Financial reform efforts pit US against Europe

NEW YORK – U.S. policymakers are struggling to agree on new rules to avoid another financial crisis.

A global consensus? Even harder.

Efforts are raging on three continents, with at least as many ideas about the proper fixes. Unless the U.S., Europe and Asia adopt uniformly strict regulations, banks and high-risk traders will shift operations wherever rules are loosest. Experts warn another crisis could follow.

The global proposals are clashing on several levels. Among the differences:

• The Obama administration wants to restrict banks' size and ability to take risk. European officials have called that plan unworkable in a region with roughly 40 cross-border banks.

• European Union officials want to crack down on financial derivatives, which they blame for worsening Europe's debt crisis. Derivatives are instruments whose value depends on underlying assets, such as mortgages or currencies. U.S. regulators favor making derivatives trading more transparent. But they've resisted calls to restrict it.

• In Asia, Chinese regulators are forcing banks to set aside more reserves to prevent a U.S.-style credit binge. And India has maintained rules that were already stricter than many in the West.

A report last week on Lehman Brothers' 2008 collapse reminded the world of the matter's urgency. The report said regulators missed Lehman's accounting tricks, which made the firm appear stronger than it was. Lehman's bankruptcy, the biggest in U.S. corporate history, shocked global markets and triggered the $700 billion financial bailout.

But 18 months later, no deal on stricter rules is in sight — domestically or globally. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd proposed his own bill Monday — without Republican support. And the U.S. and Europe seem far apart on such issues as how to oversee bank accounts and mortgages and whether banks can do proprietary trading. That's when they use their own money to make high-risk bets. If those bets go bad and a bank goes under, taxpayers could be on the hook.

The Lehman disaster underscores the "enormous imperative" to tighten international rules, said Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard professor and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. Yet he doubts countries can agree.

"You're dealing with different accounting standards, different political systems and different banking systems," Rogoff said. "It will be very hard to create one-size-fits-all regulations."

A lobbying blitz by Wall Street banks has helped drive the sides apart. Banks argue that some U.S. proposals would give overseas rivals an unfair edge. Especially in their sights is a proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency to oversee consumer products.

The House and Senate plans would create a council to monitor threats to the financial system. Both would also set a "resolution authority" to close large failing firms. But key differences remain. One involves the proposed consumer agency. The House favors a freestanding agency; the Dodd bill would place it inside the Federal Reserve.

Europe is weighing some similar reforms. The economic bloc would create three authorities: to govern banking, insurance and markets in all 27 member nations. A watchdog would monitor financial stability. It would also look for any financial-asset bubbles or banks embracing too much risk.

But trans-Atlantic discord is flaring. The Obama administration wants to bar the biggest banks from using their own money to make high-risk bets. It would also limit the size of banks.

The European Union has rejected that plan. In Europe, banks already have been getting smaller. Regulators insisted they shrink to compensate for government aid.

"Trying to apply sweeping rules about the structure, content and range of activities of banking entities is too difficult," British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said this month.

In addition, European officials have threatened to restrict trading of certain derivatives linked to government debt, called "naked" credit default swaps. Naked swaps are a type of insurance in which investors don't actually hold the insured bonds. European officials argue the swaps have worsened Europe's crisis by magnifying bets that Greece and other indebted nations will default.

Many experts disagree. They say ballooning deficits — not derivatives — have weakened confidence in Greece and other EU nations.

Still, EU officials want the U.S. to help crack down on those swaps. The House and Senate bills would likely require most derivatives trades to go through clearinghouses to make them more transparent. But they wouldn't limit their use.

Another conflict is over hedge funds, which are lightly regulated private investment vehicles. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has voiced concern that disclosure rules that Europe is weighing could block U.S. hedge funds and private equity firms from Europe's market.

EU proposals would likely require big funds operating in Europe to regularly disclose their trades and risk exposure. The idea is to prove they don't threaten the financial system.

By contrast, the Senate bill would require only that big hedge funds pay into a resolution fund to pay for dismantling failing firms.

Andrew Busch, a global strategist at BMO Capital Markets, warns that firms would exploit any differences in countries' rules. Risky activities banned in one country could shift to another with friendlier rules.

"You would invite regulatory shopping — really, country shopping," Busch said. "It's as easy as flipping a switch."

Even the banking industry acknowledges the risk.

"You could have a race to the bottom to those countries and jurisdictions that have weaker protections," said Scott Talbott, chief lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, which includes the largest banks.

The banks argue that the U.S. effort risks stifling financial activity and are fighting elements of it.

"There has to be a balance in how you regulate, or you make banks less competitive," Talbott said.

For a model on how to tighten rules, U.S. and European officials may look East. Asia's banks were relatively unscathed by the West's crisis. In part, that was because China wasn't deeply integrated into the global system. In other cases such as India, regulation was already stricter than in the West.

Some Asian countries have further intensified efforts to reduce risk. Chinese regulators in 2008 required banks to hold more reserves to guard against loan failures.

In addition, China wants to increase oversight of banks that were ordered to boost lending last year to back Beijing's stimulus.

"We used to learn from Western developed countries, but later we found their systems had problems, so we'll have to amend our system and hope it will develop in a healthy and steady way," said Wei Tao, an analyst for China Securities Research.

Gary Gensler, head of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has struck an optimistic note about a global accord on derivatives. He said last week that U.S. authorities are "working well" with overseas regulators.

Others say some disagreement is helpful. Banking analyst Bert Ely said a diversity of regulations can point to flaws in a country's rules and to better solutions elsewhere.

"If everyone adopts the same rules and we're wrong, then we all go running off the cliff together when the next crisis hits," Ely said.

Fed weighs how and when to signal higher rates

WASHINGTON – Debate is heating up within the Federal Reserve over how and when to signal that the days of record-low interest rates are numbered.

A rate hike isn't imminent. But at their meeting Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues will likely focus on how to telegraph that higher rates are coming once the economic recovery is more deeply rooted. Eventually, Fed policymakers will need to start bumping up rates to head off inflation.

It will be a challenging maneuver. Fed officials will want to signal a move to higher rates in advance so borrowers and investors aren't jarred. And they will need to send a signal that isn't confusing.

The Fed has held rates at a record low near zero since December 2008. Bernanke and other Fed officials have said low rates are still needed to underpin economic growth.

But they need to decide whether to keep or modify their yearlong pledge to hold rates at record lows for an "extended period." Economists generally think "extended period" means at least six more months.

The Fed could drop that commitment altogether. Or it could pledge to keep rates low only for "some time" or vow to keep "policy accommodative." Or it could change its language in some other way to stress that credit will be tightened when the time is right. Any such step would signal that the days of easy money are fading.

Inside the Fed, debate is intensifying.

Thomas Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, has pushed to change the signal. At the Fed's last meeting in late January, Hoenig dissented from the "extended period" pledge. He favored saying rates would stay low for "some time." He thought that would give the Fed more flexibility to start raising rates.

Some economists aren't ruling out a change in language at Tuesday's meeting. Others don't think a change will come until the Fed's next meeting on April 27-28.

"During the Depression, the Fed tightened policy too soon and cut off the recovery before it was self-sufficient," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors. "The Fed doesn't want to make that mistake again. I think that they are willing to stay with very easy money longer than they might normally because of all the damage that has been done to the economy."

The recession wiped out 8.4 million jobs. And with companies still wary of ramping up hiring, the unemployment rate — now at 9.7 percent — is likely to stay high.

Even though the jobless rate hasn't budged for two months and companies aren't cutting as many jobs as they did a year ago, hiring is tepid. Consumer and business spending is sufficient to keep the economy growing only modestly. The housing and commercial real-estate markets are wobbly. Lending remains tight.

"Cautiously optimistic is where the Fed is right now," said William Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock. "But it is heavy on the caution and light on the optimism."

That helps explain why the Fed is expected to keep its key rate at a record low Tuesday. It has held its target range for its bank lending rate at zero to 0.25 percent since December 2008. In response, commercial banks' prime lending rate, used to peg rates on certain credit cards and consumer loans, has remained about 3.25 percent — its lowest in decades.

Super-low rates benefit borrowers who qualify for loans and are willing to take on more debt. But they hurt savers. Low rates are especially hard on people living on fixed incomes who are earning measly returns on savings accounts and certificates of deposit.

The Fed could start boosting rates as early as June — if economic growth accelerated. A more likely time is this fall, economists say.

Investors also will be looking to see if the Fed makes any changes to an economic-support program that's lowered mortgage rates and bolstered the housing market. Under that program, the Fed is scheduled to end its mortgage-securities purchases from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at the end of this month.

Some analysts fear that once the program ends, mortgage rates could rise. That could weaken the recovery in housing and the overall economy. The Fed has left the door open to extending the program if the economy weakens.

Dubai's leader tries to calm panicky investors

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Dubai's leader tried to calm panicky investors Tuesday as regional markets tumbled for a second day on news that the city-state's chief conglomerate needs to delay payments on its $60 billion debt for six months.

Government-owned investment company Dubai World — the United Arab Emirates' main engine of growth — gave anxious investors the first bit of clarity they were hoping for on how it might meet its debt obligations. It said it had begun discussions with creditors on $26 billion of its debt that would include restructuring about $6 billion.

The conglomerate is involved in international projects from Gulf banks and ports in 50 countries to luxury retailer Barney's New York and a grandiose six-tower hotel-entertainment complex in Las Vegas. Its potential for a debt default sent jitters through world markets on concerns of new setbacks for Dubai World's large international bank creditors just as they are recovering from the global financial crisis.

Dubai is one of seven highly autonomous statelets that make up the United Arab Emirates and the crisis has sent the UAE's two biggest markets into a tailspin. The Dubai Financial Market sank another 5.61 percent on Tuesday after plunging 7.3 percent on Monday and Abu Dhabi's bourse closed down 3.57 percent following an 8 percent slide a day earlier.

Dubai's ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, tried to reassure investors in his first public statement about Dubai World's debt crisis.

"Our economy is strong and solid and consistent," he told Al-Arabiya satellite television, adding markets were overreacting because of "a lack of understanding about what is happening in Dubai." He did not elaborate.

UAE President Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan also maintained his country's economy was healthy.

However, analysts say Dubai World's debt crisis is a symptom of a broader malaise in the city-state. Dubai has no oil resources. But for the past decade, it has been the freewheeling boomtown, racking up debt as it built extravagant artificial residential islands, malls complete with indoor ski slopes and the world's tallest tower.

The troubles raised concerns in international markets that the large international banks that extended credit to the conglomerate could now face a new setback if it defaults just as those big banks are starting to emerge from the global financial crisis. The big fear is that Dubai's problems could be indicative that the global recovery is not on as solid a footing as many had hoped and there could be other toxic debt problems still to come in developing countries.

World stock markets rose sharply Tuesday on the announcement that Dubai World was in talks to restructure a large chunk of its business. Investors were eagerly awaiting clarity on how it would deal with its debts, specifically reassurances that the company was sitting down with creditors to refinance its debt.

Saurabh Dhall, an independent broker in Dubai, said there is a lot of uncertainty about how the debt crisis will play out. He said it was raising credibility concerns both about Dubai's ability to stand behind its debt obligations and the possibility, however, remote, that the crisis could impact broader government debt in the UAE.

"The major concern is not so much the dollar amount ... of the payments, it's the concern about how this will affect credibility," he said.

Investors were not reassured on Monday when Dubai officials indicated they had washed their hands of Dubai World's debts, arguing that it was an independent company that happened to be owned by the emirate.

The news rattled investors and raised more questions about whether neighboring Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich seat of the UAE's federal government, would step in with a bailout of sort and what such a step would mean for Dubai.

Dubai World said Tuesday in a statement the restructuring would include about $6 billion in Islamic bonds issued by its real estate arm, Nakheel PJSC, the company behind Dubai's iconic, palm-shaped artificial islands. About $3.5 billion of the bonds come due on Dec. 14, and Nakheel was viewed as the litmus test for how Dubai World will deal with its debt woes.

It did not deal with the broader issue of how it would meet its entire crushing debt burden.

Dubai World's statement Tuesday said the restructuring would include Dubai World and certain subsidiaries, including Nakheel World and Limitless World. Excluded from the talks are debts from Infinity World Holding, Istithmar World and Ports & Free Zone World, which includes ports and terminal operator DP World, Economic Zones World, P&O Ferries and Jebel Ali Free Zone.

The conglomerate said all those subsidiaries are on "stable financial footing," and in a statement posted on the Nasdaq Dubai Web site, Jebel Ali Free Zone said it paid a roughly $2 billion Islamic bond, or sukuk, on time Tuesday.

Other UAE markets also felt the weight of Dubai's problems. Qatar's bourse fell 8.27 percent while Kuwait's was off 2.71 percent on Tuesday.

Markets in the Emirates will be closed Wednesday and Thursday for a national holiday and will reopen Sunday after the weekend.

SPIN METER: Legislation inflation grips GOP

WASHINGTON – Republicans love to get their hands on the Democrats' health care legislation. They show it to the cameras at every opportunity, even piling one version on top of another to make a big pile look even bigger.

Although they complain they don't have time to read all of it, they found the time to tape it together, page by page, so they could roll it up the steps of the Capitol like super-sized toilet paper and show how very long it is.

It surely is long. But, no, not longer than "War and Peace," as they claim.

No one really expects brevity when reinventing something as complex and huge as the nation's health insurance system, which accounts for one-sixth of the economy. Indeed, legislation of comparable size was used to redefine an area of much more limited federal responsibility, education. That was the No Child Left Behind Act from the agenda of Republican President George W. Bush.

Size only matters in the health care debate because Republicans have turned the length of the legislation into a symbol: Big, unwieldy bill means big, overreaching government. Even bigger when you display double-spaced copies with double-wide margins and large print.

As if he risked a hernia carrying it any other way, Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa was seen hoisting such a copy of the House Democratic bill on his shoulder, the package trussed in a sturdy rope. GOP Rep. John Culberson of Texas brought a copy to a Capitol Hill rally and threw its loose pages to the crowd, like meat to lions.

During the weekend vote to bring the Senate health bill to full debate, five Republican senators displayed the massive legislation on their desks and one of them, Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, piled the House and Senate bills together to represent a nightmarishly bureaucratic double-whammy.

The actual bill, which Senate Majority Leader Harry introduced last week, came in at 2,074 double-spaced pages, 84 more pages than the House version, which was already being ridiculed for its size.

"That's larger than the novel 'War and Peace,'" Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said of the Senate bill.

"Exceeding even 'War and Peace' in length," Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said of the House bill.

Said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas: "'War and Peace' — some people consider it the greatest book ever written, but most people recognize the novel because at 1,284 pages its length is often the butt of jokes. Now imagine trying to read something that long overnight."

Actually, Leo Tolstoy's tome is longer than either bill. Full translated versions are nearly twice as long.

The bill passed by the House is 319,145 words. The Senate bill is 318,512 words, shorter than the House version despite consuming more paper. Various versions of Tolstoy's novel are 560,000 to 670,000 words. Bush's education act tallied more than 280,000 words.

By now, the full draft of Reid's bill that had circulated in the corridors and landed so prominently on Republican desks has been published in the Congressional Record in the official and conventional manner.

The type is small and tight. No hernias will be caused by moving this rendering of the bill around. Unfurling it on the Capitol steps would not be much of a spectacle.

Oil slips to near $77 amid mixed demand signals

SINGAPORE – Oil slipped to near $77 a barrel Tuesday in Asia amid mixed signs about the global economy and crude demand.

Benchmark crude for January delivery was down 11 cents to $77.45 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 9 cents to settle at $77.56 on Monday.

Investor optimism was buoyed by a report Monday from the National Association of Realtors that October home sales rose more than 10 percent, suggesting strength in the U.S. economy. But crude refiner Valero Energy said it shut down a plant last week because demand for oil products such as gasoline has been weak.

Crude has bounced between $76 a barrel and $82 for more than a month as a weakening dollar offsets concerns about tepid consumer demand. Oil often trades inversely to the strength of the dollar as investors buy commodities as a hedge against inflation.

Societe Generale said weakness in the dollar and expectations of higher inflation have provided for a floor for the oil price, limiting losses. "The ceiling has been set by weak refining margins, lackluster demand and a global economic recovery that is expected to be sluggish," it said in a report.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil fell 0.1 cent to $1.9789 a gallon. Gasoline for December delivery dropped 0.19 cent to $1.9813 a gallon. Natural gas for December delivery slid 3.3 cents to $4.44 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude for January delivery rose 6 cents to $77.49 on the ICE Futures exchange.

JAL mulls raising $2.8 bln

TOKYO: Japan Airlines Corp. (JAL) is considering plans to raise around 250 billion yen (2.8 billion dollars) by March next year to help finance its restructuring, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
Under the plan, Japan's cash-strapped carrier will request 100 billion yen in loans from financial institutions, the Nikkei business daily reported.
It will separately raise more than 100 billion yen by issuing new shares, while raising a further 50-60 billion yen by selling stocks in subsidiaries and other assets, the newspaper said.
JAL plans to ask aircraft makers, trading houses, investment funds and the government-run Development Bank of Japan to take stakes, it said.
US carrier Delta Air Lines has already told JAL of its interest in investing up to 50 billion yen, local media earlier reported.
Such an investment would give the world's largest airline operator a stake of up to 11 percent in JAL, which is undergoing a government-supervised reorganisation, media reported.
Jiji Press, meanwhile, reported AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines, had also shown interest in buying shares in JAL or setting up a joint venture with the Japanese carrier.
JAL is likely to go ahead with talks with AMR if it fails to reach an accord with Delta, Jiji said. Both American Airlines and JAL belong to the oneworld global airline alliance.
JAL lost more than one billion dollars in the April-June quarter and has announced more than 11,000 job cuts since 2005.

Dollar boosted by weak equities, China-US trade row

LONDON: The dollar won support on Monday from falling equity markets and concerns about an escalating trade dispute between China and the United States, dealers said.

In late morning trade here, the European single currency fell to 1.4536 dollars from 1.4573 dollars in New York late on Friday.
Against the Japanese currency, the dollar rose to 90.73 yen from 90.64 yen on Friday.
In earlier Asian trade, however, the greenback had hit a seven-month low of 90.19 yen, as a pre-weekend pullback on Wall Street and lower US bond yields prompted investors to put their money elsewhere.
But falling global stock markets and the China-US trade row have since lifted the safe-haven US currency somewhat.
"Euro/dollar is starting the week slightly weaker," said Commerzbank analyst Antje Praefcke.
"Notably, weaker stock markets in Asia have allowed the dollar to appreciate this morning. This development is supported by tensions between China and the United States."
Europe's main stock markets retreated on Monday, mirroring pre-weekend losses on Wall Street and earlier in Asia, as investors took profits from recent gains.
China on Sunday hit out at US tariffs on its tyre exports and said it would investigate possible unfair practices in US exports of car parts and chicken meat, in a growing row between the two giants.

China has already warned that it was likely to retaliate against the US tyre tariffs, adding that the US move amounted to a "grave" form of protectionism.
"Following the imposition of import duties on tires from China to the US, Beijing last night announced an investigation into poultry imports from the US in connection with a suspicion of price dumping," added Praefcke.
"Should these tensions escalate, they threaten to disturb world trade, which would affect the economic recovery."
The euro was meanwhile dampened on Monday by a raft of downbeat economic news.
Industrial production in the eurozone fell by 0.3 percent in July and by 15.9 percent over 12 months, the EU's Eurostat data agency said.
The figures, which were adjusted for seasonal variations marked a slight slowdown from June when industrial production decreased by 0.2 percent, showing that in some areas of Europe's economy the green shoots of recovery have yet to take root.
The European Commission forecast that the European Union economy will shrink by 4.0 percent in 2009 -- but would climb out of recession in the third quarter.
But the recovery from recession will be weighed down by rising unemployment and strained government finances, it cautioned.
In London on Monday, the euro was changing hands at 1.4536 dollars against 1.4573 dollars late on Friday, at 131.95 yen (132.12), 0.8788 pounds (0.8740) and 1.5128 Swiss francs (1.5123).
The dollar stood at 90.73 yen (90.64) and 1.0402 Swiss francs (1.0376).
The pound was at 1.6548 dollars (1.6671).
On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold fell to 995.17 dollars an ounce from 1,008.25 dollars an ounce late on Friday

Australia announces shock Telstra break-up

SYDNEY: Australia on Tuesday announced shock plans to split up telecoms giant Telstra in a bid to break its market stranglehold before spending 37 billion US dollars on a national broadband network.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said Telstra, part-owned by the government and subject to strict regulation, would be barred from acquiring new wireless spectrum unless it voluntarily split its retail and network arms.
"The government will require the functional separation of Telstra, unless it decides to voluntarily structurally separate," he said.
Conroy said successive governments had let the former state-owned monopoly keep too much power, even after competitors were allowed into the market in the 1990s.
"After 10-15 years of competition, we've still got 90 percent of profits in the sector made by one company," he told Sky News, describing the situation as "market failure."
Under draft regulatory reforms introduced to parliament Tuesday, Telstra will not have access to further wireless spectrum unless it restructures and sells off its cable infrastructure network and stake in Foxtel pay TV.
But it may be allowed to keep the assets if it comes up with an alternative structural change acceptable to the government and competition regulators.
Conroy said Telstra could not be allowed to retain its market dominance when Australia moves into a new communications era with a 43 billion Australian dollar (37 billion US) high-speed Internet network spanning the vast country.
"At the moment they have copper (fixed line), they have mobile and they have Foxtel -- they're in every platform and they want to move into the new one," he said.
"We're saying we need to find a way to create more competition so Australians as a whole are better off," he added, saying customers were "screaming out" for fast, affordable broadband.
Telstra said it was disappointed at the move but still wanted to work with the government on the broadband network.
"While we are disappointed the government has felt it necessary to introduce this legislation, Telstra remains committed to working with the government to find a solution that is in the best interests of the industry, the nation, Telstra and our shareholders," chief executive David Thodey said.
Investors reacted by dumping Telstra's shares, whose price slumped 4.31 percent to 3.11 dollars at the stock exchange close.
Conroy said the reform, which will help end the historic advantage Telstra has enjoyed over rivals such as Singapore-owned Optus, was long overdue.
"For years industry has been calling for fundamental and historic micro-economic reform in telecommunications," Conroy said. "Today we are delivering this outcome in Australia's long-term national interest."
Conroy said he was expecting "hard-nosed negotiations" with Telstra, which has had a tumultuous relationship with the government since going mostly private in 2006.
Chief executive Thodey has been working to improve relations with Canberra since taking over in May from his controversial predecessor Sol Trujillo, who cut 10,000 jobs and oversaw a fall in the share price.
Analysts said the government, which retains a 12-percent shareholding in Telstra, had left the company with little choice but to restructure.
"It's so-called voluntary separation, but it's volunteering with a gun to the head," BBY analyst Mark McDonnell told Dow Jones Newswires.

Protesters hope to highlight issues at G-20 summit

PITTSBURGH: An anti-war group plans to set up a tent city during the Group of Twenty economic summit this week to focus attention on the plight of women and children made refugees by war.The group, Code Pink, will be among many groups and thousands of activists aiming to use the G-20 summit to spotlight causes including the environment and social injustice.History shows protesters can successfully use media-saturated events to push their causes, such as when demonstrators at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul were credited with forcing South Korea's shift to democracy, said Mauro Guillen, a globalization expert at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business."They just want to attract the attention away from the official agenda and put other things on the agenda," Guillen said.Protests can also turn violent. In 1999, 50,000 protesters shut down World Trade Organization sessions in Seattle as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets. There were some 600 arrests and $3 million in property damage. At the most recent G-20 meeting, held in London in April, thousands of people protested, and one man died after a confrontation with police.Domenico Lombardi, who sits on the advisory board of the G-20 research group that provides materials to the G-20 participants — 19 world leaders and representatives of the European Union who control more than 85 percent of the world's money — said the summit is a good target for protesters.One of the most prominent issues raised by protesters involves globalization, a term that encompasses everything from technologies to economic policies that have made the world "borderless and interdependent," Guillen explains.Protesters say the ill effects of globalization can be seen in developing countries disproportionately affected by fluctuating commodity prices or communities left dangling when industries move to other places, Guillen said."It's useful to think about winners and losers, and as a society, it's important to remember the losers," he said. "What do you do about the people who are being left behind?"Fathali Moghaddam, a Georgetown University psychology professor whose book "The New Global Insecurity" comes out in January, said all issues are linked to globalization. For example, Moghaddam calls the environmental protesters "green fundamentalists" who believe "that globalization is ruining the environment, ruining local economies, ruining local cultures and that corporate values are being put above everything else and corporate values are global.""The enemy they see out there are these political leaders who they believe represent either corporate interest or imperial interest or some interest that is helping globalization," Moghaddam said.None of the summit members represents a poor country, "and the issues that really affect large areas of the world are not being tackled," added Lombardi, also a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Global Economy and Development Program."Now that they are faced with the pleasant prospect of rebound of the global economy ... they can focus on broader issues, such as climate change, sustainable growth, food security, issues of interest to the world at-large," Lombardi said.The more organized and established protest groups have scheduled events for the week. One of the larger events, The People's March, is being organized for Friday by the Thomas Merton Center, a Pittsburgh activist group that cites peace and social justice as its objectives."I think part of this is public education and public involvement, getting the word out on the many issues that exist," spokeswoman Melissa Minnich said. "The G-20 isn't simple enough that you can sum it up in one issue."Pete Shell, of the group's anti-war committee, said instead of funding wars, the U.S. ought to be investing in jobs, housing issues and alternative energy.On Wednesday, several thousand people are expected downtown for a festival and rally for clean energy jobs at the city's Point State Park. The event is organized by state Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Allegheny, and involves the United Steelworkers union and the Alliance for Climate Protection, founded by former Vice President Al Gore.Code Pink's Pittsburgh director, Francine Porter, said she hopes her group's tent city in Point State Park from Sunday night to Tuesday night will be a reflection of the suffering of refugees.Porter, a critical care nurse and mother of two who lives in the suburbs, said she became an activist after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. She had begun to question the world around her and wondered why others would cause America harm and why the U.S. declared war on Iraq.Her husband is a staunch Republican who she said doesn't agree with her activism, which she says has taken time away from her daughters, ages 12 and 16. The other night, she spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone with an attorney preparing for a federal court case on whether Code Pink could use the park. The group won."For a really long time, I wasn't conscious and I wasn't active," she said. "But there's no going back. I can't imagine my life any other way."

Indian market welcomes German auto groups

FRANKFURT: India, home of the world's cheapest car, urged German auto and parts makers Tuesday to pitch their world-renowned wares to one of the toughest markets on earth.Managers of brands such as Audi, BMW and Bosch were warned however that the fast-growing class of young Indian consumers and partners were tough customers that wanted the best for a good price.With an average age of around 25, Indian consumers are more and more educated, wealthier, demanding and "not loyal," said Wilfried Aulbur, vice-president of the Indo-German chamber of commerce."It's a pretty difficult animal to handle," he concluded during a seminar on ways out of the automotive crisis at the Frankfurt motor show.Aulbur, also managing director and chief executive of Mercedes-Benz India, said Indians had the "confidence to compete on a global scale" and told German business leaders to expect "very interesting discussions" on price and value.India produces the world's cheapest car, the 2,055-dollar (1,400-euro) Tata Nano, and the country is now the 11th largest auto producer worldwide, said India's ambassador to Germany, Sudhir Vyas.All major auto manufacturers have a presence in the country of nearly 1.2 billion people and car sales jumped by nearly a third in July, the sixth monthly rise running, owing in part to a cut in excise duties on automobiles.Suzuki of Japan plans to build a new Indian plant in 2011 and Volkswagen opened one in late March while estimating the market at more than two million vehicles by 2014.German and Indian cooperation has grown steadily since Mercedes and Tata first teamed up around 40 years ago, and the Nano is laden with parts from 12 German suppliers, seminar moderator Bernhard Steinruecke noted.The Nano "is a car of Indian vision and German technology," he said, adding that without the German companies' research and development, "this car would not be possible."Meanwhile, the Indian manufacturer Reva showed an electric car at the Frankfurt show that it plans to launch in 12 European countries next year.The four-seater NXR has a range of 160 kilometers (100 miles), solar panels in the roof and can be recharged from an electric grid in eight hours.It is expected to cost between 12,200-14,000 euros (18,000-20,700 dollars).Ambuj Sharma, a secretary from India's Department of Heavy Industry, urged the German automotive sector "to join hands with India," which he said was now the auto components centre of Asia. The region is home to two of the world's fastest growing markets.He invited small- and medium-sized enterprises "who are the strength of the German automotive industry to be a part of this growth story."German suppliers were hammered by a global plunge in auto sales that followed the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers one year ago.Sharma said India was now "among the world's most attractive sources for not just the low-cost components but for high-value engineered parts and design."And Ambassador Vyas attached "particular importance" to "capacity building and vocational training for the auto industry" from foreign investors.He said Delhi had set a 2016 goal "to emerge as the destination of choice in the world for design and manufacture of automobiles and auto components," but acknowledged that was before the global collapse.A recovery was underway, the Indian speakers emphasised, though Aulbur warned that "you have to be in it (the Indian market) for the long haul."He also told German managers: "No 'one size fits all' for your customers and your business partners" on a sub-continent equal in size to the 27-member European Union.

WTO head pushes G20 for trade deal

GENEVA:The World Trade Organization will urge the G20 key economies meeting this week to make good on pledges to conclude a pact on global commerce by 2010, its director general said Tuesday."I will tell them that we in Geneva have done what they asked of us. They now have the road mapped out, but they still have to walk it," WTO chief Pascal Lamy told representatives of the trade body's 153-member states.Lamy will attend a summit of the Group of 20 (G20) developed and developing countries to be held in Pittsburgh on Thursday.In July, the Group of Eight rich nations and emerging economic powers had said that they wanted the long-stalled Doha Round of talks for a world trade liberalisation pact to wrap up next year.Trade ministers from key trading nations have also called on chief negotiators to map out a work calender for the next three months in order to meet the 2010 deadline.Lamy pointed out although this calender had been drawn up, "a work programme by itself... will not deliver a substantive result.""At this stage, I remain cautious in my forecast. It would be premature for me to predict today that the necessary political engagement will in fact take place over the next three months," he said.The WTO-led Doha Round was launched in the Qatari capital in 2001 with the aim of boosting global commerce to help developing countries, but deadlock between the major trading blocs has dashed repeated attempts to forge a pact.

Management’s inaction blamed for PS losses worth Rs22bn

ISLAMABAD: Deliberate inaction by the top management of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PS) to safeguard the company’s financial position in view of an abnormal decrease in international prices of raw material and freight charges mainly contributed to a colossal loss of Rs22.1 billion to this public unit, says an enquiry report prepared by an Upper House committee on Pak Steel losses.

Despite clear directions from the board of directors of the PS and a note of general manager (F&A) to the management for corrective measures to overcome the huge losses during 2008-09, the PS management took a lethargic approach in negotiations with international suppliers and freight companies, said the report’s findings submitted to the Senate panel on industries & production the other day. The losses further rose by about 100 per cent under the head of general administration expenses as compared to the last year.

Pre-tax loss suffered by the company during the year 2008-09 came to Rs22.1 billion as compared to profit of Rs3.6 billion in the previous year, it added.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani sacked then PS Chairman Moeen Aftab for his inability to control the losses and appointed another bureaucrat to run the affairs of the mill but the company continued to bleed and its losses were reported to have reached Rs4 billion in the first quarter (July-Sept) of FY 2009-10.

The PS board of directors, in its meeting on Nov 26, 2008, had directed the management to form a high-powered committee to negotiate with the foreign raw material suppliers and freight companies to adjust their prices by offering discount equivalent to the differential amount of current prices.

However, the directions of the board were not followed in letter and spirit, the report pointed out. In response to these directions, the management took an interesting stand saying: “PPRA rules do not allow such actions whereas the company’s lawyers Agha Faquir Muhammad & Co rendered their opinion vide their letter dated April 4, 2009 that the PS can negotiate with the international suppliers and freight companies and PPRA rules do not stop the company from this action,” said the report.

The company’s record also showed that the Baltic (Freight) Index dropped almost 80 per cent during the year under review but the management failed to avail of any reduction in freight charges, it added.

“The company can save $170 million (Rs13 billion) by only negotiating with freight companies, but apparently the matter was delayed by the chairman office for reasons best known to him,” one of the authors of the report told The News but requested not to be named.

“An obvious reason for not negotiating with the freight companies is pocketing extra freight charges by the top management of the PS and freight companies,” the official alleged.

Previously, on more than one occasion, the report mentioned that the company had allowed huge upward revision of 50-70 per cent in international freight charges when international market rates increased. The reluctance and non-negotiation of prices of raw material and freight charges on substantial reduction of rates in the international market on the pretext of PPRA rules was criminal act, it added.

Previously the PS chairman was able to get a reduction of 25pc in the prices of coal in 2005-06 when a similar situation was created in international market, the report suggests that the management of PSM deliberately did not avert the losses to the company.

Although under PPRA rules, there is no specific penalty even for violation of any section of the rule. All the products of PSM including pig iron, cast billet, finished slab, rolled billet, H R coil/sheet, C R coil/sheet and galvanized products registered a loss from Rs17,102 to 35,145 per tons during the FY 2008-09.

Gasps as Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO – The announcement drew gasps of surprise and cries of too much, too soon. Yet President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday because the judges found his promise of disarmament and diplomacy too good to ignore.

The five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee — four of whom spoke to The Associated Press, said awarding Obama the peace prize could be seen as an early vote of confidence intended to build global support for the policies of his young administration.

They lauded the change in global mood wrought by Obama's calls for peace and cooperation, and praised his pledges to reduce the world stock of nuclear arms, ease U.S. conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthen its role in combating climate change.

"Some people say — and I understand it — 'Isn't it premature? Too early?' Well, I'd say then that it could be too late to respond three years from now," Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, told the AP. "It is now that we have the opportunity to respond — all of us."

Jagland said the committee whittled down a record pool of 205 nominations and had "several candidates until the last minute," but it became more obvious that "we couldn't get around these deep changes that are taking place" under Obama.

Obama said he was surprised and deeply humbled by the honor, and planned to travel to Oslo in December to accept the prize.

"Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations," he said at the White House. "To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize."

Obama will donate the $1.4 million cash award that comes with the prize to charity.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, who won the prize in 1984, said the decision showed that great things are expected from Obama and "wonderful recognition" of his effort to reach out to the Arab world after years of hostility.

"It is an award that speaks to the promise of President Obama's message of hope," Tutu said.

Many were shocked by the unexpected choice so early in a presidency that began less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline for the prize and has yet to yield concrete achievements in peacemaking.

"So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far. He is only beginning to act," said former Polish President Lech Walesa, who won the peace prize in 1983.

Some around the world objected to the choice of Obama, who still oversees wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has launched deadly counterterrorism strikes in Pakistan and Somalia.

Jagland told AP that while the war in Afghanistan was a concern, the Obama administration "immediately started to reassess the strategy."

"That itself is important, because when something goes wrong, then you need to ask yourself why is it going wrong," he said.

Obama said he was working to end the war in Iraq and "to confront a ruthless adversary that directly threatens the American people and our allies" in Afghanistan, where he is seriously considering increasing the number of U.S. troops on the ground and asking for help from others as the war enters its ninth year.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi in Afghanistan condemned the Nobel committee's decision, saying Obama had only escalated the war and had "the blood of the Afghan people on his hands."

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called the Nobel decision "hasty."

"The appropriate time for awarding such a prize is when foreign military forces leave Iraq and Afghanistan and when one stands by the rights of the oppressed Palestinian people," he was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.

Aagot Valle, a lawmaker for the Socialist Left party who joined the Nobel committee this year, said she hoped the selection would be viewed as "support and a commitment for Obama."

"And I hope it will be an inspiration for all those that work with nuclear disarmament and disarmament," she told AP in a rare interview. Members of the committee usually speak only through its chairman.

The peace prize was created partly to encourage ongoing peace efforts, but Obama's efforts are at far earlier stages than those of past winners, and the committee acknowledged they may not bear fruit at all.

"If everything goes wrong, then one cannot say that this was because of Barack Obama," Jagland said. "It could be that it is because of us, all the others, that didn't respond. But I cannot exclude that Barack Obama also can contribute to the eventual failure."

In Europe and much of the world, Obama is praised for bringing the U.S. closer to mainstream global thinking on such issues as climate change and multilateralism. A 25-nation poll of 27,000 people released in July by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found double-digit boosts to the percentage of people viewing the U.S. favorably in countries around the world. That indicator had plunged across the world under President George W. Bush.

The award appeared to be at least partly a slap at Bush from a committee that harshly criticized Obama's predecessor for his largely unilateral military action in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

"Those who were in support of Bush in his belief in war solving problems, on rearmament, and that nuclear weapons play an important role ... probably won't be happy," said Valle.

At home, the picture is more complicated. Obama is often criticized by his political opponents as he attempts to carry out his agenda — from government spending to health care to Afghanistan.

Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele said Obama won because of his "star power" rather than meaningful accomplishments.

"The real question Americans are asking is, 'What has President Obama actually accomplished?'" Steele said.

Drawing criticism from some on the left, Obama has been slow to bring troops home from Iraq and the real end of the U.S. military presence there won't come until at least 2012.

The Nobel committee said it paid special attention to Obama's vision of a nuclear-free world, laid out in a speech in Prague and in April and at the United Nations last month.

Former Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, said Obama has already provided outstanding leadership on nuclear non-proliferation.

"He has shown an unshakable commitment to diplomacy, mutual respect and dialogue as the best means of resolving conflicts," ElBaradei said.

In July talks in Moscow, Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed that their negotiators would work out a new limit on delivery vehicles for nuclear warheads of between 500 and 1,100. They also agreed that warhead limits would be reduced from the current range of 1,700-2,200 to as low as 1,500. The U.S. now has about 2,200 such warheads, compared to about 2,800 for the Russians.

There has been no word on whether either side has started to act on the reductions.

Obama also has tried to restart stalled Mideast talks with no progress yet reported.

In the Gaza Strip, leaders of the radical Hamas movement said they had heard Obama's speeches on better relations with the Islamic world but had not been moved.

"We are in need of actions, not sayings," Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said. "If there is no fundamental and true change in American policies toward the acknowledgment of the rights of the Palestinian people, I think this prize won't move us forward or backward."

Obama has said that battling climate change is a priority. Yet the U.S. seems likely to head into crucial international negotiations set for Copenhagen in December with Obama-backed legislation still stalled in Congress.

Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, the peace prize is given out by the five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Like the Parliament, the panel has a leftist slant, with three members elected by left-of-center parties and two right-of-center members. Jagland said the decision to honor Obama was unanimous.

The secretive committee declined to say who nominated Obama. In Nobel tradition, nominations are kept secret for 50 years, unless those making the submissions go public about their picks. This year's nominations included Colombian activist Piedad Cordoba, Afghan woman's rights activist Simi Samar and Denis Mukwege, a physician in war-torn Congo who opened a clinic to help rape victims.

Nominators for the prize are broad and include former laureates; current and former members of the committee and their staff; members of national governments and legislatures; university professors of law, theology, social sciences, history and philosophy; leaders of peace research and foreign affairs institutes; and members of international courts of law.

Obama is the third sitting U.S. president to win the award: President Theodore RooseveltPresident Woodrow Wilson was awarded the prize in 1919. won in 1906 and

In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses."

___

On the Net:

http://www.nobelpeaceprize.org

Retailers see sales begin to recover in September

NEW YORK – The nation's stores saw their first sales gain in 14 months in September, a sign of life from shoppers that fuels some hope for the holiday shopping season.

A late Labor Day and delayed school openings helped boost back-to-school sales in September. And stores' figures are looking better as they are compared last September when spending plummeted amid the ballooning financial meltdown.

But analysts dissecting the figures say they feel encouraged by Thursday's reports even as they acknowledge that business still remains weak and consumers tight-fisted.

"Let the retail recovery begin," said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at International Council of Shopping Centers. "This is the start of a better performance and better fundamentals."

The International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs preliminary tally registered an increase of 0.1 percent for September, compared with a 1.0 percent drop a year ago. While still tepid, the results mark the first gain since July 2008, when the index was up 1.3 percent.

The tally is based on sales at stores opened at least a year and are considered a key indicator of a retailer's health. The tally excludes Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which stopped reporting monthly sales after it released April results. Stores had struggled with 13 straight months of sales declines, hitting the bottom in November 2008 when sales plummeted 7.7 percent.

Niemira had projected a 2 percent drop in sales at stores open at least a year for September.

As stores announced their results Thursday, J.C. Penney Co., Macy's Inc., and Target Corp. all reported smaller-than-expected declines in sales at stores open at least a year. Limited Brands Inc., which runs Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, and accessories chain The Buckle Inc. both posted increases for the month.

Still, industry worries remain high heading into the holiday shopping season because shoppers, many of whom were afraid to spend a year ago, are now grappling with rising job losses, reduced hours or unavailable credit. The unemployment rate is now 9.8 percent, up from around 7 percent last holiday season.

The latest government report on jobless benefits, released Thursday, showed that the number of newly laid-off workers filing first-time claims for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level since early January, as layoffs abate amid a fledgling economic recovery.

The fourth drop in new claims in five weeks reflects an improving labor market, but employers are still hesitant to hire new workers and the unemployment rate is expected to keep climbing well into next year.

Credit also remains tight. A report released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve, shows that consumers reduced their borrowing for the seventh straight month in August as households cut spending and banks reduced credit card limits.

"Consumers remain under pressure on multiple fronts," said Ken Perkins, president of retail research firm Retail Metrics. "I don't think consumer spending is going to see a substantial uptick. Shoppers are concerned about rebuilding their balance sheets."

In this climate, purveyors of fashion and nondiscretionary items continue to post sluggish sales, while low-price stores benefit from shoppers switching to cheaper stores and brands.

Still, the tone was better in Thursday's reports, as several merchants including Target, J.C. Penney, American Eagle Outfitters Inc. and TJX Cos. raising their profit outlook based on their better-than-expected performance.

Target said sales at stores open at least a year fell 1.7 percent, less than the 2 percent that analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected.

Macy's had a 2.3 percent decline, less than the 4.6 percent drop that analysts estimated. J.C. Penney had a 1.4 percent decline for September, lower than the 3.5 percent decline Wall Street estimated.

TJX enjoyed a 7 percent gain, surpassing the 4.1 percent estimate.

Gap Inc., dragged down by sluggish sales at its namesake stores and Banana Republic, posted a 1 percent sales decline, a bit worse than the 0.4 percent dip that analysts had expected. Its lower-price Old Navy division continued to shine, posting a 13 percent gain in sales at stores opened at least a year.

Limited Brands reported that sales in stores open at least a year rose 1 percent in September; that was better than the 2.4 percent slide that analysts had predicted.

Palin's book already a best-seller before release

NEW YORK – Move over, Dan Brown. Sarah Palin is on top of the charts.

Just two days after HarperCollins announced that Palin's "Going Rogue" had been moved up from the spring to Nov. 17, preorders Wednesday night for the former Alaska governor's memoir made it No. 1 on both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.

Among the books "Going Rogue" is outselling: Sen. Ted Kennedy's "True Compass," Mitch Albom's "Have a Little Faith" and Brown's "The Lost Symbol," his first novel since "The Da Vinci Code" and, perhaps until now, the year's most anticipated release.

Palin, in collaboration with author Lynn Vincent, completed her 400-page book just four months after agreeing to terms with HarperCollins, which plans a first printing of 1.5 million copies. It's the first book by Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor until suddenly resigning last summer.

She is regarded as a possible 2012 contender for the presidency. Past candidates, notably Barack Obama, have been helped by writing best-selling books, invaluable platforms for politicians to tell their story.

The response at Alaska bookstores was mixed.

A woman taking a call at Waldenbooks in Wasilla, Palin's hometown, said she was pre-ordering a copy at that moment and there had been "lots of interest." She would not give her name but referred a reporter to her boss, Borders district manager Grant Larsen, who said interest had been strong both in Wasilla and Anchorage.

"We're very excited about it and already have several signed up," he said. "We're expecting that to be massive."

A lot of people are coming into the store and asking to reserve a copy, Larsen said. Borders booksellers also are asking customers if they want to reserve one. The more people reserve copies, he said, the more copies the stores will get.

Julie Drake, co-owner of Anchorage's largest independent bookstore, Title Wave, stopped to quiz her booksellers about Palin's book.

"Nobody has said a word. Not a single customer has asked about it. I don't know what that means. Maybe we're all going rogue, going all mavericky," she said.

NEW YORK

NEW YORK – Ken Lewis' legacy as CEO of Bank of America Corp. will likely be determined by whether his successor can do what Lewis couldn't: prove that the bank's messy acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. was worth the money. Full Story »

Patrick's future with IRL?

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – If Danica Patrick knows specifically what her future after this season holds, she's not saying.

Patrick refused Wednesday to confirm widespread reports that she's agreed to a three-year extension of her IndyCar contract with Andretti Green Racing.

Asked specifically about the extension, Patrick simply shook her head, not saying a word.

Patrick is considered the biggest draw in the IRL, and her interest in moving to NASCAR has been speculated on numerous times in recent years. She has a close relationship with Tony Stewart, and he has said Patrick will eventually make the jump he did — from IndyCar to stock cars.

"I'm definitely looking at doing some NASCAR stuff," Patrick said, reaffirming what she's said often in recent months. "And when we figure out what that is, we'll announce it. But we haven't figured it out yet."

IRL officials have not commented about Patrick's future.

Patrick was at Homestead-Miami Speedway with several other drivers Wednesday to test for the IndyCar finale Oct. 10. Earlier this season, Patrick insisted she wouldn't announce anything about her future until after this IRL season concludes.

There's all sort of possible scenarios: Patrick could solely run the full IRL schedule in 2010, abandon IRL entirely for NASCAR, or possibly put together some sort of schedule combining IRL events with the Nationwide Series or NASCAR's Truck Series.

If she makes the jump to stock cars, Stewart said earlier this month that he doesn't expect to see Stewart in Sprint Cup races immediately.

"You've got to learn," Stewart said three weeks ago. "You've got to get used to the heavier race car, less downforce, smaller tires. There's a lot of learning, a lot of race tracks you've got to get used to. It's sensory overload."

Stewart has been characterized as a mentor of sorts to Patrick, who has met with him about NASCAR possibilities.

Maybe his words are sinking in: Patrick used that exact phrase — "sensory overload" — Wednesday when describing how she would convince more fans to attend IRL events.

"When you're at the track, it's kind of more like sensory overload," Patrick said. "You have the smell of the cars, you hear them, you see them, you can feel them, probably, to some degree. There's lots of things going on around the track. So if you want to be part of the experience and say you've actually been there, this is the place to be."

Patrick became the only woman to ever win a major open-wheel race last season in Japan. She's fifth in this year's IndyCar standings heading into the finale.

If she maintains that spot next weekend — depending on other results, she could finished as high as fourth — it'll be her best overall finish in the IRL standings. Patrick has improved every year in IRL, going from 12th overall in 2005 to ninth in 2006, seventh in 2007 and sixth in 2008.

"There have been good sort-of stretches to this season," Patrick said. "Coming into this year, I had a whole new engineering staff, really, on my car. I've enjoyed that change. We get along really well and I think that's been a positive thing for me. I've definitely approached this year with a more positive attitude, trying to work harder on every little thing I can think of."