones.

The battle for the market in high-definition DVDs moved to new ground when LG Electronics introduced the first machine capable of playing both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. Consumer-electronics firms and film studios have had to choose between the two formats, making consumers uncertain which one will triumph and causing them to delay buying new players.

Eastman Kodak said it would sell its medical-imaging unit, which traces its roots back to 1896 (soon after the discovery of X-rays), to a division of Canada's Onex conglomerate. The deal, worth up to almost $2.6 billion, is part of the photography company's strategy to refocus its business. It has made eight consecutive quarterly losses.

Out of fashion

Gap's share price rose by more than 7% amid speculation that its review of “brand strategies” might lead to the sale or break-up of the company, which owns the Old Navy label. The review was disclosed last week by Gap's boss when he reported poor sales leading up to Christmas.

Express Scripts filed a lawsuit with the intent of blocking Caremark's acceptance of a merger with CVS. Express Scripts has offered $26 billion for Caremark (both companies manage pharmacy services for consumers and health-care firms), but Caremark says a lower bid from CVS, America's biggest retail-drug chain, provides less risk. A merger with Caremark is attractive because of the extra weight it will bring to price negotiations with drugs firms.

China National Offshore Oil Corporation agreed to invest in a $5.5 billion Indonesian biofuels project, thought to be one of the world's largest. The state-owned company is looking for energy sources that could one day ease China's reliance on oil and coal. However, the news was not welcomed by environmentalists worried about the rainforest that will be cleared to make way for crops needed to produce the biofuels.

France's stockmarket regulator gave François Pinault, a retail and luxury-goods tycoon, a deadline of February 2nd to make a firm offer for Suez, a French utility company which is in the midst of a messy merger with Gaz de France.

NYSE Group and three other foreign investors, including Goldman Sachs, acquired a combined stake of 20% (of 5% each) in India's biggest stockmarket, the National Stock Exchange. The move by the operator of the New York Stock Exchange underscores the trend toward consolidation among bourses. Under new rules, the Indian government allows foreign investors to take combined stakes of up to 49% of the country's stock exchanges.

In a decision that took markets by surprise, the Bank of England raised its key interest rate by one-quarter of a percentage point to 5.25%. Britain's inflation rate has recently crept up to its highest level in a decade. See article

Bulging fuel inventories in America on the back of mild winter weather helped to dampen the price of oil, which fell below $53. See article

Too much of a good thing

The price of copper continued to fall sharply (the metal's price has dropped by some 10% since the start of the year). Copper almost doubled its value last year, but supplies have been steadily storing up as the demand from automakers and homebuilders in America has tapered off.

Click here to read the original business news summary from The Economist

Get the government out of our mail!

I can't believe how far the George Bush administration has gone to suppress privacy laws and constitutional rights in the name of hunting down "terrorists". The situation is starting to resemble something out of a George Orwell story, yet so few people seem to really care about the general erosion of freedom from government interference - ironically, a central tenet of conservatism.

In yet another power grab that whittles away our rights without a plausible justification, President Bush has given the government expanded authority to read our mail.

This White House has long signaled that it will do what it wants in the name of national security, laws be damned. It has reserved the government’s right to detain and even torture suspects without due process, and has asserted for itself wide latitude to electronically eavesdrop on Americans without obtaining search warrants.

So perhaps it should surprise no one that Bush would add a “signing statement” to a postal-reform bill passed by Congress that suggests the new law allows the opening of mail that would be “otherwise sealed against inspection” for broadly defined security purposes.

Once again, the White House attempted to downplay the significance of a signing statement, insisting the president was not trying to exert any new authority. Instead, the Bush spinners said the purpose of the signing statement was to reiterate current law, which clearly does allow postal authorities to open a package suspected of containing a ticking time bomb — the example of choice for those trying to pooh-pooh the concerns. Also, before the administration tries to trot out a red herring about wanting to intercept “letters from al Qaeda” without delay, it has every opportunity to do so under current law — and could then apply for a warrant after the fact.

Bush has added hundreds of similarly substantive “signing statements” to legislation he has approved during his presidency. Some of his statements have unilaterally weakened, or in some cases even overturned, the intent of a bill passed by Congress. His signing statements have tempered congressional attempts to outlaw torture, limit political meddling in scientific research, protect whistle-blowers and recruit women and minorities into the intelligence services.

Before Bush took office, presidential signing statements were relatively rare and mostly limited to expressions of how an administration planned to carry out the stated intent of Congress — not significant changes in policy.

In this case, the signing statement appears to weaken the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act’s reiteration of basic protections of first-class mail from searches without court approval.

If the Bush administration believes those protections are excessive in this era of terrorism — a highly dubious argument, considering the latitude in the law to inspect packages of suspicious nature or origin — then it had every opportunity to raise its concerns and to propose modifications while the bill was being aired on Capitol Hill.

“Just trust us,” seems to be the operative phrase of this administration.

However, history has shown the potential for government abuses in the absence of strong mail-privacy laws. Bush continues to roll back the clock — and the Constitution — with his signing statements.

Click here to read the original editorial from the San Francisco Chronicle

Telcos block access to YouTube in Brazil

Talk about throwing out the baby with the bathwater...

SAO PAULO - Telecommunications companies in Brazil began blocking access to YouTube on Monday after a Brazilian model sued to get the popular video sharing service to remove footage of her having sex from its Web site.

Last week, a court in Sao Paulo state ordered phone companies that provide Internet service in Brazil to block YouTube until it removed the video.

Daniela Cicarelli, a model and ex-wife of soccer star Ronaldo, and her boyfriend, Renato Malzoni Filho, sued YouTube and demanded $116,00 in damages for each day the video, which apparently showed them having sex on a Spanish beach, remained on the Web site (www.youtube.com).

Anyone can post video on YouTube, a unit of Internet search engine Google Inc.

The case dragged on for several months before they filed a third lawsuit in December requesting that YouTube be shut down as long as the video is available to users.

Brasil Telecom said it had blocked Brazilians from seeing the YouTube site. The sex video had been the most widely viewed in Latin America's biggest country for days.

Embratel Participacoes, Brazil's leading long distance telephone company, said it was analyzing the technical details of the legal ruling with a view to complying.

Spain's Telefonica said it would obey the court's ruling.

Neither Google, nor the lawyer for Cicarelli and Malzoni Filho were immediately available for comment.

Click here to read the original story from Reuters
Click here to see a Brazilian parody of the infamous video

Gators make most of chances

Congratulations to the national champion UF Gators for winning their second title (so much for the overhyped Ohio State Buckeyes.) I only wish there was a way to get them to play USC or Boise State.

GLENDALE, Arizona - The last time the Florida Gators ventured into the desert in search of the national title, they were swept away by a sandstorm tinged in Nebraska red.

This time, the Gators were the ones who created the perfect storm, coming up with their best performance of this special season to shock No. 1 Ohio State 41-14 on Monday night in the BCS Championship Game before a national television audience and 74,628 at the University of Phoenix Stadium.

Florida now holds the national championships in both football and basketball, the first school to achieve that remarkable feat in the same calendar year.

"I'm not surprised at all," senior wide receiver Dallas Baker said. "We had something to prove. Some people were predicting Ohio State to win 41-14. Well, it was 41-14 for the University of Florida."

"Nobody gave us a chance. Now, we can finally throw up a No. 1. We had a lot of doubters out there, the media, the Ohio State fans. No one can doubt us now. We're national champs."

The Gators (13-1) earned the title by making the most of every scoring opportunity on offense and by overwhelming Ohio State and Heisman-winning quarterback Troy Smith with superior speed on defense.

It was not supposed to happen this way. The Gators entered the game an 7-point underdog and most in the national media were talking about this Ohio State team possibly being one of the best of all time.

"Our pregame speech was easy," said UF coach Urban Meyer, wearing a national championship jacket minutes after the game. "I don't want to say there was a lack of respect, but that's exactly what it was. For 30 days, our team got motivated and that's why they played so hard."

"I want to thank our seniors. We have 21 seniors who played as hard as they can. The senior class is the reason we're here today."

The swarming Florida defense swarmed Smith all night, sacking him five times and completely knocking him off his game. He completed only four of 14 passes for 35 yards and was intercepted once. The powerful Buckeyes managed only eight first downs and 82 yards of total offense.

"All the credit goes to the (defensive) front seven," UF All-America safety Reggie Nelson said.

Sophomore defensive end Derrick Harvey sacked Smith twice, recovered a fumble and was named the game's defensive MVP.

"They're well coached. I can't say enough about those guys," Smith said of Florida. "They came out and fought for 60 minutes and did exactly what they needed to do to get the win. We came out and fought. If this is the worst thing that happens to us in life, I'm pretty cool with that."

While Smith could get nothing going, UF's two-quarterback system of senior Chris Leak and true freshman Tim Tebow was close to flawless. Leak completed 25 of 36 passes for 213 yards and had no interceptions, while Tebow threw a touchdown and ran for a score.

His 1-yard run on fourth-and-goal came with 10:20 to play and put the game away.

"We have to congratulate the University of Florida," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "They did a great job in earning the national championship. No question about it."

"We scored on the first play of the game and from that point on we could not keep the pressure where we needed it to be."

Florida's night in the glare of the national spotlight could not have gotten off to a worse start.

Speedy All-America wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. took the opening kickoff, found a gaping hole in the middle of the UF return team and sprinted untouched 93 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

As shocking as it was, it didn't seem to faze the Gators, who had talked confidently all week that they felt they matched up well with the nation's No. 1 team.

Apparently, they were right.

The Gators responded to the early touchdown with one of their own and then dominated the rest of the half to build their 20-point lead.

The response to Ginn's long run was a 14-yard TD pass from Leak to wide receiver Dallas Baker to make it a 7-7 game with less than five minutes gone in the game.

On OSU's next possession, the Florida defense forced a three-and-out. Following a short punt and a 15-yard personal foul penalty against the Buckeyes on the return, the Gators were back in scoring position again, at the OSU 34.

Four plays later, wide receiver Percy Harvin scored on a 4-yard run to give the Gators a 14-7 lead with 5:51 left in the first quarter.

While the offense was making the most of scoring opportunities, the speedy UF defense was shutting down the Heisman winner.

Cornerback Reggie Lewis intercepted a Smith pass on the UF 29 and then the Gators went on another scoring drive that culminated with a 2-yard TD run by Ohio native DeShawn Wynn on the first play of the second quarter.

Ohio State matched that score only three offensive plays later when junior tailback Antonio Pittman found open space off of left tackle and ran 18 yards for a touchdown to draw the Buckeyes within a touchdown, 21-14.

The rest of the first half belonged to the Gators. In a big way.

Chris Hetland was true on a season-long 42-yard field goal to give the Gators a 10-point lead with 6:00 remaining the the half.

Hetland upped it to 27-14 minutes later with a 40-yard field goal. It was the first game this season he made two field goals.

In the final minutes of the half, it was the Florida defense, appropriately enough, that set up the offense for an easy score that nearly put the game out of reach.

Defensive end Jarvis Moss sacked Smith from behind, Smith fumbled and Harvey recovered on the OSU 5.

On third-and-goal from the 1, Tebow bulled his way into the end zone to put the Gators ahead 34-14 with only 23 seconds left in the half.

Click here to read the original column by Robbie Andreu of the Gainesville Sun
Click here to see more original game pictures, courtesy of the Gainesville Sun

Politics this week: 23rd December - 5th January 2007

Interesting NFL playoff games transpired this weekend, I'm sure you know all about them already. Moreover, the lack of a playoff system to determine the true national champion in college football doesn't really get me too excited about tonight's "championship game."

May the best team win in Glendale, but as John Feinstein suggested on the Sports Reporters, I pray that voters put Boise State at #1 in the final rankings. Maybe then, fans will get what we deserve.

Saddam Hussein, the former leader of Iraq, was executed by hanging. He had been convicted by an Iraqi court of the killings of 148 Shias from the town of Dujail in the 1980s. Iraqi authorities released official footage of the execution to prove that he was dead; but unofficial mobile-phone footage quickly surfaced showing guards taunting Saddam just before his death, further exacerbating ethnic tensions. See article

In a military campaign lasting barely a week, Somalia's previously weak transitional government, together with Ethiopian armed forces, routed the Islamist militias that had held sway over the capital, Mogadishu, and much of the south of the country since last summer. The victors, with the help of American naval forces, are now tracking down the remaining al-Qaeda operatives who were thought to be fighting with the Islamists. See article

After a year of relentless diplomatic pressure, the Sudanese government at last accepted a small United Nations force to operate alongside the existing African Union force in Darfur. See article

Gerald Ford was given a full state funeral in Washington, DC. The former American president, who held the office for fewer than 900 days in the 1970s, died on December 26th, aged 93. See article

Preparations were made for the swearing-in of America's 110th Congress, and for Nancy Pelosi to become the first female speaker of the House of Representatives. The Democrats vowed to implement their agenda quickly. Plans include an increase in the minimum wage and the lifting of federal restrictions on stem-cell research. See article

In a written new-year message read out on state-controlled media, Cuba's invalid president, Fidel Castro, said he was recovering slowly from intestinal surgery last July, but admitted that it was likely to be “a long process”. Officials have denied reports that he is suffering from cancer or any other terminal illness. See article

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sworn in for a second term as Brazil's president. He pledged to spur sluggish growth and tackle gang-related violence, which killed 19 people in Rio de Janeiro last week. See article

Romania and Bulgaria celebrated their entry into the European Union as its 26th and 27th members. Slovenia became the first eastern European country to join the euro area, as its 13th member. See article

Spain's hopes of peace in the Basque region were set back when it became clear that ETA, the Basque separatist group, was responsible for a van bombing at Madrid airport that killed two people. See article

Eight bombs rocked Bangkok, killing three people. Thailand's military-backed government hinted that supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister who was deposed last autumn, may have been responsible. Mr Thaksin denied any involvement. See article

Bangladesh's main opposition party said it would boycott a general election, scheduled for January 22nd, claiming the poll would be rigged. The Awami League only recently agreed to take part in the ballot after it mounted a series of strikes and protests to push for electoral reform.

Click here to read the original political news summaries from Economist.com

Business this week: 23rd December - 5th January 2007

François Pinault said he was “keeping his options open” about making a bid for Suez, a French utility company. The statement from the retail and luxury-goods tycoon (made through his holding company) came after France's stockmarket regulator asked him to spell out his intentions in response to speculation in the media. Suez, which is mired in a politically controversial merger attempt with Gaz de France, sought further clarification of Mr Pinault's remarks.

Apple Computer filed its earnings, which had been delayed because of restatements for stock-option grants. The company has completed a review of its procedures for granting such options and expressed its confidence in its chief executive, Steve Jobs.

Home Depot announced that Robert Nardelli was stepping down as its boss. Critics of the retailer's penchant for awarding its executives generous pay while the company lost ground to its competitors were not placated by the $210m severance package presented to Mr Nardelli. See article

Speculation increased about the outcome of maneuvering to take control of Hutch. India's fourth-largest mobile-phone operator is co-owned by Hong Kong's Hutchison Telecom, which has a 67% stake, and India's Essar Group, which controls the remainder. Both companies are said to be mulling various possibilities including a sale, estimated at up to $17 billion.

A plan to develop a Franco-German internet search engine to rival Google was reportedly scrapped. Quaero was included in a list of initiatives designed to challenge America's dominance of the internet trumpeted by France's Jacques Chirac. However, German officials grumbled about the cost and have indicated they will produce their own, scaled-down search engine.

Click here to read the original business news summary from The Economist