Dollar to Gain as Rising Yields Damp Carry Trade Use, RBS Says

via Dollar to Gain as Rising Yields Damp Carry Trade Use, RBS Says – Bloomberg.com.

UBS Sees Seven Reasons to Sell Euro; Fair Value at $1.20-1.25

via UBS Sees Seven Reasons to Sell Euro; Fair Value at $1.20-1.25 – Bloomberg.com.

Dollar Strength Seen in Stocks 1st Since Lehman Died (Update2) – Bloomberg.com.

Bloomberg.com: Currencies.

Inflexible Currencies Add to Global Imbalance, Bank Group Says

via Inflexible Currencies Add to Global Imbalance, Bank Group Says – Bloomberg.com.

Crise grecque : hausses d’impôts en vue

via Crise grecque : hausses d’impôts en vue.

Pimco’s Gross Boosts Cash to Most Since Lehman Failed (Update3)

via Pimco’s Gross Boosts Cash to Most Since Lehman Failed (Update3) – Bloomberg.com.

To those who are a 2PM fan you should know who this AOM is. Its the bboy crew/group where JaeBum Park belong. This is the group he left in Seattle when he become a trainee for JYPE. And I already saw this clip on the day it was uploaded in YT and posted at soompi. I am just curious why I got a comment that posted the video of this competition. Is there a need to post this?

In the pic I saw JaeBum being the tallest. Isn’t he wearing inner sole? LOLz! And the color, pink and black is soooooooooo JaeBum. There are info that the shirt was given by a fan. I am grateful for the fan who still support AOM and JaeBum. Also, the hand sign these group is using is the hand sign I saw at pics from Hot Blood. I’ve been curious what is that hand sign is for. And maybe or it is the hand sign for AOM, just like 2PM’s hand sign. He really never forgot HIS ROOTS!

What impresses me is the last guy from AOM, the guy in yellow. His head moving while his whole body freeze. That was a nice MOVE!! They deserve the trophy. It was a group effort.

On that day Dec. 13, 2009, I still got a problem if I should post this news. I don’t want to be a source of JaeBum’s whereabouts to wards off news sites or media from checking him out. There are issue of JaeBum’s privacy. But since it is already been ON the news, this post will not do more damage, I think.

Anyway, this video is a GOOD news for Hottest. It’s been awhile since I saw JaeBum. A least I saw him winning a bboy competition.

Another video I saw at allkpop:

JaeBumsshie!!!! Fighting!! Sarangheyo!!!!

Dollar Rises as Greek Downgrade Fans Safety Demand; Stocks Fall

via Dollar Rises as Greek Downgrade Fans Safety Demand; Stocks Fall – Bloomberg.com.

India won a Great Match vs Srilanks
India 414 for 7 (Sehwag 146, Dhoni 72, Tendulkar 69) beat Sri Lanka 411for 8 (Dilshan 160, Sangakkara 90, Tharanga 67) by three runs
Watch Full Highlights Click Here Or Visit www.YuviTube.com

Watch Full Highlights Click Here Or Visit www.YuviTube.com

Mick McCarthy’s vastly-changed Wolves survived for half an hour before losing out to a lacklustre Manchester United.

With 10 new faces from the team that beat Tottenham, Wolves fell behind to a Wayne Rooney penalty after Ronald Zubar handled Darron Gibson’s corner.

Defender Nemanja Vidic soon made up for a wild volley by nodding in United’s second from another Gibson corner.

An uninventive Wolves rarely threatened and Antonio Valencia fired in the third after clever work by Dimitar Berbatov.

After their shock defeat by Aston Villa, United boss Sir Alex Ferguson will be pleased with the three points which draw them level on points with leaders Chelsea, but the flat performance might give him a few concerns.

The talking point before kick-off could have been Ferguson’s previous 899 league games in charge, but instead it was the visitors’ surprising line-up that caught the attention.

More here.  Source:BBC

Congrats to Britney for winning the amazing Fuse battle! Last year, she won the crown for the same contest, but for ‘Womanizer’. This year, she takes the ‘Circus’ crown!

In the last round, Britney went against Papa Roach. Britney crushed him by more than 5 million votes. In one round, Britney and Lady GaGa battled a rough battle. At first, Britney seemed to be loosing, but Britney Fans pulled through in the end and beat Ms. GaGa.

(Photo above Copyright to www.britneyspears.com )

The Poseidon Adventure is a 1972 American action-adventure disaster film based on a novel by Paul Gallico. It concerns the capsizing of a luxurious ocean liner by a tsunami caused by an under sea earthquake and the desperate struggles of a handful of survivors to journey up to the bottom of the hull of the liner before it sinks.

It won the Academy Award for Best Song for “The Song from ‘The Poseidon Adventure’” (also known as “The Morning After”), which became a hit single for Maureen McGovern, as well as winning an Academy Award for Special Achievement in Visual Effects. Shelley Winters was also nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a film for the role. The cast of the film includes five past Academy Award winners – Winters, Gene Hackman, Jack Albertson, Red Buttons and Ernest Borgnine. Parts of the movie were filmed aboard the RMS Queen Mary.

The plot centers upon the fictional ocean liner SS Poseidon, an aged luxury ship from the golden age of travel, on its final voyage from New York City to Athens before being sent to the scrapyard. On New Year’s Day, it is overturned by a tsunami caused by an underwater earthquake. Passengers and crew are trapped inside and a rebellious preacher attempts to lead a small group of survivors to safety.

A huge box office success, it was the second highest grossing film of 1972, behind The Godfather. The success of this film is in the vein of other all-star disaster films in the 1970s such as Airport (1970) and later films like The Towering Inferno (1974), and Earthquake (1974). A sequel, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979), had an equally star-studded cast, but was a box-office and critical failure. The film was remade twice, first as a television special in 2005 with the same name, and a theatrical release with the name Poseidon in 2006.

 Cast
  Gene Hackman … Reverend Scott
  Ernest Borgnine … Det. Lt. Mike Rogo
  Red Buttons … Martin
  Carol Lynley … Nonnie
  Roddy McDowall … Acres
  Stella Stevens … Linda Rogo
  Shelley Winters … Belle Rosen
  Jack Albertson … Manny Rosen
  Pamela Sue Martin … Susan

Trivia:

• Most of the external shots of the Poseidon were shot using a model built from the original blueprints of the Queen Mary. The model is on display at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum at the Los Angeles harbor. The real Queen Mary is located just a few miles away in Long Beach.
• Shot in sequence, taking advantage of the fact that the principals became dirtier and more tattered and
  

  Pamela Sue Martin

  suffered injuries – some real and some artificial – as they progressed.

• Some of the pre-capsize sequences were shot aboard the Queen Mary, including the opening storm sequence, the pre-disaster scenes in the staterooms and hallways, the scenes above decks, and an early scene in the engine room.
• In the scene in which Rev. Scott rescues Robin, the set was built on tracks which would slowly lower the inclined set into a large water tank. The set was supposed to stop moving once the set was half-submerged, but for some reason it continued until the camera crew was underwater. The film magazine was rushed to the lab, where immediate processing showed the film was undamaged.
• The original script called for Rev. Scott to send Mrs. Rosen on her underwater mission, and for her to be trapped and need rescuing by him. Gene Hackman decided that his character would never ask her to do this, and suggested their characters’ situations be reversed. Director Ronald Neame agreed, and they persuaded Shelley Winters that this was indeed better for her character.
• The set for the banquet hall was designed so that very few objects needed to be moved from the floor to the ceiling (and vice versa); the columns along the walls were identical at the top and bottom, and the wall decorations were all removable.
• Part of the set was built on a hydraulic system which would raise it to a 45° angle, and camera tricks were used to suggest more severe angles.
• An ending scene showing rescue boats surrounding the sinking ship was planned, but the budget ran out. The shot of the helicopter lifting off the hull was done on the studio lot, looking upward to avoid seeing the surrounding buildings.

• Except for the most dangerous sequences, all of the stunts were done by the actors themselves. All the actors at one point complained to the production staff about how difficult the shoot was physically.
• Shelley Winters gained 35 pounds for the part of Belle Rosen.
• Filming was delayed twice because of the cost, and finally began only when Irwin Allen and outside backers matched the investment of Twentieth Century Fox. Reportedly, Allen found those backers by walking across the street from the Fox lot to a country club, where he found some friends playing cards. During the card game, they agreed to back the film. Because the studio never spent any of the backer’s money, the backers made a profit from the success of the film without actually spending a dime.
• Shelley Winters trained with an Olympic swim coach so that her character, who is a former award-winning swimmer, would come across more realistically in the underwater scenes.
• Paul Gallico was inspired to write his novel by a voyage he made on the Queen Mary. When he was having breakfast in the dining room, the liner was hit by a large wave, sending people and furniture crashing to the other side of the vessel. He was further inspired by a true incident which occurred aboard the Queen Mary during World War II. Packed with American troops bound for Europe, the ship was struck by a gargantuan freak wave in the North Atlantic. It was calculated that if the ship had rolled another five inches, she would have capsized like the Poseidon.
• Sally Kellerman was originally offered the role of Linda Rogo.
  

  Stella Stevens

• Petula Clark was originally offered the role of Nonnie Parry.
• After the cable telegram is delivered to the Shelby stateroom, Robin jumps off the bed, inadvertently capsizing his plastic model of the S.S. Poseidon.
• Such mid-ocean “rogue waves” were previously thought to occur only once every ten thousand years. A 2004 study of satellite radar images showed they can happen as often as hundreds of times every decade.
• The role of James Martin was originally to go to Gene Wilder. Scheduling forced him to turn the role down.
• Milton Berle’s brother was an extra in the dining room.
• Red Buttons and Carol Lynley, whose characters fall in love in the movie, actually disliked each other intensely. They refused to have anything to do with each other except when the cameras were rolling.
• The boots and pendant that Carol Lynley wears in the film actually came from her own private collection.
• The sequence where Nonnie (Carol Lynley) rehearses “The Morning After” with her band mates was the first scene to be filmed. Originally Waddy Wachtel (the guitarist) was to be cast as her brother Teddy, but as Wachtel had brown eyes and Lynley was blue-eyed, drummer Stuart Perry was cast as Nonnie’s brother.
• In her autobiography Esther Williams claims she was offered the role of Belle Rosen by producer Irwin Allen because of her former swimming roles (though this remains open to debate, as the character of Belle Rosen called for a large woman).
• In the scene where Rev. Frank Scott is giving his sermon on the deck, actress Pamela Sue Martin is wearing a white and yellow poncho that was actually made for actress Rosemary Forsyth who wore it in City Beneath the Sea (1971) (TV), the TV-film that Irwin Allen produced the year before.
• 125 stunt people were used during the filming. No one was killed or injured.
• Contains five Academy Award winning actors – Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters, Jack Albertson and Red Buttons.
• The song “The Morning After” is credited on screen as “The Song From The Poseidon Adventure”.
• The film received 8 competitive nominations and was awarded a non-competitive Special Achievement Oscar (Visual Effects).

L’euro menacé d’explosion ?

via L’euro menacé d’explosion ?.

Euro Drop Versus Dollar a Top Trade for Bank of Tokyo (Update1)

via Euro Drop Versus Dollar a Top Trade for Bank of Tokyo (Update1) – Bloomberg.com.

The University of Alabama beat The University of Florida Saturday!!!!!!!!!

Roll Tide Roll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey it’s my Alma Mater. I had to give them a shout. Good job guys!!!

Michael Owen’s hat-trick helped injury-hit Manchester United see off Wolfsburg and secure top spot in group B.

Michael Carrick was lucky not to give away a penalty and Wolfsburg wasted two headers, but Owen nodded in the opener before the break after Nani’s cross.

Wolfsburg hit back and Edin Dzeko headed a well-deserved equaliser after Marcel Schafer’s cross from the left.

Gabriel Obertan beat three defenders to set up Owen to take the lead and the striker chipped in a late third.

Having already made the knockout stages, United’s mission in Germany was draw to finish top in their group, but their cause was not helped with 15 players missing.

It was another makeshift defence consisting of midfielders Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick playing alongside regular left-back Patrice Evra.

Fresh from his hour’s spell at centre-half against West Ham on Saturday, Carrick struggled with Dzeko’s 6ft 4in frame at the start and was lucky not to concede a penalty for a mis-timed tackle on Makoto Hasebe.

More wobbles followed with Andrea Barzagli and Zvjezdan Misimovic both heading wastefully over the bar from good positions.

It was hard work for the visitors on a heavy pitch, but there was a glimmer of hope on the half hour when Danny Welbeck slotted in smartly only to see the offside flag raised.

One minute before half-time the United faithful were jumping up and down celebrating a very well-worked opening goal.

Paul Scholes swept the ball to Nani on the left and the Portuguese star looped his cross to the back post for Owen to nod in for his second goal of the Champions League campaign.

With third-placed CSKA Moscow leading at half-time it was crucial the Germans got back into the game and 10 minutes into the second-half that is exactly what they did.

Lively midfielder Schafer burst down the left to cross in for the unmarked Dzeko to power a header past Tomasz Kuszczak.

A more conservative United invited Wolfsburg to push forward and their innovation was almost rewarded with a stinging shot from Brazilian striker Grafite palmed away by Kuszczak.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson brought on Antonio Valencia and Gabriel Obertan to shore up the tiring midfield and with eight minutes remaining United shocked the hosts to take the lead.

Obertan had been on the pitch for eight minutes and he danced his way through the defence to pass the ball across the six-yard line for Owen to poke home.

Source: BBC

A special school wins a green accolade after pupils rear their own chickens, providing eggs for the school caf…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: high school. The blog is also related to: teaching resource.

Kebijakan drastis Korea Utara melakukan sanering atau pemotongan nilai mata uang won, dari 100 won menjadi 1 won, menyebabkan para pedagang di negara berhaluan kiri itu terguncang dan putus asa. Bahkan, saking paniknya, ada pasangan suami-istri nekat bunuh diri.

Terguncangnya para pedagang itu diungkap sejumlah aktivis di Pyongyang, Kamis (3/11). Laporan tentang warga yang bunuh diri merujuk pada berita Daily NK, sebua media online yang fokus pada pelbagai masalah Korea Utara, tetapi media ini berbasis di Seoul, Korea Selatan.

Sepasang suami-istri yang bunuh diri adalah pedagang dan sama-sama berusia 60 tahun, warga provinsi Hamgyong Utara. Mereka nekat bunuh diri karena stres setelah mendengar pemotongan nilai mata uang won itu. Mereka terguncang, stresm dan akhirnya nekat bunuh diri.

Otoritas Korut memberitahu warga dan kedutaan asing pada hari Minggu (29/11) lalu bahwa negara telah menurunkan nilai mata uang won, dari 100 won menjadi 1 won, yang berlaku sejak Senin (30/11). Semua pihak diberi kesempatan untuk menukarkan yang dan surat berharga sampai minggu ini.

Kantor berita Yonhap di Seoul, Korea Selatan, mengutip pejabat perdagangan Korut di Cina, menyebutkan, kepanikan warga terada di mana-mana. Mereka berbondong-bondong menyerbu pasar-pasar gelap untuk menukarkan won dengan dollar AS dan yuan China. Nilai mata uang dollar AS dan yuan China melonjak tajam.

Semua toko, usaha sauna, tukang cukur, dan restoran berhenti beroperasi. Lee Seung-yong, petugas Good Friends, sebuah kelompok sipil berbasis di Seoul yang biasa mengirim makanan dan bantuan lain ke Korut, mengatakan, “Kami mendengar bisnis dan aktivitas pasar di sana tutup.”  Dia melanjutkan, “Orang-orang tidak mempunyai uang lagi untuk mengembangkan usahanya.”

Good Friends juga melaporkan, otoritas  berwenang Korut telah mengeluarkan ancaman keras. Otoritas akan menjatuhkan ‘hukuman tanpa ampun’ (mercuiless punishment) kepada siapa saja yang melanggar aturan penukaran uang. Pemerintah memberi batasan warga boleh menukarkan uangnya paling banyak hanya 100.000 won per orang. Akibat pemotongan itu, 100.000 won menjadi 1.000 won.

Jika ada warga yang memiliki uang lebih dari 100.000 won, kelebihannya itu hanya diperbolehkan disimpan di bank-bank milik negara. Tidak boleh disimpan di bank asing atau bank swasta. Namun, tidak ada penjelasan rinci apakah warga siap membuka rekening baru di bank pemerintah. Media massa di Pyongyang dan Seoul melaporkan, warga yang tidak mematuhi ketentuan akan dikenai ‘hukuman tanpa ampun’, tetapi tidak dijelaskan bentuk konkret hukuman itu.

Pemotongan nilai won yang begitu tajam – paling drastis dalam 50 tahun ini – dilakukan untuk menekan laju inflasi dan mengendalikan aktivitas pasar gelap. Para analis mengatakan, karena tidak mampu memberi makan 24 juta penduduknya, rezim yang berkuasa pada mulanya menghidupkan pasar, temasuk pasar-pasar untuk menampung beragam produk usaha tani.

Pasar mungkin saja telah mendorong perdagangan, tetapi pasar juga dilarang memperdagangkan barang-barang impor seperti film dan sabun dari musuh bebuyutannya, Korsel. Sejak Perang Korea tahun 1950-1953, negara tetangganya, yakni Korsel, dicap sebagai ancaman bagi kekuasaan totalitarian Kim Jong Il. Pasar grosir terbesar Korut di Pyongyang ditutup sejak medio Juni lalu.

Analis mengatakan, penurunan nilai mata uang yang drastis itu merupakan bentuk dari peran pemerintah untuk mengambil alih pengendalian ekonomi nasional dari pedagang. “Langkah ini diambil untuk membasmi para pemain di sektor swasta dan memperkuat kontrol pemerintah terhadap perekonomian,” kata Jeong Kwang-min, peneliti Institut Strategi Keamanan Nasional di Seoul.

Menurut dia, langkah itu sebenarnya mempunyai tujuan lebih luas lagi, yakni menyiapkan jalan bagi Kim Jong Il untuk menyerahkan kekuasaan kepada anak bungsunya, Kim Jong Un. Juga untuk memastikan, sang ayah mewariskan ekonomi yang stabil bagi anaknya itu. Kim menderita stroke sejak Agustus 2008.

Korut mulai memgalami krisis ekonomi sejak runtuhnya Uni Soviet awal tahun 1990-an, bencana alam banjir, dan kasus salah urus ekonomi pada medio 1990-an. Korut hanya mengandalkan bantuan pangan dari dunia luar. Namun, bantuan itu baru diberikan dengn imbalan Korut harus meninggalkan program nuklirnya.

Banyak bantuan ditangguhkan dan sanksi internasional diperketat karena Pyongyang tetap menolak peringatan internasional atas program nuklirnya. Pemangkasan nilai won terjadi hanya beberapa hari menjelang kedatangan utusan AS ke Pyongyang untuk perundungan perlucutan senjata nuklir.

Sumber   :

Warga Terguncang Ada yang Bunuh Diri | Kompas, 04.12.2009

Dollar Rally Erases Gain in Commodities, Stocks Trim Advance

via Dollar Rally Erases Gain in Commodities, Stocks Trim Advance – Bloomberg.com.

A evening of gambling isn’t most couples’ idea of a romantic night out.

But it seemed to do wonders for Cheryl and Ashley Cole. They put on a rather public display of affection as they left a London casino hand-in-hand last night.

In fact, the X factor judge told her husband ‘I love you’ as they climbed into their Mercedes after their date at Les Ambassadeurs casino in Mayfair.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, Ashley looked delighted as he gazed at his wife. Then again, he had just won the princely sum of £100 at the casino.

But with a £120,000-a-week salary at Stamford Bridge, the money would have just been small change to the left-back.

The Chelsea footballer, 28, had dressed for his date in a Thunderbirds-inspired contemporary black suit while Cheryl looked chic in navy dress and heels.

The 26-year-old singer has been taking some fashion risks on the X factor live shows recently  – which haven’t always paid off. But her ‘off-duty’ wardrobe has been widely admired.

Following her night out in a stunning black crochet Catherine Malandrino dress on Tuesday, Cheryl scored another hit yesterday in her £445 navy Thread Social silk-blend open back dress.

But, yet again, Mrs Cole left her £160,000 wedding ring in her jewellery box – presumably because it ‘clashed’ with her outfit – her previous excuse for not wearing it.

Their hectic schedules mean the couple don’t get to spend much time together at their Surrey mansion.

Cheryl is currently dividing her time between her X Factor judging duties and promoting her debut solo album 3 Words.

The title single, which also features Black Eyed Peas rapper Will.I.Am, is due for release on December 21.

Cheryl is currently spending a lot of time working with her last protégée Joe McElderry as he prepares for The X Factor semi-final this weekend.

She was left with only one charge after Welsh singer Lloyd Daniels was voted off last week.

Lloyd, 16, denied accusations that Cheryl favoured Joe over him because, like the Girls Aloud singer, he is from the north east of England.

He told ITV’s This Morning show: ‘Literally she was fair on both sides. We’d spend a lot of time in her dressing room just talking and going over songs.

‘She worked really really hard with me. And Joe is an amazing guy, he’s got such an awesome voice.

‘Joe is vocally amazing, he’s pitch perfect all the time and I think he deserves to win to be honest. I want Team Cheryl to do well as well so I hope he does win.’

Meanwhile, Cheryl’s Girls Aloud bandmate Sarah Harding was spotted enjoying a night out in Soho.

The blonde singer, 28, joined a group of friends for dinner and drinks at the Sanctum Soho Hotel.

Sarah showed off her slim figure in a clingy black and white patterned shift dress.

Unfortunately  the transparent material also showed off her lacy knickers.

Source