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Yahoo acquires Maktoob . com

admin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:11:04 +0000

Maktoob was founded by Samih Toukan and Hussam Khoury in 2000 as a free online e-mail service, but grew to encompass online payments under the “cashU” brand and Internet auctions with “souq.com.” These companies will be favorably promoted on the new Yahoo!-owned Maktoob.At the conference, Yahoo’s Senior Vice President and Head of Emerging Markets Keith Nilsson said, “Maktoob is a terrific local brand. Yahoo will be combining its global technology and Maktoob’s local Arabic content.Yahoo! is taking refuge in the Middle East, where it has sealed a deal to buy online portal Maktoob for an undisclosed sum.General Manager Ahmed Nassef is expected to continue to lead Maktoob after the deal is completed, which is likely to happen in the fourth quarter. Keith Nilsson, head of Yahoo’s emerging markets unit in Singapore, will be his boss.Maktoob is actually less popular in the Arab world than its new owner–only in Saudi Arabia is Maktoob ranked higher, according to Maktoob’s Web site. But what counts is the local content, delivered in the Arabic language: Yahoo! says Middle East markets are in the “early stages” of Internet adoption, with only 1% of all online content in Arabic, despite the fact that there are 320 million Arabic speakers worldwide. In other words, the growth potential is promising.The site, which was founded in 2000 after the dot-com rise and fall, serves 22 Arab countries as a vendor for online debit cards, auctions, a marriage-service directory and entertainment but most notably as a search engine.

Middle East peace plan

admin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:21:04 +0000

The report, which cites U.S., European, Israeli and Palestinian officials, said that Obama will be ready to announce the resumption of long-stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians by the end of September. In exchange for Israel agreeing to a partial and temporary settlement freeze, the U.S., Britain and France would push the United Nations Security Council to expand sanctions on Iran to include its oil and gas industry, the report said. Relations between Israel and the US have shifted since Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama took office earlier this year, Israel’s ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev said Tuesday. Netanyahu has resisted calls for a total freeze on construction, arguing that the Bush administration had acquiesced to continued Israeli settlement activity in large blocs that are likely to be annexed by Israel in any future agreement with the Palestinians. The Obama administration has demanded that Israel halt all construction in settlements in the West Bank, which the Palestinians claim for a future state.

Unemployment rates decreased

admin — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:33:36 +0000

The department said almost 120,000 Kansans were actively seeking jobs last month, compared with about 74,000 in July 2008.The rate in Jefferson County dropped to 7.8 percent in July from 8.3 percent in June, the lowest the rate has been since November. The county’s unemployment rate is still much higher than at this time last year, when it hovered at 6 percent for most of the summer.Statewide, New York’s unemployment rate fell slightly in July, dropping to 8.6 percent from 8.7 in June. That’s the state’s first month-to-month decrease in a year.The Hudson Valley rate rose to 7.6 percent from 5.2 percent a year ago, which Johny Nelson, regional labor analyst for the department, said was the largest July over-the-year increase on record since 1991.

Karzai confident of victory

admin — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:20:13 +0000

Deen Mohammad, President Karzai’s campaign chief, told several media outlets that Mr Karzai had secured the outright majority needed to avoid a run-off in early October with Dr Abdullah, his closest rival. Across town, Karzai’s campaign team said the president had won more than 50 percent of the vote, a result that would negate the need for a two-man runoff.Claims of early victory by Karzai and Abdullah were an attempt to win the expectations game, and officials with the country’s Independent Election Commission said it was too early for any campaign to claim itself the winner.

Twentyone million doses of H1N1 VACCINE

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:28:45 +0000

The secretaries of commerce, education and homeland security offered guidance to businesses on how to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus and how to prepare for a major outbreak. They stressed the importance of allowing employees who exhibit flu symptoms to go home and stay home until at least 24 hours after their fevers subside. They also said that businesses should consider eliminating policies requiring a doctor’s note to justify a sick day and that employers should be prepared to operate with fewer people. In the U.S., 7,511 people have been hospitalized and 477 have died of swine flu, according to Aug. 13 figures from the CDC. Still, as the H1N1 virus swept across the world, many Americans who were infected had only mild symptoms and recovered without incident, while countries such as Mexico suffered a high mortality rate for reasons that aren’t clear. Kids six months to nine years old who’ve never been immunized against seasonal flu require two doses of that vaccine while those who’ve been previously immunized only need one. Clinical trial results from the H1N1 flu vaccine aren’t in yet, so it’s not clear whether one or two doses will be required.

Launch of shuttle Discovery

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:18:54 +0000

Discovery will carry a crew of seven astronauts as it ferries equipment to the space station. One of the astronauts, Nicole Stott, will remain on the space station as a flight engineer, replacing astronaut Timothy Kopra, who will return home aboard Discovery as a mission specialist, according to the NASA Web page for the mission.The mission will be Discovery’s 37th to space, and the 30th shuttle mission dedicated to assembly and maintenance of the space station, NASA says.Discovery and its seven-member crew will haul equipment and supplies to the space station, including a new treadmill named after Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert. Earlier this year, the TV comedian tried to get a future space station chamber named after him. NASA chose Tranquility instead — after the Apollo 11 moon base — and Colbert had to settle for the treadmill.The upcoming 13-day mission to the international space station will deliver supplies, including food, as well as scientific equipment to the outpost orbiting Earth. It will also deliver a second treadmill to the station, nicknamed Colbert, after comedian Stephen Colbert.

Higher jump in Energy demand

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:53:09 +0000

The attacks underscore the fragility of Iraq’s security since U.S. combat troops withdrew from urban areas on June 30 and as the country prepares for elections in January. The withdrawal from cities is part of a U.S.-Iraqi agreement signed in January that outlines the complete pullout of American forces by the end of 2011. Oil prices and energy stocks rallied after the U.S. Department of Energy said that U.S. crude-oil inventories plunged unexpectedly last week by 8.4 million barrels. Crude for September delivery gained $3.23 a barrel, or 4.67%, to settle at $72.42. Oil has climbed more than 8% in two days and is at its highest level since June 11.

Security in Baghdad

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:32:02 +0000

Within hours of Wednesday’s attacks, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said in a statement that the government would reassess the security situation. But Iraqi politicians also assured citizens that the American forces that withdrew from cities June 30 as part of the status of forces agreement between the two nations would not be coming back, despite the attacks.Two truck bombs struck the heart of Iraq’s government — the Foreign Ministry and Finance Ministry buildings — and shattered a sense of relative calm that had prevailed in Baghdad since Iraqi forces formally took control of security from the U.S. military on June 30.The attacks underscore the fragility of Iraq’s security since U.S. combat troops withdrew from urban areas on June 30 and as the country prepares for elections in January. The withdrawal from cities is part of a U.S.-Iraqi agreement signed in January that outlines the complete pullout of American forces by the end of 2011.

School prepare for swine flu

admin — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 06:58:31 +0000

The number of H1N1 flu-infected patients has reached 21 in Myanmar, according to the Health Department Sunday.The authorities continue to take preventive measures against the possible spread of the global human flu pandemic, advising all private clinics in the country to report or transfer all flu-suspected patients, who returned from abroad, to local state-run hospitals or health departments for increased surveillance. CHINA has issued strict rules to schools to curb the spread of swine flu, urging them to downsize classes and in some cases delay the start of the new academic year, state media said on Sunday.According to the most recent health ministry figures, China has recorded a total of 2,537 cases of A(H1N1) flu, with none of them so far proving fatal.

Safina beats Pennetta

admin — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 06:46:51 +0000

Dinara Safina needed only 56 minutes to eliminate Italy’s Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-0 on Saturday. She’ll play Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic for the championship of the $2 million Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open.After two weeks of grueling — and winning — tennis, Pennetta didn’t feel so good. She had blisters on her feet, a sore right ankle wrapped in tape, and aches all over from so many matches back-to-back — 11 in 13 days. She tried to take the loss stoically.Safina improved to 7-0 career against Pennetta — she’s lost only two sets to the Italian — and extended an impressive week. She ended Kim Clijsters’ comeback week in the quarterfinals with a dominating forehand, then was sharp with all her shots against Pennetta.World number one Dinara Safina brought an abrupt end to Flavia Pennetta’s impressive run of form by thrashing her 6-2 6-0 in the semi-finals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open in Cincinnati on Saturday.In Sunday’s final, Russia’s Safina will take on fifth-seeded Serbian Jankovic, who emerged from a scrappy match with a 7-6 (7/2), 0-6, 7-6 (8/6) victory over fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva.