Barack Obama, Catholics and contraceptives: “The accommodation”

IT IS not every day that Republicans can seize on an issue that encapsulates everything they hate about Barack Obama. The recent scandal over contraception comes close. Mr Obama had ordered that all employer-sponsored health insurance cover contraception. The president has ample reason to make contraception available, as my colleague describes here. Churches were exempt; institutions such as Catholic hospitals, which employ workers of all faiths, were not.

The bishops, naturally, went berserk, but so did conservatives. Making Americans buy health insurance was bad enough, an encroachment on personal liberty, they thundered. Making Americans pay for something they believe to be morally wrong was utterly unacceptable. This was government overreach of the most extreme kind.

The furore continued to build. In recent days Mitt Romney attacked the president for the rule. This inspired the usual meta jujitsu, as Mr Romney’s competitors attacked Mr Romney for the attack, which they judged to be insincere.

Given all this, it was almost inevitable that Mr Obama would capitulate, or in the words of his senior advisors, offer an “accommodation”. Today the White House announcedthat religious groups would not have to cover or subsidise contraception. Instead, insurers would be obliged to offer contraception free of charge, with the guarantee that the religious employers’ premium would not rise accordingly.

The Catholic Hospital Association and Planned Parenthood are each apparently placated by the change. On first blush it seems like a sensible solution to a tricky problem. But the fight won’t go away. The religious institutions are exempt because they believe contraception to be morally wrong. What about any individual business owner who feels the same way? Why not apply the exemption to him? Mr Obama may have stamped out today's fire but it is sure to flare up elsewhere.

Via | http://www.economist.com/

After Steve Jobs 2012: China IP dispute threatens iPad exports (Problems for Apple)

Apple’s long-running dispute over the iPad trademark in China could threaten global shipments of the popular tablet as the company which registered the trademark in the country is seeking an export ban from Chinese customs.

Proview Technology (Shenzhen), a struggling Taiwanese-owned electronics company in southern China, is asking the customs administration to seize iPads passing through Chinese ports for import or export, its lawyers said on Tuesday. The move raises pressure ahead of Proview Shenzhen and Apple’s latest round of negotiations this week aimed at settling the dispute.
It also highlights the risks for multinationals producing in China for the world market as Chinese law allows plaintiffs in intellectual property disputes to mobilise customs against the defendant.
“This is one of the most effective tools in intellectual property disputes in China,” said Kenny Wong, head of the IP practice at Mayer Brown JSM, the law firm. “Once you complain to customs, they have to act provided you have recorded your rights with them. With a Rmb100,000 [$15,900] bond, you can hold millions of dollars in goods.”
China’s official trademark database shows that Proview Shenzhen registered the iPad trademark in China as early as 2000. In 2006, Apple bought the iPad trademark for several markets, including the European Union, from Proview Taiwan, another affiliate of Proview International, the groups’ Hong Kong-listed holding company. Only after Apple started selling the iPad in China did it realize Proview Shenzhen’s claim to the trademark there.
In December, a Shenzhen court rejected Apple’s request to have the China trademark transferred to its name, a ruling that Apple has appealed against.
According to legal experts, it normally takes up to a month to record a patent or trademark with customs. After it is recorded, customs will seize shipments from a sender other than the rights holder if it discovers them during random checks. Rights holders achieve more regular shipment blockages if they tip off customs on incoming shipments.
When goods are seized under this procedure, a court has to decide on the infringement claims, but customs can fine the defendant and the shipments remain blocked for the duration of the court case.
In 2006, Hitachi was forced to stop using a hard disk trademark because a Chinese rival that owned the trademark had blocked the Japanese firm’s shipments through customs.
“Multinationals frequently use this against counterfeiters, but it is also being used by Chinese companies against foreign firms,” said Li Yongbo, an IP expert with Jijia, a Beijing law firm. He said many foreign companies failed to register trademarks in China because they were not aware that this mattered for exports as well.
“Apple appears not to have done its due diligence properly in this case,” said Mr Wong. “Of course they are well-known and everyone now knows the iPad name in connection with them, but in this case, the trademark is owned by somebody else. They can’t keep selling under a trademark that they don’t own.”
Apple said that it bought Proview’s worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago. “Proview refuses to honour their agreement with Apple in China and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter. Our case is still pending in mainland China,” it said.
A customs spokesman declined to comment.

By Kathrin Hille in Beijing
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Cantor Wando, conhecido pelo sucesso 'Fogo e Paixão', morre aos 66 anos

Cantor Wando, conhecido pelo sucesso 'Fogo e Paixão', morre aos 66 anos: http://migre.me/7QnSS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nTg5wkhLPo

DVD Wando Ao Vivo. Fogo e Paixão Wando Composição: Rose Você é luz É raio estrela e luar Manhã de sol Meu iaiá, meu ioiô Você é "sim" E nunca meu "não" Quand...
•| Conoscere x Decidere - http://www.ecumene24.com |•

ANGOLA RECORDA OS HERÓIS DO 4 DE FEVEREIRO - início da Luta Armada de Libertação Nacional

Angola recorda e presta hoje homenagem aos heróis do 4 de Fevereiro, no dia em que se assinala o 51º aniversário do início da Luta Armada de Libertação Nacional. A data constitui, por isso, um marco indelével na história da resistência angolana em prol da independência nacional.

A efeméride comemora o histórico  ataque à Casa de Reclusão e à Cadeia de São Paulo, em Luanda, no dia 4 de Fevereiro de 1961, com o objetivo de libertar os presos políticos e, assim, pôr fim à ocupação colonial portuguesa.

O acto central das comemorações teve lugar no Município do Porto Amboim, na província do Kwanza Sul, com a presença do Ministro dos Antigos Combatentes e Veteranos da Pátria, Kundi Paihama, em representação oficial do Chefe de Estado José Eduardo dos Santos.

Kundi Paihama exortou os precursores da Luta Armada de Libertação Nacional a persistirem “com a mesma determinação, rumo à reconciliação, reconstrução nacional e união” de Angola.
O Ministro apelou, por isso, à conjugação de esforços no sentido de se prosseguir com o trabalho que está a ser desenvolvido pelo Executivo de José Eduardo dos Santos, com vista a  uma maior inclusão social de toda a população.

Apesar da difícil conjuntura internacional, o governante destaca a implementação dos projetos de impacto social, traduzidos num acrescido número de escolas, hospitais, centros médicos, vias de comunicação, redes de transporte, repartições administrativas e habitações, com o intuito de permitir que toda a população possa usufruir de melhores condições de vida e bem-estar.

Mark Zuckerberg, o nascimento de um jovem multi-bilionário

Nesta vida a sorte não é tudo, mas tem o seu valor. Acabo de ler que o jovem ebreo Mark Zuckerberg, fundador do Facebook, poderá em breve transformar-se no mais jovem bilionário na história da humanidade.

O mérito é seu, antes de tudo, por ter dado ao mundo este serviço que hoje mantém ligados mais de 900.000.000 milhões de pessoas. Outro mérito é do mundo especulativo financeiro das várias bolsas de valores ocidentais, a  New York Stock Exchange, vulgo Wall Street, em particular. De facto, segundo informações de fontes fidedignas, dentre as quais o semanal The Economist, entre a primavera de 2012, a criatura de Zuckerberg será quotada na Bolsa de valores de americana (NYSE), com um valor acionário avaliado em 100 bilhões de dólares. É muito dinheiro junto, mas considerando as potencialidades deste instrumento todas as previsões de crescimento são dadas como positivas.

Nos últimos tempos foram objecto de especulação as entradas em bolsas do Google, com ofertas públicas iniciais - (Initial public offering - Ipo) - no valor de 1,92 biliões de dólares em 2004, com posterior avaliação complessiva em em 23 biliões. Actualmente as ações do Google custam 600Usd por cada uma. Outra empresa tecnológica de grande impacto bolsistico foi a Zynga com uma Ipo no valor de 1 bilião de dólares em 2011, segue-se aGroupon com 805 milhões e a Linkedin com 406 milhões.

Actualmente Zuckerberg detém o 28% das ações totais do social network, que uma vez em Borsa se traduzirão em 28 bilhões de dólares na sua conta bancária. Estas informações foram giradas por alguns analistas que seguem tim por tim, ou seja a longa caminhada do Facebook verso Wall Street. Assim nasce o mais jovem multi-bilionário que a história da humanidade ja viu e já contou.

Kingamba Mwenho
Por Angola, hoje e sempre!

PALANCAS NEGRAS 2012–A Seleção nacional angolana no Can 2012.

Acabou o sonho, lutamos mal, sofremos bem, que girem as cabeças!

Sanctions dodge: India to pay gold for Iran oil, China may follow

India has reportedly agreed to pay Tehran in gold for the oil it buys, in a move aimed at protecting Delhi from US-sanctions targeting countries who trade with Iran. China, another buyer of Iranian oil, may follow Delhi’s lead.

The report, by the Israeli-based news website DEBKAfile, states that Iran and India are negotiating backup alternatives with China and Russia, should the US and EU find a way to block the gold payment mechanism.

Delhi’s move is seen as surprising, as earlier India and Iran said they would switch to yen and rupees. China, another major importer of Iranian oil, may follow Delhi’s lead, the report adds.

India and China need to switch from the dollar in bilateral trade, since the US and EU have issued unilateral sanctions against the Iranian oil industry and financial institutions. The sanctions would ban any bank involved in oil trade with Iran from dealing with American and European counterparts.

Both India and China, two major buyers of Iranian oil accounting for 22 and 13 percent of its total export respectively, have refused to join such sanctions. This means they have to establish a reliable way of paying for crude, independently of the parts of the global financial system controlled by New York and London.

Delhi’s current plan is to effect payments through two state-owned banks, India’s UCO Bank and Turkey’s Halk Bankasi, Turkey being another country refusing to join the sanction spree.

The US issued sanctions against Iran in December, aiming to put pressure on the Islamic Republic and make its controversial nuclear program more transparent. The EU joined the initiative on Monday, banning new oil contracts with Iran, but allowing current ones to be fulfilled.

Australia on Tuesday became the latest country to voice plans for such an embargo, although the move would be more symbolic than practical, considering the country’s small share in Iran’s oil export.

Japan and South Korea, two other major buyers of Iranian crude, are in talks with Washington over the issue, although both Seoul and Tokyo are worried that stopping their imports could hurt their economies.

Iran, which is highly dependent on its sales of oil, is reacting to the sanction campaign nervously. Tehran says it will not yield to pressure, and threatens to block the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil tanker route in the Persian Gulf.

A presto

Haki

Via | flipsideoftheeconomy