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New Strategy Being DevelopedIn The War On Infectious

DiseasesMany of the drugs we useto fight infections losetheir effectiveness as thetargeted pathogens ac-quire resistance to them.So researchers havebegun adopting a newstrategy. Instead of usingdrugs to kill the offendingpathogens, they're tryingto design drugs that canblock their entry intohuman cells before theycan cause disease.Sooner or later, saysAbhay Satoskar, a profes-sor of pathology at OhioState University, drug re-sistance becomes a prob-lem in the battle againstdisease-causing organisms or pathogens.Any time you have anagent that targets apathogen, the pathogensare smart and eventuallycome up with a strategy tomake that drug or agent.

or agent ineffective, saidSatoskar.Most bacteria, virusesand parasites must enterhuman immune systemcells to reproduce andcause illness. Satoskar isleading an effort at OhioState to develop a com-pound that blocks apathogens entry into thecells. The experimental drugtargets a natural cell enzyme, called P13K,that allows pathogens topass through the cell wall.The compound changesthe chemical activity ofP13K, blocking entry intocells. The team demonstratedthe effectiveness of thecell-blocking strategy withthe parasite that causesleishmaniasis, a tropicalillness caused by a parasite transmitted in the

bite of a sand fly. Alsoknown as leishmania, anestimated 1.5 million newcases are diagnosedeach year. The diseasecauses disfiguring opensores on the skin. Notonly is the illness indige-nous in many parts of theworld, but experts say it isnow turning up in U.S.troops returning homefrom Afghanistan.There is a drug to treatleishmania, saysSatoskar, thats up to 90percent effective in curingthe disease. But Satoskarsays the medication has alot of side effects, including anemia, weightloss and neurologicalproblems, and many people dont complete the21-day course of injec-tions.Using laboratory mice,Satoskar says

researchers comparedthe effectiveness of theexisting drug to the tar-geted, therapy his team isdeveloping. Satoskarsays the new agentworked just as well intreating leishmania, andthe cell-blocking strategycould potentially workagainst other disease-causing organisms orpathogens.Now the issue is how todo you fine-tune it? Andthat could be fine tune(d)based on differentpathogens, because dif-ferent pathogens coulduse different pathways toget in, Satoskar said.Satoskar also is inter-ested in learning whetherthe experimental com-pound could be used as askin spray to prevent in-fection with leishmaniawhen someone is bittenby a sand fly.An article on preventingleishmania by blockingparasites from mice im-mune cells is published inthe journal Proceedings ofthe National Academy ofSciences.

Study Finds Calories, NotProtein, Are Key to Weight

Control

A new study may helpend the perpetual debateover how best tomaintain or slim down toa healthful weight.Researchers found that,while there are many elements to a good diet,carefully limiting calorieintake is the mostimportant part of controlling one's weight.Sixty percent of U.S.adults are overweight andmore than thirty percent are obese. ButAmericans arent the onlyones struggling with theirwaistlines. The World

Health Organization re-ports that obesity hasreached epidemic propor-tions globally, with morethan one billion adultsoverweight. Dr. Dariush Mozaffarianstudies the relationshipbetween diet and chronicdiseases at the HarvardSchool of Public Health."We need a shift, a para-digm shift, in our focus onand attention to diet,"Mozaffarian said.Dr. Bray's study on pro-tein, calories and weightgain was published in theJournal of the AMA.

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Google fires back at Twitter:you took yourself out of searchThe war of words be-tween Google and Twitterhas escalated, withGoogle responding toTwitters accusation thatplans to further integrateGoogle+ into its regularsearch results is bad forpeople.We are a bit surprised byTwitters comments, be-cause they chose not torenew their agreementwith us last summer, reada post on GooglesGoogle+ page onWednesday in the US,which Google confirmedto Mashable was its official statement on thematter. Since then wehave observed theirrel=nofollow instructions.Rel=nofollow is code thatprevents search enginesfrom following links.Googles agreement withTwitter gave the searchengine access to publictweets. The agreementexpired in July and was

not renewed. Now Googleis implying it was Twitterthat chose not to renewthe deal.Twitter had criticisedGoogles new socialsearch feature, which itcalls Search plus YourWorld, on Tuesday. Asweve seen time and timeagain, news breaks firston Twitter, its statementsaid. Were concernedthat as a result ofGoogles changes, findingthis information will bemuch harder for everyone.

But if Twitter had made itdifficult for Google to in-clude Tweets in its results,which is what Googleseems to be implying, itwould be just as much toblame as the search engine for making itsbreaking news hard tofind.Reporter Danny Sullivancornered Google execu-tive chairman EricSchmidt at CES onWednesday and askedhim about Googlesrelationship with Twitter.

Sullivan told Schmidt hethought one feature ofSearch plus Your World,which recommends rele-vant people to follow onGoogle+ but not othernetworks, is the equiva-lent of saying hey, youcan only find informationabout finance on Googlefinance. You cannot findinformation about financeanywhere else.Let me remind you that todo the everywhere elsewith Google finance wehad permission, re-sponded Schmidt.When Sullivan said hethought Google hadenough permission to in-clude links from networkslike Twitter in its searchresults, Schmidt said:Thats your opinion. Ifyou could arrange a letterfrom Facebook and Twit-ter to us, that would behelpful.

Market Report: Arm Shares Dip As Intel Enters Smartphone Battle

The battle between Arm Holdings and Intel looks like it is heating up. Normally usedto taking market share from its rivals, Arm was left deep in the red last night by thenews that Intel is about to give the chipmaker a taste of its own medicine and take iton in the burgeoning smartphone market. Punters in the group woke yesterday to find out that Intel had announced it was team-ing up with both Motorola and Lenovo to produce the first smartphones using itschips, as well as tablets.The revelation, made at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, means Armwill face competition in an area where it is currently dominant. As a result, it was left15.5p weaker at 588.5p, with Liberum Capital calling the developments a "significant"negative. Analysts from the broker added that although they expected Intel to take no morethan 10 per cent of market share, "we do not think even such a loss is factored intoArm's share price".One factor that has helped Arm in the past has been the regular recurrence of chatterthat it could be snapped up by its major customer, Apple. Yesterday, however, wildand vague speculation emerged claiming the world's largest company could be

interested in a possiblemove for ITV.The X Factor broad-caster is a frequent sub-ject of takeover chatter,and the latest revivalalso saw it being linkedyet again with a poten-tial approach from pri-vate equity or SimonCowell.Yet although rumours ofpossible interest fromApple was widely playeddown by traders, oneCity voice argued thatwhile an acquisition ofITV would represent ahuge departure in strat-egy for Apple, it may notbe as far-fetched as itmight seem.He alsonoted, rather dryly, thatat least it would stop anyproblems with the nameof the television platformApple is believed to beworking on.

ZURICH: Lionel Messisexploits with Barcelonawon him the World Playerof the Year (FIFA BallondOr) award for an unprecedented third yearin a row on Monday at theage of 24.The Argentine swepthome with 47.88 percentof the votes in the surveyamong national teamcoaches, captains andselected media, receivingthe trophy from formerBrazil striker Ronaldo,himself a three-times winner of the awardthough not successively.Although FIFA listed onlythe players nationalitywhen they published thefull results, it was clearlyMessis stunning performances forBarcelona which earnedhim the plaudits.Messi, followed by RealMadrid forward CristianoRonaldo and Barcelonateam mate Xavi in thepoll, was last seasonstop scorer in the Champions League with12 goals in Barcas triumphant campaignand netted 31 times asthey won La Liga.By contrast, he wasroundly criticised after Argentina, hosting theCopa America, went outin the quarter-finals toUruguay in July.Meanwhile, Uruguaysexploits in winning the

Copa America failed to earn them a nominationin the coach and playersshortlists, or even a men-tion in the team of theyear.Uruguay coach OscarWashington Tabarez wasfifth in the coach of theyear poll, won byBarcelonas Pep Guardiola.Manchester Uniteds AlexFerguson was secondand Real Madrids JoseMourinho third.Former France captainMichel Platini said after-wards Messi would stillhave to shine for Argentina before hecould be consideredamong the greats.Look at DiegoMaradona, everyone re-members what he did in1986, nobody remembers so muchwhat he did with Napoli, with Barcelona,Platini, president ofUEFA, told reporters.Its still the World Cupwhich still sticks in peoples minds.Messi will always begreat with or without theWorld Cup but theWorld Cup does something special.Before the ceremony,Messi, who has played intwo World Cups and seenArgentine lose in thequarter-finals to Germanyon both occasions, admitted Argentina were

not at their best.The reality is that we arevery far from being thebest national team in theworld, he told a newsconference.There are many in frontof us but we have theambition and the desire.There is still a lot of timeto go before (the nextWorld Cup in) 2014 andwe have to improve a lotbut we will get there.OUTSTANDING SERVICEBrazil and Santos forward Neymar won theaward for the goal of theyear, a stunning effort ina Brazilian championshipmatch against Flamengo,while Ferguson took theFIFA presidential awardfor outstanding service tothe sport.The ceremony, co-presented by formerNetherlands striker RuudGullit, also featuredJapans Homare Sawabeing voted womensplayer of the year, endinga run of five successivewins for Brazils Martha.Norio Sasaki of Japanwon the womens soccerCoach of the Year awardafter his side won theWorld Cup.Beforehand, Martha hadmade her familiar appealfor more support forBrazilian womens football.Despite her personalawards, Brazil have

never won a World Cupor Olympic title and doesnot have a professionalwomens league.I do what I can, but it hasto come from everyone,especially from themedia, because withoutmedia there is no sponsorship, and fromthe federation, she said.There are lots of peoplewho could do somethingto improve the structureof womens football in ourcountry, we have beenpushing for a long timebut it doesnt just dependon us.

England have namednine uncapped players intheir 32-man Six Nationssquad.The fresh facesincluded by head coachStuart Lancaster areSaracens backs OwenFarrell (pictured) andBrad Barritt, Scarletsnumber eight Ben Mor-gan - who turned downWales recently in favourof representing England -Northampton trio CalumClark, Phil Dowson andLee Dickson, Harlequinsduo Joe Marler and Jor-dan Turner-Hall andWasps hooker Rob Web-ber.Among the stars left outare Tindall, Mark Cueto,Nick Easter, ShontayneHape and Riki Flutey.Delon Armitage and MattBanahan have both beendemoted to the Saxonssquad."Lots of players havebeen putting their handsup and there were sometough calls to make," saidLancaster."However, in line with theselection philosophyabout starting a new erafor English rugby, wehave taken the chance tomake changes and giveplayers opportunities tobe part of the journey to-wards [the World Cup in]2015."We are looking both atthe present and just asimportantly the future. Wewanted to get the rightbalance in potential andexperience and giving usthe flexibility to play in dif-ferent ways."We need to use the up-coming games to buildthe collective experienceand we are confident wehave got the right mix totake England forward intothis Six Nations and be-yond."Mouritz Botha, CharlieSharples, Chris Robshawand Joe Simpson alsohave only one capapiece.Four Saxons players willin addition provide temporary injury cover: Bath's Dave Atwood,Saracens full-back Alex

Goode, Leicester's GeoffParling and Gloucester'sHenry Trinder. Amongthose, only Atwood haspreviously played for theelite side.In the squad but sufferinginjury problems are fly-half Toby Flood, centreManu Tuilagi and locksCourtney Lawes andLouis Deacon.Scrum-half Richard Wig-glesworth and prop An-drew Sheridan are outinjured long-term.2003 World Cup winnersJonny Wilkinson, LewisMoody and hooker SteveThompson all announcedtheir retirements after thelast World Cup in NewZealand, at which Eng-land were heavily criti-cised off the pitch whilereaching only the quarter-finals on it. The controversy contin-ued with leaked feedbackfrom players regardingthe coaching regime ofMartin Johnson made tothe RFU. "We have lost somegreat players who haveworn the England shirtwith pride and distinction- Lewis, Steve and Jonny- and we should thankthem for all they did,"Lancaster added.Simon Shaw and JamesHaskell are unavailableafter moves overseasFull squad:MouritzBotha, Calum Clark, AlexCorbisiero, Dan Cole,Tom Croft, Louis Deacon,Phil Dowson, Dylan Hartley, Courtney Lawes,Joe Marler, Lee Mears,Ben Morgan, TomPalmer, Chris Robshaw,Matt Stevens, Rob Webber, David Wilson,Tom Wood Chris Ashton,Brad Barritt, Mike Brown,Lee Dickson, Owen Farrell, Toby Flood, BenFoden, Charlie Hodgson,Joe Simpson, CharlieSharples, David Strettle,Manusamoa Tuilagi, Jor-dan Turner-Hall, BenYoungs.Some experienced starsincluding former captainMike Tindall omitted fromthe squad.

Barcelona ExploitsEarn Messi Third

Ballon Dor

England MakeSweeping ChangesFor Six Nations

Squad

Cook MountsLone StandFor EnglandAlastair Cook played anear lone and highly-skilled hand to defy thePakistan Cricket BoardXI's pace and spin on dayone of England's finalwarm-up match at theGCA ground.Opener Cook was last outfor 133 in 269 for nine de-clared on an awkwardsurface, before the PCBresponded with 23 fornone in eight overs tostumps.England had faltered firstto 14 for two against Mo-hammad Talha (four for43) with the new ball andthen 121 for five againstthe leg-spin of Yasir Shah(five for 75) but Cook, em-ploying decisive and surefootwork, stood firm.Talha took two wickets infour balls to put Englandin trouble in the seventhover after they wereasked to bat first in thisthree-day match. Theswing bowler, included inPakistan's Test squadhere, had Andrew Strausscaught-behind with a verygood delivery - and thennumber three JonathanTrott offered no shot to golbw to one that nippedback.The afternoon beganbadly for England whenKevin Pietersen fell in thefirst over, picking thewrong ball to force awayoff the back foot andbowled by Yasir.Ian Bell was lbw to hissecond ball, attempting tosweep Yasir, and EoinMorgan disappointinglypicked out deep backward-square with amore expansive versionof the same shot soon afterwards.

26

Big Chip Now OpenFor Entries

This year's awards areset to be the biggest yetwith competition fromacross the North. BigChip will partner withmedia group Trinity Mirrorwho will publicise theawards in their flagshipnorthern titles Manches-ter Evening News, Liver-pool Post and TheJournal in Newcastle. ATrinity Mirror spokesper-son said: We are de-lighted to be the mediapartner for the Big ChipAwards. The digital andcreative sector is of hugeimportance to the re-gional economy andthese awards are a greatchance for firms tospread the messageabout their products,services and achieve-ments.This year an importantrule change will give abetter chance for biggerprojects that take morethan a year to show re-sults. Projects - such ascampaigns or products -that were launched morethan a year ago but haveshown substantial,

measurable progress inthe last year will now beeligible. The 2012 call also seesthe introduction of a newcategory Best Use ofGaming, open to viral andother games types aswell as console games.The high-powered judg-ing panel will be chairedagain by Michael Nutley,and includes AjazAhmed, founder ofFreeserve and ThinkingDigital founder Herb Kim.Winners of three awardsin 2011, AmpersandCommerce are quiteclear about the benefitsof being shortlisted andthen winning at Big Chip.MD Darryl Adie said theBig Chip awards "reallyraised awareness of ouragency". Following thewins, Ampersand havehad an exciting year "win-ning several big nameclients and recognition as

experts in the Magentocommunity."Full details of the awardscategories are onlinenow, plus a comprehen-sive "how-to" guide onhow to complete the on-line application form, withtips on making a winningentry.

The LaunchpadA series of 5 master-classes covering all as-pects of business andperformance for creativebusinesses. The aim ofthis programme is to pro-vide insight and developthe skills of businessleaders and managers todevelop their core busi-ness components includ-ing; the overall vision and

Manchester Digitalkicks off the newyear with a callfor entries for BigChip 2012.Entries will closeon 5th March.

strategy, processes, peo-ple, financial matters andcustomers.The five 3 hour sessionswill cover Vision, Num-bers, Processes, Peopleand Customers. Also in-cluded in the programmeis expert guest speakers,a 1 hour 1-2-1 meetingwith a business coachand telephone and emailsupport. Each sessionwill also include hand-outs, coffee, tea andcakes / pastries. And atthe last session we willprovide lunch and networking.

The Bombardier Zefiro 380 high speed train is shown in anartist's rendering.THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Bombardier

High Speed Rail Link Green Signal Expected LONDON A reportcommissioned by theBritish government hasrejected alternatives to aplanned high-speed trainproject -- the clearest signyet that the 32 billion-pound (US$49 billion)scheme will go ahead.The Network Rail reviewsays that alternatives willcause long delays totravellers during thebuilding stages and fail todeal with overcrowding

on trains.The high-speed rail project aims to shortenjourney times betweenLondon and Birmingham,and later stages includeconnections to morenorthern cities.Many lawmakers and

environmentalists opposethe project, saying theplanned route will ruinEngland's picturesquecountryside, and that it istoo expensive and will notbenefit mostBritons.Scotland has de-manded Britain's firsthigh-speed rail link northof London should cometo Scotland, after UKgovernment sourcessuggested they wereready to press ahead withphase one.The ScottishGovernment estimates itcould cost a further15bn to bring the linefrom Manchester to Scot-land, with Holyrood con-tributing about 9bn.

The benefits of overseasworkers to the Londoneconomy are far widerthan many policymakersrealise, whilst the poten-tial damage caused bythe government's reformsto the migration systemcould be far greater thanfirst envisaged. This isaccording to LondonChamber of Commerceand Industry's (LCCI) lat-est report, Migration re-form: caps don't fit. With political pressurecontinually increasing onthe government to reducethe number of migrantscoming into the UK, thisreport aims to change theterms of debate on immi-gration by highlighting thewide-ranging benefitsglobal talent has on busi-nesses, and SMEs in par-ticular. It also shows that the lat-est migration reforms,which included the intro-duction of a cap on non-EU migration as well anumber of changes to thePoints-Based System,are already harming busi-nesses, and will causefurther damage when theeconomy picks up againand firms look to hire.Key findings of the reportinclude: Non-EU migrantsare essential to allLondon's businesses, not justlarge, corporate firmsAlmost two thirds of allLondon businesses (63per cent) and 59 per centof the capital's smallestfirms (1-19 employees)have either employednon-EU migrant workersin the past five years orhave considered doingso. The recruitment ofnon-EU migrants increases export opportunitiesNearly a quarter of busi-nesses (24 per cent) and29 per cent of the small-est firms (1-19 employ-ees) that have looked outside of the EU for staffdid so because they felt anon-EU migrant wouldhelp them grow into mar

kets beyond the EU. Capping non-EU migration exacer-bates the UK's skillsshortage Almost a third of employ-ers (30 per cent) thathave looked outside ofthe EU for staff did so be-cause of a short supply ofdomestic or EU candi-dates with required skills,and the same number didso because of the lan-guage skills offered bynon-EU migrants. Skilledworkers brought in fromoutside of the EU areable to transfer their skillsto the resident workforcethrough on the job train-ing. Government reformswill damage eco-nomic growth Almost a quarter of firmsin London (23 per cent)said that the changes in-troduced in April 2011have made it more diffi-cult for them to fill vacan-cies in their workforce,whilst the same number(23 per cent) said if anon-EU migrant was thebest person for a job buta company was not ableto employ them, theywould not recruit at all. Political considera-tions are being putbefore economic evi-denceOver three quarters offirms in London (76 percent) believe the govern-ment's migration policy isdriven by political consid-erations and not eco-nomic ones. Commenting on the re-port's findings, ColinStanbridge, Chief Execu-tive of London Chamberof Commerce and Indus-try (LCCI) said: "We fully understand thepolitical and social pres-sures placed on the gov-ernment to reduce netmigration, but our reportshows that by preventingUK businesses from ac-cessing the best globaltalent these pressureswill be made worse notbetter. The best way toprovide long-term, sus-tainable employment op

portunities for Britishworkers is by ensuring that our firms are able togrow, but our researchshows that the govern-ment's reforms are al-ready stifling the growthof some companies. "Businesses need cer-tainty to be able to planahead and steady accessto the global talent pool. Itis not just large corpora-tions that rely on non-EUworkers but small busi-nesses as well, and manydo so because of the ex-port opportunities this cancreate in markets outsideof the EU. The govern-ment must be aware thatits reforms to the UK's mi-

gration system threatento undermine two of itsbiggest promises to thebusiness community: thatthe UK must be 'open forbusiness' and that wemust return to being an'exporting nation'". Echoing the comments,George Kessler CBE,Deputy Chairman ofKesslers International Ltdsaid: "I travel regularly toChina and Hong Kongand am horrified by theeffect the government'slegislation is having onthe perception of the UK,which is no longer seenas an open country to dobusiness. Several of mypartner companies arenow looking to other Eu-ropean countries for theirEuropean office loca-tions. "On a more parochial

level the government'sreforms will mean that wewill no longer be able tobring in expert craftsmenand women to teach ourapprentices skills inhouse. Historically thistraining, in addition to dayrelease courses, has en-abled us to train skilledmachine setters who en-able us to be competitiveagainst European competition".

Thousands of Britishworkers at consumergoods maker UnileverPlc/NV are to stage a series of strikes in an

escalation of a disputeover plans to axe theirfinal salary pensionscheme, unions said Sat-urday.Last month, union members staged a one-day stoppage, the firststrike in Britain in thegroup's 81-year history,and a rare walkout overpensions at a UK blue-chip company.Leaders of three unions,Unite, GMB and Usdaw,on Saturday decided tocall strikes for up to 12days after nine months offailed talks."Unilever need to get themessage that profitablecompanies will not be al-lowed to walk away fromtheir savings commitments to theirloyal workforce," AllanBlack, national officer of

Impact Of Immigration Is Far Wider ThanMany Realise

Unilever UKworkers tostage morestrikes:unions

28

Unilever UKworkersstrikes

Continued-----national officer of theGMB, said.The Anglo-Dutch

group, which employsaround 7,000 workers at12 plants in Britain, islooking to move all 5,000 members promised finalsalary pensions to a career average schemeby July 2012.The Unite union said

this will see the retirementincome of thousands ofstaff slashed by between20 and 40 percent.The company

abandoned final salarypensions for new joinersin 2008 and 2,000workers are already onthe less generousscheme. The Unilever UKpension scheme currently has a deficit ofabout 680 million pounds($1.05 billion).The three unions have

about 2,350 membersworking at Unilever andsay the company has notheld talks over the disputesince October.

Swiss Central Bank Chief Hildebrand Resigns

The chairman of the Swiss National Bank, Philipp M. Hildebrand, resigned. Photo - Reuters

FRANKFURT Thehead of the Swiss centralbank unexpectedly re-signed Monday, sayingthat doubts about cur-rency trades he and hiswife made last yearthreatened to underminehis ability to focus onsteering the bank througha global financial crisis.

The departure of thebank chief, Philipp M.Hildebrand, 48, cut shortthe public career of amajor international advo-cate of stricter bankingregulation. He quit as theSwiss National Bankfought to keep the coun-trys currency from be-coming so strong thatSwiss companies couldnot sell products abroad.

But analysts predictedthe central bank wouldmaintain a limit it set onthe francs appreciationagainst the euro, by vow-ing to buy unlimitedamounts of foreign cur-rency. It may be thatsome speculators will tryto test the market, butwere convinced that theS.N.B. will continue to de-fend the exchange rate,said You-Na Park, an an-alyst at Commerzbank inFrankfurt. Appearing before re-

porters in Bern, the Swisscapital, Mr. Hildebrandsaid he would also resignimmediately from severalinternational posts,including vice chairmanof the Financial Stability

Board. The panel of cen-tral bankers and regula-tors has played adiscreet but influentialrole in establishing rulesfor big internationalbanks that are likely tobe adopted by most largecountries.

The resignation was asurprise. Just last week,Mr. Hildebrand offered adetailed defense of hisconduct, releasing per-sonal financial state-ments related to currencytrades made last year.He appeared to have thesupport of the councilthat oversees the SwissNational Bank.

Switzerland is losing anoutstanding centralbanker with excellent in-ternational connections,which have brought greatbenefit to our country,the Bank Council of theSwiss National Bank saidMonday. Mr. Hildebrandsaid he could not provethat he did not knowabout a transaction of400,000 Swiss francs, or$500,000, by his wife,Kashya, last August, justbefore the bank steppedup its intervention in cur-rency markets. The bank released an e-mail from Mrs. Hildebrand to the couples adviser at BankSarasin in which shewrote, We would like toincrease our dollar exposure to 50 percent.Mr. Hildebrand

acknowledged that useof the word we wouldcause some people todoubt his version ofevents. Mr. Hildebrand said hesent an e-mail to the ad-viser the next day order-ing that no further tradesbe made without his ap-proval, and he informedthe S.N.B.s generalcounsel of the trade. I never lied, Mr. Hilde-brand said. But, he said,I cant once and for allprove that it was the wayI said it was. He said hewas resigning becausehe feared the accusa-tions might have been aburden during a timewhen total focus isneeded on the duties ofthe office. Credibility is acentral bankers mostvaluable asset, he said. Thomas J. Jordan, vicechairman of the S.N.B.governing board, will bethe acting leader of thebank. Mr. Jordan is aneconomist who hasworked at the bank since1997. He is known forbeing slightly more hard-line on inflation than Mr.Hildebrand. But analystssaid they did not expecta major shift in course. We do not expect anychange in the conduct ofthe Swiss monetary pol-icy, Julien Manceaux, ananalyst at ING Bank,wrote to clients, adding,the exchange rate flooris here to stay, with orwithout Philipp Hildebrand.

For much of the last threeyears, the S.N.B. has bat-tled to keep investorsfrom bidding up the valueof the franc, which is seenas a haven from globalturmoil. Its rise against theeuro and other currenciesthreatened to make Swissexports too costly. Mr. Hildebrand said hewould also leave theboard of the Bank for In-ternational Settlements,an institution based inBasel, Switzerland, thatacts as a clearinghousefor national central banks.He will also resign as oneof two Swiss representa-tives on the board of gov-ernors of the InternationalMonetary Fund. This is a step which

saddens me greatly, Mr.Hildebrand said. I departon good terms, and Iwould like to think I havebeen a damn good central banker. Mark Carney, the gover-nor of the Bank of Canadaand chairman of the Fi-nancial Stability Board,said in a statement thatMr. Hildebrand has beeninstrumental in helping tomanage the response tothe global financial crisisand in developing majorreforms to strengthen theresiliency and stability ofthe international financialsystem. While Mr. Hildebrand

earned renown outsideSwitzerland, he had critics at home. The right-wing Swiss Peoples Party accusedhim of squandering thenational wealth on inter-vention to buy euros andother currencies, whosevalue continued to fallagainst the Swiss franc,resulting in losses for thecentral bank. The party acknowledgedplaying a role in Mr. Hilde-brands ouster, serving asthe conduit for informationtaken from Bank Sarasin.A former information tech-nology worker there faces criminal charges of violating bank secrecylaws in the case.

Mr. Hildebrandprobably will not bemissed by many in thebanking industry, either. He is aformer banker he andhis wife met while bothworked at Moore CapitalManagement, a hedgefund in New York.

After the S.N.B. rescuedthe Swiss bank UBS in2008, Mr. Hildebrand be-came a visible advocateof measures to limit thelevel of risk that bankstake. He suggested Monday that his standsmight have contributed tothe vehemence of the attacks on him. He said afriend sent him an e-mailquoting Woodrow Wilson:If you want to make enemies, change somethings. Mrs. Hildebrand apologized to the Swisspeople and to her husband, Reuters reported. I failed my husband by not considering the perception of a conflict ofinterest created by mypurchase of dollars, shesaid. My husband is aman of the utmost integrity, and I deeply regret that my actionsmight have led anyone toquestion this.

RBS ToPress OnWith

PromisedBonuses

Royal Bank of Scotland isdetermined to pressahead with plans to payout promised bonuses toinvestment bank bossJohn Hourican and othertop staff, despite growingrhetoric from the govern-ment about excessivepay.The Financial Times re-ported on Monday thatRBS investment bankingboss Mr Hourican is inline for a 4m payoutunder the terms of a de-ferred grant of sharesfrom 2009, further esca-lating tensions with thegovernment. The grantcomes as RBSs invest-ment bank like manyothers is struggling tomake money, with thou-sands of jobs set to beaxed.

RBS, which is 83 percent owned by taxpayers,has long been the focalpoint of government ire over banker pay. The payrow is the latest evidenceof a widening rift betweenRBSs and the government.

Ireland WillTap Market AtEnd-2013

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland will be ready to re-enter bond markets asplanned at the end of nextyear but will borrowcommercially again only ifit wants to, a seniorgovernment minister saidon Tuesday, amid talkDublin may eventuallyneed a second bailoutfrom the EU and the IMF.Despite success in

cutting its budget deficit,Ireland's aim of exiting itsexisting 85 billion euro (70billion pound) rescueprogramme in 2013 islooking increasingly difficult as the euro zonedebt crisis hits its growthoutlook and keeps itssovereign debt yields sky-high. Analysts havesaid if Irish borrowingcosts are still around 8percent in 2013 thenDublin would have to tapEuropean partners for ad-ditional official funding.

29

Cameron Urges 'more Commercial'British Films

Prime Minister DavidCameron urged Britishfilmmakers to concen-trate on making moremainstream movies, onvisit to Pinewood studios

AFP - Prime MinisterDavid Cameron urgedBritish filmmakers onWednesday to concen-trate on making moremainstream movies,ahead of a visit to the fa-mous Pinewood studios,home of the James Bondfilms.A government review isexpected to recommendnext week that publicfunds be directed at filmsthat can be commerciallyand not just culturally suc-cessful, and call on theBritish Film Institute (BFI)to develop an export strategy.The film industry currentlycontributes an estimated

4.2 billion (5 billioneuros, $6.5 billion) to theBritish economy, boostedby recent successes suchas the as the "Harry Potter" films and theOscar-winning "TheKing's Speech".But ahead of a visit toPinewood, where theMargaret Thatcher biopic"The Iron Lady" and thelatest "Sherlock Holmes"were shot, Cameron saidBritain should "aim evenhigher, building on theincredible success of recent years"."Our role, and that of theBFI, should be to supportthe sector in becoming even more dynamic and

entrepreneurial, helpingUK producers to makecommercially successfulpictures that rival thequality and impact of thebest international productions," he said.However, veteran Britishfilm director Ken Loachsaid it was not that easyto pick commercially successful projects."If everybody knew whatwould be successful before it was made, therewould be no problem," thedirector of "Looking forEric", "The Wind ThatShakes The Barley" and"Kes" told to television.

"What you have to do isfund a lot of different,varied projects and thensome will be successful,some will be original,some will be creative andyou will get a very vibrantindustry."He added thatanother problem was thedominance of multiplexcinema chains in Britain,which tended to favourthe same high-budgetUS films at the expenseof independent productions."Unless youcan really see a widevariety of films, you don'thave a vibrant filmindustry and we get avery narrow menu," hesaid.

BBC's Top Gear Host Clarkson Mocks India; Mp

Demands ApologyLondon: Furious overcontroversial BBC pre-senter Jeremy Clarksonmocking Indian cultureduring a Christmas spe-cial programme whiledriving in India, seniorLabour MP Keith Vaz onSaturday demanded anapology. The controversy seems tohave even sucked in the10 Downing Street. Indian origin Vaz said theBBC should be ashamedfor broadcasting gagsabout India that haveevoked several com-plaints and allegations ofracism. The controversial comments about India'strains, toilets, clothing,food and history weremade by Clarkson during

the Christmas special ofTop Gear programme.Vaz, chairman of theHome Affairs Select Com-mittee, said: "Mr Clarksonneeds to stick to talkingabout cars, not cultures.And he should apologisefor his lack of taste. Heand the BBC have doneIndia a great disservicewith this programme". Headded: "Some of the con-tents of the programmeare clearly offensive andnot the least bit funny.They were completelypointless. Mr Clarkson isnot a comedian. He talksabout his cars and that iswhy he gets on the show.Why do him and the BBCbother putting this out?"The BBC has confirmedreceiving 23 complaints.

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France, Germany Call for Boost in European Jobs,Economy

French and German leaders say growing the economyand creating jobs should be Europe's top priorities for2012. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and GermanChancellor Angela Merkel also defended a controversialproposal to tax financial transactions during a meetingMonday in Berlin.French and German leaders maintained a solid front onproposals that included more fiscal discipline but alsoefforts to inject life into the sluggish European economy,create jobs and make Europe more competitive. In broadcast remarks from a press conference in Berlin,German Chancellor Angela Merkel said France andGermany are determined to solidify the finances of the17-member eurozone while also relaunching growth.Their aim is not just to stabilize the euro, she said, butto create a strong, modern and competitive Europe. Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy alsocalled for injecting more capital into a European bailoutfund, for Greece to honor its reform promises and forEuropean leaders to act more swiftly in finding solutionsto the debt and banking crisis.Overseeing Europe's two largest economies, Merkeland Sarkozy have been the driving force in pushingthrough a new fiscal compact endorsed by most Euro-pean Union countries in December. Britain is the onlycountry that clearly bowed out of the deal. The French and German leaders said they hoped thedetails of the pact will be in place this month and that itwill be signed by March 1.Analyst Laurent Maruani, of the HEC business schoolin Paris, said the two heads of state are determined to

present a unified front. "Now that they have beenpulling and pushing Europe in all directions,they cannot step back. Stepping backwould be a disaster forthem," said Maruani.Merkel and Sarkozy alsoendorsed a controversialidea to tax financialtransactions that Sarkozyhas vowed to pushthrough alone if he doesnot get support from otherEU members.

The French president saidthose financial players responsible for getting theeurozone into its currentcrisis also should pay forgetting it out. If Francedoes not push through thetax, he said, the idea maynever be realized.Europe's sovereign debtand banking crisisdominated the EU agendafor much of 2011, and it isunlikely to disappear anytime soon. France andGermany both face

threats of a possibledowngrade of their debtrating, following similardowngrades of more ail-ing economies like Spainand Italy. On Monday, investorsbought German short-term debt at negative in-terest rates for the firsttime. The euro also hasdipped to its lowest valuein months compared tothe U.S. dollar - anothersign of ongoing jitters inthe financial markets.

The European Union isheightening its pressureon Hungary for reforms,saying that it has failed toeffectively control itsbudget deficit and that itsnew constitution may beunlawful.EU economy minister OlliRehn said Wednesdaythat the Budapest govern-ment has failed to perma-nently keep its deficitspending below the EU-mandated level of 3 per-cent of the country'seconomic output."It is on an unsustainablepath and will reach about3 percent next year andthus again breach the ref-erence value of the treaty.This is why we have

EU Presses Hungary to MakeFurther Spending Cuts

Minister Viktor Orban'sparliamentary majority inDecember could returnthe one-time Soviet-bloccountry to an authoritarianstate.Hungary is seeking abailout of up to $25 billionfrom the EU and International MonetaryUnion, but talks were suspended over the as-sistance after the centralbank provisions were ap-proved.Meanwhile, even Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse,said it is not immune fromthe effects of the conti-nent's slowing economyand the effects of the two-year governmental debtcrisis.

concluded that Hungaryhas not taken effective ac-tion in response to thecouncil recommenda-tions," said Rehn.Rehn said the EU couldwithhold developmentfunds for Hungary if itdoes not curtail its spend-ing.Meanwhile, the EU alsosaid it is nearing comple-tion of a review to deter-mine whether Hungary'snew constitution violatesEU standards by curtail-ing the independence ofthe country's judges, thecentral bank and its dataprotection agency. Somecritics say the constitu-tional changes pushedthrough by Prime

Rome's Chinese

CommunityMournsDeaths

The Chinese communityis in mourning in Italy.Shops are closed and afuneral is to be heldThursday, after a Chinesefather and his nine-month-old daughter weregunned down in a robberythat went horriblywrong.The Chinese com-munity in Italy wants jus-tice and more security.The brutal killing, lastweek, of Zhou Zeng andhis baby, Joy, was toomuch even for peoplewho are used to keepingto themselves and notcomplaining. But thislevel of violence was un-acceptable for many inthe neighborhood, andthe Chinese felt theycould not remain silentthis time.Thousands ofChinese took to thestreets in Rome for a vigilon Wednesday evening,to call for greater security.Protesters marchedthrough the city, holdinglarge photos of Zeng andhis daughter. They alsoheld candles and whiteand yellow flowers andshouted out "No to vio-lence." There was griefas well as indignation.Among protesters wasYan Xiaoping. He saysthis was a tragedy; thisviolence is to be consid-ered against all immi-grants.Xiaoping says noone can remain silent inthe face of such behaviorbecause a city like Romecannotafford it. That is whypeople of other nationali-ties and hundreds of Ital-ians also joined themarch, which started inthe heart of Rome's Chi-natown and ended wherethe killing took place, in asuburb of the city.Italiansare only too aware thecrime level has been onthe rise in the capital.

Labour In Independence Poll Debate

The political row overScotland's future in theUnited Kingdom is to shiftback to Edinburgh withcalls for Alex Salmond tohold immediate all-partytalks on the independence referendum.Labour willuse debating time at theScottish Parliament topress the First Minister toagree a timetable for a single-question ballotoverseen by the ElectoralCommission - not a specially-organised Scottish body.It followsdays of wrangling between Scottish and UKministers on whetherHolyrood or Westminstershould set the terms ofthe vote, which MrSalmond pledged to holdin autumn 2014.On Wednesday, PrimeMinister David Cameronand Labour leader Ed Miliband joined to-gether in pledging to fightfor

Scotland to remain part of the UK.Mr Cameron said he was "sad" that the question of independence had been raisedbut was ready to work with the Scottish Government to ensure that a "legal, fair anddecisive" referendum can take place.He said: "I passionately believe in the future of our United Kingdom. I passionatelybelieve we are stronger together rather than breaking apart. Frankly, I am sad weare even having this debate, because I support the United Kingdom so strongly, butwe have to respect the fact that Scotland voted for a separatist party at the Scottishparliamentary elections."He had offered the SNP administration in Edinburgh the opportunity to run what hetermed a binding referendum. But Mr Salmond - who will speak for the Scottish Gov-ernment at Holyrood - said the Conservative-led UK Government should "butt out".The SNP was re-elected in May last year with an unprecedented majority on a pledgeto hold a ballot on whether to end the political union of 1707.The SNP administration will publish its consultation document on the referendum inthe week beginning January 23.A spokesman for the First Minister said: "We don't believe the UK Government shouldbe imposing conditions on Scotland's referendum." He also said the options put tovoters could include greater powers for Holyrood short of full independence - some-thing polls have shown support for.

Warning Over Benefits Work

Impact

Government departments do not fully understand theoverall impact of an array of different means-testedbenefits on incentives to work, a cross-party committeeof MPs has warned.The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said a singlebody needed to take responsibility for ensuring the 87billion of income-related allowances did not discouragepeople from working. There are currently 30 differentmeans-tested benefits handled by nine Whitehall de-partments and 152 local authorities.The new Universal Credit is designed to make the wel-fare system simpler and more effective, but the PACurged that it must take account of other means-testedawards such as council tax benefit and higher educa-tion bursaries."It is not clear what effect some means-tested benefitshave on claimants' incentives to work," the committeesaid. "Improving incentives to work is a key objective ofUniversal Credit. At present there is no clear picture ofhow the entire benefit system affects claimants' incen-tives to work."

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Britain To Grant Scotland Independence Vote

Britain has set out conditions under which Scotland can decide whether to sever centuries-old constitutional tieswith Britain.The British government said Tuesday it will remove legal hurdles so Scots can hold a referendum on gaining in-dependence from Britain for the first time since the early 18th century.First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond wants to delay the vote for several years so the independence move-ment in Scotland can gain momentum.But British Prime Minister David Cameron is urging Scotland to hold the referendum as soon as possible.Cameron opposes any breakup of the United Kingdom.The parliaments of England and Scotland voted more than 300 years ago to unite in a single kingdom calledGreat Britain.

British Prime Minister Apologizes For Tourette's

Comments

Britain's prime minister has issued an apology aftercomparing heckling from a senior lawmaker to "havingsomeone with Tourette's sitting opposite you."David Cameron made the comment about Ed Balls, theopposition's shadow chancellor, in an interview in aBritish newspaper The Sunday Telegraph. Balls' gestures and comments have become a fixtureof the prime minister's weekly grilling in the House ofCommons. Downing Street officials said Cameron's remarks weremade "off the cuff." A spokesman said the prime min-ister apologizes if anyone was offended by his com-ments.Tourette's syndrome is a neurological disorder charac-terized by recurrent involuntary movements, and some-times vocal tics, including grunts, barks or words,especially obscenities.

Euro Losing StrengthAgainst the Dollar

The euro has lost 5.1 percent versus the dollar over thepast month. And a spate of poor eurozone economicdata Friday further eroded its value, signaling a grimeconomic outlook for the European economy in 2012. At 13 years old, the euro is barely a teenager. But, sofar, it has had an eventful life. At its inception, Germany, the currency zones biggesteconomy, was still digesting the huge costs of incorpo-rating East Germany, and there were wider concernsabout whether such an ambitious project of a commoncurrency would even work.

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