Malaysia bans intake of India, Bangladesh workers
http://in.news.yahoo.com/080108/137/6pcnd.html
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia has suspended the recruitment of workers from India and Bangladesh, the government said on Tuesday, in a move one official said could be linked to a recent uproar about Malaysia's treatment of its ethnic Indians.
The ban, which took effect on Dec. 31, 2007, could further strain Indo-Malaysian relations after some Indian politicians sympathised with ethnic Indians who complained they had been marginalised by the Malay-majority government.
"The cabinet decided about two weeks ago to freeze the intake of workers from India and Bangladesh," a Home Ministry official told Reuters.
"Those already in the country will not have their work permits renewed," he said. "The ruling applies to all workers, including expatriates."
The news came as Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony ended a three-day visit aimed at boosting defence ties.
Other ministry officials confirmed the ban but gave no reason. The government had said in October it was trying to determine exactly how many foreign workers the country needed.
"Frankly speaking, we have got enough workers," Works Minister S. Samy Vellu, the only ethnic Indian minister in the cabinet, said on the sidelines of a conference in New Delhi.
"The government decided it is enough and we don't want to recruit any more because we have enough workers. Is it wrong?
Latest figures up to last Sept. 30 show Malaysia was home to about 2.2 million legal foreign workers, with 35 percent employed in factories and 17 percent in plantations.
Indonesians made up the highest number at around 60 percent, followed by Nepalese (11 percent), Bangladeshis (9 percent) and Indians (7 percent), government data showed.
Indians are mainly employed in restaurants and in the construction, information technology and financial services industries.
"DRASTIC STEP"
The Indian government said it had no immediate comment but some Indian professionals said they were upset.
"They (the Malaysian government) should not take such drastic steps. They should recognise the contribution made by Indian workers and professionals in the economic growth of the country," said one Indian professional who declined to be named.
A Malaysian inter-faith group criticised the ban, which it said would hit the intake of foreign priests and temple workers.
"This sudden decision without any dialogue or consultation with us is unprecedented," said A. Vaithilingam, president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism.
Relations between India and Malaysia have been hurt by recent allegations of discrimination against the ethnic Indian community in this Southeast Asian country.
Ethnic Indians held a mass anti-government protest in November, alleging that the authorities had sidelined the community under an affirmative action policy that favours the majority ethnic Malays.
Some Indian politicians, including Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, voiced concern for the ethnic Indians.
Around 7 percent of Malaysia's 26 million people are ethnic Indians, whose forefathers were brought over as labourers by British colonial rulers.
New Delhi (PTI): Malaysia on Tuesday denied any freeze on employment of Indian workers.
"It is not true. There is no such thing," Malaysian Works Minister Samy Vellu, who is here for the conference of overseas Indians, told reporters when asked about news reports from Kuala Lumpur in this regard.
"I just spoke to the Prime Minister (Abdullah Badawi), Minister of Human Resources and the Secretary General of the Ministry of Home Affairs. It (news reports) is not true. There is no such thing," he said.
Vellu, also the President of Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), said Indian workers are already there and when it is needed they are welcome.
Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, who was also present, said he believed the Malaysian Minister was right.
"I heard him speak to the Prime Minister. There is no truth in the story. We believe him. As and when more (information) comes on it, we will talk about it," he said.
Diplomatic Moves Intensify to Resolve Kenya Political Crisis
http://voanews.com/english/2008-01-08-voa13.cfm
Diplomatic efforts for Kenya are intensifying as the head of the African Union arrives in the country Tuesday, to try and break a political stalemate from disputed presidential elections last month.
Ghanaian President John Kufuor - the current head of the AU, will try to get Kenya's embattled President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga to meet and work toward ending the country's crisis.
On Monday, Mr. Kibaki invited Odinga for talks to work out their differences. Odinga has said he is not willing to hold such talks unless international negotiators are present.
Kenya's government says nearly 500 people died during post-election violence. And now, the country's finance minister estimates the chaos that followed the vote may have cost the economy more than $15 million.
Odinga's party is demanding new elections, but the government has said it will accept that proposal only if a court orders a new vote.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer met separately with Odinga and Mr. Kibaki Monday to try and forge political reconciliation between them.
Frazer said the vote-counting was rigged, and she urged Kenyan leaders to quickly resolve the crisis and implement political, social and electoral reforms.
President Bush on Monday urged Kenya's government and opposition to engage in peaceful dialogue to end the election standoff. He welcomed the visit of AU chief Mr. Kufuor to Nairobi to help resolve the crisis.
Kenya President Kibaki Invites Opposition Leader for Talks
http://voanews.com/english/Africa/2008-01-08-voa4.cfm
Kenya’s embattled President Mwai Kibaki has formally invited opposition leader Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) for talks to end the political impasse that is threatening the stability of the country. Kibaki’s invitation followed a decision by opposition leader Odinga to call off nationwide rallies planned for today Tuesday out of respect for the arrival of Ghana’s President and African Union chairman John Kufuor. President Kufuor is going to Kenya to jumpstart talks between President Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Basette Buyuka is the news anchor for Kenya’s Nation Television. From the capital, Nairobi, he tells reporter Peter Clottey that President Kibaki’s invitation is a relief to some Kenyans.
“President Mwai Kibaki just late Monday evening has sent out an invitation to Raila Odinga for talks. Now, those talks are to be held on Friday afternoon at 2:30 pm. The bulleting did not actually give venue for the meeting, but specified that Raila was to be accompanied by five members from the ODM, and the president has also invited members of the clergy to be present at these talks. The bulleting, which was released by the presidential press service clearly says these talks are for dialogue on ending the violence, which has afflicted the country particularly since the election results on 30th December last year,” Buyuka noted.
He said the Ghanaian President who is also the chairman of the African Union (AU) is expected in Kenya to try to calm down the tension between President Kibaki and opposition leader Odinga.
“President john Kufuor, the Ghanaian AU chairman is expected in Nairobi this Tuesday morning. Interestingly, the ODM is really looking forward to this and saying he (President Kufuor) is going to undertake mediation. There were mixed signals from President Kibaki’s camp last week, some senior members of his PNU (Party of National Unity) party suggesting that no, we did not need international mediation, and Kufuor was simply coming as a friend of Kenya. So it remains to be seen what exactly the role Kufuor would be playing. Of course he is the African Union chairman and he would be expressing the sentiments of the AU and the concern regarding the situation in Kenya,” he said.
Although the Ghanaian president is expected to jumpstart the expected talk between President Kibaki and Raila Odinga, Buyuka said there is no guarantee that President Kufuor would be present when the talks begin on Friday.
“Of course he (President Kufuor) is expected to meet both President Kibaki and Raila Odinga. What is not clear however is whether President Kufuor would still be in Kenya on Friday, the day that President Kibaki has set for face to face talks with Raila Odinga. So, we would be watching keenly to hear what transpires as the Ghanaian president hits town later today,” Buyuka pointed out.
He reckoned that former President Daniel Arap Moi has been relatively quiet as violence threatens the stability of the country he once ruled.
“True to an extent, the former president has kept a very low profile. The last time he was actually seen in public was when he was casting his ballot. Last week he did issue a statement through his press secretary and he did express his concern and urged the youth to stop the violence… of course in the run up to the elections he had come out strongly and supported the incumbent President Mwai Kibaki. So from that perspective, probably the opposition would not have viewed him as an honest broker going into mediation type of process,” he said.
Meanwhile, a decision is reportedly yet to be made on the venue of the talks between President Kibaki and Raila Odinga, which is scheduled for this Friday.
Analyst Says National Unity Government Alone Won't Solve Kenyan Crisis
http://voanews.com/english/Africa/2008-01-07-voa33.cfm
Among those following developments in Kenya is Professor Joel Barkan of the University of Iowa, who is also an analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. He spoke to VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua about whether a political solution to the Kenyan crisis is possible, considering the strong ethnic rivalries.
“A political solution is always possible, particularly when the crisis is the result of a very close election between two protagonists, who know each other well and should be able to work out a deal,” he says.
But is that solution a government of national unity? Barkan says, “I think at this point the issue has actually gone beyond the formation of a government of national unity. Kenyan governments, since the return of multi-party elections in 1992, have always resulted in some form of government of national unity, in that it’s drawn in representatives of various regions around the country and therefore representatives of and leaders of Kenya’s various ethnic groups. That’s not really the issue this time. It’s part of the issue. But the bigger and really deeper issue is addressing the imbalance or the perceived imbalance in Kenya between the country’s largest and most prosperous economic ethnic group, the Kikuyu, who have 22 percent of the population, and the rest of the population, who have done less well in the 40 years since independence, particularly during the last five years, when Kenya has seen a resurgence of economic growth.”
Barkan says dealing with that issue will most likely require a change in Kenya’s constitution. “That is to say, there will not only need to be a government of national unity, there will need to be a change in the basic framework of Kenyan politics and the rules of the game of Kenyan politics. What the opposition that has lost the disputed election is demanding is some form of federalism that both devolves power to the various groups across Kenya and also in the process, assures them a certain revenue flow in the form of block grants to various regional or district level governments.”
Professor Barkan says the United States other countries may need to put pressure on “hardliners on both sides, who are obstructing negotiations. We have ways of putting pressure on individuals and they should know who they are. My hope is that these people surrounding President Kibaki and Raila Odinga would back off. I hope it doesn’t come to this. It could become real hardball.”
Hopes falter for quick solution of Kenya's crisis
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-31295820080108
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Hopes of a quick solution to Kenya's crisis, in which almost 500 people have died, receded on Tuesday, with government and opposition still divided on how to conduct negotiations.
As the two sides squabbled, to the dismay of many ordinary Kenyans, Finance Minister Amos Kimunya said the violence could cost the country up to $1 billion.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki are under heavy international pressure to meet face-to-face but they appear to remain divided over how this can happen.
Kibaki has said he is ready to form a government of national unity after his disputed re-election in the Dec. 27 poll.
But Odinga says Kibaki stole the election and must renounce the presidency, hold talks through an international mediator and enter a "transitional arrangement" prior to a new vote.
The head of the African Union, Ghanaian President John Kufuor, was due in Nairobi on Tuesday night to start talks, which Odinga sees as a a major breakthrough.
But the Kenyan government, which has resisted international mediation, said Kufuor would leave on Wednesday, and invited Odinga to its own talks on Friday.
Odinga's opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) said it would reject any talks with Kibaki without a mediator.
Cayne to Step Down as Bear Stearns CEO
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a.T1N20pRuYc&refer=home
Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Bear Stearns Cos. Chief Executive Officer James ``Jimmy'' Cayne plans to resign as the securities firm's shares languish following unprecedented losses from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Board members have been notified by Cayne, 73, that he will step down as CEO and remain chairman of the New York-based company, according to the person, who declined to be identified because the decision isn't public. He's expected to be succeeded by President Alan Schwartz, 57, and an announcement may be made as soon as today, the person said.
Cayne would join former Citigroup Inc. CEO Charles Prince and his counterpart at Merrill Lynch & Co., Stan O'Neal, who were forced out after the sinking value of assets tied to mortgages eroded earnings. Bear Stearns's fourth-quarter loss of $854 million was the first in its history and the company's stock dropped 53 percent in New York trading during the past year, more than any Wall Street rival.
``Jimmy's been so engaged with the company for a long time, he and Ace have been the personification of the company,'' Bear Stearns board member Henry Bienen said yesterday in an interview, referring to Cayne's 80-year-old predecessor, Alan ``Ace'' Greenberg. ``Jimmy's still a huge shareholder. It's the board's view that Jimmy would stay very involved.''
Bear Stearns spokesman Russell Sherman declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal reported Cayne's plan to resign on its Web site yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter. Bear Stearns rose 2.2 percent to $77.90 in early trading today.
Shuttered Funds
Cayne, who joined Bear Stearns in 1969 and was named CEO in 1993, faces the prospect of losing his job to a crisis his firm helped create. The fifth-largest U.S. securities firm by market value spurred last year's crash in the market for home loans to people with poor credit when two of its hedge funds, which invested in securities tied to the mortgages, collapsed in July, prompting investors to shun the debts.
About 30 percent of Bear Stearns's fixed-income revenue comes from mortgages and related securities, according to estimates from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Brad Hintz. The company's $1.9 billion mortgage writedown wiped out revenue in the three months ended Nov. 30.
Bear Stearns shuttered the two failed hedge funds and Cayne ousted his co-president, Warren Spector, whom investors considered the heir-apparent. Ralph Cioffi, the manager of the two funds, left last month amid probes by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn. The government investigators haven't accused Cioffi or Bear Stearns of any wrongdoing.
December Meeting
Cayne told board members at a meeting in December that he was considering stepping down, and the board didn't push him, said Bienen, who is president of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Cayne holds 4.9 percent of Bear Stearns shares, making him the firm's second-largest individual investor after billionaire Joseph Lewis, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Bear Stearns said in October that China's government-controlled Citic Securities Co. paid $1 billion for a 6 percent stake.
``It's a different situation from what there was at Merrill and some other places, where clearly there was some pressure for them to step down,'' Bienen said. ``Part of it may be the culture of the company. It's been a place where there hasn't been a lot of turnover in leadership.''
Schwartz ``was a natural choice'' to become the next CEO, Bienen said. ``He's a very experienced guy and obviously respected by the board.''
Cincinnati Reds
A Brooklyn native and 1972 graduate of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, Schwartz was drafted as a pitcher by the Cincinnati Reds baseball club but injured his elbow and never reported to the team. He started at Bear Stearns's Dallas office in 1976 as an institutional stock salesman.
Greenberg, who became Bear Stearns CEO in 1978, took notice after Schwartz called him with ideas for improving the stock- research department. Schwartz moved to New York and in 1979 became head of research and investment strategy. He was named executive vice president in 1985 and charged with running the firm's fledgling investment-banking division. He was promoted to co-president, with Spector, six years later.
Cayne said last month that he and his senior managers agreed to forgo bonuses for 2007 after producing ``unacceptable results.'' In addition to the mortgage-related losses, fourth- quarter revenue from equity sales and trading dropped 11 percent to $384 million. Investment-banking fees during the quarter fell 44 percent to $205 million.
Rivals Gain
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. posted gains for the quarter from trading stocks and advising on mergers. All the firms are based in New York.
``Cayne stepping down will help keep Bear out of the headlines, and that's what the firm needs to rebuild,'' said Bruce Foerster, president of Miami-based South Beach Capital Markets. ``He was under pressure and the only way to ease the pressure on the firm is for the CEO to step down.''
Cayne ranks as Wall Street's richest CEO, with $1.3 billion of assets, according to Forbes magazine's 2007 billionaire survey. Cayne left Purdue University before graduating to join the U.S. Army and was hired 38 years ago by Bear Stearns. A world-class bridge player, Cayne was promoted to president by Greenberg in 1988 and then to CEO five years later.
Bear Stearns's return on equity dropped to 1.8 percent for 2007 from 19 percent the year before. Morgan Stanley reported a 7.8 percent return; Lehman generated 21 percent. Goldman delivered 33 percent for the year.
Mounting Writedowns
The world's largest banks and securities firms have reported at least $97 billion of writedowns and credit losses stemming from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and ensuing credit-market contraction, according to Bloomberg data.
``People realize that clearly mistakes have been made at the world's financial institutions, a tsunami, and I'm not sure you'd blame the individual,'' Bienen said. ``One person didn't get you into these difficult situations, and one person's not going to get you out.''
Study Finds Vaccine Preservative Is Not Linked to Risks of Autism
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/health/08autism.html?ref=us
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 8, 2008
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Autism cases in California continued to climb even after a mercury-based vaccine preservative that some people blame for the neurological disorder was removed from routine childhood shots, a study has found.
Researchers from the State Public Health Department found that the autism rate in children rose continuously in the study period from 1995 to 2007. The preservative, thimerosal, has not been used in childhood vaccines since 2001, except for some flu shots.
Doctors said that the latest study added to the evidence against a link between thimerosal exposure and the risk of autism and that it should reassure parents that vaccinations do not cause autism. If there was a risk, the doctors said, autism rates should have dropped from 2004 to 2007.
Dr. Daniel Geschwind, a neurologist at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the focus should be on exploring possible causes of autism, including genetic links.
“Something else must be at play,” said Dr. Geschwind, who had no connection with the study. “And we need to know what that is if we’re really serious about preventing autism.”
The results of the study are in the January issue of The Archives of General Psychiatry. The study did not explore why autism cases increased.
Officials say one in 150 American children have autism, higher than other estimates. Researchers say it is unclear whether the increase stems from changes in classifying autism or whether the increase is actual.
