Roberto Mancini stands by criticism of Manchester City's Adam Johnson

Adam Johnson 'refused to board bus' home from Wolves
• Roberto Mancini says comments will improve winger's game

• • reddit this

• Tim Rich at Etihad Stadium
• guardian.co.uk, Sunday 30 October 2011 22.30 GMT
• Article history

Adam Johnson is congratulated by Edin Dzeko after scoring at Wolves but he was criticised by his manager afterwards. Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images

Roberto Mancini faces yet more player unrest after it was reported that Adam Johnson initially refused to board the team bus after the Carling Cup victory at Molineux last Wednesday night. The winger was said to be angered by the Italian's public criticism, especially after a game in which he scored one goal and created another for Samir Nasri.
The 24-year-old was eventually persuaded on to the coach but, following the Carlos Tevez affair, the incident has further highlighted the problems Mancini faces in keeping his expensively assembled squad happy.
The City manager, however, said that he will not hold back from criticising the winger because he thinks the comments will make him a better player in the long run. In a post-match interview on Wednesday Mancini said that, even though City were leading Wolves 5-1, Johnson should have tracked back to stop Stephen Ward providing the assist for Jamie O'Hara. Mancini said he was "disappointed he doesn't put everything on to the pitch".
After Johnson had scored again against Wolves on Saturday Mancini defended his stance, saying it was a deliberate policy to provoke the player to greater heights. He added that the England manager, Fabio Capello, was of the same opinion and that Johnson could and should reach the same levels of performance as his team-mate David Silva.
"I am happy he is upset," said Mancini. "I love Adam. It is like with the children in your family. If you love your children, then sometimes you should be hard with them and Adam understands this. I say what I want because, if he were not a good player, then I wouldn't waste my time on him. But because he has everything, I don't want him stopping at this level. I want him up a level and then a level more.
"He has some characteristics that are different from other players and because of this he could become one of the top wingers in the game. If you have a top winger, you are going to win a lot of games. One versus one, he is incredible, every time he takes the ball out wide near the box, we can score a goal or at least have a chance."
Mancini's treatment of Johnson, whom he bought from Middlesbrough in his first transfer window as manager of City, called to mind comments from his predecessor, Mark Hughes, that the Italian was "autocratic". Hughes said of Mancini before the Manchester derby: "I am not sure if he indulges players, tries to get to know them or understand them. He never can put his arm around a player – he is not that sort of manager."
In bloodlessly removing Emmanuel Adebayor and Craig Bellamy, two of the most combustible footballers he inherited from Hughes, Mancini demonstrated his control of the dressing room at Eastlands even before the conflagration with Tevez that has dominated the start to City's season.
Mancini argued that his attitude towards Johnson came from a determination that the player should not fail. "I have seen so many players like Adam in my life, both when I played and since I have been a manager," he said, adding that Johnson had played with more discipline against Wolves at the Etihad Stadium than he had shown at Molineux.
"Sometimes players like Adam play very well in one game but only so-so the next. He should not think: 'I have scored a goal, this is enough.'
"He has played in the Premier League for two and a half seasons now and he has played for the national team. Fabio Capello and I are of the same opinion. A player like him should play well every game, like David Silva."
On Monday afternoon the City defender Kolo Touré will face an internal inquiry into the failed drugs test that brought him a six-month ban.

Lessons from Myitsone Dam in Burma

Fri, 09/30/2011 - 4:49pm

By: 

Grace Mang

Myitsone Protest (courtesy of the BBC)

The success of Burma's civil society groups in halting the Myitsone Dam may come as a surprise to many, but it is a product of the depth and strength of opposition to the project. It is also an indication that a different type of Burmese government is now in charge. The Burmese government's decision to suspend the controversial project on the headwaters of the Irrawaddy also highlights the serious risks of not engaging with civil society critics.

The Myitsone Dam was one of the first projects to really "get under my skin" here at International Rivers. The environmental and social impacts were simply unbelievable. The Myitsone Dam was to generate some 6,000 megawatts of power – of which the majority was to be sent to China – while creating a reservoir the size of Singapore with a depth of a 66-story building. 12,000 Kachin people were expected to be relocated to make way for the dam and up to 20,000 would have been affected by its construction and operation.

Opposition on Many Fronts 

Around the dam site, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) was one of the most vocal and active opponents to the dam. The Kachin consider the site of the Myitsone Dam – at the confluence of the Mayhka amd Malihka rivers – their cultural heartland because it is the birthplace of the mighty Irrawaddy River. Over the years, the KIO wrote to the Chinese government stating that the impacts of Myitsone were unacceptable and that they could not be held responsible for the outbreak of conflict should the dam proceed. For the large part, the Chinese government and the Chinese developer, China Power Investment, were unresponsive to their attempts to establish dialogue and communication. In Rangoon, a brave and strong group of environmental NGOs – aware of the irreversible damage that the Myitsone project would cause – spent months organizing and persuading the highest levels of Burma's new government that the people could not be ignored and that not enough was known about the project. Aung San Sui Kyi's public plea in August to save the Irrawaddy catapulted the arguments of the dam's opponents to the international stage. Groups outside Burma, such as Burma Rivers Network, also worked tirelessly to build international public awareness.

With respect to these multiple campaigns, International Rivers supported local political organizers in the affected communities, provided technical analysis to Burmese NGOs, helped groups outside better engage with China Power Investment and worked to raise international awareness.

Learning the Lessons

The surprising success of civil society groups in Burma demonstrates that NGOs in host countries cannot be ignored. In many ways, China Power Investment's plans have become unstuck because it failed to engage communities from the beginning. As the project continued, it became clear to many that the project would only support Chinese demands for energy – not Burma's development.

The Irrawaddy River

Under the 2006 deal signed between the Chinese government and the Burmese military junta, 90% of the power generated from Myitsone would have gone to China. While China has commenced a dam-building spree on its rivers, it is now clear that other countries are not willing to sacrifice their rivers to meet its energy needs. In his statement to Burma's parliament, President Thein Sein said that the government had to act "according to the desire of the people." The Burmese people's rejection of the Myistone project will serve as an important precedent for several other large projects that Chinese dam builders are currently pursuing in Burma, Laos and Cambodia, including projects on the Irrawaddy and Salween basins in Burma, the US$2 billion Nam Ou cascade, and projects on the mainstream of the Mekong.

Opposition to the project also grew due to a complete lack of transparency around the environmental and social impacts of the dam. Construction at the dam site began long before any environmental studies had been finalized. While the Chinese developer felt it was good practice to do an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the report came too late, was not released until public opposition was high, and appeared to have been rewritten to play down the serious social and environmental impacts of the projects that were detailed elsewhere in the document.

On a broader note, the suspension of the Myitsone Dam is the latest sign that dams cannot be built at any cost. Earlier this month, the South China Morning Post reported that China Southern Power Grid Company withdrew from several controversial projects in Cambodia because it saw itself as a socially responsible company. This week, in the lead up to Sinohydro's Initial Public Offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, prospective investors, analysts and the Chinese state media discussed Sinohydro's draft environmental policy – its response to addressing the risks of its overseas business. In Ethiopia, media reported that the world's biggest funder of large dams, China EXIM Bank, was delaying financing for the Chemoga-Yeda Hydropower Project on the Nile River in response to concerns from downstream countries. Clearly, some Chinese dam builders and financiers are learning to address civil society concerns. Myitsone Dam serves as a reminder that if they fail to engage, they do so at their own peril.

MYANMAR: Blocked dam project raises hopes

YANGON, 5 October 2011 (IRIN) - Environmentalists and activists hope Myanmar will keep its promise to suspend construction of a controversial hydroelectric dam in the northern Kachin State, despite calls by the Chinese government for talks over the decision.

In a surprising move, on 30 September, President Thein Sein announced that construction of the dam, a project between the government and the state-owned China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), would be suspended during his presidential term. The decision was seen as a victory for the people who battled to stop the dam over concerns about the environment and millions of livelihoods linked to the Ayeyarwady River.

"The president knows the Myitsone Dam [project] is against the will of the people," Bauk Ja, Kachin activist and member of the National Democratic Force party, told IRIN. "So, he won't let it resume in his tenure, whatever the pressures from China."

"It's amazing," said Win Min, a Myanmar scholar now living in the United States. "The president shows that he cares more about the people who will suffer from the impact of the dam than China or economic interests."

But opponents of the dam urged continued vigilance. CPI workers and equipment were still on the ground, said Ah Nan, a spokeswoman for the Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) and assistant coordinator of Burma Rivers Network. There is also speculation that the Myitsone Dam project will be replaced by the construction of two smaller dams, as recommended in an environmental impact study by Myanmar and Chinese scientists.

"Only [CPI's] actions will confirm whether the dam is indeed suspended," she said.

Motivation

Thein Sein, who began a five-year presidential term in March, informed Parliament of his decision in a letter. His phrasing amazed many Burmese, who experienced decades during which the government ignored public concerns.

"As our government is elected by the people, it is to respect the people's will. We have the responsibility to address public concerns in all seriousness," Thein Sein said in his letter. "So construction of Myitsone Dam will be suspended in the time of our government."

The dam, with a flooding area larger than Singapore, is in Kachin State just 1.6km below the confluence of two rivers, an area known as Myitsone, which is the beginning of the Ayeyarwady River. The project would have forced more than 15,000 people in 60 villages to relocate, KDNG estimated.

Some observers believe the president suspended construction of the widely opposed dam not only to prevent public anger from boiling over, but also to position the country positively in upcoming regional meetings.

"The halting is designed to nip another round of public discontent-driven popular protests, especially on the eve of a trip by the Indonesian [foreign minister] to assess the [country's] ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] chair bid," said Maung Zarni, a Myanmar research fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Some point to the decision as one of several signs that the government is heeding the concerns of its people. Thein Sein's August meeting with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, for example, was applauded internationally, and Thein Sein has publicly acknowledged poverty as a problem in Myanmar.

"It seems that the president and some cabinet ministers are more open than others and willing to bring about a gradual change," Win Min said.

But he urged caution, too. He said the administration was motivated by a desire to improve its international standing, particularly in its bid for the ASEAN chairmanship in 2014, as well as to receive International Monetary Fund assistance and to lift western sanctions.

Environmentalists and activists worry future administrations may proceed with the Myitsone Dam. But some activists, such as Bauk Ja, remain confident.

"Future presidents or governments are less likely to resume this project," she said, "because people will always be totally against the dam construction."

lm/es/nb/mw

In Mantua, Discovering The Italian Origins And Delicacies Of Halloween

Italians have ancient claims on the origins of the ever more global holiday of Halloween. In Mantua, where Jack-O-Lanterns -- called "lumere" -- light the roads to cemeteries, others may be more interested in the delicious dishes made with pumpkin. Ravioli-like tortelli is to die for.

Pasta with pumpkin is on every menu in Mantua (alessandraelle)

By Luca Bergamin
LA STAMPA/Worldcrunch 

MANTUA - Halloween, Made in Italy. Actually, locals say it was invented here, in the northern Italian city of Mantua. For centuries, the night between October 31 and November 1, residents have hung carved pumpkins with a candle glowing inside: along roads leading to the cemeteries, on windowsills and on trees to scare the wayfarers. Mantua's Jack-O-Lanterns are called "lumere," and are celebrated with a big party attended by people dressed up as witches and wizards on October 30. The following night, according to the legend, the candles inside the carved pumpkins will help the souls of the dead to find their relatives who are still alive and have prepared for them a meal of pumpkin tortelli. 

In the first century AD, the Latin poet Martial celebrated pumpkin in his Epigrams. "You'll eat it as an appetizer, then as a side dish, and finally as a dessert… there are bland flat cakes, candies of every kind of shape and size, and pastries…" The giant squash are one of the most important ingredients of Mantua cuisine. Nothing must be thrown away. Leaves, pulp, seeds and flowers are all ingredients for cooking delicious food. 

In the 18th-century Corte Sguazzarina in the village Castel Goffredo, at the foot of the slopes surrounding Lake Garda, there are pumpkin cooking classes. Pumpkin can be served as a hors d'oeuvres with mustard and parmesan, in cakes with herbs, in risottos with mushrooms and sausages, in cannelloni with lard, in breaded veal cutlet, in cookies with spices and in cakes with chocolate and almonds. 

Over all, tortelli are the most beloved pumpkin dish. Tortelli are stuffed pasta which was the favorite food of Isabella d'Este Gonzaga, Marquise of Mantua, who, according to legend, inspired the recipe to the chiefs of her court. Today, every Mantua housewife has her own recipe and shapes tortelli in squares, rectangles, small bags and candies. 

From the poet Virgil to Michelin stars

Vera Bini, chef of the Michelin-star-rated Aquila Nigra restaurant, serves up the tops in tortelli. "Pumpkin has an almost human quality," Bini says. "Its life lasts from October to March and you have to figure out when it is just at its best." Bini says the secret for the best stuffing for tortelli is mixing amaretto, apples, mustard, nutmeg, parmesan, and good pumpkin, adding a dressing of butter and sage. 

The ancient Romans used to eat pumpkin. Probably even Virgil, one of Rome’s greatest poets, who was born close to Mantua, appreciated it. He is currently been celebrated with an exhibition in the 16th century Palazzo Te in Mantua.

The exhibition is showing for the first time in Italy the face of Virgil, which was portrayed in a mosaic discovered in 1896 in the Roman villa in the ancient city of Hadrumentum, in Tunisia. In the mosaic, Virgil has a slightly receding hairline and a pensive look. The muses of history Clio and of tragedy Melpomene stand on either side of the poet. On Virgil’s lap there is a volume on which is written his epic poem Aeneid.

Virgil has always been the most famous and beloved Mantua native. But now, the Lovers of Valdarno are challenging his supremacy. They are two human skeletons, dating back to the Neolithic era, which were found in a necropolis in the village of Valdaro in 2007, huddled close together, and are now on display at the Mantua Archeological Museum.

Just outside Mantua, you can sail the channels covered by millions of green lotus flowers in Mincio Park. In the park, grey herons fly free with Mantua’s Basilica of St. Andrea and the medieval towers as a backdrop. The fishermen's boats along the Mincio River carry you to the small village of Grazie dedicated to the Virgin Mary and famous for its sanctuary adorned with odd ex-votos and statues. 

But if possible, it is best to arrive in autumn, when the Halloween pumpkins are displayed in downtown Mantua, and locals burn the cane thickets along the river. The view of the red sky over the valley will continue to enchant poets and writers for centuries to come.

Read the original article in Italian

Chopin’s Piano: On Mallorca, A Century-Old Musical Mystery Finally Solved

For generations, two families in Mallorca have laid competing claims to the legacy of Frédéric Chopin. Starting in 1838, the Polish composer lived in a room on the island with his mistress, and composed some of his great works. But which room was it? And which piano did he play?

Valldemossa, Mallorca, where Chopin sojourned with his mistress, George Sand, in 1838

By Camilo Jiménez
SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG/Worldcrunch

The news from the courthouse in Palma de Mallorca comes as a tough blow Frédéric Chopin fans who paid good money to see what was supposed to be the piano and living space used by the legendary composer during his late-in-life sojourn on the Spanish island.

For a century, the Ferrá-Capllonch family, which owns “Cell Nr. 2” in the former Carthusian monastery in Valldemossa, lured tourists to where they claimed Chopin had lived with his mistress, George Sand, and her children. The site also features the piano on which he supposedly completed his 24 Preludes (Op. 28).

As it turns out, they were wrong – about both the living quarters and the famous piano. Based on extensive research, the jurists were able to show conclusively that the instrument in Cell No. 2 was built after Chopin’s 1849 death, and that the composer had in fact occupied another cell – one that’s owned by a family with the surname Quetglas.  

The court awarded the Quetglas family exclusive marketing rights, cutting the Ferrá-Capllonch family completely out of the Chopin legacy. What’s more, the Ferrá-Capllonch family must now publically announce that their piano is not the real thing. The piano had attracted approximately 300,000 tourists per year to Valldemossa, where visitors paid for tickets based on the idea they were buying a bit of proximity to the life and work of a man who is one of music’s all-time greats,.

Chopin came to Mallorca on Nov. 15, 1838 accompanied by his mistress, the French writer Amantine Dupin, Baroness Dudevant (1804-1876), who used the pseudonym George Sand. At the time, Mallorca was considered a remote location. Valldemossa was even more off the beaten path – a dark village in the picturesque Tramuntana mountain range, an ideal place for a celebrated musician to get well away from it all. Sand wrote a book about the sojourn, Winter in Mallorca, which was to become as much a part of her legend as it is of Chopin’s.

A three-generation family feud

Chopin afficianados from around the world flock to the charterhouse, which belongs to the Ferrá-Capllonch and Quetglas families and was turned into a museum in 1910. Exhibits include letters, musical scores, drawings – even some of Chopin’s hair. Over time, restaurants and souvenir shops set up business, and the old monastery became something of a pilgrimage site. But soon enough, hostilities broke out between the two families, and the feud has carried on through three generations.

As early as 1932, Chopin biographer Édouard Ganche went to Mallorca to try and clear up the issue of the cell and the piano. He interviewed the Quetglas banking family and examined their piano, made by the Pleyel company, which at the time was in their home. Ganche stated that this was without a doubt the instrument played by the composer, so the family moved it back into the cell they owned.

The problem was that the Ferrá-Capllonch family was already advertising their piano as the real thing, and when they heard of the recent developments on the Quetglas side, they announced that their instrument – made by the Oliver Suau company – had been “certified as authentic.” The arguments went on for years, outliving the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship, with the Ferrás enjoying the upper hand.

By the 1990s, the Quetglas family had had enough, and had a new edition of Édouard Ganche’s book published. More and more Chopin experts were meanwhile casting their vote with the Quetglas cell and piano. There was documentation to support them. One letter that Chopin penned to French piano maker Camille Pleyel stated: “I’m sending you the Preludes, that I finished composing on your piano.” The missive seemed like fairly conclusive evidence. Additional proof was found in an account by a translator of Sand’s book who had spoken with someone who was alive at the time and personally confirmed that the room occupied by Chopin was in fact the Quetglas cell. Finally, a drawing by Sand’s son, Maurice, shows details specific to the Quetglas cell.

Before issuing their verdict, the judges in the Palma case visited the charterhouse. Their decision appears to put an end to a long-lasting farce. Still, the Ferrá-Capllonch family, while it may have lost the case, still has a huge collection of Chopin memorabilia – and they are also the organizers of Valldemossa Chopin Festival.

Read the original story in German

Photo - hanspoldoja

All rights reserved ©Worldcrunch - in partnership with Süddeutsche Zeitung

China's New TV Censorship May Be A Sign That State Control Is Losing Its Grip

New Chinese regulations limiting entertainment shows on regional television channels may be an attempt to halt the declining ratings of the CCTV state-controlled network. But with the growth of the Internet, and other new freedoms, it may not work this time.

Super Girl contestants (Hunan TV)

*NEWSBITES

经济观察报E.O/Worldcrunch

BEIJING - A few days ago, China’s State Administration of Radio Film and Television released a new directive dubbed: the Entertainment Limitation Order, imposing strict new regulations on the entertainment programs that Chinese satellite TV stations are allowed to broadcast to viewers.

The central target of the regulations is to limit the number of “entertainment” shows during prime time hours. According to the new regulations, each satellite channel is only permitted to broadcast two entertainment programs per week between 7:30 and 10:00 p.m. There are even stricter limits on talent shows, which cannot exceed more than ten per year. There is also a requirement that each TV station produce an “ethics construction” program, and forced reductions in the number of Taiwanese artists presented on air.

The regulations, however, are only applied to some 30 provincial satellite TVs. This excludes the state-owned CCTV. Some are therefore asking whether the origin behind this new directive is to counteract the declining popularity of CCTV’s news programs and recreational shows. Currently, at 7:00 p.m. every night, Chinese viewers who want a bit of information have no choice but to watch the so-called “News Network” of the Chinese Communist Party, and the government’s propaganda machine. This is not only broadcast by CCTV itself, but also on a provincial-level by local stations that are obliged to air it.

Last month, an amusing show usually airing on provincial Hunan TV called “Super Girl”, a highly popular Chinese version of American Idol, was banned, sparking public outcry. Officially, the government accused the program of often running past its allotted time, but the public believe that it’s because the authorities were worried that the audience might get inspired by the voting system and American-style democracy of the singing contest with viewer participation.

The Chinese authorities still regard television as a channel for ideological education of its people, even if in recent years, the development of web media is increasingly challenging the government’s continuing attempts to censor the news or control certain types of TV programs from airing from either inside or outside of China.

As Wuyue Sanren, a commentator at this newspaper, puts it: any society that flaunts the morality flag cannot really work with a sense of morality. Rather it’s those societies with pluralistic entertainment and values that touch the common bottom line of our humanity. Alas, everyone knows this truth, just not the managers of this government.

Read the full version of the article in Chinese in E.O. 

photo - HunanTV

*Newsbites are digest items, not direct translations

Say What? Study Reveals Best Language At Getting Straight To The Point

Linguists from the University of Lyon in France looked at seven widely spoken languages to see how they rank in terms of efficiency. Which mother tongue works best at imparting information? A clue: it’s not French.

Up-tempo languages don't necessarily impart information more quickly

*NEWSBITES

DIE WELT/Worldcrunch

Imparting information is language’s most important function – and a recent study published in Language rates just how efficient English, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin-Chinese and German are at doing just that.

Three French linguists at the University of Lyon recorded 59 people, divided equally among men and half, reading five-sentence texts identical in meaning at a normal speed in their mother tongue. Then they computer-edited out the pauses and counted syllables and information per time unit and language. The goal was to draw conclusions about how fast a specific density of information could be communicated in the seven languages.

The result? Some languages are spoken faster than others. For example, Japanese speakers say eight syllables per second, whereas Mandarin Chinese get in only five. But regardless, a faster tempo in no way implied faster transmission of information.

Linguistics professor Gertraud Fenk-Oczlon of the University of Klagenfurt (Austria) said she was not surprised by the result. In 2010, using a different methodology, she conducted a similar study using 51 languages.

All researchers found that no matter how slow a language is, the complexity of syllables means that information is imparted as quickly as it is in faster languages. Thus, for example, a slow and very complex language like German manages to rate as slightly more efficient than fast-paced Japanese. And it comes in third after English, which garnered first place, and Chinese, which came in second.

To the surprise of the researchers, however, differences in efficiency were only minimal.

Read the full story in German by Antonia zu Knyphausen            

Photo - Demi-Brooke

*Newsbites are digest items, not direct translations

All rights reserved ©Worldcrunch - in partnership with Die Welt

Trading Up

For decades, the Chinese town of Manzhouli, perched on the desolate border with Russia, was frozen in a remote corner of the Cold War. As an ideological schism between the two Communist giants escalated into a full-blown conflict — bloody clashes erupted along their 4,300-km border in 1969 — the poor residents of Manzhouli had little contact with their Russian neighbors huddled in the Siberian cold only a few steps away. A mere trickle of state-sponsored trade passed through the heavily fortified border, leaving Manzhouli's citizens dependent on a local coal mine for jobs.
Today, however, Manzhouli is a testament to the wealth that can be created by connecting the world's great emerging economies. As relations thawed between Moscow and Beijing after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, the border opened, private businessmen jumped into importing and exporting, and the fortunes of the two communities merged. Trade between Russia and China reached $55 billion in 2010, seven times more than in 2000. Timber and oil flow into resource-hungry China, while China's roaring factories ship machinery, textiles and other manufactured goods back in return. About $9.8 billion of goods passed through tiny Manzhouli in 2010, more than twice the amount just five years earlier. In downtown Manzhouli, Russian tourists troll for cheap Chinese-made boots and winter coats in shopping arcades, where the signs are in Cyrillic and the official haggling language is Russian. With money to be made, Manzhouli became a magnet for northern China's eager and entrepreneurial. The town's population has surged by a factor of 15 since the end of the Cold War, to 300,000. "Before, trade was zero, but now it is booming, and people's quality of life has benefited," says Li Yongsheng, a manager at the Manzhouli Border Economic Cooperation Zone, an industrial park founded by the government to foster business with Russia. "The old hostilities are basically gone." (See "Global Economy: Was the Past Decade So Bad?")
Manzhouli's success story is being re-created again and again across the emerging world. Flows of goods, people and capital among major developing economies are becoming a larger and larger source of exports, jobs, financing and economic growth for these up-and-coming nations. The trend — a move away from trade and investment flows dominated by Western consumer demand — could reshape the world economy. Tightening economic ties within the emerging world can provide a badly needed boost for a global economy still searching for a route out of the Great Recession — the primary concern of November's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Hawaii. The growing linkages are redirecting patterns of investment, trade and migration, altering the role of the U.S. in the global economy, redrawing political alliances and sparking new geopolitical rivalries. And we're just at the very beginning of this history-altering process. Stephen King, chief economist at banking giant HSBC, figures that trade and capital flows between emerging regions of the world — Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America — could increase tenfold over the next 40 years. He calls these new connections "a 21st century version of the original Asian Silk Road" that is "set to revolutionize the global economy."
The signs are apparent everywhere. China, not the U.S., has become India's largest trading partner, with the exchange between the two countries surging 28-fold over the past decade to almost $62 billion in 2010. When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited New Delhi last December, the two sides inked $16 billion in trade and financing deals; when U.S. President Barack Obama journeyed to India a month earlier, he managed only $10 billion. India and Brazil already export more to fellow emerging markets than to the developed world. China is the largest foreign investor in Brazil, challenging the historical dominance of the U.S. in Latin America, while a $3.1 billion investment by Chinese oil company CNOOC in Argentine energy firm Bridas was the biggest acquisition in Argentina in 2010. Last year, Russia's Rusal, the world's largest aluminum producer, chose to launch its initial public offering not in London or New York City but on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the first Russian firm to do so. (See photos of Chinese investment in Africa.)
The New World Trading Order
The burgeoning trade and investment among emerging countries is a dramatic shift in how the world economy has worked for several centuries. Traditionally, trade has flowed between "North" and "South" — the developed and developing worlds. Natural resources, from spices to cotton, were shipped into the industrialized West, which in return exported textiles and other factory-made goods. After World War II, this system became more complex, thanks to improved transport and communications. Asian upstarts like South Korea and Singapore grew rich off of outsourcing. Their plentiful, cheap labor assembled clothes, shoes and electronics, often with design and technology from the West, then shipped the goods to Walmarts for U.S. consumers. With shoppers in places like India and Indonesia still poor, there was little incentive to reach out to them. Tense relations between developing nations — such as the border conflict between Russia and China that paralyzed Manzhouli — often created more hurdles. The U.S. and Europe dominated the world's trade and capital, and everyone depended on them for growth and jobs.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2097986,00.html#ixzz1cK055BkK

That pattern began to change after China jumped into the globalization game in the 1980s. Factories in Shenzhen and Shanghai became the centerpieces of "borderless-manufacturing" networks in which parts for TVs, mobile phones and other goods were produced across Asia, then shipped to China for final assembly, spurring greater trade within the region. As rapid growth in China, India and other emerging markets turbocharged local incomes, they became export destinations in their own right, with fellow emerging-nation companies selling to one another's consumers. The connections continue to draw in more and more parts of the emerging world. Trade between the developing economies of Asia and Latin America, for example, grew sevenfold over the 10 years ending in 2010, to $268 billion. China and India, seeking access to raw materials and new customers, have become patrons of Africa. Trade between India and Africa has exploded from a mere $1 billion in 2001 to $50 billion in 2010. Last year, Indian telecom-service provider Bharti Airtel acquired operations in 15 nations in sub-Saharan Africa for $10.7 billion in one of the biggest cross-border deals in Indian history. Ganeshan Wignaraja, a specialist in economic integration at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, says these emerging-market ties are creating a "third pillar" of growth within the world economy, alongside the U.S. and the E.U. "We're heading toward a multipolar world," he says.
The consequences of that go well beyond the mere movement of goods. The more important trade and investment within the emerging world become, the less important the West becomes to the global economy, a trend accelerated by the Great Recession. While the economies of the West sag under high debt and joblessness, China, India and much of the rest of the emerging world have powered through the downturn and are looking more and more to one another. And as the major emerging economies grow closer economically, they are discovering shared political interests. The BRICs — Brazil, Russia, India and China — have already started to hold regular summits to coordinate their efforts on major issues like reforming the global financial system. (South Africa joined the latest conference as well.) They are also challenging the established economic order. China and Russia, for example, have led a charge to replace the U.S. dollar as the world's No. 1 reserve currency. If the supersonic trade and investment among emerging economies continues, "the importance of the U.S. and Europe economically and politically would diminish," says HSBC's King. (Read about corruption and abuse of Power threatening Russia's economic gains.)
Corporate executives are discovering new opportunities in their emerging compatriots as well. Companies that might not have broken into developed markets with little-known brand names have found success in emerging markets, where loyalties aren't as fixed. Chinese mobile-phone maker G'Five saw its sales in India surge more than 75% in the past fiscal year; its trendy phones appeal to Indian consumers with thin wallets. Chery, a major Chinese carmaker, would likely struggle in the competitive U.S. market, where Chinese-made goods suffer from a reputation for shoddy quality. Instead, Chery has invested in emerging economies and has 16 factories either operating or under construction in countries such as Russia, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia and Brazil. Chinese PC maker Lenovo decided in 2009 to focus more on emerging economies, believing its experience at home could give it an advantage in other developing nations. In India, for instance, the firm replicated sales techniques that worked in poor areas of China, like showing free movies to villagers as part of PC-marketing road shows. The strategy has paid off. Revenue in emerging markets (excluding Lenovo's Chinese base) ballooned 46.5% in the quarter ending in June, compared with only an 8.5% increase in developed countries, helping the company gain PC market share globally.
Building Bridges (Literally)
The continued integration of the emerging world is far from assured. Developing countries have higher tariffs and stiffer restrictions on capital flow than developed ones. Roads and transport networks have been designed to deliver goods to the U.S. and Europe, not from one developing country to another, often making the shipping of products slow and expensive. As a result, the flow of trade and money is still small compared with that between North and South. Despite its eye-popping growth, trade between India and China amounts to a mere sixth of that between China and the U.S. Persistent political tensions could also flare up and impede economic relations in the future. China and India, for example, still spar over unresolved border disputes, while New Delhi's support for the Dalai Lama irks leaders in Beijing who consider him a dangerous separatist.

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In Manzhouli, there is a gap between the potential of the Russian trade and the reality. The markets at a tourist zone outside town, where Russians can shop without visas for Chinese-made wares, are almost completely shut by 1 p.m. A giant hotel not far from the airport, topped by Russian-style maroon domes, appears abandoned. Chinese officials complain that their Russian counterparts hamper progress by erratically changing regulations and trade policies. "The Russian bureaucrats are not eager to move forward with economic development," says Li of the Manzhouli economic zone. "Chinese officials are willing to sacrifice their holidays for development. Russian officials never work overtime." There are physical impediments as well. The gauges of the Russian and Chinese railways are different, forcing trade goods to be transferred between trains at the Manzhouli border — a productivity-killing process.
Active efforts are under way to dismantle these barriers. Developing Asian and Latin American countries have completed 13 free-trade agreements since 2004. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently raised the idea of forging a free-trade "Eurasian Union" among former Soviet states, and during an October visit by Putin to Beijing, Russia and China formed a joint $4 billion fund to encourage investment between them. New roads, railways and ports are connecting emerging nations more than ever before. Burma is rebuilding an old road across the country that will link China and India, potentially cutting the cost of transporting goods between them by some 30%. Beijing, wary of relying on the Panama Canal for the shipping of Brazil's vital natural resources, is proposing a new route through Colombia, with a $7.6 billion railway connecting its Pacific and Caribbean coasts. And China is liberalizing (albeit slowly) its currency regime, encouraging its major partners to use the renminbi instead of the dollar in their trade. HSBC figures that the renminbi could be the currency of choice in at least half of China's trade with other emerging nations in three to five years. (See photos of China's high-speed rail.)
But even as some roadblocks come down, others go up. Competition among major emerging markets for exports, investment, jobs and global influence fuels tensions. Officials in Brazil and India have complained that China's control of the renminbi's value hampers their exports by keeping competing Chinese goods artificially cheap. Resentment toward China spans from Brazil to Zambia over Chinese investors' buying up large swaths of their economies while providing few benefits in return. Resolving such differences could be crucial for the future of the emerging world. As HSBC's King points out, giant emerging economies can no longer count on the overextended U.S. consumer to raise their living standards up to the level of the West; only exports and growth created within the emerging world can achieve that. Consulting firm Accenture estimates that India's expanding business with other emerging markets could create 28.2 million jobs in the country by 2020. And as the emerging world becomes more integrated, pressure mounts on the U.S. and Europe to join in — by, for example, signing more free-trade agreements like the ones Washington approved in October with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. "The story for the developed countries is that you have to get on your bike and be part of the rush to key emerging markets," says ADB's Wignaraja. Otherwise, "you run the risk of being left out."
Huang Jincai has no intention of letting that happen to him. The Manzhouli-based timber processor has pinned all his hopes — and money — on China-Russia trade. In 2003, Huang was a migrant worker, spending long hours in the Russian Far East cutting timber. Today, his desk overlooks a buzzing Manzhouli from the 20th floor of an office tower two blocks away from the new, swank Shangri-La Hotel. Over the past seven years, Huang, his brother and a Russian partner have invested almost $5 million in a timber-processing factory in Russia that employs 100 people, and this year he started a Manzhouli company to import and sell the timber. Though he regularly confronts difficulties, from bewildering local tax codes to occasional Russian hostility to Chinese workers, those problems can't squelch his enthusiasm. "My life has changed a lot" because of the Russia trade, Huang, 31, says. "I'm pretty optimistic. After all, the trade just can't stop." No, it can't.
— with reporting by Nilanjana Bhowmick / New Delhi, Jessie Jiang / Manzhouli, Simon Shuster / Moscow And Sheena Rossiter / São Paulo

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Want to Retire Early? It’s Not About Making More Money

Like happiness, retirement readiness doesn’t have all that much to do with how much you earn. It’s more about what you do with what you have.

Studies have shown that the extremely rich are no happier than the poor Maasai herdsmen of East Africa; rich nations like the U.S., Britain and Germany score lower than developing nations like Columbia and El Salvador in happiness tests. With money, it seems, come big expectations that often go unmet.

(MORE: News Flash: Long Lives Require More Retirement Savings)

Similarly, a survey from Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies found that pay had little bearing on early retirement planning. In the survey, one-in-five workers expected to retire by age 65 and this group represented a broad cross section of the population. From the report:

“The secret of future early retirees’ success is not necessarily born out of privilege or ultra-affluence. They are more likely to be everyday people. Demographically speaking:

• 52% have a college degree.
• 49% report annual household income less than $100,000.”

Put another way, roughly half who expect to retire early are no smarter or richer than many Americans, who as a group are woefully unprepared to call it quits and increasingly plan to work longer in order to make the math work.

Are these early retiree hopefuls deluding themselves? Not necessarily. Their confidence springs from the specific steps they are taking to reach their goals. From the report:

“The defining success factors for future early retirees are that they are more likely to:

• Be offered a 401(k) plan and/or defined benefit plan by their employer.
• Start saving for retirement at a young age (25).
• Defer a high rate (10%) of their salary into their 401(k).
• Save for retirement outside of work.
• Be involved in managing their retirement accounts.
• Be saving the same or more since the recession.”

They have a plan. They are following through. How much they earn is practically irrelevant, assuming they keep their job and have no catastrophic expenses. What matters is sticking to the plan.

To have an even better shot at retiring early these hopefuls could improve in certain areas. Less than half had calculated a savings goal or projected Social Security income. Find your numbers on calculators here and here.

(MORE: Save for Retirement or Pay Tuition? Most Parents Are Making the Wrong Choice)

Only a third understood the basics of asset allocation. Subtract your age from 110. That is the percentage of savings you should have in stocks. Just 29% had a back up plan if forced to retire ahead of schedule. Your plan might include things like disability insurance or downsizing your home.

In happiness and in retirement, it’s all about embracing what you have – not what you wished you had.

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How to Calculate the Real Cost of College

Amid rising tuition and shrinking state funding, high schoolers and their parents can at least get a little more clarity now as they try to figure out which colleges they can afford to attend. Beginning Oct. 29, more than 7,000 schools nationwide will be required to post on their websites a net-price calculator to help families determine how much financial aid they will likely receive and how much they’ll have to pay out of pocket.

Warning: The estimates may cause heart palpitations. Some schools with enormous sticker prices (think $50,000 or higher per year) may have generous aid policies that make them cheaper than more moderately priced schools that have smaller endowments.

(GALLERY: The 20 Colleges With the Most (and Least) Student Debt)

The calculators, which are mandated by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, come up with net prices for individuals by taking the estimated costs — including tuition, fees, housing, books, transportation and other expenses — and subtracting the estimated aid a particular student is likely to receive, based on financial need and academic achievement. This aid comes in the form of scholarships from the school and grants (i.e., free money) from the federal government. After the net price is predicted, the calculators go a step further and detail the savings that could come from utilizing government-backed loans, which have low, fixed interest rates, and participating in a school’s work-study program.

Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid, a website that provides information to students on how to finance their education, says the calculators will give families a rough idea of what to expect. “They can tell you whether a college is within your ballpark of affordability, but you can’t distinguish between home plate and center field,” he says.

Even still, Kantrowitz says, the results shouldn’t be off by more than a few thousand dollars.

Accuracy varies in part because some schools are using the template developed by the Department of Education, which only includes nine questions, while others ask for a lot more detailed information, such as whether a family owns their home, how much they paid for it, how much it’s worth and how much they still owe on it. “The more precise the calculator, the better the results,” says Myra Smith, executive director of financial aid service at the College Board, which has created a calculator template used by about 325 schools. Smith expects most schools will utilize the DoE template in the beginning, but will eventually switch to more specialized tools to provide a more accurate, personalized estimate.

To get a better sense of the difference between sticker price (how much colleges cost) and net price (how much students actually have to pay), TIME played around with the calculators for the Indiana University at Bloomington and the University of Notre Dame. Our hypothetical family consisted of a married couple in Bloomington, Ind., with two kids and an annual household income of $60,000. Our hypothetical college applicant also had solid but not stellar academic credentials, with a 3.6 G.P.A. and a 1,200 on her SATs.

(MORE: Obama’s Student Loan Plan to Offer Debt Relief for Graduates)

University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana

The total cost of attending the private University of Notre Dame is much more expensive than at the public Indiana University at Bloomington, $59,783 compared to $22,150. But a large endowment means Notre Dame predicts it will offer our hypothetical student a $48,799 scholarship, lowering her net cost to just under $11,000 a year.

Indiana University at Bloomington (in-state)

No financial aid is being offered from the school. The only thing that reduced the net cost for our hypothetical applicant was a $5,500 federal student loan, leaving the family to come up with the additional $16,000 a year on their own. And, of course, any student loans the family takes out, be they federal or private, will have to be paid back one day.

Indiana University at Bloomington (out-of-state)

The estimates are much bleaker for our hypothetical student when we changed her home state from Indiana to Colorado. Tuition for out-of-state students costs about $20,000 more, bumping up the net price to north of $40,000.

So, families, does peeling back the curtain make you feel better or worse?

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