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June, 2002 |
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World Trends |
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Coke Vs
Divine Cola Zamzam Cola, Iran’s “Islamic” version of Coke has hit the shelves of Baharain’s supermarkets as residents of the Gulf kingdom increasingly express their frustration at United States policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by boycotting American products, reports AFP. “There is growing demand for substitutes to American soft drinks, which is what prompted us to import Zamzam-Cola,” said an executive at the Baharaini-owned “Zamzam Soft Drink Drops”. The Iranian beverage takes its name from a spring in Mecca which Muslims believe originated from heaven. Millions of Muslim pilgrims who visit Mecca every year, either on the annual hajj or on other religious occasions, use large quantities of water from Zamzam, reportedly the world’s oldest running spring, because they think it is “holy” and has healing properties. In marked contrast with the close relations at official level between Washington and Manama, home to the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet and a “major non-NATO ally” of the United States, anti-United States sentiment spread like wildfire in Baharain after Israel launched a massive military offensive in the West Bank in late March. With the
boycott of United States products picking up momentum, the Jawad Trade
Group, recently put out a paid advertisement in the local press in an
effort to persuade Baharainis that it is linked to the American company
only by name. Corporate
Buyout of a Town
In perhaps the first such case in the history of the corporate world, a power company in USA has bought an entire town to pre-empt legal actions from the residents on environmental grounds. According to reports, the company American Electric Power has agreed with the representatives of the 221 residents (90 homeowners) of Chesire in Ohio to buy the entire town for US$20 million, which roughly equals three times the market value of the property. In return, the
residents are to move out. They also have promised never to sue the
company for any damage from its coalfired power station. Russians
Spend Billion as Bribes The practice of paying bribes for everything from setting up a business to obtaining medical care is costing Russians tens of billions of dollars annually, the head of a respected think tank in Russia said, reports AP quoting Interfax news agency. Georgey Satarov, a former Kremlin adviser and president of the INDEM research center, said a two-year study by the center showed that the Russians spend at least dlrs 37 billion a year on bribes. By far the biggest part of that sum - $33.5 billion – is business-related bribes, Satarov said. In nonbusiness bribes, medical care is the biggest sphere for bribery, accounting for US $ 600 million, he said. Would-be students spend US $ 449 million on securing University admission, motorists shell out $368 million on payoffs to trafic police, and plaintiffs and defendants hand over $274 million to judges in hopes of influencing their rulings. Satarov said his calculations were based on modest estimates. “In reality, they could be three times as high,” Interfax has quoted him as saying. Now It's Voice Mail Hotmail
founder Sabeer Bhatia has now announced the launch of voice mail mobile
phone service in India. Called
voiceXpress, it allows users to record one-minute message in English or
Hindi on their mobile phone sets and send it to another handset anywhere
in India, the USA and Canada at a fraction of the cost of long distance
call by conventional methods. Afghanistan's
Revival Tricks
War-torn Afghanistan is reported as trying to revive its economy by cashing in on the global sympathy to it 23 years of turmoil and latest Taliban barbarism. Two of such industries selected by the authorities are tourism and carpets. While the carpets are to be sold with the label "made by Afghan Women", the Bamiyan Buddhas destroyed by Talibans are being contemplated as the major attraction for tourists. |
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