Thursday, February 12, 2009


Image of a specimen of the maker of Intel microprocessors made of the January 7




Intel will invest 7,000 million dollars in two years to build factories in the U.S. about cutting-edge technology, a world where the number of microprocessors developed its 32-nanometer technology in order to "build 'chips' smaller faster and consume less energy. "

It is the largest investment ever made by Intel in a new industrial process. "We are investing in the U.S. for Intel and our nation at the forefront of innovation," said the CEO of the company, Paul Otellini, according to a communique issued on Tuesday.


"These plants produce the most advanced computer technology to the world. The capacity of our 32-nm plants is really extraordinary, and 'chips' that will be produced at the base of the digital world, generating economic benefits that will cut across our industry" .


Sean Parker, the founding president of the social network Facebook

The Internet measurement firm Compete.com crowned on Wednesday at Facebook as the site 'web' of social networks more popular in the world, with 1,200 million page views in January.

Compete.com counts published showing how Facebook is first, followed by Myspace and the service of 'micro-blogging' to Twitter rose from 22 to third place.


Myspace received 810 million hits in January while Twitter was accessed 54.2 million times, according to Compete.com.

"It is not surprising," said under the pseudonym 'Bauer' a reader of the web site Compete.com.


"Facebook has grown much better and is always something new to offer. But do not understand Twitter, I do not think that people are interested to read updates on how much I was eating my hamburger," says the commentary.

The number of visits to the sites' web 'of social networks and the amount of time devoted to them are considered key indicators to learn about the state of Internet services.


A survey revealed on Wednesday that the United States over the passwords used on the Internet are little original'1234 'and' password '(' password '), which may facilitate the intrusion of hackers.

According to the statistical review of a record 28,000 passwords stolen by a pirate in a popular U.S. website and published online, Internet users in general seem to choose the easiest.


More than one quarter of Internet users (16%) simply choose a name as a password, generally about themselves or their children, according to the study published in the 'web' Information Week.

14% will rely on a simple progression in the keyboard mnemonic type'1234 ','12345678' or "QWERTY" keyboard for English. 5%, especially younger ones, choose a TV show or a celebrity for your password. The 'open sesame' fashionable are 'Hannah', inspired by the favorite of the young singer, Hannah Montana, 'Pokemon', 'Matrix' and 'Ironman'.


4% of Internet users are content to choose the word 'password' ( 'password'), sometimes with a subtle variation of type 'Password1,' but it fails to arrest the pirates.

Some rebels (3%) choose a type of message would reply: 'I do not care' ( 'I do not care'), 'Whatever' ( 'whatever'), 'Yes' or' No '.


Other selected emotional expressions like: 'iloveyou' ( 'I love you') but also 'Ihateyou' ( 'I hate you').

To better protect themselves from intruders, Robert Graham of Errata Security Company, who published the study, advisable to choose passwords that contain "at least 8 characters, a capital letter and a symbol or a number."

Industrial production in the euro zone fell and Spain reported its worst downturn in 15 years on Thursday, anticipating a grim data to be known tomorrow when the gross domestic product of the major European nations.


Japan highlighted the risk of a damaging deflation, and only China offered some hope, at a time when officials from around the world struggling to keep up their economies to avoid sinking deeper into crisis.

In the U.S., lawmakers negotiated a compromise on Wednesday to 789,000 million dollars for a stimulus package including tax cuts and spending measures.


The objective of this plan is to get the world's largest economy from its worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

But Erkki Liikanen, responsible for a European Central Bank (ECB) warned that it will take plenty of bad news, despite some glimmers of hope.


"I would not say that the worst is past, although in some parts of the financial markets began to see an improvement," he said in an interview on Thursday. "The economic crisis seems to be lasting longer and spreading," he added.

In the euro area, industrial production showed that point, with a record drop of 12 percent in December, Eurostat said on Thursday, the office of statistics.


"The economy deteriorated remarkably at the end of last year after the financial system was on the verge of collapse," said Nick Kounis, an economist at Fortis.

The savings have not yet bottomed out, despite the enormous expense of governments to stimulate the activity and the ECB is facing strong pressure to lower interest rates.


EUROPEAN Recession

Spain reported that its economy contracted 1.0 percent quarter over the last three months of 2008, entering recession for the first time since 1993.


Spain is not alone. Germany, France, Italy and the euro area as a whole reported their figures on Friday gross domestic product (GDP) and it is anticipated that all show greater contraction.

In general, it is expected that the economy of the 16-nation euro zone has contracted by 1.3 percent in the last quarter of last year, significantly worse than a fall of 0.2 per cent in the previous three months.


The ECB has lowered rates to 2.0 percent since October, has hinted that it will respond next month.

Throughout the euro zone, who perhaps suffered the most drastic decrease is Ireland. Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said on Thursday that he would not resign despite a series of scandals, most recently, one on Wednesday to rescue two major banks.


In Asia, Japanese wholesale prices fell 0.2 percent in the year to January, the first fall since December 2003. The data could usher in a period of deflation, as previously predicted that the Bank of Japan, could last two years.

In China, despite the concern of trade figures released on Wednesday, a record increase rates for new loans in January showed that banks respond to the call from the Chinese government to support the economy by extending more credit.

Chinese banks extended new loans of 1.62 trillion yuan in January (237,000 million U.S. dollars), almost one third of what they provided throughout 2008, according to data on Thursday. This revived the optimism that may be near the end of the deep decline in Chinese.

In the U.S., on Wednesday, negotiators agreed on a draft legislative commitment to economic stimulus.

Barack Obama the president wants Congress to act fast while the U.S. economy, battered by recession, are feeling the effect of the collapse of asset prices, the shortage of credit and millions of layoffs.

The stimulus could be passed by both houses of Congress on Thursday.

The wife of Bernard Madoff withdrew more than $ 15 million for a signature of which he was co-owner, including 10 million the day when their children handed the financial authorities for leading an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud announced on Wednesday, the principal securities regulator in Massachusetts.

Secretary of State William Galvin said Ruth Madoff, 67, withdrew 5.5 billion on November 25 and 10 million on December 10 _un days before outside arrestado_ Bernard Madoff Securities Cohmad's Corp., a New York firm of that her husband was part owner.


The secretary cited the bank as evidence given by Cohmad of withdrawals. These occurred at a time when it was discovered the pyramid scheme type Madoff and Investors filed applications for refund of their money by 7000 million dollars.

It also seems to follow what the authorities described as a worrying trend from Madoff to hide money that would be used to compensate investors affected.


Prosecutors had also said that detectives had discovered hundreds of checks signed by 173 million dollars Madoff was ready to send to friends and family closest to the time of his arrest in December. Two weeks later, during the holidays decembrinas, the financier sent over a million dollars in jewelry and expensive gifts to family and friends.

"We're not accusing him of having done anything improper," said Galvin spokesman Brian McNiff. "It's one of the things that appeared in the response received from Cohmad" after the citation of the officials of Massachusetts. "What we may think some officials in New York or the feds on this is something completely different."


A phone number under the name Ruth Madoff in Palm Beach, Florida, sounded busy, and a number in New York had been disconnected. A spokeswoman for Cohmad in New York said the company had no comment.

Ira Sorkin, a lawyer at Bernard Madoff said that he had no comment on the withdrawals.


Madoff, a former president of Nasdaq stock market in 70 years of age, is confined to his Manhattan apartment under house arrest.

Moreover, given the closeness of the deadline for an indictment by a jury instruction, the government and lawyers Madoff on Wednesday agreed to request an extension of 30 days. The new deadline was set for March 13.


A federal judge on Wednesday approved the delay, when the government faced the expiration of the deadline for the indictment against the Wall Street Financial.

Rebekah Carmichael, a spokeswoman for the prosecution, said that his office had no comment.


In the same way when they found a similar extension a month ago, the federal district Deputy Marc Litt writes that the government demanded the extension of the period "to allow enough time to conduct further discussions on a possible agreement in this case. "

Already been widely anticipated that the case will be resolved before the trial through an agreement between the government and lawyers Madoff.


Democratic leaders announced on Wednesday they reached an agreement on an economic stimulus plan of 789,000 million dollars which seeks to preserve or create millions of jobs amid an intense recession.

"The point at which we created more jobs than the original version of the Senate and costs less than the original version of the House of Representatives," said the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Harry Reid.


However, the chairman of the House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, did not attend the press conference that announced the Senators agreed, and it remained unclear whether his absence was due to his disagreement with the measure.

The bill should create or preserve 3.5 million jobs after the president signs it Barack Obama, said Reid.


Obama thanked the legislators who have made what he called a "very disputed meaning."

"I want to thank the Democrats and Republicans in Congress agreed that harmoniously in a highly contested settlement that will save or create more than 3.5 million jobs," he said in a statement the president, who has lobbied strongly for the early adoption of package.


Obama also said that tax aid and investment in health care, energy, education and construction revive the economy.

Republican Senator Susan Collins estimated the cost of the plan at 789,000 million dollars without counting interest, lower than previously approved by the cameras. The measure includes money for the victims of the recession, states in a position to illiquidity and tax credits for individuals and businesses.


Affected persons will be assisted by the extension of benefits for unemployment insurance, free coupons to purchase food and other social benefits and health insurance and millions of dollars for states will be forced to cut their own programs and social budgets.

Also prevailed tax refunds requested by Obama, that will benefit millions of people by their low or no income pay no income tax.


Officials said earlier that one of the outstanding issues is the amount for the modernization of schools, a priority of Pelosi and Obama, who opposed Collins and other Republicans whose votes are essential for the final approval of the Senate .

It was not announced when the final vote will take place in both chambers. In the House of Representatives may be held on Thursday, followed by the Senate.


The bag was recovered and closed with a modest increase of 50.65 points to 7939.53 just after the announcement of Reid.

Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman predicted that the bill "will be the beginning of the upturn in the U.S. economy," adding that the signing of the plan because it runs quickly, a few hours before it announced the agreement, the heavy machinery company Caterpillar Inc . terminated indicated that some of the 22,000 layoffs announced recently, after the draft becomes law.


Democratic Senator Tom Harkin told reporters that 6000 will be put aside millions of dollars, which according to officials may only be spent on repairs and modernization, a limitation to satisfy Republicans and conservative Democrats.

But officials said that representatives Democrats want to increase that item of $ 9,000 million.


The original project approved by the lower house was 819,000 million dollars and was accepted without a single Republican vote.

The project approved by the Senate on Tuesday rose to 838,000 million dollars and was supported by only three of 41 Republican senators, a number sufficient to overcome the 60 votes required.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

CiberespĂ­as armed criminal associations and special programs that steal information digital businesses in 2008 generated losses of one trillion dollars, according to a study by McAfee, the Internet security firm.

"Based on the findings of the study McAfee estimated that the overall damage for loss of data reach the trillion dollars," said company president, Dave DeWalt, the Thursday before the Davos Economic Forum.


This study, the first worldwide on the safety of the information economy ", was conducted with over 800 information officers in Japan, China, India, Brazil, Britain, Dubai, Germany and the United States.

"Companies are underestimating the losses, the value of their intellectual property," said Eugene SPAFFORD, a professor at a university computer science and executive director of the Center for Education Research and Information Security.

Nearly a year has passed since the last time Todd Wilson claimed his salary for the last time. This seller of computers Kansas was not too worried at first, as it had a strong record of work, savings and a wife with decent work.


But now, with unemployment growing around it, as the new 8000 announced this week by Sprint Nextel, which is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, competition for the few jobs that remain are increasing and beginning to despair installed.

"Anyone looking for work now is feeling a financial tsunami," says Wilson, 48, who claims to have exhausted the savings of his family and now spends most days looking for a job center for employment in the area. "One feels as if suddenly, everything has collapsed."


Far from politicians in Washington, in communities across the United States versions of federal economic stimulus plans and bank rescues offer only a slight hope of aid. Many workers say the steady rise in unemployment augurs a long road of hardship in the future.

Only this week, U.S. companies such as Sprint, Home Depot, Caterpillar, Texas Instruments and others announced they would reduce more than 60,000 jobs.


On Tuesday announced 10,000 layoffs. Only in January were cut more than 210,000 jobs. Last Thursday, the Labor Department said the number of Americans who applied for the first time unemployment benefits last week rose unexpectedly to a record figure of 588,000.

All this adds to the 524,000 lost jobs in December and rising unemployment in all the states that led the unemployment rate to 7.2 percent versus 6.8 percent in November, according to the Department of work.


In total, more than 11 million U.S. workers are unemployed, a jump of 48 percent over the previous year.

The figures indicate that about four candidates for every job that opens in the United States, according to Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a group of experts based in Washington. The grim employment picture is in almost all sectors, he said.


"Literally, millions of workers unemployed, without hope of finding a new job," said Shierholz. "The row is just too long," he added.

The loss of jobs contributed to that consumer confidence fell down to record levels this month, said Tuesday the economic research institute The Conference Board.


A new study by the Society for Human Resource Management also found that nearly 75 percent of human resource professionals in U.S. companies are waiting for the next few months major job cuts in the U.S. labor force.

Without quick fix?


Economists say workers alike and believe that the efforts of Barack Obama for president reinvigorate the economy will take at least a year or more to renew the contracts.

"With the right package, the economy begin to grow in 2010 and the labor market will begin to rebound after some time," said Shierholz.


That's little consolation for workers and owners of small businesses in the United States, who see their livelihoods eroded at high speed.

"Less than four months to get this job and I worried it will keep," said Anna Chung, 30, who works at a small supplier of auto parts in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, where the state unemployment rate was 10.6 percent in December, reflecting the problems of the automotive industry. "I'm scared of being next," he added.

In Overland Park, where the headquarters of Sprint dominates the landscape of this town near Kansas City, layoffs have left many tottering.

"Behind every number is a person and a family," said Tracey Osborne, president of the local chamber of commerce.

The increasing number of job losses translate into lower corporate sales of a series of trade in services and support. Tax profits are dropping and money for schools and social services is scarce.

Kyle Witherspoon owns a sports bar located in front of the headquarters of the company's extensive Sprint, and for years has served the sustained flow of Sprint employees. But now says that sales have declined due to job cuts.

This week the bar was occupied by the reservations that were made to dismiss the now former employees of Sprint, and is preparing for the possibility of losing more customers.

"You will feel the impact when people go," said Witherspoon.

In the Regional Council of the United States in downtown Kansas City, economist Frank Lenk said that for every job lost in the companies, will be lost on average two more.

"These are bleak times. People feel a lot of uncertainty for their financial security," said Lenk.

The programmer Larry Martel understands the meaning of uncertainty. He had served six months off last year before getting a job as a consultant firm in the area of Kansas. Now Martel, 50, is simply grateful to receive a check each month.

"There are people who are really suffering. Occurs where you look," said Martel. "Probably worse before improving," he said.

The complexity of the immigration issue has created "legal confusion" in Colorado, because the local legislators have bills that sometimes overlap or contradict existing laws, said a caucus today Denver-immigrant.

According to the Colorado Coalition for the Rights of Immigrants (CIRC, in English), legislators should "try a dialogue" with representatives of 55 organizations that form part of the coalition that way learn about the needs and contributions of the immigrant community in this state. "


The most recent case is the Bill HB09-1049, driven by the Republican bloc in the local Legislature, which sought to nullify the possibility that an undocumented person is convicted of a misdemeanor to be that way in a state prison and thus avoid deportation.

Julie Gonzalez, spokesman of CIRC and now coordinator of the political coalition, considered that the law was "unnecessary" and opined that the measure would have created "for political reasons."


For González, "is if someone is subject to deportation by federal law." Therefore, he said, no need to question the state legislature for changes in that area.

"It is a pity that the time is spent during the session of the legislature to discuss these laws as politically motivated instead of talking about policies," said the spokesman.


The proponent of the project, Mike May, a Republican from Parker and chairman of the bench of his party, said he believed that the initiative was necessary because this would prevent certain criminal aliens "walking freely through the streets of Colorado."

But this Thursday when receiving the report on his tax proposal, May found that cost two million dollars a year to implement the measure, and that the result would be to incarcerate an average of 17 illegal immigrants found guilty of certain crimes to remain in U.S. (even in prison) instead of being deported.


Because the government of Colorado has a deficit of one billion dollars, and therefore there are no resources to implement the project HB09-1049, May requested the same on Thursday that the Judicial Committee of the state legislature voted against its proposal and the legislators did so.

To Julien Ross, executive director of CIRC, the failed project of May is an example of legislators deciding on complicated issues that affect all people in Colorado, but without the necessary information. "


"It is important that our legislators know that we can provide information to enable them make good decisions," said Ross.

A dump truck loaded with gasoline exploded when hundreds of people were trying to seize fuel, in an incident which killed at least 111 people and 200 others were injured in one of the deadliest accidents in Kenya, reported Sunday the authorities.

Hundreds of people surrounded the truck overturned and blocked a road in the town of Molo on Saturday night when the fuel caught fire and caused an explosion whose blast was felt miles away, said Charles Kamau, 22, who fled his car when the flames rose to heaven.


"Everyone was screaming and ran many of them with fire in their bodies, some of them went into the woods," said Kamau to the Associated Press.

"I just ran to where there was no fire," said Kamau in a shop where the Red Cross reported Sunday on the disappearance of a friend.


The nearby hospitals were crowded full of victims, including young children, who suffered horrific burns. Many were lying on the floor, connected to the serum bottles and screaming in pain while doctors struggled to save their lives.

Through some supplies helicopters were sent to hospital, from bags for corpses and additional drugs.


Cars burned clothes and burned smudge the road, while the remains of the truck remained on the road to Molo, about 170 kilometers from Nairobi, the capital. Authorities were checking the woods in search of burned corpses.

The prime minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga told a press conference that apparently was a cigarette butt caused the explosion, but police still investigating the incident.