Posted: 10 Dec 2009 11:35 PM PST

BY JOHN SATISH KUMAR

MUMBAI: Travel and leisure company Cox & Kings (India) Ltd. closed 29% higher--the strongest opening day gains amongst maiden public issues so far this year, even after overcoming an initially shy debut and bucking the trend of muted openings seen amongst initial public offerings.

According to Prime Database, 17 Indian companies have raised nearly $3.34 billion via the primary markets in 2009. But besides Cox and Kings, only Oil India Ltd. and Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd. gained and closed higher on their opening day so far this year.

Cox ...

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

Beth Callaway championed wildflowers with Lady Bird Johnson - Atlanta Journal Constitution

Posted: 11 Dec 2009 12:13 PM PST

By J.E. Geshwiler

For the AJC

Some people hug trees. Beth Callaway embraced flowers, especially the wild varieties. She studied them with an academic's curiosity. She photographed them like a professional. She championed them alongside America's leading wildflower advocate, Lady Bird Johnson.

"Beth Callaway was a take-charge woman, and when she gave her heart to Mother Nature, you knew that native plants and the environment were better off," said Lynda Bird Johnson Robb of McLean, Va., daughter of the late First Lady.

From her positions at her husband's family's Callaway Gardens, the National Arboretum in Washington and Mrs. Johnson's Wildflower Center in Austin. Texas, Mrs. Callaway laid the ground for a wider appreciation and distribution of native plants.

"As Georgians travel the state's highways and enjoy the masses of wildflowers along the roadsides, they can thank Beth Callaway and former First Ladies Lady Bird Johnson and Rosalynn Carter for leading this kind of beautification," said a family friend, former CNN Chairman Tom Johnson of Atlanta.

Laura Elizabeth (Beth) Callaway, 83, of Pine Mountain, died Tuesday at the Spring Harbor assisted living community in Columbus, Ga., from complications of Alzheimer's disease. Her funeral mass is at 10 a.m. Saturday at Christ the King Catholic Church in Pine Mountain. A memorial organ concert is scheduled from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Saturday at the Ida Cason Callaway Memorial Chapel at Callaway Gardens. Striffler-Hamby Mortuary in LaGrange is in charge of arrangements.

Born and reared in the west Georgia town of Hamilton, Mrs. Callaway attended Agnes Scott College, graduating with degrees in math and chemistry – "not your usual women's majors back in the 1940s," said her daughter, Virginia Martin of Toronto. After a year of working as a chemist, she married Howard (Bo) Callaway, whom she had known since sixth grade in Hamilton.

As a mother, she became something of a lioness. After her husband was elected to Congress in November 1964, she had the near impossible task of getting her five children into the most desirable Washington-area schools in January, in the middle of the school term.

"She was undaunted," Mrs. Martin said. "She would march us kids into a principal's office and say, 'Look at these fine children. They'll be a credit to your school.' And, by golly, she got all five of us in."

"While she was fiercely protective of us, she also encouraged us to be independent and pursue our dreams," Mrs. Martin continued. "She let my sister train a high-strung horse that later became an Olympic entrant, and she let me go to Italy by myself at age 16 to study art because she understood I would be better off there than starting college early."

With her children grown , she went back to school and earned a master's degree at Western State College in Gunnison, Colo. "She already knew many native plants. From that point on, she knew their Latin names, too," her husband said.

The Callaways and their children often flew to Colorado where they loved to ski and where he acquired Crested Butte Mountain Resort. "Bo piloted his family on so many trips out west and elsewhere that Beth learned to fly so she could land the plane if something ever happened to him," said Toni Laird of Sea Island, Ga., a family friend.

Mrs. Callaway learned to love to pilot herself, her husband said -- not so much to fly to various destinations, but just to go up for a relaxing joyride.

Photography was long a passion. "Beth had a talented eye and was very knowledgeable about lighting and all kinds of equipment. She called herself a belly-photographer because she spent a lot ot time flat on the ground doing close-ups of flowers," her husband said.

Survivors include another daughter, Elizabeth Considine of Denver; three sons, Howard Callaway Jr. of Bristol, Va., Edward Callaway of Hamilton, Ga., and Ralph Callaway of Columbus, 16 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

Korean Air Wins Awards For Asia Travel - Elite Traveler Website

Posted: 11 Dec 2009 07:32 AM PST

Travel and Real Estate

December 11, 2009 - LOS ANGELES, California -- For the fourth consecutive year, Korean Air has been rated as having the best business class to Asia by readers of Business Traveler magazine.

The magazine's readers also ranked Korean Air as the best airline in Asia for the third straight year. And for the second year in a row, the magazine's readers rated Korean Air's advertising campaign the best in the business.

Despite the global economic down turn, Korean Air has made a $200+ million commitment to enhance its fleet and attract the attention and loyalty of business travelers, according to a press release received by Elite Traveler.

"Business travelers are responding," said John Jackson, Korean Air's director of sales and marketing for the Americas. "Korean Air is now North America's largest airline to Asia and we are committed to providing travelers the best in-flight entertainment, the most comfortable seats available and remarkably attentive service. As a result we are repeatedly recognized as one of the world's best airlines."

Korean Air's business class now offers new 180 degree lie-flat sleepers with a 74-inch seat pitch. The pitch is about 14 inches longer than previous seats, offering what Jackson says is "the comfort normally reserved for First Class on other carriers."

Jackson said Korean Air's ad campaign "reflects the stellar, progressive and cutting edge nature of our services. We offer one of the best products in the air with routes into Asia that surpass other airlines and again, business travelers are responding."

About Korean Air

Korean Air is North America's largest Asian airline with 10 gateways in the United States and two gateways in Canada. The airline also operates flights between Los Angeles and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In 2008 and 2009, Business Traveler magazine honored Korean Air as having the "Best Transpacific Business Class" and ranked it "The Best Airline in Asia". World Traveler magazine rated it as having the world's best inflight service; readers of Travel & Leisure magazine said it is one of the world's top 10 international airlines, and readers of Conde Nast Traveler magazine voted it has having one of the world's top five business classes.

Korean Air, with a fleet of 130 aircraft, is one of the world's top 20 airlines, and operates almost 400 passenger flights per day to 117 cities in 39 countries. It is a founding member of SkyTeam, the global airlines alliance - partnering Aeroflot, AeroMexico, Air France, Alitalia, China Southern Airlines, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, KLM and two Associates to provide customers with extensive worldwide destinations, flights and services.

More on Korean Air's programs, routes, frequency and partners is available at www.koreanair.com.

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Friday, December 11, 2009

“Cox & Kings Makes Robust Debut on Stock Markets - Wall Street Journal” plus 2 more

“Cox & Kings Makes Robust Debut on Stock Markets - Wall Street Journal” plus 2 more

BY JOHN SATISH KUMAR

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