• briefing asia infrastructure aug 15, 2006 • briefing asia energy aug 15, 2006

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Document MTPW000020060619e26j002s1

Power Grid Corp net up 28.4% ; Power Grid Corporation of India has posted 28.4 per cent...
Our Economy Bureau New Delhi

291 words

17 June 2006

Business Standard

BSTN

4

English

(c) 2006 Business Standard Ltd.
Power Grid Corporation of India has posted 28.4 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 1,009 crore in 2005-06 from Rs 786 crore in 2004-05. The company is also exploring business opportunities in around a dozen countries.
The company clocked a turnover of Rs 3,554 crore in the last financial year marking 25.5 per cent jump against Rs 2,831 crore turnover posted in 2004-05. Power Grid plans to enter Indonesia, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Kenya, China, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Kazakhstan for offering consultancy, running existing projects with management control and also executing new transmission projects. The company is not in favour of bifurcation of its transmission and load management functions and has fixed a capital expenditure of Rs 6,000 crore for 2006-07. "There are no plans to split the company into two before the public issue which is expected in December this year," said RP Singh, chairman and managing director.
The company plans to implement projects with an investment of about Rs 8,000 crore in 2006-07. The company's financial plans include borrowing around Rs 2,500 crore from the domestic market with bonds. It also plans to take some additional sum from the loans granted by World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.Power Grid also plans to increase its inter-regional capacity to 18,000-mega watt (mw) by 2007 and 37,200 mw by 2011-12. In other developments, the company has received a letter of intent from the Department of Telecom for national long distance license for offering bandwidth on lease.
Document BSTN000020060616e26h0000k
News; International

Governments Says America Still Unprepared to Handle Emergencies; Hadith Marine's Lawyer Says No Crime, No Cover-Up; Tiger Woods Misses The Cut; Personal Information on the Internet

Betty Nguyen, Richard Lui, Jeanne Meserve, Jamie McIntyre, Carol Lin, Reynolds Wolf, Rick Horrow, Drew Griffin, Veronica de la Cruz, Gerri Willis

7,972 words

17 June 2006

CNN: Saturday Morning

STMG

English

© Voxant Inc. All rights reserved.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news, woefully unprepared -- in a newly released report, the federal government says the vast majority of American states and cities are nowhere near being ready for a major catastrophe, whether it's a natural disaster or a terror attack.
We're going to tell you where your city ranks in just a minute.
RICHARD LUI, CNN ANCHOR: A deadly hour in Baghdad. Police say 19 people were killed in four separate attacks between 10:00 and 11:00 this morning Baghdad time. The deadliest attack was a suicide car bombing that targeted an Iraqi Army police patrol. Eleven people were killed in that blast alone.
NGUYEN: Canada has detected a case of bird flu. It was found in a young goose in the eastern province of Prince Edward Island. Now, tests are underway this weekend to determine if it's the deadly H5N1 strain that has spread to almost 50 countries. If it is, it would be the first case in the Americas.
LUI: And no probable cause, no charges. With that, a grand jury has declined to indict Representative Cynthia McKinney. The Georgia Democrat was accused of hitting a Capitol Hill police officer after he tried to stop her from entering a House office building in March, as you might remember.
NGUYEN: The government is suing a West Virginia mine operator for withholding evidence in a deadly mine fire. Two miners were killed back in January in a fire there. Now, the suit was filed against Aracoma Coal Company, which is a subsidiary of Massey Energy.
You're up to date right here on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
Well, from the CNN Center right here in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
It is 7:00 a.m. right here, 3:00 p.m. in Baghdad.
We're going to tell you about what's happening there.
Good morning, everybody.
I'm Betty Nguyen.
LUI: And I'm Richard Lui with CNN's Pipeline filling in for Tony Harris.
Thanks for being with us Saturday morning.
NGUYEN: Good to have you, Richard.
LUI: Thanks for having me.
NGUYEN: Hey, we're going to be talking about a grim and chilling reality. Almost five years into a post-9/11 era and on the heels of Hurricane Katrina, the government says America is still woefully unprepared to handle a major catastrophe like a terrorist attack or a natural disaster.
So is there a disconnect between lessons learned and getting ready for the next disaster?
CNN's Jeanne Meserve reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nearly five years after 9/11 and nearly one year after Katrina, after $18 billion in federal grants to state and local governments, the Department of Homeland Security has concluded the majority of state and local emergency plans are not adequate, feasible or acceptable to manage catastrophic events.
GEORGE FORESMAN, UNDERSECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: The ordinary doesn't mean that you're ready for the extraordinary, and we've got to do a better job of taking our catastrophic planning to the next level.
MESERVE: The assessment found many states and cities lacked a clear command structure or plans on how to keep government operating in a catastrophe. Evacuation remains a profound concern, with inadequate planning for large numbers of evacuees and particularly for people with special needs. Among the states with the lowest assessments, West Virginia, Oregon, Louisiana and Montana.
Though the cities of New York and Washington had plans that were rated far from perfect, they were much better than many, including Oklahoma City, which rated poorly despite its experience with the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. And New Orleans -- a majority of that city's emergency plan got the lowest possible rating.
FORESMAN: They were going through this nationwide plan review at the same time that they were still responding to and recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina.
MESERVE: The organization that represents emergency managers says hundreds of local jurisdictions do not have a full time emergency management program because of federal funding shortfalls. Further, there is no national planning guidance or standards.
(on camera): DHS agrees state and local governments have not gotten all of the tools they need from the federal government, but says this assessment will be used to measure progress from here on out.
Jean Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, you heard a little bit from Homeland Security Undersecretary George Foresman in Jeanne Meserve's report.
He is going to join us live next hour with more insight into disaster preparation all around the country.
Which brings us to our e-mail question today -- do you think that your city is prepared for a disaster? What do you really think? E- mail us, [e-mail]. Is your city prepared?
We're going to read those responses throughout the show.
LUI: A detainee in Iraq fed bread and water for 17 days, others locked in four by four cells for up to a week -- those are some of the incidents described in a just released Pentagon report, according to the Associated Press and the "New York Times."
Now, this report concludes that the detainees' treatment was wrong but not illegal. Officials investigated several incidents involving Special Operations forces in 2003 and 2004. The report was completed 20 months ago, but is just being made public.
Well, the military says one report on the killing of Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha, that's complete. But it has not been released as of yet.
The defense attorney for one of the Haditha Marines says he does not believe any laws were broken there or that there was any cover-up.
He talked with senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, in his first television interview.
It's a report from "THE SITUATION ROOM" you'll see only on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There was no crime to cover up, according to the attorney representing one of the Marines who was involved in several of the shootings that resulted in the deaths of 24 Iraqis, including women and children, last year in Haditha.
GARY MYERS, ATTORNEY FOR HADITHA MARINE: The rules of engagement are the license to do what they did. And as long as they followed those rules of engagement, I believe they have a defense of justifiable homicide, on the one hand, and, perhaps, self-defense on the other. In every particular this fails as evidence.
MCINTYRE: After viewing the videotape of the victims and the aftermath shot by an aspiring Iraqi journalist, Myers insisted it would not stand up in court. MYERS: It proves nothing other than that there were people killed who died violently and who bled profusely. And all of those things are regrettable, but none of them serve -- serves to prove murder.
MCINTYRE: What about the pictures taken by the U.S. military seen by CNN that appear to show victims shot at close range?
MYERS: It will be a Herculean effort on the part of the government to muster enough competent evidence to demonstrate that anything criminal occurred. And if all they've got are pictures that were taken after the events, it will be very difficult.
MCINTYRE: Myers argues everything he believes the Marines did that day, from shooting what turned out to be unarmed men in a taxi to firing into buildings without knowing who was inside, can be defended as justified under the rules in effect at the time.
MYERS: There was a good faith belief that fire was coming from those buildings. These Marines followed the rules of engagement and if the rule of engagement at the time was, as I believe it to be, with respect to the taxi, that when an IED went off, people were seen running from the scene. They were considered insurgents and one had a right to fire.
MCINTYRE: Myers insists Haditha was not a massacre, and that comes from an attorney who successfully defended a company commander who was at My Lai, the notorious massacre of the Vietnam War.
MYERS: My Lai was a massacre. Men, women, babies and children were put into a trench, and they were fired upon by American soldiers.
MCINTYRE (on camera): How could it be that Marines could kill young children, a mother who appear to be in their bed and they just followed the rules? How can that be?
MYERS: Because they're not required to inquire under the circumstances. They're not required to inquire. If they believe they were threatened, they can use deadly force. And that's what they did.
MCINTYRE: Military experts tell CNN two principles should guide the use of lethal force -- proportionality and necessity. That is, how important is the objective and does it warrant the risk of innocent lives? And that is likely to be at the heart of this case.
(on camera): The U.S. military has announced that their separate investigation into whether there was a cover-up has been completed and is being reviewed by a three star general in Iraq. Defense attorneys for some of the Haditha Marines, meanwhile, tell CNN that an initial press release that inaccurately attributed some of the civilian deaths to a roadside bomb was not based on any information that came from their clients.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE) NGUYEN: President Bush gets a bit of a boost from his visit to Baghdad this week. That is according to a new CNN poll. The approval rating for his handling of Iraq has grown by 5 points since his trip on Tuesday. Thirty-nine percent of Americans say they approve of what the president is doing about Iraq, up 34 percent from last month.
No, 54 disapprove. That is down from 62 percent.
Now, slightly more than half of Americans think the U.S. should get a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Fifty- three percent say yes, 41 percent say no.
Details of President Bush's top secret trip to Baghdad plus who is al Qaeda's new top man in Iraq? Well, CNN brings you the only in- depth look at major events in the war on terror.
John Roberts hosts "IRAQ: A WEEK AT WAR."
That is tonight, 7:00 Eastern.
Also tonight...
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: coming up tonight at 10:00, a multi- billion dollar industry you probably know little about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: we have a market that is effectively unregulated on the international level.
LIN: We're talking private military contracting and you're paying the price.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm probably not going to be able to get a job now after I do this interview.
LIN: That's coming up tonight at 10:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: And in about 20 minutes, have you ever tried seeing how much of your personal information is on the Internet?
NGUYEN: I'm almost afraid to find out what's out there on the Internet. It's amazing what people can get on you.
LUI: It is a very scary endeavor, but we've got to do it.
We're about to meet a woman who found the Social Security number of Governor Jeb Bush...
NGUYEN: Really?
LUI: ... ABC anchor Charles Gibson and other celebrities, to boot. Are your secrets out there for everyone to see?
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERICA VAUGHN, KSTU CORRESPONDENT: What kind of noises was he making?
CARISSA ROYLANCE, CAT OWNER: He was like meow, meow!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Ah. Tom the cat -- you see him right there -- trapped under concrete. How he likely used up one, and just at least one of those nine lives.
That's ahead -- good morning, Reynolds.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right.
Maybe some of us, when we were children imagined what it would be like to swap our parents. You know, I've thought of that recently. No, I'm kidding mom, really.
I'm going to get a call about that.
Well, apparently late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is entertaining that very thought.
Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST: There's one more shopping day until Father's Day. My dad lives in Arizona. You know, he's a good father, but I always felt like I could do better.
And then one day I was watching CNN and I saw Wolf Blitzer. Now, Wolf Blitzer looks a lot like my dad.
This is my dad right here. And this is Wolf Blitzer.
So I starting thinking, maybe he is my dad. Maybe I'm not Jimmy Kimmel at all. Maybe I'm Jimmy Blitzer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: They did look alike, though, huh, Richard?
LUI: They did. You're right. Yes.
NGUYEN: Yes. A striking resemblance. Hmm. He may want to take a test there, a little blood test to find out.
LUI: Maybe they'll start to compare them to leaders in Europe soon.
NGUYEN: You know, you think?
LUI: Yes.
NGUYEN: OK.
Well, coming up next hour, you have to see what happens when Jimmy Kimmel, Papa Kimmel and Wolf Blitzer all get together for a little pop quiz.
LUI: Fascinating.
NGUYEN: The man that scores highest gets to be Jimmy's dad. And I guess you can already figure out who that's going to be, right?
LUI: Yes, we kind of teased that one along, huh?
NGUYEN: I mean, it's Wolf Blitzer?
Come on.
LUI: Also, just a few clicks away for you and voila, your Social Security number for everyone to see right online.
NGUYEN: Oh, that's not good.
LUI: Certainly not. And you'll never believe who's putting that information out there.
We'll have the details for you.
NGUYEN: But first, Tiger Woods' hope to honor his late father with a victory this weekend just wasn't meant to be.
Up next, "Beyond The Game's" Rick Horrow -- there he is -- with a green hat that looks still a little too small for that head.
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Hi.
It is. For the big head, right?
NGUYEN: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
HORROW: ... soccer tie.
NGUYEN: That was kind of the point.
HORROW: We'll talk about it.
NGUYEN: All right, yes. (CROSSTALK)
HORROW: I don't want to set you up like that. That's not very good.
NGUYEN: It's not, is it?
HORROW: No.
NGUYEN: He's going to talk about the impact of this stunning development, though, at the U.S. Open.
Stay with CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: Well, it's something we had never seen from Tiger Woods. He missed the cut in one of golf's four major tournaments for the very first time. Dashed now are his wishes to honor his dad Earl with a Father's Day victory at the U.S. Open. Tiger's mentor and best friend died last month. The U.S. Open was going to be Tiger's triumphant return to professional golf.
Well, this is only the fourth time Tiger Woods has failed to make the cut at any golf tournament. So is interest in the U.S. Open gone now that Tiger is out?
Well, let's ask the author of "When the Game Is On the Line," sports business analyst Rick Horrow, joining us from his usual spot in West Palm Beach, Florida -- Rick, good morning to you.
HORROW: Good morning.
I was -- I thought we were going to talk about soccer. I have my World Cup tie all on. I came back from Germany. I'm kidding, that's a big deal today, too. But I know we're going to talk about...
LUI: Tell me about it. Some great games, though, if you can keep your eye on that one.
Let's talk Tiger first, though, if we can.
HORROW: Sure.
LUI: You know, one of the things that were mentioned by one of the winners, or the winner last year, Michael Campbell, was that Tiger just seemed human. Obviously, given his past and his record, he's almost seemed inhuman.
With his loss and now that he's out of the U.S. Open, Rick, do you think that this might hurt him financially somehow?
HORROW: Well, no. I don't think so. And, of course, he is human. But he did win the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and at 2002 at Bethpage. So we've come to expect it. And certainly Nike does, too. Their sales of Woods went up 100 percent since Tiger Woods joined his camp. A major Father's Day ad unveiled by Nike. And, of course, we all owe our experiences to our father. I know I do. And they'll be watching that ad no matter what.
And, of course, Nike had his coral shirt picked out for the final round and were ready to sell it for $90. I guess they forgot to tell Tiger.
LUI: That he had to win there.
Well, you know, perhaps there's a British and he'll make it all right.
One of the questions might be with Tiger now out -- and Tiger has certainly had a fantastic record -- will the fortunes of the PGA also follow Tiger's fortunes, as we go forward?
HORROW: It used to be. Not really. You know, we have 37 million of us playing 580 million rounds of golf every year.
LUI: That is a lot.
HORROW: And we're going to watch, especially Father's Day. You've got Ernie Els and Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson of the big five who made the cut. You've even got David Duval, who may be coming back after a long loss. He's only six strokes back.
But the important thing is this tournament transcends Tiger Woods these days. It's not the Tigerization of the tour. You've got 1,000 media requests from all over the globe, 25 countries, including