Singapore air show offers scant sales hopes

Military aircraft makers are set to dominate Asia’s largest air show in Singapore this week.

Few, if any, sales of planes to commercial airlines are expected during the event.

But the Asia Pacific region is experiencing a return to growth that should prove lucrative going forward.

So aircraft and equipment makers such as Boeing, EADS, Airbus, as well as Honeywell, Rolls-Royce and Lockheed Martin, are exhibiting at the show.

Attendance and deal-making at the Singapore air show, which is hosted in the east of the city state near Changi airport, will indicate the state of the aerospace industry.

“We’re slowly turning things around,” Jimmy Lau, managing director of the Singapore Air Show, told a news conference.

“Any news is good news this week, as far as I’m concerned.”
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Catcher in the Rye author Salinger dead

Reclusive author JD Salinger, who has died aged 91, was a giant of American literature whose seminal novel, The Catcher in the Rye, lent a voice to the angst and despair felt by generations of rebellious adolescents.

One of the most admired and influential US writers following the success of his 1951 novel and its laconic anti-hero, Holden Caulfield, Salinger published nothing after 1965 and had not been interviewed since 1980.

The author died on Wednesday at his home in New Hampshire, the Harold Ober Associates agency said on Thursday. The cause of death was not announced.

Mystery surrounded much of the last five decades of his life. After being overwhelmed by his new fame, Salinger withdrew from public life, retreating to his house perched on a tree-blanketed hill in the small town of Cornish, New Hampshire.

Memoirs written by his daughter and a former lover affirmed that Salinger still wrote, but there has been no sign of any new book despite the entreaties of his legions of fans.
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Microsoft sees 60% jump in profit, boosted by Windows 7

Microsoft has reported a 60% jump in profit, thanks largely to “exceptional demand” for Windows 7.

Net profit came in at $6.66bn (£4.13bn) for the three months to 31 December 2009, up from the $4.18bn it made in the same period a year earlier.

It also reported record revenues of $19.2bn, which comfortably beat analysts’ forecasts.

“We are thrilled by the consumer reception to Windows 7,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer.

“This is a record quarter for Windows units.”

Microsoft released Windows 7 in October last year.

‘Outstanding’

Windows 7 has proved to be Microsoft’s best-selling operating system to date after the disappointing Vista.
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The second epistle of St Bill

Bill Gates worries about falling aid and poor teaching

“HELLO world,” tweeted Bill Gates on January 19th, announcing his entry to the world of Twitter. He has also just launched a blog, called the Gates Notes, and has been at the Sundance film festival, talking about his appearance in the latest film by the director of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.” Called “Waiting for Superman”, this tackles a topic close to Mr Gates’s heart, education reform in America—but, mercifully, it is not believed to feature the Microsoft founder-turned-philanthropist wearing a cape and red underpants.

Mr Gates will also be making various appearances this week, among the global great and good at the World Economic Forum in Davos. And for any of his fans still thirsting for more of the wisdom of St Bill, on January 25th he published the second of what he says will be annual letters on philanthropy.

Because Mr Gates was inspired by the annual letters to shareholders of his old friend and partner in mega-giving, Warren Buffett, it is easy to be disappointed by the relative lack of zing in his writing. It is not just that, as he promised, he would differ from the Sage of Omaha by not quoting Mae West—or any other witty commentator. Mr Buffett is a master of the carefully chosen overstatement. Derivative securities he doesn’t like become “financial weapons of mass destruction”. When rival investors make losses in a tough market, he points out that “it is only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked.”

By contrast, Mr Gates seems determined to understate, taking the controversial edge off his observations with language chosen so carefully that it must have been through an army of PR people. “It’s been an incredible year,” Mr Gates tells us. “I love my new job and feel lucky to get to focus my time on these problems.”
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A thumping win

Mahinda Rajapaksa claims a landslide election win in Sri Lanka. Soldiers surround his main rival

SO MUCH for the idea that it would be a close-run thing. On Wednesday 27th, a day after a presidential election the incumbent, Mahinda Rajapaksa, was declared victor over his chief rival and a former army commander, General Sarath Fonseka. Sri Lankan state television reported that, after a high turn-out of 74%, official tallies showed 6m ballots cast for Mr Rajapaksa to 4.2m votes for the general. General Fonseka alleges that vote-rigging took place and has registered objections with the electoral commission.

Before voting day it had been widely said that the two Sinhalese candidates were closely matched. Both men could claim responsibility for overseeing a complete (and brutal) end to a long-running civil war against Tamil separatists in the north and east of the country. The president had advantages of incumbency, but many voters resented the dominance of his immediate family in the government and complained about corruption, soaring inflation, repression of the press and more.

The general is a newcomer to party politics who quit the army in November amid suspicions that he had been plotting a coup d’etat. But he had managed to cobble together a surprising coalition of supporters united in their opposition to Mr Rajapaksa. Remarkably, his supporters included a group of parties known as the Tamil National Alliance, which was once seen as a front for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Tamil military wing.
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Make or brake

Toyota suffers another blow to its already wavering reputation

IN A race that matched Formula One for its predictability, Toyota Motor Corporation slipped past General Motors just under two years ago to become the world’s biggest carmaker. But even as Toyota built up the revs, all has not been well. The latest setback came on Tuesday January 26th when the firm announced that it would halt production temporarily at six assembly plants in north America and suspend sales of eight of its most popular models, including the Camry, the best-selling car in the United States.

Toyota’s latest troubles in America had begun to surface a week before when it announced a huge recall of 2.3m vehicles to fix accelerator pedals that could jam open, sending cars racing forwards without warning. Toyota is mulling a similar move in Europe that could affect a further 2m cars. The firm’s decision to stop sales and production in America is a substantial blow for the stumbling car giant. The output of these plants accounted for some 60% of sales in 2009. The news put a banana skin under its share price.
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Obama delivers his first State of the Union address

(CNN) — 10:20 Address ends with Obama calling on Americans to “seize this moment — to start anew, to carry the dream forward and to strengthen our union once more”

10:18 Obama acknowledges that his administration has had political setbacks; says “some of them were deserved.” Obama says the “spirit of determination and optimism” is what keeps him fighting

10:17 On discord in politics: “Democracy in a nation of 300 million people can be noisy and messy and complicated. And when you try to do big things and make big changes, it stirs passions and controversy”

10:13 Obama says he will work with Congress and the military to repeal “the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are”

Obama calls for ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal

10:08 Obama says the threat of nuclear weapons is “perhaps the greatest danger to the American people”

10:06 Obama details the challenges in Afghanistan: “There will be difficult days ahead. But I am confident we will succeed”

10:02 Obama mentions Massachusetts special election: “After last week, it is clear that campaign fever has come even earlier than usual. But we still need to govern.” He calls out Republicans, saying, “just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership”
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Apple unveils iPad tablet device

Apple has put an end to weeks of speculation by unveiling its tablet device, which it has called the iPad.

Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive unveiled the touchscreen device at an event in San Francisco.

Mr Jobs described the tablet, which will cost between $499 and $829 in the US, as a “third category” between smartphones and laptops.

The device, which looks like a large iPhone, can be used to watch films, play games and browse the web.

The firm has also done a deal with publishers including Penguin, Macmillan and Harper Collins to allow e-books to be downloaded directly to the device through a new iBook Store.

“You can download right onto your iPad,” said Mr Jobs.

He also showed off magazines and newspapers on the device.

‘Gold rush’

He told an audience of journalists, analysts and industry peers that the device lets people “hold the whole web in your hands”.
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Davos 2010: Sarkozy calls for revamp of capitalism

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for a fundamental rethink of capitalism in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

“We need deep profound change,” he said in his keynote speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

His comments came as bankers and regulators clashed over proposals to break up banks that threaten the whole financial system.

Mr Sarkozy said he wished to restore a “moral dimension” to free trade.

“Were we not to change, we would be showing tremendous irresponsibility,” he told the bankers and politicians that gather annually in the Swiss alpine resort.
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Apple versus Google: Friends turned rivals

All eyes will be on Apple on Wednesday. Most will be watching to see just what the company unveils at San Francisco. Others will watch for signs of a growing rivalry between Apple and Google.

At a glance, they don’t make obvious competitors. Apple doesn’t have a search engine and Google doesn’t make computers. But the two companies are slowly encroaching on each others’ turf, from phones to web browsers.

It wasn’t always this way. The two used to be close allies. The proof is in the hands of millions of people around the world: The iPhone. The default search engine on the iPhone is Google. The built-in Maps application runs on Google Maps. And every iPhone has a dedicated application to access Google’s YouTube. Google CEO Eric Schmidt appeared at the iPhone’s unveiling in January 2007 to tout these features and the close ties between the two companies.

(Just before launch, Schmidt was seen in this video proudly showing off the iPhone he received for sitting on Apple’s board of directors.)

By November, the first real signs of competition appeared. Google announced that it was partnering with mobile manufacturers like Motorola and HTC to build Android, an open software platform for mobile phones. It culminated in the launch of the Nexus One: An Android phone from Google itself, sold on Google.com.
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