Yahoo, eBay join forces in defense against Google

A broad alliance between Yahoo Inc. and eBay Inc., unveiled Thursday, signals the growing fear of Google Inc. and the lengths to which onetime rivals will go to defend themselves against the fast-growing search engine juggernaut.

The deal gives Yahoo and eBay extra ammunition -- namely, access to a vastly bigger audience -- that they hope will strengthen their positions in the highly competitive Internet industry.

Under the agreement, Yahoo, the world's most heavily trafficked Web site, will sell search and graphical advertising on eBay, the world's biggest e-commerce company. EBay in turn will offer its PayPal payment service, used to transfer money, on the Yahoo site.

The partnership takes to the next level the fight against Google, which hopes to extend a winning streak in online search to an array of new products. Instead of firing bullets, Google's competitors now are lobbing grenades.

"The reason why eBay and Yahoo were thinking about this was to do a defensive move against Google," said Sasa Zorovic, an analyst for Oppenheimer. He said that eBay likely considered Google for the partnership, but given the threat of several new Google products, among them a free classified listing service, GoogleBase, and a payment service, "Google didn't have a chance."

The agreement combines the strengths of both companies and places some of their most lucrative offerings in front of larger audiences. By doing so, the companies stand to generate additional revenues, although executives declined to offer any estimates.

Testing of the Yahoo-eBay initiative is expected to begin over the next few months, although no financial impact is anticipated for 2006. Full implementation is expected in 2007.

Technology industry insiders had said in recent weeks that a merger or partnership was likely among some major Internet companies, and Yahoo and eBay were prime contenders. Their services were seen as the most complementary among the potential suitors, particularly because they have the least overlap of existing services.

Such "co-opitition" is sweeping the Internet industry, significantly shuffling the landscape. "Co-opitition" describes the complex relationship many Internet companies have with peers that are simultaneously business partners and rivals.

Although Yahoo and eBay will join forces in many arenas, they will continue to compete in online auctions. Yahoo plans to continue its modest U.S. auction business rather than replace it with eBay's dominant marketplace.

"Clearly there has been an increasing level of co-opitition, shall we say, among the various major players in the Internet over the last two or three years, which has been increasing pace over the last few months," said Derek Brown, an analyst for Pacific Growth Equities. "Google has in a relatively short period of time dramatically changed the playing field for quite a few industry giants."

An example of the change came Thursday when Google said it had completed a deal to distribute its search toolbar and other software in Dell computers. The agreement kicks sand in the eye of Microsoft Corp., whose software traditionally has been bundled on computers without other companies being able to do the same.

Analysts said that combining forces in the Internet industry is especially important given the continued success of Google, which has introduced a flurry of new products, many outside its search-engine roots. The alliance between Yahoo and eBay could help those companies combat Google's threat.

"This is good for business and good for users," said Dan Rosensweig, Yahoo's chief operating officer. "I think it's a very important deal for both companies."

Until now, eBay has made only limited efforts to capitalize on Internet advertising, a lucrative business for other Web sites. The company generated $36.6 million in ad revenue in the first quarter, compared with $1.39 billion in total revenue.

Most of eBay's money comes from small fees collected in its marketplace and from commissions from the PayPal payment service. PayPal has proved to be a solid revenue contributor, netting eBay a percentage of each transaction it handles.

Yahoo will be the sole supplier to eBay of graphical ads, which include banner ads and other colorful kinds of marketing messages. In addition, Yahoo will supply eBay with search engine ads on some of eBay's search-results pages.

Search ads provide a big part of Yahoo's revenue. Much like Google, clients use Yahoo to distribute their ads across its network. Each time a Web user clicks on one of these ads, Yahoo is paid a fee. In the case of the ads appearing on eBay, Yahoo plans to share the revenue.

EBay executives have underscored that its users enter a huge number of searches on the Web site daily. But they have avoided adding much search advertising because the ads would encourage users to go elsewhere and therefore infuriate eBay sellers.

But John Donahoe, president of eBay Marketplaces, said the ads will be done in such a way as to offer little competition to sellers. For example, he said a search for shoes would turn up only pitches for complimentary products, such as socks.

Additionally, in the agreement, the companies plan to explore so-called click-to-call advertising that will be accessible to users of Yahoo's instant messenger with voice capabilities, and eBay's Skype Internet calling service. The technology would allow users to simply click on an icon to call an online advertiser about making a transaction.

The companies also plan to introduce a co-branded version of the eBay toolbar to include Yahoo search and links to Yahoo's home page.

Thursday's deal applies only to U.S. operations of both companies. However, analysts believe that the agreement may be expanded elsewhere -- and to other products -- if it proves successful.

"Yahoo isn't as strong in Europe; eBay isn't as strong in Asia," said Martin Pyykkonen, an analyst for Hoefer & Arnett. "From both sides, you'd want to partner in the same way in those markets."

Yahoo's shares were up $1.13 in trading Thursday to close at $32.92, or 3.6 percent. EBay's shares were up $3.68 to $33.88, or 12.2 percent.

Australian troops arrive in East Timor : World News

The Associated Press

THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2006


DILI, East Timor Fierce gunbattles raged in Dili, the capital of East Timor Thursday, killing at least three people and wounding more than a dozen, as international troops arrived in the tiny nation to help it quell a rebellion by disgruntled ex-soldiers.

A South Korean bystander was shot in the neck and rushed to a hospital, Yonhap news agency said, as dozens of foreigners fled the country on the third day of fighting between soldiers loyal to the government and recently dismissed troops.

Firefights erupted in several areas around the capital - including near President Xanana Gusmao's office and the United Nations compound. Homes and business were torched, with plumes of smoke rising over virtually deserted streets.

The first international peacekeepers arrived in an Australian Royal Air Force plane, welcomed by hundreds of East Timorese seeking refuge at the airport who clapped, cried and shouted "Thank God!"

The Australian troops in full combat gear immediately fanned out across the airport on the outskirts of the capital, taking up positions in the grass.

Soldiers and police from New Zealand, Portugal and Malaysia have also said they would help.

East Timor, the world's youngest nation, has been plagued by unrest since March when more than 40 percent of its armed forces were fired after going on strike to protest alleged discrimination in the military.

Some hard-liners fled the capital last month after participating in deadly riots, bunkering down in surrounding hills and threatening guerrilla warfare if they were not reinstated.

Two former soldiers and an army captain have been killed since late Wednesday, said the military and Lieutenant Gastao Salsinha, a spokesman for the ex-soldiers. Fourteen ex-soldiers were wounded, Salsinha said.

One soldier and one of the ex-soldiers died in gunbattles Tuesday.

The fighting - the worst to hit East Timor since the violence surrounding its bloody break with Indonesia in 1999 - has prompted the fledgling nation's government to ask for international troops.

"We can't control the situation," said Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta, adding that his country needed help disarming "renegade troops and police rebelling against the state."

Australia, which led a U.N.-military force into East Timor after Indonesian troops and their militia proxies went on a rampage six years ago, killing 1,500 people, has offered 1,300 troops, ships, helicopters and armored personnel carriers.

The first batch, nearly 100 commandos, arrived Thursday to help secure Dili's airport.

"It's our expectation that this will ensure that the airport remains open and functioning normally," The Australian prime minister, John Howard, said in Canberra.

New Zealand said 60 of its police and soldiers were on their way. Portugal - a former colonizer of East Timor - and Malaysia also agreed to send forces.

Preparing for the worst, dozens of foreigners were fleeing East Timor, including 40 Australian Embassy staff and their families. The U.S. Embassy also ordered the evacuation of all nonessential personnel and advised Americans in the country to leave.

"I feel horrible, like a rat deserting a sinking ship," said Margaret Hall from Australia, who arrived in the country several months ago with an organization that provides maternal and child health care.

"But I'm confident we'll be back," she said as she waited for a flight to Queensland, Australia, with her husband. "The arrival of Australian and New Zealand troops ... will hopefully find a fair way out for everybody."

Meanwhile, the commander of the renegade forces - who is wanted dead or alive by he top military chief of East Timor - said bringing in peacekeepers was the only way to prevent an outbreak of civil war.

This is the only solution," Major Alfredo Reinado, commander of the breakaway force, said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"There is no other way, or it will be war forever. The government has taken too long. It is not capable of resolving this," he said.

At the heart of the conflict are the former soldiers' claims they were being discriminated against because they came from the west of the small country, while the military leadership originates from the east.

Indonesia ruled East Timor with an iron fist for 24 years. Human rights groups say as many as 200,000 were killed under its occupation.

DILI, East Timor Fierce gunbattles raged in Dili, the capital of East Timor Thursday, killing at least three people and wounding more than a dozen, as international troops arrived in the tiny nation to help it quell a rebellion by disgruntled ex-soldiers.

A South Korean bystander was shot in the neck and rushed to a hospital, Yonhap news agency said, as dozens of foreigners fled the country on the third day of fighting between soldiers loyal to the government and recently dismissed troops.

Firefights erupted in several areas around the capital - including near President Xanana Gusmao's office and the United Nations compound. Homes and business were torched, with plumes of smoke rising over virtually deserted streets.

The first international peacekeepers arrived in an Australian Royal Air Force plane, welcomed by hundreds of East Timorese seeking refuge at the airport who clapped, cried and shouted "Thank God!"

The Australian troops in full combat gear immediately fanned out across the airport on the outskirts of the capital, taking up positions in the grass.

Soldiers and police from New Zealand, Portugal and Malaysia have also said they would help.

East Timor, the world's youngest nation, has been plagued by unrest since March when more than 40 percent of its armed forces were fired after going on strike to protest alleged discrimination in the military.

Some hard-liners fled the capital last month after participating in deadly riots, bunkering down in surrounding hills and threatening guerrilla warfare if they were not reinstated.

Two former soldiers and an army captain have been killed since late Wednesday, said the military and Lieutenant Gastao Salsinha, a spokesman for the ex-soldiers. Fourteen ex-soldiers were wounded, Salsinha said.

One soldier and one of the ex-soldiers died in gunbattles Tuesday.

The fighting - the worst to hit East Timor since the violence surrounding its bloody break with Indonesia in 1999 - has prompted the fledgling nation's government to ask for international troops.

"We can't control the situation," said Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta, adding that his country needed help disarming "renegade troops and police rebelling against the state."

Australia, which led a U.N.-military force into East Timor after Indonesian troops and their militia proxies went on a rampage six years ago, killing 1,500 people, has offered 1,300 troops, ships, helicopters and armored personnel carriers.

The first batch, nearly 100 commandos, arrived Thursday to help secure Dili's airport.

"It's our expectation that this will ensure that the airport remains open and functioning normally," The Australian prime minister, John Howard, said in Canberra.

New Zealand said 60 of its police and soldiers were on their way. Portugal - a former colonizer of East Timor - and Malaysia also agreed to send forces.

Preparing for the worst, dozens of foreigners were fleeing East Timor, including 40 Australian Embassy staff and their families. The U.S. Embassy also ordered the evacuation of all nonessential personnel and advised Americans in the country to leave.

"I feel horrible, like a rat deserting a sinking ship," said Margaret Hall from Australia, who arrived in the country several months ago with an organization that provides maternal and child health care.

"But I'm confident we'll be back," she said as she waited for a flight to Queensland, Australia, with her husband. "The arrival of Australian and New Zealand troops ... will hopefully find a fair way out for everybody."

Meanwhile, the commander of the renegade forces - who is wanted dead or alive by he top military chief of East Timor - said bringing in peacekeepers was the only way to prevent an outbreak of civil war.

This is the only solution," Major Alfredo Reinado, commander of the breakaway force, said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"There is no other way, or it will be war forever. The government has taken too long. It is not capable of resolving this," he said.

At the heart of the conflict are the former soldiers' claims they were being discriminated against because they came from the west of the small country, while the military leadership originates from the east.

Indonesia ruled East Timor with an iron fist for 24 years. Human rights groups say as many as 200,000 were killed under its occupation.

Helicopter Crash Sparks Clash in Iraq : Iraq News

Shiites in Basra Attack British Troops

By Nelson Hernandez and Omar Fekeiki

Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, May 7, 2006; Page A22

BAGHDAD,May 6 -- A British helicopter crashed Saturday morning in the southerncity of Basra, touching off a confrontation in which hundreds ofcheering Shiite demonstrators pelted British soldiers with gasoline bombs.

The British Defense Ministry released a statement confirming that soldiers had been killed in the incident, but a military spokesman would not specify how many until their next of kin could be notified. Iraqi firefighters and police officials said they pulled four bodies from the wreckage, news services reported.

A British military spokesman, Maj. Sebastian Muntz, said the area was cordoned off by British soldiers and Iraqi police and that the troops were investigating the cause of the crash. Iraqi police officials quoted by news services said the helicopter appeared to have been hit by a rocket.

A witness who gave only his first name, Mohammed, for fear of retaliation, said in an interview that he had seen a rocket fired from an alley in the nearby Tamimiya neighborhood before the crash.

British armored vehicles and ambulances that rushed to the scene were soon surrounded by a crowd of supporters of the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The al-Jazeera television network broadcast images of demonstrators pumping their fists in the air as they chanted, "Victory to the Mahdi Army!" -- a Shiite militia loyal to Sadr.

British troops attempted to regain control of a street in the crowded, run-down neighborhood, which was filled with smoke from burning tires. Muntz said people in the crowd lobbed Molotov cocktails and makeshift grenades and that a smattering of gunfire could be heard. No soldiers were reported hurt.

Police said four Iraqi adults and a child were killed in the clashes and 30 civilians were injured, the Associated Press reported.

Other images broadcast on Iraqi television showed a British soldier firing his rifle into the air in an apparent attempt to quell the unrest. Other footage showed a group of people attempting to drag away an Iraqi man who had been wounded or killed. It was not clear how he had been hurt.

"It's been quite a volatile situation down there in Basra this afternoon," Muntz said. "It's probably too early to confirm what's happened there."

The incident illustrated the growing unruliness in Basra, which has experienced little of the sectarian strife that has affected other parts of the country. Basra's predominantly Shiite Muslim population generally opposed Saddam Hussein, and the city has been relatively tranquil since the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2003. Yet violence has escalated as rival militia groups affiliated with Shiite political parties fight for influence.

Residents of Basra -- Iraq's second-largest city -- have also had an increasingly adversarial relationship with the British army, which has occupied the area since the invasion. The 8,000 British troops have repeatedly clashed with Sadr's militia, which is stridently opposed to the presence of foreign soldiers in Iraq. The British also attempted to disarm Iraqi police units earlier this year, arguing that they have been infiltrated by militia members.

Residents were enraged by the discovery in February of a video from 2004 showing British troops beating an Iraqi teenager. The governor of Basra province broke off relations with the British force after the video became public, but reestablished them in recent weeks. Prior to the helicopter crash, 104 British troops had died in Iraq.

The violence Saturday was not confined to Basra, as insurgents continued their assault on the Iraqi military. A suicide bomber blew himself up at an Iraqi army base in Tikrit, about 90 miles north of Baghdad, killing three Iraqi soldiers, said Brig. Gen. Abdulaziz Muhammed Jasim, a spokesman for the Iraqi Defense Ministry.

The bomber, dressed in an Iraqi army uniform, made his way into the base of the 4th Iraqi Army Division and exploded his explosive belt amid a crowd of soldiers, Jasim said. The attack came three days after 17 men were killed at a police recruiting station in Fallujah.

"This is a very normal scene now," Jasim said. "The terrorists realize that people are willing to join the security forces, and therefore they want to intimidate them."

At least 12 other Iraqis died in bombings and shootings across the country Saturday, according to police and news reports, and Baghdad police discovered the bodies of 13 people who had been kidnapped and killed.

A roadside bomb also killed a U.S. soldier traveling in Baghdad on Friday, the military said in a statement Saturday.

Special correspondents K.I. Ibrahim and Saad al-Izzi in Baghdad, Hassan Shammari in Baqubah and Saad Sarhan in Najaf contributed to this report.

Rescuers turn to explosives : World News

RESCUERS desperate to reach two trapped Tasmanian miners will use low-impact explosives to blast through the last section of rock, but warn the men are still many hours from freedom.

Frustrated by rock that is much harder than expected, rescuers have revised their strategy to reach Todd Russell, 34, and Brant Webb, 37, who have spent their 12th night trapped underground at the Beaconsfield Gold Mine.

About 50 small holes are being drilled into rock that is five times harder than concrete. Low-impact explosives will then be inserted to break it up.

Rescuers must mine horizontally through 1.5 metres of rock before moving upwards to the cavity where Mr Russell and Mr Webb have been trapped since the evening of April 25.

The decision to revert to explosives was made after a failed earlier attempt to ream out a pilot hole in the rock at the mine.

Residents of the small mining town, who have waited with bated breath since the miners were discovered alive last Sunday, had hoped the men might be out in the early hours of today.

But Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten today said it could be many hours until the men taste freedom.

"The rock that is being encountered is just a lot harder than expectations and the work is painstaking and could take many hours to come yet," he said.

"People within the (mine) organisation, the rescue, thought things might go well.

"But what's happened is when the (rescuers) are actually at the face of this one-metre tunnel, the rock is just incredibly difficult."

Rescuers had switched to drilling after they realised using jack hammers was like "throwing kleenex at rock," he said.

The narrowness of the rescue tunnel means only one rescuer can drill into the rock at any given time.

But he is helped by another rescuer kneeling behind him to help him hold the drill, which weighs up to 40kg.

He said about 50 small holes were being drilled into the rock.

"Then what they might do is (use) a very low-impact explosive ... perhaps gunpowder, comparable to a shotgun pellet," he said.

Mr Shorten said the plan could change, and warned rescuers would reach the men "later rather than sooner".

"We just need to go back to the mantra of slow and steady," he said.

He said the trapped men remained in good spirits.

The rescuers are on six-hour shifts.

"The hard work is being done by three men every six hours, Mr Shorten said.

"It's hard work, but none of the rescuers are sooks."

Earlier, medical experts said the miners would be kept together after their release to ease their readjustment to life.

Launceston General Hospital is preparing to treat the men and chief executive Stephen Ayre said they would probably share a room.

Psychologists had suggested that, and that they not (not) be separated quickly.

Doctors will assess the men for kidney function, deep vein thrombosis and other health problems, Mr Ayre said.

But he said their relative good health may mean they spend only a day or so in hospital.

He warned that the level of media interest in their story could compound their psychological trauma.

"I think probably one of the first things would be the psychological trauma or the shock of suddenly being inundated and being the focus of attention," he told the broadcaster.

"I mean, they're fairly isolated down there, they're only talking to a single person at a time."

Mr Ayre said any celebratory beer the men might have been fantasising about may have to wait.

"It'll depend on their clinical situation," he said.

"If their hydration isn't quite good enough, alcohol can make that worse."

Marathon boy Budhia Singh :India News

For his armies of cheering fans in India's slums, he is a small but nimble miracle, destined to run his way into history as one of the world's greatest athletes.

Budhia Singh, a four-year-old urchin, can complete a 26-mile marathon faster than many runners who are twice his height and many times his age.

But just as fame and fortune beckon - and a trip to Britain to star in a television documentary - doctors who have examined the child phenomenon have laid down an early finishing line to his career.

Alarmed at television footage of him collapsing in the final stages of a record-breaking 43-mile run, Indian health officials ordered police to take him into hospital on Friday for tests to see if the intense exercise was damaging his young body.

Results delivered yesterday confirmed those fears - with doctors warning that he will soon be a physical wreck.

"Making a child this age run marathons on a regular basis will lead to him being physically burnt out in a few years", said Dr Manabendra Bhattacharya of the Sports Authority of India, who discovered that Budhia had abnormally high pulse and blood pressure readings. "It's not desirable to submit such a young body to so much stress and strain. Those who think they're doing the child a service by promoting him to run such long distances are causing him terrible damage."

Budhia - hailed as the world's youngest marathon runner, although he has no birth certificate to prove his age - is now the subject of a legal wrangle between the state authorities and his coach, who stands accused of exploiting and maltreating the boy.

The controversy is being played out amid huge media interest in the boy's story, a tale of rags to riches that has transfixed the Indian public. The son of an illiterate dishwasher mother and an alcoholic beggar father, Budhia was sold for 800 rupees (£10) to a street hawker after his father died three years ago.

His physical stamina was spotted by a judo coach, Biranchi Das, who caught him bullying another child near his club one day and ordered him to him run round an athletics track as a punishment. When he returned five hours later, expecting the child to be long gone, he found him still doing laps.

Since then Mr Das, who claims to have legally adopted him, has been training him up, feeding him a high-protein diet of meat, eggs, milk and soya beans. He runs up to 20 miles every second day, and has taken part in six big races, bringing offers of lucrative sponsorship deals, according to Mr Das.

But his achievements have been less well received by some government officials, who are anxious to counter India's image as a country that turns a blind eye to child exploitation. Pramila Malik, a minister of state for women and child welfare, accused Mr Das of turning the boy into "a performing
monkey".

Mr Das, 39, said that he was making no money out of Budhia and insisted he only had the child's interests at heart. "I have a doctor check on him every few days and he's fine," he said.

He has the backing of Budhia's mother, Sukanti Singh, 35, and her son is likewise unconcerned. "I love running, I never get tired," he said.

Budhia is due to fly to London on May 15 at the behest of British-based Touch Productions, which is making a documentary about him for Five and the Discovery Channel. Touch says that it is paying the expenses of the trip but that no fee is being paid to the boy, his mother or carers.

British experts sided with Dr Bhattacharya. Richard Godfrey, a sports science lecturer and former chief physiologist at the British Olympic Medical Centre, said: "This lad will probably stop growing soon because the impact from his running will have damaged the ends of his bones."

Malcolm Brinkworth, the executive producer of Touch Productions, stressed that the health concerns would be raised. "We are making an objective documentary, looking very carefully at the issues involved. We're not trying to be part of any process of exploiting this child," he said.

Microsoft Seals Massive Deal : Technology News

By Keith Regan
www.EcommerceTimes.com
Part of the ECT News Network
05/05/06 10:21 AM PT

Microsoft made it clear that it is "deadly serious about ad-supported services, and about working closely, even humbly, with marketers," JupiterResearch analyst David Card said.


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Another piece of Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) ambitious advertising distribution strategy fell into place Thursday with the software maker's announcement that it had closed its rumored purchase of in-game advertising pioneer Massive.

Microsoft did not disclose financial details, but analysts have estimated the sale would be worth between US$200 million and $400 million. Microsoft announced the deal at the wrap of its two-day Strategic Account Summit, an online advertising confab.

Targeting Specific Demographics
The deal "broadens Microsoft's commitment to providing advertisers with a highly effective means of reaching specific demographic groups," the company said.

"Advertisers are having a tough time connecting with the elusive 18- to 34-year-old male demographic, because this group continues to spend less time watching TV and more time playing video games," commented Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president of global sales and marketing and chief media revenue officer at Microsoft.

"Massive and Microsoft can help lead with our shared vision of delivering more targeted, measurable and effective opportunities for advertisers to reach today's youth audience in a largely untapped market," she added.

Microsoft also intends to target a new demographic with the technology, populating so-called "casual games" that are favored by women in the 30 to 35 age group with ads as well.

Massive's technology enables dynamic advertising to be placed in video games played by individuals or in online settings. The ads often appear similar to product placements in movies and TV shows, with advertising messages appearing on pizza boxes, soda cans and billboards and posters, as players move through the virtual gaming world.

Microsoft plans to keep New York-based Massive's employees at their current locations, with no staff reductions in the works. Massive will also keep offices in London, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Paris, Sydney, Australia, Cologne, Germany and Toronto.

The purchase -- reports first surfaced more than a week ago -- seems a fitting capstone to Microsoft's advertising summit, which focused heavily on how Microsoft aims to outdo Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) by providing tightly focused and demographically sensitive advertising to niche audiences on a range of platforms.

Gaining Traction
In addition to its obvious applications in the Xbox 360 and Xbox live gaming environments, the Massive technology is likely to help Microsoft create a dynamic ad delivery approach for other areas -- such as the Windows Live Web services platform or MSN , its now purely content-focused portal.

Massive CEO Mitchell Davis said the company would maintain its existing customer and business relationships, which include ties with several high-profile advertisers and some of the major game publishers -- even some that make titles for platforms that compete with Microsoft's Xbox.

"With Microsoft, we have the prospect of extending our technology into a vast array of new markets and online environments," Davis said.

Massive launched its ad system in 2004 and took in more than $15 million in venture funding over the last two years as it sought to build out its network of advertisers and game makers. It has built significant momentum lately, signing a deal with Major League Baseball and Take Two Interactive to populate MLB-branded games with dynamic advertising messages.

Not Kidding Around
Massive predicted the market for in-game ads will grow to some $2 billion by 2010, which may be optimistic, even though the industry is likely to enjoy robust growth. The market was worth $56 million last year, according to the Yankee Group, and will grow more than 10-fold to $732 million by 2010.

Whatever the amount, the prospect of growing ad revenue will undoubtedly be a strong incentive for game publishers to create new titles by improving the economics of game development, something that has taken a hit in recent years due to piracy and other issues.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is building out a varied landscape for advertisers to populate with their messages, according to David Card, an analyst at JupiterResearch. He said the Massive buy underscored the message Microsoft repeated all week -- that it would take the Google online ad model and go one better.

Beyond the bluster: Iran at a crossroads :Iran News

By Kaveh L Afrasiabi

The international nuclear standoff with Iran, which is likely to culminate in United Nations sanctions given the present state of affairs, now has the distinct possibility of pushing Iran back to where it was in the early and mid-1980s, that is, international isolation.

This possibility is already foreshadowed by the draft resolution that was circulated at the UN Security Council, calling on the world community to prevent the transfer of goods, material and technology that "could contribute to Iran's [uranium] enrichment-related and reprocessing activities and missile programs".

In light of Russia's recent announcement of its intention to sell two new nuclear power plants to Iran, the pertinent question is, of course, whether or not President Vladimir Putin will be able to continue the Russia-Iran nuclear cooperation when such a cooperation would put him at odds not only with the Security Council but with the United States, Europe and the "international community."

The draft resolution calls on Iran to halt all uranium-enrichment-related activities as well as the construction of a heavy-water plant and threatens to take "additional steps" if necessary. It gives the International Atomic Energy Agency chief another chance to seek Iran's compliance with its, and the IAEA's, demands. And even if China and Russia as permanent members to the Security Council block a formal UN resolution, the chances are that the US will seek to put together a "coalition of the willing" to impose its own sanctions.

Assuming that Iran ignores the UN - "doesn't give a damn", as President Mahmud Ahmadinejad put it - the road ahead is rather straightforward, that is, the resort to Chapter VII of the UN Charter, declaring Iran's behavior a threat to international peace and security, barring all member states from any nuclear cooperation with Iran, as well as "targeted sanctions".

Implications for Iran's foreign policy
Iran is fairly well equipped to deal with the rather toothless sanctions posed by the US that date back to the hostage crisis of 1979. Short of an oil embargo, Iran can financially withstand any lesser sanctions such as travel bans, a freeze on assets of leaders and the like.

On the other hand, the Iranian economy will suffer grievously should foreign investors stay away, foreign contracts be canceled or put in indefinite limbo, and the bills for foreign imports skyrocket, translating into higher unemployment and economic stagnation. That would come on top of a war economy where more and more of the government's budget is swallowed up by defense spending. At a minimum, it will slow Iran's economic growth, about which Ahmadinejad boasted recently.

Thus, looking ahead, a year or so from now, with Iran under international isolation, the picture that emerges is rather bleak - an Iran turned into a Middle Eastern version of isolated North Korea. That is hardly what Iran's foreign-policy establishment aimed to achieve during the past two decades.

The pressure on Iran could, of course, worsen if there are additional punitive measures such as the exclusion of Iran from international sports, cultural and scientific events, as advocated by certain hawkish politicians in the West. The very stigma of becoming a pariah state is unwelcome news to Iran's foreign-policy decision-makers who have, over the years, expended considerable energy in cultivating Iran's foreign ties, regionally and internationally. Without doubt, the negative repercussions of UN actions against Iran would be far-reaching, adversely impacting the whole edifice of Iran's foreign policy.

To avoid or minimize the regime's vulnerabilities, Iran's behavior has been characterized by a fluid, mixed response, evincing the tough line in public - "we don't give a damn" - with an increasingly finessed diplomatic approach geared toward stalling the US-EU march to sanctions.

This might explain why Iran rebutted the recent statement by a military leader, regarding Iran's intention to attack Israel in case of an assault by the US, saying it was not "valid". The pendulum had swung too far in the direction of bellicose rhetoric supplanting diplomacy, and as Dr Hassan Rowhani, the former chief nuclear negotiator, has candidly stated, Iran welcomes dialogue and diplomacy.

The subtle diplomatic approach by Rowhani and his increasingly prominent role in formulating Iran's response to this dangerous crisis suggests that Iran is actually in the throes of a serious soul-search and quite another lurch "back to the past", that is, back to the prudent nuclear diplomacy prior to Ahmadinejad, dictated by the survival prerogatives of the regime and Iran's national interests.
It is not too late to prevent Iran's descent to another dark era of international isolation, bringing misery and deprivation to the Iranian people, who have already sacrificed so much. To demand from the present generation that it make another historic sacrifice, as it did during the eight-year war with Iraq (which might have ended sooner without the resistance from hardline politics), is asking too much, and it is doubtful that the educated middle-class Iranians would go for it.

First step: Acknowledging a crisis
Several months ago, Ahmadinejad questioned the applicability of the term "crisis" for the nuclear issue. Yet today there is no doubt that there is a crisis with the potential for war, something that Iran's former envoy to the UN, Deputy Oil Minister Hadi Nejadhosseinian, openly admitted in his recent trip to India.

His expressed concern about a possible war with the US is clearly shared by nearly all the top-ranking Iranian officials, many of whom are unhappy about the adverse impact it would have on their respective programs, be it oil, gas, trade, communication or construction.

By acknowledging that Iran faces a formidable international crisis, the government can brace for the consequences better by preparing the population, as well as search more energetically, and diplomatically, for a formula out of it, since the present endeavors have not had the desired results - at least not yet.

By definition, a crisis is a moment of opportunity as well as danger, and to a large extent its evolution depends on the acumen, imagination and will of the political leaders to chart a course leading away from danger. That means seizing on the nuclear crisis's opportunity to reach a modus vivendi with the US, to make more transparent their singular commitment to protect Iran's national interests and define the limits of their commitments to purely religious and/or ideological values in conjunction with national-security interests.

For the moment, the chances of achieving a positive outcome are held back by the crisis's powerful momentum toward a complete breakdown - of Iran's relations with the West, with the UN and, indeed, with much of the international community. This is connected to a related breakdown in Iran's foreign-policy priorities and interests.

Post-populist politics
On a broad level, what Iran may need to pull itself out of the present crisis is a political housecleaning following the parameters of a yet-to-be-defined post-populist politics commensurate with Iran's needs and priorities unblemished by the ideological "noise" marring the picture of what Iran's national and security interests dictate both in the short and long terms.

The problem with this scenario unfolding is that, perversely, the present crisis fuels the very basis of populist politics in Iran, by forcing the government to increase its reliance on its mass base of "citizen soldiers". Yet a clue to the riddle of Iranian politics, as long as this pattern of politics continues, is how long Iran will keep on playing to the standards of what we may aptly refer to as the "heroic society".

To leapfrog to a "post-heroic" society is, however, what is precisely needed for Iran to come back down to earth and stop acting as it if speaking on behalf of the entire Muslim world, and limit its rhetoric to Iran's national concerns and priorities. The movement aspect of the Islamic Republic must be preceded by the strictly state aspect.

The dual revolutionist-statist orientation of the state has caused certain inconsistencies that must now be addressed, along with the serious side-effects of the new trend toward a greater emphasis on ideology.

This is exceedingly difficult given the multiple sources of populist politics in Iran epitomized by Ahmadinejad. It involves a politics of identity and "symbol-wielding" reliance on the linguistic reservoir of the revolution that makes any shrinking from the ideological and public commitments of the state problematic today.

Iran is caught on the horns of a dilemma: the very process of distancing itself from the core fundamentalist values, without having anything to replace them, has today caused a "restorationist" politics that, in the realm of foreign policy at least, amounts to a vicious circle.

Still outstanding after all these years is the answer to the question of which approach Iran should have to today's age of globalization, to the international system and to international relations. Iran's leaders have called for a long-term, 20-year economic policy, yet the foreign-policy dimension of this is hitherto absent and requires serious attention.

This aside, to call for a post-populist politics is not to be mistaken for jettisoning all those populist reservoirs of power in Iran, rather to reconstruct the state-making process along new lines whereby the harmful effects of "politics from below" are kept in check and rational decision-making is not put in jeopardy by political rhetoric.

Ahmadinejad and his circle of policymakers have repeatedly criticized the one-dimensional "politics of appeasement" under former president Mohammad Khatami, and their corrective militancy has not been entirely without positive aspects, such as in reasserting Iran's regional role, among others. But, as called for by various policy analysts and pundits in Iran today, a "balancing act" is required, and that inevitably means re-embracing some of the foreign-policy prescriptions of the Khatami era.

Iran's foreign policy is today at a critical crossroads, where there are alternative roads to the past, one being the isolationism of the 1980s and the other the integrationist approach of the 1990s. The worse remedy is a mixed approach that would seek in vain to retain elements from both eras. The way forward is to continue, in main essentials, the path of the Khatami era.

Kaveh L Afrasiabi, PhD, is the author of After Khomeini: New Directions in Iran's Foreign Policy (Westview Press) and co-author of "Negotiating Iran's Nuclear Populism", The Brown Journal of World Affairs, Volume XII, Issue 2, Summer 2005, with Mustafa Kibaroglu. He is also author of Iran's Nuclear Program: Debating Facts Versus Fiction.

Pramod Mahajan losing grip in life’s battle : India News

MIL/Agencies, May 2, 2006.

Mumbai, May 2 - Pramod Mahajan, BJP leader, who was shot by his brother, seems to be losing his life's battle. He has started Respiratory problem (breathing trouble), which the doctors say is dangerous for him.

Inspite of Doctors best attention, Mahajan's condition is not improving. Even though the next bulletin may come after two hours, his conditions on the whole do not support him.

It is really sad for all doctors who are doing their best and the relatives who are continuously praying for Mahajan's better health, since his improvement is showing little positive signs.

Doctors say that it is not possible for them to extract out all the bullets from his body, at least one shall stay there to keep him living.

The deteriorating condition is not due to operations performed on him but due to dialysis trouble and other complications like respiratory problems. Let us hope for the best for this great leader.