Bizwatch

Who’ll Be The Next World Banker?
The race is on to find a successor to James Wolfensohn, the longtime World Bank president who last week announced plans to retire at the end of May. A good chance for the Washington-based global lender’s member countries to boost

INDICATORS
Self-Medication
The global pharmaceutical industry announced plans to release more data from completed and ongoing drug trials, beginning mid-2005. The voluntary scheme — backed by producers and unveiled by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations and trade groups from Europe, Japan and the U.S. — is aimed at quelling growing concern over drug safety.

Flying Low
Money-losing U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines slashed its domestic fares by as much as 50% in a bid to boost business. Rivals, including American Airlines, the country’s largest carrier, followed up with sweeping cuts of their own.

Bad Call?
Kaj-Erik Relander, former CEO of Finnish telecom firm Sonera, was charged along with five others with breaching the country’s telecom secrecy laws between 2000 and 2001. Relander, who denies the charges, could face up to three years in jail. Sonera was bought by Swedish phone firm Telia in 2002.

Flying Low
Money-losing U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines slashed its domestic fares by as much as 50% in a bid to boost business. Rivals, including American Airlines, the country’s largest carrier, followed up with sweeping cuts of their own.

credibility by choosing someone from the developing world? Don’t count on it. Thanks to an informal agreement, the presidency has always gone to an American national; the U.S. is the bank’s largest shareholder. (Born in Australia, Wolfensohn is a naturalized U.S. citizen.) In return, Europe gets to pick the head of the International Monetary Fund.

The U.S. Treasury promises an “open, candid and transparent” race, but a number of U.S. officials — including Treasury official John Taylor, outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Environmental Protection Agency head Christine Todd Whitman — are being mentioned. “We think it’s outrageous,” says David Timms of the London-based World Development Movement. Don’t expect European governments to protest: “They think it’s terrible but see advantages of belonging to a gentlemen’s club,” says Joseph Stiglitz, the bank’s former chief economist. It’s a small world, after all.

A New Kind Of Travel Book
With all eyes on Asia’s tourist industry in the aftermath of the devastating tsunami, news from Europe’s own sector seemed especially bright. VisitBritain, the U.K. tourism authority, announced a record 26.3 million visits for 2004, up 6.6% from the year before, and predicted another record this year. Train operator Eurostar, after several years of decline, reported an increase in passenger traffic, which some attributed to tourism inspired by The Da Vinci Code.

As the world’s most popular tourist region, Europe continues to draw crowds. Between January and August last year, tourist arrivals in Europe climbed 6% from a year earlier. Who’s traveling? Over four-fifths of Europe’s international tourists come from within the region, but external arrivals — down since 9/11 — have been starting to rebound. But for euro-zone countries, that recovery is being put at risk by the strength of the single currency — in fact, the World Tourism Organization suggests tourism in France, Italy and Spain is already hurting from the euro’s rise. They can pray for a stronger dollar — or a few more Dan Brown sequels set on their turf.