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Games backs safe sex despite plumbing problems AFP - 58 minutes ago NEW DELHI (AFP) - – Commonwealth Games chief Mike Fennell said he was happy to see competitors engaging in safe sex at the athletes village even if it caused problems with the plumbing. Reports claimed that thousands of used condoms had been clogging up the toilets at the village , which is home to 7,000 competitors. "This shows that athletes are being responsible and are promoting safe sex ," said Commonwealth Games Federation president Fennell on Thursday. The Daily Telegraph reported a condom vending machine had been installed at the village, containing around 4,000 contraceptive packs.

The world’s 100 most powerful women By Elena Torrijos – October 7th, 2010 by ForbesWoman When it comes to power, cultural impact means as much as money and political influence. Megan Casserly, Forbes.com Forbes’ power lists are synonymous with moguls and movie stars, heads of state and captains of business. One look at the 2010 World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list and it is clear that we’ve come up with a new ranking of the female power elite that reflects the New Order of now. When we set out to identify this year’s list, we decided it was time to look up and out into the broader culture. Our assessment is based less on traditional titles and roles and more on creative influence and entrepreneurship. These power women have built distinctive companies and brands and championed weighty causes, sometimes through unconventional means; in other cases they have broken through gender barriers. We divided our power women candidates into four groups: politics, business, media and lifestyle (that is, entertainment, sports and fashion). We ranked the women in each group, and then group against group. Not easy, but that’s today’s reality: an unpredictable, diverse mash-up of hard power (currencies and constitutions) and dynamic power (audience and audacity). Why else would Lady Gaga (No. 7) and Ellen DeGeneres (No. 10) share top 10 billing with Michelle Obama (No. 1), Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Kraft Foods ( KFT – news – people ) (No. 2), Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (No. 5) and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo ( PEP – news – people ) (No. 6)? If anything, it’s inspiring. We included many heads of state and hopeful candidates, but we also have queenmakers who don’t hold office, first ladies of various sorts, Surpreme Court justices and cultural icons, bankers and bestselling authors. We rely on these women for, yes, managing our money, creating paychecks and governing at home and on the international stage, but also what we eat, download, talk about around the dinner table and the causes we support. What we think and how we act. At the top of our list, First Lady Michelle Obama is a true change-maker since taking lodge in the White House in 2008. The first African-American in the post, she’s changed the face of the office (literally), and with consistently high approval ratings, she’s given a new generation of girls and women around the world a role model. A former private attorney and public servant in Chicago, her interest in working with young people and advocating for healthy eating, among other issues, is evidenced by her Let’s Move! campaign, which aims to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation. Power women are connected, each one leveraging the power of the next. As a result of Let’s Move!, for example, major food and drink manufacturers (including Rosenfeld’s Kraft Foods and Nooyi’s PepsiCo) have pledged to cut 1.5 trillion calories from their products by 2015 through new products, recipes and reduced portion sizes. At the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) last month, Secretary of State Clinton led a plenary session on empowering women and girls, a new CGI action area, and attended by Katie Couric (No. 22), Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan (No. 76) and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (No. 86). Back to how Nooyi and talk show host DeGeneres landed together among the top 10 most powerful women in the world? While Nooyi helms PepsiCo, which has revenues of $43 billion annually and a portfolio of brands that include Tropicana, Frito Lay and Gatorade, DeGeneres directly connects with 3 million viewers daily weekdays through her talk show. And that’s just one hour of her day. Off-camera, the out-and-proud DeGeneres spreads her message to more than 5 million Twitter followers, notably bringing national attention to a gay teen’s fight for same-sex prom dates last spring. Her high-profile, high-energy personality–as a television host, CoverGirl model and former judge of American Idol–has made LGBT issues more than mainstream. She’s instilled a sense of glee and attractiveness to it all. Traditionally, women’s lists are heavily salted with the language of “firsts.” First woman CEO. First woman on the Supreme Court. First female president. To be sure, there are firsts on this list: Nancy Pelosi is the first female Speaker of the House, while race car driver Danica Patrick is the first (and only) woman to have won an IndyCar series. With the impending launch of OWN, Oprah Winfrey is the first woman to own her own cable network and Julia Gillard and Johnson Sirleaf are currently the first female prime minister of Australia and Africa’s first female president, respectively. First females make for good copy, but the real headline is that packs have emerged. Three women sit on the Supreme Court, marking an unprecedented tipping point for change. This year Diane Sawyer joined Couric as a female nightly solo news anchor, with Rachel Maddow and Christiane Amanpour as compats. Gillard is among 10 female heads of state on this year’s rankings. From Singapore to Silicon Valley, 25 women on the list hold CEO titles. Ripening for political leaders, generally, comes at the 50s and 60s, while business leaders peak in their 40s and 50s. Media and lifestyle power women seem to come of age in their 20s and 30s. But there are notable exceptions and crossover. Madonna and Arianna Huffington have exceptional staying power, while Sarah Palin and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg are early bloomers. Redefining the idea of power as influence is a challenging feat, particularly hard in that we looked at the world in all of its complexities to find the women who wield their importance in four distilled spheres to create change. Add the pace of the year 2010–the speed at which we consume and communicate–and the task becomes even greater. What we’ve found is that power, hard or dynamic, can be fleeting. One million or so Twitter followers today can be kissed goodbye as quickly as a company can go bankrupt or a government overthrown. And so we consider this list a frozen moment in time. We invite you to visit forbes.com/woman where the list will live, breathe and be shaped and reshaped in months to come. (Editor’s note: Temasek Holdings CEO Ho Ching dropped 25 places from No. 5 in last year’s poll. This is likely due to how Forbes changed the way it ranked the women, basing this year’s list less on wealth and power and more on creative input and entrepreneurship. Forbes also said on its website that “speculation remained as to whether Ho would remain CEO”, after Temasek Holdings “hired and promoted several high-level executives to support her.”) The Most Powerful Women In The World 1. Michelle Obama, First Lady, U.S. 2. Irene Rosenfeld, Chief Executive, Kraft Foods 3. Oprah Winfrey, Talk show host and media mogul 4. Angela Merkel, Chancellor, Germany 5. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, U.S. 6. Indra Nooya, Chief Executive, Pepsico 7. Lady Gaga, Singer and performance artist 8. Gail Kelly, Chief Executive, Westpac 9. Beyoncé Knowles, Singer and fashion designer 10. Ellen DeGeneres, Talk show host 11. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, U.S. 12. Angela Braly, Chief Executive, Wellpoint 13. Janet Napolitano, Secretary, Homeland Security, U.S. 14. Cynthia Carroll, Chief Executive, Anglo American 15. Sheila Bair, Chair, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 16. Sarah Palin, Political maverick and commentator 17. Mary Schapiro, Chair, Securities and Exchange Commission 18. Ellen Kullman, Chief Executive, DuPont 19. Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court Justice, U.S. 20. Ursula Burns, Chief Executive, Xerox 21. Angelina Jolie, Actor and UN Goodwill Ambassador 22. Katie Couric, News anchor 23. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary, Health & Human Services 24. Anne Lauvergeon, Chief Executive, Areva 25. Elena Kagan, Supreme Court Justice, U.S.

Erotic calendar wishes 'Happy Birthday, Mr Putin' AFP - Thursday, October 7 MOSCOW (AFP) - Lingerie-clad students from Moscow's most renowned university have posed in an erotic calendar proclaiming their love for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who turns 58 on Thursday. The calendar, called "Vladimir Vladimirovich, We love you. Happy Birthday Mr Putin," features twelve women wearing only underwear and pouting at the camera with saucy slogans. The women are all named as journalism students at the Moscow State University and a spokeswoman for the faculty confirmed to AFP that the models study there. Clad in a black lace negligee, Miss March, Lena Gornostayeva, wishes Putin a happy birthday with the message: "You put out the forest fires, but I'm still burning." Journalism faculty spokeswoman Larisa Bakulina slammed the calendar as a "work of erotic tastelessness." "We are not happy that they used the brand of the journalism faculty," she said. "It is tactless on the part of the publishers." One of the creators of the calendar, Maxim Perlin, 22, a producer at a patriotic Internet televison channel, said that he put it together with a publisher, Vladimir Tabak. The models posed for free, he told AFP, claiming the calendar had an empowering message. "The idea of the calendar was to show girls who are not simply models who turn up for 100 dollars, but girls who have some political opinion, who have already achieved some success," he said. Asked why the models were in underwear, he said: "In my opinion it's more beautiful and more interesting." Fifty thousand copies of the calendar went on sale on Tuesday at Auchan hypermarkets, Perlin told AFP. "We hope it will have some commercial success." On Wednesday a stack of the calendars, costing 260 rubles each (8.71 US dollars) was on sale at a hypermarket on Leninsky Prospekt in southern Moscow. Designer Antonina Shapovalova, a leader of Nashi pro-Kremlin youth movement, in 2008 created a line of girls' thong knickers with the slogan "Vova, I'm with you," using a nickname for Vladimir Putin. Perlin works for a pro-Kremlin channel called Russia.ru. Its creator Konstantin Rykov was behind a website called Zaputina.ru, or For Putin, which pushed for the leader to run for a third presidential term. Perlin denied to AFP that he was a member of United Russia or any pro-Kremlin youth group and said that the calendar was funded from proceeds of publishing projects. "We chose girls from our acquaintances and friends. I am a journalist and my friends are journalists. We know the girls who study there very well. They are 90 percent our friends."

Aiyoh !...how can this silly mistake happen ? S’pore swimmers miss team registration, disqualified By Ion Danker – October 7th, 2010 Team Singapore’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay team were disqualified from their final at the Commonwealth Games yesterday after they failed to submit their entry for the event on time. The team consisting of Teo Zhen Ren, Jeremy Kevin Mathews, Arren Quek and Mattias Ng arrived at the venue 45 minutes late and missed the 3pm deadline to submit their entry for the final due to traffic delays. They had earlier clocked 7min 47.19sec in their morning heat and qualified for the final as the seventh-fastest team. According to a statement by Team Singapore, team manager and coach Ang Peng Siong said: “It usually takes us about 20 to 30 minutes to reach the Dr S.P. Mukherjee Swimming Complex. Today, it took us about an hour.” He added that as the final was scheduled for 6pm, the squad left for the venue at 2.45pm so that ‘the team would not have to wait at the venue for too long before their event.’ “We lodged an appeal with the competitions manager, which was signed by all the head coaches of the other teams in the final, but we were not successful.” “The swimmers were then informed of the situation and the reason why they could not take part in the final. While they were disappointed, they said they understood the reason behind the disqualification,” said Ang. However, Jose Raymond, Team Singapore’s head of media and public relations, told Yahoo! Singapore that the competition’s manager for such events would usually allow a 10-15 minute time buffer for teams to submit their entry. Apart from swimming, Singapore’s shooters have been the surprise performers at the Commonwealth Games. On Tuesday, Gai Bin and Lim Swee Hon shot their way to a gold medal in the Pairs 50m Pistol Men Finals with a total of 1094 points to win Singapore’s first gold medal at the Games. They also clinched the silver and bronze medals with individual scores of 649.6 and 644.7 respectively at the Singles 50M Pistol Men’s event. Jasmine Ser and Aqilah Sudhir also struck gold in the Womens 50m rifle 3-position (pairs).

Commonwealth Games - Aussie wrestler loses silver for middle finger salute Wed, 06 Oct 11:45:00 2010 An Australian wrestler has lost out on a Commonwealth Games silver medal after making an obscene hand gesture at judges. Hassene Fkiri was furious after being disqualified from the gold medal bout in the Greco-Roman wrestling for repeated dangerous play. Indian media reported that he received three warnings before being disqualified, but was outraged at the decision in front of a boisterous and partisan crowd. Fkiri refused to shake hands with Indian opponent Anil Kumar and raised his middle finger at the judges as he stormed out of the arena in disgust. The Tunisian-born wrestler would have been handed silver despite his disqualification, but following his gesture he was thrown out of the event completely and lost the medal. The 36-year-old, who represented Tunisia at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney before switching nationalities, will make a personal apology to officials and his opponent on Wednesday - but it will be too late for him to claim his medal. "Fkiri will today visit the wrestling venue to personally apologise for his actions to the opponent, referee, judges and officials involved," said Australia team spokesperson John Gatfield. Following the disqualification South Africa's Kakoma Hugues Bella-Lufu was upgraded from bronze to silver and Canada's Eric Feunekes from fourth to bronze. Fkiri will be restricted to the athletes' village for the rest of his time at the 'friendly Games' and on his return to Australia has agreed to undertake community service with young wrestlers once a week for a year. "The athlete acknowledged that he had been wrong," Gatfield added. "He is 36 years old and has never shown any unsportsmanlike behaviour ever. "He represented Tunisia in the Sydney Olympics and was so determined to win gold for his new country Australia that he lost it." Gatfield said no formal warning had been given to other athletes in the team on how to conduct themselves. "The Australian athletes know how to behave. We don't expect it to happen again." Bad-boy cyclist Shane Perkins then became the second Australian to get into trouble for making rude gestures at the Commonwealth Games after reacting angrily to his disqualification from the keirin event. The pre-race favourite in the absence of Britain's Olympic champion Chris Hoy, Perkins failed to reach the gold medal race-off after being disqualified for dangerous riding as two of his rivals crashed. At the conclusion of the race for seventh to 12th positions, he gave a two-fingered salute to officials. Eurosport / Reuters

CRAZY !!! :FIREdevil: HUDC flat in Bishan goes for S$1.1 million By PropertyGuru – October 6th, 2010 A 1,668 sq ft HUDC unit at Block 315 in Shunfu Road has been sold to a Singaporean buyer for around $1.1 million, in a transaction that was approved in July before the implementation of the property cooling measures. The unusually high price tag, which translates to around $659 psf is a record for this type of project, which has already been phased-out. “The buyer was willing to pay a premium for this unit because it’s in very good condition, on a high floor and located just outside the city,” said Mr. Adam Tan, corporate communications manager at PropNex. Mr. Tan added that if the flat was located on a low floor, or in outlying places like Jurong or Chua Chu Kang, it wouldn’t have broken the $1 million mark. News of the record breaking sale has come as a shock to many Singaporeans who expected prices of public housing to drop because of the tough new rules. Interestingly, the property agent who brokered the deal is also advertising an HDB executive apartment in the same area for $1.28 million, or around $778 psf. However, Mr. Tan urged home buyers not to panic as such sales are not the norm. “The government will definitely step in to make sure public housing remains affordable. Now that HDB has launched a higher supply of flats, demand will lessen which will keep prices stable.”

Private bankers advise: 'just say no to gold' On Wednesday 6 October 2010, 4:42 SGT By Joseph A. Giannone NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gold is all the rage as investors flee uncertain markets and worry about inflation, but some bankers to the very rich do not take a shine to the precious metal. Gold prices have spiked 22 percent this year, with investors sending gold futures to record highs of more than $1,337 on Tuesday. The weak dollar, volatility in currency markets and deficit worries boosted demand for the metal as a safe store of value. Private banking executives, say gold's glittering price tag is or should give their wealthy clients pause. "We're not really recommending gold right now, just because it's at a level where there are things driving it beyond the types of things (where) that we can add a lot of value," U.S. Trust President Keith Banks said at the Reuters Global Private Banking Summit in New York. Instead, Banks said gold prices may reflect the surge in demand for gold exchange-traded funds, listed shares that purchase physical gold, and broader worries about government spending leading to rapid price inflation. "So what exactly is leading to gold at the levels it's at? Your guess is as good as mine," said Banks, who runs the Bank of America (NYSE: BAC ) private bank unit. The SPDR Gold Trust ETF (Pacific: GLD ), which lets retail investors more easily bet on gold, has surged 21 percent this year to a record high of 130.71. The fund shares are up more than 50 percent since the end of 2008. Wealthy families are more interested than ever in owning commodities such as metals and energy, assets that do not move up and down in step with stock and bond prices. They also offer a hedge against inflation, since their values rise with prevailing prices. There are many critics who warn gold is the latest frenzy and is doomed to collapse. "With gold being over $1,300 an ounce now, you have people who are asking whether, first, 'Is it another bubble?' and then, 'How far can I ride that bubble?,'" Credit Suisse Americas private banking chief Anthony DeChellis said. Bessemer Trust Chief Executive John Hilton said his New York wealth management firm allocated a single-digit percentage of its real return fund into gold. For some clients, he acknowledged, that was not enough. "We have clients who have made very large individual purchases of gold. Sometimes they'll just say they're doing it, and they'll ask us if we can hold it for them, but we haven't made any large purchases of gold directly for our clients," said Hilton, whose firm manages about $56 billion. U.S. private bankers, to be sure, also told the Summit they do recommend investments in a range of commodities. "We have been a proponent of having an exposure to commodities. The bank is optimistic about the economic recovery, and commodities is a way to play global growth," said U.S. Trust's Banks. U.S. Trust formed its Specialty Asset Management group, which buys hard assets on behalf of its wealthy clients -- anything from real estate, timberland and farmland to oil and gas properties. U.S. Trust will buy and sometimes hire people to operate these assets. The business, which manages about $16 billion of assets, is seeing strong interest from clients, he said. "These are assets that I think people can feel good about, that are probably not going to track the more typical areas, and it's just a unique opportunity," Banks said. (Reporting by Joseph A. Giannone. Editing by Robert MacMillan)

Super-rich investors buy gold by tonne On Tuesday 5 October 2010, 2:38 SGT By Laura MacInnis GENEVA (Reuters) - The world's wealthiest people have responded to economic worries by buying gold by the bar -- and sometimes by the tonne -- and by moving assets out of the financial system, bankers catering to the very rich said on Monday. Fears of a double-dip downturn have boosted the appetite for physical bullion as well as for mining company shares and exchange-traded funds, UBS executive Josef Stadler told the Reuters Global Private Banking Summit. "They don't only buy ETFs or futures; they buy physical gold," said Stadler, who runs the Swiss bank's services for clients with assets of at least $50 million to invest. UBS is recommending top-tier clients hold 7-10 percent of their assets in precious metals like gold, which is on course for its tenth consecutive yearly gain and traded at around $1,314.50 an ounce on Monday, near the record level reached last week. "We had a clear example of a couple buying over a tonne of gold ... and carrying it to another place," Stadler said. At today's prices, that shipment would be worth about $42 million. Julius Baer's chief investment officer for Asia is also recommending that wealthy investors park some of their assets in gold as a defensive stance following a string of lackluster U.S. data and amid concerns about currency weakness. "I see gold as an insurance," Van Anantha-Nageswaran said. "I recommend 10 percent as minimum in portfolios and anything more than that to be used for trading purposes, to respond to short-term over-bought or over-sold signals." ULTIMATE BUBBLE? Billionaire financier George Soros, echoing comments from investment guru Warren Buffett, last month described gold as the "ultimate bubble" because it is costly to dig up and has no real value except its market price. But a rising price for the precious metal has in itself generated more and more demand from investors looking for a way to hedge against a fresh recession. Gold bears no yield and is uncompetitive in an environment of rising interest rates. The uneasy outlook for inflation, hard currencies and global growth has triggered a five-fold increase in a physical gold fund launched by Pictet one year ago, the Swiss private bank said. UBS's Stadler said the precious metal has become a staple of investors' portfolios, despite questions about whether it makes for a smart long-term investment. "If you talk to ultra-high net worth individuals, that level of uncertainty has never been higher in the last two, three, four years," he said. "If they ask me, 'Is inflation going up or are we entering a deflationary cycle?,' I don't know. But obviously nobody knows." Anthony DeChellis, managing director of Credit Suisse 's Americas private banking unit, said at the Reuters summit in New York that clients are more interested in capitalizing on the rise in gold prices than using the precious metal as a safe-harbor investment. "They're asking, 'If it's a bubble, how far can I ride that bubble,'" he said. "I cannot say we've seen a spike in gold interest, but there's an interest in the phenomenon of it." Samir Raslan, Citigroup Inc's regional head for central, eastern and northern Europe, Africa and Turkey, said clients were not going overboard on gold. "I wouldn't say that clients are over-investing. It's part of an asset allocation, but it's not something that they are deciding all of a sudden," he said. And not all bankers are recommending exposure to gold. Andreas Wolfer, head of private banking at UniCredit Group, attributed the run-up in the price of gold to frayed investor nerves after the 2008 financial crisis as well as concerns about sovereign debt in the euro zone. "We have seen it but we have not overweighted it in our asset allocation," Wolfer told the Reuters summit in Geneva, which has emerged as a major trading hub for precious metals as well as other physical commodities. "We strongly believe in an asset allocation having a clear and diversified portfolio, which sounds a bit boring but in the end it brings the best returns," Wolfer said. (Additional reporting by Kevin Lim in Singapore and Joe Rauch in New York; Editing by Greg Mahlich and John Wallace)

Rich investors still choose safety first On Tuesday 5 October 2010, 23:18 SGT By Martin de Sa'Pinto and Joe Rauch GENEVA/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wealthy investors are retaining cash, buying gold and limiting exposure to risk in a sign confidence in a sustained recovery remains at a low ebb. Speaking at the Reuters Global Private Banking Summit, bankers said that while wealthy clients were still investing in riskier assets like hedge funds and private equity, they were limiting leverage and keeping tabs on their exit options. "When the credit bubble exploded, people needed to unwind products to meet borrowing needs. People are coming back to the market with a more conservative approach, (they) have realised too much leverage is bad," said Pablo Garnica, J.P. Morgan's (NYSE: JPM ) head for private banking at the Geneva summit site. At the New York leg of the summit, Keith Banks, president of Bank of America private banking unit U.S. Trust, said clients still want to de-leverage. His division is "eager to loan (to high net worth clients), but the wealthy are hesitant to take on additional debt in the current climate," he said. Clients were also likely to hold on to cash positions built when they sold assets during the crisis, bankers said. "We have seen a clear shift from alternatives into cash. I don't mean treasury bills, I mean cash, cash, cash," said Josef Stadler, who heads the UBS private banking business for clients with over $50 million in investable assets. Stadler said his European clients were holding 30 to 35 percent of their disposable wealth in cash. Unicredit private banking head Andreas Woelfer said the level among his clients, with disposable assets of at least 500,000 euros, was about 25 percent. Asian clients were seemingly more bullish, although they too were holding historically high levels of cash and equivalent deposits, at between 10 and 20 percent of total assets, Nick Pollard, RBS Coutts' Asia chief executive said from Singapore. The lowest cash portion estimate from the Geneva leg of the summit, at 5 to 10 percent, came from J.P. Morgan's Garnica. Clients have also increased gold holdings as a hedge against inflation, deflation or the collapse of a major currency. In 2010 gold, traditionally a hedge against inflation, is now used to preserve value against declining major currencies and as protection against renewed financial turmoil, said Enrique, Marazuela, Chief Investment Officer at BBVA. Illiquid asset classes are still out of favour. "Illiquidity lockups are a thing of the past for the time being. It's very difficult. You hear this also with hedge funds and some of the private equity funds. Fund raising in the ultra high net worth ($50 million plus) segment is very tough," said Stadler, whose unit manages $300 billion. EMERGING BONDS FAVOURED One of the strongest trends has favoured emerging countries' sovereign and corporate debt. Here, investors are seeking access to fast growing Asian and Latin American economies while limiting exposure to those markets' more risky and volatile equities. "We saw clear pick-up in demand for emerging stocks and bonds especially government bonds as an alternative, as a risk mitigator," said Stadler. Van of Julius Baer's recommendations for Asian investors also include Asian bonds, G3 bonds and Asian stocks with high-dividend yields such as telecoms companies including Singapore's StarHub, China Mobile, and Taiwan Mobile. He also recommends holding a diversified basket of primarily Asian currencies along with structurally sound European currencies like the Swiss franc and Norweigian kroner. Some bankers noted growing client interest in currency trading as they try to squeeze some yield from cash holdings, while others said clients were holding baskets of emerging markets currencies as a hedge against further declines in the dollar, euro and yen. Although some equities were cheap, private clients are looking for a less volatile environment before increasing investments in that asset class. "What they are waiting for is some stability and some direction," said Citibank general manager Samir Raslan. "We have come out of the very difficult financial environment two years ago into a period of uncertainty," he said. (Additional reporting by Kevin Lim; Editing by Andrew Callus and Hans Peters)

Commonwealth chief 'thanks Diana' !!! Guffaw...Guffaw...Joke of the Year Contender. Empty seats plague Commonwealth Games in India By CHRIS LEHOURITES, AP Sports Writer - Wednesday, October 6 NEW DELHI Seas of empty seats in stadiums and arenas. Scales that gave the wrong readings for boxers at their weigh-ins. And then the royal flub: an official who identified Prince Charles as "Prince Diana." The first few days of competition at the Commonwealth Games are proving nearly as troubled as the squalor and scandal that plagued the run-up to the sporting event. Following a Bollywood-esque opening spectacle that was supposed to turn the focus onto the field of play, a whole new set of problems has arisen at India's troubled games. Chief among them: how to get a nation of 1.1 billion people interested enough to actually attend some of the events. On Tuesday's second day of competition, no more than 100 people were in the 19,000-seat MDC Stadium, which some have called the best field hockey stadium in the world. Fewer than 20 people were in the 5,000-seat tennis stadium for the first match of the tournament, although hundreds arrived later to watch local hopefuls Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes play in doubles. Only 58 spectators watched the opening match of netball _ a sport similar to basketball but played without a backboard. Swimming attracted a comparatively big crowd, with up to 1,200 people creating some atmosphere. An official at the 4,000-seat velodrome, where only about 500 people watched cyclists circle the track, blamed a lack of enthusiasm for some events. "People have no interest in the sport," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. "You will probably find more people at wrestling or weightlifting, in which India is good. Cycling is a Western sport." The Commonwealth Games _ an Olympic-style competition held every four years _ bring together nearly 7,000 athletes and officials from 71 countries and territories. India wanted the games, which ended up costing between $3 billion and $10 billion, to showcase its emergence as a growing economic power and possibly attract a future Olympics. But construction delays, corruption allegations, concerns about security and heavy monsoons put preparations for the games behind schedule, with complaints about unfinished and filthy accommodations in the athletes' village embarrassing the hosts. As of Tuesday afternoon _ the eve of the start of track and field events _ officials were still preparing Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, laying turf on the infield and clearing debris from the site, which also was used for the opening ceremony. The monsoons led to an outbreak in New Delhi of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease that put an Indian lawn bowling team manager in the hospital. Also Tuesday, a teenage boy called in an anonymous bomb threat at the village that turned out to be a hoax. Some blame the poor attendance on sultry weather that saw temperatures in the 90s. Others blamed the fact that India was hosting a five-day cricket match elsewhere in the country against Australia that probably kept many locals watching their national sport on TV. Ticket costs also could be a factor _ even the cheapest tickets at 50 rupees (about $1) are too high for many of New Delhi's poorest people. More than 800 million Indians survive on less than $2 a day. Organizers are considering giving away free tickets to children and the underprivileged to fill the stadiums. Mukul Kesavan, an author and history professor at Jamia Millia Islamia University, suggested that many Indians just aren't interested in the Olympic-style sports. "I'm surprised that they have as many spectators as they say they do," Kesavan told The Associated Press. "Short of large teams sports or maybe tennis, which might attract a die-hard audience, who's going to watch archery or lawn bowls? None of these things sink particularly deeply into the Indian sporting psyche." At a contradictory news conference, local organizing committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi said he was confident the attendance problem had been resolved by the installation of box offices at every arena _ allowing spectators to buy their tickets in more places, rather than wait in long lines elsewhere. "As of today, things are all right," Kalmadi said. But problems have kept cropping up at the games, which run until Oct. 14. "There are some issues that we had to deal with, and we have assigned those issues to various people to correct," Commonwealth Games President Michael Fennell said. "And we're expecting that those will be corrected during the course of the day." Jiji Thomson, an organizing committee official, told the news conference he had not received a report that several Australian athletes had become ill in the village. Kalmadi then said he would check press reports and answer Wednesday, but Fennell broke in and said they had had a report about the sick athletes and were looking into it. Athletes and coaches complained Monday when scales at the boxing venue were found to be giving incorrect readings, forcing some boxers to take desperate, unnecessary measures to shed weight. But organizing committee secretary-general Lalit Bhanot refused to admit it was a major issue, saying it had been "rectified." "There's no problem at all," Bhanot said. He is the same official who tried to dismiss complaints last month of excrement in rooms at the athletes' village simply as a difference between Western and Indian standards of cleanliness. Kalmadi, who was booed loudly at the opening ceremony because many Indians blame him for the games' disorganization, also misspoke at the news conference when he was praising Sunday's extravaganza. In describing the show, attended by Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, he said "Prince Diana" had been there _ then quickly corrected himself. Diana was Charles' former wife who died in a car crash in 1997.

WAH !...wat a jam-packed schedule...stick to something easier mate rather than risking to 'burn' pocket hole$ and 'break' ya wholesome heart.

Microsoft hopes to bury iPhone, Android Reuters - Saturday, October 2 By Bill Rigby SEATTLE - Last month, a few hundred Microsoft Corp employees acted out their fantasy with a mock funeral for Apple Inc's iPhone at its Redmond, Washington campus. The bizarre gathering, which morphed into a spirited Michael Jackson "Thriller" dance routine, marked the completion of its Windows Phone 7 software, and showed how badly Microsoft wants to resurrect itself in the viciously competitive phone market. The new software, which will be publicly unveiled on October 11 and expected on handsets in stores by November, is Microsoft's last chance, some analysts say, to catch up with Apple and Google Inc's Android smartphones, after squandering its strong market position in only a few years. A group of smartphone manufacturers including Samsung and HTC Corp are expected to roll out Microsoft-based phones for the holiday season. Whether they will be good enough to render the iPhone obsolete is the question. "The product can't be an also-ran that just does everything that is already out in the marketplace," said Bryan Keane, an analyst for Alpine Mutual Funds, which holds Microsoft shares. "Right now, it isn't apparent that Windows 7 is better than anything that's out there, except that it might have a better tie-in to the actual Windows platform." By the admission of Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, the company "missed a generation" with Windows Mobile, its last phone operating system, which floundered while the iPhone and Android roared past with sumptuous touch screens and a host of new applications. Microsoft is now fourth in the fast-growing U.S. market for smartphone operating systems with a share of less than 12 percent, according to research firm comScore, behind BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion Ltd, Apple and Google. STOCK OVERHANG Microsoft's strange disappearance from the phone market, and its delayed response to the emergence of tablet devices like Apple's iPad, has been seen as a drag on Microsoft's shares, which are down 20 percent this year. "The market is really fearful of their positioning in those two markets ," said Ken Allen, Baltimore-based portfolio manager of T. Rowe Price's Science and Technology Fund, which holds Microsoft shares. "Tablets -- the iPad in particular -- and the smartphone market are major overhangs and discounted heavily in the stock." Investors were not impressed with Microsoft's last attempt to launch a new phone, the Kin, which was dropped after fewer than three months on the market. Whether the new phones can make up for that error and lift concerns will depend on how the handsets measure up and how much the network carriers promote the phones. Prototypes of the new devices, which have been demonstrated by Microsoft employees over the past few months, look to be a huge improvement over the last version of Microsoft's phone software. They have a touch-screen interface resembling the company's Zune music player and movable 'tiles' that access various phone functions. But at first glance, they don't appear to offer radical new features that rivals lack. Launch phones are expected from Samsung, LG and HTC Corp, while AT&T Inc is expected to be the initial U.S. network provider, according to a person familiar with the launch plans. Microsoft and AT&T declined comment. None of the handset makers immediately replied to requests for details. All three of those phone makers already offer Android-based phones, while AT&T is currently the sole carrier for the iPhone, which means none has too much riding on the success of the new software, which could be a problem for Microsoft. "We'll have to see how much vendor support gets behind it -- that was partially what drove Android success," said Keane at Alpine. "But now, their problem is, 'We already have Android and the iPhone, do we need a third one?'."

Why super-rich are snapping up homes in S’pore By PropertyGuru – October 4th, 2010 By Khalil Adis (courtesy of PropertyGuru) Whenever I visit my friend at his sprawling Binjai Rise bungalow, I would jokingly ask him if he has had the opportunity to say “hello” to his newfound neighbour, Asian star-turned-Hollywood actor, Jet Li. Ever since news broke that the celebrity snapped up a Good Class Bungalow (GCB) for a reported S$19.8 million, there has been a lot of talk about Singapore attracting the rich and famous as well foreigner eligibility in buying such properties. I have to say, despite its no-nonsense and staid reputation, Singapore has over the years done a good job in shedding its conservative image to one that is hip and “happening”. Foreigners have often been lured here due to the ease of doing business, our political stability, geographic location and efficiency. However, they, particularly those in show biz, also bemoan about the lack of entertainment and liken the city to a “cultural desert”. Nevertheless, Singapore has managed to successfully reinvent itself to a place that is buzzing with activities, especially with recent events like the Formula One and the opening of its two new integrated resorts, Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa. This has helped put our city on the world map and on the radar of foreign investors. The Global Property Guide agrees and recently said Singapore is the hottest real estate market in the world, attracting the rich from far and beyond. Foreign eligibility For the record, a foreigner can own landed properties in Singapore. However, they do face restrictions and need prior approval from the Singapore Land Authority (SLA). Foreigners will first need to be a permanent resident (PR) before they can be allowed to purchase landed homes in mainland Singapore. Even so, getting a PR is not a guarantee. They will need to be further assessed by the authorities based on their qualifications and their economic contribution to Singapore before being given the green light. Having said that, Sentosa Cove is the only place where foreigners are allowed to purchase landed property without any restrictions. GCBs are an attractive investment asset class The lure of owning a GCB is indeed very attractive. GCBs refer to low-density prime real estate that are located in the leafy, prestigious neighbourhoods such as Cluny Road, Ridley Park, Leedon Park, King Albert Park, Binjai Park and Yarwood Avenue. According to DTZ, freehold landed properties in prime areas moved up 2 percent quarter-on-quarter to S$1, 611 per sq ft, lower than the 3.3 percent growth recorded in the second quarter. Meanwhile, freehold units outside the prime areas have hit a new high in the third quarter this year. It’s per sq ft pricing has now gone up 1.7 percent quarter-on-quarter to $952 per sq ft, surpassing the high of $943 per sq ft recorded during the 1996 boom for the first time. Despite the slowdown in demand from ultra high net worth investors due to their cautious sentiment over the growth of major economies in the West, I do believe GCBs will continue to be an attractive investment asset class. Firstly, they will always be in great demand due to their limited availability – there are around 1,000 GCBs spread across Singapore. Secondly, they offer a good rental yield. A real estate agent whom I spoke to who specialises in the GCB market said investors can expect to earn between $28,000 to $35,000 in rental income per month. With the dismal interest rates that banks are currently offering (at less than 1 percent), it is no wonder cash rich investors would prefer to park their money in the GCB market. In the meantime, I am hoping with bated breath that I would “accidentally” bump into Jet Li the next time I come round Binjai Rise and perhaps snag an autograph or two. Khalil Adis is an experienced property writer, with in-depth knowledge of Singapore’s and Malaysia’s property market.

AWAS !...beware of burnt 'TEATS'...Ooops !...I meant 'TIPS'...hee hee.

Euro 2012 qual. - Dutch drop De Jong over tackle Mon, 04 Oct 11:35:00 2010 Nigel de Jong has been dropped from the Netherlands squad for their upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers following his tackle which broke Hatem Ben Arfa's leg. Manchester City midfielder De Jong's fierce fourth-minute challenge broke the Frenchman's left leg in two places in Sunday's 2-1 win over Newcastle. The tackle itself went unpunished by referee Martin Atkinson, but Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk publicly slammed the tackle and said he had "no alternative" but to remove the 25-year-old from the squad to play Moldova and Sweden during the international break. "I've seen the pictures back," Van Marwijk said in the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper. "It was a wild and unnecessary offence. He went in much too hard. It is unfortunate, especially since he does not need to do it. The funny thing is that the referee did not even show a yellow card for it. Apparently, there are other standards (in England). "I just told the players. I told them that I saw no other option. In the future I will agree with Nigel to talk. Now I want the staff and the players to concentrate on the next two important qualifiers." De Jong drew heavy criticism for a series of wild challenges and fouls on Spain players during the World Cup final and for breaking Bolton midfielder Stuart Holden's leg in a friendly against the USA in March, and Van Marwijk felt he had to act in order to try and teach the midfielder to exercise restraint on the pitch. He said: "I have a problem with the way Nigel needlessly looks to push the limit. I am going to speak to him." Newcastle boss Chris Hughton was scathing of the player's challenge, which broke both Ben Arfa's left tibia and fibula. He said: "Everyone will have their own opinion, but it was a tackle that did not need to be made. When you have a young talented player when they have that type of injury and it's there for his team-mates to see, it's of course very upsetting." However, City assistant manager Brian Kidd defended his player following the win at Eastlands, insisting De Jong is "not that type of player". He said: "Everybody knows Nigel, he is as honest as the day is long. It's so sad when you've seen that happen. There was no malice in it, definitely not. Nigel's not that type of lad. He's the same in training." PA Sport / Eurosport

Euro 2012 qual. - Davies gets first England call-up Mon, 04 Oct 14:30:00 2010 Bolton Wanderers striker Kevin Davies has been handed his first England call-up for the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro. The uncapped 33-year-old, who admitted in an interview recently that he had given up all hope of ever representing his country, will join Fabio Capello's squad for the Group G clash at Wembley on October 12. The Trotters skipper said before the 2-2 draw with Manchester United last month: "I was in the expanded squad a couple of times but even when a few players pulled out and I thought I had a chance, someone else got called up." Should he play next Tuesday, the former Blackburn Rovers target man would be a long way off breaking the record for the oldest England debutant; that mark was set in 1873 by Alexander Morten, who was 41 years 114 days old when he lined up in a 4-2 win against Scotland. However Davies, who has scored two goals for Bolton this season, could be lining up alongside Wayne Rooney in England's attack after the Manchester United striker was selected despite missing his side's last two matches through injury. England captain Rio Ferdinand is back in the squad for the first time since he was forced to leave England's World Cup training base in South Africa before the tournament began. Former England skipper John Terry also returns after missing the wins over Bulgaria and Switzerland through injury, but his Chelsea team-mate Frank Lampard is still sidelined. Liverpool midfielder Joe Cole, Tottenham duo Aaron Lennon and Tom Huddlestone and West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green are all recalled to the squad. Forwards Theo Walcott, Bobby Zamora and Gabriel Agbonlahor are all ruled out through injury, while James Milner is suspended for the match against the joint-group leaders. England squad Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro at Wembley on October 12 Goalkeepers: Ben Foster (Birmingham City), Robert Green (West Ham United), Joe Hart (Manchester City). Defenders: Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), John Terry (Chelsea), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa). Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Joe Cole (Liverpool), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham Hotspur), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Aston Villa). Forwards: Darren Bent (Sunderland), Peter Crouch (Tottenham Hotspur), Kevin Davies (Bolton Wanderers), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United). Eurosport

Euro 2012 qual. - Capello: Bent has bright future Mon, 04 Oct 10:57:00 2010 Fabio Capello expects Darren Bent to be a pivotal figure for England in the future. Bent was overlooked for the World Cup, despite his 24 goals leaving him second only to Wayne Rooney amongst English-born players in the Premier League last season. Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has never had any reservations about the 26-year-old's quality, yet it seemed Capello was not listening to frequent calls from the Stadium of Light for Bent to be given his chance. The striker was selected for the friendly against Brazil in Doha last November but failed to shine in an injury-hit team and an equally disappointing display against Japan in May meant he spent the summer on holiday in the United States rather than terrorising defenders in South Africa. However, ahead of his squad announcement for next Tuesday's Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro at Wembley, Capello has confirmed Bent - who has already scored eight times this season, including one for England against Switzerland last month when he collected his seventh cap - is now a key part of his plans. "Bent is back," Capello told the FA's website. "In front of goal, he is really dangerous. "He played 20 minutes against Switzerland and scored an important goal. Now he is training really well. "He is probably one of the important players for the future." Bent is likely to start alongside Wayne Rooney next week now that Jermain Defoe has been ruled out with an ankle injury, with Capello reportedly still unconvinced that Michael Owen has an England future despite his three goals this season. Capello also paid tribute to the Manchester City stars who will provide a significant percentage of the squad. Six City players were on the field at the end of the win in Basle last month, and the Italian believes that having so many players from one side will be a huge benefit to the national team. "National teams that won titles, the World Cup and the Euros, had something like this," he said. "Spain had players from three teams; seven from Barcelona, three from Real Madrid and one from Villarreal. "Also, when Italy won the World Cup they had a lot of players from Juventus "It is really important to have this group because they train every day together, they play together regularly in matches. They know everything better. "It is easier to find each other when you play together for the national team. You hope to find the same spirit and mentality in your own team." PA Sport

It's the COLLECTOR mate.

WAH !...gross man...dun 'invite' moi for multi-mixed 'seafood dinner' at ya place.

No worries mate...I can help U buy if I ever come across a healthy active one. Seasonal stocks from Phil. As for me, I treasure mine Mr WATANABEI veri much cos' there's a tragic story behind it.

In moi 6-years of ultra-regular LFSes visits, I have only come across ONCE at BENG's shop. At that time, nobody even bother to take a look at it. Juz like ROSY, moi bought a beautiful PAIR 3-years ago from IWARNA's 1st shipment. Didn't come again after three shipments. I have given up waiting & move on to other species. Why wait when there are other beautiful fishy to enjoy & appreciate now. Time is a 'passing window'...U never know when will ya excitements stop...graduation, enlistment, work, etc...only if ya 'LADY GAGA' luck licks U this year. Juz my thoughts.

Mmmmm...moi-moi 'sniff' some hidden GEMsters tucked away neatly in ya vast frag oceanarium, patiently waiting for the right moment of glory. Heh Heh

My take...Male Watanabei Angel should be ya 1st Choice as healthy ones dun come often. Male Bellus no need to hunt cos' U can buy 2 females & one of them will morph into Male eventually juz like mine.

Michael taking legal action over prison claims 2 hours 14 mins ago Jailed George Michael is taking legal action against editors of a tabloid over reports alleging the singer has been boozing behind bars and was bullied by fellow inmates. The Sunday Mirror published an article over the weekend claiming the former Wham! star had been threatened by inmates at London's tough Pentonville jail, where he was sent last month to serve time for drug-related charges. He has since been moved to Highpoint Prison in Suffolk, where editors at the newspaper alleged Michael had befriended a "violent robber", who was protecting him from reported bullies. They also claimed he had been drinking "prison hooch" to get drunk, before stripping off and walking around "completely naked". But Michael has been left fuming by the report, and has instructed his legal team to take the publication's bosses to court. In a statement released on Sunday, the star says, "Much as I would prefer to rise above the usual rubbish that I'm reading day after day about my time here in prison, I think it's only fair to my fans, family and friends to respond in some way, even though I will be home soon. "Please believe me when I tell you that in the last three weeks there have been no tears, no anxiety, no bullying, in fact not so much as a sleepless night for me. On the contrary, I have been treated with kindness by fellow in-mates and prison staff alike and as far as I can tell, have received no special treatment of any kind whatsoever. "Most of my days have been spent reading thousands of letters and postcards of incredible support from people around the world. I promise to repay their kindness with new music as soon as I possibly can, and as far as running around this place "naked" and "drunk" on "Hooch" with an inmate for a bodyguard, let's just say that the Sunday Mirror will be hearing from my lawyers very shortly. With Love always, George Michael." The 47 year old was sentenced to eight weeks behind bars for possession of cannabis and driving under the influence of drugs following an accident in London in July, when he crashed into a shopfront near his home in the city.