U.S Economy a real stress test in unemployment

According to General Motor's updated viability plan unveiled on Monday, 21,000 hourly workers will be shed by 2010. Salaried employees are also expected to be cut further.The struggling auto giant is not the only big employer that joined the laying off trend that has worsened since the outbreak of the global financial crisis last September. Leading Internet company Yahoo said on April 21 that it would cut 5 percent of its global workforce following a significant drop in the first quarter results. Apple Inc., the iPod maker was reported by Dow Jones News Agency on April 23 that it secretly dismissed about 1,600 full-time jobs.

"The unemployment rate will worsen. According to our research, the potential unemployment rate, which includes people who were finding jobs a year ago and many part-time workers, is about 15 percent," said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., the U.S. premier outplacement consulting firm, in a recent interview with Xinhua. The Labor Department said on April 23 that initial claims for unemployment compensation rose to a seasonally adjusted 640,000, up from a revised 613,000 the previous week. That was slightly above analysts' expectations of 635,000.
In another sign of labor market weakness, the number of people continuing to claim benefits rose to 6.13 million, setting a record for the 12th straight week, and the total jobless benefit rolls are the highest since January 1983.
A double digit unemployment rate in 2010 is widely predicted by economists.
"This summer will be a real hard time for the U.S. economy since nearly 6 million college graduates are entering the work force, inflicting a great pressure on the labor market," said Huang Jing, former senior researcher at the Washington-based Brookings Institute told Xinhua.
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK REMAINS CHALLENGING
In February, the Obama administration predicted that the economy would shrink 1.2 percent in 2009. Again, the forecast would probably fall behind the curve.
OECD projected at the beginning of April that the world economy would contract by 3 percent, and world trade would decrease 13.2 percent. In the World Economic Outlook report released on April 22, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected that the U.S. economy would contract by 2.8 percent in 2009. This is the third consecutive times that the organization lowered its forecast for the U.S. economy within six months. A latest survey released by the Wall Street Journal showed that economists forecasted that the economy will not be able to recover enough to bring down unemployment until the second half of 2010.
The economists' forecasts indicate that the peak in the unemployment rate is likely to coincide with the midterm elections that will decide which party controls Congress -- possibly bad news for Democrats. Even if the economy is growing, Americans still will be feeling the effects of the recession and could blame the incumbent. The first-quarter gross domestic product report, due from the Commerce Department on Wednesday, could offer some clues about what a recovery might look like.
Economists think GDP shrank at an annual rate of 4.6 percent in the first quarter, one of the worst since World War II, but not as terrible as the 6.3 percent shrinkage in the fourth quarter of 2008.
NEW UNCERTAIN FACTORS ARISE
As people are wondering where the U.S. economy might go following the report of mixed economic index in April, an unexpected epidemic disease brings new uncertain factors to the world economy. The outbreak of swine flu triggers worldwide alert in recent days.
"Fears over swine flu threatened to knock a vulnerable global economy into deeper turmoil, hammering travel and tourism as nervous consumers and businesses delayed spending plans," reported the Wall Street Journal.
Spooked investors dumped airline shares Monday, fearing airline finances might suffer a new blow. "This certainly could exacerbate the recession," said Sherman Chan, an economist with Moody's in Australia. "The next couple weeks will be crucial. If this (swine flu) persists it could become a more serious concern and really cripple the economy." In a worst-case scenario, the U.S. economy would shrink by an extra 0.3 percent this year, on top of a predicted 3.5 percent decline, says Brian Bethune, economist at IHS Global Insight.
This will inevitably transmit into the labor market and exert more stress on the spending of consumers. Although one of the crucial goals of President Obama's New Dealis to create jobs, historically, employment always lags behind the recovery of the economy from a recession. One of the biggest worries facing economists is what would happen if unemployment rises beyond expectations and unleashes another wave of spending contractions and lower corporate profits.
At present, the world is expecting the final result, due on May4, of the stress test of the big U.S. banks, which seems to be not that positive as the share prices of Bank of America, Citi group and other banks fell Tuesday. However, the news about unemployment might be a bigger concern that deserves close watching.

Source : http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/29/content_11279810.htm

World concern raises Swine

As new swine flu infections crop up around the world, there are fears a pandemic could snuff out fragile signs of economic recovery. The travel industry, trade and manufacturing would all suffer as a result. There are already early signs that swine flu is having an economic impact. The fear of a pandemic is now hurting the travel industry as governments in the world warn people to stay away from Mexico. And tour companies are now canceling stops there, threatening Mexico's tourism industry, a main source of foreign currency.

In Mexico City, the economic cost of canceling events and closing entertainment venues is at least 57 million US dollars a day. The SARS outbreak in 2003 provides an example of the potential economic damage. In Canada, particularly Toronto, the outbreak sharply reduced tourism, which led the city's economy losing about 950 million US dollars.
Airline share prices declined again on Tuesday on fears of a sharp drop in passengers. US, European and Asian stock markets all retreated despite positive US consumer confidence data. Oil dropped almost two percent to below 50 dollars a barrel and investors cut their exposure to riskier currencies.
In Chicago, traders bid down the price of pork futures, reflecting consumer worries about catching the virus from meat. The World Bank estimates that a severe pandemic would cause a nearly 5 percent drop in global economic activity, costing the world more than 3 trillion US dollars.

Source : http://www.cctv.com/program/bizchina/20090429/105892.shtml

Britannia New Buisness

Nusli Wadia-controlled Britannia Industries has agreed to buy out New Zealand’s Fonterra from an existing dairy joint venture,Britannia New Zealand Foods.
Both Britannia and Fonterra, one of the world’s biggest milk co-operatives, agreed to call off the 51:49 JV, with the acquirer assuming the cumulative losses and the exiting foreign partner writing down the investments made into venture.
The deal will bolster and unlock further synergies in Britannia’s go-to-market strategy. The company in recent months brought biscuits, cakes & rusks and dairy products like cheese, butter, ghee and dairy whitener under one distribution vertical, while the ‘daily fresh’ products, such as bread and dahi fall into another.
The company’s distribution was fragmented till some time back, with all the business units approaching the trade separately.
The mainstay biscuits, non-biscuit bakery (breads, cakes & rusks) and dairy constitute three strategic business units within the Rs 3,000 crore company.
“We have a single go-to-market strategy for Britannia as far as possible, which is helping us, especially with the modern trade. The distribution has been streamlined into two verticals, with the fresh consumption products like bread and curd forming one and remaining products going to the market under a separate vertical,” Britannia Industries MD Vinita Bali told ET.
In fact, Britannia has tweaked its brand strategy to accommodate the fresh consumption products under a newly-scripted Britannia Daily Fresh umbrella. Ms Bali said the dairy JV was reporting a turnover of Rs 200 crore and an annualized growth of 15-18%.
The JV, which had turned profitable in recent years, has accumulated losses of around Rs 38 crore. “We will be taking over the P/L of the JV and so the losses,” she added.
Fonterra, a significant supplier of milk ingredients to global food giants such as Danone and Nestle, wanted to exit the Indian market since it could not deliver much value addition, given the fragmented nature of India’s dairy industry.
Fonterra is known for managing large dairy farms. It is not a big player in the branded dairy sector even though it has milk powder offering under Anchor brand in several south east Asian markets.
Britannia will ramp up its presence in the dairy space through new product offerings post acquisition of the Fonterra stake. “We will be looking at differentiated SKUs where we can innovate on the basic dairy technology.
Take our cheese offering, for instance, where we have a market share of nearly 50%. We came out with slim cheese (with 33% lower fat) as well as cheese cubes and spreads that are clearly differentiated,” Ms Bali said.
The Britannia-Fonterra JV exited the liquid milk market in 2004 in wake of mounting losses and has no plans of re-looking at the segment. “It is a high volume low margin play that does not fit into our business model in dairy,” she explained, suggesting that Britannia’s dairy play will essentially revolve around milk derivatives.

Source : www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/News-by-Industry/Britannia-to-buy-out-Fonterra/articleshow/4461080.cms

ICICI Bank New FDI Norms

India’s largest private sector lender, ICICI Bank, on Tuesday sought clarification on the new foreign direct investment (FDI) norms.
As per the new norms, if indirect FDI in an Indian company exceeds 50%, its investment in subsidiaries will be treated as foreign investment, which would mean a change in the ownership status of several Indian banks.
“Shareholding pattern of the banks have remained like this for many years now. Nothing has changed in the ownership pattern of the bank,” ICICI Bank joint managing director Chanda Kochhar told mediapersons on the sidelines of an event organised by industry body Ficci. If there are further clarifications on the new norms, everyone is waiting for that, Ms Kochhar said.
Soon after the issuance of the new FDI guidelines, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) wrote to the department of industrial policy and promotion (Dipp), pointing out that seven banks—including ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Development Credit Bank and ING Vysya—would cease to be counted as Indian-owned under the revised norms and has sought a review of the new norms. Dipp is the nodal FDI policymaking body.
ICICI Bank, on its part, has also written to Dipp saying it’s not a foreign-owned bank and should not be covered by the new guidelines. If classified as foreign-owned, the bank’s downstream investments will also be counted as FDI, barring it from investing in sectors that have caps, such as banking itself.

Source : www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/Economy/ICICI-awaits-clarification-on-FDI-norms/articleshow/4461571.cms

World Tourism- Egypt

Refer: youtube

Vietnam, Japan boost strategic

Addressing a joint business forum in Macao on April 21, Mr Dung said the purpose of his current visit to the special administrative region (SAR) is to strengthen friendly ties between Vietnamese ministries, sector and localities and Macao. He noted that China is Vietnam’s No1 trading partner with two-way trade reaching more than US$20 billion last year. However, bilateral trade between Vietnam and Macao remains modest, standing at just US$35 million, which has yet to match the two sides’ potential.

Vietnam highly values the role and position of Macao as a special administrative region which has a high economic development level, a big financial and trade service centre and strong investment and trade links to many countries in the world, said Mr Dung.
He introduced hundreds of businesses at the forum to Vietnam’s major advantages, saying the country maintains socio-political stability and both Vietnam and China are developing strategic and comprehensive cooperative partnership. Mr Dung answered Macao investors’ questions concerning Vietnam’s policies and solutions to cushion the impact of the global financial crunch. According to Mr Dung, Vietnam gives priority to stabilising the macro economy and developing infrastructure such as highways and express railway lines.
The PM also placed a high priority on developing tourism, considering it one of Vietnam’s spearhead economic sectors.
“We encourage domestic and foreign businesses to invest in tourism projects such as those to build hotels and resorts,” said Mr Dung. “The Vietnamese State ensures a good technical and economic infrastructure for these projects to get off the ground and operate efficiently. Tourism investors also enjoy the most investment incentives from the government.”
Later, PM Nguyen Tan Dung held talks with Ho Hau Wah, the Chief Executive of the Macao special administrative region.
Both host and guest discussed measures to strengthen the friendly and cooperative ties between Vietnam and the SAR. They said that the two sides should cooperate closely to weather the global financial storm and assist each other for mutual benefit. They agreed to increase the exchange of visits and strengthen cooperative ties in the fields of investment, tourism, education and labour. They also agreed to create favourable conditions for their business circles to explore and establish partnerships. Macao is willing to serve as a economic bridge between Vietnam and Portuguese-speaking countries, said Mr Ho.
Mr Dung invited Mr Ho to re-visit Vietnam and the visit was accepted with pleasure.
The same day, Mr Dung received representatives of several leading economic groups in Macao.
He left Macao for Hanoi in the afternoon, concluding his working trip to China where he attended the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan province from April 17-19 and visited Guangdong province, as well as Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

Source : http://english.vovnews.vn/Home/Vietnam-boosts-trade-ties-with-Macao/20094/103705.vov

BITE-The perfect Bahrain creates

Undaunted by the crisis caused due to the global recession in the travel industry, Bahrain International Travel Expo BITE 2009 the first Business to Consumers (B2C) Travel and Tourism event in the region, is all set to open for the 5th successful year from 14th to 16th May 2009 under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa Crown Prince and Chairman Bahrain Economic Development Board.

Magnum Events and Exhibitions Management - MEEM the organizers of BITE admits that it's hard to match the record number of exhibitors and quality hosted buyers that the show received last year. But the show must go on, says Jamil Wafa, founder and group chairman, Magnum Holding, the parent company of MEEM.
"BITE is a commitment we have made to Bahrain and to the Crown Prince His Highness Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who supported the exhibition since its inception. We will continue with our promise and commitment despite the challenges," said Wafa.
"Several leading regional and international companies are participating in a big way and there is no compromise on the quality of the show," adds Wafa.
After all Bite is a gathering of the right company ... meeting the right people... at the right time ... A place where great minds meet! BITE offers the ideal forum for the coming together of reputed and international operators from a cross section of travel related businesses from Airlines, Car Rental Companies, Conventions & Exhibitions, Cruise Lines, Health Resorts & Spas, Hotel Accommodation Providers, Medical Tourism, MICE Organizers, Tourist Attractions, Tourism Boards, Tour Operators, Travel Insurance & Travel and Tourism Publications to interact with around 20,000 consumers and international MICE buyers under one roof.
There are many cultural surprises and attractions planned for the BITE stage extravaganza. Numerous exhibitors from the world have prepared special activities including national dancers, singers, musicians and performers as part of the cultural treat at this year's show. Additionally BITE 2009 is a great opportunity for travelers to discover a wide range of promotions and special deals that exhibitors have on offer for those consumers planning a vacation. BITE is the ideal place for visitors to obtain the latest information about the travel and tourism industry trends and book holiday packages customized to suit their specific budgets and needs.
In a bid to promote tourism to Bahrain, BITE is for the fourth consecutive year, organizing the Hosted Buyers Program. This program runs from the 13th to the 16th May 2009, for key international MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) planners. All the professionals invited to the Hosted Buyers Program are responsible for planning, organizing, recommending and making financial decisions for their international MICE events outside their home countries.
The comprehensive destination program includes one-on-one meetings between buyers and sellers at the travel show and a golden opportunity to showcase Bahrain's renowned Arabian hospitality and delights. The Hosted Buyers will experience first hand the excellent conference and hospitality facilities Bahrain has to offer, check out the facilities at the Bahrain International Circuit, the Royal Golf Club and visit the various cultural and historical attractions in the Kingdom. A number of Bahrain's finest properties, such as The Ritz Carlton Bahrain Resort and Spa, The Banyan Tree, Coral Beach, Caramel Café and Elite Resort & Spa will be hosting the Hosted Buyers for lunches and dinners during their visit.
Tamkeen along with Bahrain Training Institute (The Travel Academy), Bahrain Institute for Hospitality and Retail (BIRD) and Bahrain Development Bank will participate at BITE to highlight the role of Tamkeen in supporting the private sector and the tourism industry in particular. Tamkeen are inviting small and medium enterprises in the travel and tourism sector to benefit from the Growth Assistance Programme (GAP) by their co-financing scheme designed to support SMEs to be sustainable and increase the reach of their products and services, by participating in BITE. Tamkeen will highlight career opportunities for Bahraini nationals as part of the Tamkeen's endeavor of providing skilled human capital for value added jobs.
A 35-member high profile delegation from Egypt, led by the Tourism Minister H.E. Mr. Zuhair Garana will be participating at BITE 2009 to promote the country's history and heritage.
BITE has grown over the past five years from a show in 2005 with 14 countries, 40 exhibitors, 1100 sqm area and 12,500 visitors to 44 countries, 120 exhibitors, 8000 sqm space and 18000 visitors in 2008. We expect to have around 100 exhibitors from approximately 40 countries to be part of BITE 2009 occupying an area of 6500 sqm.
The Platinum Sponsors are Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) along with Etihad Airways. Qatar Airways the Gold Sponsor and Gulf Air are the official carrier. BITE is actively supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Capital Governorate and Bahrain Exhibition and Convention Authority. Elite Hospitality are the Official Hotel, Voice FM the Official Radio Channel and Al Hilal Group the Media Partners.

Source : http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20090421110335

Glode Business in Today News

Bank to Treasury: No, thanks

Independent Bank Corp., the parent of Rockland Trust Co., yesterday said it would repay the government $78 million it accepted in January because of the "stigma" associated with the program. The Rockland bank, with $4.6 billion in assets, is the latest of numerous institutions around the country that are rethinking the costs and public scrutiny that have come with participating in the government's $700 billion bailout fund.
The banks must limit executive compensation, detail what they're doing with the money, and deal with the perception that they needed the money to survive.
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Oracle acquires Sun for $7.4 billion
The forthcoming $7.4 billion purchase of Sun Microsystems Inc. by Oracle Corp., a deal that was disclosed yesterday, could mean big changes and possible job cuts for the approximately 2,600 workers employed by the two companies in Massachusetts.
"If I were employed there, I would be getting my resume ready, considering what Oracle has done in the past," said Tom Davenport, professor of information technology and management at Babson College in Wellesley. "They're pretty brutal about cutting people loose."
Neither company would discuss the employment implications of the deal. Oracle has not revealed the number of jobs it has cut during a spate of acquisitions over the past four years. But the company's financial filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission reveal that it often sets aside large amounts of money to cover severance expenses when it acquires other companies. For example, last year, Oracle set aside $111 million in restructuring costs after its $8.6 billion acquisition of BEA Systems Inc. in April. Oracle said the money was mostly for severance payments to laid-off workers.
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With seats available, Red Sox roll out ads
The Red Sox are hoping to hit a promotional home run with a new ad campaign that the team begins pitching today. The "Greatest Moments" campaign will feature TV and online ads that highlight some of the team's more historic and recent moments with commentary by local fans and celebrities. The first of four ads, which will air tonight when the Sox play the Minnesota Twins, celebrates the famous steal by Dave Roberts in the ninth inning of Game Four of the 2004 American League Championship Series game against the New York Yankees and includes interviews with Sox manager Terry Francona and Celtics forward Paul Pierce about the play.
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BOSTON CAPITAL: Recovery mirage
Bank of America Corp. posted quarterly profits that blew away even the most optimistic forecasts on Wall Street early yesterday morning. By the end of the day, Bank of America shares had plunged nearly 25 percent. The bank stock sunk $2.58 to $8.02 per share. Cancel the parade. Bank of America had joined a growing line of financial companies that includes Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Wells Fargo & Co., all crowing about soaring profits they earned during the first three months of the year.

Source : http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/04/today_in_globe_53.html

City Diary in the Business News

THE following business news is expected tomorrow:
• Mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse is due to provide an update on current trading. Demand for new mobile phone contracts is said to have slumped.
• Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is due to post half-year results, while final figures are expected from video games retailer Game Group. Chocolate and toffee maker Thorntons is also due a trading update.
• The big news will come when Chancellor Alistair Darling unveils the Budget, on a day when unemployment and public finance figures are also due.

Source : http://business.scotsman.com/industry/City-Diary.5188599.jp

Anarchy in Streets Builds GDP Shared: William

It’s easy to dismiss protesters wreaking havoc in Thailand as misinformed anarchists. They don’t understand the wonders of globalization, you may be thinking. If only they had more reverence for the splendor of capitalism. If only true democracy were able to work its magic in Asia’s eighth-biggest economy.

If only any of these assumptions got at the crux of Thailand’s crisis. The problem is the “Cult of GDP.” An obsession with high growth rates and failure to use them to narrow the gap between rich and poor are graphically playing out on Thailand’s streets. People are angry, and rightfully so.
It’s a far bigger risk than governments and investors realize, and it may be with Asia for a long time. The region didn’t use the fat years of the early-to-mid 2000s to spread the benefits of 6 percent or 8 percent growth. Now, the global financial crisis, political tensions and widespread discontent are fusing together.
This dangerous dynamic has come up in this column before, and Thailand’s woes demonstrate why it deserves more attention.
Protests there are essentially a feud between the rural poor and urban rich. The former group rues the 2006 ouster of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who it believes bettered its economic situation. The latter group championed the coup that removed a billionaire they say bastardized Thai democracy. Forget Thaksinomics. The truth lies somewhere in between. “Thaksinomics” did pump government largess into rural communities. Thaksin centralized power and removed government checks and balances. The urban rich allege that his family and business associates benefited most from his 2001-2006 tenure.
The disconnect between the better-off and the struggling masses can also be found in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, as well as in China and India. It will come to a head as the fallout from the credit crisis heads Asia’s way.
It’s often said that in a world awash in recession and toxic assets, Asia is the least ugly region. That’s true only if the U.S., Japan and Europe bottom out in 2009 and are growing in 2010. Export-driven Asia can only live without U.S. growth for so long without dire socioeconomic consequences.
Thailand’s crisis is a complex one and involves many moving parts: economic hardships, class tensions and the role of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. There’s also a powerful establishment versus anti-establishment angle. Old Elite
Thaksin’s supporters see U.K.-born and Oxford-educated Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva as the face of the establishment. There’s a perception among Thais that politics is increasingly controlled by an old elite. That’s why protesters are going after both Abhisit and the political establishment.
Abhisit is standing firm, refusing to step down even after a decidedly humiliating weekend. Protesters forced the cancellation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. It cost the region a rare chance to cooperate amid the global crisis. It cost Abhisit even more. The ease with which demonstrators overwhelmed security forces at a conference venue that should have been easy to protect made a fool of Abhisit’s government. Asian leaders who fled by helicopter and boat won’t soon forget it. Nor will international investors watching the chaos unfold on CNN.
Fitch Ratings joined Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s in saying they may cut Thailand’s foreign-currency debt ratings. Instability is hurting government revenue and spurring capital outflows at the worst possible time. Fitch and S&P have BBB+ ratings for Thailand, a level similar to Moody’s.
Risk of Unrest. Thai protesters yesterday ended their siege of government offices in Bangkok. The risk of renewed unrest is undermining markets as the economy confronts its first annual contraction in 11 years. Thailand’s vital tourism industry is targeting 14 million arrivals this year. Well, good luck with that.
Thailand has had a dizzying four prime ministers in a year. Imagine if Abhisit, premier since December, were to step down. How can investors be sure his replacement won’t face the same dubious honor as all the others? Thailand is caught in a vicious cycle in which any leader is likely to lack enough legitimacy to lead the nation of 66 million people.
Just four years ago, Thailand was an economic success story. Leaders in Indonesia and the Philippines were considering Thaksinomics for their own populations. Not anymore. Rich Versus Poor. One problem is weak institutions. A more independent judiciary, central bank, media and freer watchdog groups to weed out corruption would serve Thailand well. Yet there’s an even bigger problem: high growth rates haven’t enriched enough Thais on a consistent basis over the last decade. Big increases in gross domestic product get headlines and cheer investors. All too often, though, they are used to conceal poverty and widening rich-poor divides. Thailand’s recent experience suggests those strains are bubbling to the surface as rarely before.
That should be a warning to governments in Asia and to investors, too. It’s one thing to spread the gospel of rapid GDP. It’s quite another to deliver by divvying up its spoils. It’s time for Asia to practice what it preaches.

Source : www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aSeh7IlSBewc&refer=home

Policy Is No Business Home Run

Thomas Herzfeld's clients may have been the first to profit from President Barack Obama's decision to ease sanctions on Cuba. In the hours after Washington liberalized rules on visits to Cuba and U.S. telecommunications ventures there, investors flocked to Herzfeld's Caribbean Basin Fund, which invests in companies that could gain from a thaw in U.S.-Cuban relations, and shares jumped by 41%. "There will be a boom in Cuba and throughout the Caribbean" as Havana opens up, Herzfeld says. "The entire country will have to be rebuilt."
His investors may also be among the few to see any quick benefit from the business opening the White House announced on Apr. 13. The Obama initiative permits only Cuban Americans, and not all U.S. residents, to travel to Cuba; and it welcomes the licensing only of telecommunications and a few other companies, rather than a broader array of businesses that Obama might have included. "I'm sure there was a measure of disappointment" among Cuba's leaders, says Anya Landau French, a Cuba expert at the Lexington Institute in Washington. "They probably expected more in terms of engagement."
Havana certainly didn't seem to be overwhelmed. "The measure easing restrictions on trips in and of itself is positive, but minimal," longtime leader Fidel Castro wrote on Apr. 14 in Juventud Rebelde, a daily published by the Communist Party's youth wing. "Many others are needed." It remains to be seen whether Castro's brother Raúl—who took over as President last year—will embrace Obama's gesture by issuing licenses now permitted under U.S. rules to U.S. cell-phone, Internet, and satellite-television companies.
The trade embargo, slapped on Cuba in 1962, has long been the most contentious issue between the two neighbors. Washington hoped it would turn the people against Castro, but Cuba muddled through with a helping hand from Moscow. After that aid dried up, many Cubans could barely put dinner on the table. Then in 2000, Washington allowed U.S. companies to sell limited quantities of meat, grain, and medical equipment to Cuba. Over the years, though, Castro has been able to spin the embargo as evidence of "cruel" U.S. policies that use human suffering as a means of political pressure.

Source : www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2009/gb20090414_845484.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+in

The World Today Back to Business Bangkok

PETER CAVE: The mercurial nature of Thai politics is on display again today with the streets of Bangkok returning to holiday mode after days of sometimes violent demonstrations. While the Government has issued an arrest warrant for the fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, three protest leaders have been detained in the capital. ABC correspondent Geoff Thompson has been out on the streets of Bangkok this morning and he's joined me on the line now. Geoff, what are you seeing out there?
GEOFF THOMPSON: Well not a lot Peter. It's got to be said that this city is back to taking it easy for their Songkran Thai New Year holiday. I mean, even by last night what we saw, you know troops were opening fire just days ago, but by last night there were people dancing in the streets and throwing water over passersby as they do to mark the Thai New Year and it's really quite a sleepy scene here today, so things can change very, very quickly here in Thailand.
PETER CAVE: Well indeed they do change quickly. How much damage has been done by these protests?
GEOFF THOMPSON: Look quite a lot. I mean, for instance just in the pure physical damage, we had 123 people injured. Of course two people died in clashed between protesters, not between the security forces and 44 of the people injured were hospitalised and there was a tally that came in today that 52 busses were burned in total in and around the capital and 33 of those were government busses.
Now to the broader economy though, there are real worries that up to 200,000 people could be laid off this year because the tourism industry here employs two million people, it counts for about six or seven per cent of GDP. Now the weird thing again though is that things change so quickly that you can see that, while shops aren't opening here because it's a holiday period, you know, the tourists are feeling relaxed again. You know one day there's violence, the next day things are back to normal.
PETER CAVE: If former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is actually arrested by Interpol, what affect is that likely to have?
GEOFF THOMPSON: Oh look, the affect would be certainly to upset the red shirts, his supporters. In terms of what it would actually do, I mean if he is extradited back here to Thailand to face charges I think that, you know, in the long term it may go some way to the people again obeying the law in this country.
I mean, part of the problem of course is that many people disagree with the original coup in 2006 which took Thaksin Shinawatra out of power, he was an overwhelmingly democratically elected leader by a landslide twice and you know, I think most observers say that people from all sides have got to start accounting for their misdeeds and follow the law. Of course, we don't, no one seems to know exactly where Thaksin Shinawatra is and it probably won't be believed until it's seen that he'll be brought to justice back in Thailand.
PETER CAVE: Three of the protest leaders have been detained in the capital, but no sign at this stage of mass arrests. Do you think the Government is going to try for reconciliation?
GEOFF THOMPSON: I think that's certainly the message that's coming from Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. He was saying last night that this should not be seen as a victory for any side, this is a victory for society and look he was looking pretty bad as Thailand's new leader after just four months in office on the weekend following the protesters overtaking the ASEAN Summit in Pattaya.
But he pulled off something of a diplomatic coup, if you like, by getting the army out in force and getting the protesters to back down peacefully. But he's not trying to capitalise on that, he's extending the Songkran holiday, let the country find its feet again. There's no doubt though that violence is very much in danger of flaring again because the deep division at the base of all this has not been healed.
PETER CAVE: Correspondent Geoff Thompson live there on the streets of Bangkok.

Source : www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2543424.htm

Rubber Price Rises

As prices for RSS-4 (ribbed smoked sheet grade 4) rubber hit Rs 100 a kg during the weekend, there was a unanimous opinion about the current run in the commodity.
That is, prices of natural rubber have been driven up 48 per cent in two months and 36 per cent in a month by sheer speculation.
Revival of futures in the commodity is also pointed out as another reason for the current run.
‘No reason for price rise’
“There is no fundamental reason for rubber to hit Rs 100 a kg now. Compared with last year, we have an exceptionally good production. On the other hand, consumption is almost stagnant by tyre and non-tyre sectors. With ending stocks last fiscal nearly double that the previous year, rubber is not worth the price the market quotes now,” said Mr Rajiv Buddhiraja, Director-General of the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA).
He represents the body that is seen as a voice for eight large tyre companies that produce 90 per cent of the country’s output.
According to the Rubber Board, ending stocks on March 31 were 2.05 lakh tonnes against 1.08 lakh tonnes a year ago. Rubber production during 2008-09 is estimated at 8.65 lakh tonnes, up five per cent over a year ago. Consumption was up at 8.65 lakh tonnes from 8.61 lakh tonnes a year ago. Exports slipped 15 per cent to 45,430 tonnes but imports increased to 78,030 tonnes (68,826 tonnes).
“It is speculation by 10-15 dealers, who trade in rubber and also take part in futures trading, that is driving up the prices. We don’t think this price is sustainable,” said Mr N. Radhakrishnan, President of the Cochin Rubber Merchant Association.
Rubber makes up 41 per cent of the tyre companies’ input costs. The manufacturers consume 57 per cent of the rubber produced in the country. A Re 1 a kg rise in rubber prices translates into an additional cost of Rs 450 crore for the tyre sector in the country.
“This situation is not healthy for tyre companies as the economy is yet to revive. Also, global prices are Rs 13 a kg lower than domestic prices. This means, we have no option but to resort to imports,” Mr Buddhiraja said.
Mr Radhakrishnan agreed that the tyre companies had little option under these circumstances but to resort to “huge imports”.
Tapping low
“But we have to see other reasons too for the rise in prices. Tapping was low during February and March due to extremely hot conditions. Since there were no new rubber coming, the growers have held back old stocks, leading to tight supply,” Mr Radhakrishnan said.
“These speculators too added fuel, telling growers that prices will touch Rs 125 a kg. Therefore, the growers have found another reason to hold back stocks,” he said.
While rumours are afloat on sales default, Mr Radhakrishnan denied any default took place. “Tyre companies usually give orders on Tuesday for a week’s requirement and delivery has to be made in seven days. They are not having much by way of inventories,” Mr Radhakrishnan said.
“The tight supply has forced us to import around 20 per cent of our requirement during May-July,” Mr Buddhiraja.
Arrivals to begin May
Tyre companies are reported to have contracted to import about 25,000 tonnes. “Arrivals are set to begin from the first week of May,” the ATMA official said.
“But prices cannot rule at these levels without any fundamentals. The growing areas are experiencing rains and tapping is scheduled to resume soon. In a week or 10 days, arrivals will improve and, naturally, prices will have to come down,” said Mr Radhakrishnan.
“In fact, at that time there could be even panic sales of rubber. Needlessly, speculators and players in the futures market have raised the hopes of the growers,” he said.

Source : www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/04/13/stories/2009041350700500.htm

Maruti Yet To Launch Hybrid Car

Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest car company by sales, is working on an ambitious plan to launch electric cars and compressed natural gas (CNG) variants for three or four models in the domestic market. The plan is part of the company’s broad strategy to develop small cars that run on alternative fuel technology.
“We are developing electric car technology for India. But it might take us up to the next five years or more to manufacture and sell electric cars in the domestic market,” said Maruti Suzuki Managing Director Shinzo Nakanishi.
Maruti Suzuki Chairman R C Bhargava, added, "We are working on multi-fuel variants and some models have been identified for CNG. A CNG kit currently costs over Rs 40,000 and that is expensive. Also, these cars can only be launched in 2010 or 2011, when there is a pan-India CNG filling system from companies like Reliance."
Bhargava pointed out that even Delhi lacked sufficient CNG filling systems for commercial vehicles. The company has already launched LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) variants of the Maruti 800 and Wagon R.
Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan, which holds 54.2 per cent in Maruti Suzuki, has already taken some major R& D initiatives in alternative fuels, including developing fuel cell technology in partnership with General Motors of the US. The company is using the mid-sized SX4 to conduct R&D in Japan for hybrid technology. The fuel combination being tested is a mix of fuel cells and high-pressure hydrogen. Nakanishi did not specify if this technology was being considered for India. Earlier vehicles tested by Suzuki Japan for hybrid technology include small cars like the Wagon R for the Japanese market.
Nakanishi said the R&D unit in Japan is currently addressing two key challenges in developing electric cars for India — mileage per charge and price.
“Cars available in the domestic market can give, say, 120 km per charge. What they are implying is 120 km for a single passenger — which means the power is sufficient for the driver of the car alone,” said Nakanishi.
“If another passenger joins, the travel range per charge drops to 60 km. If a third persons sits behind the range drops to 30 km. We are trying to address the longer range of driving in our R&D work,” he explained.
On pricing, Nakanishi said, “You have Honda and Toyota, which have proven, commercially viable hybrid technology cars. But internationally, they sell in small volumes. Globally, Suzuki is known as a low-cost car manufacturer selling in large volumes. We would like to achieve that for electric cars in India.”
Bhargava, meanwhile, also said reports of bookings for the Tata Motors’ Nano (which started on April 9) has had no impact on the Maruti sales.
“We are not seeing any impact on our sales due to the Nano in April and I don't think it will have any impact this year at all. We expect wholesale sales to be good for April since retail sales in March were good and dealers have liquidated their stocks,” he said.

source : www.business-standard.com/india/news/maruti-to-launch-hybrid-cars-in-3-to-5-years/354909/

Croatian Tourism Minister claims his country

Croatian Tourism Minster Damir Bajs lives in a world of his own this was confirmed by his address before the government on Thursday, when he presented the action plan for 2009 and 2010 regarding Croatian tourism.

Although it took his ministry a long time to produce this action plan, nothing it proposed is revolutionary. Two parts of his note presented at the government are interesting. In the first, he claims that Croatia is ahead of Europe when it comes to income from tourism, and the other states that Croatia is ahead of the world according to the speed of its action plan for 2009! We listened to advice before they were given
In an optimistic start, Minister has emphasised that according to the latest quartal report of the Croatian National Bank for 2008, tourism has exceeded all expectations and instead of 7.1 billion euros, it earned 7.5 billion euros.
In Europe, the percentage of the rise of tourism amounted to a positive zero, only 0.1 percent, thus, we are far ahead of the European Union when it comes to income – Bajs was proud of achievements in his area, praising himself:
The World Tourism Organisation is inviting governments of countries which told tourism important to put tourism at the centre of their economy salvation action plans. I will thank the prime minister because we are one of the first countries to have taken that advice, even before it was given, in a manner of speaking, anticipating what was next and this government will adopt one of the first plans in general, in the world tourism economy.

Source : www.javno.com/en-croatia/minister--croatia-is-ahead-of-the-world-in-tourism_250138

Religious tourists keep Italy Rome

While the world economic crisis forces many consumers to change spending habits, at least one of Italy's economic sectors has so far been barely touched: religious tourism. Italy, home to the Vatican City, the spiritual home to the world's 1.1 billion Catholics, boasts more than 30,000 churches and sanctuaries, according to the country's Ministry of Culture. That's more churches per capita than any other major country. And according to United Nations' World Tourism Organization statistics, seven of the world's ten most visited Christian sanctuaries are in Italy. Official figures are hard to come by because visitors to Italy are not required to indicate whether or not their vacation is religious in nature. Italy's Ministry of Tourism reports that overall tourism over the first two months of the year is down by a fifth over the same period last year.
However, tour operators and travel agents say that the number of religious tourists in Italy hasn't changed much. "It's one of the only areas where things haven't slowed down much," said Michele Patano, the director of Aurea, a six-year-old trade fair for agencies that market religious tours. "Religious pilgrims still want to have the same experiences."
Patano said attendance at the Aurea fair this November is expected to easily surpass last year's record levels. Patano estimates that around 10% of Italy's tourism industry is tied to religious themes. The high point for religious tourism in Rome is Easter, which takes place on Sunday. The Vatican says that if the weather is good, attendance at the Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square could surpass 100,000 people. "Every three or four years I come to Rome for Easter with a church group," said Ramona Casey, a 63-year-old retired nurse from Philadelphia, who came with six other members of her church.
"Money is tighter now, but not so tight we couldn't make the trip. It's a priority for us," Casey said. Scott Chord, a 33-year-old lawyer from Scottsdale, Ariz., made his first trip to Rome with his wife and their young son. He said that they have been visiting about two churches per day along with other cultural landmarks and that they plan to attend Easter Mass at the Vatican. We just promised ourselves we would make the trip," he said. The Rev. Gregory Apparcel says people tend to save up over long periods for religious-themed trips, making them less susceptible to dramatic changes in the economy. Apparcel, of Temple City, Calif., is the rector at Santa Susanna, one of approximately two dozen English-language churches in Rome.
"There's an old cliché that says that when times are tough, people spend more time in the movies and at church," Apparcel said. Matteo Marzotto, president of the Italian government's tourism board, said the reason that crowds keep coming despite the recession is that that religious tourists tend to be wealthier than non-religious tourists. But he does not see these tourists making a dent in Italy's economy, one of the weakest in the European Union.
"Religious tourists probably tend to spend less money than average," he said. "After-all, churches don't cost anything to visit and my guess is that for the most part they are less likely to spend large sums on luxuries."

Potatoes can save for Agra- The Day

It is globally known for being the city where one of the seven wonders of the world, Taj is situated. But what has Agra to do with Aaloo (Potato)? A lot, according to a study conducted by the marketing department of Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L). The tuber, the study suggests, can actually give a `huge fillip' to the tourism potential of Agra which is otherwise confined just around the monument of love.

The study, now forwarded to the state tourism department, categorically suggests a `Potato Processing Zone', one of its kind in the country. "The district has just the right kind of weather for the crop,'' said Prof Debashish Dasgupta, senior professor of marketing and the team leader who conducted the study recently. The district accounts for 80% of the total production in the state. "But the resource is poorly tapped,'' he said, on the sidelines of a three-day international conference on tourism. Dasgupta said that potato farmers can be encouraged to channelise their produce for the processing industry, which can also contribute immensely to further the attraction of Agra.
The study goes on to suggest few other crucial measures to give a boost to the tourism potential in Agra. "We need to market Agra as a district,'' he said. For that, the study suggests, sustainable development of other sites which have not been accorded their due status. Like, Dayal Bagh, Sikandra, Etmad-ud-Daulah Tomb, Mariam Tomb and Keetham Lake. The five spots within Agra, if developed and brought under a tourist circuit, can in fact increase the stay of tourist in the city by at least two to three times. The IIM researchers found that the average stay of tourist in the city is only 1.7 day.
Experts point out that Agra is the only city in the world to have three United Nations Organisation (UNO) preserved sites -- Taj, Fatehpur Sikri and Agra Fort. "No other city in the world has more than two monuments,'' a researcher said. "But see the irony of it that the city does not have even an airport,'' Dasgupta said. All that exists is an air strip of Indian Air Force, which has a restricted use. The study, therefore, recommends construction of an airport in the city.
What may further put a dent on the tourism potential of Agra is the construction of Noida Expressway by which the average commuting time from new Delhi to Agra would be only about 45 minutes. "So one can stay in Delhi and come to Agra to see Taj. There would be no growth of Agra per se,'' Dasgupta added.
In addition, the research suggests, the city should develop a `shopping festival' kind of thing. "Very much like Dilli Haat, there should be Agra Haat' for giving the much needed exposure to the artisans,'' he said. Then, a free-flowing Yamuna, could be another attractive feature for the city. The river, however, is dying a slow death as none of the state governments showed interests in getting the river de-silted. The city, the study found, has lost virtually all its resources which had been one of the principal attraction of the city. For example, the leather industry received a jolt following disintegration of USSR. In fact, the industrial sector largely took a beating following environmental considerations, the research points out while furthering the claim to find alternate tourists hot spots within the city. It is globally known for being the city where one of the seven wonders of the world, Taj is situated. But what has Agra to do with Aaloo
(Potato)? A lot, according to a study conducted by the marketing department of Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L). The tuber, the study suggests, can actually give a `huge fillip' to the tourism potential of Agra which is otherwise confined just around the monument of love.
The study, now forwarded to the state tourism department, categorically suggests a `Potato Processing Zone', one of its kind in the country. "The district has just the right kind of weather for the crop,'' said Prof Debashish Dasgupta, senior professor of marketing and the team leader who conducted the study recently. The district accounts for 80% of the total production in the state. "But the resource is poorly tapped,'' he said, on the sidelines of a three-day international conference on tourism. Dasgupta said that potato farmers can be encouraged to channelise their produce for the processing industry, which can also contribute immensely to further the attraction of Agra.
The study goes on to suggest few other crucial measures to give a boost to the tourism potential in Agra. "We need to market Agra as a district,'' he said. For that, the study suggests, sustainable development of other sites which have not been accorded their due status. Like, Dayal Bagh, Sikandra, Etmad-ud-Daulah Tomb, Mariam Tomb and Keetham Lake. The five spots within Agra, if developed and brought under a tourist circuit, can in fact increase the stay of tourist in the city by at least two to three times. The IIM researchers found that the average stay of tourist in the city is only 1.7 day.
Experts point out that Agra is the only city in the world to have three United Nations Organisation (UNO) preserved sites -- Taj, Fatehpur Sikri and Agra Fort. "No other city in the world has more than two monuments,'' a researcher said. "But see the irony of it that the city does not have even an airport,'' Dasgupta said. All that exists is an air strip of Indian Air Force, which has a restricted use. The study, therefore, recommends construction of an airport in the city.
What may further put a dent on the tourism potential of Agra is the construction of Noida Expressway by which the average commuting time from new Delhi to Agra would be only about 45 minutes. "So one can stay in Delhi and come to Agra to see Taj. There would be no growth of Agra per se,'' Dasgupta added.
In addition, the research suggests, the city should develop a `shopping festival' kind of thing. "Very much like Dilli Haat, there should be Agra Haat' for giving the much needed exposure to the artisans,'' he said. Then, a free-flowing Yamuna, could be another attractive feature for the city. The river, however, is dying a slow death as none of the state governments showed interests in getting the river de-silted. The city, the study found, has lost virtually all its resources which had been one of the principal attraction of the city. For example, the leather industry received a jolt following disintegration of USSR. In fact, the industrial sector largely took a beating following environmental considerations, the research points out while furthering the claim to find alternate tourists hot spots within the city.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lucknow/Potatoes-can-save-the-day-for-Agra/articleshow/4382548.cms

Businesses may Publicly respond to Next Week Yelp

Next week, Yelp is set to roll out a new feature that will allow business owners to respond to user reviews--both good and bad--of their establishments. In an e-mail sent out to the service's "Elite users," one of Yelp's local community managers Don Bourassa said the service is being set up to give business owners a way to provide constructive feedback in a public forum, as the current system requires businesses to correspond with users through private messages.
"The goal is for all comments to be pleasant and useful," Bourassa said. "For example, if you wrote a glowing 5-star review some months ago about your favorite pub, in which you mention drinking Harp because they didn't carry Guinness...both you and other readers would probably be happy to see a new comment saying, 'Just got our Guinness tap last week. Hope to see you soon!'"
To help regulate the system, business owner comments are given an even more stringent policy than its guidelines for user comments. The company has put up a guide that clarifies what businesses should and should not do with the new system. Any owner-written comments that are deemed disparaging, attacking, or pandering with some sort of incentive will be removed by Yelp's staff.
Businesses that want to take part in the program must register with Yelp. This should give business owners a little more incentive to do so, since they'll be able to directly (and publicly) respond to any criticisms. Presumably, these comments will also show up in the service's mobile applications, of which the iPhone version is set to get an update.
More importantly, this program should help quell some business owners' biggest complaints about the social reviews site, which in the past has given businesses very few tools to respond to negative reviews or unfounded claims. A minute amount of editorial control is granted to businesses who pay for advertising on Yelp, however that's limited to selecting a specific user review to go on top of all the others on the page, and to show up as a suggestion on competitor's pages. Under the new program, registered businesses can simply respond to any comments--positive and negative, directly, and have all the other users see it.

Source : news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10216382-2.html

Indian cos Reengineering for Business Process

As the backlash of the economic slowdown reaches China, a Chinese white goods manufacturer that sells to the US has come up with a novel way of saving costs. When the ship sets off from Shanghai, it has onboard only a few of the raw materials that go into the final product. Instead of the route traditionally taken by North America bound vessels, it stops at ports depending on where it needs to pick up the next set of components from, till it finally reaches North America. The raw materials are converted into appliances onboard this ‘floating factory’. Not only does this mean savings on factory costs, but the company is also making optimal use of the travel time, normally the most unproductive part of the whole distribution process. And no, this isn’t just wishful thinking. Professor Bala Balachandran, JL Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Accounting and Information Management, Northwestern University is currently working with this company (who he declines to name) on how to boost efficiency.

This, management thinkers say, is what the new face of business process reengineering (BPR) has to be all about. BPR as a means of boosting productivity has been around since the early 90s and has a loyal fan base. But given that the current slowdown is unlike anything seen before, companies will have to take steps unlike anything done before to be able to ride this one out and come out on top. According to Jim Champy, one of the earliest advocates of BPR, the idea of process reengineering is far more relevant today than it ever was, but companies don’t seem to be picking up on it. “Companies today are slower to act, even though they know they need to do certain things. They are afraid to invest even if they have the cash — and this is dangerous,” he says.
Even for companies that have been constantly re-inventing themselves, this slowdown poses a unique challenge. Vikram Ramakrishnan, principal, Booz & Company, says companies undertaking any kind of BPR must remember that there are huge discontinuities in the market. “The fundamental nature of industries is changing. Before undertaking a restructuring, companies need to look at processes and ask if they are needed at all,” he says. Having decided what processes are dispensable, the next step would be prioritisation. When auto-maker Maruti Suzuki decided to find out what the non-value adding processes were and how to boost efficiency, it, along with Ernst & Young, came up with an online tool called ‘Controls Manager’. Ajay Seth, chief GM-finance, says that this led to a host of benefits for the company. “Since the non-value adding activities were removed, it provided cost savings and improved turnaround time,” he says.
Of course BPR is not always about finding a new-fangled way of doing business, but at times just sifting out what has really worked over the years. That is what shipping-to-telecom major Essar realised a few years ago. Its projects division had almost a dozen orders to execute with a purchase budget of $2.5 billion and that is when it decided to go back to something that had worked for it in the past — a central purchase team. VN Paradkar, CEO, Global Supplies (Essar) says that in the mid-90s there was a similar team in place which handled procurement for all group projects. Once those projects were completed, the team was disbanded and split between the individual locations. When things slumped about a decade later, the group decided to reassemble this team. Since the volumes are significantly larger, this enables the team to get special deals with suppliers.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com/Corporate-Dossier/Indian-cos-go-for-Business-Process-Reengineering/articleshow/4383146.cms

Tourism's - effect on the environment

More than ever before, global tourism must play its part in sustainable development and poverty alleviation, stated experts at an international symposium in this Canadian city.

But others wonder if tourism can be truly sustainable when it involves flying thousands of kilometres to reach some "carbon-neutral" eco-lodge in the jungle.
Climate change is a major concern and air transport makes a significant contribution, sustainable tourism expert Costas Christ told more than 500 attendees of the International Symposium on Sustainable Tourism Development, last month. The very essence of tourism is selling culture and nature, and those must be protected or there will be no industry. However, Christ said, it is also important to tell the public that international tourism has played a major role in preserving biodiversity and in conservation in general.
"Without tourism, the Pantanal (in South America), the world's largest wetland, would have just turned into a major cattle feed-lot for McDonald's," said Christ, a former board chair of The International Ecotourism Society. If it weren't for tourism, Africa would not have its game parks and nature preserves, and the Coral Triangle (which encompasses the waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste) would have been devastated by overfishing, he continued.
"Tourism is not the problem; the challenge is how to do tourism right," Christ told Tierramérica in an interview. As an industry, tourism has made many mistakes over the years, but has come to realise that with climate change and other environmental concerns, there is no future for tourism without becoming more sustainable, he believes. Indeed, the very essence of tourism is selling culture and nature, and those must be protected or there will be no industry: "Business and political leaders have to understand this," he said. Even mass-market tourism — sometimes called beach tourism — depends on nature, although he believes people are moving away from that type of vacation in general. International tourism has undergone phenomenal growth in the past decade. In 2008 there were more than 920 million international tourist arrivals, up two percent from the previous year, despite a slowing global economy, reports the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
In 2007, the industry generated five trillion dollars of economic activity, or nine percent of global gross domestic product. Tourism is also directly or indirectly responsible for more than 200 million jobs around the globe. This year the UNWTO expects a modest decline of less than two percent. But many attending the symposium reported that their markets are already seeing empty hotel rooms. Christ says this can be a good thing: "The economic crisis is an opportunity to reflect and consider how to do tourism right." That's just what the 100 largest tourism companies are doing, he says. Last month their business association, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), announced that its members pledged to address climate change and reduce their carbon emissions by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. If tourism can become "greener," can it also alleviate poverty? "Absolutely, it works," Francesco Frangialli, former UNWTO secretary-general, told attendees. Frangialli was specifically referring to a particular effort called Sustainable Tourism — Eliminating Poverty (ST-EP), which UNWTO announced at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002.
There are now 70 ST-EP projects around the world. The programme brings practical benefits to the poor by finding ways to channel visitor spending and associated investment into improved income and quality of life for people in poverty. In the Mekong River Delta in northeast Cambodia, a ST-EP project brings visitors to view the endangered freshwater dolphin. Tourists stay in local villages, eat local produce, buy local crafts and are taken to the dolphins by former fisherfolk. This economic and environmental circuit empowers locals to protect the fewer than 100 dolphins that are left, said Frangialli. "Tourism is saving a species that would likely disappear otherwise." This type of tourism, sometimes called ecotourism, makes up at most three to four percent of the industry. Mass-market tourism constitutes more than 50 percent, and now must evolve and become sustainable, he said. Sustainable tourism, like sustainable development, is "such a vague concept that no one disagrees with but can mean anything you want it to," says Richard Butler, professor at the University of Strathclyde, in Scotland.
As a result, there are many policies on sustainable development but not much action, Butler told Tierramérica following his presentation at the conference. From the climate change perspective, it doesn't matter if an eco-village in the Amazon rainforest is carbon neutral when tourists fly thousands of kilometres to get there, said Butler.
And while such a project may help alleviate like poverty, as do the ST-EP projects, he wonders, "How do you get the tourists to such places on a sustainable basis?"
Tourism is a huge global economic and social force, a great economic achievement to be proud of, he said. But to move towards sustainability it is important to look at what tourists are doing and where they are going. "Some places like Antarctica should be off-limits to tourists," he said.
Setting limits isn't easy, but Butler suggests "no net negative impacts" as the overarching goal.
Monitoring is crucial — and no destination can call itself sustainable without effective monitoring systems in place, he said. This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank. Stephen Leahy is an environmental journalist based in Uxbridge, Ontario. His writing has been published in dozens of publications around the world including New Scientist, The London Sunday Times, Maclean's Magazine, The Toronto Star, Wired News, Audubon, BBC Wildlife, and Canadian Geographic. For the past few years he has been the science and environment correspondent for Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS), a wire service headquartered in Rome that covers global issues, and its Latin American affiliate, Tierramerica, located in Mexico City.

Source : www.straightgoods.ca/2009/ViewFeature.cfm?Ref=198

Eleven Digits Mobile Number

Eleven-digit mobile phone numbers are on the verge of making an entry as the rapid growth of cell phone users is likely to push the 10-digits into oblivion by early next year.
According to industry sources, given the current rate of growth of subscribers in the country, another 150-200 million can be added before the 10-digit quota is consumed. At the end of February this year, the subscriber base stood at 376 million.
Fifteen million join the mobile club now every month, meaning the quota will be over in 10-15 months.
Officials of the department of telecom (DoT) said, “A 11-digit numbering framework will cause minimum disturbance to existing mobile phone users.”
The transition from 10 to 11 digits is most likely to involve prefixing a number before the last five digits or suffixing it at the end of the current number.
“According to international norms, mobile phone numbers in a country should have a uniform number of digits,” officials said. So, if it has to be an 11-digit format, all mobile numbers (irrespective of the operator) will have to follow the same model.
Most operators feel there is no need to change the hardware to accommodate an extra digit. “The change will be in the software and it will not take more than a month to make the changes,” said a senior executive of a mobile operator.
In India, the first numbering plan was announced in 1993 when mobile telephony had not yet begun.
In 2003, the DoT had come out with a 30-year numbering plan. However, the rapidly growing subscriber base has forced it to review the plan in six years.
The current growth rate in telecom is expected to continue as firms extend their reach to rural India and new technologies such as high-speed 3G enter the country.
Call rates are also expected to fall further as operators get involved in price wars to lure customers. The country is set to exceed the government target of 500 million mobile phones by 2010. China and the UK also had to introduce a similar change in digits.
Mobile alert
About 250 lakh handsets are expected to be out of service from April 15, as GSM operators, including Airtel and Vodafone, gear up to cease connection to cell phones without the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. Every mobile has a unique 15-digit code, or IMEI, which can be known by keying in *#06#.

Source : www.telegraphindia.com/1090406/jsp/business/story_10780277.jsp

The World Bank given $80 million to Rwanda

The World Bank has given Rwanda $80 million (Rwf45.4 billion). The grant is in support ofthe national budget. This is the 5th grant under the Poverty Reduction Strategy Grant (PRSG).
The money will help to enhance the development agenda in support of the implementation of Rwanda’s development guide; the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS). In a statement, the World Bank Country Director Victoria Kwakwa said, “This is the first time in the PRSG series that we are using the Common Performance Assessment framework (CPAF), a mechanism that has been agreed between the Government of Rwanda and all the budget support donors for harmonising assessment of Rwanda’s performance to underpin our support through the budget.”
Rwanda’s Finance and Economic Planning Minister James Musoni received the grant on behalf of the government. Minister Musoni stated that, “The grant is timely; we expect this form of assistance to enhance our national ownership, directly targeting quick reduction of poverty through pro-poor growth.” The money is intended boost the agriculture sector. It will help farmers to access loans through the Agriculture Guarantee Fund to increase their production especially in rural areas. It will also enhance access to energy, transport and creation of an attractive business environment. The education sector will benefit through investment in science and technology studies. According to Minister Musoni, the first disbursement will be made immediately after the parliament approves the grant, a process that is expected to happen within one week. The country’s current economic growth is projected at over 11 percent, the highest in the region. “This highlights the importance attached to EDPRS and we are confident that the support will make a difference in creating job opportunities and increase agricultural produce,” Kwakwa said.
The EDPRS is a medium term framework adopted by government as a modality of achieving its long term development agenda embodied in the Vision 2020.
Rwandan hotels to cut prices for EAC tourists
Rwandan hotels plan to offer a 20 percent discount on hotel room booking for visitors from the East African Community. Rwanda’s tourism office announced it is working on the modalities of this development with the Private Sector Federation (PSF) through its tourism chamber. This plan is a move to protect the industry from the effects of the current global crisis.
The Director of Tourism in Rwanda Development Board, Emmanuel Werabe, told local journalists that the proposal should be implemented in April. “Having 20 percent discount on hotel room booking is another way of attracting the regional clientele, especially from the East African Community (EAC) as we expect low tourist inflow from Europe and America,” he was quoted as saying. The 20 percent discount will be applied to EAC members, with a likelihood of dropping to 50 percent in low season. Before this, all clients paid the same hotel room booking cost. However, the Rwanda tourism office has not registered a fall in the number of tourists.
Private sector to set up new business code
Private Sector Federation (PSF) will establish a code of business ethics to govern its members. The code will stipulate obligations, responsibilities and ethical standards for all members of PSF, the umbrella organisation of all private businesses in Rwanda. The PSF Director of Capacity Building and Employment, Molly Rwigamba, said some businesses don’t recognise or practise business ethics, which tarnishes the image of the private sector. Among the malpractices include failure to execute business contracts satisfactorily.
The code’s scope shall apply to directors and managers of member companies, non-executive directors, and all company staff. It will also affect shareholders of the company.
However, business people are requested not to misunderstand the code as a tool for policing members but rather a means to provide correct ethical behaviour for the members. It is intended to enable employees make the right decisions, providing a positive source of public evaluation, reputation and trust and to be specific enough to deter unethical behaviour.

Source : www.independent.co.ug/index.php/news/regional-news/78-regional-news/765-world-bank-gives-grant-to-rwanda

Hartford Financial - Ratings cut Shares

Shares of Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. rebounded and moved higher Tuesday afternoon after falling sharply earlier in the session, a day after the insurer saw key credit ratings cut by Moody's Investors Service. Hartford Financial (nyse: HIG - news - people ) shares rose 20 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $7.90 in afternoon trading. Earlier in the session, Hartford Financial shares had fallen as low as $6.52 after the company's ratings were cut the previous evening. Late Monday, Moody's (nyse: MCO - news - people ) slashed the senior debt rating for Hartford Financial to "Baa3" from "Baa1." Moody's also cut the insurance financial strength rating of Hartford Financial's property and casualty subsidiary to "A2" from "A1." The insurance financial strength rating of the life insurance subsidiary was lowered to "A3" to "A1." All the ratings remain investment grade. Moody's cut the rating of the life insurance subsidiary because of concerns about further losses tied to its investment portfolio and variable annuity business.Many life insurers have faced concerns about losses in their annuity businesses. As markets have declined, investors and ratings agencies are concerned that insurers will need to cover potential shortfalls to meet minimum payment requirements on annuities when they come due. That could cost the insurers money at a time when profits are falling and investment losses are mounting.The decline of the senior debt rating was tied primarily to the weakness in the life insurance subsidiary. The cut in the ratings for the property and casualty business also reflects its affiliation with and support of the life insurance operations, Moody's said in a statement. Moody's noted that the property and casualty business is strong and its stand alone profile is solid, but the potential that it might have to provide support for the life insurance operations could cause further downgrades.

Source : www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/31/ap6236587.html