Global Agenda articles from September 2005

Global Agenda archives from September 2005

Europe's textile war with China--and itself.
September 1, 2005... Chinese-made bras, blouses and T-shirts are piling up at customs checkpoints across Europe, having already bumped up against import limits set earlier this year. A team of officials from the European Union has been in Beijing trying to...

The damage that Katrina could still wreak; The consequences of Hurricane Katrina; Counting the cost, both human and economic.
September 1, 2005... Officials say they can only guess at the death toll after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf of Mexico coast, but it is already known to be in the hundreds. Besides its devastating cost in lives, Katrina could do substantial damage to the...

Taking the battle online; Using the internet to make phone calls; A low-cost threat to the telecoms giants.
September 1, 2005... Microsoft has become the latest big technology company to make a move into telephony over the internet. The low cost of calls is attracting customers in ever-greater numbers and robbing traditional phone companies of business. How worried...

The fallout from Katrina; The consequences of Hurricane Katrina; Counting the cost, both human and economic.
September 2, 2005... As New Orleans slips into lawlessness after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf of Mexico coast, officials say they can still only guess at the death toll of the disaster--though it is likely to be in the thousands. Many survivors are still...

Deeply difficult times for the Big Easy.
September 2, 2005... New Orleans has descended into chaos in the days since Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed its flood defences. Angry questions are flying about the stuttering relief effort, and about past decisions that made the disaster more painful than it had to...

Oil and troubled waters.
September 2, 2005... The economic effects of Hurricane Katrina, like the human costs, are hard to predict. But the disaster is already putting upward pressure on oil prices at a time of strong demand, tight supply and refining bottlenecks OVER the past five...

Profile: Hu Jintao.
September 2, 2005... AFTER being appointed head of the Chinese Communist Party in 2002, Hu Jintao became state president in 2003 and commander-in-chief of the army in 2004. With these three positions, Mr Hu has his hands firmly on the main levers of power in one of...

Deeply difficult times for the Big Easy.
September 4, 2005... The people of New Orleans are finally getting the help they need after several days of chaos in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Angry questions are being asked about the stuttering relief effort, and about past decisions that made the disaster...

After Rehnquist; America's Supreme Court; Another seat becomes free as Roberts is picked to replace Rehnquist.
September 5, 2005... William Rehnquist, the chief justice of America's Supreme Court, has died, and President George Bush has nominated John Roberts to replace him. Since Mr Roberts had already been picked to replace another justice on the court, this means that a...

The blame game.
September 5, 2005... Almost everyone in need of food and other supplies in the wake of Hurricane Katrina now has access to them, and the evacuation of New Orleans is largely complete. Who is to blame for the botched relief effort: George Bush, local officials, or...

Playing with fire; Taiwan and China; Another flare-up.
September 6, 2005... Taiwan is continuing its efforts to soothe Chinese tempers over remarks made by its president, Chen Shui-bian. Mr Chen infuriated China by expressing support for a referendum in Taiwan to decide whether it should declare formal independence...

The G8's African challenge; The G8 and Africa; Will more aid and debt relief succeed where previous development efforts have failed?
September 6, 2005... Help for Africa will be high on the agenda of the G8 summit in Gleneagles this week. But it is not clear that debt relief, or even substantially increased aid flows, will be enough to produce success where so many previous development efforts...

First-mover disadvantage; The Buttonwood column: carbon-emissions trading; Europe's first-mover disadvantage.
September 6, 2005... Europe and its new carbon-emissions trading system are doing their bit to make pollution history. Where is everyone else? WHILE aircraft laden with G8 leaders screech down British runways, ready for the climate-change dust-up at Gleneagles,...

London pips Paris at the finishing line.
September 6, 2005... In one of the closest contests in the history of the modern Olympics, London has been chosen to host the 2012 games, edging out Paris in the final round of voting. After Athens's soaring costs and its struggles to get the venues ready in time...

Victory for Koizumi, but delivery is delayed; Japanese postal and financial services; A green light for Japan Post's privatisation, but delivery is delayed.
September 6, 2005... Junichiro Koizumi has narrowly won parliamentary backing for his plan to privatise Japan Post, the world's largest financial institution. Removing such a large chunk of cash from the state's grip will cause potential problems for rival banks...

Miller martyred; Journalism and the law in America; A reporter goes to prison--and becomes a martyr.
September 6, 2005... A reporter for the New York Times has been jailed for refusing to talk about her source in a scandal over the outing of a CIA spy. How much protection should journalists be permitted to give those who provide them with information anonymously?...

The hunt for the London bombers begins.
September 6, 2005... More than 50 are now known to have been killed in explosions on London's Underground system and on board a bus, apparently timed to coincide with Britain's hosting of the Group of Eight summit. A huge hunt for the bombers is now under way ...

Good, but not great; The G8 summit; Disappointing, say the activists; impressive, say the seasoned summit-watchers.
September 6, 2005... Leaders of the Group of Eight countries have concluded their summit in Gleneagles with a series of communiques, despite the London terrorist attacks that disrupted the meeting. Though the declarations are not as bold as activists had hoped,...

Holier-than-thou no more; Brazil's political crisis; Scandals drag Lula down.
September 6, 2005... The corruption scandal surrounding Brazil's governing Workers' Party has deepened, forcing the resignation of a string of top officials. According to one poll, many Brazilians suspect that President Lula da Silva--Latin America's leading...

Whither equities? The Buttonwood column: stockmarkets; More fearful of oil-price spikes than terrorist attacks.
September 6, 2005... Stockmarkets have more to fear from a spike in the oil price than from a terrorist attack AFTER last Thursday's blasts, it is business as usual in London this week--or so we are pretending. For those who lost family or friends, things will...

Solving Britain's first suicide-bombing.
September 6, 2005... Police investigating the London terrorist attack have identified the four men suspected of planting the bombs and think they may all have died in the attack, making it Britain's first suicide-bombing. It appears that three of the bombers were...

Rove in the spotlight; Karl Rove and the Plame affair; Uncomfortable times for the man the American left loves to hate.
September 6, 2005... A scandal over the unmasking of a CIA agent, which has already seen a journalist sent to jail for refusing to reveal her source, is now putting an uncomfortable spotlight on Karl Rove, George Bush's chief political adviser UNTIL recently,...

Harry Potter and the all-too-rare windfall.
September 6, 2005... The latest volume in the Harry Potter series is set to break all publishing records, to the delight of booksellers. The success of the Potter books has also made its author vastly wealthy and provided a windfall for its publisher. But it is an...

The truce under severe test.
September 6, 2005... With Israeli troops massing on Gaza's border and Palestinian militants continuing to fire rockets, their fragile ceasefire has never looked more shaky. But it can still be rescued THE level of trust was never very high, but now it seems to...

A chance for peace--but some big obstacles.
September 6, 2005... Negotiators representing the Indonesian government and rebels in Aceh have agreed a formula to end the breakaway province's deadly 30-year conflict. However, peace hopes have been raised and dashed before--and there are still some serious...

Another tech-stocks bubble? The Buttonwood column: tech stocks; Once more unto the breach.
September 6, 2005... Internet firms are all the rage again. Another triumph of hope over experience? MARKETS like these need heroes, and Google is the closest thing they've got. With most share prices stuck in the mud until recently, Google's has shot up by...

Greenspan's last words?
September 6, 2005... Alan Greenspan, the chairman of America's Federal Reserve, has given what may be the last of his twice-yearly speeches to Congress on monetary policy before his expected retirement. Those pleading for lower interest rates--or at least an end to...

A stealth nominee flies into enemy territory.
September 6, 2005... George Bush has nominated John Roberts, a staunch conservative, to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the retirement of the moderate "swing voter", Sandra Day O'Connor. Republicans want a quick confirmation but the Democrats are gearing up...

Seeking new beer drinkers in the high Andes.
September 6, 2005... SABMiller is set to become the world's second-largest brewer after its proposed takeover of Bavaria, a Colombian firm with strong sales across the Andean region. It is the latest in a string of deals in which big brewers have sought new...

Hunting the London bombers, shooting an innocent man; After the attacks on London; Hunting the bombers, shooting an innocent man.
September 6, 2005... London's police have admitted that the suspected suicide-bomber they gunned down on an Underground train was an innocent Brazilian man, unconnected with the latest round of bombing attacks on the city's public-transport system. Police are still...

Many suspects, few certainties.
September 6, 2005... It remains unclear who carried out the bombing of the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing dozens of people, mostly locals. Whoever turns out to have been behind the attack, it is unlikely to encourage President Hosni Mubarak to...

Disorganised labour.
September 6, 2005... America's trade-union movement has suffered its biggest split in 50 years, with a big group of unions breaking away from the AFL-CIO. The breakaway group wants more money spent on recruiting members rather than lobbying politicians. It may be...

Heavy metal.
September 6, 2005... Copper hit an all-time high this week, after China announced plans to revalue the yuan. Why? DESPERATE for light relief on deadline day last week, Buttonwood was clicking through new company results and came across a blast from her past....

Now, IRA stands for I Renounce Arms; The IRA ends its armed struggle; No more bombs or bullets, just ballots.(Irish Republican Army )
September 6, 2005... After a three-year logjam in the Northern Ireland peace process, the IRA has announced that it is finally abandoning its armed struggle for a united Ireland--ordering its fighters to dump their arms and pledging henceforth to seek its goal by...

Deserving cases, getting too little help.
September 6, 2005... Drought and locust plagues have put several million people at risk of starvation in Mali and Niger. Despite months of alerts from aid agencies, neither country is getting all the aid it needs--Mali especially, as a fairly well-run, moderate...

Schrempp runs out of road.
September 6, 2005... Jurgen Schrempp, who tried to create a global carmaker through the merger of Daimler-Benz and Chrysler in 1998, has announced he is quitting as the firm's boss, amid shareholder anger at the giant firm's continued poor performance. Vast losses...

Bush stands by his controversial man; Bush appoints Bolton as his UN ambassador; Standing by his controversial man.
September 6, 2005... George Bush has bypassed Congress to appoint John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations, to the annoyance of his political opponents and the dismay of many at the UN. But conservatives are delighted that the tough-talking Mr Bolton is...

After Fahd, Abdullah. But then?
September 6, 2005... With the death of Saudi Arabia's ailing, octogenarian King Fahd, his only slightly younger half-brother, Abdullah, takes over the desert kingdom. Though things may continue much as before in the short term, the new ruler will have to cope with...

Bogus fears send the Chinese packing; CNOOC drops its bid for Unocal; Bogus American fears send the Chinese packing.
September 6, 2005... CNOOC, a Chinese state-controlled oil firm, has abandoned its $18.5 billion bid for Unocal, blaming political opposition in America. China's government could retaliate by blocking American investment in China. American firms may, in the long...

A crucial peace accord under strain.
September 6, 2005... The death in a helicopter crash of John Garang, Sudan's southern rebel leader turned vice-president, has sparked unrest in the capital, Khartoum, and put the country's recently negotiated peace accord under strain FEW men have managed the...

The canary in the mine; Britain's interest-rate cut; Europe's role model faces some home truths.
September 6, 2005... Long the envy of its peers in continental Europe, Britain's economy has hit a soft patch. Consumers, no longer buoyed by rising house prices, have cut back their spending, and so far nothing has come forward to take its place. The Bank of...

Another year, another scandal; Banking scandals in Italy; An opportunity to learn from Parmalat comprehensively missed.
September 6, 2005... The latest scandals over a contested bank bid show that Italy has learned little from the spectacular collapse of dairy group Parmalat. The country's reputation as a sensible place in which to invest has been badly damaged. But don't expect the...

No appetite for carrots, no fear of sticks; Iran resumes its nuclear work; No appetite for carrots, no apparent fear of sticks.
September 6, 2005... Iran has carried out its threat to restart its nuclear programme, removing the seals on a uranium-conversion plant. The UN's nuclear watchdog has issued a resolution expressing "serious concern" at the move, but the case will not yet be sent to...

Japan's moment of truth? Japanese politics; Koizumi, defeated over postal privatisation, calls a snap election.
September 6, 2005... After losing a crucial upper-house vote on privatising Japan's postal monopoly, the prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, has called a snap election, triggering a civil war in his own party and taking the country into uncharted waters THE...

Corruption at the heart of the United Nations.
September 6, 2005... An investigation has concluded that the former head of the United Nations' oil-for-food programme in Iraq took kickbacks to help an oil company win contracts. Another senior UN official is accused of soliciting bribes. The report is a severe...

Netanyahu's parting shot; Israel ahead of the Gaza pull-out; Netanyahu resigns and sets his sights on Sharon's job.
September 6, 2005... Binyamin Netanyahu has resigned from his post as Israeli finance minister, just a week before the government starts to pull Jewish settlers out of Gaza. His opposition to the Gaza disengagement is well known, but the timing of the move suggests...

Perils at the pump.
September 6, 2005... Oil prices hit yet another record this week, on fears of political instability in the Middle East and refining problems in America. So far, the world economy has managed to chug along without much ill effect. But how long can consumers go on...

Opening Pandora's inbox; The war on spam; The "king of spam" settles with Microsoft, but the scourge takes on new forms.
September 6, 2005... Microsoft has reached a settlement with one of the world's leading spammers which includes a payment of $7m to the software giant. Despite legal and technological challenges, spamming is still a big problem. And a new form of the scourge could...

Storming the Gaza diehards' bastions; Israel's evacuation of Gaza settlers; Storming the synagogues.
September 6, 2005... Israeli troops have stormed synagogues in Jewish settlements in Gaza, where many of the remaining protesters against the pull-out were holed up. The imminent fall of these bastions of opposition means that Ariel Sharon's "disengagement" may be...

Struggling to pick up the pieces; The IMF's assessment of Iraq; Struggling to pick up the pieces as the insurgency blows things apart.
September 6, 2005... A new report from the International Monetary Fund says that Iraq's economic growth is stalling because of the deteriorating security situation. Political progress, too, seems to have slowed, with the government struggling to produce a new...

The not-so-incredible shrinking deficit; America's economy; The deficit shrinks but the long-term outlook remains grim.
September 6, 2005... A new forecast from the Congressional Budget Office shows America's budget deficit once again coming in lower than expected. Republicans, unsurprisingly, are rushing to claim credit for sound economic management. But the long-term outlook is...

The Scots go a-hunting; RBS buys into Bank of China; Another week, another foreign lender piles in.
September 6, 2005... Royal Bank of Scotland is leading a $3.1 billion investment to take a minority stake in Bank of China. The deal is risky given the parlous state of the country's banking system. But the pitfalls may be exaggerated ONCE again, China's...

Different this time?
September 6, 2005... Foreigners are again pouring cash into emerging markets. What will happen when they stop? BUTTONWOOD was in the wilds of Guadalajara (Spain's, not Mexico's) last week, trying to keep teenage bikinis within the bounds of decency, when the...

Kill or cure for the drug business? Drug companies under fire; Is the Vioxx award kill or cure for Big Pharma?
September 6, 2005... An American jury has awarded huge damages against Merck for a death associated with Vioxx, an anti-inflammatory drug that the firm withdrew last year. Further hefty awards against Merck and other big drug firms could cause great pain but might...

"Disengagement" completed; Israel and the Palestinians; Sharon's "disengagement" plan is completed.
September 6, 2005... After the clearance of Jewish settlers and protesters from Gaza, Israeli forces have now evacuated the last of four West Bank settlements also being abandoned. Ariel Sharon's "disengagement" plan has been completed THERE were a few angry...

The sick cope best with labour pains; Airlines and their unions; When coping with labour pains, it helps to have little to lose.
September 6, 2005... America's Northwest Airlines and British Airways are both feeling the effects of strike action. Ironically, struggling Northwest is coping reasonably well without its striking mechanics, while buoyant BA is still recovering from a one-day...

Europe's textile war with China--and itself.
September 6, 2005... Chinese-made bras, blouses and T-shirts are piling up at customs checkpoints across Europe, having already bumped up against import limits set earlier this year. A team of officials from the European Union has been in Beijing trying to...

America's border troubles, north and south; America's borders; Too many crossing from Mexico, too few from Canada.
September 6, 2005... A furore is growing over borders in North America. Can the United States guard the homeland, protect trade with Canada and Mexico and not antagonise its two crucial neighbours at the same time? ASK an American journalist or politician about...

Crunch time for UN reform; The upcoming UN summit; Painful negotiations and a looming deadline.
September 6, 2005... America has requested extensive last-minute changes to a draft agreement on reforming and modernising the United Nations. Painful negotiations lie ahead of next month's summit of world leaders IF THERE was still any question that America is...

Measure for measure; The Buttonwood column: investor confidence; A proliferation of risk-appetite indices.
September 6, 2005... Investors are mad for risk-appetite indices. What do they actually tell us? IT CAN now be revealed that Buttonwood has not always been a fan of cricket. Brought up in the robust and marginally faster-moving world of baseball, she has long...

The fallout from Katrina; The consequences of Hurricane Katrina; Counting the cost, both human and economic.
September 6, 2005... As New Orleans slips into lawlessness after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf of Mexico coast, officials say they can still only guess at the death toll of the disaster--though it is likely to be in the thousands. Many survivors are still...

An Iraqi tragedy raises sectarian tension; A deadly stampede in Baghdad; Iraq's biggest tragedy raises sectarian tension.
September 6, 2005... In the most deadly incident since America's invasion of Iraq, an estimated 1,000 Shias have died in a stampede in Baghdad, which Sunni insurgents are suspected of causing. Like the row over the draft constitution, the tragedy will worsen...

Taking the battle online; Using the internet to make phone calls; A low-cost threat to the telecoms giants.
September 6, 2005... Microsoft has become the latest big technology company to make a move into telephony over the internet. The low cost of calls is attracting customers in ever-greater numbers and robbing traditional phone companies of business. How worried...

Deeply difficult times for the Big Easy.
September 6, 2005... The people of New Orleans are finally getting the help they need after several days of chaos in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Angry questions are being asked about the stuttering relief effort, and about past decisions that made the disaster...

Oil and troubled waters.(Hurricane Katrina affects petroleum industry)
September 6, 2005... The economic effects of Hurricane Katrina, like the human costs, are hard to predict. But the disaster is already putting upward pressure on oil prices at a time of strong demand, tight supply and refining bottlenecks OVER the past week, a...

Profile: Hu Jintao.(Biography)
September 6, 2005... AFTER being appointed head of the Chinese Communist Party in 2002, Hu Jintao became state president in 2003 and commander-in-chief of the army in 2004. With these three positions, Mr Hu has his hands firmly on the main levers of power in one of...

After Rehnquist; America's Supreme Court; Another seat becomes free as Roberts is picked to replace Rehnquist.
September 6, 2005... William Rehnquist, the chief justice of America's Supreme Court, has died, and President George Bush has nominated John Roberts to replace him. Since Mr Roberts had already been picked to replace another justice on the court, this means that a...

A temporary truce on textiles; Europe and China reach a truce on textiles; Bra Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
September 6, 2005... The European Union has finally come to an agreement with China over how to handle the mountains of clothes that have been piling up at Europe's borders since textile quotas went into effect this summer. Over the longer term, however, Europe's...

The blame game.(influence of Hurricane Katrina )
September 6, 2005... Most of those in need of help after Hurricane Katrina have now been reached, the evacuation of New Orleans is largely complete, and engineers have started to pump water out of the flooded city. Who is to blame for the botched relief effort:...

The perfect storm.
September 6, 2005... It's not just natural disasters that need preparing for BUTTONWOOD has not been so shocked by anything out of the United States since those photos from the late 1960s that showed tanks dominating the traffic circles of rioting Washington,...

An icon under fire; Scandal at Volkswagen; An iconic company, and Germany's business model, under fire.
September 6, 2005... A corruption scandal at Volkswagen, Europe's largest carmaker, has called into question Germany's consensual business model AS A symbol of Germany's traditional consensual model of business, there is none better than Volkswagen (VW)....

China lets the yuan rise--but how far?
September 6, 2005... China has revalued its currency, the yuan, and linked it to a basket of currencies--though it is not yet clear how far it will be allowed to rise. The move may ease trade tension with America, though China's slowing economy, which is boosting...

Watch your mouth; Terrorism and civil liberties in Britain; Must tackling Islamist firebrands mean ditching ancient freedoms?
September 6, 2005... In the wake of the London Tube and bus bombings, Britain's prime minister, Tony Blair, thinks that European human-rights laws prevent Britain from dealing with supporters of terrorism. But the real obstacles lie closer to home WHAT makes a...

Waiting for a miracle; The consequences of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza; A row that presages a clash over what makes the Jewish state Jewish.
September 6, 2005... The Israeli army has begun its eviction of the Gaza strip's 8,000 or so Jewish residents. The row over Israel's biggest evacuation of settlers in over two decades presages a growing clash over what makes the Jewish state Jewish IT IS the...

Let battle commence; Germany's election; As the campaign begins in earnest, Schroder shows some spark.
September 6, 2005... Gerhard Schroder may still be the loser in next month's election in Germany--but it is no longer so certain that Angela Merkel, the opposition Christian Democrats' candidate, will be the winner IS THIS really the look of a loser? Stumping...

Iraq, still divided after three deadlines; Iraq's constitution; The Shias and Kurds agree on a draft but the Sunnis insist it's unacceptable.
September 6, 2005... Iraq's draft constitution has been finished and will be put to the voters in October. Sunni Arabs continue to object strenuously to the document, and say it could provoke a civil war AFTER three deadlines and painful negotiations, Iraq...

Europe's nascent merger boom; Mergers and acquisitions; A boom in Europe, tempered by economic nationalism.
September 6, 2005... European mergers are booming, as Gas Natural's [euro]22.5 billion bid for Endesa demonstrates. But economic nationalism remains an obstacle WHEN is a cross-border takeover in Europe a good thing? For the French government, the answer seems...

Oil and troubled waters.
September 7, 2005... The economic effects of Hurricane Katrina, like the human costs, are hard to predict. But the disaster is already putting upward pressure on oil prices at a time of strong demand, tight supply and refining bottlenecks LAST week, a shaken...

A temporary truce on textiles; Europe and China reach a truce on textiles; Bra Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
September 7, 2005... The European Union has finally come to an agreement with China over how to handle the mountains of clothes that have been piling up at Europe's borders since textile quotas went into effect this summer. Over the longer term, however, Europe's...

The blame game.
September 7, 2005... Most of those in need of food, water and medical help after Hurricane Katrina have now been reached, engineers have started to pump water out of New Orleans, and the authorities have begun forcibly evacuating residents who refuse to leave. Who...

A fair-minded report at a crucial time.
September 7, 2005... The commission investigating the United Nations' oil-for-food scandal has issued a report that highlights the organisation's structural failures. It comes at a crucial time, a few days before a meeting of world leaders to discuss UN reform ...

Tentative steps down the road to democracy.
September 7, 2005... American influence has helped to tip the balance of forces in the Middle East towards reform. The changes remain shallow for now--even in Egypt, which is holding its first contested presidential election this week--but democracy is no longer a...

After Rehnquist; America's Supreme Court; Another seat becomes free as Roberts is picked to replace Rehnquist.
September 8, 2005... William Rehnquist, the chief justice of America's Supreme Court, has died, and President George Bush has nominated John Roberts to replace him. Since Mr Roberts had already been picked to replace another justice on the court, this means that a...

The blame game; The consequences of Katrina; After the hurricane, a political storm.
September 8, 2005... Most of those in need of food, water and medical help after Hurricane Katrina have now been reached, engineers have started to pump water out of New Orleans, and the authorities have begun forcibly evacuating residents who refuse to leave. Who...