AOL Tries to Restore Clout with TechCrunch, Two Other Dot-Com attainments

AOL Inc., the once-leading Internet service provider that saw its market value and subscriber base evaporate over the past decade, bought three dot-com startups yesterday in a bid to restore its relevance.

Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong appeared on stage during a tech industry conference in San Francisco to announce the purchase of TechCrunch Inc., an powerful news blog and the host of the event. AOL paid about $25 million, according to two people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be recognized because the terms weren’t made public. The company also bought 5min Media, an association of online videos, and Thing Labs Inc., a creator of social-networking tools.

Armstrong, who took over AOL last year and spun it off from Time Warner Inc., is trying to revive enlargement after paring down the business. He sold off the social network Bebo and the instant-messaging service ICQ because they failed to attract enough users. Even during yesterday’s attainment spree, AOL announced plans to close another of its sites, the news aggregator Propeller.com.

U.S. President declares good news

President Obama declared "good news" today, signing a new small business support package that he hopes will lead to even better news -- a reduction in the 9.6% unemployment speed.

"Small businesses make most of the new jobs in this country," Obama said during a signing ceremony in the East Room.

The measure includes eight business-oriented tax cuts, and speed up payouts on existing loan programs.

The recent collapse hit small business owners with a "one-two punch," Obama said. One, it reduced spending and cut insist for business products; secondly, the accompanying financial crisis tightened credit and made it harder to get loans.
The bill will not end the economic hold up, Obama said, adding that "we've still got a long way to go."

But the legislation will assist, he said.

"It's going to cut taxes," Obama said. "It's going to make more loans obtainable to small businesses."

World's CEOs meet in Sydney

Hundreds of the world's top business people and capitalists are arriving in Sydney to learn the lessons of the global financial crisis and get the world's economy back in form.

The annual Forbes Global CEO Conference begins in Sydney on Tuesday, the second time the capital has hosted the high-level talkfest in five years.

Many high-ranking executives from Australia, the United States and the Asia-Pacific region will be among the 400 or so CEOs, tycoons and entrepreneurs in attendance over the two-day program.

The host, billionaire media mogul Steve Forbes, said Australia was a fitting place to focus on how the world's economy can recover from the GFC.

"From an outsider's perspective, the finances of Australia have been outstanding compared to the rest of the world," he told journalists on Monday.

"Australia weathered this economic storm better than just about every other country in the world.

"So it is a great place to come together to work out how we go forward."

International World peace day

Celebrating The International Day of Peace through "Operation curative for the World & Giving with the Stars".

The United Nations‘International Day of Peace, also known as the World Peace Day, marked every year on September 21, is a Global Movement when individuals, nations, communities and governments highlight efforts to end conflict and promote peace. It is observed by many nations, political and military groups, and expressed as the absence of war by a provisional ceasefire in a combat zone. To inaugurate the day, the “Peace Bell” is rung at UN Headquarters.

Established by the UN resolution in 1981, Peace Day has grown to contain millions of people around the world who participate in all kinds of events, large and small.
The World needs to finally come to its senses in order to end the ridiculousness by changing the way we think. And “we” means all of us, not just some of us. Let’s accept responsibility for our actions, thoughts, happiness or the whole lack thereof due to simple ignorance.

The world’s best female boxer

Winning a fifth World Championship title is unthinkable for most boxers, but M.C. Mary Kom, who achieved this feat on 18 September in Barbados, has have no time to think about it.

She was back in the practice ring the day after her final fight at the Women’s Boxing World Championship, preparation for a second round of Asian Games trials in Delhi on 22 September because the Indian Boxing Federation felt the first round was “inconclusive”. She landed in Delhi on the night of 20 September, and spends most of the next day fielding questions at press conferences.

“These last few days have been harder than winning the World Championship,” Kom says, “which I felt was actually easy for me throughout. I was not worried at all, and even in the final, I knew I was going to win.”

Kom, 27, has now win medals at each of the six Women’s World Boxing Championships, five of them gold. Both feats are unmatched in her sport, and have prompted the International Boxing Federation to describe her as the “world’s best female boxer”.