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If wit, flamboyance and verbal inventiveness were all that mattered, Joseph Estrada, the besieged President of the Philippines, would have been forced out of office weeks ago. If wit, flamboyance and verbal inventiveness were all that mattered, Joseph Estrada, the besieged President of the Philippines, would have been forced out of office weeks ago.
No other people in the world demonstrate like Filipinos and, for much of last week, Manila was a pageant of protest conducted by an some unlikely groups, all competing to be the noisiest, rudest and funniest.In front of the city’s Mendiola Bridge, tens of thousands of people gathered under a canopy of flags and banners, from poor farmers to Catholic friars. There was the Estrada Resign Youth Movement, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers and the Concerned Artists of the Philippines. A troupe of dancing transvestites voiced the views of the gay community, close to nervous-looking members of the Ecumenical Bishops’ Forum. Most ingenious of all were the professional groups, such as Dentists Against Truth Decay and the Organisation of United Solicitors for Truth and Estrada’s Resignation – known by the acronym Ouster.Filipino good humour is never far from the surface, but beneath the jokes something quite serious is happening in Manila, and in the regional cities where similar crowds have been turning out for almost two months.Despite a list of pressing concerns – from Muslim and communist rebellions in the south, to a faltering economy and chronic and widespread poverty – national politics in the Philippines has become paralysed by the Estrada question.There is talk of a constitutional crisis, of political collapse, even rumours of an imminent military coup.

Since they threw off the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos to become a democracy, Filipinos have seen nothing like it.The story begins in 1998 with the election of Joseph Estrada, known to everyone by his nickname, Erap. His predecessors – Corazon Aquino and the former general Fidel Ramos – were members of the élite that has produced most of the Philippines’ post-war presidents. But Erap, a former film star and mayor of humble origins, was different.Mr Estrada’s political persona is the same as that of the sentimental tough guys he played on screen: an Asian cross between Humphrey Bogart and Norman Wisdom, the underdog who comes out on top through a combination of guts and native wit.Mr Estrada had little formal education; his frequent and hilarious misadventures in English became known as “eraptions”. The businessmen and professionals of Manila viewed the prospect of his election with dread, but he appealed to the Filipino poor, and it was they who elected him over the divided opposition.Since his victory there have been grumbles and scandals about his self-confessed womanising, lavish entertaining and the late-night gatherings of his crony kitchen cabinet, at which national policies are said to have been drunkenly thrashed out over cards and cigarettes. But Erap’s rapport with the poor was never seriously threatened until October, when Luis “Chavit” Singson stepped forward to spill the beans.Mr Singson, governor of a northern Philippines province, is a politician of the old school, a tobacco trader and influence-peddler, known to be an old drinking and mah-jong-playing companion of the president.Earlier this year, the two friends fell out after Mr Estrada failed to award to Mr Singson the right to run a commercial lottery game that the government was establishing. An enraged Mr Singson revealed that he had been running illegal versions of the game for years and had been personally delivering a portion of the profits, amounting to £10m, to Mr Estrada.The reaction was immediate and overwhelming. Opposition politicians demanded the President’s resignation, and Estrada supporters from the President’s coalition, including two cabinet ministers, began to desert him.A motion to impeach him was passed in the lower house, and on Thursday a trial will begin in the 22-member Senate.

The Vice-President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, has declared she is ready to take over, supported by the heroes of the 1986 People Power movement, which saw off Marcos. These include Mrs Aquino and the Cardinal of Manila, Jaime Sin.”After the other scandals, the tinder was so dry that all it needed was one spark to make it all go up,” said Amando Doronila, a Filipino editor “Even so, it was unexpected. It took 14 years for people to throw off Marcos, and now we have demonstrations on an even bigger scale after just two and a half years of Estrada.”Many of the President’s closest friends do not deny the drift of the charges against Mr Estrada – that he is a money politician who has profited personally from the illegal activities of his cronies. But the outcome of the trial remains highly uncertain.After the defections, a majority of senators are members of the opposition, but a two-thirds majority is necessary to impeach. The riskiest possible outcome is that a minority of the court will acquit the President, putting him legally in the clear but doing nothing to appease the crowds at Mendiola Bridge.

“Only a verdict of guilty will quieten down these people,” said Satur Ocampo, leader of the left-wing People First party. “The more Estrada persists, the more he will fuel protest actions and calls for us to stop our protests will not be heeded.”Beyond that point, nobody knows what will happen. Mrs Aquino survived seven coup attempts, and fears of more came last month when a group of retired army officers placed newspaper advertisements hinting at unrest in the ranks, but Orlando Mercado, the Defence Minister, denies it.”In spite of the roller coaster ride that this country has been on since the 1970s, what is clear to everyone is that democracy has its roots here,” he said “You can lop off odd branches, but they will grow back. The trunk is secure.”Meanwhile, the noise on the streets has almost obscured a little-noticed fact Mr Estrada still has the numbers on his side. An opinion poll at the weekend showed 36 per cent believed he should quit, but 47 per cent did not, or not yet. It is hard to find them in Manila, but they are scattered across the archipelago’s islands and mountains; the poor who believe the movie catchphrase Erap used at his own rally last week: “When I’m down, that’s when I fight back the hardest!”.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. has announced that that are considering acquiring “independent” film company Miramax.

Is this how they seek to enhance their image?

Thierry Henry and other leading world football stars helped raise over $750,000 for the Haiti earthquake appeal from special match arranged by the United Nations in Lisbon.

AC Milan and Roma played out a goalless draw in Italy’s Serie A in a result which enhanced the title ambitions of neither side.

UPS shares were down more than 1 percent at $46.01.(Reporting by Nick Carey, editing by John Wallace, Dave Zimmerman). His 66 percent passing on the season is good too.Please feel free to comment on my predictions for next year.. CHICAGO–(Business Wire)–Fitch Ratings has taken the following rating actions on FMAC Loan ReceivablesTrusts as listed below: Series 1996-A –Class A-1 IO affirmed at ‘AAA’; –Class A-2 IO affirmed at ‘AAA’; –Class B-1 revised to ‘D/RR6′ from ‘C/DR6′; –Class B-2 revised to ‘D/RR6′ from ‘C/DR6′; –Class C-1 revised to ‘D/RR6′ from ‘C/DR6′; –Class C-2 revised to ‘D/RR6′ from ‘C/DR6′. To date, he has 17 goals and 17 assists, a total of 34 points.

Tayshaun Prince’s 23 was the only highlight in a miserable game. They took the highly-touted Steven Stamkos, praised by many as the new Sidney Crosby.Also brought into the Lightning organization were forwards Radim Vrbata, Ryan Malone, Adam Hall, goalie Olaf Kolzig, and defenseman Andrej Meszaros. He has held numeroustechnical and management positions and served for several years as vicepresident of product development for the company’s existing and new, high growthproduct lines. CasinoBellini , favored online gambling destination among Europe`s urbanelite, announces site upgrade that includes new game articles and designfeatures with a modern point of view.LONDON–(Business Wire)–A Casino Bellini Spokesperson today announced the launch of the site`s updatedgames and promotions departments. Forretailers including Target stores, Target , Office Depot, Amazon ,TigerDirect , Direct Buy Stores and Comp USA stores, Zip Expressuniquely provides and manages an in-house install infrastructure thatdecreases return rates.

NYSE Euronext also operates NYSE Liffe, the leading European derivativesbusiness and the world`s second largest derivatives business by value oftrading. Look for a grinding ground game from both schools and physical defense. Morecambe started better, but Gillingham scored first, when on 21 minutes Mark Bentley found the back of the net from an Albert Jarrett free kick. They won by 25 on the road last week against a better team…   Other Quick Picks (Home in bold) Miami (FL) -17 over Central Florida. Colorado +14 at Kansas Cincinnati -7.5 vs. Sundin, the skilled Swede and former Leaf’s captain, remains unsigned and really unsure about his NHL future. My expectations, predictions, and advice for Week 6 of College Football.

Phoenix is slightly smaller than German-listed rival Celesio(CLSGn.DE), which has a market value of 2.7 billion euros (Editing by David Cowell). A takedown is stopped by Chonan who then throws Carneiro down Very slow round for both Neither doing any thing worth noting. Keep an eye out for him.ILB’s Jeff Ulbrich and newly acquired Takeo Spikes are battling it out to start alongside Willis. He is the dominating force that runs into the game to his own song to get pumped up. One obstacle to getting stations to carry the gadget isconcern about challenges responding to technical questions.

England team boss Fabio Capello says he still hopes Wayne Bridge will play in the World Cup despite the footballer’s decision to make himself unavailable for England after recent allegations about his personal life.

Buy.Lupus CapitalOur view: BuyShare price: 14.5p (+1p)The investment company named after a wolf and run by a former star of 1980s capitalism is quietly building a head of steam.Lupus Capital, is chaired by Greg Hutchings, who built the guns ‘n’ buns conglomerate, Tomkins, two decades ago,A nascent mini-Tomkins with a private-equity twist, Lupus revealed yesterday that profits before tax jumped to £3.88m in the six months to the end of June from £870,000 a year ago.Gall Thomson, which makes specialist valves for the oil industry, delivered a record performance. Lupus now predicts “double digit” earnings-per-share growth over the full year.The shares, 1p higher at 14.5p yesterday, value the company at £89m. That allowed for a total interim dividend of 0.163p, 23 per cent higher than last year. Schlegel, a maker of seals for doors and windows swallowed for £84m in April, has been fully digested.Markedly improved sales (£23.68m against £3.14m in 2005), productivity and cost controls are generating healthy cash flows after capital expenditure and working capital requirements. It recently won a valuable new contract with Pfizer to distribute its products in the UK. And with the exception of France, the rest of its wholesale business is on track.On the retail side, the combination is also starting to look compelling.

The group is already delivering synergies by selling key Boots products through Alliance’s UK chemists, and sales of suncare and hay fever products have been strong.Analysts believe that if European regulation goes its way, Alliance UniChem has the chance to become Europe’s equivalent of US drugstore giant, Walgreen.Shares in the company have not moved much since the merger, perhaps as investors hold out for a clearer view of the future. The group conceded yesterday that in France, where its wholesale division is struggling, there remains the possibility of further government intervention to contain healthcare expenditure. The same risks apply across other European markets, including in the UK, where the Government has said it is about to claw back some of the money it has paid out to pharmacies selling prescription drugs.In spite of such risks, the group is fairly good shape. Total sales, which Sir Philip pledged to increase by £250m in autumn 2004, slipped 2 per cent to £860.5m.”So we’ve had a profit dip With respect, it’s not life-threatening I’m working 16-hour days trying to fix it,” Sir Philip said. “This is the first blip in this business in the seven years since we’ve owned it.

There’s not a retailer on the high street that hasn’t been taken out or had a fashion blip in that time.”The retailer, knighted in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours, is renowned for making the fastest billion pounds in British corporate history from Bhs. He paid £200m for the department store group, which was making £12m operating profit at the time, and claimed it was worth £1bn two years later. Sir Philip blamed poor womenswear ranges that alienated Bhs’s core middle-aged customer and forced him to offer huge discounts just to clear his stock.
“You name it, we got it wrong. We had the wrong fashions, wrong shapes, wrong sizes,” he said. Sir Philip has since got rid of the team responsible, which he hired in the wake of his failed £9bn bid for Marks & Spencer in July 2004, and installed himself “back in the saddle on a permanent basis”.During the year to 1 April, all of the group’s key financial metrics fell. Its operating profit was 54 per cent lower at £48.5m – worse than the 30 per cent decrease he forecast in November. Like-for-like sales were down 7 per cent and the operating margin was 6.2 percentage points weaker at 5.6 per cent, which cost about £30m in lost profit.

The two-and-a-half year bear market that ensued took the Dow down to 7,286.27 at its worst.John Thain, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, predicted further strength in the coming days and months, and the flirtation with new records could tempt long-sceptical investors back into the stock market.. Sir Philip Green, the billionaire retailer, insisted yesterday he had no plans to “run away” from Bhs despite a profit collapse at his family-owned department store group that raised questions about his famed Midas touch and forced him to forgo a dividend for the second consecutive year. The worst 12 months for the group since the Green family acquired Bhs seven years ago saw pre-tax profits fall 60 per cent to £42.3m. Traders have also been keen to push the stock market up to flatter their quarterly returns at the end of this month.When the Dow set its record close, investors were still chasing technology stocks to sky-high levels and were yet to experience the Enron and WorldCom scandals that rocked confidence in corporate America.

However, Edward Lazear said there was no evidence that the house price slowdown was affecting other parts of the economy.The Dow has been propelled higher in recent weeks by the slump in oil and gas prices, which has lowered the costs on business and freed up drivers to spend money they might otherwise have needed to fill up petrol tanks, and by a halt to more than two years of interest rate rises by the Federal Reserve. However, all but two forecast the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee would move in November to coincide with its quarterly inflation forecasts.Geoffrey Dicks, the chief UK economist at Royal Bank of Scotland, said next month’s decision was a “potentially awkward hurdle” for Bank-watchers. Investors who have endured the trauma of the dot bust and the shock of the September 11 attacks, twice pushed the index over the 11,722.98 closing record set on 14 January 2000.
And as it settled finally up 29 points at 11,718.45, traders appeared willing to shake off the growing uncertainty over the path of the US economy in the remainder of the year and into next.Earlier, second-quarter GDP had been revised down from 2.9 per cent to 2.6 per cent, and George Bush’s chief economist warned the slowing housing market was acting as a “significant drag” on the economy in the third quarter of the year. American share prices reached the brink of an all-time record yesterday, as the Dow Jones clawed its way to within two points of a high set more than six tumultuous years ago. The Office for National Statistics said output of the sector, which makes up three-quarters of the economy, contracted by 0.3 per cent in July, although it stressed the monthly data was volatile..

Ben Bernanke was reconfirmed by the senate Thursday to his position as chairman of the Federal Reserve.