Every Wednesday you will find links and top-line summaries to current events around the globe.
Thai “red shirts” open to talks to avert crackdown [Reuters]
- Thai anti-government protesters occupying an upmarket shopping area of Bangkok said on Wednesday they were open to talks through a third party to prevent bloody clashes with armed troops threatening to forcibly evict them. The comments signaled some flexibility in a bitter six-week confrontation that has badly hit Thailand’s economy
- Analysts say the protest has evolved into a dangerous standoff between the army and a rogue military faction that supports the red shirts and includes retired generals allied with ex-Prime Minister Thaksin, who was toppled in a 2006 coup Abhisit has repeatedly rejected demands to call an election he would almost certainly lose, saying the red shirts must be brought under control first. He came to power in December 2008 in an army-brokered parliamentary vote after the ruling pro-Thaksin party was dissolved for electoral fraud
- Parties allied with Thaksin, a former telecoms tycoon now based in Dubai, have won the past four elections in Thailand based on programs to help the rural masses. Both sides want to be in power for a military reshuffle in September. If Thaksin’s camp is governing at that time, analysts expect it would bring about major changes by ousting generals allied with Thailand’s royalist establishment, a prospect that royalists fear could diminish the power of Thailand’s monarchy
Best Non-Holiday Quarter for Apple [New York Times]
- The company said on Tuesday that iPhone sales surged 131 percent in the most recent quarter, to 8.75 million units, helping Apple deliver a 90% rise in profit and a 49% increase in sales. Apple delivered strong results for the quarter that ended March 31 despite the sluggish economic recovery and the typically slow post-holiday season, easily beating Wall Street’s most upbeat estimates. Shares of the company surged more than 5% to a record high, in after-hours trading following the release of the earnings report
- Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., said it sold 2.94 million Macintosh computers, up 33% from a year ago, while iPod sales declined 1%, to 10.9 million units. But the company said a shift in sales to iPod Touch devices from less expensive models helped lift iPod revenue 12%. But it was the surging sales of the iPhone, one of Apple’s most profitable products, that surprised analysts and pleased investors the most
- The rapid rise in iPhone sales was driven in part by overseas customers. Unit sales leaped nearly sixfold in Asia, 183% in Japan and 133% in Europe. International sales accounted for 58% of the quarter’s revenue, Apple said. Indeed, Apple’s iPhone business, which grew 90% in the last quarter of 2009, is gaining momentum. Mr. Jobs said earlier this month that the company had sold more than 50 million iPhones since it introduced the device three years ago
Australian PM wins health deal aimed at re-election [Reuters]
- Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Tuesday he had reached agreement with all but one of Australia’s states on major health reforms which he hopes will spearhead his 2010 re-election campaign. Failure to clinch the $51 billion deal, which will see the government become the nation’s main health funder, would have fueled perceptions Rudd has been unable to deliver on reform promises that propelled him to power in 2007
- Rudd, who had threatened to take the reforms to a direct referendum vote, is on course to win a second term later this year, with a Newspoll in the Australian newspaper on Tuesday giving Labor an election-winning margin of 54% to 46%
- Rudd convinced all state leaders except conservative-ruled Western Australia to sign-up to his proposal for the states to give up a large slice of their consumption tax revenue, or GST, and fund a central takeover of health funding. To secure his reforms, Rudd agreed to give state leaders an extra $4.63 billion USD for state-run hospitals and a say over how a newly-created $46.5 billion USD funding pool would be spent on health and hospital funding
When Heart Devices Fail, Who Should Be Blamed? [New York Times]
- It was a landmark episode brought to light by two Minneapolis cardiologists that changed the way the medical device industry deals with the safety of heart implants. Now the doctors, five years later, are raising a fundamental question about medical safety and the law: who should be held accountable when a company sells a flawed product that can injure or kill patients? Is it the company or the people who run it?
- A federal judge will consider an agreement this month with Guidant, whose defibrillators have been associated with at least six deaths. The company would plead guilty to two criminal misdemeanors and pay a $296 million fine. The Justice Department is hailing the result, saying the fine would be the largest ever paid by a medical device maker
- One of the few recent criminal cases involving corporate officers of a major medical manufacturer was in 2007, against three top executives of the drug company Purdue Pharma, which makes the prescription narcotic OxyContin. That year, the company pleaded guilty to a felony charge that it falsely promoted the painkiller as less prone to abuse than other narcotics, the executives also pleaded guilty to charges against them. The company paid $600 million in fines, and the three men paid a combined $34.5 million in fines
A Killing Further Erodes Afghan Faith in Leaders [New York Times]
- Late on Monday night, Azizullah Yarmal, Kandahar’s deputy mayor, walked into a large mosque in his city and faced toward Mecca. He knelt down in unison with the others, leaning forward so his head touched the floor in ritual prayer. That was when gunmen, unseen by the bent-over worshipers, shot him to death. Killings of local notables have become a routine occurrence in Kandahar, but the slaying of Mr. Yarmal, perhaps the most admired public official in the violent city, shook people to the core
- As American and NATO troops prepare for a summer offensive in Kandahar — what could be their most critical push in more than eight years of war — any sense of safety in the area is being worn away by assassinations, bombings and other attacks on American and Western contractors, political officials and religious leaders. The violence has further eroded support for the government and foreign forces among a population in Kandahar that remains broadly sympathetic to the Taliban and that more than anything seems to fear continuing conflict
- Kandahar was the birthplace and power center of the Taliban before the United States-led invasion in 2001, and in the years of occupation it has gained strength by feeding off a feckless and corrupt government that has favored a handful of politically connected and powerful tribes
Toyota to pay $16.4 million fine, recall Lexus SUV [Reuters]
- Toyota Motor Corp on Monday agreed to pay a record $16.4 million federal fine for delaying a safety recall over defective accelerator pedals, and also announced a new recall — this time of its 2010 Lexus GX 460 luxury SUV. Toyota denied violating U.S. regulations and said it was paying the fine, the maximum allowed by U.S. law and the largest the regulator has ever sought, “to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation.”
- The world’s biggest automaker also recalled the Lexus GX 460 after its engineers replicated a test by influential magazine Consumer Reports, which called the car a “safety risk” when the car lost control during a sharp turn. Toyota said it would recall nearly 10,000 Lexus GX 460 vehicles sold in the United States and Canada to fix software in the electronic stability control system. The GX 460 is new for the 2010 model year and has only been on sale for a few months
- Toyota had estimated in February that the previous recalls would cost it $2 billion for its fiscal year ending in March, but it has recalled more vehicles since that estimate. In imposing the record fine Toyota agreed to pay on Monday, U.S. regulators alleged that Toyota delayed by at least four months a January U.S. recall of 2.3 million vehicles due to defective accelerator pedals
A Difficult Path in Goldman Case [New York Times]
- In accusing Goldman Sachs of defrauding investors, regulators are not only taking aim at a company with deep pockets and a will to fight — they are also pursuing an unusual claim that could be difficult to prove in court, legal experts said. Rather than asserting that Goldman misrepresented a product it was selling, the most commonly used grounds for securities fraud, the S.E.C said in a civil suit filed Friday that the investment bank misled customers about how that product was created
- The stakes are huge. The S.E.C., battered by its failure to identify or prevent several major frauds in recent years, is eager to re-establish its credibility as an enforcer. But in choosing such a difficult battlefield, the commission also risks losing a case at a time when it is trying to re-establish its reputation as a tough watchdog. Goldman’s sterling reputation, a foundation of its financial success, is also on the line. Rather than settling with the government, it has so far chosen to fight back
- The commission’s core accusation is that while Goldman provided to those firms a detailed list of the assets contained in a security it built and sold in 2007, it concealed the role of John Paulson, a hedge fund manager who worked with Goldman to pick what assets went into the security. Mr. Paulson then placed bets that the security would lose value. In essence, the buyers bet that housing prices would go up, while Mr. Paulson bet that prices would fall
- Pirates take 3 Thai ships with 77 crew [Reuters]
- Colorado Rockies President Found Dead in Hotel Room [New York Times]
- Debate on Internet’s Limits Grows in Indonesia [New York Times]
- As India booms, social welfare struggles to catch up [Reuters]
- Mood Is Dark as Israel Marks 62nd Year as a Nation [New York Times]
- Flights resume as ash fear recedes [BBC]
Photograph by REUTERS/NERC Satellite Receiving Station, Dundee University, Scotland
The ash plume of southwestern Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano streams southwards over the Northern Atlantic Ocean in a satellite photograph made April 17, 2010. The erupting volcano in Iceland sent new tremors on April 19, but the ash plume which has caused air traffic chaos across Europe has dropped to a height of about 2 km (1.2 mi), the Meteorological Office said. (REUTERS/NERC Satellite Receiving Station, Dundee University, Scotland)
via The Big Picture: More from Eyjafjallajokull
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