Amazon, Microsoft reject 'Open Cloud Manifesto'

A group of Web services providers, reportedly including IBM, is set to unveil a "manifesto" next week that lays out a number of principles for open cloud computing. Two of the biggest names in the field, though, say they aren't signing on.

Microsoft posted blog message to that effect on Wednesday night, while Amazon.com on Friday said it, too, is not among the companies signing the document.

"Like other ideas on standards and practices, we'll review this one," Amazon said in a statement. "Ideas on openness and standards have been talked about for years in Web services. And we do believe standards will continue to evolve in the cloud-computing space. But what we've heard from customers thus far, customers who are really committed to using the cloud, is that the best way to illustrate openness and customer flexibility is by what you actually provide and deliver for them."

Vexing computer worm to evolve on April Fool's Day

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — A tenacious computer worm which has wriggled its way onto machines worldwide is set to evolve on April Fool's Day, becoming harder to exterminate but not expected to wreak havoc.

A task force assembled by Microsoft has been working to stamp out the worm, referred to as Conficker or DownAdUP, and the US software colossus has placed a bounty of 250,000 dollars on the heads of those responsible for the threat.

The worm is programmed to modify itself on Wednesday to become harder to stop, according to Trend Micro threat researcher Paul Ferguson, who is part of the Conficker task force.

"There is no evidence of it going into attack mode or dropping any particular payload on April 1st," Ferguson said in an interview.

"What people controlling the botnet are doing is building in survivability because of efforts by the good guys to lessen the harm of this thing."

The worm, a self-replicating program, takes advantage of networks or computers that haven't kept up to date with security patches for Windows RPC Server Service.

It can infect machines from the Internet or by hiding on USB memory sticks carrying data from one computer to another. Once in a computer it digs deep, setting up defenses that make it hard to extract.

UPDATE:US Money Laundering Case Halts Venezuela Forex Trading

(Updates with new details on defendant, analysis and background)

By Darcy Crowe

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--A money laundering case has prompted U.S. authorities to freeze an umbrella account used by dozens of brokers in Venezuela for currency trading, bringing the South American nation's so-called parallel currency market to a halt.

The seizure in unofficial currency market trading threatens to badly hamstring Venezuela's import-dependent economy.

The U .S. District Court of Massachusetts has charged one of the managers of the account for allegedly wire transferring $900,000 in proceeds from "dealing in a controlled substance," according to court documents.

Prosecutors are charging Rama K. Vyasulu, an apparent representative for the umbrella account that Venezuelan traders said was managed by Florida-based Rosemont P. Corporation, also known as Rosemont Money Services.

Forex Without The Fuss

The stock and bond markets continue to make a mockery of most advisors' best-laid plans. Not so here: Forbes ETF Advisor's portfolios are faring relatively well--losing less in order to accelerate our gains when the road runs straight.

Meantime, one of our most successful stakes last year remains in fine fettle this year, despite several reasons that ought to have upended it. Which stake am I talking about? The PowerShares Dollar Bull (nyse: UUP) has been (and remains) our play on a weakening global economy and a ratcheting up of fear on a global scale. Our other smart move last year was the iShares Gold Trust (amex: IAU).

Brazil's Sadia has 4th-qtr loss on forex derivatives

SAO PAULO, March 27 (Reuters) - Brazilian food company Sadia (SDIA4.SA)(SDA.N) posted on Friday a large fourth-quarter loss, reversing from a profit in the year-ago period because of steep losses on currency derivatives.

The net loss totaled 2.04 billion reais ($890.1 million), compared with profits of 374.5 million reais in the fourth-quarter of 2007, Sadia said in a securities filing.

For the full year of 2008, the company posted a loss of 2.48 billion reais, the first annual loss in its 64-year history.

Sadia had net financial expenses of 2.7 billion reais in the quarter as the cost of non-deliverable forwards, target forward agreements and currency options soared. The company had financial gains of 147.5 million reais a year earlier.

WORLD FOREX: Euro Rally Vs Dlr Halts; All Eyes On ECB, G20

By Riva Froymovich
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The euro's rally against dollar hit the skids Friday in a technical reversal and ahead of key policy meetings next week.

Momentum traders began abandoning the euro after failing to break new ground in its sharp rally off the Federal Reserve's vote last week to start buying longer-term Treasurys. The dollar completely recovered its losses Friday. The euro fell to $1.3256, its lowest level since the decision.

Book clearing associated with the end of the first quarter and Japan's fiscal year, as longer-term money managers reevaluate portfolios, could extend this move into next week, say analysts.

Traders were also preparing Friday for the European Central Bank meeting and Group of 20 summit, both on Thursday.

Foreign exchange analysts widely expect the ECB to cut its refi rate down to 1.0%, and possibly announce unconventional, albeit less aggressive than the Fed, easing measures.

Analysts point to comments Thursday by ECB Vice President Lucas Papademos, who said the ECB could intervene in bond markets to help ease companies' financing problems, although they haven't yet decided to do so.

Additional comments by German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck mired the euro Friday as well.

He said that in order to maintain the euro's credibility, it will be important to stick to the European Union's Stability and Growth Pact, which demands countries keep their budget deficits below 3% of gross domestic product.

FOREX: Ringgit Likely To Be Firmer Next Week

KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 (Bernama) -- The ringgit is likely to be firmer against the U.S. dollar next week with the greenback set to trade rangebound as dealers remain cautious ahead of the Group of 20 leaders' meeting next week in London where world leaders will discuss currency movements.

The market is also awaiting the European Central Bank (ECB)'s meeting next week which is expected to cut rates by 50 basis points to one percent and might announce further liquidity-boosting moves.

Dealers said the ringgit might touch 3.60 as investor confidence improves following the smooth leadership transition at the UMNO general assembly.

On a week-to-week basis, the ringgit was higher against the U.S. dollar at 3.6085/6135 compared with 3.6450/6500 last Friday.

The local unit was higher against the Singapore dollar to 2.3899/3980 from 2.4128/4183 previously and strengthened against the yen at 3.6773/6835 from 3.8523/8600.

The local unit rose against the euro at 4.8877/8956 from 4.9831/9921 and appreciated against the British pound at 5.1988/1074 from 5.3031/3115 previously.

Top bank officials in forex scandal

Foreign exchange scams, popularly called, ‘round tripping,‘ being perpatrated by many Nigerian banks have been discovered to be one of the major reasons for the fall of the naira. Billions of naira are raked in weekly from these illegal transactions.

Sunday Punch investigations revealed that some bank officials forged fake company and travelling documents to back up fake forex transaction before selling them in the black market at very high rates.

Usually, international passports, tickets and visas are forged in large quantities and used to buy all the foreign exchange from the banks, in form of Business or Personal Travelling Allowance.

This fraudulent transaction creates artificial scarcity of foreign exchange, leaving people that buy forex at the mercy of the black market.

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Forex reserves jump $5.1 bn

Mumbai: After plunging nearly $56 billion since March 2008, India’s foreign exchange reserves got a big boost last week. The country’s forex reserves rose by $5.1 billion in the week ended March 20 due to a weakening of non-dollar assets like the euro, yen and the British pound. These assets were revalued as the dollar gained sharply against these currencies.

Stocks With Room to Run

The "Rule of 72" is a great way to calculate compounding interest in your head. To find the number of years it would take a figure to double, simply divide the number 72 by the assumed growth rate. For example, if you think your stock will grow at a rate of 7.2% per year, it will take roughly 10 years for it to double (72 / 7.2 = 10).

If that 7.2% long-term equity growth rate seems too slow, consider that the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index (VBMFX) returned about 5.5% per year on average over the past 10 years, while the S&P 500 has had an annualized return of negative 2.7% over that same time period.

It's been a disappointing decade, to be sure, and many notable companies not only underperformed the bond market, but also posted negative 10-year returns.

Karachi stocks’ bullish rally comes to a halt, index sheds 101 points

KARACHI: The Karachi stock market failed to sustain previous session’s bullish sentiment and closed in the red zone on Friday as investors went for profit-taking on account of political uncertainty over Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) decision to form its own government in the Punjab.

Analysts said that the index failed to capitalise initial gain of 63 points due to prevalence of uncertainty among investors.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index decreased by 100.64 points or 1.56 percent to close at 6,340.36 points as compared to 6,441.00 points traded in the previous session. The KSE 30-share index also shed 148.88 points and closed at 6,831.32 points as compared with 6,980.20 points of the previous session. KMI 30 index lost 184.46 points to close at 8,789.70 points as against 8,974.16 points of the previous session.

The market turnover went down by 19.96 percent and traded 221.52 million shares as compared to 276.79 million shares traded in the previous session. The overall market capitalisation also fell by 1.64 percent and closed at Rs 1.914 trillion as compared with Rs 1.946 trillion traded in the previous session. Out of total 359 companies, 106 closed in positive zone, 243 in negative, while 10 remained unchanged.

Analyst at JS Global Sec, Farham Mahmood said that profit-taking by investors kept the equity market in the red zone as huge foreign selling was witnessed during the trading session.

Weakening stock market big concern for Pakistan investors

By Farhan Bokhari, Special to Gulf News
Published: March 28, 2009, 23:03

Reports last week of a significant decline in corporate profits in the past few months must be troubling for the future of Pakistan's equity investors.

The Karachi Stock Exchange or KSE, the country's largest stock market, has seen its fortunes tumble badly in the past few months as share prices declined significantly, hitting the fortunes of many.

In the past week, the KSE has shown some recovery though that continues to be range bound. On the one hand, falling profits at a time of a considerable economic slowdown are bound to hit the outlook for Pakistani companies in a difficult period. Redundancies have already been reported as a follow-up to the phase where new hirings have practically been on a freeze.

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On the other hand, the falling profits of companies are bound to have a cyclical affect. For instance, the increasingly constrained capacity of companies to expand would essentially mean that their ability to make significant purchases would also weaken. This outlook is bound to be complicated further with Pakistan's worsening internal security conditions. At a time when the country faces a fast growing menace of terrorism, economic conditions are bound to worsen.

KSE on recovery track as index surges 463.10 points

KARACHI: Bullish sentiments dominated the trading sessions at the Karachi stock market during the week as investors were on an upbeat note due to favourable petroleum policy 2009 which is set to increase the earnings of E&P sector and the recovery of international equity markets after the US bailout plan to tame toxic assets took charge, analysts said on Saturday.

The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) 100-share index gained 463.10 points or 7.3 percent to close at 6,803.46 points as compared to 6,340.36 points of the previous week.

Analysts said other major factors that affected the market’s sentiments positively include investors remained hopeful on friends of Pakistan meeting on April 17 expecting foreign funds to stabilise the economy, approval of $500 million from World Bank and expectations of cut in discount rate.

Analyst at JS Sec Atif Zafar said the overall market was largely cheered up by positive developments such as inclusion of Pakistan in the MSCI Frontier Market Index, further commitments for economic support by Asian Development Bank and World Bank and stability amongst the political ranks. E&P and cement sectors in particular remained in the limelight throughout the week.

MSCI issued a press release regarding reclassification of the MSCI Pakistan Index as MSCI Frontier Markets Index on May 29, 2009.Pakistan was excluded from MSCI Emerging market on December 31, 2008. Furthermore, $700 million commitment by international financial institutions and political stability drove the volumes during the week.

Average daily volumes stood at 250 million shares or $111 million as against 232 million shares or $95 million last week, depicting an increase of 7.7 percent. Moreover, CFS investment rose to Rs 1.6 billion with average annualised rate of 17.92 percent.

E&P sector was once again amongst the top performers in the outgoing week amid announcement of friendly petroleum policy and revised wellhead gas prices during the week. Moreover, the cement sector also performed well with impressive volumes driven by expectations of exciting upcoming results due to falling coal prices and KIBOR. E&P and cement sectors market capitalisation were up by 9 percent and 13 percent respectively when compared to total market capitalisation rise of 7 percent, which ended the week at $25.4 billion.

Selling by foreigners continued as they bought shares worth $10.3 million and sold $19.9 million, resulting in net selling of $9.6 million last week. Resultantly, cumulative net selling in March 2009 has now reached $46.4 million. staff report

Karachi stocks surge 195 points on WB’s approval of $500m loan

KaRACHI: Bullish sentiments prevailed in the Karachi stock market on the last trading day of the week Friday as investors took positively the news of approval of $500 million interest free loan from World Bank and went for buying activities.

The KSE 100-share index gained 194.97 points or 2.95 percent to close at 6,803.46 points as compared with 6,608.49 points traded in the previous session. The KSE 30-share index also gained 218.10 points and closed at 7,340.33 points as compared to 7,122.23 points of the previous session. The KMI 30 index also increased by 322.61 points to close at 9,407.31 points as against 9,084.70 points of the previous session.

Other positive factors that affected the market sentiment were Nishat Mills’ bid to buy AICL shares, recovery in international equity markets, renewed foreign interest and expectation of reduction in discount rates.

The market turnover surged by 11.89 percent and traded 229.61 million shares as compared to previous session’s 205.21 million shares. The overall market capitalisation fell 2.87 percent and closed at Rs 2.043 trillion as compared with Rs 1.986 trillion traded in the previous session. Out of a total of 354 companies, 232 closed in positive zone, 107 in negative while 15 remained unchanged.

Analysts said reports of confirmation of WB’s grant of $500 interest free loan and offer by WB of converting $67.5 million loan into grant allowed the market to ignore the last day phobia. Low turnover initially never allowed an excited run-up, while accumulation at discounted levels allowed the index to stage a decent recovery.

Buying-spree allowed the index to breach and sustain above major resistance of 6,770 points to 6,773 points as the whisper of increased foreign inflow invited the active corporate and retail participants with comparatively high energies.

Absence of the trigger kept likely new entrants on the sidelines, as the whisper that recent surge is being maintained for dressing up the quarterly financials of the companies, gave the perspective buyers an excuse to wait for dips.

Brokers said buying activity was witnessed in the market as investors took positions in blue chip companies in the oversold zone.

The KSE 100 index opened in the green zone with a gain of 23.67 points and at the end of the day closed at 6,826.99 points with a gain of 218.50 points. staff report

Dell's Adamo: A Close Look at the MacBook Air Rival

Dell's so-called luxury laptop is sleek, stylish, and skinny -- and it's also capable; here's a close look at this new competitor in the ultralight category.

Low valuation of stocks leads to a market rally

Mumbai: The stock market is in the midst of a rally and analysts attribute it to the low valuation of Indian stocks, 50% of which are trading below one measure of their intrinsic worth.

On Thursday, the Indian equity market rallied for the second consecutive day as stable global markets and further steps by the US to stimulate its economy boosted investor sentiment and foreign investors rushed to buy stocks.

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s bellwether index, the Sensex, closed above the 9,000 level for the first time in almost a month. The index gained 0.28% on Thursday, following a 1.27% increase the previous day.

1. What is the mesothelium?

The mesothelium is a membrane that covers and protects most of the internal organs of the body. It is composed of two layers of cells: One layer immediately surrounds the organ; the other forms a sac around it. The mesothelium produces a lubricating fluid that is released between these layers, allowing moving organs (such as the beating heart and the expanding and contracting lungs) to glide easily against adjacent structures.

The mesothelium has different names, depending on its location in the body. The peritoneum is the mesothelial tissue that covers most of the organs in the abdominal cavity. The pleura is the membrane that surrounds the lungs and lines the wall of the chest cavity. The pericardium covers and protects the heart. The mesothelial tissue surrounding the male internal reproductive organs is called the tunica vaginalis testis. The tunica serosa uteri covers the internal reproductive organs in women.

FOREX: Ringgit Ends Lower Against U.S Dollar

KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 (Bernama) -- The ringgit closed lower against the US dollar Thursday as concerns mounted on the worsening global financial situation, dealers said.

This is despite the rise by other Asian currencies buoyed by China's announcement that it was on track to achieve an eight percent growth this year.

The ringgit fell against the US dollar to 3.7250/7300 from 3.7110/7160 on Wednesday.

However, dealers expect the ringgit to bounce back in the near-term as profit taking is expected for the greenback after its recent rise.

The dollar rose against other major currencies as it approached a four-month high against the yen after a new plan was laid out to help the troubled US housing sector.

Meanwhile, the local currency eased against the Singapore dollar to 2.3995/4051 from 2.3882/3937 yesterday and it dropped against the yen to 3.7441/7506 from 3.7390/7448 previously.

Against the euro, the ringgit was lower at 4.6879/6950 from 4.6480/6550 yesterday and it declined against the British pound to 5.2884/2966 from 5.2203/2288 previously.

Pakistan's forex reserves fall to $10.14 bln

KARACHI, March 5 (Reuters) - Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves fell by $20 million to $10.14 billion in the week that ended on Feb. 28, the central bank said on Thursday.

The State Bank of Pakistan's reserves were $6.69 billion from $6.73 billion a week earlier, while reserves held by commercial banks were $3.45 billion from $3.43 billion, the bank said.

Pakistan's foreign reserves hit a record high of $16.5 billion in October 2007 but fell to $6.6 billion in November, largely because of a soaring import bill.

Pakistan signed a $7.6 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund in November to stave off a balance of payments crisis. It received its first tranche of $3.1 billion that month.

The next tranche of about $840 million is expected by the end of March. (Reporting by Sahar Ahmed; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Brazil's spot forex sales rise to $14.5 bln-c.bank

BRASILIA, March 5 (Reuters) - Brazil has spent $14.5 billion in intervention in the spot foreign exchange market since early October to meet growing demand for the U.S. currency, Central Bank President Henrique Meirelles said on Thursday.

The bank also sold some $9.7 billion in dollar repurchase agreements and another $9.6 billion in foreign trade lines through March 2, Meirelles said. (Reporting by Isabel Versiani and Ana Nicolaci da Costa; Writing by Elzio Barreto; Editing by James Dalgleish)