Fisher Capital Management World News: World Football - New Zealand to play Mexico in friendly in US

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/16042011/58/world-football-new-zealand-play-mexico-friendly.html

Sat, 16 Apr 02:57:00 2011

New Zealand will play Mexico in an international friendly in Denver on June 1.

Ricki Herbert's side played the CONCACAF champions before the 2010 World Cup finals at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena last March and the All Whites coach said despite June's match again being in the United States, it was not on "neutral" territory.

"Mexico were playing in front of a home crowd in Los Angeles and it'll be exactly the same in Denver, but that's great," Herbert said of the 90,000 fans who attended last year's match that was won 2-0 by Mexico.

"We could be back in this part of the world in 2013 trying to take that last step to Brazil (2014 World Cup finals) so we want another taste of that type of intimidating environment."

The Oceania champions qualified for the 2010 World Cup finals by beating the fifth-placed Asian side Bahrain in a two-legged playoff but their route to the 2014 finals could be vastly different.

World governing body FIFA will conduct a draw determining whether the winner of New Zealand's Oceania group will play off against Asian, North American or South American opposition for a place in Brazil.

The match in Denver comes four days after Mexico face Ecuador in Seattle and will be their last warm up before they defend their CONCACAF Gold Cup title beginning on June 5, NZF said.

Reuters

Fisher Capital Management World News: Aussie users still duped by Facebook scams: Sophos

http://www.cio.com.au/article/383044/aussie_users_still_duped_by_facebook_scams_sophos/

Clicking fake Twilight: Breaking Dawn game not worth the risk, says expert

Hamish Barwick (Computerworld)

13 April, 2011 11:15

Comments

A local security expert is dumbfounded by the ease in which a fakeTwilight: Breaking Dawn game application has spread across Facebook, and has warned Australians to be less trusting when it came to approving applications on the social networking site.

Sophos Asia Pacific head of technology, Paul Ducklin, told Computerworld Australia that the scam presents an image from Twilight and entices the user to click a 'play now' button. However, hiding behind the button is a 'like' link, which spreads a rogue application virally across Facebook.

The scam continues with users presented with a dialogue box, asking them to grant permission for a third-party application to access their account and post messages, updates and photos to their wall.

"Having gained the ability to post to your Facebook account, the scammers then present the final piece of the jigsaw: An online survey which earns them affiliate commission for each person who completes the questionnaire," Ducklin said.

The survey encourages people to complete it with the chance to win a flat-screen TV, first-generation iPad or Macbook,

"The other problem is that people go into the surveys assuming that there is no risk," Ducklin said.

"They may think 'I'll put in some bogus data and I might win an iPad, what the hell', but with those surveys you have to give some legitimate information, such as an email, if you suspect you might win.

"So you'll probably expect to get a whole lot of unwanted emails to that account."

Ducklin also warned that cyber criminals could come back later with the application and mine the user's Facebook account or post information to their friends.

The Twilight example highlighted research conducted by Sophos a year ago, which revealed some Australians were still not very savvy when it came to Facebook scams.

"We first conducted research in the United Kingdom in 2007, where we sent out 200 friend requests asking people if they wanted to be friends with a plastic frog," Ducklin said. "About 45 per cent of the people clicked yes.

"We repeated the experiment at the end of 2009 in Australia, which involved sending out friend requests from a duck and a cat.

"Unfortunately, the research came back with worse results than the UK market."

He advised Facebook users go and check what applications they have approved to have access to their account.

"People should remove any that they are not absolutely certain about," Ducklin said.

Follow Hamish Barwick on Twitter: @HamishBarwick

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU

Fisher Capital Management World News: IMF issues warning to European banks

http://story.albuquerqueexpress.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/3a8a80d6f705f8cc/id/769170/cs/1/ht/IMF-issues-warning-to-European-banks/

Albuquerque Express
Thursday 14th April, 2011  

-IMF reports says European banks remain     vulnerable to financial shocks

-Germany, Spain, Portugal and Italy signalled out

-Banks face US $3.6 trillion wall of debt maturing in 2013

The International Monetary Fund has called on European banks to boost their capital reserves, in order to protect them against fluctuations in the financial system, which could precipitate another financial crisis.

The IMF described vulnerable European banks as being “caught in a maelstrom of interlinked pressures”, although it did say that global financial stability was returning to the world economy.

Of particular concern were major banks in Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

The results were published as part of the IMF’s Global Financial Stability Report, which further added that countries saddled with sovereign debt problems, as well as vulnerable banks, were in significant danger of instability.

These countries include Portugal and Spain, which are both facing difficult debt crises.

According to the report, the world’s banks face a US $3.6 trillion “wall” of debt, which will mature in the next two years.

Fisher Capital Management World News: DIARY-IMF, World Bank spring meetings in Washington

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/12/imf-diary-idUSIMFDIARY20110412

Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:08pm EDT

Finance ministers and central bankers from around the globe are in Washington    this week for the semiannual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank on April 15-16.

Finance officials from the Group of Seven meet on Thursday,

while officials from the broader G2O hold a working dinner on

Th ursday followed by a longer session on Friday.

The International Monetary and Financial Committee, which

is the IMF's steering committee, meets on Saturday.

Following is a schedule of the top events. All times listed

are in Washington local time/GMT.

All times EDT/GMT  

Wednesday, April 13

0900/1300 - Press Briefing on the Global Financial

Stability Report by Jose Vinals, financial counsellor and

director of the IMF's Monetary and Capital Markets Department.

1000/1400 - IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn

speaks before Brookings Institution "The Global Jobs Crisis:

Sustaining the Recovery through Employment and Equitable

Growth" event

1200/1600 - Press Briefing on the World Bank's Latin

America Semi-Annual Regional Economic Outlook.

Thursday, April 14

Group of 24 finance officials meet. Time to be announced.

0830/1230 - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has a

conversation with Lionel Barber of the Financial Times at the

"Back to Work: Innovation, Investment & International Open

Markets" conference.

0845/1245 - World Bank President Robert Zoellick holds

press briefing.

0930/1330 -  IMF Managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn

holds press briefing.

1245/1645 - French Finance Minister Christine LaGarde

participates in "Back to Work: Innovation, Investment &

International Open Markets" conference.

1300/1700 - Group of 24 finance officials hold press

briefing

1730/2130 - Group of Seven finance ministers and central

bankers meet. No communique expected.

2000/2400 - Group of 20 holds working dinner

Friday, April 15

0830/1230 - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin

speaks at conference on Russia's economy at the Peterson

Institute for International Economics.

0900/1300 - IMF roundtable on "Youth, Jobs, and Inclusive

Growth in the Middle East and North Africa." Participants

include Dominique Strauss Kahn, IMF managing director, and

Mustapha Nabli, Central Bank governor, Tunisia.

0930/1330 - Alexei Ulyukayev, first deputy chairman of

Russia's central banks, speaks at Peterson Institute.

0930/1330 - Brazil central banker Alexandre Tombini is

expected to speak at seminar "Latin America's Economic

Perspectives" sponsored by the the Brookings Institution.

1030/1430 - Group of 20 finance ministers and central

bankers meet.

1600/2000 - Press briefing with G20 Chair, French Finance

Minister Christine Lagarde. Time subject to change.

Saturday, April 16

The International Monetary and Financial Committee, the

steering committee for the IMF, meets. Time to be determined

The joint IMF-World Bank Development Committee meets. Time

to be determined

1400/1800 - IMFC Chair and IMF Managing Director Dominique

Strauss-Kahn holds a press briefing

1735/2135 - World Bank President Robert Zoellick, and IMF

Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn hold press briefing

after Development Committee meeting.

Fisher Capital Management World News :George Soros: What if the world isn't worth saving?

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/04/12/pm-george-soros-what-if-the-world-isnt-worth-saving/

By David Brancaccio

Marketplace, Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Listen to this Story

In historic Bretton Woods, N.H., the world's financial rock stars gathered once again to save the world. Only this time, they wonder if it's all worth it.

KAI RYSSDAL: There is -- if you really stop to think about it -- one basic question behind all investing decisions: Is the return worth the risk?

So with that in mind, what about Wall Street itself? Does the financial system pass the test? That's the basic idea behind our series Economy 4.0: how to make the global economy, including the financial system, work better for more people. Our special correspondent David Brancaccio has been in Bretton Woods, N.H., the past couple of days for a series of meetings and conversations about exactly that topic.

---

DAVID BRANCACCIO: The setting of our conversation was a round table in the grand hotel where debate in 1944 led to the Bretton Woods Agreement, which defined the financial system coming out of World War II. Eighty-year-old George Soros, investor and philanthropist, was part of a new conference he helped sponsor in recent days on what was advertised as "new economic thinking."

I asked Soros about regulation in the wake of the financial collapse but his answer took an unexpected turn.

GEORGE SOROS: We haven't really decided whether this swollen financial system is a benefit or a detriment, a disease or is that a great source of strength.

BRANCACCIO: You of all people are wondering if the financial sector creates benefits to society commensurate with its size in the economy?

SOROS: Obviously, we need financial services and obviously they are beneficial. But to have 7 or 8 percent of the GDP -- that may be too much!

Soros says it's in part about the huge number of derivatives that can cut both ways. (EXTRA: Listen to the full-length interview)

SOROS: The financial markets produce the instabilities, the fluctuations, the volatility against which they also then provide the insurance.

Soros wasn't the only one to pose this almost existential question. Adair Lord Turner is a top financial regulator in Britain. He told the conference the more he thinks about measuring what the financial sector brings to the economy:

ADAIR LORD TURNER: The less certain I am about what, if anything, measures are actually telling us.

Solving this matters for a lot of reasons. If Wall Street's real contributions are less than thought, then the cost of reigning in its excesses through new policies would not be as high. A smaller financial sector might also attract fewer of the best and brightest people, who might then use their talents to do other important work the economy needs.

But also at the conference was Harvard historian Niall Ferguson, who cautions not to get simplistic about the social value of Wall Street.

NIALL FERGUSON: Most of the financial innovation that began in the 1980s was beneficial, increased economic efficiency and increased the efficiency of the world economy as a whole.

This'll only be resolved if economists take up this challenge and come up with new thinking to measure costs versus benefits of financial services.

In Bretton Woods, N.H., I'm David Brancaccio for Marketplace.

Fisher Capital Management World news:IMF says financial conditions remain fragile

http://www.commodityonline.com/news/IMF-says-financial-conditions-remain-fragile-38122-3-1.html

Last Updated : 12 April 2011 at 20:30 IST

WASHINGTON (Commodity Online) : The IMF in its World Economic Outlook report said global financial conditions continue to improve after the global crisis, although they remain unusually fragile. 

The IMF report emphasizes the need to keep interest rates low in advanced economies like the UK in order to strengthen their recovery. 

International Monetary Fund added that oil prices and inflation in emerging economies pose new risks to global recovery but are not yet strong enough to derail it. 

Soaring costs for basic staples stoked the social and economic tensions that have roiled the Arab world. Street protests have toppled dictatorships in Egypt and Tunisia, and left leaders in Yemen and Libya fighting to cling to power. 

The Fund said inflation pressures were likely to build in developing countries as people pushed for higher wages in the face of pricier food and fuel. 

The fastest growth was still in emerging economies, the IMF said. China was expected to lead the way with 9.6% growth this year, followed by India, at an 8.2% rate. 

By contrast, the United States was forecast to grow a sub-par 2.8% this year and 2.9% in 2012. 

In Europe, the IMF said recovery was gaining traction despite financial turbulence in Greece, Ireland and Portugal. The IMF revised up its euro zone outlook to 1.6% this year and 1.8% in 2012.

The fastest growth in recent years has come from emerging markets like China, Brazil and India, which helped offset the deep downturns in the United States and other rich nations touched off by burst housing bubbles. 

The IMF's central scenario remains one of slow-paced recovery. It kept its forecasts for global growth for both 2011 and 2012 at 4.4% and 4.5%, respectively. 

However, it said emerging markets have become a particular worry spot. The Fund warned they faced the risk of inflation as they struggle to deal with hard-to-control capital inflows. 

The IMF highlighted the searing impact of rising food and commodity prices on poorer countries and warned that inflation will remain elevated for a while. 

Last week, the IMF said global oil markets are in a period of increased scarcity, as oil demand in emerging economies is rapidly catching up with demand in advanced economies and production constraints are beginning to bind in some major oil-exporting economies, where oil fields have reached maturity. 

Improvements in oil supply have been slow, reflecting investment bottlenecks and other constraints, and the IMF expects net capacity will build only gradually. 

The chapter on oil scarcity assesses the risk for the global economy in the medium term of the supply constraints. A persistent adverse oil supply shock would imply lower global output, higher revenues for oil exporters, a surge in global capital flows, and a widening of current account imbalances. 

Oil remains the most important source of primary energy in the world, accounting for about 33 percent of the total. The two other fossil fuels, coal and natural gas, account for 28 and 23 percent. The analysis says that renewable sources of energy are in a rapid growth phase, but they still account for only a small fraction of primary energy supplies.