| Want a Dell? Celebrity can make your pitch
DALLAS -- Hoping it can boost holiday sales, Dell Inc. has enlisted Burt Reynolds, Ice T and other celebrities to help customers raise money to buy products for themselves or others. Through a Web site launched last week, visitors to www.YoursIsHere.com will be able to create a virtual piggy bank where friends and relatives can donate money for gifts. There are tools to create e-mail distribution lists, and gift-seekers can embed their fundraising requests on their Facebook and MySpace pages. The e-mails are embedded with celebrity video clips, each pitch based on a theme. Actress Estelle Harris, who played George Costanza's nagging mom in the sitcom Seinfeld, solicits funds through the "guilt sell." "Not that it's any of my business, but you usually get them a thoughtless gift every year anyway," she groans.
(AFX UK Focus) 2007-11-17 14:52 GMT: G20 MEETING Talks to focus on modernising IMF, World Bank
KLEINMOND, SOUTH AFRICA (Thomson Financial) - G20 ministers and central bankers will discuss plans to reform the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund at their two-day gathering which starts here today. This G20 meeting is notable for several firsts -- it is the first to be held on African soil and the first where the new head of the World Bank, the American Robert Zoellick, and the new head of the IMF, France's Dominique Strauss-Kahn, also hold talks with the group. The conference will hear calls for the modernisation of both institutions. "The subject will be at the heart of our talks," South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said at a preliminary press conference. "The unequal power balance in the world economic system" will be brought up, South African Central Bank governor Tito Mboweni said.
Shareholders to fight Rock ‘fire sale’
THE two biggest shareholders in Northern Rock are calling for the auction of the stricken bank to be abandoned. RAB Capital and SRM Global, two hedge funds that account for 13% of the bank’s equity, said this weekend the company should not be sold or broken up. The explosive demand could derail a sale process that had attracted up to eight first-round offers when bids closed on Friday. Among them is a consortium led by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. The company has assembled a funding syndicate led by Royal Bank of Scotland to repay immediately £10 billion of Northern Rock’s government borrowings. According to bankers, the RBS team includes Citi, and there is an intention to provide a £20 billion loan. But shareholders say the sale should be abandoned.
So, he wants a divorce ...
A new book shows women how to survive with finances and wit intact. Vicki King was agonising over bikinis for Ipanema when her husband said their marriage was over. "Oh and, by the way, the trip to Brazil is cancelled." Did she shoot him? Yell abuse and threaten revenge? Nope. She put on her game face and said, "You have a week to tell me your plans. And you'll need to find somewhere else to sleep." Then she rang her parents, siblings and best friend. Otherwise zilch for 24 hours. No chopping suits, no slashing radial tyres, no dobbing to the tax man. "Whatever pops into your head, don't act on it. It could end up hurting you later in court with your settlement, with custody issues," King says, her clipped voice of reason on the line from Richmond, Virginia.
Online trading craze grips Vietnam
Finding each other through stock-trading chat rooms and websites, buyers and sellers strike a deal online and then close it by exchanging cash for stock certificates. It's a vivid sign of the times in booming Vietnam. With the economy growing at its fastest clip in a decade, everyone wants to get in on the action. From taxi drivers to tycoons, Vietnamese are speculating wildly on anything that might go up - apartments, gold, land and, above all, stocks. Online trading is an easy way to play the game. Traders don't need to open an account with a broker. They don't even need a bank account. Unregulated, informal and private, the online market works something like Craigslist or eBay. But they're not trading baseball caps or Dad's stamp collection. Participants are trading stocks in privatized state companies that make everything from fertilizer to tractors.
Vouchers to beat fraud on internet
PEOPLE who are nervous about online shopping can now buy virtual vouchers to pay for internet purchases without the need for plastic cards or even a bank account. The move should assuage the fears of thousands of Australians who avoid shopping over the internet or telephone for fear of credit card fraud. Customers can buy VCard credit from retailers in the same way they buy prepaid mobile phones. The credit - up to $1000 per VCard - can then be used in place of a credit card anywhere that accepts Visa. A one-off fee of $5.50 applies for each voucher and the customer cannot spend more than the amount on it. The market research firm Forrester, in a report released in April, found that 7.2 million Australians were online shoppers. It forecast that that figure would grow by an average of 22 per cent a year until 2010.
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