China hopes to boost employment justice via new law

As Liu Cuixiao said, it is unfair for them -- she believes that with all the efforts that the government will make, discrimination must be curbed significantly.

However, some experts think that there is still some room for improvement in the draft law.

Lin Qiang, a member of NPC standing committee commented, "Now the draft law has only prohibitory provisions on job discrimination, however, there is no corresponding legal obligation." Lin suggested that the legal obligation of discrimination should be clarified in the future.

Another member of NPC standing committee, Yuan Hanmin, suggested that the present draft law is too 'soft' to curb the discrimination in employment. He also suggested that some foreign experience should be taken for reference.

"In order to avoid gender and racial discrimination, American employers have to keep certain ethnic and gender proportions in their companies." As the draft law mainly focuses on discrimination based on age, gender and hukou, Yuan also suggests that more attention needs to be paid to the 120 million carriers of Hepatitis B.

Chinese netizens have welcomed the government's efforts to promote employment and oppose discrimination on web forums, however voices that doubt the law's effectiveness in anti-discrimination remain.

"Where employment exists, employment thresholds exist," said Luo Baiwei, a lawyer from South China's Guangzhou City, "therefore, a job seeker may have formal equal rights in employment, but he may suffer from de facto discrimination. Any differences in gender, age, appearance and background will become the pretexts for employers to decide to hire or not."

As Luo said, it is difficult for the government to decide what kinds of behavior are discriminatory, since there are no specific standards. Furthermore, anti-discrimination is not always good news for everyone, especially for those who have gender, age and hukou advantages. At the same time, the employers will face more restrictions when hiring people.

"Laws cannot create employment, but a fair environment, which will undermine the efficiency and lead to different impacts to different groups," said Luo.

Liu Cuixiao with the CASS believes that the fight against discrimination will be a long-term process and there is still a long way ahead. "It depends on the level of economic development, the changes of the employers' ideas and improvements in the quality of the labor force," said Liu.

"A single law is not enough -- we need a series of systems to promote justice in employment, possibly including reform of the hukou system," Liu added.

Beijing demands US cancel planned missile sale to Taiwan

(AP)

China demanded Friday the United States scrap a planned sale of hundreds of missiles to Taiwan, warning the deal would harm regional stability and bilateral ties.

"We solemnly demand the leader of the United States... immediately cancel this weapons sale (and) avoid harming the peace and stability of the Taiwan Straits and Sino-US relations," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

"The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to this. We have raised solemn representations with the US side."

The US Department of Defence this week notified Congress that it planned to sell Taiwan 421 million US dollars worth of missiles.

"The proposed sale will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region," the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency said. Acquisition of 218 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air missiles and 235 Maverick missiles would help Taiwan "modernise its armed forces and enhance its defence ability to counter air and ground threats," it said.

Qin said the sale violated US commitments to a "one China policy," which maintains that there is only one China with Beijing as its capital.

By selling weapons to Taiwan, Washington was also violating its promise to gradually reduce sales to the island territory, he said.

"By selling these missiles to Taiwan, the United States is violating ... its commitments," Qin said.

"This is rude interference into China's internal affairs.".

The proposed sale comes after US Vice President Dick Cheney last week expressed concerns over China's growing military might and as top US intelligence officials said Beijing was trying to achieve parity with the US in military affairs.

"China's continued fast-paced military build-up are... not consistent with China's stated goal of a 'peaceful rise,'" Cheney said while on a trip to Australia.

Retired admiral Michael McConnell, the new director of US national intelligence, told Congress on Tuesday that "it's a matter of their building their military, in my view, to reach some sort of state of parity with the United States.

"They are a threat today, they will become an increasing threat over time."

US officials estimate China's annual defence spending at between 80 and 115 billion dollars, the highest in the world after the United States.

Following the barrage of criticism, China insisted this week that it posed no military threat to the rest of the world.

"China adheres to the role of peaceful development. We are an important force for maintaining peace and stability," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said when asked about Cheney's comments.

How to deal with the future labor shortage

The current labor shortage spreading from the coastal areas across the country signifies the coming of the Lewisian Turning Point in China's economic development. China's oversupply of labor is on its way to becoming a thing of the past.

Most developing countries experience a process of dualistic economic development. The surplus rural labor force provides cheap labor for industrialization and the wage level increases slowly. This process continues till there emerges a shortage in the supply of labor and the economic growth mode reaches a modern stage.

Economist Arthur Lewis was the first to define dualistic economic development; hence, the concept of the change from an unlimited supply of labor to a shortage is called the Lewisian Turning Point.

China's fast economic growth took place under these dualistic economic conditions with the country's policies of reform and opening-up to the outside world. During this period, the scale of the working-age population was large and its percentage kept rising.

Research shows that every percentage point drop in the dependency rate (the ratio of those under 16 and above 65 compared with the working population) will bring a 0.115-percentage increase in the per capita gross domestic product (GDP). About 27 percent of the per capita GDP growth in China can be attributed to the decease of the dependency rate in the reform period. But according to projections on population age structure, the dependency rate will begin to increase in 2013 as the aging of the population speeds up. Similarly, every increase in the dependency rate will cut the per capita GDP growth by 0.115 percent.

The overall population and its age structure are the base of the labor supply. The current labor shortage is not a temporary phenomenon but signifies the coming of a turning point.

This is the transition from an underdeveloped to a developed economy. Before this, capital and labor are the drive for development; after this, economic growth depends on the increase in productivity. A few changes are currently under way in China.

First, both rural and urban areas are facing a shortage of labor. The new jobs added every year do not seem to have absorbed surplus laborers in the past few years.

Second, the wage level will increase for the average laborer. This has affected foreign investment and business operations to a certain degree.

Third, the high rate of personal savings will gradually decrease. The average worker's consumption habits change as wages increase. Together with the changes in the dependency rate and a more developed social security system, the high savings rate will decline.

Of course China's labor supply changes only incrementally. China's labor costs will still be low for a rather long period, compared with developed and many developing countries. The change in the personal savings rate will not happen overnight, either. It is still too early to worry about the Chinese economy's losing its comparative advantage and competitiveness.

This changing situation has put forward demands to change China's economic growth mode.

China should adjust to the change by cultivating greater productivity. When labor becomes scarcer, economic growth should be based on increased productivity. It is important to create a productive market environment for investors and enterprises so that rising labor costs do not increase prices.

Obstacles in the labor market should be cleared to keep the current comparative advantages for longer.

In urban areas, more employment channels should be opened. In rural areas, the further reform of the household registration system and the training provided to laborers can also expand the labor supply.

The advantageous period of the population bonus can be prolonged through adjusting policies. For example, increasing the retirement age increases the size of the workforce, which creates an added source for economic growth.

The author is director of the Institute of Population and Labor Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

US officials admit FBI broke law

WASHINGTON - The nation's top two law enforcement officials acknowledged Friday the FBI broke the law to secretly pry out personal information about Americans. They apologized and vowed to prevent further illegal intrusions.

FBI Director Robert Mueller gestures during a news conference at FBI headquarters in Washington, Friday, March 9, 2007, to discuss the gathering of personal information. (AP Photo)

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales left open the possibility of pursuing criminal charges against FBI agents or lawyers who improperly used the USA Patriot Act in pursuit of suspected terrorists and spies.

The FBI's transgressions were spelled out in a damning 126-page audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine. He found that agents sometimes demanded personal data on people without official authorization, and in other cases improperly obtained telephone records in non-emergency circumstances.

The audit also concluded that the FBI for three years underreported to Congress how often it used national security letters to force businesses to turn over customer data. The letters are administrative subpoenas that do not require a judge's approval.

"People have to believe in what we say," Gonzales said. "And so I think this was very upsetting to me. And it's frustrating."

"We have some work to do to reassure members of Congress and the American people that we are serious about being responsible in the exercise of these authorities," he said.

Under the Patriot Act, the national security letters give the FBI authority to demand that telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks, credit bureaus and other businesses produce personal records about their customers or subscribers. About three-fourths of the letters issued between 2003 and 2005 involved counterterror cases, with the rest for espionage investigations, the audit reported.

Shoddy record-keeping and human error were to blame for the bulk of the problems, said Justice auditors who were careful to note they found no indication of criminal misconduct.

Still, "we believe the improper or illegal uses we found involve serious misuses of national security letter authorities," the audit concluded.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said many of the problems were being fixed, including by building a better internal data collection system and training employees on the limits of their authority. The FBI has also scrapped the use of "exigent letters," which were used to gather information without the signed permission of an authorized official.

"But the question should and must be asked: How could this happen? Who is accountable?" Mueller said. "And the answer to that is, I am to be held accountable."

Mueller said he had not been asked to resign, nor had he discussed doing so with other officials. He said employees would probably face disciplinary actions, not criminal charges, following an internal investigation of how the violations occurred.

The audit incensed lawmakers in Congress already seething over the recent dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys. Democrats who lead House and Senate judiciary and intelligence oversight panels promised hearings on the findings. Several lawmakers ¡ª Republicans and Democrats alike ¡ª raised the possibility of scaling back the FBI's authority.

"It's up to Congress to end these abuses as soon as possible," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The Patriot Act was never intended to allow the Bush administration to violate fundamental constitutional rights."

Rep. Pete Hoekstra, top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said the audit shows "a major failure by Justice to uphold the law."

"If the Justice Department is going to enforce the law, it must follow it as well," said Hoekstra, of Michigan.

The American Civil Liberties Union said the audit proves Congress must amend the Patriot Act to require judicial approval anytime the FBI wants access to sensitive personal information.

"The attorney general and the FBI are part of the problem, and they cannot be trusted to be part of the solution," said ACLU's executive director, Anthony D. Romero.

Both Gonzales and Mueller called the national security letters vital tools in pursuing terrorists and spies in the United States. "They are the bread and butter of our investigations," Mueller said.

Gonzales asked the inspector general to issue a follow-up audit in July on whether the FBI had followed recommendations to fix the problems.

Fine's annual review is required by Congress, over the objections of the Bush administration. It concluded that the number of national security letters requested by the FBI skyrocketed in the years after the Patriot Act became law. Each letter issued may contain several requests.

In 2000, for example, the FBI issued an estimated 8,500 requests. That number peaked in 2004 with 56,000. Overall, the FBI reported issuing 143,074 requests for national security letters between 2003 and 2005.

But that did not include an additional 8,850 requests that were never recorded in the FBI's database, the audit found. A sample review of 77 case files at four FBI field offices showed that agents had underreported the number of national security letter requests by about 22 percent.

Additionally, the audit found, the FBI identified 26 possible violations in its use of the letters, including failing to get proper authorization, making improper requests under the law and unauthorized collection of telephone or Internet e-mail records.

The FBI also used exigent letters to quickly get information ¡ª sometimes in non-emergency situations ¡ª without going through proper channels. In at least 700 cases, these letters were sent to three telephone companies to get billing records and subscriber information, the audit found.

China forming company to invest huge reserves

Beijing is to create one of the world's biggest investing companies, with possible ramifications for global stock, bond and commodities markets, and might also affect how the US finances its huge budget deficits.

Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing said on Friday in Beijing on the sidelines of the ongoing National People's Congress session, that Beijing is trying to make more profitable use of its $1 trillion in foreign currency reserves. It is believed that most of the reserves are now parked in safe, but relatively low-yielding US Treasury securities and other dollar-denominated assets.

Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing gestures at a news conference during the annual session of the National People's Congress in Beijing March 9, 2007. [Reuters]

"We can achieve more profit from (wiser) investments (of the reserves)," Jin said at a news conference. "We are now in the stage of forming this new company."

The finance minister said China may follow the lead of Singapore's Temasek Holdings, which manages nearly $90 billion in government pension funds and other assets. It owns stakes in Singapore Airlines and Singapore Telecom, as well as in banks, real estate, shipping, energy and other industries in India, China, South Korea and elsewhere.

Analysts have speculated for some time that China would create an investment company, and officials have said repeatedly they want to make better use of the world's largest standing foreign currency reserves. Economists have suggested Beijing might allocate as much as $200-$400 billion to the new company, which could create one of the world's richest investment funds.

"They want to be more aggressive than what they do with current reserves," said economist Mingchun Sun at Lehman Brothers in Hong Kong.

"They could invest in higher-yield products - stocks, corporate bonds, maybe even commodities," Sun said. "Basically, the returns would be higher because the risk is higher."

A shift in China's investment strategy could change its purchases of foreign government debts, affecting a market that Washington relies on to help finance multibillion-dollar budget deficits, and might eventually push up US interest rates. But Lehman Brothers' Sun played down that risk. He said that with its reserves growing by as much as $20 billion a month, Beijing could afford to keep buying US government bonds while also channeling billions into new investments.

Even so, news of the Chinese announcement - along with an upbeat US jobs report, which reduced expectations the US Federal Reserve will cut its interest rates - came on the same day of a big drop in the price of the benchmark 10-year Treasury note on Friday. That pushed up its yield to 4.58 percent from 4.51 percent.

Jin gave no details of how the Cabinet-level company might invest the reserves, nor did he say what portion of the reserves might be channeled to the company or when it would start to operate. Spokespeople for Jin's ministry and China's central bank declined to give any other details.

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, in an interview this week on the US television network ABC, rejected suggestions that changes in Chinese bond purchases could affect the United States economy. Paulson said Beijing's entire holdings of US Treasuries represent the equivalent of less than a single day's trading in Treasuries on global bond markets.

Chinese economists and media reports have suggested China might adopt more unusual investment approaches, ranging from stockpiling oil and other raw materials to spending more on social programs in order to encourage Chinese consumers to spend more domestically and reduce its dependence on exports.

The growth in China's reserves is driven by the rapid growth of its exports, which brings in dollars, euros and other foreign currencies, and by the billions of overseas investment dollars being poured into the country. The surge in money flooding in from abroad forces the central bank to drain billions of dollars from the economy every month by selling bonds in order to reduce inflationary pressures.

The precise composition of China's foreign currency reserves is a secret. But economists believe that as much as 75 percent is believed to be in US dollar-denominated instruments, mostly Treasuries, with the rest in euros and a small amount in yen.

Stephen Green, chief economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Shanghai, calculated that last year the central bank made a $29 billion profit on its Treasury holdings after paying interest on its own bonds and other expenses.

But even that represents a return of less than 3 percent on the $1 trillion in holdings. By contrast, Singapore's Temasek says it has averaged an 18 percent annual return since it was created in 1974.

Earn Money At Home: How To Start Your Own Home Business Quickly, Even If You Are A Newbie

Many beginner marketers seem to think that it takes a lot of work to earn money at home. Well, let me tell you, nothing is easier than having your own home based job. Home based jobs have opened up opportunities for those who cannot or don't want to commute to the office daily and spend 8 hours there. For stay at home moms, home business is really a great opportunity to earn money at home since they have to look after their own children and cannot possibly afford to work in office. Home based jobs are also loved by retired or disabled persons, or people who are unemployed and are in search of a new job. As you will soon see, there are over a zillion ways to earn money at home. In this article I will show you how to start your home business as a beginner, and how many kinds of job opportunities are there for you.

One of the biggest advantages of having your own home business is that you can be you can work at your own pace. Unlike in office, there are no rigid time schedules here and you can start at any time. This flexibility of home business has attracted many of the regular office goers who have left their old jobs and started earning money at home.

One of the ways you can earn money at home is to start working from home for others. You can find out a company that suits your interests and start working for them and earn commission. All companies more or less are in need of assembling products at home. There are directories which will give you a comprehensive listing of these types of companies and the type of workers they are looking for. If you seriously want to earn money at home, your best bet is to purchase a directory like this. You can browse through the directory, pick up a company that suits your interests and start working for them. There are also companies which will pay you for doing clerical jobs, accounting, making telephone calls, etc.

If you are the one who would like to earn money at home and still be your own boss, then there are several different kinds of services that people will pay for. People in these days need help with credit solutions and money brokering. By offering your services in these areas, you will be making truckloads of cash. And guess what, you don't even need to have any prior experience and you can start earning right away!

Another way of earning money at home is to start your own business on the internet: if you have a good product or service to offer to people, go for it! If you are wondering how to get started, there are numerous websites which help newbies earn money at home, and most of them are free. If you don't have your own product, you can join the affiliate program of another product owner and start earning commissions by promoting and advertising their services.

All in all, if you desire to earn money at home then there is no dearth of opportunities. However, you should only choose a job that you love and one that is lucrative too. For more details on lucrative home business opportunities, and to learn how can you can start earning money from home the easy way, simply visit our website.

Arindam C. is a home business and marketing expert. He has several websites dedicated to home business. His main purpose is to help newbies in starting their own home businesses. His website, Jobs For All, which covers about everything about home business, is located at http://www.jobs4all.biz Be sure to subscribe to the free JFA Newszine which will give you free tips on how to setup your own home-based business. To get more such tips and articles visit http://www.jobs4all.biz/newszine/

"Now YOU Can Quickly, Easily -- And In 8-Simple Lessons -- Learn How-To Work At Home On Your Computer -- And Earn GREAT Money!"

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Re: A Proven (THIRD EDITION) 8-Step Training Course

Saturday, March 10, 2007

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The Top 10 Ways to Earn Money at Home

You do not have to read many success stories before you start wishing you could work for yourself. The opportunity to be your own boss and the potential for high income are enough to entice us to venture on our own. But what can you do? What kind of business would you be suitable to start? We have compiled the top 10 ways to earn money at home, enough to be a full-time self-employed businessperson!

1. Antiques
The buying and selling of antiques has been and should continue to be a very productive business, financially, for those that do it. Here, you only need an extra room in the house, or the use of your garage -- and you have an office! If you have a large home that has some antique furnishings, you might consider turning it into a showroom for your antique acquisitions and sales, providing you satisfy any local zoning regulations. The interest in antiques will survive into the foreseeable future. Many people choose to spend their free time on the weekends "antiquating" from place to place to try and pick up a few odds or ends and maybe a jewel or two. If you know anything about antiques, this may be a great opportunity for you.

2. Baking
Have you ever been told that you have a recipe that people would line up to get if they could? Ever had anyone tell you that you should be selling those cupcakes you make? There are a number of success stories about people who have launched successful businesses by cooking at home and then marketing to local people first. You may specialize in on just one well-tried and tested food product; or you may innovate on a product that you created yourself and which has never been marketed before. Having perfected the recipe you then turn to packaging and marketing. Word of mouth on a good product may start to get restaurants or bakeries interested in acquiring your culinary masterpieces. Then you progress to selling them statewide and you're on your way to a profitable home-based business.

3. Bed-and-Breakfast Proprietors
Have you ever stayed in a bed and breakfast and thought, "Hey, I can do this!" You probably went on vacation and simply chalked your thought up as one of those pipedreams one gets when they stay in a beautiful spot. Don't toss that thought away! While it's not easy work as the hours can be long and it's usually a seven days per week business, it's often something that you can work into a daily schedule. After all, it's merely an extension of doing the housework for family, right? More and more Americans are taking after Europeans and opening their homes to travelers. If you have an extra room or two since the kids moved out, you can start a bed and breakfast in your own place! Bed and breakfast popularity will continue as more and more vacationers and business travelers seek a different accommodation away from the predictability of the average hotel room. If they enjoy their stay, many become "repeat" customers, coming back to the same familiar surroundings time and again. If you don't need to do any major renovations in the house to accommodate this type of establishment, you can be off and running with very little money invested, other than advertising and some new "guest room supplies". If your dream is to buy a bed and breakfast somewhere in a vacation paradise, there are probably houses for sale that will work for this purpose.

4. Childcare
Due to the financial pressures faced by many families today, parents work outside of the home to bring in enough income to pay daily living expenses. A single parent is obviously working but all too often, both members of a two-parent family are in the workforce. This creates a home-based opportunity. Children must be watched, all day if they're not in school, or, otherwise, for a brief time after school before the parents finish work for the day. Most parents want their children immersed in a more stimulating environment than is usual with the average babysitter. You can begin small at home, offering a more stimulating and educational environment setting for client children. Caring for one additional child may not be that lucrative, but taking care of several children can certainly be a full-time, financially successful business. Often, taking care of several children is made somewhat easier as the youngsters often will play together. You can do this at home for only a small investment in basic equipment and toys for the kids in addition to the advertising of your business.

5. Computer Specialist
The advent of the computer age has changed the concept of self-employment. Having a computer at home has opened a number of opportunities for running your own business utilizing this equipment. Companies everywhere are "outsourcing" work that can be done by someone else on their computer, out of their own home. If you are a whiz in computers, you may end up working as a consultant, writing programs for companies. If you are a beginner, you may find yourself able to obtain work as a writer, using your computer to produce copy that is easy to edit. You can also keep accounting and payroll records for companies on your computer's database. Word processing software can be used not only for writers but for those that can offer secretarial services out of their house. Desktop publishing software can allow you to do newsletters for businesses and other organizations. If you can operate a computer, you can find work in the information age today. Of course, the advent of the Web has opened a lot of business opportunities for the enterprising individuals. If you have skills in lay-outing and graphic design, you can be a website designer. Website designers earn significant amounts of money nowadays.

6. Gardening
If you like working in your garden each year , it's a definite possibility for home-based employment. Imagine clearing a little more space and growing more items that you can sell directly to the consumer. You can produce vegetables, bedding plants, bonzai tree, exotic plants, flower trees, herb, house plants, landscaping plants, orchids and many more. Most produce stands will buy from you if your product is one of high quality. If you enjoy gardening, this could be your ticket! If you have some more land to use, do it! Plant what you can, when you can! Contact your local produce stands to ascertain their buying habits. You can even inquire about your own produce stand if you have enough product. The more space you have on your land, the more likely you will be able to generate enough crops to run the business. People love homegrown vegetables. They just do not have the time or want to be bothered doing it themselves. That is your open door! You can also engage in selling other gardening products and supplies such as compost, earthworms, herb boxes, beneficial bugs, or drip irrigation systems.

7. Importer and Distributor
There are a substantial number of products manufactured in other countries that can be bought inexpensively and sold in your country at a profitable level. The Government and the formation of international trade organizations have made it easier to bring in other products from other countries. This is a business easily operated out of the home, depending on the types of stock you're carrying. You may have to rent some storage space, but the capital required to start should essentially be limited to the products you're buying to sell here. If you know the type of product you want to import and the market most likely to purchase your goods, you have great potential for a successful home-based business.

8. Interior Decorator
Interior decorating is a business that will require you to be mobile, constantly meeting with customers. It offers flexible hours, a good variety of activities, and a very lucrative return. If you have a fascination for decorating a home, this could be your line of work. Many people do not know where to start when they are remodeling or buying a house for the first time. If you have the knowledge of colors and patterns and what looks good together, plus the expertise of knowing where to get materials and furnishings, this can be a winning home-based business for you. To be able to decorate a room so that it conveys the mood that the homeowner wishes will be your goal. Strive for the skillful, personal touch in all you design.

9. Photographer
The sky is the limit here! Armed with your trusty camera and some good advertising, you can do weddings, models, family portraits, passports, student photos, local newspaper coverage; almost anything that requires a picture! You can easily start this work, part-time, and work into full-time work based on your success and inclination. Not much equipment is necessary to get going as a camera off the store shelf can often do the trick today. Picking up a tripod and having a room sufficient for developing your pictures, and you're in business -- at home!

10. Sewing and Alterations
Many people love to sew. If you are one of them, consider offering this service out of your home. When someone buys a new outfit, it rarely fits perfectly, meaning some kind of alteration must be done. People look long and hard to find reliable individuals to do their alterations. If you can sew, you are well on your way to opening the doors of this type of business.

Lohan's pizza treat for paparazzi

Lindsay Lohan

Generous Lindsay Lohan ordered pizza for paparazzi who tracked her down to a hair salon in Beverly Hills, California, on Tuesday night - so they could eat while they waited for her.

The Mean Girls star visited hairstylist Neil George so she could get her hair coloured.

But Lohan wasn't feeling quite as generous when she left the salon - she refused to pose for photos, claiming that her new hairstyle wasn't complete and she'd be back for highlights.

Raven-haired Lohan's new look is strawberry blonde.

Sports Illustrated'cover girl

Singer and actress Beyonce Knowles, who is the cover model of the 2007 'Sports Illustrated' Swimsuit issue, poses next to a poster of the cover at an event in Los Angeles, California in this February 14, 2007, file photo. The Sports Illustrated bash for its annual swimsuit issue has turned into a health scare for stars in Hollywood after a caterer working for celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck may have exposed them to acute Hepatitis A. The Los Angeles County health department recommended on February 27, 2007, that anyone who ate uncooked food at the party on February 14 get treatment by Wednesday to avoid developing the serious liver disease. Guests at the party included singer Beyonce Knowles, former Guns N'Roses bassist Duff McKagan and a slew of models. [Reuters]

Van Gundy says Rockets' Yao needs more swagger

To Jeff Van Gundy, Yao Ming does not think like a coach. A coach would not question how desperately the Rockets needed Yao to return and how much they still need him to get back to what he was.

But he certainly doesn't think like a typical player, either. Most players bring enough natural conceit to be certain that no team could possibly be as good without them as they are with them.

"Hell of a guy," Van Gundy said. "Hell of a guy to coach, too."

But that, he said, could get in the way of what Yao must do.

Believe in yourself

For now, Van Gundy needs Yao to summon his inner conceit, or at least the perspective of his coach, and to assume his importance as a step toward rebuilding his excellence.

"He is a little hypersensitive to how well we supposedly did without him," Van Gundy said. "I think he's thought far too much about that instead of being a more arrogant, self-centered player to where you only think about yourself anyway. So the results wouldn't have mattered. You would have still thought (the team) would have done better with you. In this brief instance, that would serve him best.

"I believe we would have done better with him. The whole thing about the (20-12) record without him, they're counting the five minutes he played in the Clippers game. That's one (more loss). And we played the eight before that without (Tracy) McGrady. On a long road trip, we lost at the buzzer (and) double overtime at the Lakers.

"He certainly doesn't think like a coach. As a coach, I think what Juwan (Howard) and Dikembe (Mutombo) accomplished is without question among the most significant accomplishments they have ever been apart of in the NBA. They helped us overcome to some degree the loss of the best center in basketball. And yet, on those rare occasions where (Shaquille) O'Neal's out and his teams win, I don't see any self doubt that they would be better with him."

The Rockets had some moments without Yao, beginning with their first win without him, at the New Jersey Nets, tonight's opponent.

Searching for 'game feel'

That began a five-game winning streak and a run of eight wins in nine games. But they never thought of themselves as better without Yao, who fractured his right leg against the Los Angeles Clippers on Dec. 23. But after missing 32 games, Yao struggled in his first two.

"Last game was turnover trouble," Yao said. "(Wednesday) I was looking at that, checking every time I had the ball, made sure no one was around when I went to shoot or dribble. Foul trouble put me on the bench. I think it was (because of) the speed. If I can move a little quicker, I will get to position to stop the ball and at least the referee will not call a couple. In the first quarter, I felt much better.

"It's about a game feel. Last game, at the beginning, I didn't have a game feel. People could take the ball from my hand. Rebounds would go over my head. I thought I'm ready to play, but you get on the court, and I was (out) too long. I'm not totally ready."

But the Rockets have become well-schooled on coming back from injuries. In many ways, Yao's return so far has been similar to McGrady's in December.

The Rockets lost McGrady's first game back in Indiana, with McGrady losing the ball in the lane in the fourth quarter. They won on the road in McGrady's second game back, with McGrady no better statistically (4-of-16 shooting) but moving better.

"Believe me, I know how it feels to be out for a while and to try to get back in a flow," McGrady said. "It's tough. You can do all the running, all the practicing, things like that. When you get in a game, it's a different speed. Your rhythm is off a little bit. It takes four or five games to be comfortable.

"Yao has to get in game shape. We're going to continue to play the way we were playing with him out. A lot was riding on my shoulders to try to lead this team. But it's real crucial for us. We're going to go as far as myself and Yao take us. We have a great supporting cast to really take us far.

"What I do know is the West is so tough, you have to be playing your best basketball, or you're going home."

Ready for pressure

The Rockets' best basketball has Yao at his best. That would seem to pile on pressure of expectations at a time he is not ready to meet it, but he does that to himself anyway.

In that sense, he might be more like a select few players.

"When my team was better the last two months, it was not just building their confidence but also mine," Yao said. "I sit down and watched the games. I was thinking when I come back, 'I need to bring the energy back.'

"Anything that happens, I will always think, 'what about tomorrow, what about the day after tomorrow.' It's so I can keep myself ready and prepare. Maybe it's too much pressure, but I need some pressure.

"It's better than sitting there and watching the cheerleaders, right?"

In that case, he would be a typical player. But by now, he's done enough watching.

Anne doesn't wanna be skinny

Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway is one starlet who won't be buying into the size zero craze.

She is frequently featured on best dressed lists and praised for her curves, so she will not lose them for a possible film role.

While other stars like Kate Bosworth and Nicole Richie are shrinking before the paparazzi's lenses, Hathaway is aiming to be a role model for teenage girls. She said, "It's completely understandable as a teenager to fret about your body. It's scary because you don't know how it's going to wind up. But I'm not a teenager any more; my body's chosen its shape."

Hathaway continued, "I'd rather be strong than skinny for most roles. I'm not a size zero, and I've had directors say to me, 'You're the best actress for the role, but you've put on weight recently.' If people can't understand you've put on five pounds, I don't want to deal with them."

Lawmakers deliberate bills on property, corporate tax

Lawmakers listen to an explanation about the draft Property Rights Law that grants equal protection to state and private properties in the Great Hall of the People March 8, 2007. [Xinhua]

China's top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), on Thursday started examining two draft laws aimed to grant equal protection to state and private properties and introduce a unified income tax for domestic and foreign-funded enterprises.

The draft property law and the draft enterprise income tax law were submitted for deliberation to the ongoing annual full session of the Tenth NPC, as the lawmakers started their second plenary meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing at 9 a.m. Thursday.

"Enacting the property law is necessitated by the need to uphold the basic socialist economic system...by the need to regulate the order of the socialist market economy...(and) by the need to safeguard the immediate interests of the people," said Wang Zhaoguo, vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, while reading an explanation on the law to the lawmakers (click for full text of the explanation ).

The law is enacted to apply "the principle of equal protection to the property of the state, the collective and the individual in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution" and " strengthen the protection of state-owned property", Wang said.

He said under the conditions of the socialist market economy, the country's development choice stipulated in the Constitution, all players have equal status on the market, enjoy the same rights, observe the same rules and bear the same responsibilities.

"If the different subjects of the market are not provided with equal protection, or if the methods used for settling disputes or the legal responsibilities to be borne are varied, it will not be possible to develop the socialist market economy, nor will it be possible to uphold and improve the basic economic system of socialism," Wang said.

To prevent loss of state property, the draft strengthens the protection of state-owned property from five aspects, stipulating that illegal possession, looting, illegal sharing, withholding or destruction of state property is prohibited.

Those who cause loss of state property shall bear legal liability, according to a full text of the draft distributed to reporters at the session.

Wang said the law was also drafted with the principle of " giving a full and accurate expression to the basic policies of the Party in rural areas at the present stage".

In order to grant the farmers a long-term and guaranteed land- use right, the draft property law stipulates that when farmers' land contracts expire, the contractor can have the contract renewed.

As part of the draft civil code, the property law was submitted to the NPC Standing Committee for the first review in 2002 after nearly 10 years of preparation.

To fully consider the interests of all social sectors, the law' s drafters published the law to the public in July 2005 and pooled more than 10,000 suggestions.

After an unprecedented seven times of reading, NPC Standing Committee decided last December to put it for voting at the Fifth Session of the Tenth NPC, believing that the draft "represented a crystallization of the wisdom of the collective and was about to be mature".

China's legal experts said that the draft reflects China's basic socialist economic system and will help improve China's socialist market economy and speed up the building of the harmonious socialist society once adopted.

The draft enterprise income tax law [click for full text of the explanation]suggests a unified income tax rate for domestic and foreign-funded companies at 25 percent.

Delivering an explanation to the lawmakers, Finance Minister Jin Renqing said the law was drafted to "establish a scientific and standardized enterprises income tax system uniformly applicable to various type of enterprises and create an environment for fair competition".

The income tax is currently levied on domestic and foreign- funded enterprises at the same rate of 33 percent. However, foreign-funded enterprises in some special regions are levied at a preferential rate of 24 or 15 percent, and domestic low-profit enterprises are levied at two brackets of special rates of 27 percent and 18 percent respectively.

"Too many brackets of tax rates contribute to a relatively large disparity between nominal income tax rate and effective income tax burden of various types of enterprises. Therefore, it is necessary to unify the income tax rate," Jin said.

An estimate based on a national survey of enterprise income taxes shows that the average enterprise income tax burden on foreign-funded enterprises is 15 percent while that on the domestic enterprises is 25 percent, 10 percentage points higher than the former.

Jin said the proposed 25 percent of tax rate is mainly intended to ease the tax burden on domestic enterprises and keep a rise as little as possible for the foreign-funded enterprises.

Statistics showed that the average enterprise income tax rate is 28.6 percent in 159 countries and regions and the average rate in China's 18 neighboring countries and regions is 26.7 percent.

"The rate of 25 percent set in the draft is relatively low in the world and will be conducive to enhancing enterprises' competitiveness and attracting foreign investment," Jin told lawmakers.

Transitional preferential measures were given to allow the old enterprises, which had an income tax rate of 15 percent or 24 percent under the current tax laws, to enjoy a gradually increasing income tax rate within five years after the new tax law takes effect, according to the draft law.

If the new tax law is implemented in 2008, China's domestic enterprise income tax will drop by 134 billion yuan while foreign- funded enterprise income tax will increase by 41 billion yuan. China's total fiscal revenues will drop by 93 billion yuan.

Given transitional measures to be applied to old enterprises, the decrease in fiscal revenues will be bigger. "But such decrease is still acceptable to Government finance," Jin said.

China adopted preferential tax policies at the end of 1970s when it started the economic reform and opening-up drive to attract foreign investment and boost its economy.

By 2006, China has approved 594,000 foreign-funded enterprises, with 691.9 billion U.S. dollars of foreign fund used.

In 2006, all the foreign-funded enterprises paid 795 billion U. S. dollars in all types of taxes, accounting for 21.12 percent of the total national tax revenue.

Pericardial Mesothelioma:Mesothelioma of the Pericardium

Pericardial mesothelioma is a disease that affects the lining of the heart, or pericardium. Sometimes doctors refer to this disease as mesothelioma of the pericardium. It is a common misconception that mesothelioma is a type of primary lung cancer; it is not. Mesothelioma is a cancer of the serous membranes. These membranes enclose a number of organs throughout the midsection of the body, including the heart. The most common type of mesothelioma is pleural mesothelioma, which affects the serous membranes of the lungs.

The least common form of mesothelioma cancer is pericardial mesothelioma. Pericardial mesothelioma can spread to the lungs and when this occurs, it is considered secondary lung cancer. Mesothelioma is also sometimes referred to as an asbestos lung cancer. Technically, this is also incorrect, since it does not originate in the lungs. Asbestosis is a type of asbestos lung disease that does originate in the lungs and is often confused with mesothelioma.

Pericardial Mesothelioma Cancer

Pericardial mesothelioma cancer is found in less than 10% of mesothelioma patients. The only known cause of mesothelioma is exposure to asbestos. For pleural mesothelioma (cancer of the lung lining), the disease process is fairly well understood: it's caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers that settle in the lungs, and become inserted in the lung lining (or pleura). These asbestos fibers are very durable and cannot be eliminated through the body's processes. Over time, these fibers cause chronic inflammation that eventually leads to growth of cancerous tumors or, in some cases, asbestosis.

For pericardial mesothelioma, it is not clearly understood how the asbestos fibers become lodged in the heart serous lining or pericardium. It is possible that asbestos fibers, after being broken into smaller pieces in the lungs, are carried from the lungs into the blood stream. As the fibers are pumped through the heart, they become lodged in the heart lining. Once lodged in the pericardium, the chronic inflammation process leading to cancerous growths is similar to that occurring in pleural mesothelioma.

Because pericardial mesothelioma is so rare, there is little specific research on this type of mesothelioma. Approximately 2,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year, and fewer than 200 of them are pericardial mesothelioma.

Pericardial Mesothelioma Symptoms

As in the lung, the rapid growth of the cancerous tumors can cause expansion of the tissue and accumulation of fluid. The fluid can interfere with the functioning of the heart and cause chest pain and irregular heartbeat. Patients are typically diagnosed when they complain of chest pain or other heart-related symptoms after even limited exertion. Shortness of breath and cough are less common symptoms of pericardial mesothelioma cancer. Unlike the lungs, it is less common for other cancers to metastasize to the heart.

Pericardial mesothelioma patients can exhibit all three kinds of mesothelioma cancer cells: epithelioid mesothelioma, sarcomatoid mesothelioma and biphasic mesothelioma. The type of cancer cells can affect the prognosis. It is thought that patients with the biphasic kind of mesothelioma cancer cells have a shorter life expectancy.

Pleural Mesothelioma: Mesothelioma of the Pleura

Pleural mesothelioma is a disease that affects the lining of the lungs, or lung pleura. Sometimes doctors refer to this disease as mesothelioma of the pleura. It is a common misconception that mesothelioma is a type of primary lung cancer; it is not. Mesothelioma is a cancer of the serous membranes. These membranes enclose a number of organs throughout the midsection of the body, including the lungs. The most common type of mesothelioma is one that affects the serous membranes of the lungs: pleural mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma can also affect the serous membranes surrounding the abdomen, called peritoneal mesothelioma, and the membranes surrounding the heart, or pericardial mesothelioma. When mesothelioma spreads to the lungs from the serous linings of the lungs, abdomen or heart, it is considered secondary lung cancer. Also, pleural mesothelioma is sometimes referred to as an asbestos lung cancer. Technically, this is also incorrect, since it does not originate in the lungs. Asbestosis is a type of asbestos lung disease that does originate in the lungs and is often confused with mesothelioma.

Pleural Mesothelioma Cancer

Pleural mesothelioma cancer represents about 75% of all mesothelioma cases. The disease is caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers that settle in the lungs. These asbestos fibers become inserted in the lung lining (the pleura). Over time, these fibers cause chronic inflammation that eventually leads to growth of cancerous tumors or, in some cases, asbestosis.

Pleural mesothelioma cancer normally appears as multiple tumor masses affecting the parietal surface (inside closer to the lung) and visceral surface (outside further from the lung) of the pleura. Typically the parietal surface has greater involvement than the visceral. The right lung typically shows a slightly higher incidence of mesothelioma, apparently due to the fact that the right lung is larger and has a greater amount of pleural surface area. Also, the lower lungs typically show more tumor masses than the upper lung. This is thought to be due to gravitational factors influencing how the asbestos fibers settle in the lungs after they have been inhaled.

Large growths in the pleura are normally noted in patients upon diagnosis. These growths lead to a complete obliteration of the lung cavity later in the disease. The tumors can spread from the lung pleura to other organs, including the heart and abdomen. This aggressive disease can also invade the lymph nodes and blood system.

Other types of tumors also grow in the pleura, but these are tumors that start in other parts of the body and are not considered pleural mesothelioma. These tumors have metastasized to the pleura. The most common form of non-pleural mesothelioma cancer that occurs is lung cancer, representing about 36% of the cancer occurring in the pleura. The next most common forms are breast cancer (25%), ovarian cancer (5%) and gastric cancer (2%). Lymphoma also accounts for a portion of cancer that has metastasized to the pleura.

Pleural Mesothelioma Symptoms

The most common symptom for pleural mesothelioma patients is chest pain. But, the pain is often not associated directly with the lung pleura and often appears in the shoulder or upper abdomen. Shortness of breath, called dyspnea, is also a symptom. Cough, weight loss and anorexia are present in some patients, but are less common symptoms. The pleural mesothelioma cancer tumors grow quickly and enlarge the pleural space, causing it to fill with fluid. This fluid leads to the discomfort or pain associated with first detection of the disease.

Pleural mesothelioma patients display all three types of mesothelioma cancer cells: epithelioid mesothelioma, sarcomatoid mesothelioma and biphasic mesothelioma.

Pleural Mesothelioma Prognosis

According to a study of 167 patients with proven pleural mesothelioma, the median survival rate of patients following diagnosis was 242 days. The survival rate was also affected by the type of mesothelioma cancer cells; patients with biphasic cell types have the shortest life expectancy.

How to Choose a Web Host

What are some of the things you should look for when choosing a web host? The criteria for choosing a free web host and a commercial web hosting solution are slightly different although they do overlap. Since thesitewizard.com caters to people who might be looking for either of these types of hosting, I will deal with each of these in turn. If you are only interested in one of these types, you can simply skip to the appropriate section. I have written these sections to be as independant of the other as possible.

Choosing a Free Web Host

1. 
   

   Advertising

   
   

   Most free web hosts impose advertising on your website. This is done to cover the costs of providing your site the free web space and associated services. Some hosts require you to place a banner on your pages, others display a window that pops up everytime a page on your site loads, while still others impose an advertising frame on your site. There is really no hard and fast rule which is to be preferred: some people hate a pop-up window, other webmasters dislike having to stuff banner codes onto their pages, and many people cannot stand an advertising frame (which may cause problems when you submit your website to search engines). Whichever method is used, check that you're comfortable with the method.

   
   


2. 
   

   Amount of web space

   
   

   Does it have enough space for your needs? If you envisage that you will expand your site eventually, you might want to cater for future expansion. Most sites use less than 5MB of web space. Indeed, at one time, one of my other web sites, thefreecountry.com, used less than 5MB of space although it had about 150 pages on the site. Your needs will vary, depending on how many pictures your pages use, whether you need sound files, video clips, etc.

   
   


3. 
   

   FTP access

   
   

   Some free hosting providers only allow you to design your page with their online builder. While this is useful for beginners, do you have the option to expand later when you become experienced and their online page builder does not have the facility you need? FTP access, or at the very least, the ability to upload your pages by email or browser, is needed. Personally, I feel FTP access is mandatory, except for the most trivial site.

   
   


4. 
   

   File type and size limitations

   
   

   Watch out for these. Some free hosts impose a maximum size on each of the files you upload (including one with a low of 200KB). Other sites restrict the file types you can upload to HTML and GIF/JPG files. If your needs are different, eg, if you want to distribute your own programs on your pages, you will have to look elsewhere.

   
   


5. 
   

   Reliability and speed of access

   
   

   This is extremely important. A site that is frequently down will lose a lot of visitors. If someone finds your site on the search engine, and he tries to access it but find that it is down, he'll simply go down the list to find another site. Slow access is also very frustrating for visitors (and for you too, when you upload your site). How do you know if a host is reliable or fast? If you can't get feedback from anyone, one way is to try it out yourself over a period of time, both during peak as well as non-peak hours. After all, it is free, so you can always experiment with it.

   
   


6. 
   

   CGI-BIN access / PHP

   
   

   This is not particularly crucial nowadays for a free web host, since there are so many free CGI hosting services available that provide counters, search engines, forms, polls, mailing lists, etc, without requiring you to dabble with Perl or PHP scripts.

   
   

   However if you really want to do it yourself, with the minimum of advertising banners from these free providers, you will need either PHP or CGI-BIN access. Note that it is not enough to know they provide PHP or CGI-BIN access: you need to know the kind of environment your scripts run under: is it so restrictive that they are of no earthly use? For PHP scripts, does your web host allow you to use the mail() function? For Perl CGI scripts, do you have access to sendmail or its workalike?

   
   


7. 
   

   Bandwidth allotment

   
   

   Nowadays, many free web hosts impose a limit on the amount of traffic your website can use per day and per month. This means that if the pages (and graphic images) on your site is loaded by visitors beyond a certain number of times per day (or per month), the web host will disable your web site (or perhaps send you a bill). It is difficult to recommend a specific minimum amount of bandwidth, since it depends on how you design your site, your target audience, and the number of visitors you're able to attract to your site. In general, 100MB traffic per month is too little for anything other than your personal home page and 1-3GB traffic per month is usually adequate for a simple site just starting out. Your mileage, however, will vary.

   
   

Choosing a Commercial Web Host

1. 
   

   Reliability and speed of access

   
   

   Not only should the web host be reliable and fast, it should guarantee its uptime (the time when it is functional). Look for a minimum uptime of 99%. In fact, even 99% is actually too low - it really should be 99.5% or higher. The host should provide some sort of refund (eg prorated refund or discount) if it falls below that figure. Note though that guarantees are often hard to enforce from your end - the host usually requires all sorts of documentation. However, without that guarantee, the web host will have little incentive to ensure that its servers are running all the time.

   
   


2. 
   

   Data Transfer (Traffic/Bandwidth)

   
   

   Data transfer (sometimes loosely referred to as "traffic" or "bandwidth") is the amount of bytes transferred from your site to visitors when they browse your site.

   
   

   Don't believe any commercial web host that advertises "unlimited bandwidth". The host has to pay for the bandwidth, and if you consume a lot of it, they will not silently bear your costs. Many high bandwidth websites have found this out the hard way when they suddenly receive an exhorbitant bill for having "exceeded" the "unlimited bandwidth". Always look for details on how much traffic the package allows. I personally always stay clear of any host that advertises "unlimited transfer", even if the exact amount is specified somewhere else (sometimes buried in their policy statements). Usually you will find that they redefine "unlimited" to be limited in some way.

   
   

   To give you a rough idea of the typical traffic requirements of a website, most new sites that are not software archives or the like use less than 3GB of bandwidth per month. Your traffic requirements will grow over time, as your site becomes more well-known (and well-linked), so you will need to also check their policy for overages: is there a published charge per GB over the allowed bandwidth? Is the charge made according to actual usage or are you expected to pre-pay for a potential overage? It is better not to go for hosts that expect you to prepay for overages, since it is very hard to forsee when your site will exceed its bandwidth and by how much.

   
   


3. 
   

   Disk space

   
   

   For the same reason as bandwidth, watch out also for those "unlimited disk space" schemes. Most sites need less than 5MB of web space, so even if you are provided with a host that tempts you with 200MB or 500MB (or "unlimited space"), be aware that you are unlikely to use that space, so don't let the 500MB space be too big a factor in your consideration when comparing with other web hosts. The hosting company is also aware of that, which is why they feel free to offer you that as a means of enticing you to host there. As a rough gauge, thefreecountry.com, which had about 150 pages when this article was first written, used less than 5MB for its pages and associated files.

   
   


4. 
   

   Technical support

   
   

   Does its technical support function 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (often abbreviated 24/7), all year around? Note that I will not accept a host which does not have staff working on weekends or public holidays. You will be surprised at how often things go wrong at the most inconvenient of times. Incidentally, just because a host advertises that it has 24/7 support does not necessarily mean that it really has that kind of support. Test them out by emailing at midnight and on Saturday nights, Sunday mornings, etc. Check out how long they take to respond. Besides speed of responses, check to see if they are technically competent. You wouldn't want to sign up for a host that is run by a bunch of salesmen who only know how to sell and not fix problems.

   
   


5. 
   

   FTP, PHP, Perl CGI-BIN access, SSI, .htaccess, telnet, SSH crontabs

   
   

   If you are paying for a site, you really should make sure you have all of these. Note that some commercial hosts do not allow you to install PHP or CGI scripts without their approval. This is not desirable since it means that you have to wait for them before you can implement a feature on your site. ".htaccess" is needed if you are to customise your error pages (pages that display when, say, a user requests for a non-existent page on your site) or to protect your site in various ways (such as to prevent bandwidth theft and hotlinking, etc). Telnet or SSH access is useful for certain things, including testing CGI scripts, maintaining databases, etc. Cron jobs may be needed for programs that you need to be run periodically (eg once a day). Check to see if these facilities are provided.

   
   


6. 
   

   SSL (secure server), MySQL, Shopping Cart

   
   

   If you are planning on doing any sort of business through your website, you might want to look out to see if the host provides these facilities. These facilities normally involve a higher priced package or additional charges. The main thing is to check to see if they are available at all before you commit to the host. You will definitely need SSL if you plan to collect credit card information on your site.

   
   


7. 
   

   Email, Autoresponders, POP3, Mail Forwarding

   
   

   If you have your own site, you would probably want to have email addresses at your own domain, like sales@yourdomain.com, etc. Does the host provide this with the package? Does it allow you to have a catch-all email account that allows anyname@yourdomain.com to wind up being routed to you? Can you set an email address to automatically reply to the sender with a preset message (called an autoresponder)? Can you retrieve your mail with your email software? Can it be automatically forwarded to your current email address?

   
   


8. 
   

   Control Panel

   
   

   This is called various names by different hosts, but essentially, they all allow you to manage different aspects of your web account yourself. Typically, and at the very minimum, it should allow you to do things like add, delete, and manage your email addresses, and change passwords for your account. I would not go for a host where I have to go through their technical support each time I want to change a password or add/delete an email account. Such chores are common maintenance chores that every webmaster performs time and time again, and it would be a great hassle if you had to wait for their technical support to make the changes for you.

   
   


9. 
   

   Subdomains, virtual hosting

   
   

   For those who are thinking of selling web space or having multiple domains or subdomains hosted in your account, you should look to see if they provide this, and the amount extra that they charge for this (whether it is a one-time or monthly charge, etc).

   
   


10. 
    

    Server

    
    

    Is the type of operating system and server important? Whether you think so or not on the theoretical level, there are a few practical reasons for looking out for the type of server.

    
    

    In general, if you want to use things like ASP, you have no choice but to look for a Windows NT/2000/XP machine for your server.

    
    

    Otherwise my preference is to sign up for accounts using the often cheaper, more stable and feature-laden Unix systems running the Apache server. In fact, if dynamically generated pages that can access databases (etc) is what you want, you can always use the more portable (and popular) PHP instead of tying yourself down to ASP. Another reason to prefer Unix-based web hosts (which include web hosts using systems like Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, etc) using the Apache web server is that these servers allow you to configure a lot of facilities that you typically need on your site (error pages, protecting your images, blocking email harvesters, blocking IP addresses, etc) without having to ask your web host to implement them. Knowledge about configuring Apache servers is also widely available, and can be found on thesitewizard.com's Configuring Apache and .htaccess pages as well.

    
    


11. 
    

    Price

    
    

    I was actually hesitant to list this, but I guess it's futile not to. However, I would caution that while price is always a factor, you should realise that you often get what you pay for, although it's not necessarily true that the most expensive hosts are the best.

    
    


12. 
    

    Monthly/Quarterly/Annual Payment Plans

    
    

    Most web hosts allow you to select an annual payment plan that gives you a cheaper rate than if you were to pay monthly. My current personal preference is to pay monthly with all new web hosts until I'm assured of their reliability and honesty. Paying monthly allows me to switch web hosts quickly when I find that the current host does not meet my requirements: this way, I'm not tied down to a bad web host because I have prepaid for an entire year. I do this even if the new web host guarantees that they will refund the balance if I'm dissatisfied, since at the point I sign up, I have no assurance that they will honour their guarantee. Later (usually after many months or even more than a year), when I'm satisfied with the host, I often change payment plans to the discounted annual plans.

    
    


13. 
    

    Resellers?

    
    

    Not all hosting companies own or lease their own web servers. Some of them are actually resellers for some other hosting company. The disadvantage of using a reseller is the possibility that you are dealing with people who don't know much about the system they are selling and who take longer to help you (they have to transmit your technical support request to the actual hosting company for it to be acted upon). However, this also depends on both the reseller and the underlying hosting company. It is thus wise not to rule out all resellers; there are a number of reliable and fast ones who are actually quite good and cheap. In fact, a number of resellers sell the same packages cheaper than their original hosting company. If you find out that a particular company is a reseller, you will need to investigate both the reseller and the real hosting company.

    
    


14. 
    

    International

    
    

    If you don't stay in the USA, you have the option of hosting your site with some local provider. The advantage here is the ease of dealing with them (they are after all easily accessible by phone call or a visit), your familiarity with the local laws and easy recourse to those laws should it be necessary. It should be your choice if your target audience is local (eg a local fast food delivery service). On the other hand, hosting it in USA has the advantage of faster access for what is probably the largest number of your overseas visitors (particularly if you have an English-speaking audience). You also have a large number of hosting companies to choose from, and as a result, cheaper prices too.

    
    


15. 
    

    Others' Reviews

    
    

    You should make it a point to check out what others have to say about the web host. Some of the places you can do this include:

    
    
    
    
    • The newsgroup news:alt.www.webmaster. As you should always do when reading reviews (of anything), read the reviews posted here with a pinch of salt. Some glowing reviews may come from people working for the web host itself, disguised as multiple satisfied customers. Likewise, negative reviews of a particular host can sometimes come from unscrupulous competitors of that host.
    
    
    • thesitewizard.com's review, "Which Web Host Would You Recommend? (FAQ)", found at http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/webhosting.shtml
    
    
    • Although not often, I sometimes make comments about a particular web host in my Budget Web Hosts page on thefreecountry.com as well.
    
    
    
    

    Don't skip this step, or you might find yourself being suckered by a host that everyone else is steering clear of.

    
    

The Myth of the Perfect Commercial Host

In general, I doubt that there are any "perfect" web hosting companies around. Note that even if you are prepared to pay a huge price for your hosting needs, it does not guarantee that your host is any good. This is an interesting industry where a high price does not necessarily yield quality hosting and support.

On the other hand, one thing you can probably be sure of is that you will not get top-notched support if you only pay (say) $10 a month. At that price, which company can afford to hire enough good help to cater to all its users?

Like me, you'll probably wind up settling for a trade-off between price, reliability and features that you're willing to live with.

Copyright 2000-2003 by Christopher Heng. All rights reserved.
Get more free tips and articles like this, on web design, promotion, revenue and scripting, from http://www.thesitewizard.com/

This article can be found at http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/findhost.shtml

Olympic tickets to go on sale in April

BEIJING -- Tickets for the 2008 Olympics will go on sale next month, but the buyers of tickets for some hot events will have to be decided by random draw, organizers said.

Chinese nationals and foreigners residing in China can now register to book tickets online after the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG) launched the official ticketing website (www.tickets.beijing2008.cn/) on Thursday.

BOCOG released full details on ticket prices on the site and said ticket sales would be in three phases starting from April 2007.

The most expensive tickets will be for the opening ceremony on the evening of August 8, which will cost 5,000 yuan (US$646). The cheapest tickets for that event will be 200 yuan (US$25.8).

Ticket prices for the closing ceremony will range from 150 yuan (US$19.4) to 3,000 yuan (US$388).

Tickets to competition events will cost from 30-1,000 yuan (US$3.88-129.3), with the men's basketball final the highest priced.

BOCOG said last year that more than seven million tickets will be available for sale, with at least half to go to local fans and 58 percent of all the tickets would cost 100 yuan (US$12.75) or less, in line with efforts to make the Olympics affordable to average Chinese citizens.

How Web Search Engines Work?

Search engines are the key to finding specific information on the vast expanse of the World Wide Web. Without sophisticated search engines, it would be virtually impossible to locate anything on the Web without knowing a specific URL. But do you know how search engines work? And do you know what makes some search engines more effective than others? When people use the term search engine in relation to the Web, they are usually referring to the actual search forms that searches through databases of HTML documents, initially gathered by a robot. There are basically three types of search engines: Those that are powered by robots (called crawlers; ants or spiders) and those that are powered by human submissions; and those that are a hybrid of the two. Crawler-based search engines are those that use automated software agents (called crawlers) that visit a Web site, read the information on the actual site, read the site's meta tags and also follow the links that the site connects to performing indexing on all linked Web sites as well. The crawler returns all that information back to a central depository, where the data is indexed. The crawler will periodically return to the sites to check for any information that has changed. The frequency with which this happens is determined by the administrators of the search engine. Human-powered search engines rely on humans to submit information that is subsequently indexed and catalogued. Only information that is submitted is put into the index.

In both cases, when you query a search engine to locate information, you're actually searching through the index that the search engine has created -you are not actually searching the Web. These indices are giant databases of information that is collected and stored and subsequently searched. This explains why sometimes a search on a commercial search engine, such as Yahoo! or Google, will return results that are, in fact, dead links. Since the search results are based on the index, if the index hasn't been updated since a Web page became invalid the search engine treats the page as still an active link even though it no longer is. It will remain that way until the index is updated.

So why will the same search on different search engines produce different results? Part of the answer to that question is because not all indices are going to be exactly the same. It depends on what the spiders find or what the humans submitted. But more important, not every search engine uses the same algorithm to search through the indices. The algorithm is what the search engines use to determine the relevance of the information in the index to what the user is searching for.

One of the elements that a search engine algorithm scans for is the frequency and location of keywords on a Web page. Those with higher frequency are typically considered more relevant. But search engine technology is becoming sophisticated in its attempt to discourage what is known as keyword stuffing, or spamdexing.

Another common element that algorithms analyze is the way that pages link to other pages in the Web. By analyzing how pages link to each other, an engine can both determine what a page is about (if the keywords of the linked pages are similar to the keywords on the original page) and whether that page is considered "important" and deserving of a boost in ranking. Just as the technology is becoming increasingly sophisticated to ignore keyword stuffing, it is also becoming more savvy to Web masters who build artificial links into their sites in order to build an artificial ranking.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a subset of search engine marketing, and deals with improving the number and/or quality of visitors to a web site from "natural" (aka "organic" or "algorithmic" search engine) listings. In effect, SEO is marketing by appealing to machine algorithms to increase search engine relevance and ultimately web traffic. This is analogous to foot traffic in retail advertising. The term SEO can also refer to "search engine optimizers", an industry of consultants who carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients.

Search engines display different kinds of listings on a search engine results page (SERP), including paid advertising in the form of pay per click advertisements and paid inclusion listings, as well as unpaid organic search results and keywords specific listings, such as news stories, definitions, map locations, and images. SEO is concerned with improving the number and position of a site's listings in the organic search results.

SEO strategies vary widely, in accordance with the specific site. Broadly speaking, SEO may be geared towards increasing either, or both, the total number and quality of visitors from Search Engines. The quality of a visitor can be measured by how often a visitor using a specific keyword leads to a desired conversion action, such as making a purchase or requesting further information.

Search engine optimization is available as a stand-alone service or as a part of a larger marketing campaign. Because SEO often requires making changes to the source code of a site, it is often most effective when incorporated into the initial development and design of a site, leading to the use of the term "Search Engine Friendly" to describe designs, menus, Content management systems and shopping carts that can be optimized easily and effectively.

A range of strategies and techniques are employed in SEO, including changes to a site's code (referred to as "on page factors") and getting links from other sites (referred to as "off page factors"). These techniques include two broad categories: techniques that search engines recommend as part of good design, and those techniques that search engines do not approve of and attempt to minimize the effect of, referred to as spamdexing. Some industry commentators classify these methods, and the practitioners who utilize them, as either "white hat SEO", or "black hat SEO". Other SEOs reject the black and white hat dichotomy as an over-simplification.

SEO, as a marketing strategy, can often generate a good return. However, as the search engines are not paid for the traffic they send from organic search, the algorithms used can and do change, and there are many problems that can cause Search Engine problems when crawling or ranking a site's pages, there are no guarantees of success, either in the short or long term. Due to this lack of guarantees and certainty, SEO is often compared to traditional Public Relations (PR), with PPC advertising closer to traditional advertising.

The above document was provided to me by email by a SEO company which was spamming me. I realized the information will be useful to many and worth sharing.