Life's Great Expectations!

The good news: When US economy improves, S'pore will recover swiftly By Li Xueying, Political Correspondent MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew yesterday raised the possibility of Singapore's economy shrinking by as much as 10 per cent this year. This would happen if the country's exports continue to drop at the same speed as they did earlier this year, he predicted. They fell 35 per cent in January. Said Mr Lee: 'If the second quarter shows a further drop of another 30, 40 per cent, it (economic growth) will go down to -10 (per cent).' If so, this would be a performance four times worse than 2001's record low when the economy shrank 2.4 per cent. Prime Minister...

S'pore banks make the cut By Gabriel Chen SINGAPORE banks are among the top 50 safest worldwide, according to Global Finance magazine. DBS Bank kept the Republic's flag flying high by snagging the No. 28 spot, up from 41th position in the previous year. United Overseas Bank and OCBC Bank - both of which were not in the top 50 list in last year's rankings - came in at 37th and 38th, respectively. The ranking, announced last month by the US-based magazine, is based on size and credit quality of the lender. First, the world's largest banks by asset size are selected. Then ratings from Fitch Ratings, Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's are applied to the list, with appropriate weightings. Banks that garner good ratings across the board occupy a higher position. Mr Trevor Kalcic, regional bank analyst at ABN Amro Asia Se...

UBS, Citi stakes bought too early, says MM, but 'we can tough it out' THE investment portfolio managed by the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) has lost about 25 per cent of its value from its peak last year, Minister Mentor and GIC chairman Lee Kuan Yew revealed in a Reuters interview yesterday. Putting a figure to GIC's losses for the first time since the financial crisis started, MM Lee also acknowledged that GIC had bought shares in global banks UBS and Citigroup 'too early'. Young Lee and the great depression 'I was a young boy of about 7, 8, 9, 10 years...Both my grandfathers, maternal and paternal grandfathers had considerable a...

SINGAPORE'S Cabinet gave in-principle approval for Temasek Holdings chief executive officer Ho Ching to step down last month, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said on Wednesday. This followed a Cabinet paper tabled by the Ministry of Finance, Temasek's parent. The paper laid out Ms Ho's reasons for retiring, MM Lee said at the Thomson Reuters Newsmaker Event. 'She thinks it was time,' he said. 'It's got nothing to do with bad investments because when you go in aggressively into the market you must take the knocks when the knocks come.' Temasek said in a surprise announcement last month that Ms Ho, who joined Temasek's board in 2002 and became chief executive in 2004, would step down on Oct 1. As to why the reins were handed o...

Windows 7 will include features specifically to meet the needs of enterprise customers based on early feedback from them. By Elizabeth Montalbano 05 Mar 2009 NEW YORK, 4 MARCH 2009 - Windows 7 will include features specifically developed for enterprise customers and partners in an unprecedented number of technology early-access programs Microsoft is offering for the forthcoming OS. Microsoft invited more than 100 customers and partners to give feedback on Windows 7 early on in its development process in an attempt to learn from mistakes it made when building Vista, said Gavriella Schuster, a senior director of Windows product management, in an interview Tuesday. Microsoft developed four new customer and partner focus groups and spent six months planning how it would build Windows 7, and how it would engage customers early and often in that process, before even beginning development, she said. Microsoft revealed more about this process in a blog post on the Windows ...

By Green Channel staff | Feb 26, 2009 A $270 million Nasa satellite dedicated to measuring the world’s carbon emission failed to reach orbit yesterday. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) satellite failed shortly after liftoff when the fairing – which protects the satellite as it speeds through the atmosphere – failed to separate. It had lifted off on a Taurus XL launch rocket from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base early Tuesday morning local time. The LEOStar-2 satellite landed in the sea near Antarctica, John Brunschwyler, manager of the Taurus program, told a press conference. “The fairing has considerable weight relative to the portion of the vehicle that's flying. So when it separates off, you get a jump in acceleration. We did not have that jump in acceleration,” Brunschwyler said. “As a direct result of carrying that extra weight, we could not make orbit.” The satellite was expected to help clear up the mystery of the missing carbon “sink” - where carbon dioxide i...

Banking giant UBS admits to helping defraud IRS, will pay $780M, open secret Swiss records Devlin Barrett, Associated Press Writer Wednesday February 18, 2009, 8:14 pm EST WASHINGTON (AP) -- Banking giant UBS has agreed to pay $780 million and turn over once-secret Swiss banking records to settle allegations it conspired to defraud the U.S. government of taxes owed by thousands of American clients. As part of the deal struck in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., UBS has made the unprecedented step of agreeing to immediately turn over to the U.S. government account information for U.S. customers of the bank's cross-border business. In doing so, federal authorities have struck a big crack in Switzerland's vaunted bank secrecy laws. UBS will pay $780 million in fines, penalties, interest and restitution for conspiring to create sham accounts to hide the assets of U.S. clients from the U.S. ...

Lawmakers clash with SEC over Madoff probe; whistleblower promises more evidence Marcy Gordon, AP Business Writer Wednesday February 4, 2009, 11:01 pm EST WASHINGTON (AP) -- House lawmakers on Wednesday accused the Securities and Exchange Commission of impeding their probe into how the agency failed to uncover the alleged $50 billion fraud perpetrated by Bernard Madoff. The clash between lawmakers and high-ranking SEC officials came at a hearing after the whistleblower in the case, Harry Markopolos, said he had feared for his physical safety and would turn over new evidence to the agency showing the alleged Ponzi scheme mastermind had not acted alone. Markopolos said he had discovered a dozen additional funds that funneled money to Madoff, "hiding in the weeds" in Europe. Managers of investment "feeder" funds that relayed money to Madoff willfully turned a blind eye to his impropr...

Obama caps executive pay for companies getting bailouts, seeks to stop rewards `for failure' Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer Wednesday February 4, 2009, 8:19 pm EST WASHINGTON (AP) -- Assailing out-of-touch corporate pay and perks, President Barack Obama on Wednesday slammed a salary cap on top executives from companies that want bailouts -- but it's a limit that could end up thinning the wallets of only a small number of people. Obama's action comes as many Americans, while hanging on for economic life, have watched Wall Street high-flyers receive big-dollar bonuses even as their firms draw public help for survival. The outcry has grown with each report of a bailed-out company that plans to buy a jet or hold a Las Vegas retreat. The president aimed for a target -- extravagant corporate behavior on the public dime -- that fit the mood of the day. His $500,000 salary limit on executive...

Air force one Feb 3rd 2009 From Economist.com America has become the world leader in wind power IN ONE policy area, at least, there is good news for President Barack Obama: his pledge to find alternative energy sources to wean America off its dependence on foreign oil is already being put into action. Last year America ramped up wind-power capacity to 25 gigawatts (GW), overtaking the previous leader, Germany, according to new data from the Global Wind Energy Council. America added 8.4GW of installed power in 2008, more than any other country. China is also investing heavily in wind power, nearly doubling its capacity for the fourth year running. Global capacity grew by 29% last year, the highest annual increase for six years. AP

Since when you find whale meat in Sushi??? Japanese whalers do not seem to have learned anything from history....it is probably the reason why it's so hard to find history books in Japan that speak the truth! Thus, it's no wonder their citizens are living in darkness, guilt, and in constant pursuits of peace as much as they are disrupting the fragile ecosystem. A life full of lies and contradictions. =================== SYDNEY (AFP) -- Japanese whalers accused of injuring activists Japanese whalers were accused Monday of injuring two anti-whaling activists in a high seas clash in the Antarctic and of deploying a new "military grade" acoustic weapon against protesters. One activist was cut and bruised after being knocked over by a high pressure blast of water and the other was hit in the face by a metal ball thrown by the whalers, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said. Both men had been on small inflatable boats launched from the groups' flagship the "Ste...

Sunday February 1, 5:55 pm ET By Tim Paradis, AP Business Writer Wall Street braces for week of bad numbers, looks to Washington for help on economy NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street is bracing for yet more reminders this week that the economy is in rotten shape. Companies from networking-gear maker Cisco Systems Inc. to media giant Time Warner Inc. are set to report quarterly results, while a steady stream of economic readings is also due. The most recent numbers from companies and the government haven't been roundly awful, but most have. That is stirring fears the economy's slide isn't slowing. On Friday, Wall Street learned that the economy posted its steepest slowdown in a quarter-century during the final three months of 2008. The 3.8 percent decline in the nation's gross domestic product wasn't as bad as Wall Street had forecast but investors grew worried that the numbers will only worsen. The stock market is coming off its weakest January on record. The benchma...

Citi gives up control of brokerage to Morgan Stanley, 1 step toward ending supermarket model Madlen Read and Sara Lepro, AP Business Writers Wednesday January 14, 2009, 10:41 am EST NEW YORK (AP) -- The original financial supermarket is dead. Citigroup signaled the end of a decade-long experiment to create one-stop shopping for financial services -- everything from consumer loans to investment banking -- with Tuesday's announcement that it was putting its Smith Barney brokerage into a joint venture with Morgan Stanley. The deal, which will give Citigroup $2.7 billion in badly needed cash as it gives up control of Smith Barney, comes as the company still struggles in the aftermath of the mortgage and credit crisis. There is speculation that CEO Vikram Pandit, who for months supported Citigroup as a "universal bank," will be tak...

Citigroup, trying to slim down, will combine brokerage business with Morgan Stanley's Madlen Read, AP Business Writer Tuesday January 13, 2009, 5:28 pm EST NEW YORK (AP) -- Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley agreed Tuesday to combine their brokerages in a deal that shows how much Citigroup wants to slim down and build up cash. Morgan Stanley is paying Citigroup $2.7 billion for a 51 percent stake in the joint venture. Citigroup will have a 49 percent stake. Citigroup's retail brokerage, Smith Barney, was once the crown jewel in its wealth management business. The new unit, to be called Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, will have more than 20,000 advisors, $1.7 trillion in client assets; and serve 6.8 million households around the world, the companies said. Citigroup will recognize a pretax gain of about $9.5 billion because of the deal, or about $5.8 billion after taxes, the companies said. The joint venture is expected to achieve total cost savings for the two companies of around $...

Green Power Partnership: National Top 50 As of January 6, 2009 source: http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/toplists/top50.htm The Green Power Partnership works with a wide variety of leading organizations — from Fortune 500 companies to local, state and federal governments, and a growing number of colleges and universities. The following Top Partner Rankings highlight the annual green power purchases of leading organizations within the United States and across individual industry sectors. These green power purchases help reduce the environmental impacts of electricity use and support the development of new renewable generation capacity nationwide. Purchase amounts reflect U.S. operations only and are sourced from U.S.-based green power resources. Organizations can meet EPA purchase requirements using any combination of three different product options (1) Renewable Energy Certificates, (2) On-site generation, and (3) Utility green power products. Purchase figures are based on annualized P...