Docudharma Times Thursday March 4

China’s investments in U.S. up sharply

The strategy seeks higher earnings by acquiring assets while prices are depressed.

By Don Lee

March 4, 2010

Reporting from Washington – Made in China now has a fast-growing sibling: Bought by China.

Beijing is using its accumulation of billions of American dollars to step up its investments around the globe. In the last year, Chinese acquisitions in the U.S. have ranged from a relatively obscure theater in Branson, Mo., to stakes in such famous brands as Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson.

China’s huge stockpile of dollars stems in part from Americans’ enormous purchases of relatively inexpensive Chinese manufactured goods and the significantly smaller volume of U.S. exports to the Asian country.

Art imitates life, life sues art: bomb expert blasts The Hurt Locker for stealing story

Oscar favourite accused of exploiting veterans as behind-the-scenes battle for top awards intensifies

Ed Pilkington in New York

It is one thing to put your life on the line every day as a bomb disposal expert in the US military, working in hugely dangerous conditions in Iraq and beyond. It is quite another to see your life’s story converted into a critically acclaimed Hollywood feature film that is the frontrunner to win best picture at the Oscars on Sunday night, without being given a jot of credit for it.

That, at least, is the message coming from a 38-year-old sergeant in the army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal team who presented himself to the world today at the launch in Michigan of what is being billed as a “multimillion-dollar lawsuit”. Jeffrey Sarver claims he was the model for the central character in The Hurt Locker, the nerve-jangling Iraq war movie that is being predicted to win the most prestigious prize at the Academy Awards.

USA

Darwin Foes Add Warming to Targets



By LESLIE KAUFMAN

Published: March 3, 2010

Critics of the teaching of evolution in the nation’s classrooms are gaining ground in some states by linking the issue to global warming, arguing that dissenting views on both scientific subjects should be taught in public schools.

In Kentucky, a bill recently introduced in the Legislature would encourage teachers to discuss “the advantages and disadvantages of scientific theories,” including “evolution, the origins of life, global warming and human cloning.”

The bill, which has yet to be voted on, is patterned on even more aggressive efforts in other states to fuse such issues.

Republican fundraising document portrays Democrats as evil



By Perry Bacon Jr.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Democrats on Wednesday sharply criticized a Republican National Committee fundraising document that caricatured President Obama as the Joker, while Chairman Michael S. Steele sought to distance himself from it.

Also depicted were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), presented as Cruella de Vil and Scooby-Doo, respectively. The three Democratic leaders were gathered under the heading “The Evil Empire.”

The cartoonish images were part of a 72-page PowerPoint presentation assembled for potential campaign donors and fundraisers.

Europe

Irish public pays a price for nation’s fiscal austerity

Facing a dangerous runaway deficit, government officials enacted stinging cuts and higher taxes. The moves helped get Ireland’s economy back on track, but left many workers ‘counting every euro.’

By Henry Chu

March 3, 2010 | 7:42 p.m.

Reporting from Dublin, Ireland – The outside world applauded last December when Ireland unveiled its harshest budget in a generation. Stinging cuts and higher taxes were needed to tame a runaway public deficit and give the limping Celtic Tiger some of its roar back, officials said.

Three months later, Ireland has become something of a poster boy for good behavior in bad times, held up as an example to Europe’s other debt-laden economies, particularly Greece.

Analysts say that by biting the bullet, the Irish government has managed to hang on to a degree of investor confidence and lay the foundation for an eventual return to economic growth.

First GM potato to be grown commercially in Europe

Farmers will be able to grow fields of genetically modified potatoes in Europe for the first time after a controversial ruling by the European Commission.

By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent

Published: 7:00AM GMT 04 Mar 2010

It is the first approval for a GM crop to be grown on a commercial scale in Europe for 12 years and was immediately criticised by environmental groups.

The GM Amflora potato has been developed by chemical giant BASF to produce more starch and is expected to be grown mostly in Germany for industrial purposes like the paper industry, but not food.

However it is unlikely to be grown in Britain because there is no demand for the potato in UK industry.

Prior to the potato, only a strain of genetically modified maize made by Monsanto had been authorised for cultivation in Europe since 1998.

GM crops can also be grown for scientific trials and the UK Government has given permission for a number of GM potatoes trials recently.

Middle East

Hopes rise for resumption of Middle East peace negotiations

Arab League move would allow moderate Palestinian leadership to enter indirect talks without losing ground

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem Thursday, 4 March 2010

The prospects for the first negotiations involving Israel and the moderate Palestinian leadership for over a year have increased after the nations of the Arab League gave qualified support to a US proposal for indirect talks between both sides.

The decision by Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo yesterday gives the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas political cover to enter “proximity” talks – in which the US would shuttle between the two sides – despite Palestinian and wider Arab scepticism over Israel’s willingness to advance a genuine peace process.

Iran casts its shadow over Iraq vote

Tehran is said to be working hard to fill a potential power vacuum

Associated Press  

BAGHDAD – As the U.S. prepares to withdraw its forces from Iraq, Iran is said to be working hard to fill a potential power vacuum – an effort that faces its first big test in Sunday’s elections, in which Tehran is backing hard-liners against a coalition of moderates.

Shiite Iran already has reliable allies in Syria, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Gaza’s Hamas, and a free rein in Iraq would broaden its regional leverage, unnerving Israel and potentially diminishing the clout of Sunni powerhouses like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Asia

China all at sea over Japan island row

Greater China

 By Peter J Brown

Japan’s Okinotori Island, which has a Tokyo postal address even though it lies roughly 1,770 kilometers south of the capital and it is actually a pair of tiny islets, has become a bone of contention for China.

Among other things, China refuses to grant it island status, and refers to it instead as an atoll, reef or simply a rock. By doing so, China hopes to throttle back Japan’s plan to create an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) there. The dispute over Okinotori, which Japan calls Okinotorishima, persists because it involves strategic concerns and rights to undersea resources over an area that is roughly equivalent to the entire land mass of the four main Japanese islands.

At an undersea resource development conference hosted by Kyushu University last December that was attended by experts from China, Japan and South Korea and elsewhere, the cobalt-rich manganese crusts around Okinotori were highlighted. Although “rich natural resources” in the area are frequently mentioned as well by China, details are lacking.

Handsome Chinese vagrant draws fans of ‘homeless chic’

Identity of ‘Brother Sharp’ – dubbed China’s coolest man – remains a mystery

By Clifford Coonan in Beijing Thursday, 4 March 2010

The photograph shows a starkly handsome Chinese man walking with a model’s measured gait, and wearing a rag-tag but well co-ordinated overcoat on top of a leather jacket. His eyes peer into the middle distance, in what one fan described as “a deep and penetrating way”, and he strides confidently forward.

But this is no catwalk model. This is a homeless man in the city of Ningbo. And now a band of web followers are calling him the coolest man in China.

His good looks and bohemian dress sense have won him thousands of online fans after a resident of Ningbo posted a picture online. Web users in China have called him the “Beggar Prince”, the “Handsome Vagabond”, and, most often, “Brother Sharp”.

Africa

Bob Geldof rages at BBC over claim Live Aid millions were used to buy arms

From The Times

March 4, 2010

 Catherine Philp, Diplomatic Correspondent

Bob Geldof reacted angrily yesterday to claims broadcast on the BBC that millions of dollars raised by Band Aid were diverted to Ethiopian rebels.

The allegations that 95 per cent of aid money donated to help victims of the 1985 Ethiopian famine were siphoned off were made in a BBC radio programme broadcast yesterday.

Geldof told The Times that “it would be a f***ing tragedy” if the British people stopped giving to charity because of allegations made by the same broadcaster that inspired him to fight poverty and hunger in Africa.

India firm Bharti Airtel goes big into African cellphone market

Bharti Airtel, an Indian company, paid $9 billion for access to an African cellphone market serving 45 million. The world’s last unsaturated market holds a potentially huge payoff.

By Scott Baldauf Staff writer  

Johannesburg, South Africa

How much would you pay for a cellphone company in 15 countries, serving 45 million Africans? The answer, for Indian cellphone entrepreneur Sunil Mittal, is $9 billion.

Mr. Mittal’s company, Bharti Airtel, recently announced a deal to buy up the African assets of Kuwaiti telecom firm Zain. The deal, which is expected to be finalized in March, would be the second-largest takeover in Indian history. Bharti would also assume $1.7 billion in debt.

More important, it showcases the enormous telecommunications investment opportunities in Africa, which won’t remain the world’s last unsaturated cellphone market for long.

Latin America

Chilean military begins aid deliveries

With streets more secure, troops distribute food to survivors

msnbc.com news services

updated 9:27 p.m. ET March 3, 2010

CONCEPCION, Chile – Four days after a deadly earthquake, Chile’s military finally launched a massive humanitarian aid effort Wednesday that promised to improve an image long associated with dictatorship-era repression.

After days of looting, rifle-toting army troops occupied nearly every block of hard-hit Concepcion on Wednesday, enforcing a curfew that expired at noon with checkpoints throughout the city. With the streets more secure, they focused on aid.

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