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By Tara Pepper
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CHINA
It's All Part of the Plan
China's bureaucrats are at their best mobilizing against a threat, whether it's a virus, an "evil" cult or, now, an overheating economy. The country's economy grew at 9.1 percent last year and for the first time in recent history, China experienced mild inflation. Fears have grown of a boom that will end in a bust. So Beijing is taking dramatic steps to cool things down. Authorities have made it harder for start-ups to squeeze into already crowded industries by raising safety, quality and environmental standards. The People's Bank of China is curbing commercial bank loans to corrupt companies. Top leaders are calling for "efficient" rather than "fast" growth; in other words, provincial officials need to cut back on vanity projects. Morgan Stanley recently concluded that the braking measures are likely to work, because "when the leadership says 'slow down,' they mean it."
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That doesn't mean that Beijing will achieve its official goal of bringing growth down to 7 percent in 2004. Or that it really wants to. Local officials will be hard-pressed to change course, says Beijing economist Yang Fan. The center still has little control over rich provinces like Zhejiang, where giddy officials continue to pour money into projects Beijing has tried to discourage, such as bridges and real estate. Chinese economists predict growth for the year will likely end up between 8 and 9 percent, which, they add, is what Beijing really hopes to achieve. Now that's a clever technocracy.
GLOBAL BUZZ
The Let's Make A Deal Edition
Back-room machinations aren't always a bad thing, as Indonesia, Cyprus and Egypt are about to find out. For Brazil, though, they spell trouble.
Indonesia Ex-security chief Yudhoyono may get major-party backing for his presidential bid. A capable technocrat, he could shake up an otherwise uninspiring field.
Cyprus The EU has allayed Ankara's concerns about a Cyprus deal, encouraging Turkish Cypriots to vote yes, too. Turkey's EU bid looks viable once again.
Egypt A free-trade agreement with America is unlikely. But Cairo may ink a deal to send goods duty-free via Israel. Who says money can't make friends?
Brazil A major corruption scandal has tarnished Lula's administration, and loyalists are grumbling about stalled social reforms. The shine is wearing off.
UZBEKISTAN
Battling or Breeding?
A spate of suicide bombings, explosions and violent clashes rocked Uzbekistan last week, killing at least 47. But some fear the worst is yet to come. International critics say that strongman President Islam Karimov's failure to fix his country's dire economic system, to allow free media and to ease up on indiscriminate crackdowns is breeding terrorism rather than quelling it. And an unstable Uzbekistan--a key U.S. ally in the war on terror--could spell trouble for the entire region. "If --Uzbekistan went south, you would have no stability in Central Asia," says Charles William Maynes, president of the Eurasia Foundation. "You would open up a new area for unrest."
JAPAN
Photo Ops
Japan's contribution to the Coalition in Iraq--some 550 troops--may be small, but as one of the country's largest overseas deployments since WWII, it wields an outsize influence back in Tokyo. Now it's set to become a political football. NEWSWEEK has learned that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may soon make a surprise visit to Iraq--and lawmakers from the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) are rushing to beat him to the punch. DPJ sources say the party is considering a fact-finding mission of its own, hoping to deny Koizumi an unchallenged photo-op ahead of July's key parliamentary elections.
Iraq is emerging as a key campaign issue. Persistent suspicion over the deaths of two Japanese diplomats near Tikrit last November could hurt Koizumi should the government's insistence that Iraqi insurgents gunned them down prove false. The DPJ, which opposed the deployment, suspects the diplomats were killed by U.S. friendly fire. And budding doubts about the deployment may be one of the few weapons they have against the popular Koizumi. "It's a cover-up," says one DPJ source. "We want to know the truth." Perhaps they'll find it in Iraq.
RUSSIA
Crackdown for Reform
One of Russia's most popular Soviet holdovers is the subsidy. Russians love them; economic reformers, of course, hate them. They cost billions of dollars a year and distort the market. But no Russian leader has ever had the guts to take them away--until now. As of Jan. 1, 2005, President Vladimir Putin's federal government will drop its support of subsidies and leave local governments to fund them. The Kremlin is also considering allowing the eviction of homeowners who have fallen more than six months behind on housing-maintenance fees, privatizing the subsidized electricity monopoly, and increasing real-estate-transaction taxes.
For Russia's economic reformers, Putin's gutsy moves are just what the doctor ordered. But reform will likely come at a price. Fearing mass protests, Russia's Parliament gave initial approval last week to a new law that would prohibit public demonstrations near "sensitive" sites--any government building, school or major road, for example. Putin may have the stomach to implement economic reforms. But it seems he's not quite ready to trust his own gut--or Russia's fledgling democracy--enough to weather them.
PLANTS
Flourishing Ferns
Ferns supposedly had their heyday back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. Then about 125 million years ago the flowering plants--the precursors to this spring's crocuses and dandelions--burst onto the scene, banishing the ferns to an evolutionary cul-de-sac. Last week an international team led by Duke University biologists turned that story on its stamen. Using the fossil record, plant DNA data collected within the last 10 years and new statistical software, they came up with a revised estimate of when ferns were at their peak. The answer: 25 million years after the appearance of flowers. Now they think that flowering plants may have actually promoted the diversity of fern species by providing a range of new forest habitats to which they adapted.
The implications go far beyond repairing the humble reputation of ferns. The scientists think that what's true for ferns may be true for other ancient plants, like mosses. If so, flowering plants may come to be seen as an evolutionary catalyst, rather than a bully that shoved other plants aside. For plants, at least, evolution may have been a lot nicer than we thought.
U.S. AFFAIRS
Saudi Millions
A federal investigation into the bank accounts of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, D.C., has identified over $27 million in "suspicious" financial transactions--including hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to Muslim charities, clerics and Saudi students that are being scrutinized for possible links to terrorist activity, according to government documents obtained by NEWSWEEK. The probe also has uncovered repeated wire transfers overseas by the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan. The transactions prompted the Saudi Embassy's longtime bank, the Riggs Bank of Washington, D.C., to drop the Saudis as a client last month after embassy officials were "unable to provide an explanation that was satisfying," according to a source familiar with the discussions.
A Saudi spokesman vehemently denied that any of the embassy's funds were used to support terrorism and insisted that Bandar on his own chose to pull the embassy's accounts out of Riggs. Still, the probe has become one of the most sensitive financial inquiries now being conducted by the government and is being monitored by the White House. U.S. officials stress they have identified no evidence of any knowing Saudi aid to terrorist groups. But they also express frustration at their inability to penetrate a number of large and irregular transactions. "There's a lot of money moving in a lot of directions--maybe not all that carefully," said one senior law-enforcement official. "It's awkward. Everyone wants to get to the bottom of it."
MUSIC
Sorry, Ms. Jackson
On the kickoff track of the new "Damita Jo," Janet Jackson's eighth album, she whispers, "We're vulnerable"--and who would know better what it's like to stand exposed? Her Super Bowl debacle/accident/publicity stunt aside, she's the ninth and youngest child of pop culture's most scrutinized celebrity family. Jackson clearly wants to be seen for who she is--after all, the album title is her middle name--but beyond one song, she never comes close to revealing the person behind the superbleached smile. She's all sweetness and light one minute, then down and dirty the next; there's nothing in between. "Relax, it's just sex," she says in a song called "Sexhibition." But sex isn't exactly the problem here. What's disturbing is the childlike tone she affects, juxtaposed with her X-rated lyrics. It's downright creepy. As a singer, Jackson's never been a match for her brother Michael: her voice is pleasant and passable, period. But she is an entertainer, and on this album, the only relief from her new naive porn-star persona comes when she heads for the dance floor. On "R&B Junkie," she shouts, "I feel like bumpin' to some old school!" You wish she would.
BOOKS
Chopra for Children
In the past two decades, prolific M.D. and spiritual guru Deepak Chopra has sold more than 20 million copies of his 40 books for grown-ups. Now he's targeting kids 12 and older with "Fire in the Heart: A Spiritual Guide for Teens," with a 100,000-copy first printing. That number may seem optimistic. But then, notes Ilene Cooper, children's book editor for the American Library Association's Booklist, "he's got a whole chapter in here on how to make your wishes come true!"
Wishing aside, some wonder whether Chopra's star power will register with his target audience. ("It's the first time I've heard of him," says Lizzy May, 12, an avid Chicago reader.) Lynn Stuertz, a children's books buyer from Winnetka, Illinois, suspects the tome will be more popular with adults--as gifts for confirmations and bar mitzvahs. "A lot of my grown-up readers have already been telling me for years and years, 'When are you going to do something like this that I can pass on to my teens?' " Chopra says. He also doesn't discount interest from his target audience. "I see a lot of teens who genuinely come to me and are seeking some kind of insight." But will they spend their baby-sitting money for it?
ART
Images Of Islam
It's a long-running stereotype that Islamic art, renowned for its delicate, abstract designs, is just the reflection of a religion, and a particularly prescriptive one at that. But a new exhibit, "Heaven on Earth: Art From Islamic Lands," showing at London's Somerset House, reveals a rich, unexpected tradition of secular art in Islamic cultures stretching from Spain and the Arab world to Persia and India, from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.
Wealthy rulers across these civilizations commissioned exquisitely crafted works, including textiles, metalwork, pottery and paintings, to adorn their courts, which they considered private spaces. Hoping to impress foreign dignitaries, merchants and local tribal leaders, many rulers insisted on the skilled artistry that pre-Islamic dynasties had enjoyed. For instance, the secular art for which Persia was famous during the second to fifth centuries continued to flourish under Islam in the centuries that followed. Consider the 13th-century pomander, or incense burner, in the form of a spirited lynx pawing the ground, or the silver dish showing a ninth-century prince deftly slaying a lion. Iran continued to lead the way into the 19th century, producing works like a lavish, shimmering portrait of Emperor Fath'Ali Shah, inspired by Francois Gerard's 1805 portrait of Napoleon. Some other particularly striking pieces, like a rock-crystal lamp from 10th-century Mesopotamia, survived only because they were preserved by Western European churches. To convert the lamp into a reliquary in the 16th century, a pretty Italian enamelled base was added, muddying the separation of religion, culture, state and art even further. What the pieces in this exhibit do is reconstruct the diverse fragments of a dazzling culture, and give Islam's rarely seen depictions of God's creations well-deserved prominence.
Q&A: Ving Rhames
In the remake of "Dawn of the Dead," Ving Rhames had to face down a scary bunch of zombies. And now the guy's got NEWSWEEK's Nicki Gostin to deal with.
How hard is it to act opposite a zombie?
It's not too difficult. It's only responding to death, and we'll all die at some point.
Was it harder than acting opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones in "Entrapment"?
I've got to be careful with that one, because some actresses could be sensitive and take it not in a joking way. Let me go to the next question.
When you first read the script for "Dawn of the Dead," were you worried you would be killed off in the first 10 minutes?
Well, when I first read it I wasn't worried about that, even though the stereotype is that the black man is killed in the first 10 minutes. I knew that if that was going to happen, I wouldn't be doing the film. So when I read it I think it was understood that, hey, if I die in the first 10 minutes there's no reason to hire Ving Rhames.
Your real name is Irving?
Yes. I was named after an old radio announcer named Irving R. Levine. God bless him. I don't know who he is or why my mother named me after him.
You went to the "Fame" school. Did you kids really dance in the cafeteria at lunchtime?
Actually, we did. That is true.
You were in the "Mission: Impossible" movies. Can you explain the plot of that first one?
[Laughs] No, it's impossible.
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