The decision, coming soon after the Japanese car maker announced plans to close 11 of its 12 factories in Japan for three days later this month, is expected to increase the pressure on other makers to follow suit.

Toyota’s president, Katsuaki Watanabe, said the firm, which is to lay off 3,000 temporary workers over the next three months, hoped to avoid redundancies among full-time employees.

“We don’t know how much further the global economy will slide,” he told reporters. “Car demand is falling, from leading countries to emerging markets.”

Toyota is heading for its first operating loss in more than 70 years, largely due to plummeting demand in the US.

The firm is bracing itself for an operating loss through to the end of March of ¥150bn (£1.1bn), compared with a ¥2.27 trillion profit last year. Global sales are expected to total 7.5m vehicles, down 8.5% from last year.

Toyota’s sales in the US dropped 37% last month, the biggest monthly drop for more than 25 years, and by 18% in Japan.

Lower fuel prices saw sales of the Toyota’s best-selling hybrid, the Prius, fall 45% in the US.

The Japanese firm’s performance in the US was even worse than those of its struggling US rivals, with Ford’s sales dropping 32% and GM 31%.

Four Toyota car assembly plants and eight factories that make engines, transmissions and other parts will close for six days next month and another five in March, the company said, cutting production by as many as 200,000 vehicles.

“We are coping with a slump in global sales,” a Toyota spokesman said. “Demand in the world auto market is so depressed that every model is falling sharply in sales.”

Weak exports and the rising yen have forced Japan’s car makers into an unprecedented round of production stoppages. The last time Toyota closed a plant, and then only for a day, was in 1993 when sales were again battered by the yen’s gains against the dollar.

Honda, Mitsubishi and Suzuki will also close plants temporarily later this month.

While US auto sales sank 36% last month, sales of new cars in Japan fell to 3.2m last year, the lowest level in 34 years, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers’ Association.

“We didn’t expect the market would slump this much,” Takeshi Fushimi, an association director, told reporters. “Consumers are losing their appetite for everything, not just autos.”

Koichi Sugimoto, an auto analyst at Merrill Lynch, said the recent poor sales figures came as no surprise. “For the stock market to re-evaluate this sector, there are two prerequisites: the end of the negative news flow and an outlook for a return to the black in the next business year,” he said.

related : Toyota orders 11-day factory halt

Post from: The New Politickler

Mumbai - Pakistanis woke up to fighter jets circling their cities last month. There were reports of troops being hastily moved to the India-Pakistan border. Gallows humor about nuclear fry-ups over Christmas started up, even as world leaders made urgent phone calls to try to get tempers under control.

It is now a full month since Mumbai came under attack and the mood in the subcontinent has shifted somewhat. What might have resulted in a joint effort by India and Pakistan to root out terror networks has turned into mutual recrimination.

Nothing would surprise those who sponsored the Mumbai attacks more than if the governments in Delhi and Islamabad worked together to defeat terrorism.

Each country feels persecuted. Each believes the other to be a serious threat. Each nation, armed with nukes and prodded by extreme views that spew venom and vengeance, remains at risk of being forced into hard line positions, even full scale war.

The Mumbai attacks were so well planned and so coolly carried out that it felt like a military operation. As the assaults were brought under control, allegations soon emerged that the perpetrators belonged to the Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Toiba, a terrorist organisation banned in 2002 but which has continued to operate openly (such as after the 2006 Kashmir earthquake, when it mounted a large domestic relief operation under a new name, the religious charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa).

At first, Pakistan accepted that some of its citizens may have been involved in the Mumbai outrages and promised action if evidence was provided. The government even promised to send the head of its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency - long accused of supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan, as well as terrorists in Kashmir and in other parts of India — to help with the investigation. But, as if to make clear who really holds power in Pakistan, the ISI and the Pakistan army vetoed the suggestion and the Pakistan government quickly reversed its decision.

Pakistan continues to say it will act against terrorists in their midst if provided with convincing evidence, but it asserts it has yet to be given such information either by India or the US. Nevertheless, once the United Nations Security Council listed Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a terrorist organization, the Pakistani government did launch operations against some terrorist groups based in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

As pressure mounted on Pakistan, sympathy for the Mumbai victims in Pakistan turned to anger. President Asif Zardari’s government, at risk of being accused of being CIA or Indian puppets for cooperating with the investigation, changed their statements to denial and warned an edgy population to brace for war.

There is a lot of history and mutual distrust to cut through to end this cycle of mutual suspicion and blame. Pakistan accuses India of backing terrorist groups in its Balochistan province. It says India always blames Pakistan when attacks take place on its soil, forgetting that Pakistan has been an even bigger victim of terrorism and that some attacks in India have been carried out by Hindu nationalist groups. Then there are the repeated attacks on Indian Muslims, such as the notorious 2002 government-sponsored carnage in Gujarat.

India, for its part, counter-charges that many attacks within its borders emanate from Pakistan. It is beyond dispute that some in the Pakistan security establishment have sponsored attacks in Kashmir and in other parts of India. India says it does not want war, but it needs to be given reason to believe that the Pakistani government - and, more importantly, the army and ISI - will dismantle terror groups and put an end to cross-border attacks.

Until this happens, India says it has to keep its options open, not least because of strong public pressure for a military response to the violence. Fortunately, thus far the Indian government has kept its head, perhaps realizing that an attack on Pakistan will only strengthen the most nationalistic and anti-peace elements in Pakistan and weaken the Zardari government’s resolve to fight terror. (Zardari’s wife, Benazir Bhutto, was killed by terrorists on December 27, 2007.)

If either side fails to act wisely, the losers will again be ordinary people and the result may be a further diminution of human rights. In India, Muslims are at risk of arbitrary arrest and torture or are targeted by hate groups. In Pakistan, increased tensions with India are likely to lead to the recruitment of more terrorists, including children, who will be encouraged to believe that arbitrary killing serves their cause.

Unfortunately, the government in Pakistan has inherited the discredited legacy of previous military regimes in Islamabad. For instance, after 9/11, General Pervez Musharraf claimed to be acting against groups like Lashkar, but the exercise turned out to be purely cosmetic. This time, India and the international community want to ensure that temporary detentions are not used merely as a means of deflecting international pressure. Nor do they want Pakistan to use a perceived threat on its eastern border as a reason to stop assisting NATO military operations against Al Qaeda and the Taliban on the western Afghan border.

India would like some of those detained by Pakistan to be extradited for trial in India. But the two countries have no extradition treaty. More important, perhaps, no Pakistan government would survive the tide of public anger if it were to hand over its citizens to India. Already there is criticism of the rendition of Pakistan citizens made after the 9/11 attacks on America. International human rights law already prohibits handing over anyone in danger of being tortured - which, given India’s woeful record, would be the likely case.

India knows full well that the battle against terrorist groups with deep seated grievances can be long and hard. It has struggled for decades with separatists in its northeastern states. And it has failed to end the conflict with Maoist rebels operating in more than a dozen states. It also needs to deal with the many home grown groups engaged in organized violence, such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, who receive support from major Indian political parties and are tolerated by law enforcement agencies.

Both countries need to remember that the only way to end terrorism is to work together and follow methods which respect human rights. As Zardari wrote in a New York Times op-ed, “The challenge of confronting terrorists who have a vast support network is huge. Pakistan’s fledgling democracy needs help from the rest of the world.”

Nothing would surprise those who sponsored the Mumbai attacks more than if the governments in Delhi and Islamabad worked together to defeat terrorism.

Meenakshi Ganguly is Senior Researcher for South Asia with Human Rights Watch.

Post from: The New Politickler

India has signed a $2.1 billion contract with leading U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co for naval patrol aircraft as part of an overhaul of the South Asian nation’s mainly old Soviet military hardware.

India, fast becoming one of the world’s biggest arms importers, said at least eight of the P-8I anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare planes would be delivered in four years.

“The deal has been signed and the delivery of the P-8I should start in four years’ time,” defence ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar said on Monday.

India is looking to spend $30 billion on imports over the next five years to modernise its largely Soviet-era arms and is also trying to strengthen its navy by introducing new weapons systems.

Boeing plans to make inroads into the South Asian defence market and has already submitted a bid for a contract to supply India with 126 multi-role fighter jets, potentially worth more than $10 billion.

Last July, Boeing said it would bid for defence projects in India worth up to $20 billion over the next 10 years.

India is also keen to strengthen its own aerospace industry and has asked major weapons exporting countries to transfer defence technology to India.

Defence experts said the P-8I would give India an edge over its rivals. The aircraft would carry air-to-surface missiles as well as anti-shipping missiles to tackle sea-based threats, a defence official said.

A Boeing spokesman in New Delhi said the company would release a detailed statement on the deal in two days.

Last month, India successfully tested a supersonic cruise missile from a moving ship, in what officials said was a major boost for its defence capabilities.

reuters

Post from: The New Politickler

AFP

Post from: The New Politickler

The internet, which emerged this year as a leading source for campaign news, has now surpassed all other media except television as an outlet for national and international news.

Currently, 40% say they get most of their news about national and international issues from the internet, up from just 24% in September 2007. For the first time in a Pew survey, more people say they rely mostly on the internet for news than cite newspapers (35%). Television continues to be cited most frequently as a main source for national and international news, at 70%.

For young people, however, the internet now rivals television as a main source of national and international news. Nearly six-in-ten Americans younger than 30 (59%) say they get most of their national and international news online; an identical percentage cites television. In September 2007, twice as many young people said they relied mostly on television for news than mentioned the internet (68% vs. 34%).

The percentage of people younger than 30 citing television as a main news source has declined from 68% in September 2007 to 59% currently. This mirrors a trend seen earlier this year in campaign news consumption. (See “Internet Now Major Source of Campaign News,” News Interest Index, Oct. 31, 2008.)

The survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Dec. 3-7 among 1,489 adults, finds there has been little change in the individual TV news outlets that people rely on for national and international news. Nearly a quarter of the public (23%) says they get most of their news from CNN, while 17% cite Fox News; smaller shares mention other cable and broadcast outlets.

continue read on Top Stories as People Press

Post from: The New Politickler

Press secretary Sally McDonough said in a statement said The President, Mrs. Bush, Barbara, and Jenna are deeply saddened by the passing of their cat India (”Willie”).

“India was a beloved member of the Bush family for almost two decades. She will be greatly missed,” she said.

The black American Shorthair, which lived with President George W. Bush and his wife at the White House, died Sunday.
India was named by Barbara Bush after a former Texas Ranger baseball player, Ruben Sierra, who was called “El Indio,” but the cat was called “Willie” or “Kitty” by the family.

AFP

Post from: The New Politickler

Mahathir, who during his two decades in power was a leading voice in the Muslim world, said people had to take action against the United States over its support for Israel, which is conducting a military offensive in Gaza.

“If you stop accepting US currency, the US can’t trade and can’t make any money, it will become very poor and it will have to stop the production of more and more weapons in order to kill people,” he told a press conference.

“We should not be buying all these weapons from the US, we can buy from the Russians if we must have aeroplanes and things like that,” he added.
“People must act… they won’t die if they don’t drink Coca-Cola.”

Mahathir criticised the US for blocking a UN resolution calling for an end to the action by Israel, which has launched an air and ground offensive that has left at least 510 Palestinians dead, many of them civilians.

The fiery former prime minister, who stepped down in 2003, said he did not expect a new US approach under Barack Obama, who is due to be sworn in as president on January 20.

“I don’t think there will be much change with regards to the policy of Israel. As you know, Obama went to Israel and asked for their support because a lot of voters in America are Jews,” he said.
“I can’t think of anybody being as bad as (President George W.) Bush, it is the best of the bad choices,” he said of Obama.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Monday called on the United Nations to convene an emergency session on Israel’s offensive in Gaza, saying the UN had a “moral duty” to end the violence.

Post from: The New Politickler

On that dour note, here are the losers and winners of 2008. I wish everyone a happy New Year, full of debauchery and lightheartedness, to conclude this very tumultuous year:

LOSERS

The Stock Market
Is it still a bear if it hibernates for multiple years? Perhaps Rip van Winkle, Comatose Grizzly, or Thing of Yesterday would be more apt terms for today’s stock market. The NASDAQ lost 43% this year; the DOW lost 35%. According the the BBC, the rest of the world fared no better:

Britain’s FTSE 100: Down 31.3%
Shanghai: Down 65%
Frankfurt’s Dax-30: Down 40%
Japan’s Nikkei: Down 42%
Hong Kong: Down 48%
Mumbai: Down more than 50%

The 401K
Like the stock market, this former fortress of savings crumbled after the credit crisis creamed its foundation. Its decimation revived the notion of stuffing money in mattresses for safekeeping.

Financial Services
While executives with golden parachutes floated majestically away to the Bahamas, luxury cars trailing behind, the rest of the sector bore terrifying losses that may change the face of the industry forever. The casualties?

-More than 52,000 jobs, and counting.
-Money. Lots of it. The numbers are vague and of ridiculous proportion: $270 billion. $1.3 trillion. $460 billion. Add to that Bernie Madoff’s piddling $50 billion, and you have a Godzilla-sized number that even the US Mint can’t keep up with.
-Confidence. Investors used to put their faith in the wizards behind the sector. So what if you didn’t completely understand where exactly your money was? It was giving you returns, right? That was all that mattered, then. Today, people shirk what they now see as the Wall Street Ponzi scheme. It is sad to see an American institution foiled by bad apples. It is also dismaying for the people who try to make an honest living within the industry.

The Media.. continue at Business Pundit

Post from: The New Politickler

The 13th day of December 2008 marked my and the other Hindraf lawyers first dark anniversary of detention without trial under the draconian ISA at the Kemta Prison, Taiping for a period of two years and continuing indefinitely thereafter. There are ISA prisoners here serving their 7th year of their 8 years of detention after the initial two-year detention order. But I have no regrets. I fought for a just cause so that UMNO would stop all acts of bully especially against the poor and underprivileged Indians in Malaysia, so that UMNO would accede to HINDRAF’s 18 Point demands submitted to PM Abdullah Badawi on 12th August 2007 in effect asking UMNO not to segregate and exclude the Indians from the mainstream National Development of Malaysia.

For example in the RM230 Billion Mid term review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan and the 2009 National Budget, there was Zero allocation for the Indians.

At Kemta Prison I read and write for about 12 to 13 hours every day. The food is pale and stale. Every one hour the Prison Guards “WATCH OVER ME” and record their diaries accordingly. Otherwise prison life is a routine where nightfall follows daylight and daylight waiting for nightfall. Prison life is a predictable routine. My mother, fiancée, sisters, children and family visit every week without fail is the highlight. I get to sleep on a one-inch thin mattress on the cement floor and this has caused in me suffering lumbar spondalysis and arthritis. I can no longer even jog slowly after this one year. I cannot squat without pain in my knees and backbone.

I have after my incarceration been diagnosed to be a heart patient and a high blood pressure patient. My heart condition has been described as hyper kinetic and I am given to understand by my “outside” doctor friends that I may have suffered a silent heart attack. I also suffer from two kinds of skin diseases as a result of allergy and idiopathic gutted hypomela. My pre existing diabetes has got worse especially when I was denied my diabetic medication. The Police Special Branch and the Kemta prison authorities have interfered with the Taiping General Hospital doctors and specialists so much so that their professionalism had been compromised. In my 16 years as legal practitioner I have seen especially my clients’ death in Police custody and Police abuse medical reports and post mortem reports been compromised by the medical Specialists and Government Hospital Doctors. Now as a detainee myself I am suffering from the same fate as my clients. From August 2008 onwards I have refused all medical treatment by the Government Hospitals, as I no longer have confidence in them treating me independently of the Police Special Branch interference. But I know in my heart that these very same Government doctors would give me the best treatment should I visit them “minus my handcuffs”, better and more reliable medical care than even the “profit motivated” private hospitals.

When I complained to the Kuala Lumpur High Court that the said doctors and prison authorities had “compromised” my medical records and that my hypo kinetic heart condition and the lumbar spondalysis was kept away from my knowledge until I found out very much later from some other sympathetic Hospital staff and subsequently agreed to by the said doctors. I also complained to the High Court that the hospital authorities and the prison and Police Special Branch and Home Ministry authorities had refused to exhibit my medical reports. I had created a doubt but the benefit of the doubt was not given to me and neither was I given the opportunity to appear before the Learned Judge to be heard and the Judge had turned down my application and dismissed my application to be set free to be able to receive independent medical treatment. On hearing this my “predicament” the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM) without being prompted rushed to hold an “inquiry” which was held behind closed doors at Kemta prison, met all the Hospital, prison, Special Branch, Doctors and everybody else except myself the victim and cleared the Malaysian Government authorities and spoke on my behalf that I was happy with the treatment and medication given to me without even getting evidence from me. The said “inquiry” was concluded within 3 hours and the Human Rights Commissioners held a Press conference the next day to reveal their “findings”. But this is what you have for Malaysia- A Human Rights Commission which is the servant and slave of the ruling UMNO Government.

But I have no regrets and am prepared for the worst in this ISA detention slapped on me. When I started the struggle 16 years ago I always had at the back of my mind that I could one day be detained under the ISA but hoped that it wouldn’t happen.

In every People Power struggle, sacrifices have to be made. This ISA detention is my part of contribution to this sacred struggle.

I am happy to hear and read that the People Power Makkal Sakthi peaceful struggle is still going on strong. There may be ups and downs and
What keeps me going in prison is knowing that you people out there are continuing with the struggle in your own ways. Hundreds of HINDRAF supporters have been arrested, jailed and beaten up by the police when campaigning for our release and the People Power Movement. Many have lost their jobs, promotions, bonuses some demoted. At least one Indian man died of a heart attack on 25th November 2007 when he was believed to be attacked by the Police tear gas.

Our single biggest success as of date is that the Hindu temple demolishment at the rate of one Hindu temple every week being demolished (Tamil Nesan 30/10/08 at pg 3) has stopped at least for the moment. The critical Indian problems has now got National attention though none of which has been seriously addressed by UMNO as they seem to be stuck by their racist and religious extremist and supremacist mindset.

HINDRAF Chairman P.Waytha Moorthy has succeeded in internationalising the critical Indian issues from London to Europe, United States and the Western World.

I take it that every day of my incarceration will keep the spotlight on the critical Indian problems in Malaysia both locally and internationally.

I had decided to “go for broke” because I very strongly believe in the cause I am fighting for and I have no regrets. UMNO will not change. We will have to rid UMNO in the 2012 / 2013 general elections.

LONG LIVE PEOPLE POWER MAKKAL SAKTHI.

MAY THE NEW YEAR BRING A NEW ERA IN OUR STRUGGLE TO BE FREED FROM THE CLUTHES OF OPPRESSION AND SUPPRESSION OF THE UMNO LED GOVERNMENT. MAY ALL OF YOU LIVE IN PEACE AND HARMONY AND ENJOY A PROSPEROUS BRIGHTER NEW YEAR WITH YOUR FAMILIES AND LOVED ONES.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

P.Uthayakumar
KEMTA PRISON
Taiping Perak.
01.01.09

Post from: The New Politickler

The following  were words spoken by the Sri Lankan Head of State and the government  and Commander in Chief of the armed forces, President Rajapakse in his 2008 Christmas message celebrating Christmas along with  Christian dignitaries particularly the Roman Catholic Archbishop saying: “The spirit of love and joy that Christmas brings has special relevance in Sri Lanka today as we come closer to bringing down the barriers of mistrust and overcoming the fear of terror that have torn our society apart for so long….”While these were being said the Sri Lankan Air Force were  busy bombing the Holy Cross Convent  located on the  Paranthan  Mullaitivu road using cluster bombs and bringing bring down the statue of  St Mary, turning those words into hypocrisy and blaspheme.

That was not all. The air force also bombed a Protestant run Refuge for the orphaned and disabled girls, the Karuna Nilayam. The Kilinochchi hospital was not spared and  thereafter  several children injured in other  bombings. About fifty cattle were  killed by the same cluster bombs, perhaps in the  mistaken belief that these were terrorist  tigers in cows’ clothing!

Besides the periodic killings and disappearances of Christian priests, the systematic attacks on churches, where Christian Tamils are bound to congregate in unusually large numbers especially during the Christmas season are not a new phenomenon. Since around the late 1960s there have been attacks on churches on Christmas day not by air but by the security forces going on the rampage disturbing the Christmas mass and instilling terror as at the Navatkuli church and the Karaiyoor church in the Jaffna peninsula. To date, by a conservative estimate according to relevant statistics maintained by the Tamil Centre for Human Rights, in the northern and  eastern provinces there have been 96 Christian churches completely destroyed and another 206 partially damaged  by the Sri Lankan security services. Further, 2076 Hindu places of worship have also been destroyed with another 1342 damaged.

Christianity was founded by the greatest revolutionary of all times as a folk religion to liberate the oppressed. Being materialistic of all religions (not to be confused in the mundane meaning of  mechanical materialism), its spiritualism offers a link to dialectical materialism with its simplicity and its folk nature which were to be subsequently complicated, corrupted  and sophisticated either by political opportunists, theologians, hypocrites, religious bureaucracies, empires, imperialists or all. There is the glaring case of the simple peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous, later to become St. Bernadette,  the founding Saint of  the great healing church of Our Lady of Lourdes in the Pyrenees  in France, the poor peasant girl who was at first  persecuted by the Catholic hierarchy under Emperor Napoleon the Third of France. One is then  reminded of the spectacle of Catholic priests taking part in the armed struggle of the Sandinistas for the liberation of the oppressed Nicaraguan people. We have in Sri Lanka the example of the fearless Rev. Father Tissa Balasuriya, who stood up against the injustices  of the Sri Lankan State and to expose some of the  interpretations of  the Catholic establishment.

For once we agree with Rajapakse, whether he meant it or not, that ”…The Spirit of Christmas has greater meaning as it reaches out to comfort the poor and distressed among humans, protects all beings that share this earth with us, and is celebrated with the simplicity of Christian teaching”.

With bombings of Christian places of worship among the Tamils destroyed, when most needed to comfort the poor and distressed, Rajapakse in his genocidal quest to destroy the Tamil people obviously  does not consider the Tamil people as humans. There is in this a clear message to the Tamil people that there is more to come.

URL: http://www.eelamnation.net/headlines_details.php?secid=71&newsid=4968

Post from: The New Politickler