Crude Oil Falls 0.7 Percent in New York to $106.80 a Barrel
3 comments Posted by Articles Internet at 7:17 PMfrom bloomberg.com
March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell as much as 78 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $106.80 a barrel in New York.
Crude oil for May delivery traded at $106.92 a barrel at 9:05 a.m. Singapore time in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures are up 67 percent from a year ago.
Authorities say calm has been restored since an anti-Chinese uprising erupted in the Tibetan capital two weeks ago. China says its security forces acted with restraint and that 19 people died at the hands of Tibetan mobs during the unrest.
But the Tibetan government-in-exile says 140 died in Lhasa and elsewhere, most of them Tibetan victims of security forces, arousing international protest soon before the Beijing Olympics.
On Thursday young monks at the Jokhang Temple, one of the most sacred in Tibet, stormed into a briefing by a temple administrator for a select group of foreign journalists, the first allowed into Tibet since the uprising.
"About 30 young monks burst into the official briefing, shouting: 'Don't believe them. They are tricking you. They are telling lies'," USA Today's Beijing-based reporter Callum MacLeod said by telephone from Lhasa.
Hong Kong's TVB aired television footage of the bold outburst in front of the foreign journalists, showing monks in crimson robes, some weeping, crowded around cameras.
They said they had been barred from leaving the temple since March 10, when demonstrations erupted on the 49th anniversary of an abortive uprising against Chinese rule that saw Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, flee into exile in India.
"They just don't believe us. They think we will come out and cause havoc -- smash, destroy, rob, burn. We didn't do anything like that -- they're falsely accusing us," said one monk. "We want freedom. The have detained lamas and ordinary people."
They told the journalists: "your time is up, time to go to the next place", Wang said.
Reuters was not invited on the government-organized trip.
Chhime Chhoekyapa, secretary to the Dalai Lama, said the incident made clear "that brute force alone cannot suppress the long-simmering resentment that exists in Tibet".
"We are deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of the monks and appeal to the international community to ensure their protection," he said.
On Wednesday, President George W. Bush urged Chinese President Hu Jintao to hold talks with the Dalai Lama.
Hu said China was willing to continue engaging in "contact and discussions" with the Dalai Lama, but he must renounce support for independence of the Himalayan region and Taiwan, and "stop inciting and planning violent and criminal activities and sabotaging the Beijing Olympics", Chinese newspapers reported.
"DALAI CLIQUE"
China has blamed the "Dalai clique" for the unrest and called him a separatist. The Dalai Lama denies he wants anything more than autonomy for his homeland and has condemned violence "from the Chinese side and also from the Tibetan side".
The fighting in Basra with the Mahdi Army, the armed wing of the political movement led by the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, set off clashes in cities throughout Iraq and major demonstrations in Sadr City, the huge Baghdad neighborhood that is Mr. Sadr’s base of power, and other Shiite neighborhoods in the capital.
Although Mr. Bush praised the Iraqi government for leading the fighting, it also appeared that the Iraqi government was pursuing its own agenda, calling the battles a fight against “criminal” elements but seeking to marginalize the Mahdi Army.
The Americans share the Iraqi government’s hostility toward what they call rogue elements of the Mahdi Army but will also be faced with the consequences if the battles erupt into more widespread unrest.
The violence underscored the fragile nature of the security improvements partly credited to the American troop increase that began last year. Officials have acknowledged that a cease-fire called by Mr. Sadr last August has contributed to the improvements. Should the cease-fire collapse entirely, those gains could be in serious jeopardy, making it far more difficult to begin bringing substantial numbers of American troops home.
Although Sadr officials insisted on Thursday that the cease-fire was still in effect, Mr. Sadr has authorized his forces to fight in self-defense, and the battles in Basra appear to be eroding the cease-fire.
During a lengthy speech at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio, Mr. Bush praised Iraq’s government for ordering the assault in Basra and portrayed the battle as evidence that his strategy of increasing troop strength was bearing fruit.
“This offensive builds on the security gains of the surge and demonstrates to the Iraqi people that their government is committed to protecting them,” he said.
“There’s a strong commitment by the central government of Iraq to say that no one is above the law.”
Mr. Bush also accused Iran of arming, training and financing the militias fighting against the Iraqi forces.
Mr. Bush spoke after three days of briefings with senior advisers and military commanders on the situation in Iraq and the options for reducing the number of American troops there beyond the withdrawals already announced. It was one in a series of speeches he has been giving to build support for his policy before Gen. David H. Petraeus, the senior commander in Iraq, testifies before Congress next month.
In a videoconference with the president on Monday, General Petraeus recommended taking up to two months to evaluate security in Iraq before considering additional withdrawals, officials said Monday.
On Thursday, medical officials in Basra said the toll in the fighting there had risen to about 100 dead and 500 wounded, including civilians, militiamen and members of the security forces. An Iraqi employee of The New York Times, driving on the main road between Basra and Nasiriya, observed numerous civilian cars with coffins strapped to the roofs, apparently heading to Shiite cemeteries to the north.
Violence also broke out in Kut, Hilla, Amara, Kirkuk, Baquba and other cities. In Baghdad, where explosions shook the city throughout the day, American officials said 11 rockets struck the Green Zone, killing an unidentified American government worker, the second this week.
Another American, Paul Converse of Corvallis, Ore., an analyst with a federal oversight agency, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, died of wounds suffered in a rocket attack on Sunday, a spokeswoman for the agency said Thursday.
The Iraqi government imposed a citywide curfew in Baghdad until Sunday.
Thousands of demonstrators in Sadr City on Thursday denounced Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who has personally directed the Basra operation, and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the Shiite cleric who leads the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a political party that is a crucial member of the coalition keeping Mr. Maliki in power.
The Supreme Council’s armed wing, the Badr Organization, is one of the most powerful rivals of the Mahdi Army in Basra, where Shiite militias have been fighting among themselves for years to control neighborhoods, oil revenues, electricity access, the ports and even the local universities.
The third powerful element in the city is the Fadhila Party, which split from the Sadrists years ago and has its own militia. The three parties are expected to be rivals in the next round of provincial council elections, now scheduled for October. Many Sadr supporters pointed to those elections, and the possibility that their party might gain a majority of the seats, as a motivation for the Basra assault.
That assertion was rejected by Sadiq al-Rikabi, the prime minister’s political adviser, who said that the deteriorating security situation in Basra had left Mr. Maliki no choice but to act.
Articles Internet: Businessman admits to £70,000 credit fraud
0 comments Posted by Articles Internet at 4:18 PM
From BBC
Mr Bush called his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao to raise his concerns about the unrest and to urge him to ease access for journalists and diplomats.
Beijing has accused the Dalai Lama of being behind the demonstrations - the biggest against China for 20 years, which have left several people dead.
The Dalai Lama has criticised violent protests and urged dialogue with China.
The anti-China protests began on 10 March and developed into violent rioting in Lhasa.
China says 19 people have been killed by rioters incited by Tibetan separatists.
The Tibetan government-in-exile says about 140 people have been killed in a crackdown on protesters by Chinese security forces.
Delayed response
Foreign journalists have largely been blocked from covering the unrest, though China allowed a group of foreign reporters into the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on Wednesday for the first time since the violence began.
The government said the group, which does not include the BBC, would be able to interview "victims of criminal acts".
The reporters were taken to Potola Square, below the traditional seat of Tibetan rulers, Potola Palace - which reopened Wednesday for the first time since 14 March, the Associated Press news agency said.
China has increased its security presence in Lhasa since the unrest
They also visited a part of the town where shops had been burned during the rioting.
"The president raised his concerns about the situation in Tibet and encouraged the Chinese government to engage in substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama's representatives," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
She said Mr Bush had also called on China "to allow access for journalists and diplomats".
The BBC's Jack Izzard in Washington says the delay in Mr Bush's response is a measure of how delicate relations are between the US and China - two countries whose huge economies are deeply interlinked.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has also called for dialogue over Tibet - adding he had not ruled out boycotting the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games being held in China in August.
UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has also described international concern about the violence in Tibet as justified and proper, but he has spoken out against an Olympic boycott.
The White House has said that Mr Bush will attend the Olympic Games opening ceremony.
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher arrived in Pakistan early Tuesday.
It was the same day that the new PM, Yusuf Raza Gillani, was sworn in.
Pakistan is a key ally in US President George W Bush's "war on terror" and has been fighting pro-Taleban militants in tribal areas near the Afghan border.
However, the US is not held in high regard by the general public in Pakistan because of its perceived stance against Islam internationally.
'Already fixed'
Mr Negroponte and Mr Boucher are expected to proceed to Karachi for another set of meetings on Thursday.
"The visit in March was on the cards for sometime," a spokesman for the Pakistani foreign office said.
"Suggestions have been made about the timing of the visit because of the political transition in the country."
Mr Negroponte (right) and Mr Boucher met senior politicians
"However, the deputy secretary undertook the visit because his meetings and programme was already fixed."
The foreign ministry also denied there was any connection between increased US aid to the tribal areas and increased attacks in that region by Nato.
"There is no link between the two," the spokesman said.
"The US has separately committed $750m for the development of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) over the next five years."
The foreign office statements come after the Pakistani media questioned the timing of the visit.
Commentators said the timing could imply that the US was trying to influence the policies of Pakistan's new government.
"It gives the impression to the Islamic extremists... that here are the Americans, trying to dictate terms," Dawn newspaper editor Zaffar Abbas told the Associated Press news agency.
"The problem with the Americans is they don't understand the domestic pressure on the new government."
Mr Obama's spokesman said he hoped the release of tax returns would encourage her to let people "see her finances" before the key primary in Pennsylvania.
Mrs Clinton said she hoped to release her tax returns "within the next week".
Earlier, Mrs Clinton was forced to explain how she came to misrepresent a visit she made to Bosnia in the 1990s.
She said last week that she and her daughter, Chelsea, "ran with our heads down" to avoid sniper fire when she arrived at Tuzla airport in 1996.
But archive television footage broadcast on Monday showed her smiling as they were greeted by a Bosnian government welcoming committee.
Mr Obama's aides said the admission was proof that Mrs Clinton had overstated her foreign policy experience.
'Commitment to transparency'
Later, the Illinois senator released copies of his tax returns covering 2000 to 2006, which showed his income had risen dramatically with the publication of two books.
Mr Obama and his wife Michelle's joint income jumped from $275,000 (£137,000) in 2004 to $1.6m (£0.8m) in 2005, when he was paid $1.2m (£0.6m) for the re-release of his first book, Dreams From My Father.
...Senator Obama... should release his records from being in the state Senate and any other information that the public and the press need to know
Hillary Clinton
The publication of his second book, The Audacity of Hope, in 2006 earned him more than $500,000 (£250,000), half of their joint income that year.
"Releasing tax returns is a matter of routine," Mr Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, told reporters.
"We believe the Clinton campaign should meet that routine standard and meet that routine standard now."
"This campaign is now going on into its 14th month and I don't think voters should have to wait until three days before the next primary to learn more about the finances of the Clintons."
Mrs Clinton, campaigning in Pennsylvania ahead of the primary election on 22 April, said she hoped her tax returns would be released "within the next week".
Her campaign also issued a statement calling Mr Obama's personal finances "opaque" by comparison with her family, who released 20 years of tax returns whilst her husband, Bill, was in the White House.
Mr Gibbs dismissed the claim and insisted on his candidate's "commitment to transparency and open government", pointing out that the Clintons have not released any tax returns since Mr Clinton's presidency ended in 2001.
'Mistake'
Earlier, Mrs Clinton was forced to admit her description of "landing under sniper fire" while visiting Bosnia in 1996 was wrong.
An aide to Mrs Clinton said she "misspoke" about the Bosnia visit
"So I made a mistake," she said while visiting Greensburg.
"That happens. It proves I'm human which, you know, for some people, is a revelation."
The Obama campaign said the story "joins a growing list of instances in which Senator Clinton has exaggerated her role in foreign and domestic policy-making".
Mrs Clinton tried to change the subject by revisiting last week's controversy over fiery sermons given by Mr Obama's former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, telling a newspaper that she would have left Mr Wright's church.
"He would not have been my pastor," she told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
"You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend."
Mr Obama gave a major speech on race relations last week in response to the furore over Mr Wright's remarks but, while condemning what he said, refused to "disown" him.
Mr Obama is ahead of Mrs Clinton in terms of the number of delegates won in the Democratic primary elections so far.
The delegates will choose in August which candidate is to be the party's nominee in November's presidential election, standing against the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France told a joint session of the House of Commons and the House of Lords during a state visit to Britain that Britain and France shared a responsibility to urge the Chinese leadership to respect human rights and cultural identity. That goal could only be achieved if there was “true dialogue” between China and the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, he said, speaking a day after hinting that France might boycott the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing this summer.
French diplomats said they were in talks with other European capitals about dispatching a European Union delegation to China. France, which will take over the European Union’s presidency in July, will seek agreement on the issue during an informal foreign ministers’ meeting at the end of this week, said an official with knowledge of the draft proposal who would only speak on the condition of anonymity in advance of the meeting.
China reacted swiftly, comparing its handling of Tibetan protesters with a recent French police raid following rioting in the volatile Paris suburb of Villiers-Le Bel.
When asked whether China would accept an international fact-finding mission under the auspices of the European Union or the United Nations, China’s deputy ambassador in Paris, Qu Xing, told the French radio station Europe 1: “Would you allow a U.N. mission to see if all is well in Villiers-le-Bel?”
The prospect of the Olympics being held against a backdrop of Chinese military action in Tibet has forced European leaders to walk a narrow line between maintaining their increasingly important economic and political ties to China while protests among their own people against China’s actions in Tibet become ever more vocal and calls from leading figures in Europe’s former communist east growing louder.
The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, acknowledged the economic interests in an interview Wednesday in the newspaper Liberation, saying, ”We are constrained by a certain number of economic interests in order not to boost unemployment.”
Under pressure from the news media and human rights groups, more leaders are now considering defying China and meeting the Dalai Lama, and while none has supported an outright boycott of the Olympic Games in August, the possibility of not attending the opening ceremony is no longer ruled out.
The president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, on Wednesday invited the Dalai Lama to speak to European Union legislators and questioned whether European leaders should attend the opening.
Following the lead of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who met with the Dalai Lama last fall, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain announced last week that he would meet with the Dalai Lama when he visits London in May. Mr. Sarkozy hinted on Wednesday that he might do the same, saying through a spokesman that he would make a decision based on how the situation in Tibet evolved.
European media have given prominent coverage to the violence in Tibet and a number of leading figures from Eastern Europe with first-hand experience of living under a Communist regime have joined the growing chorus of outrage.
One appeal, signed by former anti-communist campaigners like Vaclav Havel who as Czech president received the Dalai Lama several times, called on the Chinese leadership to lift its restrictions on foreign journalists, release political prisoners and begin a dialogue with Tibet’s exiled leader. Otherwise, the appeal said, “the International Olympic Committee should seriously reconsider” holding this summer’s Olympic Games in China.
Mr. Sarkozy’s speech on Wednesday, which received a standing ovation from British lawmakers, was the formal centerpiece of an overnight visit during which he is apparently seeking to burnish his statesman’s credentials after a decline in the polls back home.
In the speech, he also said that France would submit a proposal to strengthen its military presence in the NATO force in Afghanistan at the NATO summit meeting planned for next week in Bucharest, Romania.
He did not go into detail about the size of French reinforcements. France has contributed around 1,900 soldiers to the 40,000-troop NATO force in Afghanistan, with most of the French troops based in Kabul rather than the more dangerous south.
Katrin Bennhold reported from Paris and Alan Cowell from London.
Residents and Mahdi Army militants alike appeared to be bracing for a coming battle, guarding against US and Iraqi forces advancing to stop the rockets allegedly fired from Sadr City that hit the Green Zone again Wednesday for the third day since Sunday.
Although it's in Basra, the oil-rich southern city, where the Mahdi Army and Iraqi forces were locked in a bitter fight for a second day, killing at least 55, many in Baghdad fear that clash will trigger a new battle in Mr. Sadr's Baghdad stronghold. Already there were reports by US-funded Al Hurra TV, citing hospital sources, that at least 20 people have been killed and 140 wounded in sporadic clashes in Sadr City since Tuesday.
Now, in a place where the US has done battle many times before, a sense of siege and helplessness has replaced some of the flickers of optimism that emerged over the past few months as a result of improved security made possible by the US surge and the Mahdi Army's seven-month cease-fire, which now looks to be shattered.
"We are yet again caught between two fires and we the citizens always pay the price of the feuding by the political leaders," said a man who gave his name as Abu Muthana. He stood in front of a row of shuttered shops, including his own, off Beirut Square on the edge of Sadr City. The district's shops closed in obedience to a call for protest issued by Sadr's movement.
In the nearly empty square, Muhammad Karim rushed on his bicycle to get his brother, Majid, who was manning a modest tea stand.
"You have to lock up, come on, all hell is going to break loose soon," Muhammad told his brother, who grudgingly padlocked the battered metal cabinet that serves as his teashop and shuffled away.
Nearby, another resident, Nada Makhallad, walked her son, Ayman, back home because his elementary school was shut down. She was on the verge of tears.
She had to beg a pharmacist to come and open up so she can get medicine for her ailing mother.
"We live in a state of fear. I want to get out," said Ms. Makhallad, adding that she's going to try to find a way to leave Baghdad soon to join her husband working in Lebanon now.
Another resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said he picked up three bodies of employees at Baghdad Airport allegedly shot dead by militiamen after challenging their orders.
Across the Shiite enclave, home to almost 3 million people, US soldiers – some on foot and others in Stryker combat vehicles and Humvees – were out in force at all the major entrances, especially next to Iraqi Army checkpoints.
Fallah (Farmer) Street and all other major thoroughfares were blocked by militiamen with rocks. Iraqi National Police in the area warned that militiamen planted bombs all along these roads to keep US and Iraqi forces out. Militiamen have also reportedly ordered all residents to turn off their generators.
from CNN Money
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stock futures fell early Wednesday after talk of the collapse of the $19 billion sale of radio broadcaster Clear Channels spurred a new round of credit fears.
Less than three hours before the open, Nasdaq and S&P futures were lower and pointing to a negative start for Wall Street.
Banks are unwilling to provide financing for Clear Channel's to private-equity firms, according to published reports.
If the deal collapses, it would be the latest in a string of buyouts to fall victim to the tightening credit markets.
Investors have been on edge amid concerns about a deep recession in the U.S. Stocks finished Tuesday's session mixed after readings on housing and consumer confidence came in weak.
On the economic front, a report on durable goods orders is due before the market open. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com are forecasting orders for large-ticket items by businesses and consumers managed a 0.8% gain in February after falling more than 5% the previous month.
A reading on new home sales comes later at 10 a.m. ET, with economists forecasting a drop in sales to a 13-year low.
At 10:30 a.m. ET comes the government report on U.S. fuel inventories. Oil prices rose ahead of the report, with a barrel of light, sweet crude adding $1.07 to $102.29 a barrel in early electronic trading.
Among companies to watch, Citigroup (Fortune 500) could come under pressure after influential banking analyst Meredith Whitney of Oppenheimer & Co. significantly raised her first-quarter loss estimate for the company. She also cut earnings forecasts at the nation's other major banks. Shares of Dow component Citigroup lost 1.7% in early Frankfurt trading.
MANILA, Philippines--The United States Department of Agriculture last week increased by $10 million its credit export guarantee for the Philippines under the GSM-102 program, bringing the total amount of guarantee to $75 million.
According to Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap, this would translate to some 95,000 metric tons to 100,000 MT of rice that the country can import.
"This volume is currently being tendered, but we expect rice shipments to arrive within the next four to five months, or August at the latest," he added.
Yap first announced the country's interest to avail itself of a credit export guarantee during the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference held earlier this month.
Initially, the Philippines had sought to procure rice worth $65 million. Under the program, the local National Food Authority is the lone approved buyer of the rice.
In a statement posted on its website, the USDA explained that the GSM-102 program helps ensure that credit is available to finance commercial exports of US agricultural products to developing countries, while providing competitive credit terms of up to three years in these countries.
Under this program, the USDA's Commodity Credit Corp. reduces the financial risk to lenders by guaranteeing payments due from approved foreign banks to exporters or financial institutions in the United States.
These guarantees encourage exports to buyers in countries where credit is necessary to maintain or increase US sales, but where financing may not be available, it added.
Under the GSM-102, sales must be registered with CCC by April 18 this year. Exporters' contractual arrangements should call for exports no later than Nov. 30, 2008.
The Corporate Credit Solution With Business-Tradelines.com
0 comments Posted by Articles Internet at 2:37 PMfrom PRWEB
Leading corporate credit solution company Business-Tradelines.com is providing startup business financing help to new and existing companies to assist with the new FICO 08 implementation.
Business Tradelines Managing Direct Adam Stevens says although FICO 08 is little more than an adjustment in how Fair Isaac Corp. calculates credit scores, the minor adjustment in the credit score formula will make it harder for new businesses to obtain a credit line to finance capital requirements.
“We have seen how difficult it is for new businesses; owners often have to dip into their personal savings to finance operations,” he says. “When that dries up, ideally, the owner should seek startup business financing from a line of credit, but we’re not seeing that.”
Stevens has seen how difficult it is for new companies to take out a loan. Without any credit history or credit scores to show for, financial institutions are often reluctant to finance loans. This leaves many new business owners with no choice but to risk their personal credit history by seeking funds from private investors or worse -- swipe their credit cards. The more-informed business owners seek out business tradelines and work at building a business credit profile.
How Business Tradelines Work
As a real life corporate credit solution, business tradelines are established when a vendor extends a line of credit to a business owner, then reports that business owner’s payment information to the various business credit bureaus. Also referred to as “trade references”, these business tradelines allow business owners the opportunity to leverage these references to build new credit relationships with creditors who offer various loan products to business owners. Business-tradelines.com has pioneered a process that allows business owners to achieve the level of funding they need through this leverage.
The FICO 08 Formula Disaster
The new FICO formula being released by Fair Isaac Corporation removes authorized user accounts in the scoring formula. Stevens believes that such a move spells out grim scenarios, especially to upstart companies.
“We expect to see more and more business owners personally guaranteeing their business’ obligations, which shouldn’t be. A company as a legal personality should be responsible for its own obligations,” Stevens stressed.
Fair Isaac first announced the updated FICO 08 formula in June 5, 2007, citing the need to protect lenders from credit repair services who abuse authorized credit card accounts to boost the FICO ratings of their clients. The FICO credit rating system is being used by 90% of the largest banks in the United States and credit ratings agencies (Experian, Equifax, and Transunion).
About Business-Tradelines.Com
Business-Tradelines.com helps companies take their businesses to the next level by providing the tradeline resources necessary for business financing. To find out about the next generation in credit strategies, corporate credit solutions or startup business financing, visit the site http://business-tradelines.com/ for more information.
from independent.co.uk
The credit crisis is hitting everyone from first-time buyers to buy-to-let investors – but do you understand exactly how it's affecting you? Helen Monks provides answers to the big questions we are all asking
Are people who remortgage in for a shock? What are the best deals?
Those who took their last mortgage out a few years ago and are coming to the end of their deal should brace themselves. Someone who found a three-year fixed-rate deal on the best-buy tables in March 2005 might have found a 4.5 per cent rate and an arrangement fee of around £400. Today, these borrowers face best-buy tables featuring Cheltenham & Gloucester's three-year fixed rate at 5.62 per cent, with a £1,094 fee.
Many mortgage brokers recommend tracker mortgages for remortgagers. Trackers are pegged to the base rate, so if interest rates fall, so does the cost of your mortgage. The disadvantage is that they offer no certainty over the cost of future repayments. If you want certainty, choose a fixed-rate deal. One of the best is First Direct's five-year fixed-rate mortgage, at 5.29 per cent with a £598 fee.
Most borrowers tend to go for a two- or three-year deal, but you could fix for as long as 25 years. This might sound mad, but often the redemption penalties that tie in borrowers only last for the first 10 years of a long-term mortgage.
Will the value of my property crash?
There are, broadly speaking, two futures being predicted by the pundits. One gives a more favourable view than the other.
Let's start with the positive view. Many of the major lenders, including Halifax, say that house price growth will merely be flat, or only slightly negative, in the year ahead. Is this a reliable prediction? Well, it's certainly in the lenders' interests to boost consumer sentiment with predictions of a soft landing; on the other hand, it's fair to say that the economic factors underpinning house prices, such as high employment levels and immigration, are solid, and that Britain's housing shortage props up demand – and house values.
The other way to see things is to look at the pressures currently on the housing market. Prices depend on the confidence levels across the country, and on buyers being able to get a mortgage. The ongoing credit turmoil means that more people are being turned down by lenders, and those who can get a mortgage are unlikely to be reassured by the fact that lenders' share prices can be demolished by nothing more than rumours, as happened to HBOS last week.
In regions where confidence is a major factor, property owners should be prepared for some sort of fall. Miles Shipside, of the property website Rightmove.co.uk, says that some areas of the South-west and the south coast could see falls as wealthy would-be buyers keep their hands in their pockets and decide not to splurge on second homes in the current economic climate. Certain homes in London and surrounding areas could also suffer. "Properties in the £750,000 to £3m brackets could fall, as these values are generally buoyed up by big City bonuses, which are looking less certain for the year ahead," says Shipside.
Oversupply and a lack of lender confidence has meant that the value of many new-build flats in city centres across the country have also taken a hit. Many mortgage companies now shy away from lending on new-build flats and maisonettes, because the incentives used to attract buyers – such as cash-back or stamp-duty-paid deals – obscure the true value of these homes, which is further deepening the problem of localised price falls.
Should I switch to an interest-only deal?
This is a common question being asked by people coming off fixed-rate deals and facing higher monthly bills. Opting to pay only the interest part of the mortgage, rather than the capital balance, is a strategy that will reduce your monthly payment. But it's only a strong option as a short-term fix, or if you have a solid plan to pay off the capital.
It's not without benefits. A new borrower with a £250,000 mortgage at a rate of 6 per cent, for example, would pay £1,250 a month on an interest-only deal; a full interest and capital arrangement would cost £1,611. Going interest-only is one way for existing borrowers to weather the storm if they can't afford full interest and capital repayments. It also allows new borrowers to get on the ladder even if they can't yet afford to pay off the capital.
Certain new borrowers might also benefit from the flexibility of interest-only, says Jason Whitcombe of Evolve Financial Planning: "When someone's income is bonus- or commission-driven, the borrower can pay off the capital when they have the cash, as opposed to every month."
Anyone who goes for an interest-only option will need a plan to pay off the capital part of their debt – either on a regular basis or at the end of their mortgage's term. Borrowers could bank on the increase in their property's value, for example, or build up a fund in an equity ISA. But each option is risky.
"It could help keep the roof over your head, but most people should view interest-only as a last resort," says David Hollingworth of mortgage advisers London & Country.
Should first-time buyers hold fire and carry on renting for a year?
Tough lending conditions mean that average punters who don't have a perfect credit history or a chunky deposit are now struggling to get mortgages. Many first-time buyers are being forced to wait it out in the rental sector; other buyers are choosing to hang fire until prices fall.
While nobody knows for sure what will happen in the market, buyers hoping for big drops could be waiting in vain. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) says that if most first-time buyers aren't biting because they can't get mortgages (as opposed to just not wanting to buy), then all that is happening at the moment is that demand is being pent up. Should lending conditions soften and lenders start offering mortgages to less-than-perfect borrowers, prices ought to rebound once more on the strength of this unleashed demand.
All this means that those who can secure a big enough mortgage would be well advised to go for it now, especially as the slow market means that they should be able to haggle for a 5 and 10 per cent discount off asking prices.
Is now a good time to buy at auction?
Yes, but buyers might not have the pick of the crop. The number of homes offered at auction rose by 15 per cent last year, while the number of repossessed properties rose by 20 per cent, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
The CML predicts even more repossessions in 2008 – meaning more homes under the hammer. But if buyers are hoping to pick up a four-bedroom home in a desirable area for a knock-down price, they may be disappointed: much of the repossessed stock coming to auction is ex-local authority houses and flats.
Do brokers still have good deals up their sleeves?
As borrowing becomes trickier, going to a broker can make good sense. "We can't magic great rates out of the air, but brokers can hunt out the best rates for your circumstances. It's a really fast-moving market right now, where tracking the best deals takes time and good deals get withdrawn at very little notice," Hollingworth says.
Ask whichever adviser you go to whether they can choose the best mortgage from the whole market or are tied to just a handful of lenders. Also, find out up front whether they are paid by fees from you or by commission from lenders. London & Country(www.lcplc.co.uk), for example, is independent and does not charge fees to borrowers, but does take payment from mortgage lenders' commission.
How big a deposit do I need?
Although there have been some reports suggesting that borrowers might need deposits of up to 25 per cent to get a look-in, this is not true for everyone. Professionals, such as solicitors and doctors, can still get 100 per cent mortgages through lenders such as Scottish Widows, and there are still lenders willing to lend solid-looking borrowers up to 95 per cent of the value of their property.
However, brokers expect increasing numbers of lenders to insist on 10 per cent deposits in the coming weeks, and if you go shopping for a mortgage with only a 5 per cent deposit, expect your choice of lenders to be limited, and your interest rate higher.
Should I sell my buy-to-let property?
Probably not. The latest survey by the Association of Residential Letting Agents (Arla) indicates that buy-to-let landlords are enjoying higher yields and increasing rents.
In the three months to the end of February, average rents in the private rented sector rose by an average of 4 per cent for houses and 2 per cent for flats – not exactly inflation-busting, but the outlook for further rises looks good.
Because many first-time buyers are being forced to wait it out, demand for rental properties is solid. Arla also says that immigration in some areas is fuelling demand and keeping yields high. Landlords who do decide to sell now should bear in mind that on 6 April the old rules for capital-gains tax are being shelved. For many higher-rate taxpaying landlords, this means that the lowest rate of CGT they pay will drop from 24 per cent to 18 per cent. But those who have owned their investment properties since before 1998 might have more tax to pay if they sell, due to the scrapping of indexation and taper reliefs on 6 April – allowances that reduce the investor's tax liability.
How much of my salary should I spend on a mortgage?
This entirely depends on your outgoings, though statistics from the CML suggest that, in 2007, the average first-time buyer was spending 19.4 per cent on mortgage interest alone.
There are no hard and fast rules. Someone who is debt-free and does not have expensive tastes might be able to spare more than half of their salary, after tax, for mortgage repayments, whereas someone who has credit card debts and a love of exotic holidays and fine dining might only have 20 per cent of their income to spare. "Do a realistic budget. It's amazing how many people imagine they could live off £10 a week for food," says Hollingworth. Many lender websites, such as www.nationwide.co.uk, offer online affordability calculators.
How can I convince mortgage companies to lend me more money?
There are two ways: boost your deposit, or reduce your outgoings and demonstrate that you have more of your income available to pay for a larger mortgage. Tackle your consumer debts, even if it means using some of your savings to pay off credit cards: this will help persuade mortgage lenders to be more generous.
"Many lenders would much rather lend to someone with less consumer debt than, say, someone with a £20,000 deposit but £10,000 on their credit cards," Whitcombe says.
Even when you have no intention of spending it, pre-approved credit can also weaken your borrowing power. One way of boosting your case is to ask your card issuers to reduce your limit. This pre-approved liability is otherwise counted on your credit history and weakens your profile.
I'm starting to fall behind with my payments. How can I keep the wolf from the door?
Contact your lender as soon as possible. They can give you more options to help keep the roof over your head. These might include adding the amount outstanding to the rest of your mortgage and accepting higher monthly repayments. You could also extend the term of your mortgage, or switch to interest-only for a short time. Free and independent advice is available from a number of places, including the debt charities National Debtline (www.nationaldebtline.co.uk, 0808 808 4000) and the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (www.cccs.co.uk, 0800 138 1111), or the housing charity Shelter (www.shelter.org.uk, 0808 800 4444).
more articles at http://www.articlesi.com
A MAN has admitted a £70,000 fraud by ordering goods on credit he did not intend to pay for.
Andrew Lee, 26, ordered thousands of pounds worth of items on credit, giving suppliers fake credit references for his Midlothian-based company.Many suppliers did not check the references and Lee was able to get away with the scam for months, Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told yesterday.Police were tipped off about his company, Phoenix Direct, and visited his premises at Bilston Glen Retail Park, Midlothian, in July 2005.Yesterday, Lee, of Glasgow, pled guilty to obtaining £70,466 by fraud through Phoenix Direct, a company he set up for the purpose of gaining goods which he did not intend to pay for, and encouraging others to provide false trade references for him between August 2005 and February 2006.Lee will be sentenced next month after background reports.
reports from scotman.com
visit http://www.articlesi.com for more articles.
Japan Proposes Former MOF Head Tanami as BOJ Chief
0 comments Posted by Articles Internet at 9:17 PMMarch 18 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda nominated former Finance Ministry official Koji Tanami as central bank governor, setting a collision course with the opposition who rejected his first choice for being too close to the government.
The Democratic Party of Japan is ``disappointed'' by Tanami's nomination and will have difficulty approving him, said Jun Azumi, deputy chief of the party's parliamentary affairs committee. The party last week rejected Toshiro Muto, who formerly was the Finance Ministry's top bureaucrat.
The latest round in the standoff between the LDP and DPJ raises the prospect the world's second-largest economy will be without a central bank chief when Toshihiko Fukui's term ends tomorrow. A bank vacancy would come as global stock markets plunge and the yen trades at a 12-year high.
``If the DPJ approves this nomination, they would let themselves fall into a political trap because they have argued monetary policy and fiscal policy must be separated,'' said Yasunari Ueno, chief market economist at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo. ``An approval would make the DPJ look like they don't seriously care about the principal issue.''
The opposition controls the upper house and can block central bank governor nominations.
Kiyohiko Nishimura was proposed for deputy governor, according to an upper house statement. Nishimura, 54, has been a member of the bank's policy board since April 2005, according to its Web site.
Finance Ministry Background
Tanami, 68, joined the Finance Ministry in 1964 and served as the top bureaucrat from 1998 to 1999.
At the ministry, Tanami held positions in the bond issuance and tax departments. Unlike Muto he never ran the budget department.
``The ruling party's argument is probably that Tanami isn't a mainstream finance ministry bureaucrat, while Muto is,'' said Mamoru Yamazaki, chief Japan economist at RBS Securities in Tokyo. ``But such a distinction would mean little to the general public.''
Nishimura, 54, has been a Bank of Japan board member since 2005 and is a former professor of economics at the University of Tokyo and an economist at the Cabinet Office. In December 2006 he prompted a bond market drop when he said the Bank of Japan could take policy action even if the market wasn't prepared for it.
``Although the fundamental rule is not to surprise, sometimes small surprises are necessary,'' Nishimura said, causing the yield on the five-year government note to jump 3 basis points. The bank waited until February to raise its overnight borrowing rate to 0.5 percent from 0.25 percent.
To contact the reporter on this story: Takashi Hirokawa in Tokyo at thirokawa@bloomberg.net; Mayumi Otsuma in Tokyo at motsuma@bloomberg.net
The episode began at dawn when United Nations police officers raided a United Nations courthouse that had been seized by Serbs on Friday, and arrested 53 people. Capt. Veton Elshani, a spokesman for the Kosovo Police Service, said in a telephone interview from Pristina, Kosovo’s capital, that several hundred Serbs responded by shooting at the police and throwing rocks and grenades, and that the police then used stun guns and tear gas.
The clashes, on the anniversary of violence four years ago that left 19 people dead, were part of a campaign by Serbs to make Pristina’s administration of northern Kosovo untenable and to force the de facto partition of the territory.
The escalation of violence in the Serb-dominated northern part of Kosovo has become a test of international resolve to hold the newborn nation together. It also poses a quandary for the NATO alliance and its 16,000 troops in Kosovo, which have a mandate to ensure the security of the province, but which are wary of spilling blood and becoming mired in a conflict that invariably trips over politics.
Captain Elshani said the rioters had freed 21 of the detained Serbs by blocking United Nations cars carrying them. At least four United Nations and NATO vehicles were burned, he said, and the police were eventually forced to pull out of northern Mitrovica, leaving NATO troops to face the rioters.
A senior NATO official in Brussels, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he did not have clearance to discuss the issue for attribution, said the military could not be used to prevent every attempt by Serbs to impose partition on Kosovo, adding, “There is a slippery slope between what is a political issue and what is a security issue.”
Mitrovica is divided between ethnic Albanians, who live south of the Ibar River, and Serbs, who live to the north. The city has long been a flash point for violence in Kosovo, which was placed under United Nations administration in 1999 after NATO intervened to halt the repression of ethnic Albanians, who make up 95 percent of Kosovo’s population, by the Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.
The northern part of Kosovo already has parallel Serbian institutional structures governing health and education policy, and a majority of Serbs do not recognize the authority of the new government in Pristina.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday declared the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq a "successful endeavor" during a visit to Baghdad, on the same day a woman suicide bomber killed 40 people.
"If you look back on those five years it has been a difficult, challenging but nonetheless successful endeavor ... and it has been well worth the effort," Cheney, an architect of the invasion, said after meeting Iraqi leaders.
The Iraq war is a major issue in the U.S. presidential campaign. Entering its sixth year this week, it has cost the United States $500 billion. U.S. Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton said on Monday the final bill could be $1 trillion.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis and nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers have been killed. The military said two more soldiers died on Monday when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle near Baghdad.
In a northern district of the capital, six children were killed when a mortar round hit their home, Iraq's military said.
Shortly after Cheney spoke, a woman wearing a suicide vest blew herself up in a cafe in the southern holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala, killing 40 people and wounding 71, police and health officials said. Bombs in Baghdad killed four and wounded 13.
"I was talking with a friend and eating bread a few meters away from the cafe. Suddenly I heard a huge explosion and I was thrown to the floor. I saw smoke and bodies," witness Mohammed Kadhem, 39, recounted after the Kerbala blast.
Cheney arrived as Republican presidential candidate John McCain was meeting Iraqi leaders as part of a Senate Armed Services Committee fact-finding mission
"This visit is important because it comes at a time when there's a great deal of progress taking place in Iraq," Maliki said through a translator.
A poll of 2,000 people from across Iraq, commissioned by international broadcasters including the BBC and U.S. network ABC, found rising optimism among them.
Cheney said there had been a "remarkable turnaround" in security after 30,000 extra U.S. troops were sent to Iraq last year to help quell sectarian violence that threatened civil war.
Despite the improved security, however, some 4 million Iraqis are still displaced, and the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a report on Monday that millions were still deprived of clean water and medical care.
"SURGE WORKING"
Like McCain, Cheney is in Iraq as part of a wider visit to the Middle East. He was due to spend the night at a military base and will also visit Saudi Arabia, Jerusalem, the Palestinian territories, Turkey and Oman on a nine-day tour.
Both men have been staunch supporters of the U.S. troop build-up or "surge". The U.S. military says violence in Iraq has dropped by 60 percent since last June, although it acknowledges an upsurge in attacks since January.
"The surge is working," McCain told CNN in an interview in Baghdad, countering demands by Democratic presidential candidates Clinton and Barack Obama for U.S. troops to be withdrawn from Iraq as soon as possible..
From Associated Press.
BEIJING, China (AP) -- Premier Wen Jiabao says China faces mounting pressure for prices to rise and must address problems of unstable and unsustainable growth.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao speaks after the closing ceremony of the National People's Congress Tuesday.
Wen's comments Tuesday at a news conference came as the government has spent months trying to cool a sharp rise in prices that has hit China's poor majority hard.
Wen said the country faces "mounting inflationary pressure" and the "potential risk of drastic economic fluctuations."
The government is struggling to cool inflation that saw prices soar by 8.7 percent in February -- the highest level in nearly 12 years -- driven by a 23.3 percent jump in politically sensitive food prices.
The economy is expected to grow by at least 9 percent this year after expanding by 11.4 percent in 2007
Speaking at the close of parliament, Mr Wen accused the exiled Tibetan leader of instigating recent violence in Tibet's main city, Lhasa.
China's response was restrained, he said, and in accordance with the law.
China says 13 people were killed by rioters in Lhasa. Tibetan exiles say at least 80 protesters were killed in a crackdown by Chinese security forces.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on both Chinese forces and demonstrators in Tibet to show restraint.
The protests began on 10 March - the anniversary of a Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule - and gradually escalated, culminating in a day of violence late last week.
The protests have also spread to Tibetan communities in Gansu and Sichuan provinces.
THE story, as related by the German survivors, is well known. The light Leander-class cruiser, HMAS Sydney, closed the raider to within fatal range. The Kormoran, flying a false flag, struck it, hoisted her true colours, and opened fire, hitting the cruiser with her third salvo in the bridge area. Sydney hesitated, and then replied. The two ships fought each other for just under an hour, the Sydney taking a torpedo hit, and the Kormoran began sinking, her survivors taking to their lifeboats. The Sydney, on fire, and having taken a tremendous battering, moved off, probably not under effective control. The ship lay missing for 67 years. There appear to have been no survivors from the cruiser, although a body in a Carley float, presumed from the ship, was later recovered and buried at Christmas Island. These remains have been recovered and are still being analysed. There are many controversies associated with the action. Why did the Sydney not stand off at the extreme range of Kormoran where she would have had the disguised raider under fire from her own more effective weapons? Why did she not deploy her Walrus aircraft for overhead inspection? Some allegations made over the years range from the possible to the extreme. Did Kormoran open fire under the German flag as she should have? Were Japanese forces involved – several weeks before they joined WWII with the Pearl Harbor attacks? Were Sydney survivors machine-gunned in the water to prevent their speaking out about “war rules” being broken? To answer such questions, and to bring closure to the relatives of the Sydney ship’s company, there has been much pressure over the decades to find the wreck of the cruiser. But can finding the ship give any answers? Spurred on by pictures of the Titanic and other vessels on the ocean floor, many people seem to think the finding of Sydney’s remains will answer questions. But will an inspection of Sydney tell us much about the battle? Will there be clues from the condition of the external hull? Sydney engaged in a lengthy fight with a heavily-gunned raider. According to the Kormoran’s gunnery officer, Lieutenant Fritz Skeries, Kormoran fired 450 rounds from her main armament, and several hundred from her anti-aircraft batteries. Skeries commented on the final stages of the 55-minute battle that the Australian ship was being constantly hit by gun fire from the raider. Sydney, crippled, limped off to the south-east, on fire, with “glare” and “flickerings” showing her presence until around midnight, some eight hours after the action commenced. Will there be much left of the Sydney at all? We can expect a battered, twisted, charred remnant of a once-proud warship. Given that Sydney’s ability to manoeuvre was degrading steadily during the battle, we can expect her to receive an increasing number of strikes due to inability to avoid fire, for a period, as the battle continued, although this must be offset by the strikes Kormoran was receiving herself, thus reducing her firepower, and offset by the opening range. When initial firing commenced the distance between the ships was approximately 1,600 yards. This is an incredibly close when one considers that the Sydney, when engaged the previous year in combat with two Italian cruisers, the Bartolomeo Colleoni and Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, opened fire at 20, 000 yards, and obtained a hit on one of them within six minutes. Indeed, a German historian, commenting later on the Kormoran engagement, said "no guns could miss at such a range". The Sydney began receiving terribly destructive armour-piercing delayed action fuse shells which exploded inside the ship. With this sort of firepower, at such a short range, being directed against the light cruiser, the Sydney was doomed. The cruiser’s remains should be smashed extensively on both sides. According to all Kormoran survivor accounts of the battle, it was only around a few minutes after battle was commenced that Sydney veered hard to port, and fired a salvo of four torpedoes. The course change took her astern of the Kormoran, and exposed her starboard side to the raider. Observation of other battles leads to a conclusion that warships generally finally end up on an even keel. Out of twelve wrecks catalogued from the Battle of Savo Island, for example, ten are keel down; one on its side, and one upside down. Sydney will probably be right side up, and inspection will be made easier. The basic dimensions of the wreck, if she is in one piece, will be a ship 171.3m x 17.3m. Confirming features will include the two funnels and two masts of the Leander-class, and eight guns in twin turrets. The ship’s Supermarine Seagull V (Walrus) single-engined aircraft was mounted between the two funnels, but little of it will remain, although the 16m launching slide and recovery crane may be located. Leanders also carried four 4-inch single guns and eight torpedo tubes in two quadruple mounts. The condition of all of these will provide further clues as to the veracity of the accounts of the ship’s end. Given that the wreck, if it is sitting on an even keel, will have sunk into the seabed, it will be difficult to see if there are torpedo holes below the waterline, especially as along the sides of the hull there will also be much 5.9-inch and 3.7-inch damage. There is often little left internally in a ship’s remains which can enlighten historical analysis. Anything not made of very tough materials does not survive in a ship wreck. Paper disappears, breaking up, eaten by fish, generally dispersing. Wood becomes porous and crumbles. Human remains disappear. Human remains are dispersed by tide and fish. While softer tissue vanishes, bones too eventually dissolve. This takes a comparatively short time. Shipwrecks more often than not do not remain intact. Sometimes they break apart from the stresses engaged in the disproportionate pressures necessitated in compartments being flooded. Titanic, for example, although involved in a fairly simple collision – that is, no-one was killed in the initial collision with an iceberg, and she settled slowly over around three hours – finally broke in half during her sinking. There seems ample evidence the Australian ship sank quickly. Several Kormoran survivor interrogation reports noted that the cruiser, after she was hit by the torpedo, was down in the bows, most estimating by six feet. This suggests quite heavy flooding in that area. Given evidence that the forward turrets were paralysed, there can be some conclusion that this area was heavily damaged, with damage control equipment in the area perhaps out of action. The Sydney wreck is going to be in one piece, perhaps with sections missing. She is likely to be on an even keel, but is going to be so battered that her hull exterior will be insufficient to add to the story. This was, after all, a light cruiser which was hit by hundreds of highly explosive shells, and a torpedo; was on fire “from the bridge to the after funnel” when last seen, and was according to the experienced sailors who were abandoning Kormoran, to be hardly functioning. The Sydney wreck is going to be so badly damaged that a survey of it will tell us only a little of her final moments. The ship’s remains are now 67 years old, and upright sections will have corroded and probably fallen in on the remainder. It will be heavily covered with marine growth which will have become concretions in many parts. Many sections will not be distinguishable as parts of a ship. Penetration of the wreck is certain to be strictly forbidden, as although human remains are unlikely to be present, the site will be considered a war grave out of respect for the feelings of the families of the 645 members of the Royal Australian Navy lost with the vessel. Dr Tom Lewis, OAM, is the author of six history books, and has worked as a divemaster and naval officer. He is the editor of Warship magazine, and Headmark, the Journal of the Australian Naval Institute. He has recently published "What may the wreck of Sydney reveal”.
more articles on blogger and RSS visit http://blogging-rss.articlesi.com/
A lawyer by profession, Renata Avila Pinto brings us the voices of bloggers from Guatemala on Global Voices Online. visit http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/
As a lawyer, Renata specialises in Human Rights, International Criminal, International Private, and Copyright laws. The Creative Commons Project Lead in Guatemala, she also completed research last year for the Open Net Initiative, covering some Latin American countries.
In this interview, the lawyer-cum-blogger opens her heart to us, speaking about her voyage with blogging, what issues matter to her the most, her likes and dislikes and her hopes for the future.
How long have you been blogging?
I have been blogging for almost three years. I started when I was studying in Italy, when a friend from Egypt told me on the first week that blogging was a great way to stay in touch with friends, family and to share my experiences with others. He helped me to fix my blog, and he started a blog with all the details of our experience in a classroom full of people from different countries, while I was blogging about my daily life, my discoveries andexperiences in a city of Italy that is far from the guidebooks, or the stories about pizza, pasta and Romeos.Also, one of my classmates, Ale, was a famous blogger, recognized by the street art movement in Milano, and blogs were one of the topics discussed when I took copyright, as part of my studies for my Masters in International Intellectual Property.For me, my blog is a window…It is a different experience when you write in a notebook, and it remains in your closet or hidden somewhere. You let a window open to your life and then you can have all kinds of visitors. A fly, fresh breeze, smoke, sunshine, rain, music. All the visitors to your blog leave a different atmosphere on the blogair. You just have to open a window. To start a blog. And there, inside, you can share with them your space, a space inside your deepest thoughts and concerns, your views, the unique part of knowledge, experiences and even mood swings that can only be viewed with your eyes.
Which language do you blog in?
Mostly Spanish, sometimes I post in English or share some things in French. Soon, will start blogging (or try to) simple phrases in each language of Guatemala.
How many languages do you speak?
Spanish, English, and some German and Italian. Shame on me that I cannot speak any native language, but I am trying to learn some Cakchiquel. For example, kí means sweet, Juyú´means mountain.
Can you tell about your educational background?
Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Intellectual Property, some studies in Digital Rights, antitrust law, Human Rights and International Private Law. Currently, I am studying Internet Governance.
How long have you been a member of GVO and why?
For more than a year. Why I am a member? Is a difficult question, honestly, I think I was really lucky to be accepted as part of the GVO team. Perhaps it is because of my shared views with GVO purposes, being part of such amazing work of putting together the views of different cultures and sharing it, finding different answers to daily life questions, such as how do they look like, their real practices, their views of the world and other, and how they deal with conflicts and complicated situations. The others is a subject that obsessed me recently, discovering new worlds in my daily life, seeing the invisible people, the people here, in a small country of 12 million people, and everywhere. Diversity, the treasure inside each and every human being, the learning experience.
What are the main issues effecting your blogospheres?
Politics, economics, technology, sports, arts and literature but often bloggers are likely to blog what interests them the most: themselves. However, some smart blogers facilitate the dialogue. So, sometimes a blogger community is more active on the “conversation” than the creation of stories.
What is your most memorable blogging experience?
It was when I first saw my translated posts in different languages, thanks to the LinguaProject. I was amazed! Chinese!!!!! Oriental characters with Guatemalan views! Might add also that even the Vice Minister of foreign affairs commented on one of my posts. And also, I have a fresh memory, that I will like to share with the GV community: Recently a teacher, Guillermo, working with indigenous children in one of the communities more damaged by the armed conflict, was under threat. Someone shot at his door - six bullets were found. I had to react and ask for support for him and his family. And blogs were my best way to bring attention to the incident. I remembered that he has a blog for the school he directs, and also several members of the community are bloggers as well. So, even when the village is isolated, and he is not a famous leader, I was able to send the links featuring his podcast, the blog of his organization and many blogs of the communities and the massacres. It is more efficient to increase the awareness of people who work on it, to sympathize with a cause, to say something about it. To give people like him visibility.
Your likes?
Staring at the sky, smiling back to strangers, airports, postcards, girl talks, coffee, watch people from everywhere, read books, and travel as much as I can. Well, to read a book is like taking a trip. Discovering best kept secrets in the corners. Old pictures. Creative Commons. Literature and philosophy. Robert Capa. Metissage. Imagination.
Your dislikes?
Attitudes that harm others, lack of authenticity, lack of content. Wilful ignorance. Fake smiles. Fake tears. Yellow press. Attitudes in my country in dividing people by ethnicity, class, color, etc, instead of learning from the differences. Secrets. My hair. And his girlfriend. To dance.
And your wishes?
Don't miss the moment. One of my favorite books is Momo, by Michael Ende. And Momo, the main character said that there are certain junctions, unique moments when everyone and everything combine to bring about something that could not have happened before and will never happen again. She said that you should take advantage of it, because if you do so, great things will happen in the world. I believe Momo. I am a believer that I will not miss the moment. I really hope so.
more articles on blogger and RSS visit http://blogging-rss.articlesi.com/
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Last year, when gossip blogger Perez Hilton came to South by Southwest, he was just a spectator.
This year, he arrived as one of the music industry's key playmakers — and his newfound power was on full display as he played host to one of the festival's more coveted parties.
"Thank you Perez!" Robyn, the Swedish-born pop star who is releasing an album in the United States this summer, gushed on stage Saturday night as she performed in front of a packed crowd filled with industry insiders, artists, and the typical hangers-on. Even more people lined the block around the venue in downtown Austin, hoping for a chance to see acts ranging from Internet darling Katy Perry to established artists such as Robyn and N.E.R.D.
"There's a lot of great acts performing these past couple of days, but not all on the same stage on the same night," boasted Hilton, sporting bleached blond hair with streaks of pink, in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday. "The musicians performing speak for the evening."
They also speak to Hilton's ever-increasing clout within the music industry. While his site routinely posts salacious details about perennial gossip targets like Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and the crew from "The Hills," he also regularly gushes about his favorite artists and songs — like Robyn.
Numerous articles have been written crediting Hilton (real name Mario Lavandeira) for helping to boost an artist's sales and profile from his postings: The New York Times reported last month that Warner Bros. Records was in negotiations to give Hilton a development deal that would make him an executive on the label.
"It's very flattering," Hilton said with a smile about all the attention.
So, not surprisingly, Hilton lined up a few key artists to perform at his party. The biggest act was undoubtedly N.E.R.D., the trio led by superproducer Pharrell Williams, who said Hilton's site is a key outlet for groups such as his.
"He's connected to the kids, he's connected to our demographic — people who want to be in the know, and he's opinionated and that's what makes it work," Williams said after spending a few minutes chatting with Hilton a celebrity lounge Friday.
Hilton's ability to create buzz for an artist is hard to duplicate, Perry said.
"Managers in the industry want their acts to be featured on his blog because it does give a lot of press, and hopefully good press sometimes," she said with a laugh. "He's got some pretty good ears. He's featured myself and some friends of mine so we're grateful."
Not everyone is happy about Hilton's success. As popular as his showcase may have been, there were some at SXSW who grumbled about the fact that a gossip maven has decision-making power in the industry.
But Hilton insists he and his site have musical integrity.
"I only post things on there that I really enjoy and love and support — there's no payola Perez," Hilton said. "So I think readers who read my site know there's an authenticity there and they really respond to that."
Hilton said even though he gets managers and record label executives begging him to promote their artists, he gets most of his tips from fans who send him music links online, and he insisted he isn't swayed by pushes by industry insiders.
Hilton may be giving his own advice to artists soon, if the Warner Bros. deal works out. And while he's known for his scoops, he's still peeved at the Times for revealing the tidbit.
"I'm such a fatalist I don't like making announcements like that unless it's done. Hopefully it's going to happen — we've been talking for a while now," he said.
Not that Hilton's depending on that label or any other to secure his place in the music industry.
"If it doesn't happen, I'll just do it on my own," he said, ever the entrepreneur.
On the Net:
http://www.perezhilton.com
more articles on blogger and RSS visit http://blogger-rss.articlesi.com
Local matchmaking service an alternative to online dating
1 comments Posted by Articles Internet at 8:54 PMTOMPKINS COUNTY, N.Y. -- Meredith MacLeod and Carole Schiffman are trying to help Central New Yorkers who are 25 and older find their perfect match.
"They're so close together but disconnected. They're all working, but they're having a hard time finding the venue to connect and meet and form meaningful relationships," said MacLeod.
After Schiffman's personal frustrations with online dating sites, she and MacLeod teamed up to create a unique service that won't mislead its clients.
"People are frustrated by the lack of efficiency in the sense where they go online and then they read other people's profiles, which are often vague or inflated. So they'll get their hopes up then they'll meet this person and it's just not anything like they expected," MacLeod said.
Local matchmaking service an alternative to online dating
If you're sick of using online dating services to find a long-term companion two Ithaca women may be able to help! They've started an off-line dating service for local singles.
After filling out some basic information online, then MacLeod or Schiffman will meet with you personally to get to know you and your dating goals.
"We interview the person and we take the dishonesty out of it that comes with when people self-evaluate themselves and put their own bios up and there's a lot of disappointment that comes into play when two people meet each other and they've each written their own bios," said Schiffman.
Even though Catchmakers has an online presence, all personal information for potential daters is kept completely confidential.
"That's part of being a personal service, it's not a big catch all for everybody that's out there. We're interested in people who are serious about meeting someone for the long term," said Schiffman.
The Catchmakers work out of offices in Ithaca and can schedule interviews Monday through Friday.
For more information on Catchmakers Inc. and how to register through their web site, visit: Catchmakers.com.
more articles on dating http://dating.articlesi.com
We live in a very busy world these days and that probably won't be changing anytime soon. Time is precious and people have less patience than ever before and tend to want everything NOW. So how do we get on when we are single, lonely and desperate to find a partner? This is where internet dating comes into its own. There are many advantages of internet dating over more conventional ways of meeting women. Let's take a look at some advantages here…1. The biggest advantage of all is that you save heaps of time. Once you've got a good system in place, where you have a good profile and picture, it silently works behind the scenes to bring you emails from interested women. The only time that you will need to allocate each day, is enough to reply to some emails, and to send out a few emails to women that you are interested in.2. Meeting women online costs very little or is even free, so you save money right away. Just imagine if you were going out to bars and clubs every week, spending loads of money on your drinks AND the potential date's drinks, plus dinner in some cases, you would be spending a small fortune. You can screen potential dates online and narrow it down to the ones that you really want to go out with and spend your time and money on.3. Most men have a fear of approaching women (which actually is a fear of rejection), but when you "approach" women online it becomes a non-issue, because you have that "safety net" that the internet offers.
4. All the initial contacts that you have with women can be done with your computer, and internet connection, from the comfort of your own home. There's no need to leave your house at all until you are ready to go out on the first date with the women you have met online. 5. People are becoming more and more cautious these days and will strive to protect their privacy at all costs. This is the beauty of online dating in that you can maintain your privacy until you trust and get to know the other person. If you're generally a shy person, you can get to know women online first and become comfortable with them before you ever meet up with them in person.6. With internet dating, you can meet many more women online than you could ever hope to achieve at a bar, club, gym or the mall and you can interact with them all at the same time. This is a numbers game, so the more women you can talk to online, the more you can date, and the sooner you'll find the "right one" (if that's your goal).It's pretty obvious that the advantages of internet dating over conventional dating, make it a clear winner. So what's holding you back from giving it a go? Is it the fear of ridicule from family and friends, or the stigma that still surrounds online dating? Once you learn how to do online dating effectively, you'll never look back.
Website Reviewing Online Dating Sites Adds New Blog
1 comments Posted by Articles Internet at 8:47 PMWebsite that reviews online dating sites; giving recommendations based on user's feedback. The website has added a blog to provide online side-by-side comparison of dating sites based on research com.
Austin, TX – March 14, 2008 –An explosion in dating sites in recent years has users concerned about finding the right one to meet their needs. http://www.CupidsOnlineDating.com responded by launching a Website to review online dating sites and give recommendations based on the reviews. Now, the site has added an online dating blog.Designed to take the guesswork out of choosing dating sites, CupidsOnlineDating.com reviews help users find the best matchmaking site for them. Understanding the difficulty daters have in finding the right match, CupidsOnlineDating.com decided to take the challenge out of finding the right online dating site. A panel of skilled and professional online dating and matchmaking site experts searched online dating sites to write reviews and recommendations based on a defined set of criteria. And, it is the expertise of those experts combined along with that of site visitors, now available through the site’s new online dating blog.Visitors will be able to make side-by-side comparisons of online dating sites including those with a focus on scientific matchmaking, as well as share their own online dating experiences, wisdom and advice. Contributors at http://www.cupidsonlinedating.com/blog, post hot topics such as these: “Top Online Dating Sites for Your Dating Plans,” “Dating Online Personal Services,” “Dating Online Women,” and “Why Christian Online Dating is so Popular.” An executive at CupidsOnlineDating.com reports, “Since its inception, the site has been providing helpful information through expert recommendations of the top (and bottom) online dating sites out there. Our experts’ advice can now not only be found in the form of helpful online dating site recommendations based on a specific set of criterion, but also through their postings on a variety of topics in our online dating blog, which visitors too can comment on and post responses.” Skeptics and novice users can find educational information and expert opinions on the merits of online dating.CupidsOnlineDating.com is a free service, designed to provide educational updates along with impartial reviews of matchmaking sites for consumer use. Reviews found on the site come from research findings of the cited matchmaking sites and are subject to change without notice. Called a “must see,” CupidsOnlineDating.com is also a “most recommended” matchmaking site in channels and forums such as MSN, Yahoo!, NBC, MTV, AOL, and CNN.Stop by CupidsOnlineDating.com’s blog for online dating tips, trends and information from the experts including those who have experienced it all first-hand. Contact us at info@cupidsonlinedating.com for more information.
more articles on dating http://dating.articlesi.com
Former Baywatch star Carmen Electra - who was previously married to rocker Dave Navarro - is completely "smitten" with her new boyfriend, Korn guitarist Rob Patterson.
Electra began dating Patterson last month and has told friends she is besotted.
One pal revealed: "Rob swept her off her feet. It's really nice to see her happy after getting her heart broken."
Earlier this month, Carmen hosted the Cosmopolitan Fun and Fearless luncheon in New York and was accompanied by Rob.
After the luncheon, Carmen, 35, and Rob, 37, headed to the Kobe Club for a romantic meal of crab cakes and truffle fries.
An onlooker said: "Carmen was all smiles."
Carmen - who was briefly married to basketball player Dennis Rodman - recently said she wanted to be wooed in a grocery store.
The actress revealed she loves men who hit on her while she is shopping for food.
She said: "The best place to meet men is while shopping for groceries."
more articles at http://dating.articlesi.com
Broadband - Will it Affect Your Online Marketing Future?
0 comments Posted by Articles Internet at 4:36 AMThe coming age of general Broadband use bearing down upon us, minute by minute, is going to leave many changes in its wake. Some will be welcome; others will demand all we can do, just to keep up!
Of course, items like high quality graphics, streaming video and movies on demand will be commonplace. On the other hand, Broadband spells the end of most common text-only websites. Let's face it: the consumer wants more! Offering a good deal with high quality service won't do it anymore.
Websites that cater to the newfound appetite for quality audio and video content will get the sale. Obviously, that makes perfect sense! It brings to mind an experience I had while learning Photoshop. I purchased a very big manual and it took me three weeks just to get my feet wet. A good friend bought a video tutorial and arrived at my level of skill in two days!
There are many other things audio and video can explain better and in much shorter time than text, as in the example above. We're not talking just innovation; but also, the very deep and long-lasting impact the technology is going to produce.
I was reading an informative article written by Darrin Coe, titled "The Internet Consumer Exposed." It's a piece compiled from larger studies of the habits and lifestyles of Internet centered consumers. By the conclusions reached in the item, it does appear the consumer will smile upon the coming Broadband changes. Here is Darrin's website: http://dcoe1.tripod.com/exposed1/
There are some Marketers actively staking out their Broadband future. One that comes to mind is Jim Edwards. Jim is also a well known writer and syndicated newspaper columnist and - not to mention - a very pleasant person.
A week or so ago, I received an email from Jim inviting me to witness the birth of his new multimedia Newsletter "I Gotta tell You." I was speechless! Very seldom do we get to watch one of the early events giving birth to a revolution! It is content delivery that's light years away and will only get better and better. Good work Jim!
read more at http://broadband-internet.articlesi.com/5396.php
This article is intended as a guide for webmasters who want to display automatically updated content on their website in the form of RSS feeds. In this article I will cover the easiest method to implement using javascript for displaying RSS on websites to create additional dynamic content. This will allow you to display headlines from syndicated content around the web on your website. RSS to Javascript. By far the easiest method is to use client side javascript to parse and display the headlines on your site. To achieve this all you need to do is cut and paste some HTML or javascript code into the web page where you want the RSS feed headlines to display. To achieve this there are several sites that offer a free service that will allow you to select a few options to choose your feed source and display formatting parameters. You will then be presented with some javascript code that you can cut and paste into your website. Now before I give you the address of the sites that offer this service freely there are a few points I need to clarify with you. Although you will achieve your goal of displaying dynamic content on your site in a few short minutes there are some downsides to this method. Javascript is not search engine friendly. As you may or may not already know, javascript is not visible to search engine spiders. They will not see the RSS feed you have parsed into your site and so this will not benefit you if you are doing this to better your search engine rankings.
read more....http://blogging-rss.articlesi.com/18537.php
