Podolski spark is lighting up Germany again

Lukas Podolski has put two frustrating years behind him to lead Germany to the semi-finals of Euro 2008 and prove his best young player award at the last World Cup was a promise of more to come.
Podolski, a centre forward by trade, lost his place in the team to Mario Gomez before the tournament but has reinvented himself as a midfielder to great effect, scoring three times and playing a key role in the quarter-final win over Portugal.
"The last two years have not been easy," Podolski said in the build-up to Wednesday's semi-final against Turkey in Basel.
"I didn't get too many games at Bayern Munich but I resolved to train as hard as possible, to claw my way back into the national team. Now I want to reach the final."
Dropping him would now be unthinkable for coach Joachim Loew, but for a long time it looked as though the 23-year-old would have to scrap it out for a place on the bench.
After his explosion on to the international scene at the 2006 World Cup, when he scored three goals and formed a deadly partnership with fellow Polish-born striker Miroslav Klose [Images], he found life back in the Bundesliga an altogether tougher affair.
After moving to Bayern he managed just nine league goals in two seasons and while he continued finding the net for Germany -- he bagged eight in the qualifiers -- his place came under pressure from the rapidly improving Gomez.
It was clear heading into Euro 2008 that Gomez would be Klose's strike partner but there was a gap in midfield and Podolski took his chance.
German players leave footprints at Euro
Apart from the goals, and a superb assist for Bastian Schweinsteiger's opener against Portugal, Podolski has tracked back diligently and formed a great partnership with Bayern team mate Philipp Lahm on Germany's left side.
His club future has been the subject of intense speculation in Germany but the player himself is happy to concentrate on helping the team make up for the disappointment of their World Cup semi-final defeat by Italy in 2006.
"I haven't had any contact with anyone at Bayern," Podolski said. "My only goal is to win Euro 2008 with Germany. Everything else comes later."

RBI hikes key rates, loans to be dearer

Challenged by unrelenting inflationary pressures, Reserve Bank on Tuesday announced stringent measures of hiking mandatory cash reserve of the banks and its short-term lending rate to them to suck up an estimated Rs 20,000 crore -- a move that could make loans dearer for housing, car and personal expenses as also to the industry.The announcement of hiking cash reserve ratio by 50 basis points and the short-term lending (repo) rate by a similar margin comes close on the heels of RBI Governor Y V Reddy discussing with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram the prevailing inflation scenario.Reflecting the Finance Ministry's view that monetary policy would be the first line of defence against inflation that has surged to a 13-year high of 11.05 per cent, the RBI after intense consultation today pronounced the new measures, part of which would be effected in installments.In a precursor to raising the CRR from 8.25 per cent to 8.75 per cent in two installments beginning July 5 and the repo rate from 8.0 per cent to 8.5 per cent with immediate effect, Reddy had said on Monday that the apex bank would do every thing to ease the inflationary pressures.Expressing concern over rising inflation, RBI said, "Besides oil prices there are some underlying inflationary pressures impacting inflation in India." The Reserve Bank said the move is "somewhat painful" but timely contraction of money supply has to be viewed in the context of new reality of high and volatile energy prices, which is not a temporary phenomenon any longer.Justifying the move, the central bank said, "It is important to ensure that generalised instability does not develop and erodes the hard earned gains in terms of both outcomes and positive sentiments on India's growth momentum."RBI's decision will have an impact on interest rates on various loans as is evident from bankers' reactions. Commenting on the impact of RBI's step, PNB Chairman K C Chakrabarty said prime lending rate could go up by 50 basis points. "All the loans linked to PLR like consumer loans, home loans, personal loans are bound to go up. At the same time, deposit rates would also be increased."HDFC [Get Quote] Managing Director Keki Mistry said," if the cost of funding goes up, we will pass on costs to our borrowers."However, IBA Chairman MBN Rao said banks would wait for sometime before increasing home loans. According to United Bank CMD P K Gupta, banks may have to go in for a hike in interest rates even before the monetary policy, scheduled for next month. However, the quantum of increase will be decided after assessing the situation and the need of the individual bank.UCO Bank [Get Quote] CMD S K Goel said it does not mean increase in rates across the board. "We can adjust our short-term loans by half a per cent."According to Indian Bank [Get Quote] Chairman M S Sundara Rajan, "We have to look at the PLR next. The bank is likely to take a decision on first week of July. Accordingly, deposit rates would also be hiked."Industry chambers fear RBI's step may also harm India's economic growth, particularly manufacturing sector. Ficci said the move would affect the manufacturing sector, which is already facing slackening due to high interest rates. This would also affect overall rate of growth of the economy.