document.writeln("

Mittal dunks down US$4.8bn for Ukrainian steel facility
Kiev: Lakshmi Mittal, Britain's richest man, added to his global steel empire yesterday by paying US$4.8bn for a Ukraine steel facility, after winning a live television auction for it.

Mittal, the world leader in steel, added about 10 per cent to the production capacity of Mittal Steel with the purchase of the mill.
Analysts were stunned at the price paid for the Kryvorizhstal plant, which was expected to fetch US$3bn. Ukraine's President, Viktor Yushchenko, hailed the deal as the start of a new economic era for his country. He told reporters: "The amount we will receive for this company will be 20 per cent higher than all the proceeds received in all the years of the Ukrainian privatisation. What happened today shows Ukraine is capable of staging honest privatisations, observing all vital legal procedures."

Mittal Steel came up trumps after a feverish auction was televised live to allay corruption fears, beating Europe's No 1 player, Arcelor, in almost an hour of fast-moving bidding. Ukraine was selling the mill for the second time - it annulled a rigged auction that took place last year under the government of Leonid Kuchma. On that occasion it was sold for US$800mn to a consortium led by Kuchma's son-in-law. Mittal had then bid US$1.5bn.

The sale of Kryvorizhstal, which produces 20 per cent of Ukraine's metal output, is the biggest-ever foreign investment ever in Ukraine - equivalent to 20 per cent of this year's anticipated budget revenues.

The Kryvorizhstal mill, a giant integrated plant, produces 7 million tons of steel a year but has the capacity to make 10 million. Mittal Steel said it would raise output levels and boost productivity, although the costs at the plant are well below the European average.
Back to News Review index page  

Ben Bernanke nominated as head of US Federal Reserve
Washington: Investors, economists and members of Congress have welcomed President Bush's selection of Ben Bernanke to head the Federal Reserve on Monday.

Stocks rallied as word of Bush's choice spread on Wall Street. Bernanke, a widely respected economist who serves as Bush's chief economic adviser, said his first priority would be to ``maintain continuity with the policies'' established during Greenspan's eighteen years as the head of the nation's banking and monetary system.

Bernanke, 51, is expected to have little trouble winning Senate confirmation before Greenspan's planned retirement on Jan. 31.

After a lifetime of stellar academic work, most recently as chairman of the economics department at Princeton University, Bernanke was a member of the Fed's Board of Governors from August 2002 until June, when he became president of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

He graduated with highest honors from Harvard University in 1975 and earned a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology four years later. He made his reputation as a professor at Princeton, specializing in the analysis and history of monetary policy. His study of the Great Depression concluded that its severity was caused not by financial markets but by the Fed's errant monetary policy.

He's also the co-author of a popular college textbook titled ``Macroeconomics,'' which is in its fourth edition. Adam Posen, who co-authored a 1999 book on inflation with Bernanke, called him one of the top economists of his generation.
Back to News Review index page  

Lawsuit against Apple over iPod screen scratches
Philedelphia: Apple Computer Inc. is facing a lawsuit, which alleges that the company knew its nano portable music player was defective but still decided to press on with its release last month.

The credit card-sized nano, which replaced the best-selling iPod mini ran into trouble when users found that the device's screen scratched too easily.

Consumers alleged Apple released the product knowing the problems and led consumers to believe it was durable-forcing them to shoulder the cost of replacing defective music players.

The complaint blamed the nano's defectiveness on the film of plastic resin that covers it to protect it from damage. Previous versions of the iPod were coated with thicker and stronger resin, the suit said.

Sales of iPods account for nearly a third of Apple's total sales, and the company has a share of about 75 percent of the U.S. market for all MP3 players.
Back to News Review index page  

Australia attacks EU over farm subsidies
Sydney: Australia has verbally attacked France and the European Union, saying their refusal to slash farm tariffs risked global trade talks and cheated millions of the world's poor.

Australia says that the stalled negotiations on the crucial question of farm subsidies threatened the Doha round of global trade talks due to be wrapped up at a World Trade Organisation meeting in December.
Back to News Review index page