Arabs lost 2.5 thrillion in credit crunch

Arab investors have lost 2.5 trillion dollars in the US inspired global credit crunch, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah says.

"The Arab world has lost 2.5 trillion dollars in the past four months" as a result of the global financial crisis, Sheikh Mohammad told a press conference following a joint meeting of Arab foreign and finance ministers in Kuwait on Friday.

He also said that about 60 percent of development projects "have either been postponed or cancelled" by the six-nation Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) states because of the global meltdown.

Arab leaders who held their first ever economic summit on January 19-20 will discuss the impact of the worldwide economic meltdown on the 22 Arab countries.

The main losses came from an estimated 40 percent drop in the value of some 2.5 trillion dollars of Arab investments abroad, losses of more than 600 billion dollars from falls on stock markets and a sharp decline in oil revenues.

Source: Press TV

China Has As Much Web Users As U.S. Total Population

The number of people in China who use internet has surged so much in the past year that currently China has the world's largest number of internet users. It totals the entire U.S. population.

The report comes from BBC, which sites China Internet Network Information Center writing that China has 298 million internet users becoming the world' largest.

This marks a 41.9% increase on the previous year and is still growing fast, said the government-linked China Internet Network Information Centre.
The study also showed huge increases in the number of people in China accessing the internet through mobile phones.
The report by Cinic also noted that internet use in the countryside was increasing faster than in the cities.
At the end of 2008, the number of net users in China, which has a population of 1.3 billion, was almost the same as the entire population of the United States.

Internet usage and accessibility in China are growing at a dramatic pace, and as a result there are big opportunities for information marketers to turn this rabid market to real dollars.

China has become the number one user of the internet in the whole world - with 253 million internet users. The number of users has increased by a whopping 56% in the year to June 2008, with 43 million of these users coming online in just the December to June period.

Now what is surprising however is that these figures reflect a relatively miniscule penetration rate of 19.1% - meaning that only this percentage of the country can access the world wide web. Imagine the numbers if China could reach the 71% penetration of Korea or the 68% of Japan. To put it into perspective, you need to understand that the population of China is currently around 1.325 BILLION people.

Realistically though, in a country as vast as China, it may be a very long time, if at all, before the whole population will have internet access, but certainly the major centers are well serviced.

Who is online?

Females account for just over 46% of users. The age group for internet users is young, in fact over 68% of Chinese internet users are under 30 years of age. Around 39% of these have education to high school only, a reflection of the educational makeup of the Chinese population. Twenty-five percent of internet users are business employees and 30% are students.

Online habits

The most common objectives of Chinese internet users are internet music, news, messaging and video, followed by search engines and email. Online games are accessed and played by 58.3% of users, while 25% purchase online. Contrary to a popular western perception, over 23% of Chinese 'netizens' use online banking and over 18% access the internet for learning purposes.

Especially significant for marketers of information products is the last figure - 18 percent equals around 47 million people in China that are on the path to self-improvement! And this segment is growing.

Another opportunity for products to the China market is online gaming items and accessories.

E-commerce

Online shopping is beginning to blossom in China, and statistics from China Internet Network Information Center show that as at June 2008 over 63 million people in China shop online. This figure reflected an increase of almost 17 million in the preceding 6 months alone. The major concentrations of online shoppers are, not surprisingly, the big cities of Shanghai and Beijing.

This growth in online shopping has been put down to more reliable, functional, and secure payment and fulfillment systems.

Opportunities abound.

No internet marketer can afford to be without the solid and detailed information that the research-based Chinese eWhispers provides. No fluff, no hype - just the facts.

Although there are almost as many people on the Web in China as there are U.S. residents, the country has a long way to go to match Web penetration rates measured in other countries: Web penetration in China is just 22.6 percent.
-HULIQ News

Heritage Wealth Management Exec Fakes Plane Crash

Marcus Schrenker, was, or is, an Indiana businessman whose financial management companies, Heritage Wealth Management Inc., Heritage Insurance Services Inc. and Icon Wealth Management, were under investigation. Now it appears he apparently bailed out of his small plane and let it crash in what may have been an attempt to fake his own death.

Now why would Schrenker do this? Well, reports are that he has been sued for $1.4 million:

In court papers filed in December in federal court in Indianapolis, collection agent Creative Marketing International claims that Marcus Schrenker, acting as an insurance broker, failed to remit commission reimbursements of $1.4 million to National Western Life.

That's just part of it. Also, according to AP:

On Friday, two days before the crash, a federal judge in Maryland issued a $533,500 judgment against Heritage Wealth Management Inc., and in favor of OM Financial Life Insurance Co. The OM lawsuit contended that Heritage Wealth Management should have returned more than $230,000 in commissions because there were problems with insurance or annuity plans Heritage had sold.

So, besides the lawsuit, there was also a judgment already in place.

According to authorities, Marcus Schrenker made a fake distress call and secretly parachuted to safety near Birmingham, Alabama. Meanwhile, his plane flew on autopilot, eventually crashing late Sunday more than 200 miles away in a swampy area of the Florida Panhandle.

His distress call said the windshield had imploded and he was bleeding, but after finding the plane, authorities could find no such evidence.

At any rate, the name Heritage Wealth Management, in these days of Bernie Madoff ponzi schemes, should raise red flags all over the place.

Authorities are still searching for Schrenker. Shades of D.B. Cooper

-HULIQ, USA

New 3G Palm Pre Enters Smart Phone War

Palm today announced its long-awaited new operating system--called Web OS--as well as the new Palm Pre smart phone to match. The Pre will be available exclusively on the Sprint 3G Network in first half of 2009. The announcement was made at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show.

As rumored earlier this week, the new phone marks Palm's effort to regain leadership in the smart phone market. Aiming for the coveted niche between iPhones and BlackBerrys, the Palm Pre with Web OS attempts to seamlessly bring together enterprise and entertainment into one device.

Palm did not announce pricing or an exact availability date for the Pre. (Stay tuned for PC World's in-depth look and hands-on analysis of the new phone and its OS.)

The Palm Pre Handset Spec

The Palm Pre is a multi-touch screen device with a full vertical slide-out QWERTY keyboard and accelerometer. The EVDO-capable device is Wi-Fi-enabled, and comes with GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 with stereo support, and 8GB of storage.
The Pre has a 3.1-inch size display with 320-by-480 resolution. The multi-touch extends beyond the display to the center button, which Palm calls the gesture area for launching applications on the device.
The Pre also has a 3.0-megapixel camera with an LED flash and depth and field DSP software. Additionally, the phone has high speed USB 2.0 support as well as a standard 3.5-mm headphone jack.
The phone's elegant, curved form factor is designed to comfortably fit in your hand as well as next to your cheek. The Pre is smaller in size than the iPhone and other smart phones on the market--it weighs 4.8 ounces.

The Palm Web OS

The open-source Palm Web OS strives to bring together all of the facets of a busy lifestyle and put it into one place for quick access to information with the flick of a finger.
The homescreen user interface (UI) has customizable application widgets running at the bottom of the display. Touch a widget and the app instantly pops up. All of your open applications appear on the UI as a deck of cards. Flicking from right to left and left to right on the gesture pad allows you to scroll through your "deck" of applications.

Seamless Synching

One of the most important components of Web OS is what Palm calls "synergy--synching information from various sources into one seamless application. For example, Palm's e-mail application has an All Inboxes folder--a single place to check all of your e-mail accounts.
If you start typing an e-mail contact, Web OS searches across all of your e-mail accounts--both personal and work. If the Pre can't find the contact, it searches your corporate exchange database and automatically enters it into your contacts list.
Another cool feature in Web OS is the Buddylist application. All of the contacts from your various instant messaging accounts, like AIM, Gchat or ICQ, appear in a single list. And if your buddy suddenly goes offline during a conversation, you can send her a text message to continue the same conversation without interruption.
You can also use the slide-out QWERTY keyboard to easily find information on your device--and on the Web. Start typing something and the OS automatically searches through your contacts and applications to find what you need. If it doesn't find any matches on the device, it will search the Web.
The Palm Web OS has a unique notifications application that allows you to work without interruption. If you get an IM or e-mail, a small alert pops up at the bottom of your screen. You can choose whether you want to read the message right away or save it for later. You can even pull up a small dashboard that lists all of your notifications.
In addition to the OS, Palm announced the Touchstone--a stylish wireless charger that uses inductive technology. You simply drop the Pre on the magnetic Touchstone and it stays in place to charge.-Ginny Mies, PC World

SKorea Samsung Unveils World's Slimmest TV

World's Slimmest TV
South Korea's Samsung Electronics on Monday unveiled what it says is the world's slimmest LCD (liquid crystal display) TV.
The new product, measuring only 6.5 millimetres (0.26 inch) thick, is thinner than any other existing TV set, and even slimmer than most mobile handsets, Samsung said in a statement.
Its thickness is one seventh of Samsung's "Bordeaux 850" LCD TVs, which is currently the thinnest on the market, the company said.
The new product, which adopts an LED (light emitting diode) backlighting system, will be on display at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas from January 8 to 11, Samsung added.
-AFP

Galactic Alignment

Will Earth pass through the Milky Way’s galactic plane in 2012? And if so, what could that mean to Earth?

Much ado has been made of the winter solstice sun aligning with the galactic plane on December 21, 2012. But according to the computational wizard Jean Meeus (page 302 of Mathematical Astronomy Morsels), the solstice points were alignment with the galactic equator as recently as the year 1998.

In other words, the 2012 alignment isn’t unique. Consider the view from our local star, the sun. As seen from the sun, Earth crosses the Milky Way’s galactic plane (also called the galactic equator) twice a year, every year.

Or consider the view from Earth. As seen from Earth, the sun crosses the galactic plane – also called the galactic equator on our sky – twice a year, every year. All of this is just part of Earth’s normal motion, as projected on our sky’s dome, as we travel around the sun and through the galaxy. Quite by coincidence, the ecliptic – the projection of the Earth’s orbital plane onto the stellar sphere – intersects the galactic plane near the solstice points. That’s why these points are so near each on our sky’s dome.

However, it’s true that the sun on the December solstice doesn’t return to the same exact spot in front of the backdrop stars every year. The solstice point slowly but surely moves westward through the stars at about one degree per every 72 years. (For reference, the sun’s diameter equals about 1/2 degree.)

Therefore, the solstice point moves about 30 degrees westward every 2,160 years. By the year 2269, the December solstice point will cross into the constellation Ophiuchus. Then the solstices won’t happen so near the location of the galactic plane in our sky.

Take a look at our sky chart. If you could see the stars during the daytime, you’d see the sun in front of the constellation Sagittarius on each December 21 solstice. We show Sagittarius as a Teapot on this sky chart, because many people are able to see that pattern. On or near each December solstice, the sun crosses the plane of the Milky Way galaxy above the spout of the Teapot, a bit north of the galactic center. Can you see that intersection? Also look for the various M-objects along the galactic equator, as shown on our chart. Those are star clusters in the star-crowded plane of the galaxy. -EarthSky.org

Rock of Love

Rock of Love
Rock of Love follows the 10-part saga of heavy metal rock group, Poison’s front man, Bret Michaels, as he chooses a romantic partner from 25 women in this new, celebrity reality dating show. Michaels and his 25 candidates are ensconced in one house in a no-holds barred...


Being the first runner-up on Rock of Love: Charm School was one way Destiney found her direction in life. It's no surprise that the show on transformations has affected this contestant immensely, leading her towards a new dream. Now a designer of clothes, Destiney credits the VH1 series for changing her for the better.

“[I] it worked out for the best. Charm School put me on my right path,” Destiney admits. “I'm doing a whole clothing line of T-shirts and jeans that you'll get to see on the reunion. It's called Divination, and my boyfriend's is Virtuoso.”

Designing has always been a dream of Destiney's, and she just needed a little push to go her own way. “Once I did that Ed Hardy design, I really felt passionate about something,” she added.

Her clothing line beginning to flourish, Destiney also points out the inspiration she got from her boyfriend, Eric. “I found my true passion and I found my partner in life, my soul mate. We work great together.”

Charm School definitely did a lot for her, even if she didn't win. “It was all meant to be. If I would have won, I might not have met [boyfriend] Eric. I might have gone on a different path.”

As for getting defeated Brandi M. on Charm School, Destiney said: “Well, I was bummed because I came so close, but I was happy for her. She and I were totally cool the whole time. She never back stabbed me or did anything to piss me off. She's a true person, as well. I think she deserved to win and everything worked out for the best.”

Business seems to be doing rather well, and the ideas just keep floating towards Destiney. “We have our first samples, and we're mapping out or distribution plan,” she said. “For example, for the lesson Thou Shall Know Who Thou Art, one of the key things we learned was that building a brand is about what you believe in and what you stand for.”

“I saw the word “Divination” in a magazine and it totally popped out and was talking to me. I was like, “Whoa! That is an awesome name for a clothing line.” When I looked it up on the trademark website, no one had it! It was so crazy. Like, what! I grabbed it. It was meant for me. It's very positive and that's what I'm trying to promote now.”
-Maria Gonzalez, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: VH1

Memories of You

With the death of Arne Domnerus, at the age of 83, on September 2, 2008, a great and all-pervading light went out on the Swedish jazz scene. "Dompan," as he was universally known in his homeland, started out playing Benny Goodman-influenced clarinet in a Stockholm college band in his teens, graduated to alto saxophone in diverse, long forgotten Swedish dance orchestras, then played in the Swedish jazz band that took the 1949 Paris jazz festival by storm. Later that year he cut his first records as leader for Metronome and the following year led the band that opened on Charlie Parker's tour of Sweden.
He cut an epic series of records with visiting Americans James Moody, Zoot Sims, George Wallington, Clifford Brown, Art Farmer and Quincy Jones. He played in Harry Arnold's Swedish Radio Big Band from 1956 to 1965, and then took over the leadership when it was reformed as a smaller outfit from 1966-1978. Though at the same time, he was always careful to keep one foot firmly in the world of more commercial music. He cut the first Swedish recording of "Rock Around The Clock," with Gunnar "Siljabloo" Nilson handling the vocals, took part in Dixieland sessions and backed a good many pop singers.
In his very Swedish, unassuming way, he said he developed his own style because he couldn't hope to play like his idols, Benny Carter, Johnny Hodges and, of course, Bird.
This double CD tribute compilation features Domnerus' later recordings. It includes tracks from the classic 1977 album, Jazz at the Pawnshop, from the 1990s albums Sketches of Standards and Live is Life, (both on Proprius Records), plus four tracks from Svenska Jazzklassiker (Naxos Nostalgia), an exercise in nostalgia, featuring rather cheesy 1950s arrangements. There is also a solitary inclusion from a 1974 album, Antiphone Blues (Proprius) of his haunting rendition of the old Negro spiritual "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child," backed by Gustaf Sjokvist on organ.
The Pawnshop tracks are the standouts as straight-ahead jazz content, but Domnerus was also capable of transcending the most unpromising material. One example featured here is his total transformation of the hoary old Bob Dylan folk revival anthem "Blowing in the Wind" which, with the admirable Rune Gustafsson on guitar, is transformed into something of a mini masterpiece. Unfortunately, Dompan was also capable of pretension. His overblown version of his old idol Benny Carter's "The Fable of a Fool," positively drips with sentiment, replete with saccharin string and harp accompaniment.

Track listing: CD1: Poor Butterfly; Memories Of You; Take The A-Train; Blowing In The Wind; Lady Be Good; I'm Confessin'; It Don't Mean A Thing; I've Got It Bad; Jeep's Blues; Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child. CD2: Things Ain't What They Used To Be; Hymn to Freedom; The Midnight Sun Will Never Set; Autumn Leaves; Take Five; Jazz Me Blues; Lush Life; Is God A Three Letter Word For Love?; The Fable Of A Fool; Hallelujah; That Old Black Magic; Out Of Nowhere.
-Chris Mosey - All About Jazz, USA