WSG boss says IPL needs broader appeal (AFP)

SINGAPORE (AFP) – Cricket's glitzy Indian Premier League will shrug off a domestic ratings plunge this year but needs a revamp to appeal to international audiences, its marketing partner said Friday.

World Sport Group chief executive Andrew Georgiou said a 20-25 percent drop in TV ratings this year was always possible after the event was expanded to 10 teams in its third year.

"I think the drop-off was inevitable. There was a lot of hype in the first couple of years but even 3.5 rating points (percentage of nightly audience) in India is still a very, very strong position," he told AFP.

"And that drop-off was a result of the extra number of teams. The overall cumulative audience I think was still very good."

But he said the event was missing the mark with audiences outside of South Asia, which are used to a more cerebral brand of cricket rather than the IPL's cheerleaders and confetti.

"I think internationally it's challenging. At the moment the IPL is a product which is made for an Indian and South Asian audience and they need to address that," he said.

Georgiou preferred not to comment on an ongoing legal dispute between World Sport Group and Indian cricket authorities concerning its 10-year contract for the IPL's media rights, secured for one billion dollars in 2008.

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EADS says Europe needs only one drone (Reuters)

LE BOURGET, France (Reuters) – Europe needs to co-operate on the next generation of military drones or it will repeat costly divisions which led to rival combat jets competing for the same orders, aerospace group EADS warned on Sunday.

The warning on the eve of the Paris Air Show follows a decision by Britain and France to push other defense companies into working on an armed drone, which could leave an alternative project in which EADS (EAD.PA) is involved out in the cold.

"We are not pleased by the development that we have two potentially competing projects in Europe, where obviously Europe is not a position to come up with 300 million euros ($425 million) for the next few years to develop one project," Stefan Zoller, head of EADS' defense and security unit Cassidian, said.

EADS has spent years developing the Talarion unmanned aerial vehicle at its own expense in the hope of winning an order from the project's instigators France, Germany and Spain.

However, France's Dassault Aviation (AVMD.PA) and Britain's BAE Systems (BAES.L) have stepped up plans for their own drone under a Franco-British defense pact signed last year, provoking anger and frustration from EADS.

"Why abandon such a project... to redo it all again? From my perspective, it's ridiculous," Zoller told journalists.

"We are ready to go," he said. "It's a pity that what you see on the European side, again, is potential competition that will delay the execution of such programmes."

France pulled out of the Eurofighter joint fighter jet programme in 1985 to work on its own project -- the Rafale, built by Dassault. The two combat planes are competing head to head for an $11 billion contract in India.

Although EADS owns almost 50 percent from Dassault, inherited from the French government, it has no sway over the company and its fighters jets are fierce arms market rivals.

The Rafale was conceived as a purely French military project as a gesture of national sovereignty but France has since rejoined the NATO command and analysts say economic conditions mean no nation can now afford to build a fighter alone.

Current drone developments could pave the way for a future generation of fighter jets, which could be unmanned.

Zoller called on France, Germany, Spain and Turkey to come up with the 300 million euros that it needs to get a prototype of the Talarion in the air for 2014.

EADS has previously threatened to stop working on Talarion if would-be purchasers do not share some of the research costs.

Dassault said earlier this month its Telemos drone could be ready to enter service in 2016, provided French and British ministers authorize the start of the programme.

Zoller said once EADS's own protoype was running, there could be an opportunity for France and the UK to join in with the Talarion and that he could foresee a Talarion customised to British or even Anglo-French requirements.

However the Talarion has been criticised by military planners for its lack of weapons as European nations seek to fill a gap in capacity offered by U.S.-supplied Predators.

Zoller said the Talarion could be used in numerous missions. (Additional reporting by Cyril Altmeyer, Editing by Tim Hepher)

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U.S. aid to Afghanistan needs sharper focus: study (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The benefits of U.S. foreign aid for Afghanistan could melt away with a planned U.S. troop withdrawal, according to a congressional study that recommends the Obama administration focus on long-term, sustainable development.

The two-year study by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic majority, which is to be released on Wednesday, urged the administration to make more effective use of the roughly $320 million a month in foreign aid it spends in Afghanistan, with a focus on sustainability.

The administration's fiscal year 2012 request for Afghanistan includes roughly $3.2 billion in foreign aid.

The report comes as President Barack Obama prepares to announce a decision on when to start bringing a sizable number of the 100,000 U.S. troops home from Afghanistan, a step toward decisively ending the long, costly war.

On Tuesday, Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a member of Obama's Democratic Party, said the president should withdraw a minimum of 15,000 troops by the end of this year.

The congressional report said roughly 80 percent of U.S. Agency for International Development funds allocated in Afghanistan's south and east -- the traditional heartland of the Taliban and other insurgents -- were being used for short-term stabilization programs instead of long-term development projects.

"The evidence that stabilization programs promote stability in Afghanistan is limited. Some research suggest the opposite," the report said.

The document also warned that misspent foreign aid could fuel corruption, distort labor and goods markets and contribute to insecurity in Afghanistan. It noted an estimated 97 percent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product was derived from international aid.

"Afghanistan could suffer a sever economic depression when foreign troops leave in 2014 unless the proper planning begins now," the report said.

The report also raised concern about the U.S. government's heavy reliance on contractors in Afghanistan and a lack of oversight. It said an over-reliance on international technical advisors to build the capacity of Afghan institutions may undermine the efforts.

"Our aid projects need to focus more on sustainability so that Afghans can absorb our programs when donor funds recede."

(Reporting by JoAnne Allen; Editing by Paul Simao)

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ATT official: phone health risk needs more study (AFP)

RANCHO PALO VERDES, California (AFP) – An AT&T official on Thursday called the health risk of cellphones a serious issue meriting more research but downplayed new studies warning of a link to a type of brain cancer.

Two days after World Health Organization cancer experts warned that electromagnetic fields generated by cellphones are "possibly carcinogenic to humans," the US telecoms giant's Ralph de la Vega said the data was not especially new.

"This is a serious issue," said De la Vega, chief executive of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets.

But "the WHO didn't do any new study," he added, saying their study was one year old.

"The industry should not have too much to worry about; nevertheless, we should continue to study" the issue, he said at the All Things Digital D9 conference in California.

Experts of the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer presented their evidence at a conference in Lyon, France on Tuesday that suggested mobile phone users may be at increased risk of glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer.

Although they cautioned that the scientific evidence showed only a possible link, not a proven one, they recommended the most intense phone users make use of texting and hands-free devices to reduce exposure to the dangerous fields.

"There is some evidence of increased risk of glioma" and another form of non-malignant tumor called acoustic neuroma, said IARC scientist Kurt Straif.

The global wireless industry group CTIA-The Wireless Association disputed the significance of the report, citing possible "bias" and "data flaws" in the studies.

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