The best (and worst) places in the world for business

Top Five on the Forbes list:

1: Denmark

2: Ireland

3: Finland

4: US

5: UK

And this is where the South Asian countries stand:

64: India (next to Colombia, but way ahead of the economic powerhouse China, ranked 79)

67: Sri Lanka

83: Pakistan

96: Nepal

110: Bangladesh

Click here for the full list:

Foreign Policy: The Failed States Index 2008

While the bulk of Failed States are located in Africa, South Asia doesn’t fare much better with Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma, at #7, 9 and 12 (Bangladesh and Burma tied at #12) respectively, making the grade. Sri Lanka weighs in the annual list at #20, while Nepal figures at #23 and Bhutan, which just embarked on its road to democracy registering at 51 of the List’s 60 Failed States.

Both Pakistan and Bangladesh registered a fall from last year’s status, with Bangladesh featuring the worst fall of all Failed States, set off by postponed elections, deadlocked government and the continuance of emergency rule that has dragged on for 18 months (not to mention November’s devastating cyclone which left 1.5 million people homeless). Nearby Pakistan didn’t do much better with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

For the complete list and the whole story in Foreign Policy click here.

Top 100 intellectuals

The Prospect/Foreign Policy magazine’s list of the world’s top 100 “public intellectuals” — “the thinkers who are shaping the tenor of our time” — has nine from this part of the world.

The criteria to make the list, says FP, could not be more simple: Candidates must be living and still active in public life. They must have shown distinction in their particular field as well as an ability to influence wider debate, often far beyond the borders of their own country.

India:
1: Historian Ramachandra Guha
2: Political psychologist Ashis Nandy
3: Environmentalist Sunita Narain
4: Economist-Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen
5: Journalist author Fareed Zakaria
6: Novelist Salman Rushdie
7: San Diego-based neuroscientist VS Ramachandran

Pakistan: Lawyer-politician Aitzaz Ahsan

Bangladesh: Microfinance guru Mohammed Yunus

China has four.

Click here for the full list, to vote your selection or to add a candidate.

Lakshmi Mittal is Britain’s richest

From The Sunday Times, UK:

The wealthiest man in Britain is the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal whose fortune has rocketed to £27.7 billion, up from £19.25 billion last year, thanks to strong global demand for steel. Mittal is now the sixth richest person in the world and far ahead of any other billionaire in Britain.

He is followed by Roman Abramovich, the Russian owner of Chelsea football club, on £11.7 billion, and the Duke of Westminster on £7 billion.

The Sunday Times Rich List, which includes people born or based in the UK, reveals that the native British are being overtaken by foreign billionaires. Only six of the top 20 were born in Britain.

Click here for the full Sunday Times Rich List:

The world’s worst religious leaders

Foreign Policy lists the world’s leading preachers of hate

Yogi Adityanath

Religion: Hinduism

Who is he?: Religious leader and member of parliament from Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous province

Country: India

Quote: “I want Muslim votes, too. But wash them in Gangajal [Ganges water] first.”

Why he matters: Adityanath is an up-and-comer in India’s growing Hindutva—Hindu nationalist—movement. In addition to his membership in the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he is the founder of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, a radical Hindu youth movement that has been implicated in a number of incidents of anti-Muslim violence. In early 2007 he was arrested for his role in fomenting religious riots in the northern city of Gorakhpur. Yuva Vahini activists set fire to multiple vehicles including a train and an ambulance in response to his arrest. Adityanath has been released and remains in Parliament, where he is known for such publicity-seeking antics as breaking down in tears during speeches and making statements critical of Mahatma Gandhi. Adityanath’s extreme views put him at odds with even the BJP, and he is now looking into starting his own party with a strictly Hindutva agenda.

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Who’s left in Afghanistan?

Foreign Policy looks at whose militaries are doing what in Afghanistan.

The Top Five:

United States
Troops currently in Afghanistan: 29,000
Fatalities: 419 (includes deaths in Pakistan and Uzbekistan)

Britain
Troops currently in Afghanistan: 7,800
Fatalities: 89 (includes civilians from the Ministry of Defense)

Germany
Troops currently in Afghanistan: 3,210
Fatalities: 26

Italy
Troops currently in Afghanistan: 2,880
Fatalities: 12

Canada
Troops currently in Afghanistan: 2,500
Fatalities: 81

The Bottom Five:

Singapore
Troops currently in Afghanistan: 2
Fatalities: 0

Austria
Troops currently in Afghanistan: 2, sometimes 3
Fatalities: 0

Ireland
Troops currently in Afghanistan: 7
Fatalities: 0

Luxembourg
Troops currently in Afghanistan: 9
Fatalities: 0

Iceland
Troops currently in Afghanistan: 13 (Iceland has no military, so these are actually civilians that report to the Icelandic Crisis Response Unit)
Fatalities: 0

For details on what each country’s troops are doing in Afghanistan, click here:

Indians continue to rock the Forbes billionaire list

The Forbes list of billionaires is just out and the Indian billionaire club is thriving. Although China has the most number of new billionaires on The List (28), the wealth amassed by Indian billionaires is more than 3.5 times that of those in China.

India, incidentally, has 19 newbies on The List — with at least one (Sameer Gehlaut of India Bulls) below the age of 40.

And, finally, India has retained its position as Asia’s biggest source of billionaires — 53 of them with a combined wealth of $340.9 billion. India’s Fab Four — Lakshmi Mittal, Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani and K.P. Singh — retain their place in The List’s T20 (top 20).

Check out the complete list, edited by Luisa Kroll at Forbes:

After 13 years on top, Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world. That honor now belongs to his friend and sometimes bridge partner Warren Buffett.
Riding the surging price of Berkshire Hathaway stock, Buffett has seen his fortune swell to an estimated $62 billion, up $10 billion from a year ago.

Gates is now worth $58 billion and is ranked third richest in the world. He is up $2 billion from a year ago, but would have been as rich–or richer–than Buffett, had Microsoft not made an unsolicited bid for Yahoo! at the beginning of February. Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helú now ranks as the world’s second richest person with a net worth of $60 billion.

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