Singer Peter Gabriel and Venezuelan composer Jose Antonio Abreu have won this year's Polar Music Prize.
The pair will each receive one million kroner (£84,000) from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
They will both be presented with their awards by King Carl XVI Gustaf at a gala ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall on 31 August.
The Polar Music Prize is Sweden's biggest music award which is split between pop and classical musicians.
The prize committee praised the former Genesis singer for his "ground-breaking, outward-looking and boundary-busting artistry".
It added the star had "not only had a significant influence on the development of popular music - he has redefined the very concept
Abreu, who founded a network offering music classes and workshops to young people, was praised for his work which "shows us what is possible when music is made the common ground and thereby part of people's everyday lives".
The Polar Music Prize was founded by Stig Anderson, the manager of Swedish pop group ABBA, in 1989.
Last year's award was shared by British rock group Pink Floyd and US soprano Renee Fleming.
Other artists to be awarded the prize include Sir Paul McCartney, Dizzy Gillespie, Sir Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Ravi Shankar and Led Zeppelin.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Pakistan raids Taleban stronghold
Pakistan's army says it has dropped troops by helicopter to tackle a Taleban stronghold as part of a broadening offensive in the north-west.
The troops were landed in the sparsely populated Peochar valley in Swat.
A BBC correspondent says Peochar is one of the bases of Swat Taleban chief Maulana Fazlullah.
Hundreds of thousands have fled the fighting and Human Rights Watch has urged the army and Taleban to avoid civilian casualties.
One resident in the main town of Mingora in Swat described the situation there as dire.
The man, who did not want to be identified, told the BBC that food supplies were running out, and electricity and gas had been cut off.
"Thousands of people are still trapped in Mingora, but the town is like a ghost city as no one dares to come out in the streets."
Mountain retreat
Up to 15,000 troops have now been deployed in the Swat valley and neighbouring areas to take on up to 5,000 militants.
An army spokesman confirmed to the BBC that troops airlifted by army helicopters had landed in Peochar but refused to reveal any more operational details.
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says the area has camps both for combat training of militants and for training suicide bombers.
He says Maulana Fazlullah is normally based in his native village of Imamdheri in Matta but retreats to Peochar when under army pressure and is reported to be there now.
Our correspondent says there are also reports of the army blocking exit routes out of Peochar and if the area has been adequately cordoned off, the battle there may be fierce.
The BBC Urdu service managed to reach a civilian in Mingora by telephone and was told of "intermittent gunfire".
The man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "Thousands of people are still trapped in Mingora, but the town is like a ghost city as no-one dares come out on the streets.
Everybody wants to leave with no gas and food stocks running very low but the strict curfew by the government has given us no choice but to stay put."
Human Rights Watch has meanwhile urged the army and Taleban to do all they can to avoid civilian casualties in Swat.
Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said: "Beheadings and use of human shields by Taleban forces are not a blank cheque for the Pakistani army.
"Winning the war, but also the peace, in Swat can only be achieved by minimising civilian suffering."
Human Rights Watch said it had reports of the Taleban mining parts of the Swat valley and preventing people leaving Mingora.
The UN has expressed fears for the 360,000 Pakistanis who have fled and has said it will deliver emergency humanitarian aid.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said: "This is a huge and rapidly unfolding emergency which is going to require considerable resources beyond those that currently exist in the region."
Pakistan's military says it has killed hundreds of militants so far.
Pakistan's government signed a peace agreement with the Swat Taleban in February, allowing Sharia law there, a move sharply criticised by Washington.
The militants then moved out into neighbouring districts, causing further alarm.
The troops were landed in the sparsely populated Peochar valley in Swat.
A BBC correspondent says Peochar is one of the bases of Swat Taleban chief Maulana Fazlullah.
Hundreds of thousands have fled the fighting and Human Rights Watch has urged the army and Taleban to avoid civilian casualties.
One resident in the main town of Mingora in Swat described the situation there as dire.
The man, who did not want to be identified, told the BBC that food supplies were running out, and electricity and gas had been cut off.
"Thousands of people are still trapped in Mingora, but the town is like a ghost city as no one dares to come out in the streets."
Mountain retreat
Up to 15,000 troops have now been deployed in the Swat valley and neighbouring areas to take on up to 5,000 militants.
An army spokesman confirmed to the BBC that troops airlifted by army helicopters had landed in Peochar but refused to reveal any more operational details.
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says the area has camps both for combat training of militants and for training suicide bombers.
He says Maulana Fazlullah is normally based in his native village of Imamdheri in Matta but retreats to Peochar when under army pressure and is reported to be there now.
Our correspondent says there are also reports of the army blocking exit routes out of Peochar and if the area has been adequately cordoned off, the battle there may be fierce.
The BBC Urdu service managed to reach a civilian in Mingora by telephone and was told of "intermittent gunfire".
The man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "Thousands of people are still trapped in Mingora, but the town is like a ghost city as no-one dares come out on the streets.
Everybody wants to leave with no gas and food stocks running very low but the strict curfew by the government has given us no choice but to stay put."
Human Rights Watch has meanwhile urged the army and Taleban to do all they can to avoid civilian casualties in Swat.
Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said: "Beheadings and use of human shields by Taleban forces are not a blank cheque for the Pakistani army.
"Winning the war, but also the peace, in Swat can only be achieved by minimising civilian suffering."
Human Rights Watch said it had reports of the Taleban mining parts of the Swat valley and preventing people leaving Mingora.
The UN has expressed fears for the 360,000 Pakistanis who have fled and has said it will deliver emergency humanitarian aid.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said: "This is a huge and rapidly unfolding emergency which is going to require considerable resources beyond those that currently exist in the region."
Pakistan's military says it has killed hundreds of militants so far.
Pakistan's government signed a peace agreement with the Swat Taleban in February, allowing Sharia law there, a move sharply criticised by Washington.
The militants then moved out into neighbouring districts, causing further alarm.
Blue diamond fetches record price
A rare blue diamond has sold for a record 10.5 million Swiss francs ($9.5m; £6.2m) at auction in Geneva.
It weighs 7.03 carats, is smaller than a penny piece, and is one of only a handful of blue diamonds in existence.
The anonymous phone bidder has yet to name the gem, mounted on a platinum ring, auctioneers Sotheby's said.
The diamond was found in Cullinan mine in South Africa last year, and its clarity was graded as flawless - the highest designation.
Auctioneer David Bennett said: "It is a new world record price for a blue diamond."
It had a pre-sale catalogue estimate of 6.8 million to 10 million francs, excluding commission.
'Beyond beautiful'
The hammer price excluding commission was 9.3 million francs.
The scarcity of the gems is in part down to the fact so few places in the world mine for blue diamonds.
Mr Bennett said: "For people who are looking to buy something that nobody else has, or somebody who wants something that is beyond beautiful, a blue diamond is going to be very difficult to find, so when they appear on the market, you have to have a go."
The stones get their colour when the chemical boron is present during formation.
In May 2008 a 3.73 carat diamond was sold by Sotheby's at auction for nearly $5m (£3.4m) setting the world record price per carat for any gemstone at auction.
It weighs 7.03 carats, is smaller than a penny piece, and is one of only a handful of blue diamonds in existence.
The anonymous phone bidder has yet to name the gem, mounted on a platinum ring, auctioneers Sotheby's said.
The diamond was found in Cullinan mine in South Africa last year, and its clarity was graded as flawless - the highest designation.
Auctioneer David Bennett said: "It is a new world record price for a blue diamond."
It had a pre-sale catalogue estimate of 6.8 million to 10 million francs, excluding commission.
'Beyond beautiful'
The hammer price excluding commission was 9.3 million francs.
The scarcity of the gems is in part down to the fact so few places in the world mine for blue diamonds.
Mr Bennett said: "For people who are looking to buy something that nobody else has, or somebody who wants something that is beyond beautiful, a blue diamond is going to be very difficult to find, so when they appear on the market, you have to have a go."
The stones get their colour when the chemical boron is present during formation.
In May 2008 a 3.73 carat diamond was sold by Sotheby's at auction for nearly $5m (£3.4m) setting the world record price per carat for any gemstone at auction.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sri Lankan troops poised for big breakthrough
The Sri Lankan military is hopeful of neutralising the military capabilities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam inside the new safety zone (NSZ) in the next 48 hours and paving the way for the release of civilians being held hostage, even as the United Nations characterised the heavy casualties inside the zone in the last two days as a ‘blood bath’ in which over 100 children are believed to have died.
“On the basis of reports from the military commanders I can say that the troops are poised for a major breakthrough in the next 48 hours. The LTTE would soon lose its wherewithal to offer organised resistance and the troops expect to repeat a feat like on April 20 when the military succeeded in breaching the three-kilometre Tiger earth wall-cum-band and facilitated the escape of 1.16 lakh civilians from the LTTE clutches,” Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa told Doordarshan in an interview here on Monday.
The Defence Secretary denied reports of shelling on the NSZ by the military and dismissed them as propaganda by the LTTE to coincide with Monday’s U.N. Security Council meeting. He charged the Tigers with indiscriminate firing at a group of 1,000 fleeing civilians.
The military said 250 of them were either killed or injured in LTTE firing and released purported transcripts of intercepted communication among the Tigers forcibly stopping civilians. It said the LTTE suffered heavy casualties as the troops pushed deeper into the NSZ.
Military spokesperson of the LTTE Rasiah Ilanthriyan was among those killed. On Sunday, it was announced that the second in command in the Sea Tigers wing died in fighting. Sri Lanka Government doctor V. Shanmugarajah, who works at a makeshift hospital in the war zone, said 393 people were either brought to the hospital for burial or had died at the facility on Sunday, while another 37 bodies were brought in on Monday morning. More than 1,300 injured came to the hospital, he said.
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“On the basis of reports from the military commanders I can say that the troops are poised for a major breakthrough in the next 48 hours. The LTTE would soon lose its wherewithal to offer organised resistance and the troops expect to repeat a feat like on April 20 when the military succeeded in breaching the three-kilometre Tiger earth wall-cum-band and facilitated the escape of 1.16 lakh civilians from the LTTE clutches,” Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa told Doordarshan in an interview here on Monday.
The Defence Secretary denied reports of shelling on the NSZ by the military and dismissed them as propaganda by the LTTE to coincide with Monday’s U.N. Security Council meeting. He charged the Tigers with indiscriminate firing at a group of 1,000 fleeing civilians.
The military said 250 of them were either killed or injured in LTTE firing and released purported transcripts of intercepted communication among the Tigers forcibly stopping civilians. It said the LTTE suffered heavy casualties as the troops pushed deeper into the NSZ.
Military spokesperson of the LTTE Rasiah Ilanthriyan was among those killed. On Sunday, it was announced that the second in command in the Sea Tigers wing died in fighting. Sri Lanka Government doctor V. Shanmugarajah, who works at a makeshift hospital in the war zone, said 393 people were either brought to the hospital for burial or had died at the facility on Sunday, while another 37 bodies were brought in on Monday morning. More than 1,300 injured came to the hospital, he said.
Related Stories
Catch me if you can, says ‘richest’ candidate
In a strange move to raise doubts over the honesty of the political class, a candidate from South Chennai, J. Mohanraj, declared that he had Rs 1,977 crore in deposits, making him the richest contestant in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
Son of a veteran freedom fighter and Congressman from Tamil Nadu, 57-year-old Mohanraj, is representing the Jebamani Janata Party, an unrecognised party.
He told Hindustan Times on Monday, “If what the top political leaders have declared as their assets are correct, then mine is also correct. I will say all my assets are in a Swiss bank and if you bring back black money, my name will also be in that list,” he said.
He termed his move as a “patriotic duty” to show how the leaders were “making a mockery” of the Supreme Court judgment and violating all electoral norms.
Mohanraj, however, said he had Rs 2,000 in cash, four acres of land at Oothukottai village, 50 km from Chennai, seven acres in the same village in his wife’s name and 35 gold sovereigns his wife possessed which was now worth Rs 3.50 lakh.
Besides, he owns an apartment worth Rs 10 lakh in the city. But it is hypothecated to a bank for a loan. He said if only the Returning Officer had seen this entry, he should have had doubts over his cash deposits elsewhere
Son of a veteran freedom fighter and Congressman from Tamil Nadu, 57-year-old Mohanraj, is representing the Jebamani Janata Party, an unrecognised party.
He told Hindustan Times on Monday, “If what the top political leaders have declared as their assets are correct, then mine is also correct. I will say all my assets are in a Swiss bank and if you bring back black money, my name will also be in that list,” he said.
He termed his move as a “patriotic duty” to show how the leaders were “making a mockery” of the Supreme Court judgment and violating all electoral norms.
Mohanraj, however, said he had Rs 2,000 in cash, four acres of land at Oothukottai village, 50 km from Chennai, seven acres in the same village in his wife’s name and 35 gold sovereigns his wife possessed which was now worth Rs 3.50 lakh.
Besides, he owns an apartment worth Rs 10 lakh in the city. But it is hypothecated to a bank for a loan. He said if only the Returning Officer had seen this entry, he should have had doubts over his cash deposits elsewhere
8 lakh people homeless as Taliban-army fighting intensifies
Dodging army shells and the Taliban, Sikh families from Swat and other parts of war-ravaged northern Pakistan have landed in a gurdwara on the plains of Punjab.
Many arrived at Gurdwara Panja Sahib in the dusty town of Hasan Abdal, about 40 kilometres northwest of Islamabad, with only the clothes on their back.
“We headed for Hasan Abdal because this is the only place we knew of,” Dr. Ashok Kumar, a six-foot Pathan from Pir Baba village in Buner district, told Hindustan Times.
Displacement is haunting the country as the military takes on the Taliban. A total of 3.6 lakh have fled their homes in northwestern Pakistan in the last week, the United Nations estimated on Sunday. This is in addition to the five lakh displaced in previous bouts of fighting.
Suran Singh, affiliated to the Pakistani Gurdwara Parbhan-dak Committee, is a worried man. He is concerned about meeting the daily needs of about 340 families in Hasan Abdal.
Singh, a homeopathic doctor, left his clinic in Buner and fled with six family members packed in his Suzuki on April 28.
Since his arrival, he has taken charge as spokesman and chief organiser. At home, he was an elected member of the local council. “The only thing people want is to go home,” Singh said.
In many ways, the Sikhs were lucky— they had some place to go to. “Many of our Muslim neighbours and friends have ended up in tents,” he said, stressing that fear of shelling was paramount.
On the imposition of the jaziya tax – a levy by the Taliban on non-Muslims -- Singh said, “I was not approached. In fact, the Taliban came to my area on April 4 and for almost a month we lived under their control. We fled when the fighting intensified.”
Others, however, say they heard of the jaziya tax. “I know families in Tirah were told to pay,” said a young man, who preferred anonymity.
Others said the Taliban were holding some Sikhs against their will.
Manzoor Bhatti, the caretaker of the gurdwara, said the Sikh refugees, many of whom are professional doctors and engineers, are happy to run their affairs.
So far, both the government and the United Nations have helped with supplies. However, to sustain such a large number over a longer period would be difficult.
Sandeep Kumar, a student of Edwards College in Peshawar, said his family never migrated to India after partition “because the Muslims in our area begged us to stay on.” Now, however, “we have been forced out by extremists, not our neighbours.”
“We are Pathans first and Sikh later. These times are troubling for all Pathans not just the Sikhs,” said Suran Singh with a smile, when asked to comment on the offer to migrate to India. “We need to fight this challenge together.”
This is a sentiment shared by many in the Panja Sahib Gurdwara.
Many arrived at Gurdwara Panja Sahib in the dusty town of Hasan Abdal, about 40 kilometres northwest of Islamabad, with only the clothes on their back.
“We headed for Hasan Abdal because this is the only place we knew of,” Dr. Ashok Kumar, a six-foot Pathan from Pir Baba village in Buner district, told Hindustan Times.
Displacement is haunting the country as the military takes on the Taliban. A total of 3.6 lakh have fled their homes in northwestern Pakistan in the last week, the United Nations estimated on Sunday. This is in addition to the five lakh displaced in previous bouts of fighting.
Suran Singh, affiliated to the Pakistani Gurdwara Parbhan-dak Committee, is a worried man. He is concerned about meeting the daily needs of about 340 families in Hasan Abdal.
Singh, a homeopathic doctor, left his clinic in Buner and fled with six family members packed in his Suzuki on April 28.
Since his arrival, he has taken charge as spokesman and chief organiser. At home, he was an elected member of the local council. “The only thing people want is to go home,” Singh said.
In many ways, the Sikhs were lucky— they had some place to go to. “Many of our Muslim neighbours and friends have ended up in tents,” he said, stressing that fear of shelling was paramount.
On the imposition of the jaziya tax – a levy by the Taliban on non-Muslims -- Singh said, “I was not approached. In fact, the Taliban came to my area on April 4 and for almost a month we lived under their control. We fled when the fighting intensified.”
Others, however, say they heard of the jaziya tax. “I know families in Tirah were told to pay,” said a young man, who preferred anonymity.
Others said the Taliban were holding some Sikhs against their will.
Manzoor Bhatti, the caretaker of the gurdwara, said the Sikh refugees, many of whom are professional doctors and engineers, are happy to run their affairs.
So far, both the government and the United Nations have helped with supplies. However, to sustain such a large number over a longer period would be difficult.
Sandeep Kumar, a student of Edwards College in Peshawar, said his family never migrated to India after partition “because the Muslims in our area begged us to stay on.” Now, however, “we have been forced out by extremists, not our neighbours.”
“We are Pathans first and Sikh later. These times are troubling for all Pathans not just the Sikhs,” said Suran Singh with a smile, when asked to comment on the offer to migrate to India. “We need to fight this challenge together.”
This is a sentiment shared by many in the Panja Sahib Gurdwara.
World's carmakers racing to form alliances
The breakdown of two of Detroit's Big Three is bringing a new urgency to the scramble among the world's automakers to forge alliances with former rivals, carve inroads into new markets and shop for well-known brands.
The turmoil has led to a flurry of deals that is realigning the automotive playing field. Italian automaker Fiat's bid to become a truly global player by acquiring control of Chrysler and eyeing General Motors Corp.'s European operations is only the most obvious move. There have been several others -- some in the works, others only rumored -- spanning Europe, Asia and North America.
The goal for automakers, analysts say, is to survive the worst climate for vehicle sales in decades by getting bigger and broader. To do that, they're looking to either acquire distribution networks in new markets for their own cars or bid for the brands that have come up for sale as a result of Chrysler and GM's struggles.
But it's still not clear how much your local auto-dealer row will have changed a decade from now.
"The GM and Chrysler restructurings are going to trigger a major shift in the way the automaker landscape looks over the next five to 10 years," said George Peterson, president of Tustin consulting firm AutoPacific. "There could be so many permutations and combinations that you can't really predict what will happen."
Chrysler, which also sells the Dodge and Jeep brands, filed for bankruptcy protection April 30, the same day it struck an alliance with Fiat that ultimately could give the Italian company a controlling stake in the onetime American auto stalwart. GM is trying to avoid bankruptcy in part by unloading its Saturn and Hummer brands in the U.S., its Opel division in Europe and its Swedish car marque Saab. It's also killing its Pontiac brand.
Striking the deal for Chrysler will give Fiat, which fled the U.S. market in the 1980s, an instant dealer network to sell small, fuel-efficient cars built in North America and based on models such as the Fiat 500, popular in Europe. The Italian company is also in talks with GM to take over Opel and has expressed interest in Saab.
Completing all those deals could vault Fiat into the top five among the world's auto companies in terms of sales. (It currently ranks 11th.) But others are angling for Opel -- Canadian auto parts maker Magna International Inc., for instance -- and reports have surfaced that Chinese automaker Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. is interested in Saab. Geely denied that report.
Other reports have Penske Automotive Group Inc., the Bloomfield Hills, Mich., dealership chain, in talks with GM about acquiring Saturn's distribution network. GM said Monday that it was in talks with two bidders for Hummer.
Not everyone is in the hunt. Renault-Nissan, the Franco-Japanese alliance that some point to as a model for global auto hookups, said this week that it had no plans to bid on Chrysler's or GM's dangling assets.
Germany's Volkswagen, the world's third-largest automaker behind GM and Toyota Motor Corp., also is sitting this one out -- for now. VW already is a mini-U.N. of transportation, fielding an international portfolio of nameplates that includes Audi in Germany, Seat (pronounced say-aht) in Spain, Lamborghini in Italy, Skoda in the Czech Republic, Bugatti in France and Bentley in Britain. And it is in the process of merging with its majority shareholder, German sports-car maker Porsche.
Rather than buy more brands, VW appears intent on shoring up its presence in the United States, where it has a paltry 2% market share.
The globalization gambit is nothing new, of course. Auto companies have been forging cross-border alliances in recent years to share technology, which has become increasingly complex and expensive to develop, notes Ron Pinelli, president of AutoData Ltd., which compiles industry sales figures.
Some foreign affairs have foundered. The marriage of Chrysler and Germany's Daimler (parent of Mercedes-Benz) famously failed, as did a dalliance between GM and Fiat earlier in the decade.
And Ford Motor Co.'s decision to give up on collecting foreign auto marques kicked off the worldwide auto swap meet in 2007, when it began dismantling its Irvine-based stable of foreign luxury brands, eventually selling off Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover. The last piece, Swedish automaker Volvo, is on the auction block.
Ford is concentrating on simplifying its vehicle lineup and using some of its popular European models, such as the Fiesta and the Euro-version of the Focus, as the basis for small cars that it hopes will be profitable sellers in America.
Other liaisons have been more successful. Paris-based PSA Peugeot Citroen has teamed with Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp. to build a PSA-badged crossover SUV based on the Mitsubishi Outlander.
The question remains how markedly the reshuffling will alter the global auto market.
Barring a complete collapse of GM, the upper ranks of the world's auto companies aren't likely to change significantly in the near future, analyst say, despite repeated predictions that waves of Chinese and Indian cars are about to flood global markets. Fiat, if it succeeds in its multiple acquisitions, might be the only car company to dramatically raise its international profile.
In the meantime, South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. -- which also controls the Kia brand -- continues to solidify its position in the United States, still the world's most important car market. Based on sales last year, Hyundai-Kia ranks No. 5 globally and No. 7 in the U.S.
And Toyota, despite recent struggles, isn't likely to be displaced by Fiat any time soon.
There are more than 100 Chinese auto companies, and it's unclear which ultimately will rise to true prominence.
In the coming years, "you'll see new badges, you'll see new companies from China and India," said Dan Cheng, head of consultant A.T. Kearney's North American auto practice. "But they'll be niche players.
"I would not expect to see 12 different full-line [automakers] offering a full range of vehicles."
The turmoil has led to a flurry of deals that is realigning the automotive playing field. Italian automaker Fiat's bid to become a truly global player by acquiring control of Chrysler and eyeing General Motors Corp.'s European operations is only the most obvious move. There have been several others -- some in the works, others only rumored -- spanning Europe, Asia and North America.
The goal for automakers, analysts say, is to survive the worst climate for vehicle sales in decades by getting bigger and broader. To do that, they're looking to either acquire distribution networks in new markets for their own cars or bid for the brands that have come up for sale as a result of Chrysler and GM's struggles.
But it's still not clear how much your local auto-dealer row will have changed a decade from now.
"The GM and Chrysler restructurings are going to trigger a major shift in the way the automaker landscape looks over the next five to 10 years," said George Peterson, president of Tustin consulting firm AutoPacific. "There could be so many permutations and combinations that you can't really predict what will happen."
Chrysler, which also sells the Dodge and Jeep brands, filed for bankruptcy protection April 30, the same day it struck an alliance with Fiat that ultimately could give the Italian company a controlling stake in the onetime American auto stalwart. GM is trying to avoid bankruptcy in part by unloading its Saturn and Hummer brands in the U.S., its Opel division in Europe and its Swedish car marque Saab. It's also killing its Pontiac brand.
Striking the deal for Chrysler will give Fiat, which fled the U.S. market in the 1980s, an instant dealer network to sell small, fuel-efficient cars built in North America and based on models such as the Fiat 500, popular in Europe. The Italian company is also in talks with GM to take over Opel and has expressed interest in Saab.
Completing all those deals could vault Fiat into the top five among the world's auto companies in terms of sales. (It currently ranks 11th.) But others are angling for Opel -- Canadian auto parts maker Magna International Inc., for instance -- and reports have surfaced that Chinese automaker Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. is interested in Saab. Geely denied that report.
Other reports have Penske Automotive Group Inc., the Bloomfield Hills, Mich., dealership chain, in talks with GM about acquiring Saturn's distribution network. GM said Monday that it was in talks with two bidders for Hummer.
Not everyone is in the hunt. Renault-Nissan, the Franco-Japanese alliance that some point to as a model for global auto hookups, said this week that it had no plans to bid on Chrysler's or GM's dangling assets.
Germany's Volkswagen, the world's third-largest automaker behind GM and Toyota Motor Corp., also is sitting this one out -- for now. VW already is a mini-U.N. of transportation, fielding an international portfolio of nameplates that includes Audi in Germany, Seat (pronounced say-aht) in Spain, Lamborghini in Italy, Skoda in the Czech Republic, Bugatti in France and Bentley in Britain. And it is in the process of merging with its majority shareholder, German sports-car maker Porsche.
Rather than buy more brands, VW appears intent on shoring up its presence in the United States, where it has a paltry 2% market share.
The globalization gambit is nothing new, of course. Auto companies have been forging cross-border alliances in recent years to share technology, which has become increasingly complex and expensive to develop, notes Ron Pinelli, president of AutoData Ltd., which compiles industry sales figures.
Some foreign affairs have foundered. The marriage of Chrysler and Germany's Daimler (parent of Mercedes-Benz) famously failed, as did a dalliance between GM and Fiat earlier in the decade.
And Ford Motor Co.'s decision to give up on collecting foreign auto marques kicked off the worldwide auto swap meet in 2007, when it began dismantling its Irvine-based stable of foreign luxury brands, eventually selling off Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover. The last piece, Swedish automaker Volvo, is on the auction block.
Ford is concentrating on simplifying its vehicle lineup and using some of its popular European models, such as the Fiesta and the Euro-version of the Focus, as the basis for small cars that it hopes will be profitable sellers in America.
Other liaisons have been more successful. Paris-based PSA Peugeot Citroen has teamed with Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp. to build a PSA-badged crossover SUV based on the Mitsubishi Outlander.
The question remains how markedly the reshuffling will alter the global auto market.
Barring a complete collapse of GM, the upper ranks of the world's auto companies aren't likely to change significantly in the near future, analyst say, despite repeated predictions that waves of Chinese and Indian cars are about to flood global markets. Fiat, if it succeeds in its multiple acquisitions, might be the only car company to dramatically raise its international profile.
In the meantime, South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. -- which also controls the Kia brand -- continues to solidify its position in the United States, still the world's most important car market. Based on sales last year, Hyundai-Kia ranks No. 5 globally and No. 7 in the U.S.
And Toyota, despite recent struggles, isn't likely to be displaced by Fiat any time soon.
There are more than 100 Chinese auto companies, and it's unclear which ultimately will rise to true prominence.
In the coming years, "you'll see new badges, you'll see new companies from China and India," said Dan Cheng, head of consultant A.T. Kearney's North American auto practice. "But they'll be niche players.
"I would not expect to see 12 different full-line [automakers] offering a full range of vehicles."
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