Politician target of frequent threats
The News Review:
- Politician target of frequent threats
- November new-home sales fall 9%, lowest in 12 years
- Baseball bruised but not broken
- The cost of culture
- 2008: Difficult but not depressing
- Want to be a tennis pro? - TVNZ Portable - tvnz.co.nz
- BRIEF CASE: Dare The Dragon
Politician target of frequent threats
Toronto Star - Dec 28, 2007
Her assassination after a rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi – where the country’s military and intelligence services are based – also focused anger and suspicion on the government of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. The former prime minister had blamed Al Qaeda, the Taliban and home-grown militants for a suicide bombing that tore through a procession welcoming her back from exile in October. But she accused militant "sympathizers" in Musharraf’s administration of backing the attempt on her life, and Bhutto’s supporters chanted, “Killer, Killer, Musharraf!" outside the hospital where she was pronounced dead yesterday.
November new-home sales fall 9%, lowest in 12 years
USA Today - Dec 28, 2007
A drop in home prices left some people stuck with balances on their home mortgages that eclipsed the worth of their home. Other home buyers were clobbered as low introductory rates on their mortgages jumped to much higher rates, which they couldn’t afford. With credit now harder to get to finance a home purchase, the problems in housing have grown worse. Unsold homes have piled up. The problems are expected to persist well into next year. The housing and mortgage meltdowns have raised the odds that the country will fall into a recession. And, it has given Democrats and Republicans politicians_ including those who want to be the next president — plenty of opportunities to spread blame around.
Baseball bruised but not broken
Toronto Star - Dec 28, 2007
The chase was a daily grind: Should the Commissioner be in attendance? Would Hammering Hank attend? In the end, Bud Selig was there while Aaron was not. Yet nobody blamed the former home run king for his absence. With Bonds’ record-setting homer out of the way, the game was free to focus on real baseball, the accomplishments and milestones of others. There was Frank Thomas and Alex Rodriguez reaching 500 homers and Sammy Sosa connecting for his 600th. How about Trevor Hoffman’s 500th career save or Tom Glavine’s 300th victory?There were other, more subtle highlights that drove home something players should always remember about their inescapable influence and impact on youngsters. One came during the celebration of Boston’s victory over the Indians in an exciting, seven-game AL championship series… As for the Bosox, they seemed to become stronger in October than they were down the stretch, staving off a rush by the Yankees. The Sox, after their Fall Classic sweep of the Rockies, are on the verge of becoming the latest dynasty. And even though they still spend a lot of money on big-name players like Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and Mike Lowell, the guys that actually put them over the top against the Rockies were home-grown youngsters Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury and, in an emotional Game 4 series-clinching performance, cancer survivor Jon Lester. And how about MLB’s Canadian content? Never have there been more stars from north of the border than heading into 2008, led by all-star-Gold Glove-Silver Slugger catcher Russell Martin, former AL MVP Justin Morneau, the first Canadian World Series starter Jeff Francis and former NL rookie of the year Jason Bay. Other major-league Canucks include Erik Bedard, Rich Harden, Scott Thorman, Shawn Hill and the Jays’ Matt Stairs. However, my favourite Canadian baseball moment came while coaching an Oakville bantam team at a tournament in Lockport, N.
The cost of culture
The Age - Dec 28, 2007
The untimely death in August of German-born dancer Tanja Liedtkeshocked the art world. Liedtke’s rising career - she had just beenappointed artistic director of the Sydney Dance Company - wastragically cut short after she was knocked down and killed by agarbage truck as she crossed the Pacific Highway at Crows Nest, onSydney’s lower north shore. In the world of home-grown theatre, the greatest ripples werebeing caused by the impossibly unflappable Cate Blanchett, anotherof Australia’s exports to Hollywood. Blanchett’s appointment asco-artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company (with hubbyAndrew Upton) continued to attract criticism. Most notable wasformer STC actor Colin Moody’s vitriolic assessment. He argued that”an Oscar for acting is not a suitable recommendation to run thebiggest theatre company in the country”. The perennially poised Blanchett brushed off the criticisms.
2008: Difficult but not depressing
Economic Times - Dec 28, 2007
Second, the decline in
home prices (through the wealth effect) was set to further compress consumer
expenditure. Why Europe should follow suit was much unclear, except the premise
that given the surprisingly large exposures to US subprime assets by many
European banks, a generalised outbreak of credit flu would sweep the
Euro-zone. There is no home-grown
problem in either the mortgage or consumer lending markets in Europe. The only
place in Europe that there is a problem is in the United Kingdom. Where
aggressive lending and ill-advised means adopted to fund balance sheets, have
worked in tandem with a very long house price boom, to land many deposit and
non-deposit taking financial companies into rather hot water, as both regulators
and government have seemingly been caught flat on both
feet. The extreme view is that
the US is headed for a recession in 2008, defined as two successive quarters of
negative growth. This is however something of an undercurrent, whispered but not
quite said out aloud in polite company: A product of the general sense of gloom
that has pervaded the world’s financial capital, as not only has a nice
big business gone out of the window, but the pride of the market have taken big
losses and seen the top men leave — albeit in gilded
parachutes.
Want to be a tennis pro? - TVNZ Portable - tvnz.co.nz
TVNZ - Dec 28, 2007
nz caught up with Jeff Simpson to get his thoughtson life on the tour, an insight into what is required to ‘make it’and to find out what the chances are of a Kiwi tennis playeremerging on the world stage. New Zealanders are always wondering when we are going to havethe next home-grown star. But do Kiwis realise just how hard it isto make it on the tour, especially with the proliferation ofcountries in the tennis world? Given our location, for our players it takes a huge commitment. Not a lot of parents are prepared to put their young kid at risk,giving up an education to go across (the world) and play tennis. That will always be a problem. It’s a catch-22 situation - our players need to get away to bein the right tennis environment, but you don’t want to sacrificetheir education.
BRIEF CASE: Dare The Dragon
Times of India - Dec 28, 2007
This was a well-intentioned move, to reduce our sugar intake
and hopefully knock a couple of inches off the midriff. As one sips the fragrant brew,
the mind traipses back a year or so, recalling with some trepidation the
stealthy inroads the Chinese dragon has been making in the day-to-day aspects of
our lives. The synthetic Christmas tree put up by the kids a fortnight back was
a Shenzhen product. So too were the myriad gold and silver balls, stars,
buntings, candy sticks, glimmering fairy lights, criss-crossing the branches,
twinkling mischievously in a million hues.