“Global cellular phone coverage has far outpaced the expansion of essential services such as water and electricity, as well as access to financial services.” For this reason, “mobile money” is seen as a means to transform the notion of banking around the world, and broaden access to credit, insurance and secure savings that are desperately needed in the developing world as individuals seek to enhance their well-being and emerge from poverty.”.

“Like has been acquired by Google.” wrote Munjal Shah, CEO of Like.com. Google, instead of browsing through the visual search engine to buy an accessory or something of the like, has bought the search engine itself. The announcement written by Shah of the acquisition was stamped on the homepage of Like.

Like.com is still a startup that has been praised in the past (offering visitors a  more convenient search tool by using visuals instead of key words or phrases like Google) and, according to rumors, caught the eye of Google before acquisition talks were ever planned. With pride, Shah wrote down a brief summary of Like’s novel achievements:

Since 2006, Like.com has been moving the frontiers of eCommerce forward one step at a time. We were the first to bring visual search to shopping, the first to build an automated cross-matching system for clothing, and more. We didn’t stop there, and don’t have plans to stop now…

Like.com allows a visitor to search products such as watches and bags through Visual Searching (Detail Searching, Color Matching, Shape Matching, Pattern Matching). Commenting on Google’s acquisition of Like.com, Shah declared that Like “see joining Google as a way to supersize our vision ad supercharge our passion.” He added that it was “something we re truly excited about”.

What Shah didn’t mention was the amount of money Google purchased Like with among other details. As part of its expansion into the markets some speculate Google offered more than $110 million for the visual search engine.

Yesterday, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak announced his proposal of a “reunification tax” for his nation. This unexpected announcement has set talks alblaze over the eventuality of the North Korean’s downfall. As part of his televised speech on the 65th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Imperial Japan, Lee stated there was a “need” to push for a special tax in the ”possible” event the Korean peninsula undergoes reunification.

After months of high tension on the peninsula following the ’mysterious’ sinking of a South Korean warship, Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors, and the severing of numerous diplomatic and financial relationships between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea, a proposal of a reunification tax was the last thing anybody expected.

For South Koreans, Lee’s proposal for a unification tax, much less reunification, is spontaneous considering he had approved of various provacations and isolations including the installement of loud-speakers along the DMZ that played Cold War propaganda designed to lure North Korean soldiers across the border, U.S.-Korean military drills, and policies that have carefully bullied North Korea financially and, many claim, set back a solid reunification by decades.

The proposed tax would be reviewed by specialists to gather the appropriate funds for the expected cost of ‘proper reunification which is estimated, by also analyzing the costs of the West-East German reunification, to easily surpass hundreds of billions of dollars into the trillion.

Many have applauded the South Korean president for such a “timely suggestion” since North Korea’s leader Kim Jung-Il is quickly ailing (judging by released photos) added with the fact the communist government is destabilized due to policy failures and its poor economy which makes up a measly 2.89% of South Korea’s economy.

Indeed, President Lee hinted that “reunification will occur ‘soon’” in prediction of an inevitable and sudden collapse of the North Korean government.

Yet South Korean critics slapped their foreheads at the president’s proposal which would, again, provoke North Korea into threatning yet another military action against its southern neighbor for its president’s audacious comment. Other S. Koreans argue that the idea of a “reunification tax” at this time when North Korea is ‘vulnerable’  would give the false impression to both the North Korean government and South Korean citizens that the ROK would be absorbing the DPRK which would rocket the cost of reunification up to not just 1.7 trillion dollars, but to more than 2 trillion dollars considering the disparity between the two Korea’s economies.

Reunification is highly desirable and appealing to both Koreas, yet the jaw-dropping cost of reunifying the two countries has made the ROK and the majority of its citizens hesitate. A recent poll in 2009 showed that more than 80% of South Koreans wanted reunification, but less than 19% wanted a reunification within their generation in fear of economic consequences. Moreover, the culture of both side’s Koreans has drifted far apart since 1948 leading to fears that the North Koreans will not be able to integrate into a 21st century, Korean society which would create widespread social problems.

Disagreements between the two Koreas over the U.S military presence, North Korea’s nuclear program, and the 1953 armistice have largely halted reunification talks that was set in motion by former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung’s ”Sunshine Policy” which Lee Myung-bak’s party has virtually abolished.

Entertainment rental businesses like Hollywood Video and others have long moved aside off the stage for the new rental titans of the 21st century such as Gamefly and Netflix. Tough factors like Internet piracy and illegal modding married with tough competition have reaped quite a few souls in the entertainment business.

Establishing these facts, it was a small and pleasent surprise when Blockbuster, a well-known yet faded brand, announced that it would deliver video games by mail as of today. An attempt to regain ground in the market after its financial humiliations, Blockbuster offered a service worth looking at to its old and potential customers. 

The game selection offered by Blockbuster will encompass more than 3,000 games from Playstation 3, Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii, Xbox, and the Playstation 2 in addition to more than 95,000 available DVD and show titles. While Blockbuster’s monthly service fee for renting games is cheaper than Gamefly’s fee of $15.95, both By Mail and Total Access has 4,000 less games for its customers to rent.

Blockbuster By Mail and Total Access boasted a free inclusion of Blu-ray, in-store returns, game rentals, in-store game rental discounts, online DVD and game purchase discounts, and online blu-ray purchase discounts; all of which Netflix, Blockbuster’s archnemesis, doesn’t include in its services. Furthermore, Blockbuster’s assimilation of rental games won’t affect subscription fees effectively resulting in a reasonable, single package of service…which the company also mentioned a lot in their promo as unprecedented for other businesses like Netflix.

Another upside to Blockbuster’s new service is that there won’t be any due dates or late fees for the rented video games. The process of renting and returning games and movies in Blockbuster’s system is equally as simple as Netflix’s process. On a single banner, Blockbuster showed one could visit the website, pick out a game or movie, wait one to two business days, check the mail, and “enjoy”.

Free shipping is provided for those who wish to return the products by mail. Otherwise, you can go return or exchange in stores.

When subscribing to Blockbuster’s new service, a registered user or guest can see the plans and monthly fees offered to them.

By Mail is a plan that allows individuals to rent both movies and games.

• 1 Disc At A Time: $8.99 per month
• 2 Discs At A Time: $13.99 per month
• 3 Discs At A Time: $16.99 per month

Total Access is a plan that allows individuals to rent both movies and games with the bonus privelage of having five in-store exchanges per billing month.

• 1 Disc At A Time: $11.99 per month
• 2 Discs At A Time: $16.99 per month
• 3 Discs At A Time: $19.99 per month

Of course, all options shown give a 2 week free trial. Before this service was announced today, Blockbuster apparently had a pilot program since February 2009 that has turned out, evidently successful.

A proposed weapons package that has been in the works including dozens of UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, eighty four F-15 Eagle fighter jets, and other military gear may be sold to Saudi Arabia according to the Wall Street Journal. The package will last 10 years for the Middle Eastern buyer.

The idea of the US selling sophisticated weaponry to Saudi Arabia has made Israel “nervous”, officials from the state of Israel are displeased at the idea of Saudi Arabia gaining military weapons that may be used against Israel’s operations.  The ‘notorious’ Israel lobby in the US has not challenged the proposal yet, perhaps because of the Obama administration’s ongoing, soothing talks with Israeli representatives.

Assumedly, one of the reasons that the Obama administration may use to make Israel reluctantly agree will concern tipping the Middle Eastern balance of power against Iran despite reported failures of progress on the fourth round of United Nations sanctions on the Islamic republic.

Although this isn’t the first time the US has sold F-15 fighters to Saudi Arabia, concerns were raised about how the fighters would be equipped. The US government announced that the exported F-15 fighters, built by the Boeing Company, would not be equipped with advanced systems and weapons that are available in the fighters flown by the US military.

Answering a superfluid of the same question, US representatives denied the government made changes to the package because of Israel’s concerns. However the Jerusalem Post stated the “US will sell Saudi Arabia F-15 fighter jets without long-range weapons and other advanced equipment as a result of Israeli pressure”. The long-range weapons are noted to be very effective in launching offensives against land and sea based targets.

Many have speculated that this package is simply for monetary reasons, especially for the US, as Saudi Arabia already owns Eurofighter Typhoons that are more “advanced” than F-15s. Others point out that Saudi Arabia may need the extra military equipment in order to engage the troublesome rebels based in Yemen that have reportedly struck heavy casualties on the Saudi Arabian military.

 Meanwhile the package, scheduled to be formally announced in September, has caused a general grumbling among the public; many have decried the package as “a risk” and puzzling because it is being sold to a country that mothered most of the 9/11 hijackers and Osama Bin Laden.

According to the latest information collected from the Stockholm International Peace Institute, Saudi Arabia is currently the #1 buyer of American-made military equipment and the 11th largest importer of various arms.

(Cover Photo: SSgt. Greg L. Davis)

Lithuanian gas company Lietuvos Dujos insists to go on constructing the Amber Stream pipeline. In cooperation with Poland’s Gaz System, Dujos plans to build the pipeline at a length of nearly 285 miles (460 kilometers) which will be able to run 5 billion cubic meters of gas per year between Lithuania and Poland.

The proposed ‘Amber Stream’ pipeline is undergoing a study which is due by early 2011 to be handed into the European Commission. Research shows Poland’s demand for gas will have increased by 18 billion cubic meters of gas Gaz System’s representative stated the Amber Stream may be completed by late 2015 if all goes accordingly. This land pipeline is viewed as an alternative plan by the Baltic States and Poland to the controversial Nord Stream pipeline project much favored by Russia and its fellow beneficiaries, particularly Germany.

Russia’s Gazprom, which recently had a tense dispute with Belarus over the timing and method of payments for gas consequently leading to Gazprom’s threat of cutting off gas supplies, withdrew from the Amber Stream project after deciding the Nord Stream project looked much more favorable some time ago.

The proposed Nord Stream pipeline (at the cost of $11 billion) will run through the Gulf of Finland/Baltic Sea from Vyborg in Russia all the way to Greifswald in Germany by, perhaps, 2012.

 In addition, this pipeline will become the longest sub-sea pipeline in the world. Already, Nord Stream’s pipes are undergoing coating and other processes to be built despite protests that the project would devestate the waters environmentally; for example: by loosening up certain WWII relics (mines and the usual).

 However organizers of the project has already disarmed most of these protests by announcing all mines found in the pipeline’s way would be detonated underwater.

Critics argue that the Nord Stream pipeline will completely jump over transit countries Russia needs to deliver gas to those in Western Europe and other parts of the continent. Countries like Belarus, Poland, and Ukraine that are major transit countries will face a more powerful Gazprom and Russian government that don’t need to go through the transit countries to deliver gas to its consumers elsewhere. Many fear any disputes with its neighbors may have Russia wield gas as a fearsome political weapon without disrupting its business with other European countries forever changing the map of Europe, in energy-terms.

Although Finland, Sweden, and Denmark have already gave its blessings for the pipeline to pass through their territory, representatives from countries supporting the Amber Stream pipeline project or the addition of another Yamal-Europe pipeline will be visiting Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in an attempt to persuade the PM to call it quits on Nord Stream. 

(Cover Picture: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

Reports of France Télécom have gone around announcing the French telecommunications company may be taking a 40% stake in Medi Telecom, a phone operating corporation ranked as the second-largest in the country of Morocco. Representatives when contacted declined to comment on France Télécom S.A.’s talks with Medi Telecom S.A. France Télécom however did confirm the company’s “interest” in both Morocco and the rest of the African continent.

The company in the past had presented an amount of slightly more than 9 billion U.S dollars (the equivalent of around 7 billion euros) as “”how much FT” will spend on expanding throughout the Middle East and Africa by acquisitions of several companies. France Télécom is one of the companies assumedly in talks with Medi Telecom over buying a stake in the Moroccan company.

Bloomberg noted that France Télécom’s entrance into Morocco’s market “would bring France Télécom into direct competition with French rival Vivendi SA”. In the past few years, France Télécom has advanced in enterprise by taking over and handling mergers throughout Asia and Europe although the company was unable to secure TeliaSonera after refusing to agree with both the Swedish company’s and its government’s on the price of the Swedish telecommunications company.

FT provides a number of services to its customers with telephone service, broadband access, mobile phones, and in collaboration with MaLigne TV: Orange TV, an Internet television. 

Employees from France Telecome demonstrating in masks after staff suicides occured as a result of "bullying management style". (Sebastien Lapeyrere/EPA)

The telecommunications company operates in a number of countries worldwide including China, the U.S, Poland, Russia, India, Spain, England, Egypt, and others. FT is ranked in the top 20 largest telecommunications companies in the world.

Like FoxConn, the company came under scrutiny when more than 30 employees committed suicide as a result of “stressful” working conditions.

The suicides paired with immense trade union pressure along with various strikes prompted the company to replace both of its CEO and Deputy CEO in February and to implement new policies.

In the country where the eyes of the European market are anxiously observing, Greek truckers are continuing to lay their hands off the wheels and instead steer a nation-wide strike. More than 30,000 truckers in Greece went on the strike on Sunday and have been off of work up to today.

This latest strike is a part of the series of protests over the Greek government’s austerity measures that cut back on pensions, social programs, wages, and many other budgets in the public sector in an attempt to relieve its huge debt of over 200 billion euros.

The government agreed to measures proposed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in cutting back. The actions of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement-led government under Prime Minister Papandreou angered the majority of the public and provoked millions into hitting the streets and protesting all over Greece.

Clashes between people and riot police have settled since the initial outbreak of riots but the mood of the public is still antipathetic towards the government. The truckers currently striking do not want the government to introduce a reform into the freight sector. The reform is intended to arouse competition in the freight business by decreasing license fees. Truckers who have already paid over 300,000 USD for their licenses take this as very unfair.

Greek truckers marching in Athens. (EPA)

The effects of the six day strike have been felt in many parts of Greece as supplies of fuel began to drop. Trucks that usually deliver the fuel are absent which meant the government had to put in a substitute until the strike is over.

Greek officials stated that the military’s trucks and ships along with other civilian vehicles were being used to deliver the necessary fuel to vital locations such as hospitals and airports.

Tourist hot-spots are especially hard-hit right now as roadblocks and lack of fuel have delayed the thousands of tourists. Businesses in need of trucks are in critical conditions. “Without trucks, there’s no gas, without gas there’s no cars, and without cars, we can’t carry them [passengers]“ lamented a cab firm representative. Already estimated amounts of billions of euros have been lost in spoiled produce, the tourist industry, and in other businesses.

The truckers say they do not intend to stop striking despite the government’s threat of revoking their licenses and prosecuting the truckers if they did not return to work; reports of fights between riot police and protesting truckers have been reported with a dozen or so injuries. While the situation has gradually cooled and been brought under control in Athens and a few other major cities, some other parts of the country remain largely without fuel. The government expects this “disruption” to “ease” by Monday.

(Cover Picture (Rep): AP Photo/Nikolas Giakoumidis)

The pace of events does throw you off guard, especially when WikiLeaks have provided media with ammunition to last a long time. But then, being the analysts that we are, General Than Shwe (above) and Premier Cameroon’s visit just can not be ignored. So, while the net discovers more on WikiLeaks, let us see what these visits mean to India and the region at large.

First, the general. Of course the visit attracted obvious furor from the international community and the Human Rights groups castigating him for his anti democracy stance and activities in Myanmar. India, however, chose realpolitik over emotions.

Shrewd and astute that he is, he let his Indian counterparts know that he was here for promoting his interests and in so doing pitched his resources as the bargaining chip – between India and China. C Raja Mohan argues this succinctly when he says, “Playing India and China against each other and both of them against the West, he has showcased Asia’s new geopolitics on the Arakan coast of the Bay of Bengal.” He of course did not mention Bangladesh, which is also in contention because of the gas row and the India – Bangladesh- Myanmar pipeline to ferry Myanmar gas to India.

C. Raja Mohan (Left)

Premier Indian interests in Myanmar are the transport corridor to Vietnam through Myanmar, the counter insurgency cooperation through infrastructure development of the North East (Connect Mizoram and the North East through the Kaladan river starting at Sittwe port) and Gas. Connectivity was an important part of the agenda. However what tops the chart is India’s desire to limit Chinese influence in its backyard.
The Chinese want to avoid a trip down the Malacca Strait for their African and Gulf Oil and are laying twin pipelines to transport this oil to Yunnan. At Sittwe, both the Indian and Chinese path seem to cross – a possible zone of conflict. The Chinese project pegged at $ 2 Billion is likely to be completed in two years while the Indian transport corridor may take up to 4 years. Then there are the offshore oil platforms outsourced by Myanmar. All these developments heighten the probability of greater friction between the two Asian Tigers.  The key to opening their landlocked territories and overcoming the Malacca Dilemma thus lies with Than Shwe.

Connectivity in this relationship thus assumes an important dimension. This is especially so when the dynamics of control of Indian Ocean are interplayed from a strategic perspective. Both India and China are keen to retain sea control here which marginalizes American dominance and creates conditions for greater friction.

 A sea farer’s assessment would take us into the nuances of the strategy of String of Pearls. India for one does not want Myanmar to be the golden bead in this string. The other worrisome golden bead being Pakistan, which now stands connected through Karakoram Highway to the Gwadar port. That explains the free bees being doled out to Than Shwe.
President Pratibha Patil’s statement, that Myanmar was central to India’s “Look East” policy, and that it staood as a gateway to the relationship between India and other Asean countries, paved the way for a large number of agreements on trade, finance, technology, arms and border issues.

 A copy and paste of some of the agreements are:

• India will  provide high-speed patrol boats, rifles with night vision devices and armored personnel carriers to help combat Indian insurgent groups operating along the Indo-Burma border.

• The EXIM bank of India will provide a US $60 million line of credit to fund various railway projects, and New Delhi pledged $10 million for the purchase of modern agricultural equipment.

• Burma also welcomed a “substantial additional investment” by two Indian oil companies for the development of projects in Burmese offshore blocks A-1 and A-3, including a natural gas pipeline now under construction at Ramree, an island off Burma’s Arakan coast.

Under the telecommunication agreement, the official fiber telecommunication link between India and Burma via Moreh and Mandalay will be upgraded to a microwave link which will be financed by a $6 million line of credit from India. A new optical fiber link between Monywa in upper Burma to Rhi-Zawkhathar will also be undertaken with Indian assistance.

• Agreements were also signed for direct banking links between the two countries, tourism, human resource development such as language training, a center to enhance IT skills, a scholarship program for officials and the construction of an industrial training center in Pakokku.

As per Western analysts, the whole reason that India needs Myanmar’s natural gas is because its economy is booming — and that booming economy is one of the prime reasons the British Prime Minister is so interested in forging a new “special relationship” with India. On public view is the 126-fighter jet deal has political overtones and cameron is likely to push its case strongly with the Indian leadership.

A fledgling economic growth of 2.6% mandates Britain gets this $12 Billion deal. Apart from the business generated this will boost Cameroon’s Asia orientation, after US and the EU have disappointed Britain. Miliband will play heavily on Cameroon’s mind and he would have to take steps to undo the follies of British foreign policy of the labour era. Kashmir, Pakistan and Afghanistan will well be on the agenda.
As the largest British delegation to visit India in living memory much more than pleasantries and odd deals are expected from this visit.

 It might as well be a composite package encompassing trade, education, defence and collaboration.

Although smaller on scale in terms of how much oil was spilled and the scope of its environmental damage, oil spills this year to the casual observer seems to be all the rage nowadays. First, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico struck then another oil spill occured later on the other side of the Pacific in Xingang Port, and today’s reported oil spill is back in the United States, specifically in the state of Michigan.

On Monday, a pipeline carrying more than 7.5 million gallons of oil from Indiana to Ontario every day leaked causing alarm to the pipeline’s company and the communities at the sites of the leak. Owned by Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P., the pipeline spurted out an estimated amount of 840,000 gallons to one million gallons (nearly 3.8 million liters) of oil into Talmadge Creek, near the city of Mashall, which then crept into the Kalamazoo River (a major river) in the southern part of Michigan. Cleaning crews were immediately set to work and up to now has been working to contain the slick in Kalamazoo River.

If uncontained, the oil slick may reach the Great Lakes. Residents of affected communities, especially Battle Creek, have been cordoned off from the damaged areas. Authorities have advised locals to stay away from the affected areas.

 Enbridge will be paying for people who wish to re-locate from their homes because of the overwhelming stench of the oil. A few environmentalists have advised some inhabitants to temporarily move until the cleanup is complete due to the concern over a possible increase in the level of benzene. High levels of benzene can be detrimental to a human’s health.

Enbridge logo. Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. part.

U.S President Obama has already been notified of this incident and has called for meetings to address this latest oil spill or rather a “public health crisis”.

The current plan is to have crews pull up vaccum trucks to suck up the oil-tainted waters after the 16 mile area of oil slick is contained. Officials from Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources say the oil spill reaching Lake Michigan is “unlikely”. So far, the oil has covered many fish, birds, and plants by the waters; cleaners have been assigned to the arduous task of scrubbing the oil from the specimens. Effects on human health may be serious as the oil spill can touch supplies of water.

The ‘Kalamazoo Oil Spill’ has been declared to be the largest oil spill ever in the Midwest. The cause of the pipeline leak is unknown. Investigation is underway to determine what exactly caused this oil spill.

(Cover Picture: Fox17/WXMI)