Hosni Mubarak trial postponed until end of the year
The next session in the trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been postponed until late December.
The decision follows calls for the appointment of a new presiding judge to replace Ahmed Refax.
Mr Mubarak, 83, is accused of ordering the killing of protesters during the uprising earlier this year which ended his rule. He denies the charges.
His trial is now due to resume on 28 December, two days after a separate court rules on replacing Mr Refaat.
Lawyers for the alleged victims of Mr Mubarak have petitioned the court demanding that the judge be replaced.
In earlier sessions, Mr Refaat defended the court's integrity and lashed out at critics.
Mr Mubarak, his two sons, the former interior minister and senior police officers - who face a range of charges - were in the Cairo court on Sunday when the judge announced the adjournment. All defendants deny the charges against them.
Riot police have often had to separate anti- and pro-Mubarak crowds who have fought outside the police academy courthouse during the trial.
In mid-August, the judge took the decision to ban live TV coverage, saying he was exasperated by lawyers showing off for the television cameras.
At earlier court hearings, TV images showed Mr Mubarak, who led Egypt for 30 years, in a cage on a sick bed.
Early snowstorm hits US East Coast killing at least six
An unseasonable snowstorm has hit the US East Coast, with some areas of Massachusetts seeing more than 27in (68cm) of snow.
The authorities say at least six people have died in snow-related accidents.
More than three million homes have lost their electricity supply from Maryland to Massachusetts - some residents have been warned they may be without power for several days.
The snowfall eased on Sunday, as the storm headed north from Maine.
It had worsened as it moved north, with states of emergency declared in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of New York.
Communities in western Massachusetts were among the hardest hit.
Nantucket in Massachusetts experienced wind speeds of 69mph (111km/h), a National Weather Service (NWS) statement said.
A number of deaths were reported in the storm:
- Two people were killed in a crash on an icy road in Philadelphia, while falling snow killed an 84-year-old man in Temple, Pennsylvania
- A traffic accident killed one person in Colchester, Connecticut
- Another traffic accident killed a 54-year-old New York woman
- In Springfield, Massachusetts, a man died when he touched a protective rail surrounding downed power lines
Connecticut Governor Dannel P Malloy cautioned the 750,000 people who were without electricity in his state that the effects of the storm would still be felt after the snowfall stopped.
"If you are without power, you should expect to be without power for a prolonged period of time," CBS News quoted him as saying.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's house was one of the 600,000 suffering power cuts in the state.
'Not even Halloween'
West Milford, New Jersey, about 45 miles (70km) north-west of New York, saw 19in of snowfall, and Hillsboro, New Hampshire, saw 21.5in.
"I can't believe it's not even Halloween and it's snowing already," Carole Shepherd of Washington Township in New Jersey told Associated Press after shovelling her driveway.
In New York City, a new record for October snowfall was set when 1.3in fell in Central Park. Only three other snowy October days have been recorded in the park in 135 years of record-keeping.
Most of the Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York's Zuccotti Park saw out the storm.
Nick Lemmin, of Brooklyn, told AP he had "slept pretty well", although fellow protester Adash Daniel headed off after three weeks in the park, saying: "I'm not much good to this movement if I'm shivering."
On Sunday, passengers were stranded for more than seven hours on one JetBlue flight in Hartford, Connecticut.
On Saturday, flights were delayed at Newark airport in New Jersey, which was being lashed by heavy rains and winds.
Amtrak reported massive disruption to train services, including a 13-hour delay for passengers on one train in central Massachusetts.
John LaCorte, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Pennsylvania, told the agency that the last time the state saw a major storm so early was in 1972.
"This is very, very unusual. It has all the look and feel of a classic mid-winter nor'easter," he said.
High pressure over south-eastern Canada had fed cold air south and into moisture from the North Carolina coast.
In New England it is usual for measurable snow to fall in early December.
NWS meteorologist Bill Simpson said temperatures could return to normal by the middle of next week.
"This doesn't mean our winter is going to be terrible. You can't get any correlation from a two-day event," he said.
Cameron threat to dock some UK aid to anti-gay nations
David Cameron has threatened to withhold UK aid from governments that do not reform legislation banning homosexuality.
The UK prime minister said he raised the issue with some of the states involved at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, Australia.
Human rights reform in the Commonwealth was one issue that leaders failed to reach agreement on at the summit.
Mr Cameron says those receiving UK aid should "adhere to proper human rights".
Ending the bans on homosexuality was one of the recommendations of an internal report into the future relevance of the Commonwealth.
Mr Cameron's threat applies only to one type of bilateral aid known as general budget support, and would not reduce the overall amount of aid to any one country.
Malawi has already had some of its budget support suspended over concerns about its attitude to gay rights. Concerns have also been raised with the governments of Uganda and Ghana.
British empire
Mr Cameron told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show that "British aid should have more strings attached".
But he conceded that countries could not change immediately, and cautioned that there would be a "journey".
"This is an issue where we are pushing for movement, we are prepared to put some money behind what we believe. But I'm afraid that you can't expect countries to change overnight.
"Britain is one of the premier aid givers in the world. We want to see countries that receive our aid adhering to proper human rights.
"We are saying that is one of the things that determines our aid policy, and there have been particularly bad examples where we have taken action."
Mr Cameron said he had spoken with "a number of African countries" and that more pressure had been applied by Foreign Secretary William Hague, who deputised for him during parts of the summit.
Some 41 nations within the 54-member Commonwealth have laws banning homosexuality. Many of these laws are a legacy of British Empire laws.
The discussion in the Ugandan parliament of an anti-homosexuality bill in 2009 sparked particular controversy, and earlier this year Ugandan gay rights campaigner David Kato was beaten to death in a suspected hate crime.
Nigeria's Senate is currently discussing a bill banning same-sex marriage, that includes penalties for anyone witnessing or aiding a same-sex marriage.
A spokesman for the Department for International Development said that budget support, which accounts for about 5% of the UK's annual aid budget of £7.46bn, is conditional direct assistance to governments. To qualify, recipients must adhere to rules on poverty reduction, respect of human rights, good governance and domestic accountability.
Malawi recently had £19m of budget support suspended following various infractions including poor progress on human rights and media freedoms and concern over the government's approach to gay rights, the DfID spokesman said.
Reacting to the news, Uganda Radio Network journalist, Charles Odongpho, said he was puzzled by the move.
"I welcome any move to pressure our government to be respectful of democratic values and human rights but speaking as a Ugandan I think we have much more important issues to deal with than the rights of homosexuals.
"This is your money and you know where you want to put it but we face very serious issues of corruption, poverty, education and hunger. These are the most critical issues for us, not homosexual rights."
Appointing a human rights commissioner to address this and other human rights issues was one of the 100-plus recommendations of the internal report, by the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group, which includes former UK foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind.
However, objections from a number of countries blocked adoption of the recommendation, according to Australia's prime minister Julia Gillard, speaking at the end of the three-day summit in Western Australia.
Besides the homosexuality rights issue, Sri Lanka's human rights conduct also came under scrutiny at the summit. The country will host the next head of government's meeting in two years' time.
Sri Lanka's army has been accused of war crimes during the civil war with the Tamil Tigers.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he will boycott the 2013 summit unless there are major reforms in the country.
Succession question
In earlier comments, Mr Cameron said there had to be a "proper, independent exercise to look into the whole issue of what happened, and whether there were war crimes, and who is responsible" in Sri Lanka.
BBC correspondent Nicholas Witchell said the summit had been seen as a "watershed" for the organisation as it "struggles to demonstrate its relevance, particularly on human rights".
Though the summit agreed to draw up a written charter and strengthen its ministerial action group, our correspondent said the outcome will be viewed by many "as a disappointing one and an opportunity missed".
Two other developments came from the summit - a reform of royal succession and action on polio.
It was agreed that sons and daughters of any future UK monarch would have equal right to the throne. They will also be allowed to marry Roman Catholics without giving up a claim to the throne.
The move was agreed by the 15 Commonwealth realms where the monarch is head of state.
And Mr Cameron joined the leaders of Canada, Australia and Nigeria, in committing tens of millions of pounds towards eradicating polio in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
The campaign will be supported financially by Microsoft magnate Bill Gates.
Caribbean is open for business, says St Kitts-Nevis PM
Hundreds of business persons attending the Commonwealth Business Forum in Perth, Australia, have been told that the Caribbean region presents opportunities for investment not only in the traditional sectors but in new areas including tourism, international financial services, renewable sources of energy and ICT.
“Understandably, in the past, some of our countries developed experience and expertise in agriculture but this was principally mono-cultural agriculture such as sugar or banana. We did not really explore the possibility for diversified commercial agricultural development. But today we are witnessing great potential for hydroponics and greenhouse agriculture and we are hoping to see new investor interest in such areas, especially with the current global challenges of food insecurity,” said St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas.
The St Kitts and Nevis leader, in delivering the keynote address during the session “Investing in the Caribbean” on Wednesday, said the region welcomes companies/investors that are interested in investing in technology and enterprises that are eco-friendly and can help to reduce or cap the carbon footprint in the islands such as St Kitts and Nevis.
“This environmentally conscious decision could in turn benefit the companies which stand to benefit from global carbon credits schemes. As you can see, what I am suggesting here is essentially about government and private sector working together for the common good; which is consistent with our new framework thrust for investment in what we call PPP framework or public-private partnership,” said Douglas.
“One of the many beauties of the Caribbean investment infrastructure lies in its potential in the services sector in countries whether in Jamaica, Barbados and the small countries which constitute the OECS. Although Trinidad and Tobago benefit from resources and opportunities in petroleum and natural gas, they also have great potential in the areas of light manufacturing and other diversified products,” he added.
Douglas said, given the region’s narrow resource base, many of the countries had come to depend, not only on domestic investment, but also foreign direct investment.
“But in a competitive global market place, the question which instinctively arises is ‘how do we as political leaders work in an integrated way to make sure that our countries maintain a competitive edge and remain attractive for investment, not only for its citizens and residents but also for foreign investors seeking ideal locations for business?’ In the region we have embarked on efforts to establish a region-wide investment agency to ensure that potential investors have a one-stop shop for information and access to the levers that will facilitate the establishment of a business. Some of the key ingredients include among others: (1) a stable political climate; (2) low crime rates; (3) stable currency; (4) good infrastructure; (5) an efficient and effective legal system, and (6) availability of a skilled and educated labor force,” said the prime minister.
Douglas told world business leaders that the twin-island Federation like some Caribbean nations, has focused increasing amount of national resources and have continued to develop new and dynamic partnerships in order to reinforce and improve the skill-sets and installed capacity of their peoples.
The St Kitts and Nevis prime minister pointed out that the investment by Caribbean governments in one-to-one laptop computer programmes for each student in high schools will result in every individual being computer literate when entering the workforce in the next decade and beyond.
“The Eastern Caribbean, in particular the OECS countries, due to our small population size and high standards in relation to pay and work conditions, which in part reflects the quality and relatively high level education of our workers, tend to attract high-end manufacturing. For instance, St Kitts and Nevis is the highest net exporter in the OECS Caribbean of electronic sensors and light dimmers to the United States market,” Douglas pointed out.
He said it was no secret that small economies have in the past relied on the unique appeal of generous tax breaks and other fiscal incentives to attract foreign direct investment.
And although some of these have had to be reduced or eliminated altogether, in St Kitts and Nevis for example there remains on the law books the Fiscal Incentives Act, which provides for corporate tax holidays and duty free import concessions on items necessary for the production of goods, for up to 10 – 15 years with negotiation of a renewable contract, he said.
He further pointed out that in the development of the international financial services sector, St Kitts and Nevis has negotiated double taxation treaties and tax information exchange agreements with several countries, which resulted in the jurisdiction meeting the international standards for supervision and regulation of the sector.
Douglas also pointed out that the Hotels Aid Act provides for duty free concessions as well as tax-free concessions for specified periods for persons wishing to develop resorts and hotels on the island.
“The scope of the concessions provided under these pieces of legislation tend to increase based on the size of the project proposed. In recent times however, the call for regional integration has brought into question the issue of consistency across the Caribbean region as it pertains to treatment of investment incentives and also the treatment of investors from within the region and outside of the CARICOM region,” said Douglas.
He noted that the existence of a common tax regime in many Caribbean countries has led to a reduction in many of the investment incentives investors would receive upon starting a business in the region.
“We have recognized that we must do more to maintain our competitiveness and offer investors an opportunity to compete.
“To this end, throughout the region, we have been investing heavily in modern information technology infrastructure to ensure that investors have the necessary framework in which to conduct their business in real time and at reduced cost. In addition to this, because we are a 15 member community, bound together by treaty, we have free movement of skilled and professional labor throughout the community as well as free movement of goods and services without attracting additional import and export taxes. Also, this community is located just a few hours from the United States market which is the largest consumer market in this part of the world,” said Douglas.
He said several of countries generally, and St Kitts and Nevis in particular, have focused increasing amount of national resources and have continued to develop new and dynamic partnerships in order to reinforce and improve the skill-sets and installed capacity of the people.
“We want to ensure that new and existing investors have the trained human resource base which allows their companies to continue to compete and to grow. As a result of this new thrust and the need for ongoing training and making sure that our young people have the relevant modern 21st century life-skills, our very small country now houses a state of the art information technology centre to train people of all ages to ensure that they are equipped to take up employment in any sector,” Douglas told business leaders.
He also pointed out that in recent years St Kitts and Nevis has been able to attract call centres, data entry service and data processing type businesses.
“What this says to us is that small countries have to stay a few steps ahead in the development curve, building on strategic partnerships to take advantage of technology which in turn helps to level the playing field for all. But let me also say that whilst we are doing all that is necessary to create the appropriate enabling environment for investors, I would like to urge the investor to understand that working together to secure a genuine partnership with governments redounds to our mutual benefit.”
“It should therefore not be regarded necessarily as something to fear or that is inimical to the bottom line. It is not mutually exclusive. We can reconcile national expectations with profit margins. We must be able to see our efforts in common as a prerequisite for growth and not an obstacle to joint development. We can work in partnership and get what we each want. I believe strongly in this, and I want to assure any investor who is genuinely interested in St Kitts and Nevis, and in other Caribbean countries that they will have a genuine partner in my government and other Caribbean governments.”
Douglas, referring to the current global financial crisis, the effects of natural disasters such as hurricanes and the increased mobility of business particularly in the manufacturing sector to the East, has led to a considerable slowdown in growth in economies.
“Our governments are therefore trying to become more creative in the way we negotiate with potential investors in seeking to entice them to make the final decision to invest within our shores, but at the same time encouraging them to become genuine partners,” said Douglas.
“We are also seeking to become more sophisticated in dealing with our future partners whether in (1) how we deal with and the negotiate the terms of investment agreements with foreign and local investors; and (2) measures employed to monitor the progress and the needs of these investors in order to ensure that the full benefits of investments in our small countries are realized,” said the St Kitts and Nevis leader, who added that it is for this reason that the St Kitts Investment Promotion Agency (SKIPA) and the Nevis Investment Promotion Agency (NIPA) were established.
“These agencies are specifically mandated to promote our countries as viable investment locations, to facilitate the establishment of new businesses and investments and also to monitor the progress and implementation of these investments,” said Douglas.
He said many other Caribbean countries have also established their own investment promotion agencies in order to deal exclusively with the issue of attracting and monitoring investment in their countries.
A regional organization called the Caribbean Investment Promotion Agency has also been developed to allow personnel from the various investment agencies in the Caribbean region to exchange ideas and expertise, as well as to share best practices with each other to attract and maintain foreign investment.
“The Caribbean is open for business, come experience it for yourself. You will find creative, hardworking, efficient and bright people who are as committed as you are to the growth and success of your businesses, and growth and success of your country and our countries in the region,” said Douglas.
Source-Caribbean News Now
Expendables 2 stuntman dies on set
A stuntman has died and another has been seriously injured on the set of Sylvester Stallone's film sequel The Expendables 2 in Bulgaria.
The stuntman, who has not been named, died while performing a stunt which involved an explosion.
The second injured man is reported to have undergone surgery and is in a critical condition in hospital.
Police have launched an investigation into Thursday's accident which happened 15 miles outside the capital Sofia.
"It is with great regret that we confirm this unfortunate accident," Nu Image/Millennium Films, the production company making The Expendables 2, said in a statement.
"Our hearts go out to the families and those on the production affected by this tragedy.
"The filmmakers are working closely with the authorities in responding to and investigating this accident."
The accident happened during filming of an explosion on an inflatable boat on the Ognyanovo dam.
Stallone, who directed the first Expendables film and is producing the sequel, was not present at the time of the accident as he was filming other scenes in another location.
The Expendables 2 also features a star-studded action hero cast that includes Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Conrad Murray trial: Jackson 'addicted to Demerol'
Singer Michael Jackson was probably addicted to the painkiller Demerol, a witness for the defence in the trial of his doctor, Conrad Murray, has said.
Dr Robert Waldman testified that records from Jackson's dermatologist show the singer was receiving large doses of the drug in the months ahead of his death.
He said one of the symptoms of Demerol withdrawal included insomnia.
Dr Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
His lawyers claim Jackson gave himself the fatal dose while Dr Murray was out of the room.
The defence also called their own propofol expert, Dr Paul White.
Dr White told the court on Thursday he said he would not have expected the pop superstar to be killed from the drugs which Dr Murray said he had given to the singer.
He is the last witness for the defence and is expected to continue testifying on Friday, including giving an alternate theory about how Jackson died.
However, because of a late admission by the defence that Dr White would be using a new computer simulation to illustrate his theory, Judge Michael Pastor has given prosecutors the weekend to analyse the data before cross-examining the defence's expert.
Prosecutors told the judge they were surprised by the new development and needed time to study the software program.
Lawyers for Dr Conrad Murray have moved quickly through witnesses since beginning their case earlier this week, including former patients of the doctor.
Medical records
Dr Waldman was testifying largely in the place of Dr Arnold Klein, Jackson's dermatologist. Using Dr Klein as a witness was ruled out in the trial because his care of Jackson was not being investigated.
Using the dermatologist's records, he testified that over three days in April 2009, Jackson received 775mg of Demerol, during the same period that Dr Murray was giving Jackson propofol.
Dr Waldman told jurors that was a "large dose" for a dermatology procedure in an office.
On cross-examination, however, prosecutor David Walgren asked Dr Waldman about legal obligations for doctors, including a requirement to keep accurate and detailed records.
Dr Murray told police he had kept no records on his treatment of Jackson.
Dr Paul White said after reading documents regarding the case he was "perplexed".
"I would not have expected Michael Jackson to have died," if the dose Dr Murray said he had given Jackson was correct.
But if Jackson's doctor did in fact put him on an IV drip of propofol and leave him unattended, Dr White said he could not justify it, AP reports.
Germany finds extra 55bn euros after accounting error
Germany has found itself 55bn euros ($78bn; £48bn) richer after discovering an accounting error at Hypo Real Estate (HRE), the troubled bank it nationalised in 2009.
The country now expects its ratio of debt to GDP to be 81.1% for 2011, 2.6 percentage points lower than previously forecast, the finance ministry said.
The miscalculation was at the so-called bad bank of HRE, FMS Wertmanagement.
The discovery was made earlier this month but only announced on Friday.
FMS will contribute about 161bn euros to Germany's debt this year, compared with 216.5bn in 2010.
Cutting back
HRE faced a severe liquidity shortage in the wake of US banking giant Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy in 2008.
The German government provided the bank with capital injections of 10bn euros and liquidity guarantees amounting to 145 billion euros before nationalising it.
This summer, the European Commission approved 175bn euros of aid to HRE in return for major cuts in its activities.
HRE will phase out all of its businesses except in its core bank Deutsche Pfandbriefbank.
Eurozone seeks bailout funds from China
The head of the eurozone's bailout fund is beginning attempts to persuade China to invest in a scheme to help rescue member countries facing debt crises.
After meeting Chinese leaders, Klaus Regling said there were no formal negotiations and would be no deal now.
It is thought China may pay about 70bn euros ($100bn) into the fund, which is expected to be boosted to 1tn euros.
Meanwhile French President Nicolas Sarkozy said debt-ridden Greece's entry to the eurozone was a mistake.
Greece was "not ready" when it joined in 2001, he said, adding that it could be rescued thanks to a new deal on the debt crisis.
European leaders worked into the early hours of Thursday in Brussels to secure an agreement aimed at preventing the crisis from spreading to larger eurozone economies.
The deal triggered a worldwide shares rally.
'Regular buyer'
Beijing has made it clear that it will demand strong guarantees on the safety of any contribution it might make.
Mr Regling, who is chief executive of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), said he was not negotiating with China as a potential investor but holding consultations to decide the terms for raising the money.
"Don't expect any precise outcome of our talks," he said, quoted by AFP news agency.
"I cannot say today, and it's certainly far too early to say what kind of amounts might be envisaged."
He said China had been a regular buyer of EFSF bonds in the past.
He would present the fund's bonds as a potential commercial investment to China, he said, adding that Beijing regularly needed to find safe investments for its trade surpluses.
"I am optimistic that we will have a longer term relationship," he said.
Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said there was work still to be done.
"We need to wait for the technicalities to be clear and also to carry out serious studies before we can decide on investment," he said, quoted by AFP.
"We hope that all these technical and specialised arrangements can be thrashed out at an early date and can be implemented and feasible. That will be very important for the effectiveness" of the fund.
The President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, has said he believes China will invest in Europe only if there are incentives for it to do so.
"I don't think that China will just come in as a white knight to try to provide money just to bail out Europeans," he told the BBC.
But investor Jim Rogers said China was prepared to help.
"From China's point of view, it's cheap foreign aid. They'll buy goodwill. I guess they'll put up some money," he said on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
The suggestion that China should use its financial clout to assist the eurozone met with mixed reactions on the streets of Beijing.
"If we have the ability to help them then we should, but there is no feeling of pride in that," said Xu Juan - a 27-year-old employee of an international trade firm.
"We need to focus on doing a good job on developing our own country."
Wang Xiaodong, a 23-year-old univeristy student, said "With the global economy everybody prospers together or becomes weaker together, so we just have to endure this tough time together."
The framework for the new EFSF bailout fund is to be put in place in November.
Germany, as the largest economy in eurozone, is expected to be the largest contributor.
Asian markets rose for a second day on Friday and bank stocks in Europe continued to rally, a day after the deal was reached.
Samsung overtakes Apple in smartphone shipments
Samsung overtook Apple to become the world's biggest shipper of smartphones between July and September.
Research from Strategy Analytics showed that Samsung shipped 27.8 million smartphones in the three-month period, compared with 17.1 million from Apple and 16.8 million from Nokia.
The consultancy said Apple's growth was hindered by customers waiting for the launch of the new iPhone 4S.
Apple's number four slot in total handsets was taken by China's ZTE.
Nokia was the top handset shipper with a 27.3% market share, followed by Samsung with 22.6% and LG with 5.4%.
ZTE took 4.7%, pushing Apple into fifth place with 4.4%.
The report came shortly after the release of Samsung's third-quarter results, which showed profits falling 23% as strong growth in its mobile phone business was overshadowed by a poor performance in the memory chip arm.
Global smartphone shipments Q3 2011 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Company | Shipments (millions) | Market share |
|
Source: Strategy Analytics |
||
|
Samsung |
27.8 |
23.8% |
|
Apple |
17.1 |
14.6% |
|
Nokia |
16.8 |
14.4% |
|
Others |
55.3 |
47.3% |
Handset profits more than doubled to 2.52tn won ($2.3bn; £1.4bn) on strong sales from its Galaxy smartphones.
"Samsung's rise has been driven by a blend of elegant hardware designs, popular Android services, memorable sub-brands and extensive global distribution," said Alex Spektor from Strategy Analytics.
"Samsung has demonstrated that it is possible, at least in the short term, to differentiate and grow by using the Android ecosystem."
A total of 117 million smartphones were shipped in the third quarter, up 44% from the same period last year.
Nokia's market share for smartphones fell from 33% in the third quarter of 2010 to to 14% this time round.
"The transition from Symbian to Microsoft as Nokia's main smartphone platform has clearly been a very challenging process this year," said Tom Kang from Strategy Analytics.
"The recent launch of the new Microsoft Lumia portfolio has helped to raise Nokia's profile."
Pele says Brazil not ready to host World Cup
Brazil is not yet ready to host the 2014 World Cup, football great Pele told the ESPN Soccernet website in an interview posted yesterday.
According to Pele, chaotic organisation and communication difficulties are the biggest problems facing Brazil as it prepares for the World Cup.
"Brazil is not ready," Pele said. "Not yet, it is not ready. The biggest problem, I think, is the organisation, that is a big problem, so too is the communications."
But despite his fears, Pele said he was confident all "will run smoothly" by the time the World Cup gets under way.
"I am now working directly with the president of Brazil, who is doing her best to help out with the organisation," he said.
criticised delays
In July, President Dilma Rousseff named Pele the honorary ambassador for the World Cup. At the time, he criticised delays in building stadiums and other infrastructure.
Pele spoke to ESPN on Wednesday, the same day that Brazil's sports minister Orlando Silva resigned amid corruption allegations. He was the sixth minister forced out of Rousseff's government. Four of the others had also faced corruption allegations.
A recent government report on Brazil's preparations for the World Cup said that as of September, renovation work had not begun on five of the 13 airports that will be used during the tournament.
The report also said that seven of the 12 host cities have not begun other infrastructure work, and only nine of the nearly 50 transportation projects planned for the tournament were under way.
Earlier this month, former Brazil striker Romario, now a congressman, told Agencia Brasil, the government's news agency: "Maybe because of politics, work which was supposed to be halfway done hasn't even started."
The government, however, does not seem worried about the apparent lack of progress and is confident that everything will eventually get done. Officials also dismiss the notion Brazil is not doing enough.
"Brazil is doing the necessary work for the World Cup and there are no signs that deadlines will be missed," the Sports Ministry's media office said in a recent email to The Associated Press.