Facebook Inc. is expanding a service called Facebook Credits that gives it a 30 percent cut of sales from tractors

Facebook Inc. is expanding a service called Facebook Credits that gives it a 30 percent cut of sales from tractors, fish food and guns in online games, according to four people who have held discussions with the company.Facebook is already testing the payment option in at least 17 games, including “Happy Aquarium” and “Restaurant City.” The company will make the service available in more games ahead of its annual developers conference in April, said the people, who declined to be named because the plans aren’t public.After relying on advertising for almost all of its revenue, Facebook is moving to take a bigger piece of the market for virtual items bought in games, which may quadruple to $3.6 billion in the U.S. by 2012, according to ThinkEquity LLC. Today, almost all of those sales go to the game developers, such as Zynga Inc., creator of “FarmVille,” and Electronic Arts Inc.’s Playfish unit.

“It will likely be a significant revenue stream,” said Jeremy Liew, a managing director at Menlo Park, California-based Lightspeed Venture Partners who invests in social games. “They’ll keep working on it until it makes economic sense for developers.”Facebook, the most popular social-networking site, allows outside developers to offer games to its 400 million users. The games are free, and players can pay for items that advance their progress, such as a $3.33 tractor in “FarmVille,” a $5.95 helicopter in “Mafia Wars” or a $4.89 box of fish food for “Happy Aquarium.”
Facebook Cut
The Palo Alto, California-based company is seeking to take advantage of the popularity of online games, a market that has already blossomed in Asia. Shares of Tencent Holdings Ltd., a game company in Shenzhen, China, tripled in the past year, giving it a market value of $35 billion. Facebook is also taking a page from Apple Inc., which gets a 30 percent cut of sales from iPhone apps.Today, gamers on Facebook can either buy Facebook Credits to obtain items in games, or pay for them through third-party services. Of the $3.6 billion in U.S. virtual goods sales in 2012, about $2.2 billion will be on social networks, with 80 percent on Facebook, said Atul Bagga, a ThinkEquity analyst in San Francisco. If all payments on the site use Facebook Credits, that would mean $530 million in revenue for the company, he said.

‘Trust Factor’

“It’s the trust factor,” Bagga said. “You trust Facebook more than you would trust any other payment company.”EBay Inc.’s PayPal unit said yesterday that it will become a payment option for Facebook Credits, allowing PayPal customers to buy the site’s virtual currency. Players can also use credit cards or their mobile phone to buy credits.Payments and virtual currencies will likely be a focus of Facebook’s developers conference, which is scheduled to start April 21 in San Francisco, said three people who have had discussions with the company.

“We are continuing to look at ways to extend our virtual currency Facebook Credits  via a small alpha test with a handful of developers,” Facebook said in an e-mailed statement. “The test started in May and is exploring ways for people to use their Facebook Credits with third-party applications.”Allowing Facebook’s users to buy a single virtual currency that can be spent on all games will probably increase sales for developers, said Vish Makhijani, chief operating officer of San Francisco-based Zynga, the largest creator of games on the site.

‘Additional Liquidity’

“Facebook Credits will drive more people to become buyers,” Makhijani said. “That additional liquidity or ability to spend in more places clearly would be more attractive to a consumer than something you can only spend in one place.”

In rolling out Facebook Credits, the company may still allow players to buy goods using other payment services. Developers would prefer to have Facebook Credits as an option rather than being the exclusive payments provider  because purchases made with Facebook cost them more, said Vikas Gupta, chief executive officer of Jambool Inc., also known as Social Gold, which offers an in-game payment system.“Facebook Credits comes at a pretty high tax,” said Gupta, whose San Francisco-based company charges developers 7 percent to 10 percent per purchase. Still, he said Facebook Credits “will help grow the overall ecosystem so you’ll see more people pay for goods.”

Nokia N8-00 with a camera 12 megapixel (MP) and the ability to record 720p HD video

Nokia reportedly will soon introduce its new mobile phone equipped with a camera 12 megapixel (MP) and the ability to record 720p HD video. The plan, the Finnish vendor will be introduced at the event Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2010 in Barcelona, Spain, 15-18 February 2010.Hardwarezone, Friday (12/2/2010) launch, phone N8, which is also often called N8-00 will be supported by the Symbian operating system and has a touch screen technology with a 3.5-inch screen size.

However, until now the appearance of N8-00 has not ‘leaked’ on the Internet, only rumors about the camera specs are rampant.Nokia’s Ovi store is also rumored to have set up a video on demand service that can be submitted by the user N8-00. The appearance of this phone is predicted to boost sales of Nokia phones soared. After experiencing the ups and downs in the year 2009.

In the second quarter of 2009, Gartner noted, Nokia still dominates mobile phone sales to 105.4 million units during the second quarter. But, the market Nokia eroded approximately 3 percent compared to the previous year.At that time, the smartphone market, Nokia has not wavered over the two rivals Apple and RIM. of the total sales of 40.9 million smart phones Nokia sold 18.4 million units.

Apple iPhone marketed 45 Million in 2010

Apple's iPhone.

For iPhone image sensor, the company Apple was always purchase from suppliers in Taiwan. OmniVision Technologies (OVTI), the name of this company, used to make the 3.2 megapixel sensor for mobile phone iPhone 3GS series.Last Wednesday, the newspaper reported that OmniVision Digitimes had orders to make the chip the iPhone as much as 40-45 million for the year 2010. This Order increases than 20-21 million orders in 2009.The newspaper is based in Taipei was also reported, for the next generation, the iPhone has a camera with 5 megapixel camera capability. Advanced mobile phone output is going to sell Apple Apple Stores in the second half of 2010.Indeed the last three years since Apple is always introducing new iPhone every summer. AppleInsider reports that San Francisco’s Moscone West, where you would normally be the Apple WWDC event, has been booked for 28 June to 2 July 2010. The event was an annual conference for developers at Apple.Apple to sell 16.4 million iPhones in the first three quarters during 2009. According to some reports, the figure is in line with other sales as much as 9 or 10 million more before the year ends.

Three bombs planted under a car exploded south of Beirut

Three bombs

BEIRUT Three bombs planted under a car exploded south of Beirut on Saturday, killing one person and wounding several others in an attack that apparently targeted an official from the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the state-run news agency said.The official National News Agency said the explosion was caused by “three bombs tied to each other” that were placed under the car of an official believed to be from Hamas.It did not identify the targeted official or the victims. One of the wounded was in serious condition, the report said.Lebanese security officials told The Associated Press they could not independently confirm what caused the blasts or who the explosions targeted. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which controls the area, sealed off the streets in the southern suburb of Haret Hreik and prevented journalists from getting close to the scene.One senior police official said the blast occurred in a neighborhood that houses an office belonging to Hamas.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV only briefly mentioned the blast Saturday, quoting Lebanese security officials as saying “an explosion in Haret Hreik targeted an office belonging to Hamas, causing a number of casualties.” The broadcast offered did not elaborate, and a Hezbollah official contacted by The Associated Press said he had no information.

Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, was not available for comment Saturday and had no information, according to a person who answered his mobile phone. Other Hamas officials in Beirut and neighboring Syria, which shelters the exiled leadership of Hamas, did not answer repeated calls.The explosion comes on the even of Ashoura, Shiite Islam’s most important religious holiday.Explosions in the area, which is almost completely controlled by the Shiite Hezbollah, are rare. Hezbollah has its own arsenal with tens of thousands of rockets and missiles, which it says it needs to fight off any threat from Israel.

The area was bombed out by Israel during the monthlong 2006 war with Hezbollah.Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is expected to address tens of thousands of supporters commemorating the Ashoura holiday by video link on Sunday.The explosion Saturday night occurred about 700 meters (2,300 feet) from a complex where hundreds of Shiite Hezbollah supporters were holding a ceremony commemorating Ashoura and listening to a live televised speech by Nasrallah.Ashoura marks the death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, who died in a battle in 680 against the leader of what became the Sunni branch of Islam. The battle took place in the Iraqi city of Karbala.

The VAIO VPC-L117FX/B looks like it could be a Sony Bravia HDTV

Sony VAIO VPC L117FX B

Among the all in one all-in-one desktop PC, the Sony VAIO VPC-L117FX/B ($2,000 list) is certainly one of the best looking. It has the look of a 24-inch HDTV, an intentional design choice. Inside that sexy shell is the heart of a power user’s PC: quad-core Intel processor, 6GB of memory, 1TB hard drive, Blu-ray burner, and a decent Nvidia graphics card. Placement in the kitchen, den, home office, and living room come to mind, but like its Sony VAIO all in one predecessors, it will even work in the most design critical room in the house: the bedroom.

Design
The VAIO VPC-L117FX/B looks like it could be a Sony Bravia HDTV. That is one of its greatest strengths, since it can blend in anywhere a smaller (20- to 36-inch) HDTV fits. It can even replace a TV in the bedroom, since it has a built-in Blu-ray drive, ATSC tuner, and HDMI-in ports. Viewing Blu-ray videos on the VAIO give you that “view through a window” effect that makes it seem like the action is happening on the other side of the display glass. We tested the system with films made before (Coming to America, The Warriors) and after the advent of CGI (Star Trek, Mission Impossible II). All of the films looked great. The picture is vivid, accurate, and noise-free. The HDMI-in port lets you connect a game system like a Sony Playstation 3 or a set-top box like the one from you cable TV company. The built-in tuner grabs over the air HDTV signals and displays them in Windows 7’s built-in Media Center interface. There’s a slot built into the base of the unit, so you can stow the wireless keyboard out of the way when you’re not using it, and the keyboard and mouse can easily reach a bed or couch 10 to 15 feet away. The system is wall mountable with a kit you can buy separately.

The all-in-one comes with five USB ports, a FireWire/i.Link port, and that 24-inch 1,920 by 1,080 resolution screen (which is true 1080p HD). This is truly a power-users’ system, and it better be one for $2,000. The system also comes with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and an IR remote control so you can work almost completely wireless.

Features
The system’s touchscreen is responsive, though it takes a few seconds for your finger to learn exactly where to point to get the screen to recognize your commands. The HP TouchSmart systems are a little more forgiving with finger placement, but both the Sony and HP all in one PC’s screens are multi-touch enabled and can use standard Windows 7 touch command functions like swipe, flick, pinch, and rotate. The system’s quad-core processor makes the Sony VPC-L117FX/B just a little more responsive than the TouchSmart 600, but you’re unlikely to notice the difference unless you have the two side by side. Aside from the usual Windows 7 apps, the VAIO VPC-L117FX/B comes with VAIO Media Gallery, a unified multimedia viewing interface that lets you quickly view all your music, photos, and videos on a variety of formats, including neat calendar-organized formats. This serves a range of users from the “messy but organized” types to the obsessive compulsives that have to have their photos organized by time stamps. Media Gallery allows you to group photos arbitrarily or via searchable criteria; then you can create a quick slideshow with a couple of touches, then export to VAIO Movie Story. VAIO Movie Story is a quick way to create well, if not edited, then concatenated home movie made of your pictures, clips from your digital camera, and clips from your cell phone. Movie Story can either use music you choose, or it will check the videos with an algorithm and automatically suggest or add music. You can then burn the resulting movie to DVD or Blu-ray disc, save the file in a variety of media formats (including MPEG-2, MP4, etc.), or export your file to a Sony Media device like a PSP or a Mylo. I’d like to see an integrated export to iTunes/iPod or better yet an export to Facebook or Youtube, but you could of course do that manually after you create a file.

The VAIO VPC-L117FX/B comes with Google’s Chrome as its default browser, but like all Windows 7 PCs, it also comes with Internet Explorer 8. I found that touch navigation works better in IE8, since I couldn’t scroll slowly in Chrome—it only recognized flick commands like page forward/back and page up/down. Scrolling up and down in IE8 using finger gestures was smooth and worked as expected. I’m sure Google will improve the interface over time, but for now IE8 is the better touch-enabled browser on the VAIO.

Aside from the useful software above, there’s very little in the way of bloatware on the VAIO VPC-L117FX/B. There’s a copy of Microsoft Works, which is useful. Then there’s an installer for a 60-day trial of Microsoft Office, which is the right way to both satisfy Microsoft’s agreements with Sony, and to avoid the dreaded “pre-installed Office” syndrome. Likewise, there’s a link to Quicken’s Website for offers on QuickBooks and Quicken, but you have to download and install them. Believe me, this is a good thing. You don’t have to install Office or Quickbooks unless you want to, so there’s nothing to clean up and therefore no stray .DLL files or leftover detritus to muck up your hard drive. If there’s any drawback to the Sony VAIO Media software, it’s that it’s not as modular as HP’s TouchSmart interface, with its widgets and iPod Touch-style apps. On the other hand, VAIO Media Gallery and Movie Story are some of the most intuitive and easiest to use pack-in multimedia apps outside of Apple’s iLife (iMovie, iDVD, etc.).

Performance
The VAIO VPC-L117FX/B’s performance is very good, thanks to its Intel Core 2 Quad 8400S processor and Nvidia GeForce GT 240M graphics, though it’s tied for the class leader in only one of our standard benchmark tests. The VAIO is speedy at the PhotoShop CS4 test with a class-leading 1 minute 39 seconds, tied with the Gateway One ZX6810-01. It’s also only one second behind the Gateway FX6810-01 at the Windows Media Encoder test (43 seconds), which makes the VAIO VPC-L117FX/B an excellent choice for the multimedia enthusiast. It’s other scores are competitive in the field of multimedia all in one desktops, including the dual-core powered Apple iMac 27-inch (Core 2 Duo), Lenovo IdeaCentre A600 (3011-4BU), and the Editor’s Choice HP TouchSmart 600-1055 PC. The VAIO VPC-L117FX/B can be used for light gaming: it played World in Conflict at a smooth 39 frames per second (fps), but is a little too slow playing Crysis at our standard settings (30fps). If you push the quality levels and/or resolution down you can likely get a playable frame rate in Crysis. The GPU does help with programs like Microsoft’s Virtual Earth and HD video playback from the web.

As a high-end all-in-one desktop PC, the Sony VAIO VPC-L117FX/B is a little pricey at about $2,000, but you can just about rationalize the added expense if you consider the system has one of the best quality screens in the business, Blu-ray burner (as opposed to just a player for the Lenovo A600 and HP TouchSmart 600), and its looks more like an HDTV than a PC, unlike the iMac, Gateway One, Lenovo IdeaCentre, and HP TouchSmart. That said, these other four are a lot less expensive, especially in the case of the Gateway One and Lenovo A600 (both $1,399 list). The Gateway One is the performance leader overall, with a speedy Solid State Drive (SSD) helping its quad-core processor take five wins out of the seven benchmark tests. However, the Editor’s Choice winning HP TouchSmart 600-1055 has the most polished implementation of touch technology in Windows 7, along with the best bang for the buck ($1,599 list) out of all the multimedia all in ones. The Sony VAIO VPC-L117FX/B is a “better quality” choice if you’re willing to spend the bucks, but you’d have to be a individual who’s really hard to please to justify an almost $500 price premium.

Pakistan No Christmas decorations brighten the tent camp sheltering Christians left homeless by the worst violence

Pakistani Christian children

GOJRA, Pakistan  No Christmas decorations brighten the tent camp sheltering Christians left homeless by the worst violence against minorities in Pakistan this year. Instead, there is a pervasive sense of fear.The Christians have received cell phone text messages warning them to expect a “special Christmas present,” they say, and are terrified of their tents being torched or their church services being bombed.”Last year I celebrated Christmas full of joy,” said Irfan Masih, cradling his young son among the canvas shelters and open ditches of the camp. But now “the fear that we may again be attacked is in our hearts.”They are threatening us, (saying) ‘We will again attack you and will not let you out of homes, we will burn you inside this time,'” he said.

It was the fires that most traumatized Gojra’s Christian Colony, a neighborhood in the heart of this Punjabi city about 220 miles (354 kilometers) southwest of Islamabad. In early August, hundreds of Muslims rampaged through the dirt streets, looting and torching homes as panicked residents tried to flee and thick black smoke rose into the air.Eight Christians died – seven of them from one family trapped in a burning home.”We are going to celebrate Christmas in sorrow because the whole family is hurt by this,” said Almas Hameed, whose father was shot dead during the riots. His wife, two of his children and members of his brother’s family all burned to death.

The attack, which officials said was incited by a banned radical Islamist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, followed rumors that Christians had torn pages of a Quran, an act considered sacrilegious by Muslims. The ensuing carnage drew condemnation from the Pope and Pakistan’s prime minister, and highlighted how religious extremism has left the country’s minority groups increasingly vulnerable.Christians – Protestants and Catholics among them – make up less than 5 percent of Muslim-majority Pakistan’s 175 million people.Christians say more than 100 homes were burned and looted in Gojra and the nearby village of Korian. While many homes have been rebuilt using state money, dozens of families are still living in tents, waiting for construction on their houses to finish.

Both those who have moved back into their homes and the ones still in the camp say they are still regularly threatened – phone calls telling them to stop pressing for those responsible to be convicted, or else; armed men turning up at their homes; text messages on their cell phones promising a “special Christmas present;” rocks thrown at the tents in the night.”When we sleep at night the fear never leaves our heart,” said Safia Riaz, a 30-year-old whose father died of a heart attack during the riots. The violence “has stuck in our minds. Tension remains – God forbid that it will happen again.”

Strict security was being put into place during Christmas, said police officer Mohammed Tahir of the Faisalabad regional police headquarters, who rejected claims that authorities were unable to protect the minority.Security has been ramped up across the country anyway, as this year Christmas falls during the Islamic month of Muharram, which is often marred by bombings and fighting between Pakistan’s Sunni Muslims and its Shiite minority.

But Gojra’s Christians have little faith in the police, who were accused of standing by during the worst of August’s violence.
“The police already didn’t save us before,” said Ashar Faras, a 33-year-old who works as a chef in an Islamabad guesthouse.Pastor Safraz Sagar, a local clergyman who also lost his home in the riots, believes there is little authorities can do. “They are trying to protect us, but I think that when the terrorists want to harm us, they will.”

Many complain they see no justice, noting that there have been no convictions of anyone involved in the rioting. They say those who led the mob are well-known in the town, but are left untouched.

Extremists have increasingly targeted minority religious groups in Pakistan. Minority Rights Group International, a watchdog organization, lists Pakistan as seventh on the list of 10 most dangerous countries for minorities, after Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar and Congo.The government stresses it is committed to minority rights.”Today, more than ever, we need to rediscover the path of peaceful coexistence,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said in a Christmas message, adding that the government is “committed to working for the progress and prosperity of the minorities.”

But in Gojra, few feel festive.Bishop John Samuel, the region’s senior clergyman, said Christmas services would still be held.However, “people are afraid because of this incident also because of this tussle, this tension,” he said.
“And also people are afraid from terrorism.”

antitrust regulators are taking a closer look at Google Inc.'s

Google

SAN FRANCISCO  U.S. antitrust regulators are taking a closer look at Google Inc.’s proposed $750 million purchase of mobile phone marketer AdMob, the latest sign of greater government vigilance as Google tries to expand its advertising empire.The Federal Trade Commission sought more information about the deal this week, according to a Wednesday post on Google’s blog.This so-called “second request” doesn’t mean regulators intend to block Google’s AdMob deal. Most other acquisitions that go through this stage end up getting approved.But the FTC’s action shows regulators are watching Google more carefully as the company tries to build upon its dominance of the Internet’s lucrative search advertising market. Google is expected to pull in more than $22 billion in revenue this year, mostly from ads shown alongside search results and other Web content.

“We know that closer scrutiny has been one consequence of Google’s success,” Paul Feng, a Google product manager, wrote in Wednesday’s blog posting. Echoing previous management comments, Feng said the company remains confident its AdMob purchase, announced last month, will be approved.Google’s huge lead in Internet search triggered a 2008 government investigation that scuttled its plans to enter into an advertising partnership with rival Yahoo Inc., which runs the second most-popular search engine. Yahoo plans to work with Microsoft Corp. instead, beginning next year if those two companies can gain regulatory approval.

Since its inception nearly four years ago, AdMob has built a thriving network that sells and delivers ads on applications and Web sites designed for the iPhone and other mobile devices. It’s still relatively small with estimated annual revenue of $45 million to $60 million, but regulators apparently want to understand whether its technology and advertising contacts would give Google an unfair advantage in its quest to sell more mobile phone ads.

Google management has indicated that it believes mobile marketing eventually may become bigger than advertising on Internet-connected computers. That tipping point still appears to be many years away, with U.S. mobile advertising expected to total $416 million this year, about 2 percent of overall Internet ad spending in the country.

The FTC’s decision to take more time digging into the AdMob deal means Google probably won’t be able to take over the company for several more months, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Rebecca Arbogast wrote in a Wednesday research note. It took a year for the FTC to approve Google’s $3.2 billion acquisition of Internet ad service DoubleClick Inc., which was completed in March 2008.

Google’s first big deal, a $1.76 billion acquisition of the video site YouTube, was cleared by regulators in a month in 2006.
Separately, Google ran into another potential roadblock Wednesday after another takeover target, On2 Technologies Inc., said that it still hadn’t collected enough shareholder support to close its deal. On2, based in Clifton, N.J., adjourned a shareholder meeting to approve its $106 million sale to Google until Feb. 17 in hopes of getting the necessary support.Google, which is based in Mountain View, agreed to buy On2 in August to help improve YouTube’s video technology.

anadian government approved for telecom Globalive Wireless Management Corp

telecom Globalive

The Canadian government said Friday that it has approved a request from Egyptian-backed telecom Globalive Wireless Management Corp. to launch its mobile phone service in Canada.

It will be the fourth major wireless company serving Canada, competing with Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc. and Telus Corp.

Industry Minister Tony Clement said the federal cabinet has determined Globalive meets Canadian ownership requirements, reversing an earlier ruling by the country’s federal telecom regulator.

“Now we’re ready for action,” Globalive CEO and Chairman Anthony Lacavera told cheering supporters in Toronto. “We could be launching as early as next week.”

“The objective is to have a few–quite a few–WIND Mobiles under your Christmas tree,” Ken Campbell, CEO of WIND Mobile, the brand name Globalive will operate under across Canada.

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission had turned down Globalive’s request in October because it is majority funded and controlled by Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding, the Middle East’s largest telecommunications operator by market capitalization.

Orascom, which is controlled by Egyptian telecommunications mogul Naguib Sawiris, holds 65 percent of parent company Globalive Holdings, while Canadian entrepreneur and Globalive chairman Anthony Lacavera owns the rest. Orascom also holds much of Globalive’s debt.

But Clement said 80 percent of Globalive’s voting shares are held by Canadians and the wireless company, which is based in Toronto, should be considered Canadian.

“We came to the conclusion the lender had influence over the company, which is perfectly acceptable under our legislation, it did not have control over the company,” Clement said. “This variance is effective immediately allowing Globalive to enter the market without delay.”

Globalive’s arrival is expected to put pressure on consumer prices across the industry, as it heralds the entry of more players into the market opened up through an auction of wireless spectrum in 2008. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s annual Communications Outlook study, published in August, found that Canada has the third-highest wireless rates among developed countries after the United States and Spain.

In that auction, Globalive paid 442 million Canadian dollars ($419 million) for airwaves over which to operate and has invested millions more in its network and employees.

Globalive has already hired 800 employees and approximately half have already finished their training and are now doing paid volunteer work at organizations such as food banks, boys and girls groups, literacy groups and the Salvation Army.

The telecom regulator reviewed Globalive’s corporate structure last spring and decided its operations would contravene the Telecommunications Act that stipulated companies be controlled by Canadian interests. That decision flew in the face of an earlier review by Industry Canada that gave the company a license in the interest of promoting competition.

The Canadian government, wanting to spark more competition in the telecommunications business, reviewed the earlier ruling with input from the industry.

And Clement said last week that the federal cabinet has the power to overrule the telecommunications regulator and that Globalive was entitled to launch its own protest.

Clement stressed that Friday’s announcement was not giving Globalive special treatment.

“Let me state for the record, government is not removing, reducing, bending or creating an exception to Canadian ownership and control requirements in the telecommunications and broadcast industries,” he said.

Rogers Communications, BCE and Telus, which together control 95 percent of the Canadian market, lobbied to halt Globalive’s advances, saying Globalive was breaking the Telecom Act because it was under foreign control.

“It’s disappointing, as we think Globalive quite clearly does not meet the requirements for Canadian control,” said Bell Canada spokeswoman Jacqueline Michelis. “We’ll be taking a close look at the reasoning behind this decision.”

Michael Hennessy, senior vice president of Telus’s regulatory and government affairs, said the ruling “has established an enormous precedent going forward as to how people are supposed to interpret our Canadian ownership laws.”

“This could be enormous from airlines to banks to telecom to broadcasting,” he said.

But Rogers said competition is good for Canadian consumers.

“We’ve always thrived in a competitive environment and we’re ready to meet the competition head on,” said spokeswoman Odette Coleman.

Deloitte Canada analyst Duncan Stewart said the federal government wants more competition in the cell phone industry. Globalive is probably the new competitor that the established players fear the most, said Stewart.

Shares in the major telecoms dropped Friday in early trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Rogers shares fell 3.4 percent to 32.25 Canadian dollars, Bell Canada parent BCE’s stock was off 2.4 percent at 27.75 Canadian dollars and Telus stock slipped 1.7 percent to 33.10 Canadian dollars.

Nevsky Express bounced out tracks in remote rural areas(elements of explosive)

Nevsky Express bounced out tracks in remote rural areas at the time the train was on its way between Moscow and St Petersburg.The investigators found “elements of explosives” at the scene, said the Russian federal investigation committee in a statement.A senior intelligence official said, a bomb made out of rail locomotives.Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russian domestic intelligence service, told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that the bomb is equivalent to seven pounds of TNT detonated at the site, Reuters news agency said.There was no claim of responsibility for the attack.’The explosion kerasa’Russia’s chief prosecutor opened criminal investigation on charges of terrorism, said the Russian news agency reported.Hundreds of rescue workers and other workers worked all night at the crash site near the city of Tver region Bologoye.Some reports said as many as 39 people were killed.The train was carrying over 650 passengers. Over 90 people hospitalized, some of them transported by helicopter.Head of state-owned railway company, Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, said investigators believed the accident on Friday night was caused by acts of terrorism.”In short, the terrorist attacks” is the main line of investigation pursued by the experts who are investigating the accident that left the tracks, Yakunin said on state television from the accident scene.Some passengers reported a large explosion sound occurred before the train left the tracks.A Russian television channels broadcast the recording mobile phone conversations between the train engineer and kemenetrian emergency. Engineer said, there was an explosion in the train.Train named Nevsky Express was on his way in one of the busiest routes in Russia, and Friday nights are the hours the passengers crowded.In 2007, a bomb in the same railway carriage toppled causes, causes nearly 30 people injured.