Plunkett’s pace leads to express promotion
The News Review:
- Plunkett’s pace leads to express promotion
- Asia Times Online :: Southeast Asia news and business from Indonesia,…
- Power house – Investment – Money – Business – theage.com.au
- Dear Elisaveta Andrievna:—
- Dispatch Online – Your premier Eastern Cape news site
Plunkett’s pace leads to express promotion
Times Online – Oct 12, 2005
Against which one would only say that Martin Bicknell, long past his best, took ten wickets at 28 when he was recalled to fill the boots of younger men against South Africa in the last two home Tests in 2003. The addition of Plunkett brings the party back up to 17 for the time being, most of whom will be passengers unless there is illness or injury. Eight of them were playing for second division counties last season, underlining how vapid was the dream of those who saw promotion and relegation as a means of concentrating all the best available home-grown talent in a few clubs. On the contrary, Plunkett, born in Middlesbrough, is fortunate to have been brought on by a county who have only just found the right blend to make it to the first division. Lancashire, who pipped Durham to the second division title in the championship, relied more on players bought from outside the county. Sajid Mahmood, chosen for the academy again because of his great potential, was overlooked yesterday because he played only six championship matches last season that yielded a mere 11 wickets.
Asia Times Online :: Southeast Asia news and business from Indonesia,…
Asia Times Online – Oct 12, 2005
Unfettered
violence is a recurrent theme in most programs,
with the supernatural a close second in the theme
stakes, followed by comedy. Published research
shows that mini-series continue to be the best
crowd-pullers but reality shows are a fast growing
trend, and the Indonesian version of Donald
Trump’s The Apprentice, the first such
spin-off in Asia, premiered this month on
Indosiar. The Trump substitute figure is
home-grown entrepreneur and charismatic celebrity,
Peter Gontha, once a major media mogul himself. Gontha founded PT Media Citra Indostar in the
mid-1990s to develop his Indovision direct-to-home
(DTH) platform against the main competitor, PT
Broadband Multimedia, owner of
Kabelvision. Datakom Asia was controlled by
Suharto’s eldest son Bambang Trihatmodjo, Gontha
and Anthony Salim and was Indonesia’s first
integrated multimedia holding company, with a
monopoly on pay-TV operations. In 1997 a
newly formed holding company sold $260 million
worth of US bonds in New York (billionaire George
Soros bought $10 million worth) and used the money
to buy and launch the Cakrawartha-1 (“News Weapon”
in Bahasa Indonesia) satellite in November 1997
(at a total cost of $173 million) and to pay for
on-ground facilities and marketing. Indovision had at first used C-band
capacity on a Palapa C satellite to deliver its
services to subscribers, thus giving it a huge
potential audience for its new digital pay-TV
packages for which STAR TV was its major
programming supplier… Datakom Asia was controlled by
Suharto’s eldest son Bambang Trihatmodjo, Gontha
and Anthony Salim and was Indonesia’s first
integrated multimedia holding company, with a
monopoly on pay-TV operations. In 1997 a
newly formed holding company sold $260 million
worth of US bonds in New York (billionaire George
Soros bought $10 million worth) and used the money
to buy and launch the Cakrawartha-1 (“News Weapon”
in Bahasa Indonesia) satellite in November 1997
(at a total cost of $173 million) and to pay for
on-ground facilities and marketing. Indovision had at first used C-band
capacity on a Palapa C satellite to deliver its
services to subscribers, thus giving it a huge
potential audience for its new digital pay-TV
packages for which STAR TV was its major
programming supplier. But the company’s
decision in 1998 to move the transmissions to
Cakrawartha-1, which was then the only S-band
satellite operating over Asia led to an almighty
row with STAR TV, which perceived Indonesia’s
troubled economy at that time to be a hostile
environment for rebuilding a potential subscriber
base from scratch on the new S-band satellite
platform. The downside is that subscribers must
purchase, as is the case today, a decoding system
that cannot receive any of the many other
satellite TV services available in the region. Both sides entered the agreement in 1995 and had
about 28,000 subscribers when it was terminated. Major playersMurdoch and Bakrie
face formidable competition in bidding to drag
ANTV up the ratings ladder.
Power house – Investment – Money – Business – theage.com.au
The Age – Oct 12, 2005
It will also pay distributions quarterly, which is attractive toretirees looking for regular income. Share funds typically makedistributions twice a year. Macquarie Bank is the ASX-listed home grown investment bank thatover the past decade has come to dominate infrastructureinvestments in Australia and in much of the world. It is the trailblazer in so-called “alternative” investments, such asinfrastructure, which sit outside of the traditional asset classesof shares, property and fixed interest. The fund will invest in 20 to 50 listed securities on globalstockmarkets. Up to 20 per cent of the fund can be invested in unlistedinfrastructure investments and up to 15 per cent of the portfoliocan be invested in Macquarie-related infrastructure projects. Of the various types of infrastructure assets available the fundwill focus on “regulated” assets such as water and sewerage and”user-pays” assets such as roads, rail, and airports.
Dear Elisaveta Andrievna:—
Atlantic Online – Oct 12, 2005
Their job is to restore the government of Louisiana to citizens who have only the faintest enthusiasm for managing their own affairs, and, incidentally, to put some of the city’s leading men behind bars. With the exception of a few intervals when an honest governor or mayor caught the state or city off guard and slipped into office before the electorate knew what was happening, Louisiana and New Orleans have had no control over their own affairs since—strangely enough—the days of Reconstruction. At that time the white folks got out their manhood and their rifles and mowed down a few coveys of alien carpetbaggers and home-grown plunderers. The effort seems, however, to have exhausted their strength. Ever afterward New Orleans was happy so long as it could avoid yellow fever and the river, celebrate Mardi Gras, eat pompano uptown and jambalaya2 ‘back of town,’ play poker, dance, shoot dice, bet on the races, work for almost the lowest wages paid in America, and contribute unendingly to the rapacities of politicians whose activities make those of the city’s own pirate—Jean Lafitte—seem like Florence Nightingale handing a drink of water to a dying soldier on the field of Balaklava. It is to these people that the Federal Government is now attempting to hand back their own government. And while it is proceeding by the prosaic method of indicting and jailing sundry citizens for use of the mails to defraud and evasion of income taxes, it might as well have proceeded under the Constitutional principle guaranteeing a republican form of government to each of the states.
Dispatch Online – Your premier Eastern Cape news site
Dispatch Online – Oct 12, 2005
He likes staying at home and appreciates South African music and movies. Where do you live and why?
I live in Tshabo Village, which is close to Berlin. I was born and bred there. Which CDs are you playing in your car?
I am currently listening to Phuz’ekhemisi, ihashe elimhlophe and Mfaz’omnyana… I enjoy staying at home. What are you presently reading?
I am a keen reader of Sports Illustrated and naturally the Daily Dispatch. Any movies lately?
Emzini Wezinsizwa – it’s a South African film that shows off our home-grown talent. Who is your secret address book?
That’s too confidential to print in a newspaper!
What is your earliest childhood memory?
My earliest memories are herding cattle, hunting and playing with birds in and around Tshabo village. What do you miss when you are out of town?
I miss my family most. Do you have a favourite pub or restaurant?
No, I don’t eat out a lot. I prefer eating at home.