1 Global economy deep in danger zone (BBC) The world's economy is "deeply into the danger zone" because of risks from the eurozone, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said. The IMF predicts the global economy will grow by 3.25% in 2012, down from an earlier forecast of 4%. The growth forecast for the UK economy has been cut to 0.6% from 1.6%. But the eurozone is set for a "mild recession" in 2012, with GDP expected to shrink by 0.5%, compared with a previous forecast of 1.1% growth.
2 Trade deficit for Japan (BBC) Japan has announced its first annual trade deficit in more than 30 years, a setback for a country known for its exports including cars and electronics. The deficit came in at 2.49 trillion yen ($32bn; £20bn) for 2011, the finance ministry said. Japan's imports rose 12% and its exports fell 2.7%, compared to the previous year. The decline in exports was attributed to the impact from the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March.
The deficit underscores the pressure that Japanese exporters have come under since the disaster. Factories were damaged and supply chains disrupted for major exporters including Toyota Motor and Sony. Exporters' problems have been exacerbated by further disruptions to production in some of their Thailand facilities due to flooding, as well by a rising yen, which makes Japanese products more expensive overseas. "It reflects fundamental changes in Japan's economy, particularly among manufacturers," said Hideki Matsumura of Japan Research Institute. "Japan is losing its competitiveness to produce domestically."
3 Record net profit for Apple (BBC) Apple reported record-breaking net profits for the three months to 31 December 2011 of $13.06bn, up 118% from the same period in 2010. The company also sold 37 million iPhones, more than twice as many as it sold in the last quarter of 2010. "Apple's momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline," said chief executive Tim Cook. The firm is expected to release its iPad 3 in March this year. "We are very happy to have generated over $17.5bn in cash flow from operations during the December quarter," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2012, we expect revenue of about $32.5bn and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $8.50."
4 Worrying victory for India’s extremes (BBC) The Sir Salman Rushdie pull-out - first physical, and then virtual - from the Jaipur literature festival must come as a huge embarrassment for India, a nation that openly talks about its aspirations of becoming a superpower. Once again, the so-called "mighty" Indian state has succumbed to threats of violence from fringe, trouble-making religious groups. Once again, it has been proved that it only requires the threat of violence to hold India to ransom.
Once again, politicians - from right to left of centre to communists - remained speechless bystanders, showing how a politics of compromise and cowardice has numbed India. Once again, worryingly, it shows how Indians are becoming inured to frequent assaults on free speech and an ineffectual state. The mob rules, so why risk your life taking it on? Sir Salman's failure to speak at the festival, many would argue, is India's collective failure. "This has always been a contested country. This kind of bigotry will carry on," said author and Tehelka magazine editor, Tarun Tejpal, in a conversation at the festival. Mr Tejpal is correct. It is the duty of the state - and Indians - to stand up and contest this kind of bigotry.
5 UK debt hits a trillion (The Guardian) The governor of the Bank of England has warned that the path to economic recovery would be "arduous, long and uneven" after official figures showed the UK national debt had hit £1tn for the first time. Sir Mervyn King said the huge debt burden built up by consumers, banks and the government in the good years would weigh on the economy for years to come. "After the steepest downturn in output since the 1930s, the UK economy is in the process of rebalancing," he said. Given the size of the debts accumulated by consumers, banks and the government before the credit crisis in 2008, "the path of recovery is likely to be arduous, long and uneven".
News that the government now owes a total of £1tn underlines the scale of the task facing the Treasury in bringing the public finances under control, although the monthly public finance figures also showed that the chancellor, George Osborne, is making progress in tackling the deficit – which is the gap between the government's revenues and expenditure. Official figures released on Tuesday showed total public sector net debt (excluding impact of the 2008 banking bailouts) rose to £1.004tn in December, equivalent to 64.2% of GDP, up from 59.4% a year ago. "[This] shows the unsustainable level of spending this country built up over the past few years, and shows why it is critical for our nation's future that we deal decisively with the deficit," a Treasury spokesman said.
6 Gaddafi strikes back from the grave (Johannesburg Times) Muammar Gaddafi loyalists have seized control of a Libyan town and raised the ousted regime's green flag. The seizure of Bani Walid comes as Libya's new leaders struggle to unify the oil-rich country three months after Gaddafi was captured and killed. Hundreds of well-equipped and highly trained remnants of Gaddafi's forces raised the green flag over Bani Walid's buildings after hours of clashes on Monday, said Mubarak al-Fatamni, head of the local council. The attacks, which have led the authorities to declare states of emergency in several areas, are the latest breakdown in security. Protests have surged in recent weeks, with people demanding that the interim leaders deliver on their promises.
7 No more resumes for some firms (Wall Street Journal) Union Square Ventures recently posted an opening for an investment analyst. Instead of asking for résumés, the New York venture-capital firm—which has invested in Twitter, Foursquare, Zynga and other technology companies—asked applicants to send links representing their "Web presence," such as a Twitter account or Tumblr blog. Applicants also had to submit short videos demonstrating their interest in the position. Union Square says its process nets better-quality candidates and the firm plans to use it going forward to fill analyst positions and other jobs. Companies are increasingly relying on social networks such as LinkedIn, video profiles and online quizzes to gauge candidates' suitability for a job. While most still request a résumé as part of the application package, some are bypassing the staid requirement altogether.
8 Stream it like Malkapur (Isher Judge Ahluwalia in The Financial Express) Malkapur, a small town in Satara district of Maharashtra, with a population of about 40,000, has shown the way. It is delivering water 24x7 to all its residents as a result of concrete steps taken by the Malkapur Nagar Panchayat (MNP) with support from the Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP), a state government entity. Malkapur, located on the outskirts of the city of Karad, is a new urban area. I had the privilege of participating in a recent seminar of the Asian Development Bank, which focussed on best practices in urban development in Asia. The story of the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) is an outstanding example of public sector turnaround. I wondered when we will see something like this happening in India. There are some examples of public private partnerships delivering continuous supply of water, but can our public sector do the same? Well, Malkapur has done it! It is indeed a home-grown initiative driven by the public sector while engaging and involving the multiple stakeholders.
9 Who gets the traffic ticket for autonomous cars? (International Herald Tribune) Even as Google tests its small fleet of self-driving vehicles on California highways, legal scholars and government officials are warning that society has only begun wrestling with the changes that would be required in a system created a century ago to meet the challenge of horseless carriages. What happens if a police officer wants to pull one of the autonomous vehicles over? When it stops at a four-way intersection, would it be too polite to take its turn ahead of aggressive human drivers (or equally polite robots)? What sort of insurance would it need? These and other implications of what Google calls autonomous vehicles were debated by Silicon Valley technologists, legal scholars and government regulators last week.
10 Chennai low on 'walkability' (The Hindu) Chennai enda up last in a list of 21 Asian cities surveyed for ‘walkability’, or how good they are for pedestrians. (Being a pedestrian in Chennai, I can say no study is required to make that finding. I fear for the day some two or three-wheeler may knock me while I’m on a footpath.)
11 The trouble with turmeric (The Hindu) Turmeric farmers in Tamil Nadu's Erode district have stopped auctions to protest price crash and draw the government's attention to plummeting prices. Turmeric prices went from Rs 8,000 per quintal in 2008-09 to Rs 17,000 the next year, and has now dropped to Rs 6,000. Many farmers who rushed in to grow turmeric, enthused by the price of Rs 17,000, are now in trouble. (Remember the great vanilla rush some 10 years ago?)
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