 | | Doha ´city centre´ part of history |
 THE high sales pitch of the
shop-owners and the flurry of
activity among shoppers, trying
to drive a smart bargain at
Musheireb (popularly called
National), Souq Ahmed bin
Abdullah and the markets in the
lanes and bylanes
of the area
seen over the last
one week or so are
like the flicker of a lamp´s flame
before it dies out in a storm.
The traders are resorting to
distress clearance of their
stocks as the deadline. |
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|  |  | | Europe´s Real Problems |
| WHEN the history of the 21st
century is written people
will ask why it was that
Europe was found wanting
during its most intractable
economic crisis. They will ask why
Europe slept as an undercapitalised
banking system floundered, unemployment
remained unacceptably high, and
the Continent´s growth and competitiveness
plummeted.
Worse still, if a reconstruction plan
does not come soon, Europe´s leaders
will be charged with "the decline of... |
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| |  | | NO, WE CAN´T?
OR WON´T? |
| IF you were shocked by Friday´s
job report, if you thought we
were doing well and were taken
aback by the bad news, you
haven´t been paying attention.
The fact is, the United States economy
has been stuck in a rut for a year
and a half.
Yet a destructive passivity has
overtaken our discourse. Turn on
your TV and you´ll see some self-satisfied
pundit declaring that nothing
much can be done about the economy´s
short... |
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Brown accuses Murdoch’s papers of using ‘criminals
AFP
LONDON FORMERBritish prime minister Gordon Brown accused Rupert Murdoch’s media empire on Tuesday of using criminals to obtain his private documents, as lawmakers prepared to quiz police over phone hacking.
In a major new twist in the row that led to the closure of the Murdoch-owned News of the World, Brown accused its stablemate the Sunday Times of using con tricks to obtain bank details and legal documents relating to a flat he bought.
He also said he did not understand how The Sun, another Murdoch paper, obtained information that his son had cystic fibrosis, adding that when the tabloid splashed the news on its front page in 2006 he was left “in tears”.
“I think what happened pretty early on in government was that the Sunday Times appear to have got access to my building society account, they got access to my legal files,” Brown told the BBC in an interview.
“But I’m shocked, I’m genuinely shocked to find that this happened because of their links with criminals, known criminals who were undertaking this activity, hired by investigators who were working with the Sunday Times.” His claims are the first to explicitly drag in other Murdoch newspapers into the long-running scandal over phone hacking at the News of the World, and threaten to further damage Murdoch’s media interests.
They come as lawmakers prepared to question senior police officers about why their original investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World in 2006 failed to unearth the hoard of allegations that have emerged in recent months.
In the latest twist, it was reported that Prince Charles and his wife Camilla had their voicemails hacked.
Media reports also suggested that police officers charged with protecting members of the royal family had sold their details to the News of the World, and the tabloid’s owners knew about this as early as 2007 but kept quiet.
The scandal prompted Murdoch to abruptly close down the 168-year-old tabloid last week, and sparked intense political pressure on his News Corp.’s controversial bid for control of satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
News Corp.
on Monday announced it was withdrawing concessions which it had offered to assuage competition concerns over the bid, prompting David Cameron’s Conservative-led government to refer the bid to the Competition Commission.
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