China, Russia in 30-year gas deal; The superpower and the rest; Challenges on the world stage for India's Modi

1 China, Russia in 30-year gas deal (BBC) Russia's President Vladimir Putin has signed a multi-billion dollar, 30-year gas deal with China. The deal between Russia's Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has been 10 years in the making. Russia has been keen to find an alternative energy market for its gas as it faces the possibility of European sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine. No official price has been given but it is estimated to be worth over $400bn.

The agreement, signed at a summit in Shanghai, is expected to deliver some 38 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year eastward to China's burgeoning economy, starting around 2018. The main argument has been over price and China is thought to have been driving a hard bargain.

Over the last 10 years it has found other gas suppliers. Turkmenistan is now China's largest foreign gas supplier, and last year it started importing piped natural gas from Myanmar. Alexei Miller, Chief Executive of Gazprom said the new deal was "the biggest contract in the entire history of the USSR and Gazprom - over 1 trillion cubic metres of gas will be supplied during a whole contractual period."

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27503017

2 The superpower and the rest (Jonathan Power in Khaleej Times) Who makes the law of the sea as China and Vietnam clash over China moving an oil rig close to an island only 25 miles from the mainland of Vietnam? One would hope that China which has ratified the Law of the Sea Treaty would seek international, but disinterested arbitration. It refuses to.

Has this got something to do with the fact that the US has not ratified the treaty? The Chinese don’t say so explicitly, but if the world’s one and only superpower refuses to sign up why should China pay the treaty due regard? Is that what China is thinking? It is not a very good reason, but conceivably an understandable one.

David Kaye writes in Foreign Affairs that the Senate “rejects treaties as if it was a sport”. After the First World War it rejected the US joining the League of Nations, the precursor to the United Nations. Perhaps membership would have helped avert the rise of Nazi Germany by forging a more sensitive and united policy over German reparations, one of Germany’s sore points that Hitler played upon. Who knows? But maybe.

It was 26 years after 109 other states had signed up before the US ratified the International Convention on Human Rights, an instrument which it waged a long campaign for China to sign up to, and which it now uses to upbraid China’s human rights abuses.

But all cannot be blamed on the Senate. In 1979 president Jimmy Carter decided to file suit against Iran before the International Court of Justice for taking US diplomats as hostage. Yet, only four years later, when Nicaragua took the US to the Court for the mining of the harbour of its principal port, the US under president Ronald Reagan withdrew its membership of the Court.

The US has lived with its moral and diplomatic ambiguities over the application of international law for too long. If it wants other countries to toe the line it has to toe the line itself.

http://khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2014/May/opinion_May38.xml&section=opinion

3 Challenges on the world stage for India’s Modi (Daniel Twining in The Wall Street Journal) India is back. Last week’s election tally shows that an allegedly divisive leader has united the country as no politician has in decades. India is now in the hands of a prime minister who has managed the economy of its most industrialized and globalized state and the consequences will extend far beyond India. The US, China and Japan all have high stakes in an Indian resurgence that could tilt Asia’s power balance in a democratic direction.

As the first Indian prime minister born after independence, Narendra Modi could now declare Indian independence from the old shibboleths of state socialism and non-alignment that have kept the country poor and geopolitically marginalized. To fulfill his people’s aspirations—tackle chronic underdevelopment at home, close the gap with Chinese power abroad—Mr. Modi will need all the western and Japanese capital, technology and military support he can get.

The last prime minister from Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, Atal Bihari Vajpayee (in office 1998-2004), declared India and America “natural allies” after decades of alienation. He also conducted nuclear tests to deter Chinese adventurism, visited Lahore to sketch out a vision for peace with Pakistan and opened the door to US-India defense cooperation. Yet Indo-US ties weakened in recent years, part of what Mr. Modi calls the general “stagnancy” afflicting his country.

The best way to restore Indo-US momentum is to get India growing again. “A strong economy is the driver of an effective foreign policy,” Mr. Modi has said. “We have to put our own house in order so that the world is attracted to us.”

Although his vision for Indo-US ties is opaque, Mr. Modi is likely to discover what both Mr. Vajpayee and outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh understood: Partnership with America supports India’s development and security in a way autarky never can.

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/05/22/modis-challenges-on-the-world-stage/?mod=WSJBlog&mod=irt

Google beats Apple as world's top brand; New threat to Pakistan's girl students; Getting 'Congressed' in India

1 Google beats Apple as world’s top brand (Straits Times) US search engine Google has overtaken rival technology titan Apple as the world’s top brand in terms of value, global market research agency Millward Brown has said. Google’s brand value shot up 40 per cent in a year to US$158.84 billion, Millward Brown  said in its 2014 100 Top BrandZ report.

“Google has been extremely innovative this year with Google Glass, investments in artificial intelligence and a range of partnerships,” said Benoit Tranzer, the head of Millward Brown France. Google Glass is Internet-linked eyewear for which the firm has joined hands with Luxottica, a frame giant behind Ray-Ban and other high-end brands, to sell the new product in the US.

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/business/companies/story/google-overtakes-apple-world%E2%80%99s-top-brand-survey-20140521

2 New threat to Pakistan’s girl students (Hina Baloch in Dawn) Recently, all the private schools of Panjgur received a letter from a previously unheard extremist group called Tanzeem-ul-Islami-ul-Furqan. The letter, addressed to the owners and administrators of all private schools, accuses them of corrupting the minds of young girls by exposing them to a ‘western education’.

It goes on to state that ‘all private schools must immediately disallow girls from seeking an education regardless of them being at a co-education or an all-girls facility.’ It also includes a message for van and taxi drivers in the area, ‘warning them of dire consequences if they continue to transport girls to schools’. The note goes onto warn parents as well. It asks them to keep their daughters away from English language centers and schools.

Not surprisingly, their threat warns that ‘the mujahedeen of Al-Furqan are ready to brace martyrdom to stop the spread of vulgar, western, education in Balochistan’. The letter ends with a list featuring names of all prominent owners of private schools in Panjgur. To assert their writ and spread fear, the group carried an attack on a school immediately after sending out the letters.

While it is becoming increasingly difficult for private schools to function in Balochistan (government schools are either non-existent or non-functional in most parts), the numbers of madrassas continue to increase exponentially. According to the latest figures there are 2,500 registered and 10,000 unregistered madrassas in Balochistan.

The Balochistan public education scenario reflects a grim picture and the future outlook, worryingly, remains equally bleak. According to the latest figures, the current literacy rate in the province stands at 56 percent, this also includes people who can barely write their names. The female literacy rate, at 23 percent, is one of the lowest in the world. With not much having gone in its way, the last thing Balochistan needs is to have its girls forced to sit at home instead of the classroom.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1107512/welcome-to-the-war-on-vulgar-western-education-in-balochistan

3 Getting ‘Congressed’ in India (Saptarishi Dutta in The Wall Street Journal) Quick, what’s a word that means, I just got totally clobbered? According to the slang website UrbanDictionary.com, there’s a new word for that: “Congressed.”

Taking inspiration from the  Congress party’s historic defeat in India’s recent parliamentary election, the website–which allows users to add and define slang — now features the word “Congressed.” It’s defined as, “Getting fully, totally, irredeemably screwed. Made popular by the complete decimation of the India’s Congress political party in national elections.” And here is how one is supposed to the word in a sentence: “I got badly Congressed at work.”

Urban Dictionary is a popular online repository of slang and silly definitions — think terms like “frenemy,” “O rly” and “z0mg.”  Anyone can add, edit and rate words. “Congressed” has 70 thumbs-up ratings, and two thumbs-downs. (Frenemy, by contrast, has collected 3,251 thumbs-ups.) The word was added to the online dictionary on May 19, just days after the Bharatiya Janata Party swept to power, leaving the Congress party to figure out how it managed to get so badly Congressed.

Until now, the BJP was India’s main opposition party, and Congress was in power. But in the recently finished federal election, Congress managed to win just 44 of 543 parliamentary seats, while BJP won 282. Contributing to the Congress loss was high inflation, allegations of political corruption and a sluggish economy.

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/05/20/congresss-drubbing-spawns-a-new-word-for-drubbing-2/

Martial law in Thailand; Tough task for China to achieve 2014 trade target; When the BJP was a joke for India's Rahul Gandhi

1 Martial law in Thailand (BBC) The Thai army says that it is imposing martial law amid a political crisis "to preserve law and order". The surprise announcement also granted the army wide-ranging powers to enforce its decision. The military insisted that its assumption of responsibility for national security was not a coup. Martial law comes after a long-running political crisis, and months of escalating tensions between the government and the opposition.

The chief security advisor to the interim prime minister said the government had not been consulted about the army's decision. "Everything is normal except the military is responsible for all national security issues," said Paradorn Pattanatabut. An army spokesman said that the imposition of martial law will have no impact on the caretaker government which remains in office.

Troops have taken steps to stop pro-government red-shirt supporters from gathering at their usual rallying-place outside Bangkok. The Thai military last took power in 2006. Earlier this month a court ordered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and several cabinet ministers to step down.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27480845

2 Tough task for China to achieve 2014 trade target (Straits Times) China faces an arduous task to achieve its 7.5 per cent trade growth target this year as the high growth period for its trade is over, a senior commerce ministry official said. Zhang Ji, head of foreign trade department at the commerce ministry, added that violence against Chinese firms in Vietnam could hurt bilateral trade.

Last week, China's cabinet announced a raft of measures to support the wobbly trade sector, including giving more tax breaks, credit insurance and currency hedging options to its exporters. The government has set a target of 7.5 per cent growth for exports and imports this year. China missed its targets of 8 per cent in 2013 and 10 per cent in 2012.

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/business/economy/story/china-faces-arduous-task-achieve-2014-trade-growth-target-20140520

3 When the BJP was a joke for India’s Rahul Gandhi (Jawed Naqvi in Dawn) High on his party’s unexpected victory in 2004, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi had mocked the Bharatiya Janata Party. “The BJP is a joke. They have always abused my family,” he had said. This was barely two years after the Gujarat pogroms, mind you.

It took the young leader a full decade to understand, but only after he faced a rout, that the BJP represented a challenge to Nehruvian secularism. Progressive writers on their part were never blind to the communal question though they may have failed to detect other social fault lines.

Dalit temples, for example, were mostly allowed to be built outside the Lucknow city perimeters. Did the progressive intellectuals (other than Premchand) look into the predicament of the Dalits, the vulnerability of the Christian tribals, or the politics of aloofness forced on the Sikhs?

My fear is that our progressive peers unwittingly shunned potential allies and allowed them to be swamped by an entire phenomenon of rightwing culture and the unobtrusively appealing communal street literature that got harnessed into a movement, one which came into its own last week to sideline them ever more.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1107400/is-bjp-still-a-joke-rahul

Computing's future is in fog, not cloud; Swiss reject highest minimum wage; India's Modi must seize the moment

1 Computing’s future is in fog, not cloud (Christopher Mims in The Wall Street Journal) Advocates of cloud are fond of declaring that 100% of computing will someday reside in the cloud. And many companies are in business to sell you on that notion. Here's the reality: Getting data into and out of the cloud is harder than most engineers, or at least their managers, often are willing to admit.

The problem is bandwidth. If you're a company simply seeking to save the cost and headache of storing data yourself, the cloud is great as long as all you need to do is transfer data back and forth via high-speed wiring. But in the world of mass connectivity—in which people need to get information on an array of mobile devices—bandwidth is pretty slow. That's one reason that mobile apps have become a predominant way to do things on the Internet, at least on smartphones. Some of the data and processing power is handled within your device.

The problem of how to get things done when we're dependent on the cloud is becoming all the more acute as more and more objects become "smart," or able to sense their environments, connect to the Internet, and even receive commands remotely. Everything from jet engines to refrigerators is being pushed onto wireless networks and joining the "Internet of Things."

Luckily there's an obvious solution: Stop focusing on the cloud, and start figuring out how to store and process the torrent of data being generated by the Internet of Things (also known as the industrial Internet) on the things themselves, or on devices that sit between our things and the Internet. Marketers at Cisco have already come up with a name for this phenomenon: fog computing.

Whereas the cloud is "up there" in the sky somewhere, the "fog" is close to the ground, right where things are getting done. It consists not of powerful servers, but weaker and more dispersed computers of the sort that are making their way into appliances, factories, cars, street lights and every other piece of our material culture.

The bottom line is, we just have too much data. So-called predictive analytics lets companies like GE know which part of a jet engine might need maintenance, even before the plane carrying it has landed. Why else do you think Google and Facebook are talking about alternate means of Internet access, including via balloons and drones? Existing carriers aren't getting the job done. The future of much enterprise computing remains in the cloud, but the really transformative computing of the future? It's going to happen right here, in the objects that surround us—in the fog.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304908304579566662320279406?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304908304579566662320279406.html

2 Swiss reject highest minimum wage (BBC) Swiss voters have overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to introduce what would have been the highest minimum wage in the world in a referendum. Under the plan, employers would have had to pay workers a minimum 22 Swiss francs (about $25) an hour.

Supporters said the move was necessary for people to live a decent life. But critics argued that it would raise production costs and increase unemployment. The minimum wage proposal was rejected by 76% of voters. Supporters had argued it would "protect equitable pay" but the Swiss Business Federation said it would harm low-paid workers in particular.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27459178

3 India’s Modi must seize the moment (Straits Times) Sky-high expectations will have to be gently brought down to earth as Mr Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) assume power after a landslide victory in India. A widespread yearning for change was inevitable following the Congress Party's years of stalled economic policies, large-scale corruption and a dysfunctional political system that conspired with bureaucratic sloth to bring about legislative-executive gridlock.

But popular expectations are overdone as there are limits to what Mr Modi can do to speedily restore growth, check high inflation, multiply jobs for restless youngsters and fix shoddy infrastructure. A rapid revitalisation for India is beyond anyone as substantive changes on the ground will take time - even with the return of badly needed investment, it will require a gestation period of three to four years to yield sufficient productive capacity, according to a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India.

Mr Modi is seasoned enough to know the art of politics is to moderate overweening hopes while delivering incremental changes as he gets into his stride. Confidence is best sustained by focusing on high standards of governance with a firm eye on long-term structural improvements. Policy certainty will be the crucial game changer. Its absence was the key reason why investment nosedived, as the International Monetary Fund had noted.

Running a tight ship will be a signal accomplishment given the political bickering, vested interests and bureaucratic stonewalls that Mr Modi will have to contend with. Foremost among his obstacles is the difficulty of persuading state governments to give a fillip to worthy projects. For example, land acquisition at the state level is said to account for the fate of over half of the top 50 projects (measured by value) that have ground to a halt, according to the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy. "All told, 75 per cent to 80 per cent of the problems on the ground are outside the direct jurisdiction of the central government," says a JP Morgan economist.

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/opinion/more-opinion-stories/story/seize-the-moment-mr-modi-20140519

Remaking India's economy; Swiss to decide on world's highest minimum wage; Debunking multitasking myths

1 Remaking India’s economy (Linda Yueh on BBC) The Bharatiya Janata Party’s landslide win in the Parliament election means India's next prime minister would be Narendra Modi, the man who seeks to remake India's economy. He has pledged to build manufacturing hubs, cities, hydroelectric power plants, and even bullet trains - essentially an India that is industrialised and urbanised. That has eluded India for some time and is the key to faster economic growth.

Manufacturing is only 14% of GDP and industrial production, including utilities, is only a quarter of national output. It is essentially unchanged since 1960 which means that India isn't industrialised unlike the other Asian giant, China. India was richer than China in 1990, but lagged behind since. It was only last year that average incomes exceeded $1,000, the level of the poorest countries in the world. China exceeded that threshold a decade ago.

There are many reasons for the disparity, but industrialisation is a significant one. By relying on what economists call import-substitution industrialisation, initially until the 1980s, India's attempt to produce everything at home and be protectionist didn't deliver the industries needed for the economy.

It's interesting what Modi has done in Gujarat - it's reminiscent of a Chinese Special Economic Zone (SEZ) - a place that is more market-driven than the rest of the country. Importantly, China's SEZs could make decisions locally about investment and setting up factories. In a sense, that's what Modi offered. After two years of debate with West Bengal, Tata decided to build its Nano car plant in Gujarat instead.

The more important factor in raising India's growth isn't the change in government, but the implementation of reforms. That is likely to be the true test of a Modi government, as running a country isn't nearly the same thing as running a state.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27436305

2 Swiss to decide on world’s highest minimum wage (Phillip Inman in The Guardian) Switzerland will put a proposal for the world's highest minimum wage to a national referendum on Sunday. The proposal is for a 22 Swiss francs (£14.70) an hour and if voted through it would put a salary floor under the average 35-hour week of more than £27,000.

Ministers have fought the proposal, made by the SGB union and supported by the Socialist and Green parties, saying it will put smaller firms out of business. While Switzerland is renowned as a home for hedge fund managers, a secretive banking sector and one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, more than 20% of its GDP comes from an increasingly beleaguered manufacturing sector.

A recent opinion poll by gfs.bern found that 64% of voters were against the proposal, but in a recent referendum voters unexpectedly forced the parliament to draw up plans to curb EU immigration. 

The move follows a string of campaigns across the developed world for higher basic wages. Two weeks ago, the mayor of Seattle, Washington, unveiled a plan for a city-wide minimum wage of $15 (£8.91), more than double the federal minimum rate. Next month the Bundestag is due to vote on a bill to introduce Germany's first national minimum wage of €8.50 (£7). Under the Swiss system, parliament can call a referendum or citizens can demand one if they can gather 100,000 signatures in support.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/16/swiss-vote-referendum-world-highest-minimum-wage-manufacturing

3 Debunking multitasking myths (Kim Thompson in San Francisco Chronicle) Multitasking can seem like the way to handle equally important interactions, until you see people checking their messages during meetings or talking on the phone while reviewing reports. The notion that you can do two or more tasks at once is rampant. But, is it true?

In reality, multitasking is a false pretense, because you can’t effectively listen to a conversation and fully participate while reviewing documents or reports that require the same intense focus. As innocent as multitasking seems, there are numerous studies that point to its ineffectiveness. Because it’s possible to use multiple senses at any given moment, it’s easy to believe you can answer a phone, enjoy a meal, review documents and listen to a conversation effectively.

Multitasking not only affects your career, it can be life threatening as well. The habit of multitasking usually doesn’t form overnight. Instead, it’s a product of time pressures. But here’s the problem: You think you are being productive when in reality you are performing less than you are capable of delivering.

Breaking the multitasking habit and learning to focus on one project at a time requires discipline and the ability to prioritize. Single-focus tasking is by far the most productive way to work. If you want to be more productive, start by taking small steps as you plan your day. Focus on what you need to accomplish first, then prioritize from there.

Bad habits can be replaced with more effective ones. You can change multitasking into single-tasking by slowing down and making a decision to focus. You might be surprised by how much you can accomplish.

http://blog.sfgate.com/gettowork/2014/05/12/multitasking-myths-debunked/?cmpid=hp-hc-jobs

4 Khaleej Times cartoon: SuperMan Mohan Singh

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/cartoongall.asp?next=0&file=data/photogallery/cartoon/cartoon.xml&section=cartoon

New era for India as BJP wins poll; Slow car sales dent Europe recovery hopes; How drones lift the realty market

1 New era for India as BJP wins poll (BBC) The opposition Hindu nationalist BJP party has promised "good times ahead" as early results suggest it is on course for a landslide victory. The scale of the predicted victory is such that the ruling Congress party has admitted defeat. BJP leader Narendra Modi tweeted: "India has won. Good times ahead."

This is the most resounding victory for a political party in India for 30 years, say correspondents. Mr Modi, chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, is seen as a no-nonsense, can-do leader who stands for development and muscular nationalism. He campaigned on promises of a revival in economic growth.

But many Indians still have profound concerns over Mr Modi because of claims he did little to stop the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, in which at least 1,000 people died, most of them Muslims - allegations he has always denied and over which he was never charged.

The election result will be a crushing blow to the Congress party, which is led by the Nehru-Gandhi family and has dominated Indian politics since independence. It reflects voter anger with Congress, which has been mired in serious corruption scandals and whose leadership has been considered ineffective in recent years, analysts say.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27435856

2 Slow car sales dent Europe recovery hopes (Graeme Wearden in The Guardian) European car sales have risen at their slowest rate in five months, adding to concerns over the durability of the recovery. Industry body ACEA reports this morning that new car registrations across the EU rose by 4.6%, year-on-year in April to 1,089,226. That's the the third lowest figure for an April since 2003.

On the upside, this is the eighth month in a row when sales were higher than a year ago. And the late Easter this year probably won't have helped. But the concern is that the revival is tailing off, at levels that are still historically weak. Car sales actually fell year-on-year in Germany, which doesn't suggest domestic demand in Europe's largest economy is going to drive the euro recovery strongly onwards.

Sales were down 3.6% in Germany, compared to April 2013. The Italian market was little changed, up 1.9%. But they rose 5.8% in France, +8.2% in the UK, and +28.7% in Spain -- where a government scrappage scheme has been driving demand. Gian Primo Quagliano, head of automotive-research company CSP in Bologna, Italy, says the data shows there's no significant recovery in the industry - which employs hundreds of thousands of Europeans.

Analysts are also concerned that the pick-up in cars sales this year is due to aggressive price-cutting, and a growing trend of selling demonstration models as "nearly new", at a discount. Reuters recently found that various incentives and discounts are cutting 12% off the price of a car - good for consumers, but eating into profit margins and also pushing down inflation. That's another reason to fret about the news that growth slowed to +4.6% in April, from March's 10% jump.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/may/16/weak-european-car-sales-markets-eon-fine-live

3 How drones lift the realty market (Kathleen Pender in San Francisco Chronicle) Once reserved for luxury-home listings, aerial photos and videos are popping up in ads for moderately priced places, thanks to the use of relatively inexpensive drones. It's especially popular in San Francisco’s Bay Area, where water, hills, beaches and vineyards can lend drama to even mundane homes.

John Hayes, president of Open Homes Photography, says his firm was hired to photograph a modest home in Foster City. "The regular photos on the ground are not very impressive, but you get in the air and it looks like you are in the Florida Keys or something." Although the word drone conjures up images of military spy craft, real estate photographers typically use small remote-control quadcopters (a helicopter with four rotors) with a camera - usually a GoPro - that takes stills and video. The setup that videographer Dough Canning of 3rd Gorilla Productions uses costs about $1,300.

A lot of drone photographers are trying to get around FAA restrictions "by not charging for the flight but charging for the editing," says Canning. Congress has ordered the FAA to come up with a plan for integrating small unmanned aerial vehicles into the domestic airspace by September 2015. Hayes says his drone operations have been "well tolerated, even by the police. We have had police drive by and wave."

http://www.sfgate.com/business/networth/article/Drones-used-for-aerial-real-estate-videos-5478771.php?cmpid=hp-hc-bustech

Japan's growth fastest in two years; Sony annual loss triples; A mini Boko Haram in every Muslim society; Mark Zuckerberg v/s Bill Gates at 30

1 Japan’s growth fastest in two years (BBC) Japan's economy grew at the fastest pace in nearly three years in the first quarter due to increased spending ahead of a sales tax increase on 1 April. Official data showed GDP rose 1.5% in the January-to-March period, against a revised 0.1% in the prior quarter. The figure beat forecasts for 1% growth, and was led by consumer spending which rose by 2.1%. Private consumption accounts for about 60% of Japan's economy. However, economists warned that spending may taper off now that the April tax hike has been introduced.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to revive growth in the world's third-largest economy. His policy of "Abenomics" has helped Japan's economy grow faster, but concerns remain about whether the recovery is durable. Analysts warn that Japan's huge trade deficit could pose a risk to growth.

Exports grew 6% quarter-on-quarter as a weaker yen made Japanese goods cheaper to overseas buyers. However, the weaker currency has also made imports more expensive for Japan, which has continued to buy vast quantities of foreign fuel to compensate for its lack of nuclear power.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27419848

2 Sony annual loss triples (The Guardian) Sony has posted a £808m quarterly loss – owing to costs from exiting its personal computer business – and has forecast more red ink as it struggles to execute a long-promised turnaround. The Tokyo-based electronics firm also reported on Wednesday a loss of ¥128.4bn for the fiscal year to end of March, more than three times the ¥41.5bn loss in the previous year. Sony forecasts a ¥50bn loss for the year ending March 2015.

Earlier this month, the firm said it would report a bigger annual loss than earlier forecast because of costs related to selling its Vaio PC business. It was also hit by a drop in the value of its overseas disc manufacturing business and its battery business.

The Playstation 4 maker has lost much of the cachet that stemmed from once being at the cutting edge of consumer electronics. In recent years it has fallen behind in digital recorders and flat-panel TVs while also facing competition from a host of new rivals that can make appliances at lower costs. In gadgetry, it is Apple and Samsung that have dazzled with their innovations, not Sony.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/14/sony-annual-losses-triple-playstation-4

3 A mini Boko Haram in every Muslim society (Murtaza Haider in Dawn) We know them as al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and the Taliban. Their branding may differ, but their misogynist ideologies do not. These so-called Islamists have promoted discrimination against women for centuries. Now, they abduct young women and threaten to kill them. Permitting these militants to pursue their misguided agendas will destroy whatever goodwill is left for Muslims.

Last month, the Nigeria-based Islamic militants, Boko Haram, raided a school in Chibok, a small town in the north-eastern Borno state, and kidnapped more than 200 teen-aged girls. Boko Haram has taken forced conversions to another level. They have kidnapped young women, held them hostage, threatened to kill them, and offered conversion and forced marriage to Boko Haram fighters as the only way out.

Muslim societies across the globe have been notorious for the poor welfare of women, especially the girl child. In several Muslim countries, determinants of physical and social well-being are much worse for girls than they are for boys. Boko Haram and its ilk hurt all Muslims, but more so young women. Muslims must confront those who harm women in the name of Islam.

Boko Haram may seem like a remote African tribe that abducts girls, threatens to kill them, and marries them off against their will. Some introspection should reveal that the same tendencies are alive and instrumental in all Muslim societies. Muslim fathers in the West have abducted their daughters and transported them back home to prevent their daughters from marrying for love. In the name of honour, Muslim fathers and brothers are known to have killed their daughters and sisters who married against family's wishes.

In some Muslim societies the situation has worsened to the extent that young Muslim women have to abandon their homelands and find refuge elsewhere. Ever wondered why Pakistan's most recognised young woman, Malala Yousafzai, is unsafe in Pakistan, but is safe in Birmingham?

http://www.dawn.com/news/1106263/there-is-a-mini-boko-haram-thriving-in-every-muslim-society

4 Mark Zuckerberg v/s Bill Gates at 30 (Julie Balise in San Francisco Chronicle) Mark Zuckerberg turns 30 today. To mark his birthday, we looked at how the Facebook CEO’s life and achievements compare to those of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates when he was 30. Both entrepreneurs left a major mark on their industries by the beginning of their third decade. Gates turned 30 on October 28, 1985, a much different time for personal computing and social media.

Gates co-founded Microsoft at age 20. Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook at age 19. Both held the title of chief executive officer on their 30th birthday. Both lacked college degrees, having dropped out of Harvard University.

Zuckerberg became a billionaire at age 23. His current net worth is $26.3 billion. Gates had not yet become a billionaire at age 30. He reached that status at age 31 and would top the Forbes magazine’s richest person in the world list from 1995 to 2007. He was No. 1 again in 2014. Gates’ current net worth is $77.5 billion. Gates was 30 when Microsoft made its initial public offering. Zuckerberg was 28 when Facebook went public.

Zuckerberg was named Time Person of the Year in 2010, at age 26. Gates did not achieve that distinction until he was 50 years old in 2005. And what about social media? Zuckerberg has more Facebook followers, while Gates leads on Twitter as of today. (Neither network was around when Gates was 30.)

Zuckerberg’s Facebook page currently has 21.6 million followers, while Gates’ page has 9.9 million likes. Gates has a verified Twitter account with 15.9 million followers. Zuckerberg’s public Twitter account has not been used since 2012. It has about 307,000 followers.

http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2014/05/14/zuckerberg-vs-gates-at-30/?cmpid=hp-hc-bustech#23367101=0