Madoff (with your money) sentenced to 150 years in Prison :)

Madoff sentenced to 150 years in prison
By Joanna Chung and Alan Rappeport in New York and Brooke Masters in London
FT.com







Cheers erupted in the Manhattan federal courthouse on Monday as Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison, the maximum possible under law, for running a $65bn Ponzi scheme that has devastated thousands of investors around the world.

The sentence came after an emotional hearing in which Mr Madoff, 71, conceded he could offer no excuses for decades-long fraud that may be the biggest in history.



“I leave a legacy of shame, as many of my victims have pointed out, for my children and grandchildren. That is something I will have to live with the rest of my life,” Mr Madoff said before the sentence was handed down. The former Nasdaq chairman also turned briefly to the victims in the courtroom, saying: “I’m sorry, I know that doesn’t help you.”

But his victims were not appeased. Nine of them testified at the hearing. Several had to pause as they were overcome with emotion, while others sat in the benches behind them, weeping.

“Underneath that facade, there truly is a beast. He has fed upon us,” said Sheryl Weinstein, the former finance chief of Hadassah, a Jewish women’s organisation.



Michael Schwartz, who lost a family trust fund and is supporting a disabled brother told the judge: “I only hope that his jail sentence is long enough so that his prison becomes a coffin.”

Mr Madoff’s attorney Ira Sorkin had asked for a 12 year sentence and the probation service had recommended 50 years. But Judge Denny Chin opted for the statutory maximum for the 11 charges to which Mr Madoff pleaded guilty.

Noting that he had not received a single letter in support of Mr Madoff, Judge Chin said: “Mr Madoff’s crimes were extraordinarily evil ... Not merely a bloodless financial crime ... [but] one that takes a staggering human toll.”

The White House said Judge Chin had sent a “loud and clear” signal to investors who handle other people’s money.

Mr Madoff’s family did not attend the hearing, but afterwards his wife Ruth broke her silence, releasing a statement saying she felt “embarrassed and ashamed” and “betrayed and confused” by the revelation of her husband’s crimes.

“Nothing I can say seems sufficient regarding the daily suffering that all those innocent people are enduring because of my husband. But if it matters to them at all, please know that not a day goes by when I don’t ache over the stories that I have heard and read,” she wrote.

While this case is unusual because of Mr Madoff’s age, a sentence of that length would ordinarily lead to Mr Madoff being sent to a maximum security prison.

In recent years, judges have handed down increasingly harsh sentences to high-profile white collar criminals. Bernie Ebbers, former chief executive of WorldCom, was given a 25-year term and Jeffrey Skilling, former head of Enron, more than 24 years, although that sentence was overturned on appeal.

There are still many unanswered questions about Mr Madoff’s decades-long scheme and what happened to the money. Mr Madoff has always insisted he committed the crime alone, but many believe he had accomplices.

David Friehling, Mr Madoff’s long-time accountant, has been charged with falsely certifying that he audited Mr Madoff’s firm and with enabling the investment fraud.

Mr Friehling, who has denied wrongdoing, is scheduled to appear in court next month. No one else has been criminally charged in the case.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission and the trustee leading the effort to recover money for victims have begun filing civil lawsuits, seeking to force some of Mr Madoff’s early backers to return some of the withdrawals they received from him. They have denied wrongdoing.

“What happens after the sentencing will be crucial,’’ said Dan Nardello, former federal prosecutor and chief executive of investigative firm Nardello & Co. ‘’The investigation is clearly not over. Although Madoff confessed and pleaded guilty, there is still much to learn. The government will continue to pursue other responsible individuals and assets belonging to the victims. $65bn ... does not just disappear.’’

Mr Madoff’s investors had $65bn on paper, most of it in fictitious profits, when federal authorities arrested him on December 11. The trustee has so far identified more than 1,341 account holders with collective real losses of about $13bn.

Mr Madoff and his wife have been stripped of most of their assets, including their homes and boats, according to court documents filed last week. Mrs Madoff, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, will be allowed to keep $2.5m in cash, according to an agreement with prosecutors.

Comedy Football :) 23 Million People have watched this video on You Tube!

YouTube launches Citizen Tube helpng Iranian Protesters!

CitizenTube helps Iranian protesters - 25 Jun 09



While Iran continues its clampdown on media reporting stories in Tehran, YouTube has created a political blog that offers a venue for global users to aggregate the latest footage on breaking news stories from around the world.

Al Jazeera talks with Steve Grove, YouTube's head of News & Politics, about CitizenTube and the impact it is having on new media as well as for protesters in Iran.


Visit http://www.citizentube.com for more information.




A note about videos coming in from Iran




Visit http://www.citizentube.com for more information.

UK Police chiefs plan cybercrime squads (about time)

By James Boxell, Home Affairs Correspondent
Published: June 23 2009 23:30

FT.com

Police forces plan to set up regional “cybercrime” squads similar to those that deal with anti-terror operations, as senior officers seek to counter criticism they are not doing enough to combat the 3m annual cases of online crime.

The plans – “actively pursued” by the Association of Chief Police Officers – emphasise fears the police are being left behind by sophisticated gangs of online criminals with access to the latest technology and large sums of money. UK figures on cybercrime are patchy, but officials estimate online fraud is worth more than £50bn a year worldwide.












Hackers have recently attacked important services in the UK as well as businesses. Three London hospitals have come under attack and one police force outside London had its system shut down for five days.

Cyber-security has moved up the policy agenda, with this week’s “national security strategy” expected to include the formation of a cyber-centre and a new Cabinet Office unit.

The specialist regional police squads are an important part of the chief officers’ national “e-crime strategy”, although the initiative has yet to be ratified by the association’s senior members. It includes plans to train all “mainstream” police officers in how to deal with complaints of cybercrime.

The new approach is an admission by senior officers that they have failed so far to come up with a coherent means to tackle online criminals. Efforts are hampered by a lack of co-ordination between forces and a lack of expertise among officers.

“It has been an ad hoc and piecemeal approach,” said one senior officer. “There is a lack of knowledge, particularly among detectives.”

The strategy is to be driven by Janet Williams, head of intelligence and covert policing at the Metropolitan Police, who has also taken the lead on Scotland Yard’s e-crime unit.

Ms Williams has openly questioned the unit’s modest budget, but the formation of regional squads could help to share some of the burden. Police forces have set up similar counter-terror squads to pool expert resources in Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester, with Thames Valley to join soon.

The cybercrime squads would also take their lead from the Met’s e-crime unit – again mirroring the counter-terror approach, of which Scotland Yard is in charge nationally.

The strategy highlights the importance of police relations with business. The e-crime unit has already established a “virtual taskforce” with the finance industry, including banks and payment services companies.





Banks have been in the vanguard of combating online fraud, with some success, but senior police officers said that financial companies were showing reluctance to share information because of concerns over commercial confidentiality.

“They need to rethink that,” one officer said.

Ms Williams’ team seeks to set up similar task forces with retailers and property companies, which have also suffered from the cybercrime boom.

Catherine Bowen, head of crime policy at the British Retail Consortium, said online crime was now one of the biggest issues facing retailers.

She said that a UK-wide approach had been put in place by the National Fraud Office – but she hoped the regional squads and nationwide training of officers would “provide the missing link”.

Your Easy Sales Formula (Free Affiliate Training Videos)

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yeah,I have never heard of this before either!

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Its 1 and half hours of quality training, that others
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For Your Success

Brian Simpson
AlbaIM Social Network
http://www.albaim.com

IRAN - The Facebook Revolution!

Reports are coming out of Iran that Mir Hossein Mousavi
was informed by officals that he had WON the Election!

But when preparing his victory speech,was informed that he had NOT!


The Real Bosses of Iran had changed their minds!

Johnny Cash :) (Folsom Prison Blues)

Iranian people ask "Where is My Vote" as Ahmadi-Nejad win sparks violent clashes

Thousands of angry protesters have clashed with police after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of Iran's presidential poll.
Secret police have been attacked, while riot police used batons and tear gas against backers of Mir Hossein Mousavi, who called the results a "charade".
Correspondents say the violence is the worst seen in Tehran in a decade.
In a televised address to the nation, Mr Ahmadinejad thanked voters for giving him a "great victory".
He said the people of Iran wanted justice, development, an end to corruption and for their country's name to be respected.


John Simpson
Reporting from Tehran

A crowd of about 3,000 attacked the police, some of whom were on motorbikes, which they set on fire.
The sky was thick with black smoke. Police attacked the crowd with sticks and maybe teargas.
I didn't expect to see people turning on the secret police. We were filming when we were surrounded by angry secret policemen. The crowd turned on them and chased them off.
I suspect we are not looking at a revolution but there is serious anger.
It all depends on how the government responds - if they use violence, that could inflame the situation.
In quotes: Reaction to result
The official results gave Mr Ahmadinejad 63% of the vote against just 34% for Mr Mousavi.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised the high turnout of 85%, described the count as a "real celebration" and called for calm.
"Enemies may want to spoil the sweetness of this event... with some kind of ill-intentioned provocations," the ayatollah said.
Mr Mousavi has also claimed victory, as his supporters said the election had been stolen and vowed to seek a re-run.

But observers say this would have little chance of success.

Some of the protesters in Tehran wore Mr Mousavi's campaign colour of green and chanted "Down with the dictator", news agencies report.
Four police motorbikes were set on fire near the interior ministry, where votes had been counted, the BBC's John Simpson in Tehran says.
Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli warned that any demonstrations needed official permission, and none had been given.

One opposition newspaper has been closed down and BBC websites also appear to have been blocked by the Iranian authorities. The AP news agency reports that mobile phone services have been blocked in Tehran.

Mr Mousavi was hoping to prevent Mr Ahmadinejad winning more than 50% of the vote, in order to force a run-off election.
Danger of 'tyranny'
Mr Ahmadinejad said the world, especially the Western media, had waged a campaign of "psychological warfare" against the people of Iran during the election.

President Ahmadinejad addresses nation

"It was clear what the majority of people wanted," he said.
He said the election had been free but did not go into details about the complaints of rigging and did not mention the violence.
Mr Mousavi, a former prime minister, earlier dismissed the election result as deeply flawed.
"I personally strongly protest the many obvious violations and I'm warning I will not surrender to this dangerous charade," the Reuters news agency reported him as saying.
"The result of such performance by some officials will jeopardise the pillars of the Islamic Republic and will establish tyranny."

IRANIAN ELECTION

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: 62.6%
Mir Hossein Mousavi: 33.8%
Mohsen Rezai: 1.7%
Mehdi Karroubi 0.9%
Turnout: 85%
Source: Interior ministry




Mr Mousavi had said there was a shortage of ballot papers and alleged that millions of people had been denied the right to vote.
His election monitors were not allowed enough access to polling stations, he added.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says the result has been greeted with surprise and with deep scepticism by many Iranians.
The figures, if they are to be believed, show Mr Ahmadinejad winning strongly even in the heartland of Mr Mousavi.
The scale of Mr Ahmadinejad's win means that many people who voted for a reformist candidate in the previous presidential election four years ago have apparently switched their votes to Mr Ahmadinejad, he adds.
However, the president does enjoy the support of many of the urban poor and rural dwellers.

"I am happy that my candidate has won - he helps the poor and he catches the thieves," sandwich seller Kamra Mohammadi, 22, told the AFP news agency.
Mr Mousavi gains much of his support from the middle classes and the educated urban population.



Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's supporters have been celebrating the result
There had been a surge of interest in Iran's presidential election, with unprecedented live television debates between the candidates and rallies attended by thousands.
There were long queues at polling stations, with turnout reaching 85%.
Four candidates contested the election, with Mohsen Razai and Mehdi Karroubi only registering about 1% of the vote each.
Iran is ruled under a system known as Velayat-e Faqih, or "Rule by the Supreme Jurist", who is currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It was adopted by an overwhelming majority in 1979 following the Islamic revolution which overthrew the autocratic Western-backed Shah.

But the constitution also stipulates that the people are the source of power and the country holds phased presidential and parliamentary elections every four years.
All candidates are vetted by the powerful conservative-controlled Guardian Council, which also has the power to veto legislation it deems inconsistent with revolutionary principles.

Swedish Pirate Party (legalize internet file sharing) Wins Euro Seat!

Sweden's Pirate Party has won a seat in the European Parliament.

The group - which campaigned on reformation of copyright and patent law - secured 7.1% of the Swedish vote.
The result puts the Pirate Party in fifth place, behind the Social Democrats, Greens, Liberals and the Moderate Party.
Rickard Falkvinge, the party leader, told the BBC the win was "gigantic" and that they were now negotiating with four different EU Parliamentary groups.
"Last night, we gained political credibility," said Mr Falkvinge.
"People were not taken in by the establishment and we got political trust from the citizens."

In April, a court in Sweden sentenced the four men behind The Pirate Bay, the world's most high-profile file-sharing website, to a year in jail and ordered them to pay $4.5m (£3m) in damages.
Mr Falkvinge said it had played a significant role in getting them the vote.

Many people just don't see illegal file-sharing as a crime, however hard the media industries try to persuade the public that it's just as bad as shoplifting

"The establishment is trying to prevent control of knowledge and culture slipping from their grasp.
"When the Pirate Bay got hit, people realised the wolf was outside the front door.
"That happened one month before the ballot opened, so it had quite a rallying effect," he said.
Parties within the European Parliament tend to join one of the big voting blocs, otherwise their MEP can become marginalised.

Mr Falkvinge said they were still considering their position.
"We're looking at four different EU Parliament groups," he said.
"However, we're probably going to join either the Green block or the ALDE group."
The biggest loser in Sweden's election was the eurosceptic June List party, which saw its share of the vote fall by more than 10 points to 3.6% of the vote. The Left Party also saw its vote halved to 5.6%.

D-Day Normandy Tribute - June 6th 1944 (65th Anniversary)

Saving Private Ryan - D-Day Omaha Beach


The scene is influenced by the events of the Normandy Invasion on 6th June 1944.
Very realistic of actual landings.



Landing on Utah Beach



These are actual accounts from D-day and other WW2 events. The audio clips are taken from Richard Holmes book, D-Day Experience.



Royal British Legion D-Day 65 launch event



The Royal British Legion launched its D-Day 65 events with a 1940s themed party. On June 6 2009 events will be held on both sides of the channel - a commemorative event in Normandy and a celebratory party in Portsmouth

UK Govt falling apart, with 11 ministers resigning,but PM Brown rearranging deckchairs on "HMG Titanic"

China vs the USA " The Battle for Oil "

Chinas sky-rocketing growth and shortage of sufficient resources is forcing China to set its sights outside its borders in a frantic search for oil, but the major producing countries are kept off-limits by the United States, forcing China to do business with the rogue states, African dictatorships, Iran and former Russian states - to get the oil they desperately need. Featuring field encounters, archival footage, news reports and maps to outline the latest threat in world geopolitics.






Video 1






Video 2






Video 3






Video 4






Video 5






Great documentary on the battle for Oil betweem USA & China!

Brian Simpson
Alba Oil and Gas Community
http://www.albaoil.com

The Banker

What businesses are succeeding on the Net?

***********************************************************
What businesses are succeeding on the Net?
************************************************************

This week we will address the most basic question any
Internet business owner will have to answer at one point or
another…”what should I sell?”.

After the settling down of the dot-com bubble, sanity checks
have brought realistic expectations to the fore. Initially,
a backlash was seen, forecasting the doom of the Internet.
Finally, merits have made the Internet gain its rightful
place. In breakthroughs that show the promise of e-commerce
wasn't all smoke and mirrors, four dot-coms recently
reported their first quarterly profits. The list of the
Internet’s publicly held moneymakers includes eBay Inc.,
Amazon.com Inc., Yahoo! Inc., Overture Services Inc.,
Expedia Inc., FindWhat.com Inc. and E-Trade Group Inc.
Several privately owned dot-coms, including search engines
Google and DealTime, say they have been making money, too.

In 2001, the last full year where numbers are available, the
Department of Commerce broke out e-commerce sales versus
total U.S retail sales which revealed the $3.16 trillion
retail industry saw a total of $37.7 billion in sales take
place online -- comprising 1.2 percent of the total. This
year e-commerce is tracking about the same. Through the
third quarter, the last full quarter where numbers are
available, total retail sales were $856 billion versus $11
billion in e-commerce, about a 1.3 percent share.


There were big gains made in Home and Garden, a 78 percent
increase; Furniture and Appliances, a 75 percent increase;
and Toy shopping online with a 61 percent increase in the
year 2002. There is no doubt that online shopping is
growing.

Nielsen//NetRatings found that more than 35.5 million U.S.
Internet users made shopping trips to virtual department
store sites during the week ending November 3, 2002 - that's
a 20 percent increase from the week ending October 20 and
roughly 14 million more than almost the same time period in
2001.

There is a growing tendency amongst Internet users to pay
for valuable content online. There are many reasons for
this. First, only a few websites operated by big companies
can afford to provide valuable content without being
compensated. The rest of us can't be so generous. And trying
to recapture our expenses by selling advertising on our
websites has failed to pay the bills. Online advertising and
click-through rates are on the decline.

Second, many people are now more than willing to pay to
receive quality services and products even if they were
offered for free earlier. Several paid content websites have
already proven this unmistakable trend. The discerning buyer
values his/her time as also the quality of information or
service and is willing to pay for it.

However, not all products can be sold on the Internet. Some
products may be better suited for online sales than others;
others simply will not work on this new commercial medium.
According to an Ernst and Young study, the most popular
online purchases are computer related products (40%), books
(20%), travel (16%), clothing (10%), recorded music (6%),
subscriptions (6%), gifts (5%) and investments (4%).

Businesses offering paid services have also prospered
enormously. The top three categories (Business
Content/Investment, Entertainment/Lifestyles and
Personals/Dating) accounted for 62% of all paid content
revenues in the first three quarters of 2002. The total
market for paid online content in the U.S. grew to $361.4
million for the quarter, a 14 percent gain over the previous
quarter and a 105.3 percent gain over Q3 2001. An
interesting statistic put forward by this report is that 85%
of money spent by U.S. Consumers for online content goes to
the top 50 sites in most of the categories.

The graph below (Top 3 Content Categories) is indicative of
this change.

In terms of “stickiness” of different categories, Business
sites - especially finance and investment rank the highest.
In other words, users are more likely to spend longer time
surfing through a business website compared to other
categories. This study was conducted by Nielsen//NetRatings.
The table below shows the most addictive web categories for
2002.

Category Time per person(hr:min:sec) Audience
Business – Finance and Investment 0:21:33 51,586
General News 0:15:47 64,822
Entertainment 0:14:32 45,922

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings

According to the above figures a person spends about 22
minutes on a finance website on an average.

************************************************************
Should you be selling a product or a service?
************************************************************

The Internet is primarily used to communicate, entertain,
educate and research. It is thus no wonder that
nonperishable, information-intensive products - including
computers and software, books, travel, consumer electronics,
magazine subscriptions - are the most popular online
products at present. Content-rich sites, subscription-based
sites to advertiser-supported sites focusing on a wide range
of topics, have been sprouting all over the Internet.

Services such as hotel reservation, air travel and
investments have successfully translated themselves to the
Internet.

Unique services such as Online driving schools have been
prospering. Some states in the US have set up online payment
sites for Government services. Residents of a state can log
on to a common site to pay all bills and other expenses,
such as parking tickets to the local/County courts.

However, all kinds of services cannot be run entirely on the
Internet. The Internet is less effective when face-to-face
selling is needed to close a deal. The Internet can give
lots of preliminary information that's useful in setting the
scene for the closing. But the actual closing takes place
offline - i.e., not on the Internet.

Products can also be marketed and sold successfully on the
Internet. The kinds of products and services that sell best
on the Internet are those that take advantage of the
convenience of the Net. Remember that convenience is the
primary reason why consumers flock to the Internet in the
first place. People can shop any hour of the day at any
site. They can avoid crowded stores, irritating sales
clerks, and even avoid pickpockets.

Offbeat or unusual products and services often attract
online attention and sell strongly. You would generally not
try to sell items people can get at the corner store. Thus,
few toothbrushes are sold on the Net; the same thing with
daily food and beverage purchases. But special cheeses, rare
cigars, Turkish plates, long-aged wines, even diamonds, can
and do sell on the Net.

Most products sold by catalog and mail order also sell well
on the Net. However, people tend to buy only those products
that could be shipped at a reasonable price. Higher shipping
costs diminish the price competitiveness of online products
and turns-off a lot of potential buyers. In fact, high
shipping costs is the primary factor that discourages people
from buying online more than any other single reason. An
Ernst and Young report shows that 53 percent of online
shoppers are concerned with shipping costs that are too
high, compared to only 19 percent who are concerned with
credit cards being stolen.

As an online merchant, you have to work out the advantages
as well as disadvantages of selling either products or
services. However, in the recent past, online services have
known to flourish. Nevertheless, if you chose to sell
products you need to rethink your product offering if the
total costs of the product and the shipping are higher than
what is offered elsewhere.

Take some time to evaluate your products or services. There
is a growing market of potential customers on the Internet,
you just need to offer the products and services they are
looking for.

For Your Success!

Brian Simpson
AlbaIM Social Network
http://www.albaim.com









Realise Your Potential