US shares suffer sixth biggest fall in history as panic grows
In the first trading since the decision by the Standard & Poor's ratings agency to strip the US of its AAA credit rating, shares on Wall Street recorded one of their worst one-day falls ever.
Last night the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 635 points – 5.6 per cent – at 10,810 after a day of relentless selling. The index has fallen by more points on only five occasions.
In London, the FTSE-100 index ended lower for the seventh day in a row, and has now lost over 800 points, or 13.7 per cent. By contrast gold, a traditional safe haven in troubled times, hit yet another all-time high, at over $1,700 an ounce. London shares are at their lowest since July 2010, just after George Osborne's emergency Budget.
Investors have been especially spooked by remarks from David Beers, head of sovereign credit ratings at Standard & Poor's, who said: "We don't anticipate a scenario at the moment in which the US would quickly return to AAA."
More bad news came from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the club comprising the advanced economies, which warned of a further slowdown in the global economy. It said that growth rates in the US, Japan and Russia have peaked, while Britain, the eurozone and others are in a "continued slowdown".
Monday, August 22, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Just shut up! And talk, please
Just shut up! And talk, please
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There are three aspects to contemporary international cricket. Batting, bowling, and shooting off the mouth. Get all three right and the chances of a win double up.
While the England-India series, half-way down now, has seen centuries and hat-tricks, swing and seam, sixes and boundaries, it has also had mindless predictions, blatant accusations and verbal jabs aimed at either cutting time after an exhausting day of cricket or just an innocent attempt to get some attention.
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The breed of experts and television commentators. Most have a past record that is the only reason why masses hang onto every word they utter on television or elsewhere. It's not that all of them are great orators in particular. If history books are correct, so was Hitler. While as much as this comparison might seem exaggerated, weren't commentators called commentators because they were meant to comment? If, knowingly or unknowingly, their words were always meant to create a furore and shape opinions, won't they have been called television dictators right from when cricket began to be beamed to homes? Yes, some of us want to hear what the legends have to say, what they feel. But we can wait. Yes we can till the end of a match or a series, especially if the actual sport gets an ugly name.
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For me to deliberate on why and should former players fuel a controversy might be unfair (considering most of us sports journalist have never played an international match or sat in a commentary box) but clearly, a tweet hinting at 'substance abuse' on a bat mid-way through a Test is immature, disgraceful and perhaps, a childish attempt to get forgotten glory back. Clearly every action has a reaction, and in the case of the England-India series, the reaction has been equally venomous. What spirit of the game do we talk about? What legacy is there left in a game that is famed as a gentleman's sport?
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While the stiff upper-lipped gentry in all their fineries, enjoying a cup of English tea on a warm English afternoon clap every run scored irrespective of the team, some famed English commentator, a now-well-known English media blogger and a few former English players indulge in giving vent to their personal thought process by screaming foul, and when silenced, they scream louder that it was 'jolly good old English humour,' wasted on Indian sensibilities. No, our sensibilities aren't crystal clear either. We have an equally provocative retort to every 'light-humoured' comment coming in from the other side of the English channel. Tit for tat? Fire for fire? Brick for stone? How about a bouncer for a boundary, a sharp cover drive for an outswing? After all, we are still talking of cricket, right?
I have never heard former experts and commentators live, but from what I have gathered, the likes of John Arlott and Ravi Chaturvedi must be wondering what and who, they have left their great art of speech to. I will, though, borrow from what Pradeep Magazine, veteran sports journalist who I have the pleasure of knowing personally, wrote recently. "Indeed, our past cricketing greats-turned-TV commentators seem to believe their job is not to add their nuanced understanding to the images of games we watch, but to voice their prejudices, jingoism and ultra-nationalism."Cowboys jerseys from china
Nationalism aside, when can I, as a cricket-fan first and sports journalist second, be enlightened on a topic and then left to form my own opinion rather than forced to subscribe to one or the other contrasting views? See, in vulgar terms, opinions are like as*h*les; everyone has one. I learnt it in school. It's time the celebrities of cricket's hall of fame and television cricket commentary learnt it too. Let's get on with the game, shall we?
Note: This blog is a personal take and does not propagate that very forced shaping of opinion, that it seeks to outline against. Reader opinions, if any, are welcome in the section below. Bharat Army, cheer up. 2 still to go. Barmy Army, congratulations on 2 Tests well won.
cheap Steelers Jerseys
There are three aspects to contemporary international cricket. Batting, bowling, and shooting off the mouth. Get all three right and the chances of a win double up.
While the England-India series, half-way down now, has seen centuries and hat-tricks, swing and seam, sixes and boundaries, it has also had mindless predictions, blatant accusations and verbal jabs aimed at either cutting time after an exhausting day of cricket or just an innocent attempt to get some attention.
cheap nfl jerseys
The breed of experts and television commentators. Most have a past record that is the only reason why masses hang onto every word they utter on television or elsewhere. It's not that all of them are great orators in particular. If history books are correct, so was Hitler. While as much as this comparison might seem exaggerated, weren't commentators called commentators because they were meant to comment? If, knowingly or unknowingly, their words were always meant to create a furore and shape opinions, won't they have been called television dictators right from when cricket began to be beamed to homes? Yes, some of us want to hear what the legends have to say, what they feel. But we can wait. Yes we can till the end of a match or a series, especially if the actual sport gets an ugly name.
Super Bowl jerseys wholesale
For me to deliberate on why and should former players fuel a controversy might be unfair (considering most of us sports journalist have never played an international match or sat in a commentary box) but clearly, a tweet hinting at 'substance abuse' on a bat mid-way through a Test is immature, disgraceful and perhaps, a childish attempt to get forgotten glory back. Clearly every action has a reaction, and in the case of the England-India series, the reaction has been equally venomous. What spirit of the game do we talk about? What legacy is there left in a game that is famed as a gentleman's sport?
Pro bowl jerseys wholesale
While the stiff upper-lipped gentry in all their fineries, enjoying a cup of English tea on a warm English afternoon clap every run scored irrespective of the team, some famed English commentator, a now-well-known English media blogger and a few former English players indulge in giving vent to their personal thought process by screaming foul, and when silenced, they scream louder that it was 'jolly good old English humour,' wasted on Indian sensibilities. No, our sensibilities aren't crystal clear either. We have an equally provocative retort to every 'light-humoured' comment coming in from the other side of the English channel. Tit for tat? Fire for fire? Brick for stone? How about a bouncer for a boundary, a sharp cover drive for an outswing? After all, we are still talking of cricket, right?
I have never heard former experts and commentators live, but from what I have gathered, the likes of John Arlott and Ravi Chaturvedi must be wondering what and who, they have left their great art of speech to. I will, though, borrow from what Pradeep Magazine, veteran sports journalist who I have the pleasure of knowing personally, wrote recently. "Indeed, our past cricketing greats-turned-TV commentators seem to believe their job is not to add their nuanced understanding to the images of games we watch, but to voice their prejudices, jingoism and ultra-nationalism."Cowboys jerseys from china
Nationalism aside, when can I, as a cricket-fan first and sports journalist second, be enlightened on a topic and then left to form my own opinion rather than forced to subscribe to one or the other contrasting views? See, in vulgar terms, opinions are like as*h*les; everyone has one. I learnt it in school. It's time the celebrities of cricket's hall of fame and television cricket commentary learnt it too. Let's get on with the game, shall we?
Note: This blog is a personal take and does not propagate that very forced shaping of opinion, that it seeks to outline against. Reader opinions, if any, are welcome in the section below. Bharat Army, cheer up. 2 still to go. Barmy Army, congratulations on 2 Tests well won.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
The reliability of China's railways has been called into question recently
The reliability of China's railways has been called into question recently after the flagship Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line suffered a series of power outages since it opened to great fanfare a month ago. Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang arrived on the scene to help with the relief work and investigation, state television reported. China's rail network has also been hit by a series of scandals. Three railway officials have been investigated for corruption this year, according to local media reports. In February, Liu Zhijun was sacked as railways minister for "serious disciplinary violations." He had led the rail sector's investment drive over the past decade. Chinese internet users took to the popular Twitter-like microblogging site Weibo to vent their anger about the accident, with some calling for Railways Minister Sheng Guangzu to resign, posting his picture online with a large red cross through it. "The Railways Ministry should realize that passengers are not just little white mice," wrote Yang Chunxiao. "Do you think officials are really trying to help? It's all for show," added A Cige. "FLYING INTO THE AIR"One train was heading from Beijing to the coastal city of Fuzhou, and the other was running from Hangzhou to Fuzhou. Both trains were made by China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corp Ltd (CSR). The total power failure on Saturday rendered useless an electronic safety system designed to warn following trains of stalled trains on the tracks up ahead, and automatically halt them before a collision can occur. The force of the collision sent "the head of the train flying into the air," said Cai Qi, a 30-year-old villager who saw the accident and rescued five children, four women and one man. "Some of them had their hands or legs broken. Some were crushed inside debris and we pushed and carried them out." "Suddenly, there was a loud bang," said 32-year-old survivor Yin Caohui. "After that, the train broke. It was all dark and we could not see anything. Then there were a few loud sounds again." A 31-year-old survivor, who gave his last name as Yu, said the train stopped suddenly and the lights immediately went off but the passengers "didn't think it was so serious." "Only when we got down, we saw so many train carriages falling down," Yu said. The railway ministry said it would learn from the lesson once it finds the cause of the accident, Xinhua reported. China's last major train disaster was in 2008, when an express train traveling from Beijing to the eastern coastal city of Qingdao derailed and collided with another train, killing 72 and injuring 416 people.
Monday, August 1, 2011
UltraViolet wants to let you download a movie and keep the rights to it forever
UltraViolet wants to let you download a movie and keep the rights to it forever
AN UltraViolet platform for letting people buy lifetime viewing rights to films is poised to launch in the United States.
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The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) alliance is licensing the technology to retail businesses and that UltraViolet offerings should be available by October.
Giants from Hollywood, technology and retail are out to rev up digital film sales by letting people buy lifetime rights to watch movies on whichever devices suit their fancies.
DECE members including Warner Brothers, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Sony, Walmart and Fox are working to break down walls between gadgets and services to catalyse demand for films.
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UltraViolet lets people create free cloud accounts where versions of movies they buy in DVD or digital formats are stored in online lockers.Christian Louboutin shoes sale
People will then be able to watch the works on televisions, smartphones, tablets or other devices registered to accounts. Registered devices can be changed as technology evolves.
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"If you buy a movie, it comes with a copy in the cloud," Warner Brothers Digital Distribution president Thomas Gewecke said during a DECE panel discussion at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas early this year.
"You don't have to worry about your hard drive filling up or crashing, or if the device you buy isn't compatible."
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The only major studio reportedly not on board with UltraViolet is Disney.
Apple was also said to be a hold-out, but UltraViolet films will be viewable on iPhones, iPads, and iPods using applications made by third-parties in the US such as video rental giant Netflix or cable provider Comcast.
DECE said that it planned to spread UltraViolet to Britain and Canada soon after products launch in the United States.
AN UltraViolet platform for letting people buy lifetime viewing rights to films is poised to launch in the United States.
wholesale christian louboutin
The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) alliance is licensing the technology to retail businesses and that UltraViolet offerings should be available by October.
Giants from Hollywood, technology and retail are out to rev up digital film sales by letting people buy lifetime rights to watch movies on whichever devices suit their fancies.
DECE members including Warner Brothers, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Sony, Walmart and Fox are working to break down walls between gadgets and services to catalyse demand for films.
discount Christian Louboutin
UltraViolet lets people create free cloud accounts where versions of movies they buy in DVD or digital formats are stored in online lockers.Christian Louboutin shoes sale
People will then be able to watch the works on televisions, smartphones, tablets or other devices registered to accounts. Registered devices can be changed as technology evolves.
luxury shoes
"If you buy a movie, it comes with a copy in the cloud," Warner Brothers Digital Distribution president Thomas Gewecke said during a DECE panel discussion at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas early this year.
"You don't have to worry about your hard drive filling up or crashing, or if the device you buy isn't compatible."
christian louboutin sandals
The only major studio reportedly not on board with UltraViolet is Disney.
Apple was also said to be a hold-out, but UltraViolet films will be viewable on iPhones, iPads, and iPods using applications made by third-parties in the US such as video rental giant Netflix or cable provider Comcast.
DECE said that it planned to spread UltraViolet to Britain and Canada soon after products launch in the United States.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Top two teams will be awarded Olympic slots after the single round-robin tournament
With London Olympic Games only one year to go, prospects for Chinese soccer, basketball and volleyball to earn Olympic berths remain slim.
Chinese men's Olympic soccer team has just finished their campaign as they lost to Oman 4-1 in a two-leg second round of 2012 London Olympic Asian men's soccer qualifiers.
Croatian Miroslav Blazevic, who once took the Croatian national team to win a bronze medal in 1998 World Cup, became head coach of Chinese team in last December but failed to bring a miracle to China. The team assembled five times for a total of 70 days but changed little in terms of tecniques and tactics.
Chinese women's team once won silver medals in 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 1999 Women's World Cup. However, they have been going down due to lack of young players. According to Chinese Football Association, China has only 400 registered women soccer players in sharp contrast to the world's 29 million. As a result, Chinese women's team failed to reach the quarterfinals of 2004 Athens Olympics and were even absent from the 2011 Germany's World Cup.
Now the team has finished their training in Changchun, northeast of China, where they aimed to reserve physical strength. The team played two friendly matches against Russia with one win and one draw. And then they moved to Shenyang for next training phase and will leave for Jinan about ten days before the Olympic Asian qualifiers slated from Sep 1 to 11.
According to the competition schedule, China will play successively against South Korea, DPR Korea, Thailand, Australia and Japan. Top two teams will be awarded Olympic slots after the single round-robin tournament.
Li Xiaopeng, head coach of Chinese women's team, expressed his confidence in earning an Olympic berth despite the fact that China lacks good forwards as Han Duan and Ma Xiaoxu both sustained injuries.
"We are on the same level with other teams, and we have the strength to beat them."said he.
Yu Hongchen, deputy director of China's football governing body, said:"I totally trust the coaching staff and they will bring hopes to us."
Compared with Chinese soccer's goal of winning Olympic tickets, Chinese basketball aimed to enter the last eight in London.
Chinese men's Olympic soccer team has just finished their campaign as they lost to Oman 4-1 in a two-leg second round of 2012 London Olympic Asian men's soccer qualifiers.
Croatian Miroslav Blazevic, who once took the Croatian national team to win a bronze medal in 1998 World Cup, became head coach of Chinese team in last December but failed to bring a miracle to China. The team assembled five times for a total of 70 days but changed little in terms of tecniques and tactics.
Chinese women's team once won silver medals in 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 1999 Women's World Cup. However, they have been going down due to lack of young players. According to Chinese Football Association, China has only 400 registered women soccer players in sharp contrast to the world's 29 million. As a result, Chinese women's team failed to reach the quarterfinals of 2004 Athens Olympics and were even absent from the 2011 Germany's World Cup.
Now the team has finished their training in Changchun, northeast of China, where they aimed to reserve physical strength. The team played two friendly matches against Russia with one win and one draw. And then they moved to Shenyang for next training phase and will leave for Jinan about ten days before the Olympic Asian qualifiers slated from Sep 1 to 11.
According to the competition schedule, China will play successively against South Korea, DPR Korea, Thailand, Australia and Japan. Top two teams will be awarded Olympic slots after the single round-robin tournament.
Li Xiaopeng, head coach of Chinese women's team, expressed his confidence in earning an Olympic berth despite the fact that China lacks good forwards as Han Duan and Ma Xiaoxu both sustained injuries.
"We are on the same level with other teams, and we have the strength to beat them."said he.
Yu Hongchen, deputy director of China's football governing body, said:"I totally trust the coaching staff and they will bring hopes to us."
Compared with Chinese soccer's goal of winning Olympic tickets, Chinese basketball aimed to enter the last eight in London.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Heat wave breaks daily records in Ontario, Quebec
Heat wave breaks daily records in Ontario, Quebec
A scorching heat wave toppled daily temperature records in 11 cities in Ontario and a dozen communities in Quebec Thursday.
The hottest spot in Canada was Pearson International Airport, where the temperature hit 37.Ronaldo soccer jersey 5 C, setting a record for July 21.
Windsor, Ont., also set a record for this date when the temperature hit 37.2 C at the airport. With the humidex, it felt even hotter.
Jodi Stone brought her kids to a splash pool in Windsor. "It's unbelievably hot and humid,kids steelers jerseys so we decided to get the kids out and get them cooled oUGG 30th Anniversaryff because it's just too hot at home," she said.
Her four-year-old son James took a break from splashing through the water to list off the must-do's for staying cool, which include drinking juice and eating ice cream.
Kylie Clark was enjoying the heat at an Ottawa area beach. The temperature in Ottawa hit 36 C on Thursday but felt like 46 with the humidity.
"We complain about the winter,Prada Shoes and then we complain about the heat,timberland boots sale" Clark said from Westboro beach. "I say pick a season and then don't complain about the other one."
'Heaven on earth'
Frank Olszynko, owner of Lois 'n Frima's Ice Cream, described the hot weather in the Ottawa area as "heaven on earth."
"It is hot, but we have to enjoy it," he said. "We can't complain when it's hot. We can complain only when it's cold."
A scorching heat wave toppled daily temperature records in 11 cities in Ontario and a dozen communities in Quebec Thursday.
The hottest spot in Canada was Pearson International Airport, where the temperature hit 37.Ronaldo soccer jersey 5 C, setting a record for July 21.
Windsor, Ont., also set a record for this date when the temperature hit 37.2 C at the airport. With the humidex, it felt even hotter.
Jodi Stone brought her kids to a splash pool in Windsor. "It's unbelievably hot and humid,kids steelers jerseys so we decided to get the kids out and get them cooled oUGG 30th Anniversaryff because it's just too hot at home," she said.
Her four-year-old son James took a break from splashing through the water to list off the must-do's for staying cool, which include drinking juice and eating ice cream.
Kylie Clark was enjoying the heat at an Ottawa area beach. The temperature in Ottawa hit 36 C on Thursday but felt like 46 with the humidity.
"We complain about the winter,Prada Shoes and then we complain about the heat,timberland boots sale" Clark said from Westboro beach. "I say pick a season and then don't complain about the other one."
'Heaven on earth'
Frank Olszynko, owner of Lois 'n Frima's Ice Cream, described the hot weather in the Ottawa area as "heaven on earth."
"It is hot, but we have to enjoy it," he said. "We can't complain when it's hot. We can complain only when it's cold."
Heat wave breaks daily records in Ontario, Quebec
Heat wave breaks daily records in Ontario, Quebec
A scorching heat wave toppled daily temperature records in 11 cities in Ontario and a dozen communities in Quebec Thursday.
The hottest spot in Canada was Pearson International Airport, where the temperature hit 37.Ronaldo soccer jersey 5 C, setting a record for July 21.
Windsor, Ont., also set a record for this date when the temperature hit 37.2 C at the airport. With the humidex, it felt even hotter.
Jodi Stone brought her kids to a splash pool in Windsor. "It's unbelievably hot and humid,kids steelers jerseys so we decided to get the kids out and get them cooled oUGG 30th Anniversaryff because it's just too hot at home," she said.
Her four-year-old son James took a break from splashing through the water to list off the must-do's for staying cool, which include drinking juice and eating ice cream.
Kylie Clark was enjoying the heat at an Ottawa area beach. The temperature in Ottawa hit 36 C on Thursday but felt like 46 with the humidity.
"We complain about the winter,Prada Shoes and then we complain about the heat,timberland boots sale" Clark said from Westboro beach. "I say pick a season and then don't complain about the other one."
'Heaven on earth'
Frank Olszynko, owner of Lois 'n Frima's Ice Cream, described the hot weather in the Ottawa area as "heaven on earth."
"It is hot, but we have to enjoy it," he said. "We can't complain when it's hot. We can complain only when it's cold."
A scorching heat wave toppled daily temperature records in 11 cities in Ontario and a dozen communities in Quebec Thursday.
The hottest spot in Canada was Pearson International Airport, where the temperature hit 37.Ronaldo soccer jersey 5 C, setting a record for July 21.
Windsor, Ont., also set a record for this date when the temperature hit 37.2 C at the airport. With the humidex, it felt even hotter.
Jodi Stone brought her kids to a splash pool in Windsor. "It's unbelievably hot and humid,kids steelers jerseys so we decided to get the kids out and get them cooled oUGG 30th Anniversaryff because it's just too hot at home," she said.
Her four-year-old son James took a break from splashing through the water to list off the must-do's for staying cool, which include drinking juice and eating ice cream.
Kylie Clark was enjoying the heat at an Ottawa area beach. The temperature in Ottawa hit 36 C on Thursday but felt like 46 with the humidity.
"We complain about the winter,Prada Shoes and then we complain about the heat,timberland boots sale" Clark said from Westboro beach. "I say pick a season and then don't complain about the other one."
'Heaven on earth'
Frank Olszynko, owner of Lois 'n Frima's Ice Cream, described the hot weather in the Ottawa area as "heaven on earth."
"It is hot, but we have to enjoy it," he said. "We can't complain when it's hot. We can complain only when it's cold."
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