1 Saudi FM sacked in effort to remake economy
(Straits Times) Saudi Arabia's Finance Minister for two decades was replaced on
Monday, the latest in a series of government shake-ups as the world's largest
oil exporter tries to remake its economy.
A royal order excused Mr Ibrahim Al-Assaf from his
post and replaced him with Mr Mohammed Al-Jadaan, formerly head of the
kingdom's Capital Markets Authority. Mr Al-Assaf was appointed a state minister
and will remain a member of the Cabinet.
Low crude prices have battered Saudi Arabia's
economy and opened a hole in its budget that reached nearly $100 billion last
year. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced Saudi Vision 2030 in
April to overhaul the kingdom's economy and government.
A Cabinet reshuffle in May replaced long-time Oil
Minister Ali Al-Naimi as well as other top officials but left Mr Al-Assaf in
his position, making him the longest serving minister in the kingdom. Mr
Al-Assaf was one of three officials who appeared on a popular Saudi talk show
this month to defend recent austerity measures implemented by the government.
The ministers' performance was criticised by many Saudis who said they were
unconvinced.
2 Tata’s dented image (Yogita Limaye on BBC) "Trust",
"trustworthy", "reliable", "prestigious" - these
are the answers I got when I asked a few people to give me a word that they
associated with India’s Tata brand. So the ugly public spat between the Tata
group and its ousted chairman, Cyrus Mistry, is not just an upheaval for the
corporate world here. It has shaken the faith of millions of ordinary Indians.
The respect that people feel for the group, to a
large extent, comes from the stature of the men who have led the company over
the years: from its visionary founder, Jamsetji Tata, to the pioneering JRD
Tata who was chairman of the group for more than 50 years and, in recent
decades, Ratan Tata, who was behind the firm's global expansion.
Ratan Tata managed to keep his reputation as one of
India's most revered business leaders intact. In 2012, at the age of 75, he
retired after serving as chairman of the Tata group for more than 20 years. The
day he stepped down, newspapers were full of glowing commentaries about him. Four
years later, the cautious and private man finds himself at the centre of a
bitter controversy.
In a letter to the Tata board, sacked chairman Cyrus
Mistry accused Mr Tata of interfering in the running of the company and
thrusting business decisions on him. Tata Sons has rejected the claims, saying
Mr Mistry was given complete autonomy. But the allegations have sowed the seeds
of doubt in the minds of many.
"It has dented the reputation of Mr Tata,"
says Rajiv Kumar from think tank Centre for Policy Research. "It
demonstrates that he wasn't as hands off as he claimed and he took part in
decisions or at least tried to influence decisions. It shows that he found it
difficult to go away."
It is unclear how this dispute will play out in the
coming days. Both sides have been frantically consulting lawyers. This, even as
most of the group's companies struggle to make money.
It has certainly left Tata's employees and investors
worried but the overwhelming feeling among people is one of sadness, a sense of
despondency at watching a name that India feels proud of being dragged through
the mud.
3 Alarming deforestation for avocados (San Francisco
Chronicle) Deforestation caused by the expansion of Mexican avocado orchards is
much higher than previously thought, authorities have said.
Talia Coria, an official in the attorney general's
office for environmental protection, said almost 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares)
of forest land are converted to agricultural uses each year in the western
state of Michoacan, the world's top producer of avocados.
Coria said between 30 percent and 40 percent of the
annual forest loss is due to avocados. That is about 15,000 to 20,000 acres
(6,000 to 8,000 hectares). Experts say a mature avocado orchard uses almost twice
as much water as fairly dense forest, meaning less water reaches Michoacan's
legendary crystalline mountain streams on which trees and animals in the
forests depend.
Guillermo Haro, the attorney general for
environmental protection, said Michoacan grows about eight out of 10 avocados
exported worldwide, but added that the state's forests "are a wealth
greater than any export of avocados."
Mexico's National Institute for Forestry, Farming
and Fisheries Research had previously estimated the loss of forest land to
avocado planting at about 1,700 acres (690 hectares) a year from 2000 through
2010. However, the rising popularity of the fruit and higher prices have
apparently lured growers to expand orchards faster in recent years.
The largely impoverished state depends on avocado
growing and harvesting for jobs and income as an alternative to the rampant
production of synthetic drugs that also exists in the state. Coria said
authorities have begun meetings with avocado producers to discuss the problem
of deforestation. She noted that other agricultural sectors, such as berry and
peach farms and cattle ranches, have contributed to deforestation in Michoacan.
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