'We have crossed $1 billion in India'

After seven years, the world’s third-largest PC manufacturer Dell managed to break HP’s stranglehold in the Indian notebook market. Dell India Country General Manager Sameer Garde and Executive Director & General Manager (Consumer Division) Mahesh Bhalla tell Shivani Shinde the reasons behind the success, and the way forward. Edited excerpts:

Asia has performed well for Dell during the fourth quarter (October-December). How did India perform?
Garde: India’s contribution to Dell revenue is 2 per cent. We have crossed the $1-billion revenue mark in India. On a year-on-year basis, India revenue grew 52 per cent. In terms of units, we grew 82 per cent in India. Sequentially, revenue grew 8 per cent. For us, both SMEs and consumer segment grew over 100 per cent.

What do you attribute this growth to?
Garde: We have done a lot of things in the past five to six quarters that have led to this growth. These include building the brand and doing phenomenal amount of advertisement. We will also increase our product lines despite contraction of the market.

Do you think you will be able to hold on to this position?
Garde: We will continue to add new products, focus on customers, and continue to be competitive. We will also focus on our channel (distribution) strategy. We will continue to expand our desktop and notebooks range, drive more solutions for our clients in the large and the public sector domain.

In a way, Dell’s strategy to move to the indirect marketing has worked?
Bhalla: Going into retail and increasing the number of points of sale is one of the reasons for the success. But the essence has been listening to the customer. We have had a multi-channel strategy that has allowed us to reach newer markets and customers. Earlier, Dell was available online and through telephone only. But today, Dell is available across thousands of retail outlets as well as in large retail formats like Croma. Within these outlets, we also have Dell shop-in-shops managed by the company. With 35 Dell exclusive shops, we plan to expand this in future. We have also powered our sales persons as experts and help people buying online.

Do you think desktop market growth will be slower compared to the portable products?
Bhalla: There is variation across segments. In the consumer segment, the majority of growth is coming from the portable section (notebook and netbooks). But that does not mean that the desktop is not growing. We have see the all-in-one-category becoming interesting. Customers are choosing it as it gives simplicity — you need one power cord to connect. You get a much smaller form factor. Besides, PC penetration is still low in India. There is a lot of headroom to grow, as well as the various form factors to grow.
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LG Display Plans to Build LCD Factory in China

LG Display Co. plans to build the biggest and most advanced liquid-crystal display factory in China as the South Korean company seeks to meet surging demand for flat-screen televisions in the country.

The world’s second-biggest LCD maker signed a preliminary agreement on Aug. 21 with the city of Guangzhou, China, LG Display said in a regulatory filing today. The deal is subject to approval by the South Korean government and Seoul-based LG Display’s board, it said, without providing financial details.

The factory, estimated by Maeil Business Newspaper to cost as much as 5 trillion won ($4 billion), would be three generations ahead of China’s most advanced LCD plant. The investment faces the challenge of winning South Korea’s approval because the government has the option of blocking the transfer of technologies deemed as strategic.

“If the plan is realized, it will be an important landmark for the industry in China and may prompt other LCD makers to follow suit,” said Shi Hong, an electronics analyst at Industrial Securities in Shanghai. “For LG, there are commercial advantages in setting up LCD production facilities in China as many of its customers are based there.”

LG Display, based in Seoul, rose 2.6 percent to close at 36,250 won as Korea’s benchmark Kospi stock index dropped 0.7 percent. The stock has gained 73 percent this year, leading a rally by shares of the four largest LCD producers, as demand in China helped drive up panel prices.

Samsung Interested

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest LCD maker, has some interest in building a factory in China, Chang Won Kie, president of the Suwon, South Korea-based company’s LCD business said today. Sharp Corp., Japan’s largest maker of LCD TVs, said in June it’s in talks with a partner in China to start producing LCDs in the country. link.....

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U.S. Indicts Two in Switzerland on Tax Charges

The Justice Department indicted a Swiss private banking executive and a Swiss lawyer on Thursday, accusing them of selling tax evasion services to wealthy clients. The move opens a new front in Washington’s challenge to Switzerland’s tradition of bank secrecy.
The indictment, filed in United States District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., charged Hansruedi Schumacher, a director at NZB Neue Zürcher Bank of Zurich, and Matthias W. Rickenbach, a Swiss lawyer, with one count each of conspiring to defraud the United States. It was filed a day after the giant Swiss bank UBS said that it had agreed to disclose 4,450 American client names and account details, and it indicated that American authorities were starting to pursue smaller players who might have helped Americans hide money. Smaller Swiss banks have expressed confidence that they could continue to work with American clients and find new ways to protect their privacy.

“These conspiracy charges show that Justice is widening the net beyond UBS to include other banks, and that it is also going beyond individual account holders to the professionals who assist them,” said Lee Sheppard, a tax lawyer in New York and a writer for Tax Analysts, a trade publication.

Mr. Schumacher is a former top private banker for UBS who left around 2002 to establish and oversee NZB’s private banking operations. He worked at NZB until at least last month, the indictment said. Mr. Rickenbach is a partner of the Rickenbach & Partner law firm, with offices in Zurich and Geneva.

A Justice Department statement said that the two men “helped their clients obtain offshore credit cards and created sham loan documents.” It said they “falsified bank documents to generate the appearance that assets of their U.S. clients belonged to Swiss citizens, and they falsified documents to disguise their United States clients’ repatriation of offshore funds as inheritances from foreign citizens.” link...

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FOCUS: Recent Slump Doesn't Signal End To China Share Rally

China's most-watched share index has tumbled 16% over the past two weeks but analysts say this doesn't mean the party is over, largely because Beijing probably doesn't want it to be.

The share market should benefit from still-flush liquidity, a likely improvement - albeit at potentially a slower pace - in economic readings, and possible market-supportive moves from Beijing.

And with the 60th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party's rule on Oct. 1, officials will want the stock market to look good for that big event. So any near-term correction may not be big.

Beyond Oct. 1, the outlook is less clear. But going by history and the current loose monetary policy settings, analysts generally think Beijing will only gradually let the air out of the market's tires.

Investors in the more developed markets tend to use the A-share market as a proxy for sentiment on the health of China's economy. So Monday's 5.8% slump in the Shanghai Composite Index sent jitters around the globe.

But the stock market's ups and downs don't necessarily reflect the domestic investing community's short-term view on China's economy; analysts on the mainland say liquidity and policy cues are the main market drivers for a market that has been due a breather.

"None of the factors that we can blame the markets' recent steep losses on are unknown or unanticipated. The most plausible explanation is therefore a technical correction," said Shenyin and Wanguo Securities analyst Neil Li, who doesn't expect the Shanghai Composite to fall beyond 2500.

The index certainly has been on a tear. It hit this year's high of 3478.01 only on August 4; even taking the recent correction into account, it is up 75% from last year's lowest point of 1664.93. It closed Tuesday at 2910.88. A shares - which are largely tradable only by domestic investors - are trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of around 25 times their estimated 2009 earnings. P/E ratios in China have historically ranged from slightly over 10 times to up to 60 times.

That suggests room to correct further, but perhaps not far, or for long.

Guoyuan Securities strategist Simon Wang, who pegs support around 2600 for the Shanghai index, thinks shares will rebound before Oct. 1. "The widespread belief that Beijing doesn't want the markets to fall before October 1 will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Improvements in corporate earnings and macro data will be seized upon as an excuse to buy as the celebration approaches. Our clients are waiting to dive in again," he said. link....

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S.E.C. Floats a Short-Selling Proposal

The commission asked for additional comments on that idea, delaying for at least a month the possibility of commission action.

The proposal would require that short sales be made only at a price higher than the current best price being offered by would-be buyers of the stock. It is similar to the so-called tick-test, which was effective on many stock markets before 2007, but would be more restrictive and could be easier to apply given the current structure of markets. There is now no limit on short-selling, so long as the seller can locate shares to borrow.

Short-sellers trade borrowed shares of a stock, hoping to buy them back later at a lower price and pocket the difference.

The latest proposal is not a completely new idea; the S.E.C. suggested it deep in its earlier proposal, but did not request detailed comment on it. That it is now seeking comment could indicate that at least some members of the commission think the approach could be a good one.

Pressure on the S.E.C. to do something about short-selling grew last year when the stock market nearly collapsed in the wake of the failure of Lehman Brothers. The commission banned short-selling in some financial stocks for a time, and some investors, supported by members of Congress, demanded permanent changes in the rules.

Much of Wall Street has argued that there is no evidence that short-selling caused the plunge last year, and the academic studies available do not support the idea. But the pressure on the commission to do something has been intense. Several stock exchanges suggested a proposal similar to the new one, if the commission felt it had to do something.

The commission asked for comment on whether the latest proposal should become effective for all stocks at all times, or should take effect only after a “circuit breaker” was tripped. Such a circuit breaker could be activated if the stock in question declined by a certain amount — say 10 percent — or for all stocks if a major market average fell by a similarly large percentage. The exchanges said a circuit breaker would be needed.

The old tick-test depended on whether the short sale was executed at a price that was higher than the last different price. Such a rule was relatively easy to impose when virtually all trading in stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange was done on the exchange.

Now, however, such trades are executed in dozens of locations, and markets can delay reporting trades for up to 90 seconds. As a result, brokerage firms argued, it is virtually impossible to know with certainty what the last trade was, and therefore something based on the old tick-test would be impossible to administer.

The “alternative uptick rule” that the S.E.C. suggested on Monday would be based solely on the current best bid price for a stock — a figure that is kept up to date and is readily accessible. If the best bid for a stock was $20 a share, a short-seller could put in a sell order at $20.01. If someone agreed to buy at that price, the trade could be completed. link....

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Hadassah Says It Never Knew Ex-Finance Chief Had Madoff Affair

Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America Inc., was “shocked” to learn its former finance chief wrote a book that will say she had an extramarital affair with Bernard Madoff, its president said.

Sheryl Weinstein’s book, “Madoff’s Other Secret: Love, Money, Bernie, and Me,” is set for release this month and will recount intimate details of her affair with the convicted con man, according to John Murphy, a spokesman for the publisher, St. Martin’s Press.

“Hadassah was shocked to hear the news reports of Mrs. Weinstein’s personal admissions regarding this relationship,” Hadassah President Nancy Falchuk wrote Aug. 13 in a memorandum to board members. “We knew nothing of her relationship with Mr. Madoff until today, and her departure was unrelated to Mr. Madoff.”

Hadassah invested $40 million with Madoff, eventually withdrawing $130 million. Weinstein, 60, who also put her assets with the money manager, says she lost everything. She denounced Madoff at his June 29 sentencing in Manhattan federal court, where he received a 150-year prison term for running the largest Ponzi scheme in history. She told the judge she met Madoff 21 years ago when she was Hadassah’s chief financial officer. Weinstein held the post from 1984 to 1997. She didn’t return a call or e-mail seeking comment yesterday.

French Donor

Hadassah, which says its mission is to improve the quality of life for all people in Israel and to strengthen Jewish life in the U.S., got $7 million in 1988 from a French donor who said it should remain with Madoff. The group invested another $33 million with Madoff through 1997. Hadassah withdrew $130 million over the two decades it invested with the money manager, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Weinstein’s 224-page book is set to be published Aug. 25. A promotion on the Barnes & Noble Inc. Web site says: “She was a prominent business-woman: smart, connected, successful. After a 20-year intimate relationship with Madoff -- she lost it all. In Madoff’s Other Secret, she tells her story.”

“Filled with personal details, exclusive documents, and photographs, her account will reveal a Madoff nobody knew, and it will shock and surprise readers.” It quotes Weinstein saying: “Nobody knows Bernie Madoff like I did. And nobody knows about me.” link.....

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Fla. failures led to the fall of Colonial

When regulators seized Colonial BancGroup Friday and its assets were sold to North Carolina-based BB&T, Colonial became the largest bank failure of the year. How did the bank go from being one of Alabama's great success stories to being one of the state's most spectacular failures?
Its records and reports to stockholders show the path that brought about that transformation.

Colonial BancGroup's beginning, the 1981 acquisition of Southland Bancorporation and its $166 million in assets, was far less dramatic than its ending.

Bobby Lowder founded the bank and led it. He served as chairman, CEO and president until stepping down three months ago.

For about 15 years, Colonial bought up one Alabama bank after another before taking its first steps outside its home state.

Lowder and his brothers divided the family business of insurance, real estate, construction and banking.

In the mid-1990s, Colonial moved away from its slow growth in Alabama to a rapid expansion in other states where it saw the possibility of making construction loans to pay for building booms.

In 1996, Colonial broke into the Florida market when it purchased Southern Banking Corp., a $232 million operation. Later that year Colonial went into Georgia, purchasing Commercial Bancorp of Georgia, a bank with $233 million in assets.

Once Colonial went into other states, it formed Colonial BancGroup, a holding company that owned the various Colonial Bank operations.

During the next two years, Colonial continued to gobble up Florida banks, with a few in Alabama and Georgia. Between 1996 and 1998, Colonial acquired 14 Florida banks with combined assets of almost $2.4 billion.

By then, Colonial had established itself in a market that would eventually play a key role in its failure.

After buying TB&T Inc., a $111 million Texas bank in 1998, Colonial took a three-year breather from acquisitions. link.....

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Hadassah Says It Never Knew Ex-Finance Chief Had Madoff Affair

Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America Inc., was “shocked” to learn its former finance chief wrote a book that will say she had an extramarital affair with Bernard Madoff, its president said.

Sheryl Weinstein’s book, “Madoff’s Other Secret: Love, Money, Bernie, and Me,” is set for release this month and will recount intimate details of her affair with the convicted con man, according to John Murphy, a spokesman for the publisher, St. Martin’s Press.

“Hadassah was shocked to hear the news reports of Mrs. Weinstein’s personal admissions regarding this relationship,” Hadassah President Nancy Falchuk wrote Aug. 13 in a memorandum to board members. “We knew nothing of her relationship with Mr. Madoff until today, and her departure was unrelated to Mr. Madoff.”

Hadassah invested $40 million with Madoff, eventually withdrawing $130 million. Weinstein, 60, who also put her assets with the money manager, says she lost everything. She denounced Madoff at his June 29 sentencing in Manhattan federal court, where he received a 150-year prison term for running the largest Ponzi scheme in history. She told the judge she met Madoff 21 years ago when she was Hadassah’s chief financial officer. Weinstein held the post from 1984 to 1997. She didn’t return a call or e-mail seeking comment yesterday.

French Donor

Hadassah, which says its mission is to improve the quality of life for all people in Israel and to strengthen Jewish life in the U.S., got $7 million in 1988 from a French donor who said it should remain with Madoff. The group invested another $33 million with Madoff through 1997. Hadassah withdrew $130 million over the two decades it invested with the money manager, according to a person familiar with the matter. link......

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Frontier Win Surprises Even Republic's CEO

In the end, the auction for Frontier Airlines was not strictly a matter of money. Frontier and Southwest Airlines' (LUV) pilots unions quickly determined this week that melding seniority lists would prove difficult, at best. Southwest officials saw the potential for long-term rancor in their labor force, thanks to a messy integration of some Frontier employees who would be dispirited by the disappearance of their airline and the wave of pink slips that would have accompanied it. The cultural risk to Southwest, the airlines' executives decided, would likely not be worth the reward of marginally better financial performance from the Denver market.

The outcome also surprised Republic Airways (RJET) CEO Bryan Bedford, whose company won the auction for Frontier after Southwest declined to amend a term in its bid that said its pilots would need to reach a deal with Frontier pilots before any sale could close. In an interview on Aug. 14, Bedford said he thought that, strategically, Southwest had firmly decided it needed Frontier. "Honestly, I thought the value of Frontier in the hands of Southwest was more important to them than the value of Frontier in our hands," said Bedford. "I really viewed this as a David-Goliath sort of struggle." Republic sweetened its initial $108.8 million offer by agreeing to cancel a $150 million secured claim in Frontier's bankruptcy, thereby giving unsecured creditors a higher collection on their claims. The deal is expected to close on Sept. 17. link......

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Oil Rises for a Second Day on European, U.S. Economic Optimism

Crude oil rose for a second day after the euro region’s economy performed better than expected and the U.S. Federal Reserve said the recession is easing, sparking hopes for a rebound in fuel demand.

Oil rose in New York after confidence in the world economy surged to a 22-month high in August and the Fed pledged to keep interest rates low. The dollar weakened against the euro, increasing the appeal of commodities. A report from the Energy Department showed yesterday U.S. crude inventories grew for a third week last week as demand continued to fall.

“Today’s European data coupled with the upbeat statement from the Fed last night suggests the global economic recession is turning around,” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, analyst with VTB Capital in London. “In terms of demand fundamentals oil’s gains should be capped, but for now we’re trading on sentiment.”

Crude oil for September delivery gained as much as $1.56 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $71.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $71.64 a barrel at 12:02 p.m. in London. Futures have climbed 59 percent this year.

Second-quarter gross domestic product in the euro area fell 0.1 percent from the first quarter, when it plunged 2.5 percent, the most since data for the area were first compiled in 1995, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Economists had estimated GDP shrank 0.5 percent, the median of 32 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey showed.

The dollar weakened for a third day, trading at $1.4262 against the euro at 12:01 p.m. London time, compared with $1.4188 yesterday.

Optimists Outnumber Pessimists

The Bloomberg Professional Global Confidence Index jumped to 58.12 this month from 39.13 in July. It is the first time the reading exceeded 50, which means optimists outnumber pessimists. A measure of U.S. participants’ confidence in the world’s largest economy rose to 47.3 from 29.5, the survey showed.

Crude may plunge to less than $10 a barrel in the next decade after surging to a record $147 last year, said Robert Prechter, who achieved fame for cautioning on Oct. 5, 1987, that stocks would crash. link.....

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China backs off 'Green Dam' filter software requirement

HONG KONG -- China reversed its stance on a controversial plan that would have required all computers sold in the country to be pre-loaded with internet filtering software, opting for a scaled-back version that would apply only to computers in schools, internet cafes and other public venues.

Consumers who want the software can still install it on their own, China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Yizhong was cited by the official Xinhua news agency as saying Thursday.

"Installation is intended to block violent and pornographic content on the Internet to protect children," Li said.

"Any move to politicize the issue or to attack China's Internet management system is irresponsible and not in line with reality," he said.

China said in May it wanted all computers sold within its borders to carry the software, known as Green Dam-Youth Escort, but delayed the requirement indefinitely June 30. At the time it said the delay was to give computers makers more time to comply with the edict.

Li said installation of the software had always been intended as a voluntary option, and added that confusion may be related to the lack of clarity when the regulations were unveiled by the ministry. link...

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Yen steady after bounce, investors await Fed

The Japanese yen held steady against the U.S. dollar Wednesday after posting impressive gains in the previous session, with investors cautious ahead of a policy statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve later in the day.

The dollar was at 95.93 yen, compared with 95.92 yen late in New York on Tuesday when it fell more than 1 percent. The U.S. dollar was steady on the euro at $1.4147, compared to $1.4149 late in New York.

The Fed concludes a two-day policy meeting later on Wednesday and investors will look for its assessment of the economy and whether it unwinds some of the quantitative easing policies currently in place.

There is mounting speculation it might grow more optimistic about a recovery after a better-than-expected jobs report for July. There is talk it may start putting in place strategies to withdraw some of the extraordinary stimulus with investors looking for the first interest rate hike in March.

But any downside surprise, like the Bank of England sprung last week, could negatively impact the greenback.

"The market has been running way ahead of itself pricing in the first tightening in this cycle," Alan Ruskin, international strategist at RBS Securities wrote in a note.

"The Fed will surely signal some obvious improvements in the state of the economy; but reaffirm that rates will remain low for an extended period. It will also likely confirm no changes to the size and duration of its asset program and this could prove to be a small negative for the dollar as a first reaction."

The euro inched up against the yen to 135.76 yen from around 135.72 yen late on Tuesday, when it struck a one-week low of 135.19 yen.

The Aussie also climbed against the yen to 79.71 yen, having fallen to 79.27 yen on Tuesday when investors unwound long Aussie positions after a slew of Chinese data failed to surprise on the upside.

The yen was a major beneficiary on Tuesday after stock markets succumbed to profit-taking on their extended rally, a move that hurt leveraged trades and benefited sovereign bonds. Wall Street stocks .SPX were lower, with U.S. financial shares hit by earnings warnings from a prominent banking analyst . link.....

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Doubts Raised That Dead Terrorist Was Top Leader

Police scrambled Sunday to identify the body of a suspected terrorist killed in a farmhouse gunbattle after discovering a plot to kill Indonesia's president in a suicide car bombing.

Forensics teams planned to collect DNA samples from family members of regional terror mastermind Noordin Muhammad Top, who was reportedly killed during a 16-hour firefight with officers in central Java on Saturday, said Dynno Chressbon, a government anti-terrorism adviser.

One of Noordin's wives and children were traveling to the capital Jakarta to provide samples, Chressbon said.

Malaysian authorities were also coming to Indonesia to assist in the identification, he said. Noordin is a Malaysian citizen, blamed for some of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Southeast Asian in recent years, and a self-proclaimed al-Qaida commander.

Serious doubts were raised Sunday that a massive manhunt for Noordin had come to a close after seven years. ''We cannot yet confirm that this is Noordin Top,'' national police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said.

Chressbon expressed skepticism that Noordin was killed citing comments from former militants who told media that a militant leader would have never been left alone at a hide-out. Only one body was recovered from the scene.

''I indeed doubt that the victim is the suspected terrorist Noordin Top,'' he said.

Retired Gen. Abdullah Hendropriyono, a former intelligence agency, said he also doubted if the dead terrorist was Noordin.

''It is impossible for a terrorist like Noordin to walk or stay alone, without guards,'' Hendropriyono told MetroTV. ''If he is just alone it is hard to believe ... As an analyst, I bet it is not Noordin.''

Widespread media reports of Noordin's death, which were attributed to anonymous police officers, were largely retracted Sunday.

The English-language Jakarta Post daily newspaper headlined: ''Was it Noordin?'' while Indonesia broadcaster TV One -- which aired dramatic footage of the siege and said Noordin was dead -- backtracked on its coverage. link.....

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Taliban Leader in Pakistan Is Reportedly Killed

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — American and Pakistani officials said Friday they were increasingly convinced that an American drone strike two days earlier had killed Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan’s enemy No.1 and the leader of its feared Taliban movement.

While Mr. Mehsud was a pivotal figure who held together the loose and disparate network of militants in Pakistan, experts said his death would not end the violent Taliban insurgency, its ties to Al Qaeda or its push for Pakistani territory.
Tavernise and Mark Mazzetti

Baitullah Mehsud, right, in 2004

A 2008 video showed Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Pakistan’s Taliban, at a news conference in Pakistan near the Afghan border. Mr. Mehsud was apparently killed Wednesday by a drone.

Mr. Mehsud, a militant in his 30s who made attacks inside Pakistan his top priority, was blamed for the assassination of the former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, and scores of suicide bombings, including at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, which killed more than 50 people last September.

The drone attack was the result of months of closer cooperation by the Pakistani and American intelligence agencies. But his death would raise questions about how far the Pakistani authorities are now willing to go to crush the remnants of the Pakistani Taliban — and how hard the Obama administration would continue to push them. The Taliban insurgency across the border in Afghanistan was not expected to be affected.

The Mehsud network in fact appeared to have weak links, as officials confirmed Friday that the intelligence about Mr. Mehsud’s whereabouts had come partly from informants inside the Mehsud network who had been bought off by Pakistani spies.

Pakistanis who knew Mr. Mehsud said he had become less of an active operator since a serious kidney illness had become more acute. Several analysts also noted a tendency for military officials to focus excessively on one person — like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, head of Al Qaeda in Iraq, whose death in 2006 did nothing to halt the violence in Iraq.

“The war will not finish,” Gen. Javed Ashraf Qazi, former director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s spy agency, said in an interview. “The rest of his group is still intact; the man who prepared the suicide bombers is still alive. Army action is still necessary to take them out.”

The missile strike on Wednesday, from a C.I.A. drone, took place as Mr. Mehsud, a diabetic, was on a drip infusion for his kidney ailment, according to two Taliban fighters reached by telephone on Friday.

He was being tended to by one of his wives, the fighters said, and according to Pakistani security officials who had viewed American video of the attack, apparently from the drone, they were together on the roof.

They were both at the house of his father-in-law, Mulvi Ikramuddin, in the village of Zanghara, in South Waziristan. Mr. Ikramuddin’s brother, a medical practitioner, was treating him, the Taliban fighters said. link....

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