Taking Africa up; Saudi Arabia mulls sovereign wealth fund; How women sabotage their careers

1 Taking Africa up (Jonathan Power in Khaleej Times) Black Africa long went deeply down. Now it is rushing headlong up. But ‘up’ brings problems of its own. A country’s policy makers have to work as hard in successful, speedy, times as they did when they moved painfully from the first rung of the ladder to the second and third.

Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned that the planned issuing this year of a total of $11 billion worth of sovereign bonds around Africa could overload economies with too much debt. (This is up from $6 billion a year ago and $1 billion in 2000.) She warned African foreign ministers that “Africa rising” could be “spoilt”. Although Africa needs the money for things like much needed infrastructure, borrowing gives governments “an additional vulnerability”. This is especially so when it doubles the salaries of civil servants, as Zambia recently did.

Part of the problem is that Africa is a victim of its own success, argues Ravi Bhati, regional analyst at Standard and Poor’s. As economic growth accelerates, “countries are sucking in imports causing the current account to post sizeable deficits”. On the positive side much is going on. The African Development Bank forecasts that foreign investment flows into Africa will rise this year to $83 billion, up by nearly a quarter from last year.

Africa is where much of the world’s economic action is. But there has been much criticism of its “cheque book” activities whereby money has been lent to African countries mainly to benefit China’s construction groups, which have built everything from roads to hospitals. There have also been complaints about the poor quality of some Chinese-built infrastructure projects and the use of migrant labour from China rather than using local labour.

Africa and its foreign investors have much to learn and much to be aware of. They must listen to the IMF which casts a disinterested eye. It is often said that Africa has nowhere to go but up. Long may it be so.

 http://khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2014/June/opinion_June16.xml&section=opinion

2 Saudi Arabia mulls sovereign wealth fund (Straits Times) Saudi Arabia's Shura Council, an influential advisory body to the government, will discuss a proposal for the country to establish a sovereign wealth fund that would invest some of its vast oil earnings. The National Reserve Fund would "guarantee the financial stability of the kingdom" by investing its reserves.

Details of its investment strategy were not given, but if the proposed Saudi fund is run like the sovereign wealth funds of other wealthy Gulf states such as Qatar and Abu Dhabi, it could mean a change in the way Saudi money flows through global markets.

The country's central bank, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, has traditionally managed the country's investment of oil surpluses abroad, focusing on low-risk assets; it is believed to have placed over half of its foreign reserves, now equivalent to about US$730 billion, in conservative US dollar assets such as US Treasury bonds and bank accounts.

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/business/more-business-stories/story/saudi-arabia-discuss-proposal-sovereign-wealth-fund-201406

3 How women sabotage their careers (Kim Thompson in San Francisco Chronicle) Despite possibly having a successful career with numerous promotions, women can be their own worst enemies by sabotaging their success at work. Women often harbor self-defeating thoughts without thinking about the consequences or the messages they send to others who can influence their career opportunities.

According to a Pew Research Center survey of 2,002 adults, women of all ages, just like men, want a secure job they enjoy, but they are less likely than men to ask for raises or aspire to top management jobs. This can be a result of being a working parent or viewing the workplace as a man’s world.

Here are some points to watch out for: Being overly self-critical. Highly successful women can easily lean toward setting high expectations of themselves by being perfectionists. Difficult in delegating. If not careful, women can assume a care-taking role and instead of delegating workloads, they can assume responsibility for everything. Overwhelmed and overworked leads to fatigue and inefficiency.

 Procrastination. Avoiding unpleasant tasks such as giving performance appraisals or making decisions that create conflict unwittingly create more anxiety due to the self-blame it usually creates over time. Misunderstanding politics at work. Corporate politics that are conducted in the right way can simply mean developing good relationships with people throughout the organization. Companies value people who get along well with others even if you have strong interpersonal skills and detest politics your misunderstanding can cause you to miss promotions.

Failing to prioritize personal goals. Women are often compelled to take care of others, the needs of the department, team members and projects before they take care of their own personal development goals. Learning how to prioritize your time and invest in your growth is important in maintaining career longevity rather overcommitting by attending every meeting and participating in every company event.

http://blog.sfgate.com/gettowork/2014/06/05/five-ways-women-sabotage-their-careers/?cmpid=hp-hc-jobs

IMF warning on UK housing bubble risk; Mind the generation gap; Oh, not another networking event!

1 IMF warning on UK housing bubble risk (BBC) he International Monetary Fund has warned the government that accelerating house prices and low productivity pose the greatest threat to the UK's economic recovery. It said rising property values could leave households more vulnerable to income and interest rate shocks. It also called on the Bank of England to enact policy measures "early and gradually" to avoid a housing bubble.

In April, the IMF said the UK economy would grow by 2.9% in 2014. The Fund's annual health check of the UK economy found it has "rebounded strongly and growth is becoming more balanced" adding economic growth would "remain strong this year."

It is a significant turnaround from last year when the IMF's chief economist Oliver Blanchard appeared to have a public falling out with the chancellor after he criticised the government's austerity policies. This year IMF managing director Christine Lagarde admitted the Fund "got it wrong" in its assessment adding that while the UK's economic recovery began with consumer spending, it was now rebalancing towards an "investment-led recovery".

The IMF report said: "House price inflation is particularly high in London, and is becoming more widespread. So far, there are few of the typical signs of a credit-led bubble. "Nonetheless, a steady increase in the size of new mortgages compared with borrower incomes suggests that households are gradually becoming more vulnerable to income and interest rate shocks." It added: "Macroprudential policies should be the first line of defence against financial risks from the housing market."

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27731567

2 Mind the generation gap (Omaira Gill in Khaleej Times) I suppose you finally feel like you have matured as opposed to aged when you begin to notice the generation coming up behind you, and in time honoured fashion, think they are complete idiots. Generation Y is the first generation for whom the internet has just always been there. They are constantly connected, communicating 24/7 in a relentless barrage of tweets, emails and status updates.

They have to contend with your usual garden variety bullying as well as cyber bullying. Personally I can’t imagine a more nightmarish combination than Facebook and the high school years. They are hyper aware of their appearance and unlike Generation X who smile like fools at any camera, Generation Y have perfected smiling with their eyes, meaningful looks and pouts. They have taken so many selfies that they know exactly which their best angles are.

Generation Y is the homeworking, startup launching, tweeting and twerking voice of tomorrow. In the UK, a recent survey showed that around 30 per cent of the population is prejudiced in some way. The highest level of prejudice against foreigners was recorded amongst manual labourers such as builders, the working class in the UK’s class-obsessed terms. The lowest prejudice against foreigners was reported amongst Generation Y.

So I suppose you could say that in the UK at least the makeup of society is being decided by the working class against the twerking class. Generation Y is a force to be reckoned with. The problem is that they don’t know it, and peeling them away from their social media feeds long enough to get them to engage responsibly in political processes like voting is harder than getting a Kardashian on the news for doing something meaningful for society.

http://khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2014/June/opinion_June15.xml&section=opinion

3 Oh, not another networking event! (James Adonis in Sydney Morning Herald) Look, maybe it’s because I’m an introvert, but I would rather eat chalk than attend any kind of networking event. There are many other people too, I’m sure, who are equally tired of the nauseating ‘what do you do’ question, the obligatory business-card swapping, and the awkwardness of trying to infiltrate a clique whose body language clearly shouts “not welcome”.

Yes, we’re aware of the benefits. It’s just that, for some of us, there has to be a better way. A way that doesn’t involve the toleration of tacky ‘elevator pitches’, the frenzied urgency to recruit more members, and the persistent request to place your card in a goldfish bowl for the ultimate purpose of spam.

In her bestselling book, Networking for People who Hate Networking, Devora Zack provides the following advice for introverts: Rather than attend too many events, choose instead just a few but do them well. Volunteer to join a committee or a board so that you can build connections in a more meaningful manner. On arrival, join a queue – such as the one for food – because that makes it easier to start a conversation with the person in front or behind you. Take the pressure off by talking less about yourself and more about the person with whom you’re conversing.

One review oft studies, conducted by the Queensland University of Technology, found unsurprisingly that introverts (unlike extroverts) prefer to do their networking online. That’s because it provides them with protection and solitude and, initially at least, some anonymity. As a paper published in the Cyber Psychology & Behaviour journal attests: “On the internet, no one knows I’m an introvert.”

http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/blogs/work-in-progress/not-another-networking-event-20140606-39mdq.html

Unprecedented negative interest rate for eurozone; China defence budget could be $145bn; How China moves mountains -- literally

1 Unprecedented negative interest rate for eurozone (Angela Monaghan & Phillip Inman in The Guardian) The European Central Bank has unveiled an unprecedented package of measures in a dramatic attempt to inject life into the eurozone's flagging economy and ward off a damaging deflationary spiral. In a historic first for the troubled region, the ECB boss, Mario Draghi, and his colleagues on the governing council cut the deposit rate for the region's commercial banks to -0.1% from zero.

The central bank also cut its main interest rate to a new record low of 0.15% from 0.25%, and announced a €400bn (£325bn) package of cheap funding for banks on the condition it is used to lend money to companies outside the financial sector, and not for mortgages. Draghi has come under intense pressure over recent months to make cheaper credit available to households and businesses to boost growth in the 18-member currency zone.

In the last quarter, GDP growth stumbled to just 0.2% and only avoided contraction thanks to a strong performance by the German economy. The ECB stopped short of pumping funds directly into the financial system via a programme of quantitative easing (QE), but Draghi said the bank would "intensify preparatory work" should it prove necessary, and left the door open to further stimulus if needed.

Data published by the EU's statistics office revealed an unexpected fall in the annual rate of eurozone inflation to 0.5% in May from 0.7% in April, which appeared to seal the deal for more ECB stimulus. The Bank of England, which has already cut borrowing rates for banks and pumped £375bn of QE into the UK economy, announced at the end of its monthly meeting that it would maintain interest rates at 0.5% and the same level of QE.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jun/05/european-central-bank-cuts-deposit-rates

2 China defence budget could be $145bn (BBC) China has under-reported its 2014 defence spending by about 20%, according to an annual report put out by the US defence department. China's stated budget for this year was $120bn, but the US report said the actual figure was closer to $145bn. The US called on China to be more open about its plans, amid high tension with other regional powers over disputed islands in the South China Sea.

The American military budget was about $600bn in 2013. The annual US report on China's defences usually gives a rough estimate of spending, with last year's quoting a figure of between $135bn and $215bn.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-27727486

3 How China moves mountains – literally (Melanie Kembrey in Sydney Morning Herald) For years, China has been moving mountains for its people - literally. The country has been bulldozing hundreds of mountains to make way for new cities but scientists are not happy, saying the consequences of the policy ‘‘have not been thought through’’. In the past decade, mountains stretching over hundreds of kilometres have been demolished and the soil shovelled into valleys to create flat land, in a practise that has become commonplace in China.

The city of Lanzhou, in Gansu province, is in the process of bulldozing more than 700 mountains in what’s been dubbed the largest ‘‘mountain-moving project’’ in Chinese history. The practise has spawned more land for Chongqing, Shiyan, Yichang, Lanzhou and Yan'an cities. One of the largest projects, in Yan'an in the Shaanxi province, is set to double the city's area by creating 78.5 square kilometres of flat terrain.

One-fifth of China’s population is estimated to live in mountainous areas and while cities are expanding rapidly, land available for development is in short supply. But now, years after the mountain-flattening projects started, three Chinese academics have condemned the campaign, writing in the journal Nature that ‘‘earth-moving on this scale without scientific support is folly’’.

Chang'an University researchers Peiyue Li, Hui Qian and Jianhua write that when air pollution caused by the Lanzhou project became visible in April 2013, work was halted pending an environmental assessment. But it was resumed four weeks later because costs to the local government and contractors were mounting. ‘‘Land-creation projects are already causing air and water pollution, soil erosion and geological hazards such as subsidence. They destroy forests and farmlands and endanger wild animals and plants."

http://www.smh.com.au/world/china-bulldozes-mountains-to-create-land-for-cities-20140606-zs03t.html

Sluggish monsoon may dent India recovery plans; Worst sales for Tesco in decades; Tiananmen: The revolution that almost succeeded

1 Sluggish monsoon may dent India recovery plans (Debiprasad Nayak in The Wall Street Journal) It’s about to start raining in India, a lot, as the monsoon is set to hit the Kerala coast in next two days. But don’t break out the umbrellas and turn down the thermostats in Delhi just yet. This year’s monsoon is expected to creep across the country more slowly than usual.

That’s bad news for Indian farmers and global markets. A delayed onset of the monsoon in the farming belt of northern India will delay planting, which could cause prices to shoot up for products like rice, cotton and sugar. India ranks among the largest producers for these commodities. Indian farmers rely on rain to grow their crops, and the monsoon season accounts for about 70% of total rainfall.

A weak monsoon could push up food prices and with it inflation, testing the new government’s ability to promote economic growth. If the harvest is bad, the effect on the economy will be wide-ranging. The country’s jobs market could be hurt, since over half of the country’s workforce is employed in agriculture. Fewer jobs mean fewer rupees to spend on things other than food. Manufacturers of everything from soap to SUVs are increasingly reliant on rising rural demand for their goods. A slow monsoon could also pinch the sales of these companies.

This year, the summer monsoon is already behind its schedule, as weak winds left the monsoon stranded in the Andaman Sea. The India Meteorological Department is predicting less rainfall this year, in part due to El Niño, a weather pattern that reduces the amount of rain in India.

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/06/04/sluggish-monsoon-could-hamper-bjps-economic-recovery-plans/

2 Worst sales for Tesco in decades (Sarah Butler & Sean Farrell in The Guardian) The pressure has increased on Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke after he revealed the supermarket's worst sales performance in decades, despite spending over £1bn on store revamps and price cuts in a fightback against discounters such as Aldi and Lidl.

Tesco's sales fell by 3.8% in the three months to 24 May on a like-for-like basis, an acceleration of the 3% slide in the previous quarter. Several analysts noted that the fall would have been 4% if Tesco had used the same standards used by most retailers, which exclude fuel, VAT and sales paid for with vouchers.

Clarke admitted the sales decline was the worst he could remember in a more than 30-year career at the supermarket group, where he first started working as a schoolboy shelf-stacker in 1974. Bruno Monteyne, an analyst at Bernstein Research, calculates that only half of the latest sales falls were the result of price cuts, disruption caused by store revamps and less use of discount vouchers. It means that, even without those self-inflicted hits, Tesco would still be losing sales.

Tesco is not the only major supermarket struggling to tackle rapid change in the industry amid the rise of discounters such as Aldi, Lidl Poundland and B&M Stores as well as the rise of online shopping and convenience stores. Some big investors are losing patience with Clarke, who is 18 months into his plan to revive Tesco after UK profit fell for the first time in 20 years.

Recent industry data shows that Tesco appears to have lost more than 1m customer visits per week, worth £25m in sales, with its market share showing the biggest fall for at least 20 years. A survey by Kantar Worldpanel showed the grocery market was at its weakest for at least 11 years and that excluding inflation and population growth the market was stagnant.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jun/04/tesco-suffers-worst-sales-in-decades

3 Tiananmen: The revolution that almost succeeded (John Simpson on BBC) Tiananmen was a revolution which almost succeeded. It shook the Chinese system to the core. The central aspect of it was the shooting down in cold blood of young, non-violent students by the Chinese army on the night of 3-4 June 1989. But other important aspects have been forgotten. One was how much support existed for the students within the Chinese political system. Another was the violent outpouring of anger against the Communist system from ordinary people right across China.

I spent an entire month wandering round the square, listening to the students who were occupying it. They were certain that the Chinese leader, Deng Xiaoping, the instinctive authoritarian who was nevertheless a committed reformer, was finished. But he wasn't. After a month during which China's government was paralysed, Deng finally found a general and a force of soldiers who were prepared to open fire on the students and clear the square.

That night I crouched behind a low wall and watched as the shooting began. My camera crew and I finally left the square when we ran out of videotape. We took refuge in the Beijing Hotel. To this day, the Chinese government maintains that no-one died in Tiananmen Square. Maybe this is literally true, because the real killing ground wasn't the square itself but Chang'an Avenue, which runs along the front of the square. Without the massacre, Deng Xiaoping would not have survived in power.

Early on in the demonstrations, in May, even many of the party's top officials had turned against him. I watched as a million cheering spectators crammed into the square. There was floats carrying senior army officers, high court judges and representatives from across the party structure. There was even one from the secret police. The officials on the floats were all waving and cheering and shouting demands that Deng Xiaoping should go. Whenever I meet senior Chinese officials nowadays I wonder if they were in Tiananmen Square that day, supporting the students.

Over the years, as these officials worked their way up through the system, they have introduced many of the changes the students were demanding. But people still can't choose their own form of government, or even advocate their right to do so too publicly. Many Chinese officials still honestly believe that China can only be held together by firm government. If everyone were allowed to speak out and demand total freedom, the argument goes, the system would collapse and China could easily fall apart.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-27685055

Europe struggles to avoid deflation; Self-driving cars likely by 2018; Can Air India be saved?; The power of Tiananmen's memory

1 Europe struggles to escape deflation (Liz Alderman in The New York Times) While consumers welcome lower prices, economists are worried that an outbreak of ultralow inflation across the 18-nation euro zone is doing more harm than good to the bloc’s economic recovery.

On Tuesday, Europe’s statistics agency reported that annual euro zone inflation slumped to 0.5 percent in May from 0.7 percent in April, falling further below the 2 percent level that the European Central Bank considers healthy. Even in Germany, which has been the euro zone’s stalwart economy, inflation fell to a 0.9 percent rate in May, its lowest level in four years.

The situation has grown so alarming that the central bank is expected on Thursday to take extraordinary measures to try to stimulate the economy. Not only is it expected to cut its main interest rate for the first time since November 2013, but analysts also anticipate it will start charging commercial banks to keep money in its vaults — the imposition of so-called negative interest rates — whose consequences might be hard to predict.

The central bank’s moves would be aimed at preventing low inflation from becoming outright deflation: a tailspin of falling prices and wages from which it can be difficult for economies to recover. In such an environment, consumers and companies may delay spending in anticipation that prices will fall further, which would only exacerbate the economic problems.

After years of a debt crisis, a number of countries in the euro zone are grappling with the effects of economic lethargy. At clothing stores, cellphone companies and factories making items as disparate as aluminum and tiles, owners faced with slumping demand have been pressured to cut their prices. In hard-hit countries, wages have also fallen sharply from pre-crisis levels. Especially in the most fragile economies, the dynamic is crimping growth and dampening government efforts to pay down debt, regain competitiveness and tackle unemployment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/04/business/international/europe-struggles-to-avoid-deflations-grip.html?_r=0

2 Self-driving cars likely by 2018 (Straits Times) Cars that drive themselves could be on the roads four years from now, provided red tape does not get in the way, Mr Carlos Ghosn, head of the Renault-Nissan alliance, has said. Silicon Valley companies have long pioneered "autonomous vehicles", and Google tested one in Nevada in 2012. German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz developed an S-class limousine that drove in August without any driver input.

Renault has created the Next 2 prototype version of its Zoe model which enables drivers to let go of the controls at speeds below 30 kmh thanks to GPS positioning, cameras and sensors, though a human must stay behind the wheel. "The problem isn't technology, it's legislation, and the whole question of responsibility that goes with these cars moving around... and especially who is responsible once there is no longer anyone inside," Mr Ghosn said.

The first cars could hit the roads in 2018 in the "pioneer countries" of France, Japan and the US, with commercialisation starting across Europe in 2020, the chief executive said.

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/business/companies/story/self-driving-cars-may-hit-roads-2018-renault-nissan-ceo-20140604

3 Can Air India be saved? (Khaleej Times) India’s new Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju has said he doesn’t rule out privatisation of the ailing flagship carrier Air India. Raju is the second minister after Ajit Singh to float the idea of freeing up the white elephant from the government stable.

The terminally ill ‘Maharaja’ has been surviving on cash and equity infusion worth billions of rupees, but no amount of public money has been able to resuscitate the carrier which bleeds Rs50 billion a year. While nationalists argue the iconic airline should be allowed to keep flying at any cost, others are of the opinion that all white elephants in the government sector should be put to sleep. There are two breeds of public sector white elephants — one that is allowed to be so because of its social significance and the other being the creation of corrupt and inefficient bureaucrats. Air India belongs to the latter group.

Air India suffers from manifold problems, such as a huge interest burden, poor aircraft utilisation, insufficient recapitalisation, regular government intervention, unbridled trade unionism, poor customer service, inordinate flight delays, a bloated workforce and a lackadaisical work culture, alleged corruption involving service cancellations to favour foreign carriers, bonanza for extended families of employees, et al.

Under such circumstances, the debate has shifted to whether there will be a suitor at all for the airline, which sits on a mountain of Rs450 billion accumulated debt, including an unsecured working capital loan of about Rs220 billion. At a time when the Indian skies are getting crowded with the impending arrival of AirAsia India and Tata-SIA airline and an increase in destinations and seat entitlements to Gulf carriers, Modi may have to turn to the Tatas, the original owner of the carrier which was nationalised in 1953, to restore the Maharaja’s lost glory.

http://khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=/data/editorial/2014/June/editorial_June8.xml&section=editorial

4 The power of Tiananmen’s memory (Wu’er Kaixi in The Wall Street Journal) The Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 has been banished from the collective memory of the Chinese people. Or so we are often told. It is certainly true that many older Chinese don't want to talk about it, and some young Chinese don't know it happened. But for a society just like an individual, repressing a memory is different from forgetting. Tiananmen continues to reverberate across China.

I'm often asked whether the Chinese authorities have successfully turned their people apolitical. My answer is always the same: Yes, to a certain extent. Their methods include the censorship of key words in Internet searches and on social media. The state-owned media are tightly censored, and anyone who attempts to spread dissident views will be arrested and their family mistreated. It is no wonder that most Chinese don't even contemplate speaking out.

As a result, there are many young people in China who know next to nothing about what happened on June 4, 1989. But, I always continue, those young people don't matter. The point is, up to 100 million people took the streets against the Chinese Communist Party in 1989, and they remember. In short, enough people remember, and those who do are the ones who really count.

Enough people remember for Tiananmen to seriously trouble the Beijing leadership, because that memory is so powerful. The 25th anniversary comes at a key juncture for the party. It is ideologically conflicted and at war with itself amid a series of high-profile purges. As economic growth slows and conflicts at the grass roots intensify, the party faces a level of public disaffection unmatched since the years leading up to 1989.

Just as in the heady days of 1989, when I took to the streets of Beijing and marched against the party leadership along with 100 million people China-wide, a specter haunts the government. That specter is the growing realization by China's population that 30 years of heady growth has enriched an entrenched, powerful elite. The ideology of China's leadership is falling to tatters, as it was 25 years ago. The demands made by the people then are coming back. The best way to sum up the legacy of Tiananmen is not enforced forgetting, it is resurgent memory.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/kaixi-the-power-of-tiananmens-memory-1401837443

Walmart stays top of Fortune 500 list; World wants 'China's money, US leadership'; US ambassador sworn in on Kindle; India's Modi and the power of communication

1 Walmart stays top of Fortune 500 list (Jessica Glenza in The Guardian) Walmart remained top of Fortune's annual list of 500 highest-earning US companies, nearing half a trillion dollars in annual revenue and netting $16bn. The top 10 highest-earning companies were the same as last year, pulling in revenues worth hundreds of billions of dollars, but there was some notable reshuffling.

Apple, the highest-ranking tech company, moved into the fifth-place slot, with $170bn in annual revenue and $37bn in profits. Berkshire Hathaway, the corporate conglomerate helmed by billionaire Warren Buffett, edged oil refining company Phillips 66 out of fourth place. The investment firm pulled in $182bn in annual revenue last year. Phillips 66 dropped to the sixth slot, with $161bn in annual revenue.

The Fortune 500 list includes US companies, public and private, filing financial statements with federal or state agencies. The list was conceived by Time editor Edgar Smith in 1955. In 1994, the list was retooled to include "service" companies such as McDonald's and AT&T. Previously, it only included industrial companies.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jun/02/walmart-fortune-500-revenue

2 World wants ‘China’s money, US leadership’ (Michael Green & Murray Hiebert in Straits Times) Predicting the US' demise in Asia has long been a cottage industry in many countries, including those in South- east Asia. But what do the majority of international relations experts across the Asia-Pacific really think? The Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, put that question to over 400 thought leaders.

The respondents came from 11 countries and economies around the Pacific Rim: Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore and the US. More than half of the elites surveyed (57 per cent) think the region will still be defined by US leadership in 10 years, a point that remains true of specialists even within China, although some don't necessarily see this as a good thing.

Just over half of the respondents believed China will be the greatest power in East Asia in 10 years, while 43 per cent believed the US would continue in this role. Similarly, 56 per cent of respondents across all 11 economies expect China to be their country's most important economic partner in 10 years, followed by the US at 28 per cent. Respondents on average were generally happy about China's economic impact on the region. But 61 per cent felt that China was having a negative influence on regional security.

Beijing should pay close attention to the broad support in Asia for the US rebalance, and tendency of thinkers outside China to reject the assertion that the move is confrontational. While Asia's thought leaders welcome China's economic growth, they also clearly want continued US leadership.

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/opinion/more-opinion-stories/story/world-wants-chinas-money-us-leadership-20140602

3 US ambassador sworn in on Kindle (Kristen V Brown in San Francisco Chronicle) It was an oddly telling sign of the times: On Monday, when US ambassador Suzi LeVine was sworn in, there was no printed copy of the US Constitution on hand. Instead, LeVine was sworn in with a digital copy of the document stored on a Kindle Touch.

LeVine, the new US ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, is now the nation’s first to take the oath of office with an e-reader. The US Embassy in London tweeted out a photo of the event, captioned a “very 21st century swearing in.”

It’s no secret that print products are on the decline: as sales of e-books continue to rise, and paper books continue to fall, the size of the e-book market is expected to surpass print in 2017. As Monday’s swearing-in ceremony demonstrated, words may be sacred, but the medium through which they are displayed certainly isn’t.

http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2014/06/02/welcome-to-the-future-u-s-ambassador-swore-in-on-kindle/?cmpid=hp-hc-nationworld

4 India’s Modi and the power of communication (Neeta Lal in Khaleej Times) With the dust settling on the Indian general elections, many profound lessons have been learnt. Perhaps the most vital one has been how effective communication can pole vault a politician to superstardom. Nobody exemplifies this better than India’s freshly-minted 15th prime minister Narendra Damodardas Modi. His powerful oratory was a contrast to the taciturnity of erstwhile Indian PM Manmohan Singh who many believed was a diplomat masquerading as premier. Singh always thought twice before saying nothing!

In a message on his website, Modi has promised to leverage social media to communicate directly with the people. Like Modi, examples abound of other politicians whose oratory has reaped them rich dividends. US President Barack Obama comes to mind pronto. He is known to mesmerise, tantalise and energise his audience. Obama’s predecessor Bill Clinton has now made a lucrative profession out of his communication skills. And to think that he was the same guy who was almost booed off the stage at a Democratic Convention at the start of his career!

Rather than throw in the towel, Clinton persevered and focused with laser-like intensity on polishing up his speaking skills. And look where it got him. Nelson Mandela and Malala Yousafzai also find their names high up on the marquee of great speakers. According to renowned psychologist and speech expert Albert Mehrabian, a good speech is like a nuanced recipe. It is 7% verbal, 38% vocal and 55% visual. A good communicator thus needs to foremost make the listeners believe in his vision. Here, he not only needs to know his facts well but has to deliver his words passionately, holding the audience rapt.

Martin Luther King delivered one such speech in 1963 in Washington DC. In what is arguably the greatest speech of the 20th century, King spoke for over an hour holding his audience spellbound. What was his secret? He made his delivery conversational, confident and full of self-belief. Mid-speech, when he sensed that he wasn’t reaching his audience as he intended, he tore up the original script and began speaking extempore. The result was electric. King received an 11 minute-long standing ovation at the speech’s end!

http://khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2014/June/opinion_June6.xml&section=opinion

China's manufacturing picks up; Poland offers half-price medical treatment to the world; India's raped reality

1 China manufacturing activity picks up (BBC) China's factory activity grew in May at its fastest pace this year, according to government figures, a positive sign amid the wider economic slowdown. The official purchasing managers index (PMI) hit 50.8 in the month, up from 50.4 in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Any reading above 50 indicates growth.

China's government has recently introduced measures to boost growth. The country's economy grew by 7.4% in the first three months of the year, down from 7.7% growth in the previous quarter.

Last month, another PMI survey by HSBC gave a preliminary reading for May of 49.7, also a five-month high. This survey focuses on smaller companies in the private sector, while the official PMI survey is weighted more towards bigger, state-owned enterprises.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27655376

2 Poland offers half-price treatment to the world (Miles Brignall in The Guardian) For several years expat Poles have been returning home to get expensive dental work, plastic surgery and procedures such as hip replacements done at 30% to 60% of the cost they would pay in their adopted country.

Now a Polish government-backed initiative is promoting medical tourism into the country, targeting non-Poles from across the world, particularly those in Scandinavia, Germany, eastern Europe – and the UK. Those behind the plan hope Poland's location at the heart of Europe – along with its plethora of low-cost flights, cheap accommodation, and attractive tourist cities such as Krakow – will be enough to tip the increasingly competitive battle for medical tourism in Poland's favour.

The EU directive that came into force last year giving consumers the right to use health services in other European countries will only further its bid to become the medical tourism centre of Europe, officials hope. Implants that cost around £2,500 in the UK can be had at Dentestetica for under £1,000, while ceramic veneers are half the £600 UK price.

According to Magdalena Rutkowska, who heads Poland's medical tourism development programme, which is 75% funded by EU money, around 320,000 people visited the country for treatment in 2012 – of which 42% came for plastic surgery, notably breast implants. A third came to use dentists, while 9% came for obesity-related treatments such as gastric bands, which in Poland typically cost 40% of the €10,000 EU average.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jun/01/poland-medical-tourism-half-price

3 India’s raped reality (Khaleej Times) The aftermath of the horrific Nirbhaya gang rape in December 2012 in New Delhi, we had hoped, would break the glass ceiling. Indians came together in a rare show of solidarity to decry this “most heinous” crime and demanded stricter anti-rape legislation, greater surveillance and more sensitivity towards long-neglected women’s issues.

Statisticians, however, will tell you a different story: that despite all these visible signs of “hope and change” — most notably transposed on to shrill television studios and people’s protest gatherings — the incidence of sex crimes against women has actually gone up. The recent gang-rape in a sleepy village in Uttar Pradesh of two Dalit girls, aged 14 and 16, whose bodies were discovered hanging from a mango tree, has — again — reopened the can of worms.

Caste is being blamed for this particular gang rape. Evidently, if you belong to lower castes (like the Dalits), that alone warrants a sexual crime — according to twisted, misogynist mindsets prevailing in the Indian hinterland. The likely fallout of this is a polarisation of social thinking: the Us vs Them one. When city slickers emotionally insulate themselves from rural reality by saying “this is how the ‘Other India’ lives”. There needs to be a blurring of lines, and sensibilities.

And in the gentrified ethos of India’s urban spaces people need to realise the greater truth India encapsulates: that screaming in television studios and writing opinion pieces in the Western Press will not help solve a problem that is so systemically embedded in grassroots.

Some commentators have pointed out that even women’s rights organisations are not reacting to the Badaun gang rape with the same passion as they would to a “city-centric” one. If the epidemic of rape has to be addressed in India, activism cannot be restricted to urban candlelit vigils and social media frenzy. That’s not how most of India lives — or thinks.

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