Korean giant with a hotline to the future
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2146865,00.html
Ten years ago Samsung was on its knees. Now it is powering a
technology revolution that will affect every aspect of our lives,
writes Nick Mathiason
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
In a west London hospital last month, a computer controlled robot
performed intricate heart surgery. This will soon be a regular
occurrence - 20 such procedures have already happened - and should
allow doctors to operate on more patients.
Computer memory and storage capacity continue to grow at spectacular
rates: it is projected that by 2010 a chip small enough to balance on
the tip of a finger will store all the US Library of Congress's 134
million items. In 2012, the fourth-generation mobile phone will
launch. A joint venture between South Korean tech giant Samsung
Electronics and Sprint, the US telecoms firm, it will offer constant,
lightning-speed internet capability, on the move, anywhere.
Is this the canary in the mine, or just a wobble?
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2146869,00.html
John Jay
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
When financial bubbles burst, they make a mess. This is clear from
recent events as the virus from the US sub-prime lending crisis has
infected the credit and equity markets, generating a classic flight to
quality into 'safe-haven' assets such as government bonds.
The collateral damage has been substantial. Ben Bernanke, the US
Federal Reserve chairman, reckons sub-prime lending losses could total
$100bn (=A350bn). Yet, about =A31,800bn has been sliced off global share
prices since they peaked on 13 July.
Rainmakers on a spree in turbulent times
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2146854,00.html
With the markets under a cloud, global capitalists are seizing the
silver lining, says Nick Mathiason
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
As world markets collapse, the multi-billionaire giants of global
capitalism are making hay. This summer's panic sell-off represents a
buying opportunity for the rainmakers, with reeling markets presenting
a welcome chance to bolster stratospheric fortunes.
The biggest beast in the financial jungle is Warren Buffett. The Sage
of Omaha, 77 this month, is gearing up for a $60bn buying spree. His
investment vehicle, Berkshire Hathaway, has amassed a cash pile to
seize steel firms, energy outfits, insurers and undervalued retailers.
Buffett, who last year bought a stake in Tesco, has been busy as
financial contagion has spread.
Fearful investors turn and run from a spiralling crisis
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2146855,00.html
As the sub-prime mortgage crisis intensified last week, markets around
the world were shaken to their foundations. Heather Stewart and Alex
Brett report on a week when confidence collapsed
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
'We have Armageddon!... The Fed is asleep!' It was the first time an
unfolding financial crisis had been captured on YouTube: a cringe-
making clip of Wall Street commentator Jim Cramer losing his cool
about the credit crunch pinged its way around the Square Mile last
week, raising wry smiles, as panic-stricken traders watched their own
losses spiral.
As his co-host strove to calm him down, a red-faced Cramer berated
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke for not bailing out investors
with an interest rate cut. 'It's gone round the trading floors like
wildfire,' says one insider. 'Cramer is a bit extreme, but there is a
kernel of truth in what he says.'
US loan crisis set to claim fresh victims
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2146838,00.html
Turmoil also threatens debt-backed takeovers
Heather Stewart, Nick Mathiason and Zoe Wood
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
Investors are braced for another white-knuckle ride on the markets
this week as the fallout from the American sub-prime mortgage crunch
starts to claim fresh victims.
Central banks in Europe, Asia and the US pumped more than $300bn
(=A3150bn) of emergency cash into the markets on Thursday and Friday, to
prevent a full-blown financial collapse, but failed to stem the share
sell-off.
The FTSE 100 had its worst day for more than four years on Friday, and
the Dow Jones closed 30 points down.
When did the police start collaring television?
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2147103,00.html
Channel 4's controversial documentary Undercover Mosque was great
investigative journalism. That the CPS thought it incited racial
hatred beggars belief
Andrew Anthony
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
Last week, the press, radio and TV news all focused, in the wake of
the Queen's fake flounce and the fraudulent phoneline sagas, on yet
another story of televisual deception. The culprit was said to be a
Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, Undercover Mosque, which was
broadcast in January.
The programme 'completely distorted' the meaning of the Islamic
clerics and speakers featured in its investigation. This was the
message repeated across the media. Both Sky News and the BBC referred
to earlier TV scandals, implying that Dispatches was guilty of the
kind of dubious practices now associated with unscrupulous game shows.
It was no surprise that the allegation received such widespread
attention because it was made by no lesser authorities than the West
Midlands Police and the Crown Prosecution Service.
Let the train put transport back on track
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2147094,00.html
While we castigate airports, we overlook the criminal underfunding and
underuse of our railway network
Mary Riddell
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
Airports are hell. Everyone says so. All are cauldrons of misery and
Heathrow is so horrific that Mayor Livingstone, the airline industry,
the government and commentators vie to describe a travel experience
hardly more pleasant than a Pacific voyage in the scurvy-ridden bowels
of Captain Cook's Endeavour.
The only problem in this consensus view is that it isn't true. I am
not normally a frequent flyer, but I have been through three British
airports this summer. The staff were pleasant, the security queues
short and, if you don't count check-in, the longest delays were caused
by obnoxious passengers.
We can rid Britain of forced marriages
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2147063,00.html
Greater protection needs to be offered to young women before they can
be taken abroad
Damian Green
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
The continued existence of forced marriages in modern Britain is a
stain on our social fabric. It is the extreme and unacceptable end of
the clash of values between a plural democracy that values individual
human rights and belief systems that regard women as second-class
citizens. Shockingly, forced marriages are not isolated events. The
School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London
estimates the numbers at 1,000 a year. The government's Forced
Marriages Unit takes 5,000 calls for advice each year and deals with
300 cases.
I saw red trying to go green
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/aug/12/ethicalliving.carbonfootp=
rints
Juliette Jowit, environment editor
The Observer Sunday August 12 2007
It's official: renewable energy doesn't reduce carbon emissions. At
least that's the message from the government, whose latest tool in the
fight against climate change is a carbon calculator.
As a concerned citizen, I wanted to find out my 'carbon footprint'.
Having already signed up for 100 per cent wind power electricity, and
being a train commuter and keen cyclist, I rather fancied my chances.
Although the flying would be a problem ... The result, though, has
turned out to be less than illuminating. It has been confusing and
irritating.
An Englishman's home is his schloss
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2147061,00.html
Thanks to the Germans - again - we are rediscovering our love of home
and hearth
Tristram Hunt
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
'There is nothing as unique in English architecture as the development
of the house ... no nation is more committed to its development,
because no nation has identified itself more with the house.' So wrote
Herman Muthesius, technical attache to the German embassy, to his
patron, Grand Duke Carl Alexander, outlining his planned book on
English domestic architecture. 'Such a publication would be of great
value, especially here in Germany,' the grand duke replied keenly.
'Because of history, the notion of homeliness and home comforts is
less developed here, in our less fortunate Fatherland, than in
England.'
We must use Salmond's 'great debate' to strengthen Britain
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2147096,00.html
This week, the First Minister will begin a countrywide consultation
that threatens finally to make Scotland small again
Ruaridh Nicoll
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
Where's Scotland's Shostakovich, our brave-hearted Sibelius? The SNP
need him and then leader Alex Salmond could fairly borrow the Scottish
National Orchestra from Edinburgh's Festival so as to lift the spirits
on Tuesday. For, at the city's Craiglockhart, as promised, the banner
of nationalism is to be unfurled, the standard raised.
Unfortunately for the SNP, our great composer, James MacMillan, shows
no nationalist fervour; our master of the rousing score, Craig
Armstrong, is busy in Hollywood; the Orcadian maestro, Peter Maxwell
Davies, is English. So, we'll have to do with the lyricism of our
First Minister, Alex Salmond.
Watch out - the state is after your hard drive
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2147157,00.html
Rafael Behr
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
The Ministry of Defence last week ordered British soldiers to stop
blogging, putting videos on YouTube, joining online chats or sending
text messages without a superior officer's permission. But the
soldiers carried on regardless, posting caustic commentary on the wars
in Afghanistan and Iraq. It was a mini digital mutiny.
I'm surprised the MoD has taken so long to deal with the problem of
khaki samizdat. Censorship is part of military life. Imagine if
Tommies had been able to blog about the trenches in October 1914.
There would have been an outcry back home. The war could well have
been over by Christmas.
Without role models, black youth is prey to underworld culture
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,,2147115,00.html
Akin Ojumu
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
When I was growing up in south London there was a lot of talk about
'no-go areas', the streets my parents said weren't safe for black
boys. They were worried about racism and potential racist attacks.
When Stephen Lawrence was killed in 1993 in Eltham, less than a mile
from where my younger brother went to school, their worst fears seemed
justified.
Now I'm the father of a young boy and wonder if their fears belonged
to a different generation. Is it my own community that presents the
real threat? This year there has been an unprecedented wave of teenage
killings, 17 gang-related murders in London alone. In 2007 barely a
fortnight has gone by without the heartbreaking news of another young
life cut short after a stabbing or shooting. Most of the victims were
black, and so were the perpetrators.
British firm under scrutiny for export of Bosnian guns to Iraq
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,2147200,00.html
MPs and Amnesty International demand to know if a Nottingham-based
company has breached the United Nations arms embargo
Jamie Doward and Johnny McDevitt
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
The government was facing awkward questions last night over an arms
deal involving a British company licensed by the Department of Trade
and Industry to import weapons but which was also selling machine guns
to an Iraqi official later implicated in an alleged $1.1bn (=A3545m)
corruption scandal.
A committee of MPs and Amnesty International have both demanded to
know whether the deal breaches either the UN arms embargo on Iraq or
British government export laws. They want to know who was involved in
the deal and what safeguards are in place to ensure arms exports
negotiated by British companies through foreign intermediaries reach
their intended destination.
Fatigue cripples US army in Iraq
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2147052,00.html
Exhaustion and combat stress are besieging US troops in Iraq as they
battle with a new type of warfare. Some even rely on Red Bull to get
through the day. As desertions and absences increase, the military is
struggling to cope with the crisis
Peter Beaumont in Baghdad
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
Lieutenant Clay Hanna looks sick and white. Like his colleagues he
does not seem to sleep. Hanna says he catches up by napping on a cot
between operations in the command centre, amid the noise of radio. He
is up at 6am and tries to go to sleep by 2am or 3am. But there are
operations to go on, planning to be done and after-action reports that
need to be written. And war interposes its own deadly agenda that
requires his attention and wakes him up.
Civilian death toll rises in the bloody battle of Helmand
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2147210,00.html
When British troops are pinned down by the Taliban, they call in a US
air strike. But the huge bombs don't just kill the enemy - they
destroy innocent families, increasing hostility towards the coalition
Mark Townsend in Helmand province
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
The number of civilian deaths in Afghanistan's Helmand province has
fast become the conflict's most controversial element, and now
threatens to undermine Britain's entire war effort. Attempts to stop
the resurgence of the Taliban are uniting the population against UK
troops. Amid the mounting death toll of innocent Afghans, fissures are
appearing between British and American commanders over who is most to
blame. Crisis talks between military officers and the country's
government over 'collateral damage' continue.
Poisoned city fights to save its children
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2147039,00.html
Families in a Peruvian valley choked by toxic gas from a smelter are
taking on a US metals giant
Hugh O'Shaughnessy in La Oroya, Peru
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
At an altitude of 13,000ft the Andean air is clear. A plume of white
smoke rises from the chimney at the La Oroya smelter, hard at work
refining arsenic and metals such as lead, cadmium and copper. But
today the company is not discharging any gases over this city in
central Peru. 'It's a nice day, so the company won't be letting off
any gases,' says Hugo Villa, a neurologist at the local hospital.
'They keep the worst emissions to overcast days or after dark.'
24 hours to save the planet
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2147139,00.html
Jack Bauer's new target is global warming. Leonardo DiCaprio's latest
film is eco-conscious. David Smith reports on the greening of
Hollywood
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
Can Jack Bauer save the world? News that television's secret agent,
played by Kiefer Sutherland in the addictive thriller 24, is to take
the war against global warming into millions of homes has been
welcomed by environmental campaigners as a seminal moment in the
'greening' of Hollywood.
Time, or the lack of it, is a recurring motif in the industry's take
on climate change. The blockbuster that showed New York engulfed by a
new ice age was called The Day After Tomorrow. This week Leonardo
DiCaprio, arguably the most environmentally active star, releases an
alarming documentary he has produced and narrated entitled The 11th
Hour. But it is 24 that has the most mainstream appeal and which, with
its presentation in 'real-time' corresponding minute by minute to the
life of Bauer as he strives to beat the clock and avert disaster,
provides an opportune metaphor for the race to salvage the planet.
Claws are out for 'First Ladies'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2147030,00.html
'Puppy killer', 'pole-dancer', 'scheming': the spouses of America's
presidential candidates are facing tough criticism and intense
scrutiny as the campaign turns dirty, reports Paul Harris in New York
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
It is a brutal battle of whispering campaigns, gossip-laced leaks and
highly disciplined PR machines. It is a world where image outweighs
reality and where any sign of weakness or an unscripted gaffe could
derail a bid for the White House.
The US presidential nomination process? Not exactly. Instead it is the
battle royal being waged between the candidates' spouses. As the
Republican and Democratic parties are both choosing presidential
candidates for 2008, never before have so many potential First Ladies
- and one First Gentleman - battled it out so publicly.
Frida Kahlo's last secret finally revealed
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2147055,00.html
The artist's confessions to her doctor were locked up for 50 years.
Now the details of her misery at not being able to bear children have
been exposed
Javier Espinoza
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
She was always one of the most painfully personal of artists,
producing a series of autobiographical canvases that dealt with
everything from the consequences of the terrible injuries she suffered
in a tram crash to her abortion. But finally the one part of the
Mexican artist Frida Kahlo's life that has remained secret - at the
orders of her former husband, fellow painter Diego Rivera - has been
revealed in a new book published in Mexico.
Believe it or not: the sceptics beat God in bestseller battle
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2147125,00.html
David Smith
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
Struggling authors should keep the faith - literally. Sales of books
that explore religion or spirituality have grown by more than 50 per
cent in the past three years, according to online retailer Amazon.
The boom surpasses the rise in sales of books in categories such as
history, which have grown by 38 per cent, and politics, up by 30 per
cent, confirming that religion has become a pivotal topic in the early
21st century.
The rebirth of a nation
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2146816,00.html
Maria Misra's Vishnu's Crowded Temple is a timely history after 60
years of Indian independence, says Soumya Bhattacharya
Sunday August 12, 2007
The Observer
Vishnu's Crowded Temple
by Maria Misra
Allen Lane =A325, pp536
Stereotypes about India not so much abound as keep multiplying. In
popular imagination, India has gone, over time, from being the land of
exoticism and mysticism to the back office of the world to - most
recently - the rising economic superpower whose dizzying rate of
growth is second only to China's and which will, along with China,
redraw the geopolitical map of the world by the middle of the 21st
century.
'Casablanca' to be remade by Bollywood
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2856866.ece
By Andrew Buncombe in Delhi
Published: 12 August 2007
The setting is not Rick's Caf=E9 in Nazi-controlled Morocco but a
restaurant in southern India, and the conflict is not the Second World
War but the current ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
But fans of the movie Casablanca may recognise one or two similarities
- the hard-bitten restaurateur who risks everything to help his former
lover and her husband, the drama of smouldering human passion played
out against a backdrop of senseless violence in which the problems of
three people do not amount to a hill of beans.
Legendary US brothel reopens after $6m refit
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2856871.ece
by Tom Gardner in Patrick, Nevada
Published: 12 August 2007
The Mustang Ranch has played a key role in bringing legalised
prostitution to Nevada and survived being closed by the US tax agency,
burnt down, rebuilt and sold on eBay for the price of a small home.
But now it's back. Lance Gilman bought the Mustang for $145,100
(=A373,000) on eBay, and spent $6m to move the 12 gaudy pink stucco
buildings four miles and refurbish them.
'The British don't bother to guard my daughter'
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2856874.ece
By Phil Sands and Nizar Latif
Published: 12 August 2007
A year after starting as an interpreter with the British Army in
Basra, Hula was dead. She was raped and beheaded, her corpse dumped in
a nondescript, rubbish-strewn part of the city.
The 24-year-old, a recent graduate in English, signed up in 2004 for a
job that would put her in the firing line alongside British troops. It
would also make her a prime target for the ruthless, powerful militias
who would come to control the streets. "We knew she was taking a big
risk," her father, Abu Ali, told The Independent on Sunday. The taxi
driver asked that neither his nor his daughter's full names be
revealed, fearing his seven remaining children are still under threat.
Database of top-secret police phone taps stolen
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2856892.ece
By Ruth Elkins
Published: 12 August 2007
Police chiefs have launched a major investigation after the theft of a
computer database containing thousands of top-secret mobile phone
records from terrorism and organised crime investigations.
Scotland Yard is concerned that crucial evidence from undercover
investigations could be lost forever or has found its way into "the
wrong hands" after the computer and other IT equipment disappeared
from a private firm in Sevenoaks, Kent, last Monday night after a
break-in.
Modern Vikings sail replica in epic journey
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2856867.ece
By David Keys, Archaeology Correspondent
Published: 12 August 2007
An extraordinary voyage by a team of archaeologists and historians has
begun to solve some of the greatest riddles of the Viking age. On
Tuesday, a giant Viking warship, an exact replica of one built nearly
1,000 years ago, will complete a 1,200-mile trip from Scandinavia to
Ireland.
Throughout the six-and-a-half-week voyage, experts from Denmark's
Viking Ship Museum have conducted experiments into 11th-century life
and tested sailing technology. And they have found the famed longships
were slower and more complex than thought. The vessel they replicated
had been discovered and lifted by archaeologists in Denmark 50 years
ago. Research showed it had been built in Dublin in 1042 and scuttled
in Denmark 30 years later.
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: A stranger back in my homeland
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/yasmin_alibhai_brown/articl=
e2853784.ece
Tanzanians will know from my accent and clothes I am no longer one of
them
Published: 11 August 2007
So much to do before we fly off this weekend, so many things to
remember - jabs, insect repellents, sun lotions, tummy tablets, water
purifiers, safety, leg wax, insurance, security, miracle fat-busting
swimsuits - the effort of it all seems too much already. And then
there is the shame of carbon footprints and air miles, which I confess
this year will put us into the crimes-against-humanity bracket.
On top of that, at this time of year, I fret about all those expected
extras for black or Asian tourists. In many prime European locations
subtle and blatant racism often comes out to greet many of us.
Dilip Hiro: Are Midnight's Children heading for partition again?
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2856802.ece
At 60, India prospers while Pakistan bleeds, and the Taliban is
rubbing salt into the wounds
Published: 12 August 2007
Despite floods in some areas of their county, the mood of Indians, on
the eve of the 60th anniversary of India's independence from Britain
on 15 August, remains bullish. The economy is robust, and the secular
democratic system, tempered by 14 orderly parliamentary elections,
vibrant, with civilian control over the military remaining inviolate.
By contrast, in Pakistan the celebration of the diamond jubilee of
independence a day earlier will be muted as its military ruler,
General Pervez Musharraf, ponders his next move. Caught between the
challenge of radical Islamists on one side and secular, democratic
opposition on the other, he finds his area of manoeuvre diminishing,
with his political base, the Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid-e-azam (PML-
Q), disintegrating fast.
A Case of She Said vs. She Said
http://www.abcnews.go.com/print?id=3D3465092
Did Clinton Contradict ... Clinton?
By JAKE TAPPER
Aug. 9, 2007
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has been critical of Sen. Barack Obama,
D-Ill., for recent foreign policy pronouncements. But some Obama
allies say Clinton is guilty of having made remarks quite similar to
the ones she's criticized as unpresidential and careless.
Obama recently said when it comes to terrorist targets in Afghanistan
or Pakistan, nuclear weapons are off the table, comments pounced upon
by Clinton at a press conference.
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