LONDON, England — When I was offered the chance to drive a Tesla Roadster electric car around the streets of London, my first thought was why would I enjoy a souped-up golf cart? It was nothing like that.

The Tesla Roadster is an electric sports car with good handling and acceleration.

I am not an auto enthusiast (I drive a Vauxhall Zafira after all) but in this job I have the great privilege of driving (or being driven in) some great cars.

Last year, I took a Rolls Royce Phantom around the grounds of the company’s plant; Charlie Morgan took me for a spin through the Malvern Hills in one of his family-built cars; and now I have taken a trip in both seats of a Tesla Roadster.

There was no golf cart in site. This little sports car can move, and while we could not test the claim of zero to 60 miles an hour in under six seconds (the newest model claims under four seconds) on London’s back streets, it did handle well (I had to keep avoiding a Aston Martin and a Lamborghini parked on two of the corners) and the acceleration was smooth.

It can apparently go for more than 200 miles before having to be plugged in, though others who have taken it for a test drive say that drops if it’s aggressively driven.

Of course, it’s an electric car, so you lose some of the pleasures of a sports car. There are no gears, so no clutch, and of course you can’t gun the engine at a red light.

I also realized quickly that I gauge my driving by the whine of the engine, so you have to lose that habit quickly. Finally, and maybe most crucially, people don’t know you’re there!

I saw a lady with a pram walking in the road, and she had no idea there was a little red sports car coming up on her. My Tesla minder said he hoped regulators did not mandate that electric cars add an artificial noise; drivers just had to re educate themselves. I begged to differ. Watch Jim Boulden’s test drive

It is the first non-subsidized commercially sold electric car approved for driving on all roads (some little electric cars can’t go on motor ways for instance, others are just demonstration vehicles, built in collaboration with governments).

Tesla’s current CEO and principal owner, the young internet millionaire Elon Musk, said the California-based firm had delivered around 550 Roadsters, mostly to customers there.

He was on hand at the London showroom when the first two cars arrived for the European launch party.

Musk said the company decided that the first electric car launched had to be the $100,000 sports car, to dispel any thoughts that an electric car couldn’t compete with a petrol engine.

He insisted that the company would already be profitable but for investing in his much bigger ambition. A just-announced near half billion dollar loan from the U.S. government would largely be used to build the next car – a sedan (currently called the Model S).

It’s expected to cost half the price of the Roadster and travel up to 300 miles on a full charge (it can be plugged in for a top up that takes only 45 minutes, says Tesla).

Musk said this next generation would be the world’s first mass-produced electric car.

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) — For many Indians, a four-wheeled family car is the stuff of hopes and aspirations.

And Maruti Jayawant Bhandare – a 43-year-old man living on $160 a month by mending shoes from his tiny stall in Mumbai – learned earlier this week his dreams might have come true.

News reporters told him he was one of the lucky first 100,000 customers selected for the world’s cheapest car, the Nano, being built by India’s Tata Motors.

He was one of 206,703 people who in April booked what has been billed in India as “the common man’s car.” He paid Rs 140,000, or around $2,800, for a deluxe version of the Nano; the basic model is priced from $2,000.

A cobbler booking a Nano made news in India, where a car ownership is a luxury for most. Here was a potential car owner who lives in a rented room in a Mumbai tenement with his wife and two school-age children.

I called him after seeing news reports he was among the first. Bhandare was eager to receive his tiny, jelly bean-shaped car – although he had yet to learn how to drive.

Still, he was a little unsure when his car would arrive since Bhandare doesn’t know how to access the Internet to check the delivery information the company provided. So he gave me his details to check the company Web site for his application status.

Alas, I found the earlier press reports were incorrect – “Mr Maruti Bhandare” was not among the lucky first Nano owners. He is scheduled to take delivery of his car between January and March 2011.

A two-year wait for his sunshine-yellow hatchback sounded a bit too long for Bhandare. “I will go to the showroom, make some inquiries and decide then what’s to be done now,” he said.

NEW YORK – Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff stood up in court in New York on Monday and told some of his victims that “I live in a tormented state for all the pain and suffering I created.”

Miriam Siegman’s life has been turned upside down by Madoff’s crimes.

Facing them head on, he said he was sorry — but his words rang hollow.

Speaking to us just after the sentence was handed down, many victims said if Madoff was truly sorry he would have stopped years ago and owned up to his mistakes instead of living a life of luxury.

Others felt bitter that Madoff has not told prosecutors who else was involved and where any remaining money might be hidden.

Victims, who attended a rally after the hearing, are vowing to fight on.

But many acknowledge they will never recoup their life’s savings.

One woman, Miriam Siegman teared up as she told how she now lives on food stamps.

She admitted she turned and walked out of the court room when Madoff gave his statement. It was simply too little, too late.

The 150 year sentence Madoff received was the maximum allowed and was based on several factors including the number of victims, the amount of money involved and the damage caused by his acts.

In delivering the sentence the judge said he understood the ruling was largely symbolic since, at age 71, anything over 15 years would likely mean life in jail for Madoff.

But Judge Denny Chin said he wanted to send a strong message to those who would think about perpetrating similar crimes.

This is by far one of the harshest sentences ever handed down for white collar crime in the U.S., but Madoff’s crime was unprecedented and has badly damaged investor confidence.

What do you think? Did Madoff get what he deserved or is 150 years overkill? Did he act alone or will the government be successful in charging any accomplices? And will the harsh punishment deter others?

In 2005, I took a road trip through Iran.  The sights – such as Yazd, the center of the endangered Zoroastrian religion, and the impressive mosques and madrassas of Esfahan – were some of the most fascinating I have ever seen. 

Also fascinating was what we didn’t see: No McDonald’s, no Starbucks or any other globe-trotting American brand. 

Yet in the vacuum of Western products and services brought by financial sanctions against Iran, Asian companies have been eager to fill the void.

Ben Simpendorfer, author of “The New Silk Road: How a Rising Arab World is Turning Away from The West and Rediscovering China,” said trade between Asia and Iran has been surging since 2003.  China accounts for half the increase.  Railways, construction, and consumer goods firms, he says, have benefited in particular. 

Trade sanctions – in place since the 1979 revolution against the Shah – have diverted Iranian trade away from the West and more to the East. The rising trade power of China and other Asian nations with Iran has weakened the effectiveness of sanctions, Simpendorfer said.

“Over the past couple of years, demand from the traditional markets – Europe and the United States – have collapsed,” Simpendorfer explained.  “So a lot of exporters in this region are now turning to the developing markets to try to find substitute buyers.”

However, some exporters here are starting to face the same pressures as their Western counterparts.  “Asian companies are increasingly finding it difficult to finance their trade with Iran,” he said.

Chinese exporters, Simpendorfer said, “are suggesting that they should rely on telegraphic transfers, for example, or euro-denominated trade finance, or even look to try to divert their trade through Dubai as an alternative to directly exporting to Iran.”

The current unrest makes the future difficult to read, but Simpendorfer believes no matter the outcome, Iran’s economic ties with Asia are bound to rise.

NEW YORK — “I’m at a point in my life where I was not opening envelopes … I was not looking at stuff and I need to make a decision to be active in my life.”

Sound familiar? It did to me. The quote is from a woman attending a seminar I sat in on as part of our Road to Recovery coverage.

Each week about 30 women gather to participate in a class that is designed to help them regain control of their financial lives. It is a bit like weight watchers, but in this case they are counting coins, not calories.

As I listened to their stories, I felt an immediate connection. I also have a pile of statements about my retirement funds that I have been too busy – and secretly too stressed – to look at!

It turns out that many of us are carrying around the dirty secret that we are not nearly as informed about our finances as we should … or certainly could be.

Gallia Icon is out to change that. A personal finance advisor, she and her co-instructor M.P. Dunleavy started these weekly money classes to help give women a basic education in personal finance.

The courses, which last for 12 weeks, are set-up like a support group – complete with weekly check-ins. The women set concrete goals at the start of the course and then give updates each week on the progress they are making.

The dozen or so ladies we visited came from very different backgrounds but they had one thing in common: For too long they had let other people make decisions about their money.

“Women, in particular, do not make money a priority and tend to let partners handle much of the responsibility. If they are taking care of the household finances it is usually rushed at 10 p.m. at night after they are done working and have put the kids down for the night,” says Gichon.

The classes cover everything from understanding mutual funds to saving strategies to wills and life insurance. In the sessions no question is off limits. Participants say the female-only format helps keep the conversation free and open.

I went in not knowing what to expect, but I left inspired. After putting up pretenses for years, these women were ready to bare all. They asked detailed questions and offered each other support and information.

After just a couple of classes, many had already made big changes. One woman had started reviewing her retirement program at work and making changes to her fund allocation. Another had paid down debt and was ready to invest for the first time.

And – my favorite – had moved all her information online and was getting ready to sack her current adviser whom she felt had always talked down to her!

In this tough economy it is easy to ignore this part of life and hope the problems just go away, but they rarely do. These women show that with a little instruction and the support of your peers you can regain control and banish that nagging voice that has been telling you could do better when it comes to your money.

HONG KONG, China – How many of us have day dreamed of getting even with a back-stabbing colleague or a bullying boss?

Sticking voodoo dolls with pins.  Throwing darts at their photos on a board.  Playing a practical joke.

Here in Hong Kong, we have another fine option — hexing our office enemy with a shoe.

Under a bridge in the crowded shopping district of Causeway Bay, frustrated locals visit little old ladies who offer to curse that nasty co-worker (or anyone else giving you hell) for a bargain price of U.S. $6.  These geriatric mystics are busiest during the lunar “Waking of Insects” holiday, which marks when animals end their winter slumber.  However, “beating petty people,” as it’s known here, is now attracting those burned by the recession.

I recently visited one of the clairvoyants, Mei Ngan Leung.  She asked me to write a name down on a flimsy strip of paper.  She chanted a few words, took out a worn leather sandal, and beat and beat and beat the sorry-looking slip before torching and tossing it into a pail.

Who did I curse? Watch the segment on CNN.com.

The curse, Leung told me, will cause my enemy to change his behavior, to disappear from my life, or just leave me alone.  The hex, she said, cannot be undone and could, if the gods will it, last for eternity.

I’m not encouraging bad behavior, but I’m interested in hearing how YOU deal with the office pests.

HONG KONG, China — It appears Lisa Johnson Mandell has struck a chord.

The number of reader responses to my original post has nearly matched the 100 paid participants to her recent workshop in Hong Kong on “How to Snare a Millionaire.”

The overwhelming response online – which makes for fascinating reading — has been akin to this from “Dee”: “I’d hate to be desperate enough to chain myself to a millionaire through marriage, in a hope of finding security other than one I could just as easily provide for myself.”

But a few of the writers – and some of my male colleagues – have wondered about the reverse. “The recession has caused more men to lose their jobs than women,” Mandell told me.  “I anticipate a lot more men looking for sugar mamas.”

So, in the interest of fair play, here is her advice for finding a female white knight.  Men, she says, need to follow similar rules:

Be eye candy.  “Cougar is a popular term,” she explains.  “Sometimes you know they have had their starter husband and they’re tired of the guy on the same footing who wants the younger hotter woman.  They want somebody who is young and hot themselves.” 

Be a good listener.  Apparently, women like to air their grievances.  “It’s called ‘baggage dumping’,” she says.

Be her caretaker.  “He needs to be the one who can do things for her that she can’t do herself,” Lisa says.  “Those things are different for men and women.”

Don’t talk about money or children.  Don’t discuss problems, period, she says.  Not until the sixth date — or the sixth month if you can wait.

Don’t talk about ex-lovers.  “SUCH a no no,” Lisa says.  Otherwise, she explains, you might be inadvertently sending the message that you are not yet over your previous (possibly plebian) honey.

Trying to snare a millionaire is a practical tactic to survive the recession, Lisa told me, for both men and women.  In addition, she believes the financial strategy could just save your marriage.  “Fifty percent of all marriages break up because of financial issues,” she reasons.  “I see nothing wrong with starting a marriage without that particular hurdle.  I mean, you are starting out with better odds.”

That is, unless the couple starts to bicker over how to spend those millions. As “Kennedy” writes: “Okay, well after the marriage, what are the do’s and don’t’s for keeping and/or maintaining the millionaire?”

That’s the million-dollar question for all couples.

HONG KONG, China – My colleague Ali Velshi likes to say that there are three ways to secure your financial future – by winning the lottery, marrying a millionaire, or managing your finances.  Managing your finances would appear to be most practical – unless, of course, you are a student of Ms. Lisa Johnson Mandell.

Lisa is an American dating guru.  She recently held a class in Hong Kong giving tips based on her book “How To Snare A Millionaire.”  Snagging a sugar daddy is one of the best investment decisions you can make, she assured me.  She should know, she said, because she is married to one. She has had 50 marriage proposals – at least a dozen of the men came with seven-figure salaries, she told the room of aspiring spouses.

So how do you snare a millionaire?

This is the advice she gave to the 98 women and two men in attendance.  (Well, more like one man – the other fled the meeting during the first break. The poor guy didn’t know what he had signed up for.)

Do’s

Be the prize.  Lisa suggests women wear bright-colored dresses and walk around in “power” (read: stiletto) heels.  Men were programmed to hunt, she says.

Be approachable.  While walking, make eye contact and smile.  When interested in someone sitting across a room, think (but don’t say aloud), “Oh, baby, oh, baby, you are the hottest thing I have ever seen, and we need each other bad.”  If you can do that (without snorting your drink with laughter), supposedly like a tractor beam, your target will wander over and ask, “Excuse me, did we just have a moment?”

Be at the right place, at the right time.  To Lisa, that means hang out where the rich boys are — cigar bars, full-service apartments, bar areas at expensive steak restaurants, posh hotel lobbies.

Don’t’s

Don’t talk too much.  On the first date, no mention of children, former lovers, emotional hang-ups, the state of your finances or his.  Don’t prattle on about the finer details of your overqualified resume – he might be inclined to hire you, rather than date you.

Don’t be nervous.  Exude confidence.  If you don’t know what to talk about — don’t.  Ask him more questions about himself, Lisa says.  He’ll think you understand him even more.

Don’t jump in the sack.  She says most women would want to sleep with a millionaire right away.  So you need to play hard to get.

Lisa cannot quantify how successful her advice is and admits that it could sound mercenary.  However, she blames the stigma on society’s double standards.

Men and women were wired, she believes, to behave this way.  “From the cave man days way back when, we had to mate with the men who were the most successful.”  Those would be the best hunters, she explained to me.  “These days that kind of success often equates to wealth.”  She says men, in turn, are engineered to pursue beautiful women because beauty indicates good health.

“Nobody looks askance at men because they want a beautiful wife,” she points out.  “But if you say, ‘Go out and find a rich husband’, it sounds awful.”

What she preaches, she says, is different from gold-digging.

Gold-diggers are women who “want to separate the man from his money,” Lisa explains.  “Someone who wants to marry a successful man is just normal.”

True, perhaps, though not all women define success in terms of dollars.

FARIDABAD, India — Power goes off as we drive into Harjit Singh’s factory in this dusty industrial zone on the outskirts of India’s capital New Delhi.
 
Singh, who makes fasteners and nuts for automobiles, turns to a heavy-duty generator lying in one corner of the factory floor as his workers struggles to switch it on. An elderly employee surrounded by idle machines continues his work with a handheld metal file.
 
In energy-deficit India, factory-owners like Singh – classified as micro and small enterprises – suffer routine power droughts like this. Still, these small companies manage to account for 39 percent of the manufacturing output and one-third of the country’s total export.
 
The Indian government says this sector, spread over 12.8 million enterprises, employs an estimated 31 million people – a labor intensity four times higher than large enterprises.
 
But Singh says it is in a crisis now. “We are facing a business crunch, a major business crunch due to the economic slowdown,” he laments as his machines rumble to life as power is restored.
 
He tells me that manufacturing activity has dropped considerably because of falling orders. Singh is caught in what he calls a “debt-trap” because costly banks loans to keep the business running.
 
His biggest worry is a permanent shutdown caused not by shoddy power, but by the financial crisis. In the past year he laid off 20 of the 38 workers. His sales are only one-fifth his 2007 volume. “I can’t help it, I can’t survive. I have to survive on the bare minimum,” he remarks.
 
The trouble on Singh’s factory floor belies rosy headlines in the Indian press. “Get, set, grow,” read a headline for the Hindustan Times. “Good news: At 6.7%, GDP grows more than expected,” said a Times of India headline the same day.
 
But for Singh, it’s unclear what lies ahead. He hopes the government will promote more bank loans for his ailing automobile sector, tax concessions and a curb on Chinese imports to keep his business from closure.

 ”Something has to be done immediately; otherwise we’ve had it,” he says.

BEIJING, China — Not long ago, the U.S. government was talking tough with accusations of currency manipulation by China. But U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner struck a very different tone on his visit to Beijing this week.

At his speech at Peking University and with government officials, Geithner sought to reassure Beijing that the value of the dollar was safe – as are the $768 billion in U.S. treasuries Beijing owns.

The tough talk has evaporated with the spiraling credit crisis and the ballooning U.S. budget deficit of $2 trillion – nearly 13 percent of GDP. Geithner assured the Chinese that the U.S. would work to cut that deficit down to 3 percent of GDP once the economy stabilized and was on the path to recovery.

Geithner says the U.S. aims to rebalance the world economy with China exporting less and importing more – preferably from the U.S., to help reduce the massive trade surplus.

How these twin economic powers can escape this embrace, however, is another matter.

Chinese bloggers, economists and editorial writers are complaining that their government is financing U.S. hegemony and urges Beijing to stop bankrolling U.S. debt. But for the Chinese economy, there are few credible options for what to do with its massive foreign currency reserves.

Should it move that cash back to China it could trigger an appreciation of the value of the yuan. Chinese asset-buying across the globe would raise thorny political concerns. The U.S. credit market is still the best place to park its cash reserves.

For the U.S., the dance is difficult because if Chinese exports decline, so too does the cash China has to buy U.S. debt.

The bond between the two has been likened to two drunks trying to carry each other down the street, or that of a crack dealer and buyer. Regardless of metaphor, it’s a very complicated relationship – one in which the fate of the world economy hangs in the balance.