Arsene Wenger calls on Arsenal fans to believe in current squad

Arsenal needs to fall down to the mid table, and have a reaction to let Arsene go. The team is stuck in netherland, it will not be hunting for glory with this manager.


Arsene Wenger calls on Arsenal fans to believe in current squad

Arsenal fought back from 2-0 down to draw with Liverpool

Jim van Wijk

Thursday, 31 January 2013
Manager Arsene Wenger called on Arsenal fans to keep faith with his squad even if he is not able to add to it on transfer deadline day after they battled back to secure a 2-2 Barclays Premier League draw against Liverpool.


Both sides knew defeat at the Emirates Stadium could prove fatal to their hopes of closing back up on the top four, but neither were ready to settle for anything other than all three points in what developed into an open and entertaining match.

Liverpool took an early lead through Luis Suarez after terrible defending by Arsenal again proved their Achilles heel, and the visitors then looked to be in complete control when Jordan Henderson walked in a second on the hour.

However, as has so often been the case in a frustrating season, the Gunners suddenly burst into life as in-form Olivier Giroud reduced the deficit with a close-range header and Theo Walcott then rattled in an equaliser.

Although his men were unable to complete what would have been a remarkable turnaround, Wenger maintains there is still more to come from the current group.

"This squad is top, top level. We have to learn to trust these players again and to keep faith in them," said Wenger, who revealed full-back Kieran Gibbs was expected to be out for up to three weeks on the sidelines after suffering a thigh injury.

"We have signed a bunch of young, English players who have committed to the club for the next four or five years.

"I think there is a lot to come out of this team, but we have to trust and keep faith with them."

Wenger maintained any talk of a deadline move for Barcelona forward David Villa was dead in the water, while reports continue to link Arsenal with a swoop for West Ham midfielder enforcer Mohamed Diame.

On prospects of a hectic final few hours of the transfer window, the Arsenal manager said: "I cannot promise that. We will work on it."

Wenger admits the loss of Gibbs, who will now miss the England friendly against Brazil at Wembley, was a "big blow".

"Gibbs was an important player for us going forward and the game we want to play. It is a shame he is out for the next three weeks," the Arsenal boss said.

Despite Arsenal's rousing comeback, the Gunners remain four points behind Tottenham, who drew at Norwich, in the race for Champions League qualification and now trail fifth-placed Everton by three points after they beat West Brom.

Wenger, though, feels there are plenty of plusses to take from what was a third match unbeaten.

"We can smell something when we combine like we do. It was a fantastic effort, overall we know what to do to improve and to keep the positives," he said.

"We have to focus on playing football and what we want to do to the opposition.

"I believe the quality is there and we have to trust it and forget what happened in the past."

Wenger added: "We are frustrated because we have not won the game.

"Somewhere they can feel they have given everything, there is a certain sense of feeling they have done their jobs, but you want to win games and we didn't."

PA

CNBC.com Article: Interest Rates Could Spike This Year: Soros

Soros has made so many, just so many dud calls in the past years, he is fallen, and full of rubbish now.

CNBC.com Article: Interest Rates Could Spike This Year: Soros

Rates will rise dramatically as soon as there are clear signs the US economy is picking up, billionaire financier George Soros said in an interview at Davos.

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WP 'will keep close watch over Govt'

So far, all WP can do is WATCH.

WP needs better people on board, at least the calibre of those on PAP.

WORKERS' PARTY
WP 'will keep close watch over Govt'


But Government should also be given time to fix shortcomings, says Low

Published on Jan 19, 2013

By Andrea Ong & Robin Chan


WORKERS' Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang believes the Government should be given time to correct its shortcomings, even as he pledged that his party will continue to cast a watchful eye.

And while policy changes are still in progress, heightened politicking will not help Singapore, he said in a letter to Punggol East voters, obtained by The Straits Times yesterday.

In an eight-page brochure posted to households, he highlighted the WP's track record in contesting every general election since 1957 and being a "credible and responsible opposition".

However, the veteran MP pointed out: "While the WP will scrutinise and press for accountability from the Government, it is also my personal belief that the Government should be given time to rectify the shortcomings and neglects pointed out to it."

Doing so would "serve the public interest better than continuing to agitate and raise political tension to gain maximum political mileage for WP", as it takes time for policy changes to take effect on the ground, he added.

But, it is "in the interest of Singapore" for citizens to balance a strong executive government with a responsible opposition in Parliament to act as a check and balance and protect their rights.

"WP offers to play the role and to make a positive contribution to Singapore," said Mr Low.

He noted two key areas where the presence of more WP MPs in Parliament has made a difference since the 2011 General Election, when he led a team to victory in Aljunied GRC.

One, ordinary folk now have more say in governance, an improvement from when the country was run by an elite class under the People's Action Party (PAP), with little accountability and transparency, he said.

Two, the WP has championed a more humane society, where a First World nation extends beyond materialistic and elitist goals. "We have seen some changes in that direction," said Mr Low without elaborating.

He reiterated WP's commitment to seeing Singapore progress and PAP improve. But WP must also "be ready one day to be an alternative choice for the people, especially if the ruling party should become incompetent or corrupt".

It is a pledge the party hopes to build on by sending its candidate Lee Li Lian into Parliament.

Ms Lee yesterday unveiled another part of her campaign platform in vowing to champion the welfare of the elderly.

The 34-year-old sales trainer has two proposals for improving their health-care needs.

First, she is calling for Medisave withdrawal limits to be lifted for patients above age 75 - a suggestion the WP had put forth in its 2011 manifesto.

Currently, there are caps on the amount which can be withdrawn from each person's account, such as a maximum of $400 a year for outpatient treatment of chronic diseases.

But Ms Lee pointed out that few people at that age would still have income from work to foot their medical bills.

Spending on their medical care - especially for long-term diseases like diabetes - "has already become a necessity", she told The Straits Times.

Second, elderly patients should not have to queue up at polyclinics to get referrals for subsidised treatment at public hospitals. She suggested expanding the existing Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS), where patients satisfying certain criteria can get subsidised treatment at general practices.

Now, many elderly patients have to walk "quite a distance" or take a bus to the polyclinic to be referred, some arriving as early as 4am to beat the queue, she said.

This is "physically draining as well as troublesome for them", said Ms Lee, who hopes patients can just visit CHAS clinics near their homes to get referrals.

Jackie Chan to America: 'It’s Not Me. It’s You.'

That's what a drunk man always says.

CNBC.com Article: Jackie Chan to America: 'It's Not Me. It's You.'

Jackie Chan's evolution toward a more vocal pro-Beijing stance has become more pronounced in both his movies and his politics.

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Noble to Lift Aspire Stake to Increase Mongolia Coal Shipments

//What happens if China takes this personally, and makes an enemy out of you? And for all your efforts, where does your 'seaborne' benchmark lead to? Back to China? 

Noble to Lift Aspire Stake to Increase Mongolia Coal Shipments
By Michelle Yun - Jan 10, 2013 11:16 AM GMT+0800



Noble Group Ltd. (NOBL), Asia’s biggest listed commodity supplier, agreed to boost its stake inAspire Mining Ltd. (AKM) and to help fund the explorer’s railway in northern Mongolia as seeks to expand coal shipments from the nation.

The Hong Kong-based trader will pay A$2.8 million ($2.9 million), or 8 cents a share, to increase its holding to 15 percent from 10 percent, Perth-based Aspire said today in a statement. Noble will also pay 10 percent of pre-development costs for a railway that will link Aspire’s coal mine to the existing Trans-Mongolian rail line, Aspire said.

Noble is expanding its presence in Mongolia with investments in Aspire and an alliance withXanadu Mines Ltd. (XAM), also developing coal mines in the nation. The commodity supplier last month bought a stake in a company that has a permit to build a coal export terminal on the far eastern coast of Russia, which borders Mongolia.

“Mongolian coking coal is largely being sold to Chinese steel producers,” Aspire said. “It is a key part of Mongolian development policy to establish access to seaborne markets for Mongolian coal, to provide pricing tension with Chinese customers and establish seaborne price benchmarks for Mongolian coking coal.”

Aspire surged as much as 95 percent, the most in four years, before trading 58 percent higher at 9.3 Australian cents as of 1:08 p.m. in Sydney. Noble was unchanged at S$1.24 in Singapore trading.

The railway, to be overseen by Aspire’s subsidiary Northern Railways LLC, will cost $1.2 billion. Noble has the option to take a 10 percent stake in Northern Railways should a concession be granted by the government and help attract funding, Aspire said today. The accord also includes marketing rights for Noble for coal produced from Aspire’s Ovoot mine, it said.

Ovoot, scheduled to produce steelmaking coal in 2016, has the second-largest coking coal reserve in Mongolia after Tavan Tolgoi, Aspire said in a November presentation.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle Yun in Hong Kong at myun11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jason Rogers at jrogers73@bloomberg.net

CNBC.com Article: Billionaire Loans Yacht to Track Down Giant Squid

// come on, get real, you're thanking him? He's doing it to get publicity like what he's getting from you now!

CNBC.com Article: Billionaire Loans Yacht to Track Down Giant Squid

Most mega-yachts are designed for pleasure cruises or bobbing off the sunny waters of the Amalfi Coast. Hedge-fund founder Ray Dalio's Alucia is equipped with sensors, submarine launchpads and cranes aimed at scientific discoveries, like the giant squid the ship's cameras recently captured on film.

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The big smartphone switch: Open to a new Windows - Apple FANGAL 3 of 3

//The third journalist writing against Android in the space of 30 minutes from Todayonline. Enough said.


The big smartphone switch: Open to a new Windows
by June Yang
Updated 09:59 AM Jan 07, 2013
I am, among the Android-phone-toting crowd I hang out with, known as "the Apple person". I have owned at least five Apple devices in the last few years, and people imagine that I will never switch. But here's the story of a time that I did - briefly.

http://www.todayonline.com/CommentaryandAnalysis/Commentary/EDC130107-0000045/The-big-smartphone-switch--Open-to-a-new-Windows

The big smartphone switch: Paranoid Android - APPLE FANBOI and ANDROID HATER from Todayonline

//This is the 2nd article in the space of 30 minutes by another tech moron of a journalist at Todayonline who insists at APPLE is oh so irresistible. Are you or paid by Apple or what? Is sickening to read these stuff.

The big smartphone switch: Paranoid Android



by Hedirman Supian

Updated 08:51 AM Jan 07, 2013

Android-based smartphones have long piqued my interest, with their gargantuan screens and seemingly fast quad-core processors. I bet I am not the only iPhone user considering a switch. My iPhone 5 is indispensable but it is not perfect. It scuffs easily and the battery life could be better.




Android fanboys recommended I try a Google Nexus smartphone for the "pure" Android experience but since it is not available via local telcos, I picked the Samsung Galaxy Note II for its lauded stylus and generous 5.5-inch display. And within its giant size lay the first problem: It would not fit in my pants - it kept jutting out from, or slipping out of, my pocket.




The Android experience was also clumsy. After initial setup, I was greeted with a busy home screen. Widgets fought for my attention and there was a collection of disparate apps that had already been placed there.




When I tried to use a standard Android shortcut to tweet a screenshot of my newly-customised homescreen, I found that Samsung had implemented its own - swiping the side of your palm on the phone, which was not very responsive.




I wondered why Google would preload multiple apps that offer, in essence, the same function. The default Android browser (simply labelled "Internet") pales in comparison to the Chrome browser. These two browsers look and behave very differently, despite being developed by the very same company.




Users would appreciate a more streamlined experience if just one superior browser was included.




There were also minor user interface details that irked me. For example, to unlock your phone using a security code, you will need an extra tap to input the code. If you have a burgeoning email inbox, deleting emails can be painfully slow because you have to stretch your thumb across the massive screen repeatedly to select and delete emails.




It becomes an annoyance when I had to do deal with these quirks countless times a day.




That said, I give props to Android's ever-present Back button, which proved to be a fast way to switch between apps. I also appreciated having quick access to frequently-accessed features such as Wi-Fi and GPS via the notification screen, which also served to conserve battery. Not that it needed to because the smartphone could last for up to two days without recharging. Impressive.




The phone was hardy too. I dropped it on several occasions and it survived without a scratch. Google's fast and accurate voice search was equally impressive. And I used it often to start surfing or searching for directions.




Apple's Find My iPhone feature lets you track a lost phone on a map and remotely lock or wipe it or activate a loud sound and display a message so it could be found and returned. A feature called SamsungDive provided a similar feature. Non-Samsung Android users might want to download AVG AntiVirus free. It is a must-have and a glaring omission from Google.




One of the biggest bugbears of switching to a new phone is retaining backed up data. With Apple, you could make a carbon copy of a previously backed up iPhone when you set up a new one. With the Android, I could retain my contacts, settings and apps on my Google account, and the Samsung account backed up my messages.




Photos and videos were synced with Dropbox's cloud-based storage service. But some data that resided in my apps, phone settings, and the widgets and apps I adorned on my homescreens were lost. You can get back most of your essential data but it is not quite a carbon copy of what your phone once was. You eventually need to cobble together your own back-up process since there is no free one-stop back-up solution that can help you back-up everything.




Google's Android is usable on a daily basis but its quirks impeded some of my efficiency. It is far from intuitive too. I often had to search online to find if there was a gesture or a way to activate certain features. Less technically-inclined users might not share my patience.




The Android experience made me appreciate the greatly streamlined user experience that I had taken for granted on my iPhone - but I still miss the extended battery life.

The big smartphone switch: A is for Apple - Android hater 1 of 3

//"Oh, I thought Android was better than Apple, until I tried it". 

Nothing is good enough for this journalist from Today online except an APPLE. He must be a laughing stock writing tech stuff.

The big smartphone switch: A is for Apple
by Hiranand Sunny
Updated 08:51 AM Jan 07, 2013
When I was briefed to document my switch from an Android phone to Apple's iPhone 5, I was confident that Android would win hands down [yup, really like he had his mind made up huh].

After all, I have been using Samsung's Galaxy Note for over a year now without complaints and the latest Android smartphones I have reviewed such as Samsung's Galaxy Note 2 and the Asus Padfone 2 have left me very impressed. I even publicly professed my love for Google's creation last January in a post on TODAY's Tech Talk blog. There was no way I would become an iPhone convert.

I was wrong. [because I've always been a APPLE FANBOI at heart, and APPLE CAN DO NO WRONG]

The first thing that struck me was the design on the iPhone 5. Being a big fan of supersized Android phones, I was convinced the iPhone's narrow and long design would be inadequate but that all changed once I laid hands on it.

Unlike giant handsets which required two-handed use, I could work the iPhone 5 comfortably, quickly, and constantly with one hand. And, perhaps due to the Retina display [yes, retina display, which Note 2 doesn't have huh], pictures taken with the iPhone 5's 8-megapixel camera looked better [because I can only see the Apple logo, nothing else] than those taken on some Android phones which come with 13-megapixel cameras.

I was also impressed with the simple and clean user interface. Navigating through social media feeds, emails and the apps on the phone was so smooth and seamless and the iOS' swipe to delete function is a stroke of genius.

But it is with apps that Apple pulls ahead. Apple has strict rules App developers have to adhere to and, as a result, most of them (at least those that I had downloaded) work brilliantly on the iPhone 5.

It is a different story for Android. While the operating system has become faster and more intuitive with every update, the apps on Google's Play Store have not been able to keep up. Popular apps such as Facebook and Instagram are frustratingly slower and essentially less fun to use. Android users are also deprived of good quality, hardcore mobile games such as Street Fighter X Tekken and Infinity Blade II on the Google Play Store [this is hell of a biased reporting].

iTunes has also handed Apple a huge advantage in the war for smartphone dominance. It provides users with an easy-to-operate, easy-on-the-eye and fast one-stop portal to download and manage music, movies and apps. Google has the Play Store for apps but its use is restricted to just downloading and installing apps.

Samsung users can make use of the Kies software to convert and transfer media files to their devices but it is slow, clumsy and could not detect my phone on most occasions. You can easily transfer data to Android phones the same way you would transfer data to a flash drive but the lack of a one-stop portal to backup data, manage apps, transfer media files and execute updates on Android phones is extremely frustrating.

However, there are some areas where Android shows its definite superiority: It is infinitely customisable and it allows users to have a working desktop filled with interactive widgets that show everything from the weather to your latest social media updates and even what apps are draining your battery or consuming data.

Being a part of Google also makes Android phones sync better with Google Calendars, Contacts and Mail, which is important since most of us use such services for both work and play. Having said that, while it is not difficult to transfer contacts and sync your Gmail account and Google Calendars on the iPhone, it would have benefited from Apple's famed simplicity.

I have been an Android phone user and reviewer for more than a year now and it pains me to say this, but Apple's iPhone 5 is the best smartphone on the market now. The latest phones such as Samsung's Galaxy Note 2 may boast much more impressive specifications and I do love their gigantic screens and endless customisation options, but the iPhone 5 has proved that smartphones can be phenomenal without having phenomenal specs. And that, I'm afraid, is the hard truth.

Obama, Karzai agree: Time to wind down war

//What is the point of being the world's policeman and get hated around the world? Is spreading democracy and freedom really that important anymore? There are 7 billion people and counting - how many people can you free?

Obama, Karzai agree: Time to wind down war
By Robert Burns and Julie Pace ,AP
January 13, 2013, 12:02 am TWN

WASHINGTON -- Uneasy allies U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai demonstrated Friday they could agree on one big idea: After 11 years of war, the time is right for U.S. forces to let Afghans do their own fighting.


U.S. and coalition forces will take a battlefield backseat by spring and, by implication, go home in larger numbers soon thereafter.

“It will be a historic moment,” Obama declared.

In a White House meeting billed as a chance to take stock of a war that now ranks as America's longest, Obama and Karzai agreed to accelerate their timetable for putting the Afghanistan army in the lead combat role nationwide. It will happen this spring instead of summer — a shift that looks small but looms larger in the debate over how quickly to bring U.S. troops home and whether some should stay after combat ends in 2014.

The two leaders also agreed that the Afghan government would be given full control of detention centers and detainees. They did not reach agreement on an equally sticky issue: whether any U.S. troops remaining after 2014 would be granted immunity from prosecution under Afghan law. Immunity is a U.S. demand that the Afghans have resisted, saying they want assurances on other things — like authority over detainees — first.

At a joint news conference with Karzai in the White House East Room, Obama said he was not yet ready to decide the pace of U.S. troop withdrawals between now and December 2014. That is the target date set by NATO and the Afghan government for the international combat mission to end. There are now 66,000 U.S. troops there.

Obama's message was clear: The Afghans must now show they are capable of standing on their own.

“By the end of next year, 2014, the transition will be complete — Afghans will have full responsibility for their security, and this war will come to a responsible end,” he said, noting that more than 2,000 Americans have died since the war began in October 2001.

The Afghan army and police now have 352,000 in training or on duty, although that number is viewed by many as unsustainable because the government is almost entirely reliant on international aid to pay the bills.

Some private security analysts — and some in the Pentagon — worry that pulling out to quickly will leave Afghanistan vulnerable to collapse. In a worst-case scenario, that could allow the Taliban to regain power and revert to the role they played in the years before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as protectors of al-Qaida terrorists bent on striking the U.S.

Billionaires Dumping Stocks, Economist Knows Why

//Oh, the enlightening brightness of hindsight! 

Billionaires Dumping Stocks, Economist Knows Why



Wednesday, 29 Aug 2012 05:32 PM

By Newsmax Wires

Despite the 6.5% stock market rally over the last three months, a handful of billionaires are quietly dumping their American stocks . . . and fast.

Warren Buffett, who has been a cheerleader for U.S. stocks for quite some time, is dumping shares at an alarming rate. He recently complained of “disappointing performance” in dyed-in-the-wool American companies like Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Kraft Foods.

In the latest filing for Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has been drastically reducing his exposure to stocks that depend on consumer purchasing habits. Berkshire sold roughly 19 million shares of Johnson & Johnson, and reduced his overall stake in “consumer product stocks” by 21%. Berkshire Hathaway also sold its entire stake in California-based computer parts supplier Intel.

With 70% of the U.S. economy dependent on consumer spending, Buffett’s apparent lack of faith in these companies’ future prospects is worrisome.

Unfortunately Buffett isn’t alone.

Fellow billionaire John Paulson, who made a fortune betting on the subprime mortgage meltdown, is clearing out of U.S. stocks too. During the second quarter of the year, Paulson’s hedge fund, Paulson & Co., dumped 14 million shares of JPMorgan Chase. The fund also dumped its entire position in discount retailer Family Dollar and consumer-goods maker Sara Lee.

Finally, billionaire George Soros recently sold nearly all of his bank stocks, including shares of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs. Between the three banks, Soros sold more than a million shares.

So why are these billionaires dumping their shares of U.S. companies?

After all, the stock market is still in the midst of its historic rally. Real estate prices have finally leveled off, and for the first time in five years are actually rising in many locations. And the unemployment rate seems to have stabilized.

It’s very likely that these professional investors are aware of specific research that points toward a massive market correction, as much as 90%.

One such person publishing this research is Robert Wiedemer, an esteemed economist and author of the New York Times best-selling book Aftershock.

Editor’s Note: Wiedemer Gives Proof for His Dire Predictions in This Shocking Interview.

Before you dismiss the possibility of a 90% drop in the stock market as unrealistic, consider Wiedemer’s credentials.

In 2006, Wiedemer and a team of economists accurately predicted the collapse of the U.S. housing market, equity markets, and consumer spending that almost sank the United States. They published their research in the book America’s Bubble Economy.

The book quickly grabbed headlines for its accuracy in predicting what many thought would never happen, and quickly established Wiedemer as a trusted voice.

A columnist at Dow Jones said the book was “one of those rare finds that not only predicted the subprime credit meltdown well in advance, it offered Main Street investors a winning strategy that helped avoid the forty percent losses that followed . . .”

The chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor’s said that Wiedemer’s track record “demands our attention.”

And finally, the former CFO of Goldman Sachs said Wiedemer’s “prescience in (his) first book lends credence to the new warnings. This book deserves our attention.”

In the interview for his latest blockbuster Aftershock, Wiedemer says the 90% drop in the stock market is “a worst-case scenario,” and the host quickly challenged this claim.

Wiedemer calmly laid out a clear explanation of why a large drop of some sort is a virtual certainty.

It starts with the reckless strategy of the Federal Reserve to print a massive amount of money out of thin air in an attempt to stimulate the economy.

“These funds haven’t made it into the markets and the economy yet. But it is a mathematical certainty that once the dam breaks, and this money passes through the reserves and hits the markets, inflation will surge,” said Wiedemer.

“Once you hit 10% inflation, 10-year Treasury bonds lose about half their value. And by 20%, any value is all but gone. Interest rates will increase dramatically at this point, and that will cause real estate values to collapse. And the stock market will collapse as a consequence of these other problems.”

See the Proof: Get the Full Interview by Clicking Here Now.

And this is where Wiedemer explains why Buffett, Paulson, and Soros could be dumping U.S. stocks:

“Companies will be spending more money on borrowing costs than business expansion costs. That means lower profit margins, lower dividends, and less hiring. Plus, more layoffs.”

No investors, let alone billionaires, will want to own stocks with falling profit margins and shrinking dividends. So if that’s why Buffett, Paulson, and Soros are dumping stocks, they have decided to cash out early and leave Main Street investors holding the bag.

But Main Street investors don’t have to see their investment and retirement accounts decimated for the second time in five years.

Wiedemer’s video interview also contains a comprehensive blueprint for economic survival that’s really commanding global attention.

Now viewed over 40 million times, it was initially screened for a relatively small, private audience. But the overwhelming amount of feedback from viewers who felt the interview should be widely publicized came with consequences, as various online networks repeatedly shut it down and affiliates refused to house the content.

“People were sitting up and taking notice, and they begged us to make the interview public so they could easily share it,” said Newsmax Financial Publisher Aaron DeHoog.

“Our real concern,” DeHoog added, “is the effect even if only half of Wiedemer’s predictions come true.

“That’s a scary thought for sure. But we want the average American to be prepared, and that is why we will continue to push this video to as many outlets as we can. We want the word to spread.”

Editor’s Note: For a limited time, Newsmax is showing the Wiedemer interview and supplying viewers with copies of the new, updated Aftershock book including the final, unpublished chapter. Go here to view it now.




Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.moneynews.com/MKTNews/billionaires-dump-economist-stock/2012/08/29/id/450265?PROMO_CODE=110D8-1&utm_source=taboola#ixzz2HUQctbsa
Urgent: Should Obamacare Be Repealed? Vote Here Now!

ACS (Independent) improves on IB Diploma results for 2012 exams

//What's the purpose of CNA highlighting ACS in particular for this IB performance? What about the other 19 schools? Besides, ACS isn't Singapore's top school. If Raffles or Hua Chong were to be on the IB scheme, they would beat ACS flat. 

This news report is like a cheap flick - Duke, is Ivy, but will never, ever rank ahead of Harvard, so it doesn't even bother to try or it will look like this report - pathetic.

ACS (Independent) improves on IB Diploma results for 2012 exams
By Imelda Saad | Posted: 06 January 2013 1416 hrs


SINGAPORE: The Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) has bettered its performance in the International Baccalaureate exams.

Results for the 2012 examinations show that 37 of its students obtained perfect scores - up from 29 the year before.

84.6 per cent of its students scored 40 points or more - an increase of about seven percentage points from the year before.

ACS(I) is one of 19 schools in Singapore which offer the IB Diploma programme.

The sixth cohort of the school's IB students received their results on Sunday at 9am.

This is the school's largest IB cohort to-date.

ACS(I) offers the IB Diploma programme as part of its Integrated Programme.

1,370 students from Singapore sat for the IB Diploma Programme (IBDP) examinations in November last year.

In total, forty-one students managed perfect scores, 45 out of 45.

On average, students in Singapore scored 36.50 points for 2012, higher than the global average of 30.01.

Singapore's pass rate of 97.90 per cent is also the highest among 21 countries in the Asia Pacific.

- CNA/fa

WP hopes to raise S$1.5m to purchase headquarters

//This is getting interesting...its great to go to a free carnival and protest against PAP or how you didn't get born with a silver spoon in the mouth.

Now lets see what happens when you're asked to lighten your wallet to watch some C rated play... 

WP hopes to raise S$1.5m to purchase headquarters
By Sharon See | Posted: 06 January 2013 1758 hrs


Workers' Party


SINGAPORE: The opposition Workers' Party (WP) is hoping to raise S$1.5 million for the purchase of its own headquarters.

The party's secretary-general Low Thia Khiang and chairman Sylvia Lim said this at the party's first musical concert, titled "Brick in Blue".

Ms Lim said since the 2011 general election, the party has raised some S$500,000.

The money came from monthly contributions from its elected Members of Parliament, as well as private donations from friends and acquaintances.

The rest of the money, she said, will be raised through public donations.

Ms Lim said the S$1.5 million will be used for the down payment of the property, while the balance of the purchase price will be financed through a loan.

Speaking to reporters during the intermission of the musical, Mr Low said the party has yet to find a suitable property.

He said proceeds from the concert will go towards the party's building fund.

The party is currently renting an office along Syed Alwi Road.

- CNA/xq

Indonesian town bans women from straddling motorbikes

// "The Islamic body pointed out that there is nowhere in the Koran that mentions how women should ride motorcycles." 

Indonesian town bans women from straddling motorbikes
Published Saturday, Jan 5 2013, 11:12pm EST | By Paul Martinovic | Add comment




© flickrAn Indonesian town has banned women from straddling motorcycles.

Town officials claim that the controversial move is to "maintain women's dignity".

According to ABC News, women in Lhokseumawe, Sumatra, will be told from Monday (January 7) that they cannot straddle a motorcycle or scooter, especially when sitting behind a man.

The women are to be instructed to ride side-saddle instead.

Mayor of Lhokseumawe Suaidi Yahya said the it is an attempt to protect women's morals and maintain their "dignity and good image".

However, the ruling has been criticsed by the country's top Muslim clerical body, the Ulema Council.

The Islamic body pointed out that there is nowhere in the Koran that mentions how women should ride motorcycles.

Read more: http://www.digitalspy.com/odd/news/a448811/indonesian-town-bans-women-from-straddling-motorbikes.html#ixzz2HBAlI7uF
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IMF Officials: We Were Wrong About Austerity

IMF Officials: We Were Wrong About Austerity

Sharp spending cuts and tax increases have long played a central role in the International Monetary Fund's prescriptions for governments in financial distress -- most recently for the struggling members of the euro area. Now, officials at the world's primary arbiter of fiscal prudence are recognizing that such austerity can do a lot more damage than previously thought.

The first major indication of the IMF's change of heart came in October. In its World Economic Outlook, the fund published research showing that back in 2010, when Greece and other European countries embarked on severe austerity programs, its forecasters underestimated the negative impact spending cuts and tax increases would have on the broader economy.

In a paper presented today at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association, two IMF officials -- chief economist Olivier Blanchard and economist Daniel Leigh -- elaborated on the findings and their implications. The paper contains the boilerplate statement that it "should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF." Nonetheless, given its authors, it provides a good indication of the zeitgeist at the fund.

The authors focus on a number known as the fiscal multiplier -- the amount a country's economic output changes for each euro of change in government spending or revenue. They estimate that for European austerity measures started in 2010, the multiplier was significantly greater than one, meaning economic output shrank by more than one euro for each euro in deficit reduction. That's much higher than the multiplier of 0.5 that the IMF and other forecasters typically used in 2010 and that had proven more or less accurate in the years before the 2008 financial crisis.

The upshot: Fiscal multipliers can be a lot higher in times of distress than in normal times. The logical conclusion is that Europe's austerity policies were founded on faulty assumptions and should be eased -- something Bloomberg View has advocated. To some extent, that has happened in recent months with the loosening of demands on Greece and with European leaders' tentative discussions of fiscal transfers to stimulate growth in stricken economies.

Blanchard and Leigh are quick to point out that their results don't mean austerity is always a bad idea. Governments can't run large budget deficits and build up debts indefinitely without disastrous consequences. The question is how -- and how fast -- they can get to fiscal prudence without tanking their economies.

(Mark Whitehouse is a member of the Bloomberg View editorial board. Follow him on Twitter.)

For more quick commentary from Bloomberg View, go to The Ticker.

Find out more about Bloomberg for iPad: http://m.bloomberg.com/ipad/

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Wind industry big lies no 3: wind turbines are eco-friendly

//James, you're worried about bats and birds and therefore oppose wind energy? OK, fine, then make sure your ass is big enough to stuff up smog, ozone, sulphur dioxide, or nuclear waste - take your pick or have all of them. 

James Delingpole
James Delingpole is a writer, journalist and broadcaster who is right about everything. He is the author of numerous fantastically entertaining books, including his most recent work Watermelons: How the Environmentalists are Killing the Planet, Destroying the Economy and Stealing Your Children's Future, also available in the US, and in Australia as Killing the Earth to Save It. His website is www.jamesdelingpole.com.




Wind industry big lies no 3: wind turbines are eco-friendly


By James Delingpole Politics Last updated: January 5th, 2013

472 Comments Comment on this article




Of all the many lies put out by the subsidy-troughing scum-suckers of the wind industry and their greenie fellow travellers, the biggest porkie of the lot is this: that wind turbines are eco-friendly.

In order to believe this tosh, you'd first have to accept the warped view that being eco-friendly can legitimately entail wiping out millions of bats and birds. It is a measure of just how intellectually and morally corrupt Big Green has grown over the last few decades that many self-professed environmentalists actually cleave to this belief. Why else would they expend so much energy trying to defend – or distract from – the indefensible truth: that wind farms around the world are destroying rare species on an industrial scale?

If you haven't already, I'd heartily recommend the article in this week's Spectator by Oxford ecologist Clive Hambler. He doesn't pull his punches on the devastation being wrought by wind turbines.


Every year in Spain alone — according to research by the conservation group SEO/Birdlife — between 6 and 18 million birds and bats are killed by wind farms. They kill roughly twice as many bats as birds. This breaks down as approximately 110–330 birds per turbine per year and 200–670 bats per year. And these figures may be conservative if you compare them to statistics published in December 2002 by the California Energy Commission: ‘In a summary of avian impacts at wind turbines by Benner et al (1993) bird deaths per turbine per year were as high as 309 in Germany and 895 in Sweden.’

It's not just the quantity of birds and bats being killed that worries Dr Hambler, but their rarity.


Because wind farms tend to be built on uplands, where there are good thermals, they kill a disproportionate number of raptors. In Australia, the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle is threatened with global extinction by wind farms. In north America, wind farms are killing tens of thousands of raptors including golden eagles and America’s national bird, the bald eagle. In Spain, the Egyptian vulture is threatened, as too is the Griffon vulture — 400 of which were killed in one year at Navarra alone. Norwegian wind farms kill over ten white-tailed eagles per year and the population of Smøla has been severely impacted by turbines built against the opposition of ornithologists.

Nor are many other avian species safe. In North America, for example, proposed wind farms on the Great Lakes would kill large numbers of migratory songbirds. In the Atlantic, seabirds such as the Manx Shearwater are threatened. Offshore wind farms are just as bad as onshore ones, posing a growing threat to seabirds and migratory birds, and reducing habitat availability for marine birds (such as common scoter and eider ducks).

This is indeed one of the great environmental scandals of our time. So why don't we hear about it more often? Dr Hambler has his suspicions:


First, because the wind industry (with the shameful complicity of some ornithological organisations) has gone to great trouble to cover it up — to the extent of burying the corpses of victims. Second, because the ongoing obsession with climate change means that many environmentalists are turning a blind eye to the ecological costs of renewable energy.

Indeed. And where are our own RSPB on this? Are they doing their bit to fight the menace posed by bat-chomping, bird-slicing eco-crucifixes?

Au contraire. They're actively propagandising on the wind industry's behalf.


Climate change poses the single greatest long-term threat to birds and other wildlife, and the RSPB recognises the essential role of renewable energy in addressing this problem.

But wait: the RSPB's endorsement of this corrupt, mendacious, animal-killing, landscape-blighting, fuel-poverty-creating, job-destroying, health-damaging industry doesn't end there. No sirree. If there's free money out there to be snaffled, then the RSPB is going to try a grab a piece of it.


RSPB Scotland has submitted plans to Aberdeenshire Council to install a 62ft high “domestic” turbine at its Loch of Strathbeg reserve, near Crimond, in Buchan.

The reserve is home to almost 300 species of birds during the year and in winter tens of thousands of geese, including up to a quarter of the world’s population of pink-footed geese, visit the loch.

Yes, I know, I know: it reads like an April fool. So let me just repeat it, for those of you too stunned to believe it could be so -

THE ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS WANTS TO ERECT AN INDUSTRIAL BIRD-KILLING DEVICE ON ONE OF ITS NATURE RESERVES.

What's more, of course, if they get their way you and I will be subsidising the RSPB to destroy birds via the compulsory tariffs we play via Renewable Obligations Certificates and Feed In Tariffs.

In today's Telegraph Charles Moore rightly lamented the politicisation of the RSPCA. Oughtn't the RSPB's million members be asking similar awkward questions of their own cherished organisation?

eg if the RSPB wants to go on supporting wind farms oughtn't it consider changing its name?

The Royal Society For Killing Birds would be the obvious one.


Tags: bat-chomping bird-slicing eco-crucifixes, bats, birds, carnage, Clive Hambler, hypocrites, lies, Mark Duchamp, Royal Society for Killing Birds,RSPB, Spectator, wind turbines

Hot chocolate tastes better in orange cup

Hot chocolate tastes better in orange cupANI | Jan 4, 2013, 06.08 PM IST

READ MORE University Of Oxford|Polytechnic University|Oxford|Orange|Food



Hot chocolate tastes better in orange cup (Thinkstock photos/Getty Images)

Hot chocolate tastes better in an orange or cream coloured cup than in a white or red one, researchers say.

The study by two researchers from thePolytechnic University of Valencia and theUniversity of Oxford adds to recent research demonstrating how our senses perceive food in a different way depending on the characteristics of the container from which we eat and drink.

"The colour of the container where food and drink are served can enhance some attributes like taste and aroma," Betina Piqueras-Fiszman, researcher at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain), told SINC.

Along with her colleague Charles Spence, from the University of Oxford (UK), the scientist has come to the conclusion in the case ofdrinking chocolate.

Both conducted an experiment in which 57 participants had to evaluate samples of hot chocolate served in four different types of plastic cup. They were the same size but of different colours: white, cream, red and orange with white on the inside.

The results reveal that the flavour of chocolate served in orange or cream coloured cups was better for the tasting volunteers.

However, the sweetness and the aroma where hardly influenced by the colour of the cup, despite the participants mentioning that the chocolate was slightly sweeter and more aromatic in a cream coloured cup.

"There is no fixed rule stating that flavour and aroma are enhanced in a cup of a certain colour or shade," Piqueras-Fiszman said.

"In reality this varies depending on the type of food, but the truth is that, as this effect occurs, more attention should be paid to the colour of the container as it has more potential than one could imagine," she said.

According to the study, these results are relevant for those scientists interested in understanding how the brain integrates visual information not just from the food itself but from the receptacle or container from which it is consumed.

In addition, this information could encourage chefs, catering professionals and even the packaging industry to think more about the colour of crockery and packaging. As the researcher explains, "it is a case of experimenting to understand how the container itself affects the perceptions that the consumers have on the product."

The study has been published in the Journal of Sensory Studies.

US criticizes Google chairman's N. Korea visit

//For Christ sake, Eric Schmidt, get the hell out of the way of international affairs. You represent Google and Google has no place outside the free world. Let the US government handle this first, and you go do what you do best. You've no value-add in this equation and you will screw things up royally.


US criticizes Google chairman's N. Korea visit
Posted: 04 January 2013 1104 hrs
 
WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday criticized a planned visit to North Korea by Google chairman Eric Schmidt, calling it ill-timed in the wake of Pyongyang's widely condemned rocket launch last month.

Schmidt -- whose company has an unofficial motto of "Don't Be Evil" -- is planning to visit the isolated nation with former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, a veteran troubleshooter on North Korea.

Richardson has been to North Korea a number of times in the past 20 years and has been involved in negotiating the release of US citizens detained in the country.

News of the visit, described as "private' by both Washington and Seoul, comes just weeks after Pyongyang confirmed the arrest of a US citizen of Korean descent and said he would be prosecuted for unspecified crimes.

Pyongyang has in the past agreed to hand over detainees to high-profile delegations led by the likes of former US president Bill Clinton, and some observers suggested it may have requested Schmidt's participation in this case.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland clearly conveyed Washington's lack of enthusiasm for the mission, and told reporters that both Schmidt and Richardson were "well aware" of that view.

"Frankly we don't think the timing of this is particularly helpful... in light of recent actions by (Pyongyang)," Nuland said, adding that she was referring to its long-range rocket launch in December.

Pyongyang defended the launch as a purely scientific mission aimed at placing a satellite in space, but the international community saw it as a disguised ballistic missile test that flagrantly violated UN resolutions.

Nuland said that Schmidt and Richardson would be travelling in an "unofficial capacity," adding: "They are not carrying any messages from us."

When asked if the pair had been told of Washington's displeasure about the timing, the spokeswoman replied: "They are well aware of our views."

Google has so far refused officially to confirm the visit. Richardson's staff told AFP he would be out of the United States until Friday and unavailable for comment.

Richardson was last in Pyongyang in 2010 when he met North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator in an attempt to ease tensions after the North shelled a South Korean border island.

The US citizen arrested in November, identified as Pae Jun-Ho, entered the country as a tourist according to North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) which said he had admitted committing a crime against the state.

North Koreans are largely isolated from external news and information sources and very few citizens have access to a computer, let alone the Internet.

Google is present in neighboring China, where it has long struggled with government censors. In 2010 it effectively shut down its Chinese search engine, re-routing mainland users to its uncensored site in Hong Kong.

Asked whether the US would be happy to see Google help North Korea build its Internet infrastructure, Nuland noted that all US companies were subject to US economic sanctions currently in place against North Korea.

-AFP/ac

This Guy Turned $20K Into $2 Million (You Can, Too)

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/this-guy-turned-20k-into-2-million-you-can-too-piX08ijaQ7WeFEyhxEau8g.html



//This guy is just mistaking luck with skill. I've seen tons of these type of people in my life. They are no different from those winners of university stock trading games - they don't last.

If you're a 'big wave surfer waiting for months to take the next big wave, then who is going to pay your bills in the meantime?'

Bloomberg should do the learning crowd here a favour and not leave it to me to say it in this small blog.

East Mongolia, Part 1: A journey to Genghis Khan's homeland

// Wonderful pics, if only that mongolian didn't smoke in front of the cam - where did he get the cigarettes from in the grasslands?

credits to http://www.gochengdoo.com/en/blog/item/2859/east_mongolia_part_1_a_journey_to_genghis_khans_homeland

East Mongolia, Part 1: A journey to Genghis Khan's homeland





Today, there is little to suggest that these peaceful grasslands in northeastern Mongolia with their endless blue skies was once the heart and brain of history's largest empire.





Although the exact birthplace of Temujin 850 years ago is unknown, historians believe that he grew up in the lands around the River Onon in Mongolia's Khentii and then went on to unite all rival tribes in the region. Eventually, he conquered vast parts of Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and became Genghis Khan. The precise circumstances and location of his death are also unknown, but his ancestors believe that, in keeping with Mongolian tradition, that the Father of Mongolia was buried in his homeland in an unmarked grave.








These days Khentii and neighboring Dondor are sparsely populated aimags (provinces), home to herdspeople living simple lives on the steppes, mostly isolated from contact with the modern world. The quietness and absence of human proliferation make the area an ideal sheltered place to spot wildlife, particularly in the protected natural reserves and national parks bordering Russia to the north and China to the east.



















































































This article was first published in CHENGDOO citylife Magazine,issue 60 ("Old School"). Photos by Leo Chen.

Bad China bets ruin 2012 for Asia's star fund managers

//Their argument will be: we're still in positive territory!

Dec 31 (Reuters) - The Warren Buffetts of the East failed to live up their reputations in 2012, when big-name investment gurus made the wrong calls on China while markets in India and Southeast Asia raced ahead to rank among the top performers globally.

Between January and November this year, Franklin Templeton's Mark Mobius and Value Partners' Cheah Cheng-hye fell short of their benchmarks by the widest margins in more than a decade, data from Thomson Reuters Lipper showed.

Sustained underperformance by the top names could push investors towards cheaper, passively managed index and exchange traded funds (ETFs), a trend that has taken hold in Europe and the United States where active funds find it tougher to exceed benchmarks.

"The (Chinese) economic slowdown in 2012 certainly had a negative impact on the consumer sector, an area I am overweight," Fidelity's Anthony Bolton, another star portfolio manager who failed to beat his benchmark during the period, told Reuters in an email.

"The fund's focus on small and mid-caps also hurt performance," said Bolton, who returned three years ago amid much fanfare to chance his arm in China.

All three A-listers were undermined by their bets on China, whose stock market, measured by top Shanghai and Shenzhen listings CSI300, fell 8.8 percent through November on fears of economic slowdown, and as a once-a-decade political leadership change was completed in that month. The index has since rebounded and is now up 4.5 percent for 2012.

By contrast, share markets in the resilient Southeast Asian economies have rallied, and Indian shares have risen by a quarter so far this year, helped by $24 billion foreign portfolio inflows.

Bolton's Fidelity China Special Situations was up 5.8 percent in the 11 months to end-November, 8 percentage points behind its benchmark MSCI China index. That came after missing its gauge by nearly 18 percentage points last year.

His play on China consumer stocks backfired, with sector shares falling 5 percent on average compared with an average 15 percent rise in consumer staple stocks in Asia Pacific, data from Thomson Reuters StarMine showed.

MOBIUS TRIPS

Mobius also paid a price for his heavy China exposure, with almost 30 percent of the $16.9 billion Templeton Asian Growth fund invested there. Those positions proved to be a drag on performance: the fund notched just 10.6 percent return, lagging the benchmark MSCI AC Asia ex Japan index by 8.3 percentage points and logging its biggest gap since 1999.

The fund suffered from its investment in some energy stocks, as the sector was impacted by swings in commodity prices, Mobius said, with poor show by automobiles also hurting performance.

His fund's top holding at end-September was PetroChina , the nation's dominant oil and gas producer, Lipper data showed, a stock that fell by 13 percent in the year to end-November.

Value Partners Classic Fund, managed by a team led by Cheah, was 16.6 percentage points behind Hang Seng index, its widest gap since 1999, data from Lipper showed.

"This macro-driven year has been a long winter for value investing, as investors have stayed on the sidelines remaining defensive," a spokeswoman for Value Partners said.

BAD NEWS FOR MONEY MANAGERS

The underperformance by stellar names highlights the struggles large, actively managed funds face in trying to beat their benchmarks in the West and now in Asia, a trend likely to push investors towards cheaper index and ETFs.

That would be a blow to active money managers who typically charge a fee of 1.5 percent of assets under management, nearly three times that of ETFs, Lipper data showed.

ETFs blindly track indices and require no management or research, making them cheaper than active funds run by teams of investment professionals.

To keep charging premium fees, active managers would have to show results. Expectations of outperformance are especially high in Asia due to the region's relatively under-researched and inefficient markets compared with more mature economies.

Otherwise, active managers risk losing business to passive investment funds, a firm trend in developed markets, as a result of their low cost and of the failure of actively-managed funds to consistently outperform.

This year U.S. investors embraced low-cost, passively managed index funds. For instance, customers ploughed $130.4 billion into Vanguard Group's mutual funds and ETFs in the first 11 months of 2012, setting a new record for annual inflows.

The trend has also benefited BlackRock's iShares ETF unit, while hurting more traditional firms like American Funds, Dodge & Cox and Janus Capital Group

That shift is gaining momentum in Asia. Assets managed by ETFs to invest in Asia Pacific topped $150 billion by November, from around $34 billion a decade ago, Lipper data showed.

In contrast to the big beasts of the Asian investment world, more obscure funds like the $109 million Manulife Global Fund-Asian Small Cap Equity and $96 million Australian Leaders fund have beat benchmarks by more than 20 percentage points.

Manulife's fund delivered 35.3 percent return, nearly three times that generated by its benchmark FTSE World Asia Pacific Small Cap ex Japan index as of end-November.

Still, both Mobius and Bolton are positive on prospects for 2013. The nature of growth in China is changing as the country's export- and investment-driven model is gradually superseded by one driven by consumption, Bolton believes. This means the pace of growth will be slower, but more resilient.

"The economic cycle is now in its favour, as is the political process," Bolton said.