Reuters
Fri Jun 26, 2009. MIAMI (Reuters) - A fight broke out on a Florida bus when news of Michael Jackson's death sparked debate over whether he should be remembered as a great musical talent, and one passenger was charged with assault, police said on Friday.
The bus was moving through the city of North Lauderdale on Thursday when passenger James Kiernan received a text message about Jackson's death on his cell phone, and he read it aloud on the bus, the Broward County Sheriff's Department said.
The unidentified bus driver opined that "Michael Jackson should have been in jail long ago," prompting Kiernan, 60, to retort that "the world just lost a great musical talent," the police report said.
It said the last remark enraged another passenger, Henry Wideman, who started a swearing match with Kiernan, then pulled out a knife and chased Kiernan down the aisle with it.
The driver called his dispatcher and pulled over near a convenience store to wait for sheriff's deputies, who arrested Wideman, 54. He remained in jail on Friday on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
(Reporting by Jane Sutton; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)
Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Microsoft unveils Windows 7 pricing upgrade programs...
TechSpot News By Jose Vilches, TechSpot.com
Published: June 25, 2009. Microsoft has finally announced pricing for its upcoming Windows 7 operating system, and is offering some substantial savings for those willing to order an upgrade nearly four months before the software officially goes on sale. Starting tomorrow, customers in the US, Canada or Japan who already own a PC running XP or Vista will be able to pre-order the upgrade disc at around half the price that they’ll eventually sell for.
This means you can pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium for $49.99 or Windows 7 Professional for $99.99 – Windows 7 Ultimate is not part of this discount plan though. The pre-order deal will be accessible at store.microsoft.com and most major retailers through July 11 or “until a certain number of licenses is sold,” which supposedly adds up to about a year of Vista sales volume at retail.
Microsoft also confirmed that, starting tomorrow, anyone who buys a PC “from a participating OEM or retailer” with Windows Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate on it will all receive a free upgrade to the equivalent version of Windows 7. The Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program will be available until January 31, 2010 and is global. As noted, the upgrade plan depends on the manufacturer, but I’m guessing most will want to participate.
Special offers aside, prices for Windows 7 will be largely in line with those for Vista. Microsoft has set the upgrade and full price for Windows 7 Home Premium at $120 and $200, respectively; $200 and $300 for Windows 7 Professional; or $220 and $320 for Windows 7 Ultimate. That saves you $10 and $40 compared to the upgrade and full editions of Vista Home Premium, but prices remain the same for the latter two.
All in all, Microsoft is offering some pretty decent deals for anyone itching to upgrade immediately or buy a new PC, but somehow I believe many Vista users will be irked by the fact that they are getting the same upgrade prices as those still clinging to Windows XP.
Published: June 25, 2009. Microsoft has finally announced pricing for its upcoming Windows 7 operating system, and is offering some substantial savings for those willing to order an upgrade nearly four months before the software officially goes on sale. Starting tomorrow, customers in the US, Canada or Japan who already own a PC running XP or Vista will be able to pre-order the upgrade disc at around half the price that they’ll eventually sell for.
This means you can pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium for $49.99 or Windows 7 Professional for $99.99 – Windows 7 Ultimate is not part of this discount plan though. The pre-order deal will be accessible at store.microsoft.com and most major retailers through July 11 or “until a certain number of licenses is sold,” which supposedly adds up to about a year of Vista sales volume at retail.
Microsoft also confirmed that, starting tomorrow, anyone who buys a PC “from a participating OEM or retailer” with Windows Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate on it will all receive a free upgrade to the equivalent version of Windows 7. The Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program will be available until January 31, 2010 and is global. As noted, the upgrade plan depends on the manufacturer, but I’m guessing most will want to participate.
Special offers aside, prices for Windows 7 will be largely in line with those for Vista. Microsoft has set the upgrade and full price for Windows 7 Home Premium at $120 and $200, respectively; $200 and $300 for Windows 7 Professional; or $220 and $320 for Windows 7 Ultimate. That saves you $10 and $40 compared to the upgrade and full editions of Vista Home Premium, but prices remain the same for the latter two.
All in all, Microsoft is offering some pretty decent deals for anyone itching to upgrade immediately or buy a new PC, but somehow I believe many Vista users will be irked by the fact that they are getting the same upgrade prices as those still clinging to Windows XP.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Israel's richest woman gets messages, has visions...
Reuters
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Shari Arison, Israel's richest woman and the controlling shareholder of the country's second-largest bank, said on Sunday she has visions and receives messages "from above," but they do not influence the management of her companies.
Arison set off an uproar in Israel after she revealed that information in an interview with Channel Two broadcast late on Saturday.
"I get a picture, I can feel it. If it's fire, I feel like I'm burning. If people are dying I feel pain," she confirmed in an interview with Reuters.
The Israeli-American Arison along with her brother inherited billions of dollars from her late father Ted Arison, who founded Carnival Corp, the world's biggest cruise ship operator.
She is the controlling shareholder in Bank Hapoalim and controls Housing and Construction, Israel's biggest construction company.
She said these visions are meant to help lead the world elsewhere. To this end, she is releasing her first book this week, entitled "Birth - When the Spiritual and the Material Come Together," which details her journey both spiritually and in business.
She stressed that her visions do not interfere with the running of Hapoalim, in which she has no active role.
"The bank is managed very professionally, there's a chairman and a board and everything is done according to law. It's not my visions that run the bank, that's ridiculous ... there's nothing to be worried about," she said.
Shares of Hapoalim, Israel's second-largest bank, rose 1.6 percent on Sunday.
"When I talk about a vision in business I am talking about you can have a profit, you should be professional but you can give added value," Arison said.
The central bank declined to comment on Arison's remarks and said she has not been contacted by them since the interview was aired.
Arison said the messages do influence her personal decisions regarding her assets.
In the book she tells how she was on the verge of selling Housing and Construction when she received a message not to sell "because with this company I could a make a difference with sustainable building," she said.
Arison said she would not consider at this point selling her stake in Hapoalim or any of her other assets and is looking to invest in ventures in the fields of clean air and clean energy. She already has set up a company to invest in clean water projects.
She begins the book with her premise that the world is "collapsing" because of broad-based greed. The emphasis of the book is that every individual has to take responsibility for making the world a better place.
"I am aware of fact that in Israel there's a lot of cynicism, a lot of opposition ... I was very much aware that coming out with this book and my visions would create the same thing, cynicism and objection, until people understand."
Arison, who is also known in Israel for her philanthropy, said two years ago she got a message that there would be an economic crisis and people would go crazy.
But after years of seeing catastrophes she now believes the world is moving toward a better future.
"For the past year I've been seeing peace and happiness," she said. "I don't know when that will happen. I know I have a role to tell people ... Everyone has to make it happen."
(Editing by Maureen Bavdek)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Shari Arison, Israel's richest woman and the controlling shareholder of the country's second-largest bank, said on Sunday she has visions and receives messages "from above," but they do not influence the management of her companies.
Arison set off an uproar in Israel after she revealed that information in an interview with Channel Two broadcast late on Saturday.
"I get a picture, I can feel it. If it's fire, I feel like I'm burning. If people are dying I feel pain," she confirmed in an interview with Reuters.
The Israeli-American Arison along with her brother inherited billions of dollars from her late father Ted Arison, who founded Carnival Corp, the world's biggest cruise ship operator.
She is the controlling shareholder in Bank Hapoalim and controls Housing and Construction, Israel's biggest construction company.
She said these visions are meant to help lead the world elsewhere. To this end, she is releasing her first book this week, entitled "Birth - When the Spiritual and the Material Come Together," which details her journey both spiritually and in business.
She stressed that her visions do not interfere with the running of Hapoalim, in which she has no active role.
"The bank is managed very professionally, there's a chairman and a board and everything is done according to law. It's not my visions that run the bank, that's ridiculous ... there's nothing to be worried about," she said.
Shares of Hapoalim, Israel's second-largest bank, rose 1.6 percent on Sunday.
"When I talk about a vision in business I am talking about you can have a profit, you should be professional but you can give added value," Arison said.
The central bank declined to comment on Arison's remarks and said she has not been contacted by them since the interview was aired.
Arison said the messages do influence her personal decisions regarding her assets.
In the book she tells how she was on the verge of selling Housing and Construction when she received a message not to sell "because with this company I could a make a difference with sustainable building," she said.
Arison said she would not consider at this point selling her stake in Hapoalim or any of her other assets and is looking to invest in ventures in the fields of clean air and clean energy. She already has set up a company to invest in clean water projects.
She begins the book with her premise that the world is "collapsing" because of broad-based greed. The emphasis of the book is that every individual has to take responsibility for making the world a better place.
"I am aware of fact that in Israel there's a lot of cynicism, a lot of opposition ... I was very much aware that coming out with this book and my visions would create the same thing, cynicism and objection, until people understand."
Arison, who is also known in Israel for her philanthropy, said two years ago she got a message that there would be an economic crisis and people would go crazy.
But after years of seeing catastrophes she now believes the world is moving toward a better future.
"For the past year I've been seeing peace and happiness," she said. "I don't know when that will happen. I know I have a role to tell people ... Everyone has to make it happen."
(Editing by Maureen Bavdek)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Bruno opens Amsterdam pink light brothel...
Reuters
Fri Jun 19, 2009. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, in his latest incarnation as a gay Austrian fashion reporter, jet skied through a canal into Amsterdam's red light district on Friday to open a brothel full of men in thongs ahead of the Dutch premiere of 'Bruno'.
"For too long, guys coming here from around the world have been forced to have sex with women," Cohen said, standing in front of a pink-lit brothel building in the Dutch capital as surprised tourists and stag party goers looked on.
"It gives me great pleasure to declare Amsterdam's pink light district officially open for business," he said, as about a dozen men emerged from behind curtains at the windows of a three-storey brothel.
Cohen, hoping to replicate the success of his 2006 hit movie "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," was wearing a cut-away suit which revealed his own red thong. In "Bruno," Cohen is a gay fashion reporter seeking stardom in America.
After declaring the pink brothel open, Cohen left in a black car while the men left their rooms, put on white robes and waved goodbye to crowds. The real prostitutes, who had hidden from the flashing cameras, reopened their curtains to wait for their next clients in their red-lit windows.
(Reporting by Catherine Hornby, editing by Paul Casciato)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Fri Jun 19, 2009. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, in his latest incarnation as a gay Austrian fashion reporter, jet skied through a canal into Amsterdam's red light district on Friday to open a brothel full of men in thongs ahead of the Dutch premiere of 'Bruno'.
"For too long, guys coming here from around the world have been forced to have sex with women," Cohen said, standing in front of a pink-lit brothel building in the Dutch capital as surprised tourists and stag party goers looked on.
"It gives me great pleasure to declare Amsterdam's pink light district officially open for business," he said, as about a dozen men emerged from behind curtains at the windows of a three-storey brothel.
Cohen, hoping to replicate the success of his 2006 hit movie "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," was wearing a cut-away suit which revealed his own red thong. In "Bruno," Cohen is a gay fashion reporter seeking stardom in America.
After declaring the pink brothel open, Cohen left in a black car while the men left their rooms, put on white robes and waved goodbye to crowds. The real prostitutes, who had hidden from the flashing cameras, reopened their curtains to wait for their next clients in their red-lit windows.
(Reporting by Catherine Hornby, editing by Paul Casciato)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Read Madrid signs Kaka in $115m soccer deal...
Courier-Mail
June 09, 2009 09:15am. REAL Madrid has announced the signing of Brazilian international Kaka from AC Milan in the richest deal in football history.
Madrid gave no financial details but reports said the Spanish club would pay Milan 65 million euros (almost $A115 million) for the attacking midfielder.
The largest previous transfer was set by Zinedine Zidane when he joined Madrid from Juventus for $US65 million ($A81.07 million) in 2001.
Milan also confirmed Kaka's transfer to Madrid on their website.
Kaka, who passed a medical in the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife, has signed a six-year contract.
June 09, 2009 09:15am. REAL Madrid has announced the signing of Brazilian international Kaka from AC Milan in the richest deal in football history.
Madrid gave no financial details but reports said the Spanish club would pay Milan 65 million euros (almost $A115 million) for the attacking midfielder.
The largest previous transfer was set by Zinedine Zidane when he joined Madrid from Juventus for $US65 million ($A81.07 million) in 2001.
Milan also confirmed Kaka's transfer to Madrid on their website.
Kaka, who passed a medical in the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife, has signed a six-year contract.
Microsoft's Bing makes early gains:
Technology Reuters
Tue Jun 9, 2009. SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is making early gains on Internet search leaders Google Inc and Yahoo Inc with its Bing search engine that launched last week, according to industry data firm comScore.
Bing, which had its full launch last Wednesday but was available to some for a few days before that, took 11.1 percent of U.S. Internet searches between Tuesday and Saturday, comScore said, up from 9.1 percent in the comparable period the week before.
"These initial data suggest that Microsoft Bing has generated early interest, resulting in a spike in search engagement and an immediate term improvement to Microsoft's position in the search market," Mike Hurt, comScore senior vice president, said in a statement.
He said Bing was off to a good start, but it remains to be seen if Microsoft can entice more users to the service with its big marketing campaign and hang onto them.
Microsoft's Bing has lots of ground to make up. In April, the last full month for which figures are available, Microsoft's sites took 8.2 percent of U.S. Internet searches, trailing Yahoo with 20.4 percent and Google with 64.2 percent.
(Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved.
Tue Jun 9, 2009. SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is making early gains on Internet search leaders Google Inc and Yahoo Inc with its Bing search engine that launched last week, according to industry data firm comScore.
Bing, which had its full launch last Wednesday but was available to some for a few days before that, took 11.1 percent of U.S. Internet searches between Tuesday and Saturday, comScore said, up from 9.1 percent in the comparable period the week before.
"These initial data suggest that Microsoft Bing has generated early interest, resulting in a spike in search engagement and an immediate term improvement to Microsoft's position in the search market," Mike Hurt, comScore senior vice president, said in a statement.
He said Bing was off to a good start, but it remains to be seen if Microsoft can entice more users to the service with its big marketing campaign and hang onto them.
Microsoft's Bing has lots of ground to make up. In April, the last full month for which figures are available, Microsoft's sites took 8.2 percent of U.S. Internet searches, trailing Yahoo with 20.4 percent and Google with 64.2 percent.
(Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
U.S. war funding bill brims with unrelated extras...
Reuters By Jeremy Pelofsky
Mon Jun 8, 2009. WASHINGTON, June 8 (Reuters) - A $100 billion bill to fund U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is rapidly accumulating extra items such as money for military aircraft the Pentagon doesn't want and possibly a scheme to jump-start sagging auto sales.
The cars and planes are not directly linked to the U.S. war effort. But they are typical of Congress' penchant for loading bills with unrelated spending in hopes the funds will sail through on the strength of the main legislation.
President Barack Obama originally sought $83.4 billion for the two wars and more foreign aid for countries like Pakistan.
But then he too sought more -- $4 billion extra to combat H1N1 swine flu and $5 billion to back credit lines to the International Monetary Fund, which is trying to help developing countries weather the global economic downturn.
The unrelated provisions have slowed the bill down, especially for the IMF because Republicans have argued the extra items should be vetted through the normal congressional process rather than jammed into an emergency spending bill.
Fights have also erupted about add-ons for the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and an attempt to bar the release of photos of detainee abuse. While Republicans do not have the votes to block the bill, they have said they will oppose it and that forces Democrats to ensure most of their members back it.
"This supplemental was supposed to be about providing funding for our troops," one House Republican aide said. Instead, it has become a mish-mashed, taxpayer funded 'Christmas tree' bill that will propagate bad policies and unnecessary spending."
Some 51 anti-war House Democrats had opposed the bill but now are under pressure to switch to give Obama a victory. But a House Democratic leadership aide said Republicans will have to answer to constituents for opposing a war funding bill.
CASH FOR CLUNKERS
The House and Senate are working out differences between the two versions of the war funding bill they each approved last month and hope to pass a final, single version this week.
Congress was on the verge of giving Pakistan roughly $1 billion in the bill, but Obama last week sought another $200 million for Islamabad as it fights Taliban militants crossing its border from Afghanistan.
And lawmakers are also considering adding money for a plan to spur domestic car sales by offering up to $4,500 in vouchers for buyers to trade in their less fuel-efficient vehicles for ones that get better mileage, known as "cash for clunkers".
The White House declined to directly address adding in extra provisions, but said officials continue to work with lawmakers "about the core priorities in the legislation and hope that it can get to the president soon."
When the House and Senate originally approved their separate versions of the war bill, the White House praised lawmakers for not inserting their own pet projects in the legislation -- though some pet priorities were included.
Democratic Representative John Murtha, who heads the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, managed to get $3.1 billion for eight C-17 and 11 C-130 military transport planes included. However, that has been pared back by four C-130s.
The Pentagon did not request the aircraft but lawmakers want them to preserve jobs in their home states and Murtha disputes the military's contention that they are not needed.
A senior Democratic House aide said the requests for flu and Pakistan money were appropriate to include in the bill because they were emergency needs Obama cited. The aide also noted that Republicans in the past backed items like the IMF funds.
"This is a dangerous game Republicans are playing by jeopardizing the well-being of our soldiers to score political points," the aide said. "The supplemental will be passed, but they will have to answer for their actions if they oppose it." (Editing by Eric Walsh)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Mon Jun 8, 2009. WASHINGTON, June 8 (Reuters) - A $100 billion bill to fund U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is rapidly accumulating extra items such as money for military aircraft the Pentagon doesn't want and possibly a scheme to jump-start sagging auto sales.
The cars and planes are not directly linked to the U.S. war effort. But they are typical of Congress' penchant for loading bills with unrelated spending in hopes the funds will sail through on the strength of the main legislation.
President Barack Obama originally sought $83.4 billion for the two wars and more foreign aid for countries like Pakistan.
But then he too sought more -- $4 billion extra to combat H1N1 swine flu and $5 billion to back credit lines to the International Monetary Fund, which is trying to help developing countries weather the global economic downturn.
The unrelated provisions have slowed the bill down, especially for the IMF because Republicans have argued the extra items should be vetted through the normal congressional process rather than jammed into an emergency spending bill.
Fights have also erupted about add-ons for the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and an attempt to bar the release of photos of detainee abuse. While Republicans do not have the votes to block the bill, they have said they will oppose it and that forces Democrats to ensure most of their members back it.
"This supplemental was supposed to be about providing funding for our troops," one House Republican aide said. Instead, it has become a mish-mashed, taxpayer funded 'Christmas tree' bill that will propagate bad policies and unnecessary spending."
Some 51 anti-war House Democrats had opposed the bill but now are under pressure to switch to give Obama a victory. But a House Democratic leadership aide said Republicans will have to answer to constituents for opposing a war funding bill.
CASH FOR CLUNKERS
The House and Senate are working out differences between the two versions of the war funding bill they each approved last month and hope to pass a final, single version this week.
Congress was on the verge of giving Pakistan roughly $1 billion in the bill, but Obama last week sought another $200 million for Islamabad as it fights Taliban militants crossing its border from Afghanistan.
And lawmakers are also considering adding money for a plan to spur domestic car sales by offering up to $4,500 in vouchers for buyers to trade in their less fuel-efficient vehicles for ones that get better mileage, known as "cash for clunkers".
The White House declined to directly address adding in extra provisions, but said officials continue to work with lawmakers "about the core priorities in the legislation and hope that it can get to the president soon."
When the House and Senate originally approved their separate versions of the war bill, the White House praised lawmakers for not inserting their own pet projects in the legislation -- though some pet priorities were included.
Democratic Representative John Murtha, who heads the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, managed to get $3.1 billion for eight C-17 and 11 C-130 military transport planes included. However, that has been pared back by four C-130s.
The Pentagon did not request the aircraft but lawmakers want them to preserve jobs in their home states and Murtha disputes the military's contention that they are not needed.
A senior Democratic House aide said the requests for flu and Pakistan money were appropriate to include in the bill because they were emergency needs Obama cited. The aide also noted that Republicans in the past backed items like the IMF funds.
"This is a dangerous game Republicans are playing by jeopardizing the well-being of our soldiers to score political points," the aide said. "The supplemental will be passed, but they will have to answer for their actions if they oppose it." (Editing by Eric Walsh)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Fewer divorces during financial gloom?
Reuters
Mon Jun 8, 2009. LONDON (Reuters) - Fewer British couples are filing for divorce as a sharp drop in property prices makes it hard for couples to sell a joint home, and the credit crunch dampens a desire to fund two separate households, a study shows.
The study, published by Grant Thornton accountants, showed that almost half of all surveyed matrimonial lawyers believe the numbers of divorces has slumped -- and will continue to do so -- because of the financial squeeze.
"Lawyers believe they will see less couples filing for divorce during the credit crunch," said Robert Kerr, partner at Grant Thornton's Forensic and Investigation Services.
"Reasons vary but certainly the financial carve-up that follows a divorce settlement will be at the forefront of a couple's minds when contemplating divorce," he added.
Data published by the Office for National Statistics earlier this year showed that the number of people getting divorced fell from 12.2 per 1,000 couples in 2006 to 11.9 in 2007, and is currently at a 26-year low.
The survey also found newlyweds are increasingly eager to settle financial agreements ahead of tying the knot, and are steering away from pre-nuptial "lump sum agreements" which do not take the falling value of assets into account. "I can only imagine that this trend will continue to rise particularly in an economic downturn when people feel increasingly vulnerable about their financial position," said Kerr.
The number of couples that cite financial problems as a factor in their split has more than doubled in the past two years, but still lags behind other reasons including extra marital affairs, abuse, mid-life crises and other family strains, the study found.
"There is also an increasing number of people who decide to co-habit but not marry," Grant Thornton spokeswoman Suvra Datta said, but was unable to comment on whether this was down to people being less able to afford the cost of a wedding.
(Reporting by Josie Cox, Editing by Steve Addison)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Mon Jun 8, 2009. LONDON (Reuters) - Fewer British couples are filing for divorce as a sharp drop in property prices makes it hard for couples to sell a joint home, and the credit crunch dampens a desire to fund two separate households, a study shows.
The study, published by Grant Thornton accountants, showed that almost half of all surveyed matrimonial lawyers believe the numbers of divorces has slumped -- and will continue to do so -- because of the financial squeeze.
"Lawyers believe they will see less couples filing for divorce during the credit crunch," said Robert Kerr, partner at Grant Thornton's Forensic and Investigation Services.
"Reasons vary but certainly the financial carve-up that follows a divorce settlement will be at the forefront of a couple's minds when contemplating divorce," he added.
Data published by the Office for National Statistics earlier this year showed that the number of people getting divorced fell from 12.2 per 1,000 couples in 2006 to 11.9 in 2007, and is currently at a 26-year low.
The survey also found newlyweds are increasingly eager to settle financial agreements ahead of tying the knot, and are steering away from pre-nuptial "lump sum agreements" which do not take the falling value of assets into account. "I can only imagine that this trend will continue to rise particularly in an economic downturn when people feel increasingly vulnerable about their financial position," said Kerr.
The number of couples that cite financial problems as a factor in their split has more than doubled in the past two years, but still lags behind other reasons including extra marital affairs, abuse, mid-life crises and other family strains, the study found.
"There is also an increasing number of people who decide to co-habit but not marry," Grant Thornton spokeswoman Suvra Datta said, but was unable to comment on whether this was down to people being less able to afford the cost of a wedding.
(Reporting by Josie Cox, Editing by Steve Addison)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Groom drinks too much at wedding, dies...
Reuters
Mon May 25, 2009. TAIPEI (Reuters) - A Taiwanese groom died on his wedding day after having too much wine and beer to drink, police and local media said Monday.
The man, 35, an insurance company worker surnamed Wu passed out at home after drinking too much Saturday at a high-end restaurant in Taipei among more than 100 wedding guests, the Liberty Times reported.
It was not known if he had health complications.
"Everyone was having a great time," said restaurant party organizer Linda Chien. "We don't know what happened after that."
Wu was hospitalized after his face turned black, the paper said. A hospital spokeswoman said he died despite treatment.
(Reporting by Ralph Jennings, editing by Miral Fahmy)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Mon May 25, 2009. TAIPEI (Reuters) - A Taiwanese groom died on his wedding day after having too much wine and beer to drink, police and local media said Monday.
The man, 35, an insurance company worker surnamed Wu passed out at home after drinking too much Saturday at a high-end restaurant in Taipei among more than 100 wedding guests, the Liberty Times reported.
It was not known if he had health complications.
"Everyone was having a great time," said restaurant party organizer Linda Chien. "We don't know what happened after that."
Wu was hospitalized after his face turned black, the paper said. A hospital spokeswoman said he died despite treatment.
(Reporting by Ralph Jennings, editing by Miral Fahmy)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Tycoon names blue diamond Star of Josephine...
Reuters
Fri May 22, 2009 GENEVA (Reuters) - A Hong Kong property tycoon and collector who bought a flawless blue diamond for a record $9.5 million, has named it the "Star of Josephine," auction house Sotheby's said Wednesday.
Joseph Lau Luen-Hung made the winning bid last week by telephone for the diamond, which fetched the highest price per carat for any gemstone at the auction and a world record price for a fancy vivid blue diamond at auction.
"Mr. Lau has already exercised his right to name the diamond, which is now known as 'Star of Josephine'," it said.
The rectangular-shaped blue stone weighs 7.03 carats, about the size of a small coin, and was the rarest to enter the international market this year.
David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby's jewelry department in Europe and the Middle East, told reporters after conducting the May 12 sale in Geneva: "I hope it will be worn, it is such a beautiful stone."
Lau is chairman of Chinese Estates, a major Hong Kong property developer.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Farah Master)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Fri May 22, 2009 GENEVA (Reuters) - A Hong Kong property tycoon and collector who bought a flawless blue diamond for a record $9.5 million, has named it the "Star of Josephine," auction house Sotheby's said Wednesday.
Joseph Lau Luen-Hung made the winning bid last week by telephone for the diamond, which fetched the highest price per carat for any gemstone at the auction and a world record price for a fancy vivid blue diamond at auction.
"Mr. Lau has already exercised his right to name the diamond, which is now known as 'Star of Josephine'," it said.
The rectangular-shaped blue stone weighs 7.03 carats, about the size of a small coin, and was the rarest to enter the international market this year.
David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby's jewelry department in Europe and the Middle East, told reporters after conducting the May 12 sale in Geneva: "I hope it will be worn, it is such a beautiful stone."
Lau is chairman of Chinese Estates, a major Hong Kong property developer.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Farah Master)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Schoolboy Alfie not father of baby after all....
Reuters
Tue May 19, 2009 LONDON (Reuters) - Schoolboy Alfie Patten, who made headlines earlier this year when it was reported he had got his girlfriend pregnant when aged just 12, is not the baby's father after all, the Sun said Tuesday.
In February, media said Patten's 15-year-old girlfriend Chantelle Stedman had fallen pregnant after a night of unprotected sex, possibly making Patten Britain's youngest father when she gave birth to daughter Maisie.
"I thought it would be good to have a baby. I didn't think about how we would afford it," he told the Sun at the time.
"I don't really get pocket money. My dad sometimes gives me 10 pounds."
But after the story was reported, other boys came forward to say they had had sex with Stedman.
The Sun said DNA tests had now revealed that Patten was not the baby's father. Instead Maisie is the daughter of another schoolboy, Tyler Barker, who was 14 at the time Stedman conceived.
The results were revealed after a judge lifted a court injunction and said Patten was "extremely distressed" at the news.
(Reporting by Michael Holden)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Tue May 19, 2009 LONDON (Reuters) - Schoolboy Alfie Patten, who made headlines earlier this year when it was reported he had got his girlfriend pregnant when aged just 12, is not the baby's father after all, the Sun said Tuesday.In February, media said Patten's 15-year-old girlfriend Chantelle Stedman had fallen pregnant after a night of unprotected sex, possibly making Patten Britain's youngest father when she gave birth to daughter Maisie.
"I thought it would be good to have a baby. I didn't think about how we would afford it," he told the Sun at the time.
"I don't really get pocket money. My dad sometimes gives me 10 pounds."
But after the story was reported, other boys came forward to say they had had sex with Stedman.
The Sun said DNA tests had now revealed that Patten was not the baby's father. Instead Maisie is the daughter of another schoolboy, Tyler Barker, who was 14 at the time Stedman conceived.
The results were revealed after a judge lifted a court injunction and said Patten was "extremely distressed" at the news.
(Reporting by Michael Holden)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Woman beaten up over asparagus prices...
Reuters
Mon May 18, 2009 BERLIN (Reuters) - German police are searching for a motorist who beat a 24-year-old woman selling white asparagus because he was upset about her asking price for the coveted springtime vegetable, police said on Monday.
The prices for white asparagus, sometimes called "edible ivory" in Germany, fluctuate wildly during the short springtime season, peaking early in the season at 10 euros per kilo.
The man screamed at the woman that her asparagus was overpriced. He then punched her in the face and threatened to unleash his attack dog at her. She fled and called police.
"The motorist said her prices were totally over the top," said Dietmar Keck, police spokesman in the Havelland district west of Berlin, without saying how much she was asking.
Prices for asparagus now range from 1 to 5 euros per kilo, he said. Some 55,000 tons valued at 175 million euros are harvested annually.
(Writing by Jacob Comenetz; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Mon May 18, 2009 BERLIN (Reuters) - German police are searching for a motorist who beat a 24-year-old woman selling white asparagus because he was upset about her asking price for the coveted springtime vegetable, police said on Monday.The prices for white asparagus, sometimes called "edible ivory" in Germany, fluctuate wildly during the short springtime season, peaking early in the season at 10 euros per kilo.
The man screamed at the woman that her asparagus was overpriced. He then punched her in the face and threatened to unleash his attack dog at her. She fled and called police.
"The motorist said her prices were totally over the top," said Dietmar Keck, police spokesman in the Havelland district west of Berlin, without saying how much she was asking.
Prices for asparagus now range from 1 to 5 euros per kilo, he said. Some 55,000 tons valued at 175 million euros are harvested annually.
(Writing by Jacob Comenetz; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Man tried to hire prostitute for his son, 14...
Reuters
Fri May 15, 2009 LONDON (Reuters) - A man who tried to hire a prostitute to take his 14-year-old son's virginity as a present was spared jail by a court on Friday.
The Polish national took the boy out in his car and allowed him to pick out the prostitute, who was standing at the side of the road in the red-light district of Nottingham.
But the 42-year-old father was arrested because the teenager had chosen an undercover police officer, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, after he admitted a charge of trying to solicit a woman to have sex with a child, the Press Association reported.
The court heard that the father, who came to Britain eight years ago, was arrested last July during an undercover operation by the city's vice squad.
Prosecutor Adrian Harris said the man and his son had approached the undercover officer whose code name was Sarah and beckoned her over .
He asked "Sarah" how much it would cost for her to have sex with his son and they agreed on a 20 pound fee. However, when the car pulled over, the man was arrested by plainclothes police officers.
"The boy said that they had driven past the girl and his dad pointed to her and said 'will she do?'" Harris said.
"He said 'yes' and they had turned round. He said his dad did this because he was still a virgin and he was taking care of that for him."
Judge Jonathan Teare said he would spare the father jail because of his excellent character and that he believed he did not mean any harm to his son.
"You have a duty of care to your son and that is to look after his moral welfare, not as you might think to break him in to the ways of sex through a prostitute," he said.
The court was told the boy would continue to live with his father.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)
Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Fri May 15, 2009 LONDON (Reuters) - A man who tried to hire a prostitute to take his 14-year-old son's virginity as a present was spared jail by a court on Friday.
The Polish national took the boy out in his car and allowed him to pick out the prostitute, who was standing at the side of the road in the red-light district of Nottingham.
But the 42-year-old father was arrested because the teenager had chosen an undercover police officer, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, after he admitted a charge of trying to solicit a woman to have sex with a child, the Press Association reported.
The court heard that the father, who came to Britain eight years ago, was arrested last July during an undercover operation by the city's vice squad.
Prosecutor Adrian Harris said the man and his son had approached the undercover officer whose code name was Sarah and beckoned her over .
He asked "Sarah" how much it would cost for her to have sex with his son and they agreed on a 20 pound fee. However, when the car pulled over, the man was arrested by plainclothes police officers.
"The boy said that they had driven past the girl and his dad pointed to her and said 'will she do?'" Harris said.
"He said 'yes' and they had turned round. He said his dad did this because he was still a virgin and he was taking care of that for him."
Judge Jonathan Teare said he would spare the father jail because of his excellent character and that he believed he did not mean any harm to his son.
"You have a duty of care to your son and that is to look after his moral welfare, not as you might think to break him in to the ways of sex through a prostitute," he said.
The court was told the boy would continue to live with his father.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)
Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Cash flies out of convertible on motorway.....
Reuters
Thu May 14, 2009 BERLIN (Reuters) - A man lost 23,000 euros ($31,180) to the wind when an envelope with the money he had stuck in the passenger seat pocket of his convertible blew away during a test drive in northern Germany.
The cash -- in 500, 200, and 100 euro notes -- fluttered across the motorway in the midst of speeding traffic near the city of Hanover, police said.
The man, 23, contacted police immediately, who then blocked the motorway in both directions for nearly half an hour. Eight police officers assisted the man in retrieving his notes and were able to recover 20,000 euros.
"The remaining 3,000 euros have not been found," a police spokeswoman said, but warned treasure hunters of searching for any bills and keeping them, saying that was illegal.
(Reporting by Jacob Comenetz
Thu May 14, 2009 BERLIN (Reuters) - A man lost 23,000 euros ($31,180) to the wind when an envelope with the money he had stuck in the passenger seat pocket of his convertible blew away during a test drive in northern Germany.
The cash -- in 500, 200, and 100 euro notes -- fluttered across the motorway in the midst of speeding traffic near the city of Hanover, police said.
The man, 23, contacted police immediately, who then blocked the motorway in both directions for nearly half an hour. Eight police officers assisted the man in retrieving his notes and were able to recover 20,000 euros.
"The remaining 3,000 euros have not been found," a police spokeswoman said, but warned treasure hunters of searching for any bills and keeping them, saying that was illegal.
(Reporting by Jacob Comenetz
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Exam result stolen for official's daughter...
Reuters
Wed May 13, 2009 4:47pm EDT BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese police official has been arrested for stealing another girl's exam results and passing it off as his daughter's to ensure her a place in college, a newspaper said on Wednesday.
Competition for college places is fierce in China where stories of cheating surface every year. Students pay for leaked exam papers, smuggle in mobile phones and electronic dictionaries, or pay others to take the exam for them.
Wang Zhengrong, formerly of the Public Security Bureau in Shaodong county in the southern province of Hunan, was charged with forging and altering official documents and seals in 2004, the China Youth Daily said.
He passed off the identity information and exam results of a village girl, his daughter's classmate, as those of his daughter who had failed the National Examination for College Entrance.
The scam was uncovered when the village girl found she couldn't apply for a credit card as her ID number belonged to someone else, the newspaper said.
The story has become a hot topic on Chinese websites, infuriating many bloggers. "Did they ever think about the future of that country girl and her desperation?" one asked. "Is there any social justice in China?"
The issue eventually attracted the attention of Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu who demanded an investigation.
(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Nick Macfie and Miral Fahmy)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Wed May 13, 2009 4:47pm EDT BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese police official has been arrested for stealing another girl's exam results and passing it off as his daughter's to ensure her a place in college, a newspaper said on Wednesday.Competition for college places is fierce in China where stories of cheating surface every year. Students pay for leaked exam papers, smuggle in mobile phones and electronic dictionaries, or pay others to take the exam for them.
Wang Zhengrong, formerly of the Public Security Bureau in Shaodong county in the southern province of Hunan, was charged with forging and altering official documents and seals in 2004, the China Youth Daily said.
He passed off the identity information and exam results of a village girl, his daughter's classmate, as those of his daughter who had failed the National Examination for College Entrance.
The scam was uncovered when the village girl found she couldn't apply for a credit card as her ID number belonged to someone else, the newspaper said.
The story has become a hot topic on Chinese websites, infuriating many bloggers. "Did they ever think about the future of that country girl and her desperation?" one asked. "Is there any social justice in China?"
The issue eventually attracted the attention of Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu who demanded an investigation.
(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Nick Macfie and Miral Fahmy)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Court fines man for beheading wax Hitler...
Reuters
Tue May 12, 2009. BERLIN (Reuters) - A German court fined an unemployed man 900 euros ($1,227) Tuesday for knocking the head off a waxwork figure of Adolf Hitler in a Berlin museum.
Minutes after the Madame Tussauds museum opened in the German capital in July, the 42-year-old pushed past security staff ripped off its head. The man, an ex-policeman, said he found it inappropriate to display an exhibit showing the Nazi leader only some 500 meters from Berlin's Holocaust memorial.
The waxwork of a glum-looking Hitler in a mock bunker stirred debate in Germany even before it went on display. Critics argued it was tasteless to display a replica of the man who unleashed World War Two and ordered the extermination of Europe's Jews.
Madame Tussauds said the museum avoided politics, arguing Hitler stood for a significant part of German history and his waxwork therefore had a legitimate part in the exhibition.
The restored figure was returned to the museum in September and is now displayed behind a glass wall.
About 25 workers spent about four months on the original waxwork, using more than 2,000 pictures and pieces of archive material and also guided by a model of the "Fuehrer" in the London branch of Madame Tussauds.
The wax figure has been cited as the latest in a gradual breaking down of taboos about Hitler in Germany more than 60 years after the end of the war and the Holocaust in which some six million Jews were killed.
The 2004 film "Downfall" provoked controversy as it portrayed the leader in a human light during the last days of his life. In 2007, a satire about Hitler by Swiss-born Jewish director Dani Levy was released in Germany.
It is illegal in Germany to show Nazi symbols and art glorifying Hitler.
(Reporting by Kerstin Rebien; Writing by Kerstin Gehmlich; editing by Ralph Boulton)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Tue May 12, 2009. BERLIN (Reuters) - A German court fined an unemployed man 900 euros ($1,227) Tuesday for knocking the head off a waxwork figure of Adolf Hitler in a Berlin museum.
Minutes after the Madame Tussauds museum opened in the German capital in July, the 42-year-old pushed past security staff ripped off its head. The man, an ex-policeman, said he found it inappropriate to display an exhibit showing the Nazi leader only some 500 meters from Berlin's Holocaust memorial.
The waxwork of a glum-looking Hitler in a mock bunker stirred debate in Germany even before it went on display. Critics argued it was tasteless to display a replica of the man who unleashed World War Two and ordered the extermination of Europe's Jews.
Madame Tussauds said the museum avoided politics, arguing Hitler stood for a significant part of German history and his waxwork therefore had a legitimate part in the exhibition.
The restored figure was returned to the museum in September and is now displayed behind a glass wall.
About 25 workers spent about four months on the original waxwork, using more than 2,000 pictures and pieces of archive material and also guided by a model of the "Fuehrer" in the London branch of Madame Tussauds.
The wax figure has been cited as the latest in a gradual breaking down of taboos about Hitler in Germany more than 60 years after the end of the war and the Holocaust in which some six million Jews were killed.
The 2004 film "Downfall" provoked controversy as it portrayed the leader in a human light during the last days of his life. In 2007, a satire about Hitler by Swiss-born Jewish director Dani Levy was released in Germany.
It is illegal in Germany to show Nazi symbols and art glorifying Hitler.
(Reporting by Kerstin Rebien; Writing by Kerstin Gehmlich; editing by Ralph Boulton)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Woman accused of taking 500 pounds of gold from job...
Reuters
Fri May 1, 2009 New YORK (Reuters) - Call her the modern day Goldfinger. A New York woman was charged Wednesday with stealing as much as $12 million in gold bullion and jewelry over a period of six years, lifting the ill-gotten booty from her employer by concealing the stash in the lining of her pocketbook.
The district attorney for New York City's borough of Queens said Teresa Tambunting, 50, was arraigned Wednesday on charges of first-degree grand larceny and first-degree criminal possession of stolen property from Jacmel Jewelry Inc.
"The defendant is accused of establishing a virtual mining operation ... which siphoned off millions of dollars worth of the precious metal from her employer," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.
In January, an inventory audit conducted at Jacmel revealed that nearly 850 pounds (386 kg) of gold merchandise worth about $12 million was unaccounted for, Brown's statement added.
After an investigation was initiated, Tambunting returned to Jacmel a suitcase containing 66 pounds (30 kg) of gold. On February 13, an additional 448 pounds (204 kg) of gold was recovered from Tambunting's residence, the DA said.
Jack Rahmey, Jacmel's president, declined to comment.
Spot gold traded at around $890 an ounce Thursday.
(Reporting by Frank Tang; Editing by Christian Wiessner)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Fri May 1, 2009 New YORK (Reuters) - Call her the modern day Goldfinger. A New York woman was charged Wednesday with stealing as much as $12 million in gold bullion and jewelry over a period of six years, lifting the ill-gotten booty from her employer by concealing the stash in the lining of her pocketbook.
The district attorney for New York City's borough of Queens said Teresa Tambunting, 50, was arraigned Wednesday on charges of first-degree grand larceny and first-degree criminal possession of stolen property from Jacmel Jewelry Inc.
"The defendant is accused of establishing a virtual mining operation ... which siphoned off millions of dollars worth of the precious metal from her employer," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.
In January, an inventory audit conducted at Jacmel revealed that nearly 850 pounds (386 kg) of gold merchandise worth about $12 million was unaccounted for, Brown's statement added.
After an investigation was initiated, Tambunting returned to Jacmel a suitcase containing 66 pounds (30 kg) of gold. On February 13, an additional 448 pounds (204 kg) of gold was recovered from Tambunting's residence, the DA said.
Jack Rahmey, Jacmel's president, declined to comment.
Spot gold traded at around $890 an ounce Thursday.
(Reporting by Frank Tang; Editing by Christian Wiessner)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Sunday, May 03, 2009
50-year-old divorces child bride?...
Reuters
Thu Apr 30, 2009. JEDDAH (Reuters) - A 50-year old Saudi man has agreed to divorce his 9-year-old bride, media reported on Thursday, after the marriage drew international criticism.
The decision, reported by newspapers Alwatan and Al-Riyadh, came after months of court hearings, criticism from the United Nations and an international media frenzy about Saudi Arabia's human rights practices.
"This is a good step and I think the man did it because he was in a lot of pressure from everyone," Wajeha Al-Huaider, founder of the Group for Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia, told Reuters by telephone.
Al-Huaider, who campaigned for the child, said she hoped the pressure generated by the case would eventually lead to a law banning child marriages.
The child's mother, who opposed the marriage which took place when the girl was 8 years old, took the case to court last year. The court in the small town of Onaiza upheld the marriage on condition that the husband did not consummate it until the girl reached puberty.
In Saudi Arabia's patriarchal society, which applies an austere version of Sunni Islam, fathers have the right to decide whom their daughters marry.
"Islam does not specify an age for the marriage contract. The contract is one thing and the consummation of marriage is another," Ahmed Al Modi, an Islamic scholar and writer, told Reuters.
In the case of the Onaiza child bride he said the judge could not order a divorce because the marriage contract was carried out according to established rules for marriage, which include the approval of the father.
"When the child is under age the father can approve the marriage contract but as soon as the child reaches puberty she can object to the marriage," Al Modi said, emphasising that it was merely a contract, signed to "secure her future."
He explained that in such cases the child usually remained in her parents' custody and her husband would be able to visit her. But he would not be permitted to live with her or consummate the marriage until she had reached puberty.
Discussion about a legal age for marriage in Saudi Arabia took off after a senior Saudi cleric, Sheikh Mohsen al-Obaikan, was quoted in a local newspaper recently saying that girls under 18 years of age should not be allowed to marry.
Many clerics in Saudi Arabia, including the Kingdom's chief cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh, endorse the practice of young girls marrying.
The Onaiza case attracted international criticism.
"Irrespective of circumstances or the legal framework, the marriage of a child is a violation of that child's rights," UNICEF's chief, Ann Veneman, said earlier this month.
Al Modi said Saudi Arabia was falling behind in the issue of child marriage.
"Egypt assigned a legal age for marriage in 1975, now we have started to awaken," he said, adding that Arab countries like Jordon Syria, Lebanon and Egypt had already assigned a legal age for marriage.
(Reporting by Asma Alsharif; editing by Erica Billingham and Richard Balmforth)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Thu Apr 30, 2009. JEDDAH (Reuters) - A 50-year old Saudi man has agreed to divorce his 9-year-old bride, media reported on Thursday, after the marriage drew international criticism.The decision, reported by newspapers Alwatan and Al-Riyadh, came after months of court hearings, criticism from the United Nations and an international media frenzy about Saudi Arabia's human rights practices.
"This is a good step and I think the man did it because he was in a lot of pressure from everyone," Wajeha Al-Huaider, founder of the Group for Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia, told Reuters by telephone.
Al-Huaider, who campaigned for the child, said she hoped the pressure generated by the case would eventually lead to a law banning child marriages.
The child's mother, who opposed the marriage which took place when the girl was 8 years old, took the case to court last year. The court in the small town of Onaiza upheld the marriage on condition that the husband did not consummate it until the girl reached puberty.
In Saudi Arabia's patriarchal society, which applies an austere version of Sunni Islam, fathers have the right to decide whom their daughters marry.
"Islam does not specify an age for the marriage contract. The contract is one thing and the consummation of marriage is another," Ahmed Al Modi, an Islamic scholar and writer, told Reuters.
In the case of the Onaiza child bride he said the judge could not order a divorce because the marriage contract was carried out according to established rules for marriage, which include the approval of the father.
"When the child is under age the father can approve the marriage contract but as soon as the child reaches puberty she can object to the marriage," Al Modi said, emphasising that it was merely a contract, signed to "secure her future."
He explained that in such cases the child usually remained in her parents' custody and her husband would be able to visit her. But he would not be permitted to live with her or consummate the marriage until she had reached puberty.
Discussion about a legal age for marriage in Saudi Arabia took off after a senior Saudi cleric, Sheikh Mohsen al-Obaikan, was quoted in a local newspaper recently saying that girls under 18 years of age should not be allowed to marry.
Many clerics in Saudi Arabia, including the Kingdom's chief cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh, endorse the practice of young girls marrying.
The Onaiza case attracted international criticism.
"Irrespective of circumstances or the legal framework, the marriage of a child is a violation of that child's rights," UNICEF's chief, Ann Veneman, said earlier this month.
Al Modi said Saudi Arabia was falling behind in the issue of child marriage.
"Egypt assigned a legal age for marriage in 1975, now we have started to awaken," he said, adding that Arab countries like Jordon Syria, Lebanon and Egypt had already assigned a legal age for marriage.
(Reporting by Asma Alsharif; editing by Erica Billingham and Richard Balmforth)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Friday, May 01, 2009
Windows 7 RC1 made available for download...
Tech News on ZDNet By David Meyer ZDNet.co.uk
Apr 30, 2009 7:34:33 Microsoft made the first release candidate of Windows 7 available for free download on Thursday. In an unprecedented move for the company, the software will run on a user's PC for more than a year.
Windows 7 RC1 can be downloaded now by MSDN, TechBeta and TechNet subscribers, and the general public will be able to download it on May 5. There is no limit to how many copies can be downloaded. The software will run until June 1, 2010, in what a Microsoft marketing manager described to ZDNet UK as a "try before you buy" scenario.
"There is no cap on the amount of downloads [of Windows 7 RC1]," Laurence Painell said in a prebriefing session on Wednesday. "However, we only recommend that people with a reasonable amount of IT knowledge use it."
Windows 7, the successor to Vista, brings new features such as multitouch interaction, a redesigned taskbar at the bottom of the desktop and an integrated search feature that allows the user to search across the client PC and corporate network at once. Power management has also been improved, as Microsoft has been keen to focus Windows 7 on portable computing.
When Windows 7 went into beta in January, an executive from the company told ZDNet UK that the beta version was "feature complete". However, Painell revealed on Wednesday that two features present in the beta — a built-in Bluetooth audio driver and the ability to have a guest account — have been dropped from the release candidate.
Painell could not explain why Windows 7 would not automatically include a Bluetooth audio driver. He suggested, however, that the omission of the guest-account feature was because Microsoft "has not seen a huge amount of uptake of it".
The omission of another feature — the ability to have thumbdrives or any media other than optical disks autorun — was announced by Microsoft on Tuesday. The company said this decision had been taken in the light of recent malware, such as the Conficker virus, that uses USB memory sticks as an attack vector.
Asked how this would affect, by way of example, Linux distributions that are designed to run from flash drives, Painell said that users "could still run that distribution from an optical disk".
The RC1 also has new features not found in the beta version, such as the ability to stream media between PCs in a Slingbox-like fashion. Another addition — that of an XP virtual machine built into the Professional and Ultimate version of Windows 7 — was announced by Microsoft on Friday.
Painell said an XP application running on Windows 7 would "look like an XP application, but you won't need a virtual PC interface running around it". He added that those applications would be able to share the clipboard and documents folder with their Windows 7 host.
Driver compatibility
It is not clear how Windows 7's XP virtual machines will handle the issue of driver compatibility. Microsoft has also conceded that there will not be 100 percent compatibility between all XP applications and Windows 7's virtual machines, and has asked software vendors and customers to test such applications in the VMs, providing feedback to Microsoft before the operating system's final release.
Painell told ZDNet UK that small businesses — the target audience for the XP virtual machines — would have to install applications to each virtual machine, without the ability to centrally install and control such applications from the server level.
Enterprise customers will be encouraged to use Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) to centrally administer their XP virtual machines. However, Microsoft said on Wednesday that the updated version of Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), which will come out within three months of Windows 7's general release, will include only a beta version of MED-V.
Asked why Microsoft was introducing XP virtual machines on business versions of Windows 7, Painell said the VMs were designed to bridge compatibility issues with software. He said this may be useful where the software vendor had gone out of business, the software was bespoke, or the customer had "not purchased the most recent version" of the software.
Microsoft expects that 90 percent or more of applications and hardware that function on Vista will work on Windows 7, Painell said.
The cheapest version of Windows 7 will be the Starter Edition, which Painell said was "an entry-level edition for netbooks only". He added, however, that "any version of Windows 7 will work on a netbook with good experiences".
The Starter Edition limits the number of concurrently running applications to just three. Painell said this would "get the most out of the hardware provided" and would allow manufacturers to "differentiate their offerings".
He pointed out that an antivirus application, which tends to run constantly, would not count as one of the three running applications. In addition, multiple instances of the same application will count as one.
Final release candidate
Microsoft expects RC1 to be the only release candidate for Windows 7, Painell said. He gave no details on the final release date other than confirming the company's current estimate that it will be generally available no later than January 2010.
Gartner research director Annette Jump told ZDNet UK on Thursday that she expected the final version of Windows 7 to arrive in the third quarter of this year, possibly shipping to manufacturers even earlier. Microsoft's decision to allow users to try out the release candidate until June next year would encourage them to move to Windows 7, she said.
"In the past, very few users for Windows would upgrade on their PC," Jump said. "For Mac OS, it's a different picture — a much higher percentage of users upgrade on their machines. Microsoft is possibly trying to encourage people to do that and, with the new user interface, for many consumers it will be quite appealing."
Jump praised the XP mode in Windows 7, saying it showed Microsoft was obviously learning from the mistakes it made with Vista, where there were "major application-compatibility issues".
"I think that feature will be very helpful for business buyers, in terms of trying to encourage them to move to Windows 7 faster," she said.
The analyst said the delay in a final release for the updated MED-V would be unlikely to affect most enterprise customers, as businesses would probably not deploy Windows 7 until 12 to 18 months after it had been released.
Jump predicted, however, that the three-applications restriction in the Starter Edition would dramatically limit the usage of that version. "Personally, I only see the Starter Edition on mini-notebooks being used for education and in very selected emerging markets," she said.
On the subject of Windows 7's lack of a guest-account feature, Jump said this feature was becoming decreasingly popular because more people are carrying around notebook computers, meaning they are less likely to need to use someone else's PC.
This article was originally posted on ZDNet UK.
Apr 30, 2009 7:34:33 Microsoft made the first release candidate of Windows 7 available for free download on Thursday. In an unprecedented move for the company, the software will run on a user's PC for more than a year.
Windows 7 RC1 can be downloaded now by MSDN, TechBeta and TechNet subscribers, and the general public will be able to download it on May 5. There is no limit to how many copies can be downloaded. The software will run until June 1, 2010, in what a Microsoft marketing manager described to ZDNet UK as a "try before you buy" scenario.
"There is no cap on the amount of downloads [of Windows 7 RC1]," Laurence Painell said in a prebriefing session on Wednesday. "However, we only recommend that people with a reasonable amount of IT knowledge use it."
Windows 7, the successor to Vista, brings new features such as multitouch interaction, a redesigned taskbar at the bottom of the desktop and an integrated search feature that allows the user to search across the client PC and corporate network at once. Power management has also been improved, as Microsoft has been keen to focus Windows 7 on portable computing.
When Windows 7 went into beta in January, an executive from the company told ZDNet UK that the beta version was "feature complete". However, Painell revealed on Wednesday that two features present in the beta — a built-in Bluetooth audio driver and the ability to have a guest account — have been dropped from the release candidate.
Painell could not explain why Windows 7 would not automatically include a Bluetooth audio driver. He suggested, however, that the omission of the guest-account feature was because Microsoft "has not seen a huge amount of uptake of it".
The omission of another feature — the ability to have thumbdrives or any media other than optical disks autorun — was announced by Microsoft on Tuesday. The company said this decision had been taken in the light of recent malware, such as the Conficker virus, that uses USB memory sticks as an attack vector.
Asked how this would affect, by way of example, Linux distributions that are designed to run from flash drives, Painell said that users "could still run that distribution from an optical disk".
The RC1 also has new features not found in the beta version, such as the ability to stream media between PCs in a Slingbox-like fashion. Another addition — that of an XP virtual machine built into the Professional and Ultimate version of Windows 7 — was announced by Microsoft on Friday.
Painell said an XP application running on Windows 7 would "look like an XP application, but you won't need a virtual PC interface running around it". He added that those applications would be able to share the clipboard and documents folder with their Windows 7 host.
Driver compatibility
It is not clear how Windows 7's XP virtual machines will handle the issue of driver compatibility. Microsoft has also conceded that there will not be 100 percent compatibility between all XP applications and Windows 7's virtual machines, and has asked software vendors and customers to test such applications in the VMs, providing feedback to Microsoft before the operating system's final release.
Painell told ZDNet UK that small businesses — the target audience for the XP virtual machines — would have to install applications to each virtual machine, without the ability to centrally install and control such applications from the server level.
Enterprise customers will be encouraged to use Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) to centrally administer their XP virtual machines. However, Microsoft said on Wednesday that the updated version of Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), which will come out within three months of Windows 7's general release, will include only a beta version of MED-V.
Asked why Microsoft was introducing XP virtual machines on business versions of Windows 7, Painell said the VMs were designed to bridge compatibility issues with software. He said this may be useful where the software vendor had gone out of business, the software was bespoke, or the customer had "not purchased the most recent version" of the software.
Microsoft expects that 90 percent or more of applications and hardware that function on Vista will work on Windows 7, Painell said.
The cheapest version of Windows 7 will be the Starter Edition, which Painell said was "an entry-level edition for netbooks only". He added, however, that "any version of Windows 7 will work on a netbook with good experiences".
The Starter Edition limits the number of concurrently running applications to just three. Painell said this would "get the most out of the hardware provided" and would allow manufacturers to "differentiate their offerings".
He pointed out that an antivirus application, which tends to run constantly, would not count as one of the three running applications. In addition, multiple instances of the same application will count as one.
Final release candidate
Microsoft expects RC1 to be the only release candidate for Windows 7, Painell said. He gave no details on the final release date other than confirming the company's current estimate that it will be generally available no later than January 2010.
Gartner research director Annette Jump told ZDNet UK on Thursday that she expected the final version of Windows 7 to arrive in the third quarter of this year, possibly shipping to manufacturers even earlier. Microsoft's decision to allow users to try out the release candidate until June next year would encourage them to move to Windows 7, she said.
"In the past, very few users for Windows would upgrade on their PC," Jump said. "For Mac OS, it's a different picture — a much higher percentage of users upgrade on their machines. Microsoft is possibly trying to encourage people to do that and, with the new user interface, for many consumers it will be quite appealing."
Jump praised the XP mode in Windows 7, saying it showed Microsoft was obviously learning from the mistakes it made with Vista, where there were "major application-compatibility issues".
"I think that feature will be very helpful for business buyers, in terms of trying to encourage them to move to Windows 7 faster," she said.
The analyst said the delay in a final release for the updated MED-V would be unlikely to affect most enterprise customers, as businesses would probably not deploy Windows 7 until 12 to 18 months after it had been released.
Jump predicted, however, that the three-applications restriction in the Starter Edition would dramatically limit the usage of that version. "Personally, I only see the Starter Edition on mini-notebooks being used for education and in very selected emerging markets," she said.
On the subject of Windows 7's lack of a guest-account feature, Jump said this feature was becoming decreasingly popular because more people are carrying around notebook computers, meaning they are less likely to need to use someone else's PC.
This article was originally posted on ZDNet UK.
NBN company details hard to find...
News - Communications - ZDNet Australia Renai LeMay, ZDNet.com.au
30 April 2009 06:52. Details of the company established to bring the Federal Government's $43 billion broadband vision to life remained unavailable this week, despite government assurances it had been registered.
ASIC does not appear to have a record of a company by the name the minister mentioned
In a speech on Tuesday to the National Press Club in Canberra, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the company had been "established", with a search to kick off shortly to find its chief executive. He named the company in associated speech notes as the "National Broadband Network Company".
A spokesperson for Conroy later said the company was incorporated with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on 8 April "under the normal processes", although they were not able to provide further details and have not (at the time of print) disclosed the associated Australian Company Number (ACN).
Broad searches by the opposition and ZDNet.com.au of ASIC's database and the Australian Business Register for the company's registration details have not been successful in finding the company's details.
"Senator Conroy clearly stated that the National Broadband Network Company has been established on behalf of Australian taxpayers; the onus is on him to now provide some further details," Shadow Communications Minister Nick Minchin said.
Minchin questioned whether the company had a constitution and whether any directors had been named. "ASIC does not appear to have a record of a company by the name the minister mentioned, so at this stage perhaps it is just a number, a broadband company with no name," he added.
It is possible the company could have been registered using a temporary name that did not include any reference to "broadband", "NBN" or any other search terms, as it has not yet been formally named. It could have also simply been registered with a number.
"Matters such as the appointment of company board and executive, as well as the formal naming of the company will be considered in the coming weeks and months," Conroy's spokesperson said.
The news comes as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was in Tasmania this week, to discuss among other things the imminent roll-out of the NBN in the state with Premier David Bartlett. The state and Rudd's government are locked in negotiations regarding the implementation. However, speaking with journalists, Rudd did not provide any concrete details about the government's NBN plans in Tasmania.
"I cannot give you the month nor the day," he said. "But it will be in the second half of the year."
30 April 2009 06:52. Details of the company established to bring the Federal Government's $43 billion broadband vision to life remained unavailable this week, despite government assurances it had been registered.
ASIC does not appear to have a record of a company by the name the minister mentioned
In a speech on Tuesday to the National Press Club in Canberra, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the company had been "established", with a search to kick off shortly to find its chief executive. He named the company in associated speech notes as the "National Broadband Network Company".
A spokesperson for Conroy later said the company was incorporated with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on 8 April "under the normal processes", although they were not able to provide further details and have not (at the time of print) disclosed the associated Australian Company Number (ACN).
Broad searches by the opposition and ZDNet.com.au of ASIC's database and the Australian Business Register for the company's registration details have not been successful in finding the company's details.
"Senator Conroy clearly stated that the National Broadband Network Company has been established on behalf of Australian taxpayers; the onus is on him to now provide some further details," Shadow Communications Minister Nick Minchin said.
Minchin questioned whether the company had a constitution and whether any directors had been named. "ASIC does not appear to have a record of a company by the name the minister mentioned, so at this stage perhaps it is just a number, a broadband company with no name," he added.
It is possible the company could have been registered using a temporary name that did not include any reference to "broadband", "NBN" or any other search terms, as it has not yet been formally named. It could have also simply been registered with a number.
"Matters such as the appointment of company board and executive, as well as the formal naming of the company will be considered in the coming weeks and months," Conroy's spokesperson said.
The news comes as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was in Tasmania this week, to discuss among other things the imminent roll-out of the NBN in the state with Premier David Bartlett. The state and Rudd's government are locked in negotiations regarding the implementation. However, speaking with journalists, Rudd did not provide any concrete details about the government's NBN plans in Tasmania.
"I cannot give you the month nor the day," he said. "But it will be in the second half of the year."
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