Yahoo chairman stepping down

 

Bostock, in a letter to shareholders, also said Yahoo was in “active discussions” with its partners in Asia on restructuring its holdings in the Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan.

 

Bostock said he had decided not to stand for re-election at Yahoo s next shareholders meeting, along with board members Vyomesh Joshi, Arthur Kern and Gary Wilson.

 

He said the board elected two independent directors on Tuesday: Alfred Amoroso, former president and chief executive of Rovi Corp., and Maynard Webb, a former chief operating officer at eBay.

 

Bostock said a strategic review of Yahoo has made “significant progress” and has included “a wide range of discussions with potential partners.

 

“We have engaged with potential investors and reviewed proposals concerning an equity investment in the company, although at this time there have not been any proposals which have been deemed by the committee to be attractive to our shareholders,” he said.

 

“We are also in active discussions with our partners in Asia regarding the possibility of restructuring our holdings in Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan,” Bostock said.

 

“While we continue to devote significant resources to these discussions, we are not in a position at this time to provide further detail or to provide assurance that any transaction will be achieved,” he said.

US lawmakers back stronger ties with Philippines

 

They said Congress soon will approve the transfer of a second ship to help the ally s navy defend its waters.

 

Republican Rep. Ed Royce told a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs hearing on US-Philippine relations that the congressional review process for transferring the Coast Guard Cutter Dallas will be finished this week, and the ship should soon be on its way to Manila. Another aging US cutter, the Hamilton, was transferred to the Philippines last May.

 

The US has sought to boost the Philippines  ability to maintain its maritime security because of its ally s concern over assertive Chinese behavior in disputed waters of the South China Sea.

 

While the United States has no territorial claims in the region, the top US diplomat for East Asia, Kurt Campbell, reiterated that the US has a national interest in such claims  peaceful resolution and the freedom of navigation in seas that carry about a half the total tonnage of world trade.
 

US urges Europe to increase defence budget

 

The United States will renew its commitment to Europe s security by contributing to a NATO force but Europeans must also invest in their own defence, the US defence chief said Saturday.

 

Leon Panetta sought to reassure Europe that Washington will not abandon its European allies even as the US military withdraws troops, cuts its budget and shifts its strategy to Asia and the Middle East.

 

“The peace and prosperity of Europe is critically important to the US,” Panetta said in a speech at the Munich Security Conference.

 

“Europe remains our security partner of choice for military operations and diplomacy around the world — as we saw in Libya last year, and as we see in Afghanistan every day,” he said.

 

“We are therefore deeply committed to strengthening transatlantic security partnerships and institutions, including NATO,” he said at a round table discussion alongside US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

 

While the US military plans to withdraw two of its four army brigades stationed in Europe in 2014, Panetta announced that a US-based brigade will contribute to the NATO Response Force, a 13,000-strong unit created in 2002.

 

The US military will also rotate a battalion-sized task force to Germany to take part in exercises and training.

 

“In all, the steps Europe can expect from the United States amount to a vote of confidence from Washington in the future of the alliance, especially in a period of fiscal austerity,” he said.

 

Calling on Europe to “cast a similar vote of confidence,” he renewed pressure on allies to keep investing in defence and to pool resources as part of the “Smart Defence” initiative aimed at maintaining military capabilities.

 

“Approaches like Smart Defence help us spend together sensibly, but they cannot be an excuse to cut budgets further,” he said.
 

Oil close to $99 on Greece debt crisis

 

Oil fell to nearly $99 a barrel Monday in Asia amid fresh concerns that the eurozone may refuse to grant Greece a fresh bailout.

 

Benchmark crude for March delivery was down 42 cents at $99.14 a barrel at midday Kuala Lumpur time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 14 cents to finish at $99.56 on Friday.

 

Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore, said crude prices were volatile after Germany s finance minister warned that the eurozone might not give Greece a fresh bailout unless it can overhaul its state and economy. Analysts fear this could reignite the region s debt crisis.

 

European leaders were to meet later Monday in Brussels to discuss austerity measures and a tentative deal reached Saturday between Greece and its private investors to avert a disastrous Greek default on its debt.

 

Shum said supply concerns also weighed on the market although Iran has postponed plans to immediately cut the flow of crude oil to Europe in retaliation for EU sanctions over its nuclear program.

 

Iran also threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil passage, and the head of its national oil company warned Sunday that EU sanctions could push oil prices up to between $120 and $150 a barrel. The market is also awaiting report from an International Atomic Energy Agency team that is currently touring Tehran, Shum said.

 

“Trade has been flat. The geopolitical tension in Iran and concerns over Greece s debt default are driving oil in different directions. This has helped oil to hold steady,” Shum added.

 

In other energy trading, heating oil rose 1 cent to $3.07 per gallon but gasoline futures were steady at $2.92 per gallon. Natural gas added 7 cents to $2.82 per 1,000 cubic feet.
 

Euro slips against other currencies in Asia

 

The euro slipped against other currencies in Asia on Monday as market players awaited a European Union summit to see whether leaders will make progress on containing the region s debt crisis.

 

The euro bought $1.3181 and 101.03 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, down from $1.3221 and 101.37 in New York late Friday.
The dollar was at 76.66 yen, flat from New York.

 

The euro eased due to falls in Tokyo stocks and uncertainty over the outcome of the summit in Brussels later in the day, said a trader at a Japanese trust bank.

 

The finance minister of debt-stricken Greece on Sunday rejected a German proposal for the EU to take control over its tax and spend decisions, citing national sovereignty.

 

But the Wall Street Journal reported Berlin s finance minister issued a blunt warning the eurozone might refuse Greece a fresh bailout, pushing Athens into default, unless it convinces Europe it can overhaul its state and economy.

 

“Unless Greece implements the necessary decisions and doesn t just announce them… there s no amount of money that can solve the problem,” it quoted Wolfgang Schaeuble as saying.

 

A senior dealer in Tokyo told Dow Jones Newswires: “Germany looks like it can t wait any longer” for reforms to solve the Greek debt crisis.

 

On the other hand the euro may be supported if an agreement is reached at the EU summit over a euro-wide fiscal stability pact and a permanent bailout fund, said Sumino Kamei, senior analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

 

“The sense of uncertainty over the future of the European debt crisis will recede if these agreements are reached, and short-covering of the euro will continue,” she said. The dollar was mixed against other Asian currencies.

 

It eased to 31.08 Thai baht from 31.29 baht on Friday, to Sg$1.2554 from Sg$1.2573 and to Tw$29.74 form Tw$29.89.

 

The dollar firmed to 42.95 Philippine pesos from 42.84 pesos, to 1,126.10 South Korean won from 1,123.30 won, and to 8,995.00 Indonesian rupiah from 8,965.00 rupiah.

 

US not seeking military bases in SE Asia

 

The United States wants a greater military presence in Southeast Asia but does not seek permanent bases anywhere in the region, the chief of the Pacific Command said Friday.

 

Despite impending budget cuts, the U.S. wants to reinforce its presence in the Asia-Pacific, as its involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winds down. That reflects the region s growing economic importance and concern about China s military capabilities and intentions.

 

Adm. said U.S. forces heavily deployed in Japan and South Korea are now “biased” toward Northeast Asia.

 

He said arrangements announced in recent months to station American troops in northern Australia and dock Navy vessels in Singapore would enable the U.S. to rotate forces through Southeast Asia more easily, and without the cost of sustaining bases there.

 

He indicated the U.S. was seeking something similar with the Philippines.

 

“We would welcome discussions with the Philippines along those lines but there s no aspirations for bases in Southeast Asia,” Willard told a news conference.

 

In Washington Friday, senior U.S. and Philippine diplomats and defense officials were rounding off two days of strategic talks on how they can enhance military cooperation.

 

Both sides have been at pains to say re-establishing the kind of permanent American base that was closed in the Philippines 20 years ago is not on the cards. But in Manila, Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario said in a statement the Philippines was considering more joint military exercises with the U.S. and “a rotating and more frequent presence by them.”

 

The Philippines also wants more training and American military hardware: an additional U.S. Coast Guard cutter, a squadron of F-16 fighter jets and other weapons to bolster its territorial defense.
 

Floods drown Asia’s rice bowl

HANOI: Massive floods have ravaged vast swathes of Asia’s rice bowl, threatening to further drive up food prices and adding to the burden of farmers who are among the region’s poorest, experts say.

About 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) of paddy fields in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos have been damaged or are at risk from the worst floods to hit the region in years, officials say.

In Thailand, the world’s biggest rice exporter, where 237 people have died in the floods, about one million hectares of paddy — roughly 10 percent of the total — have been damaged, they say.

Heavy rains in Laos and Cambodia have also led to big losses in recent weeks, and experts say flood waters have now drained into Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, a key global rice producer, making it the latest to be inundated.

Further west, flooding of rice and other farmland in Pakistan’s arable belt has cost that country nearly $2 billion in losses.

“The whole region will now suffer from rising food prices as potential harvests have now been devastated. The damage is very serious this year and it will be some time before people can resume normal lives,” Margareta Wahlstrom, the United Nations chief of disaster reduction, said in a statement.

The flood damage comes on top of worries about the impact on global rice prices of a new scheme by the Thai government to boost the minimum price farmers receive for their crop.

Vietnam meanwhile is the world’s number-two rice exporter and the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam accounts for half the country’s production.

“The upstream waters have begun to drop slightly but here they are rising three to five centimetres (1.2 to two inches) daily,” said Duong Nghia Quoc, director of the agriculture department in Dong Thap province.

Dong Thap and neighbouring An Giang, which abut Cambodia, have been the worst affected in the delta.

The UN, citing government sources, says 11 people have died, more than 20,000 homes are flooded and 99,000 hectares of rice are at risk in Vietnam.

“Agricultural production is seriously affected this year by the floods that were, in fact, worse than our forecasts,” said Vuong Huu Tien, of the flood and storm control department in An Giang, where thousands of soldiers have been mobilised to reinforce dykes and help residents reach safer ground.

In Cambodia, more than 330,000 hectares of rice paddy have been inundated, of which more than 100,000 hectares are completely destroyed, said a senior official at the Ministry of Agriculture.

Ngin Chhay said the “big loss” was likely to affect this year’s rice surplus, which was expected to reach some three million tonnes.

Cambodia, where more than 160 people have been killed in the floods, exports only a fraction of total rice production but the crop accounts for about 7.5 percent of gross domestic product.

Laos, one of Asia’s poorest nations, has also suffered, according to reports in state-controlled media there.

Tropical storms which struck since June killed at least 23 people in the country and damaged more than 60,000 hectares of paddy, the reports said.

In late September more crops suffered after a dam on a tributary of the Mekong released water to lower its rain-swollen levels, the Vientiane Times reported.

Vo Tong Xuan, a Vietnamese rice expert based in the Mekong Delta, said a major contributor to this year’s floods has been the unusually heavy rains in Thailand and Laos, which drain down through the Mekong.

Experts say the delta’s expanding system of dykes adds to the problem. They “prevent water circulation in some places but provoke floods in others,” said Bui Minh Tang, a weather forecaster.

Vietnam News, the communist state’s official English-language daily, reported that the lost rice crop in Dong Thap province alone was worth $2.7 million.

“The floods have seriously affected life and production of the farmers in our district, notably because of a shortage of drinking water and electricity,” said Vu Tien Quang, who belongs to a farmers’ association in the province. AGENCIES

Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” banned in Lebanon

TrendPK.com: What the heck is happening overseas? The United States are supposed to be conservative, with the rest of the world loosening its restrictions on modern media. But first we get a story that Britain has banned a sequel to “The Human Centipede” because of lewd and graphic sexual behavior, and now Lady Gaga is being banned in Lebanon.

Officials in Lebanon banned Gaga’s latest album “Born This Way,” saying that the record is “offensive to Christianity,” according to The Guardian. Copies of the album were “impounded” by the office of general security when they arrived at Beirut’s airport, the paper adds.

“Distributors are prohibited from circulating media that diverges from public decency and morality or is at odds with nationalistic or religious beliefs,” officials said.

FICCI Frames ’11: Animation Co-Pro with Int’l markets & emerging opportunities

The session consisting of international industry heavy weights including A. K. Madhavan, A. P. Pargi, Laura Dohrmann and Johnchill Lee amongst others, touched upon the latest trends in global co-production in the animation arena, specially focussing on the Asia Pacific vis-a-vis global productions, hurdles and challenges therein. One issue that was unanimously agreed upon was the need for an increase in investment in the animation sector and directing these funds into R&D and training in India. Animation needs to grow via funding.

Until now most of the co-productions between Indian companies and those abroad have been in the realm of ‘outsourcing’, where Indian animators have helped execute creative content from abroad. Such an arrangement usually takes place as production in India is cheaper and results in no ‘credit’ given to the Indian animators involved. Therefore to build credibility of the Indian animation industry we will have to move beyond Mythological content and give room to other creative content. Yes, the possibility of a co-production where Indian creative content could be developed by animators abroad exists, but it needs working.

The key to a serious international co-production is setting an effective method of working and storytelling. One is to apply the thinking of a filmmaker and not that of an animator, getting the scripts looked at by someone who has nothing to do with animation could be helpful – as eventually its all about storytelling and the screenplays have to be good.

Another way ahead is by reforming the co-production treaties, so that all the parties involved can exploit profits and promote talent. When asked how India fared compared to the biggies like France, China and the US animators, the panel of the opinion that if not better we were at par with them all. The pros of the Indian industry is its ability to embrace new technology promptly, a flexible work culture and delivery of quality.

There’s a lot the Indian animation industry has to learn, especially from Canada. It’s leading worldwide because of the government support and the heavy spends on R&D instead of animation. The tax rebates are an added bonus to the co-ordinated approach their industry follows. The session ended with the panellists answering – “what’s so global about the western world?” They were of the belief that any content must reflect the human experience for a global appeal and that a good story is always global.

Muslim population growth to outstrip non-Muslims: report

The worlds Muslim population will grow twice as fast as the non-Muslim population in the next 20 years, when Muslims are expected to make up more than a quarter of the global population, a study published Thursday predicts.

Using fertility, mortality and migration rates, researchers at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life project a 1.5-per cent annual population growth rate for the worlds Muslims over the next two decades, and just 0.7 per cent growth each year for non-Muslims. The study, called The Future of the Global Muslim Population, projects that in 2030 Muslims will make up 26.4 per cent of the worlds population, which is expected to total around 8.3 billion people by then. That marks a three-percentage-point rise from the 23.4-per cent share held by Muslims of the globes estimated 6.9 billion people today, the study says. More than six in 10 followers of Islam will live in the Asia-Pacific region in 2030, and Pakistan, which has seen a rise in radical Islam in recent months, will overtake Indonesia as the worlds most populous Muslim nation. In Africa, the Muslim population of the sub-Saharan country of Nigeria will be greater than that of Egypt in 20 years, the study projects. Israel will become nearly a quarter Muslim. The Palestinian territories have one of the highest growth rates in the world.And in Europe, Pew predicts the Muslim population will grow by nearly a third in 20 years, from 44.1 million people, or six per cent of the regions inhabitants in 2010, to 58.2 million or eight per cent of the projected total population by 2030.Some European Union (EU) countries will see double-digit percentages of Muslims in their population by 2030: Belgiums Muslim population is projected to rise from six per cent to 10.2 per cent over the next 20 years, while Frances is expected to hit 10.3 per cent in 2030, up from 7.5 per cent today.In Sweden, Pew predicts Muslims will comprise nearly 10 per cent of the population compared to less than five per cent today.Britains Muslim population is predicted to rise from 4.6 per cent to 8.2 per cent by 2030, and 9.3 per cent of the population of Austria is forecast to be Muslim by then, compared to less than six per cent of residents of the alpine country now.Russia, which is not a member of the EU, will continue to have the largest Muslim population in absolute terms in Europe in 2030, with 18.6 million Muslims or 14.4 per cent of the total population of the vast country.The United States, meanwhile, is projected to have a larger absolute number of Muslims by 2030 than any European countries other than Russia and France, but proportionally, Muslims will make up a much smaller percentage of the population of the United States than they do in Europe. The Muslim share of the US population is projected to grow from its current level of less than one percent to 1.7 per cent by 2030, making Muslims roughly as numerous as Jews or Episcopalians are in the United States, the study says.

Next Page »