Posted by TerranceV | Top Stories | Posted on February 22nd, 2012
The joint technical committee for technical vehicle’s testing, during its regular meeting which was held recently at the headquarters of Emirates General Petroleum Corporation (Emarat), in Dubai, has recommended establishing a technical testing committee that includes all technical testing managers in the UAE.
This step aims to unify the standards and criteria of vehicles’ testing in the UAE, in addition to examining the possibilities of developing additional services to be provided at Shamil centers for vehicles’ testing and registration, affiliates of Emarat.
The committee included HE Brigadier Ghaith Al Zuaabi, head of traffic coordination at the Ministry of Interior and general coordinator for the joint technical committee, the heads of technical testing in the Northern Emirates, Mr. Ahmed Ismail Abdullah, Manager Vehicle Testing at Emarat. They have all addressed a number of other issues related to the technical testing of vehicles.
Mr. Ahmad Ismail said that Shamil’s technical testing and registration services, which are provided at chosen service stations in accordance with an agreement with the Ministry of Interior in Northern Emirates and the Roads and Transportation Authority “RTA” in Dubai, aim to implement the concept of comprehensive traffic services in one place, in a civilized atmosphere enhanced by high qualifications and expertise in this field.
He further added that Shamil’s services are considered the best and most innovative in the Middle East, as they are modern, unique and successful. These services contribute in easing the load off traffic departments, through the provision of a sophisticated and high quality service in testing and registering vehicles, through the application of the latest automated systems, all within comfortable and easy atmospheres. Emarat’s Shamil Centers provide the services of vehicle’s testing and insurance, payment of fines, issuance of new ownership cards and many other services.
Shamil vehicles’ testing and registration services are available in Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain and Fujairah. They are also available at three service stations in Dubai, namely Al Adhed, Muhaisnah and Nad Al Hamar.
Posted by TerranceV | Top Stories | Posted on February 22nd, 2012
In 2005, Moon Kook-jin was in the U.S. running his small manufacturing firm when his father asked him to return to his native South Korea to solve problems at the small conglomerate his father had started but left others to run.
For Mr. Moon, his return involved more than familial duty. His father, the Rev. Moon Sun-myung, is the founder of the Unification Church and one of the most recognized Koreans in the world.
After decades in which he and his associates ran the businesses more as charities than as for-profit organizations, Rev. Moon realized they were becoming a major drag on both the finances and reputation of the church.
His son was in his mid-30s, a point, the younger Mr. Moon says, “when I was willing to do something to help my community out.”
As chairman of the Tong-il Foundation, which operates the Unification Church’s businesses, Mr. Moon has pared the number of businesses to 12 from just over 30 via a series of asset sales and mergers. All now produce an operating profit and contribute to the charitable work of the church, instead of drawing money from it.
It has been a wrenching process, Mr. Moon said in a recent interview with Evan Ramstad at his office in Seoul. Mixing business and religion is always difficult, but especially so when one’s father is a world-wide celebrity. Excerpts from the discussion:
WSJ: What is the basic structure of the Tong-il Foundation or, in English, Unification Foundation?
Mr. Moon: I’m the chairman of the Unification Foundation here in Korea. That’s a nonprofit. It’s actually a religious institution by its corporate form. It’s a supporting institution to the Unification Church. And our foundation owns a business group. We are different than other business groups in that other business groups operate to make profit for their shareholders. We operate to make profit in our business group for our church.
We have a church hierarchy. I’m not at the top of the hierarchy. My father is the leader of the church. My function is more like a chief operating officer. He actually decides where the major direction for our group investment is, which industries we’re going to be operating in, and then I’m executing the strategy and trying to make it work.
WSJ: What was the basic problem you encountered when you arrived in 2005?
Mr. Moon: We had a very challenging situation because we had over 30 businesses and we had quite a lot of losses in the group. And the accounting and management was less than adequate for the size of the companies we were running. We started investing in businesses [in the 1960s] because a lot of our members needed jobs. It was kind of like a jobs program initially. We were a new church and a new religion and we weren’t really very well accepted in society. Our members weren’t really given job opportunities. As a result, the management of the companies was not fully professional and they didn’t operate efficiently.
WSJ: What was the first thing you did?
Mr. Moon: Within the first week I interviewed everyone at the foundation headquarters and the conclusion I came to was, if I’m going to fix this problem, it’s not going to be with this staff. So this is where I first focused on changing personnel. I re-staffed the entire headquarters. I focused on bringing in a lot of professionals, CPAs, attorneys, seasoned managers and then we contracted with several consulting firms to help us start the process of reform. We spent a lot of time sorting out the group portfolio. We tried to scale down the size of the problem to make it more manageable. We got rid of the ones we didn’t want to spend time on and made time for the business we wanted to fix.
WSJ: Would you describe some of the moves you made?
Mr. Moon: We had this business called INP, a shipbuilding business that was acquired by our group after our group restructured in the 1997 IMF crisis period. When we looked at the business, at the capability of that business, and the prospects going forward, we thought it was not possible to operate profitably for the foreseeable future. We got rid of that shipbuilding business and then another smaller shipbuilding business. Then we had a number of small manufacturing businesses, about eight of them. I worked very hard to change them and we turned them into one company called TIC. And it has viability now. They’re in three major lines of businesses: automotive parts, grinding machines and ball screws. Now the business is viable. That process of integration was largely successful and that’s a businesses we could expand through M&A.
WSJ: Was it essentially your goal to get the businesses to make money for the church?
Mr. Moon: What was happening in the past was that the foundation received church donations from around the world and a lot of those monies were being used to subsidize the businesses we owned. That’s the reverse of the [current] model, though you can’t say it’s the complete reverse because the businesses were actually like welfare programs for church members. The difference now is, since all the businesses are profitable, the flow of money from church members to businesses has stopped. And now, the foundation receives money from the businesses and provides it to the church and its mission activities.
WSJ: What is your father’s role on the business side?
Mr. Moon: I basically present recommendations from a professional point of view. The nonprofit aspect is up to my father to decide. Based on his direction and perspective, we proceed. My father has never really been interested in the details of the business. He’s more interested in the overall direction. The actual detailed operations he doesn’t really get so involved.
WSJ: Was it harder to let people go than in a normal business setting because many of the people were connected to the church?
Mr. Moon: It’s been much more difficult to restructure this business than if it was just a normal business group that didn’t have the religious component. You had a lot of cross-pollination from people who work in the ministry working in the businesses. But they weren’t businesspeople by background. As a result, they really didn’t know what to do or how to do things properly and there were a lot of mistakes made.
Well, it worked, but it was a very painful process. Whenever you do restructuring, you always have your standard demonstrations and hate mail. I had those. But because it involved the church, it was also a lot more personal. That was the most difficult aspect of it. I had lots of back-seat drivers.
Write to Evan Ramstad at evan.ramstad@wsj.com
Posted by TerranceV | Top Stories | Posted on February 21st, 2012
Once hailed as a model of stability, during the first decade of the twenty-first century Ivory Coast slipped into the kind of internal strife that has plagued so many African countries.
When Mr Gbagbo replaced Robert Guei after he was deposed in a popular uprising in 2000, violence replaced xenophobia. Scores of Mr Ouattara's supporters were killed after their leader called for new elections.
In September 2002 a troop mutiny escalated into a full-scale rebellion, voicing the ongoing discontent of northern Muslims who felt they were being discriminated against in Ivorian politics. Thousands were killed in the conflict.
Although most of the fighting ended in 2004, Ivory Coast remained tense and divided. French and UN peacekeepers patrolled the buffer zone which separated the north, held by rebels known as the New Forces, and the government-controlled south.
After repeated delays, elections aimed at ending the conflict were finally held in October 2010. But the vote ushered in more unrest when the incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to concede victory to the internationally recognised winner, Alassane Ouattara.
The ensuing four-month stand-off was only ended when Mr Ouattara's forces overran the south of the country, finally capturing Mr Gbagbo and declaring him deposed. In November 2011, Mr Gbagbo was transferred to The Hague to stand trial at the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity.
Posted by TerranceV | Top Stories | Posted on February 21st, 2012
"Prisons here are time bombs," says one inmate in the Honduran National Penitentiary of La Paz with a resigned shrug.
There are also parallels in the political rhetoric.
In 2004, the government of then-President Ricardo Maduro promised a full and thorough investigation as well as a long overdue reform of the prison system. On Wednesday, current President Porfirio Lobo promised exactly the same.
But between the two events, there have been significant changes in Honduras. In particular, a sharp rise in drug-related violence has reached the point where today Honduras has the unenviable title of the country with the highest murder rate in the world.
But critics say the penal system has not adapted.
A "strong arm" has been the default response of successive governments to the rising tide of violent crime. But sending more young men to jail has put greater pressure on the already saturated prison system.
At least one minister who visited the site of the burnt-out jail at Comayagua was ready to admit that, in essence, the 355 men died needlessly.
"That's why we need reform," said Public Works Minister Miguel Rodrigo Pastor, as the body bags were being loaded on to trucks behind him.
He admitted the penitential system needed reform. "It's urgent, and the government is aware of it."
He also spoke of the need to "guarantee the security of the inmates".
But critics believe the time for words is over.
A particularly vocal critic since the fire in San Pedro Sula has been the region's auxiliary bishop, Monsignor Romulo Emiliani.
"We must commit ourselves – at a national level, and before the physical remains of these poor humans who died in Comayagua – to immediately turning our best energies and funds to constructing new prison buildings," he said the day after the blaze.
"The world knows us for our tragedies," he added, saying a repeat of more deaths in this way – burned, asphyxiated and trapped – would not be tolerated.
Others suggest the problem runs deeper than simply the state of the prisons and is actually a problem of the antiquated and corrupt judicial system itself.
For example, it has been reported that as many as half of the inmates in Comayagua still had not been charged or were awaiting trial for alleged gang affiliations.
Honduras has a serious problem with powerful street gangs, known as maras. But some human rights groups say that many ordinary young men are being discriminated against and sent to jail.
One draconian law in Honduras permits people to be sent to prison merely for having a tattoo of a street gang.
In some jails, maras are essentially the ones in control.
Honduras is not a major producer of drugs, yet it is part of an important corridor for cocaine traffic from Colombia, through Mexico and into the United States. The influence of Mexican drug cartels is growing in Central America, and Honduras is a key battleground.
The government says its war on the drug gangs is its priority.
But with resources being diverted towards that battle, as well as serious problems with corrupt institutions at a local and national level, the wholesale prison reforms which President Lobo speaks of will not be easy to achieve.
So, even with the world watching Honduras and its jails, the inmates who showed us around the prison in La Paz are convinced nothing will change.
"The government and the media talk about it at times like this," a former gang member called James says.
"But the president needs to come down here and see for himself how we live."
Posted by TerranceV | Top Stories | Posted on February 20th, 2012
Taiwan is an island which has for all practical purposes been independent since 1950, but which China regards as a rebel region that must be reunited with the mainland – by force if necessary.
And in June 2010, the two countries signed an historic trade pact that was described by some analysts as the most significant agreement in 60 years of separation.
Mr Ma's predecessor, Chen Shui-bian, had angered China with moves towards formal independence, and relations had been severely strained.
Despite the recent thaw, Taiwanese officials complain that Beijing has kept increasing the number of short-range missiles aimed at Taiwan.
In the past the military threat from the mainland has been partly offset by the pivotal relationship between Taipei and Washington, which is the main weapons supplier to the island – one of the world's biggest buyers of arms. Beijing regularly expresses anger at US arms sales to Taiwan.
China insists that nations cannot have official relations with both China and Taiwan, with the result that Taiwan has formal diplomatic ties with only two dozen countries – Pacific, Latin American and African states in the main.
Taiwan has no seat at the United Nations, having lost it to China in 1971. Repeated attempts to regain representation at the UN have been blocked.
Despite its diplomatic isolation, Taiwan has become one of Asia's big traders. It is considered to have achieved an economic miracle, becoming one of the world's top producers of computer technology.
And past tensions notwithstanding, Taiwan and China enjoy healthy trade links. China is Taipei's number one export market.
For decades, the island was an authoritarian one-party state ruled by the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT), which under Chiang Kai-shek controlled much of China before the Communists' rise to power in 1949.
In the early 1990s, however, Taiwan made the transition to democracy and the KMT's monopoly on power ended completely in 2000, with the election of President Chen Shui-bian of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Unlike the KMT, which seeks a united, non-Communist China, Mr Chen was a passionate supporter of formal independence, straining relations with Beijing.
Although he won a second term in 2004, persistent corruption allegations surrounding the president and his family undermined Mr Chen's popularity, and contributed to the DPP's loss to a resurgent KMT in the 2008 presidential election.
Posted by TerranceV | Top Stories | Posted on February 20th, 2012
A vast, arid state on the edge of the Sahara desert, Niger endured austere military rule for much of its post-independence history and is rated by the UN as one of the world's least-developed nations.
After independence in 1960 its progress was stymied by political instability and a five-year drought, which devastated livestock and crops.
With little primary education, Niger has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. Its health system is basic and disease is widespread.
After a break of a decade, Niger again experienced an insurgency by Tuareg rebels in the north in 2007.
The Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) complained that a 1995 peace deal that ended the previous insurgency has never been fully implemented and that the region remains marginalised. The group demands greater autonomy and a larger share of uranium revenue.
In 2009, the MNJ and the government held talks in Libya, at which they committed themselves to a "total and comprehensive" peace.
In 1999 voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution providing for presidential and legislative multi-party elections. These took place later in the year and saw Mamadou Tandja elected as president.
Mr Tandja introduced a new constitution in 2009 to extend his powers in a move described by the opposition as a coup. He was himself overthrown in a coup at the beginning of 2010.
Niger banned the centuries-old practice of slavery in 2003. But anti-slavery organisations say thousands of people still live in subjugation.
Posted by TerranceV | Top Stories | Posted on February 20th, 2012
Los fabricantes de juguetes están aprovechando la fascinación de los niños con las tabletas y los teléfonos inteligentes para lanzar nuevos juegos que se conectan a aparatos con pantallas táctiles.
En la Feria Internacional del Juguete de Estados Unidos, que se realiza esta semana en Nueva York, Hasbro Inc. promociona el juego llamado “The Game of Life zAPPed”, una nueva versión de su clásico “El juego de la vida”, que permite girar la rueda del juego de manera virtual en un iPad.
Reuters
Hasbro ofrece una nueva versión de su clásico ‘El juego de la vida’ que incorpora una rueda virtual en el iPad.
Mattel Inc., mientras tanto, ofrece una nueva línea de juguetes llamados “Apptivity”, que permite a los niños usar muñecas Barbie y autos Hot Wheels que incorporan conductores especiales para controlar el movimiento de los juegos en una tableta. “Es toda una nueva categoría”, dice Tim Kilpin, un ejecutivo de Mattel.
No todos están convencidos de que la incorporación de este tipo de tecnología beneficiará a la industria, cuyas ventas en Estados Unidos se han estancado o caído en los últimos años. El año pasado descendieron 2% a US$21.200 millones.
“Las tabletas y los teléfonos son aparatos casi perfectos, para qué añadirles partes o accesorios que los hacen más voluminosos y menos elegantes”, señala Eric Levin, director del fabricante de juguetes Techno Source.
Los ejecutivos de la industria atribuyen el descenso en las ventas de juguetes tradicionales a la mayor competencia de otras opciones de entretenimiento, pero otros expertos citan un problema más básico: la falta de creatividad de los fabricantes, que año tras año producen las mismas muñecas, autos y pistolas.
“Una mayor innovación permitirá que los juguetes mantengan sus parámetros de precio porque el modelo actual no es sostenible”, dice Soren Torp Laursen, subdirector de Lego Company.
Aunque la competencia de precios en los juguetes clásicos se ha intensificado, los fabricantes saben que pueden cobrar un poco más por modelos únicos. La LeapPad Explorer, una computadora tableta para niños de LeapFrog Enterprises Inc., se agotó en la última Navidad y fue revendida en eBay por encima de su precio minorista de US$99 (en EE.UU.).
Los fabricantes llevan años lanzando versiones tecnológicas de sus marcas establecidas, con resultados desiguales.
Han tratado de transformar sus juguetes en franquicias de videojuegos y creado sitios web correspondientes.
Hace poco empezaron a licenciar derechos para hacer versiones físicas de éxitos digitales. A Mattel, por ejemplo, le fue bien con un juego de mesa inspirado en el fenómeno de los videojuegos sociales Angry Birds, de Rovio Entertainment Ltd.
Los nuevos juguetes van un paso más allá. Una versión renovada de Monopolio, de Hasbro, que en EE.UU. cuesta US$25, el doble del precio de la versión regular, usa un iPad, un iPhone o un iPod Touch para hacer transacciones con una tarjeta de crédito o de débito en cuentas virtuales. Los jugadores también pueden retar a sus contrincantes en mini juegos virtuales cuando sacan las tarjetas de Casualidad y Arca Comunal.
Otro nuevo juego en la línea Apptivity de Mattel, que va desde US$10 a US$20, deja que los niños usen sus autos Hot Wheels para controlar un juego de carreras en el iPad.
A algunos padres no les emociona dejar que sus hijos jueguen con aparatos tan caros.
“Me molesta que les lancen tanta tecnología a los niños”, dice Jill Simonian, una madre de Los Ángeles. “Los iPads no son juguetes”.
Otros fabricantes ensayan otra estrategia para aprovechar la afición de los niños por la tecnología. En vez de encontrar maneras de vender juguetes que requieren el uso de las tabletas de los papás, Techno Source apuesta a una tableta para niños llamada Kurio. Con un precio base de US$199, tiene 4.000 juegos disponibles, no vende mercancía virtual y permite a los padres bloquear sitios web que consideren inapropiados.
Posted by TerranceV | Top Stories | Posted on February 20th, 2012
Baidu, China's largest search engine, has reported a 77% surge in profits between October and December as its advertising revenue continues to grow.
China, the world's biggest internet market, has more than 500 million internet users and the number is growing fast.
Baidu has been the dominant player in the online search market in the country, accounting for almost 80% of the market.
Such dominance has helped the company not only retain its advertising customers, but also attract new ones.
The firm said it had about 488,000 active online marketing customers in 2011, an 18% rise from a year earlier.
Given the robust growth, Baidu said it expects revenues of between $666m to $688m during the current quarter, an increase of more than 70% from the same period last year.
However, analysts said they expect the revenues to increase more than forecast.
"The guidance is inline, but people think that considering the [economic] environment and the early Chinese new year, maybe the company is giving conservative guidance," said Qi Guo at ThinkEquity.
Posted by TerranceV | Top Stories | Posted on February 19th, 2012
FRÁNCFORT (EFE Dow Jones)–El Banco Central Europeo dejó el jueves la puerta abierta a nuevas medidas de política monetaria, al adoptar aparentemente una actitud de sentarse y esperar antes de su próxima oferta de préstamos a tres años.
El presidente del BCE, Mario Draghi, anunció la aprobación de unos nuevos requisitos de participación en las operaciones del liquidez del banco central para algunos países de la eurozona que quieran acudir a ellas.
La relajación de los criterios de participación probablemente tiene como objetivo ayudar a los bancos, especialmente los de Francia y el sur de Europa, a tener más flexibilidad en su uso de los títulos que tienen como garantía.
La posibilidad de que los bancos puedan tener un acceso más fácil a la liquidez podría impulsar el tono de los mercados de deuda de la eurozona.
Draghi indicó que la economía de la eurozona sigue siendo frágil y que la inflación se prepara para ralentizarse a lo largo de este año hasta el objetivo del banco central.
“El PIB real probablemente haya sido muy flojo en el cuarto trimestre”, dijo Draghi en el discurso inicial de la comparecencia de prensa tras la decisión de tipos del BCE. El consejo de gobierno del BCE mantuvo los tipos de interés de la eurozona en el mínimo histórico del 1,00%, tras dos sorpresivas rebajas a finales del año pasado.
“Hay indicios de estabilización en la actividad a niveles bajos”, dijo Draghi, que añadió que la perspectiva económica sigue sujeta a elevadas incertidumbres y a riesgos bajistas.
La inflación probablemente se mantendrá por encima del 2% durante varios meses antes de caer por debajo de ese nivel, reiteró Draghi.
Posted by TerranceV | Top Stories | Posted on February 19th, 2012
Micronesia, in the western Pacific, consists of some 600 islands grouped into four states: Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuuk (Truk) and Yap.
Occupying a very small total land mass, it is scattered over an ocean expanse five times the size of France.
Though formally independent, in 1986 Micronesia signed a "Compact of Free Association" with the US. Under this, Washington took on responsibility for defence and gained the right to set up military bases and deny other nations access to Micronesia. In return, Micronesia received financial assistance averaging $100m per year, and the right of Micronesians to live and work in the US. Micronesia also takes its cue from Washington on foreign policy.
A renegotiated 20-year compact, worth $3.5 billion to Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, was signed by US President George W Bush in December 2003. Some of the money is being diverted into trust funds, intended to provide a financial resource for Micronesia after the compact expires.
Despite its small population and the large amount of incoming aid from the US, Japan and elsewhere, Micronesia has relatively high unemployment, a matter compounded by increasing numbers of Filipino migrant workers.
Many Micronesians live without electricity or running water, which is in short supply and is sometimes rationed. The gap between rich and poor is increasing as business and officials benefit disproportionately from US aid donations.
Micronesia's biggest challenge is to find a way of lessening its dependence on foreign aid. Given the islands' splendid beaches and scuba diving opportunities, tourism offers one possibility, but this is constrained by the lack of adequate infrastructure and the islands' remoteness.
