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An independent view of the world seen from Tokelau

The Independent New York Times

Tokelau, Saturday, March 15, 2008 Weekend Edition, editor Sumpinein

Subprime & Contagion
'Death in Kovalam' by John Francis Kinsella    The story is set in an Indian beach resort, popular amongst British tourists, over the Christmas vacation period.                         Tom Barton, a City mortgage broker, arrives in Kovalam after abandoning his business in the wake of the subprime crisis. In his luxury hotel he meets Emma, the wife of Stephen Parkly, the CEO of a London bank, West Mercian Finance. Stephen Parkly falls gravely ill with a mysterious infection and is hospitalized in a local clinic.
His situation rapidly declines and he is put into intensive care. At the very same time his bank is caught in a Northern Rock style run.                         Dr. Ryan Kavanagh, a specialist in internal medicine, on holiday with his mother and sister Sarah, discovers an attempted cover-up by the Indian authorities.                     The disease is diagnosed as cholera, panic sets in when tourists start to fall ill with the deadly infection, just as the tourist season is getting into full swing. Thousands of British tourists enjoying the sun on the beaches are unaware of the pending epidemic.                    Many of the same tourists, ignorant of the crisis facing West Mercian Finance, are about to see their life savings wiped out in the collapse. For all details please contact: sumpinein@gmail.com  
Inflation fears

Inflation is back with the rising cost of fuel and food and services, visible to any driver or shopper in spite of what we are told by our governments. It is the inevitable result of a decade of easy money and rising commodity prices as investors rush to put their money into something more tangible such as oil, wheat, sugar and of course gold. At the same time wage demands, which have not risen at the same rate, will increase pressure on businesses.

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UK real estate companies in trouble
Countrywide the UK's largest real estate company is in difficulty with the rapid slow down of the country's housing market. Other companies such as Foxtons are also affected by the growing crises as sales fall increasing pressures for layoffs.
BOOKS
The Legacy of Solomon is the latest novel from John Francis Kinsella. The story takes place in Israel where a writer investigates the archaeological story behind the work to discover the site of the Jewish Temple, the biblical legend, against a background of conflicting evidence and the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Visit http://herod.tk
Chairman Bernanke
The Fed innovates in the Financial crisis to avoid a collapse of the dominoes as the situation worsens and the effects start to bite deep defying all efforts to bring the situation under control with the dollar being routed on international markets as oil and gold reach new heights as the world's financial institution thrash around looking for solution. But what kind of a solution, more credit, which created the problem in the first place? The need to restore confidence is urgent

Bear Stearn's going for Bust!

Bank's chairman plays bridge as the bank burns! The shares of Bear Stearns plunged 49 per cent on Friday amid a deepening liquidity crisis at the bank, which is holding discussions with JP Morgan is a desperate attempt to stave off disaster. The principal concern is Bear Stearns is not the only one in trouble. The whole financial system is facing the gravest threat for more than half a century with multi-billion dollar write downs and hedge fund collapses. This coming week  Goldman Sachs (below) is about to announce significant subprime related losses.

The Independent New York Times will be pleased to receive your articles and comments. Please contact our editorial desk at the following address sumpinein@gmail.com and we shall endeavour to answer you promptly.

In the mean time Lhasa burns

Riots and deaths in Lhasa, Tibet, threaten the success of this year's Olympics in Beijing as the Chinese government sends in the troops and the toll mounts. How can Western nations look on while Lhasa burns. Of course they can! China has now reached a position of strength whereby appeasement is vital, the same goes for Vladimr Putin's Russia, which has now become to key supplier for the West's gluttonous appetite for oil and gas.

See our on the spot report for Tunisia
May 7 with news of events and developments
Special Report India

The world business press speaks more and more of the rising middle class in the emerging world and more specifically in India with its huge population of potential consumers. The question for marketers is how to define the much talked about middle class of India? It is not an easy task in such a large and varied country, but the Indian National Council of Applied Economic Research, defined middle class as approximately sixty million Indians earning between US $4,000 and $20,000 a year, which in terms of purchasing power was about five times greater than in the USA. Which, in simple terms, meant that few of these could afford to buy a car or indulge in overseas travel, not to mind thinking of a kidney transplant, without hugely indebting them-selves. Certain studies defined the twenty percent who own a two or four wheeled vehicle, a colour TV or a telephone as qualifying for middle class membership, even though most were in the income bracket of $1,500 to $3,000 a year. The real question is how can India, with its population of over 1.15 billion people, not far behind China’s 1.3 billion, survive? The UN expect the population to rise to around 1.6 billion by 2050. A mere one percent of the population can afford the status symbols common in the West. Beyond the hype around India’s economic rise, three hundred million Indians lived on less than $1 a day with immense social and economic problems affecting the vast majority of the country’s citizens. Only 3% percent of the country's population have medical assurance. In the struggle for planetary resources India is badly positioned for the future with its vast needs. Article by Sumpinein

2007 was the 50th anniversary of the death of Jean Sibelius the world renowned  Finnish composer Peace talks make little progress between Israel and the Palestinians.