1 China factory output shrinks (Straits Times) Growth
in China's immense factory sector stalled in November, with output contracting
for the first time in six months, a private survey has shown, adding to signs
that the world's second-largest economy may still be losing traction.
The flash HSBC/Markit manufacturing purchasing
managers' index (PMI) fell to a six-month low of 50.0 from a final reading of
50.4 in October and well below the 50.3 reading forecast by analysts.
A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while one
below 50 points to contraction on a monthly basis. The factory output sub-index
fell to 49.5, the first contraction since May.
2 UK Royal Mail faces Amazon threat (Julia Kollewe
& Graeme Wearden in The Guardian) Royal Mail has warned that growing
competition from Amazon will hit its UK parcels business, as it reported a 21%
fall in first-half profits.
The 500-year-old postal service, which was
privatised last October, said operating profits before transformation costs
fell to £279m in the six months to 28 September. The figure was at the top end
of analysts’ forecasts. Revenues rose 2% to £4.5bn.
While the results were not as weak as feared, the
outlook for the parcel market is worse and took the City by surprise. The group
said Amazon’s own delivery service would cut the annual rate of growth in the
UK parcels market to 1-2% for the next two years. This is half the 4% growth
expected for this year. Last month, Amazon launched a same-day delivery service
which allows customers to collect items from local newsagents and high street
shops, through a tie-up with the distribution group Smiths News.
Jefferies analyst David Kerstens said: “This implies
parcel revenues would remain at best stable, which compares to our assumption
of 2% parcel revenue growth and compared to double-digit parcel revenue growth
historically.”
The parcels business is Royal Mail’s main area of
growth as online shopping makes up for the decline in letters due to the shift
to email and social media. Currently 10% of UK retail sales happen online,
which is set to rise to 13% by 2017.
3 Why Indians flock to gurus (Soutik Biswas on BBC) I
don't think many people were aware of the controversial Hindu guru Rampal before
Tuesday's violent clashes between his supporters and the police. But then India
is a country of more than a billion people and tens of thousands of gurus.
There are gurus for rich and poor. Many of them
command huge followings at home and overseas counting politicians, film and
cricket stars, bureaucrats and ordinary people among their devotees.
The
world's best known cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar, is a follower of Sai Baba,
whose mystique and influence lasted long after his death in 2011. Gurus also
peddle influence as politicians run to them for advice. Proximity to a guru
legitimises a politician and adds to his power, says sociologist Shiv
Visvanathan. Many of the gurus are also successful entrepreneurs and run
massive business empires, selling traditional medicines, health products, yoga
classes and spiritual therapies.
A guru from Punjab, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who
heads a popular religious sect, even performs at rock concerts and acts in
films. The gurus also believe in what big companies call "corporate social
responsibility", or investing in communities and caring for the
environment. So they supply drinking water to parched villages, run rehab
programmes for prisoners and drug addicts, organise blood donation camps and
open schools for poor children.
So what accounts for India's enduring relationship
with gurus? For one, in a fast-urbanising country bristling with ambition,
frustration and confusion, gurus are like placebos for the uncertain masses.
People flock to them, thinking that they can help give them the next big break
in their lives.
Also, most Indians believe in magic, miracle and
faith healing. Sociologist Dipankar Gupta says Hinduism depends on magic more
than other religions as "Hinduism does not have a single book and
communion". "If you are in a communion, you pray together, you have
other kinds of solace," he says. So many Indians depend on gurus to
produce miracles and improve their lives.
"Gurus are essentially seen as magicians who
promise miracles. You go to a guru hoping he will deliver things to you.
Religion, as we know it, is just a gloss and doesn't draw Indians to gurus in
the first place," says Dr Gupta. As long as belief in magic and miracle
survives and times remain uncertain, India's gurus are assured a place in the
sun.
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