LontohCoal has contracted with Samsung Securities Asia Ltd

LontohCoal Ltd., the South African Closed coal mining company, has contracted with Samsung Securities Asia Ltd as lead manager for its initial public offering in Hong Kong, CEO Tshepo Kgadima said.

Power producer with assets of thermal coal and steel making in South Africa and Zimbabwe plan to raise up to U.S. $ 500 million selling shares in Hong Kong and may list in the first half of next year, Kgadima said in an interview on TV today.

"We've been talking to a number of private equity funds and sovereign wealth funds," he said in Hong Kong.

The proceeds from the sale of shares will be used to develop LontohCoal mine in South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo provinces, and coal deposits Lubimbi in Zimbabwe, where production is expected to begin next year, said the CEO.

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Climate decades were treated as "dysfunctional" U.S. Cap Delays

Delegates at the climate negotiations the United Nations stayed two nights in a row last week to agree on a proposal to curb global warming. negotiations next year may be even more difficult.

The plan approved on December 11 channel creates a climate fund as much as $ 100 billion a year in aid to developing nations in 2020, protects the forest and describes methods to verify the reduction of fossil fuel emissions. No new targets to reduce greenhouse gases were established, and the debate on the future of the Kyoto Protocol which limits emissions of developed countries until 2012, was postponed until the next meeting in Durban, South Africa in December 2011.

With President Barack Obama are fighting to save his energy agenda and the richest and poorest in the conflict to extend the Kyoto emission limits, a new climate treaty in the world can be 20 years away, said Tim Wirth, who in 1997 led the U.S. delegation in Kyoto, Japan. This delay threatens the future of $ 2.7 billion a year in pollution credits sold at a United Nations program based on the Kyoto agreement.

"We have a dysfunctional Congress and an administration without politics," said Wirth, former Democratic senator from Colorado, in an interview two weeks of negotiations on the UN climate in Cancun, Mexico. "The U.S. does not have an energy strategy. You can not sign an international treaty unless you know what you do at home."

A dispute over extend emissions cuts after 2012 under the Kyoto plan, which calls for a decline of 5.2 percent of 1990 levels between industrial nations, nearly derailed the conference this year in the United Nations.

China vs Japan

China, India, Brazil and South Africa puts pressure on developed countries to make further cuts. Japan, Russia and Canada all said they did not want to extend Kyoto unless the two largest emitters, China and the U.S., are brought into the covenant.

Delegates papered in the gap by keeping alive the prospect of enlargement of Kyoto, while not setting new targets for pollutants. Bolivia was the only voice among the 193 nations present objections to this decision, saying it was not ambitious enough. exception of Bolivia was annulled.

"The collapse of the Kyoto Protocol, in particular the United States so many years away from even having a serious discussion, would actually wind climate change negotiations," said Kevin Conrad, Papua New Guinea sent to the talks, in an interview.

Obama, who ran for president with the promise of promoting a U.S. system cap and trade to reduce emissions and combat climate change, failed to get the legislation in the Senate this year. Then the Republicans - including those who disagree with the notion of anthropogenic climate change - won control of the House of Representatives and gained seats in the Senate in the November election.

Legislative Delay

Obama now says that climate legislation probably can not win congressional approval until 2013 at the earliest. That means that the Kyoto emission limits expire before the U.S. provides legislation to support its commitments to reduce emissions, making it unlikely that developing countries cut their own garment.

"The U.S. must take the initiative because, if the United States sits and does nothing, then the world will not react, especially the developing world," said Dow Chemical Co. CEO Andrew Liveris in an interview in Cancun, where he joined other executives from lobbying countries to take action.

U.S. Head of Delegation, Todd Stern, Cancun, Obama reaffirmed the promise of reducing emissions by 17 percent in 2020, a promise depends on domestic law to back it up.

Kyoto driven the development of the world's largest market for carbon, the European Union emissions trading system, and its second largest, the Clean Development Mechanism of the United Nations to help companies meet the objectives of gas greenhouse.

Carbon Market

The market for emissions credits could reduce carbon dioxide by 3.9 percent to $ 122 billion dollars this year to 127 billion U.S. dollars last part because of uncertainty about the next round of emissions रेदुक्टिओंस.
"The reality is that the talks would struggle unless and until the U.S. can bring something more substantial to the negotiating table," said Mark Lewis, carbon market analyst based in Paris for Deutsche Bank AG.

Inertia in the stimulation of technology and low carbon clean energy can hinder U.S. companies, said Jennifer Haverkamp, director general of international politics at the Environmental Defense Fund.

"They see they are falling behind because they have no price signal to innovate and be part of the economy of the future," he said. "Other countries are taking serious measures. One of these days the Senate is going to wake up and instead of shaking in their boots, afraid to go first, you will realize that you're last."

China 'Warp Speed'

Some executives say that the emergence of China as a competitive force must change the mood in Washington and the Obama system to act on the environment faster. China is gaining an advantage over U.S. in clean technologies, said Duke Energy Corp. CEO Jim Rogers.

"What they are doing is a world leader in solar and wind energy, they are building 24 nuclear plants," Rogers said in an interview in Cancun. "They're much movement in that direction at full speed, ahead of the U.S."

China plans to increase installed power generation capacity of 90 gigawatts of wind power and 5 gigawatts of solar energy by 2015. A nuclear reactor in comparison with a capacity of about 1.6 gigawatts.

Competition from clean energy companies in China, as Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. and Trina Solar is reducing profit margins for the U.S. wind and solar companies like First Solar Inc. and business of General Electric Co. 's wind turbine.

'Muddled'

"The concern especially in China has become the head," said Elliot Diringer, vice president of international strategies at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change in Arlington, Virginia.

"For years the line was that we should not do anything because China is not doing anything. Now the concern is that, 'Oh my God, China is ahead of us in the race for clean technologies.'d Better catch up. '"

talks this year the United Nations pledged to keep increases in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Emission reductions pledged today can produce an increase of 5 degrees by the year 2100, the United Nations Environment Programme said 23 November.

That leaves the island countries like Kiribati, the South Pacific, northeast of Australia concern for their future. Houses are already being drawn, eroded roads and communities displaced by rising sea levels linked to climate change, President Note Tong said in an interview.

"The negotiation process will continue over the coming decades," said Tong. "We do not expect everything to be resolved before implementing what it takes? Going to be too late for many countries. It is the survival of people."

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Uranium Spot market trading volume rises to record on rising demand from Asia

The volume of uranium sold in the spot market, used by companies to have material delivered within a year and investors to speculate on the price of fuel reached a record this year in Asian demand.

Some 41.6 million pounds of uranium oxide concentrate sold in the market for the week ending December 10, 1990 breaking a previous record of 40.6 million pounds, a Denver-based TradeTech service prices LLC said in a report of 10 December. The spot price rose 25 cents to 60.50 dollars and the new demand has emerged from a utility outside the United States, TradeTech said.

The uranium, processed into fuel for nuclear power plants, recovered to the highest in more than two years as a public service Asia safe material for the next decade, China has accumulated reserves, according to Macquarie Bank Ltd. Asia can operate 300 reactors nuclear in 2030, compared to 115 units today, inspection and certification agency Lloyd's Register Group's said last week.

"Currently, the supply of land is extremely thin with most vendors now firmly attached to its offer price and the face of growing demand in the first quarter of 2011," TradeTech said.

This year's record volume in the spot market account for the third consecutive year of growth. About 10 million pounds of uranium had been sold in spot transactions in 2007, the lowest in at least 12 years, according to TradeTech data. A million pounds of uranium equal about 385 tons of radioactive material.

China Guangdong Nuclear Power Co. agreed last month on the long-term supply Kazatomprom and Cameco Corp., the two largest uranium mining companies. China imports this year equal about 20 percent to 25 percent of global consumption, according to Macquarie Bank.

Chinese purchases of Kazakhstan, the largest supplier in the world of matter, Uzbekistan, and Namibia have taken more than six million pounds out of the spot market, said analyst Max Layton at Macquarie Bank on November 29.

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Election urges ACCC to investigate bank charges

BANKS would be prohibited from charging exorbitant rates for loans, credit cards and ATMs under a plan to reduce widespread fraud.

Consumer choice surveillance has proposed rules forcing banks to charge "reasonable expenses" for all types of spending, not just the mortgage exit fees, and to explain expenditures "plain language."

Banks charge $ 5 billion a year in fees from households, including $ 1 billion in penalties.

Choice has called for an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investigation to discover the true costs of tariffs in a presentation to a Senate investigation into the bank.

Best bank campaign director Richard Lloyd said it was absurd that some customers are slugged up to $ 30 for overdrawing and $ 2 to use ATMs belonging to rivals.

Customers pay 640 million U.S. dollars a year in fees "foreign" ATM, the suit said.

"Fees of fraud, hidden fees and unfair contract terms are symptoms of a competitive market," said Lloyd.

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan is preparing to present a package of banking reforms to make it easier for credit unions and building societies to compete with the dominant of the Commonwealth, ANZ, NAB and Westpac.

The government can take strong action against the banks in signaling changes in interest rates.

It is also believed that taking into account what is easier for dissatisfied customers to ditch banks by allowing them to keep the same account number when transferring to competitors.

Consultations also take place in a classification system of traffic light potential for investment products - red high-risk, medium risk of amber and green for low.

The election filing warns that some suppliers had cut rates on basic savings accounts simply hold of the charges for personal loans and credit cards to make money elsewhere.

Banks have also reaped a wealth of additional loans after gaining huge market share as the global financial crisis.

Mr Lloyd said confusing fine print made "amazing" to consumers, so standardized guidelines in plain language should be compulsory.

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NAP clients hit again by accident IT

National Australia Bank's reputation among customers and regulators have taken another blow after another IT failure.

At NAB continues to sort through disaster last month the payments system caused by a "corrupt file" in the processing of transactions during the night, the bank confirmed that there was a relationship, "temporary disruption" to some of their platforms electronic payment, reports from Australia.

Its ATM network was affected, like Internet banking and retail outlets.

Some customers in Melbourne complained that the bank's ATMs were dispensing cash, while others said there were long queues at some branches of NAB in Melbourne, and that the transfer of the account balances accurately record .


A rival bank also said that customers could not use their cards at ATMs network NAB, and NAB cards, in turn, had been rejected at the ATMs of competing banks.

"This is a very serious problem - not as big as last problem NAB, but still very serious," said a banker.

An angry manager Kingsleys, one of the best restaurants in Sydney, said he had to manually take down details of credit card customers after NAB terminal crashed.

He said: "Who has money for a site like this?"

In a statement late yesterday afternoon, NAB confirmed the court, saying that there had been at 3 pm.

A spokesman said services had been restored after an hour.

"NAB can confirm that this issue was related to the processing of recent late payments that the bank has experienced," he said.

The bank could not determine the cause of your latest issue.

The representatives of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Reserve Bank of Australia were not available for comment.

But the banks are obliged to inform APRA within 24 hours of major disruptions.

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Gold, copper, oil, corn extend gains next year

Commodities such as copper, gold, crude oil, corn and soybeans next year will extend gains in emerging markets boost aggregate demand, as supplies tighten, Morgan Stanley, said.

World gross domestic product will increase by 4.2 percent in 2011 to almost 5 percent this year, with more than 70 percent of the growth coming from emerging markets, the bank said in a report. It said at that favors natural gas, live cattle and feeder cattle and zinc.

Copper rose to a record yesterday on the London Metal Exchange as head of the stock of inventories for the first annual contraction since 2004. Gold hit a record high this week as investors sought an alternative to currencies. The S & P GSCI index of 24 commodities rose this week to the highest level in over two years.

"Growing demand, along with a tightening of supply, provides nourishment for our spirit constructive widely throughout the commodity space," said Morgan Stanley analyst Hussein Allidina in the report. "The decline in inventories not only raise spot prices, but also improve the performance of roll", as falling stocks prices move in backwardation call when the commodity trade over the nearby contracts more Long term, he said.

Copper, Gold

Copper for delivery in three months traded at $ 9,051 a tonne at 12 pm on the LME. The metal will average $ 7,900 a tonne next year, Morgan Stanley estimates, compared with an average so far this year of about $ 7,465. Gold for immediate delivery touched $ 1,431.25 an ounce on 07 December. It will average $ 1,315 an ounce in 2011, the bank said. Crude oil averaged $ 100 a barrel, corn will average $ 5.75 a bushel and soybeans will average $ 12.50 a bushel, estimates of the bank.

"The prices of corn and soybeans both need to rise to ration demand," said Allidina. "Demand is running too hot because tight inventories and limited area. Gold will benefit from continued investment demand, the result of continued expansion of money supply and persistent global sovereign risk."

Responsible for Federal Reserve policymakers meet next week to discuss a potential plan to expand the Treasury purchases beyond the $ 600 billion already announced. Fitch Ratings said yesterday that the European Central Bank purchases of bonds may be necessary to increase and the enlarged European rescue fund to curb the spread of sovereign debt crisis.

Rising commodity prices can be "volatile," said Allidina. "Persistent sovereign risk, fear of policy mistakes made in emerging markets, and bouts of U.S. dollar strength will present all the headwinds."

The natural gas will be pressured by an "environment of oversupply, while zinc will be slower to return to the shortage of other metals, the bank said.

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At least 19 countries will be absent from today's ceremony awarding the Nobel Peace

At least 19 countries will be absent from today's ceremony awarding the Nobel Peace Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo following his government's campaign to present the award as a Western effort to undermine his authority.

Those absent included the countries with elected governments such as Cuba and Saudi Arabia, China and Vietnam, Kazakhstan neighbors and U.S. allies Colombia and Egypt. His decision to skip the ceremony in Oslo, is presented as a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, Jiang Yu, mocked the award as a "sham" given by "clowns" in comments to reporters in Beijing on 7 December.

"Mr. Liu Xiaobo is much more deserving of this award than me," President Barack Obama said in a statement emailed to reporters. "I regret that Mr. Liu and his wife were denied the opportunity to attend the ceremony that Michelle and I attended last year."

"We respect the extraordinary achievement of China in lifting millions out of poverty, and we believe that human rights are the dignity that comes with freedom from want," said Obama. "But Mr. Liu reminds us that human dignity is also dependent on the progress of democracy, open society and the rule of law."

No show

The list does not appear, double the number from two years ago, reflects the growing global influence of China as an economic power expands, said Iver B. Neumann, Director of Research at the headquarters in Oslo, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.

"China is the emerging power of the century," Neumann said in an interview on 8 December. "This seems to be one of the central dramas of world politics today. The argument will not fly again."

At the same time, the award has focused attention on China's treatment of political dissidents that the country expands its economic dominance. The Chinese authorities do not allow Liu to attend the ceremony and placed his wife under house arrest after three days, the prize was announced. The Committee of 08 October, said he deserved the prize "for his long struggle and nonviolent fundamental human rights in China."

China overtook Japan this year to become the second largest economy, and grow by 10 percent in 2010 and 2011, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report of 18 November.

Interruption

People's Daily, which reflects the views of the ruling Communist Party of China, said in a comment of 05 November that the award of the prize to Liu was a deliberate attempt to undermine the government of China.

"It is clear that the West does not want a strong China," the paper said. The award "explicitly reveals the attempts by Western countries to back the anti-socialist forces and use them to disrupt the development of China."

The newspaper stayed at the attack today, saying in a comment that the Committee for the Nobel Peace Prize is facing an "unprecedented shame." TV channels and websites of CNN and the BBC intermittently collapsed in China before today's ceremony.

The prize is not directed against China, the Nobel committee chairman, Thorbjoern Jagland, said in a press conference yesterday. "It's an award to honor those people in China - and Liu Xiaobo is one of the most prominent -. That is clearly understood that economic development in China should be combined with political reforms"

Empty chair

The empty chair in the award ceremony this year underscores the importance of the choice of the committee, according to Geir Lundestad, director of the Nobel Institute, which organizes the event. He says that countries are increasingly reluctant to distance themselves from the policies of China because of its political and economic influence.

"China is increasingly important in international politics, and fewer and fewer are willing to criticize parts of the country's policies that deserve criticism," said Lundestad Dec. 8 in an opinion article in the newspaper Headquartered in Oslo Aftenposten.

That may be to strengthen China's determination to establish its own agenda and do not tolerate international interference, according to Bates Gill, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

"The political environment in China today seems to require today and allow this type of offense very, very strong reaction to the perceived interests of China," Gill said in an interview. "It is extremely unfortunate that the Chinese government has reacted so strongly as it did. I feel it is an overreaction."

Liu Custody

Liu was arrested in December 2008 for his role in the organization Charter 08, an open letter signed by more than 300 Chinese scholars and activists demand lawyers for direct elections and freedom of assembly. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison at Christmas last year.

Obama on Oct. 8 called on China to release Liu and said the peace prize selection reminds us that political reform has not kept pace "with the economic developments in China.

China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Argentina, Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Cuba and Morocco will not attend the ceremony, the Nobel committee said yesterday. The Philippines also will be out, because the ambassador has "previously held the consulate in Denmark," said Ed Malaya, a spokesman for the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs today. Forty-five countries expected to attend.

In 2008, when former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari received the award, 10 embassies were not represented.

The absence of Liu

Liu's absence will be marked in the Oslo City Hall with an empty chair on the podium and Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann to read his writings, according to the agenda of the ceremony. A torchlight procession at night through the streets of the Norwegian capital will end at the Grand Hotel, where the winner traditionally greets the crowd from the balcony of the creation of 136 years. This year, Liu's image projected on the facade of the hotel.

There are two events scheduled today in Oslo, one in support of the award and a protest against the award, according to the Oslo police and the news agency NTB. Amnesty International in Norway yesterday delivered 100,000 signatures to the embassy of China calling for Liu's release from prison.

U.S. not try to influence countries that have decided not to attend, State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, said on 8 December. While allies such as Afghanistan will not be present, Crowley said there was broad support for the election of the committee.

"We will be there Friday to see this recognition, and we know that we will not be alone," he said.

Wrong

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Jiang said that any effort to force China to change its treatment of political prisoners is wrong.

"Some people think they can use the practices of the Cold War to put pressure on China and therefore the change of China," Jiang said. "I think it is too naive."

A group based in Beijing this week announced the Peace Prize Confucius as an alternative to the Norwegian Nobel and awarded to former Taiwanese Vice President Lien Chan. A spokesman for Lien said he had not been notified and did not attend the ceremony yesterday in Beijing. A girl of six years old, accepted the award on behalf of Lien, the South China Morning Post said today.

Test of loyalties

China is using the boycott, in part, to test the loyalty of his allies, "said Elizabeth Economy, director of Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Domestic politics plays a role, he said.

"If you do this to be an argument against China by the West, is something people understand," he said.

Liu absence tomorrow will mark the fifth time in 109 years of history of the award a prize winner for peace could not attend for political reasons, according to Lundestad.

The other four were German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky in 1935, the Soviet dissident nuclear physicist Andrei Sakharov in 1975, Polish Solidarity Lech Walesa, founder in 1983 and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 1991. With the exception of Ossietzky, the winners were represented by family members at the awards ceremony.

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Detail Spending Plans to Leapfrog Toyota By Volks Wagen.

Volkswagen AG, the largest European automaker, said today its spending plans for the car business to help achieve the goal of the German company to overtake Toyota Motor Corp. sales and profitability.

20-member of the VW supervisory board will meet to discuss investment including the cost of plants, vehicles and developments affecting the automaker nine brands, said three people briefed on the matter who declined to be identified because the meeting is private.

Wolfsburg, Germany-based VW plans traditionally described rolling medium-term spending in November, with the most recent projection for 25.8 million euros (35 billion) in investments in the automobile business in the three years to 2012. The Board also plans to discuss the progress of cooperation between Scania AB and MAN truckmakers SE, one of the people, he said.

"VW is necessary to adjust spending plans to changing economic conditions and technology factors, but their basic commitments to major markets are already underway," said Frank Biller, an analyst at Landesbank Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart, Germany who recommends buying shares in VW.

Volkswagen's preferred shares traded at € 118.70, or 0.4 percent, at 10:43 am in Frankfurt. The stock has risen 82 percent this year, the best performer on the German benchmark index DAX.

"The steps"

CEO Martin Winterkorn is directed to a second consecutive year of record deliveries which adds about 70 models, including the new compact Audi A1 and VW Touareg SUV successors and Sharan family van. VW plans to sell more than 8 million cars in 2012 and 10 million in 2015, three years before its official target of 2018, a person familiar with the matter said last month.

"They are taking the necessary measures in lucrative markets such as China, India and the U.S.," said Joerg Bode, one of the two members of the VW supervisory board, representing the German state of Lower Saxony, which owns 20 percent of the automaker and has veto rights. "They committed themselves to ambitious targets in the strategy for 2018."

VW declined to comment before the board meeting today.

The supervisory board is also set to vote on extending the contract of acquisition chief Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, to deliberate on VW loans to companies closely linked, and updated information on exchange rate developments and the situation of VW operations in China, India and Brazil, one of the people, he said.

Net liquidity

In late September, Volkswagen reported net cash of 19.6 million euros. Of the € 25800000000 budgeted last November for three years until 2012, € 13,300,000,000 go to the creation of vehicles and the redesign of existing ones.

Spending targets to be announced today may cover a period exceeding three years, one person said.

Toyota, the largest automaker in the world, with a budget of 670 billion yen ($ 8 million) for plant and equipment spending in its fiscal year ending March 2011 and 760 billion yen for research and development. Toyota reveals no spending plan in the medium term.

Volkswagen's board decided in September to produce the Amarok pick-up in Hanover, Germany-based plant from mid-2012, adding a second model, besides the van line T5 at its German plant third largest. VW's initial plans are to build about 40,000 Amaroks in Hannover for the European market. The Amarok, which is sold throughout the world except the U.S., is currently made only in the VW factory in Argentina.

Tiguan compact

VW is also increasing production of vehicles and components in some of its 10 factories located in Germany. The automaker will increase the daily production of the Tiguan compact SUV at its main Wolfsburg plant to 1,000 units next year from 750 and gearbox building more two-way at a factory in Kassel, the source said. About 400 temporary workers at both plants will be offered permanent jobs to meet growing demand, according to the personnel director Jochen Schumm.

This year, VW announced plans to add two more factories in China, bringing the total in the world's largest market for automobiles to 11 as part of an investment of 6000 million euros to double production to 3 million is not present within four years. VW also will open a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, next year to supply the U.S. market and is expanding capacity in Russia.

The board will not decide on measures to promote a possible combination of Scania and MAN, the people said. Scania November 15, said he is considering a merger with MAN to create the largest European manufacturer of commercial vehicles. VW owns 46 percent of Scania and MAN's 29.9 percent.

The board also shall not extend the contract now CEO Winterkorn said the source. The contract, which expired at the end of 2011, may be extended at the next meeting in February, the people said.

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Rim's winning corporate customers.

Research In Motion Ltd. 's BlackBerry playbook, the tablet designed to compete with Apple Inc. IPAD Steve Jobs, is gaining corporate customers months before its debut.

Insurer Sun Life Financial Inc. agreed to buy up to 1,000 playbooks, and Canadian banking unit of ING Groep NV said it has also committed to purchase the device. Companies like Manulife Financial Corp. is testing the product, which goes on sale next quarter.

RIM first found success selling its BlackBerry smartphone for businesses and offers guarantees as trying to challenge the dominance of Apple in the booming market for tablets. RIM, based in Waterloo, Ontario, is betting on the security measures the playbook, such as email encryption, to win over companies accustomed to working with the BlackBerry.

"Encryption was really the deciding factor in choosing the playbook," said Tom Reid, vice president of Sun Life. Sun Life plans to buy between 500 and 1,000 playbooks initially and may increase that number because it starts to use more widely, he said.

Apple declined to comment, said spokeswoman Natalie Harrison. Last month, Apple said that more than 65 percent of the Fortune 100 companies are implementing or piloting the IPAD, such as Procter & Gamble Co., Lowe's Cos. and Hyatt Hotels Corp.

The Cupertino, California-based company sold 3 million iPads in the first 80 days after the product was released in April, showing that there is demand for a device that extends the gap between laptops and smartphones like the BlackBerry and the iPhone. Apple had a share of 95 percent of the tablet market last quarter, according to Strategy Analytics.

Carving a niche

Apple's dominance is a concern and I do not think it would be prudent to design the massive turnover "for the playbook," said Tero Kuittinen, an analyst at MKM Partners LP.

However, RIM has the opportunity to gain a foothold, said Stamford, Connecticut Kuittinen, who has a "buy" rating on the shares. Sale of 3,000,000 playbooks in 2011 would increase the sales of RIM and profits "significantly," he said. "This does not have to be a drive device for six to eight million RIM."

RIM rose $ 1.33, or 2.4 percent, to $ 57.25 on the Nasdaq Stock Market at 4 pm New York time. Apple rose $ 7.93, or 2.6 percent, to $ 308.43. RIM has fallen 15 percent this year as Apple rose 46 percent.



In addition to adding a source of income, the playbook is an opportunity for RIM to regain some momentum for Apple, whose iPhone has stolen market share from the BlackBerry and start winning some corporate customers. Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. are considering the possibility that employees use the iPhone as an alternative to BlackBerry, three people familiar with the plans said earlier this month.

Toronto-based Sun Life, the third largest insurance company in Canada, plans to allow new members of pension plan registration directly on the tablet and RIM has already built an application playbook, Reid's world first Instead, he said.

For the Canadian unit of Amsterdam-based ING, familiarity with the BlackBerry makes the playbook attractive, Chief Information Officer Kithulegoda Charaka said.

"The playbook fits nicely into the existing infrastructure, architecture, security policies, all we have in place," said Kithulegoda.

BlackBerry Investment

ING said it is to buy an unspecified number of playbooks for employees and is also building a banking application for customers.

The tablet is expected to connect to the BlackBerry server ING team "outside the box," meaning the company does not have many of the security concerns that would be faced with an unknown device, Kithulegoda said.

The playbook will sell for "below" $ 500, RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie said in an interview this month. IPAD starts at $ 499 for a model with 16 gigabytes of memory and the price rises for versions with more storage capacity. Version original playbook will connect to the Internet through a Wi-Fi or tethered to a BlackBerry user.

Manulife, the third largest insurance company in North America, is testing the playbook as part of the RIM playbook early development program, said Tom Nunn, a company spokesman based in Toronto. Manulife plans to use the playbook "to leverage our investment in the past" BlackBerry, "said Nunn.

War of words

Playbook features built to attract business users are its two cameras that allow video conferencing and a 7-inch (18 - centimeter) screen that makes the device more portable and easier to fit in a pocket coat or jacket that the iPad.

Apple CEO Jobs said the device last month as the playbook is "dead on arrival" because they are too small to compete with the iPad, which has a 9.7 inch screen.

That led to RIM to post a clip of the performance of the playbook on the Web, compared with the IPAD in performing various tasks, including Web browsing and video playback. Balsillie said the video shows the playbook is three to four times faster than its rival Apple.

ING Kithulegoda sold in the playbook of features. He just wants to enter the market more quickly and said it is in talks with RIM to get the playbook as soon as possible for trial.

"Yesterday would have been better, but I'll settle for the next year," he said.

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Who Know your secrets on internet?

The company knows where to invest their money and how much you owe on your mortgage. We know the credit card numbers, the amount of your weekly paycheck and the amount you actually spend on shoes.

If you have placed online, you've probably used Yodlee without knowing it. More than 200 financial institutions, including Citibank and Bank of America to use their services, touching nearly 26 million consumers. Your bank probably uses its technology, too, but Yodlee does not like to name names.

Yodlee is the proverbial man behind the curtain. So what exactly does it do?

When you log into your bank and transfer money between your savings and checking accounts, which is Yodlee to provide the technology to make the transaction happen. Paying a bill online? Yodlee. Register for an account? Yodlee. Analyze what you spend? Yodlee.
9 ways to mange your money smart new

Then there are its finest financial management tools. Yodlee can add all the consumer financial information and serve a bank or personal finance Web site such as Mint.com, which lets you view your financial health in an instant.

For example, Bank of America, the website, customers can see all their bank accounts in one place. Behind the scenes, Yodlee has scraped your financial data from its various lenders - student loans, mortgage holder, credit cards, 401 (k), checking, savings - and gave it to Bank of America. (With a login and permissions, of course. But more on that later.) In this way, you can analyze spending, budget and objectives set by all accounts.

"Unlike Facebook and Google, which are very visible, Yodlee has quietly nurtured the same type of services across all banks," said Schwark Satyavolu, who co-founded Yodlee and worked there for eight years before moving to start his own company, a startup online personal finance called BillShrink. "Yodlee is the 800 pound gorilla in the room, but did not even realize it's there."
0:00 / 2:28 The next big star of technology?

It is also the only gorilla in the room. Founded in 1999, Redwood City, California-based company has a strong advantage over their competitors just like Geezeo and Strands.

"Yodlee was clearly the most innovative and technologically savvy cultural perspective - which is about taking calculated risks," said Devon Kinkead, CEO of Micronotes, a new company that is using the services of Yodlee. "What we have done is build a platform and invited a group of strong companies, innovative and banks, so they are very well positioned for growth and have become very difficult to compete."

In fact, some competitors - Strands like - are actually turning to Yodlee for their data aggregation services.
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"Even his competitors are called clients, which is a pretty good situation to be," said Ron Shevlin, senior analyst specializing in retail banking at Aite Group. "While the market is not going to get down to them, given their ability and their history, have a good chance of staying on top."

And for some companies, in partnership with Yodlee has been a life or death decision. Wesabe, a site of financial management principles, attributes of their inability to despise Yodlee. Wesabe Mint.com was a competitor, and one chose to work with Yodlee, and one did not.

"Since [Yodlee] had effectively has no competitors, I do not think you should join our company to a single source provider," founder Marc Hedlund Wesabe recently wrote in his blog. "Mint Yodlee ... used to automatically obtain the user's data bank sites and import them into Mint, and the result was a user experience much easier to get bank data imported."
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Mint.com is considered the leader in the area of personal finance management and was recently acquired by Intuit. As part of the agreement, however, is the transition to internal aggregation of Intuit, instead of Yodlee.

One of the reasons given for avoiding Wesabe Yodlee was his property, which meant Mint, too. In particular, the Mint said he was concerned because the company had not yet acquired.

"That has always been a concern," said Aaron Patzer, vice president of Intuit Personal Finance and founder of Mint.com. "They have been around for 11 years so it is less worrying now, but since they are a private company that is hard to know how they are doing."

Yodlee, which is backed by investors such as Accel and Warburg Pincus, said he has seen revenues rise 30% over the past three years and now has 700 employees.

"Our finances are extremely strong," said chief marketing and strategy Yodlee, Joe Polverari. "In terms of being acquired, our goal is not to be the classic model of 'Pump It Up and hype up' for someone to buy it. - Our goal was to be the next real platform for financial services"

But Shevlin said he can think of a number of companies likely to have Yodlee on their radar.

"The high-tech companies that provide all the basic applications very boring for the management of transactions to banks - that space really has been consolidating," he said. "Fidelity Information Services, Fiserv, Jack Henry - any of them could be good candidates for the acquisition of Yodlee and the creation of a single window for banks."

So, with Yodlee as broad access to information for consumers should be concerned about your privacy?

"There is no reason why anyone should be more concerned about Yodlee security that the security of your bank, or any company that does business with the Internet," said Shevlin.

Yodlee is audited and monitored by the federal government, like a bank. It is also audited by the financial institutions it serves. And he said Polverari, Yodlee has never had a security violation.

"The proof of the pudding is that we had all the major banks audit every single piece of our infrastructure - everything from our data center to our office - and we had the cumulative feedback of all banks and became a fortress Yodlee "said Satyavolu. "Not only is safe, but with the privacy policy [Yodlee's] financial data of an individual is completely useless."

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Facebook Inc. introduced an email service for users

Facebook Inc. introduced an email service for users of its social networking site, intensifying competition with Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

Facebook is giving all users a "facebook.com @" email address, Mark Zuckerberg, the company's CEO, said today at an event in San Francisco. The new service will include text messaging and instant messaging, as well as traditional email.

By adding e-mail, Palo Alto, California, Facebook offers an alternative to Google's Gmail, the fastest growing service web mail in the last year. It also increases pressure on Microsoft and Yahoo, who are competing for the attention of Web users who rely more on social sites, and contact information with friends.

"This is not a murderer-mail," said Zuckerberg. "Maybe we can help push messaging is to make this time more towards simple, real, immediate and personal experience."

Gmail had 193.3 million global users in September, up 21 percent from the previous year, according to Reston, Virginia, comScore Inc. data monitoring Gmail still trails Microsoft's Windows Live Hotmail users 361,700,000 Yahoo and 273100000. Both of the services recorded declines of visitors in September the same period last year.

With Facebook's new product, users can send messages to friends who appear as text messages from mobile phones, emails or instant messages, based on the preferences that were set for each friend. Previously, users could receive alerts in your e-mail when it was published a photo or friends commented on his Facebook wall.

Best Filter

Facebook users can now drop Microsoft Office documents to your messages in the network, Microsoft said in a blog today.

Facebook, the world's largest social networking services, you may be able to filter spam better than other rivals in the data webmail friend, Danny Sullivan, who runs the Web site Search Engine Land, said in an interview.

"The idea of a white list of people who are just friends with you - it sounds very good," said Sullivan. "This could put pressure on Google" to improve its system of classification of messages that are important to users.

Yahoo last month took steps to make their service more attractive to Web users love social networking. There was a version that integrates e-mail messages and the microblogging site Twitter Inc. provides information at faster speeds. The service, still in a testing phase, also improves search, spam protection and viewing photos.

AOL Inc., the market leader in one-time email, preview changes to your web mail yesterday. New features allow users to view images, maps and other accessories contained in a message on a panel at the side of the screen. AOL was fifth on the website of e-mail in September with 30.7 million users, a decline of 18 percent over the previous year.

"Email remains one of the killer apps on the internet," said Brad Garlinghouse, senior vice president of AOL's consumer products that ran through Yahoo e-mail until you go to AOL last year. "We recognize we are not only in the business of e-mail, we are in the business of communication."

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GM said the IPO likely in the final price high or above

General Motors could sell the IPO next week, above the forecast price range and exercise of an option to increase the size of the IPO amid signs of strong demand, two people familiar with the deal said.

The six receiving GM executives have received from investors on the tour this week to promote the IPO has been strong enough to sell the shares at the top of the range offer of $ 26 to $ 29 or more $ 30, said the people, who declined to be identified because the information is private. SAIC Motor Corp., GM's partner in China, will probably be one of the buyers, three people familiar with the plans said.

GM likely to exercise its call greenshoe or over-allotment option, the grant of 54,800,000 shares more subscribers, the people said. That would help the U.S. Treasury Department to recover more than 49.5 billion U.S. dollars of public investment in the automaker based in Detroit. Strong demand for the IPO may also help to ensure higher prices when the U.S. sold its remaining shares in the offer later.

Noreen Pratscher, a GM spokesman, declined comment.

The offer of 365 million shares, or 24 percent of the shares of the automaker, and several times oversubscribed, one of the people, he said. The banks arranging the sale will continue taking orders until the tour ends next week, to avoid the perception that any potential investor to be excluded, the source said. GM is expected to price its initial public offering on November 17.

"Unlike Real '

The automaker is taking orders for large institutional investors who tend to be long-term shareholders by about $ 32 per share, one person said. About 15 percent to 20 percent of the offering will go to the people, the source said.

GM shareholders could sell about $ 2 billion in shares to sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia in the allocation of $ 500 million, the source said.

Joe Phillippi, principal of consulting firm AutoTrends Inc. in Short Hills, New Jersey, said that the IPO was sold to institutional investors was a good sign for taxpayers because it means that GM is willing to find buyers without having to aggressively market the shares to people.

"Only things stock in retail when the offer is wrong," said Phillippi.

Large institutions are likely to keep the population of more than hedge funds or individuals, which means they are not sold quickly and put downward pressure on stocks, he said.

GM gains

The offer comes 16 months after it emerged from bankruptcy GM backed. The company reported third quarter net profit of 2.16 billion U.S. dollars this week, bringing the carmaker's earnings this year to 4.77 billion U.S. dollars. That topped the 4.46 billion U.S. dollars profit for Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota Motor Corp., according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

500 of Standard & Poor's has risen to a maximum of two years this month amid signs the U.S. economy not slip back into recession after the longest contraction since the Great Depression.

"It was enough money on the table that the money managers that there is a real setback," said Phillippi. "GM had a good third quarter."

Without the exercise of the greenshoe, the Treasury Department's involvement would be reduced to 43 percent from 61 percent now, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If the over-allotment option is used, the share would drop to 41 percent, according to the filing.

UAW, Canada

The confidence of the United Auto Workers' retiree health care would reduce its stake to 15.3 percent from 19.9 percent under the basic plan, and the Canadian government's position would be reduced to 9.6 percent from 11 , 7 percent. With the greenshoe, union trust would fall to 14.6 percent and Canada 9.3 percent.

SAIC is likely to buy a small number of shares, three people said. The objective of the Chinese auto maker is to show support for its U.S. partner, one person said. The Treasury Department wants to avoid the impression that a Chinese company is the acquisition of GM, two people said. SAIC is likely to buy a stake of 1 percent or less, people have said.

At a price of $ 29 per share over-allotment option would raise another $ 1,150,000,000 to the Treasury Department, which the government's total initial public offering to $ 8.8 billion.

The Treasury does not sell GM shares for an average of $ 43.67 per share - 51 percent more than the upper end of the range it offers - to break even, according to a person familiar with the planning.

Mark Paustenbach, a Treasury spokeswoman declined comment.

Ford's market value

A $ 29 per share, GM would have a market capitalization of $ 43.5 million, based on 1.5 million shares remaining outstanding after the offering, according to the filing of the company. Dearborn, Michigan, Ford Motor Co. has a market value of 56.6 billion U.S. dollars.

Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. is a leader in the supply, according to the regulations. Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Royal Bank of Canada are among the companies also listed in the brochure.

TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., the U.S. brokerage third largest retail customers, will not participate in the initial public offering of GM, according to an e-mail Christina Goethe, a company spokesman in Omaha, Nebraska-based.

"We were informed that we will not receive an allocation of shares," he said. "We have several relationships with underwriting firms of different products, and in this case the company is underwriting the share allocation for this offer."

Fidelity customers

Fidelity Investments customers who either do 36 operations a year, has $ 100,000 of assets to the company, Fidelity or the use of "premium services" to wealthy have access to the IPO, according to Steve Austin, a spokesman the Boston-based firm.

Fidelity has a strategic relationship with Deutsche Bank, which allows GM to offer the shares to its customers, he said. Austin declined to say what Fidelity allocation will be for the initial public offering or the amount of claim is being of their clients.

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