| Wealthy is the reality state of mind based upon achievement through decisive actions!” Richard RiVo 1997 www.blogs.mindbodynsoul.com Tags:home business SUCCESS WORLD AFFAIRSwww.blogs.mindbodynsoul.com Tags:home business SUCCESS WORLD AFFAIRS |
By MARTIN GRIFFITH, Associated Press Writer Sat Nov 17
FERNLEY, Nev. - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton turned the spotlight on a key Western issue, saying the resource-rich region can help lead the U.S. in the development of renewable energy.
In remarks Friday night to about 1,200 people in a heavily Republican town about 30 miles east of Reno, Clinton said alternative energy would cut down on greenhouse gases, create American jobs and reduce dependence on foreign oil.
“We are now more dependent on foreign oil than we were on 9/11,” Clinton said. “We are basically at the mercy of all these oil-producing regimes … that all too often use that money against us.
“We have all this empty federal land in Nevada. It should be packed with wind turbines and solar panels,” she said.
Her remarks at the town hall meeting came a day after she and other Democratic presidential hopefuls barely touched on Western issues — like water, grazing and mining — at a debate in Las Vegas.
Nevada, a state rich in geothermal, solar and wind power, has moved its Democratic presidential caucus to Jan. 19, following Iowa on Jan. 3 and most likely the New Hampshire primary several days later.
Clinton did not mention her Democratic challengers in Fernley. Instead, she outlined her platform to help the middle class, including her health insurance, education and energy proposals.
She also pledged efforts to restore fiscal responsibility to Washington and criticized President Bush.
“Anybody who tells you that the Republicans know how to manage the budget and balance the books, you tell them you don’t know where they’ve been living the last 6 1/2 years because that is not the facts,” Clinton said.
“It gets me a little agitated to think that 6 1/2 years ago we had a balanced budget and surplus in America and it’s all been squandered. We now have a $9 trillion deficit.”
She also expressed disappointment over Congress’s inability to pass legislation to bring the troops home from Iraq.
Their latest defeat came Friday when Senate Republicans blocked a $50 billion bill that would have paid for several months of combat but also would have ordered troop withdrawals to begin within 30 days. The measure, narrowly passed this week by the House, also would have set a goal of ending combat in December 2008.
“We don’t have enough Republicans who will vote with us yet. We need more,” she said. “But the facts are pretty clear. Our young men and women in uniform have done everything they were asked to do. I do not want them remaining as referees of an Iraqi civil war any longer.”
Afterward, Clinton met with about 80 volunteers during a visit to her Reno campaign headquarters. She then flew to Las Vegas, where she’s scheduled to campaign Saturday.
Tags:development of renewable energy. turbines and solar panels geothermal INTERNATIONAL NEWS Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton solar and wind power WORLD AFFAIRS |
Senator Chaudhary believes that agriculture is a binding force
Ishani Duttagupta
HE’S the man behind the improbable sounding sibling alliance between our own Haryana and the US state of Minnesota. But then, Satveer Chaudhary, who was elected to the house of representatives in Minnesota in 1996, holds many records.
When he was first elected state representative, Mr Chaudhary, who belongs to the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, became the first Asian member of the Minnesota legislature. In 2000, he became the first Asian-Indian senator in American history. After he was re-elected to the Minnesota senate in 2002, he also became the Minnesota senate’s youngest member at 33 and currently serves as majority whip. Very proud of his Jat roots, Mr Chaudhary was the moving force behind the sister-state partnership agreement between Haryana and Minnesota that was signed during the current visit of Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to India. “This partnership - which is the first of its kind between a US and an Indian state - has business advantages for both. Minnesota is increasingly seen as a state with a vibrant business climate which is very similar to Haryana. But it’s not just business, culturally too both the states have a lot in common. Minnesota and Haryana are traditionally agricultural states and that gives us common ground not just in terms of economy but also in terms of culture,” says Mr Chaudhary. As for his achievements, he’s very modest and feels that there are high and low points for everyone who chooses a career in politics.
“However, I’ve never dwelt on my ethnic minority status or seen my Indianness as a disadvantage in reaching out to people,” he says. He also feels that most Indian-Americans who are in politics have had to work with mainstream causes. “From Swati Dandekar and Kumar Barve to Jay Goyal, no one has really been able to find an ethnic Indian constituency. All of us, who have become legislators in the US, have had to represent the mainstream,” he says.
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| Global Millionaire Boom
By Maya Roney Household wealth is hitting record heights, and not just in the U.S. There are more millionaire households on the planet than ever before, particularly in Europe and in China, where growth rates are highest.The total number of world millionaire households — those with assets of $1 million or more — grew by 14% in 2006, to 9.6 million, representing the richest 0.7% of all households and owning $33.2 trillion, or about a third of the world’s wealth, according to a recent study by the Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm.
“It’s sort of a sexy thing, looking at managing relationships on a household level,” says Bruce Holley, a New York-based partner with BCG, of the study. This is the first global wealth report from BCG that estimates the number of millionaire households per country, as well as estimating total wealth. “This year’s report, our seventh, examines the greatest source of organic growth within wealth management players: namely, their human assets,” write Holley and his colleagues in the report’s preface.
China’s Rising — Fast
The U.S. had, by far, the highest number of millionaire households, with nearly 4.6 million, and the highest number of $100 million-plus households, with 2,300. The number of millionaire households increased by a steady 10%, while $100-million-plus households grew by 7%, joining the ranks of Microsoft (NasdaqGS:MSFT - News) Chairman Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-A - News) Chief Executive Warren Buffett.
Japan, Britain, Germany, and China round out the rest of the top five countries with the most millionaire households, in that order. The number of millionaire households increased the most last year in China (up 39%), Spain (up 32%), and Britain (up 30.5%).
In Europe, the number of millionaire households grew by 26.4% in 2006, the highest of any region in the study, helped by its strong currency against the weakening U.S. dollar. In North America, millionaire households grew by just 9% in 2006.
The United Arab Emirates and Switzerland led the ranking for highest density of millionaire households, with millionaire households accounting for 6.1% of all households in each country — almost nine times the global average.
Japan, Britain, Germany, and Italy have the most households in the $100 million-plus bracket, and in terms of growth, China (up 74%), Brazil (up 27%), and Russia (up 26%) saw the highest rates last year.
“China is a force to be reckoned with,” says Holley, noting that the country’s total assets under management have grown at an annualized rate of 23% over the past five years. China’s newest billionaire residents will find themselves in the company of powerful businessmen like Suntech Power’s (NYSE:STP - News) Shi Zhengrong, who lives in the city of Wuxi.
“Globalization of Inequality”
But some see a darker side to all this new wealth. “What these number disguise is the globalization of inequality everywhere in the world,” says Charles Derber, professor of sociology at Boston College and author of Corporation Nation. “This is the phenomenon of the rich getting richer. And it’s not a phenomenon to be happy about — that’s my reaction.”
According to new Internal Revenue Service data announced last week, income inequality in the U.S. is at its worst since the 1920s (before the Great Depression). The top percentile of wealthy Americans earned 21.2% of all income in 2005, up from 19% in 2004, while the bottom 50% of wage earners earned 12.8% that year, down from 13.4% a year earlier.
As of 2006, the U.S. held about 40% of the world’s wealth and 50% of its millionaire households, according to the Boston Consulting Group. Now in China and India (which ranks 15th in BCG’s list of countries with $100 million-plus households but, interestingly, does not appear in the top 15 nations for millionaire households), it’s clear a substantial upper class is emerging. But rural poverty numbers are also on the rise, according to Derber.
Whether you’re for it or not, “this is the name of the game in any part of the world,” he says. “It’s the Gilding Age of the globe.”
Check out the slide show to see the 15 countries with the most millionaire households.
Source : Yahoo - Business Week Tags:Create Money out of thin air Global Millionaire Boom INDIA MONEY Positive Thinking Billionaires SUCCESS US WEALTH WORLD AFFAIRS Yahoo Business Week |
| BY Prince Mohan
There are articles and some great quality books on finance. It is once in While you read some thing very extraordinary. For example a shakingly Great book The Creature from the Jekyll Island. Now there is super article by Maria Jeeves on The Alchemists of Finance Carried by The Economist Print Edition . The article interviews Henry Tricks and also considers a survey. One thing more here is that J.PIERPONT MORGAN is credited with some other bankers like Rothchilds as the Financiers of Governments in the World Wars. The Creature from the Jekyll Island forcefully describes the way the Federal Reserve System of US was created by a very powerful group of the Morgans , Rockefellers , Warburg Pincus , three or four more and a high powered Senator in the closed doors secret meetings where the competitors became associates . This was the beginning of the Donning of Cartelization . These gentlemen have been the greatest Money Scientists the world has seen . They have been creatively innovating and using proprietary structured technologies in The world of banking and finance like new financial instruments or the LBOs . Global Investment Bankers are becoming more risk taking and are spreading it with New sophisticated ways. The world is some how managed by the cyclical financial laws of the universe . For reference it is to mention that in the eighties one Economist of Indian Origin in America Dr. Ravi Batra had predicted correctly the fall of the wall street against the opinions Of the best Academicians and practicing Economists of that time . He had also predicted the rise of Asian Economies much before it was thought by the world’s Financial leaders. He had blended his spiritual up bringing with his Economics education and study . The anxieties in the following article are of great concern. We must also remember Nostradomus The man who saw tomorrow. The best thing he said was that “Today’s actions can change even the predicted future “ What we think NOW is the next moment . We must think and act positive NOW NOW NOW as we can not allow the Global Financial System to collapse. The replacement of Gold by the faith and the trust of the people of America behind the Dollar Has infact brought great progress and innovations in the Financial World though there might have been some flaws and critics too . The bankers at Kekyll Island Stratgegised the Donning of the Cartelization in the world. Rockefeller the senior is quoted as having said “Competition is Sin “. The competitors at Jekyll Island retreat became friends and associates and created the Great FED which allows them to create money out of thin air. For more visit http://www.mindbodynsoul.com/Mind/Financially_Leverged_Buyouts.html Creature from the Jekyll Island at www.amazon.mindbodynsoul.com Secrets of the Temple at www.amazon.mindbodynsoul.com Like we say save the Planet Mother Earth from the Global warming We should also say protect the Global Financial and Banking System as it Is the power of money and innovations which can help do wonders? Are you listening our ALCHEMISTS OF UNIVERSAL FINANCE? The larger responsibility lies on you NOW to have a secured Abundant and Affluent tomorrow’s Human Generations of ours . Finance is the oldest profession on the Earth. It has existed from the barter trade times to today’s times and will keep on existing as long as the Universal light glows, Sun shines and Moon illuminates in the Cosmos. Maria Jeeves Global investment banks are taking ever more risk, and are devising ever more sophisticated ways of spreading it, says Henry Tricks Is that reassuring or worrying ? Since 1823, when Byron’s Don Juan described “Jew Rothschild, and his fellow Christian Baring” as the “true Lords of Europe”, investment bankers have inspired awe, envy and, rightly or wrongly, a measure of disdain. Exactly 100 years ago the undisputed patriarch of the modern industry, J. Pierpont Morgan, stemmed the Panic of 1907, a financial crisis caused by unregulated trusts (the hedge funds of their day). Acting, in effect, as lender of last resort from his Wall Street office, he was briefly feted before Americans realised the danger of having such power vested in one man. Cartoonists then mercilessly mocked him. After his death in 1913 the Federal Reserve was set up. The investment-banking industry was further constrained during the Depression of the 1930s, when Wall Street firms such as that founded by Morgan were split into commercial banks and securities houses. The latter—today’ s investment banks—underwrite stocks and bonds and advise companies on mergers and acquisitions, rather than collect deposits and make loans. In the 1980s and 1990s they developed a reputation for gluttonous excess. But a lot has changed since then. Intensely private partnerships have become publicly traded companies. Commercial banks such as Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase have muscled back into investment banking. And European warhorses such as Deutsche Bank, UBS and Credit Suisse have joined the race for global supremacy. The bets, and the profits, have got bigger, though investment banks are trying to keep quiet about that, for several reasons. First, they are under more scrutiny. Wall Street firms had their wings clipped by Eliot Spitzer, New York’s former attorney-general, for plugging worthless shares during the dotcom era. Being publicly traded companies has tamed some egos, too. Star traders do not enjoy the same headroom on salaries (albeit very large salaries) as they did when they were partners in the business. At UBS, a Swiss bank which in 2000 moved into the American equity markets by merging with PaineWebber, a brokerage, “fiefs” are explicitly banned. Richard Fuld, boss of Lehman Brothers, a fast-growing Wall Street firm, imposed a “one-firm culture” when it was spun off from American Express in 1994. Now, says Scott Freidheim, a top executive, Mr Fuld uses “culture” in speeches more often than any other word except “the”. Meanwhile another group has overtaken the investment banks in the excess stakes: their money-spinning clients in the private-equity and hedge-fund industries. Already they throw the biggest parties, do the boldest deals and launch the most celebrated initial public offerings. The IPO of part of Blackstone, a private-equity group, might well raise more money than Goldman Sachs’s did in 1999, when even the company’s doormen and drivers became extremely rich. Yet when investment bankers discuss the fabulous fortunes accruing to these firms’ founders, they do so without envy. “Theirs is a truly pioneering role,” says Anshu Jain, head of global markets at Deutsche Bank, one of the world’s top trading banks. “Pioneers in any industry get a disproportionate share of the spoils.” Even if they are no longer the pioneers, the investment banks have played a crucial part in bringing about the extraordinary changes seen in the financial markets, starting in the 1980s and accelerating dramatically in the past five years. Technology and innovation have brought unprecedented breadth, depth and richness to financial instruments. According to McKinsey, a consultancy, the stock of shares and public and private debt securities held in America grew from 2.4 times GDP in 1995 to 3.3 times in 2004. In Europe the increase was even more dramatic, albeit from a lower base. These figures do not include derivatives, notional amounts of which traded privately, or “over-the-counter” securities, which had soared to $370 trillion by last June, from $258 trillion less than two years earlier, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Given such torrid growth, the markets are becoming increasingly vital to global financial stability. There have been thrills and spills along the way. The stock market crash of 1987 and the seizing up of credit markets after Russia defaulted in 1998 both exposed huge flaws in the industry, forcing central banks to step in to prevent what they feared might be lasting damage to the real economy. Even so, regulators reckon that on balance the growth of markets has been a good thing, making the financial system safer than more traditional forms of bank lending. The trouble is that given the complexity of the new instruments and the range of clients and countries involved, they can never be absolutely sure that a monumental crisis is not brewing somewhere. What worries both bankers and regulators is not so much the threat from hedge funds or private-equity groups but the implications for the financial system of a possible collapse of an investment bank (or large complex financial institution, as they clumsily call it). At a time when America’s housing market has exposed the danger of overexcitement on Wall Street, it is worth exploring how these institutions are evolving, how they handle the risks attached to what they do, and how well those risks are spread around the financial system. That is what this survey sets out to do. Risk-takers Anonymous Investment banking is in a state of evolution rather than revolution. The essence of the business has always been taking calculated (and sometimes miscalculated) risks. But now traders place bets in more places, with more clients and using more complicated gambling devices than ever before. Brokerage used to be described as a haulage business, lugging money, as a member of the Rothschild dynasty once put it, “from point A, where it is, to point B, where it is needed”. The idea of describing themselves as glorified delivery men may well still appeal to the cynics on the trading floor who work with shirtsleeves rolled up and hail each other loudly in Brooklyn or mock cockney accents. But any haulage firm would be flabbergasted by the trading profits and returns on equity seen in investment banking in recent years, especially among Wall Street’s big “bulge-bracket” firms. Svilen Ivanov, head of capital markets at Boston Consulting Group, notes that earnings from capital-market- related activities at the top ten global investment banks have risen by almost two-thirds in two years, from $55 billion in 2004 to $90 billion last year. That sort of profit increase is comparable with Apple’s rewards for inventing the iPod, he points out. Yet in investment banking there is nothing nearly so tangible to which to ascribe the gains. Bankers themselves are fuzzy about explaining their trading profits, bandying about phrases such as “deploying our intellectual capital”. But it is clear that three powerful forces are at work, all of them overlapping and mutually reinforcing, and all fundamental to the gushing liquidity the world is currently enjoying. The first is the alchemist’s trick of turning debt (mostly leaden) into derivatives (mostly liquid); the second is the emergence of a new class of leveraged client (hedge funds and private equity); and the third is seeking out new capital markets, and clients, around the world. Moreover, in all these pursuits the firms are now using not just their clients’ money but, to differing degrees, their own too. Joseph Perella, an industry veteran who last year struck out independently with an advisory boutique, Perella Weinberg, observes that putting a firm’s own capital into mergers, acquisitions and other transactions is one of the biggest changes in investment banking since the 1980s. “It’s not just one firm sticking its neck out. It’s across the board.” But using the banks’ own capital creates potential conflict. Not only do they risk putting their own interests before those of their clients; they are also increasingly exposing themselves to the dangers of an abrupt turn in the credit cycle. They are arranging ever bigger debt issues for private-equity firms and hedge funds and so are encouraging a borrowing binge that could breed financial instability. For the time being all this is hugely profitable. But it is also making the banks far too complacent for their own good. The driving force behind all this has been an unusually benign economic climate. The global economy is at its least volatile since the 1960s, real interest rates are low and companies are generating huge profits. What some call “the great moderation” has been a boon to financial markets around the world, particularly those trading in the multifarious debt instruments concocted in the laboratories of Wall Street and the City of London. The opening up of Asian economies has brought down the price of traded goods, helping to fight inflation. Meanwhile, high savings rates in that part of the world, combined with ageing populations in the West, have helped to push up demand for long-term investment instruments such as bonds. At the same time the search for yield, as investors seek to compensate for low returns in high-quality markets such as government bonds, has increased demand for instruments of greater complexity, such as credit-default swaps (CDSs), collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and other derivatives. That has pushed down implied volatilities to multi-year lows, arguably making the assets appear more reassuring than they actually are. Regulation has helped, too. Under the Basel 2 banking accord, whose trickier provisions are due to come into force in the European Union next January and in America starting a year later, capital will be allocated according to the riskiness of assets. That has encouraged banks to make more use of credit derivatives to diversify their credit portfolios, and to sell more assets into the capital markets to be repackaged into debt securities. All of which means that investment banks have generated many of their trading profits from derivative trades—with each other, with their banking clients or with hedge funds which increasingly use the instruments as speculative tools. The demand for loans to repackage into securities, such as CDOs, has helped fuel the generous credit conditions that have underpinned private equity’s leveraged buy-out (LBO) boom as well. The wild east To cap it all, over the past few years markets around the world have opened up in a way unmatched since before the first world war, and investment banks have seized the opportunity to expand internationally. Since the start of the 20th century, when America first emerged as an economic power, the world’s financial-market activity had increasingly gravitated towards American share and bond markets. The introduction of the euro in 1999, and the rapid growth of economies in Europe and Asia, lured investment bankers in the other direction. The share of investment-banking fees earned from Europe was growing long before America’s regulators woke up to the damage caused to American markets by aspects of the Sarbanes-Oxley act and other red tape. Last year, by some estimates, revenues from Europe and Asia overtook those from America for the first time (see chart 2). In the meantime London has become an impressive rival to New York as a global financial centre. Michael Klein, the boss of corporate and investment banking at Citigroup, describes Britain’s capital as New York, Chicago, Houston and Washington, DC, rolled into one, because it trades all the assets of the first three and is regulated on the spot as well. Instead of Greenwich, Connecticut, it has Mayfair for hedge funds. London, moreover, is a hub for Europe, and stronger economies on the continent mean growing markets for capital; typically, such markets increase at double the rate of GDP when economies expand. London’s position as a springboard for emerging markets vastly increases its allure. America and Europe between them may still account for almost four-fifths of all investment-banking revenues, but fees are growing fastest in the developing world. That reflects the might of companies such as Gazprom, Russia’s energy behemoth, and the recently listed Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which Mr Klein admits are both vying with Citigroup in size. He notes that 140 of Citigroup’s top 1,000 clients are from emerging markets, whereas 15 years ago the number was only 40. Russia and China are among the world’s biggest IPO markets. And many developing countries are seeking to strengthen their domestic capital markets, which means that the biggest global investment banks—such as Citi— hope eventually to deploy enormous resources there: trading desks of perhaps 1,000 people, not 25. Given the markets’ increasing complexity, how do investment banks manage the growing risks they face? There are lots of things they need to do, from finding enough brainboxes capable of handling the intricate assets being created to measuring the correlations between instruments that are supposed to spread risk but may do the opposite if liquidity dries up. It is mildly reassuring that hardly a week goes by without regulators in the world’s main markets pressing the industry to improve its risk-management techniques—but rather worrying that the same regulators pay considerably less attention to where the risk may end up. Maria Jeeves Investment bankers themselves have a vested interest in not blowing up their firms. The biggest banks are thought to be investing hundreds of millions of dollars a year in technologies to measure risk and stress-test it. Comfortingly, regulators who scrutinise the banks’ risk-weighted capital say it is stronger than ever. But capital is only one line of defence. The banks’ ability to cope with liquidity crises and credit crunches is harder to gauge. Financial markets send out mixed messages about the confidence of investors in the institutions themselves. The investment banks’ share prices appear to reflect the belief that their equity will be safeguarded rather than that earnings will be stable. As David Viniar, chief financial officer of Goldman Sachs, puts it, the firm, whose risk appetite is second to none, has increased revenues in 18 out of the past 21 years, but quarterly income has been more volatile. “It’s a growth business and it’s not going to get more stable,” he says. Taking risks and managing them is an investment bank’s core business. Bankers believe risk-taking is how their industry supports entrepreneurs and hence economic growth. The trouble is that new risks are almost invariably explored before there is a good way to measure them. Ultimately, business and credit cycles tend to reveal which risks are excessive—and whatever junior traders may think, the business cycle is far from dead. Richard Portes, professor of economics at the London Business School, recalls first debating its possible demise back in 1969. Since then he has discovered a comment by Leon Fraser, an American banker, speaking after the great crash of 1929, which convinced him that boom-bust cycles in finance will always be with us. Mr Fraser’s immortal words were: “Better to have loaned and lost than never to have loaned at all.” Copyright © 2007 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved. Source aaykarbhavan@yahoogroups.com http://www.Currentnewsaffairs.com Tags:EUROPE ASIA FORTUNES INDIA INTERNATIONAL NEWS INVESTMENT BANKERS J P MORGAN PHILOSOPHY Positive thinking Exellence Positive thinking mind body soul POWER POLITICS PRINCE MOHAN ROCKEFELLERS ROTHCHILDS SUCCESS THE ALCHEMISTS OF UNIVERSAL FINANCE U.N USA UK WARBURG PINCUS WEALTH WORLD AFFAIRS |
| SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft said Friday that it would buy the online advertising company aQuantive for about $6 billion, the latest in a flurry of deals for online advertising firms by big Internet and media companies. The all-cash deal is Microsoft’s largest acquisition ever and comes with an unusually large premium, underscoring just how critical Microsoft believes the acquisition is to its troubled efforts to become a major force in the fast-growing Internet advertising business. The price, $66.50 a share, is 85 percent more than aQuantive’s closing stock prince of $35.87 Thursday. “It puts us in the game, if you like,” said Chris Dobson, head of global advertising sales at Microsoft. “If you ever had any doubt that Microsoft was going to be big in the online advertising space, this should make it clear that it will.” The deal comes on the heels of Google’s recent agreement to buy DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, as well as the acquisitions of RightMedia by Yahoo and 24/7 RealMedia by the advertising company WPP Group. Microsoft, which had tried unsuccessfully to buy DoubleClick, faced competition for aQuantive, but was determined not to be outbid this time, executives said in a conference call. Based in Seattle, aQuantive has several major businesses. Its Atlas unit competes with DoubleClick and is used by advertisers and publishers to deliver ads online when users visit a Web page. The company also owns AvenueA/Razorfish, a leading interactive ad agency, and other digital businesses. Microsoft has struggled to compete in the online advertising market, particularly against Google, which dominates the field. Until now, Microsoft has sold ads on its MSN portal and used a technology called AdCenter to sell ads linked to Internet searches, a booming business, and the cornerstone of Google’s power. But Microsoft’s share of the search business has steadily declined, limiting the effectiveness of AdCenter. With aQuantive, Microsoft will be able to help sell and broker ads on sites across the Web, a business that is seen as increasingly important as advertising continues to shift online. The acquisitions of DoubleClick and RightMedia by Google and Yahoo were also intended to bolster those companies’ efforts to sell and broker ads on myriad Web sites. Microsoft has asked regulators to scrutinize the Google-DoubleClick deal, which it said would reduce competition. But Brad Smith, Microsoft’s senior vice president and general counsel, contended that Microsoft’s acquisition of aQuantive would promote competition. Forecasters at ZenithOptimedia, a media buying agency, predict that Internet ad spending will total $31 billion globally this year, a 28 percent increase from last year. In terms of market share, the Internet has already passed outdoor advertising, and will pass radio next year, Zenith Optimedia says. “We’re going to see people taking tens of millions of dollars out of television advertising and putting it into online, and that’s what all these guys are betting on,” said Shar VanBoskirk, an analyst at Forrester Research. The boom in Internet advertising is also reshaping the advertising pipeline, with online media owners like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft’s MSN increasingly moving into areas that used to be dominated by advertising companies like Omnicom Group, WPP and Publicis Groupe. In the offline world, there has generally been a clear distinction between media outlets and advertising agencies, which create the ads and buy time or space to run them. On the Internet, that line has been blurred, with portals like Google increasingly pushing into “upstream” areas like media planning and buying. “We’ve suddenly got two different sides that are competing in the same area, in the advertising companies and the media owners,” VanBoskirk said. There are signs of friction as online media owners like Google, with their deep pockets, expand. Google’s agreement to buy DoubleClick was criticized by Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP Group who said it could trouble marketers. “It raises issues about whether we are prepared to give Google data that’s very valuable,” he said last month as WPP gave a quarterly financial update. “Clients will be concerned over the access Google may have to information that is owned by them.” While companies like 24/7 and DoubleClick focus primarily on distributing Internet advertising to online media owners, aQuantive gives Microsoft some broader capabilities. In addition to the Atlas ad serving platform, it also creates ads and plans media strategy, among other things, moving Microsoft into areas in which Google has not yet staked out a claim. “Today’s announcement represents the next step in the evolution of our ad network from our initial investment in MSN, to the broader Microsoft network including Xbox Live, Windows Live and Office Live, and now to the full capacity of the Internet,” Microsoft’s chief executive, Steven Ballmer, said in a statement. source : google news http://blogs.mindbodynsoul.com http://www.mindbodynsoul.com Tags:aQuantive BLOGS Currentnewsaffairs.com doubleclick Google INTERNATIONAL NEWS Internet microsoft MONEY ONLINE rightmedia web WORLD AFFAIRS yahoo zenithoptimedia |
| GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas militants have enlisted a figure bearing a strong resemblance to Mickey Mouse to broadcast their message of Islamic domination and armed resistance to their most impressionable audience — children. A giant black-and-white rodent — named “Farfour,” or “butterfly,” but unmistakably a rip-off of the Disney character — does his high-pitched preaching against the U.S. and Israel on a children’s show each Friday on Al-Aqsa TV, a station run by Hamas. The militant group, sworn to Israel’s destruction, shares power in the Palestinian government. “You and I are laying the foundation for a world led by Islamists,” Farfour squeaked on a recent episode of the show, which is called “Tomorrow’s Pioneers.” “We will return the Islamic community to its former greatness, and liberate Jerusalem, God willing, liberate Iraq, God willing, and liberate all the countries of the Muslims invaded by the murderers.” Children call in to the show, many singing Hamas anthems about fighting Israel. Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli organization that monitors Palestinian media, said the Mickey Mouse lookalike takes “every opportunity to indoctrinate young viewers with teachings of Islamic supremacy, hatred of Israel and the U.S., and support of ‘resistance,’ the Palestinian euphemism for terror.” Israeli officials denounced the program Tuesday. David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office, said “there is nothing comic about inciting young generations of Palestinians to hate Israelis.” A spokeswoman from Walt Disney Co.’s headquarters in Burbank, Calif., did not immediately return messages asking for comment about the use of the Disney-like character. Yehia Moussa, a Hamas leader in the movement’s Gaza Strip base, denied inciting children against Jews. “Our problem is not with the Jews. Our problem is with the (Israeli) occupation and the occupiers,” he said. The television station would not comment. A Gaza-based psychologist said the program proved that the culture of glorifying violence had penetrated mainstream society in the Palestinian territories, where dreams of Islamic dominion and animosity toward the U.S. and Israel are widespread. “It’s the fault of both (Israel and the Palestinians),” said Samir Zakkout, of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program. “There’s been a collapse of values. If I can kill my enemy, I can kill my brother.” The program is opposed by the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp., which is controlled by Hamas’ political rival — the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. “I don’t think it’s professional or even humane to use children in such harsh political programs,” said Basem Abu Sumaya, head of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp. “Children’s nationalist spirit must be developed differently.” Hamas loyalists launched the Al Aqsa satellite channel last year. Bearded young men read the news and Islamic music is layered over footage of masked militants firing rockets into Israel. The channel also broadcasts talk shows, programs about the disabled and cartoons. In addition, Hamas loyalists run at least five news Web sites, one newspaper — launched just last week — and a radio station. source : assocciated press http://blogs.mindbodynsoul.com http://mindbodynsoul.com Tags:BLOGS Currentnewsaffairs.com disney world INTERNATIONAL NEWS Internet Iraq islam isreal mickey mouse ONLINE web WORLD AFFAIRS |
| LOS ANGELES - The many moods of Paris Hilton shifted again when the jail-bound socialite rehired the publicist she blamed for her 45-day sentence. Elliot Mintz confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that he is again representing the 26-year-old socialite, who was ordered to report to county jail by June 5 for violating the terms of her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case. Mintz, 62, wouldn’t elaborate on why he reunited with Hilton. The publicist, whose clients have included John Lennon and Bob Dylan, issued a statement Sunday night that he and Hilton had parted ways over an apparent “misunderstanding she received from me regarding the terms of her probation.” In a court appearance Friday, Hilton told the judge Mintz informed her it was all right to drive on a suspended license for work obligations. Mintz also testified Hilton believed she was allowed to drive. The judge called Mintz’s testimony worthless. Hilton — star of E! network’s reality show “The Simple Life” — has called the sentence unfair, and her fans have posted a petition on the Internet urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to pardon her. “I feel that I was treated unfairly and that the sentence is both cruel and unwarranted and I don’t deserve this,” Hilton told photographers assembled outside her home Saturday. In an interview for the June issue of Harper’s Bazaar, Hilton says: “I get in more trouble just because of who I am. The cops do it all the time. They’ll just pull me over to hit on me.” “It’s really annoying. They’re like, `What’s your phone number? Want to go to dinner?’ They won’t even give me a ticket. They just pull me over, and the paparazzi, of course, take a picture. All the time. I have so many cops’ business cards.” The governor’s office hasn’t reviewed the petition but has received individual e-mails from constituents both for and against a gubernatorial pardon, Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said Tuesday. “We’ll treat this as we would any other case of this nature, but it would be premature for the governor to get involved until the individual has exhausted his or her judicial remedies,” McLear said. The petition, which had more than 900 signatures by Tuesday morning, urges Schwarzenegger to pardon Hilton because she provides “beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives.” Meanwhile, Hilton’s lawyers have filed a notice with the court indicating their intent to appeal the decision. The document is required before a formal appeal can be lodged. The latest installment of “The Simple Life,” which throws Hilton and pal Nicole Richie, 25, into everyday situations, premieres May 28 on E! After famously feuding and filming their parts separately last season, the celebutantes reunite as camp counselors for the show’s fifth installment. source : yahoo news http://blogs.mindbodynsoul.com http://www.mindbodynsoul.com Tags:arnold schwarzenegger BLOGS bob dylan Currentnewsaffairs.com INTERNATIONAL NEWS Internet los angeles ONLINE paris hilton US web WORLD AFFAIRS |
| Anil Ambani CHAIRMAN Reliance Communications Ltd., India’s second-largest mobile services firm on way to be Global number one , said on Monday quarterly profit more than doubled, beating forecasts, on higher usage in the world’s fastest-growing mobile market. Reliance Com , which gets more than 65 percent of its revenue from wireless subscribers, said it plans to spend over 100 billion rupees ($2.4 billion) in the current fiscal year that began on April 1 to expand its telecoms infrastructure. The firm, which had more than 28 million users at end-March, said net profit for the quarter grew 154 percent to 10.24 billion rupees, beating a Reuters survey of nine brokerages which forecast on average 9.02 billion. The company said it would take a decision in the next six months on “unlocking value” in its Reliance Telecom Infrastructure unit, and a potential listing of undersea cable unit Flag Telecom. “We have a number of options in front of us. Listing is one of those options,” Chairman Anil Ambani told reporters at a news conference. Strategic partnerships or private equity investment in these two units were also being considered, Ambani said. He added the firm would aim to sustain its expansion in operating margins, which grew to 40 percent in 2006/07 from 24 percent a year earlier. “We have seen margin expansion across the board … Our objective is for sustainability.” Revenue for the quarter rose almost 33 percent to 39.37 billion rupees, but fell short of market estimates of 40.86 billion. Larger rival Bharti Airtel Ltd. last week reported its quarterly profit almost doubled to 13.53 billion rupees. Ambani said the company would also decide in the next two months on outsourcing its network and information technology services to enhance the quality of service. “We are at a negotiating stage with all the global dealers,” he said, adding that the deal value would be “hundreds of millions of dollars.” India has 12 telecoms firms which offer fixed-line and mobile services on GSM and CDMA platforms. In February, Vodafone bought a controlling stake in unlisted Hutchison Essar, India’s fourth-largest cellular operator. “I don’t see Hutch going away and Vodafone coming in its shoes should not really make a very big impact on the telecoms sector,” Ambani said, when asked about how the company would tackle competition from Vodafone. Shares in Reliance Communications rose 3.7 percent to 477.10 rupees in a Mumbai market that closed 0.26 percent down. The shares fell 10.9 percent in the January-March quarter, pressured in part by a failed bid for Huchison Essar, compared with a 5.2 percent drop in the benchmark index. Source Reuters Universal News Suggestions Tiger WE love you and ask of you tokeep roaring loudly for BHARAT Prince Mohan http;//currentnewsaffairs.com Tags:Anil Ambani CHAIRMAN Reliance Communications Ltd Dhiru Bhai Ambani EDUCATION ENTREPRENEURS FORTUNES INDIA INTERNATIONAL NEWS Internet MONEY ONLINE PATENT RIGHTS PETROL PHILOSOPHY positive thinking mind POWER POLITICS PRINCE MOHAN REUTERS SCIENCE SCIENTISTS SUCCESS WEALTH WORLD AFFAIRS |
Patna: Mar. 15, 2007Income Tax officials, on Thursday, raided four business establishments and residences owned by one of the most prominent jeweler’s family in Patna and Patna City and unearthed a combined assets of Rs. 1,000 crore including Rs. 40 lakh in cash, 13 lockers, and 26 bank accounts that were immediately sealed until further investigation. The raids were conducted simultaneously at the group’s showrooms on Boring Road crossing, Sumati Palace, Ashok Rajpath, and Hathua Market and their palatial residences on Boring Road and Patna City during which large amount of cash, unaccounted jewelries valued at several crore rupees, bank accounts, bank lockers, and Reserve Bank of India gold bonds were recovered, Income Tax official S. D. Jha said. The investigators recovered Rs. 17 lakh in cash from the shop of the eldest brother in the family, Rs. 2 lakh from the second brother, Rs. 18 lakh from the third brother, and Rs. 1.5 lakh from the fourth brother besides documents revealing information about bank lockers and accounts, Jha said. “It will take several days before the actual extent of tax evasion is determined,” he said.– Disclaimer: The mail is general information and may be the compilation of statutes, circulars, notifications and case laws. Care has been taken to make the contents of this mail error free. However, we expressly disclaim all liability of whatsoever. Information are purely an opinion and in any case it should not be construed as statement of law, and always referred relevant the Act & Rule in this regards. Since, the contents in this mail are dynamic in nature, members are advised to go in for periodical updates in their own interest. To subscribe the group send mail to aaykarbhavan- subscribe at yahoogroups. com Universal News http://blogs.mindbodynsoul.com Tags:ASSETS BLOGS commonwealthtv.tv FORTUNES INDIA INTERNATIONAL NEWS Internet MONEY ONLINE positive thinking mind POWER POLITICS Rs. 1 Billion WEALTH WORLD AFFAIRS YAHOOGROUPS NEWS |
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