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Archive for August, 2009
Australia- New Japan could undermine free trade talk – ABC
On August - 31 - 2009
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Libya- The oil-rich economy undermined by corruption
On August - 31 - 2009
TRIPOLI — Petroleum makes Libya one of Africa’s richest countries but corruption and bureaucracy have left even the country’s leader Moamer Kadhafi scratching his head about what happens to all the money.
OPEC member Libya has estimated reserves of 42 billion barrels — the third largest in Africa — and pumps an estimated 1.8 million barrels per day.
Revenues from that, which account for 75 percent of the state budget and 95 percent of exports, have led to a surge in construction and consumer spending but efforts to modernize the economy have made slow progress.
The development of major sectors like health, education and infrastructure remains far from satisfactory, and many Libyans have failed to benefit at all despite the government’s avowedly socialist policies.
The government softened its rigid socialism after the United Nations ended its 11-year embargo in 2003 and has encouraged private enterprise, to boost employment and reduce the financial burden of state subsidies.
“Where does the oil money go?” Kadhafi asked recently, pledging to lead “a revolution against corruption” by closing ministries and distributing the money directly to the people, though he has yet to act on his decision.
His son Seif al-Islam has lambasted “a civil servants’ mafia,” which he accuses of opposing reforms.
In its last update on Libya, the International Monetary Fund said it is “crucial” for the country to strengthen the management of public finances and “improve the legal and administrative framework governing the state budget.”
It urged the authorities to improve economic statistics and accounting standards to bring them into line with international practices.
According to a French diplomat in Tripoli, much remains “to be done in the field of day-to-day management of the state, which remains slow and bureaucratic.”
Libya’s 2008-2012 strategic plan allocated a total of US$75 billion over five years to major infrastructure projects, equal to 60 percent of the normal state budget for five years.
But projected spending was slashed following last year’s fall in oil prices.
Meanwhile, the increase in the number of big projects has led to a labor shortage and a bottleneck in the supply of construction materials.
“Most materials are imported and this has caused a big rise in prices, forcing businesses to reassess the cost of carrying out their projects,” the diplomat said.
Yet the rapid increase in imports — 29 percent in 2008 — has been more than offset by a sharp rise in oil exports, giving a new boost to Libya’s foreign assets, which reached US$136 billion by the end of last year.
Some of the assets are held directly by the powerful Libyan Investment Authority. It manages several funds with holdings everywhere in the world but especially in Africa.
In hydrocarbons, four licensing rounds for exploration blocks have brought in 40 foreign operators from all over the world. The aim is to lift output from around 1.8 million barrels a day to around three billion by 2013 at a projected cost of about US$30 billion.
The jump in oil revenues in the past few years spurred an explosion in prices, chiefly for real estate and food in a country which has to import around 90 percent of its equipment and nutrition.
Inflation soared from negative figures at the end of the 1990s to a record 12.9 percent in July last year, before plunging to one percent in June this year, according to the Central Bank of Libya.
The surge prompted government newspaper Al-Shams to call for the “nationalization of trade.”
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SINGAPORE- Gold climbs a fifth day as dollar drops on global recovery signs
On August - 31 - 2009
SINGAPORE — Gold rose for a fifth day, the longest run of increases in more than a month, as the dollar weakened on signs a recovery in global economies may be accelerating.
Bullion climbed as positive economic data weakened demand for the U.S. currency, driving the Dollar Index lower. An Institute of Supply Management report due tomorrow in the U.S. may show manufacturing expanded for the first in 19 months, according to a survey of economists.
“There are some signs that demand for jewelry is reviving, helped by a rebound in global economies,” said Chris Yu, head of trading with Samsung Futures Co. in Seoul.
Gold for immediate delivery rose as much as 0.6 percent to US$960.75 an ounce and last traded at US$955.61 at 1:46 p.m. in Singapore. The precious metal has advanced 8.4 percent this year. The dollar weakened to 92.76 against the yen and Dollar Index was little changed after dropping as much as 0.3 percent earlier.
Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators increased net-long position in New York gold futures in the week ended Aug. 25, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.
Speculative long positions, or bets prices will rise, outnumbered short positions by 182,982 contracts on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the Washington based commission said in its Commitments of Traders report. Net long positions rose by 5,452 contracts, or 3 percent, from a week earlier.
Gold holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange traded fund backed by bullion, were unchanged for a third day as of Aug. 28 at 1,061.83 metric tons, the lowest since March 13, according to figures on the company’s Web site. The net asset value of the Trust was US$32.6 billion.
Among other precious metals for immediate delivery, silver slipped 0.3 percent to US$14.69 an ounce, platinum advanced 0.3 percent to US$1,246 an ounce and palladium gained 0.4 percent to US$289.50 an ounce at 1:53 p.m. in Singapore.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/global-markets/2009/09/01/222883/Gold-climbs.htm
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VWilliams struggles with serve, knee, foe at Open
On August - 31 - 2009
By HOWARD FENDRICH, AP Tennis Writer
NEW YORK (AP)—Venus Williams was bothered by a bad knee and distracted by more than a half-dozen foot faults. What never fazed her: a big deficit.
Quite close to losing in the U.S. Open’s first round for the first time, Williams came all the way back from a set and a break down to beat 47th-ranked Vera Dushevina of Russia 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3 Monday night.
“I had a challenge on my hands today. But I wanted to win,” said the No. 3-seeded Williams, who made 54 unforced errors. “Each good shot, and each not-so-good shot, I put behind me and looked forward to the next one.”
Williams, twice the champion at Flushing Meadows, had her left knee bandaged by a trainer after the third game. The American also had plenty of trouble serving: She piled up 10 double-faults and was called for seven foot-faults.
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AP – Aug 31, 11:57 pm EDT
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Afterward, Williams wouldn’t discuss her knee problem in any detail.
“You could see I had some issues,” she said. “I don’t really talk about my injuries, historically, and I’m not going to start now.”
Asked what it’s going to take for her knee to be better for the second round, Williams said: “A lot of prayer. It’s going to be a lot of prayer. Everything I can throw at it. But, you know, I’m tough.”
She sure proved that on this night.
Dushevina broke for a 3-1 lead in the second set and was three points from winning at 5-4.
“Next few points,” Dushevina said, “she played great.”
That is true: Williams, who never has lost in the U.S. Open’s first round, won the next seven games.
Still, there was a bit of shakiness left. Up 4-0 in the third set, Williams dropped three games in a row before righting herself once again.
One measure of how big an upset this would have been: Williams owns seven Grand Slam titles; Dushevina only once has been as far as the fourth round at a major tournament. And then there’s this: Williams entered Monday 43-3 in first-round matches at tennis’ top four tournaments, including 10-0 at the U.S. Open.
Even though Williams improved those marks in the end, the 2-hour, 43-minute match did serve as the most intriguing encounter of a Day 1 that included victories for defending champions Roger Federer and Serena Williams, Venus’ younger sister.
Kim Clijsters, who recently came out of retirement, won her first match at the U.S. Open since claiming her lone Grand Slam title in New York in 2005.
Venus Williams won the tournament in 2000 and 2001, and while she hasn’t been back to the final since losing to her sister in 2002, her earliest departure from New York came in the fourth round in 2004.
She looked headed for the exit at several moments Monday, particularly after Dushevina took the last four points of the first set after trailing 5-3 in the tiebreaker. Williams led by that score when she pounded an apparent service winner, one that would have given her a 6-3 lead and three set points.
Bjorn Phau, of Germany, return…
AP – Aug 31, 11:57 pm EDT
But a line judge called Williams for a foot fault, her fourth. She seemed to lose her focus, turning to the official to ask, “Which foot?” When Williams went back to the baseline for the second serve, she netted it for a double-fault.
“It threw me off,” Williams said. “After that, I just got a little tentative.”
In the second set, Williams fell behind 3-1, then trailed 5-4. But she broke Dushevina there with a backhand winner, and began to hit her spots more.
Williams played most of her matches en route to the final at Wimbledon this year with a bulky tape job on her left knee. But she began Monday’s match without any such help. Three games in, she called for the trainer.
“I had some issues, and I needed some support,” she said, earning a roar from the fans. “I’m not one to complain. Everyone has injuries they’re dealing with. I did my best tonight, despite everything I was going through.”
About 12 hours earlier, in that same Arthur Ashe Stadium, spectators dotting the mostly empty stands called out to Clijsters as she stepped on the court that means so much to her.
Andy Roddick, of the United St…
AP – Aug 31, 11:54 pm EDT
“Come on, Kim!” yelled one fan. And then another. And yet another. “Hey, Kim!” someone else shouted.
Monday morning’s setting was a familiar one for Clijsters, whose lone Grand Slam championship came at Flushing Meadows on Sept. 10, 2005. That was the last time she played at the U.S. Open, and while the site was the same, the circumstances and the stakes were oh-so-different.
Clijsters’ 6-1, 6-1 victory over 79th-ranked Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine came in the first round, the 26-year-old Belgian’s first Grand Slam match since January 2007. In the intervening two-plus years, Clijsters retired, got married and, in May 2008, gave birth to a daughter. Once No. 1, she came to the U.S. Open unranked and needed a wild-card invitation from the U.S. Tennis Association.
“Little more nervous than usual. It’s a very special court to me, but I really enjoyed it,” Clijsters said. “I felt really good out there.”
By beating 18-year-old NCAA champion Devin Britton of Jackson, Miss., 6-1, 6-3, 7-5, Federer ran his winning streak to 35 matches at the tournament and became the first tennis player to surpass $50 million in career prize money. Serena Williams also beat an American teenager in straight sets, eliminating Alexa Glatch of Newport Beach, Calif., 6-4, 6-1.
Andy Roddick of the United Sta…
AP – Aug 31, 11:54 pm EDT
“Tricky match for me, playing a guy who’s got absolutely nothing to lose,” said Federer, seeking a sixth consecutive U.S. Open title.
No one has done that since Bill Tilden won the American Grand Slam tournament every year from 1920-25.
“That’s what I’m here for, trying to equal Bill Tilden’s record. But I’ve never met Bill Tilden. Never saw him play. So it’s hard to kind of relate to him in any way, except through records,” Federer said. “It’s fantastic to be sort of compared to someone who played such a long time ago, I guess.”
Other winners included John Isner, the 6-foot-9 American who knocked off No. 28-seeded Victor Hanescu of Romania in straight sets, including a 16-14 tiebreaker in the second; No. 21 James Blake; and French Open runner-up Robin Soderling.
Two-time major champion Amelie Mauresmo won easily, as did No. 7 Vera Zvonareva, No. 8 Victoria Azarenka, No. 10 Flavia Pennetta, No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska and No. 14 Marion Bartoli, whose next opponent is Clijsters.
Bartoli, the 2007 Wimbledon runner-up, also just so happens to have been the first woman Clijsters played in her comeback. Clijsters beat her.
“I just have to go on court and think I’m still the player with the better ranking, so I’m supposed to win,” Bartoli said. “This time I know what to do. I have a plan, so it’s going to be different.”
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What is my diamond worth?
On August - 31 - 2009
By Jamie Hughes, Seasonal Interpreter
Greetings from the Crater of Diamonds State Park! Each year, thousands of tourists visit Arkansas to experience the only site on Earth where diamonds can be found and kept. After hearing and reading stories of significant diamond finds, and especially after seeing a picture of a small child holding a diamond the size of an English pea, naturally the question comes up: “How much would a diamond like that be worth?”
I would love to be able to quote a price range for every diamond in question, but the truth is the staff here at the Crater does not appraise a diamond’s value. There are several factors that determine a diamond’s market price.
The variable qualities of diamonds are grouped into four major categories, commonly referred to as “The Four Cs.” These are carat, color, clarity, and cut. Only a highly trained, certified gemologist would be able to appraise a diamond according to these factors.
Another variable to consider is the actual diamond market. De Beers controls about seventy percent of the global diamond market, therefore setting the actual price of each individual gem.
Once diamonds are unearthed, they are washed, weighed, and sorted for size, color, shape, and quality. Each diamond is then cut and graded, most often using the grading systems introduced in the 1930s by the American Gemological Institute. These grading systems practically became the world standard in diamond grading. Diamond prices are based on all four “Cs.” Individual taste will determine whether one considers color, clarity, cut, or size most important.
Remember that “carat” refers to weight, not size. Carat weight is the most intuitive of the four Cs: you expect a larger diamond to be worth more when assigning diamond values. Diamonds and other gems are weighed using metric carats. A carat is equal to .02 grams. Each carat is divided into 100 points. Two diamonds of equal weight can have very different values depending on the other three characteristics of a diamond’s four Cs. Diamonds over two carats are considerably rarer than smaller ones and may cost four times as much as one carat gems. Assuming comparable quality, the larger the gem, the higher the price per carat.
Diamonds are most often graded for color using the GIA’s color grading system, on a scale of the colorless “D” to the dark yellow “Z.” While diamonds may be virtually any color, those with “white” or colorless features are most in demand and greater in value. The significance of a diamond’s color on the stone’s price is an important factor to consider. Just as history shows a higher appreciation for larger stones, it also shows the greatest appreciation for those in the higher color categories. Several grading systems exist, but the most accurate involves use of a reflectance spectrophotometer. This instrument eliminates opinion and is able to measure color with a plus-or-minus 3 accuracy on a scale of 10.000 units.
Diamonds are also graded according to their degree of clarity. Eleven GIA clarity grades, judged at 10X magnification, cover all diamonds from “flawless” to three “imperfect” grades with visible inclusions.
Probably the greatest reason why the staff at the Crater do not appraise a diamond’s value, though, is because cut matters. Without a doubt, the allure of a diamond depends more on cut than anything else. Though extremely difficult to analyze, the cut of a diamond has three attributes: brightness (the total light reflected from a diamond), fire (the dispersion of light into the colors of the spectrum), and scintillation (the light flashes – or sparkle – when a diamond moves). The standard round brilliant dominates the majority of diamond jewelry. All other diamond shapes are known as fancy cuts and include the marquise, pear, oval, and emerald cuts. Hearts, cushions, triangles, and a variety of other new shapes are also gaining popularity. The round brilliant is considered ideal because it holds the greatest amounts of brightness, fire, and scintillation.
So, when Crater of Diamonds staff members are asked how much a diamond is worth, we simply tell our visitors that we don’t know. We can accurately weigh a diamond and even make an educated guess on its color. But when it comes to clarity and cut, your guess would be as good as ours!
Search area last plowed: August 26, 2009, Total diamonds so far in 2009 – 744
Diamond finds for August 14th to August 30th (100 pts. = 1 carat):
August 24 – David Wilkins, Deer Park, TX, 1.05 ct.
August 25 – Victor Lengrand, Middle River, MD, 9 pt.
August 26 – No diamonds registered
August 27 – Phronia Lee, Howard City, MI, 50 pt.
August 28 – No diamonds registered
August 29 – Tim Pittman, Jacksonville, AR, 26 pt.
August 30 – No diamonds registered
209 State Park Road
Murfreesboro, AR 71958
Email: craterofdiamonds@arkansas.com
Phone: (870) 285-3113
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*EXCLUSIVE*Bobby Dash (Dame Dash’s Brother) Explains His True Reason For Rocafella’s Break-Up!
On August - 31 - 2009
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Michigan may be headed for trouble
On August - 31 - 2009
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Moscow- Gold production is increasing 21% in Russia
On August - 30 - 2009
According to the data of gold industry entrepreneurs, between January and July 2009, the country produced almost 102 tonnes of this metal which is 21% higher compared with last year. The increase in gold mining was provided by the expanding capacities at fields in the Chukotka Administrative Region, the Amur region and Kamchatka.
http://www.caspionet.kz/index.cfm?id=75467
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Chris Brown Sentenced to 5yrs Probation (Friday Hip Hop Report Finale)
On August - 29 - 2009
Popularity: 1% [?]
Bape Sta 88 by A Bathing Ape
On August - 29 - 2009
Available at Bape stores worldwide…….Tell us what you think
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Must Have Bag: The James Piatt “Pursuader”
On August - 28 - 2009
Vancouver- Canadian/Australia-based mining, announced plans to sell Chinese operations, for $2 billion
On August - 27 - 2009
For Canada’s Eldorado, China is a Gold MinePosted by David Levine
On Wednesday, Sino Gold, an Australia-based mining concern with major operations in China announced plans to sell itself to Eldorado, a Canadian mining company with similarly sizable Chinese operations, for $2 billion.
A deal like this one might not register on too many dealmakers’ radars, but these days, China is the biggest gold producing country in the world (and poised to soon become the world’s biggest gold consumer as well). If approved, the buyout by Sino would double Eldorado’s output, making it the largest gold mining firm in the largest gold producing and gold-consuming country in the world. The new entity would have an estimated market cap of well over $6 billion.
The deal comes at a time when commodities in general and gold in particular are trading robustly in the face of depressed prices in other markets.
Eldorado turned to Australia-based firm Freehills on the deal. Canadian counsel was provided by Fasken Martineau DuMoulin. Allens Arthur Robinson, also based in Australia, represented Sino Gold on the transaction, with Cassels Brock & Blackwell providing Canadian counsel. The Allens Arthur team consisted of corporate partners Guy Alexander and David Maloney and senior lawyer Sandy Cameron. The Freehills team was led by partner Tony Damian and senior associate Andrew Rich, according to Alexander.
Sino operates the second-largest gold mine in China, while Eldorado overseas mining in Turkey, Greece, China and Brazil, among other countries. This deal is somewhat peculiar since neither company oversees any major mining operations in their home countries.
The buyout is expected to receive Sino shareholder approval in November. Meantime, it faces several court and regulatory approvals in Australia? Pending those approvals, the deal is expected to close this December.
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Toronto- Lady Gaga “Heartless” (Kanye cover) Kool Haus
On August - 27 - 2009
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*AUDIO* Drake ft. Eminem,Lil Wayne & Kanye West – Forever (Full Version)
On August - 27 - 2009
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