Friday, June 22, 2012

Euro’s big four agree growth boost, split on bonds


UPDATED @ 11:58:33 PM 22-06-2012
June 22, 2012
French President Francois Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy take their seats for a meeting at Villa Madama in Rome June 22, 2012. — Reuters pic
ROME, June 22 — The leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain agreed today on a €130 billion (RM650 billion) package to try to revive economic growth in Europe but differed over whether and how to launch joint bonds to combat the euro zone’s debt crisis. After a four-way summit in Rome’s Renaissance Villa Madama, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said the European Union should adopt a series of growth measures worth about one per cent of the region’s gross domestic product at a summit next week.
“Growth can only have solid roots if there is fiscal discipline, but fiscal discipline can be maintained only if there is growth and job creation,” Monti told a joint news conference after talks that lasted just an hour and 40 minutes.
The growth measures, already in the works in Brussels, include increasing the European Investment Bank’s capital, redirecting unspent EU regional funds and launching project bonds to co-finance major public investment programmes.
No new measures were announced today.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who leads Europe’s most powerful economy and the main contributor to its rescue funds, endorsed the growth package but made no mention of any move towards mutualising past euro zone debt or new borrowing.
French President Francois Hollande appeared to voice impatience with Berlin’s reluctance, saying it should not take 10 years to create jointly underwritten euro bonds.
He said greater solidarity was needed among member states before they abandon more sovereignty to EU institutions. The German position essentially amounts to the reverse.
“I consider euro bonds to be an option ... but not in 10 years,” Hollande said in a direct challenge to the chancellor. “There can be no transfer of sovereignty if there is not an improvement in solidarity.”
Merkel has argued members of the 17-nation currency union must transfer control over national budget and economic policies to Brussels before Germany would consider common debt issuance.
Their contrasting comments left much work for diplomats to produce a convincing blueprint for closer fiscal and banking union at a full EU summit next Thursday and Friday, which Monti called a defining moment in the crisis.
That plan is expected to include the first steps towards a banking union, starting by putting the European Central Bank in charge of supervising large cross-border euro zone banks.
Spanish bailout?
Dangerously high Spanish borrowing costs have eased a little on market hopes for policy initiatives at the Brussels summit. If it falls short, Madrid may be pushed closer to eventually needing a sovereign bailout.
Without a convincing result, “there would be progressively greater speculative attacks on individual countries, with harassment of the weaker countries”, Monti said in an interview with several European newspapers ahead of the mini-summit.
“A large part of Europe would find itself having to continue to put up with very high interest rates that would then impact on the states and also indirectly on firms. This is the direct opposite of what is needed for economic growth,” he said.
The technocratic Italian premier, who needs a success to shore up his weakening domestic authority, sounded slightly more optimistic after the talks, saying next week’s summit should “put at ease the financial markets’ expectations”, switching to English to add: “The euro is here to stay and we all mean it.”
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, on the brink of requesting up to €100 billion in euro zone rescue funds to recapitalise struggling banks, said the four had agreed “to use any necessary mechanism to obtain financial stability in the euro zone”.
An audit released yesterday found Spanish banks would need up to €62 billion in extra capital to weather adverse circumstances.
After a meeting of euro zone finance ministers late yesterday, IMF chief Christine Lagarde demanded rapid progress on a number of other fronts, raising the heat on Merkel.
Lagarde said a banking union was a top priority, alongside fiscal union and the principle of mutualising debt. Germany refuses to countenance common bond issuance and will not soften until economic union is complete. It is also opposed to the early introduction of a bloc-wide bank deposit guarantee scheme.
High stakes for Monti
While Spain’s needs are most pressing — its medium term borrowing costs hit a euro era high at auction yesterday — the political stakes may be higher for Italy’s Monti.
With his popularity sinking, the parties that back Monti in parliament are increasingly reluctant to support his reform proposals at home, but demand he get results in the European arena to ease the pressure on Italy’s recession-bound economy.
“Monti knows he has to get his ducks in a row on the European side so he can tell the parties that he’s sorted that part out, and now it’s their turn to help sort out Italy,” said James Walston, politics professor at Rome’s American University.
Though hugely popular when he came to office in November, Monti’s approval rating has halved as tax hikes and pension cuts exacerbated an already severe recession, and his labour reform estranged both unions and the business establishment.
But for the markets, Monti remains the man most likely to tackle Italy’s debt mountain and uncompetitiveness. If he comes under serious threat, Italy could quickly supplant Spain as the euro zone’s main flashpoint.
Monti’s hand was weakened by comments on Wednesday by his predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, who said the prospect of Italy quitting the euro was “not blasphemy” and that he failed to understand why it would hurt Italy’s economy.
Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party is one of the two main groups that guarantee Monti a majority in parliament.
Monti proposed on the sidelines of this week’s G20 summit using the euro zone’s rescue funds to buy the bonds of Spain and Italy to bring down their borrowing costs.
Hollande said after today’s talks he supported the Italian idea. But Merkel has played down the notion, which investors said might be counter-productive unless the European Central Bank stepped in decisively in support.
Other proposals from Monti, such as stripping some forms of public investment from budget deficit calculations, or commonly issued euro zone bonds, are also broadly supported by France and Spain but opposed by Germany, at least for now. — Reuters

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Cops seize NFCorp properties

June 19, 2012
MACC investigators arrive at the office of NFCorp in Kuala Lumpur, December 23, 2011. — File pic
KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — Police have confiscated four properties belonging to the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) to aid investigations into the RM250 million cattle-farming scheme involving the family of Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil. According to Star Online, Bukit Aman said in a statement released today that the properties were seized yesterday under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001.
The four properties are said to be the NFCorp’s two condominium units here and two plots of land in Putrajaya.
The RM250 million publicly-funded cattle-raising project was first coined a “mess” in an article in The Star after it made it into the pages of the Auditor-General’s 2010 Report for failing to meet production targets.
The term was later repeated by other media organisations to describe NFCorp after PKR launched a series of exposés to show that the project’s funds had been allegedly abused.
NFCorp chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail, who is Shahrizat’s husband, was charged with criminal breach of trust (CBT) and violating the Companies Act in relation to RM49 million in federal funds given to NFCorp last March 12.
The 64-year-old was charged under the Penal Code relating to CBT for misappropriating RM9,758,140 from NFCorp’s funds to purchase two condominium units at the One Menerung complex in Bangsar for the National Meat and Livestock Corporation (NMLC) on December 1 and December 4, 2009.
He was also charged with transferring RM40 million of NFCorp’s funds to the NMLC between May 6 and November 16, 2009.
He was further charged in both cases for using the said funds without any approval from company’s annual general meeting, in violation of the Companies Act.
If found guilty, he faces between two and 20 years’ imprisonment, whipping, and a fine for the offences under the Penal Code.
Mohamad Salleh also faces a five-year jail term or RM30,000 fine for the charges proffered under the Companies Act.
He pleaded not guilty to the CBT charge as well as two counts under the Companies Act in the scandal that has opened Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Barisan Nasional government to damaging attacks ahead of elections that must be called by March next year.

Felda Global: Strategic venture talks with Louis Dreyfus ongoing

Paris-based Louis Dreyfus was reported to be reconsidering its plan to buy a strategic 2.5 per cent stake under FGV’s listing.
KUALA LUMPUR: Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) is still talking with Louis Dreyfus Commodities Asia on a strategic partnership.

“Talks on strategic venture partnership between FGV and Louis Dreyfus are ongoing,” FGV group president Datuk Sabri Ahmad said
in a brief statement yesterday.

Sabri was responding to a report by a financial daily, quoting sources, that Paris-based Louis Dreyfus was reconsidering its plan to buy a strategic 2.5 per cent stake under FGV’s listing.

It was reported that this was due to the high fees imposed and involvement of many cornerstone investors in the exercise.

The report also said that Louis Dreyfus had initially been invited to take up a 4.9 per cent stake before being cut to 2.5 per cent.

Louis Dreyfus is involved in agriculture, oil, energy and commodities, as well as specialises in global processing, trading, merchandising and international shipping.

Sabri said the partnership is a win-win for both FGV and Louis Dreyfus as both parties will be able to tap each other’s strengths – FGV in its upstream and midstream activities while
Louis Dreyfus in the downstream capabilities.

A memorandum of understanding was signed last month for Louis Dreyfus to be a strategic investor and partner to enhance the
refining and logistics of FGV’s palm oil business,
subsequently take up interest in the world’s third largest palm oil operator.

FGV’s RM10 billion listing will be the world’s second largest after Facebook Inc’s US$16 billion (RM63.2 billion) offering.

FGV’s institutional offering of 1.92 billion shares was oversubscribed by 45 times, while the public portion of 72.96 million shares was oversubscribed by 6.75 times.

Yuna - Terukir Di Bintang (Unofficial MTV With Lyrics)..Very Special Song ..like it

Monday, June 18, 2012

French giant mulls pulling out of FGVH IPO

French giant mulls pulling out of FGVH IPO

June 19, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — Louis Dreyfus Commodities Asia may be withdrawing from investing in FELDA Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGVH), just a week ahead of the world’s No. 3 largest palm oil operator’s market debut on June 28.
The Edge Financial Daily reported today the French agri-business giant was reconsidering its 2.5 per cent strategic stake in FGVH due to the high fees imposed and the involvement of too many other cornerstone investors.
The world’s largest IPO this year after Facebook had attracted a strong cast of 10 cornerstone investors, including AIA Group, Hong Kong’s Value Partners, Fidelity Investments and Middle Eastern sovereign fund Qatar Holding LLC.
“The allocation of shares was supposed to be finalised yesterday, but Louis Dreyfus did not make it,” the business paper quoted an unnamed source as saying.
The paper said its source added that there may be other provisions for the French firm to come in with a smaller stake later.
Louis Dreyfus had initially been invited to take up a 4.9 per cent share in FGVH’s initial public offering (IPO) when it debuts on Bursa Malaysia on June 28 but The Edge reported the allocation was cut to 2.5 per cent.
The Paris-based group had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with FGVH just last month.
The paper reported that FGVH had declined comment when contacted, and said it would make announcements if there were any developments.
The planned June 28 listing will create the world’s third-largest palm oil operator with a market capitalisation of RM16.6 billion.
The IPO will be the largest in Asia since February 2011 and the second biggest this year behind social media network Facebook’s float which raised US$16 billion (RM49.6 billion).
Putrajaya is forging ahead with FELDA’s controversial public listing despite criticism from some settlers and the opposition who claim that it will shortchange some 112,000 settlers nationwide.

Penang Social Welfare - Full HD - 1080p30 xvid.avi

NUBE: It is the best time to demand for an increment.mp4

U.S. Government Bond `Bubble to Burst, Faber Says

Apple unveils cheaper Ivy Bridge-powered MacBook Air


Apple has chosen WWDC week to announce an update to its MacBook Air line, with the inclusi...
Apple has chosen WWDC week to announce an update to its MacBook Air line, with the inclusion of Ivy Bridge processors with improved integrated graphics chief among the upgrades
Image Gallery (4 images)
Solar Systems Assembly - www.nordsonefd.com
Accurate, Repeatable Fluid Amounts. Call Us Now & Improve Your Process!
Ads by Google
Apple has chosen WWDC week to announce an update to its MacBook Air line. It may lack the Retina display of its newly upgraded, headline-grabbing cousin, the MacBook Pro, but the 2012 Air sees significant advances too. An upgrade from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge processors with improved integrated graphics is chief among the upgrades, and onboard memory has also received a boost.
What hasn't changed is the ultra-thin form factor and (with the thick end of the wedge maxing out at 0.68 in or 17 mm), weighing in at 2.38 pounds (1.08 kg) for the 11-inch model and 2.96 pounds (1.35 kg) for the 13-inch. Battery performance remains as is (which is no bad thing), with a touted 5 and 7 hours for the smaller and larger models respectively while wirelessly browsing the web.
What's new is an upgrade from Sandy Bridge to the faster Ivy Bridge processor, which brings with it a switch up from Intel HD Graphics 3000 to Intel HD Graphics 4000. This should bring with it a noticeable performance boost, though its doubtful that hardcore gamers will be rushing to buy the new Airs as portable gaming rigs this year.
The included random access memory allowance has doubled from 2 to 4 GB (configurable to 8 GB), and has been upgraded to lower voltage 1600-MHz DDR3L SDRAM. Flash storage remains at 64 GB and 128 GB in the entry-level 11- and 13-inch models respectively, though this is now configurable up to 512 GB.
Connectivity sees a significant boost with the inclusion of two USB 3.0 ports in addition to the Thunderbolt port. The USB 3.0 standard allows data transfer more than ten times the speed of USB 2.0. The power connection has been upgraded to Apple's MagSafe 2, which is simply an even smaller version of the MagSafe port that lets the power cable disconnected safely in the event of jarring cable snag, preventing unwelcome MacBook/floor interface scenarios.
Though the 11-inch Air still starts at US$999, the 13-inch has dropped $100 to $1199, making it all the more compelling to laptop-hunters on the prowl for an ultrabook.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

How To Skip Malaysia Internet Censorship Using Google Public DNS


Tired and feed up with all the blocking and Censorship imposed by Telekom Malaysia and Streamyx ..

Here’s how you can configure your computer to use Google Public DNS and enjoy the speed boost and skip the censorship. Hope can help you guy out there..


DNS (Domain Name System) is the online service that maps a web url to an IP address. Whenever you surf the web, your ISP will perform a DNS lookup to translate the URL to its IP address before it can render the pages. As web pages become more complex, the number of DNS lookup increase and your Internet speed suffers.
Google Public DNS is a DNS service provided by Google with the aim of helping you to improve your browsing experience. Since Google’s search engine already crawls the web on a daily basis and in the process resolves and caches DNS information, they are able to bring back DNS information much faster than your ISP.


Configuring your computer to use Google Public DNS

In Windows Vista/7
Go to Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center. Click on the active network connection link.
google-dns-configure-windows1
Click on the Properties button.
google-dns-configure-windows2
In the Network tab, highlight the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) field and click on the Properties button.
google-dns-configure-windows3
Enter the following in the DNS field:
google-dns-configure-windows4
Save the setting and close all windows. Restart the Internet connection. You should be connect via the Google public DNS now.
In Linux (Ubuntu)
The following instructions are tested on Ubuntu. It should work on any other distro that are using the Network Manager.
Go to System -> Preferences -> Network Connections. Go to the Wired tab (or the Wireless tab if you are using wireless connection). Highlight the active connection and click “Edit
google-dns-configure-linux1
Go to the IPv4 Settings tab. Under the Method dropdown field, select Automatic (DHCP) addresses only. Enter 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4 (separated by a space) in the DNS Servers field.
google-dns-configure-linux2
Click OK to save. Your Internet connection will automatically restart itself.
In Mac Snow Leopard
Go to System Preferences -> Network. Select your active connection and click on the Advanced button.
google-dns-configure-mac1
Go to the DNS tab. At the left pane (DNS Servers), click on the “+” button. Enter “8.8.8.8″ into the field. Add another entry with “8.8.4.4″ in the field.
google-dns-configure-mac2
Click OK.
That’s it.
For troubleshooting and more in depth information, check out the Google Public DNS site for configuration instructions.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Chong Wei ventures into property business





KUALA LUMPUR: World number one badminton player Datuk Lee Chong Wei has made his maiden venture into the property business with a condominium project in Ampang with a gross development value of RM160 million.

Called A Residency D' Suria Condominium, the 18-storey project, located in Ampang Hilir here, will be launched by September. The project is expected to be completed by 2014.

Lee, via his set-up Chong Wei Binajaya Sdn Bhd, has teamed up with Perak-based property player SSF Corp to implement the project.

The condominium units are priced between RM500,000 and over RM1 million, depending on built-up area.

"We have already sold 40 per cent of the 252 units available due to its strategic location and are confident it will get a good response," SSF group executive director Major Datuk Wayne Chew told reporters yesterday.

Chew said Chong Wei Binajaya is a subsidiary of SSF but he declined to reveal details of the partnership.

Privately held SSF was established in 1995 and started as a contractor.

To date, it has built more than 1,000 homes, mainly in Perak, which include joint ventures with the state government. It plans to expand to the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor.

A Residency is the company's second project in Kuala Lumpur after Residency Duta Suria, which is also a condominium project and is situated next to A Residency.

Microsoft Said to Debut Its Own Windows Tablet Next Week



Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) will announce plans to sell a tablet running the next version of the Windows operating system under its own brand, a major departure from its strategy of partnering with computer makers, according to a person familiar with the plans.
The Redmond, Washington-based company may demonstrate the device at an event in Los Angeles on June 18, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the plans haven’t been made public. The company has said it aims to release the new Windows 8 operating system in time for the holiday season.
The Windows 8 software on tablet devices at the Microsoft Corp. Windows 8 software consumer preview event at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
June 15 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. will announce plans to sell a tablet running the next version of the Windows operating system under its own brand, a major departure from its strategy of partnering with computer makers, according to a person familiar with the plans. Cory Johnson reports on Bloomberg Television's "Blooomberg West." (Source: Bloomberg)
Microsoft has been working with personal-computer makers to produce Windows 8 tablets, designed to win back consumers who have shunned Windows machines in favor of Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPad. The world’s largest software maker may be taking steps to exert more control over the hardware that runs its programs -- as Apple does -- in order to mount a more successful challenge.
“If Microsoft wants to control the entire user experience and the entire quality of their products, they have to build their own hardware,” said Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, Washington-based market- research firm.
Frank Shaw, a spokesman for Microsoft, declined to comment.
Yesterday, the company invited press via e-mail to an event in Los Angeles on June 18 at 3:30 p.m., at a location to be disclosed later.
“This will be a major Microsoft announcement -- you will not want to miss it,” the invitation said.

Software Focus

Microsoft shares rose 2.3 percent to $30.02 at the close in New York. The stock has gained 16 percent this year.
Since the release of International Business Machines Corp.’s first PC in 1981, Microsoft has focused on software for the machines and left design and branding to hardware makers. While the company has in the past decade played a larger role in working with some PC makers on design, it has shied away from developing the machines and selling them under the Microsoft brand.
The shift in strategy has the potential to sour Microsoft’s relationship with some PC partners, many of which have been investing to develop Windows 8 tablets themselves and may not want to compete directly with Microsoft.
Still, PC makers may have limited recourse, said Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners LP in New York. Apple doesn’t license its software to computer makers, and Google Inc. (GOOG), which makes the Android operating system, will probably make its own tablets through its recent acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

Tablet Options

“If you’re a computer maker, you don’t love it,” Gillis said. “But what are you going to do? Build an Android tablet? Google is going to build its own tablet, too. Everyone is making their own hardware now. It’s like having a poodle in your purse. All the cool kids are doing it.”
The addition of a tablet would radically alter profitability in the Windows business, which now sells just software with operating margins of more than 60 percent. By comparison, computer maker Dell Inc. (DELL)’s operating margin for the most recent fiscal year was about 7 percent.
A move into tablets would be a similar strategy to the one Microsoft employed with its Zune music and video player. Microsoft initially provided software to partners, who failed to gain share against Apple’s iPod, forcing Microsoft to produce its own hardware. The Zune failed to dent Apple’s dominant market share, and Microsoft canceled the product last year.

Controlled Experience

For Microsoft, sticking with devices from its PC partners only may be equally risky. Sales in the Windows group have missed analysts’ estimates in four of the six most recent quarters as consumers shifted to purchasing tablets rather than lower-cost laptop PCs running Windows. Microsoft, which initially released a version of Windows for tablet machines in 2002 before scaling back, has zero share of the market now, according to researcher Gartner Inc.
Selling a branded tablet would help the company make sure the new Windows dovetails exactly with the hardware, avoiding issues that have cropped up when computer makers have added their own software that has degraded or limited the performance or design of Windows.
“The idea would be to make sure Microsoft’s vision for such a device is translated exactly into the consumer experience without a third-party interpretation,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Gartner.

Apple’s Dominance

Apple has expanded its grip on the tablet market even as companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. release new tablets running Google’s Android software and PC makers work to prepare their Windows 8 tablets. Researcher IDC yesterday boosted its forecast for the tablet market on strong demand for the iPad.
Worldwide shipments of tablets this year will be 107.4 million units, up from an earlier projection of 106.1 million, Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC said in a statement. Unit sales may reach 142.8 million next year and 222.1 million by 2016, the researcher said.
IDC predicts the iPad will account for 62.5 percent of global shipments this year, up from 58.2 percent last year. Apple’s share could rise even further if it introduces a smaller, less expensive tablet, IDC said.
Microsoft’s tablet plans were previously reported by entertainment website The Wrap and the All Things D blog.

Jim Rogers on Fox Business News - 13 june 2012

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Asian Stocks Rise as Stimulus Hopes Offset Europe Concern

Asian stocks gained, with the regional benchmark index heading for its biggest weekly advance since February, as optimism the Federal Reserve will act to stimulate economic growth tempered concerns that Europe’s debt crisis will worsen.
Li & Fung Ltd. (494), a supplier of toys and clothes to retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., rose 0.9 percent in Hong Kong even as U.S. jobless claims rose unexpectedly. Esprit Holdings Ltd. gained 7.6 percent, heading for its first advance in three days, after the clothier said it will continue with its transformation strategy after both its chairman and chief executive officer quit. Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s biggest mobile-phone maker that gets about 19 percent of sales from Europe, dropped 3.2 percent in Seoul.
Investors trade and monitor stocks at a securities exchange house in Shanghai. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.6 percent to 113.66 as of 11:33 a.m. in Tokyo, with more than two shares rising for each that fell. The measure is heading for a 2 percent advance this week, the most since January. The gauge dropped 12 percent from this year’s peak on Feb. 29 through yesterday amid concern growth in the U.S. and China is slowing and as Europe’s debt crisis intensified.
“We’re likely to see increasing talk from governments about how they can encourage the growth agenda,” said Angus Gluskie, who helps manages more than $350 million at White Funds Management in Sydney. “That will benefit the markets as we move towards the second half of the year. There’s plenty of uncertainty out there. We may still see investors continue to be nervous about Spain and Italy in the aftermath of Greece’s election.”

Volumes Down

Trading volumes across the region were below the 30-day average ahead of the June 17 Greece election, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average (NKY) added 0.2 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.4 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 1.2 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.2 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index fell 0.7 percent.
Exporters to the U.S. gained on heightened speculation the Federal Reserve will act to stimulate growth as more Americans applied for jobless benefits and consumer prices dropped.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.1 percent today. The gauge climbed 1.1 percent in New York yesterday following reports central banks may take steps to help economies battered by Europe’s debt crisis amid concern a failure to contain the turmoil could roil the world’s financial markets and economy.

Greek Polls

Bloomberg News reported that U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and Bank of England Governor Mervyn King are preparing two programs to increase the flow of credit. Reuters said central banks of major economies are prepared to take action if needed to boost liquidity in financial markets if the June 17 Greek elections cause tumultuous trading, citing officials linked to the Group of 20 nations.
Polls show neither party in Greece is likely to gain enough votes to secure a parliamentary majority. Syriza, led by Alexis Tsipras, has promised to annul terms of the Greek bailout proposed by the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras, who supports the bailout conditions, said backing Syriza will effectively remove Greece from the euro.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) lost 0.8 percent this year through yesterday, compared with a 5.7 percent advance by the S&P 500 and a 1.1 percent drop on the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Shares on the Asian benchmark are valued at 1.2 times book value, compared with 2.1 times for the S&P 500 and 1.3 times for the Stoxx 600, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. A number below one means companies can be bought for less than value of their assets.

China’s Loneliest Billionaire Ma Dabbles in Tai Chi, Poker

It’s been a rough 18 months for Chinese Internet tycoon Jack Ma, founder and chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Early in 2011 a fraud scandal hit his business-to-business e-commerce site, Alibaba.com.
At about the same time, the U.S. government publicly shamed Alibaba-owned Taobao, a hybrid of Amazon.com (AMZN) and EBay, for enabling the sale of counterfeit merchandise. Last fall, thousands of small merchants protested online and outside Alibaba’s headquarters in Ma’s hometown, the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, against an increase in Taobao’s listing fees.
Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Photographer: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg
“I was so lonely at that time,” said Ma, who presents himself as a champion of local entrepreneurs and added the higher prices were necessary to fight piracy. “Nobody wanted to believe Jack Ma.”
Ma’s bad run may be coming to an end, as Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its June 18 issue. On May 21 he reached a long-desired deal with Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) to buy back half of the U.S. Web portal’s 40 percent stake in Alibaba Group. The Chinese company will pay Yahoo $7.1 billion for the shares, valuing Alibaba at about $35 billion.
Yahoo and another large shareholder, Softbank Inc., agreed to reduce their voting rights to 49.9 percent, even though the two combined still own more than half of Alibaba. Shareholders also approved a plan to pay as much as $2.5 billion to privatize Hong Kong-listed Alibaba.com Ltd. (1688), the group’s flagship brand.

Former Teacher

Taken together, the deals are huge steps toward Ma’s goal of an initial public offering for Alibaba Group. The IPO, which Ma says is still a few years off, could be the largest stock market debut in Chinese Internet history. That would certainly show critics that he’s built a sustainable company.
“This is not a business that belongs to Jack Ma,” he said in an interview in Beijing this month.
Ma, a former English teacher, started Alibaba in 1999. For most of its history, he played the part of the hometown favorite standing up to foreigners such as Meg Whitman, who competed against Taobao when she was chief executive officer of EBay (EBAY) Inc.
As his difficulties last year show, Ma’s operation is no longer the scrappy underdog -- it’s an expanding empire. Alibaba.com has offices in the U.S., Britain, India, Japan, and South Korea. Taobao and Tmall.com, a sister site that opened in 2008, dominate e-commerce in China and together account for 71 percent of consumers’ online purchases, according to research firm Analysys International. Most of those customers use Alipay, Ma’s online payment service.
In the year ended Sept. 30, Alibaba Group earned a profit of $268 million on sales of $2.3 billion, according to Yahoo’s annual report.
“We are much more influential than we thought,” said Zeng Ming, Ma’s chief strategist.

Signs of Distraction

For Alibaba to keep its momentum, the company will need focus -- right at a time when Ma is showing signs of distraction.
“I am going to enjoy some other things apart from business,” he said.
Already one of China’s richest men, with a stake in Alibaba worth about $2.6 billion, Ma shows little interest in technology. He doesn’t spend much time online and depends on a colleague to help him download U.S. television shows to his iPad.
Instead, he dabbles in poker, traditional medicine, and other pastimes. He’s teamed up with movie star Jet Li to spread awareness of tai chi, and is so into the ancient Chinese martial art that he brings along a personal trainer when he travels. Environmentalism is another pet cause. In 2010, Ma joined the global board of the Nature Conservancy.
“Business is not his first love,” said Orville Schell, a former dean of the journalism school at the University of California at Berkeley, and a close friend.
Time in U.S.
Ma has been spending time in San Francisco’s Bay Area. He rents a home there, and he’s audited history courses at Berkeley, where his son is an undergraduate. The time in the U.S. has affected him.
“I want people to learn what democracy means,” he said.
At Alibaba the company’s 25,000 employees elect 10 representatives who determine how it spends part of its philanthropy budget. “This is the first test in China of a real democracy,” Ma said.
The Chinese government is showing an interest in what Alibaba does. In 2011, after the fraud and counterfeiting scandals, Ma met with government officials 40 to 50 times.
“I try my best to talk with them and make sure they understand what we are doing,” he said.
Ma also wants the world to know that he takes antipiracy efforts seriously. Alibaba hired James Mendenhall, a top lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, as its Washington lobbyist, and Taobao says it removed 63 million pirated products last year. In December, the U.S. Trade Representative acknowledged that Taobao is making “significant efforts” to expunge the fakes. Tmall specializes in authentic, branded goods.

Competition Challenge

The looming challenge for Ma and Alibaba is competition. China’s e-commerce market may grow 42 percent this year, to $173 billion, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. That growth has global retailers slavering.
In February, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) acquired Shanghai-based e-commerce site Yihaodian. A group of investors including Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies put $1.5 billion into retailer 360buy Jingdong Mall last year. And on May 24, Tencent Holdings Ltd. (700), Alibaba’s chief competitor, announced plans to invest $1 billion in its e-commerce unit.
The rivals will be battling uphill, according to Michael Clendenin, managing director of RedTech Advisors in Shanghai. Other retailers hold inventory and operate costly delivery networks. Taobao and Tmall let vendors take care of those low- margin tasks and instead earn money through storefront fees, advertisements, and infrastructure support.
“He’s the ultimate winner,” Clendenin said. “In e- commerce, Jack Ma is the house -- and the house always wins.”

YTL chief calls for consistency in Asean energy policy

 Francis Yeoh ....is a futuristic man... I am inspired by him... 

KUALA LUMPUR: YTL Corp Bhd group managing director Tan Sri Francis Yeoh urged Asean member countries to work on a transparent regulatory framework to facilitate the creation of an energy policy that is consistent across the region. This will enable its 600 million population to enjoy cheaper rates of utilities without relying on subsidies provided by some governments.
“Asean countries cannot continue the policy of subsidising electricity. If you find a framework that can actually introduce competition and investment, electricity price will be inexpensive and consistent,” he said.
He said that it was not globally competitive if electricity was subsidised and drew an example of the situation in Greece where the country's electricity producer was unable to pay its gas supplier.
“You will not be competitive if your country can no longer afford to subsidise. Then, the country will be uncompetitive and unemployment will arise,” he said.
Yeoh said: “A transparent and consistent regulatory system is necessary for Asean to be globally competitive to attract foreign investors. We can then cross invest in pipelines and gas. It can be done if there is an Asean power grid.
“Economic bridges must be built across Asean quickly. That is tough but substantial.”
He said the challenge faced could be due to political rivalry as the member countries were at different stages of economic development.
“Technically, infrastructures can be built without much difficulties but politically, it can be challenging,” he said.
He also said YTL was in Britain, Singapore and Australia because their regulatory frameworks were transparent and clear. “If we make Asean's regulatory framework this way, we are able to attract many other investors who would like to compete in such a system.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Nigel Farage Exposing New Giant Euro Banking Scam 13 June 2012 [sub Nige...

PC users urged to check for malware

PETALING JAYA: Come July 10, thousands of computers infected with the DNSChanger malware (malicious software) will be disconnected from the Internet if their users don't take some necessary steps.
The problem is that many PC users may not even know that their computers have been infected.
F-Secure Labs Malaysia security adviser Goh Su Gim explained that the United State Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) planned to shut down hacker-controlled servers that had been reprogrammed to prevent infected PCs from being suddenly disconnected, causing support-call chaos.
The servers were temporarily reprogrammed after the arrest of six Estonians believed to have created the malware in November last year.
The servers, located in Estonia and the United States, will be deactivated on July 9 and PCs still infected with DNSChanger will not function normally as they will not be able to access these servers.
CyberSecurity Malaysia is aware of the problem and has notified Internet service providers here that about 1,500 PCs belonging to service subscribers were infected with DNSChanger.
It also called on all PC users in the country to run a check on their machines.
Its software tool to check for and remove DNSChanger can be found at http://dnschanger.detect.my.
F-Secure also has a similar tool at http://bit.ly/JEPBiz. More information on DNSChanger is also available on this webpage.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Apple iOS 6: Best New Features

Apple showed off tons of new features in iOS 6 at WWDC, including some hoped-for improvements and several complete surprises.
10 Gorgeous Apps For New iPad
10 Gorgeous Apps For New iPad
(click image for larger view and forslideshow)
Apple spent two hours delivering stats, news, and demonstrations during its WWDC presentation on Monday. Looking specifically at iOS 6, Apple's next-generation mobile platform adds more than 200 new features and is primed to debut this Fall. Here's what looks good and what Apple appears to have left out. Facebook: Apple has finally included Facebook integration in iOS 6. It delivered Twitter integration in iOS 5, and that left many users crying foul over the lack of Facebook support. That changes with iOS 6. Once it arrives, iOS device users will be able to fire off status updates, share photos, and share links directly from within other iOS applications. The new sharing tools bring Facebook to the iPhone in a long-overdue way.

Siri: While Apple stopped short of calling the new Siri a 1.0 full release, but the personal assistant gains appreciable powers. First, it can open other applications. That means if you're sitting at your desk, you can grab your iPhone and ask Siri to open the music player, and she will. Same goes for tons of other apps and actions. The added number of apps with which Siri can interact is a serious improvement. The fact that it works better for researching sports scores/stats, movies times and ticket purchases, and dinner reservations is all a bonus.
[ Do you know the best place to get an iPhone? Read Virgin Prepaid iPhones: Do The Math. ]
Eyes Free: An interesting feature added to iOS is Eyes Free. Together with a dozen auto manufacturers, Apple is looking to add a dedicated "Siri" button in cars. This will let iOS device owners access Siri and their iPhone when driving without taking their eyes off the road. Worried about Microsoft's Sync much, Apple?
Passbook: The feature no one asked for. Passbook collects items such as movie tickets, train tickets, airline tickets, sporting event tickets and makes them all available digitally in one application--complete with QRCodes and 2-D barcodes. With Passbook, you can purchase apps through Fandango, have them sent to your iPhone, and then gain access to the movies theater by flashing your iPhone to the ticket counter. Neat.
Apple Maps: Apple officially dumped Google Maps in iOS 6. According to what Apple revealed, the new mapping tool for iOS devices offers turn-by-turn navigation, points-of-interest searching, integration with Siri for commands, and the ability to submit anonymous traffic/incident reports. It includes a flyover/3-D mode that offers incredible detail of U.S. cities, too. It looked impressive in the demos, but it remains to be seen if it can be a real Google Maps killer.
FaceTime Over Cellular: Finally. After two years of FaceTime, Apple has finally made it available over 3G cellular connections. Since launch it has only worked over Wi-Fi, which was a serious limitation. Now that it will be available over 3G, you can expect FaceTime's usage to increase exponentially. FaceTime will also combine a user's phone number and Apple ID, allowing them to answer either their phone or their FaceTime app on their phone or Mac.
Safari: Apple has copied some of its competitors with some much-needed upgrades features for Safari. First and foremost is the ability to sync open tabs from Safari on a desktop to Safari on an iOS device via iCloud. This also requires OS X Mountain Lion, but still, it took Apple long enough. Opera, Firefox, and others have offered this for ages.
Email: Apple didn't spend too much time on the new email for iOS application, but showed off two much-needed improvements. First, iOS device users will be able to designate VIP email senders. In other words, if you want to prioritize emails from your boss on your iPhone, you'll be able to. Much more important, however, is the ability to add pictures and videos to emails directly from the email application. In previous versions of iOS, if you wanted to add a photo, video, or other file, you had to do so directly from the photo application. This is a major headache that should have been cleared up a long time ago.
Beyond these stand-outs, Apple said that there are more than 200 other new features headed to its mobile platform. The first beta of iOS 6 is already available for registered developers to download. It will be available for the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPad 2 and iPad 3 later this year.
New apps promise to inject social features across entire workflows, raising new problems for IT. In the new, all-digital Social Networking issue of InformationWeek, find out how companies are making social networking part of the way their employees work. Also in this issue: How to better manage your video data. (Free with registration.)

Average U.S. family's wealth plunged 40% in recession, Fed says

The net worth of the median American family fell to $77,300 in 2010, down nearly 40% from 2007 after adjusting for inflation, the Federal Reserve reports.





WASHINGTON — The typical American family lost nearly 40% of its wealth from 2007 to 2010 as the Great Recession reduced household net worth to a level not seen since the early 1990s.
The net worth of the median U.S. family — one with an equal number of families richer and poorer — fell to $77,300 in 2010 from $126,400 three years earlier, after adjusting for inflation, the Federal Reserve said in a new report Monday.
The drop, much steeper than previous Fed quarterly reports have suggested, underscores the severity of the 2007-09 recession that decimated the housing market and resulted in massive layoffs that slashed people's incomes.
Although families have recovered some of the lost wealth in the last 18 months, the new 80-page Fed report shows that the financial shock hit them across the board — rich and poor, young and old, the well-educated and the less educated and those with and without children. The report also detailed incomes, debts and various assets owned by families.
The report comes at a time of growing concern about the U.S. economy as sputtering job growth has added to worries of a global slowdown, with Europe on the ropes and both China and India losing steam.
For President Obama, whose reelection could hinge on voters' assessment of their financial condition and changes, the new Fed data supports his frequent statement of the terrible economic situation that he inherited when he took office in early 2009. At the same time, the slow and halting recovery since mid-2009, when the recession officially ended, has left the president vulnerable.
The report showed that the biggest reduction in net worth, in percentage terms, affected young middle-age families, those headed by 35- to 44-year-olds. Their median net worth — total assets minus debts — dropped 54% to $42,100 over the period.
Only 47.6% of these families said they had saved money in 2010, the lowest of all age groups. Overall, 52% of families socked away money that year.
That is a stark change from 2001, when 62.3% of families headed by 35- to 44-year-olds reported having saved money that year, making their group the highest percentage savers among all age categories in the Fed's report.
Mark Zandi, chief economist atMoody'sAnalytics, suggested one possible reason for this dramatic decline: Many in this age group took advantage of easy subprime home loans.
"Lower- and middle-income households got especially creamed because their biggest asset is their home, and that got crushed," he said. "This reinforces how dizzying the decline was during the period."
Things have improved for many families more recently, separate Fed data show. Household net worth generally has increased since 2010 as the stock market rebounded, more people found work and housing prices stabilized in many parts of the country. In the first quarter of this year, net worth saw its biggest gain in seven years.
Nonetheless, by any measure, the typical American family's wealth remains well below its pre-recession high, in large part because national home prices have only recently shown signs of hitting their lows.
Monday's report, which was based on the Fed's Survey of Consumer Finances done every three years, shows that a sharp loss of incomes added to the severity of the problem.
For all families, the median income fell to $45,800 in 2010 from $49,600 three years earlier — a 7.7% decline. As with net worth, the drop in incomes was spread throughout various population groups.
But families headed by people ages 65 and up, reflecting their fixed incomes and more-conservative investments, didn't see an erosion of real incomes between 2007 and 2010. By contrast, the youngest families, headed by those under 35 years old, had the biggest drop in median income, falling more than 10% to $35,100 in 2010.
On education, the inflation-adjusted median income of $23,000 for those without high school diplomas hardly changed during the three-year period.
The biggest percentage drop occurred in families headed by people with some college education: Their incomes fell to $42,900 from $47,800, down 10.3%. Families headed by college graduates saw their median incomes fall just a hair less than 10%, to $73,800 from $81,900.
By region, not surprisingly, median income as well as net worth fell most sharply in the West. Median family income dropped 10.3% in the West to $48,800 in 2010. The South saw a 9.6% decline to $40,700. Median incomes in the Northeast and Midwest were nearly unchanged during the three-year period.
Similarly, the West — with California, Nevada and Arizona seeing sharp drops in home values — took the biggest hit in median net worth. The region's family wealth fell more than 55%, to $73,400 from $164,100.
"Real estate is such a big portion of the economy in the West, including California, that its drop in value has taken a big chunk out of net worth," said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at Cal State Channel Islands. "The drop in real estate has been so large, it will take probably years to recover. It could very well be a decade."