Gross injustice for Cubs // Phillies win in 13th, rise to 4th place

PHILLIES 9CUBS 8

PHILADELPHIA This was a most non-classic battle for fourth placein the NL East. And it ended with one of the most ironic twists inbaseball history.

Philadelphia pitcher Kevin Gross, who was suspended for 10 dayson Tuesday afternoon, came back Tuesday night (actually Wednesdaymorning) to win a game.

Gross pitched the 13th - and final - inning in the Phillies' 9-8victory over the Cubs, a victory which leap-frogged them over theCubs in the standings. The game lasted 4 hours and 59 minutes andended less than 12 hours before today's game starts.

"It's not fair, but what are you going to do?" said Cub managerGene Michael about Gross …

Ruminations from Rio. (International Telecommunication Union's Regional Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

A regular readers know, I try to attend several international telecom shows each year to keep track of what is happening in the rest of the world. Hopefully, these meetings also help me uncover trends, directions and products that we haven't seen yet in the U.S.

For those reasons, I spent the week of June 10 at Americas Telecom in Rio de Janeiro. This ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Regional Conference attracted some 20,000 attendees, and there were five days of sessions which addressed the theme "Telecommunications and Sustainable Development - From Potential to Growth." About 244 exhibitors consumed 4.5 acres of display space.

As shown in Figure 1, the Latin America/Caribbean area has relatively few main telephone lines installed compared with the rest of the Western Hemisphere. Penetration varies from a high of 10 percent of the population having telephones in the Caribbean area to 8.5 percent in South America and less than 8 percent in Central America.

However, overall, this geographic area is expected to grow at approximately 6 to 12 percent per year. Taking the 12 percent number across the entire region, this translates into roughly 5 million additional main line telephones per year.

That sounds impressive, but let's put it in perspective. The growth rate for the U.S. and Canada, while only about 3.5 percent per year, equates to an added 5.9 million main line telephones every 12 months - roughly 20 percent more in actual line count than is implemented across the rest of the western hemisphere.

Those numbers illustrate a …

REV. JAMES M. DEMSKE, 72; FORMER CANISIUS COLLEGE PRESIDENT.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: New York Times

The Rev. James M. Demske, a Jesuit priest and an expert on Existentialist philosophy who led an expansion of Canisius College in Buffalo as its president from 1966 until last year, died on Wednesday at Sister's Hospital in Buffalo. He was 72 and lived in Buffalo.

The cause was complications from leukemia, said Janet Holler, a spokeswoman for the college.

At his death, Demske had been chancellor of the college, which was founded by the Jesuits in 1870, for a year.

A native of Buffalo and a 1947 Canisius graduate, Demske held a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Freiburg, Germany. His books included …

Pietersen shines in lackluster England batting effort

Kevin Pietersen stood out with a half century as England was dismissed for 131 on the first day of a two-day cricket tour match against an Invitation New Zealand XI on Thursday.

Only four other players reached double figures and Alastair Cook's 19 was the second-highest score, after Pietersen's 50, as the tourists were hurried out in 40.1 overs.

…

DuPont, Genencor JV Breaks Ground on Biofuels Pilot Plant.

DuPont says it 50-50 joint venture with Danisco's Genencor, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol, broke ground on its previously announced pilot-scale biorefinery and biofuels R&D facility at Vonore, TN. The facility will convert non-food feedstocks such as corncob and switchgrass into ethanol. The joint venture partnered with the University of Tennessee Research Foundation to develop the pilot facility and agronomic supply chain for switchgrass in Tennessee, DuPont says. "We must have speed to market to make our efforts in advanced biofuels a reality, and …

NKorea reasserts its right to satellite launch

North Korea has warned the United States, Japan and their allies not to interfere with its plan to launch a satellite next month.

The North's Foreign Ministry reasserted its right to peaceful development of its space program.

Pyongyang said it will have no choice but to strengthen its forces if Washington and allies refuse to …

India: The McKinsey study

Global consulting giant McKinsey was commissioned by India's export promotion council for cotton textiles. The report was unveiled in early September. This report says exports of cotton textiles can be increased from the current level of about US$3.5-4 billion to US$11 billion by 2010.

The study calls for special efforts in the Greater China market, particularly in terms of 'front-end market initiatives' and post-sales services. It has suggested that India should concentrate upon the mid-segment in shirting for U.S. and EU markets. In made-ups, the focus should be on niche products including embroidered items and high-end terry towels.

McKinsey has stated that cotton yarn exports can grow to US$2.2 billion by 2010. It has suggested uniform levy of excise duty on all segments of the industry, besides common labor laws and charges for utilities such as power. The worstcase scenario painted by McKinsey says India's exports of cotton textiles could decline to US$3 billion by 2010.

McKinsey has been quite active in India's textile industry, and has provided services to leading firms such as Arvind Mills, Mafatlal Industries and Morarjee Mills. The textile section of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has, however, commissioned Accenture (erstwhile consulting arm of Arthur Andersen) for working out a strategy for the Indian textile industry.