Global credit ratings agency Moody's downgraded Tata Motors Tuesday, a day after India's top vehicle maker said it sealed its 2.3-billion-dollar purchase of British luxury icons Jaguar and Land Rover.
Moody's Investors Service cut its so-called "corporate family rating" for Tata Motors Ltd (TML) to Ba2 from Ba1, which was already one notch below investment grade.
Corporate family refers to a company's ability to honour all of its financial obligations.
The purchase, part of Tata's bid to expand its reach beyond Asia, capped months of talks with Ford Motor Co., which sold the brands to focus on turning around its loss-making North American operations,
"The rating change reflects the considerable challenges TML will face in successfully integrating such a large operation, which only recently turned profitable, and the immediate impact on TML's financial profile," said senior Moody's analyst Chris Park in a statement.
Analysts say Jaguar and Land Rover sales have been under heavy pressure this year due to the global economic downturn.
They also have questioned whether Tata will do better in plugging what was a financial sinkhole for Ford, which received less than half of what it paid for the two prestige marques after investing billions of dollars to turn them around.
"TML's future consolidated performance will be predicated on whether JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) can both sustain its improved profitability and contribute positively to TML," Moody's analyst Park said.
On the positive side, Tata, whose vehicle line-up also includes the world's cheapest car, the 2,500-dollar Nano -- due to roll off assembly lines later this year, will make a big technological leap by gaining access to the sophisticated engines of Land Rover and Jaguar, analysts say.
The deal includes all intellectual property rights, manufacturing plants, two advanced design centres in Britain and a worldwide sales network, Tata Motors said in a statement Monday, announcing it had completed the acquisition first agreed in March.
Tata plans to fund the purchase by raising up to 1.7 billion dollars through three securities rights issues. It also aims to raise up to 600 million dollars from a foreign equity issue.
However, it is raising money at a time when global financial turmoil is making investors shun all but the safest financial bets.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
India, Malaysia Raise Fuel Prices, Risking Inflation (Update2)
June 4 (Bloomberg) -- India and Malaysia were forced to raise fuel prices after crude oil almost doubled in a year, risking fanning inflation and social unrest.
Gasoline will rise 11 percent in India's capital New Delhi to 50.6 rupees ($1.17) a liter from midnight. Pump prices in Malaysia will increase 41 percent to 2.70 ringgit (83 U.S. cents) a liter from tomorrow and will now track global market rates.
Asian nations are grappling with record crude prices that have raised the cost of subsidies and caused losses for refineries. Indonesia and Sri Lanka have passed on higher oil costs, undermining efforts to boost economic growth.
``The countries in Asia, which are dependent on imports, will have to live with the specter of accelerating inflation and slowing economic growth this year,'' said Kaushik Das, an economist with Mumbai-based Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. ``The situation may reverse only if there is a sharp decline in global crude oil prices.''
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh are risking a political backlash after losing ground in elections in the past year. Singh's parliamentary majority hinges on support from communist parties who pledged to rally the nation's 600 million poor in nationwide protests from tomorrow.
Higher Prices
Indian drivers will pay 9 percent more for diesel and families will be charged an additional 17 percent for a cylinder of cooking gas, Oil Minister Murli Deora told reporters in New Delhi. The measures may add between 0.5 percentage point and 0.6 percentage point to wholesale prices, already at a 3 1/2 year high, the government said.
In Malaysia, the price of 97-RON grade gasoline will now be adjusted monthly to track global prices, the prime minister said. The decision may spur inflation that quickened to a 14-month high of 3 percent in April, adding pressure on the central bank to start raising borrowing costs, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said.
Consumer prices will rise an average 6 percent this year, from 3.2 percent estimated previously, Goldman said in a report.
Tenaga Nasional Bhd., the state-controlled power producer, will be allowed to raise electricity prices in peninsular Malaysia starting July as it will have to pay higher prices for gas, Abdullah told reporters in Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur.
Oil prices reached a record $135.09 a barrel in New York on May 22, driven partly by speculation fuel subsidies in Asia will spur demand. Fuel and food account for about 75 percent of household spending for poor families in Asia, according to the Asian Development Bank.
Customs Duties
India also cut customs duties on gasoline and diesel by two thirds to 2.5 percent and scrapped a 5 percent import tax on crude oil. The measures are aimed at reducing revenue losses at state-run refiners that have reached more than $1 billion a week.
``The prices should have been raised higher for a real impact,'' said Ballabh Modani, Mumbai-based analyst with Enam Securities Pvt. who is ``underweight'' on the shares of Indian state-run refiners. ``There's no point in ad hoc increases.''
Raising fuel prices to help oil refiners reduce losses and protect government finances was ``inevitable,'' Singh said.
``There are limits to which we can keep consumer prices unaffected by rising import costs,'' India's prime minister said in a televised address to the nation. ``Our oil companies cannot go on incurring losses.''
India Panel
India formed a panel of officials to evaluate fuel prices. The group, led by B.K. Chaturvedi, a member of the Planning Commission, will also assess the impact on refiners' and oil explorers' earnings and the way they are compensated for selling fuels below cost, the prime minister's office said in an e-mail.
Today's price rises and duty cuts will pare losses for refiners led by Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. by about 420 billion rupees, Oil Secretary M.S. Srinivasan said.
Indian Oil, the nation's biggest refiner, declined 3.7 percent to 417.85 rupees in Mumbai, while second-ranked Bharat Petroleum slumped 8.4 percent to 322.3 rupees.
``The only long-term sustainable measure is raising prices,'' B. Mukherjee, director of finance, Hindustan Petroleum, said in a television interview with Bloomberg. Shares of the refiner, India's third-largest under state control, declined 2.6 percent to 241.05 rupees.
The government previously increased fuel prices in February, the first time since June 2006. Cooking gas prices had been capped since April 2005.
Imports Oil
India, Asia's third-biggest economy, imports 70 percent of its oil requirement and is seeking ways to soften the impact of the surge in prices. Singh said this week that subsidies can't be allowed to rise any further because petroleum prices don't reflect world trends.
Indonesia raised fuel prices by an average 29 percent on May 24, the first increase in three years, to cut subsidy costs.
Ceylon Petroleum Corp., Sri Lanka's state oil company, increased fuel prices for the second time this year on May 25 to trim losses. Lanka IOC Ltd., the Sri Lankan unit of Indian Oil, raised diesel prices three times and gasoline once this year.
Part of the loss incurred by Indian refiners is compensated by the government, which gives them bonds and asks Oil & Natural Gas Corp. and other state-run explorers to share the subsidy.
Oil refiners will still lose about 290 billion rupees in the fiscal year after price increases and oil bonds, Revenue Secretary P.V.bhinde said today
Gasoline will rise 11 percent in India's capital New Delhi to 50.6 rupees ($1.17) a liter from midnight. Pump prices in Malaysia will increase 41 percent to 2.70 ringgit (83 U.S. cents) a liter from tomorrow and will now track global market rates.
Asian nations are grappling with record crude prices that have raised the cost of subsidies and caused losses for refineries. Indonesia and Sri Lanka have passed on higher oil costs, undermining efforts to boost economic growth.
``The countries in Asia, which are dependent on imports, will have to live with the specter of accelerating inflation and slowing economic growth this year,'' said Kaushik Das, an economist with Mumbai-based Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. ``The situation may reverse only if there is a sharp decline in global crude oil prices.''
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh are risking a political backlash after losing ground in elections in the past year. Singh's parliamentary majority hinges on support from communist parties who pledged to rally the nation's 600 million poor in nationwide protests from tomorrow.
Higher Prices
Indian drivers will pay 9 percent more for diesel and families will be charged an additional 17 percent for a cylinder of cooking gas, Oil Minister Murli Deora told reporters in New Delhi. The measures may add between 0.5 percentage point and 0.6 percentage point to wholesale prices, already at a 3 1/2 year high, the government said.
In Malaysia, the price of 97-RON grade gasoline will now be adjusted monthly to track global prices, the prime minister said. The decision may spur inflation that quickened to a 14-month high of 3 percent in April, adding pressure on the central bank to start raising borrowing costs, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said.
Consumer prices will rise an average 6 percent this year, from 3.2 percent estimated previously, Goldman said in a report.
Tenaga Nasional Bhd., the state-controlled power producer, will be allowed to raise electricity prices in peninsular Malaysia starting July as it will have to pay higher prices for gas, Abdullah told reporters in Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur.
Oil prices reached a record $135.09 a barrel in New York on May 22, driven partly by speculation fuel subsidies in Asia will spur demand. Fuel and food account for about 75 percent of household spending for poor families in Asia, according to the Asian Development Bank.
Customs Duties
India also cut customs duties on gasoline and diesel by two thirds to 2.5 percent and scrapped a 5 percent import tax on crude oil. The measures are aimed at reducing revenue losses at state-run refiners that have reached more than $1 billion a week.
``The prices should have been raised higher for a real impact,'' said Ballabh Modani, Mumbai-based analyst with Enam Securities Pvt. who is ``underweight'' on the shares of Indian state-run refiners. ``There's no point in ad hoc increases.''
Raising fuel prices to help oil refiners reduce losses and protect government finances was ``inevitable,'' Singh said.
``There are limits to which we can keep consumer prices unaffected by rising import costs,'' India's prime minister said in a televised address to the nation. ``Our oil companies cannot go on incurring losses.''
India Panel
India formed a panel of officials to evaluate fuel prices. The group, led by B.K. Chaturvedi, a member of the Planning Commission, will also assess the impact on refiners' and oil explorers' earnings and the way they are compensated for selling fuels below cost, the prime minister's office said in an e-mail.
Today's price rises and duty cuts will pare losses for refiners led by Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. by about 420 billion rupees, Oil Secretary M.S. Srinivasan said.
Indian Oil, the nation's biggest refiner, declined 3.7 percent to 417.85 rupees in Mumbai, while second-ranked Bharat Petroleum slumped 8.4 percent to 322.3 rupees.
``The only long-term sustainable measure is raising prices,'' B. Mukherjee, director of finance, Hindustan Petroleum, said in a television interview with Bloomberg. Shares of the refiner, India's third-largest under state control, declined 2.6 percent to 241.05 rupees.
The government previously increased fuel prices in February, the first time since June 2006. Cooking gas prices had been capped since April 2005.
Imports Oil
India, Asia's third-biggest economy, imports 70 percent of its oil requirement and is seeking ways to soften the impact of the surge in prices. Singh said this week that subsidies can't be allowed to rise any further because petroleum prices don't reflect world trends.
Indonesia raised fuel prices by an average 29 percent on May 24, the first increase in three years, to cut subsidy costs.
Ceylon Petroleum Corp., Sri Lanka's state oil company, increased fuel prices for the second time this year on May 25 to trim losses. Lanka IOC Ltd., the Sri Lankan unit of Indian Oil, raised diesel prices three times and gasoline once this year.
Part of the loss incurred by Indian refiners is compensated by the government, which gives them bonds and asks Oil & Natural Gas Corp. and other state-run explorers to share the subsidy.
Oil refiners will still lose about 290 billion rupees in the fiscal year after price increases and oil bonds, Revenue Secretary P.V.bhinde said today
Has India got it right on fuel prices?
So it’s official. India has finally raised fuel prices, by more than most people expected. A hike in diesel prices in particular is sure to feed through into overall inflation. At the same the government removed the import duty on crude oil.
We’d be keen on your opinion. Has the government got it right?
Despite the price rises, oil companies are still going to be losing huge amounts of money and gas-guzzling cars are still going to be heavily subsidized by ordinary taxpayers. The oil ministry had even argued for steeper price hikes.
Are subsidies really the right way to go in the modern world? Is the government sacrificing good economics on the altar of political populism?
Or should the government have tried harder to protect the poor by keeping fuel prices down despite global inflation in oil? The left says the price rises were avoidable, and the government should instead have cut excise duties more and imposed windfall taxes on private companies.
And is this decision going to have a major impact on the UPA government’s chances of re-election?
Posted in Critical Eye | 2 Comments »
We’d be keen on your opinion. Has the government got it right?
Despite the price rises, oil companies are still going to be losing huge amounts of money and gas-guzzling cars are still going to be heavily subsidized by ordinary taxpayers. The oil ministry had even argued for steeper price hikes.
Are subsidies really the right way to go in the modern world? Is the government sacrificing good economics on the altar of political populism?
Or should the government have tried harder to protect the poor by keeping fuel prices down despite global inflation in oil? The left says the price rises were avoidable, and the government should instead have cut excise duties more and imposed windfall taxes on private companies.
And is this decision going to have a major impact on the UPA government’s chances of re-election?
Posted in Critical Eye | 2 Comments »
Chasing down brain tumor wildfires
CHICAGO - When the world's top specialists in removing and treating brain tumors talk about surgery, they never utter the word cure.
more stories like thisThat's because a brain tumor is much like a wildfire, always seeking new territory to conquer. An operation can douse the hottest part of the inferno, but doctors know that dangerous embers remain behind.
As a result, patients such as Senator Edward M. Kennedy, whose malignant tumor was excised Monday by physicians at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, must endure radiation and chemotherapy in an attempt to neutralize stray cancer cells.
"These tumors are very aggressive," said Dr. Mark Gilbert, a neuro-oncologist at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. "They cannot be treated by surgery alone."
A statement released yesterday by Kennedy's office said that the senior senator from Massachusetts had experienced no complications from his operation and "has been walking the hallways, spending time with family, and actively keeping up with the news of the day." The statement predicted he would leave Duke in about a week.
At the same time Kennedy was undergoing surgery Monday, brain tumor specialists here were revealing their latest research at an international scientific meeting of cancer doctors, showing modest progress in treating brain cancer and advances in understanding its underlying biology. Specialists debate how much surgery can extend patients' lives, but studies presented this week and previously have shown that a three-year-old form of chemotherapy, when combined with surgery and radiation, adds at least several months to the lives of patients.
Once the surgeon's work is finished, follow-up treatment proceeds on two fronts: in the region where the tumor once sat and in more distant corners of the brain.
Radiation, carefully calibrated and narrowly targeted, aims at the tumor bed and, usually, a 2-centimeter ring around it.
"So radiation provides some control of the tumor at and around where the original tumor was, but still there are individual tumor cells that might have migrated much further out" in the brain, said Dr. Deepa Subramaniam, director of the Brain Tumor Center at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington. "And it is those cells that are targeted by chemotherapy."
A few weeks after surgery is completed, patients begin receiving radiation and chemotherapy simultaneously. Typically, the course of radiation lasts six weeks, with five treatments each week.
Patients also start a daily dose of chemotherapy called temozolomide, which comes in a pill. Once radiation is finished, patients continue taking the pills for at least the next six months. The doses become less frequent, with pills taken on only five consecutive days in each month.
Unlike some other forms of chemotherapy, temozolomide usually does not cause patients' hair to fall out or severe bouts of nausea.Continued...
Even after surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, few patients with malignant brain tumors survive five years after their initial diagnosis. That reflects both the limited tools doctors have to fight the disease, as well as the unusually insidious nature of brain tumors.
Gilbert said there is controversy in the field about whether surgery extends patients' lives. In part, Subramaniam said, that's because researchers have never conducted a gold-standard trial to confirm the benefits of brain surgery. Such a study, in which some patients would have their tumor removed while others would not, would be impractical now, she said.
"No patient would be willing to be in a trial like that," Subramaniam said. "I almost feel it would be unethical, based on the vast amount of evidence we have to support" the removal of brain tumors.
"If a tumor was in a location where it can be taken out safely," she said, "I would want it taken out."
Less rigorous studies have suggested that surgery helps patients live longer, by maybe four months. But the most widely cited of those studies were done in an era before patients received temozolomide, which could add to surgery's benefit.
At the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference that just concluded, researchers presented studies that affirmed the effectiveness and safety of temozolomide, while other scientists' work showed the potential of a drug now used to treat other tumors.
That medication, Avastin, aims to choke off the nutrients tumors need to thrive. Brain tumors, as much as any other malignancy, are adept at engineering their spread by sprouting blood vessels, a process called angiogenesis that was discovered by the legendary Children's Hospital Boston researcher Judah Folkman, who died earlier this year. Avastin interrupts angiogenesis, and the drug is now being used in brain tumor patients whose growth recurs.
For example, one study released Monday showed that when patients whose tumors had returned received Avastin in combination with a second drug, 22 percent were still alive two years later. That is considered an improvement over previous treatments, albeit a modest gain.
"Patients are living months longer or even a year, but it always comes back," said Dr. Patrick Wen, clinical director of the Center for Neuro-oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, who also practices at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
more stories like thisThat's because a brain tumor is much like a wildfire, always seeking new territory to conquer. An operation can douse the hottest part of the inferno, but doctors know that dangerous embers remain behind.
As a result, patients such as Senator Edward M. Kennedy, whose malignant tumor was excised Monday by physicians at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, must endure radiation and chemotherapy in an attempt to neutralize stray cancer cells.
"These tumors are very aggressive," said Dr. Mark Gilbert, a neuro-oncologist at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. "They cannot be treated by surgery alone."
A statement released yesterday by Kennedy's office said that the senior senator from Massachusetts had experienced no complications from his operation and "has been walking the hallways, spending time with family, and actively keeping up with the news of the day." The statement predicted he would leave Duke in about a week.
At the same time Kennedy was undergoing surgery Monday, brain tumor specialists here were revealing their latest research at an international scientific meeting of cancer doctors, showing modest progress in treating brain cancer and advances in understanding its underlying biology. Specialists debate how much surgery can extend patients' lives, but studies presented this week and previously have shown that a three-year-old form of chemotherapy, when combined with surgery and radiation, adds at least several months to the lives of patients.
Once the surgeon's work is finished, follow-up treatment proceeds on two fronts: in the region where the tumor once sat and in more distant corners of the brain.
Radiation, carefully calibrated and narrowly targeted, aims at the tumor bed and, usually, a 2-centimeter ring around it.
"So radiation provides some control of the tumor at and around where the original tumor was, but still there are individual tumor cells that might have migrated much further out" in the brain, said Dr. Deepa Subramaniam, director of the Brain Tumor Center at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington. "And it is those cells that are targeted by chemotherapy."
A few weeks after surgery is completed, patients begin receiving radiation and chemotherapy simultaneously. Typically, the course of radiation lasts six weeks, with five treatments each week.
Patients also start a daily dose of chemotherapy called temozolomide, which comes in a pill. Once radiation is finished, patients continue taking the pills for at least the next six months. The doses become less frequent, with pills taken on only five consecutive days in each month.
Unlike some other forms of chemotherapy, temozolomide usually does not cause patients' hair to fall out or severe bouts of nausea.Continued...
Even after surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, few patients with malignant brain tumors survive five years after their initial diagnosis. That reflects both the limited tools doctors have to fight the disease, as well as the unusually insidious nature of brain tumors.
Gilbert said there is controversy in the field about whether surgery extends patients' lives. In part, Subramaniam said, that's because researchers have never conducted a gold-standard trial to confirm the benefits of brain surgery. Such a study, in which some patients would have their tumor removed while others would not, would be impractical now, she said.
"No patient would be willing to be in a trial like that," Subramaniam said. "I almost feel it would be unethical, based on the vast amount of evidence we have to support" the removal of brain tumors.
"If a tumor was in a location where it can be taken out safely," she said, "I would want it taken out."
Less rigorous studies have suggested that surgery helps patients live longer, by maybe four months. But the most widely cited of those studies were done in an era before patients received temozolomide, which could add to surgery's benefit.
At the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference that just concluded, researchers presented studies that affirmed the effectiveness and safety of temozolomide, while other scientists' work showed the potential of a drug now used to treat other tumors.
That medication, Avastin, aims to choke off the nutrients tumors need to thrive. Brain tumors, as much as any other malignancy, are adept at engineering their spread by sprouting blood vessels, a process called angiogenesis that was discovered by the legendary Children's Hospital Boston researcher Judah Folkman, who died earlier this year. Avastin interrupts angiogenesis, and the drug is now being used in brain tumor patients whose growth recurs.
For example, one study released Monday showed that when patients whose tumors had returned received Avastin in combination with a second drug, 22 percent were still alive two years later. That is considered an improvement over previous treatments, albeit a modest gain.
"Patients are living months longer or even a year, but it always comes back," said Dr. Patrick Wen, clinical director of the Center for Neuro-oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, who also practices at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Gina Gershon denies hanky-panky with Bill Clinton
Gina Gershon did not have sex with that man, Mr. Clinton.
That’s what the actress’ high-powered attorneys yesterday fired off in a letter to Vanity Fair maggie, which just published a scandalous story about Bill Clinton that insinuates that Gerson had an inappropriate liaison with the former president.
The story, called “The Comeback Id,” written by Todd Purdum - the hubby of Bubba’s former press secretary Dee Dee Myers - reports there’s been “some recent high-end Hollywood dinner party gossip that Clinton has been seen visiting with the actress Gina Gershon in California.”
The actress’ lawyers claim she’s been in the same room as the former prez at least three times, but was always in the presence of many, sometimes 100 or more, people.
When Clinton was in office, Gershon attended a charity event at the White House as a guest of the Shrivers, her attorney Lynda B. Goldman wrote Purdum and VF editor Graydon Carter. She also attended a big dinner in New York for Bono, where the prez was in attendance. And Gina was a last-minute guest at a dinner party for 10 or 15 thrown by Ron Burkle at his home in La-La where Clinton was on the guest list.
“These are the true facts,” said the lawyer. “Rumor-mongering was substituted for fact-checking.”
The letter demands “a retraction and correction.”
The former president himself is none too happy with Purdum’s reportage.
Earlier this week, Clinton said of the former New York Times [NYT] writer: “He’s sleazy. He’s a really dishonest reporter. . . . There’s just five or six blatant lies in there. But he’s a real slimy guy.”
Bill, however, wasn’t specific about the “lies.”
Citing an anti-Hillary/pro-Obama media conspiracy, the former LOTFW said that Vanity Fair’s scribe didn’t use a “single name, cite a single source in all those things he said. It’s just slimy.”
Gina Gershon did not have sex with that man, Mr. Clinton.
That’s what the actress’ high-powered attorneys yesterday fired off in a letter to Vanity Fair maggie, which just published a scandalous story about Bill Clinton that insinuates that Gerson had an inappropriate liaison with the former president.
The story, called “The Comeback Id,” written by Todd Purdum - the hubby of Bubba’s former press secretary Dee Dee Myers - reports there’s been “some recent high-end Hollywood dinner party gossip that Clinton has been seen visiting with the actress Gina Gershon in California.”
The actress’ lawyers claim she’s been in the same room as the former prez at least three times, but was always in the presence of many, sometimes 100 or more, people.
When Clinton was in office, Gershon attended a charity event at the White House as a guest of the Shrivers, her attorney Lynda B. Goldman wrote Purdum and VF editor Graydon Carter. She also attended a big dinner in New York for Bono, where the prez was in attendance. And Gina was a last-minute guest at a dinner party for 10 or 15 thrown by Ron Burkle at his home in La-La where Clinton was on the guest list.
“These are the true facts,” said the lawyer. “Rumor-mongering was substituted for fact-checking.”
The letter demands “a retraction and correction.”
The former president himself is none too happy with Purdum’s reportage.
Earlier this week, Clinton said of the former New York Times [NYT] writer: “He’s sleazy. He’s a really dishonest reporter. . . . There’s just five or six blatant lies in there. But he’s a real slimy guy.”
Bill, however, wasn’t specific about the “lies.”
Citing an anti-Hillary/pro-Obama media conspiracy, the former LOTFW said that Vanity Fair’s scribe didn’t use a “single name, cite a single source in all those things he said. It’s just slimy.”
That’s what the actress’ high-powered attorneys yesterday fired off in a letter to Vanity Fair maggie, which just published a scandalous story about Bill Clinton that insinuates that Gerson had an inappropriate liaison with the former president.
The story, called “The Comeback Id,” written by Todd Purdum - the hubby of Bubba’s former press secretary Dee Dee Myers - reports there’s been “some recent high-end Hollywood dinner party gossip that Clinton has been seen visiting with the actress Gina Gershon in California.”
The actress’ lawyers claim she’s been in the same room as the former prez at least three times, but was always in the presence of many, sometimes 100 or more, people.
When Clinton was in office, Gershon attended a charity event at the White House as a guest of the Shrivers, her attorney Lynda B. Goldman wrote Purdum and VF editor Graydon Carter. She also attended a big dinner in New York for Bono, where the prez was in attendance. And Gina was a last-minute guest at a dinner party for 10 or 15 thrown by Ron Burkle at his home in La-La where Clinton was on the guest list.
“These are the true facts,” said the lawyer. “Rumor-mongering was substituted for fact-checking.”
The letter demands “a retraction and correction.”
The former president himself is none too happy with Purdum’s reportage.
Earlier this week, Clinton said of the former New York Times [NYT] writer: “He’s sleazy. He’s a really dishonest reporter. . . . There’s just five or six blatant lies in there. But he’s a real slimy guy.”
Bill, however, wasn’t specific about the “lies.”
Citing an anti-Hillary/pro-Obama media conspiracy, the former LOTFW said that Vanity Fair’s scribe didn’t use a “single name, cite a single source in all those things he said. It’s just slimy.”
Gina Gershon did not have sex with that man, Mr. Clinton.
That’s what the actress’ high-powered attorneys yesterday fired off in a letter to Vanity Fair maggie, which just published a scandalous story about Bill Clinton that insinuates that Gerson had an inappropriate liaison with the former president.
The story, called “The Comeback Id,” written by Todd Purdum - the hubby of Bubba’s former press secretary Dee Dee Myers - reports there’s been “some recent high-end Hollywood dinner party gossip that Clinton has been seen visiting with the actress Gina Gershon in California.”
The actress’ lawyers claim she’s been in the same room as the former prez at least three times, but was always in the presence of many, sometimes 100 or more, people.
When Clinton was in office, Gershon attended a charity event at the White House as a guest of the Shrivers, her attorney Lynda B. Goldman wrote Purdum and VF editor Graydon Carter. She also attended a big dinner in New York for Bono, where the prez was in attendance. And Gina was a last-minute guest at a dinner party for 10 or 15 thrown by Ron Burkle at his home in La-La where Clinton was on the guest list.
“These are the true facts,” said the lawyer. “Rumor-mongering was substituted for fact-checking.”
The letter demands “a retraction and correction.”
The former president himself is none too happy with Purdum’s reportage.
Earlier this week, Clinton said of the former New York Times [NYT] writer: “He’s sleazy. He’s a really dishonest reporter. . . . There’s just five or six blatant lies in there. But he’s a real slimy guy.”
Bill, however, wasn’t specific about the “lies.”
Citing an anti-Hillary/pro-Obama media conspiracy, the former LOTFW said that Vanity Fair’s scribe didn’t use a “single name, cite a single source in all those things he said. It’s just slimy.”
UN Chief Says Global Food Crisis Needs Quick Response
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday that dealing with the current global food crisis is a fight the international community cannot afford to lose. The U.N. chief is attending a world food security summit at the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. For VOA, Sabina Castelfranco reports.
Ban Ki-moon, right, and FAO Director General Jacques Diouf meet journalists at UN food crisis summit in Rome, 04 Jun 2008
The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to the international community to move ahead collectively and with a sense of urgency to combat world hunger and promote global good security.
"This is a fight we cannot afford to lose," Mr. Ban said. "The enemy is hunger. Hunger degrades everything we have been fighting for in recent years and decades. Recent riots and protests show that hunger and the threat of hunger breed unrest and instability. We are duty bound to act, to act now, and to act as one."
Ban Ki-Moon said $15 to $20 billion is needed each year to boost food production to combat hunger. He added that most of that money would have to come from concerned countries.
The U.N. chief is attending a world food security summit in Rome hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization. Over 4,000 representatives from more than 180 countries are attending the summit.
Delegates at the summit in Rome have been divided over the role bio-fuels is playing in driving up food prices to the point of provoking riots in some countries.
"I think that there is an urgent need to establish a greater degree of international consensus and agreed policy guidelines on bio-fuel production, which take full account of food security, income and energy needs at all levels of our countries," Mr. Ban said.
Meanwhile, the head of the U.N.'s World Food Program, Josette Sheeran, said an extra $1.2 billion in donated funds will provide food for 75 million people going hungry because of soaring food prices. Sheeran, who is also attending the Rome summit, said many people in poor countries simply cannot buy the food available in markets.
Ban Ki-moon, right, and FAO Director General Jacques Diouf meet journalists at UN food crisis summit in Rome, 04 Jun 2008
The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to the international community to move ahead collectively and with a sense of urgency to combat world hunger and promote global good security.
"This is a fight we cannot afford to lose," Mr. Ban said. "The enemy is hunger. Hunger degrades everything we have been fighting for in recent years and decades. Recent riots and protests show that hunger and the threat of hunger breed unrest and instability. We are duty bound to act, to act now, and to act as one."
Ban Ki-Moon said $15 to $20 billion is needed each year to boost food production to combat hunger. He added that most of that money would have to come from concerned countries.
The U.N. chief is attending a world food security summit in Rome hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization. Over 4,000 representatives from more than 180 countries are attending the summit.
Delegates at the summit in Rome have been divided over the role bio-fuels is playing in driving up food prices to the point of provoking riots in some countries.
"I think that there is an urgent need to establish a greater degree of international consensus and agreed policy guidelines on bio-fuel production, which take full account of food security, income and energy needs at all levels of our countries," Mr. Ban said.
Meanwhile, the head of the U.N.'s World Food Program, Josette Sheeran, said an extra $1.2 billion in donated funds will provide food for 75 million people going hungry because of soaring food prices. Sheeran, who is also attending the Rome summit, said many people in poor countries simply cannot buy the food available in markets.
Obama Clinches Democratic Nomination
With Senator Barack Obama crossing the threshold of delegates he needed to claim the Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesday evening, party leaders began to move on Wednesday to bring their lengthy primary battle to a close and unite the party, even as questions swirled about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s next move.
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On Day of Last Primary, Obama's Superdelegate Surge
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Obama Declares Victory
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Clinton: No Decision
Related
News Analysis: Next on Agenda Is Clinton’s Role (June 4, 2008)
Man in the News: Barack Obama: Calm in the Swirl of History (June 4, 2008)
The Caucus: The Superdelegate Tally (June 3, 2008)
Clinton Donor Base Is Obama’s Next Prize (June 4, 2008)
Clinton Discusses What She Wants, but Not What She Will Do (June 4, 2008)
The TV Watch: The Primary Season’s Final Debate (June 4, 2008)
McCain Distances Himself From Bush and Jabs Obama (June 4, 2008)
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Four top Democratic leaders on Wednesday morning asked all uncommitted superdelegates to make their preferences known by Friday. While they did not formally endorse Mr. Obama or urge Mrs. Clinton to exit the race, Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Harry Reid and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin said in a joint statement: “Democrats must now turn our full attention to the general election.” They added that the party needed to “stand united and begin our march toward reversing the eight years of failed Bush/McCain policies that have weakened our country.”
But Mrs. Clinton’s top aides on Wednesday morning continued to sidestep questions about when she would suspend her campaign, even as some of her supporters began ratcheting up pressure on Mr. Obama to take her on as his running mate.
Robert L. Johnson, a prominent Clinton-backer and the founder of Black Entertainment Television, said Wednesday on CNN’s “American Morning” that he planned to enlist members of the Congressional Black Caucus to push Mr. Obama to accept Mrs. Clinton as his vice presidential nominee, adding that Mrs. Clinton had not directed his efforts but was aware of them.
Mr. Johnson argued that an Obama-Clinton ticket would have the best chance of winning in the general election and would help unify the Democratic Party.
Lanny Davis, an aide in the Clinton White House, said he was circulating a petition asking Mr. Obama to pick Mrs. Clinton as his running mate. Mr. Davis said he was acting on his own.
Later, however, Terry McAuliffe, the Clinton campaign chairman, insisted on CNN that there had been “absolutely zero discussions” about whether she would accept a vice presidential nod. Mr. McAuliffe said Mrs. Clinton wanted to talk things over with her supporters on Wednesday.
“There is plenty of time,” Mr. McAuliffe said, continuing to argue that she had won the popular vote, a notion disputed by the Obama campaign.
Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton talked early Wednesday morning by telephone. He congratulated her and renewed his offer to “sit down when it makes sense for you,” according to a spokesman for Mr. Obama, Robert Gibbs. Mrs. Clinton responded positively, Mr. Gibbs said, but added there were no immediate plans to meet on Wednesday.
Attention is focused at this point on the delicate dance between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, a relationship that has been rife throughout this primary battle with complicated tensions.
On a conference call with members of the New York Congressional delegation on Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton was asked whether she would be open to joining a ticket with Mr. Obama. She replied that she would do whatever she could — including a vice-presidential bid — to help Democrats win the White House.
Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, Democrat of New York, asked Mrs. Clinton whether she would consider teaming up with Mr. Obama. “She said that if it’s offered, she would take it,” Ms. Velázquez said later in an interview. A last-minute rush of Democratic superdelegates, as well as the results from the final primaries, in Montana and South Dakota, pushed Mr. Obama over the threshold of winning the 2,118 delegates needed to be nominated at the party’s convention in August. The victory for Mr. Obama, the son of a black Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother, broke racial barriers and represented a remarkable rise for a man who just four years ago served in the Illinois Senate.
“Tonight, we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another — a journey that will bring a new and better day to America,” Mr. Obama told supporters at a rally in St. Paul. “Because of you, tonight I can stand here and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States of America.”
Mrs. Clinton’s speech to supporters in New York City that was more defiant than conciliatory. She paid tribute to Mr. Obama, but she did not leave the race. She again presented her case that she was the stronger candidate and argued that she had garnered the most votes, a debatable contention that is disputed by the Obama campaign.
“I want the nearly 18 million Americans who voted for me to be respected,” Mrs. Clinton told supporters. But she paid homage to Mr. Obama’s accomplishments, saying, “It has been an honor to contest the primaries with him, just as it is an honor to call him my friend.”
Mr. Obama’s victory moved the presidential campaign to a new phase as he tangled with Senator John McCain of Arizona in televised addresses Tuesday night over Mr. Obama’s assertion that Mr. McCain would carry on President Bush’s policies. Mr. McCain vigorously rebuffed that criticism in a speech in Kenner, La., in which he distanced himself from the departing president while contrasting his own breadth of experience with Mr. Obama’s record.
“The American people didn’t get to know me yesterday, as they are just getting to know Senator Obama,” Mr. McCain told supporters.
Skip to next paragraph
Back Story With The Times’s Kate Zernike (mp3)
Polling Place Photo Project
Capture, post and share photographs of the primaries in Montana and South Dakota.
Post a Photo »Multimedia
Graphic
On Day of Last Primary, Obama's Superdelegate Surge
Slide Show
Obama Declares Victory
Slide Show
Clinton: No Decision
Related
News Analysis: Next on Agenda Is Clinton’s Role (June 4, 2008)
Man in the News: Barack Obama: Calm in the Swirl of History (June 4, 2008)
The Caucus: The Superdelegate Tally (June 3, 2008)
Clinton Donor Base Is Obama’s Next Prize (June 4, 2008)
Clinton Discusses What She Wants, but Not What She Will Do (June 4, 2008)
The TV Watch: The Primary Season’s Final Debate (June 4, 2008)
McCain Distances Himself From Bush and Jabs Obama (June 4, 2008)
Blog
The Caucus
The latest political news from around the nation. Join the discussion.
Election GuideMore Politics News
Enlarge This Image
Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times
Senator Barack Obama with his wife, Michelle, in St. Paul. More Photos »
Four top Democratic leaders on Wednesday morning asked all uncommitted superdelegates to make their preferences known by Friday. While they did not formally endorse Mr. Obama or urge Mrs. Clinton to exit the race, Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Harry Reid and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin said in a joint statement: “Democrats must now turn our full attention to the general election.” They added that the party needed to “stand united and begin our march toward reversing the eight years of failed Bush/McCain policies that have weakened our country.”
But Mrs. Clinton’s top aides on Wednesday morning continued to sidestep questions about when she would suspend her campaign, even as some of her supporters began ratcheting up pressure on Mr. Obama to take her on as his running mate.
Robert L. Johnson, a prominent Clinton-backer and the founder of Black Entertainment Television, said Wednesday on CNN’s “American Morning” that he planned to enlist members of the Congressional Black Caucus to push Mr. Obama to accept Mrs. Clinton as his vice presidential nominee, adding that Mrs. Clinton had not directed his efforts but was aware of them.
Mr. Johnson argued that an Obama-Clinton ticket would have the best chance of winning in the general election and would help unify the Democratic Party.
Lanny Davis, an aide in the Clinton White House, said he was circulating a petition asking Mr. Obama to pick Mrs. Clinton as his running mate. Mr. Davis said he was acting on his own.
Later, however, Terry McAuliffe, the Clinton campaign chairman, insisted on CNN that there had been “absolutely zero discussions” about whether she would accept a vice presidential nod. Mr. McAuliffe said Mrs. Clinton wanted to talk things over with her supporters on Wednesday.
“There is plenty of time,” Mr. McAuliffe said, continuing to argue that she had won the popular vote, a notion disputed by the Obama campaign.
Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton talked early Wednesday morning by telephone. He congratulated her and renewed his offer to “sit down when it makes sense for you,” according to a spokesman for Mr. Obama, Robert Gibbs. Mrs. Clinton responded positively, Mr. Gibbs said, but added there were no immediate plans to meet on Wednesday.
Attention is focused at this point on the delicate dance between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, a relationship that has been rife throughout this primary battle with complicated tensions.
On a conference call with members of the New York Congressional delegation on Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton was asked whether she would be open to joining a ticket with Mr. Obama. She replied that she would do whatever she could — including a vice-presidential bid — to help Democrats win the White House.
Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, Democrat of New York, asked Mrs. Clinton whether she would consider teaming up with Mr. Obama. “She said that if it’s offered, she would take it,” Ms. Velázquez said later in an interview. A last-minute rush of Democratic superdelegates, as well as the results from the final primaries, in Montana and South Dakota, pushed Mr. Obama over the threshold of winning the 2,118 delegates needed to be nominated at the party’s convention in August. The victory for Mr. Obama, the son of a black Kenyan father and a white Kansan mother, broke racial barriers and represented a remarkable rise for a man who just four years ago served in the Illinois Senate.
“Tonight, we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another — a journey that will bring a new and better day to America,” Mr. Obama told supporters at a rally in St. Paul. “Because of you, tonight I can stand here and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States of America.”
Mrs. Clinton’s speech to supporters in New York City that was more defiant than conciliatory. She paid tribute to Mr. Obama, but she did not leave the race. She again presented her case that she was the stronger candidate and argued that she had garnered the most votes, a debatable contention that is disputed by the Obama campaign.
“I want the nearly 18 million Americans who voted for me to be respected,” Mrs. Clinton told supporters. But she paid homage to Mr. Obama’s accomplishments, saying, “It has been an honor to contest the primaries with him, just as it is an honor to call him my friend.”
Mr. Obama’s victory moved the presidential campaign to a new phase as he tangled with Senator John McCain of Arizona in televised addresses Tuesday night over Mr. Obama’s assertion that Mr. McCain would carry on President Bush’s policies. Mr. McCain vigorously rebuffed that criticism in a speech in Kenner, La., in which he distanced himself from the departing president while contrasting his own breadth of experience with Mr. Obama’s record.
“The American people didn’t get to know me yesterday, as they are just getting to know Senator Obama,” Mr. McCain told supporters.
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