Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/Qi6Mmrg6Y2o/
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Around the Web?
Hope you had a great holiday! Return to the grind with Wednesday’s links: Agree or disagree: “Lying is a huge part of parenting” ? HuffPost Parents Kids with overweight moms score lower on I.Q. tests than children of thin moms ? TheBump.com How mothers can help end gun violence ? iVillage.com Parents predicts: what health [...]
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Palestinian war crimes case faces long road
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Days after winning upgraded status at the United Nations, the Palestinians are threatening to join the world's first permanent war crimes court and pursue charges against the Israelis.
Although the Palestinians say that any decision is still a long ways off, the mere threat has unnerved Israel. But pressing a case may not be so simple and could potentially leave the Palestinians themselves vulnerable to prosecution.
Since winning recognition as a nonmember observer state in the United Nations General Assembly last week, the Palestinians believe they now qualify for membership in the International Criminal Court.
In opposing the Palestinian bid at the U.N., Israel repeatedly cited Palestinian threats to turn to the ICC to prosecute Israeli officials for a variety of alleged crimes, ranging from actions by the Israeli military to Israel's construction of Jewish settlements on occupied land.
While Israel does not recognize the court's jurisdiction and believes its own actions do not violate international law, officials are concerned legal action that could embarrass Israel, make it difficult for Israeli officials to travel overseas or portray the country as a pariah state. A war crimes conviction can include fines and maximum penalties of life in prison.
With this in mind, a senior Palestinian official, Nabil Shaath, spoke of possible ICC action over Israel's tough response to the U.N. bid. Israel immediately cut off $100 million in tax transfers to the Palestinians and announced plans to build thousands of new homes in West Bank settlements.
"By continuing these war crimes of settlement activities on our lands and stealing our money, Israel is pushing and forcing us to go to the ICC," Shaath said late Monday.
On the surface, the Palestinians appear to have a strong case against Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim the two areas, as well as the Gaza Strip, for their future state.
The U.N. resolution last week recognized a Palestinian state in all three territories, captured by Israel in the 1967 war. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but continues to control access in and out of the area.
The U.N. resolution appeared to repudiate the Israeli position that the West Bank and east Jerusalem are "disputed" territories and effectively condemned Israeli settlements in the areas, which are now home to some 500,000 Israelis. Settlements are at the heart of the current four-year deadlock in peace efforts, with the Palestinians refusing to negotiate while Israel continues to build more settler homes.
The ICC's founding charter describes "the transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies" as a war crime.
The Palestinian position on settlements has widespread international support. The international community, even Israel's closest ally, the U.S., has broadly condemned the latest planned settlement construction.
"Under our very clear understanding of international law, the settlements are illegal and have always been illegal, and that will remain so," Andrew Standley, the European Union's ambassador to Israel, told reporters Tuesday.
Even so, turning this international opposition into legal action against Israel will be no small task. The Palestinians would face a number of legal and political obstacles in pressing forward.
For starters, it remains unclear whether the Palestinians qualify for membership in the court, because it is open only to states.
Last April, the court's chief prosecutor at the time, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, turned down a request by the Palestinians to join the court. But he subsequently said in an AP interview that they would qualify for membership if they gained nonmember state status at the U.N.
So far, the court has said only that it "takes note" of last week's U.N. decision and will consider its "legal implications." Moreno-Ocampo is no longer at the court.
Goran Sluiter, professor of international law at Amsterdam University, said that with their newfound status, it seems likely the Palestinians could join the ICC. But it is unclear whether the court would agree to investigate their complaints.
He said the court would look at key issues, including the gravity of the alleged crimes and whether Israel's own judicial system is capable of judging the case, before deciding whether to prosecute. If they were to launch a probe, prosecutors also would look at alleged crimes by Palestinians.
"I think there is still a very, very, very, long way to go," Sluitter said. In the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel, "there's a broad range of conduct that could be a basis for further investigations because they would qualify as war crimes."
Robbie Sabel, a former legal adviser to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said he thinks the Palestinians "will seriously hesitate" taking action against Israel.
He said Israel, for instance, could try to hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for rocket attacks out of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip aimed at Israeli cities. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who lost control of Gaza to Hamas five years ago, claims to represent both territories on the international stage.
"Any Hamas person who launches a rocket could then be subject to ICC ruling. They have to expose their own people first," said Sabel, who is now a law professor at the Hebrew University.
A U.N. report into heavy fighting between Israel and Hamas four years ago found evidence of war crimes by both sides.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel would fight any attempt by the Palestinians to use the ICC as a "politicized instrument" against Israel.
"We are not worried about Israel's case because we have a good solid case and we work strictly according to international law," he said.
The Palestinians would also face heavy political pressure not to go to court. The U.S. Senate, for instance, is debating legislation that would cut off millions of dollars in assistance to the Palestinians and close their diplomatic offices in Washington if they file charges against Israel. The legislation is expected to be voted on in the coming days.
A senior Palestinian official said the Palestinians are in "no hurry" to rush to the ICC, in part because they are pleased with the heavy international condemnations of Israel's latest settlement plans but also because of fears of antagonizing the U.S.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing internal high-level deliberations, said the Palestinians are now focused on repairing ties with the U.S., which sided with Israel in opposing last week's U.N. resolution. Yet he noted that the Palestinians have refused calls to promise not to go to the ICC.
Late Tuesday, a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank said they would ask the U.N. Security Council to pass a decision calling on Israel to halt "all forms of settlement activity." In a statement, the Palestinians condemned the latest planned construction as "war crimes," but, reflecting their current thinking, made no mention of going to the ICC.
___
Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Amy Teibel and Lauren E. Bohn in Jerusalem contributed reporting.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/palestinian-war-crimes-case-faces-long-road-205624000.html
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Important Things That You Need To Know When Marketing Products ...
Important Things That You Need To Know When Marketing Products Online
TIP! In order to get the right content on your website, you need to have a target audience in mind and to understand their preferences. Figuring out who you want to attract with your content will make designing that content much easier.Network marketing is a great business opportunity for someone with lots of energy and that yearns for success. The following information will give you some effective and smart ideas on how to run a network marketing business successfully.
TIP! You might want to offer a subscription service that customers can use when purchasing items on your site. If someone buys printer ink at regular intervals, ask them to sign up to get a new shipment every few months at 25% off.
Email marketing is an important, beneficial tool. Use a reliable method for your emails. Don?t use a service that will delete old emails because you may need access to them. Try making a email archiving arrangement.
TIP! Be aware of all of your competition. If you don?t realize what your competition is doing, you can easily fall behind in the market.
A small businessman may be overwhelmed by the huge Internet businesses already out there. There are a couple of ways to gain an edge in this market, one being to adjust your prices in accordance with your competition in frequent intervals. It is a good idea to set up a storefront within the marketplace, where all your products can be purchased in one convenient, simple to use place.
TIP! Your internet marketing plan can include a well-written, public relations page about your business. This is where you can include information that online magazines and newspapers can publish.Make sure that your website is in a good format that makes its links more easily seen. This will keep your audience engaged and they won?t have to dig around for links.
TIP! Starting a blog is a great way to increase traffic. In order to get these additional visitors, you need to keep your site fresh with relevant content that you update on a daily basis.
Proper HTML tagging is a must. HTML tags will indicate how important your content is, and will show it in different bold gradations based on its importance. Tags also tell search engine spiders what your site is about. Be certain to highlight the keywords that matter the most.
Internal Links
TIP! If you utilize regular emails to your customers, make sure you?re rotating the links that you include within those emails. It is very easy for customers to begin ignoring emails if they look the same.
Creating internal links which include keywords is another good SEO practice. Once you get a visitor to your site, keeping them there becomes vital. If you use links to direct them to previous posts or other relevant information elsewhere on the site, you can keep them around much longer. Internal links can not only keep your visitors? attention, but also make it easier for search engines to index your site.
TIP! You should test how effective your emails are when it comes to sending out offers to your targeted customers. One option for testing your emails is called A/B testing.
Offer free content to your visitors and you will get more traffic. This makes for savvy Internet promotion, because your free product acts as a persuasive advertisement for the materials you?re actually trying to sell. Begin an ad campaign focused on detailing the course.
TIP! Buy ad space on popular, well-known sites. By investing the time to advertise on reputable websites, you give yourself a lot of great exposure.Attach a personalized signature to your emails, with your name and a link to your site. A signature acts as a business card, so use this tool wisely by maximizing exposure. Increase the chances of more traffic and revenue by using this tool for enlightening email recipients on the nature of your business.
Your banner ads should be different than any others. Work on improving the appearance of your banner ads, and visitors will be more enthusiastic about clicking on them.
TIP! To improve and strengthen your reputation, you should affiliate with reputable companies and allow them to advertise on your site. If you demonstrate an association with big brands, customers will be likely to assign you some extra legitimacy.
Consider customizing your site for different global locations. Create as many possible versions of your website as you can, offering a variety of different languages. This will broaden your customer base and get traffic from all over the world. Your international customers will be more likely to make a purchase if they can read your website in their own language.
Apply the advice from this article to help grow your business. They will give you a strong foundation to help your network marketing business thrive.
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Icahn abandons effort to take control of Oshkosh
(Reuters) - Activist investor Carl Icahn on Tuesday abandoned his effort to acquire control of U.S. truck and military vehicle maker Oshkosh Corp
Only 22 percent of shares were tendered in his $32.50 per share offer, less than the 25 percent threshold Icahn had sought. Icahn, who remains Oshkosh's largest shareholder with a 9.5 percent stake, had said that many shares would have improved his chances of overhauling the board of the Oshkosh, Wisconsin-based company.
Oshkosh shares were down 4.3 percent at $28.80 early Tuesday morning on the New York Stock Exchange.
"We are returning all tendered shares and we will not extend the offer," said Icahn, whose offer valued Oshkosh at $2.98 billion and represented a 21 percent premium on the share price prior to his October bid.
Oshkosh had previously dismissed Icahn's offer as inadequate and in November the company's board authorized management to buy back up to 11 million shares, which would represent 12 percent of the company's outstanding stock, up from a prior authorization to buy back 7.2 million shares.
Company representatives on Tuesday declined to comment on Icahn's latest move.
Icahn had argued that Oshkosh should spin off its JLG aerial lift unit, which the company acquired in 2006 for $3 billion, as a standalone company.
This was Icahn's second run at Oshkosh; a year earlier he waged an unsuccessful proxy battle, with shareholders rejecting his slate of directors.
(Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Matthew Lewis)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/icahn-abandons-effort-control-oshkosh-132341897--sector.html
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Male chimpanzees choose their allies carefully
ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2012) ? The ability of male chimpanzees to form coalitions with one another in order to direct aggression at other male chimpanzees has certain benefits. A new study by Ian Gilby at Duke University in North Carolina and his colleagues has further revealed that it may not just be the coalition that is important, but who the coalition is with that determines future success.
Their study finds that male chimpanzees with central positions in the coalitionary network were most likely to father offspring and increase in rank. Specifically, those who formed coalitions with males who did not form coalitions with each other were the most successful. Their work is published in the Springer journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
Coalitionary aggression is when at least two individuals jointly direct aggression at one or more targets. Aggression and coalition formation between males is important for attaining a higher dominance in many animal species. The most dominant males are more likely to mate and therefore, sire offspring. Males with high coalition rates are more likely to mate more often than expected for their rank.
Gilby and his colleagues studied data from wild chimpanzees gathered over 14 years from the Kasekela community in Gombe National Park in Tanzania. They wanted to test the hypothesis that male coalitionary aggression leads to positive benefits via increased dominance rank and improved reproductive success. Of the four measures they used to characterize a male's coalitionary behavior, the only one that was related to both of these factors was 'betweenness' -- a measure of social network centrality -- which reflects the tendency to make coalitions with other males who did not form coalitions with each other. The only non-alpha males to sire offspring were males that had the highest 'betweenness' scores. These males were also more likely to increase in rank, which is associated with higher reproductive success.
The researchers postulate that this shows that male chimpanzees may recognize the value of making the 'right' social connections. By choosing their coalition partners carefully, they are demonstrating an ability to recognize the relationships of others.
The authors conclude that "?our data suggest that there are consequences to the recognition of third party relationships. As such, it represents an important step toward a more complete understanding of the adaptive value of social intelligence and the evolution of co-operation." They add that further observation is required to fully explain the study's findings.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Springer.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Ian C. Gilby, Lauren J. N. Brent, Emily E. Wroblewski, Rebecca S. Rudicell, Beatrice H. Hahn, Jane Goodall, Anne E. Pusey. Fitness benefits of coalitionary aggression in male chimpanzees. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2012; DOI: 10.1007/s00265-012-1457-6
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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Tuesday, December 4, 2012
British government announces Cyber Reserve to protect the Queen's laptop
The British government has updated its online cyber-security strategy with a variety of new cyber-programs to protect the motherland's cyber-future. It's setting up a nationwide Computer Emergency Response Team in order to help companies deal with... you know, cyber-threats. Alongside it, will be a new Cyber Reserve, which will call upon the talents of the motherland's finest cyber-minds in times of dire cyber-need. The plan will be pressed into action later next year, just as soon as our politicians learn another buzzword.
Filed under: Internet
Via: WSJ, Tech Week Europe
Source: Cabinet Office (PDF), (2)
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/2Nq_dvgv_Ww/
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Don't Start Your Search Engine Optimization Plan Without Reading ...
There are many SEO elements that you?ll feel comfortable doing, but you may find that you need the professionals? help with some of the elements. This article?s advice might be what your company needs to start moving forward.
You should identify yourself as a knowledgeable expert in the field in which you are doing business. It is an effective way to increase your internet marketing success. Design your website around a certain niche, and apply search engine optimization to get visitors who belong to that niche. Make sure you know exactly what customers are looking for, don?t just guess.
Focus on just one area of SEO techniques at a time. You only have so much time to devote to learning SEO, so make the best use of those hours by focusing on one part of the SEO puzzle at a time.
If you post duplicate content on your site, you will receive a duplicate content penalty from all the major search engines. Instead of rewriting the same articles, use new content to attract different readers.
To increase your online presence, utilize the local listings on Google and Yahoo. Free listings at these sites will generate more traffic and recognition for your site. Any way to get more publicity without spending money is a must.
When working on SEO, try using social media sites. If you join Youtube, you can show videos of your products and perhaps the way you use them. You can talk directly to your visitors with social media sites.
If appropriate, employ the services of a quality SEO company to optimize your website. These companies will help you get your site a much higher search engine ranking. Tons of companies offer great deals on these sorts of services.
Choose an SEO oriented style over an AP style to improve your site?s search engine positioning. In SEO style, you repeat your keywords as often as you can, as long as your article flow is not interrupted and your style remains unstilted. Search engines look for keywords and evaluate keyword density.
Many people are under the impression that simply including keywords in comment tags will make a website more visible to search engines. Instead, you should concentrate on enhancing the content of your site.
Create a cutting-edge podcast. A podcast consists of informational content delivered in audio or video form, sometimes live, and they always should contain relevant information based on the topic of your show. This popular approach requires little more than locating and operating an audio recorder or webcam. The search engines then are able to grab your podcast descriptions.
Join the local Chamber of Commerce and Better Business Bureau for better search engine rankings. By joining these listings, your articles will be brought up more often. You also get the added benefit of trust and legitimacy by maintaining a good rating with the Better Business Bureau.
If you are serious about improving your site?s rank, then you will want to implement web analytics from the start. Consider purchasing analytic software so that you can track which methods are performing well and which are not.
You could possibly have your site optimized for only a couple of the major search engines. Keyword-rich content may work well for some search engines. , Ask. and Bing have their different practices that can be optimized in different ways.
When your blog is on your own site, under your domain name, it gives your website more visibility and power in search results. This generates more traffic for the site you are hoping to market.
Don?t make pages that have nothing but links on them. You should try to incorporate links into your content in a way that appears natural. Pages filled with only links are boring and search engines don?t rank them highly. It is extremely important to have your content relevant to your text, as this is something search engines look for.
Purchase a simple domain name that is pertinent to your niche and easy to remember. This is very true for clients who found you through YouTube.
If you want your site to achieve higher rankings in the search engines, consider these tips as part of your site management strategy. It is not difficult to apply SEO practices, and they will help you see an improvement in your rank.
Bordeaux Marketing Group is an internet marketing agency specializing Affiliate Program Management, Online Marketing Expert including Pay Per Click (PPC), Social Media Marketing, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). We are recognized by Google as �Certified Adwords Professional� specializing in Search Marketing (PPC Management). To find out more visit their website at http://www.bordeauxmarketinggroup.com.
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Monday, December 3, 2012
Gaining momentum - Computer News Middle East
The IT landscape is ever evolving as the divide between traditional business and personal consumption continues to narrow. At its Momentum 2012 conference in Vienna, EMC highlighted its rise as an innovator in consumer business and the significant influence it will have on the enterprise.
Transforming IT and business has been a familiar sound bite from EMC over the past year as it has frequently promised to assist enterprises in the transition from traditional to social IT with its solutions, support and industry knowledge.
EMC delivered on those promises during its Momentum 2012 conference in Vienna, where it presented the largest simultaneous product launch of its kind, signifying its step into secure, rapid and social business transactions.
The storage-turned-general IT company used the event to make a statement on the next generation user of business applications, which it believes will demand modern, beautiful and socially-based programmes that are available on any device and accessible from any location.
According to EMC, users will demand the types of products that they?ve experienced during their training and development. As such, its mission is to assist in the integration of business and new user, focusing on cloud computing, mobility and big data.
?Consumerisation is the future of IT,? said Rick Devenuti, President, EMC IIG. ?Business is changing, it?s transforming, and we need to transform with it. The needs are greater and the demand is higher.
?Customers are experiencing shifts in the way their business works, our solutions aren?t adequate anymore. We?ve developed a range of products which the industry is going to love. They?re simplified, unified solutions which effectively address the current needs of our customers.?
In sync
The new Documentum product range includes a host of file based solutions, including document security, file sharing and slideshow capabilities. EMC also presented the latest version of the cloud-based sync and share service Syncplicity, following its acquisition of the company in May.
?This is another thing I?m excited about ? syncing all my folders from my desktop into a secure environment and having access to them whenever and wherever I like. That?s the future of business. I don?t even need to carry my laptop around with me anymore,? Devenuti said.
Syncplicity allows users to access, share, and update any file, online or offline. Moreover, if an employee leaves the company, Syncplicity has the ability to hone in on specific enterprise owned data and wipe it from each device.
Jeetu Patel, General Manager, Syncplicity, said: ?The enterprise is witnessing a lack of control. The employee wants to work on their chosen device and they want to access their desktop virtually.
?With Syncplicity, IT teams have full control of their data regardless to when or where it?s being accessed ? that is hugely positive. This gives you full back-up protection whilst aiding productivity. The mission is to change the way people work without changing what they do and this is the perfect example of that.?
According to Patel, IT has a harder job now than ever before in terms of access and security. With the consumerisation of business, he said employees can go out and begin to use any device of their choice without even consulting with their IT management.
?Users are making life hard for IT by simply bypassing them and saying ?I?m going to use this consumer based application, and by the way, there isn?t any security on it.? It opens huge amounts of exposure,? he said.
?IT then has two options; they can lock down the user ? causing them to be unproductive ? or they can provide tools to the users which are compliant but also easy to use. Thousands of people will go into this space ? we?re pioneers in this I believe.?
The two major reasons for this consumer shift are cloud and mobile. The accessibility for users has increased and the simplicity of gaining applications and tools has evolved greatly, Patel added.
?Before, if a user wanted the Microsoft Office package, there was a $300 odd price tag and they had to go to the store, pick it up and then install it ? they?re not going to do that today. Now they?re looking at a two minute download, even with a slow connection,? he said.
?With this freedom for the user, the risks increase. We think this is completely mitigated by solutions like ours. We do one thing really well ? files. We eliminate friction from files.?
The major concern for businesses in the consumerisation of IT and BYOD (bring your own device) is maintaining security without taking away any productivity from employees. Patel said he believes that EMC and Syncplicity offer the only solution on the market that offers the freedom that employees need to access and share files whilst giving IT peace of mind.
?With these devices, businesses don?t own the data. They don?t know where the data is, what it?s doing or where it?s going ? they?re very out of control. With us, the company can access the data, control the data and monitor the data at all times. Moreover, if an employee loses their device, the sensitive data can be located and wiped instantly.?
Mitigating costs
A further benefit of consumerising IT, according to EMC, is the cost saving through the use of personal devices.
As pointed out by Patel, only a fraction of tablets used in business are bought by the company, and users who bring in cutting edge technology that supports the use of business applications is a winning formula for the company.
The advent of mobility and, as EMC announced in Vienna, a secure and protected environment with which to use it, is helping businesses move into the next phase of IT.
The key message of the event was that IT transformation is gaining momentum and it?s only a matter of time before the entire industry is board.
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Source: http://www.cnmeonline.com/analysis/gaining-momentum/
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AP IMPACT: China overtaking US as global trader
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Shin Cheol-soo no longer sees his future in the United States.
The South Korean businessman supplied components to American automakers for a decade. But this year, he uprooted his family from Detroit and moved home to focus on selling to the new economic superpower: China.
In just five years, China has surpassed the United States as a trading partner for much of the world, including U.S. allies such as South Korea and Australia, according to an Associated Press analysis of trade data. As recently as 2006, the U.S. was the larger trading partner for 127 countries, versus just 70 for China. By last year the two had clearly traded places: 124 countries for China, 76 for the U.S.
___
EDITOR'S NOTE ? This is the first installment in "China's Reach," a project that will analyze China's influence with its trading partners over three decades, and explore how that is changing business, politics and daily life. Keep up with AP's reporting on China's Reach, and join the conversation about it, using the hashtag (hash)APChinaReach on Twitter.
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In the most abrupt global shift of its kind since World War II, the trend is changing the way people live and do business from Africa to Arizona, as farmers plant more soybeans to sell to China and students sign up to learn Mandarin.
The findings show how fast China has ascended to challenge America's century-old status as the globe's dominant trader, a change that is gradually translating into political influence. They highlight how pervasive China's impact has been, spreading from neighboring Asia to Africa and now emerging in Latin America, the traditional U.S. backyard.
Despite China's now-slowing economy, its share of world output and trade is expected to keep rising, with growth forecast at up to 8 percent a year over the next decade, far above U.S. and European levels. This growth could strengthen the hand of a new generation of just-named Chinese leaders, even as it fuels strain with other nations.
Last year, Shin's ENA Industry Co. made half his sales of rubber and plastic parts to U.S. factories. But his plans call for China, which overtook the United States as the biggest auto market in 2009, to rise fivefold to 30 percent of his total by 2015. He and his children are studying Mandarin.
"The United States is a tiger with no power," Shin said in his office, where three walls are lined with books, many about China. "Nobody can deny that China is the one now rising."
___
Trade is a bit like football ? the balance of exports and imports, like the game score, is a neat snapshot of a jumble of moves that make up the economy, and both sides are apt to accuse each other of cheating from time to time. Also, the U.S. and China are both rivals and partners who can't have a match without each other, and a strong performance from both is good for the entire league.
Trade may get less publicity than military affairs or diplomacy, yet it is commerce that generates jobs and raises living standards. Trade can also translate into political power. As shopkeepers say, the customer is always right: Governments listen to countries that buy their goods, and the threat to stop buying is one of the most potent diplomatic weapons.
China has been slow to flex its political muscle on a large scale but is starting to push back in disputes over trade, exchange rates and climate change.
"When a German chancellor or French president goes to China, right at the top of the list, he's trying to sell Airbuses and other products and is being sensitive to China's political concerns, like on human rights," said C. Fred Bergsten, a former U.S. Treasury Department official who heads the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
The United States is still the world's biggest importer, but China is gaining. It was a bigger market than the United States for 77 countries in 2011, up from 20 in 2000, according to the AP analysis.
The AP is using International Monetary Fund data to measure the importance of trade with China for some 180 countries and track how it changes over time. The analysis divides a nation's trade with China by its gross domestic product.
The story that emerges is of China's breakneck rise, rather than of a U.S. decline. In 2002, trade with China was 3 percent of a country's GDP on average, compared with 8.7 percent with the U.S. But China caught up, and surged ahead in 2008. Last year, trade with China averaged 12.4 percent of GDP for other countries, higher than that with America at any time in the last 30 years.
Of course, not all trade is equal. China's trade is mostly low-end goods and commodities, while the U.S. competes at the upper end of the market.
Also, even though Chinese companies invest abroad and employ thousands of foreign workers, they lag behind American industry in building global alliances and in innovation, which is still rewarded in the marketplace. China's competitive edge remains low labor and other costs, while the U.S. is the world's center for innovation in autos, aerospace, computers, medicine, munitions, finance and pharmaceuticals. The Chinese have yet to build a car that will pass U.S. or European emission standards.
And the United States still does more trade overall ? but just barely. If the trend continues, China will push past the U.S. this year, a remarkable feat for a country so poor 30 years ago that the average person had never talked on a telephone.
"The center of gravity of the world economy has moved to the east," said Mauricio Cardenas, the finance minister in Colombia. Like most of Latin America, his country is still more closely tied to the U.S., but its trade with China has risen from virtually nothing to 2.5 percent of GDP, a more than tenfold increase since 2001. "I would say that there is nothing comparable in the last 50 years."
In one sense, China's growing presence in trade is just restoring the Middle Kingdom to its historic dominance. China was the biggest economy for centuries until about 1800, when the Industrial Revolution propelled first Europe and then the U.S. into the lead.
China began its return to the global stage in the 1990s as a manufacturer of low-priced goods, from T-shirts to toys. Factories in other countries slashed costs to meet the "China price" or were pushed out of the market.
As the new millennium dawned, the U.S. remained by far the world's dominant trader, rivaled collectively by Europe but no single nation. However, from 2000 to 2008, China's imports grew 403 percent and exports 474 percent, driven in part by its entrance into the World Trade Organization and its move to higher-value production.
China's imports of oil and raw materials for its factories propelled resource booms in parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America. China's demand for steel for manufacturing and construction grew so fast that its mills now consume half the world's output of iron ore.
Zambia, a major copper producer, switched to the China column in 2000. Australia, a coal and iron ore exporter, followed in 2005. Chile, another copper supplier, moved in 2009.
Meanwhile, exports surged as Apple, Samsung, Nokia and other electronics giants shifted final assembly to China. Shipments of mobile phones, flat-screen TVs and personal computers have jumped sevenfold over the past decade to nearly $500 billion. That made China a major customer for high-tech components supplied by countries such as South Korea, which swung into China's column in 2003, followed by Malaysia in 2007.
In the U.S., Vermont-based manufacturer SBE Inc. started exporting capacitors ? energy-storage devices used in computers, hybrid cars and wind turbines ? in 2006. The company now gets 15 to 20 percent of its revenue from China, and has hired 10 employees there.
As China grew richer, its people spent more.
Chinese ate more pork, fried chicken and hamburgers, rapidly sending up the demand for soybeans to make cooking oil and feed for pigs and cows. Some cattle ranchers in Latin America turned grazing land into fields of soy, a crop few in their region consume. Soybean exports helped push Brazil into the China column in 2010, and put China neck and neck with the U.S. as Argentina's top trading partner.
In the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, some 10,000 miles (17,000 kilometers) from Beijing, farmer Agenor Vicente Pelissa and his family raise cattle and soy on 54,300 acres, a farm twice the size of Manhattan. Half their 21,000-ton annual soybean harvest goes to China.
"We've invested more in technology and in better machines and equipment to meet this rising demand," Pelissa said. "If it hadn't been for China, we would not have not modernized our operations, at least not as quickly as we did."
Even in the U.S., better known for manufacturing, farmers are rushing to sell to China. The United States is the largest exporter of soybeans to China, followed by Brazil and Argentina. China's purchases of American soybeans have risen from almost nothing 20 years ago to a quarter of the crop: 24 million tons worth $12.1 billion, America's largest export to China.
The boom is having a profound effect on farming communities, said Grant Kimberley, whose family farm near Des Moines, Iowa, now grows 4,000 acres of soybeans, up from 3,500 eight years ago.
"It's provided more revenue for these farmers than they've ever seen in their lives," said Kimberley, who is also director of market development at the Iowa Soybean Association. He said he sees more young people returning to the farm. "People can see there's an opportunity to make nice livings for their families."
___
It was the 2008 global crisis that showed the resilience of China's exporters.
The recession set everyone back, but China less so than the U.S. or other major traders such as Germany. China does a bigger share of its trade with developing countries that suffered less and rebounded faster, while the United States sells to rich economies that are struggling. Chinese companies have boosted exports by 7 percent this year despite anemic global demand.
During the recession, Shin, the South Korean auto parts manufacturer, saw his sales fall 50 percent. He shut one of three production lines, and banks stopped lending him money.
But China's auto market was powering ahead. So Shin hired an employee in China, and is now making plans for his first factory there. On a business trip to Germany, clients told him their Chinese factories would be larger than those at home.
Parents like Shin, who work at companies doing business with China, in turn fed enrollment growth at schools such as Teacher Ching, a Chinese-language kindergarten in Seoul.
Nancy Ching, the daughter of immigrants from Taiwan, opened the school with 15 students in 2004, the year after South Korea first moved from the U.S. column to the China column. Today she has 60.
"Mothers who send their kids here believe our children's generation is the China generation," she said in Chinese-accented Korean. "In the future, without learning Chinese, one won't be able to get a job."
China resumed its upward trajectory in the last two years. Even with key Western markets in a slump, exports are up 58 percent since 2009. Imports are up an even sharper 73 percent.
Rising incomes have driven demand for wine and other luxury goods, making China a lifeline for European and American vineyards when the global crisis battered traditional markets.
The Chinese have "helped Bordeaux a lot these past three years," said Florence Cathiard, owner of Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte in the Pessac-Leognan area of France's southwest, home of high-end Bordeaux wine.
France's wine exports to China first surged in 2009, and by last year, China had surpassed the U.S. as a customer by volume. Americans still spend more, because they buy more expensive wines. But China is developing a taste for grand cru wine, the "great growths" that are considered exceptional and command higher prices.
Cathiard acknowledged that she was initially wary of China as a reliable market for her high-end wines. But the turning point for her came around 2008, when she was blown away by the number of people showing up for a master class by her chateau at a wine expo in Hong Kong.
China now accounts for 25 percent of Cathiard's sales, making it her largest market.
The owners of Chateau Haut-Bailly, also in Pessac-Leognan, first traveled to China to test the waters in 2000, and it was too early.
"At the time, they didn't know what a cork or a corkscrew was," said Veronique Sanders, the chateau's general manager.
Chinese sophistication has since advanced rapidly, she said.
"The difference with other emerging markets we've gone into in the past is the size of the country, which means it has an absolutely incredible potential."
___
The next step in China's trade evolution is to move beyond exporting TVs and lawn furniture to selling services and investing abroad.
The investment trend started with state-owned companies that bought stakes in foreign mines and oil fields. Smaller and private Chinese companies followed, acquiring foreign enterprises to gain a bigger foothold in overseas markets, more access to resources and better technology for their own development.
China is now pushing into construction and engineering, where U.S. and European companies have long dominated.
In Algeria, Chinese state-owned companies pushed aside established French and German rivals to win contracts to build a $12 billion cross-country highway and the $1.3 billion Great Mosque of Algeria. The Chinese have also built highways, dams and other projects in developing countries and are starting to win contracts in the U.S. and Europe.
On a new 50-kilometer (30-mile) highway leading north of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, dark asphalt stretches across six to eight lanes.
The $300 million road was built by three Chinese companies and financed by the African Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China. It has cut a trip that took several hours 18 months ago to 10 minutes, said Joseph Makori, a professional driver.
"When we see the people from America, they say, 'We want to assist Kenya'," said Makori as he looked for work at an interchange about 10 kilometers from downtown. "But I don't see it. China comes and I see one thing: the road."
Chinese companies are starting to win government contracts in Kenya, which has ports that offer access to landlocked Uganda, South Sudan and Rwanda. Governments in Africa are keen to work with China because it does not tie development to human rights or democracy, said Stephen Mutoro, secretary general of the Consumer Federation of Kenya.
"China appears to have a long-term plan based on increasing its commercial interests where governance issues are given a back burner," Mutoro said. The experience of Congo might foreshadow a more complex approach that Beijing envisages for other African nations. In 2008, the two governments signed a $9 billion deal for Chinese companies to build 177 hospitals and health centers, two hydroelectric dams and thousands of miles of railways and roads. In exchange, Congo was to provide 10.6 million tons of copper and 600,000 tons of cobalt.
The deal has since been scaled back to $6 billion under pressure from the International Monetary Fund, which felt Congo was taking on too much debt.
China's outbound investment totaled $67.6 billion last year ? just one-sixth of America's nearly $400 billion ? but it could reach $2 trillion by 2020, according to a forecast by Rhodium Group, a research firm in New York City.
As a result, Chinese companies are using a new export ? jobs.
Employees at Volvo Cars worried after Chinese automaker Geely Holdings bought the money-losing Swedish brand from Ford Motor Co. in 2010. But two years later, instead of moving jobs to China, Geely has expanded Volvo's European workforce of 19,500 to about 21,500.
Majority-owned U.S. affiliates of Chinese companies support about 27,000 American jobs, up from fewer than 10,000 five years ago, according to Rhodium.
In Goodyear, Arizona, Stacey Rassas was laid off in May 2010 after a 16-year career in quality control for aerospace and aluminum manufacturers. By late autumn, she and her husband were worried they might lose their house.
She finally landed a job that December at a new factory that makes solar panels for one of the world's biggest solar manufacturers.
"It was the best day ever," she said.
Her new employer? Suntech Power Holdings Co., a Chinese company.
___
McDonald reported from Beijing. AP Business Writers Sarah DiLorenzo in Paris and Jonathan Fahey and Scott Mayerowitz in New York and AP writers Michelle Faul in Johannesburg; Louise Nordstrom in Stockholm; Luis Andres Henao in Santiago, Chile; Cesar Garcia in Bogota, Colombia; Paul Schemm in Algiers, Algeria; Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo; Troy Thibodeaux in New Orleans; and Jason Straziuso and Tom Odula in Nairobi, Kenya; and AP interactive producer Pailin Wedel in Bangkok contributed.
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re: The Auditors ? Blog Archive ? Deloitte, HP And Autonomy: You ...
When HP announced its intention to acquire Autonomy, the British data analysis firm now mired in accusations of serious fraud, Deloitte probably shed some enormous tears of joy. Deloitte was more than happy, I?m sure, to rid itself of the Autonomy audit albatross. That may surprise some of you, since Deloitte UK was the long time auditor of Autonomy, and would lose that job and its nice fees, to HP?s auditor Ernst & Young.
To the victor?s auditor go the audit spoils.
But that?s not how the Big Four audit industry game is played now that consulting is again King. What Deloitte would lose in audit fees ? reportedly ?5.422m for Autonomy?s audits during the last four years? ? the firm could now openly replace with guilt-free consulting.
According to filings, Deloitte earned an additional ?4.44m from Autonomy in the last four years for services such as tax compliance, due diligence for acquisitions and other services ?pursuant to legislation?. As the preeminent Big Four tax services provider, HP?s auditor Ernst & Young, HP?s auditor, would likely start doing everything tax related for Autonomy. However, Deloitte was now free to team with Autonomy and all of its technology products as an alliance partner for systems integration engagements. That could be worth billions in consulting revenue that Deloitte?s UK firm, at least, had given up to be the auditor of a fast growing, highly acquisitive technology ?Fast 50? firm.
There are differences in the legislation enacted to restore confidence in audits by the United States after Arthur Andersen?s Enron piggishness ? Sarbanes-Oxley ? and the regulations that govern UK listed companies and their auditors. For example, the UK does not bar an auditor from also providing internal audit services to a company it audits.
Regulations in the US and UK do prohibit business alliance relationships between an auditor and its audit client.? The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is the UK?s lead audit regulator. APB Ethical Standard 2, Financial, Business, Employment and Personal Relationships, states:
Audit firms, persons in a position to influence the conduct and outcome of the audit and immediate family members of such persons shall not enter into business relationships with an audited entity, its management or its affiliates except where they involve the purchase of goods and services from the audit firm or the audited entity in the ordinary course of business and on an arm?s length basis and which are not material to either party or are clearly inconsequential to either party.
Business relationships, says the FRC, may create self-interest, advocacy or intimidation threats to the auditor?s objectivity and perceived loss of independence.
Examples of prohibited business relationships include ?arrangements to combine one or more services or products of the audit firm with one or more services or products of the audited entity and to market the package with reference to both parties or distribution or marketing arrangements under which the audit firm acts as a distributor or marketer of any of the audited entity?s products or services, or the audited entity acts as the distributor or marketer of any of the products or services of the audit firm.?
In 2010 Autonomy was named a Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 company, one of the UK?s fastest growing technology companies. Deloitte UK was officially prohibited from jointly marketing its consulting services with Autonomy or reselling Autonomy?s products such as IDOL or popular products acquired while it was the auditor of Autonomy. ?Popular Autonomy software includes Interwoven, Verity, and Meridio for government and defense contractors. ?That must have been tough.
But that didn?t stop the consulting practices of other Deloitte member firms all over the world from taking advantage of the popularity of Autonomy products to boost their revenues. In March of 2011, less than six months before HP announced its acquisition of Autonomy, Deloitte Luxembourg announced it had selected Autonomy?s Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL) as a vendor ??to better manage information and knowledge within the firm to increase productivity.? In addition, Autonomy would further collaborate with Deloitte to ?fast-track its technology to Deloitte Luxembourg?s extensive customer base??
Deloitte UK, and its fellow Deloitte firms all over the world, are allowed to be customers of an audit client of one of them such as Autonomy ?in the ordinary course of business?. They are customers of Autonomy. Autonomy lists Deloitte entities and Ernst & Young, HP?s auditor, as customers on numerous websites and in marketing materials and case studies. In 2011, digital agency Roundarch, founded in June 2000 by Deloitte and WPP, also selected Autonomy?s cloud-based comprehensive data backup and recovery solutions for its own operation. This privately owned company was operated by its senior management until February 2012 when Aegis Group plc acquired the digital agency. The Aegis Group plc auditor is Ernst & Young.
But were Deloitte non-UK member firms allowed to sign marketing and reselling contracts as Autonomy alliance partners while Deloitte UK audited this multinational company with customers all over the world? Email requests for comment from HP and Deloitte were not returned.?When it comes to irresistible consulting revenue growth, an audit firm?s ?network of seamless service providers? bound by independence and objectivity regarding the audit of a multinational listed company stops at each border.
In the largest market for Deloitte?s consulting services, the United States, Deloitte Consulting?s US arm and Autonomy worked together prior to HP?s acquisition and after on one of the most high profile e-discovery and document management cases ever ? the litigation over the BP Gulf oil spill. Autonomy, or rather a version of an Autonomy acquisition called Introspect, was used for the enormous BP Deepwater Horizon review, which employed more than 800 review attorneys at one point.
The BP Deepwater Horizon review started in the summer of 2010, after the explosion in April of that year. Deloitte was the case management consultant working between the client (BP), the review team and the hosting vendor (Autonomy). It is not clear if this was a joint project between Deloitte and Autonomy, with Deloitte acting as a systems integrator for the software, or if the parties contracted separately.
According to a source close to the BP engagement, the Autonomy software was a total disaster. The larger the review got, the worse the software performed.??Searches would hang up for long periods of time, document images would get out of synch with their corresponding coding records, the entire system would crash or have to be taken offline to be reset.? You name it ? when it came to software problems, Autonomy had them all at one time or another.?
According to the source, BP?s E-discovery manager made the selection because Autonomy was, supposedly, one of only two platforms potentially scalable to the enormous database they anticipated.?But, without exception according to the source, everyone from the project manager to the average document review attorney was aggravated by the experience of trying to use the Autonomy product.
Previous business alliances by Deloitte member firms with Autonomy?s Interwoven and Verity products for system integration and reseller revenue may or may not have properly ceased in the UK when the firms were acquired and may have never ceased outside of the UK. The case studies and press releases are still on the Autonomy website now under the HP logo.
Deloitte has always been an important systems integration partner for HP. Deloitte has won numerous partner awards from HP over the years, including the most recent one, for the revenue growth enjoyed by both. As soon as HP bought Autonomy, Deloitte was free to publicly sign alliance agreements with Autonomy for all of its products. Deloitte member firms are hiring all over the world for the expertise to implement Autonomy?s software. Deloitte Consulting and its global member firms enjoy the highest possible Autonomy partner status, worth millions if not billions, as integrators of Autonomy products.
HP Autonomy: Deloitte?s Content Management practice includes one of the most experienced and highly regarded advisory and implementation service organizations in the world. HP Autonomy supports the information management for many of these projects.
Not a bad consolation prize for losing the Autonomy audit to Ernst & Young and for any litigation settlement they may, or may never, pay for Autonomy?s alleged fraud.
Albatross photo credit here.
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Sunday, December 2, 2012
Saturday, December 1, 2012
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Jobless claims drop for 2nd week as Sandy effect fades
1 hr.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped for a second straight week last week, unwinding some of the storm-related surge, which has muddled the labor market picture.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 393,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's figure was revised up to show 6,000 more applications than previously reported.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims falling to 390,0000 last week. The four-week moving average for new claims, a better measure of labor market trends, increased 7,500 to 405,250, the highest level since October last year.
Superstorm Sandy, which ripped through the East Coast in late October, has distorted initial claims data in recent weeks, making it hard to get a clear pulse of the labor market.
A Labor Department official said there was no pronounced impact of the storm in last week's data, adding that claims also tended to be volatile around this time of year.
The labor market improved in October, with employers adding 171,000 jobs to their payrolls, up from 148,000 the prior month. Economists say stripping out the three states - New York Connecticut and New Jersey - hardest hit by the storm, new applications for state unemployment benefits have been steady.
The claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid dropped 70,000 to 3.29 million in the week ended November 17. So-called continuing claims covered the week of the household survey from which the unemployment rate is derived.
The jobless rate increased by a tenth of a percentage point to 7.9 percent in October, as more Americans - including those who had given up the search for work - entered the labor market.?
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