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02
Editorial
03
Letters to the Editor
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News and Briefs
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Over the Top
COvEr sTOry
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The global media battlefeld
19 the media and
government control
20
African media under siege
22
Can BBC and Al-Jazeera resist
competition in global coverage?
23
World media in transition
fEaTurEs
24
Libya enters new territory
26
An uneasy triangle
26
London 2012 Games broke
records of all kinds
28
somali piracy being
reined in
29 London bids farewell
to olympics
29
syria: Annans
mission impossible
31
olympic politics
31
Food price volatility
worries World Bank
33
Will Egypts new political
order start a new page?
34
Environment
35
Innovations
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Business Briefs
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arts & Entertainment
48
Travel & Tourism
50
science News
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Motoring
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Book reviews
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ICT
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sports
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Life & style
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2
northsouth
Group publisher
The Lord Newall, DL
editor-in-Chief
ali Bahaijoub
AfriCA editor
Desmond Davies
World AffAirs & book revieW editor
Guy arnold
business editor
alan Brown
europe editor
reiner Gatterman
AsiA editor
franklin adesegha
trAvel & tourism editor
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stAff reporters
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AssoCiAte editor
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editorial

the signifcance of the mass media
for any political system is based
on their role to inform on events,
promote an idea or policy and indulge
in opinion formation and expression.
the mass media owned by power-
hungry proprietors help present
content in a way that the publication
or the network see ft to promote its
own interest in political, ideological,
economic, social or fnancial terms.
the media today determine and
demonstrate the limits of legitimate
public discussion in society on
various issues by sometimes forcing
the public to conform to particular
political or commercial interests
and beliefs. Control of the media has
become a hot subject in democracies
where power is concentrated in the
hands of governements or commercial
interests. the mass media have been
further enhanced by social media
and new technologies. Global social
media revenue is forecast to reach
$16.9 billion in 2012, up 43.1 per
cent from 2011 revenue of $11.8
billion, according to Gartner, Inc.
As mass media have extremely
important functions and role to play
in democratic societies, they require
public regulation to eventually help
transform them into public services.
If this is not the case, control of the
media becomes indirectly linked
to powerful people who use it as a
means to a political end.
rupert Murdochs British,
Autralian and American media
empire is a case in point, as
his attempt to make or break
personalities or promote parties
had profound impact on readers
and viewers of his publications and
networks. so much so that political
leaders were scrambling to seek his
favour and patronage.
Murdochs news of the World
phone hacking scandal in Britain has
brought to light the illegal ongoings
behind the scenes and wilful abuses
of personal privacy.
It points also to the scale of
the corrupting power that media
proprietors can have on good
governance and liberal democracy.
At various times the news of
the Word asserted the private
commercial and political interests
of Murdoch the proprietor who used
his strong infuence in ways that
fouted journalistic and editorial
independence to disregard the crucial
issues of bias and concentration of
media ownership can be dangerous
for society.
successive governments have taken
the cowardly way of avoiding vexing
powerful media owners with needed
public interest regulations on quality,
content, journalistic standards and
editorial independence. Instead they
have attempted to fx the problem
with rules designed to promote
diversity of ownership.
the public believes that the big
media proprietors have too much
power and that ownership is too
concentrated in the hands of a few.
the media giants are signifcant
benefciaries of the current political,
economic and social structure
around the world.
Media regulation is essential
in order to limit the power and
control in the hands of commercial
and political operators. however,
regulation should not mean
muzzling journalists so that they
cannot do their job in the interest of
the general public.
It is argued that media
democratisation requires specifc
forms of regulation beyond market
regulation and private subsidies in
order to limit the power and control
in the hands of power-seekers so
that the political and economic
autonomy of the media and the
interest of the general public at
large are truly served.
In this new world of digitally
delivered news, it is diffcult to know
where to draw a line but common
sense should prevail.
ali Bahaijoub, Editor
3

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012
letters
The currency debate
the banking crisis that shook the world fnancial
system in 2007 is still reverberating throughout the
world and the euro is only having a temporary patchy
period that can be solved by the European union in
time for recovery for the European currency and the
economy. We must not forget that currencies go up and
down and it is now the turn of the euro to endure the
global market turmoil. the American dollar and the
Japanese yen were in similar situations before and so
was the British pound. therefore, the euro will survive
the current turbulence and Europe will continue to be
the biggest open market in the world.
Martina Milanovic | Warsaw, Poland
.......................................................................................
I am not sure the European currency will survive the
ongoing economic and fnancial upheaval if Greece
withdraws from the eurozone and spain and Italy ask
for a bailout. If this scenario takes place in the near
future, the eurozone will encounter insurmountable
diffculties to redress the situation. so far, Germany
has played a crucial role in maintaining the relative
stability of the eurozone but it all depends on how other
European partners perform to avoid another crisis that
could prove fatal for the future of the euro and even the
European union.
Olivia Doming | Brussels, Belgium
.......................................................................................
What next for Egypt and syria?
the syrian situation resembles that of Libya when the
ousted Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddaf tried to defy
the international community and the will of his people
to cling to power for ever. he got what he deserved
because he became blinded by his sycophants and the
countrys wealth that allowed him to stay in power for
42 years. President Bashar al-Assad is heading for a
similar fate and it will not take long before he is ousted
and probably killed by one of the armed opposition that
seeks his overthrow. We have to stress the fact that the
opposition in Libya was supported by nAto air-raids
and arms while syrias is supported by a variety of
interested parties in the West and in the Middle East.
Karl fitscher | Berlin, Germany
.......................................................................................
Egypt is a special case where the armed forces have
played a major role in the politics of the country since
the overthrow of the monarchy in 1952. Egypt has
known only leaders from the army ever since and for
the frst time Egyptians have the right to elect their
president instead of having one imposed on them by
the military. President Morsi may be able to change
that if he skillfully and carefully proceeds to water
down the armys hold on power. the next few months
will be crucial for the countrys political future and
stability.
sergio Belini | Lisbon, Portugal
syria is in a terrible mess and I do not think President
Bashar al-Assads regime will survive the uprising of
his people who are desperate for change from autocracy
to democracy. With all the logistical help his opponents
are getting and the defections from the army and his
government, it will be a miracle if he manages to stay
in power for a few more weeks.
George salman | Nicosia, Cyprus
.......................................................................................
Kof Annan, the former un secretary General and the
special envoy for the world body and the Arab League,
was the only hope for a peaceful settlement of the syrian
crisis. now that he has stepped down from the task of
mediating an acceptable way out of the impasse, there
is no hope for a solution except a sectarian civil war
that will be very damaging for syrian society, never
mind President Bashar al-Assads regime. the syrian
people deserve better and any peaceful settlement that
would spare lives would be welcome from whatever
quarter it comes from.
Christina McGuire | Dublin, Ireland
.......................................................................................
arafats alleged poisoning
It would be interesting to know the truth about the
alleged poisoning of Yasser Arafat, the late President
of the Palestinian Authority. the fndings should
undoubtedly make a riveting read.
Xavier Miguel | Barcelona, spain
.......................................................................................
au breaks with tradition
I sincerely hope that the new south African chairman
of the African union Commission will be able to put
some order into this circus-like organisation that has
lost its credibility and impartiality, especially when
it became the exclusive domain of the former ousted
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddaf. If a woman is bold
enough to take the bull by the horns then so be it. the
Au needs a radical shake up in all shapes and forms
and she may be the one to do just that. Be brave and get
rid of the rot! sarah Dogbane | abuja, Nigeria
.......................................................................................
If the new chairman of the African Commission does
it right and conducts herself with integrity, effciency
and commitment, she will go down in history as the
saviour of the African organisation that has become
the joker in international affairs.
Johan Milton | Nairobi, Kenya
.......................................................................................
Letters to: northsouthmag@aol.com
For comments email: northsouthmag@aol.com
4 north south September 2012
&
news
brefs
Mexico replaces
world record
22.9m light bulbs
the Mexican governments
sustainable Light programme
has entered the Guinness Book
of records for having replaced
22.9 million incandescent light
bulbs with compact fuorescent
or energy-saving ones. In total,
more than 5.5 million Mexican
families already use energy-
saving lamps that consume only
20 per cent of the energy and last
10 times longer than a traditional
light bulb.
With the already replaced light
bulbs, the saving is calculated to
be 1,400 gigawatt hour (Gwh),
in other words the energy that is
consumed in a year in nayarit or
Colima.
According to calculations by the
Energy Ministry, the programme
also has an impact on the budget
at home, as a family can save up
to 18 per cent of the electric bill.
Less consumption of electricity
also favours the environment, as
an emission of about 700,000 tons
of Co2 is being avoided with the
light bulbs that have been replaced
until now, the equivalent of more
than 130,000 cars.
In its second stage, the
programme hopes to replace other
almost 23 millions of incandescent
bulbs with energy-saving lamps.
When the second stage ends, it is
estimated that the saving will be
of 2,800 Gwh per year, more than
double the electricity consumption
of the state of Campeche in 2011.
Pacifc Coral Triangle at risk of collapse
the Coral triangle, a roughly
triangular marine zone in the Indo-
Pacifc region that is considered to
have the worlds richest concentration
of marine biodiversity, is facing
potential ecological collapse due to
heavy pressure inficted by human
activities, according to a new report.
the warning appears in a
collaborative study, reefs at risk
revisited in the Coral triangle,
produced by a consortium led by the
World resources Institute, a global
environmental think tank based in
Washington DC, usA. the study serves
as a status report on the wellbeing of
coral reefs in or near the six countries
comprising the triangle.
the study aimed to identify where
reefs are most threatened and to
provide baseline data to help groups
establish and prioritise specifc
management strategies, according
to Kathleen reytar, a lead author of
the study.
According to the report, 85 per
cent of reefs in the Coral triangle are
directly threatened by local human
activities such as over-fshing, the
use of poisons and dynamite in
fshing, watershed-based pollution
(fertilisers, pesticides and other
runoff from the land), and coastal
development.
When combined with developments
related to global warming, the
percentage of threatened reefs rises
to more than 90 per cent, the report
says. For the full report visit:
http://bit.ly/MVrzG9
A new survey shows that countries
from emerging markets are making
their mark on global patterns of
innovation.
the dynamics of global innovation
are changing as a result of the activities
of emerging economies, according to
the Global Innovation Index 2012.
Countries like China, India and
even Paraguay and sri Lanka
show that while innovative activity
generally increases with income
levels, good results can be achieved
using their own innovation models.
the innovation report, which was
released last month by the European
Institute of Business Administration
(InsEAD) in France, and the World
Intellectual Property organisation
(WIPo) in Geneva, switzerland,
evaluated 141 countries.
It highlighted strong performances
in innovation by several emerging
economies, including China, Ghana,
India, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia,
namibia, Paraguay, senegal,
swaziland, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
European countries and north
American countries continue to
dominate the top 12 places, although
these also include singapore
which is top in south East Asia and
oceania and hong Kong (which is
listed separately from China.
For a link to the Global Innovation
Index 2012 visit: http://bit.ly/Ljt4Pc
Emerging economies alter
global innovation landscape
5

newS & viewS to bridge the global
divide
north south September 2012
afghan refugees asked
to leave Pakistan
the Pakistani government has
asked the estimated 2.8 million
of Afghan refugees in Pakistan to
depart by the end of 2012, reports
the un-affliated International
regional Information network.
Pakistani offcials recently agreed
to extend Afghan refugees Proof
of registration (Por) cards from
July 2012 to December 2012.
Approximately 1.8 million
Afghan refugees in Pakistan have
Por cards; another one million
Afghans are thought to reside
illegally in Pakistan. however,
Pakistan has made it clear that
Por cards will not be renewed or
extended beyond that point.
habidullah Khan, Pakistani
Minister of states and Frontier
regions, said: the international
community desires us to review
this policy but we are clear on this
point. the refugees have become a
threat to law and order, security,
demography, economy and local
culture. Enough is enough.
Greater use of new technologies,
ranging from genomics to mobile
phones, could radically improve
the understanding and control of
animal-borne diseases that cause
2.2 million deaths in humans every
year, mostly in developing countries,
according to a new report.
these include basic technologies
such as rapid diagnostic kits
that could be given to veterinary
technicians and assistants to enable
them to diagnose diseases quickly
and report diagnoses via text
message to a central database.
remote sensing, using satellite
technology, could also be used to
monitor changes in land use in
order to predict the emergence of
disease.
Poor communities with large
livestock populations in developing
countries, particularly those
in Ethiopia, India, nigeria and
tanzania, bear the biggest burden
of zoonotic diseases that are
transmitted from livestock to
humans.
these diseases cause 2.4 billion
disease cases each year, according to
a global study published last month
that has mapped zoonoses hotspots.
the report was produced for the
British Department for International
Development by the International
Livestock research Institute (ILrI),
in Kenya, the Institute of Zoology
(IoZ) in the united Kingdom, and
hanoi Institute of Public health
(hsPh) in hanoi.
It says that the treatment and
control of zoonotic diseases, such
as rift Valley fever, tapeworms,
anthrax, brucellosis and bovine
tuberculosis, is hampered by under-
reporting, especially in Africa,
leading to such diseases becoming
endemic on the continent.
In sub-saharan Africa, for
example, 99.9 per cent of livestock
losses do not appear in offcial
disease reports.
Better diagnostics, the scaling
up of reporting, the increased
availability and affordability of
vaccines, and measuring the
current zoonoses problem and
setting targets to reduce it, were all
critical to diminishing the problem,
said Delia Grace, a veterinary
epidemiologist at the ILrI, and the
studys lead researcher. For the full
report visit: http://bit.ly/PphApP
New technologies can help reduce animal-borne disease
An artifcial
brain built by a
17-year-old whiz
kid from Florida,
usA, is able to
accurately assess
tissue samples
for signs of breast
cancer, providing
more confdence
to a minimally invasive procedure.
the cloud-based neural network
took top prize in this years
Google science Fair. I taught the
computer how to diagnose breast
cancer, said Brittany Wenger,
the Lakewood ranch resident.
she wanted to create a way for
more doctors to use the minimally
invasive procedure, called Fine
needle Aspirate, in order to ease
the process of having lumps
examined.
Breast cancer affects one in eight
women worldwide, she noted,
including members of her family.
Wenger started building these
networks in the seventh grade after
studying the future of technology
for a school project.
For her Google science Fair
project, she built a neural network
with Java and then deployed it
to the cloud. she ran 7.6 million
trials on it and found it is 99.1 per
cent sensitive to malignancy.
now that her network is built
and shown to get smarter with
experience, Wenger aims to
deploy it in hospitals. she also
wants to extend it to other types
of cancer.
17-year-old girl builds artifcial
brain to detect breast cancer
Africa remains the continent most
affected by hIV, according to
unAIDs. In 2010, about 68 per cent
of all people living with hIV resided
in sub-saharan Africa.
the region also accounted for 70
per cent of all new hIV infections
worldwide.
70% of all HIv infections in sub-saharan africa
6 north south September 2012
&
news
brefs
Europe to toughen
cyber protection
Moves to frm up the European
Commissions cyber protection will
come in the next weeks in response
to a war of attrition in cyber space
rather than any specifc attack, a
Commission spokesman has told
EurActiv.
But Brussels will not point the
fnger at China EurActiv has
learned separately following the
recent disclosure of a serious attack
against the Eu Council last June,
which a Bloomberg investigation
pinned to China, alleging links to
the nascent superpowers Peoples
Liberation Army.
We were not informed of any
targeted attack, Antony Gravili, the
spokesman for Maro efovi the
commissioner responsible for inter-
institutional relations told EurActiv
in reference to the reported attack
against the Council. there is no
such thing as a big single, one-off
attack out of the blue, that catches
us by surprise. We are not sitting
around and then, wham! An incident
happens, Gravili said, adding: the
reality is that this is a war of attrition,
it is an arms race.
he said that the Commission was set
to put its new Computer Emergency
response team (CErt) programme
onto a permanent footing in the next
few weeks, after a year of trials.
A giant hole of fre in the middle of the
Karakum Desert has been burning for
over 40 years. the crater in Derweze,
turkmenistan, was made by soviet
geologists in 1971 who were drilling
at the site and tapped into a cavern
flled with natural gas. the ground
underneath the rig collapsed and
left a hole with a diameter
of 70 metres. the team was
afraid the hole would release
poisonous gases and decided
to burn it off.
they hoped it would be put
out after a few days but the
hole has been burning ever
since and is today known to
locals as the Door to hell.
A golden glow generated
by the fames can be seen for
miles around the village of
Derweze and even attracts visitors.
In April 2010, the president of
turkmenistan ordered that the hole
should be closed but this is yet to
happen.
the Karakum Desert covers most
of the country and lies east of the
Caspian sea.
Giant hole in desert on
fre for over 40 years
Human-animal
diseases hotspots
the International Livestock research
Institute has published a list of
geographical hotspots for human-
animal diseases (zoonoses), such as
tuberculosis and rift Valley fever.
According to the study, 13 zoonoses
are responsible for 2.4 billion cases
of human illness and 2.2 million
deaths every year. the countries
with the highest zoonotic disease
burdens are Ethiopia, India, nigeria
and tanzania.
Developing nations are unlikely to
meet the united nations target to
reduce child malnutrition by 2015,
according to a study published in
the Lancet, which stated that these
nations had less than a fve per cent
chance of meeting the target of the
frst Millennium Development Goal
(MDG).
the researchers examined trends
in the weight and height of more
than 7.7 million children in 141
countries between 1985 and 2011.
Professor Majid Ezzati, from the
school of Public health at Imperial
College, London, in the united
Kingdom, explained: our analysis
shows that the developing world
as a whole has made considerable
progress towards reducing child
malnutrition, but there are still far
too many children who dont receive
suffcient nutritious foods or who lose
nutrients due to repeated sickness.
severe challenges lie ahead.
the MDG aims to end poverty
and hunger by the year 2015, and
one indicator of progress is the
proportion of underweight children.
According to the researchers,
more than 250 million children were
mildly to severely underweight in
2011, with 17 countries primarily
in sub-saharan Africa and oceania
not showing any signifcant
improvement For more information
visit: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
s0140-6736(12)60647-3
MDG unlikely to reduce
child malnutrition by 2015
7

newS & viewS to bridge the global
divide
north south September 2012
rice gene
holds clue to
diabetes risk
Contrary to popular belief, a new
study suggests that eating rice
does not substantially raise blood
sugar levels thus increasing the
risk of type 2 diabetes although
researchers warn that some
varieties of rice may need to be
avoided. the study was published
last month in the journal rice by
the International rice research
Institute (IrrI) in the Philippines
and Australias Commonwealth
scientifc and Industrial research
organisation (CsIro).
It found that as many as three
quarters of 235 rice varieties
analysed had a low to medium
glycaemic index (GI), and were
therefore less likely to lead to
diabetes.
GI measures the effect of
carbohydrates on blood sugar
levels. Low GI foods are more
slowly absorbed, causing a gradual
release of sugar in the body and
a lower risk of diabetes. Doctors
often advise diabetics to avoid rice,
believing it is a high-GI food.
the fndings could have important
implications for Asia where rice
is the staple food for 3.5 billion
people, and diabetes is a growing
public health concern, said Melissa
Fitzgerald, who led the IrrI team.
the International Diabetes
Federation estimates that by 2030,
seven of the 10 countries with the
highest number of diabetics will
be in Asia, straining public health
budgets. For the full report visit:
http://bit.ly/nsCnhJ
us Deputy Defence secretary Ashton
Carter last month warned Congress
about the devastating effects of the
looming defence sequestration, if it
failed to prevent the cross-the-board
automatic cuts before the end of the
year. testifying before the house
Armed services Committee, Carter
explained some of the possible
unintended effects of the $55 billion
cuts in defence spending in 2013,
if the looming automatic spending
cuts is not reversed.
the spending cuts would force the
Pentagon to substantially modify
and scale back the new defence
strategy made in last year as it
prepared for the $487 billion budget
cuts already scheduled for the next
decade, Carter said.
sequestration refers to a
mechanism instituted in last years
Budget Control Act, which would
trigger an additional $500 billion in
across-the-board defence spending
cuts over the next decade, if
Congress fails to identify alternative
cuts by January 2013.
under the Budget Control Act, a
bipartisan super-committee must
fnd $1.2 trillion in budget cuts, or
a sequestration of the same amount
will be triggered, which will be
evenly divided on cuts on spending
on national security and social
programs. since the super-committee
has failed to reach a consensus, the
automatic cuts are expected to take
effect at the beginning of next year.
In that case, Carter said that
sequestration would mean cutting
four F-35 fghters, one P-8 aircraft,
12 stryker vehicles and 300 army
medium and heavy tactical vehicles
from the Pentagon procurement
plan in 2013 alone.
us Congress warned about
devastating defence cuts
scientists have found that a relatively
high proportion of two remote
Peruvian Amazon populations, who
have had a high level of contact with
vampire bats, display some protection
against bat-transmitted rabies.
these individuals appear to have
survived exposure to the rabies virus,
even without a prior vaccination,
according to scientists at the us
governments Centres for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) who
carried out the study in collaboration
with the Peruvian Ministry of
health.
the fndings could open up
the possibility of developing new
treatments for the disease, which
is usually fatal if it is not treated in
time.
amazon Peruvians show
protection against bat rabies
the entire genome of the banana
plant has been sequenced, offering
insights into its genetic evolution
that could lead to signifcant
future genetic improvements, the
researchers involved have said.
the studys lead researcher,
Angelique Dhont, from the French
Agricultural research Centre
for International Development
(CIrAD), told sciDev.net that the
knowledge of the genome sequence
could greatly facilitate research and
breeding programmes in Africa and
elsewhere.
According to Dhont, the research
fndings, which were published in
nature on 11 July, will be of particular
value to work on improving various
banana attributes.
Genome sequencing to boost
african banana production
8 north south September 2012
&
news
brefs
al-Qaeda in
decline, says us
the deaths of osama bin Laden
and other key fgures have put
al-Qaeda on a path of decline,
according to the Country reports
on terrorism 2011 issued by the
us state Department last month.
It hailed the killing of bin Laden,
calling it an event that highlighted
a landmark year in the global
effort to counter terrorism.
the report said other high-
profle deaths like that of Atiya
Abdul rahman, al-Qaedas second-
in-command after bin Ladens
death, put the network on a path
of decline that will be diffcult to
reverse.
however, the group remained
an enduring and serious threat
to us national security due to
its resilience and capability to
conduct regional and transnational
attacks, the report cautioned.
It regarded al-Qaeda in
the Arabian Peninsula as a
particularly serious threat, saying
the affliate had taken control of
territory in southern Yemen and
was exploiting unrest in the poor
country to advance plots against
regional and Western interests.
uK immigration and asylum
backlog over 276,000
the united Kingdoms (uK)
parliaments home Affairs select
Committee has reprimanded the uK
Border Agency (uKBA) for its backlog
of 276,460 unresolved immigration
and asylum cases as being totally
unacceptable. Keith Vaz, chair of the
home affairs committee, called upon
senior offcials at uKBA to return
bonuses worth 3.5 million, which
they received, despite the increasing
backlog of cases.
this backlogwill take years
to clear. the agency seems to
have acquired its own Bermuda
triangle. Its easy to get in, but near
impossible to keep track of anyone,
let alone get them out, Vaz said.
the backlog includes 150,000
people who were refused permission to
stay in the uK, plus 101,500 asylum
claimants who applied before 2007 but
whom uKBA lost contact with and is
trying to trace. the remainder of the
backlog includes 21,000 asylum cases
and 3,900 former foreign national
prisoners living in the community
and awaiting deportation.
the us government, eager to avoid
mistakes made in Iraq, has warned
syrian opposition forces against
completely disbanding President Bashar
al-Assads security and government
apparatus once he is killed or forced
from power, the Washington Post
reported last month. the newspaper
said us offcials, in increasingly
detailed strategy sessions over recent
weeks, had urged syrian rebels and
opposition leaders to resist sectarian
reprisals if al-Assads government fell.
offcials said they are endeavouring
to help the rebels learn from us mistakes
in Iraq, where the dissolution of the
army and other institutions unleashed
further turmoil, the newspaper said.
the us government has generally
avoided public comparisons with
Iraq, but urged sunni-dominated
opposition forces to respect minority
rights in a post-al-Assad syria.
the chaos and power vacuum in
Iraq, which followed the removal of
saddam hussein in 2003, is a major
reason President Barack obama has
all but ruled out direct military help
for the rebels, the report said.
You cant have a complete
dissolution of that system because
those institutions will be needed in a
political transition, a us offcial was
quoted as saying. What you need
to prevent is the de-Baathifcation
of the country, the offcial said,
referring to al-Assads ruling Arab
nationalist movement.
us warning to syrian rebels
us to bolster Gulf
missile defence
the us is setting up an An/tPY-2
X-radar station at the Al-ubeid air base
in Qatar, according to unnamed us
offcials cited by the Wall street Journal.
the offcials said it would work with
similar radar in turkey and Israel to
track Iranian ballistic missiles.
At least seven Ivorian soldiers were
killed and dozens seriously injured
last month after an unidentifed
armed group attacked a military
base belonging to the national army
in Abidjan. the group reportedly
made away with arms and
ammunition from the armoury.
Violence has continued to plague
Cote dIvoire ever since the violent
removal from offce last year of
former President Laurent Gbagbo
who had refused to step down after
a disputed presidential election in
2010. In July, a 300-strong armed
mob attacked a camp for internally
displaced persons in the country,
which resulted in seven deaths. the
previous month armed men killed
seven un peacekeepers from niger
near the border with Liberia.
violence continues to rock Cote dIvoire
9

newS & viewS to bridge the global
divide
north south September 2012
yemen to reform
security sector
Yemeni President Abdrabuh
Mansour hadi Mansour last
month adopted decrees aimed at
restructuring the countrys security
sector. Yemen has been undergoing
a democratic transition under
Mansour, who came to power in an
election in February. this followed
the transition Agreement signed
by warring factions in november
2011 on a transitional settlement
in the wake of widespread protests
similar to those seen across the
Middle East and north Africa, and
the resignation of former president
Ali Abdullah saleh. the decrees will
create the necessary conditions
and take the necessary steps to
integrate the armed forces under
unifed, national and professional
leadership in the context of the
rule of law, as set forth in the
Agreement. An important element
of the transition is the all-inclusive
dialogue, scheduled to take place
later this year, and whose outcome
will feed into the constitution-
making process that is to conclude
in late 2013, enabling general
elections to take place in February
2014.
Britains coalition government has
entered new territory, Deputy Prime
Minister nick Clegg, the Liberal
Democrat leader, said last month
when the party, the junior partner
in the two-party administration,
rebelled after its ally in power, the
Conservatives, killed its plans to
reform the house of Lords. Clegg
said, however, that he would not
bring down the government, formed
in 2010, by withdrawing his partys
overall support.
stung by the humiliation of
announcing the demise of a reform
his party has championed for over a
century, Clegg said his party would
retaliate by opposing boundary
changes to Britains constituencies
that would have benefted the
Conservatives in an election in 2015.
By blocking boundary changes to the
constituencies that elect lawmakers
to the house of Commons, Clegg
is potentially seriously damaging
Camerons future electoral prospects
as the changes were widely forecast
to beneft his party.
the rebellion is a potentially
serious blow to Prime Minister
David Cameron who is trying to
hold the coalition together at a time
when public anger at the sickly
state of the economy is high and the
opposition Labour party is ahead in
the polls.
uK coalition government
enters new territory
As the academic year came to a close
in Cuba recently, 11,000 students
received their degrees as doctors of
medicine: 5,315 Cubans and 5,694
students from 59 other countries, the
highest total in Cuban history. the
graduates completed their studies
free of charge in medical science
universities recognised for their
high level of science education.
Countries with the largest number
of graduates are Bolivia, with more
than 2,400; nicaragua, 429; Peru,
453; Ecuador, 308; Guatemala, 170;
and Colombia, 175.
According to the Advanced Medical
studies Department, the total of this
years graduates amounts to 32,171
health professionals, both Cuban
and from other countries, including
the careers of medicine, dentistry,
psychology, nursing and health
technology, which has 21 units.
In addition, Cuban professors are
training 29,000-plus students in
three careers medicine, nursing
and health technology in eight
countries: Venezuela, Bolivia,
Angola, tanzania, Guinea Bissau,
Equatorial Guinea, the Gambia and
timor Leste.
From January 1959 to 2010 close
to 109,000 doctors have graduated
from Cuban universities.
Cuban universities turn
out record 11,000 doctors
use of mercury in
gold mining stirs
controversy in Brazil
scientists are challenging a decision
to allow small-scale to continue to
use mercury to separate gold from
other minerals.
thousands of Iraqi refugees
returning from syria will face
huge challenges reintegrating
into a country with high rates
of unemployment, dismal basic
services and ongoing sectarian
strife, according to humanitarian
organisations.
I think we will face a humanitarian
crisis regarding this issue, said
Yaseen Ahmed Abbas, the president
of the Iraq red Crescent (IrC).
You should expect pressure on
everything in Iraq by having such
a large number of people in a short
time. Its not easy.
More than 15,000 Iraqis have
returned home after unprecedented
fghting in the syrian capital
Damascus, according to Deputy
Minister of Displacement and
Migration salam Dawod Al Khafagy.
the government evacuated 4,000 by
air, he said; the rest crossed by land.
tens of thousands of others have
returned since the syrian confict
started in March 2011.
returning Iraqi refugees from syria face huge challenges
10 north south September 2012
&
news
brefs
New coins and
medallions
highlight
uNEsCOs work
the united nations Educational,
scientifc and Cultural
organisation (unEsCo) is to
launch a new collection of precious
coins and medallions highlighting
the agencys activities and
achievements. the collection will
be launched in conjunction with
one of the worlds leading precious
metals refners, PAMP s.A., which
was chosen as a partner following
an international selection process.
the new collection will build on
the success of the World heritage
coins and medallions minted in
individual countries and featuring
monuments and sites on the
unEsCo World heritage List,
such as Venice, saint Petersburg,
Machu Picchu, Borobudur, Abu
simbel and the Victoria Falls
national Park/Mosi-oa-tunya.
the items will be minted in gold,
silver, bronze and base metals,
and will be presented in a web
catalogue and made available
through a distribution network in
participating countries.
new, more effective vaccines are
not having the expected impact
in the drive to eliminate polio in
Afghanistan and Pakistan because
not enough children are being
vaccinated, according to a study
published in the Lancet.
sharp declines in vaccine uptake
in these two countries have led to a
rise in the number of new infections
between 2006 and 2011, even though
new vaccines introduced during
this period of time have proven to
be more effective against the main
circulating strain of the virus.
In 2011, there were 198 cases in
Pakistan and 80 cases in Afghanistan
compared with 40 cases in Pakistan
and 31 in Afghanistan in 2006.
Poliovirus exists in three strains,
with wild type 1 being the most
prevalent. It mainly affects children
under fve and causes paralysis
in about one in 200 cases. In most
parts of the world it has been
eliminated by sustained vaccination
programmes in the late 20th century.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are two
of three countries the other being
nigeria that have never managed
to eliminate polio.
scientists from Imperial
College London and World health
organisation assessed the effect
of immunisation campaigns in
Afghanistan and Pakistan by
analysing data collected by national
surveillance programmes. they
also assessed the effectiveness of
the three varieties of polio vaccine
against the predominant type 1
strain of the virus.
the study found that the
monovalent vaccine was more
effective than the trivalent vaccine
against type 1 poliovirus. the
bivalent vaccine was comparable
in effectiveness to the monovalent
vaccine. the difference between the
bivalent and trivalent vaccines was
not statistically signifcant.
For more information visit:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0140-
6736(12)60648-5
Polio vaccine problems in
afghanistan and Pakistan
the us Department of state has
increased its efforts to promote
international cooperation in science
and engineering by launching two
new outreach initiatives.
one will
seek to
tap into
us- b a s e d
s c i ent i fc
di asporas
scientists
f r o m
developing
countries and elsewhere who are
currently working in the united
states.
the second will support the
engagement of us academics
travelling abroad in local
programmes set up by embassies in
the countries that they visit.
the frst project, known
as networks of Diasporas in
Engineering and science (noDEs),
seeks to leverage existing
collaborations while facilitating
and supporting a variety of new
collaborations between diasporas in
the us.
the second initiative is called the
science, technology and Innovation
Expert (stIE) Partnership, and
aims to boost the scientifc and
technological activities of us
embassies.
Eight professional science
organisations, in addition to the
AAAs and nAs, have signed a
memorandum of understanding
pledging their support for the new
programmes.
us initiatives aim to tap into scientists skills
11

newS & viewS to bridge the global
divide
north south September 2012
Post-MDGs
panel chosen
A high-level Panel to advise on
the global development agenda
beyond 2015, the target date
achieving the anti-poverty
targets known as the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), has
been established by un secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon. It will
hold its frst meeting at the end
of this month, in the margins
of the annual high-level debate
of the General Assembly. It is
expected to submit its fndings to
the secretary-General in the frst
half of 2013, and those fndings
will inform his report to member
states. the eight MDGs, agreed on
by world leaders at a un summit
in 2000, set specifc targets on
poverty alleviation, education,
gender equality, child and
maternal health, environmental
stability, hIV/AIDs reduction,
and a Global Partnership for
Development.
According to a recent study,
progress has been made in some
areas, with three important
targets on poverty, slums and
water met three years ahead
of 2015. It added that meeting
the remaining targets, while
challenging, was possible but
only if governments do not waiver
from their commitments made
over a decade ago.
Water shocks are already here,
according to a recent meeting
of ecologists, policymakers and
water professionals at Londons
Chatham house to contemplate
the prospect. Asia, they heard,
was the continent where problems
were already most acute.
Pavel Kabat of Viennas Institute
for Applied systems Analysis told
IrIn: We have been worried about
water in other parts of the world
- its still a very important issue
in Africa - but we were forgetting
that the because of the economic
growth and the population
growth, the surge in food demand
will come in Asia. Already now
the fresh water for agriculture
is being consumed at very high
rates. Asia is the hotspot and I
would say that the first big issues
will have to be faced by 2020 or
2030.
seventy per cent of the global
use of water is for agricultural
purposes, and that is where the
crisis is likely to show itself. In
India, 75 per cent of all irrigation
water comes from groundwater,
says Kabat, and we are kind of
assuming that it will stay like
this.
But he pointed to Europe and the
us, which have seen groundwater
levels in some areas dropping by
as much as five metres a year, and
laws have had to be introduced to
restrict the lifting of groundwater
for agriculture.
Global water shocks warning
Indian anti-corruption campaigner
to form political party
Indias anti-corruption icon Anna
hazare last month indicated that he
and his team members would form
a political party before the next
general election in 2014. there is
nothing wrong with forming a party,
we need to provide an alternative to
the people. We will travel across the
country for the next two years, the
75-year-old told a huge gathering
of his supporters in new Delhi.
reacting to hazares speech,
the leader of the ruling Congress
Party, Ambika soni, said: team
Annas political intentions are out
in the open. We were saying this
from the frst day that team Anna
[was] inspired by politics. Its good
that their intentions are out in the
open. Its best they come out and be
part of the same system they abuse
always.
Ordnance survey
targets arab world
residents of Dubai could soon
pick their way through the
desert using ordnance surveys
distinctive pink-covered maps. the
governments geographical agency
is establishing an international
division to meet foreign demand
for its services, particularly from
oil-rich Arab nations.
the European Commission, the
executive body of the European union
(Eu), has proposed a plan to deploy
drones across the Mediterranean
sea to catch illegal immigrants. the
Mediterranean is a major transit point
for undocumented immigration.
Already 170 immigrants have died
trying to reach southern European
shores this year. the proposal states
sensors mounted on any platforms,
including manned and unmanned
aerial vehicles would keep a close eye
on any illegal immigration activity
in the Mediterranean sea, according
to the European Commission. the
proposal, known as Eurosur has
not been brought to the European
Parliament yet, however, many hope
to put it into place by next year.
the plan is just one part of a $410
million proposal to improve border
security.
Eurosur will help detect and
fght criminal networks activities
and be a crucial tool for saving
migrants who put their lives at
risk trying to reach Eu shores,
said Cecilia Malmstrm, the Eus
commissioner for home affairs.
Eu drones to curb illegal migration
paperback 20.00 paperback 15.00
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10 Beaufort Court,
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London E14 9XL,
United Kingdom
email:
northsouthbooks@aol.com
to order a copy visit:
northsouthpublications.com
NORTHSOUTHBOOKS
&
W
E
S
T
E
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N

S
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A
R
A

C
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b
Ali Bahaijoub
ALI BAHAIJOUB
A lecturer, writer and journalist, has
written numerous studies and feature
articles on Africa, Europe and the
Middle East and commented on
various international issues for the
BBC, CNN and other international
networks on Mediterranean and
African affairs. He is currently editor
of the global current affairs magazine
North-South and Africa News
Agency.
This book is an extension of Ali
Bahaijoubs Ph.D thesis successfully
submitted in 1987 to the London
School of Economics, University of
London.
As a journalist and an interested
academic in the subject, he identifies
numerous distinct and interrelated
historical and political patterns of
change on the regional, continental
and international levels each of which
had a significant bearing on the
evolution of events leading to the
current state of the conflict.
Since its inception in 1975, the
Western Sahara issue has not only
threatened the stability of North-West
Africa and, more so today than ever
before, but proved almost fatal to the
survival of the Organisation of African
Unity.
The purpose of this book is to present
and explain the various aspects of this
problemand the roles played by the
major participants. It also traces the
vital and complex roots that impacted
on concerned and interested parties in
the conflict in the region and beyond
detailing present and future trouble
spots.
The book attempts to explain the
established power balance in the
Maghreb and the long-running
differences between Morocco and
Algeria and how these have been
affected by the interests, in varying
degrees, of former colonial powers
and superpowers.
This is a vivid and detailed analysis of
the Western Sahara issue as it starts
the second decade of the twenty-first
century, based on unpublished and
published Spanish, French, British and
Arabic sources including interviews
with a number of participants in the
events described.
The plight of refugees and the role
of the Polisario in theTindouf camps,
in south-west Algeria, are also
highlighted as well as the parties in
favour of the status quo.
WESTERN SAHARA
CONFLICT:
Historical, regional and international
dimensions
www.darmarrakech.co.uk
13

newS & viewS to bridge the global
divide
north south September 2012
t
h
e
over
top!
artist builds Lego Olympic Park replica
An artist has honoured the greatest show on earths arrival in
London by creating a replica of the capitals olympic Park built
entirely from Lego.
Lego fanatic Warren Elsmore and a colleague spent over 300
painstaking hours building the astonishing tribute
to the offcial olympic complex using 250,000
bricks.
It features the olympic stadium where Jamaican
athlete usain Bolt dashed to 100 metres gold in
olympic record time of 9.63 seconds to retain his
title.
the freelance Lego artist has also recreated Anish
Kapoors striking orbit sculpture and the swooping
roof of the Aquatics Centre. My colleague and I
built the olympic model over a three week period,
explained the 35-year-old. For this display, I
planned very little in advance and most of the model
was free built - simply by looking at pictures of the
site and building what I see. Every brick we use is
a standard Lego element, with no painting, gluing
or non-Lego parts. the artist was commissioned by
Lego to create something memorable in honour of
this summers olympic Games.
A British family had a surprise when they returned
from holiday to fnd a deadly scorpion inside their
suitcase. hollie Jayes, 18, found the death stalker
scorpion the most poisonous scorpion in the
world crawling inside her mothers luggage.
theresa Jayes, 43, had emptied the suitcase after
a trip to spain but did not notice the 10cm-long
(4in) creepy crawly.
It was discovered when hollie asked to borrow
the case. she said: I opened it and saw what I
thought was a spider. Me and mum then realised
it was a scorpion. I called my dad and shouted
down the phone that he needed to come home
because there was a scorpion in the case. he didnt
believe me at all but I insisted.
hollies mother, a saleswoman, said: Its scary
to think I put my hand in that case 20 or 30 times
while unpacking.
family discover 10cm
scorpion in suitcase
Woman with worlds largest
breasts needs security to
fend off admirers
the woman with the worlds
largest natural breasts has
told of how she employs
security to help defend
herself against unwanted
suitors who chase her.
Annie hawkins-turner, a
53-year-old from Atlanta,
Georgia who has a bra
size of 102ZZZ, said she
is a celebrity in other
countries due to her
Guinness World record-
breaking breasts.
Although they attracted
ridicule when hawkins-
turner was a child, her
breasts have since helped
her develop a career as
a self-described fantasy
model. she has appeared
in over 250 self-directed
fetish videos.
14 north south September 2012
Zimbabwean thief
begs for life in jail
A man convicted of housebreaking
in Zimbabwe has asked the judge to
jail him for life, according to state
media report. Lovemore Manyika,
22, wrote a note, which was read out
in a court in the Zimbabwean capital
harare, saying: Life in prison is
better than life in the streets. the
herald newspaper reported that he
was disappointed to be sentenced
to only three years. Manyika was
released from prison in April after a
previous conviction, the paper said.
he broke into two houses in central
harare in July, stealing two mobile
phones, a plasma tV and $1,800
(1,150) in cash.
Moslemuddin
sarkar had
not been seen
by his family
since 1989
after failing to
return home
from his job as
a dockworker
in Bangladeshs
main
Chittagong
seaport.
sarkar, now
52, had in fact spent the majority of
his exile in a Pakistani prison after
attempting to enter the country
without any travel documents. his
family had long given up hope of ever
seeing him again before receiving an
anonymous call from an offcial that
he was alive in a Pakistani jail.
We waited for months, years, and
fnally thought he was no more,
explained his brother sekandar Ali
said. otherwise, why wouldnt he
inform us where he was?
he was freed from jail in Karachi
last month and was immediately
deported back to Bangladesh where
his brother was waiting at the
airport. sarkar later returned to his
home village of Bishnurampur in
northern Bangladesh following an
emotional reunion.
I crossed the border to India in
1989 and went to Delhi after staying
a few months in the Indian states of
Assam and Meghalaya, he explained.
Later, I got married in Delhi. But I
got caught along the India-Pakistan
border when I tried to enter Pakistan
in 1997. I had no travel documents. I
served 15 years in jail.
Dead man returns to village
23 years after going missing
A 12-year-old girl has steered an
out-of-control truck to safety after
her grandfather died suddenly at
the wheel. Paul Parker, 63, was
driving Miranda Bowman to her
home in Burlington, new Jersey,
in the us when he told her did not
feel well. he asked her to speak to
him to keep him awake. Moments
later, Parkers head hit the drivers
side window he had died of a heart
attack, but his foot was still on the
pedal of the accelerator. the vehicle
was speeding up and careering
toward the side of Buckshutem
road in Millville.
Miranda said she cried and tried
unsuccessfully to call 911 on her
mobile. there were no other cars
coming in the opposite direction,
but Miranda still had to try and
stop the truck - from the passenger
side. the car slowed down a bit but
Miranda said the vehicle was still
going too fast.
While the truck was still moving,
Miranda popped out from under the
steering wheel and jammed her foot
on the brake. she then took control
of the steering wheel and tried to
work out where she could park it
to make it stop. to stop the vehicle,
she veered off the road and it ran
into a few trees. Miranda managed
to get out of the truck unscathed.
A woman driving behind the out-of-
control truck had called 911 while
following it. Miranda told AP she
fell to her knees and wept when the
ordeal was over.
Girl steers truck to safety
after grandfather dies
Daredevils walk
highline 250ft up
For some thrill-seekers, the
discovery of what has been dubbed
the worlds biggest playground
has been a revelation. Adrenaline
junkies travel from far and
wide to fne-tune their climbing,
slacking and base-jumping skills
at the Fisher towers playground
in utahs Moab desert in the us.
the amazing outdoor park has
something for adventurers of all
abilities, with rocks raging in size
in 11m (35ft) to the 245m (800ft)
Echo and Cottontail towers, which
take fve days to climb.
15

newS & viewS to bridge the global
divide
north south September 2012
us couple
remarry after
50 years apart
Lena henderson and roland
Davis, both 85 years of age, have
loved and dreamt of each other
for 50 years. the couple married
as teenagers and had four
children. they later divorced in
1964, but stayed in contact after
moving on. After the divorce, the
husband moved to Colorado and
remarried.
the couples youngest daughter
noted that even after he got
remarried, he remained friendly
with his ex-wife. so when the
mans second wife passed away,
his ex-wife and another daughter
began to worry about him living
alone. they suggested he should
move to new York to be closer to
his family.
he did more than that. As he
spoke to his ex-wife on the phone
he reportedly asked: Will you
marry me again? she accepted
his offer. the couple say they are
thankful to be able to get back
together after all these years.
Early morning swimmers in
Australia discovered a 30-tonne
young adult mammal, which had
been washed into the ocean pool in
sydney by heavy seas. the 11 metre-
long humpback whale ended up in
the man-made swimming baths,
which are flled with seawater.
It does have some external
injuries but theres no way of
knowing whether they were ante-
mortem or post-mortem, said Wendy
McFarlane from the organisation
for the rescue and research of
Cetaceans in Australia (orrCA).
McFarlane said one possible
explanation for the otherwise
seemingly healthy animal to die at
sea could be that a ship had struck it.
the beach was later closed to avoid
the risk of sharks being attracted to
the area by the rotting carcass.
Dead whale found in
australia swimming pool
Woman eats pebbles for comfort
Mother-of-two teresa Widener has
been nibbling on pebbles and stones
for the past 20 years claiming that
rocks are her ultimate comfort food.
And in that time, she has consumed
more than 1,360kg (215 stone) the
average weight of humpback whale.
since marrying her husband last year,
Wideners habit has taken a serious
hit. Jim makes me so happy Ive
started eating less, said Widener.
the care worker, who keeps a stash
of stones in a kitchen cupboard,
enjoys selecting her snacks during
romantic walks with her husband.
Wideners favourite rocks are soft
and brittle but she often breaks
down boulders with her special rock
hammer at home in Bedford, Virginia
in the us.
Dozens of cooks joined forces in
Mexico City to prepare what they
claim is the worlds largest sandwich.
some 55 sandwich-makers helped in
the preparation of the 53-metre-long
feast, which was part of the opening
ceremony of the ninth annual torta
Fair celebrated in the Venustiano
Carrazanda borough.
A torta is a type of sandwich popular
in Mexican cuisine, and can be stuffed
with egg, sausage, ham, steak, or
cheese. the 700kg torta was stuffed
with 70 different fllings, including
steak, chicken, seafood, turkey, fsh
and bacon. It took the cooks a little
over four minutes to put together the
sandwich.
Mexican cooks serve up worlds largest sandwich
northsouth September 2012 16
cover story
t
here is another global war going
on that many people are not aware
of. this one is being fought through
the media. the us government,
for example, places great store by
using strategic communication as
an element of national power. Indeed,
strategic communication play an
important role when the us wants
to galvanise local and international
public opinion for military action,
such as the one in Iraq in 2003.
not surprisingly, the Pentagon
has at its disposal a massive array
of information specialists to further
the us government global agenda.
Major-General Mari K. Eder, a
communications expert with the
Department of Defence, notes
in her 2011 book, Leading the
narrative: no other nation has the
technological capability of the united
states, no other department in the
federal government is as capable
of planning as the Department of
Defence. no other organisation has as
much capacity for public information,
particularly in the number of public
affairs units and the quality of public
professionals.
the American governments
communication apparatus is capable
of delivering information to the media
with lightning speed. For instance,
the White house Communications
offce has the ability to reach the
major us and global media outlets
with the touch of a button.
Why is America investing so much
in public communications? John
simpson, the veteran BBC reporter,
explained in his 2010 book, unreliable
sources: By the end of the 20th
century Americans were starting
to become aware that their world
dominance was fading, and they
talked loudly, just as the British had
once done, to convince themselves and
others that this wasnt happening.
It was members of the Department
of Defences public affairs unit that
were deployed by the administration
of President George W. Bush before
the invasion of Iraq in 2003. they
were supposed to put the case for us
action, and they must have done it
very well because very few American
journalists questioned the so-called
evidence presented for the invasion.
the few who did were accused of
being unpatriotic by the government
and ordinary Americans who believed
the Bush administrations story. some
journalists who questioned the Bush
policy even lost their jobs. But as it
eventually turned out, there was no
basis for the us invasion of Iraq.
Crucially, parties in a confict plan
their next move based on what the
media will cover. It means the facts
do not crop up innocently waiting for
journalists to come and report them.
the reporting and its effect on public
opinion are always already built into
the facts as they occur.
For instance just before the frst
Gulf War in 1991, the us Congress
heard from a young Kuwaiti woman
who said she had been working
as a nurse in the main hospital in
Kuwait City where Iraqi occupying
soldiers were said to be switching off
incubators, leaving premature babies
to die. President George h. Bush
then referred this in several speeches
justifying an attack on Iraq. the
nurse turned out to be the teenage
daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador
to Washington. she had not been in
Kuwait for years. nurses who were
there said after the war that the
reports were false.
During this war journalists were
free to move around, covering the
action. this was when Cnn came
into its own through its reporting
from Baghdad. But by the second
Gulf War, the us armed forces made
sure that the activities of journalists
were restricted. they were embedded
with us forces whose public relations
offcers more or less controlled
the fow of information about the
confict.
simpson noted in his book that
journalists covering the confict were
based at us Central Command in
Qatar, nearly 400 miles away from
Basra. Much of the reporting of the
Iraq war wasone-sided, though some
British journalists and cameramen
where in Baghdad: a dangerous place
to be, directly the American troops
entered town, he wrote.
The global media battlefeld
The actions and statements of powerful governments are part of a media strategy, which
cannot be separated from the business of managing their countrys foreign affairs. These
governments use information as a powerful tool to advance a national agenda globally. These
actions are part of the worldwide fght for control of the information battlefeld. Desmond
Davies looks at how this is being played out

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 17
The Pentagon: a hotbed of information specialists

the control of war news by offcial
sources has led to accusation of the
media being used for propaganda
purposes by governments. But for
war correspondents today, the highly
technological nature of war does
not present the chance for a close-
up of the battlefeld. Journalists,
therefore, will have to depend on
military spokespersons who would
have sanitised the information before
it is relayed to journalists. the most
contentious of this is the doctoring of
fgures relating to civilian casualties
or collateral damage. It creates moral
problems for journalists who have to
deal with conficting fgures issued
by opposing sides. For example, the
issue of the number of civilian deaths
in Iraq has been highly contentious.
truth becomes the frst casualty in
war.
unlike the us, Britain applies more
subtlety to how it uses the media to
project its agenda globally. What
many people do not realise is that
the BBC World service is funded
directly by the uKs Foreign and
Commonwealth offce (FCo). When
the current coalition government
came to power in 2010, it decided to
make huge budgetary cuts to balance
the books.
But when it came to the BBC there
was such a hue and cry that the
government backtracked more so in
the wake of the Arab spring. so over
three years, the BBC will get direct
funding from the FCo of 253 million,
242 million and 238 million. these
fgures increased funding of the
World service to just over 14.5 per
cent of the FCos budget. After this
period World service funding will
come from the licence fee that viewers
pay annually and which brings in the
BBC billions of pounds.
the Arabic service received special
consideration. Foreign secretary
William hague, announcing the
arrangement in parliament in June
last year, explained that this support
was the governments response to
events in the Middle East and north
Africa he added: It is right that we
should look at ways in which we
can assist the BBC Arabic service to
continue their valuable work in the
region.
African governments and
institutions, on the other hand, have
not fully grasped the importance
of using communication to further
their goals. the result is that African
societies end up with rampant and
dangerous rumour mills. these
rumour mills have been responsible
for causing unrest in many countries
by the sheer speed with which false
information travels.
this tendency among those in
authority in Africa to keep things
that ought to be made public secret
and confdential encourages people
to spread rumours about the reasons
for particular decisions or the actions
of their leaders. such rumours are
evidence of the extent to which state
offcials in Africa continue to direct
public affairs in an autocratic and
bureaucratic manner that ultimately
leads to underdevelopment rather
than development.
African institutions, such as the
northsouth September 2012 18
African union (Au), fail woefully to
tell their stories. take, for example,
last years uprising in Libya. In the
run-up to direct Western military
support for the rebels, the Aus Peace
and security Council (PsC) met
several times to discuss the issue.
But the world did not hear the PsCs
argument, which said that regime
change in Libya without dealing with
the matter of that countrys weapons
stockpile could lead to turmoil in the
region. true to the PsCs predictions,
the tuaregs who had been backing
Colonel Muammar Gaddafs regime
fed Libya with a huge amount of
weapons that they eventually used to
overrun the northern half of Mali.
to add insult to injury, Al-Qaeda
in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has
taken the opportunity to strengthen
its control in the region. the us
government, in a knee-jerk reaction,
put aside $40 million to buy back
the weapons. But it was too late.
now it has been left to the Au and
the regional bloc, the Economic
Community of West African states
(ECoWAs), to pick up the pieces.
the Aus voice was lost in the
clamour for Western intervention in
Libya. so, who gets represented in
the media? this question is at the
centre of news access. Journalists, in
their training process, have always
been urged to give all sides of the
story. But is this practical? In the
main, the mainstream media tend to
be cautious in offering access because
of the nature of news selection. In
newsrooms around the world there
is a hierarchy of news that dictates
who gets coverage and who does
not. Less infuential groups, unlike
governments and major institutions,
cannot afford the sort of publicity
machinery that is at the disposal of
these institutions and which can
greatly infuence news selection and
get journalists to cover events.
In order to gain news access, non-
governmental organisations use one
of the news selection factors: power
and fame of individuals involved
in events. thus, summits of the G8
industrialised nations have been a
focal point for voiceless groups, such
as those fghting for cancellation
of Africas debt. the mainstream
non-governmental organisations
that represent the silent voices in
the global community also use this
platform to press their case. the
major British charities, such as
oxfam, have come to realise the value
of using such highly visible news
events to gain news access. Major
media events, therefore, are viewed as
an opportunity for voiceless groups
to get their viewpoints to the wider
public. In this period of apparent
donor fatigue, aid agencies are wise
to the ways of the media and they
organise events that would guarantee
news access.
Media power is immense. the
media has the power to set an agenda
and the power to destroy one. the
media has the power to infuence and
change the political, economic and
social fabrics of society.
the independence of the media in
a democracy is of great importance.
But the problem facing journalists
is how to defne what independence
really means. Can the media be
totally independent if they report
news without being penalised by
governments for this? Can the
media be totally independent if they
are under the infuence of powerful
interest groups? Indeed, no media
could be completely independent,
even in a democracy.
What governments can do in a
democratic or non-democratic society
to control the fow of information
is to refuse to provide information.
this then brings us to the issue of
leaks, which are a major source
of concern for governments in
democratic countries. Journalists
pay great attention to this source of
information, whereby public offcials
pass on information that is otherwise
secret for use in the public domain.
But there is a problem here because
these sources invariably use such
leaks to shape news coverage that
would advance their own interests
and causes.
Countries today are large and
impersonal forms of socio-political
organisation. Primary knowledge
about a country and fellow
citizens comes not from personal
communications but from many
agencies, such as the media, which
make possible the participation of
vast numbers of people in national
life.
In todays highly differentiated
world, it is through the media that
people interact with each other,
beyond their immediate environment.
A peoples sense of belonging, of being
part of wider community, a culture,
a nation and a single human race,
is increasingly being done through
the media. the media surely have a
major role to play in the development
of nation-states and national
identities, aspects that are crucial to
the advancement of a country. they
play a crucial part in furthering the
interest of governments that have the
wherewithal to deploy a huge array
of communications professionals
and money in the battle for global
dominance of the information.
Major-General Eder explained:
But the information domain is also
a battle for the right of occupancy,
the supremacy of occupancy, and the
right for the hearts and minds of the
populace who live, work and belong
there as well as those who would. she
went to note how al-Qaeda contrived
to use the internet to occupy that
battle space, issuing statements and
assertions of fact that largely have
gone unchallenged.
Joseph nye, in his book Bushs War
on terrorism after the 2006 Elections,
summed up the phenomenon of the
21st century: In the information
age, success is not merely the result
of whose army wins, but whose story
wins.

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 19
Goverment control of television is
essential to political power
t
he British politician, Enoch
Powell, once said that 95 per cent
of all information is available if you
know where to look but governments,
while extolling freedoms, will
go to great lengths to hide their
actions from public scrutiny. the
phenomenon of freedom is constantly
aired in the West but as George
orwell cynically but accurately
analysed it, freedom is undesirable
while intellectual honesty is a form
of anti-social selfshness. Despite
paying lip service to freedom,
too often governments are less
concerned with truth than their own
survival and secrecy has become a
weapon in this battle. A fnal quote
worth considering belongs to Louis
namier, the historian, who said at
every stage in social development
freedom has to be re-conquered.
on 12 July 2011, David Cameron,
the British Prime Minister, announced
a two-part inquiry into the role of the
press and police in the phone hacking
scandal and Lord Justice Leveson
was appointed as chairman of the
inquiry. the Commission now sitting
is concerned with the phone tapping
activities of news International and
a wider range of press personnel
and the uses, often malign, to which
information gathered illegally in
this way is subsequently put.
us President truman had a notice
on his desk that proclaimed: the Buck
stops here. should not this principle
be applied to rupert Murdoch and
should he not take responsibility and
where necessary blame for what was
done by his underlings and used by
his newspapers? Phone tapping in
any case has a long history. Prime
Minister Attlee allowed phone
tapping without any qualms and
phone tapping activities by the press
were known and accepted long before
the present scandal broke. In this
case it was the scale of phone tapping
that forced the issue into the publics
attention and the government, ever
alert to the freedom of the British
people, ordered a Commission of
inquiry, hence Leveson.
the British have perfected the use
of the royal Commission or inquiry
when a problem threatens the
stability of the government. set up
an inquiry to show that the system is
fair and open and that anybody who
wishes may give evidence; extend its
operation over a suffcient period of
time that the public loses interests
in its fndings; bring out the report
when, hopefully, its impact will be
dulled by other developments or
scandals and, to use a popular phrase
move on.
the Falklands War of 1982 roused
suffcient opposition and demands for
explanations about why the war had
taken place at all and other questions
such as the sinking of the Belgramo
that the thatcher government felt
compelled to set up a Commission
of Inquiry. the British practice of
ordering a public review and report
of a burning issue is exemplary. By
doing so the
government
shows it is
open, fair and
d e mo c r a t i c
and that
everyone has a
right to a say.
Lord Franks,
one of the
greatest of the
great and good
was appointed
to apportion
blame, if at
all, for the
Falklands War.
Lord Franks, a
doyen of the
establishment, was selected to head
the inquiry, which he did at great
length.
Commenting on his eventual
report, the journalist hugo
Young wrote: thus the report
fnds defective machinery but no
defective men or women. It soothes
and reassures, by performing the
ultimate trick of appearing to be
so candid. It offers the grace of
exoneration without the stain of
cover-up. In fact it was a masterly
example of whitewash whose prime
purpose is to get the government of
the day off the hook where its own
incompetence had brought it. the
report extols the trappings of freedom
while smothering the reality.
When information technology
largely fell under three headings
the press, the radio and television
it was possible to ask whether
we could believe what we read or
heard or saw. Governments saw,
correctly, that control of television
was essential to political control
and in the 1980s, for example, there
was an ongoing battle between the
thatcher government and the media.
The media and government control
All too often, when governments insist upon national security as a reason for secrecy,
what they really want is to be in charge of a situation which affects their ability to hold
on to power, writes Guy arnold
northsouth September 2012 20
african media under siege
Until African leaders begin to embrace press freedom, censorship and harassment will
continue to plague the continent for years to come, writes franklin adesegha
I
n any democratic society, the
media has a role of making
the government accountable to
the people. It bridges the gap by
providing information on policy
issues such as the economy,
education, social, defence, foreign
and home affairs. the availability of
public information affords the people
the opportunity to understand the
direction of the government, its
role and impact on the their daily
lives. however, in most African
and developing nations today, the
government in power controls the
mass media. newspapers, radio and
television stations are predominantly
government-owned or censored. As
a result, an atmosphere of apathy
exists among journalists expressing
their views through pro-government
avenues, which in turn generates a
lack of sincerity about how people
feel on government policies or issues
affecting their daily lives.
history has shown that during
the presidency of the late Ghanaian
leader Dr. Kwame nkrumah, most
journalists and individuals opposed
to his policies were sentenced to
life imprisonment or exterminated.
Prominent among them was Dr.
J. B. Danquah who was jailed on
numerous occasions for expressing
opposing views through the media.
It is understood he later died
through lethal injection. It is also
believed that tom Mboya of Kenya
and Diallo telli of the republic of
Guinea, former secretary General
of the then organisation of African
unity (oAu) now African union,
(Au) were both killed for similar
reasons. In Liberia, the pattern was
the same - tuan Wreh and Albert
Porte were victimised for expressing
views contrary to the tubman
administration.
so why are African leaders unable
to deal with political opposition and
the media? one would think that
by encouraging press freedom,
these leaders would be able to get
a feedback, which would enable
them to meet the demands of the
electorate and make them better
leaders. today, media control in
Africa has continued unabated.
In Gabon, the state-run media
regulator recently suspended two
private newspapers for six months
over criticism of top offcials. the
countrys national Communications
Council accused weeklies Ezombolo
and La une of disrespecting public
institutions and the personalities
that embody them. La une was
suspended over a series of columns
critical of President Ali Bongos
diplomacy in a failed attempt to
secure the re-election of his brother-
in-law Jean Ping as the African
union Commission Chairman. Ping
lost to nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
in a July runoff election, ending a
bitter contest between south Africa
and Gabon for the leadership of the
African union.
In Mozambique, a journalist who
wrote about a disagreement between
a private school and the family of
a disabled student was convicted
of libel. Falume Chabane was
sentenced to a 16-month suspended
prison term on 20 July and
ordered to pay damages of 150,000
meticais ($5,430), according to
news reports. A former editor of
the online news journal o Autarca,
(the Mayor), Chabane published
a series of columns in the spring
of 2011 that criticized the Beira
International Primary school. the
parents of Aisling Binda, a fourth-
grader who is in a wheelchair, had
complained that the school had not
built a handicapped access ramp in
compliance with a 2008 Mozambican
childrens rights law. the school
later expelled the student, citing
academic performance and other
reasons but the parents have said
the expulsion was in retaliation for
their complaint about the schools
lack of handicapped access. the
there are still denunciations when
the media is seen to be too free of
government bias but the technology
has moved us into a startlingly more
complex age and, as yet, it is too
soon to see how governments will
operate in order to control the new
foods of information and comment,
pro or anti-the politicians in the age
of Facebook and twitter and the vast
amount of information, true or false,
that the web now makes available.
unsurprisingly, security has
become the latest weapon of
government control. the 9/11
attacks upon the united states led
to the declaration of a war on terror,
which was followed by the state
taking draconian powers in the
name of security. When governments
are obliged under freedom of
information laws to reveal activities
they would prefer to keep secret,
they can now advance national
security as an excuse for ignoring
freedom of information. All too often,
however, when governments insist
upon national security as a reason
for secrecy, what they really want
is to retain control over a situation
which affects their ability to hold
onto power.

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 21
lawyer for the primary school,
Antnio Jorge ucocho, fled a
complaint accusing Chabane, who is
also a reporter for tVM, of defaming
both the school and himself and for
abusing freedom of the press. the
stories had included daily updates
on the number of days that Binda
had missed school.
In south Africa, a criminal
investigation has begun against
three newspaper journalists who
reported details on a multi-billion-
dollar arms scandal. recently,
the south African Police service
interrogated nic Dawes, editor-in-
chief of the weekly Mail & Guardian,
along with sam sole and stefaans
Brmmer, investigative reporters
with the same paper. the journalists
were questioned over their
possession of information from a
sealed 2004 police deposition of then-
private businessman Mac Maharaj in
connection with an offcial probe into
corruption allegations surrounding
a $5 billion international arms deal.
Maharaj is now a spokesman of
President Jacob Zuma. several top
offcials were convicted in recent
years of receiving payouts from
European arms manufacturers
in a 1999 government deal for
fghter jets and naval patrol boats.
In november last year, the Mail
& Guardian tried to report on the
contents of the deposition and
sought comment from Maharaj. the
offcial immediately threatened legal
action, which prompted the paper to
censor large portions of the story.
But Maharajs lawyers went ahead
and lodged the complaint anyway.
In Mali, veteran journalist saouti
Labass hadara was brutally
attacked in retaliation for an article
in LIndpendant that criticised the
government. the attack on hadara
came just two months after state
security agents pretending to be
printers entered the publishers
offce and took him to the agencys
headquarters. security agents
interrogated him about an article
describing a political leafet that was
critical of coup leader Capt. Amadou
sanogo. since the countrys 22
March coup, journalists have been
subjected to increasing instances of
harassment and assault.
Elsewhere in Africa, including
Ethiopia and somalia, reports of
press censorship and harassment
continue to come to the fore in spite
of condemnations and appeals for
restraint by organisations such as
the Committee to Project Journalists
(CPJ) and reporters Without Borders.
Acts of media censorship and
intimidation are designed to silence
criticism of public offcials. With
journalists working in extremely
insecure conditions, authorities
must act and to take urgent steps to
ensure the safety of all journalists.
A free press promotes a healthy
and democratic society and until
African leaders begin to embrace
press freedom, censorship and
harassment will continue to plague
the continent for years to come.
Committee to Protect Journalists
northsouth September 2012 22
I
n most developing nations, the
media is still controlled and
manipulated by the state while some
developed nations can infuence
and control their media through
powerful multinational corporations
that have enormous infuence on
mainstream media, leading to outlets
being infuenced by various corporate
interests.
the ability for citizens or
independent journalists to make
informed decisions is crucial for
a free and functioning democracy
but it is increasingly threatened by
concentration in ownership of media
publications or networks. the idea
of corporate media may not be a bad
thing for a functioning democracy, as
it can foster healthy competition and
provide a check against governments
and shady dealings that are not in
the best interest of the public at large.
however, concern is often raised
when there is a vast concentration
of ownership in the hands of one
man or one company because of
the risk of increased economic
and political infuence that can be
exercised and ultimately leading to
unaccountability.
In the Arab world, high-speed
social networking technology has
disrupted the traditional rhythms
of autocracy and led the masses to
embrace liberal democratic principles
they have aspired to for years. Digital
technology has propelled mass
political action in the Arab world, but
has left in its wake a political vacuum,
with democratic processes struggling
to catch up.
Launched in London in 1978,
Asharq Al-Awsat is the worlds premier
pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed
simultaneously on four continents
in 14 cities. It was the frst Arabic
daily to execute satellite transmission
for simultaneous printing in a
number of major cities worldwide,
and is currently the only newspaper
to own the Arabic copyright of
internationally syndicated articles by
the Washington Post, usA today and
Global Viewpoint by the Los Angeles
times. the London-based Financial
times and others later emulated the
technology pioneered by Asharq Al-
Awsat.
then it was followed by the
saudi-owned and globally satellite
transmitted MBC television (Middle
East Broadcasting Corporation),
which revolutionised free-to-air, pan-
Arab news and entertainment when
it was launched in London, united
Kingdom in september 1991. It was
the frst-ever, independent Arabic
satellite tV station and a market
leader, delivering news and quality
family entertainment programming
to more than 130 million Arabic-
speaking people around the world.
But since moving its headquarters
to Dubai Media City, it has lost some
of its appeal because of an ever-
changing and competitive world of
broadcasting in the Middle East and
north Africa. It has since
launched two brand new
free-to-air channels,
offering 24-hour news
and entertainment
to the Arab world. 2
is an entertainment
movie channel, and Al
Arabiya, a 24hour news
Channel.
however, the advent of Al-Jazeera
tV in november 1996 changed the
media landscape not only in the Arab
world but also globally, despite it
being funded by the state of Qatar. It
has imposed itself on the international
market as a leading player among
global media through its 24-hour
Arabic and English news channels.
It is credited with helping the Arab
uprising to open up political debates
and break many taboos. It has enjoyed
an unusual degree of independence
in its professional coverage of world
affairs and has swiftly picked up
Arab viewers disenchanted with their
own state-controlled media.
Media professionals doubtful of its
prospects, certainly changed their
minds during the coverage of the
uprisings in tunisia and Egypt last
year. Many of its staff were recruited
from the BBC Arabic service, which
had launched an Arabic tV channel
a couple of years earlier but closed
it down after censorship attempts
by its partner, which controlled the
relevant satellite. Al-Jazeera has
become even more popular when
Arab governments closed down its
local bureaux, expelled its journalists
or subjected them to increased
harassment by local authorities.
In 2001, Al-Jazeera began to attract
widespread attention in the West,
as it was the only tV station with a
permanent bureau and satellite link
to Kabul during the Afghan war,
and its exclusive footage was used
by many Western tV channels. It
also became famous for broadcasting
videotape messages from al-Qaeda
leader ousama Ben Laden and his
disciples.
Al-Jazeeras bureau in Kabul was
bombed by the us during the Afghan
war, as was its bureau in Baghdad
during the us-led invasion of Iraq.
It was later reported that American
Can BBC and al-Jazeera resist
competition in global coverage?

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 23
President George W. Bush had planned
to bomb al-Jazeeras headquarters in
Qatar too, but had been discouraged
from doing so by his advisers.
hundreds of millions of dollars
have been injected into al-Jazeera by
the Emir of Qatar to turn it into a
powerhouse to be reckoned with. It
has also helped put Qatar on the map,
politically and diplomatically, yet it is
an oil-rich country with no more than
400,000 inhabitants.
Al-Jazeera may not be free to report
critically on Qatar or diverge far
from Qatari foreign policy, but the
investment in it has proved to be
successful when other investments in
global media has failed dismally like
the us al-hurra which has almost no
following despite costing hundreds of
millions of dollars.
Al-Jazeera today competes on the
global front with the Arabic and
English tV channels of the BBC
while Cnn, which was the number
one global channel during the frst
Gulf War, changed ownership and
became a thing of the past due to the
partial content of its coverage which
strongly refects American foreign
policy interests.
the question is whether the
dominant BBC and Al-Jazeera
networks are able to fend off the
intense competition in global
media coverage or new players
are preparing to emerge in the
future with the advent of new
technologies? ali Bahaijoub
I
t is only natural for states and
corporations to seek to serve their
best interests through the mass
media. But it becomes unacceptable
for the media to become mere tools
of governments or states and ignore
the wider interest of the people they
are supposed to ultimate serve and
interact with.
the media was described as the
fourth estate or power because
the professions founding fathers
established strict rules and values
that became the journalists
manifesto. the power of the media
lies in representing the public
interest before the three other estates
or powers. the media simply have
no power without the people and
the people rely on them to speak
the truth, question the authorities,
investigate malpratices and resist
becoming an unaccountable platform
of power. Above all, the media should
not compete in the service of interests
that contradict honest and credible
representation of the masses. It is
a fact that commercial entreprises
highly connected to centres of power
and infuence have recently been put
before professional ethics and values
in pursuit of fnancial gains. hence,
the media have lost their spiritual and
professional link with the masses in
favour of immediate material gains.
the global media system is best
understood as one that advances
corporate and commercial interests
and values, and denigrates or ignores
that which cannot be incorporated
into its mission.
It is, therefore, of paramount
importance that the media should
adhere to a well-established code
of conduct that does not vary in
accordance with political whims or
commercial interests. the medias
mission should remain their strong
opposition to oppression, injustice,
malpractices, bad governance,
unfairness and corruption.
For too long, the West has dominated
the economic, political and media life
of the world. Yet, the last decade has
seen a shift in the economic centres of
infuence from the West to the East.
the communication and information
technological revolution has provided
unprecedented global plurality and
the Western media are no longer the
only point of reference. the internet
allows people who would otherwise
never meet or never make their
voices heard to reach a potentially
unlimited audience worldwide.
By the end of the 1990s a major
turning point was reached in the
media landscape. Whereas media
systems had been primarily national
before the 1990s, a global commercial
media market has emerged full force
by the dawn of the 21st century
and it is called new media. It brings
together professionals to highlight
innovative tools and discuss how
the new networked world has
transformed their workload. social
media also equips them with the
skills to improve and advocate change
around the world.
An increasing number of consumers
are using smartphones and tablets
to research, compare options, seek
advice and make purchases.
the future of the media looks
rather unpredictable partly because
of the ongoing advances in new
technologies that have transformed
peoples perception, way of life and
perspectives. ali Bahaijoub
World media in transition
northsouth September 2012 24
features
Libya enters new territory
For the frst time in more than 40 years of authoritarian rule, Libyans now have a democratically
elected assembly and interim president to run their affairs, writes ali Bahaijoub
L
ibyas interim national
transitional Council (ntC)
handed over power to a newly
elected assembly last month, almost
a year after the ousting of Muammar
Gaddaf, marking another step
towards democracy. I hand over
the constitutional prerogatives to
the General national Congress,
which from now on is the legitimate
representative of the Libyan people,
ntC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said
at a ceremony in the capital tripoli.
the date of the handover is
symbolic corresponding to 20
ramadan, the Muslim fasting
month, in the Islamic calendar. Last
year, 20 ramadan was 20 August
when rebels overran tripoli, forcing
Gaddaf to fee.
Abdeljalil passed the reins of power
to Mohammed Ali salim, the oldest
member of the 200-seat legislative
assembly elected on 7 July.
the ntC, which was formed
during last years revolt, has now
been dissolved.
the General national Congress
(GnC), the outcome of last months
ballot, will be tasked with choosing
a new interim government to take
over from the ntC, and will steer the
country until fresh elections can be
held, based on a new constitution, to
be drafted by a constituent authority
of 60 members.
In a last minute move the
outgoing ntC declared this panel
will be elected directly by the people.
Assembly members, however, have
said that the assembly has the right
to reverse the move.
the Assembly held its frst
meeting straight after the transition
to choose Mohamed El-Megarif as
interim president. he was a former
opposition leader who lived as a
fugitive overseas for many years
under Gaddafs rule. El-Megarif
won 113 votes to defeat another
opposition leader and human rights
lawyer, Ali Zidan, who won 85
votes. Both men had been diplomats
who defected and fought Gaddafs
regime while living in exile since
the 1980s.
El-Megarif, who wrote a series
of books on Gaddafs repressive
policies, lived as a wanted fugitive
for years as leader of the countrys
oldest armed opposition movement,
the national Front for the salvation
of Libya. the movement made
several attempts to end Gaddafs
42-year rule, sometimes by plotting
assassination attacks including a
well-known and daring 1984 raid on
Bab al-Aziziyah, the late dictators
fortifed compound in tripoli.
the regime cracked down on the
group, executing and arresting
many of its members. Many fed
abroad where they worked as
political activists. El-Megarifs
movement organised the frst Libyan
opposition conference in London in
2005 and called for the overthrow
of Gaddafs regime at a time when
other groups, including the Muslim
Brotherhood, accepted Gaddaf.
upon his return to Libya after last
years armed revolution, he formed a
new party, the national Front, which
sees Islam as a broad guideline to the
states affairs, but does not mention
the implementation of sharia law.
El-Megarif will hold the offce
until a new constitution is in place
sometime next year. he replaces
Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, head of the
outgoing transitional council after
it was disbanded when power was
handed to the new assembly.
the Assembly will choose a prime
minister within 30 days, then decide
on a mechanism to select a 60-
member panel tasked with writing
a constitution.
At the hand-over ceremony, Jalil
acknowledged the ntCs failures in
restoring security in the country,
but said that the ntC governed in
exceptional times.
Meanwhile, fghting continued
in some parts of Libya and militia
groups still hold a lot of power.
however, crowds in tripolis Martyrs
square held candles symbolising
reconciliation and celebration of the
frst peaceful transition of power in
Libyas modern history.
the national Forces Alliance (nFA),
a liberal coalition led by wartime
rebel Prime Minister Mahmoud
Jibril won 39 of the 80 party seats
in the congress, while its Islamist
rivals, the Justice and Construction
Party (JCP) the political wing of
the Muslim Brotherhood won 17.
however the remaining 120 seats
are in the hands of independent
candidates whose allegiances are
hard to pin down.
In the battle to hold sway over the
assembly, where key decisions will
require a two-thirds majority, Jibrils
nFA and the JCP are scrambling to
form alliances with independents
and smaller parties.

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northsouth September 2012 25
Mohamed el-Megarif (centre): from an
exile to interim President
the complete tally, however, does
not paint a clear picture about
who will dominate the incoming
congress, where the majority of
seats 120 of 200 were reserved
for individual candidates. the
two leading parties are courting
independents and smaller entities
in a bid to form a dominant bloc
within the congress, where major
decisions and legislation require a
two-thirds majority to pass. some
independents, distrustful of both
sides, have even spoken of forming
their own coalition. Prior to this
years polls, the last national vote
was held in 1965, when no political
parties were allowed.
Alistair Burt, British Minister at
the Foreign and Commonwealth
offce, said: today is another
landmark in the transition from
brutal dictatorship to political
representation in Libya. As a
Minister and a Parliamentarian,
I am proud of the role the uK has
played in supporting the Libyan
people in their struggle to have
their democratic voice heard. We
look forward to the new Congress
rapidly electing its Leader, and
thereafter appointing a new Prime
Minister and government who will
help realise the Libyan peoples
ambitions for a peaceful, prosperous
and democratic country.
After congratulating the Libyan
people on the sitting of the
democratically elected General
national Congress, the us secretary
of state, hillary Clinton, noted: Less
than one year after an entrenched,
brutal dictatorship, the Libyan
people are writing a new chapter in
their history. this parliament has
important work ahead as it faces the
challenges of building democratic
institutions and ensuring the
drafting of a new constitution
through a transparent process,
protecting the universal rights of
all Libyans, promoting accountable
and honest government, and
establishing security throughout
the country.
Getting a grip on security is an
often-anarchic post-Gaddaf Libya
will be the priority for the countrys
new rulers, Deputy Prime Minister
Mustafa Abu shagour told reuters.
the run-up to the transition
had been overshadowed by several
violent incidents in the past weeks
that had shown the countrys
precarious stability.
Former Libyan leader Col
Muammar Gaddaf came to power
in 1969 and ruled autocratically for
more than four decades, until he
was toppled and killed last year.
the interim authorities that took
over after Gaddafs overthrow
successfully led Libya to the
elections. If liberals do manage to
hold sway over the assembly, Libya,
unlike neighbouring tunisia and
Egypt whose strongmen were also
toppled in last years Arab spring,
will buck the trend of electoral
success for Islamist movements.
the nFA coalition brings together
some 60 parties and independent
fgures, led by technocrats who lived
abroad and advocate a moderate
Islam, economic liberalisation
and openness to the West. nFA
leader Jibril, who played a key role
drumming up international support
for the 2011 revolution that toppled
Gaddafs regime, has called for
all parties to join a national unity
dialogue in a bid to form an even
broader coalition.
But the interim government has
struggled to impose its authority
on a myriad of armed groups who
refuse to lay down their weapons.
Last month, security forces killed
three armed men suspected of being
behind seven failed bomb plots.
that same day, the International
Committee of the red Cross
suspended its work in Benghazi
and the port city of Misrata after
one of its compounds was attacked
with grenades and rockets. this
followed the kidnapping of seven
Iranian aid workers by armed men
in Benghazi on 31 July. however,
there is increased optimism that the
problems could be overcome.
It now remains unclear who will
dominate the Congress and how
the new authority will tackle the
precarious security concerns and
the anenviable task of facinf up to
social and economic development of
a war-devastated country.
northsouth September 2012 26


US President Obama, Australian
PM Julia Gillard, Chinese
President Hu: will they fnd
common ground on defence?
an uneasy triangle
W
hen Barack obama became
President of the us expectations
were high that he would pursue a
softer more liberal foreign policy than
his predecessor, that the us bullying
unilateralist image was a thing
of the past. Accepting that it is an
American election year in fact obama
has been hardening his rhetoric as
he demonstrates to his electorate that
Americas international stands are
frm. his latest message was directed
at Iran: much stronger sanctions
and if necessary the us would not
rule out the use of force. the general
perception of the us is that its power
is waning, that it does not wish to
be the worlds peacemaker, it stood
back from leading any intervention
in Libya, and that it will concentrate
its military power in the Pacifc - in
other words deployed as part of a
ring fence round China, though this
is denied. ring fencing China must
inevitably involve Australia, which
faces a growing dilemma. the us
is its closest ally, China its biggest
trading partner and it does not wish
to offend either of them. In other
words Australia does not want to risk
Chinas displeasure by any action that
supports a us military build-up in the
Pacifc-Asia region.
In 2011, having announced a
new policy of concentrating its
military power in the Pacifc, obama
announced a new agreement with
Australia that 2,500 marines could
train annually in the Darwin region
of Australia. this announcement
was resented by China, which did
not believe obamas denial that it had
anything to do with ring fencing
China. More recently, however, the us
Centre for strategic and International
studies suggested the relocation of a
carrier and its support feet to hMAs
stirling, an Australian naval base
south of Perth as part of Americas
new strategic focus on Asia and the
Pacifc. the Australian Minister of
Defence, stephen smith, responded
to the Centres proposal (probably
made with the full agreement of the
Pentagon) that Australia would not
host a us carrier group that would
include destroyers, submarines and
fghter jets.
the Americans, typically, like to
extend their military outposts by
stages Marines to Darwin followed by
a formidable naval force the next year.
hugh White, head of the Australian
national university strategic and
Defence studies Centre, said: the
united states has announced its plan
to shift the bulk of its naval feet to the
Pacifc by 2020 [and] has been forging
ties with countries in the region.
At present the us has one carrier
strike group based on the Japanese
port of Yokosuka. It would cost $1
billion to upgrade the hMAs sterling
naval base for a nuclear carrier that
would be the fagship of a strike
group.
undoubtedly, despite the immediate
Australian response to these us
proposals, the Americans no doubt
will pile the pressure upon Australia
to change its mind.
China condemns such us plans as
a return to Cold War thinking. the
more the us follows this policy of ring
fencing China, the more suspicious
and antagonistic will the relationship
between the two powers become. At
this point in time it is the us that is
taking the initiative. Guy arnold
London 2012 Games broke records of all kinds
E
very four years, athletes of
countries from the four corners of
the world meet to discover who can run
faster, jump higher, be stronger and
race to the limits of human endurance
and surpass those of other nations in
a wide range of athletic and sporting
activities. this has been the traditional
motto of the olympic movement.
At the 2012 olympic Games in
London last month, the eyes of the
world were focused on the pinnacle of
human physical achievement which
turned to be a success story for some
and a rollercoaster of emotions and
disappointment for others. there
were tears of joy, frustration and
disappointment but above all, the
olympic spirit prevailed and the power
of sport in forging and fostering
international relationships and
dialogue between 205 participating
nations was the ultimate winner.
Medals were won, records were
broken, achievements were celebrated
and the public in Britain and worldwide
was the paramount winner as athletes
excelled in their sporting disciplines
and some countries outperformed
others in good spirit and fair-play.

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 27
RIGHT ALIGN
the Games acted as a global village
where different nationalities, races
and faiths were gathered with the aim
to perform in front of an enthusiastic
local crowd and a record international
television audience.
Competition was lauded as a driving
force that would ensure a general
rise in standards, even among those
who aspire to the highest levels of
achievement. the Games served
also as a platform for camaraderie,
cooperation and understanding, both
at a national and international level.
In team sports, cooperation among
team members and their coaches
was essential to achieve the ultimate
accolade. Most importantly, countries
put aside their political differences
and embraced a common commitment
to a system of values and principles
from which all participants benefted
if not in kind in spirit.
Elite athletes were racking up
medals but not everyone was in it for
the medal as some exemplifed the true
olympic spirit of taking part as an
amateur athlete. Most of participating
athletes in the London 2012 Games
came from countries without the
lavish training facilities, the sporting
infrastructure or the programmes and
planning of the track and swimming
schedules. they were from developing
nations with limited budgets for
sport or adequate sporting facilities.
some simply had none. I have no
technique, I only rely on (physical)
power, admitted rower hamadou
Djibo Issaka of niger after fghting
his way over the fnishing line of the
mens single sculls at Eton Dorney and
managed 8:39.66, leaving him miles
behind the next worst competitor J
Fraser-Mackenzie on 7:19.85.
Issaka had some 25,000 fans on
their feet, cheering him on. the 35-
year-old only started rowing three
months before the Games, practising
in an old fshing boat with no proper
gears or coaching. then there was the
16-year-old debutant judoka, Wojdan
shaherkani, the frst saudi woman
ever to compete in the olympics who
lasted just one minute and 22 seconds.
her compatriot sarah Attar competed
in the 800m and the crowd gave her a
full stadium ovation after completing
the 800m over 43 seconds behind
the heats winner. Its an incredible
experience, she said afterwards and it
certainly was a frst for saudi women.
on the other hand, a Japanese
olympian proved that age does not
matter when it comes to sporting
success. hiroshi hoketsu was the
oldest competitor taking part in the
London Games, aged 71. he competed
for Japan in the Equestrian events for
the fourth olympic Games stretching
half a century. he partnered with
15-year-old mare Whisper in quest
for glory and he may not be able to
compete with her in future. When
hiroshi hoketsu frst went to the
olympics in 1964, he was 23 and the
Games were in his native tokyo. he
hopes to compete in rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, in 2016 and will then be the
oldest competitor ever.
one of the triumphs of the London
Games has been the work of the
thousands of volunteers who have
freely given their time and energy.
the organising committee mobilised
a workforce of over 7,000 employed
staff alongside 70,000 volunteers
and 100,000 contractors. this is a
staggering fgure by any measure
to help achieve success for the global
sporting event. For the olympic legacy
to last and have a tangible impact on
the world of sport, sporting authorities
worldwide should start investing
in infrastructure, potential medal
winners and preparing them for the
next olympic Games in rio. only state
intervention can counter the massive
advantages the most privileged have.
they should also consider the health
benefts in sporting activities to build
the brains and bodies of the next
generation and have a healthier and
ftter population.
London 2012 was a feast for all
concerned and should serve as a
reminder that human beings where
ever they are or come from, aspire to
the same achievements and want the
same thing. ali Bahaijoub
In the 1940s, many people received a
lot of their news from Path Newsreels
at the cinema but radio was the only
means by which millions followed the
Olympic Games. In 1948, many people
were still listening to the news on
utility sets. The transistor radio was
not invented until 1947 and was not in
common use until the 1950s, so people
would have listened on big valve radios
that were not portable. This meant
people would have crowded around
one to listen together.
The following data compares the last
Olympic Games staged in London in 1948
with those of 2012:
London Olympics 1948:
60 hours broadcast
750,000 ($1.1 million) to
stage the Games
Less than one TV per household
9 inches the average TV screen size
14,500 TVs sold a year
London Olympics 2012:
5,000 hours broadcast
2,500 hours across all channels
11 billion ($17.5 billion)
to stage the Games
3 TVs per household
40 inches the average TV screen size
10 million TVs sold a year
BBC Sport Online created a web page for
every athlete, country, sport and venue.
There were a record 34.7 million unique
browsersinfrstweekofGames(24.5
million in the UK, 10.5 million overseas)
and 29 million requests to watch video
ontheBBCwebsiteinthefrstweek.
northsouth September 2012 28
Somali pirates are on the run
t
hings are indeed looking up for
the ships that have had to navigate
pirate-infested waters off the coast of
somalia for many years. In the latest
global piracy report released recently
by the International Maritime Bureau
(IMB) it was revealed that the activities
of somali pirates had been greatly
curtailed. But the IMB warned that
while attacks were falling off somalia
they were increasing in the Gulf of
Guinea.
the fall in the overall number is
primarily due to the massive decline
in the incidents of somali piracy
activity, dropping from 163 in the
frst six months of 2011 to just 69
in 2012. somali pirates also hijacked
fewer vessels, down from 21 to 13.
nonetheless, somali piracy continues
to remain a serious threat, the IMB
warned.
somali pirate attacks cover a vast
area, from the southern red sea,
Gulf of Aden, and Gulf of oman to
the Arabian sea and somali Basin,
threatening all shipping routes in
the north west Indian ocean, said
Pottengal Mukundan, Director of
IMB, which has been monitoring
world piracy since 1991.
the report, in part, has attributed
the noticeable decline in somali piracy
to the pre-emptive and disruptive
counter piracy tactics employed by the
international navies. this includes the
disruption of mother vessels and Pirate
Action Groups. the naval actions play
an essential role in frustrating the
pirates. there is no alternative to their
continued presence, said Mukundan.
the effective deployment of
Best Management Practices, ship
hardening and, in particular, the
increased use of Privately Contracted
Armed security Personnel (PCAsP),
has also contributed to the falling
numbers.
As of 30 June 2012, somali pirates
were still holding 11 vessels and 218
crew, 44 of whom were being held
ashore in unknown locations and
conditions.
overall, 177 incidents were reported
to the IMB Piracy reporting Centre
(PrC) in the frst six months of 2012,
compared to 266 incidents for the
corresponding period in 2011. the
report showed that 20 vessels were
hijacked worldwide, with a total
number of 334 members of the crew
taken hostage. there were a further 80
vessels boarded, 25 vessels fred upon
and 52 reported attempted attacks. At
least four members of the crew were
killed.
Apart from the pre-emptive action
of international navies, the role of
troops of the African union Mission
in somalia (AMIsoM) has had a
deleterious effect on the activities of
somali pirates. While AMIsoM has
been pushing al-shabaab fghters from
Mogadishu and other parts of somalia,
it has been diffcult for the pirates
to launch their attacks from somali
territory. thus their operational base
has been gradually eroded.
Indeed, things are also looking up
for hard-pressed somalis who have
had to put up with violent confict for
more than 20 years in a failed state.
the success of Kenyan and AMIsoM
troops against al-shabaab ensured
that the un Political offce for somalia
(unPos), which was located in
nairobi, fnally moved to Mogadishu
in January after an absence of 17
years.
the signifcance of this was not lost
on Augustine Mahiga, the head of
unPos.
Without the incredible efforts and
sacrifce of the troops from somalia
and other African countries, we would
not be here today, said Mahiga in
January. he pledged to somalis that
the unPos move to somalia would
herald the beginning of a new era of
cooperation and political engagement
as the transitional period draws to a
close.
While AMIsoM has done incredibly
well in weakening and restricting al-
shabaab, the challenge remains with
how to transcend political dysfunction
in order to consolidate peace and
stability. the mandate of somalias
transitional Federal Government
(tFG) was scheduled to come to an end
on 20 August, as somalis hoped that
this would usher in a more legitimate,
inclusive and acceptable government
in the country.
For many, the overwhelming
approval in July of a Provisional
Constitution by a representative body
convened for that purpose was a
strong sign that the countrys long
transition to stable governance would
not be easily derailed. the Provisional
Constitution was a key part of the
process. It is expected to provide a legal
framework governing the workings
of the new somali Federal Institutions
after 20 August.
until last year, most of Mogadishu,
was, for several years, riven by a
fuid frontline dividing the two sides
fghters belonging to al-shabaab
and troops belonging to the somalia
government, with the latter supported
by AMIsoM. In August last year
al-shabaab was forced to withdraw
from the capital, thus paving the way
for the momentous changes that are
taking place in the country and off its
coast.
somali piracy being reined in
The number of pirate attacks along the coast of Somalia fell sharply in the frst half of 2012,
reports Desmond Davies

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 29
London 2012 Olympic Games closing ceremony
F
ears about security were allayed
as the British government called
in thousands of extra troops to help
screen visitors. A furore over empty
seats at several olympic venues
blew over, especially once the track
and feld showcase kicked off and
drew capacity crowds for virtually
every session. Even the weather
improved as the Games wore on.
Bright sunshine graced the closing
weekend of a festival that has helped
to lift spirits in Britain.
the closing ceremony on 12
August featured a spectacular
musical performance by some of
the biggest names of British pop
music and the offcial handover to
the next host city, rio de Janeiro.
Pop sensations including the spice
Girls, take that, Jessi J. and George
Michael performed at the closing
ceremony. Games chief Lord Coe
said: When our time came - Britain,
we did it right.
the President of the International
olympic Committee Jacques rogge
who declared the Games of the
30th olympiad closed just before
midnight, said: We will never forget
the smiles, the kindness and the
support of the wonderful volunteers,
the much-needed heroes of these
Games. You, the spectators and the
public, provided the soundtrack for
these Games.
Your enthusiastic cheers
energised its competitors and
brought a festive spirit to every
olympic venue, he added. At the
close of the ceremony, watched in
the stadium by the 10,000 athletes
,thousands of volunteers and
80,000 spectators, the fame was
extinguished in dramatic fashion.
Each nation will receive one of
the cauldrons 204 petals. London
airports handled the departure
of about 200,000 people a day as
visitors began to leave. some 120,000
departed from heathrow each day; a
further 70,000 few from Gatwick.
Private security frm G4s donated
$4m to the British armed forces after
troops had to stand in for its absent
staff during the olympics.
the Games ended with the us
topping the fnal medal table with
46 golds, followed by China with 38
golds. Great Britain (GB) came third
with 29 golds - their best tally since
1908. In all, 44 world records were
set and 117 olympic records broken.
Among those to have set new world
records included Kenyan David
rudisha in the mens 800m the
American women 400m relay team
and the Jamaican sprint relay team,
which included the 100m and
200m gold medallist usain Bolt. us
swimmer Michael Phelps became the
most decorated olympian in history
with 22 medals, 18 of which in gold
while cyclist sir Chris hoys two
gold medals meant he became the
most successful British olympian of
all time with six gold medals.
While the 2012 olympic Games
broke attendance records with over
seven million spectators at events
and a record global television
audience, Brazalian funs spoke of
their hopes of following in Londons
footsteps at rio de Janiero in 2016.
Paralympics will start on 29
August and fnish on 9 september
and ticket sales are heading for
another spectators record.
London bids farewell to Olympics
Despite concerns about the creaky transport system and a shortfall of private security
guards, the London 2012 Olympics passed by fairly trouble-free, writes franklin adesegha
who refects on the outcome of the Games.
syria: annans mission impossible
It is surprising that the UN-Arab League envoy on the Syrian crisis held out for so long in the
face of intransigence on both sides, writes franklin adesegha
s
ince his appointment in
February to fnd a solution to
the violent confict syrian, former
un secretary-General Kof Annan
was in charge of a crisis that the
protagonists did not want to be
resolved peacefully. he put forward
a six-point peace plan to help end the
syrian crisis. Among other things,
the plan called for an end to violence,
access for humanitarian agencies
to provide relief to those in need,
the release of detainees, the start
of inclusive political dialogue, and
unrestricted access to the country
for the international media.
Despite initial signs of acceptance
of the plan, there has been little in
the way of the plans implementation
by the parties to the confict. For a
few days in April a ceasefre led to a
northsouth September 2012 30


Comparing Syria notes? Brahimi (left)
and Annan
signifcant decrease in the violence,
but it did not last. A 300-strong
un observer mission was slow to
deploy and too small for a country
the size of syria. the reality with
the un is that its effectiveness is
always dependent on the consensus
of its key members. With syria, the
international community remains
deeply divided. russia and China
fear Western intervention. the us
and Eu powers do not want to get
sucked in. Middle Eastern regional
powers are increasingly fghting
a turf war in syria. It is these
divisions that allowed the Assad
regime to manipulate Annans
mission, play for time and toy with
the un observers. Analysts say if the
un had been serious, there would
have been between 3,000 and 5,000
observers backed up by a large team
of expert mediators.
Annans mission did engineer
limited access for journalists in
syria and helped syrian opposition
groups to become more credible.
But many in the syrian opposition
were at best lukewarm towards his
mandate as they still chased the
elusive foreign intervention that
they saw as the only way to topple
Assad.
the syrian confict, which began
in March 2011, has already claimed
up to 20,000 lives, according to
syrian activists. Almost three
million people are in need of
assistance as the countrys civil war
has devastated food production. of
this number, around 1.5 million
people need urgent and immediate
food assistance over the next three
to six months, especially in areas
that have seen the greatest confict
and population displacement, said a
report by the Food and Agriculture
organisation (FAo) and the World
Food Programme (WFP). the
crisis has resulted in a loss of 1.8
billion euros this year in the syrian
agricultural sector.
While the economic implications
of these losses are quite grave,
the humanitarian implications
are far more pressing, said WFP
representative in syria Muhannad
hadi. the effects of these major losses
are frst, and most viciously, felt by
the poorest in the country, he said.
the international community
has tried to manage this confict,
not resolve it - underestimating its
seriousness for regional peace and
security. Worse, some actively stoked
the tensions, even as they feigned
support for Annans mission. russia
and Iran have armed and fnanced
the Assad regime. saudi Arabia and
Qatar have stated that they would
fnance the armed opposition. Annan
desperately attempted to galvanise
international consensus and even
managed to get the russians and
the Chinese to agree a transition
plan for syria but incredibly he was
left alone to do the follow-up.
What the syrian crisis shows is
the increasing ineffectiveness of
the united nations in resolving
international conficts. It also reveals
an increasing polarisation between
russia and China and the rest of the
security Council, notably America
almost along Cold War lines. unless
a solution to the syrian confict can
be found quickly a wider regional
war may result involving turkey,
Lebanon, Jordan and Iran and Israel.
America and Israel are discussing
the military option. Again the un
security Council is hardly involved
and its increasing irrelevance and
inability to act in many cases may
have grave consequences for world
peace. Annans resignation will have
little impact on a regime now solely
concerned with smashing the armed
uprising by all means possible. there
is even little hope that his envisaged
successor, veteran Algerian diplomat
Lakhdar Brahimi, will succeed
where Annan has failed. Brahimi,
78, has held a series of high-profle
diplomatic posts. As a senior Arab
League offcial between 1984-1991,
he brokered an end to the Lebanese
civil war, going on to serve as
Algerian foreign minister between
1991-1993. Later, he was twice
appointed as the uns top envoy
for Afghanistan, in 1996-1998 and
in 2001-2004. he has held similar
roles for haiti and south Africa.
Will he stick Annans six-point
plan or bring a fresh one to the
table? For now, the bloodshed and
destruction in syria will escalate
and the various sides and their
external backers will slug it out.
the danger is that, only when there
is not much left to fght over, will
the remaining combatants fnally
sit down and talk. When they do
so, many will look back and wonder
at the human and physical cost of
not having supported the Annan
mission.

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 31
Putin and
Cameron talking
about world
affairs at the
London Olympic
Games

t
he London olympics provided
the venue for political meetings
as well as the opportunities for tit-
for-tat exchanges between rivals.
these days China and the us are
all too ready to fnd fault with each
others activities. thus, China reacted
angrily to a us accusation that its
16-year old swimming prodigy Ye
shiwen could only have achieved
her record-breaking performance
by using drugs. none had been
detected. It was, however, part of
the less than sporting attitude that
prevails between the two top-runners
in the gold-seeking tally.
In the meantime, the Chinese
upset Kazakhstan by claiming
that its female weightlifter Zulfya
Chinshanlo was really Chinese
and that she was only on loan to
Kazakhstan. In the early days of
the olympics before Britain had
earned its frst gold medal, Frances
President Francois hollande and
Britains Prime Minister David
Cameron sat side by side watching
an event but more interested in
the gentle exchange of barbed
comments France was then ahead
in the struggle for medals when
the President thanked the Prime
Minister for rolling out the red
carpet for French athletes, a
reference to Camerons earlier offer
to roll out the red carpet for French
tax exiles. their exchanges were all
in the spirit of the entente cordiale.
Meanwhile, the big powers could
take a rest from the catastrophic
bloodshed and destruction going
on in syria, about which they
seemed quite incapable of taking
any meaningful action. Possibly the
most important exchange occurred
when the russian President,
Vladimir Putin, visited Britain
for the frst time in seven years,
ostensibly to watch the judo fnals
(won by russia).
Putin is a black belt judo
enthusiast. the opportunity was
no doubt embraced by Cameron
to talk with Putin about the
russian stand on syria and its
persecution of political opponents or
demonstrators. Any such strictures
would be limited since Britain has
important trade objectives as far
as russia is concerned. russia
has a huge storehouse of natural
resources and there has been a steady
if unspectacular growth in British-
russian relations. In 2011 British
exports to russia soared by 39 per
cent and russia with a population
of 142 million and a rising standard
of living represents an ideal market
for British manufactures as well as
supplying some aspects of technical
know-how.
Everything would be so much
easier if the syrian problem could
be solved. unfortunately, syria
splits the big powers into their
classic Cold War groups, the
united states, Britain and France
on one side, russia and China on
the other. Guy arnold
Olympic politics
food price volatility worries World Bank
The Bretton Wood Institutions does not want short-term food-price spikes to have damaging
long-term consequences for the worlds most poor and vulnerable
G
iven the exceptional drought in
the us, current crop conditions
in other grain producing regions,
and the resulting increase in
international food prices, the World
Bank last month expressed concern
for the impacts of this volatility on
the worlds poor, who are highly
vulnerable to increases in food
prices.
When food prices rise sharply,
families cope by pulling their kids
out of school and eating cheaper,
less nutritious food, which can have
catastrophic life-long effects on the
social, physical, and mental well
being of millions of young people,
said World Bank President Jim
Yong Kim. the World Bank and
our partners are monitoring this
situation closely so we can help
governments put policies in place to
help people better cope.
In the short-term, measures
such as school feeding programs,
conditional cash transfers, and
food-for-work programs can help to
ease pressure on the poor, continued
Kim. In the medium- to long-term,
the world needs strong and stable
northsouth September 2012 32
policies and sustained investments
in agriculture in poor countries. We
cannot allow short-term food-price
spikes to have damaging long-term
consequences for the worlds most
poor and vulnerable.
thus far, crop projections do not
indicate the potential for actual
shortages in the major grains;
however, stocks are low, and
the harvests will continue to be
dependent upon global weather,
which leaves prices more vulnerable
to higher volatility.
Food price volatility creates
unpredictability in the market
and poses fundamental food
security risks for consumers
and governments. Volatility also
discourages needed investment in
agriculture for development due
to increased fnancial risks and
uncertainty for producers and
traders.
While the prices of many food
staples have risen sharply, the Bank
noted that the current conditions
differed from the 2008 crisis. In
2008, while other grains increased
in price, rice and wheat prices rose
the most, although the price fell
quite substantially in 2009 due to a
notable supply response by farmers
seeking to beneft from higher
prices.
In 2012, prices have risen across
all the non-rice grains - wheat, corn
and soybeans. Wheat prices are up
over 50 per cent since mid-June; the
price for corn has risen more than
45 per cent since mid-June; and
soybeans are up almost 30 per cent
since the beginning of June and up
almost 60 per cent since the end of
last year.
As recently as early June,
analysts had expected price declines
after the new harvests, not spikes.
there had been early planting of
corn and some soybeans in the us,
and the disastrous drought was
unpredictable at that stage. Price
increases will affect not only bread
and processed food, but also animal
feed and ultimately the price of the
meat.
In 2008, the price of rice more
than tripled, which had a huge
negative impact on the poor,
especially in Asia. Although current
rice prices remain at elevated levels,
existing rice stocks are relatively
comfortable. In addition, current
prices of crude oil, fertilisers and
international freight are at lower
levels than in 2008, which will both
ease the costs of importing food,
and also the sowing and growing of
next seasons crop.
the impact of the American
drought on global markets has
been made worse by the fact that
other countries are also suffering
from weather-related production
problems. Almost continuous rain
is causing problems for the wheat
crop in many European countries,
whereas the wheat crops in russia,
ukraine and Kazakhstan have been
hit hard by a lack of rain. In India,
monsoon rainfall is about 20 per
cent below the long-term annual
average. July was the critical
planting month and there may be
major negative implications if rains
do not pick up.
should the current situation
escalate, the World Bank said it was
ready to assist member countries
through measures such as increased
agriculture and agriculture-related
investment, policy advice, fast track
fnancing, the multi-donor Global
Agriculture and Food security
Programme, and risk management
products.
the Bank is also co-ordinating
with un agencies through the
high-Level task Force on the Global
Food security Crisis and with non-
governmental organisations, as well
as supporting the Partnership for
Agricultural Market Information
system (AMIs) to improve food
market transparency and to help
governments make informed
responses to global food price
spikes.
the Bank has long cautioned
that the world should expect to
see volatile, higher than average
grain prices until at least 2015. In
the poorest countries, where people
spend up to two-thirds of their daily
income on food, rising prices are a
threat to global growth and social
stability. however, higher prices can
bring desperately needed income
to poor farmers, enabling them to
invest, increase their production
and thereby become part of the
global food security solution.
there are nearly one billion
hungry people worldwide. More
than 60 per cent of the worlds
hungry are women. Malnutrition
contributes to infant, child and
maternal illness; decreased learning
capacity; lower productivity and
higher mortality. one-third of all
child deaths globally are attributed
to under-nutrition, and up to 80
per cent of our brain architecture
develops during the frst 1,000 days
of life, making access to nutritious
food critical, particularly for young
children.
source: World Bank

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 33
Changing of the guards: President Morsi
swears in new defence chief
P
resident Mohamed Morsi of Egypt
forced the retirement last month
of his powerful Defence Minister, Field
Marshal Mohammed hussein tantawi,
and the Chief of staff, General sami
Annan, and other senior generals,
moving swiftly and aggressively
to reclaim political power that the
military had seized since the fall of
hosni Mubarak last year and putting
an end to the power struggle between
the democratically elected presidency
and the ever-powerful military that
had marred the success of the uprising
in his country. President Morsi said
that his move to order the retirement
of two of the countrys top generals
was for the beneft of this nation
and its people. he also annulled the
constitutional declaration, issued by
the military before he took offce on 30
June that watered down the authority
of his offce, giving him broad
legislative and executive powers. Morsi
won the countrys frst free presidential
election and the supreme Council of the
Armed Forces (sCAF) formally handed
over power on 30 June. Before Morsis
inauguration as president, the army
chiefs granted themselves sweeping
powers, as the interim constitutional
declaration of 17 June gave them
complete legislative power until a new
parliament was elected and gave them
a strong voice in the constitution-
drafting process. the decree not only
stripped the president of any authority
over the military, but made the
military free from civilian oversight,
and provided the sCAF with control of
military affairs, legislative powers and
budgetary controls as well as the right
to oversee the process of drawing up
a new permanent constitution, which
has yet to be drafted.
the sCAF took over the reins of
power last year, after the revolution that
ended hosni Mubaraks 30-year rule.
the army move was initially welcomed
by many of the anti-government
protesters, but its presence became
increasingly unpopular as critics
accused its leaders of wanting to hold
on to power and protect their wide
ranging economic interests. Army
leaders also benefted from the old
regime and were anxious to preserve
their status and avoid being caught in
the eye of the storm.
Meanwhile, the army has so far
shown no sign of challenging the
surprise replacement of Field Marshal
tantawi and it is not clear how the
supreme Constitutional Court will
react to President Morsis move to
nullify the decree. But his appointment
of the reformist Judge Ahmed Mekky,
member of the constituent assembly
who campaigned tirelessly for judicial
independence and spoke out frequently
against voting fraud during Mubaraks
rule, as his vice president may have
some bearing on how the highest court
in the land would react in future.
After appointing General Abdel
Fatah El sissy Minister of Defence
and General Commander of the
armed forces (he was a member of
the sCAF and former head of military
intelligence), and General sadky
sobhy as the chief of staff of the armed
forces, the president praised the armed
forces, saying they would now focus
on the holy mission of protecting the
nation.
A presidential spokesman said Field
Marshal tantawi and General Annan
had been appointed as presidential
advisers and were given Egypts
highest state honour, the Grand Collar
of the nile. But it was not clear how
far the generals, members of the sCAF,
actually consented to a move that re-
organised the countrys political forces
and gave Morsi more powers while a
new constitution is still to be drafted.
however, the dismissal of senior top
brass is seen by Egyptians as a decisive
move in a struggle for real power
between the countrys newly elected
politicians and the generals who have
exercised power for many years and
were clinging to it for longer than
necessary bearing in mind the turmoil
their actions have created in the volatile
political situation that the country was
experiencing after President Mubarak
was ousted following last years mass
protests. Morsis generally welcomed
manoeuvre was partly triggered
by an attack in northern sinai that
saw 16 Egyptian soldiers killed and
deeply embarrassed the generals and
weakened their political clout. the
president acted swiftly and effciently
to cement a major shift in power that
began with his election in the face of
intense opposition from the military top
brass. the clash between the president
and the military was expected but the
shift of power was so fast that it has
taken everyone by surprise. While
the military reshuffe marked at least
a symbolic end to the armed forces
dominant role in Egyptian politics,
President Morsis huge challenge will
be the process of constitutional reform,
the political, economic and social
development ahead and the restoration
of confdence in the future and the
sought-after security and stability
throughout the country after months
of uncertainty.
More important, will President Morsi
be able to deliver now that his hands
are no longer tied by the military?
ali Bahaijoub
Will Egypts new political
order start a new page?

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 34
environment
Eu rapeseed
biodiesel claims
unfounded
German researchers have
unveiled evidence suggesting
that European union claims
that locally-produced rapeseed
biodiesel cut back at least 38 per
cent of greenhouse gases (GhG)
compared with fossil fuels, are
unfounded.
two experts at Jenas schiller
university in eastern Germany
used the same calculation system
as that applied by the European
Commission, but found that in
eight out of 12 scenarios rapeseed
biodiesel failed to meet the 35
per cent GhG savings level or
threshold stipulated by the 2009
renewable energy directive, and
normally fell below 30 per cent.
the fndings by academics
Gernot Pehnelt and Christoph
Vietze come as the rapeseed
harvest is in full swing in
producing countries, such as
France and Germany and
prices for the feedstock are
increasing.
they also coincide with new
proposals to cut carbon emissions
from new cars to 95 grams per
kilometre partly by relying
more extensively on blending
biofuels with conventional petrol
and diesel. Civil and military
aviation is also stepping up the
experimental use of biofuels in
jet engines.
A spokeswoman for the
Commission declined to comment
specifcally on the report, but
said: Different studies can come
to different results, depending
on the assumptions used.
Projects from Australia,
Bangladesh, Colombia, India, and
Kenya that inspired and galvanised
environmental action have won
this years World Environment Day
Challenge, the united nations has
announced. the un Environment
Programme (unEP) challenged
people from all over the world to
pledge an environmental activity
for the chance to win a Kia Motors
fuel-effcient car in connection with
the World Environment Day, which
observed on 5 June.
Among the winners was
Fundacion Ecoprogreso, a group
in Colombia that works to protect
a mangrove lagoon surrounding
the city of Cartagena. the group
organised activities for the Day to
raise awareness of the importance
of the mangrove ecosystem for the
local green economy.
In nairobi, Kenya, the Maji
Mazuri Centre International runs
an initiative called Green heroes,
which enables the youth to organise
and improve waste management
in the Mathare settelement. on
Australias sunshine Coast, the
World Environment Day Festival is
held annually to raise awareness of
environmental issues. Bangladeshi
non-proft organisation, shidhulai
swanirvar sangstha, celebrated the
Day through a solar-powered boat
rally.
hand in hand India, a development
organisation in the southern city
of Chennai, brought together over
500 volunteers to create a colourful
10,000 square foot rangoli carpet
depicting 10 environmental themes.
rangoli is a hand-drawn Indian
art, which adorns the courtyards of
many houses. observance of World
Environment Day began in 1972
as a way to raise awareness of the
environment and encourage political
attention and action.
five countries win 2012 World
Environmental Day Challenge
Biomass-based energy the oldest
source of consumer energy known
to mankind has great potential
in helping efforts to tackle climate
change as well as meeting growing
global demand for electricity and
heat in a secure and sustainable way.
A new technology roadmap, released
recently by the International Energy
Agency at the World Bioenergy 2012
conference in Jnkping, sweden,
projects that world bioenergy
supply for the production of heat
and electricity could double by 2050.
For this to be achieved, around 100
exajoules (fve to seven billion dry
tonnes) of biomass per year will be
needed by 2050.
For more information visit:
www.iea.org/newsroomandevents/
news/2012/may/name,27319,en.
html
The power of biomass-based energy
the global community is becoming
increasingly concerned about the high
dependence of the global food sector on
fossil fuels. Energy from fossil fuels has
increased farm mechanization, boosted
fertiliser production and improved
food processing and transportation.
however, high and fuctuating prices
of fossil fuels and doubts regarding
their future availability mean that
agri-food systems need to shift to an
energy-smart model, according to a
recent FAo report Energy-smart Food
for People and Climate.
faO promotes Energy-smart approach to farming
nnovatons
northsouth September 2012 35
Battery life gets
boost with Pepto-
Bismol ingredient
Interest in rechargeable iron-air
batteries peaked during the 1970s
energy crisis. But the batteries
never took off due to their low
effciency and short life spans.
sri narayan, a chemist at the
university of southern California,
in the us, appears to have hit on
a formula that makes the batteries
10 times more effcient, a key
step for their viability in the 21st
century.
Iron-air batteries use chemical
energy generated by the oxidation
of iron plates that are exposed to
oxygen in the air. this is a process
similar to rusting.
the problem was a competing
chemical reaction of hydrogen
inside the battery that sucked away
about 50 per cent of the batterys
energy, making it too ineffcient
for practical applications.
narayan and colleagues added a
bit of bismuth sulphide, part of the
active ingredient in Pepto-Bismol,
to the batterys electrode. this
shut down the wasteful hydrogen
generation, reducing energy loss
to just four per cent.
Ikea prints 211 million copies of its
product catalogue annually. that is
more than 20 times the population
of sweden, the home of the build-it-
yourself furniture empire.
Ikea is now moving into
augmented reality. A lot of digital
stuff becomes very interesting when
you mash it up with the tangible
items of the real world, said
Andreas Dahlqvist, Global Deputy
Chief Creative offcer of McCann,
the creative agency behind the
reality catalogue.
When soldiers are wounded on the
battlefeld, commanders have to weigh
whether its worth it to risk more
lives by sending in a rescue chopper.
one way to save lives by reducing
secondary casualties could be to send
in a robot with rotor blades instead.
the army lists best candidates
for the airframe including current
unmanned aircraft such as the
Kaman K-Max and copters such as
the sikorsky Blackhawk, which can
be modifed for remote control. the
K-Max looks particularly promising
since it is already fying re-supply
missions in Afghanistan.
Innovation analysts say perhaps the
biggest obstacle to the use of robotic
helicopters for medical evacuations is
trust. one potential solution under
development by Israeli based urban
Aeronautics is to remotely pipe in
the voice of a medic to help soothe
a panicked patient. the company is
behind the AirMule, a vertical takeoff
and landing aircraft thats also on
the Armys solicitation list.
If such a helicopter is put in
place on the battlefeld winning
planning proposals will receive two
years and up to $1 million to develop
a working prototype the same
robots could also be put to work in
civilian environments.
Military chiefs ponder robotic
helicopters for rescue missions
A man in Australia has built a
working prototype of a hoverbike
which theoretically can fy at 173
MPh and at a height of 3,000
metres. Chris Malloy constructed the
ludicrous/amazing machine out of a
motorcycle. sadly he hasnt actually
managed to take the hover bike out
for a real cruise yet, because - frankly
- it probably isnt safe enough.
We do not know 100% what might
happen during testing, he said.
the straps are there to cover the
unknown. But now hes asking for
donations via his website, and says
it could go into production within 12
months if everything goes to plan.
so far hes gathered Aus $76,000,
although he needs Aus $1.1m to
make the bike of his dreams.
Man builds hover bike
Ikeas catalogue let you peek inside furniture
northsouth sEPtEMBEr 2012 36
brefs
busness
the European union sovereign
debt crisis has continued to impact
the economic outlook, resulting
in smaller deals being executed as
opposed to larger strategic moves.
the latest quarterly report on M&A
transactions in the united Kingdom
(uK) fnancial services produced by
IMAs, the corporate fnance adviser
in conjunction with theCityuK and
uK trade & investment, shows that
whilst transaction volumes have
remained stable, the value of mergers
and acquisitions (M&A) transactions
has dropped by 44 per cent in the
second quarter of 2012. the volume
of M&A transactions has, however,
remained stable in the second quarter
of 2012 at approximately 25 deals in
each quarter period since Q4 2011.
Foreign owned companies continue
to see the united Kingdom (uK) as an
attractive option and have been active
acquirers of uK based fnancial services
businesses - representing one third of
all deals done in the frst half of 2012.
this activity has been driven both by
those businesses looking to expand
their existing uK footprints and by
new entrants into the uK market.
Whilst us-owned frms have remained
by far the most active acquirer of uK
fnancial services businesses, other
acquisitions have come from frms
domiciled in Australia, hong Kong
and Japan. this is in contrast to some
Eu-based companies, which have
chosen to reduce their international
exposure, in part refecting the need
of some organisations to boost their
capital bases ahead of the introduction
of Basel III.
M&a volumes in fnancial services
remain stable whilst values drop 44%
fund sales double
during 2012
retail fund sales fgures ballooned
to over 8 billion for the six months
ending in June almost double
the levels recorded for the second
half of last year, statistics from the
Investment Management Association
show. released data shows net retail
sales were 8.1 billion between
January and June this year, up
from 4.4 billion between July and
December 2011. however, this was
below the 13.7 billion of sales for
the frst six months of last year.
the frst half of the year for
fnancial services is the busiest part
of the year.
Funds under management also
dropped year on year, sliding from
604 billion to settle at 598 billion,
with fxed income remaining the
best selling asset class.
newS & viewS to bridge the global divide
northsouth sEPtEMBEr 2012 37
Eu shadow economy
put at 2trn
the European Commission last
month put in place a new blueprint
to counter the shadow economy
of the European union, which is
put at 2 trillion, representing
one ffth of GDP on average
across Eu member states. the
plan is to improve pan-European
information exchange, compliance
and tackle tax evasion and fraud.
the communication published
by tax Commissioner Algirdas
emeta heralded proposals to be
published in the next few weeks
for new criminal law measures
designed to create common
minimum rules and sanctions for
certain tax offences to protect the
Eu's fnancial interests against
fraud.
Given the nature of tax evasion
and fraud, it is diffcult for
agencies to put a precise fgure
on them. the VAt early warning
system for fraud Eurofsc will
be beefed up to cover direct taxes,
according to the plan.
the use of offshore tax havens
by high-net worth individuals
and companies also came under
the spotlight in the blueprint. the
Commission said that before 2012
it would have in place a strategy
to tackle aggressive tax planning
in the Eu and to examine ways
to improve access to information
on money fows through offshore
bank accounts.
the entire concept of universal
banking could be thrown out as
a result of public pressure for
transparency and clarity in the
sector, KPMG warns in a report.
Investors must also learn to cope
with the new environment, the
auditor said in a report. It argued
banks are unlikely to regain the
level of profts seen before the crisis
in part due to regulatory pressures
piling costs on the sector.
the only way to restore public
trust in banking is to improve
transparency, said KPMGs Bill
Michael. the information provided
on remuneration is opaque and
inconsistent, making it almost
impossible to determine complete
remuneration packages, he said.
Banks must encourage greater
transparency in accounting and
reporting practices to help restore
public and investor confdence.
But he warned that big global
banks are incredibly complex and
opaque the need and demand for
greater transparency will intensify
pressure on the sustainability of the
universal banking model.
the report also focused on the
intense pressure on eurozone banks,
predicting increased regulatory
involvement as impairments could
increase in the poor economic
climate.
tougher capital requirements
also mean KPMG does not expect
a recovery in dividends in the
foreseeable future, meaning
investors may have to lower their
expectations permanently.
finance shake-up threaten
universal banking, warns KPMG
the eurozone is likely to collapse
within two years if countries in
the bloc do not take significant
measures to increase fiscal,
monetary and political union, an
influential think-tank warned.
Dawn holland, of the national
Institute of Economic and social
research (nIEsr), said that the
current situation could not carry
on indefinitely, and that without
significant reform the European
Monetary union (EMu) would be
likely to break apart soon.
the research, released in the
newest issue of nIEsrs quarterly
journal, argues that eurozone
countries must create a banking
union, move toward centralised
fiscal control, and somehow effect
real wage cuts in weaker nations,
or risk catastrophic fallout.
Greece would face a 50 per cent
devaluation and gigantic rises in
prices, combined with emigration
and potential banking collapse
if it left the union, according to
holland.
she says that these factors mean
that it is unlikely that Greece will
leave voluntarily.
But she suggests a so-called
Grexit may become inevitable if the
Mediterranean nation continues
to breach troika targets.
hollands research was
published alongside gloomy
economic forecasts for the united
Kingdom and the world as a
whole. nIEsr predicted a 0.5 per
cent decline for the uK in 2012,
followed by a slight recovery in
2013, with 1.3 per cent growth,
mainly driven by building up
inventories.
the world was expected to grow
3.3 per cent this year, with the
figure increasing to 3.7 per cent
in 2013 as some of the aggressive
headwinds die down.
Eurozone must adapt or it will
fall apart, warns top think-tank
President Morsi
vows to protect
saudi investments
Egyptian President Mohamad Morsi
has pledged that he would remove
all obstacles facing saudi investors
in his country. he also reassured
saudis about their investments
worth $ 27 billion in Egypt, saying
they would be protected.
northsouth sEPtEMBEr 2012 38
foreign land
holdings in
us up 6.7%
Foreign holdings in American
forests and farmland increased
by 6.7 per cent in the last 10
months of 2010, the Department
of Agriculture has reported.
It revealed that investors from
Canada and the netherlands had
almost half of all foreign forest
and farmland holdings in the us.
Canadian holdings were mostly in
timber companies.
In Maine, roughly 16 per cent of
privately owned land has foreign
owners or leasers, almost twice
that of any other state.
the usDA reported Maine's
foreign holdings grew by about
232,000 acres in 2010.
In the us, around 24.2 million
acres of privately held farm and
forest land is owned or leased by
companies with foreign investors,
up more than 65 per cent since
2004.
According to a recent government
study, the Dutch were overall the
third-largest foreign investor in
all us businesses.
Dutch trade and investment
in the us has created roughly
625,000 jobs there.
asset managers say new
euro rules threat to business
rules governing alternative
investment frms will shut the door
on overseas fund managers operating
in London and make Europe less
competitive, a study of united Kingdom
(uK) asset managers has found.
the Alternative Investment
Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD)
will be implemented by European
policymakers next July to regulate
private equity, hedge fund and real
estate managers. But 72 per cent of
uK fund managers say it is a threat
to business and will lead to Fortress
Europe, with more protection and
less competition.
the survey, from consultants
Deloitte, found a further 68 per
cent believe the directive will reduce
Europes competitiveness
Deloitte partner stuart opp said the
directive was controversial. For
many respondents it will add cost for
marginal beneft, he said.
the world's wealthiest individuals
have stashed away $21-trillion worth
of assets in offshore tax havens,
equivalent to the combined GDPs of the
united states and Japan, according to
a tax-transparency report.
the report commissioned by
campaign group tax Justice
network drew data from a wide
range of sources including the Bank
of International settlements and the
International Monetary Fund.
report author James henry, former
chief economist at consultancy
McKinsey, said that the headline
fgure was conservative, adding that
up to $32 trillion may have found its
way into havens such as the Cayman
Islands and switzerland.
According to henry, these assets
are "protected by a highly paid,
industrious bevy of professional
enablers in the private banking,
legal, accounting and investment
industries taking advantage of the
increasingly borderless, frictionless
global economy".
the report found that the top 10
private banks managed more than $6
trillion in 2010, up from $2.3 trillion
fve years earlier.
tax expert and British government
adviser John Whiting said he was
doubtful of the fgure."there clearly
are some signifcant amounts hidden
away, but if it really is that size what
is being done with it all?" he asked.
the tax Justice network campaigns
for tax transparency and against tax
havens.
World's richest hide at least
$21 trillion in tax havens
Private equity
funds hit record
Private equity frms managed
over $3 trillion of funds for the
frst time at the end of last year,
according to research released by
Preqin.
this refects a nine per cent rise
in assets by December compared
to a year earlier, and comes after
the bumper period in 2004-2007
when mega buyout funds drove
an 136 per cent explosion in funds
managed.
Civil aerospace is among the sectors
targeted in an unsettling increase
in cyber crime, according to a senior
expert at the British aerospace
company BAE systems subsidiary
Detica. tom Burton, head of defence
cyber security at the company,
said during the 2012 Farnborough
Airshow: Aerospace is one of the
sectors that has been effectively
targeted in the last six months.
Detica, which provides cyber-security
services to international aerospace
clients, has evidence of an organised
and co-ordinated campaign relating
to carbon trading legislation
Industry reacts to 'unsettling'
rise in cyber attacks
newS & viewS to bridge the global divide
northsouth sEPtEMBEr 2012 39
Barclays sorry for Libor
as profts top 4bn
Barclays said it was confdent it
will repair the damage caused by
an interest rate rigging scandal
that has rocked it and the banking
industry after beating expectations
with an underlying pre-tax proft
of 4.2 billion ($6.5bn) for the six
months to the end of June, above
an average forecast of 3.8bn.
the bank is searching for a
new chief executive and chairman
after they quit in the wake of a
record 290 million ($500m) fne
for rigging the Libor interest
rate benchmark, sparking ferce
criticism about its culture and
risk-taking.
Barclays' investment bank fared
better than most rivals in a tough
second quarter, with income of 3
billion up fve per cent from a year
ago and down 12 per cent.
China could retaliate over a European
anti-dumping complaint fled against
Chinese solar companies, offcials
from a Chinese industry body said
last month in a protracted row over
cheaper Chinese solar modules.
Western solar companies have
been at odds with their Chinese
counterparts for years, alleging
they receive lavish credit lines to
offer modules at cheaper prices,
while European players struggle to
refnance. Jobs and profts would
be lost if the European Commission
ruled in favour of a complaint
made by European solar frms,
led by Germany's solarWorld, sun
Guangbin, secretary General of the
China Chamber of Commerce for the
Import & Export of Machinery and
Electronic Products, said.
"Many people in Europe will
lose their jobs as upstream and
downstream frms will suffer," sun
said, adding that China's imports of
solar equipment and related services
helped support 300,000 jobs across
Europe.
the European Commission has
until the middle of this month to
decide if it will start an investigation
once a complaint has been fled,
then has nine months to decide on
provisional duties. It must conclude
its investigation within 15 months.
China's solar frms recently
warned of a trade war and called on
the government to respond with all
means to an anti-dumping complaint
fled by European competitors.
China plans retaliation over
Eu anti-dumping complaint
International regulators proposed
new capital requirements to see
banks hold capital against exposures
to central counterparties (CCPs) on
derivatives trades for the frst time.
trade exposures will receive a
nominal risk-weight of two per cent
from 1 January 2013, the Basel
Committee said in interim rules
published last month. this will
add to pressures on banks already
pushing hard to raise capital levels to
meet Basel III requirements. But the
Basel Committee insists these latest
additions are modest compared with
the other requirements banks face.
New capital requirements on
derivatives trades from 2013
GCC spending on
food imports to reach
$49 billion by 2020
GCC countries aggregate spending
on food imports is projected to reach
$49 billion by 2020, the Economist
Intelligence unit said.
smartphones record
$5.9bn samsung proft
samsung Electronics, the world's top
technology frm by revenue, reported
a record operating proft of $5.9
billion (3.7bn) for the June quarter,
as rampant Galaxy s handset sales
helped stretch its lead over Apple.
september quarter mobile profts
are expected to forge further ahead
as the latest Galaxy model enjoys a
sales boom before the next iPhone
launch, widely expected in october,
driving samsung's proft to a record
of nearly eight trillion won (4.5bn).
the mobile business brings in
around 60 per cent of samsung's
earnings.
the latest report by the Consultative
Group to Assist the Poor has focused
on the emerging prospects for youth
savings. In examining the role of
fnance in the lives of low-income youth
in developing countries, the report
pointed out that while the economic
potential represented by the worlds
1.2 billion population of young people
was attracting the attention of policy
makers, providers, donors and nGos,
there were relatively few existing well-
documented cases on providing youth
savings services in a proftable manner
through the private sector.
the paper analysed the
opportunities, challenges, and
practical considerations of offering
savings services to youth from the
perspectives of policy makers and
fnancial service providers. Being is
the frst CGAP publication on the topic
of youth savings the paper presented
the latest perspectives on the
importance of savings for youth and
brings together many disparate areas
of research from different countries.
to read the Focus note, go to:
http://www.cgap.org/gm/document-
1.9.58808/Fn82.pdf
report highlights potential
1.2bn young savers
northsouth sEPtEMBEr 2012 40
Caribbean countries
urged to cut
business red tape
the Association of Caribbean
states last month encouraged its
members to adopt a un programme
that would help them streamline
trade and increase transparency
in business procedures. the
eregulations programme,
produced by the un Conference on
trade and Development (unCtAD),
provides step-by-step information
on how to carry out government
administrative procedures. For
example, for entrepreneurs it
simplifes business procedures
such as registering companies,
obtaining visas and licenses, and
importing and exporting.
the programme has already
yielded the positive results for six
of the 25-member ACs that have
already adopted it: Costa rica, El
salvador, Guatemala, honduras,
nicaragua and Panama. For
instance, in nicaragua, the
number of steps companies had to
go through to obtain sanitary and
security certifcates was cut from
39 to four, and the number of days
needed to carry out the procedure
was reduced, from 12 to 49 days to
two to seven days.
to date, the eregulations
system has been introduced in 20
countries and four cities around
the world while 22 other countries
have offcially requested its
implementation.
Countries must take immediate
action to promote sustainable diets
and food biodiversity to improve
the health of their citizens, the Food
and Agriculture organisation said
in a new book jointly published
with Bioversity International.
regardless of the many
successes of agriculture in the
last three decades, it is clear
that food systems and diets are
not sustainable, said the FAos
Barbara Burlingame, in the preface
to the book.
While over 900 million people
in the world suffer from hunger,
even more about 1.5 billion
are overweight or obese, and
an estimated two billion suffer
from micronutrient malnutrition
including vitamin A, iron, or
iodine defciency, she added,
highlighting the link between
poor diets and non-communicable
diseases such as diabetes and
cardiovascular diseases.
the Director-General of
Bioversity International, Emile
Frison, said societies move beyond
major staple crops, and look at
underused plant and animal species
that could be rich in nutrients and
help achieve a sustainable diet. the
over-reliance on certain crops has
had a signifcant role in shrinking
plant and animal genetic diversity,
the book argues, noting that out
of 47,677 species assessed by
the International union for the
Conservation of nature, 17,291
are currently threatened with
extinction.
Countries called upon to promote
diets and food biodiversity
the mergers and acquisitions
(M&A) market is still in the
doldrums, yet the united Kingdom
(uK) and other established venues
are not currently missing out
on a swathe of lucrative deals at
the expense of newer markets,
according to research from Ernst &
Young (E&Y) and the Cass Business
school.
M&A activity in developing
markets has remained steady as
a percentage of the worlds deals
since 2009, accounting for around
40 per cent of global transactions,
said E&Y.
And while deal volumes
worldwide are up 10 per cent in the
second quarter compared to last
year, much of the increase comes
from large transactions in north
America. the uK remains the
third most attractive place to do a
deal, behind the us and singapore.
Asian countries make up half of the
researchers top ten most mature
markets.
over the longer term, E&Y has
picked out several nations that are
becoming more attractive as venues
for deals, based on infrastructure,
regulatory environment, socio-
economics and technological
capability.
the united Arab Emirates has
climbed up the rankings in the
past 12 months to take 20th spot in
E&Ys global table, while Poland has
shot up to 30th, romania has risen
13 places to 36th and thailand, the
Czech republic and Malaysia were
also singled out as rapid growth
markets. But in an indication of
what E&Y describes as a two-speed
world, Portugal has slumped eight
positions to 39th, while Greece has
fallen 12 spots to 53rd in the world
in the last year.
uK still in top 3 for M&a
despite European crisis
China prepares
vast stimulus
China has ditched its reform strategy
and is preparing a vast stimulus
package as the countrys soft-
landing turns uncomfortably hard,
with recession warnings fashing
across East Asia.
newS & viewS to bridge the global divide
northsouth sEPtEMBEr 2012 41
Workers spend
650 hours a
year on emails
Productivity is falling because
workers are spending 650
hours annually emailing each
other, according to a study by
management consultant McKinsey.
It fnds that 28 per cent of offce
workers workweek is spent
reading and answering email. the
study is based on us companies
but undoubtedly applies equally
to frms in Britain. the McKinsey
research suggests that only 39
per cent of the average work week
is actually spent on role-specifc
tasks. the consultancys big idea is
to make much more use of specially
tailored internal social media and
technologies to reduce the time
spent emailing, communicating
and researching and would
boost productivity by 20-25 per
cent, equivalent to $900m-$1.3
trillion across consumer goods,
retail fnancial services, advanced
manufacturing, and professional
services alone.
Eurozone and BrICs suffer in
worldwide manufacturing dive
Eurozone manufacturing plummeted in
July, down to a 37-month low, based on
poor results in all key countries except
Ireland, said Markit in its prominent
business survey (PMI).
Eurozone manufacturing PMI hit 44
a score of 50 indicates no change as
even Germany and Austria were hit by
the unresolved troubles in the currency
union. Austria hit a three-year low
at 47.4, while Germany, collapsed
to 43.0, indicating that the areas
manufacturing powerhouse actually
declined quicker than the eurozone
as a whole. Greece and spain, though
seeing slight reductions in the pace of
their decline, and reaching short-term
highs, were nevertheless stuck at the
bottom of the euro area, both seeing
scores close to 42 that show yet further
industrial contraction.
July also heralded poor
manufacturing sector conditions
for the BrICs, according to business
survey data (PMI) released by hsBC and
Markit. China and Brazil both shrunk,
albeit at marginally slower rates than
before, whereas India saw a big dip in
its growth, and russia grew slightly
quicker, but somewhat below trend.
Embattled bank hsBC apologised
for its failure to control money
laundering as it admitted that a $2
billion (1.3bn) provision set aside
to pay for a string of regulatory
fascos could shoot up in future.
the bank was criticised by the us
senate for lax controls on payments
between Mexico and the us and
said a $700 million provision to pay
us regulators and $1.3 billion for
uK claims on mis-sold insurance
policies was an educated guess.
the bank reported a pre-tax proft
of $12.7 billion for the six months to
the end of June, up 11 per cent on the
year and above an average analyst
forecast of $12.5 billion, according to
a poll by the company. there was a
strong performance in hong Kong.
hsBCs investment banks proft
rose fve per cent on the year to $5
billion, faring better than rivals in
a tough market where activity has
been hit by the Eurozone crisis.
overall, it said it had put aside $1.06
billion for PPI claims, $240 million for
interest rate swap claims and $700
million for money laundering fnes.
Europes biggest bank saved $800 million
on cuts in the frst half of this year,
bringing the banks total annualised cost
savings to a huge $2.7 billion.
More than 14,000 staff have been let go
since the end of last year, and plans have
been announced to cut loose 19 business
that are not pulling their weight.
targets are being hit aggressively and
ahead of time. As a result, hsBC saw
underlying proft shoot up 22 per cent
in hong Kong and 13 per cent in Asia.
the two regions alone contributed 74
per cent of the banks total profts before
tax over the past six months.
hsBC is one of several banks being
investigated in a global interest rate
rigging scandal that has rocked the
banking sector.
the bank reported a pre-tax proft
of $12.7bn for the six months to the
end of June, up 11 per cent on the
year and above an average analyst
forecast of $12.5bn, according to a
poll by the company.
hsBC faced further questions
about its compliance procedures
following allegations that British
customers of its swiss private bank
may have evaded at least 200m of
tax. Whistleblower herve Falciani,
a former hsBC worker, gave a list
of the private banks customers to
French tax authorities in 2009. As a
result on 4 July property developer
Michael shanly was fned 469,444
for tax evasion.
HsBC penalty costs may rise to over $2bn
Euro doom threat to
Britains economy
the united Kingdoms (uK) heavily
indebted economy would contract 5.2
per cent in 2013 - more than Germanys
- in the immediate aftermath of
a break-up of the euro, Fathom
Financial Consulting has predicted.
Meanwhile, ratings agency Moodys
has trimmed its growth forecasts for
the uK due to the rising challenges
faced by the coalition in reducing the
countrys debts while the eurozone
crisis rumbles on. Moodys, which has
the uK on a negative outlook for its
triple-A rating, expects the economy
to grow 0.4 per cent this year, and
by 1.8 per cent in 2013, it said in a
credit opinion. It expects the uK to
eventually return to a trend growth
rate of 2.5 per cent.
northsouth sEPtEMBEr 2012 42
record iron ore
production in 2011
the global production of iron ore
achieved an all-time high last year,
confrming signs of a recovery
of the steel industry after the
2009 recession, according to a
new report by the un Conference
on trade and Development in
cooperation with the sweden-based
raw Materials Group. It said that
the amount of iron ore produced
globally in 2011 was 1.92 billion
tons, representing a 4.7 per cent
increase from 2010.
Among the major producers
of this mineral, which is vital for
steel production, are Brazil, China
and Australia, according to the
report, which added that while
production increased in most
regions, it declined in Europe and
India. Developing countries, the
report noted, accounted for almost
half of the total exports of the iron
ore, making it the tenth year in a
row of increased exports.
the increase in crude steel
production points to a recovery
since the fnancial crisis in 2009,
and the report attributed this
growth mainly to China, where
production started increasing in
november 2008.
Kenya plans to develop new mass
rapid transport systems to reduce
traffc congestion in nairobi and
other major cities and to improve
its regional competitiveness.
the national urban transport
Improvement Project, which was
approved by the World Bank last
month, will help to expand the
capacity of uhuru highway, which
bisects nairobis central business
district, and to provide rapid
bus transit and commuter rail
systems.
the World Bank will invest
$300 million in the project, in
addition to $113 million from the
Kenyan government. A national
Metropolitan transport Authority
will be established to coordinate and
regulate public transport. It will
recommend policies on pricing and
investments, fnancing equipment
and related traffc management
systems.
the project will also fund new
rapid bus and rail transport systems
to increase the volume and speed
of passenger and freight services
around the countrys urban areas.
Mass rapid transport systems
to aid Kenyan business
In the frst seven months of 2012
some 437,568 Bangladeshis found
overseas jobs, a rise of about 45 per
cent over the same period last year,
an offcial of the Bureau of Manpower
Employment and training (BMEt)
revealed last month. he said 62,713
people found overseas jobs in July
this year, up nearly 25 per cent
compared with the same month a
year ago.
of the total overseas employment
in the frst seven months of this year,
the BMEt offcial said more than two
thirds of Bangladeshi workers found
jobs in Middle Eastern countries,
including the united Arab Emirates,
Bahrain and oman.
the offcial said that huge demand
for mostly blue-collar jobs particularly
from some Middle Eastern countries
helped more Bangladeshi workers
fnd overseas employment in
January-July period of 2012.
he said overseas job market for
Bangladeshi workers started to pick
up gradually since the middle of
2011 after years of slump amid world
economic recession, which squeezed
fresh employment opportunities.
overseas jobs for Bangladeshis fell
by nearly 18 per cent to 390, 000 in
2010 compared to that in the same
period a year ago.
450,000 Bangladeshis land
overseas jobs in 2012
rapid economic growth in south
Africa must be accompanied by
policies to boost job creation and
training opportunities, particularly
among youths, according to a report
co-written by the African Development
Bank, the organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development, the
Economic Commission for Africa and
the un Development Programme.
In 2011, south Africas
unemployment rate still stood at 24.9
per cent, up from 22.9 per cent in 2008,
on the eve of the recession. the same
year, 42 per cent of south Africans
under the age of 30 were unemployed,
as compared with fewer than 17 per
cent of adults over 30. the report also
Business development key
to south africas job growth
found that unemployed young people
tended to be less skilled than in other
emerging economies: almost 86 per
cent did not have formal secondary
or tertiary education, while two-
thirds had never worked at all.
the south African government
plans to create fve million jobs by
2020.the report recommended that
the country further its efforts to
reduce unemployment, focusing
on policies that create jobs in the
private sector while providing the
right conditions for businesses of
all sizes to grow and expand their
work force.
newS & viewS to bridge the global divide
northsouth sEPtEMBEr 2012 43
us warned over fscal
cliff as IMf says
recovery will be slow
thE us will continue to recover
through this year and the next,
at a mild pace but well ahead of
Europe and the united Kingdom,
according to an IMF report.
Growth will be two per cent this
year, and two and a quarter per cent
next year, says the international
body. But the organisation warned
that this relatively positive outlook
came up against several risks,
such as the fscal cliff, the Euro
crisis, and the growing national
debt.
the fscal cliff is a jump in
taxes, combined with a number
of spending cuts, together worth
about four per cent of GDP, due
to come into action automatically
next year as discretionary plans
lapse.
the IMF warns that this jump
could have signifcant negative
effects on recovery, but also
stresses that some measures must
be taken to rein in the defcit.
ING considers sale
of uK, Canadian
online banks
Dutch bank and insurer InG,
which has been forced to sell assets
in return for receiving state aid
during the fnancial crisis, said it
is considering the sale of its online
banking businesses in the united
Kingdom (uK) and Canada.
Insurers warn on
too big to fail plans
regulators plans to designate big
global insurers as too big to fail
could have unintended consequences
that risk destabilising the fnancial
system, an industry body has
claimed. the Geneva Association
said they might prompt insurers to
cut holdings of government bonds
as well as bank debt and equity.
European union antitrust regulators
have charged Visa Europe, the
European licensee of Visa Inc, over its
cross-border credit card fees, saying
they harm competition between
banks and lead to higher consumer
prices. the European Commission,
which acts as competition regulator
in the European union, said Visa
Europe's consumer credit card fees
in Europe breached Eu antitrust
rules.
the charges, contained in a
"statement of objections", also cover
domestic credit card fees in eight Eu
countries, including Italy and the
netherlands.
"Visa's MIFs (multilateral
interchange fees) harm competition
between acquiring banks, infate the
cost of payment card acceptance for
merchants and ultimately increase
consumer prices," the Eu watchdog
said in a statement.
Visa's credit and debit cards make
up about 41 per cent of all payment
cards issued in Europe, making it the
largest card network in the region.
the company cut its debit card
fees in December 2010 to settle a
Commission antitrust probe into
that part of its business, following
a complaint by trade lobby group
EuroCommerce.
visa faces charges over cross-border fees
A leading Member of the European
Parliament has strongly reacted after
the us senate transport committee
cleared a key vote on a measure that
would ban American airlines from
paying for their carbon emissions
and participating in the Eus
controversial cap-and-trade scheme.
"the united states spurn
international efforts to mitigate
climate change," said German
socialist democratic MEP, Jo Leinen,
slamming a us bill under which
American airlines would not pay into
the Eu Emission trading scheme
(Ets). Leinen called the upcoming
decision by the us Congress
arrogant and ignorant.
the MEP argued that it would be
surprising for the us to accept air
passenger duties and taxes in Europe,
but not the costs from the Ets.
More than two-dozen countries
including China, India, russia, and
the us have opposed the Eu move,
saying it violates international law.
But the Eu has said it will not back
down on the plan, as the tax will
help cut carbon emissions by 20 peer
cent by 2020. the International Civil
Aviation organisation has until next
April to come up with an alternative
before the Eu begins enforcing
payment on emissions.
European MP slams us carbon emissions bill
the tanzanian government raked
in more than $300 million from
the mining sector in 2009/10,
up almost three times from the
reported revenues for the previous
year, according to the countrys
second Extractive Industries
transparency Initiative report.
the new royalty rate is up from
three to four per cent on gross
sales.
the report itself represented
a step forward from the first
report published a year ago to
include gas revenue for the first
time. Also, 24 oil, gas and mining
companies have now disclosed
their payments, more than double
as many as in the previous
report.
Being Africas fourth largest
gold producer, tanzanias mining
production accounted for 80 per
cent of the report revenue, and in
turn gold was 80 per cent of the
mining production.
Tanzania rakes in $300m from mining
northsouth sEPtEMBEr 2012 44
Eu reduces
fshing quotas
European union member states
that have repeatedly fouted Eu
limits on how much fsh they can
catch will receive greatly reduced
quotas for this year, as the bloc
strives to ensure sustainable
fshing, the European Commission
announced last month
those who incur the biggest
penalties ar e France, Portugal
and spain. Quotas are normally
reduced by a percentage of the
amount a nation has over-fshed.
Because France, Portugal and
spain repeatedly over-fshed the
same species in the same area over
the last three years, they will in
addition see their quotas cut by 50
percent this year compared with
their 2011 limit.
spain faced the largest penalty
by volume. For this year, its
allowable catch of horse mackerel
along its northern coastline is
reduced by 11,624 tonnes from
22,409.
Fisheries Commissioner Maria
Damanaki said over-fshing would
not be tolerated.
"I intend to use deductions to
help achieve the main goal of the
common fsheries policy: long-
term sustainability of Europe's
fsheries," she said in a statement.
since 1983, the Eu has sought
to manage fsheries by setting the
total allowable catch of fsh for
areas of ocean.
the nigerian government
has announced that major oil
contamination in the ogoniland
region in the country would be
cleaned up. the decision came 12
months after the un Environment
Programme (unEP) presented a
scientifc assessment of oil pollution
in ogoniland to the government,
underlining serious public health
and environmental impacts.
the independent scientifc
assessment, carried out over a 14-
month period, showed greater and
deeper pollution than previously
thought after an agency team
examined more than 200 locations,
surveyed 122 kilometres of pipeline
rights of way, analysed 4,000 soil
and water samples, reviewed more
than 5,000 medical records and
engaged over 23,000 people at local
community meetings.
the assessment emphasised the
need for swift action to prevent the
pollution footprint from spreading
further and exacerbating the
situation for the ogoni people, and
had proposed an initial sum of $1
billion to cover the frst fve years of
clean-up operations.
the assessment had also estimated
that while some on-the-ground
results could be immediate, a fully
sustainable recovery of ogoniland
could take 25 to 30 years and would
require long-term fnancing. the
hydrocarbon Pollution restoration
Project will handle the cleaning
operation.
Nigeria to clean up oil-polluted region
the southern Common Market
(Mercosur) last month formally
welcomed Venezuela as a member
of the largest trade bloc in south
America. Meanwhile, Ecuador and
Bolivia, two associated members,
began a new round of accession
negotiations.
Leaders attending the summit
hailed the expansion of Mercosur,
saying it will bring a historic
opportunity to the region. A larger
and more effective trade bloc would
bring hope to the future, heads of
states of Mercosur, which formerly
groups Argentina, Brazil, uruguay
and Paraguay, said in a joint
declaration issued at the summit.
Given Venezuela has one of the
world's largest proven oil reserves it
has added energy might to the bloc,
Brazilian President Dilma rousseff
said. on the whole, Mercosur would
be the world's ffth largest economy
only after the us, China, Japan and
Germany
Venezuelan President hugo
Chavez said that the expansion of the
bloc brought the "greatest historic
opportunity in 200 years" to the region.
Venezuela's entry became effective
while Paraguay is under suspension
following last Junes controversial
impeachment and removal of President
Fernando Lugo by the opposition-
controlled Congress.
the suspension allowed
Venezuela's full entry into Mercosur,
as Paraguay had been the only
member blocking Caracas' accession
since it frst applied in 2006.
Paraguay's membership will not
be resumed until its presidential
elections scheduled in April 2013.
venezuela joins south american trade bloc
Heat on for
central banks
the us Federal reserve and
European Central Bank face critical
tests, amid heightened expectations
that they are moving toward new
actions to tackle fragility in the
global economy.
Criminal charges can be brought
against those responsible for
manipulating interbank lending
rates, the united Kingdoms fraud
squad confrmed last month,
paving the way for prosecutions of
individual bankers over the Libor-
rigging scandal.
Banks could face criminal
charges over Libor fxing
want to reach decision makers
in emerging markets in asia,
africa, latin america & the
middle east?
north south
For advertising rates etc, contact
ROY FINCHETT
Phone : +44 (0) 197 882 23 64
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newS & viewS to bridge the global divide
northsouth sEPtEMBEr 2012 45
Low Indian monsoon
rains threaten 2012
rice crop, warns faO
Global rice paddy production for
2012 is expected to be lower than
originally expected, owing to below
normal monsoon rains in India, the
Food and Agriculture organisation
warned last month. Its latest issue
of the rice Market Monitor said that
production was expected to total
724.5 million tonnes a 7.8 million
tonne downward revision compared
to the original forecast in April. But
global output should still slightly
surpass the results achieved in 2011.
the downward revision was mainly
the result of a 22 per cent lower-than-
average monsoon rainfall in India
through mid-July, which is likely
to reduce output in the country this
season, the FAo said. Production
forecasts were also reduced for
Cambodia, the Democratic Peoples
republic of Korea, the republic of
Korea, nepal and taiwan, Province
of China, all of which may see a
production drop in 2012. Also,
unlike with maize and wheat, rice
prices have remained surprisingly
stable after gaining two per cent in
May. Amid abundant rice supplies
and stocks, the likelihood of a strong
price rebound in coming months is
minimal, but the future direction of
rice prices remains uncertain, said
the FAo.
the number of jobless in the 17
eurozone countries hit a new
record in June. Figures released by
Eurostat last month showed that
unemployment in the euro area
increased to 11.2 per cent in June, up
from 11.1 per cent in May. roughly
17.8 million people were without jobs
in June, up by 123,000 from May.
spain, which is at the forefront of
Europe's debt crisis concerns, had the
highest unemployment rate at 24.8
per cent. Greece's rate was not far
behind at 22.5 per cent, though the
latest fgures available are for April.
Many other eurozone countries,
including France and Italy, also have
double-digit unemployment rates.
unemployment in Italy rose in
June to its highest level in nearly 13
years to a seasonally-adjusted 10.8
per cent, according to the rome-
based national statistics offce, Istat.
Germany, Europe's biggest
economy, continues to fare far better,
and its unemployment rate, according
to Eurostat, dropped to 5.4 per cent
in June from the previous month's
5.5 per cent. however, recent fgures
released by Germany's Federal Labor
Agency showed that Germanys
economy might also be hit as the
unadjusted rate climbed from 6.6 per
cent in June to 6.8 per cent
Portugals unemployment rate was
15.4 per cent, Irelands was 14.8 per
cent and Frances was somewhat
better at 10.1 per cent.
Eurozone jobless hits record high
Improvements that make government
payment programmes more effcient,
safer and more transparent can cut
related administrative costs by as
much as 75 per cent, according to
the World Bank. Millions of people
in developing countries worldwide
receive their salaries, benefts and
pensions through government-to-
person (G2P) payments. But in many
cases, they are not being delivered
in a cost-effcient way. only 25 per
cent of low-income countries process
cash transfers and social benefts
electronically and this percentage
is only slightly higher for public
sector salaries and pensions, said
Gaiv tata, World Bank Director for
Financial Inclusion Global Practice.
this means that many governments
are stretching limited resources, and
spending more than they should on
paying benefts and salaries.
the Bank has now released
guidelines promoting best practices
and establishing standards for
developing and improving government
payments programmes.
Electronic payments provide
75% government savings
tunisias Prime Minister hamadi Jebali
announced has said his government
will implement the EItI, the global
transparency standard. the country
will thereby introduce transparency of
the payments for its natural resources
and become the frst democracy
emerging out of the Arab spring to do
so. this means citizens in tunisia will
be able to see how much money their
government receives from oil, gas and
mining operations, joining citizens
in 35 countries that already have
their own EItI. the EItI is a global
coalition of governments, companies,
civil society groups, investors and
international organisations. together,
they have developed the EItI standard,
which ensures that companies publish
what they pay and governments
disclose what they receive from natural
resources.
Tunisia commits to natural
resource transparency
northsouth September 2012 46
rock stars
blame Google for
enabling piracy
several rock legends, including
Elton John, robert Plant and
Queen guitarist Brian May,
sent a letter to the British Daily
telegraph accusing Google of
enabling pirates to steal their
music. the letter, which was also
sent to the British Prime Minister
David Cameron, implored both the
government and the private sector
to do more to protect musicians
intellectual property rights. the
letter pointed the fnger at search
engines such as Google for being
lax in blocking sites from search
results that let users download
copyrighted material for free, and
said that the engines must play
their part in protecting consumers
and creators from illegal sites.
&
arts
entertanment
the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao will
open on 2 october with an exhibition
of, Egon schiele from the Albertina
Museum, Vienna, Austria. the
exhibition will run until 6 January
2013.
Egon schiele is a sweeping vision
of the creative universe of one of the
20th centurys most important artists
through approximately one hundred
drawings, gouaches, watercolors,
and photographs on loan from the
Albertina Museum, Vienna. this
institution boasts one of the worlds
largest collections of historical
graphic work, including the most
important compilation of works
on paper by this great Austrian
Expressionist.
this show offers a unique
perspective on schieles stylistic
evolution over the course of an
intensely prolifc decade, cut short by
his untimely death at the age of 28,
which underscores the decisive role
that this artists graphic work played
in shaping the history of art and
consolidating his own international
reputation.
Egon schiele at Guggenheim
Museum Bilbao 2 October
iPods improve
lives of people
with memory loss
the iPod has changed the music
industry for good. It is having a
profound impact on the lives of the
elderly suffering from dementia.
Experimentation with iPods and
memory began when Dan Cohen, a
social worker from Long Island, new
York, usA, distributed 200 iPods to
four local nursing homes in 2008.
I knew music was the number one
activity in nursing homes, so I asked
if we could see if there would be any
added value if we personalised it,
Cohen told Mashable.
Loveflm has announced a tie-
up with studio Miramax to bring
a roster of blockbuster titles
including Pulp Fiction and Bridget
Joness Diary to its on-demand flm
streaming service. the Amazon-
owned business needs to expand
its online catalogue in the wake
of skys move into online movie
streaming with the launch of its
now tV service. Loveflms addition
of Miramaxs library of 700 flms is
the latest in a string of deals in the
last year.
Loveflm adds Miramax flms to catalogue
skys exclusive movie rights do not
create a monopoly in the pay-tV
market, the British governments
media watchdog ruled, in a major
victory for the broadcaster.
Despite sky enjoying special deals
with major hollywood studios, the
arrival of online streaming services
netfix and Loveflm into the
market has loosened skys grip, the
competition commission declared.
the regulator had previously
said skys subscriber base of more
than 10 million homes gave it an
advantage over rivals in bidding for
the rights to frst-run hollywood
movies before it did a u-turn in
May.
sky dominance not a problem, says watchdog

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 47
Universal in talks to
hive off Parlophone
universal Music is in talks to sell
most of Parlophone, one of the
crown jewels of EMI and home
to Coldplay and Gorillaz, in an
attempt to overcome the concerns
of European union regulators
reviewing its 1.2 billion bid for
the British recorded music group.
BMG, the music publishing joint
venture between Bertelsmann and
the private equity group KKr,
has met universal and expressed
its interest in Parlophone, people
familiar with the situation said.
Amazon Cloud Player has just been
given a major content and feature
update, the company announced,
while unveiling new music
licensing agreements with sony
Music Entertainment, EMI Music,
universal Music Group, Warner
Music Group, and 150 other partners.
Cloud Player is a freemium platform
that help users access their music
in the cloud. the free version lets
customers all MP3 music purchased
at Amazon, plus import up to 250
songs from their computer to Cloud
Player. As for the Premium version,
it allows customers to import and
store up to 250,000 songs in Cloud
Player for an annual fee of $24.99
which makes it a direct competitor
to Apples itunes Match.
Amazon updates Cloud Player
to compete with iTunes Match
Musicians and music industry
executives often complain about
the money they miss out on when
people download music for free. DJ
shadow now has a new twist on that
story: he launched a cooperation
with Bittorrent that gets him
some revenue every time someone
downloads a free torrent of his
tracks, as long as the downloader
also installs the bundled software.
Bittorrent will offer a bundle of three
MP3s from DJ shadows upcoming
album, hidden transmissions
from the MPC Era (1992-1996) for
download. the package will also
include digital artwork, as well
as some bundled software that
will generate revenue for both the
company and the artist.
DJ Shadow becomes frst artist
to get paid by BitTorrent
Time Warner
eyes higher fees
time Warner will push for double-
digit increases in the fees distributors
pay for networks like tnt and tBs,
it said as it unveiled results showing
strong programming profts
undermined by weakness at time
Incs magazines. singer Adele has made it into the
top 10 of the worlds highest-paid
celebrities under the age of 30. the
24-year-old singer, who is pregnant
with her frst child, earned $35
million (23 million) between May
2011 and May 2012 according to us
business magazine Forbes. It put her
at number six in its top 10, which
was dominated by women singers,
with taylor swift topping the charts
with $57 million (37 million).
Justin Bieber was the only male
in the top fve, which also included
rihanna, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.
the list was compiled by taking into
account album, concert sales, flm
deals, endorsements and advertising
deals.
the full list is as follows:
1. Taylor swift - $57m (37m)
2. Justin Bieber - $55m (35.6m)
3. rihanna - $53m (34.3m)
4. Lady Gaga - $52m (33.6m)
5. Katy Perry - $45m (29m)
6. adele - $35m (23m)
7. Kristen stewart -
$34.5m (22.3m)
8. Lil Wayne - $27m (17.5m)
9. Taylor Lautner - $26.5m (17m)
10. robert Pattinson
- $26.5m (17m)
adele joins top 10 of under-30
highest paid celebrities
northsouth September 2012 48
travel
&
toursm

Global passenger traffc is still showing

a continued slowing of growth in the
demand for air transport, according
to the International Air transport
Association (IAtA) pointing out
that this is in line with weakness in
business and consumer confdence.
Year-on-year, demand for air travel
in June expanded by 6.2 per cent.
Capacity grew by a much more
cautious 4.5 per cent leaving load
factors at 81 per cent. While this
appears to be a healthy growth rate,
the growth trend since early 2012 has
seen a slowdown. this is illustrated
by isolating the February through
June trend, which shows two per cent
annualised growth. that is a major
slowdown from the eight per cent
annualised growth rate experienced
from mid-2011 through to January
2012.
the uncertainty that we see in
the global economic situation is
being refected in air transports
performance. Although there are
some pockets of solid performance,
it is diffcult to detect a strong
trendpositive or negativeat the
global level. Passenger markets have
been growing more slowly since the
beginning of the year and freight
markets gains have been mostly very
weak. the net effect is a demand limbo
as consumers and businesses hedge
their spending while awaiting clarity
on the European economic front, said
tony tyler, IAtAs Director General
and CEo.
When looked at over the second
quarter of 2012, the trend in
international air travel has been an
annualised growth rate of just over
two per cent.
European airlines experienced
strong growth in June (7.3 per cent),
well ahead of the May result (4.3 per
cent). Given the continuing economic
uncertainty centred on Europe, the
strong June performance is more
likely a result of volatility in weak
market conditions. the previous few
months had seen the growth trend
fatten out, after a solid six per cent
annualised growth rate from mid-
2011 through the frst quarter of
2012. Capacity was up 4.9 per cent
and load factors stood at 82.5 per
cent.
North American airlines saw 1.6 per
cent growth in demand while capacity
was cut by 0.3 per cent compared to
the previous June. this pushed the load
factor to 86.9 per cent, which was the
highest among the regions. Compared
to May there was basically no growth
with the regions airlines reporting a
0.1 per cent decline in demand.
Asia-Pacifc carriers reported a six
per cent growth in demand which
was more than double the 2.9 per cent
expansion in capacity for June, when
compared to the same month in 2011.
the load factor for the regions carriers
stood at 79.5 per cent. Month-to-month,
the demand in the region was basically
fat at -0.1 per cent. the growth trend
for the region is similar to that of the
overall market. From mid-2011 to the
start of 2012, Asia-Pacifc carriers
experienced a 9.5 per cent annualised
growth in demand. that has slowed to
two per cent for the February to June
period.
Middle East carriers were the strongest
performers with demand growth of
18.2 per cent outstripping a capacity
expansion of 13.4 per cent. Load factors
stood at 78.6 per cent. In contrast to
the overall market, the growth trend in
this region has been robust throughout
2012, gaining a further 1.9% in June
compared to May.
Latin American airlines also
performed well in June, recording an
11.2 per cent gain in demand compared
to the previous year. Demand growth
slightly outpaced a capacity expansion
of 10.7%, but load factors were among
the weakest at 77.4 per cent.
African carriers showed growth of
10.1 per cent, slightly behind a capacity
expansion of 10.6 per cent. At 65 per
cent, the regions load factor was the
weakest.
slow passenger growth continues

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 49
space odyssey
could be yours
for just $93,600
the unforgettable trip 100km (62
miles) into space takes just one
hour on a Lynx spacecraft but the
$93,600 price includes training
and three nights accommodation
on the Caribbean island of
Curaao.
the dream come true experience
is on offer from British website
EmporiumofWonders.com but
so far only 100 tickets have been
released.
the online store also offers
transatlantic trips in luxury
submarines for $90.48million and
tables made from World War II
aircraft for $37,440.
Earlier, Virgin boss sir richard
Branson confrmed he and his son
sam, 26, and daughter holly, 30,
will be among the frst passengers
to be fown into space on the
Virgin Galactic spaceship-two
(ss2) aircraft next year. Going
into space is a hard business it
keeps my mind buzzing, he said
at the Farnborough Air show in
England.
Ancillary revenue reported by airlines
grew to 18.23 billion in 2011. this
represents ancillary revenue growth
of 66 per cent in two years from the
2009 result of 10.95 billion.
Analysis from IdeaWorksCompany,
a consulting organisation, and
Amadeus, a company that provides
technology and transaction processor
for the global travel and tourism
industry, reveals that united, Delta,
American and Qantas are top
ancillary revenue carriers for 2011
and 2010.
once largely limited to low fare
airlines, ancillary revenue is now a
priority for many airlines worldwide,
and the review announced today
shows how far the industrys
approach to ancillary revenue has
developed in recent years.
several carriers earned over 20
per cent of total revenues from these
add-on charges in 2011, and several
earned over 30 per passenger.
Budget airlines dominate the table
that ranks airlines by the proportion
of their total income derived from
ancillary sources.
however, despite the fact that the
American airline southwest does
charge for luggage, it clocked a
whopping $950 million, ahead of
easyJet on $890 million and ryanair
on $886 million.
IdeaWorksCompany researched
the fnancial flings made by 108
airlines all over the world, 50 of
which disclosed ancillary revenue
activity.
airlines earned 18.23bn in
ancillary revenues in 2011
Qatar Airways remains the best
airline in the world, according to
skytrax, a company specialising in
airline and airport research, which
publishes annual rankings. Eastern
carriers dominated its top 10 airlines,
with three from the Middle East, six
from Asia and one from turkey.
skytrax says it polled over 18
million airline customers from over
100 countries and the triumphant
Qatari fag-carrier, which was only
founded in 1993, has risen from
fourth in 2009 and third in 2010 to
top the rankings for two years now.
It did not win any other worldwide
category, but was rewarded for a
strong performance across the board.
the category-winners included
singapore Airlines (Best Economy
Class), Cathay Pacifc (Best Business
Class), Etihad (Best First Class) and
AirAsia (Best Low-Cost Airline).
skytrak World Airline Awards: (1)
Qatar Airways (2) Asiana Airlines
(3) singapore Airlines (4) Cathay
Pacifc Airways (5) AnA All nippon
Airways (6) Etihad Airways (7)
turkish Airlines (8) Emirates( 9) thai
Airways (10) Malaysia Airlines.
Qatar airways ranked world best
European plane manufacturer
Airbus delayed the introduction
of its newest passenger jet, the
carbon-composite A350, as parent
EADs unveiled better-than-expected
second-quarter earnings lifted by
resilient demand for its existing
range of jetliners.
Dreamliner engine
issue investigated
Boeing and us safety offcials are
probing an engine issue on a 787
Dreamliner after a grass fre during
a pre-fight test.
airbus delays a350, EaDs lifts forecasts
northsouth September 2012 50
science news

Weight training
'reduces diabetes risk'
Weight training helps to prevent
type 2 diabetes in men, research
suggests. the scientists found
regular weights reduced the risk
by up to a third, in the study of
more than 32,000 men published in
the Archives of Internal Medicine
journal.
It is already well known that
regular exercise can prevent the
disease.
But the report is considered
important as weights provide an
alternative to aerobic exercises
such as running for people who
are not so mobile.
researchers from harvard
school of Public health in the us
and the university of southern
Denmark followed the men over
an 18-year period, during which
time nearly 2,300 developed the
condition. they found 30 minutes
of weights a day, fve times a week
could reduce the risk of diabetes
by three per cent.
scientists have suggested that
fainting could be all in the family.
they claim that they have discovered
that individuals could be genetically
pre-disposed to swooning. Fainting,
also called vasovagal syncope, is a
brief loss of consciousness when
your body reacts to certain triggers,
such as emotional distress or the
sight of blood. But for the frst time
researchers from the university of
Melbourne in Victoria, Australia,
believe they have answered the
hotly debated topic of what causes
someone to pass out in a study of
twins. "the question of whether
fainting is caused by genetic factors,
environmental factors or a mixture
of both has been the subject of
debate," said study author Dr samuel
Berkovic, also a member of the
American Academy of neurology.
For the study, 51 sets of twins of
the same gender between the ages of
nine and 69 were given a telephone
questionnaire.
At least one of the twins had a
history of fainting. researchers
also gathered information about any
family history of fainting. of the 51
sets of twins, 57 per cent reported
having typical fainting triggers. the
research found that among twins
where one fainted, those who were
identical were nearly twice as likely
to both faint compared to fraternal
twins, from two different fertilised
eggs.
fainting could be in
the genes, researchers
Chemotherapy can undermine
itself by causing a rogue
response in healthy cells, which
could explain why people become
resistant, a study suggests. the
treatment loses effectiveness for
a significant number of patients
with secondary cancers.
Writing in nature Medicine, us
experts said chemo causes wound-
healing cells around tumours
to make a protein that helps the
cancer resist treatment.
A uK expert said the next step
would be to find a way to block
this effect.
Around 90 per cent of patients
with solid cancers, such as
breast, prostate, lung and
colon that spread - metastatic
disease - develop resistance to
chemotherapy.
treatment is usually given at
Chemo 'undermines itself'
through rogue response
intervals, so that the body is
not overwhelmed by its toxicity.
But that allows time for tumour
cells to recover and develop
resistance.

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 51
Home HIv test
home hIV tests could become a
reality in the us after regulators
approved the use of an over-the-
counter test. the oraQuick In-
home hIV test is designed to
allow individuals to collect an
oral fuid sample by swabbing the
upper and lower gums inside their
mouths, then placing the sample
in a developer vial to obtain test
results in 20 to 40 minutes.
the us Centres for Disease
Control and Prevention estimates
that 1.2 million people in the us are
living with hIV infection. About
one in fve do not know that they
are infected and there are about
50 000 new hIV infections in that
country every year. Many of these
new infections are transmitted
from people who do not realise
that they are hIV positive.
In an unusual scientifc experiment,
couples who sprayed themselves
with a compound containing the
hormone oxytocin before they
discussed contentious issues behaved
more positively. the experiment
also revealed that women were less
emotionally aroused and men more
aroused after using the spray.
According to researchers, the women
who took part in the tests were more
friendly, less demanding and less
anxious, while men were more aware
of social cues, more positive, and more
likely to engage. oxytocin is produced
mainly in the hypothalamus region
of the brain. It had been studied in
women because it is released during
labour to dilate the cervix, boost
contractions and to trigger the release
of milk in the breasts.
In the new study, reported in the
journal social Cognitive and Affective
neuroscience, researchers looked at
its effects on stress and the activity of
the autonomic nervous system during
disagreements between couples.
this part of the nervous system
automatically regulates organs of the
body, and research has shown it is
more active during confict between
couples, leading to increased heart
rate and blood pressure.
Forty-seven couples aged 20 to
50 who were married or had been
cohabiting for at least a year, took
part in the study at the university
of Zurich. Couples chose a topic to
discuss about which they continually
disagreed, and then self-administered
fve puffs of either the oxytocin or a
placebo spray. Forty-fve minutes
later, each couple was left alone in
a room and flmed while they talked
about the subject that usually rubbed
them up the wrong way.
Doctors fnd nasal spray
that can save marriage
British doctors are appealing for
$780,000 to continue research that
could pave the way for Britains frst
womb transplants. surgeons in
London are at a critical stage of their
groundwork, which they claim could
help an estimated 14,000 women
who are unable to have children.
national health service (nhs) budget
cuts and the recession threaten to
derail the progress of the surgeons
who have turned to the public for
help by launching a charity, uterine
transplantation uK. Consultant
gynaecologist richard smith said
research has so far cost $780,000,
mostly funded by members of the
team. Doctors aim within two years to
be able to transplant a donor womb into
a woman so she can have a child or
even two before it is then removed.
researchers appeal for $780,000
for frst womb transplant
Brain activity linked
to actions in dreams
A study with echoes of the movie
Inception has shown how people
who control their dreams engage
specifc parts of the brain.
the research provides a window
into the sleep state and could be a
frst step towards "reading" dreams,
scientists say. It involved scanning
the brains of "lucid" dreamers, who
are aware they are dreaming and
can control their actions in dreams.
the learned skill offers an
opportunity to investigate the brain
activity involved in dreaming.
"Dreaming is not just looking at a
dream movie," said researcher Dr
Martin Dresler, of the Max Planck
Institute of Psychiatry in Munich.
"Brain regions representing specifc
body motions are activated." the
fndings, published in the journal
Current Biology, show for the frst
time that neural activity in the
brain's sensorimotor cortex can be
related to body actions in dreams.
Global shellfsh populations are
under increasing pressure brought
about by ocean acidifcation.
scientists from the British Antarctic
survey say that oysters, mussels and
crabs are fnding it more diffcult to
develop their shells, making them
vulnerable to predators and an
overall decline that could impact
other parts of the ecosystem.
Ocean acidifcation threatens
global shellfsh stocks
northsouth
September 2012 52
motoring

Hummer back
from the dead
AM General, the original owners of
the hummer brand, will offer a kit
car version of the original military-
spec humvee but cannot build a
fnished vehicle for civilian use as
that would contravene its agreement
with General Motors, who bought
the rights to sell complete vehicles
to the public.
Buyers have to pay $59,000
(38,000), for the kit and then fnd
themselves an engine. AM General
reckons the all-in cost of a fnished
vehicle would be around $75,000
(48,000), but there will be a lot of
work involved, as a gearbox will need
to be found to go with the engine.
With no proper doors, he will have
to use a namby-pamby seat belt to
stop himself being thrown out.
Citroen is claiming a frst, by
launching the C1 Connexion
whose specifcation has been
determined by the preferences of
24,000 confgurations submitted
on Citroen's Facebook page.
Members of the public were
invited to visit a virtual 'factory
foor' to choose what the model
should look like and what
features it should have. the fnal
design of C1 Connexion was
created from the most popular
confguration. Apparently even
the name badge that features on
the car was designed by a Citron
Facebook fan. the C1 Connexion,
based on the 1.0 Vtr, is on sale
now with 3 or 5 doors, priced at
9,495 and 9,845 respectively.
facebook fans 'create' Citroen special edition
the additional features on the C1
Connexion are:
14-inch 'Rift' alloy wheels
Black metallic paint
Dark tinted rear windows
Connexion exterior and interior
pack (red door mirrors, door
handles and interior trim)
Citroen says the Connexion is
500 more than the Vtr version
on which it is based, but has over
925 of additional equipment.
Drivers in the united Kingdom (uK)
have been urged to switch off their
engines when idling for one minute,
as leaving the engine running
unnecessarily is actually an offence.
According to the highway Code: "You
Msut not leave a parked vehicle
unattended with the engine running
or leave a vehicle engine running
unnecessarily while that vehicle is
stationery on a public road."
some London councils are now
imposing 80 fnes if drivers spend
a long time unloading their vehicles
with the engine running. According
to the Energy savings trust,
London drivers alone are wasting
60 million ($95m) per year by not
switching off their engines when
idling. Black cabs, also known as
London taxis, account for about a
quarter of vehicle soot emissions in
central London, up to 15 per cent of
which is caused by idling, according
to transport for London fgures.
British drivers urged to
switch off when idling

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 53
Buy a car, get
another free
renault Laguna and Espace buyers
in spain can now get an electric
twizy thrown in for free. renault
has been suffering from a very bad
market for car sales. As a solution,
renault offered customers buying
any of its big models an electric
twizy as well.
the deal applies to the slow-
selling Laguna and Espace MPV
both of which were axed from the
uK model line-up in February this
year in an effort to cut costs and
boost company profts, reports
Auto Express.
the offer equates to a 6,990
(5,475) discount and suggests
that dealers are having problems
shifting the four-wheeled
electric scooter. renault says the
promotion will available to the uK
meaning sightings of the road
tax-exempt twizy will continue to
be few and far between on British
roads. the twizy 45 (from its 45
km/h top speed) was not originally
planned for the uK, but, recent
confrmation that a new category
of European licence AM for
16 year olds and over will apply
in the uK, means it is worth
considering.
Over 1,000 ferraris to
participate in uK racing event
More than 1,000 Ferraris will break
the Guinness World record for the
Largest Parade of Ferrari Cars
on 15 september during Ferrari
racing Days at silverstone Circuit
in the united Kingdom (uK).
Ferrari previously set the record
with 385 cars on the silverstone
Circuit at the Ferrari racing
Days in 2007, but this was later
increased to 490. Even though
over 600 cars had registered in the
frst month when the attempt was
announced, Ferrari has always
had the ambition to set a Guinness
World record with 1,000 cars.
registrations remain open as
Ferrari reckons that the recently
extended silverstone Grand Prix
circuit can accommodate more
than 1000 cars on track. the
Parade on 15 and16 september
is the only motor racing event
in the uK where Ferrari fans see
the FXX and 599XX development
cars on track plus a wide range
of historic Ferrari F1 cars
from the F1 client department,
together with a schedule of
races from the Ferrari Challenge
trofeo Pirelli and the Ferrari
Club Challenge.
In Westminster in London where
parking currently costs up to 4.40
per hour, sensors in the road are
alerting drivers to unoccupied
parking bays. that means less
aimless driving around and
potentially less congestion, as up to
30 per cent of urban traffc is made
up of people trying to park, which
seems ironic some traffc jams are
apparently caused by people who
are trying to stop driving.
the trial covers fve streets
savile row, Jermyn street, sackville
street, st John's Wood high street
and Burlington Gardens and will
run until 15 october. the sensor
will know exactly how long the car
has been parked, so there is no point
chancing a fve-minute overstay.
Also, Westminster Council
will be able to track the demand
for spaces in specifc areas, so
drivers can expect even higher
charges for particularly popular
app to tell motorists where
parking is available
streets. the App is also regarded
in some quarters as a hindrance
to unscrupulous parking wardens
who hand out fraudulent tickets.
For example, if the sensor shows
the car was correctly parked, it will
be harder to fake an offence.

book revews

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

54 September 2012 northsouth
p
the new
Industrial
revolution
Peter Marsh
yale university
Press 2012
price: 25.00
t
he author claims to describe the
beginning of the ffth and frst
truly global industrial revolution.
there is a good deal to debate here
for some people would argue that
what is happening today is simply
part of an ongoing process which
was started by Britain in the 18th
century. this, of course, brings
us to China. the rapid emergence
of China and India as centres for
low-cost manufacturing has led
some analysts to conclude that
manufacturers in old economies - the
us, the united Kingdom, Germany,
and Japan- are being pushed out of
a proftable future.
the author, however, insists that
the world is at the beginning of the
ffth industrial revolution, with the
implication that there will be many
new areas to be developed by the old
advanced economies. We shall have
to wait and see. he observes that
the driving forces that infuence
what types of goods are made
and who makes them are not well
understood. he discusses the key
changes in what is happening in
manufacturing today, including
advances in technology, a greater
focus on tailor-made goods aimed
at specifc individuals and industry
users, participation of many more
countries in world manufacturing,
and the growing importance of
sustainable forms of production.
As the publishers blurb tells us, the
book is part primer for the general
interest reader and part guide
for those in the manufacturing
industry. It explores 250 years in
the history of manufacturing, and
then examines the characteristics
of the industrial revolution that
is taking place now. the problem
is the author falls between two
objectives: is it a primer or is it
something else. the writing is
lucid and an easy read but is more
a textbook for bright ffth formers
who want to learn about industry
over the years than anything more
profound. his technique is to pick
upon a typical industrial innovator
and tell his story but this simply
adds to the concept of an ongoing
process rather than flling out the
claim that we are now entering
the ffth industrial revolution. the
most important theme to emerge is
the fact that today more and more
countries are in the process of
industrialising and that the sensible
entrepreneur will seek a niche and
then occupy it.
the book provides an easy to read
history of industrialisation since
Adam smiths time and pinpoints
the contribution of particular people
or groups. he tells us how Mao
Zedong was especially keen on steel
production as vital to a countrys
economic strength but does not also
tell us how Maos obsession with
steel led to thousands of home grown
backyard furnaces that were part of
the Great Leap Forwards disaster.
Peter Marsh is a journalist for the
Financial times whose expertise is
the manufacturing sector. the book
is a light and useful trawl through
the fve industrial revolutions.
Guy arnold

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 55
p
Power and Politics
in the Persian gulf
monarchies
Christopher
Davidson
(Editor)
Hurst 2011
price: 17.99
W
hen the Wilson Government
announced in 1968 that
Britain was going to eliminate
its military bases and withdraw
by 1971, the horrifed sheiks and
rulers of the Gulf states begged
Britain to think again and even
offered to pay the expenses of
maintaining the bases in place.
the British presence meant
stability in a notoriously volatile
area. the British went and oil
became the key to everything else.
Forty years later, as Christopher
Davidson begins his introduction:
In command of the worlds
largest hydro-carbon reserves and
occupying an increasingly central
role in both Middle Eastern and
global politics, the six monarchies
comprising the Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) saudi Arabia,
Bahrain, Kuwait, oman, Qatar
and the united Arab Emirates
(uAE) are now among the most
heavily researched yet most
commonly misunderstood actors in
the international system. the six
contributors to this short book (160
pages of text) bring knowledge
and considerable insights to their
subjects. Economic development,
ensuring that oil wealth is used to
create alternative industries and
commercial contacts is a key to
understanding the changes taking
place in the Gulf. there may be a lot
of glitz - extraordinary skyscrapers
and Five star plus hotels to attract
the very rich- but there is also some
shrewd political/economic thinking
about survival in what increasingly
appears to be a savage and greedy
world. With Iraq and Afghanistan
in turmoil with little prospect of
settling down to a more peaceable
future, with syria destroying itself
in one of the most brutal civil
wars in generations, with Israel
threatening to attack Iran and
Iran persevering with uranium
enrichment despite American
threats, the GCC kingdoms sit on
the edge of a volcano and their
means of survival - oil wealth- is
as much a temptation to powerful
outsiders as it is cause for general
rejoicing. If they can turn the GCC
into a frmer form of alliance they
may be able to survive the storms
that are undoubtedly on the way.

Guy arnold
POWER and
POLITICS in the
PERSIAN GULF
MONARCHIES
JJJS1CJJlJ lAVJlSC ()
northsouth September 2012 56
informaton & communcaton
technology

Google Wallet
moves to the cloud
Google Wallet has been hampered
by a number of limitations since
its launch, not the least of which
is its limited device compatibility.
Perhaps a bigger problem though,
was its lack of support for most
major credit and debit cards. today
that fnally changes with the latest
version of Big Gs mobile payment
system. this enables the use of
any credit or debit card and takes
from one device to the next. Early
versions of the digital wallet used
the phones secure local storage
to protect your card details, now
it is all in the cloud allowing you
to synchronise your preferred
payment method across multiple
devices and keep track of both
your online and in-store purchases
through Googles web Wallet.
Microsoft has unveiled outlook.
com, a new email product from
the company that will eventually
be the home of the hundreds of
millions of hotmail users. tnW has
extensively tested the product. It is
believed that outlook.com is a well-
designed webmail product that has
the potential to reverse Microsofts
lengthy slide in the product
category to Googles Gmail.
In Microsofts view, the last major
disruption to email came with
the introduction of Gmail and its
1 gigabyte of provided storage. In
that time, free megabytes for mail
cam in the dozens, making Gmails
entry into the market a shakeup
point. Gmail now offers over 10
gigabytes to its users.
Microsoft launches Outlook.com
samsung will reportedly update a
number of its fagship smartphones
to the latest version of Android by
the end of the year. According to
samMobile, the Galaxy s III will be
the companys frst handset to be
updated to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean,
followed by the Galaxy s II and
Galaxy note. the website notes,
however, if samsung suddenly
decides not to update the Galaxy s
II, owners will receive a value pack
update. the Galaxy s III is expected
to receive an update by the end of
the third quarter of 2012, while the
Galaxy s II and Galaxy note will
receive an update sometime in the
fourth quarter.
Galaxy s III rumoured to
receive Jelly Bean in Q3
samsung to refresh
Galaxy note
samsung was expected to introduce
a refresh of its fve-inch Galaxy note
phoblet and an update of its 10-inch
note tablet by the end of August.
Despite its awkward sizetoo big for
a phone, too small for a tabletthe
5.3-inch Galaxy note has garnered
a following that is looking forward
to the new model was revealed just
before the opening of the IFA trade
show last month.
amazon instant video
iPad app available
A day after upgrading its cloud
music player, Amazon has delivered
a native Amazon Instant Video app
for iPad (not iPhone or iPod touch,
yet) to the App store. It has access to
streaming Prime Instant Video for
subscribers, as well as downloaded
or streamed video on-demand.
other key features include access to
the Watch-list / queue, and automatic
access to any shows subscribed to
with a season Pass the day after they
air on tV. the free app is available in
the itunes store.
iPad accounts for 85%
of tablet Web usage
A new data suggest that Apple holds
a whopping 85 per cent share of
the market. however, the release of
Googles nexus 7 tablet and unveiling
of Microsoft surface are set to bring
a dose of serious competition. the
indicator of Apples dominance comes
from fgures pulled together by
Pingdom, using data from statcounter
that analyses Web usage from tablet
devices worldwide. Even allowing for
data inaccuracies, the fndings are
very sorry reading for the Android-
powered tablet collective.

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 57
Facebook reports
80m bogus accounts
Bogus Facebook accounts are on
the rise, according to a report
fled by the social network with
the us securities and Exchange
Commission (sEC). In a statement,
Facebook reported that 8.7 per cent,
or 83 million, of its 955 million
accounts are either duplicates
or false. that is a substantial
increase over fgures released by
the company in March. then it
estimated that from fve to six per
cent, or 42.25 million to 50.70
million, of 845 million monthly
active accounts were bogus.
Google adds calculator
to search results
Google has added a calculator to
its search results. When you type a
formula into its search box, Google
now will give the answer in a new
calculator that it has brought to
its results. once the calculator is
displayed, you can tap numbers and
scientifc functions to send it a new
equation.
the search box will also still work
for that. Prior to this addition,
Google allowed users to type any
equation into its search tool. the
search engine would then give the
answer. however, this is the frst
time that Google has displayed an
actual calculator that users can
interact with.
A German ban on the samsung
Galaxy tab 7.7 was extended
to include the entire European
union (Eu). samsung, however,
can continue to sell its Galaxy tab
10.1n tablet in the region, the
Dusseldorf higher regional Court
said. Previously, the Galaxy tab 7.7
was only banned in Germany for
violating an Apple design patent.
the Court, however, ruled that the
ban should include all European
union (Eu) member states.
samsung is disappointed with
the courts ruling. We will continue
to take all available measures,
including legal action, to protect
our intellectual property rights
and defend against Apples claims
to ensure our products remain
available to consumers throughout
the European union, a samsung
spokeswoman said.
German ban on Samsung
Galaxy Tab 7.7 extended to EU
apple to switch all
iOs devices to smaller
dock connector
Apple will replace its iconic 30-
pin Dock connector with a smaller
version across its entire ios
line-up this autumn, according
to rene ritchie of iMore.
this will include the 9.7-inch
iPad, as well as the next iPhone.
ritchie said that the same source
of his information told him that
the smaller connector would
appear across the line-up.
this includes the currently
available iPad, which will
apparently be updated mid-
season to accommodate the
change.
fBI fles go digital
after years of delay
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
agents have fnally ditched paper
fles for a new computer system, an
effort that took 12 years and cost
more than $600 million. the system,
called sentinel, includes elements
resembling Web browsers, with tabs
and movable windows, and forms
that are flled out in a question-and-
answer format similar to consumer
tax software.
the FBI announced the completion
of the system last month after testing
to work out bugs. Portions of it were
implemented in recent years, and the
bureau recently took the fnal step of
shutting down its old system, which
relied heavily on paper.
Peeking at the third beta of ios
6, CultofMac discovered that
users no longer have to enter
their password to download
free apps, either new ones or
programs they have grabbed in
the past. this latest development
follows a new feature introduced
in ios 6 beta 1, in which users
no longer have to key in their
password to download updates
or previously-purchased
items from Apples App store,
CultofMac added .
iOS 6 not to ask for password
to download free apps
Microsoft to launch
Windows 8 in October
Microsofts newest operating system,
Windows 8, will hit the shops on 26
october, nearly three years to the
day after the launch of Windows 7.
however, it is not clear
whether the launch
date is global or one
reserved for the us
market.
northsouth September 2012 58
iPhone 5 and iPad
mini to launch
this month
A surplus of Apple rumours is
always expected ahead of the
companys earnings reports, and
the faucet is wide open.
Apple is planning to release a
smaller version of its wildly popular
iPad tablet shortly after the next-
generation iPhone launches in the
autumn, one industry watcher
believes. Plugged-in KGI analyst
Ming-Chi Kuo, who purportedly
shed some light on iPhone 5
specs recently, says that Apples
next iPhone will launch this month
followed closely by the release of
the much-rumoured iPad mini.
informaton & communcaton
technology

nokia has some new Windows
Phone 8 handsets in the pipeline
and is going to unveil them to
the public in a matter of weeks.
sources familiar with nokias
plans tell WPDang and Bloomberg
that the company plans to use
its new line of Windows Phone 8
handsets at nokia World, the two-
day conference planned in helsinki
this month. the unveiling will put
nokias Windows Phone 8 portfolio
weeks ahead of the expected debut of
Apples next generation iPhone.
Nokia to use Windows Phone 8
devices ahead of iPhone 5
A major spam botnet that
inundated email inboxes around
the world with emails promoting
fake prescription drugs is gone.
so says the security frm that
helped kill it. the Grum botnet
has fnally been knocked down. All
the known command and control
(CnC) servers are dead, leaving
their zombies orphaned, wrote
Atif Mushtaq of FireEye Malware
Intelligence Lab in California,
referring to computers enslaved
by hackers for malicious use.
the security frm worked with
the spamhaus Project, computer
experts and internet service
providers around the world in the
effort. the botnet has been around
for about four years, and has
lately been responsible for about 15
to 17 per cent of all spam, Vincent
hanna of the spamhaus Project,
told nBC news.
Massive spam botnet Grum shut down
Hulu reveals
advanced player
hulu has revamped its video player,
ditching its older look for a more
user-friendly interface. the clean
new look integrates features like
10-second rewind, allowing users to
easily cut back to moments earlier
in video, and a more compact player
that organises buttons such as
pop-out and closed captions within
one menu. the player will even
automatically choose the best quality
video for the available bandwidth
with which to stream the content.
the new features are reminiscent of
netfixs video player.
New Microsoft Offce
by subscriptions
the new Microsoft offce will come
in numerous online and offine
versions, as well as the already semi-
announced version for Windows
rt tablets. In essence, Microsoft is
taking an approach thats somewhat
similar to what Adobe is doing with
its new Creative Cloud (though
without making all of its tools
available for just one subscription
price). offce 365, which is currently
just a set of online tools, will become
a subscription service that will allow
users to stream offce 365 to any
Windows 7 or Windows 8 Internet-
connected computer. At the same
time, though, Microsoft will also
continue to make offce available as
traditional desktop software with a
perpetual licence.
apple to change dock
connector on iPhone 5
r e u t e r s
confrmed a
long-standing
rumour that
the new
version of the
Apple iPhone
would come with a 19-pin connector
port instead of the standard 30-pin
connector port that the company
has used for years. two unnamed
sources told reuters that Apple
(AAPL) is shrinking the port to
make room for the earphone
moving to the bottom of the device,
meaning current 30-pin accessories
that are part of Apples iPod, iPhone
and iPad ecosystem might be useless
with Apples next iPhone.

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 59
LG to develop
60-inch fexible
OLED by 2017
While regular consumers still
wait for the frst big screen
oLED display to make it to big
box stores, Koreas Ministry of
Knowledge Economy has chosen
LG to lead the consortium charged
with developing a 60-inch fexible
oLED by 2017. Part of the Future
Flagship Programme, its goal is to
generate exports and create jobs
by promoting next-generation
technologies.
appsfre ranks
the best iOs apps
operating on the theory that there
are better ways to fnd great ios apps
than skimming the top downloaded
lists on Apples App store,
Appsfre has published its frst-
ever alternative rankings that it
says highlights the best quality
apps, not just the ones with the
highest download count. Appsfre is
a social recommendation service for
apps that introduced its App scores
system in May.
the system uses an apps star
ratings from users, social media
buzz as well as the developers
overall reputation. the scoring
system, which has been in the works
for more than two years, is now
published.
Whether you are uploading videos
of your young child dancing
around the living room or of a
controversial protest, you may
want to keep the identities of the
people in your videos under wraps.
Youtube announced that it was
introducing a facial blurring tool
that will let anyone using the
sites Web video editor obscure the
identities of people in their shots.
the tool itself is fairly
straightforward users can go
to the Enhancements tab in
the video editor and apply the
flter. the tool will not work on
every face, Youtube said. this
is emerging technology, which
means it sometimes has diffculty
detecting faces depending on the
angle, lighting, obstructions and
video quality. Its possible that
certain faces or frames will not be
blurred.
youTube offers facial blurring for videos
Microsoft job posting hints
at next Xbox launch
Microsoft might be launching the
next Xbox within the next year and
a half. the software giant posted a
job listing on its Web site seeking a
marketing professional.
In that posting now be taken
down the company said that over
the next 18 months, Microsoft will
release new versions of all of our
most signifcant products including
Windows (Client, server, Phone
and Azure), offce and Xbox, along
with completely new offerings like
Microsoft surface. rumours have
been rife for years that Microsoft
would launch its next Xbox,
sometimes called the Xbox 720, in
2013 or 2014.
traditional disc-based video games
and game console sales slid 29%
in June, continuing a decline for a
seven straight month. us players
spent $700 million on game discs,
consoles and peripherals in June,
down from $989.5 million a year
earlier, according to estimates
released by nPD Group Inc. top
titles for the month included Lego
Batman 2: DC super heroes from
Warner Bros.
Interactive and tom Clancys
Ghost recon: Future soldier,
an adventure shooter game from
ubisoft Entertainment. sales
of console hardware were most
severely hit, down 45% to $201.3
million. sales of game software fell
to $362.8 million, down 27% from
$496.3 million last year.
sales of disc-based video
games and consoles fall 29%
northsouth September 2012 60
sports
athletes rich list
1. floyd Mayweather, boxing
total Earnings between June 2011 to
June 2012: $85 million salary/winnings:
$85 million, Endorsements: $0
2. Manny Pacquiao, boxing
total Earnings between June 2011
to June 2012: $62 million salary/
winnings: $56 million, Endorsements:
$6 million (Monster Energy, hennessy,
nike, hewlett-Packard)
3. Tiger Woods, golf
total Earnings between June 2011
to June 2012: $59.4 million salary/
winnings: $4.4 million
Endorsements: $55 million (nike)
4. LeBron James, basketball
total Earnings between June 2011
to June 2012: $53 million salary/
winnings: $13 million, Endorsements:
$40 million (nike, McDonald's, Coca-
Cola, state Farm and others)
5. roger federer, tennis
total Earnings between June 2011 to June
2012: $52.7 million salary/winnings:
$7.7mil, Endorsements: $45 million
(nike, rolex, Wilson, Credit suisse)
6. Kobe Bryant, basketball
total Earnings between June 2011 to
June 2012: $52.3 mil salary/winnings:
$20.3 mil, Endorsements: $32 million
7. Phil Mickelson, golf
total Earnings between June 2011
to June 2012: $47.8 million salary/
winnings: $4.8 million, Endorsements:
$43 million (Callaway, Barclay's, KPMG,
Exxon, rolex, Amgen/Pfzer)
8. David Beckham, football
total Earnings between June 2011
to June 2012: $46 million salary/
winnings: $9 million, Endorsements:
$37 million (Burger King, sainsbury's,
samsung)
9. Cristiano ronaldo, football
total Earnings between June 2011
to June 2012: $42.5 million salary/
winnings: $20.5 million
Endorsements: $22 million (nike,
Castrol, Konami and others)
10. Peyton Manning, American football
total Earnings between June 2011
to June 2012: $42.4 million salary/
winnings: $32.4 million
Endorsements: $10 million (reebok,
sony, Wheaties, DirectV, Gatorade,
Papa John's)
American boxer Floyd Mayweather
tops the Forbes rich list of 100
highest paid athletes this year with
$85 million, pushing out tiger
Woods who was hailed by Forbes
as the highest earning athlete from
2001-2011.
Mayweather got a huge payday
amounting to a total of $85 million
for his fghts against Victor ortiz
with $40 million and Miguel Cotto
with $45 million. he also owns
Mayweather Promotions, which
he uses to promote his fghts and
therefore substantially increase his
earnings.
however, Mayweather, 35, was
released from a Las Vegas jail last
month after serving two months
of a 90-day sentence for domestic
violence. he is regarded as the best
defensive boxer of his generation
with a professional record of 43-0.
he is planning a possible fght with
Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines,
his rival for the mythical title of
the world's best pound-for-pound
fghter.
us boxer tops forbes rich list
of 100 highest paid athletes
Fifa have refuted claims made by
its former security boss and that
they are investigating match-fxing
allegations at the 2010 World Cup.
Chris Eaton, a former head of
security with Fifa, had told British
tV Channel 4 the organisation was
looking into a specifc incident in the
clash between nigeria and Greece.
A Fifa spokesperson, however,
said: "We are not conducting any
match fxing investigation for 2010
Fifa World Cup matches...In relation
to match fxing, investigations can
be launched by the security division
in case there is a suspicion a match
or a competition could be fxed."
Eaton alleged his former
employers were still investigating
suspicious activity at the game. he
said: "It's certainly an interesting
circumstance and we know a lot
about it. It's another manifestation
and potentially a manifestation of
an attempted fraud that could be
perhaps replicated in the future so
we have to be cautious about it."
While dismissing the claim, Fifa's
spokesperson added they were
closely monitoring and assisting
ongoing investigations at member
associations' level.
fifa deny World Cup
match-fxing allegations
seven Cameroonian athletes,
comprising fve boxers, a swimmer and
a female footballer, have disappeared
from the London 2012 olympics and
are suspected of having left to stay in
Europe for economic reasons.
Cameroonian athletes go missing from Olympics

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 61
Playing song on
carrot whistle
With a set of 22 carat gold coins
worth 1,200 as the prize, hundreds
of people are expected to enter a
carrot-playing competition in what
has been described as this years
maddest alternative to the London
olympics. Farmer and carrot
grower simon Pearce (pictured) is
among scores of growers backing
the Great British Carrot Whistle
olympics. I thought it was a
crackpot idea at frst, said Pearce,
but it really does work. All our
staff found it hilarious. Entrants
must submit a video of themselves
playing a gold-themed song on a
carrot whistle.
Manchester united has brushed off
market concerns by kicking off a $383
million (243.8m) initial public offering
(IPo) in the us last month. Just a week
after reports said the football club had put
the brakes on its foat due to lukewarm
investor interest, Manchester united said
in a fling it hoped to sell 16.67 million
Class A shares to help pay off its debts.
the shares, to be priced at between
$16 and $20, will trade on the new York
stock Exchange under the ticker MAnu.
the IPo documents also include an
option to sell off more shares depending
on demand.
the amount to be raised is slightly
higher than some recent predictions,
though down signifcantly from the
clubs plans last year for a $1 billion IPo.
It values the indebted club at up to $3.3
billion, owned mostly by the American
Glazer family, who took control of the
club in 2005 and fled to raise a nominal
$100 million in new York last month.
the Glazers said they would take half
the proceeds of the sale themselves as a
selling shareholder. the Glazers Class
B shares will have 10 times the voting
power of average investors Class A
shares.
A Manchester united supporters
group has launched a blistering attack
on the Glazer family, accusing them of
exploiting their latest share plan to line
their own pockets.
there were questions raised about
the jittery equity markets that have
scuppered a string of foats this year
and would also put a stop to Manchester
uniteds venture.
there were also concerns that the
Glazers control of two thirds of the
voting rights following the foat, coupled
with the lack of dividend payments for
Manchester united launches us listing to cut debts
Blatter defends fifa over
collapsed marketing company
Fifa president sepp Blatter (pictured)
has defended his organisations lack
of action over the collapsed marketing
company IsL, saying he does not have
the power to strip Joao havelange of
his honorary presidency. havelange,
former Fifa president, and his former
son-in-law, ricardo teixeira, were
named in court documents as having
received millions of pounds in bribes
from IsL.
Asked to respond to claims that he
knew about the backhanders, Blatter
said: Known what? that commission
was paid? Back then such payments
could even be deducted from tax as a
business expense. today, that would
be punishable under law.
You cant judge the past on the
basis of todays standards. otherwise
it would end up with moral justice. I
cant have known about an offence
that wasnt even one. I dont have
the power to call him [havelange] to
account, Blatter argued.
the foreseeable future, would discourage
investors and fans from buying shares.
Manchester united club revenues
this year are set to fall fve per cent to
315 million ($470m) and it had debts
of 423.3 million ($650m) at the end of
March, which would be cut to 345.4
million ($500m) using the proceeds of the
IPo.
sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester
united manager, has strenuously denied
suggestions he will make any fnancial
gain from the controversial share plans
of the Glazer family. Meanwhile, the
club said it had signed a seven-year
sponsorship deal with General Motors
to have the Chevrolet brand on the
clubs shirts starting in 2014. the deal is
thought to be worth $600 million.
northsouth September 2012 62
life & style

food standards
the un food standards body has
agreed on a new set of regulations
including the maximum level of
melamine in liquid milk formula
for babies to protect the health of
consumers across the world. other
measures adopted include new food
safety standards on seafood, melons,
dried fgs and food labelling. the Co-
dex Alimentarius Commission, sets
international food safety and quality
standards to promote safer and more
nutritious food for consumers world-
wide. Codex standards often serve as
a basis for national legislation, and
provide the food safety benchmarks
for international food trade. recom-
mendations include the wrapping of
pre-cut melons to prevent harmful
bacteria, a maximum of 10 g per
kilogram of carcinogenic afatoxins
in dried fgs, and a maximum limit of
0.15 mg/kg for melamine, which can
be lethal in high concentrations, in
liquid infant milk.
Despite the bad press that
traditional Chinese medicine
sometimes receives, proponents
believe it represents an untapped
pharmacopeia and are using
cutting edge biotechnology to
prove it. Professor Karl Wah-Keung
tsim, a neurobiologist who heads
a research team in the Life science
Division of the hong Kong special
Administrative region university
of science and technology, believes
that, for all the challenges it may
face, traditional Chinese medicine is
potentially a pharmacological gold
mine. there are around 100 000
formulas going back 2000 years,
drugs that can be used to treat a
range of illnesses from depression
and insomnia, to osteoporosis, he
says, pointing out that researchers
have already found at least one gem
in the form of artemisinin, which is
known asqinghaosu in Mandarin.
traditional medicine, primarily
the use of a combination of herbs
prescribed in compounds, is hugely
important in China, where it
represents around 40 per cent of
the Chinese pharmaceutical market,
with annual sales of $ 21 billion.
New drugs from ancient Chinese texts
scientists have found that people with
bigger brains tend to have a larger
circle of friends. researchers have
found that social skills are determined
by brain size and people who have a
larger orbital prefrontal cortex - the
part of the brain located just above the
eyes - tend to have more friends. this
is because keeping up with real-life
friendships - as opposed to Facebook
friends who we seldom or never meet
face-to-face - requires more cognitive
skills so that we can understand what
someone is thinking.
tests were conducted on 40 people as
part of the research, which was funded
by the British Academy Centenary
research Project and the British
Academy research Professorship.
researchers took anatomical Mr
images of participants' brains to
measure the size of their prefrontal
cortex, which is used for high-level
thinking.
Brainy people have more friends
us researchers say onions
could save thousands of lives by
preventing blood clots linked to
heart attacks and strokes. the
vegetable, as well as apples and
oranges, contains the natural
compound rutin, which was found
to fend off clots in thrombotic
mice. It means clots in arteries
and veins can be treated by a
single agent, the researchers
claim. human trials are planned,
as rutin has been ruled safe by
health officials.
Onions fend off heart
attacks, say researchers
stressed men prefer
mother-fgure women,
says study
stressed men gave signifcantly
higher ratings to normal and
overweight fgures than non-stressed
men. the range of women they saw
as attractive was also shifted towards
those who were heavier. For stressed
men, the threshold point after which
women became too big to be attractive
was higher. Dr Viren swami, from
the university of Westminster in
London, and Martin tovee, from
the university of newcastle, report
their fndings in the online journal
Public Library of science onE. the
scientists uncovered evidence of the
psychological effect after testing 81
male university students.

newS & viewS to bridge the global divide

northsouth September 2012 63
Technology hazards
the top 10 dangers posed by poor
use of medical devices have been
released by the Emergency Care
research Institute (ECrI). Alarm
fatigue, whereby health-care
workers become overwhelmed by
the sheer number of alarms on
medical devices, is top of the list.
Exposure to radiation from
chemotherapy and radiotherapy
is second, while errors giving
medication by infusion pumps
came third.
researchers took into account
several factors when compiling
the list, such as the likelihood
of the hazard occurring and its
harmfulness.
other health technology hazards
included: cross-contamination
from fexible endoscopes; enteral
feeding misconnections; surgical
fres; injuries from needles and
other sharp objects; anaesthesia
hazards and problems with home-
use medical devices.
Quitting smoking
enhances weight
gain, researchers say
After kicking the habit, former
smokers gained an average of
4.67kg in the year after they quit,
British and French research reveals.
Most the weight, 2.85kg, was put on
in the frst three months after giving
up. thirteen per cent of quitters
gained more that 10kg but 16 per
cent lost weight, the report says.
Doctors have discovered a child's risk
of developing an allergic disease is
doubled if a parent of the same sex
has suffered from it, new research
has claimed.
Professor hasan Arshad, a
consultant in allergy and immunology
at southampton General hospital,
in the united Kingdom, found that
allergies such as asthma and eczema
were gender-related and not simply
hereditary.
"We have known for decades that
allergy runs in the family and many
thought that maternal effect was
greater than paternal effect due to a
mothers' closeness to her child, but
we have discovered the inheritance is
from mother to daughter and father
to son," Prof Arshad said.
his team assessed 1,456 patients
recruited from birth 23 years ago
and found the risk of asthma in boys
was only increased if their fathers
suffered from the condition while, if
mothers had asthma, it doubled the
risk in their daughters but not sons.
the research, published in the
Journal of Allergy and Clinical
Immunology also showed maternal
eczema led to a 50 per cent increased
risk of eczema in girls, while paternal
eczema did the same for boys.
"In the past, studies looking at
the effect of parental allergy on
children have not split their samples
according to the sex of the child,
having assumed the mother and
father infuence is identical in males
and females," explained Prof Arshad,
who is also chair of allergy and
immunology at the university of
southampton.
"now, with these groundbreaking
fndings, we should see a change in
the way we assess a child's risk of
disease, asking girls for the allergy
history of their mother and boys for
that of their father.
"this work also opens up novel
areas for further research in the
genetics of allergy as to why this
sex dependent effect occurs and, if
we can fnd the reason, we can try to
fnd a way of preventing sex-specifc
disease," he added.
allergies gender related, says study
high levels of iron may be one reason
why eating red meat raises the risk
of bowel cancer, according to a study
by researchers in Birmingham,
united Kingdom.
Iron may interact with a faulty
gene in the gut to trigger cancer,
scientists said. red meat contains
large amounts of iron and is also
known to increase the likelihood of
bowel cancer.
the discovery could lead to new
cancer treatments that target iron
in the bowel.
In studies of mice, researchers
found that susceptibility to bowel
cancer was strongly infuenced both
by iron and a gene called APC. When
the APC gene was faulty, mice with
a high iron intake were two to three
times more likely to develop the
disease.
Mice fed a low iron diet remained
cancer free even if the gene was
defective. But when the APC
functioned normally, high iron
levels did no harm.
Iron 'may raise bowel cancer risk', study
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