Union: Members can honor picket lines if writers strike

A powerful Hollywood Teamsters branch has told its 4,500 members they can honor picket lines if TV and film writers strike this week.

Teamsters Local 399 advised its members in a Web posting late Monday that as a union, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts with producers.

But the local, which represents truck drivers, casting directors and location managers, said the clause does not apply to individuals, who are protected by federal law from employee retribution should they decide to honor picket lines.

"As for me as an individual, I will not cross any picket line whether it is sanctioned or not because I firmly believe that Teamsters do not cross picket lines," union local secretary-treasurer Leo Reed wrote on the Web site.

Negotiators for the 12,000-member Writers Guild of America and the group representing producers resumed their contentious negotiations Tuesday in the presence of a federal mediator, who was called in to break a stalemate before the current pact expires at midnight Wednesday.

A key issue involves payments for programming offered on DVDs, cell phones and other platforms.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents networks and studios, sent a letter late Monday to craft unions representing electricians, drivers and other trades, reminding them of the "no strike" clauses in their contracts.

"We expect each union to comply with this no strike obligation and order your members to work," alliance president J. Nicholas Counter wrote.

A possible strike was not expected to have an immediate effect on TV schedule or film production because most shows have enough scripts in hand to get through several months.

But scripts would start to run out in January or February, possibly prompting networks to turn to reality shows, news programs and reruns to fill the airwaves.

Source: edition.cnn.com

Read more »

Oil prices fall ahead of U.S. fed decision

Oil prices dropped below US$90 a barrel Wednesday in Asia ahead of the U.S. central bank's impending decision on its key interest rate.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell 68 cents to US$89.70 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midmorning in Singapore.

The Nymex crude contract fell US$3.15 to settle at US$90.38 a barrel Tuesday, partly due to a research report from influential trading house Goldman Sachs advising clients to sell oil futures to lock in profits.

"The general expectation is that the Federal Reserve will cut the interest rate, and there may have been some precautionary profit taking ahead of that," said David Moore, a commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.

Most investors expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to deliver a quarter-point cut at the end of its two-day meeting later Wednesday. The Fed made a half-point reduction in September.

The market has already factored in a quarter-point cut in the benchmark U.S. interest rate, but a half-point cut could spark a new rally, Koichi Murakami, a broker at Daiichi Shohin, told Dow Jones Newswires.

A larger-than-expected cut would further weaken a greenback already at multiple-decade lows against major currencies. Oil futures have been driven to record levels the past week partly because they offer a hedge against a weak dollar.

A weak dollar also makes oil futures seem inexpensive to traders dealing in other currencies.

"Some traders will continue profit-taking sales, but it is difficult to take large positions ahead of the two important indicators," Murakami said.

Besides waiting for the U.S. Fed decision, traders are also watching for a weekly U.S. petroleum inventory report expected to show crude supplies rose last week.

Oil futures' most recent price rally started a week ago, when the EIA reported a large, unexpected decline in crude inventories.

Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, on average, predict that oil inventories rose 100,000 barrels during the week ended Oct. 26, though their estimates vary widely.

The analysts said, on average, refinery use grew 0.5 percentage point to 87.6 percent of capacity; gasoline inventories rose 400,000 barrels; and distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, fell 1 million barrels.

Source: edition.cnn.com

Read more »

Japan interest rate unchanged

The Bank of Japan kept its benchmark interest rate steady at 0.5 percent Wednesday as uncertainty in the global economy and financial markets continues to cloud the outlook for Japan.

The decision at the one-day policy meeting was widely expected after BOJ officials warned of downside risk to the U.S. economy and volatility in global markets.

The bank is scheduled to release its semiannual economic outlook report later in the day.

BOJ Governor Toshihiko Fukui is also slated to hold a news conference.

Analysts said the bank will lower its forecast for real economic growth this fiscal year because of expected weak growth in the fiscal third quarter and continued weakness in prices due to sluggish wages.

Fukui reiterated earlier this month the BOJ's stance that interest rates will be adjusted "gradually" based on the degree of improvement in the economy and price conditions.

But he also indicated the bank wasn't likely to consider raising interest rates anytime soon due to "uncertain factors" such as global market volatility that are making it difficult to predict the economy's future path.


Some analysts and investors are speculating the bank may raise its key interest rate to 0.75 percent before the end of the year since Japan has not felt a strong impact from the U.S. subprime crisis.

Many others are betting the cloudy outlook for the U.S. economy will keep the BOJ from raising rates the rest of the year.

Source: edition.cnn.com

Read more »

Master blaster goes poetic

A festival organised by Raj Thakre in Mumbai's Shivaji Park on Tuesday saw prominent Marathi personalities from all walks of life gather together to celebrate Marathi literature and films.

The star atraction though was Sachin Tendulkar who innaugrated the function and recited one of his father's poems.

Sachin's father Professor Ramesh Tendulkar was a professor of Marathi and a noted Marathi poet.

Other personalities like Ashutosh Gowariker, Sonali Bendre, the actor Sachin and editors of a number of leading Marathi dailies were present.

Source: ndtv.com

Read more »

Bell Challenge: Davenport ousts Kerber

Lindsay Davenport posted another win in her comeback by accounting for seventh-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-3, 6-3 in the Bell Challenge first round on Tuesday.

Davenport, the three-time Grand Slam winner who gave birth to her first child in June, improved to 9-1 since returning to the WTA Tour in September.

She won her first tournament back in Bali, reached the semifinals in Beijing, and accepted a wild card for her first appearance in the Tier III event in Quebec City.

Davenport, who'd never met Kerber before, will also play Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak for the first time in the second round.

Olga Poutchkova would be happy if history repeats for her at the Bell Challenge. Even losing the final 6-0, 6-0 as she did last year.

Poutchkova hasn't been close to making a final this year, and the Bell is the 20-year-old Russian's last chance for 2007.

After a breakthrough 2006 season in which she reached her first two career finals - Marion Bartoli blanked her in last year's Bell final - Poutchkova won two successive matches only once this year, in March at Miami, and lost 12 in a row from May until last month.

She has returned to Quebec City as the eighth seed, just as she was last year, and received another favorable first-round draw to get her confidence started, this time against New Zealand qualifier Marina Erakovic, whom Poutchkova dispatched 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday.

Next up will be Jill Craybas, who beat fellow American Lilia Osterloh 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

Vania King of the United States defeated Anne Kremer of Luxembourg 6-2, 6-1 and will probably play top-seeded Nicole Vaidisova in the second round, while Severine Bremond of France beat Marie-Eve Pelletier of Canada 6-2, 6-3 to set up a match with second-seeded Vera Zvonareva.

In other first-rounders, Stephanie Foretz of France put away Yaroslava Shvedova of Russia 6-3, 6-4, and Russian veteran Alina Jidkova earned her second WTA-level win of the year when she defeated India's Sunitha Rao 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

Source: ndtv.com

Read more »

Shoaib joggles to get on track

He is fast, he is furious and undoubtedly the bad boy of international cricket for last many years.
When Shoaib Akhtar lands in India next week, he will be making one of the most awaited comebacks in the game. And, hopefully, this time around, he wouldn't fly out of the country without playing a single match, just like he did in the Champions Trophy last year.

Shoaib Akhtar's first and till date, the last Test match on the Indian soil at Kolkata in 1999 was full of twists and turns.

The Rawalpindi Express was also making his Test debut versus India in this match. He made it a memorable one by first removing Rahul Dravid for a duck and then cleaning up Tendulkar off the very next ball.

Shoaib never toured India with a test team again. But, there were interesting battles fought on the Pakistani soil. Tendulkar was his target number one and so shall it remain when Shoaib lands in India next month.

"It could be my last tour to India. I am 32 now and I don't think I will have an opportunity to go back to India after four years. It is going to be my last tour and I will make it memorable for myself. Repeat the history, whatever I got from India, bowling Sachin out on the first ball. I want to claim my memories again and perform well again," said Shoaib Akhtar, member, Pakistan Cricket Team.

Perhaps there is an unfinished business to complete. The very fact that he hasn't troubled the Indians much in the past could irk Shoaib a bit. He's got just 19 wickets from 7 Tests versus India, with not even a single five-wicket haul.

However, Shoaib did manage taking eight scalps in the first test he played against the hosts in 1999.

Shoaib's blistering pace has, at times, made things easier for the Indian batsmen. And on certain occasions, spelled doom for the men in blue.

However, as statistics prove, just like in the Tests, there is no fear factor involved when the Indians face him in the shorter format of the game as well.

In 23 one-day internationals against India, Shoaib has managed just 34 wickets with a best of four for 36.

Seven of those wickets have come in the four one-day internationals versus India in India. He can improve on the upcoming five match ODI series next month.

However, the biggest task in front of Shoaib would not just be taking wickets on the tour of India but also avoiding injuries and dressing room controversies.

The most senior bowler in the Pakistan team has in fact played only one test and four one-dayers since February 2006 due to fitness problems and disciplinary issues.

So, the stage is all set for the mother of all battles. Forget Andrew Symonds' verbal banter, the next few weeks will see Shoaib Akhtar taking on the likes of MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar on their home turf.

Winter is setting in but expect a lot of heat when the PIA flight lands in New Delhi on the 1st of November.

Source: ndtv.com

Read more »

Junta's good deed ahead of UN visit

Myanmar's military government has freed seven members of Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party who were held for more than a month following the junta's deadly crackdown, the party said on Wednesday.

The releases on Tuesday night came ahead of a visit by UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari to seek reconciliation between the junta and democratic forces since month's demonstrations led by Buddhist monks, the biggest protests in the Southeast Asian nation in nearly two decades.

The seven had been detained at the infamous Insein Prison in Yangon, said Nyan Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.

They included party spokesman Myint Thein and six others: Han Zaw, Lei Lei, Ko Bala, Cin Shin Htan, Htaung Ko Htan and Win Naing, the spokesman said.

''All these people had been arrested unnecessarily and we demand the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained arbitrarily,'' another NLD spokesman Han Tha said.

He added that at least 150 party members out of nearly 300 who had been arrested since September remain in detention.

Han Tha said many of them have been denied proper medical treatment and were living in harsh conditions.

The government had earlier said it detained about 3,000 people in connection with the protests but had released most of them. Many reports have emerged of brutal treatment in custody.

The league said many of the detainees were questioned about links between the party and the protests, which were led by Buddhist monks.

Demonstrations that began August 19 over high prices for fuel and consumer goods mushroomed over several weeks into a broad-based movement that attracted thousands of people in Yangon, the country's biggest city, and other areas.

Troops crushed the protests by shooting at demonstrations on September 26 to 27, arresting thousands including Buddhist monks.

The government said 10 people were killed, but dissident groups put the toll at up to 200 and thousands arrested including a number of Buddhist monks.

The junta accused the league the 88 Generation Students group, exiled dissidents and the United States of inciting the protests.

Source: ndtv.com

Read more »