Commodity Trading

London, United Kingdom (AHN) – With the NFL’s fourth annual game at Wembley Stadium Sunday, commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the possibility of a London franchise joining the league.

“Each year, the different barometers indicate that our popularity continues to rise,” Goodell told reporters during a Saturday press conference. “I think the next step will be multiple games (in Europe). And if that’s successful then I think the idea of a franchise here is realistic.”

Goodell said two games will eventually be played across the pond, but economic instability kept it to one this season. Though Wembley eventually sold out for this year’s matchup between struggling teams the San Francisco 49ers (1-6) and Denver Broncos (2-5), tickets did not move very quickly.

While Goodell hopes for one team in the near future, NBA Commissioner David Stern is a bit more ambitious. In Miami for the home debut of the newly-minted Heat, Stern suggested an entire European division could be possible within 10 years.

“It’s a wonderful topic, because 10 years ago, I said, ‘Oh, it’s inevitable, it’ll happen in 10 years. And now what I’m saying is, ‘It’s inevitable, it’ll happen in 10 years,’” Stern said at a business leaders’ luncheon the morning after Miami’s 96-70 thrashing of the Magic.

“But in terms of globalization, we’re going to see a desire for franchises in Europe – and in about 10 years, you’ll send me a postcard.”

Stern hopes to follow the NFL’s footsteps by bringing a game to London by 2012, but an actual franchise may be a bit too far-fetched.

Stern said in February the NBA expects to suffer a $400 million loss this season, and the possibility of league contraction could be on the table in upcoming contract talks.

Both leagues have collective bargaining agreements that end following the current season and have not been renewed.

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Baltimore, MD, United States (AHN) – The School Sisters of Notre Dame are raising money for their cause in an unusual way as they are auctioning off a Honus Wagner baseball card, expecting to yield over $100,000.

The card is part of the T206 series, produced between 1909 and 1911. About 60 Wagner cards are known to exist.

A near-mint-condition T206 Wagner card sold in 2007 for $2.8 million, the highest price ever for a baseball card.

The card was left to the School Sisters of Notre Dame by the brother of a deceased nun. The card is expected to fetch between $150,000 and $200,000.

On Wednesday morning, the highest bid was $60,000.

Proceeds will benefit the sisters’ ministries in 35 countries.

Nicknamed “The Flying Dutchman,” Wagner played for 21 seasons, including 18 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He has a .328 career batting average and was one of the five original inductees into baseball’s Hall of Fame.

The card was printed by the American Tobacco Company while Wagner was one of the best players in baseball.

Production of the Wagner card was halted soon after it began which some have chalked up to Wagner not wanting to promote tobacco products to children.

Others believe it was a dispute over money.

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Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines (AHN) – Metro Manila residents could face a fuel shortage following the order on Thursday by the Makati City government to close the pipeline that delivers 50 to 60 percent of fuel used in the national capital region.

Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. ordered the temporary closure of the pipeline owned by the First Philippine Industrial Corporation because a substance with high concentration of petrochemicals leaked from an exploratory well dug by a task force investigating the source of a leak that had caused the closure of the nearby West Towers condominium.

The well is five meters (5.5 yards) from the FPIC pipeline, which the task forces suspects as the source of the oil leak in West Towers.

The task force previously investigated if the leak came from the tower itself or a nearby buried fuel tank of a shuttered gasoline station, but the investigators have ruled out the two as the source of the leak.

FPIC officials said that even if they have not yet received a copy of Binay’s order to close the pipeline, the company had shuttered it. The FPIC, which claims to have conducted its own investigation, blamed the leaks on holes on the pipeline caused by the task force’s digging, not leaks from the system itself.

FPIC insisted there is no need to shut down the pipeline for long because the company could fix any leak within hours.

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Tokyo, Japan (AHN) – Sony reported profits for the second quarter on Friday, beating expectations and coming back from a loss a year ago. The Japanese electronics giant raised its profit forecast for the full year despite the strong yen.

Net income for the period ended Sept. 30 was 31.1 billion yen ($375 million), up from a loss of 26.3 billion yen a year ago. Revenue rose 4.3 percent to 1.7 trillion yen, driven by an increase in sales in all businesses except the music unit, which fell 10 percent to 111 billion yen ($1.3 million).

Sales of networked products and services, such as personal computers and PS3, led growth with a 5 percent increase to 369.1 billion yen ($4.4 million).

Sony revised its profit outlook for the full year from 60 billion yen to 70 billion yen ($869 million) but said it expects a “difficult business environment” until the end of the year in March 2011.

It cut its sales forecast by 3 percent to 7.4 trillion yen because of the stronger local currency. The average rate of the yen during the quarter was 84.9 yen against the dollar, 9.2 percent higher than during the same period a year ago.

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Charleston, SC, United States (AHN) – Joe Affrunti, James Hahn and Brendan Steele are tied for the lead after Thursday’s first round of the Nationwide Tour Championship.

Affrunti, Hahn and Steele shot 6-under-par 66 on Thursday at Daniel Island and share a one-stroke lead.

William McGirt and Hunter Haas are tied for fourth at 5-under 67. Colt Knost and Australian Scott Gardiner are tied for sixth place at 4-under 68.

A group of nine including the tour’s leading money winner Jamie Lovemark are at 3-under 69.

The Nationwide Tour Championship is the last chance for players to earn 2011 PGA Tour cards through the money list. The top 60 earners qualified for the season-ending tournament at Daniel Island and the top 25 after Sunday’s final round will earn spots on the PGA Tour.

The trio tied for the lead have some work to do this week to automatically earn their PGA Tour cards as Hahn is 29th on the money list, Steele is 30th, and Affrunti 34th.

“It’s important but there’s such a long way to go, especially without a cut,” Steele said. “Even if you don’t play well today it’s not a disaster. Guys that shoot even or a couple over, they can still win the golf tournament.”

Chris Kirk, No. 2 on the money list, withdrew prior to the start of the round with a broken bone at the base of his thumb.

Kirk injured his left thumb last week in Jacksonville and was forced to withdraw from the Jacksonville Open. He visited a doctor in Charleston on Wednesday and an MRI exam revealed the broken bone which will keep him out of action for several weeks.

“I was really looking forward to playing these last couple of tournaments being close to home and all,” said Kirk. “This week was kind of a victory lap week. I’ve had a great year and I’m trying to not to lose sight of that and be thankful I’m in the position I’m in. This week is important but in the grand scheme of things, I’ll be playing in the Sony Open in Hawaii, the first tournament of the year and most of the early events, so I’m in great shape regardless.”

Kirk was not replaced in the field as only the top-60 money-winners are eligible to play in this week’s event. Kirk will receive last-place money of $3,000 but it will not count towards his official earnings for this year.

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Pleasantville, NY, United States (AHN) – Family, friends and members of the Pace University football team paid tribute to Danroy “D.J.” Henry Jr. on Friday as the investigation into his death continued.

A memorial service was held at Boston Convention and Visitor Center on what was supposed to be the 21st birthday of Henry, who played wide receiver and defensive back for the football team. The event will be followed by the first game of the football team since his death, a home game on Saturday that will have players wearing black wristbands emobroidered with his number, 12.

Henry died on Oct. 17 after being shot by Mount Pleasant police trying to contain an unruly crowd in a bar in Thornwood. The business management junior allegedly two struck officers with his car.

Police say an officer had knocked on the window of a car parked in the fire lane outside the bar during the brawl. The car, driven by Henry, accelerated and struck the officer, who ended up on the hood of the vehicle. A second officer attempted to pull the first officer from the hood but was also mowed down by the vehicle. The first officer then shot at the car and another officer fired into the car before it crashed into a police cruiser.

Henry’s family and students who witnessed the incident have raised doubts about the police’s reconstruction of events that led to his death. This week, the family requested the Justice Department to take charge of the investigation, citing the leak of a blood alcohol test as proof the probe is compromised. The family has also criticized police for failing to protect gunpowder evidence on the car.

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Lausanne, Switzerland (AHN) – Research on changing transistor design could result in curbing energy loss in gadgets when they are in idle mode.

Right now, gadgets continue to consume power even when they are in idle mode, resulting in large amounts of wasted power and higher energy bills for consumers. The problem comes from transistor design. Today’s transistors are never completely closed even when they are turned off.

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, in Switzerland, is working on a project to increase energy efficiency in transistors. The project is called Steeper after the transistors it is focusing on, the transistors get their name because they make an abrupt change when they switch between on and off states.

The goal of the Steeper project is to make gadgets and household appliances 10 times more energy efficient when they are being used and to virtually eliminate the energy they consume when they are idle.

About 10 percent of all energy used is consumed by gadgets and appliances in standby mode.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Some journalists complained Thursday during a business conference in Washington, D.C., about what they see as the sunset of the traditional news media while others said the Internet was opening new opportunities.

The Online News Association conference in a downtown Washington hotel was intended to introduce journalists to new job opportunities as many of them try to recover from layoffs.

Newspaper subscription rates are plummeting as more news content gets transferred to Internet Web sites or cable television channels.

Reporters and editors are finding they also must change with the technology or leave the news business.

“Those days are gone,” said Amy Mitchell, deputy director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, which was organized by the Pew Research Center public policy foundation.

She was referring to a time less than 20 years ago when journalists would graduate from college, start as reporters for small newspapers and work their way up through the ranks of management or into jobs at large newspapers.

Now, journalists must combine reporting with other skills as photographers and Internet social media experts, she said. They also must have specialties as journalists, such as business, legal or technology reporters.

Social media refers to Internet sites that allow visitors to interact with one another, such as Facebook and Twitter.

“The idea is how to create your own brand,” Mitchell said.

Other journalists are starting their own blogs, or Web logs, to report on issues important to them.

When the number of visitors to their blogs increases enough to attract advertisers, they sometimes expand the Web sites into Internet news services.

Recent newspaper subscription figures demonstrate that journalists have few other alternatives unless they want to change professions.

The latest U.S. Audit Bureau of Circulations figures show daily newspaper subscriptions fell 5 percent in the six months that ended Sept. 30, compared with one year earlier.

The 5 percent drop was good news compared with the 8.7 percent subscription decline from October to March 2009.

Some newspapers have been trying to recover their losses by raising subscription and newsstand prices, which has made them lose even more readers.

“Overall, there’s still a sense of crisis,” Mitchell said. “There’s still a lot of uncertainty, a lot of hesitation.”

The Audit Bureau of Circulations figures show newspaper subscriptions are not increasing like other consumer markets as the nation recovers from recession.

Instead, readers are getting their news from Web sites, free publications that get their revenue only from ads or from television.

Some Web site operators at the Online News Association conference recommended that journalists develop specialties that appeal to non-traditional media, such as universities or foundations.

Rachel Kaufman, an editor for the journalism career Web site mediabistro.com, said one trade publication, called Amputation Daily, wanted journalists who specialized in writing about surgical amputations.

“They’re very, very specific,” Kaufman said.

Many experienced journalists who spent their careers in the traditional media as reporters or editors are losing their jobs because they lack Internet skills and specialties, said Julie Hartenstein, a Columbia University journalism professor.

“They’re probably not going to get rehired,” she said.

When one middle-aged journalist asked how she could find a job despite a lack of experience with social media, Eric Wee, founder of the career Web site Journalismnext.com, said, “I’d say fake it.”

He suggested that journalists start their own blogs to create the image they are well-versed in Internet journalism.

“Show them you have a blog,” he said.

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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – The Canadian government announced Tuesday the opening of an ombudsman office to resolve disputes involving the overseas operations of Canadian mining companies.

Ottawa opened the office, headed by Marketa Evans, because of mounting complaints of human rights abuses and environmental damage caused by Canadian mining firms abroad.

The announcement came a day ahead of a vote in the House of Commons on a bill authored by Toronto MP John MacKay. The bill pushes for greater corporate responsibility among mining, oil and gas Canadian firms operating in developing nations.

The bill would impose sanctions on Canadian firms proven to have engaged in immoral behavior. The sanctions would affect the companies’ Export Development Canada funding and embassy promotion. MacKay said he filed Bill C-300 because of complaints that some Canadian companies resort to rape and murder to secure their sites, operate without licenses and harm the environment.

The bill passed in April 2009 with a vote of 137-133, but stayed at the committee stage for more than a year because of extensions and the temporary closure of Parliament.

MacKay criticized the ombudsman office for lacking powers to sanction erring Canadian firms, but Evans stressed her office’s role is to solve problems, not to probe. The Mining Association of Canada favored the ombudsman’s office over the body proposed by MacKay’s bill because of the punitive measures in Bill C-300.

Evans is the former director of strategic partnerships for the nonprofit group Plan International.

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Tehran, Iran David Rosenberg – From President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to housewives and shopkeepers, all of Iran is on tenterhooks as the government prepares to slash subsidies that have kept down the cost of everything from gasoline to flour.

Ordinary Iranians, already hard-pressed by inflation and unemployment, are hoarding goods and wondering how they will get through the month as prices of basic goods jump. The government fears the economic dislocation could spark renewed unrest.

“They are very, very much afraid of a backlash,” Hossein Askari, a professor of international business and relations at George Washington University in the U.S., told The Media Line. “Whenever they try to lift subsidies or raise taxes they’ve always have demonstrations. There’s not much room to squeeze people further.”

The subsidy reform gets underway at a difficult time for Iran, which is feeling pressure on multiple fronts. Sanctions imposed by the United Nations to block the country’s nuclear-development efforts were tightened in June, followed by even tougher unilateral steps by Western countries. Also, the government remains tense about internal opposition after Iranians took the streets to challenge the results of the 2009 elections.

The subsidies, begun to help beleaguered households during the hard-fought war with Iraq from 1980 to 1988, cost the government some $100 billion a year. The International Monetary Fund estimates the average family of four benefits to the tune of $4,000 a year just from subsidies for oil and natural gas. That is a huge help for a typical family, which earns the equivalent of about $300 a month, although the rich with their private cars and bigger homes to heat profit the most.

But the subsidies are also a heavy and unsustainable burden on the economy. Iranians waste energy on gas-guzzling cars and an estimated one third of the bread produced is thrown out. Iran has the world’s third biggest reserves of oil, some 136 billion barrels worth an estimated $10 trillion, but it strains to produce enough for export because domestic demand is uncontrolled.

“The structure created in the war economy of the 1980s has become unsustainable because of the demographic explosion of the country, compounded by international sanctions and the departure of technically competent people,” said Anoush Ehteshami, a professor of international relations at Britain’s Durham University.

Iran’s economy has experienced sluggish growth in the last two years, a performance that won’t improve much this year as gross domestic product expands only 1.6 percent even as world oil prices and demand have recovered, according to the International Monetary Fund. Inflation has fallen in the last year, but the Washington DC-based organization warned last week it was beginning to rise again – and that’s without taking into account the subsidy cuts.

The subsidy reform is shrouded in mystery. About all the average Iranian knows is that it will affect energy and water prices, though not flour or bread for now. The government has not said exactly when subsidies will be cut or by how much. A program to put money into people’s bank accounts to help them through the transition to higher prices is no less foggy. While accounts have been credited, the government has reserved the right to decide when the amounts can be withdrawn and has not said how long it will continue to make payments.

Ehteshami of Durham said the secrecy is aimed at preventing unrest by keeping disgruntled consumers and opponents of the regime off balance.

“They are deliberately implementing the reform in stages to avoid it becoming a milestone event,” he told The Media Line.

The Green Movement, which led Iranians into the streets after the disputed 2009 elections, is no longer in a position to lead opposition after a government crackdown, Ehteshami said. Instead, resistance may begin with business people, who face the prospect of government-backed vigilantes monitoring prices on store shelves to prevent gouging.

Although the Revolutionary Guards, the quasi-army that many analysts believe now holds real power in Tehran, is likely to benefit from the reforms, many officials in Ahmadinejad’s government are nervous. Since parliament approved the reforms last January, D-Day for putting them into effect has been postponed at least twice. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati Amsterdam, the hardline leader of the Guardian Council of clerics, warned the government earlier this month about the consequences of the subsidy cuts, Farsi-language Radio Zamaneh reported from Amsterdam.

“The government must not do anything to dissatisfy the nation,” he told worshippers at a Friday sermon.

Ironically, cutting the subsidies may help Iran cope with increasingly onerous Western sanctions by forcing Iranians to consume less energy and reduce the country’s dependence on imported refined oil.

But even though cutting subsidies are usually regarded by economists as good for economic growth and efficiency, Iran is unlikely to benefit, said Askari of GWU. The government hasn’t explained what it will do with money it saves, but Askari suspects it will be used to reward supporters of the regime and punish opponents.

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Jerusalem, Israel (TML) – A new species of jellyfish found off Israel’s coast this summer poses no threat to bathers but should serve warning to countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea about the dangers posed by global warming and damage to the environment.

Named Marivagia stellata and marked by a translucent hue of blue, patterned with red stars, dots, and streaks, two specimens were caught on the southern edge of Haifa Bay and off the coast of Beit Yannai beach this summer. Measuring 15 centimeters (6 inches) in diameter, the fish does not sting humans.

Swimmers view them as a nuisance because of their toxic and painful sting, but scientists have much bigger problems with jellyfish. Hardy survivors, jellyfish thrive in places where overfishing, chemical pollution and rising sea temperatures have killed off other species. Indeed, they serve as a barometer of ocean health.

“It’s bad news,” Bella Galil, a senior scientist at Israel’s National Institute of Oceanography in Haifa, told The Media Line. “We don’t know how this particular species will develop, but the phenomenon causes the displacement, and replacement of native local communities with invasive species, and can destabilize the food chain.”

Surrounded by countries with more than 400 million people, the Mediterranean is one of the most heavily used bodies of water in the world – a fishing ground, a transportation corridor, and the receptacle for sewage and industrial waste. About a third of the world’s total merchant shipping travels on Mediterranean waters and many species have nearly disappeared because of pollution, including the Mediterranean monk seal.

Marivagia stellata is just the latest in a series of invasive jellyfish species that has been discovered in the eastern Mediterranean over the years. Galil said the new species probably originated in the Red Sea or Pacific Ocean and arrived after traveling through Egypt’s Suez Canal, which connects the Red Sea with the Mediterranean.

“The Mediterranean is a very well-studied sea,” said Galil, who was among the team of scientist to identify the new species. “Because the jellyfish was found so close to shore, it is very unlikely that this jellyfish would escape notice in a sea studied so extensively.”

In fact, Marivagia stellata probably found its way into the Mediterranean at least a few years ago. Galil said a specimen was discovered off the Israeli coast in 2006, but was lost before it could be positively identified. Another specimen was probably caught off the coast of Lebanon in October, according to local media reports, which Galil termed a “bad omen.”

“It means that it just arrived and already has established in a fairly wide population and that it has the potential to increase and go further,” she said.

The Mediterranean has been invaded by successive waves of outside species, a process that began after the Suez Canal opened in 1869 and linked the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and from there to the Indian Ocean, according to Professor Menachem Goren, a marine biologist at Tel Aviv University. Among the more infamous interlopers is the jellyfish Rhopilema nomadica, which is called “hutit” in Hebrew and began swarming the southeast Mediterranean in the 1980s, inflicting painful injuries on unwary swimmers.

“Recently this phenomenon has accelerated and the number of invasive species has increased sharply,” said Goren, who attributed the increase to rising water temperature resulting from global climate change.

Scientists say it is too soon to tell what impact the new species will have. But jellyfish are blamed for clogging water intake pipes at desalination plants and coastal power plants. Marivagia stellata and the increased jellyfish population could disturb the underwater food chain, scientists say. Jellyfish consume the plankton that other fish eat and prey on fish larvae.

Goren was careful not to speculate on the threat posed by Marivagia stellata, but noted that, “another jellyfish almost completely destroyed local fisheries in the Black Sea 10 years ago.”

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London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – British Prime Minister David Cameron attempted Monday to win back the trust of Britons after Chancellor George Osborne unveiled last week a spending review that revealed $121.5 billion (81 billion pounds) in program cuts. Cameron was scheduled to promise jobs and growth over the next four years as part of a new economic dynamism the coalition government will pursue.

Cameron’s speech at the Confederation of British Industries sought to counter fears that the austerity measures will place at risk the country’s fragile economic recovery. A major British think tank has warned that the budget cuts will affect all British families, regardless of their economic standing.

To boost the British economy, which in turn is expected to create growth, jobs and opportunities, Cameron secured the backing of big business in opening up access to finance, creating an attractive business environment for venture capital funding and opening lending anew to small businesses.

Cameron expects the private sector to take the lead in replacing the 500,000 public sector jobs to be lost because of the budget cuts.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Business Secretary Vince Cable will also address the CBI in a bid to convince business leaders that the spending review would not result to a double-dip recession for Britain. However, gross domestic product figures scheduled for release this week are expected to confirm that growth has slowed in the third quarter to 0.4 percent from 1.2 percent in the second quarter.

Labor leader Ed Miliband will also address the CBI.

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Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates David Rosenberg – Economic growth is returning to the Middle East, but not quite at the pace of the go-go years of soaring oil prices and massive real estate development.

An International Monetary Fund report released Sunday estimated the combined economies of the region stretching from Morocco to Pakistan would expand by 4.2 percent this year, almost double the pace of 2009. They will grow even faster in 2011, with the region clocking an expansion of 4.8 percent.

“We expect most countries in the region to grow faster in 2010 and 2011 than in 2009,” Masood Ahmed, director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, said in a press release.

Although the global financial crisis took down the region’s highest flying economies, most of the Middle East weathered the worst economic contraction well. The world economies shrank 0.6 percent in 2009 as the impact of bad home loans in the U.S. reverberated through the world’s financial markets. In the Middle East, economies continued to expand, albeit at a pokier 2.3 percent pace.

The Middle East’s oil exporters will likely see economic growth pick up to 3.8 percent from 1.1 percent in 2009 as oil prices climb to an average of $76 a barrel, according to the Washington, DC-based IMF. In 2011, the rate of growth will probably accelerate to 5 percent as oil prices average $79 a barrel. Still, that leaves the oil economies growing at a slower pace than in the pre-recession years.

Oil exporters remain too vulnerable to fluctuations in the global price of petroleum, which traded at $82.10 on Friday. While not all Middle East’s big oil exporters are that heavily dependent on oil for economic output, they all rely on oil revenue for half or more of their government budgets.

For the Middle East’s oil importers, the pick-up in growth will be less dramatic. GDP growth will reach 5 percent this year, a 0.4 percentage point improvement over 2009, before slowing to 4.4 percent in 2010, the IMF report said. Egyptian GDP growth will show steady improvement this year and next, although well below the pre-recession rates when growth exceeded 6.5 percent annually. Pakistan, reeling from the impact of floods last summer, will see economic growth slow considerably from previous forecasts.

The IMF report warned that as strong as the recovery has been for the region, it is still not enough to provide jobs for the Middle East’s large and growing population of young people. It estimated that half the population is under age 25 while the average jobless rate in 2008 was 11 percent. For the region to create enough jobs, its combined economy would have to grow 6.5 percent annually over a sustained period, something it has never managed to do.

“There is now a recovery happening in the emerging markets in the region,” Ahmed said at a forum in Dubai. “But they are not growing fast enough to create the jobs they need.”

The Middle East needs 18.5 million jobs over the next decade, about 7 million more than it will create if it keeps to its previous rate of growth, the IMF said, admitting this was a “tall order.”

For all its oil wealth, the Middle East lags behind the world’s emerging economies. Since 1990, GDP has increased 55 percent for the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, but the emerging Asian economic powers have boosted their output by 200 percent in the same period, the IMF said. The region’s governments can accelerate economic growth by paring back on government regulation and privatizing state-owned enterprises and liberalizing labor markets. The Middle East also needs to redirect more of its trade from the slower-growth economies of Europe to burgeoning Asia, it said.

Inflation is also rearing up in some Middle East countries, the IMF warned. In Saudi Arabia it accelerated from 3.5 percent in October 2009 to 6.1 percent last August. In Iran, consumer prices were moderating until recently – showing from a 30 percent rise at the end of 2008 to 7 percent a year ago. But they have since begun rising to a 10 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2010, the IMF report said.

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Zhangpu, Fujian, China (AHN) – China’s Xinhua news agency reports that super typhoon Megi has hit Zhangpu city in China’s southeastern province of Fujian, with winds up to 87 miles per hour. The storm is forecast to bring up to four inches of rain in some areas in the next 12 hours.

More than 270,000 people were evacuated while 79 flights to and from Xiamen airport, Fujian province, were canceled as of 8:30 a.m. local time. Since 7 a.m. Saturday, the Dadeng Bridge connecting Xiamen to Dadeng Island has been closed as a safety precaution.

Megi is the 13th typhoon to hit China this year.

According to an advisory of the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Megi is expected to weaken to a tropical storm as it moves farther into China. The center is also tracking two tropical depressions over the Pacific Ocean east of the Philippines.

The first tropical depression, located 1,500 kilometers east-northeast of Manila, is expected to become a tropical storm Sunday and as it proceeds to Japan is forecast to develop into a typhoon in five days. The second depression was found northeast of Saipan and is forecast to move northwest, away from land.

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Boca Raton, FL, United States (AHN) – Office Depot has agreed to pay $1 million to settle allegations that it violated fair disclosure laws in 2007.

The Boca Raton-based company was charged with selectively informing analysts and investors that it would not meet earnings estimates and of overstating earnings the same year because of accounting violations. It did not admit to guilt under the settlement, which also requires two executives to pay penalties.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, chief executive officer Stephen Odland and then-chief financial officer Patricia McKay “discussed how to encourage analysts to revisit their analysis of the company” as the second quarter of 2007 ended. The company then made one-on-one calls to its largest shareholders and analysts, who subsequently lowered their estimates for the period.

Office Depot did not directly tell analysts that it would not meet expectations but made references to statements of other companies about the effects of the weak economy on earnings. The calls, which the SEC said were uncommon, provided selected investors with an unfair advantage.

Odland had proposed that Office Depot also refer to their own prior statements in their calls. The SEC said McKay then guided the company’s investor relations employees to prepare talking points. The two executives have agreed to pay $50,000 each without admitting to any wrongdoing.

Accounting violations unrelated to the alleged disclosures to analysts also led Office Depot to overstate earnings in financial statements for the third quarter of 2006 through the second quarter of the next year. The company restated its earnings in November 2007.

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New Delhi, India (AHN) – Hindus in India, Bangladesh and Nepal are celebrating Dussehra, a festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil. Usually celebrated in September or October, Dussehra is observed on the tenth day of the waxing moon during the Hindu month of Ashvin.

Dussehra marks the victory of the diety Lord Ram over the demon Ravan, often called Dashanan because of his 10 heads. Ram killed Ravan in the world’s biggest battle to punish the demon for kidnapping his beautiful wife Sita and taking her to Lanka to make her his wife. Ram and his brother Lakshman crossed the sea with devotee Hanuman and a huge army of monkeys to rescue Sita.

Dussehra also marks the end of hot summers and the beginning of cold weather as well as infections, especially in North India. Hence effigies made of phosphorus-based firecrackers are burnt to purify the environment. Temples also perform rituals to keep the household environment clean and healthy and with the aim to eliminate bad emotions such as lust, anger, delusion, greed, pride, jealousy, will, ego, desire and selfishness, all of which are represented by Ravan’s 10 heads. Hindus also burn effigies of Ravan’s brother Kumbhakarn and son Meghanaad on Dussehra evening. This day is also called Vijaydashmi – the victory on the 10th day.

People also worship Shakti, the “God of Power,” during the festival period with the hope of gaining physical, mental and spiritual powers.

During these celebrations, Hindus observe a fast to honor the mother Goddess and pray to her to start the new harvest season by reactivating the fertility of the soil. Hindus believe in rejuvenating soil by invoking cosmic forces. They make huge clay statues of the Goddess Durga, honor her with turmeric and other worship items and submerge her into the river on the tenth day with the hope that this will help the water yield better crops.

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The Woodlands, TX, United States (AHN) – The Ryder Cup is over and done, now Corey Pavin can get back to the business of playing golf.

Pavin played and played well Friday at the Woodlands’ tournament course in the first round of the Administaff Classic. The Ryder Cup captain used only 24 putts on his way to a six-under par 66 and a two-shot lead over Mark Wiebe.

Pavin shot nines of 33-33 and had just a single bogey. Wiebe had a bogey-free round with five birdies en route to his 67.

Russ Cochran, winner twice this season, was alone at 69, three-under and three back of Pavin.

After that it got really crowded. Ten players were tied at two-under par 70 including Jay Haas, Jay Don Blake and Hal Sutton.

Fred Couples and Tom Lehman finished their first round with one-under par 71s.

Some big name players found the going tough during the first round. Bernhard Langer, leading contender for Player of the Year honors on the Champions Tour, struggled with one of his worst days of the season and soared to a 79.

Kenny Perry, making his Champions Tour debut shot 78 and managed only one birdie all day.

He had double bogeys at the ninth and 17th holes and at one point starting at the 11th hole, made four straight bogeys.

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Naples, Italy (AHN) – The Berlusconi administration is likely to hold emergency talks Friday after rioters burned a police car and two trucks in protest of a Naples waste disposal crisis. A Naples police spokesperson said two policemen were hurt in the incident.

The incident happened in Boscoreale, a small town near Naples, after the government announced plans to open a big garbage dump in the region. The residents are apparently opposing the garbage crisis plan amid fears that unregulated and toxic waste disposal could contaminate the region.

They also protested the government’s plans to dump the waste in the Vesuvio National Park near Terzigno.

Meanwhile, Campania Governor Stefano Caldoro vowed not to bow down to protestors’ demands and promised to construct more waste sites in the region. “Today’s fears are due to the illegal practices of the past when all sorts of dangerous materials ended up in the dump sites. But now we are talking about waste sites that are checked rigorously, that exist in the rest of Italy and in Europe,” he added.

Center-Left Democratic Party’s leader Pierluigi Bersani has urged the government to take necessary actions immediately. “The government should stop telling us about miracles but find a solution to a situation that risks triggering a real revolt,” he said.

Waste mismanagement became a huge issue during the last elections and Premier Silvio Berlusconi had prioritized it in his election campaign. However, corruption and organized crime continue to put rubbish on the streets.

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