Sunday, August 24, 2014

Libya capital under Islamist control; India's Modi struggles to deliver reforms; As transfusions decline, blood industry shrinks


1 Libya capital under Islamist control (Chris Stephen & Anne Penketh in The Guardian) Libya has lurched ever closer to fragmentation and civil war after Islamist-led militias seized the airport in the capital, Tripoli, proclaimed their own government, and presented the world with yet another crisis. Operation Dawn, a coalition of Islamist and Misrata forces, captured the airport on Saturday in fierce fighting against pro-government militias after a five-week siege that battered parts of the capital.

The victory, which secures Islamist control over Tripoli, was a culmination of weeks of fighting triggered by elections in July, lost by Islamist parties. Rather than accept the elections result Islamist leaders in Libya accused the new parliament of being dominated by supporters of the former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and have sought to restore the old national congress.

Libya's official parliament, the house of representatives, in the eastern city of Tobruk, denounced the attack as illegal, branding Dawn a "terrorist organisation" and announcing a state of war against the group. The move leaves Libya with two governments, one in Tripoli, and one in the east of the country, each battling for the hearts and minds of the country's myriad militias.

The weekend's developments threaten to tilt the country across the line from troubled post-Arab spring democracy to outright failed state. Egypt and Sudan are known to be watching developments closely, and last week the French president, François Hollande, said that despite the crises in Iraq, Syria, Ukraine and Gaza, his "biggest concern at the moment is Libya".

The security situation has become so parlous in Libya that the nation has been forced to withdraw as host for the African Cup of Nations in 2017. Many Libyans think fragmentation is now inevitable, with Islamist-led forces strong in Tripoli, and tribal and nationalists dominant in the east of the country. The key to victory could be as much economic as military. Libya's government might have lost control of the capital but for the moment it has international recognition, ensuring access to the country's rich oil reserves and foreign assets, worth an estimated £80bn.


2 India’s Modi struggles to deliver reforms (Khaleej Times) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shaken up India’s ruling elite in his first 100 days since taking power, but has so far struggled to deliver the bold reforms needed to kick-start the economy. Modi swept to power in May on a tide of hope after years of political stagnation and slowing economic growth in the world’s largest democracy.

His Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP)’s landslide election win gave them the strongest mandate in a generation. But the new government’s first budget was short on big-ticket reforms, and it ended its first parliamentary session in power this month without managing to push through even modest legislative changes.

Modi’s bold election promise to lift millions of Indians out of poverty through market forces took a further bashing when his government’s refusal to compromise over its food subsidies threatened a trade pact agreed by all 160 World Trade Organisation members. Inflation remains high at nearly 8.0 per cent, while industrial output expanded by an unexpectedly slow 3.4 percent in June, dimming prospects of a quick economic recovery.

Economist Bibek Debroy of the Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research says Modi’s ambitious targets will take time to fulfil. “Some things that need to be done for change require institutions and mechanisms that haven’t yet fallen in place.” When it comes to cleaning up those institutions, few fault Modi’s efforts.

Modi has refocused India’s diplomatic efforts on neighbouring countries after years of neglect and amid growing Chinese influence in the region. But early indications of warmer ties with Pakistan were dashed on Monday when India cancelled high-level diplomatic talks after Islamabad’s envoy held a meeting with Kashmiri separatists.

Sadanand Dhume of Washington-based think tank the American Enterprise Institute believes the positives outweigh the negatives. “Modi has started more slowly than expected, but most early signs are encouraging,” Dhume said. “As decisions pick up steam, this government may well fulfil its potential to transform India.”


3 As transfusions decline, blood industry shrinks (Matthew L Wald in The New York Times) Changes in medicine have eliminated the need for millions of blood transfusions, which is good news for patients getting procedures like coronary bypasses and other procedures that once required a lot of blood. But the trend is wreaking havoc in the blood bank business, forcing a wave of mergers and job cutbacks unlike anything the industry, which became large scale after World War II, has ever seen.

Transfusions are down almost one-third over the last five years, to about 11 million units last year from about 15 million units, according to the American Red Cross, which has about 40 percent of the market. With “minimally invasive” techniques like laparoscopic surgery and other shifts in medicine, demand for blood continues to drop despite population growth and a soaring number of people over 65, who have the most surgeries requiring blood.

Blood bank revenue is falling, and the decline may reach $1.5 billion a year this year from a high of $5 billion in 2008. As fewer units of blood are used, hospitals, seeing strong supply and weak demand, are asking for a lower price per unit.

As a result, the blood bank business has already lost some jobs, and the losses will reach as high as 12,000 within the next three to five years, roughly a quarter of the total in the industry, according to the Red Cross. Officials expressed some concern that the decline could reduce the system’s ability to respond to crises or to invest in new products or research.

From time to time since 2008, the Red Cross operated at a deficit. But it balanced its budget partly by cutting 1,500 jobs. Shaun Gilmore, president of Biomedical Services at the American Red Cross, said the organization was also looking to give up some real estate as it shrinks its operations to an appropriate size.

Blood services amount to $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion of the group’s budget, which this year is about $3 billion, executives said. Of the organization’s 26,500 employees, 17,000 work in the blood program. The Red Cross wants the blood program to cover its own costs, or perhaps achieve a small surplus for reinvestment. One reason for declining demand is that recent studies have found many transfusions unnecessary, so patients are no longer getting expensive services that did them no good.

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