What the world is reading

Everybody does love Warren Buffett,if this report is anything to go by. It informs us that “Berkshire Hathaway Inc—the investment vehicle run by Buffett,the so-called Sage of Omaha—topped a list of the best-regarded US companies,although the public has a dim view of corporate America overall after a brutal economic downturn.” According to the report,after a recession that prompted the US government to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on corporate bailouts,81 per cent of Americans told Harris Interactive that business’s reputation is ‘not good’ or ‘terrible’. That marked a slight improvement from last year,when 88 per cent took that view. Berkshire’s spot atop the list reflected public perception of Buffett as a chief executive who is both effective in running his company and not excessive in his pay or benefits.

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

See you at the movies

In this blog post,Roger Ebert,the ‘Godfather’ of all movie critics,writes about his plans for a new weekly movie review programme on TV after his show ‘At The Movies’ was cancelled recently. But he won’t tell you much about his upcoming show. “I can’t reveal details about the talks we’re deeply involved in. I can say that the working title was ‘Roger Ebert presents Fill in Words Here’,and that it has now become ‘Roger Ebert presents At the Movies’. The veteran then analyses his trade. He says,“I can’t prove it,but I have the feeling that more different people are seeing more different movies than ever before…This has created a huge potential audience. When people tell me how many titles they have in their Netflix queues,I reflect that until recent years they’d be telling me how many movies never even played in their town.”

THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

The last sardine cannery

Katharine Q. Seelye chronicles the last days of the last sardine cannery in the US,which,she notes,is owned by Bumble Bee Foods but is known as the Stinson plant because of its founding family. It is slated to shut down on April 18. “Once a thriving national industry in the US—and the backdrop of John Steinbeck’s gritty “Cannery Row”—sardine canneries have been dwindling for the last half-century. They have fallen victim to global competition,corporate consolidations and a general lack of appetite,at least in the United States,for sardines,despite their nutritional value and attempts by chefs to give them an image makeover,” she writes.

GULF NEWS

In search of a peace process

In this opinion piece,Adel Safty,distinguished professor adjunct at the Siberian Academy of Public Administration,Russia,writes about the Arab states’ efforts to bring about a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. In dubbing the attempts as “a total failure”,Safty agrees with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa,who told leaders recently gathered at the Arab League summit in Libya that Arab states should prepare for the possibility that the Palestinian-Israeli peace process may be a total failure. “Mousa is right in observing that the present Middle East peace process might be a total failure. Is there any other way of describing it? Since it was officially started with the 1993 Oslo Accord under which Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation recognised each other,the peace process has been more process than peace; a process under which the occupation has become more oppressive,collective punishment more intense,the dispossession of the Palestinians more accelerated,and deadly wars more regular. To call this process a total failure is to state the obvious.”

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Woods arrives at Augusta

This report talks about the low-key arrival of golf’s Superman,Tiger Woods,at Augusta ahead of his return to the sport at the Augusta Masters. The author talks to people close to the golfer,such as (Mark) O’Meara,“whom Woods once leaned on as a 20-year-old rookie trying to find his way.” “I haven’t seen him since July. Listen,I love the kid. I understand what happened and it’s not a good thing that has happened,” O’Meara is quoted as saying. “It doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s my friend and I care for him. It’s like I told him out there,‘This is the place where you belong. This is what you love to do.’ And he does. He loves to compete and play. So it’s good to have him back. The game needs him back,and it’s good for him to be back.”