Monday, September 28, 2009

Iran flexes muscle ahead of talks with major powers

TEHRAN: Iran test-fired missiles on Monday which a commander said could reach any regional target, flexing its military muscle before crucial talks this week with major powers worried about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

The missile drills of the elite Revolutionary Guards coincide with escalating tension in Iran's nuclear dispute with the West, after last week's disclosure by Tehran that it is building a second uranium enrichment plant.

News of the nuclear fuel facility south of Tehran added urgency to the rare meeting in Geneva on Thursday between Iranian officials and representatives of six major powers, including the United States, China and Russia.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who says any military action against Iran would only "buy time" and stresses the need for diplomacy, mentioned possible new sanctions on banking and equipment and technology for Iran's oil and gas industry.

Iran's Foreign Ministry said there was no link between the missile maneuvers and the nuclear activities.

"This is a military drill which is deterrent in nature," spokesman Hassan Qashqavi told a news conference broadcast by English-language Press TV. "There is no connection whatsoever with the nuclear program."

Press TV said the Shahab 3, a surface-to-surface missile with a range of up to 2,000 km (1,250 miles), was "successfully" test-fired on the second day of an exercise that began on Sunday, when short and medium-range missiles were launched.

Such a range would put Israel and U.S. bases in the region within striking distance. Television footage of the launches showed missiles soaring into the sky in desert-like terrain, to shouts of Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest).

"All targets within the region, no matter where they are, will be within the range of these missiles," said General Hossein Salami, commander of the Guards' air force.

Salami said the exercise was over and had achieved its goals. "All the test-fired missiles managed to hit their targets without any errors and with precision," the forces website quoted him as saying.

WIDE CONDEMNATION

The tests sparked swift international condemnation.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the missile test was "part of an annual provocation" by Iran and should not distract from the pending Geneva talks.

"On Thursday (Iran will) need to ... show that they are serious about ensuring that their civilian nuclear power program does not leak into a military program," Miliband told Britain's Sky News.

European Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana, who will head the Western delegation in the Geneva talks, said "everything that is done in that context is a concern."

He said the aim of Thursday's talks was "engagement."

When asked what sanctions Iran should face if it failed to comply with Western demands over its nuclear program, Solana said "now is not the time to talk about that."

France called on Iran "to choose the path of cooperation and not that of confrontation by immediately ending these profoundly destabilizing activities and by immediately responding to the requests of the international community in order to reach a negotiated solution on the nuclear dossier."

The United States and its Western allies have made clear they will focus on Iran's nuclear program at the Geneva meeting. Iran has offered wide-ranging security talks but says it will not discuss its nuclear "rights."

Washington, which suspects Iran is trying to develop nuclear bomb capability, has previously expressed concern about Tehran's missile program. Iran, a major oil producer, says its nuclear work is solely for generating peaceful electricity.

ADDITIONAL SANCTIONS

The Pentagon chief told CNN he hoped the disclosure of the second facility would force Tehran to make concessions. "The Iranians are in a very bad spot now because of this deception, in terms of all of the great powers," Gates said.

"There obviously is the opportunity for severe additional sanctions. I think we have the time to make that work."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Iran must present "convincing evidence" at the Geneva meeting.

"We are going to put them to the test on October 1," Clinton told CBS' "Face the Nation. "They can open their entire system to the kind of extensive investigation that the facts call for."

Both interviews were taped before Iran started the two-day missile exercise, designed to show it is prepared to head off military attacks by foes like Israel or the United States.

Iran's state broadcaster IRIB said "upgraded" versions of Shahab 3 and another missile, Sejil, had been tested. Officials have earlier said Sejil has a range of close to 2,000 km (1,250 miles). They were powered by solid fuel, IRIB said.

Neither the United States nor its ally Israel have ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the nuclear row.

Iran has said it would respond to any attack by targeting U.S. interests in the region and Israel, as well as closing the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for world oil supplies.

Iran's defense minister warned Israel on Monday against launching any attack on the Islamic Republic, saying it would only speed up the Jewish state's own demise.

"If this happens, which of course we do not foresee, its ultimate result would be that it expedites the Zionist regime's last breath," Ahmad Vahidi said on state television.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday the discovery of a secret nuclear plant in Iran showed a "disturbing pattern" of evasion by Tehran. He warned Iran on Friday it would face "sanctions that bite" unless it came clean.

Iran has rejected Western accusations that the plant was meant to be secret because it did not inform the U.N. nuclear watchdog as soon as plans were drawn up, saying the facility near the holy city of Qom is legal and can be inspected.

"Nothing has been illegal. It has been absolutely based on law," said the Foreign Ministry's Qashqavi. "All activities are transparent ... we are prepared to clarify other aspects."

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the BBC he had had a couple of meetings with IAEA inspectors and it was agreed they would be given access to the site "in the near future." He gave no date.

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at 8:13 AM
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Madoff sons, brother, niece to be sued

NEW YORK: Epic swindler Bernard Madoff's two sons, his brother and a niece will be sued this week for $198 million, the trustee winding down the Madoff firm told CBS News' "60 Minutes" broadcast on Sunday.

Sons Mark and Andrew, brother Peter and niece Shana all held executive positions with the firm and should have known about the multibillion-dollar, worldwide 20-year-long Ponzi scheme, trustee Irving Picard and his chief counsel David Sheehan, told the program.

Wall Street's biggest investment fraud, a Ponzi scheme in which early investors are paid with the money of new clients, collapsed in the declining economy last December. Madoff confessed to the fraud of as much as $64.8 billion and is serving a 150-year prison sentence.

Asked by "60 Minutes" whether investigators were working under the assumption that there was money still hidden, Sheehan said: "Yes, we are" and Picard said, "We'd assume it's millions and millions of dollars."

Sheehan told "60 Minutes" he estimated about $36 billion went into the whole scheme. "About $18 (billion) of it went out before the collapse. And $18 (billion) of it is just missing. And that $18 billion is what we're trying to get back."

New York lawyers Picard and Sheehan said the latest lawsuit to recover money for defrauded investors under the Securities Investor Protection Act would accuse the family members of negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. The lawsuits to be filed in U.S. bankruptcy court in New York would also accuse them of profiting personally in the tens of millions of dollars while working at the firm.

All of the family members have said in previous statements that they had no knowledge of Madoff's crimes.

The sons withdrew $35 million from accounts with little or no investment, Picard told "60 Minutes".

"Whether or not they have a criminal problem we will pursue them as far as we can pursue them," Picard said. "And if that leads to bankrupting them---then that's what will happen."

The trustee and his lawyers have filed 13 suits already in an effort to recover about $15 billion, including one against Madoff's wife Ruth and several claims against so-called Madoff feeder funds.

Only $1.5 billion has been recovered so far and the estimates for the actual money that was lost in the fraud have varied from $13 billion to $64.8 billion.

The case is Securities Investor Protection Corp v Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities 08-01789 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

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at 8:09 AM
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Xerox to buy Affiliated Computer for $6.4 billion

NEW YORK: Xerox Corp plans to buy Affiliated Computer Services Inc in a $6.4 billion cash-and-stock deal that expands the copier company into outsourcing and data center management.

The deal, priced at a 33.6 percent premium to ACS's Friday closing price, is the latest in the active technology services sector. A week ago, Dell Inc said it would buy Perot Systems Corp. Hewlett-Packard Co bought Electronic Data Systems Corp in August 2008.

In its biggest acquisition ever, Xerox will pay 4.935 Xerox shares and $18.60 in cash for each share of ACS, totaling $63.11 per share based on Friday's closing prices, the companies said on Monday. That compares to ACS's record high share price of $63.66 in 2006.

Shares of ACS, which competes with Accenture Ltd and Computer Sciences Corp in data center management, jumped 27 percent to $55.24 on the New York Stock Exchange. Xerox shares fell 14 percent to $7.74.

The deal may help Xerox compete with printing rival HP, which significantly expanded its services segment last year with its $13.2 billion purchase of EDS.

"HP strengthened their position in terms of business services (in addition to) printing," said Gabelli & Co analyst Hendi Susanto. "Xerox may have to compete with HP, and this will strengthen their position."

Ursula Burns, chief executive of Xerox, said revenue from services will triple to an estimated $10 billion next year from $3.5 billion in 2008.

"Customers are saying, 'We need help with the entire document infrastructure.' We've got the technology piece of the back office and the technology piece of automation. We need help with the information piece," Burns said in an interview.

Xerox will assume ACS's debt of $2 billion and issue $300 million of convertible preferred stock to ACS's founder Darwin Deason. On an adjusted earnings basis, the deal is expected to add to Xerox's earnings in the first year.

The Norwalk, Connecticut-based copier company has been focusing on its so-called annuity business, in which customers consistently order supplies and services for their printers.

It derives some 70 percent of its cash flow from the sale of supplies, financing and services to repeat customers. But the economic downturn has forced some of its customers to slow their plans to buy new equipment or order service.

The companies expect annualized cost savings of $300 million to $400 million in the first three years after closing, which is expected in the first quarter of 2010. ACS CEO Lynn Blodgett said some jobs will be affected at the Dallas-based company.

After the deal closes, ACS will operate as a standalone unit, run by Blodgett.

J.P. Morgan and Blackstone Advisory Partners acted as financial advisors to Xerox for the deal, Citigroup Global Markets Inc was financial advisor to ACS and Evercore Partners was financial advisor to a special board committee at ACS.

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at 8:07 AM
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Manila hit over aid delay after storm kills 140

MANILA: Philippine officials scampered to send relief aid Monday to hundreds of thousands hit by weekend floods in and around Manila, while anger mounted over what was seen as an inadequate response from the government.

As the death toll from flash floods soared to 140, analysts said the anger could damage the prospects of Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, the administration's candidate in the May 2010 presidential election.

"His 0.2 percent popularity could be zero by now," said political analyst and columnist Nelson Navarro, of Teodoro.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, already deeply unpopular in opinion polls, ordered an emergency center be set up in the presidential palace Monday, two days after the floods, highlighting for some the haphazard response to the disaster.

At least 450,000 people were affected, including about 150,000 displaced.

Officials said the economic damage from the worst rains on record in the Manila area was about 1.4 billion pesos ($30 million), including 500 million pesos in lost crops. Damaged roads and bridges accounted for most of the remaining costs.

Officials expected the toll to rise with people looking for missing relatives and residents trapped in flooded houses two days after Typhoon Ketsana dumped about 410 mm of rain in 24 hours, about the average amount of rainfall for an entire month.

'ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME TYPHOON'

Arroyo called the typhoon "an extreme event that has strained our response capabilities to the limit. But it is not breaking us." "It's a once-in-a-lifetime typhoon," she said in a statement. "We are continuing the rescue efforts until everyone in danger is accounted for."

While waters had receded from most flooded areas in Manila, some parts of the city of 15 million remained cut off and in others, mud and garbage was left caked on streets.

Schools were ordered closed, but financial markets were open Monday and public transport was operating. Offices and businesses were open, but attendance was poor.

"There was a massive failure in government and the direction of management response," said Mario Taguiwalo, president of the National Institute for Policy Studies think-tank.

"The root cause is you have a government whose predominant preoccupation is with graft and corruption -- how to steal more money from the people," Taguiwalo said.

"If your officials are not motivated to serve and just motivated to steal, then that's the kind of response you get."

Arroyo has been accused of vote fraud and corruption in her nine years in power. She has consistently denied the charges.

The government was using helicopters to drop food packets.

Television reports said private citizens and volunteer groups were collecting relief goods -- mostly clothes, drinking water and medicines -- and distributing them to victims.

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at 8:03 AM
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Bharti, MTN do not want quick dual listing-FinMin

MUMBAI: India's Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO) and South African MTN Group (MTNJ.J) are not looking at a dual-listed structure immediately if their merger goes ahead, Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in an interview with a television channel.

Telecoms companies Bharti and MTN revived merger talks in May, a year after previous talks broke down over who would control a merged entity. A merger would create an emerging-markets giant with more than 200 million customers across India, Africa and the Middle East.

Neither companies are talking of dual listing immediately, but are considering buying shares in each others' companies, Mukherjee told the ET NOW TV channel, adding that dual listing was not necessary for buying each others' shares.

Excerpts of Mukherjee's interview were broadcast on Monday.

Mukherjee had earlier said the Indian government welcomed a tie-up between Bharti Airtel and MTN, but there were legal issues that needed to be looked at. He had also said a dual listing of the firms would require the rupee to be made fully convertible, which needed to be examined.

South Africa's government is eager to retain MTN's national character and has approached Indian authorities to consider a dual-listed structure, which is not allowed under existing Indian laws.

The firms have extended the deadline for their exclusive talks twice and the current deadline runs until Wednesday.

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at 7:59 AM
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What Will Change in Germany?

What Will Change in Germany?

In the final hours of her campaign for re-election, Chancellor Angela Merkel proclaimed that anchoring worldwide the principles of the German economic and social model would be a main task of a new government in Berlin.

Mrs. Merkel said this was a matter “of the defense of our ideals,” according to a dispatch from the German-language service of The Associated Press.

To say the least, here was a fairly puzzling and even contradictory statement about where the world’s leading exporting nation — and one of the countries most profoundly hit by the recession — saw its future.

On the one hand, the Group of 20 economic summit meeting in Pittsburgh had produced documents that in substance recommended significant, difficult changes in the way the German model, or Social Market Economy, works: “decisive progress on structural reforms that foster private domestic demand” (or reorienting Germany’s export-dependency from the trade imbalances that block international growth); and commitment “to raise capital standards” (or limiting rickety German banks’ highest-in-the-industrial-world leverage ratios and their role in feeding global financial instability).

On the other, Mrs. Merkel, 24 hours before getting a grip on another four-year term, was recycling the line that all was well between the Rhine and the Oder, and Germany a beacon to the world. To hear what she had said earlier on the campaign trail, there was “no sensible alternative” to exports as a base for German prosperity, and “the structural weaknesses that used to limit Germany’s competitiveness have been dismantled.”

Perhaps the Merkel language at the finish line was just a reflex gasp meant to tie a final bow on her yearlong refrain that Germany has been a guiltless party in the economic crisis. And perhaps the arrival of the Free Democrats in Mrs. Merkel’s government suggests new thinking by the chancellor.

But her last campaign hurrah — what she chose to say to voters after Pittsburgh — underscores international concern that the G-20’s declarations are toothless, and that Germany’s taking them on board is in doubt.

Look at the German economic model’s characteristics now: the highest level of new debt in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, according to the government’s new budget. Deficits next year that will surpass in percentage terms those of Greece and Italy, in line with the projections of the European Commission. Unemployment that could rise in 2010 by as much as one million workers, an increase of more than 20 percent.

In fact, last week’s bad news cull included a record year-on-year export drop of 23.5 percent.

Add to that €816 billion in toxic assets held by German banks in July — one-third of German gross domestic product.

And all this comes in the context of a comparison at the start of the crisis by The New York Times of 17 countries’ bank leverage ratios. It charted total working bank assets in relation to banks’ net worth and found, with greater ratios indicating a smaller margin of safety, Germany’s banks’ leverage were the highest.

Does the new government do something about that right away? A column in the International Herald Tribune by Paul Taylor of Reuters pointed out that stalling on strong medicine for zombie banks was the path that led Japan into stagnancy for a decade.

But the most popular man in Mrs. Merkel’s first government, Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, said last week that while higher working capital ratios were necessary to hinder speculative operations — what, speculation in Germany? — they must come “when the time is ripe, or when the present crisis is overcome” — in other words, at a very imprecise moment in the future.

A special part of Germany’s banking grief derives from its landesbanken, or state-owned regional banks, central to the German model’s apportionment of power between the regions and federal government (read: the availability of ready cash and influence to the regions). But the landesbanken were major failed players on the U.S. subprime market, and all are located in states run by Mrs. Merkel’s Christian Democrat party.

You get the extremely awkward picture. I asked Manfred Lahnstein, a former Social Democrat finance minister, what a new government could do. He said, “The best thing would be to gradually downsize them and then to sell off the remaining core activities. Unfortunately, this does not seem politically feasible.”

And moving the German economy partially away from its export paradigm toward creating more domestic demand, as the G-20 has suggested, but which Mrs. Merkel has not specifically endorsed?

Indeed, the Financial Times Deutschland, which is German owned and edited, said Friday that Germany and China “facilitated and profited from” America’s over-spending, and now “must stop trying to save their economies purely through export strength.”

“Germany is a big part of the problem” of trade imbalance, the newspaper wrote, describing Mrs. Merkel’s mission in Pittsburgh as wanting to make sure “there was no discussion of Germany’s complicity in the financial crisis.”

But Kurt Lauk, the head of the Christian Democratic Economy Commission — often critical of the Grand Coalition and no Merkel yes-man — heeding the G-20’s message, said, “We must stress domestic demand.”

Exports would resume, he said, but never attain their previous levels because the spending-and-savings models of Germany’s major clients would change irretrievably. “We have to re-think our nonservice mentality. We can’t resist pushing domestic consumption any longer.”

In her last day on the stump, Mrs. Merkel, without ever talking of the G-20 admonitions and their challenge to German routine, suggested “the defense of our ideals” could be best managed “in alliance with the countries of the European Union.”

But even that may be more than a small task after 12 months in which Germany initially refused to join a common E.U. recession-bailout fund, showed next to no interest in setting up an E.U. purchasing group to limit dependency on Russian natural gas, and supported terms for the sale of Opel that clearly favored German workers over the automaker’s employees in Belgium, Britain, Poland and Spain.

For a great country’s leader, reaffirmed in power with an eager new partner, successfully passing through the election’s doors of opportunity seems sure to demand new quantities of frankness.

And a readiness to manage a future Mrs. Merkel did not tell Germans to embrace as less familiar, safe and secure.

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at 7:55 AM
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Spiritual guru urges Advani not to give up politics

New Delhi: A week after a party leader suggested that his political life was virtually over, a Hindu religious figure has said that BJP leader L K Advani on Monday expressed his inclination to "distance himself" from politics.

"He (Advani) expressed a view to distance himself from politics but was not not clear when and at what time," Swami Vishveshwara Teerth of Pejawar Mutt told reporters after Advani called on him.

The swami, who is on a visit here, told PTI that Advani did not say he wanted to retire.

The swami told him that the guidance of a senior leader like him is needed in BJP and politics. "So, for this reason he should not move away from it (politics)," he said.

The BJP, however, sought to downplay his statement. Party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters "We keep meeting sadhus and sants to consult them and seek their blessings and guidance. The views of Swamiji should not be seen in political light."

A week ago, BJP leader and former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parikkar had compared Advani to a rancid pickle and said had said his political career was more or less over.

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at 7:40 AM
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Talks fail, Air India pilots to intensify agitation

New Delhi: The agitating pilots of the cash-strapped national carrier Air India on Monday threatened to intensify their strike after talks between them and the airline management failed to resolve the impasse.

"The management has refused to address our concerns. We will continue our agitation. We expect our pilots across the country to join us soon," representative of executive pilots, V K Bhalla, told reporters soon after the talks ended inconclusive.

He said the management has refused to look into their demand on payment of three months' arrears and agreement on wages besides a neutral party intervention.

Bhalla also accused Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav of creating confusion among pilots.

Jadhav flew in from Mumbai on Monday afternoon to meet the pilots. Air India has its head office at Mumbai.

The strike entered the third day on Monday, forcing cancellation of at least 20 flights, including two international flights, out of the national Capital alone.

The spokesperson for the airlines was not available for comments.

On Sunday, the management had met a section of pilots in Mumbai and agreed to their demands and assured them that a committee would reverse its decision concerning cut in their productivity linked incentives (PLI) and its modalities. The PLI constitutes the major chunk of their salary.

Despite that, the Delhi faction of executive pilots said they would continue the strike till the management also conceded their demand and paid them their last three months' salary arrears and other agreements on wages.

About 100 executive pilots reported for work between Friday and Sunday midnight, while according to another Air India official, executive pilots based in Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata resumed duty on Monday.

The Civil Aviation ministry has called a meeting of all airlines on Tuesday to discuss the situation arising out of the Air India pilots' agitation as well as a similar protest by their counterparts in the Jet Airways earlier this month.

The Air India agitation began last week after the management's decision to slash the PLI of employees by 25 to 50 per cent as part of cost-cutting measures. The airline's current debt is about Rs 16,500 crore and its losses stood at Rs 7,200 crore in fiscal 2008-09 that ended March 31.

The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday condemned the national carrier's decision to slash the wages and PLI of its pilots and demanded the government's intervention in the Air India strike

Previous Post's: Security forces gun down three LeT terrorists in J-K

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at 7:34 AM
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Security forces gun down three LeT terrorists in J-K

Srinagar: Three Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorists, including two planning a fidayeen attack, were killed and three security force personnel were injured in a fierce gunbattle in south Kashmir district of Pulwama on Monday.

A woman was also killed in the encounter, a police spokesman said in Srinagar.

He said on a tip-off about the presence of some LeT terrorists at Amlar village in Tral, about 35 km from Srinagar in Pulwama district, Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) launched a joint operation on Monday morning.

However, when the village was being cordoned off, terrorists hiding there opened fire and also hurled grenades on the search party.

The fire was returned and in the fierce clash, three terrorists were killed.

The slain terrorists were later identified as Zahid alias Abu Shahib, resident of Multan, Abu Dujana, resident of Pakistan and a local Mehrajuddin alias Qua alias Chota-R. Mehraj had left militancy but recently joined LeT again.

Abu Sahib and Abu Dujana were planning a fidayeen attack in south Kashmir.

Two CRPF and a police personnel were also injured in the clash.

A Defence Ministry spokesman claimed that it was a joint operation of the Army and CRPF in which the terrorists were killed.

He said three AK rifles and other arms and ammunition were recovered from the slain terrorists.

Previous Post's: iEncyclopedia Vijaya Dhashami Festival Wishes

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at 7:31 AM
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Sunday, September 27, 2009

iEncyclopedia wish you and your family members a Happy Vijaya Dhashami (2009).



iEncyclopedia wishing you and your family members a happy colourful Navaratri may maa durga empower you and your family member with nine (9) blessing of name, happiness, humanity, education, bhakti and shakti.

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at 7:49 AM
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