Egypt Elections 2012: Run-Off Set Between Muslim Brotherhood, Mubarak's Last Prime Minister

CAIRO -- Partial results from Egypt's first genuinely competitive presidential elections announced Friday showed the candidate of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood leading with a narrow edge in a five-way race.

This is likely to bring Mohammed Morsi to run-off elections scheduled for June 16-17 but leaves the question wide open as to whether he will win.

Egyptians voted Wednesday and Thursday to choose their first president after last year's popular uprising that ousted ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Contending for second place are Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, moderate Islamist Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh and leftist Hamdeen Sabahi, whose surprise last-minute surge brought a new element to a contest that looked like it was going to pit Islamists against former regime officials.

Across the country, election workers cracked open the transparent ballot boxes ? sealed by serial-numbered plastic bands to ensure they had not been tampered with ? and began working their way through the paper ballots. Ballots from 18 of Egypt's 27 governorates had been counted by mid-morning on Friday.

The Brotherhood is hoping for a presidential victory to seal its political domination of Egypt, which would be a dramatic turnaround from the decades it was repressed under Mubarak. It already holds nearly half of parliament after victories in elections late last year.

Results showed drops in the group's popularity since then, with the ballots cast for Morsi significantly fewer than the number the Brotherhood's party received in parliamentary elections. In several provinces, Morsi came in second or third place.

Many Egyptians who said they have voted before for the Brotherhood said they were let down by the group's hunger for power and poor performance in parliament. However, the group has a formidable ability to mobilize voters, and it was unclear how many disappointed Brotherhood voters chose another candidate or just did not cast a ballot.

The group's political arm said in a statement that Morsi is going to enter a runoff with Shafiq, which means another round of highly polarizing campaigning, since the Mubarak-era official is strongly opposed by leaders of the protest movement which were behind the revolution.

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Explore every avenue to find the ideal business mentor

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If you?re looking to start your own small business, or have been trading for a while and suddenly find that you?ve hit the ?wall?, who do you turn to for help or guidance? Whose opinions do you value, and who inspires you the most? The chances are it?s probably a mentor. Mentors are the type of people who understand the type of problems that budding entrepreneurs are going through. In business terms they?ll have been there and bought the T-shirt. The major problem that business owners face is knowing which mentor to turn to. Do you confide in a family friend, or do you spread the net a little wider? ?Hopefully the following information might help to point you in the right direction.

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Explore every avenue?

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Choosing family and friends as a mentor is fine, but ultimately can be quite restricting. In fact if there is an existing close relationship then it?s often difficult to be able to speak freely and openly. It?s far better to explore every avenue and seek help from a variety of sources, whether that?s through formal online mentoring programmes or trade associations and local small business groups. The more mentoring you receive the better surely? What you don?t agree with you can always choose to ignore.

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Establish an effective and efficient relationship ?

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Business mentors aren?t there to provide all the answers. In fact many mentors would see that as a kind of dereliction of duty. Yes, they are a sounding board and are offering their services to help you, but ultimately it?s the mentee who must make the decision and stand or fall by it. In many ways it?s similar to helping a child ride a bike: keep them steady and safe until they are competent, then set them free to ride alone. Therefore it?s important that you discuss the structure of your relationship with your mentor and set out what you each hope to achieve. Some people like to keep the meetings casual; others prefer more formality. It?s best to get this straight from the offset, as otherwise it could prove to an unnecessary distraction.

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Look to those who tread the same path you now follow

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Don?t be afraid to approach other small businesses in your area if you are having difficulties finding the right sort of mentor. They may have encountered similar problems when they first started out. It might feel intimidating, but many small businesses will be only too glad to help and may actually be flattered by the attention. You can?t take up too much of their time mind you, so make sure that you?re well prepared when you meet them so your time can be used as effectively and productively as possible.

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Hillcrest Labs takes its TV motion control system to China, becomes TCL's new best friend

It's only been a few days since Hillcrest Labs open sourced its Kylo web browser for TVs, and now the company's back with yet another announcement. Well, this time it's more about TCL who's just declared its top TV market share in China. Much like the Roku 2 and LG TVs with Magic Motion remote, Hillcrest's Freespace engine has been outted as the enabling technology behind TCL's recently announced V7500, a 3D smart TV series featuring a heavily customized Android 4.0.3 and a 7.9mm-thick bezel. This means users can interact with and play games on this slim TV via motion and cursor control on the remote (there's also voice control here but it doesn't look like Hillcrest has anything to do with it). There are no dates or prices just yet, but TCL better be quick as Lenovo's got something very similar ready to ship soon.

Continue reading Hillcrest Labs takes its TV motion control system to China, becomes TCL's new best friend

Hillcrest Labs takes its TV motion control system to China, becomes TCL's new best friend originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 May 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HOK's Patrick MacLeamy Elected Chairman of the Construction ...

WASHINGTON, May 23, 2012 ? (PRNewswire) ? The Construction Industry Round Table (CIRT) is pleased to announce the election of Patrick MacLeamy, FAIA, as National Chairman for a term of one year.

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MacLeamy is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HOK, one of the world's most influential architectural design firms. A pioneer in leveraging technology and collaboration to improve design quality and efficiencies, MacLeamy has helped to inspire profound changes ensuring that the design and construction industry is making significant contributions to the 21st-century built environment and our quality of life.

"It is a tremendous honor to collaborate with my colleagues from the world's leading design and construction firms to help change the way we think and work," said MacLeamy. "We all need to work together as partners and leverage new project delivery methods to deliver better, more cost effective buildings that provide greater value for our clients."

As a founder and Chairman of buildingSMART? International (bSI), MacLeamy is a long-time advocate for the development of open, non-proprietary standards for data exchange in the building industry. By advancing buildingSMART? initiatives within HOK, he has positioned the firm to accelerate the building community's adoption of a seamless exchange of accurate, useful information among all team members throughout the life cycle of a facility.

"Mr. MacLeamy's selection as chairman this year continues CIRT's long tradition of balancing the diverse disciplines and interests that compose the design/construction community.? His unique insights and perspectives as an architect will be of great value as we move forward to meet the business challenges in the coming year," noted Mark Casso, President of CIRT.

MacLeamy has served in many key capacities within CIRT, including Vice Chairman and Treasurer. Also named as officers of the Construction Industry Round Table were: Steven T. Halverson (President & CEO of The Haskell Co., Jacksonville, FL) as Vice Chairman; Joseph M. Cibor (President of Fugro Consultants, Inc., Houston, TX) as Treasurer; and Robert E. Alger (CEO & President of The Lane Construction Corp., Cheshire, CT), who will continue on the Executive Committee as Immediate Past Chairman.

HOK is a global architectural firm that provides planning and design solutions for high performance, sustainable buildings and communities. Through its collaborative network of 25 offices worldwide, the firm delivers design excellence and innovation to clients globally. Founded in 1955, HOK's expertise includes architecture, engineering, interiors, strategic facility planning, consulting, lighting, graphics and construction services. DesignIntelligence ranked HOK as the No. 1 role model for sustainable and high performance design.

CIRT is a national business trade association made up of approximately 105 CEOs from the leading design / construction companies doing business in the United States and globally. CIRT's member firms directly employ over 600,000 individuals, and are responsible for more than $120 billion in public and private infrastructure work that contribute to an improved quality of life for all Americans.

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SOURCE Construction Industry Round Table

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Joomla Extensions Add Spark to your Ecommerce Online Store

One of the most widely popular content management system is Joomla for which it has received great admiration. Benefiting large organizations and industries, it offers many systematic content management system. Huge businesses have widely benefited from services provided by Joomla. Any type of website you own/run, a dynamic CMS is required to look after its overall management. A robust CMS is able to build a sense of community. The daily operations as well as the overall presentation of the website are enhanced by Joomla CMS.

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Such features and facilities are offered through the startling set of Joomla Extensions 1.5 and Joomla Extensions 1.6 that are available in the gallery Joomla extension.

Joomla website development has been elementary in offering best solutions which benefit widely. Joomla Extensions, components and modules work together to build an online community that eventually helps visitors to build a powerful website. If you can create a website that showcases your personality, half the batter is won. Once the visitors start feeling for your website it will help in increasing the web traffic of your website which will enrich and boost the relevancy of your website on search engine rankings, and this will also double the advertising revenue.

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As far as the content of the website is concerned, it needs to be impactful. So much so that it is higher than the niche of your business currently. Working on the content with Joomla CMS is a lot more easier. It keeps the enthusiasm level elevated. Joomla Development is used by a huge number of websites for the quality-rich content management and speedy upgradation. Today, having a website with the right look and feel is the priority and proves to be like icing on the cake. Joomla Development provides a brilliant range of Joomla Extensions developed by creators of Joomla or Joomla developers.

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The day to day operations function smoothly with the help of Joomla add-ons. With this and much more empowered in Joomla, it transforms your website and takes it to a whole new level. The arrival of Joomla Extensions 1.6 ?much more was possible to? accomplish. Its importance was understood by Joomla developers after its utilization in website development. Joomla 1.6 Extensions started being used more frequently than others because of the provision of flexibility. Therefore, there are stacks of Joomla Extensions 1.6. Professional Joomla Developers very well understand the different functionalities between each Joomla extension and work and implement them accordingly.

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To provide some effective online assistance, there is a Joomla extensions discussion forum devoted to providing assistance through interaction. Development and integration of Joomla Extensions 1.5 and Joomla Extensions 1.5 ?adds dynamic functionalities to your website and offers users with a richer browsing experience.?

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Fitch cuts Japan as politics hinders debt plan

TOKYO (Reuters) - Fitch cut Japan's sovereign credit status on Tuesday to the lowest level among global ratings agencies as a political stalemate dims the chance that the country can curb its snowballing debt.

Fitch Ratings cut Japan's long-term foreign currency rating by two levels from AA to A plus, the fifth highest investment grade. It cut the more important local currency rating by one notch from AA minus to A plus. Both were given a negative outlook.

Fitch warned further downgrades were possible unless the government takes new fiscal policy measures to stabilize public finances and its ratio of debt to gross domestic product.

"The downgrades and negative outlooks reflect growing risks for Japan's sovereign credit profile as a result of high and rising public debt ratios," Andrew Colquhoun, head of Asia-Pacific sovereigns at Fitch said in a statement.

"The country's fiscal consolidation plan looks leisurely, relative even to other fiscally challenged high-income countries, and implementation is subject to political risk."

The downgrade could serve as a chilling reminder to highly indebted countries in Europe that urgent action is needed to trim public debt and prevent concerns about sovereign debt from weighing further on the global economy.

Several euro zone countries have been hit with multiple downgrades as the region struggles to deal with its mounting debt crisis.

The United States is expected to reach a $16.4 trillion government debt ceiling after November presidential elections, laying the ground for another protracted political battle over how to cut the budget, similar to a bitter debate that rattled financial markets last year.

After Japan's ratings cut, the dollar rose against the yen to a session high of 79.85 yen. But analysts said the downgrade is unlikely to have a lasting impact on markets because Japanese government bonds are mostly held by domestic investors.

Fitch's A plus local currency rating for Japan is the one most closely followed by investors because the government's debt is largely funded by domestic investors, who are backed by about $15 trillion in household savings.

Bank of Japan data shows that domestic investors held 93 percent of government debt as of December.

The Fitch rating is one notch below its rival ratings agencies. Moody's Investors Service rates Japan Aa3 with a stable outlook. Standard & Poor's rates Japan at AA minus with a negative outlook.

All the ratings are broadly in the middle of the investment grade range of ratings.

TAX PLAN

Concerns among ratings agencies over Japan's debt and the inability of successive governments to come up with a credible plan to deal with it are not new.

Moody's downgraded Japan by one notch in August last year, blaming a revolving door political leadership, a reference to Japan's six prime ministers in five years.

S&P cut Japan's ratings in January last year, saying Japan lacked a convincing plan to deal with its debt and also citing political risks.

Japan's debt burden, at twice the size of its $5 trillion economy, is by far the worst among industrialized countries. It has been built up as the government tried to stimulate the economy during two decades of sluggish growth and deflation.

Fitch said Japan's gross general government debt is projected to rise to 239 percent of GDP by the end of 2012, the highest of any Fitch-rated sovereign.

Based on that projection, the ratio would have risen 61 percentage points since the global financial crisis, compared with a median of 39 percentage points for countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and 8 percentage points for 'A' range sovereigns.

The government's own plan to reduce its debt burden doesn't foresee the debt/GDP ratio coming down until 2020/21.

"Fitch regards this as a slow pace of consolidation given the scale of Japan's debt," it said.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has staked his political career on plans to boost the country's sales tax, currently 5 percent, to fund swelling social security costs in the world's fastest ageing population.

At the end of March, Japan's government submitted laws to double the sales tax by 2015, setting up a showdown that could split the ruling party, force early elections and deepen policy paralysis.

Opposition parties are unwilling to cooperate with Noda's plan and the government lacks the numbers to force legislation through parliament.

"Given the political inaction and relatively weaker growth, and no development in regard to sales tax and the fiscal outlook, the downgrade is not a surprise," said Derek Halpenny, European head of currency research at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in London.

"The yen has sold off a little bit, but the history of downgrades of sovereign debt in Japan is that yen selling is not sustained."

After Fitch's downgrade, Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said that the government will try to implement social welfare and tax reforms.

The OECD said earlier on Tuesday that a credible fiscal consolidation plan must be a top priority for Japan.

Swift action was needed, it said in an economic outlook report, because budget deficits projected at about 10 percent of GDP for 2012 and 2013 would further push Japan's debt into unchartered territory.

Ratings agencies have repeatedly warned Japan that its pace of fiscal consolidation is too slow to lower its debt burden and budget deficit.

(Additional reporting by Leika Kihara, Kaori Kaneko, Tetsushi Kajimoto and Kiyoshi Takenaka in TOKYO; Jessica Mortimer and Nia Williams in LONDON; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Neil Fullick)

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News Summary: Eurozone warned of recession risk

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