1 China’s vanishing trade imbalance (The New York Times) Something unexpected has happened to China’s economy. Its surplus with the rest of the world has largely disappeared. China’s imbalance with the US is still likely to take center stage when Treasury Secretary Timothy F Geithner sits down to the fourth round of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue this week. But he will have a harder time making the case that America’s trade deficit is somehow China’s fault.
China’s current-account surplus — the broadest measure of its trade relations, which tracks how much more China exports in goods and services than it imports — has plummeted. In 2007 it amounted to more than 10% of the entire Chinese economy. By last year it had shrunk to about 2.8%. The US’ current-account deficit has shrunk, too, to 3.1% from 5.1 of American gross domestic product. Still, there is reason to think that China’s economic strategy may be turning a corner. While its current-account surplus with the US, $318 billion last year, was somewhat bigger than it was in 2007, China actually ran a big deficit with the rest of the world. China’s vast takeover of world markets may be running out of steam.
2 The world has more hogs (San Francisco Chronicle) "We're not running out of hogs", says John Nalivka, president of agricultural research firm Sterling Marketing, on the US pig population hitting record levels. US farmers will raise 117.1 million porkers this year, the most in at least a half century, as world output increases 2.7% to an all-time high, according to US Department of Agriculture estimates. The glut is putting pressure on futures prices, which may drop 10% to 78 cents a pound in Chicago by year-end, analysts predict.
3 Idols and pollution (The Guardian) Do the gods pollute? Scientists in India, worried about the public health consequences of immersing idols in lakes and rivers, have been looking anew at water pollution. Most of their research has focused on idols of the elephant-headed god Ganesh, created for the annual Ganesh Chaturthi celebration. Ganesh Chaturthi involves large, public festivals in many parts of India. Researchers have also looked, a little, at the effects of immersing other idols, especially those of the many-armed goddess Durga.
Some studies concentrate on isolating the effects of idols from those of other sources. Impact of Ganesh Idol Immersion Activities on the Water Quality of Tapi River, Surat (Gujarat, India) says the “main reason of the deterioration of water quality . . . is various religious activities”, with special blame given to “the plaster of paris, clothes, iron rods, chemical colours, varnish and paints used for making the idols”. Heavy Metal Contamination Cause of Idol Immersion Activities in Urban Lake Bhopal, India, published in 2007, finds that idol immersion has become “a major source of contamination and sedimentation to the lake water”. It warns that idol-derived heavy metals are likely to find their way into “fishes and birds inhabiting the lake, which finally reach humans through food”. The authors want to “educate idol makers” to make their idols small, of non-baked, quick-dissolving clay, and with “natural colours used in food products”.
4 Dow Jones at 4-year high (BBC) The Dow Jones index in New York has closed at its highest level for more than four years after data showed US manufacturing was stronger than expected in April. The Dow rose 66 points to finish the session at 13,279, its highest since 28 December 2007. The index has been rising steadily since sinking below the 7,000 mark at the beginning of 2009, and broke back above 13,000 in February this year.
5 Murdoch ‘not fit’ to run News Corp (BBC) The bombshell is on page 70 of the report by the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee into News International and phone-hacking. It is worth quoting in full: "If at all relevant times, Rupert Murdoch did not take steps to become fully informed about phone-hacking, he turned a blind eye and exhibited wilful blindess to what was going on in his companies and publications. This culture, we consider, permeated from the top throughout the organisation and speaks volumes about the lack of effective corporate governance at News Corporation and News International. We conclude therefore that Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company".
That description of Mr Murdoch by the British parliament as "not a fit person" is likely to have significant consequences. It will force the board of News Corporation to review whether the 81 year-old, who created one of the most powerful media groups the world has ever seen, should remain as its executive chairman. It will push Ofcom, the media regulator, closer to the conclusion that British Sky Broadcasting is not fit and proper to hold a broadcasting licence, for as long as News Corporation owns 39% of BSkyB.
6 After Arab Spring tourism blooms again in Tunisia (Khaleej Times) In 2011 fewer than 5 million people visited the country that witnessed the start of the Arab Spring, when a revolution ousted veteran dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, sparking a wave of uprisings across the region. Visitor numbers were down from 7 million in 2010 while tourism income, Tunisia’s top source of foreign currency, fell by a third in 2011, or 1 billion Tunisian dinars ($653 million). Twenty five hotels closed, costing 3,500 jobs. This year, the sector hopes to recover half its losses, attracting 6 million visitors and raking in 500 million dinars more than last year for its depleted coffers.
Tunisia’s economy is relatively small - gross domestic product is about the same size as that of the Dominican Republic. But it could be a bellwether for how bigger non-oil-based economies will fare in recovering from the Arab Spring, particularly Egypt. Tourism arrivals jumped 53% in the first quarter from the same period last year. That compares with a 28% decline in January arrivals to Egypt, where presidential elections will take place next month, more than a year after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.
7 The folly that is Siachen (Dawn) The deadly avalanche that buried 139 Pakistani soldiers has once again brought Siachen into focus as not only one of the issues that bedevils India-Pak relations. It is also a particularly egregious example of a poverty-stricken region wasting precious lives and resources for prolonging a political and military stalemate that serves no purpose other than to make improvement in India-Pakistan relations more difficult.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said in Siachen that “there could be no redrawing of boundaries” but implicit in this was that this red line in Siachen as in other parts of Kashmir could be finessed by making “borders irrelevant”. As is known, this effort at resolving the issue and creating a positive ambience for further negotiations on more intractable issues foundered on the Indian army’s insistence that if the political leadership asked it to withdraw from the positions it was holding, the leadership should not expect the army to retake these positions if the Pakistanis ‘treacherously’ moved in and occupied them. The loss of life at Gayari and what we have learnt about the quickening pace of glacial melt because of our military presence makes disengagement even more urgent.
8 Asia’s biggest May Day rally in Indonesia (Straits Times) Thousands of Indonesian workers held Asia's biggest May Day rally on Tuesday, demanding better pay and protection of job security, watched warily by a heavy police and army presence. Carrying banners saying 'raise our salaries' and 'stop outsourcing contracts", more than 9,000 workers gathered at Jakarta's main roundabout before marching to the state palace. Around 16,000 police and soldiers were deployed to guard the protest, Jakarta police spokesman Rikwanto said.
9 The death of truth itself (Rafia Zakaria in Dawn) The compound has been demolished and the wives shipped off to Saudi Arabia. In the one year since Osama bin Laden’s death the physical evidence of his presence, his home and household have all but been eliminated from Pakistani soil. If these were indicators of the end of an era, the dislocation of terror and its tentacles in Pakistani soil then Pakistanis could all have heaved a collective sigh of relief on this day. As history or fate would have it, such scenes are not destined for Pakistan. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, the country saw 476 major (involving three or more deaths) incidents of terrorism in 2011.
A poll, conducted by Gallup International in the immediate aftermath of the raid, found that only 25% of Pakistanis actually believed that the person attacked in Abbottabad that day was Osama bin Laden. Pakistanis did not believe in the death of Osama bin Laden, because the most tragic, heartrending and invisible casualty of terror in Pakistan has been the death of truth itself. With the proliferation of terror has come the elevation of secrecy, a new creed practised by governments and intelligence agencies, foreign governments and spymasters, extremist outfits that change names with the seasons and all those who shelter them.
10 India’s battle over beef (The Wall Street Journal) In recent years, political pundits have been saying that voters are tiring of religious partisanship. Issues like the Babri Masjid verdict, in which both Hindu and Muslim groups laid religious claim to a particular spot, no longer appear to have the political weight they used to. But while the temple-versus-mosque quarrel at Ayodhya may be receding, the sectarian battle seems to be shifting to another ground: beef.
In recent years, several Indian states have, well, beefed up their cow protection laws, including Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Dalit activists and other groups aren’t happy about the trend. Two weeks ago, students at Hyderabad’s Osmania University organized a beef-eating festival on campus to stake their claim to steak. Or rather, beef biryani. Dalit poet Meena Kandasamy cited an essay of the father of the Constitution BR Ambedkar, who theorized that upper-caste Hindus who owned cattle designated those who disposed of dead cattle – and ate their meat – as untouchables. Eating beef, she says, is “an act of Dalit assertion.” Ms Kandasamy says she disagrees with Hindu groups who equate their stance on beef with the Muslim prohibition on eating pork, noting that Muslims don’t demand that all Indians give up pork.
But those who would like to prevent beef consumption by other people have a potent tool on their side – the Indian Constitution includes the prevention of cattle slaughter as one of the directive principles of state policy, although this is ostensibly for agricultural purposes, not religious ones. The Gujarat law, for example, is called The Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 2011.
11 Lokpal will only fill jails, says Kalam (CNN-IBN) Former India President APJ Abdul Kalam has criticised the call for a strong Lokpal Bill. He said that the Lokpal Bill would only serve to fill up the jails. "What Lokpal will do is that if it finds anyone guilty it would put them in jail, and jails will be filled up. What we want is nobody should go to jail as we want good human beings," Kalam said. Launching the Jharkhand Chapter of 'What Can I Give Mission', the missile man advised the children to make their homes corruption-free by preventing the members of their family from indulging in graft.
China’s current-account surplus — the broadest measure of its trade relations, which tracks how much more China exports in goods and services than it imports — has plummeted. In 2007 it amounted to more than 10% of the entire Chinese economy. By last year it had shrunk to about 2.8%. The US’ current-account deficit has shrunk, too, to 3.1% from 5.1 of American gross domestic product. Still, there is reason to think that China’s economic strategy may be turning a corner. While its current-account surplus with the US, $318 billion last year, was somewhat bigger than it was in 2007, China actually ran a big deficit with the rest of the world. China’s vast takeover of world markets may be running out of steam.
2 The world has more hogs (San Francisco Chronicle) "We're not running out of hogs", says John Nalivka, president of agricultural research firm Sterling Marketing, on the US pig population hitting record levels. US farmers will raise 117.1 million porkers this year, the most in at least a half century, as world output increases 2.7% to an all-time high, according to US Department of Agriculture estimates. The glut is putting pressure on futures prices, which may drop 10% to 78 cents a pound in Chicago by year-end, analysts predict.
3 Idols and pollution (The Guardian) Do the gods pollute? Scientists in India, worried about the public health consequences of immersing idols in lakes and rivers, have been looking anew at water pollution. Most of their research has focused on idols of the elephant-headed god Ganesh, created for the annual Ganesh Chaturthi celebration. Ganesh Chaturthi involves large, public festivals in many parts of India. Researchers have also looked, a little, at the effects of immersing other idols, especially those of the many-armed goddess Durga.
Some studies concentrate on isolating the effects of idols from those of other sources. Impact of Ganesh Idol Immersion Activities on the Water Quality of Tapi River, Surat (Gujarat, India) says the “main reason of the deterioration of water quality . . . is various religious activities”, with special blame given to “the plaster of paris, clothes, iron rods, chemical colours, varnish and paints used for making the idols”. Heavy Metal Contamination Cause of Idol Immersion Activities in Urban Lake Bhopal, India, published in 2007, finds that idol immersion has become “a major source of contamination and sedimentation to the lake water”. It warns that idol-derived heavy metals are likely to find their way into “fishes and birds inhabiting the lake, which finally reach humans through food”. The authors want to “educate idol makers” to make their idols small, of non-baked, quick-dissolving clay, and with “natural colours used in food products”.
4 Dow Jones at 4-year high (BBC) The Dow Jones index in New York has closed at its highest level for more than four years after data showed US manufacturing was stronger than expected in April. The Dow rose 66 points to finish the session at 13,279, its highest since 28 December 2007. The index has been rising steadily since sinking below the 7,000 mark at the beginning of 2009, and broke back above 13,000 in February this year.
5 Murdoch ‘not fit’ to run News Corp (BBC) The bombshell is on page 70 of the report by the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee into News International and phone-hacking. It is worth quoting in full: "If at all relevant times, Rupert Murdoch did not take steps to become fully informed about phone-hacking, he turned a blind eye and exhibited wilful blindess to what was going on in his companies and publications. This culture, we consider, permeated from the top throughout the organisation and speaks volumes about the lack of effective corporate governance at News Corporation and News International. We conclude therefore that Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company".
That description of Mr Murdoch by the British parliament as "not a fit person" is likely to have significant consequences. It will force the board of News Corporation to review whether the 81 year-old, who created one of the most powerful media groups the world has ever seen, should remain as its executive chairman. It will push Ofcom, the media regulator, closer to the conclusion that British Sky Broadcasting is not fit and proper to hold a broadcasting licence, for as long as News Corporation owns 39% of BSkyB.
6 After Arab Spring tourism blooms again in Tunisia (Khaleej Times) In 2011 fewer than 5 million people visited the country that witnessed the start of the Arab Spring, when a revolution ousted veteran dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, sparking a wave of uprisings across the region. Visitor numbers were down from 7 million in 2010 while tourism income, Tunisia’s top source of foreign currency, fell by a third in 2011, or 1 billion Tunisian dinars ($653 million). Twenty five hotels closed, costing 3,500 jobs. This year, the sector hopes to recover half its losses, attracting 6 million visitors and raking in 500 million dinars more than last year for its depleted coffers.
Tunisia’s economy is relatively small - gross domestic product is about the same size as that of the Dominican Republic. But it could be a bellwether for how bigger non-oil-based economies will fare in recovering from the Arab Spring, particularly Egypt. Tourism arrivals jumped 53% in the first quarter from the same period last year. That compares with a 28% decline in January arrivals to Egypt, where presidential elections will take place next month, more than a year after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.
7 The folly that is Siachen (Dawn) The deadly avalanche that buried 139 Pakistani soldiers has once again brought Siachen into focus as not only one of the issues that bedevils India-Pak relations. It is also a particularly egregious example of a poverty-stricken region wasting precious lives and resources for prolonging a political and military stalemate that serves no purpose other than to make improvement in India-Pakistan relations more difficult.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said in Siachen that “there could be no redrawing of boundaries” but implicit in this was that this red line in Siachen as in other parts of Kashmir could be finessed by making “borders irrelevant”. As is known, this effort at resolving the issue and creating a positive ambience for further negotiations on more intractable issues foundered on the Indian army’s insistence that if the political leadership asked it to withdraw from the positions it was holding, the leadership should not expect the army to retake these positions if the Pakistanis ‘treacherously’ moved in and occupied them. The loss of life at Gayari and what we have learnt about the quickening pace of glacial melt because of our military presence makes disengagement even more urgent.
8 Asia’s biggest May Day rally in Indonesia (Straits Times) Thousands of Indonesian workers held Asia's biggest May Day rally on Tuesday, demanding better pay and protection of job security, watched warily by a heavy police and army presence. Carrying banners saying 'raise our salaries' and 'stop outsourcing contracts", more than 9,000 workers gathered at Jakarta's main roundabout before marching to the state palace. Around 16,000 police and soldiers were deployed to guard the protest, Jakarta police spokesman Rikwanto said.
9 The death of truth itself (Rafia Zakaria in Dawn) The compound has been demolished and the wives shipped off to Saudi Arabia. In the one year since Osama bin Laden’s death the physical evidence of his presence, his home and household have all but been eliminated from Pakistani soil. If these were indicators of the end of an era, the dislocation of terror and its tentacles in Pakistani soil then Pakistanis could all have heaved a collective sigh of relief on this day. As history or fate would have it, such scenes are not destined for Pakistan. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, the country saw 476 major (involving three or more deaths) incidents of terrorism in 2011.
A poll, conducted by Gallup International in the immediate aftermath of the raid, found that only 25% of Pakistanis actually believed that the person attacked in Abbottabad that day was Osama bin Laden. Pakistanis did not believe in the death of Osama bin Laden, because the most tragic, heartrending and invisible casualty of terror in Pakistan has been the death of truth itself. With the proliferation of terror has come the elevation of secrecy, a new creed practised by governments and intelligence agencies, foreign governments and spymasters, extremist outfits that change names with the seasons and all those who shelter them.
10 India’s battle over beef (The Wall Street Journal) In recent years, political pundits have been saying that voters are tiring of religious partisanship. Issues like the Babri Masjid verdict, in which both Hindu and Muslim groups laid religious claim to a particular spot, no longer appear to have the political weight they used to. But while the temple-versus-mosque quarrel at Ayodhya may be receding, the sectarian battle seems to be shifting to another ground: beef.
In recent years, several Indian states have, well, beefed up their cow protection laws, including Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Dalit activists and other groups aren’t happy about the trend. Two weeks ago, students at Hyderabad’s Osmania University organized a beef-eating festival on campus to stake their claim to steak. Or rather, beef biryani. Dalit poet Meena Kandasamy cited an essay of the father of the Constitution BR Ambedkar, who theorized that upper-caste Hindus who owned cattle designated those who disposed of dead cattle – and ate their meat – as untouchables. Eating beef, she says, is “an act of Dalit assertion.” Ms Kandasamy says she disagrees with Hindu groups who equate their stance on beef with the Muslim prohibition on eating pork, noting that Muslims don’t demand that all Indians give up pork.
But those who would like to prevent beef consumption by other people have a potent tool on their side – the Indian Constitution includes the prevention of cattle slaughter as one of the directive principles of state policy, although this is ostensibly for agricultural purposes, not religious ones. The Gujarat law, for example, is called The Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 2011.
11 Lokpal will only fill jails, says Kalam (CNN-IBN) Former India President APJ Abdul Kalam has criticised the call for a strong Lokpal Bill. He said that the Lokpal Bill would only serve to fill up the jails. "What Lokpal will do is that if it finds anyone guilty it would put them in jail, and jails will be filled up. What we want is nobody should go to jail as we want good human beings," Kalam said. Launching the Jharkhand Chapter of 'What Can I Give Mission', the missile man advised the children to make their homes corruption-free by preventing the members of their family from indulging in graft.
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