NSW:Marshall assault charge thrown out

AAP General News (Australia)
08-24-2011
NSW:Marshall assault charge thrown out

Eds: Reissuing to correct to Wests Tigers in first and ninth pars.



SYDNEY, Aug 24 AAP - A Sydney magistrate has thrown out an assault charge against
West Tigers NRL star Benji Marshall.

In the Downing Centre Local on Wednesday, Magistrate Carolyn Barkell dismissed the
charge, saying she could not find beyond reasonable doubt the injury sustained by Soliman
Naimey was caused by the footballer rather than a second man who had punched him.

The 26-year-old had denied punching Mr Naimey, 25, outside a McDonald's restaurant
in Sydney's CBD in the early hours of March 5.

He gave evidence saying he had pushed Mr Naimey after he racially abused him, but Mr
Naimey said he was punched after he told the footballer that Broncos player Darren Lockyer
was better than him.

The magistrate noted a number of witnesses had referred to a second man having punched
Mr Naimey, who ended up with a "fat lip".

Even if the footballer had punched him, "I must have a reasonable doubt as to whether
or not (the fat lip) was occasioned by Mr Marshall," the magistrate said.

"It gives me a good chance now to just concentrate on finishing the season," he said.

"I would like to thank my legal team, the West Tigers for their support, the NRL, my
teammates that the coach would not let come sit in court, my friends and family.

"It's been a pretty tough time and I'm really looking forward to getting on with it.

"I'm very very pleased with the outcome and let's play rugby league."

AAP mss/ra/tr/jjs/bwl

KEYWORD: MARSHALL 2ND UPDATE (REISSUING)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Police charge man after $15,000 methylamphetamine seized

AAP General News (Australia)
02-22-2008
NSW: Police charge man after $15,000 methylamphetamine seized

A 24 year old man's been charged after police seized about 15-thousand dollars worth
of methylamphetamine in Sydney's east.

Police searched a home at Maroubra about 2.30 (AEDT) yesterday afternoon …

EarthLink Declares Quarterly Dividend

Wireless News
04-29-2011
EarthLink Declares Quarterly Dividend
Type: News

EarthLink announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend on its common stock in the amount of $0.05 per share to be paid on June 27, to shareholders of record on June 13.

Under the terms of the indenture governing EarthLink's outstanding 3.25 percent Convertible Senior Notes due 2026 (the "Notes"), EarthLink's payment of the cash dividend described above, combined with the payment of the $0.05 dividend on March 22, requires an adjustment to the conversion rate for the Notes, which adjustment will be effective June 9. In addition, as a result of the adjustment, the Notes may be surrendered for conversion through June 8, for the consideration provided for in the indenture.
In order to convert a Note held in certificate form, a holder must complete and sign a Conversion Notice in the form attached to the applicable indenture, with appropriate signature guarantee, on the back of the Note, surrender the Note to the Conversion Agent, furnish endorsements and transfer documents required by the Conversion Agent, pay any accrued unpaid interest through the conversion date and pay any tax or duty related to the conversion. If a holder holds a beneficial interest in a Global Security, a converting holder must comply with the applicable procedures of the Depositary, The Depository Trust Company.

EarthLink is a provider of Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure and services to medium-sized and large businesses, enterprise organizations and over 1.5 million consumers across the United States. The company has been providing Internet access and communications services for decades and has earned a reputation for both outstanding customer service and product development.

((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

Copyright 2011 Close-Up Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
n/a

HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 14:30, Feb 13

AAP General News (Australia)
02-13-2011
HighLights of the AAP National Wire at 14:30, Feb 13

CANBERRA - Premiers are concerned a plan by Prime Minister Julia Gillard to overhaul
the health care system could add an unnecessary layer of red tape to the system. (Hospitals
2nd Update); see also Hospitals Roxon, Hospitals Pyne, Hospitals OFarrell, Hospitals Keneally.

Hospitals Wrap, Analysis to come. (Meeting expected to end about 1700 AEDT. Presser to follow)



CANBERRA - Opposition frontbencher Andrew Robb says colleague Joe Hockey has his "complete
support", despite having aspirations for the treasury role. (Liberals); see also Pyne
Robb Update, Abbott Roxon, Liberals Higgins. Outwatching for more.

CANBERRA - Independent MP Tony Windsor says he's leaning away from backing the government's
proposal for a levy to pay for disaster remediation. (Floods Windsor )

BRISBANE - Confidence in the Australian economy is waning among workers, according
to an annual survey by the nation's largest blue collar union. (AWU)

CANBERRA - ACT police say they spoke to a man for 30 minutes and made "numerous requests"

for him to drop a knife and meat cleaver before shooting him dead on Sunday morning. (Shooting
Update) Outwatching for moe.

LOS ANGELES - The last couple of months Keith Urban has played the role of supportive
husband as Nicole Kidman strutted the red carpet at the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild
Awards and other Hollywood ceremonies. (Grammy Aust Preview). (Awards ceremony begins
MOnday morning AEDT)

FINANCE

SYDNEY - Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese says he's optimistic about iron ore
and copper prices in the medium term but eventually new supply will reduce prices. (Rio
Tinto )

SYDNEY - The Australian share market is set to open stronger on Monday after the resignation
of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak sent world markets higher. (Markets Preview)

SPORT

GOLD COAST - Taiwan's Yani Tseng has just started her final round of the ANZ Ladies
Masters at Royal Pines that in a few hours could see her crowned world number one. (Golf
Women)

Gold Women Wrap to come.

BANGALORE, India - Australia's decision to rely on pace bowling to defend their World
Cup title is risky but could be a winner, Steve Waugh says. (CWC11 Aust) More to come
with opening warm-up game against India in Bangalore Sunday night 2000 AEDT.

MORE bwl

KEYWORD: HIGHLIGHTS NATIONAL

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

US:Antigua, Caribbean brace for Earl

AAP General News (Australia)
08-30-2010
US:Antigua, Caribbean brace for Earl

Prime Minister BALDWIN SPENCER of the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda is advising
residents to move to higher ground or into shelters .. as Hurricane Earl strengthens to
a Category Two storm and bears down on the islands.

Supermarkets and hardware stores are reporting brisk business as people rush to get
groceries and other storm-related necessities .. and flights have been cancelled.

Earl is forecast to pass just north of Barbuda .. and then head towards the Virgin Islands.

AAP RTV maur/jkl

KEYWORD: EARL (ST JOHN'S)

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Govt cans insulation scheme

AAP General News (Australia)
04-22-2010
Fed: Govt cans insulation scheme

CANBERRA, April 22 AAP - The federal government has canned its botched $2.45 billion
home insulation scheme which was due to resume in a modified form on June 1.

Energy Efficiency Minister Greg Combet made the announcement on Thursday following
a decision by federal cabinet on Wednesday.

MORE rl/bwl

KEYWORD: INSULATION UPDATE

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Winners and losers in Kristina Keneally's first cabinet

AAP General News (Australia)
12-08-2009
NSW: Winners and losers in Kristina Keneally's first cabinet

The biggest winners and losers in NSW Premier Kristina Keneally's first ministry:

WINNERS:

* Tony Kelly

The former police minister picks up Ms Keneally's two former portfolios of planning
and infrastructure. He holds on to lands, but loses primary industries.

* Frank Sartor

Formerly the planning minister under Morris Iemma, he was out of Nathan Rees' cabinet.

He becomes minister for environment and climate change, previously held by John Robertson.

He is now also the minister assisting the Minister for Health (cancer).

* Steve Whan

Maintains his emergency services and rural affairs roles, and picks up primary industries.

Loses the small business portfolio.

* Phil Costa

Holds onto water and now responsible for corrective services. Drops regional development.

* Ian Macdonald

Spectacularly dumped by Nathan Rees last month, Ian Macdonald picks up state and regional
development, mineral and forest resources and becomes minister for the Central Coast.

LOSERS:

* John Robertson

The biggest loser after dropping corrective services and climate change and the environment.

Picks up industrial relations and commerce portfolios, but NSW recently ceded its IR powers
to the federal government. Maintains public sector reform and energy ministries, but will
not be responsible for electricity privatisation.

* Graham West

Loses the volunteering, youth, and veterans' affairs postings, and holds on to juvenile justice.

* Nathan Rees

Rolled as premier last week, he turned down an offer from Ms Keneally for a cabinet
position and moves to the back bench.

AAP pbc/evt/jnb

KEYWORD: LABOR NSW (FACTBOX)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: History will clear Pratt's name, says Lipski

AAP General News (Australia)
04-30-2009
Vic: History will clear Pratt's name, says Lipski

Businessman RICHARD PRATT's lifetime friend and chief executive of the Pratt Foundation
.. SAM LIPSKI .. has told mourners history will vindicate the billionaire .. who died
on Tuesday.

In the days since the 74 year-old PRATT died of prostate cancer .. Mr LIPSKI has led
the fight to clear his name after the cardboard king was fined a record 36 million dollars
for price-fixing.

The service heard that one of Mr PRATT's last acts was to pay for a blind woman to
go to the United States to collect a specialist guide dog that is unavailable in Australia.

Politicians .. including Victorian Premier JOHN BRUMBY .. captains of industry .. sports
stars .. and music identities mixed with everyday Australians who came to say their farewells.

AAP RTV jxt/gfr/wz

KEYWORD: PRATT (MELBOURNE)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Two women injured in Melbourne drag race

AAP General News (Australia)
12-25-2008
Vic: Two women injured in Melbourne drag race

Two women have been seriously injured after their car rolled during an apparent drag
race in Melbourne's north.

Police say the Holden Commodore spun out of control and rolled at least once before
coming to rest on its side in Lalor just before one this morning.

The driver and a passenger .. both 18-year-old women .. were trapped in the car for
about 30 minutes.

The driver suffered a severely broken leg and her passenger sustained serious pelvic injuries.

AAP RTV cmb/af

KEYWORD: DRAG (MELBOURNE)

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Corrective Services moving to block proposed prison strike

AAP General News (Australia)
08-19-2008
NSW: Corrective Services moving to block proposed prison strike

SYDNEY, Aug 19 AAP - NSW prison officers angered by government reforms to curb overtime
payments are planning a statewide strike next week, Corrective Services Commissioner Ron
Woodham says.

Mr Woodham yesterday announced seven reforms, including centralised rostering, in a
bid to halve his department's $43 million annual overtime bill.

The Public Service Association (PSA) said it was "disappointed and disillusioned" by
the plan, and Mr Woodham today said a strike was being planned.

"We will be trying to head that off at this point in time," Mr Woodham told reporters.

The government and the PSA's Prison Officers Vocational Branch were due to appear at
the Industrial Relations Commission in Sydney at 2pm (AEST) today.

MORE krc/hn/srp/mn

KEYWORD: PRISONS WOODHAM

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: Tenders called for $4.7b national broadband project=2

AAP General News (Australia)
04-11-2008
FED: Tenders called for $4.7b national broadband project=2

Optus was critical of the timeframe for submissions, saying it clearly favoured its
rival Telstra.

Optus chief executive Paul O'Sullivan says the government has missed an opportunity
to solve structural problems hurting the industry.

"It is a missed opportunity to remedy the structural issues that have blighted the
industry and held back competition," he said in a statement.

"The compressed timeframe for submissions clearly favours Telstra and the lack of detail
around what information may be provided to potential bidders is alarming.

AAP sb/jt/de

KEYWORD: BROADBAND N/L 2 CANBERRA (REOPENS)

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Native title agreement reached in Daintree

AAP General News (Australia)
12-09-2007
Qld: Native title agreement reached in Daintree

Eds: Embargoed until 1100 AEDT today, December 9

BRISBANE, Dec 9 AAP - A recognition of native title rights announced today will hand
the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people in far north Queensland a major role in managing 126,900
hectares in the Daintree.

The consent determination made by the Federal Court of Australia at a special sitting
at Cape Tribulation recognises the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people's native title over land
and waters between Port Douglas and Cooktown.

The original native title claim was over 144,000 hectares and was lodged 13 years ago.

Today's agreement gives the native title holders rights to exclusively occupy and use
30,300ha of state-owned land.

It also recognises non-exclusive rights over 96,600ha, including the right to camp,
hunt, gather resources for personal needs and conduct ceremonies.

The native title holders will have non-exclusive rights to the water and to fish and
hunt in the water.

The Eastern Kuku Yalanji people will have ownership of 16,500ha of Aboriginal freehold
land for residential and economic development.

National Native Title Tribunal member Graham Fletcher said today was the culmination
of negotiations over a complex range of land tenure issues in the Daintree World Heritage
area.

"From now on the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people will be able to exercise their native
title rights under their traditional laws and customs," Mr Fletcher said.

"They will also experience a whole range of benefits negotiated under the broader indigenous
land use package that will start to flow through."

The benefits include a greater role in managing parks and reserves and the doubling
of the national park estate between Cooktown and Mossman.

In April, the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people signed 15 indigenous land use agreements
with local councils, graziers and private companies and the Wet Tropics Management Authority.

AAP ll/arb/bwl

KEYWORD: NATIVE (EMBARGOED)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

QLD: Aus police swoop on US man whose wife drowned on reef

AAP General News (Australia)
04-26-2007
QLD: Aus police swoop on US man whose wife drowned on reef

Queensland detectives have swooped on the US home of a man whose young wife died on
the Great Barrier Reef while on their honeymoon in October 2003.

After months of working with the FBI and the Alabama police force .. the officers arrested
GABE WATSON in the town of Hoover.

The Australian newspaper reports the officers produced federal search warrants and
took away computers and several cartons of documents.

TINA WATSON disappeared while scuba diving off Townsville in north Queensland and a
life insurance policy on the 26-year-old .. reportedly worth 1.2 million dollars .. has
been the subject of legal action to prevent a payout.

Mr WATSON .. a US-accredited rescue diver .. has denied killing his wife or acting
recklessly in leaving her to die.

AAP RTV vpm/rh

KEYWORD: REEF (SYDNEY)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Deadly ornament recalled by traders

AAP General News (Australia)
12-25-2006
Qld: Deadly ornament recalled by traders

BRISBANE, Dec 25 AAP - A glass bottle ornament which has been sold in the lead up to
Christmas is being recalled because it contains seeds that could kill a child.

Queensland Fair Trading Minister Margaret Keech said today that the Message in a Bottle
ornament contains seeds from the deadly abrus precatorius plant.

"The seeds are the size of a tic tac, bead-shaped and are red in colour with a black
spot at the base of the seed," Mrs Keech said.

Mrs Keech said the raw seeds - also known as Crab's Eye, Gidee-Gidee, Precatory Bean,
Rosary Pea and Jequirity Bean - contain abrin, one of the deadliest plant toxins in the
world.

"If cracked and swallowed, one seed would be fatal to a child," Mrs Keech said.

"I cannot stress enough how dangerous this product is."

Mrs Keech said anyone who has purchased one of these bottles should throw it away immediately
or take it back to the store for a full refund.

AAP cf/ks

KEYWORD: BOTTLE

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Wickenby starting to get results

AAP General News (Australia)
08-17-2006
Fed: Wickenby starting to get results

Australia's biggest ever tax evasion inquiry is starting to get results .. with the
tax office revealing it's recouped more than three million dollars in outstanding tax.

Operation Wickenby has swept through another 27 premises across the country .. as part
of its investigation into serious tax evasion and fraud.

The tax office has revealed it's starting to reap previously unpaid tax .. including
one settlement worth 3.2 million dollars.

AAP RTV sw/sb/es/wf

KEYWORD: WICKENBY (CANBERRA)

) 2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED: Jetstar's international expansion to boost Japan market

AAP General News (Australia)
04-11-2006
FED: Jetstar's international expansion to boost Japan market

Federal tourism minister FRAN BAILEY says the entry of low cost domestic airline Jetstar
into the international sector will reinvigorate Australia's Japanese market.

Qantas wants to close down the Cairns-based Australian Airlines in July .. ahead of
Jetstar's expansion in November.

Jetstar will also seek approval to fly to Japan .. Hawaii .. Indonesia .. Thailand and Vietnam.

For the Japanese market .. there'll be a daily direct two class Jetstar service between
Sydney and Osaka and a return daily flight direct from Osaka to Brisbane and on to Sydney.

AAP RTV ch/jv/bart

KEYWORD: QANTAS TOURISM (BRISBANE)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: John Wood scores ninth Gold Logie nomination

AAP General News (Australia)
04-04-2005
Fed: John Wood scores ninth Gold Logie nomination

By Jonathon Moran and Amy Fallon

SYDNEY, April 4 AAP - Regardless of whether or not Blue Heelers veteran John Wood takes
home a Gold Logie this year, he must be doing something right.

Wood is among five of Australia's top TV personalities nominated today for the Gold
Logie at the annual TV Week Logie Awards - his ninth consecutive nomination in the category.

"Nine years in a row, I have been in the top five most popular people on Australian
television," Wood said today.

"That is an outstanding achievement and I am pleased that people think enough of me
and the show to keep putting me up there."

His competition includes two-time winners Rove McManus and Georgie Parker, along with
Bec Cartwright and Bridie Carter.

TV Week today announced the full list of nominations for the 47th annual awards, which
recognise excellence in television.

There are 22 award categories in total, voted by readers of the TV Week magazine and
industry panels.

"It is pretty much a young person's program, the Logie Awards," said Wood, who is also
nominated for a Silver Logie for most popular actor.

"It sort of is a popularity contest."

Wood is also nominated for a Silver Logie for most popular actor, up against Home and
Away's Beau Brady and Chris Hemsworth, McLeod's Daughters' Aaron Jeffery and Kath and
Kim's Glenn Robbins.

Home and Away's Bec Cartwright, who recently became engaged to tennis star Lleyton
Hewitt, said she would like to see Wood finally take home a Logie.

"He has been around a little bit and he was on Dancing with the Stars so people got
to know about him as a person as well which was good," she said.

"But I don't know. Rove could take it out again and Georgie Parker and Bridie Carter
are both great actors so you just can't pick it."

Cartwright also received a Silver Logie nomination for most popular actress.

Joining her in the category are Kath and Kim's Gina Reilly and Magda Szubanski, McLeod's
Daughters' Bridie Carter and Blue Heelers' Jane Allsop.

"It would seriously blow me away if they called my name," Cartwright said.

"But the wedding (to Lleyton) will be the highlight over everything - whenever it happens."

Silver Logie nominees for most popular TV presenter include McManus, Andrew Denton,
Jamie Durie, David Koch and Andrew O'Keefe.

Nominated for most popular drama program are All Saints, Blue Heelers, Home and Away,
McLeod's Daughters and Neighbours.

Despite Burke's Backyard being axed last year, host Don Burke was on hand to see the
show receive a nomination for most popular lifestyle program.

"Yeah, I think we were fine to go on but I do respect Nine's right to make the decision,"

Burke said when asked if he felt the show was cut before its time.

Burke's Backyard is up against Backyard Blitz, Getaway, The Great Outdoors and Renovation Rescue.

Ten's Rove McManus, Nine's Eddie McGuire and Seven's Andrew O'Keefe will host the awards
at Melbourne's Crown Casino complex on May 1.

Confirmed international guests include pop opera group Il Divo, model/actor Rachel
Hunter, Cold Case's Catherine Morris and country music singer Keith Urban.

A host of other big names are rumoured to be attending including The OC's Alan Dale,
Nip/Tuck's Julian McMahon and Desperate Housewives stars Eva Longoria and Nicollette Sheridan.

AAP jwm/jt/sd

KEYWORD: LOGIE NIGHTLEAD (WITH PIX AND FACTBOX)

2005 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Labor squabbling led to Latham's poor poll result: Gillard

AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-2004
Fed: Labor squabbling led to Latham's poor poll result: Gillard

Opposition frontbencher JULIA GILLARD says public squabbling over Labor's leadership
is responsible for MARK LATHAM'S plunge in public support.

A Newspoll out today shows support for Mr LATHAM is at its lowest level since he became
opposition leader a year ago, with only 25 per cent of voters preferring him as prime
minister.

Ms GILLARD has told ABC radio the poll is a reflection of public squabbling among federal
Labor figures in recent days.

Former frontbencher BOB McMULLAN has warned that serious questions will be raised about
Mr LATHAM's leadership if there's no turnaround in the opinion polls by February.

Opposition MPs have accused Mr McMULLAN of being bitter, irrelevant and malicious after
he quit the front bench following a post-election row with Mr LATHAM.

AAP RTV kbw/wjf/jmt

KEYWORD: LABOR GILLARD (CANBERRA)

2004 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Heska Corporation Invites You To Join Its Third Quarter 2002 Earnings Conference Call on the Web - Thursday, November 7, 2002, at 11:00 a.m. ET - 9 a.m. MT.

Business Editors

FORT COLLINS, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 31, 2002

In conjunction with Heska Corporation's (NASDAQ: HSKA), Third Quarter 2002 earnings release, you are invited to listen to its conference call that will be broadcast live over the Internet on Thursday, November 7, 2002, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (9 a.m. Mountain Time).

This call is being webcast by CCBN and can be accessed at Heska's web site at www.heska.com.

The webcast is also being distributed over CCBN's Investor Distribution Network to both institutional and individual investors. Individual investors can listen to the call through CCBN's individual investor center at www.companyboardroom.com or by visiting any of the investor sites in CCBN's Individual Investor Network. Institutional investors can access the call via CCBN's password-protected event management site, StreetEvents (www.streetevents.com).

Heska develops and markets innovative products for the large and growing companion animal health market. Veterinarians in the United States and Europe count on Heska for state-of-the-art pharmaceuticals, vaccines and diagnostic products for the testing and treatment of thousands of cats and dogs each year, as well as for diagnostic and patient monitoring instrumentation and supplies. Heska's Diamond Animal Health subsidiary operates a USDA- and FDA-licensed facility, which manufactures vaccines and pharmaceutical products. For additional information on Heska and its products, visit the company's web site at www.heska.com.

MUNDANE CONCERNS: ALL the names -- not just the good ones -- are taken.(Brief Article)

What's in a name? Allusions to power, authority, wealth, sex appeal . . . that is, if you can find the right one.

"All the good names are gone! The Internet companies have snagged everything with `capital' or `management' in it for domain names," said Craig Ellis, who is leaving The Orbitex Group of Funds, New York, to form his own hedge fund company in the same city. But he can't find the right name. Or rather, the right name that's not already taken.

"Advisers tell me that all the animal names are gone. And all the Greek and Roman gods. I'm from Idaho, so I thought I'd pick an Idaho name, but they're all gone, too," said Mr. Ellis, who can't even name his company after the Sawtooth Mountains where he grew up. The name is taken.

Mr. Ellis also is having problems with the phone company, which estimates a two-month wait before he can have telephone lines installed. "Goldman Sachs is our adviser (providing outsourced services to hedge funds), and I asked if they could help speed things up, but they said they can't get service any quicker," Mr. Ellis said.

Once he has phones, e-mail, an office and a name, Mr. Ellis will be hired as a subadviser to the two funds he now manages for Orbitex -- the $325 million Orbitex Info-Tech & Communications Fund and a $100 million offshore version of the same mutual fund. Having more than $400 million under management from the outset will help his fledgling hedge fund company flourish, he believes. He has "soft-circled" commitments for about $100 million for his hedge fund, which will also focus on technology and telecommunications sectors.

Mr. Ellis will be joined by a partner, ex-Orbitex manager Konrad Krill, who managed a natural resources mutual fund there. Two analysts also will be hired.

John Davidson, chief investment officer of The Orbitex Fund Group, said this new arrangement is a neat solution for both Orbitex, which retains the manager of its technology fund, which boasted a 170% return in 1999, and Mr. Ellis, who gets a chance to start his own company.

"When you're a relatively small company like we are, you can be flexible and creative about how you keep managers. This arrangement will allow Craig to build a business and won't result in any interruption in the management of the fund. We wanted to do what's best for shareholders," Mr. Davidson said.

The great divide.(countryfocus:china)

The growing cable television market in China is becoming more modern and progressing, but not without a few stumbling blocks. How to stay onside with local officials while creating engaging content and working with Chinese partners can be difficult both practically and philosophically. But, despite the challenges, there are some foreign companies diligently clearing a path toward success in the world's most populous nation, Jeremy Nuttall explains.

Though many aspects of Chinese television are unique, what's popular in the country is similar to most other nations; reality shows have become a popular genre, and they are easy for broadcasters to produce. As well, South Korean dramas have garnered strong viewership for a number of years. The occasional U.S sitcom is also finding a place on China's television screens.

But, the best road to success is through localization, says Anke Redl, Managing Director of CMM intelligence, a market research firm focusing on Chinese media, based in Beijing. Like other markets in Asia, Chinese viewers respond better when they can relate to a programme, she says.

"Outside shows may have been popular 20 to 30 years ago, but now people want to see themselves in the programme," Redl added.

Localization of content can be the difference between a successful television show and a dud. One example of success, Redl points out, is the popular international series Ugly Betty. Hunan Satellite Television took the show and put a Chinese spin on it, making it a hit on Hunanese television.

Other content producers in the market agree localization is a proven method. Fang Chang, Senior Vice President and General Manger of China Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific says documentary shows about China also do well.

"We have produced several programmes about China's rich history, culture, traditions and amazing architecture - from the construction of the Bird's Nest Stadium and Beijing Airport, to an insider's look at China's preparations for the Beijing Olympics."

Fang says there are some regulations requiring localization of content, but how strict they are varies. "For example, all programmes on International Channel Shanghai are broadcast in English and Putonghua (Mandarin) dubbing is not required, so our TLC block is aired in just English with simplified Chinese subtitles."

Discovery Networks have increased viewership since first coming to China says Fang. When discovery arrived in the country, it had one branded block, now the network has eight, such as the nature based Animal Planet and the newly launched TLC both doing well. The blocks are now carried by 27 channels across China.

"By introducing content from a broader bouquet of brands to China, we have grown our viewership for both factual and lifestyle, capturing audiences of different spectrums with different content preferences," Fang added.

There are more targeted markets up for grabs in China as well. As tourism and international business within the Middle Kingdom continues to increase, the appetite for foreign programming follows. Celestial Pictures specialize in feeding that appetite in embassy compounds and hotels, though they also have a channel running classic Chinese movies. Ofanny Choi, Senior Vice President of TV Channels for Celestial says viewers in China mostly want escapist entertainment and nothing too serious.

"We have achieved a wide coverage for our channel among the major hotels and foreign compounds, so I would say we have been quite successful," she says.

China's regulations on content are well known, even to those not inside the industry, therefore producing in the country must be done with caution. But, even when caution is exercised, complications can still arise. Media experts say generalizing what is okay to broadcast is risky.

Some said the regulations can change seemingly without reason, adding to some nervousness among producers. In fact many TVA Plus contacted for this article were reluctant to answer requests, seemingly fearful of hurting their relationships with Chinese officials.

The arbitrary nature of such regulations was demonstrated last year when Hunan Satellite Television was the subject of scrutiny after remarks from a contestant on a dating show. The young woman said she'd rather 'cry in a BMW than smile on the bike of one of the male suitors'. Other contestants bragged about their wealth and many felt the show was unsavory.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Internet forums and editorial columns widely condemned the show for showcasing such behaviour. Publicity around the programme was a contributing factor to new, nationwide rules being put in place for all dating shows.

Despite the concerns regarding this undefined standards process, Arjen van Mierlo, CEO of Asian Operations for Endemol says, often the local channel will worry about what is and isn't acceptable and the content producers can let them take charge. In China, foreigners can advise, but cannot legally produce content. So, working with other companies is something impossible to avoid. But, the balancing act and process isn't much different from other markets.

"People are watching us and we're watching them," said van Mierlo. "But, it's the same all over the world."

He says working with Mainland based companies has been satisfactory for Endemol, including a noticeable increase in content quality in recent years. van Mierlo credits this to an eager attitude by Mainland producers, which should enable China to catch up to foreign production companies soon.

"I think in two to three years they will not just be importers of television, but also exporters," he says. "We will hear from China in the coming years."

He added that he expects a further restructuring of the major broadcasters and they will separate some activities and focus more on individual business lines."The competition will get tougher and online platforms are also joining the game as fully-fledged media players. Appealing content is one of the ways to deviate yourself from the competition."

Kyle Murdoch, VP China Development and Production at Natural History New Zealand (NHNZ), which has a production office in Beijing, says it's hard to know what to expect from China in the future as often things progress in one way and not in others. Though his company primarily makes content for markets outside of China, he said, currently new laws dictating a certain amount of locally made content to be aired annually hinders foreign company operations in the country.

He also says it's difficult to set up shop and start filming. A new company will have to submit scripts, employee history, accreditation and many other documents to government agencies for approval. Those who have been in China longer have an easier time.

"We've been here for 14 years, so there's a good level of trust between us now," he said.

According to Murdoch, always doing business by the book, even when it seems you can bend the rules a bit, is the best way to avoid hassles.

But, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your production partners is also a key to success. Murdoch said Chinese crews and producers are gifted in some areas and lacking in others; finding the strengths and weaknesses is a challenge. While camera operators and drama directors do a great job, fundamentals of the trade aren't commonplace.

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"The Western storytelling devices aren't there," said Murdoch. "Sometimes you'll see a series on an artifact that was found, but it has no context."

He said the mindset stems from television in China being mostly used as an information device instead of a form of entertainment. When Westerners produce programmes they do so with a background of growing up watching television geared towards entertainment, so they have an idea of what needs to be done to make a show entertaining. Murdoch said many Chinese producers never had this influence, so they are lost when it comes to entertaining viewers.

"You've got to be able to understand where they're (Chinese producers) coming from," he says. "You need to understand how they work and try to bridge the huge cultural divide."

Arturo Casares from Televisa makes long form dramas in China. He says crossing such a cultural divide remains a difficult journey.

"The biggest challenge to face is parties negotiating when they have completely different backgrounds and cultures."

But, Casares says, another mountain to climb is navigating the many un-established methods of business and producing. So creating programmes, moderating between clients and producers and other basic functions can often become complicated and time consuming.

Some in the business have also complained of spending too much time in an administrative role instead of actually producing.

Despite the complication, Casares says China's developing industry can actually be an advantage for some producers because there isn't an established system with hoops for people, like those starting out, to jump through. It can also provide unique opportunities for players in the market.

"With this un-established field comes some opportunity," he says. "It's unwritten."

Staring into the oil abyss.

Concerns over Gulf spending deepen as crude slides to $40 on news that US unemployment has risen to a 15-year high Oil prices have plunged to four-year lows as shockingly weak jobs data in the US raised the prospect of a severe fall in energy demand. The contract for light, sweet crude for delivery next month closed at $40.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday, down a hefty $2.86 from Thursday's close. The New York contract brushed the psychological $40 barrier in intraday trade, sinking to $40.50, its lowest level since December 2004. Oil prices extended their slide after the US Labour Department reported employers slashed a staggering 533,000 jobs last month, sending the unemployment rate to a 15-year high of 6.7 per cent, its highest level since October 1993. The number of job losses was the largest in 34 years and much higher than the 325,000 total expected by private forecasters, suggesting the recession in the world's largest economy would be longer and deeper than feared. Oil prices have plunged by more than two-thirds since reaching record highs above $147 on July 11 as the global economic slowdown widened, weakening demand. "The wild bull era is over," said Phil Flynn at Alaron Trading. Oil prices began the week sharply weaker after OPEC, which pumps 40 per cent of the world's oil, postponed a decision on cutting output to a December 17 meeting. In a precipitous drop, oil prices on Wednesday fell below $45 for the first time since 2005. Flynn noted the oil price spike had been driven by strong global economic growth, cheap money and available credit - conditions that have evaporated amid the global financial crisis that accelerated in September. "We are now entering a new era of lower and more stable oil prices for years to come. That does not mean we will not see other bull markets along their way but get used to the markets trading different than they did throughout most of this decade," he said. The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Friday lowered its projections for global oil demand in 2008-2013, foreseeing annual growth of 1.2 per cent instead of 1.6 per cent amid the worldwide economic slump. The IEA forecast demand for oil products would climb from 86.2 million barrels a day this year to 91.3 million in 2013, lowering its July estimates. The US, eurozone, Japan and other economies are already in recession, and investors are worried about falling oil demand among the industrialised countries and a slowdown in major emerging markets such as China. "Under these circumstances, it is impossible to assign any price as an eventual bottom. But barring the appearance of a workable hydrogen fuel cell next month, the bottom must be near," said John Kilduff at MF Global. In a bright spot, Kilduff noted that "the crash in energy prices is incredibly stimulative to the economy". Meanwhile David Moore, a commodities strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, disagreed with the notion that prices have hit a floor. It is "way, way premature" to think that the market has hit bottom, he said. "The focus is well and truly on the weakness in consumption, and that doesn't seem likely to go away in the next 24 hours."

2007 Al Sidra Media LLC

Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company

Whatever, wherever--and fast: Terremark's network access point for the Americas in Miami. Terremark operates 13 data centers in the U.S., Europe and Latin America.(Sector Portrait: Telecommunications)

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Florida's telecommunications providers are scrambling to meet an exploding--and ravenous--appetite for the ability to transmit words, data and pictures. The major trends:

No Wires, Please

On the demand side, Floridians want the ability to tap into apps from a coffee shop or stream audio and video at home. They want to download music and movies and share photos and video via the web with family and friends. They want it all fast and they want it wireless--since 2001, the number of residential and business land line customers in Florida has fallen by hall, while the count of wireless customers has more than doubled; broadband customers are up by 1,750% ["Florida's TeleCustomers," page 59].

Increasingly, consumers also want everything--phone, television and internet--in one package. Many of Florida's telecommunications companies, from Comcast to Bright House to Verizon, now offer "bundled services" that package high-speed internet, cable, wireless and home phone in one monthly bill. Verizon says 90% of its residential customers in Florida subscribe to a package that involves two or more services, either over its own fiber network or partnering with DirectTV in some counties.

Infrastructure Race

On the supply side, companies are racing to add infrastructure to keep up with the possibilities created by the expanding array of electronic devices and applications. More than 100 players have jumped into the telecom business in Florida, selling everything from wireless phone service to handsets to broadband, cable television and even cloud computing services.

"I don't know any industry that has seen technology change as fast as ours in the last few years," says Marshall Criser III, president of AT&T Florida.

For the competitors in the wireless world, revenue growth will come from providing gigabytes of data rather than voice minutes. And so they're spending big to accommodate the surge in bandwidth-intensive data traffic, whether that means enabling a business customer to run a credit card approval app on her smartphone or to download video quickly from YouTube.

"The user doesn't care how we make that happen. What they care about is experience," says Pamela Tope, Florida President for Verizon Wireless. Verizon has invested more than $1.3 billion in Florida since the company was formed in 2000--$200 million in 2010 alone, she says. Ongoing investment will enable the company to offer its 4G LTE technology--its most advanced wireless cellular technology--throughout Florida within three years, she says.

Criser estimates his company will spend between $18 billion and $19 billion nationally in network infrastructure this year. From 2008 to 2010, AT&T invested more than $2.8 billion in its Florida wire line and wireless networks, the company says. "Our customers want to do whatever, wherever. They expect mobility," Criser says.

With competition for the consumer market so heated, telecom firms see potential growth from cultivating business customers. Big telecom players, including cable companies, "are going after law offices, doctor offices, any business that needs broadband or voice or TV as well. That's the next big opportunity," says telecommunications analyst Greg Ireland with IDC.

* Broadband

Broadband providers also are investing in infrastructure and counting on continued growth. As of May, 70 broadband providers in Florida served more than 6 million households, according to Connected Nation, a non-profit technology organization trying to bring affordable high-speed internet and broadband to all Americans.

The state has received approximately $39.2 million in federal awards for the improvement of broadband adoption and infrastructure. Most of it--just over $30 million--has gone to extend high-speed broadband services to underserved areas in 14 north-central Florida counties.

"One of the things that sets Florida apart is it doesn't have as many providers as other states do, and yet coverage availability is widespread," says Charles "Chip" Spann, director of technical and engineering services for Connected Nation.

As broadband availability widens in Florida, expect to see growth in services like voice over internet protocol (VoIP), internet protocol television (IPTV), web conferencing and cloud computing services, each of which uses the broadband platform. The Telecommunications Industry Association forecasts these four categories will be the fastest-growing components of the U.5. telecommunications market during the next four years.

Miami-based Terremark began offering "cloud" data storage services to businesses and government agencies in 2007, attracting a suitor in Verizon, which bought Terremark earlier this year for $1.4 billion. Verizon hopes the deal will give it more customers and clout in the cloud computing market. "Businesses love to be on our cloud because it's more efficient and less expensive," says Marvin Wheeler, Terremark's chief strategy officer. "Verizon sees it as something that can move the needle on their revenue growth."

* Telecom Profiles

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Smart City Holdings Lake Buena Vista

Marty Rubin, Smart City Holdings CEO, saw promise in conventions when he negotiated acquisition of a telecom business serving meetings and events in the mid-'90s. "We felt cities were going to make convention centers a key part of revitalizing their downtown area," he says, and good telecommunications were critical to a good convention.

Smart City Networks now serves 42 convention centers and has provided telecom services at more than 75,000 trade shows and events, including NBA All-Star games and the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The firm will be handling a large part of the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.

The holding company has grown to 500 employees and has annual revenue of about $100 million. The Smart City Telecom division in Lake Buena Vista serves Walt Disney World Resort and the community of Celebration.

"The future is using technology to make meetings and conventions transformational--using technology so people say, 'Wow! What an event,'" says Rubin, who has been involved in 10 startups--almost all tech-related. Earlier this year, Smart City set up a system called EventPath at an Orlando convention that allowed people to get credentials and badges at their hotels instead of waiting in line at the meetings.

Electronet Tallahassee

Allen Byington admits he's not an IT guy. "I actually got into technology to publish content from another industry I was in--before the web was the web," says the founder and CEO of Electronet Broadband Communications and executive director of Big Bend RHIO (regional healthcare information organization) in Tallahassee.

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That search in the mid-1990s for a better way to exchange information on automatic transmissions led to the founding of Electronet in 1996. "All the tech support material was on paper, and you couldn't find it," he says. One of Tallahassee's earliest internet service providers, Electronet focused on serving the business community--and still does, offering everything from broadband access to business-class VoIP.

The firm began with DSL and several years later started building its own fiber network. "In 2008, we began deploying the first business-class VoIP on our network," Byington says. "To do business class, we have to control the network."

Electronet runs separate fiber-optic networks for commercial customers and for the healthcare community. "It helps segregate our traffic and improves security and privacy," he says.

In 2005, Byington and a partner started the Big Bend RHIO "as a pro bono effort." He says Electronet has basically incubated and subsidized Big Bend. The non-profit secure patient record-sharing service provides software platforms connecting 65 medical offices and facilities.

Brightstar Miami

As the wireless industry explodes, Brightstar has emerged as a major player with a global reach. The company blew past the $3 billion revenue mark in 2010 and in April filed to go public. Led by Chairman and CEO R. Marcelo Claure, Brightstar, founded in 1997, has positioned itself in the center of the wireless industry by providing more than 100 customized services for wireless manufacturers, operators and retailers. It has been one of the largest Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States, with more than 33,000 customers.

By analyzing wireless trends, Brightstar helps industry players understand buying behaviors. It also sells a suite of services to manufacturers to help move their products to worldwide markets faster.

With sales and distribution facilities in 50 countries on six continents, the company is behind the launch of new smart phones worldwide. It also continues to add new lines of business and reached an agreement in April to acquire eSecuritel, a provider of cell phone insurance services.

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Star2Star Sarasota

Norman Worthington was semi-retired when a former employee approached him with a little box that led to the creation of Star2Star Communications' phone system, which uses voice over internet protocol. He was skeptical at first but willing to push ahead with what became his eighth tech startup and a national business phone company.

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Worthington and company President Joseph Rhem did their research and development in a garage in 2004 and two years later started shipping. The StarBox, which comes in several sizes, "acts as a traffic cop for all phones in the office with internet connections," says spokesman Les Freed. The box is at the client's site, and Star2Star maintains two data centers.

Customers for the server and hardware package range from call centers for restaurant chains with hundreds of extensions to mom-and-pop stores across North America. "We're able to take all of those disparate phone bills and put them into one and give the administrators of that system one bill and one system to administer," says Worthington, CEO of the company that's grown 250% to 300% a year. The company has 10,000 to 12,000 phone systems connecting about 100,000 phones.

Wireless, low-cost technology at high speeds and an ability to deliver high-quality voice to business customers are "driving a dramatic shift in the entire industry," Worthington says. "It's so exciting. We really feel like we're changing the face of the business world."

23% Percentage of adults in Florida who live in wireless-only homes as of June 2010, up from 15.2% in 2007. Nationally, about 25% of U.S. households are wireless only, up from 10.5% in 2006.

7.5 million Number of land lines in Florida in 2009, a 38% drop from 2001. The number of residential lines dropped 51%, while business lines fell 11%, from 3.7 million to 3.3 million. At that rate, land lines will have dropped 50% from 2001-11.

70 Number of broadband providers in Florida.

2014 year when the data market, nationally, is expected to overtake the voice market and account for 51% of overall wireless service spending.

1.5 billion number of text messages sent nationally in 2009.

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Florida's Tele-Customers                                              Projected                                     2001       2011Wireless (cell phone)                8.9 M     18.1 MBroadband (internet)                600,000    10.5 MLand line (residential, business)   11.9 M      5.8 MSource: AT&T

Privacy in digital age: Mr. Weiner, put up that wall!(News)

A New York Democrat has joined what had been a largely Republican caucus of congressmen committing sexually inappropriate online behavior. A picture of Rep. Anthony Weiner's crotch (in underwear) appeared on a Twitter stream sent to a Seattle college student. At first, Weiner said that the photo might not be him and insisted he didn't send it. "My system was hacked," he complained.

"There are -- I have photographs," the six-term congressman told CNN. "I don't know what photographs are out there in the world of me."

And why wouldn't he, if he had any sense of self-preservation? Nothing online is absolutely safe from prying eyes. There's no protection on Facebook. Email can be hacked. And the dude on the laptop two tables away at Starbucks may be following your lunch-hour banking activities.

Furthermore, hackers have become a serious threat to American defenses. For example, cybercriminals penetrated the systems of Lockheed Martin, maker of sophisticated weaponry. The Pentagon now calls such invasions "acts of war." Shouldn't lawmakers overseeing national security at least know how to protect their own?

Only people on Weiner's Twitter Team are authorized to tweet in his name. So the bottom line here is that a) Weiner hadn't properly vetted his people and/or b) he took and put online compromising images of himself. With his confession this week, b) is the apparent answer.

As any owner of a soft-top convertible understands, whatever's inside is community property. And the same goes for any image or comment placed online. Sure, we accept some risks in banking, gossiping and joking via the Internet. But if there's something you absolutely don't want to get out of the corral, you don't launch it into cyberspace.

One recalls an Italian journalist's observation during an epidemic of burglaries after Italy's "economic miracle" in the post-World War II years. Thinking a new secure age had dawned, Italians started building open modern buildings, a departure from their traditional fortresslike architecture. Thieves punched through the glass and helped themselves.

What were we thinking, the Italian writer asked, putting sliding glass doors on our houses? There were reasons Renaissance princes lived behind thick stone walls and narrow windows, even as they controlled their own armies. For privacy, Spaniards built courtyards in the middle of their houses, Victorians drew heavy drapes at sundown, and English villagers planted high hedges. The online world is invisible, however, so we are far less sure how much outsiders can see.

Google is today's digital prince, yet hackers infiltrated its email service. Sony, no tech slouch, suffered a security breach that temporarily closed down its PlayStation Network.

Even high school kids know not to put drunken party pictures of themselves on Facebook, lest a potential employer get the wrong (or perhaps the right) idea about them. That politicians in Washington don't have the sophistication to keep their personal lives entirely offline is more troubling than the behavior itself. It makes you wonder whether they know anything about the world we live in.

Centuries before the first laptop, love letters got people in trouble. But physical evidence was so much easier to keep under lock and key than the electronic kind. Passwords and other supposed security barriers are really just sliding glass doors. Blame it on arrogance, sloppiness or bad luck: Weiner's story offers a primer on why you shouldn't put secrets online. Bring back walls -- the kind you hurt your fist on.

Internet Explorer 9.

Microsoft launched Internet Explorer 9, the latest version of its Web browser that allows consumers to block marketers' ability to collect data without their consent. Consumers can use a "tracking protection list," which catalogs websites to be prevented from monitoring the user's online behavior. Privacy organizations, such as Abine, Adblock Plus and Privacy-Choice will maintain the lists.

Babcock & Wilcox to Webcast Discussion of its First Quarter 2011 Results.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Babcock & Wilcox Company (NYSE: BWC) ("B&W" or the "Company") expects to webcast a discussion of its first quarter 2011 results on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 8:30 a.m. EST. Chief Executive Officer Brandon Bethards and Chief Financial Officer Mike Taff will discuss the first quarter results. A news release detailing the results is expected to be issued after the market closes on Monday, May 9, 2011.

The listen-only audio of the conference call will be broadcast live via the Internet at www.babcock.com. The dial-in number for participants in the U.S. is 800-901-5248; the dial-in number for participants outside the U.S. is 617-786-4512. The passcode for all participants is 49934267. A replay of this conference call will remain accessible in the investor relations section of the Company's website for a limited time.

About B&W

The Babcock & Wilcox Company is a leader in advanced energy technology and services, primarily for the nuclear, fossil and renewable power markets as well as a premier advanced technology and mission critical defense contractor. B&W has locations worldwide and employs approximately 12,000 people, in addition to approximately 10,000 joint venture employees. Please visit our website at www.babcock.com .

CCRT, BBOX, SNPS, BIG, LAYN and MFW Are Seasonally Ripe To Go Higher In The Next 5 Weeks.

M2 PRESSWIRE-28 April 2009-BUYINS.NET: CCRT, BBOX, SNPS, BIG, LAYN and MFW Are Seasonally Ripe To Go Higher In The Next 5 Weeks(C)1994-2009 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RDATE:28042009

BUYINS.NET / www.squeezetrigger.com is monitoring the Seasonality of CompuCredit (NASDAQ: CCRT), Black Box Corp (NASDAQ: BBOX), Synopsys (NASDAQ: SNPS), Big Lots (NYSE: BIG), Layne Christensen (NASDAQ: LAYN) and M & F Worldwide (NYSE: MFW) and each have a high seasonal probability to go higher in the next 5 weeks. By identifying stocks that are poised to go up or down based on seasonal tendencies, traders can increase their odds of making money. SqueezeTrigger.com is able to analyze over 10 years of data in less than 1 second for any stock in the market and determine if the stock has a long or short seasonal bias, how many trading days the move is expected to last, the probability of that move and the percentage move the stock is expected to make based on the seasonal bias. The following stocks are expected to go higher:

Symbol Company % Odds Trading Days

CCRT CompuCredit Corp. 11.92 70% (7 of 10) 7

BBOX Black Box Corporation 11.1 88% (14 of 16) 13

SNPS Synopsys Inc. 10.94 88% (15 of 17) 28

BIG Big Lots Inc 10.89 70% (16 of 23) 25

LAYN Layne Christensen 10.61 75% (12 of 16) 25

MFW M & F Worldwide Corp 10.38 77% (10 of 13) 31

CompuCredit Corporation (NASDAQ: CCRT) provides credit and related financial services and products to underserved consumer credit market. It operates in four segments: Credit Cards, Investments in Previously Charged-Off Receivables, Retail Micro-Loans, and Auto Finance. The Credit Cards segment consists of credit card investment and servicing activities conducted with respect to receivables underlying accounts originated and portfolios purchased by the company. The Investments in Previously Charged-Off Receivables segment acquires and sells previously charged-off credit card receivables. The Retail Micro-Loans segment provides small-denomination, short-term, and unsecured cash advances due on the customer's next payday; installment loan and other credit products; and money transfer and other financial services. The Auto Finance segment engages in purchasing and servicing auto loans through a network of pre-qualified auto dealers. The company also offers other ancillary products, including credit and identity theft monitoring, health discount programs, shopping discount programs, debt waiver, and life insurance. In addition, it offers small-balance and short-term cash advance loans through various channels, including retail branch locations and the Internet. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Black Box Corporation (NASDAQ: BBOX) provides network infrastructure services for communication systems worldwide. It offers design, installation, integration, monitoring, and maintenance of voice, data, and integrated communication systems. The company primarily provides voice solutions, premise cabling, and other data-related services and products, as well as offers technical support for its solutions that include consultation, site surveys, design and engineering, project management, single-site and multi-site installations, remote monitoring, and certification and maintenance of voice, data, and integrated communication solutions. It sells its products and services through catalog, Internet Web site, and voice and data services offices. The company serves small organizations, corporations, and institutions of various industries, including manufacturing, business services, retail, finance, education, and government. As of March 31, 2008, it served approximately 175,000 clients in 141 countries worldwide. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Lawrence, Pennsylvania.

Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS) and its subsidiaries provide electronic design automation software and related services for semiconductor design companies in the United States, Europe, Japan, and the Asia Pacific. It delivers semiconductor design and verification and integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing software products to the electronics market; intellectual property (IP), system-level design hardware and software products, and design services; and software and services that help prepare and optimize designs for manufacturing. The company's galaxy design platform includes Design Compiler, a logic synthesis product; Synplify synthesis product used to optimize designs of field programmable gate arrays; IC Compiler, a physical design solution; Galaxy Custom Designer, a physical design solution; PrimeTime, a timing analysis product; PrimeYield, a tool suite for manufacturing yield enhancement; Star-RCXT, an extraction solution for analyzing IC layout data; and Hercules, a physical verification product family. Its discovery verification platform comprises VCS, a register transfer level verification solution; Formality, a verification sign-off solution; NanoSim FastSPICE, a circuit simulation product; HSIM, a hierarchical FastSPICE circuit simulation product for analog, mixed-signal, and digital IC verification; and HSPICE, a circuit simulator product. The company also offers IP and system-level solutions that enable verification and embedded software development. Its manufacturing solutions consist of Technology-CAD products, Proteus optical proximity correction products, CATS mask data preparation products, and Yield Management products that address the mask-making and yield enhancement of small geometry IC, as well as high-level modeling of physical effects within the ICs. Synopsys also offers professional services, including consulting and design. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE: BIG), through its subsidiaries, operates as a broadline closeout retailer in the United States. The company offers products under various merchandising categories, such as consumables category, including food, health and beauty, plastics, paper, chemical, and pet products; home category, such as domestics, stationery, and home decorative products; and furniture category comprising upholstery, mattresses, and ready-to-assemble products, as well as case goods products, such as bedroom, dining room, and occasional furniture. It also offers hardlines category, including electronics, appliances, tools, and home maintenance products; seasonal category, such as lawn and garden, Christmas, summer, and other holiday products; and other category consisting of toy, jewelry, infant accessories, and apparel products. As of January 31, 2009, it operated 1,339 stores in 47 states. The company was founded in 1967 and is based in Columbus, Ohio.

Layne Christensen Company (NASDAQ: LAYN) and its subsidiaries provide drilling and construction services and related products to the water infrastructure and mineral exploration markets. The company's Water Infrastructure division provides water, and wastewater related services and products, including hydrological studies, site selection, well design, drilling and well development, pump installation, and well rehabilitation. This division also designs and constructs treatment facilities; and provides filter media and membranes to treat volatile organics and other contaminants, such as nitrates, iron, manganese, arsenic, radium, and radon in groundwater, as well as offers environmental drilling services to assess and monitor groundwater contaminants. Its Mineral Exploration division provides a range of drilling services for the mineral exploration industry. This division offers aboveground and underground drilling services, which include various phases of core drilling, diamond, reverse circulation, dual tube, hammer, and rotary air-blast methods. The company's Energy division focuses on the exploration, acquisition, development, and production of unconventional gas properties primarily in the mid-continent region of the United States. As of January 31, 2009, it had 581 net producing wells. The company provides its services to municipalities, investor-owned water utilities, industrial companies, mining companies, consulting engineering firms, heavy civil construction contractors, oil and gas companies, and agribusiness. It has operations in North America, Africa, Australia, Europe, Brazil, and South America. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Mission Woods, Kansas.

M & F Worldwide Corp. (NYSE: MFW), together with its subsidiaries, provides check and check-related products, marketing, and contact center services to financial and commercial institutions, as well as directly to individual consumers in North America and internationally. It offers printing services for checks and related products, forms and treasury supplies, and related delivery and fraud prevention services; and turnkey marketing solutions, checkbook messaging, and e-mail marketing. The company, through its contact centers, provides financial institutions with inbound and outbound support for their clients, including sales and ordering services for checks and related products and services, customer care and banking support, and marketing services. M & F Worldwide also supplies software products and services, including lending and mortgage origination and servicing applications, business intelligence solutions, customer relationship management software, branch automation solutions, and core processing systems and services principally to financial institutions comprising community banks, credit unions, and thrifts. In addition, it produces and markets licorice products for use as tobacco flavor enhancing and moistening agents in the manufacture of American blend cigarettes, moist snuff, chewing tobacco, and pipe tobacco, as well as to confectioners, food processors, cosmetic companies, and pharmaceutical manufacturers for use as flavoring and masking agents. The company also sells licorice root residue as garden mulch. Further, M & F Worldwide provides testing and assessment solutions to schools in North America; offers specialized data collection solutions to educational, commercial, and governmental entities; and collects and manages survey information. It also offers scannable forms, scanning equipment, survey services, and testing software and related services. The company was founded in 1988 and is based in New York, New York.

SqueezeTrigger.com has built a massive database that collects, analyzes and publishes multiple proprietary trading strategies that predict price moves in stocks, commodities and currencies. The data has then been integrated into an automated trading platform which can be used to connect to a live online broker and automate your trading of each of the strategies highlighted. It is extremely powerful with lightening fast execution at a very low price. Both the trading software and SqueezeTrigger data feed are available at http://www.squeezetrigger.com

One example from the SqueezeTrigger database is approximately 2.5 billion short sale transactions going back to January 1, 2005, and SqueezeTrigger calculates the exact price at which the Total Short Interest is short in each stock. This data was never before available prior to January 1, 2005 because the Self Regulatory Organizations (primary exchanges) guarded it aggressively. After the SEC passed Regulation SHO, exchanges were forced to allow data processors like SqueezeTrigger.com to access the data. Total Short Interest is the number of shares shorted but not yet covered, and is different from total short volume. To access SqueezeTrigger Prices ahead of potential short squeezes beginning, visit http://www.squeezetrigger.com

Go to www.SqueezeTrigger.com to find out the exact price that the entire Total Short Interest will start covering!

About SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM

WWW.SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM is a service designed to help bonafide shareholders of publicly traded US companies fight short selling. SqueezeTrigger.com has built a proprietary database that uses Threshold list feeds and short sale time and sale data from NASDAQ, AMEX and NYSE to generate detailed and useful information to combat the short selling problem. For the first time, actual trade by trade data is available to the public that shows the attempted size, actual size, price and average value of short sales in stocks that have been shorted. This information is valuable in determining the precise point at which short sellers go out-of-the-money and start losing on their short trades.

SQUEEZETRIGGER.COM has built a massive database that collects, analyzes and publishes a proprietary SqueezeTrigger for each stock that has been shorted. The SqueezeTrigger database of nearly 2.5 billion short sale transactions goes back to January 1, 2005 and calculates the exact price at which the Total Short Interest is short in each stock. This data was never before available prior to January 1, 2005 because the Self Regulatory Organizations (primary exchanges) guarded it aggressively. After the SEC passed Regulation SHO, exchanges were forced to allow data processors like SqueezeTrigger.com to access the data.

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The world according to Gore.(Main)

Byline: David Brooks

If you're going to read Al Gore's book, you're going to have to steel yourself for a parade of sentences like the following:

"The remedy for what ails our democracy is not simply better education (as important as that is) or civic education (as important as that can be), but the re-establishment of a genuine democratic discourse in which individuals can participate in a meaningful way - a conversation of democracy in which meritorious ideas and opinions from individuals do, in fact, evoke a meaningful response."

But, hey, nobody ever died from contact with pomposity, and Al Gore's "The Assault on Reason" is well worth reading. It reminds us that whatever the effects of our homogenizing mass culture, it is still possible for exceedingly strange individuals to rise to the top.

Gore is, for example, a radical technological determinist. While most politicians react to people, Gore reacts to machines, and in this book he lays out a theory of history entirely driven by them.

He writes that "the idea of self-government became feasible after the printing press." With this machine, people suddenly had the ability to use the printed word to debate ideas and proceed logically to democratic conclusions. As Gore writes in graduate school manner, "The eighteenth century witnessed more and more ordinary citizens able to use knowledge as a source of power to mediate between wealth and privilege."

This Age of Reason produced the American Revolution. But in the 20th century, television threatened it all. In Gore's view, TV immobilizes the reasoning centers in the brain and stimulates the primitive parts. TV creates a "visceral vividness" that is not "modulated by logic, reason and reflective thought."

TV allows political demagogues to exaggerate dangers and stoke up fear. Furthermore, "conglomerates can dominate the expressions of opinion that flood the mind of the citizenry" and "the result is a de facto coup d'etat overthrowing the rule of reason."

Fortunately, another technology is here to save us. "The Internet is perhaps the greatest source of hope for re-establishing an open communications environment in which the conversation of democracy can flourish," he writes. The Internet will restore reason, logic and the pursuit of truth.

The first response to this argument is, Has Al Gore ever actually looked at the Internet? He spends much of this book praising cold, dispassionate logic, but is that really what he finds on most political blogs or in his e-mail folder?

But Gore's imperviousness to reality is not the most striking feature of the book. It's the chilliness and sterility of his worldview. Gore is laying out a comprehensive theory of social development, but it allows almost no role for family, friendship, neighborhood or just face-to-face contact. He sees society the way you might see it from a speaking podium - as a public mass exercise with little allowance for intimacy or private life. He envisions a sort of Vulcan Utopia, in which dispassionate individuals exchange facts and arrive at logical conclusions.

This in turn grows out of a bizarre view of human nature. Gore seems to have come up with a theory that the upper, logical mind should master the primitive and more emotional mind below. He thinks this can be done through a technical process that minimizes information flow to the lower brain and maximizes information flow to the higher brain.

The reality, of course, is there is no neat distinction between the "higher" and "lower" parts of the brain. There are no neat distinctions between the "rational" mind and the "visceral" body.

Without emotions like fear, the "logical" mind can't reach conclusions. On the other hand, many of the most vicious, genocidal acts are committed by people who are emotionally numb, not passionately out of control.

Some great philosopher should write a book about people who flee from discussions of substance and try to turn them into discussions of process. Utterly at a loss when asked to talk about virtue and justice, they try to shift attention to technology and methods of communication. They imagine that by altering machines they can alter the fundamentals of behavior, or at least avoid the dark thickets of human nature.

If a philosopher did write such a book, it would help us understand Al Gore, and it would, as he would say, in fact, evoke a meaningful response.