World - OZ News Update

[phongpham]

Vietnam to act on software piracy June 21 '05
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Vietnam-t...9321720582.html

Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has promised Microsoft boss Bill Gates that he'll combat software piracy, which is rampant in his country.

Khai - the most senior official of the communist state to visit the United States since the Vietnam war ended 30 years ago - will meet US President George W Bush with trade and human rights concerns expected to be raised.

...

The Business Software Alliance, a Washington-based lobby group, estimates that 92 per cent of the software used in Vietnam in 2004 was pirated, the highest rate in the world.

Gates said users in Vietnam had downloaded a Vietnamese language package to work on Windows XP and Office 2003 more than 18,000 times since its introduction in March - something he said made Microsoft rededicate its commitment to Vietnam.

...

Since Washington and Hanoi restored diplomatic links in 1995, two-way trade has rocketed from just $US451 million ($A581 million) to $US6.4 billion ($A8.25 billion) in 2004.

...

[phongpham]

Extreme oil price undermines shares June 21 '05

http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/extrem...9250928306.html

The sharemarket ended the day lower, depressed by oil prices reaching another record of nearly $US60 a barrel.

Investors are worried that higher oil prices will inevitably lead to higher petrol prices and hurt discretionary spending. However, the high oil price provided a strong boost to oil shares, which helped the market touch record highs before falling back in afternoon trading.

The ASX 200 was 6.6 points lower at 4305.6 after hitting a new high of 4321.7.

The All Ordinaries index fell 5 to 4262.3 after earlier touching a new high of 4275.6.

EL&C Baillieu Stockbroking director Richard Morrow said the market was nervous about the impact of higher oil prices on consumer confidence. "The concern is that a higher oil price might trigger a weaker market," he said. "First it will start to eat into consumer confidence."

[phongpham]

Tax time .. maximise depreciation, defer income June 21 '05

WITH the close of the tax year looming, accountants are warning small business that it is not too late to reduce their tax bill, but be careful of those last-minute tax tricks.

(...)"Year-end tax planning for small business owners is essentially the use of legitimate strategies to accelerate deductions and to defer the recognition of income," he said.

(...)Mr Kaleb said the most common tax-planning strategies that business owners should consider before June 30 include deferring income, maximising depreciation claims, stock adjustments, claiming expenses not paid, making payments early, extra super payments and trying the investment play.

(...)

Interested? Please follow the link:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...255E643,00.html

[phongpham]

Tokyo still world's costliest city June 21 '05

Tokyo remains the world's most expensive city, while fellow Japanese metropolis Osaka has risen to second place and London has slipped to third, according to a ranking of the globe's costliest cities released overnight.

In Australia, Sydney is still the most expensive city at 20th place (unchanged), with a score of 95.2 (relative to New York at 100).

Other high-scoring Australian cities include Melbourne in 68th position (80) and Brisbane in 84th place (74.9).

Across the Tasman, Auckland and Wellington move up in the rankings to 69th and 76th place respectively (scores 79.6 and 77.5) due to the significant appreciation of the New Zealand dollar against the US dollar.

US cities were absent from the top 10. New York, the most expensive of US cities, placed 13th, one spot lower than in last year's study by Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

Hanoi was ranked 29 last year, this year....here
http://afr.com/articles/2005/06/21/1119250954274.html

[phongpham]

Plan for our first mega-uni

...THREE West Australian universities could join forces to form the nation's first "mega-uni" with more than 70,000 students, in a higher education shake-up that could lead to other similar mergers.

...With students spread across 12 campuses, a combined budget of $750million and assets worth more than $1billion, the new group would rival the funding clout and influence of many of the nation's prestigious Group of Eight "sandstone" universities...

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...255E601,00.html

[phongpham]

Do business or follow science

Gates's faith creates $10m man

... Dr Williams, who developed the technology at Macquarie University, became, on paper at least, one of the nation's richer men after the world's richest man, Bill Gates, agreed to back Proteome Systems's new tuberculosis-fighting biotechnology...

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...55E2702,00.html

[phongpham]

Four pillars outdated

...
He said the policy decreed the big four Australian banks - National Australia Bank, the Commonwealth, Westpac and ANZ - must compete with much larger foreign banks "with one arm tied behind our backs".
...

http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/four-p...9724696918.html

[phongpham]

Who's watching What?

...
 Nine grabbed 25.8 per cent of viewers for the period July 17 to 23, with Seven (sev.ASX:Quote,News) attracting 25.4 per cent.
...
The ABC took 15.1 per cent of the market, with SBS on 11.5 per cent
...
Network Ten attracted a 22.2 per cent share of the viewers for the period, scoring a double whammy with last Sunday's Big Brother live eviction as well as the surprise Logan eviction.

=> http://entertainment.news.com.au/story/0,1...3-10229,00.html

[phongpham]

How much big guys earn in 3 months?

...
Amazon.com said its second-quarter earnings sagged 32 per cent from a year ago...net income for the three months that ended June 30 was $US52 million

...
For the period ended June 30, Sun (Microsystems) earned $US121 million

...
Reuters said underlying recurring revenue from its data terminals, which accounts for 95 per cent of its core revenues, rose 0.4 per cent to STG547 million ($1.26 billion) in the three months ending June 30
(Not net income!!!)

...
Net profit at BP, including exceptional items, jumped 29 per cent to $US4.981 billion ($AUD6.57 billion) for the three months to June 30, compared with $US4.624 billion for the same period the previous year.
 
=> http://afr.com/articles/2005/07/27/1122143871601.html

[phongpham]

Dalai Lama awarded peace prize
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16072555-23109,00.html

THE Dalai Lama was awarded a peace prize by the German state of Hesse overnight "for his policy of non-aggression towards China", the organisers said.

The Dalai Lama received the prize in person on the second day of a three-day visit to Germany.

The president of the foundation which awards the prize, Karl Starzacher, said "more than ever it is now up to the goodwill of Beijing" to start negotiations with Tibet.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule and he is seen by the Chinese authorities as a separatist threat.

Previous winners of the Hesse peace prize include the former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

[phongpham]

Richest OZ's gone - sad day!

Kerry Packer, the richest Australian, passed away today 26 Dec 05 @ 68.

Owning channel 9, Crown Casino,etc. , his estimated net worth is $7 billion (AUD i guess!!!) and ranked 94th in the world.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17669948-2,00.html

So, tops of the list:

   1. William Gates III  (Software, $46.5 bil)
   2. Warren Buffett  (Investments, $44 bil)
   3. Lakshmi Mittal (Steel, $25 bil)
   4. Carlos Slim Helu (Communications, $23.8 bil)
   5. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud (He's prince mate!, $23.7 bil)
   6. Ingvar Kamprad (Retail, $23 bil)
   7. Paul Allen (Software, $21 bil)
   8. Karl Albrecht (Retail, $18.5 bil)
   9. Lawrence Ellison (Software, $18.4 bil)
  10. S Robson Walton (Retail, $18.3 bil)


You can make them richer by buying a computer, groceries, using mobile phone, running a car, or leaving the money any where  ;)