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Regional News of Friday, 20 April 2012

Source: GNA

Mr Jones Applerh, Executive Secretary, Small Arms and Light Weapons Commission, (SALW), on Friday appealed to the media to help security agencies control small arms proliferation in the country, especially before, during and after the December polls.

He urged the media to use the power of mass communication to expose the dangers of illicit proliferation of small arms into Ghana, and other West African States.

Mr Applerh was addressing a three-day capacity building workshop for journalists and media practitioners on current developments related to small arms and light weapons.

He said a baseline study in 2004 revealed that about 400,000 small arms were in circulation in the country, stressing that small arms were responsible for 60 to 90 per cent of direct conflict deaths each year.

He said the study identified that modern day chieftaincy disputes, land litigation, inter ethnic wars in the past and conflicts within the Sub-region were facilitated by the illegal importation, exportation and local manufacture of guns.

The workshop was organised by the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons in collaboration with the ECOWAS Commission on Small Arms at Sogakofe in the Volta Region.

He therefore urged the media to collaborate with SALW in curbing the use of arms in our society.

On the on-going Biometric Voter Registration Exercise, Mr Applerh noted the need for adequate education on the electoral process and modalities for peaceful resolution of disagreements.

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Media tasked to assist security agencies control arms

Sirius XM Radio Inc. delivered a counterpunch Friday to Liberty Media's hostile takeover attempt in a brief it filed with federal regulators.

Liberty Media in March threw the first punch byasking the U.S.Federal Communications Commission togive it control overSiriusXM's operating licenses. Liberty argued that its 40% stake in SiriusXM gave it "de facto" control over the satellite radio company. It refined its argument further last Thursday, arguing that its stake, and control over five of the 13 seats on the Siriusboard is "more than sufficient to determine the outcome of matters submitted to a vote of shareholders."

SiriusXM took umbrage over the characterization. In a brief filed with the FCC, SiriusXM scoffed at Liberty's argument that "40 is the new 50."

"There is no support for the remarkable proposition that a... 40% minority interest, standing alone, is sufficient to bestow control of a public company," wrote SiriusXM's attorneys, who urged the agency's commissioners to dismiss Liberty's request.

Calls to the FCC were not returned, and Liberty Media's spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.

Eddy Hartenstein, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, is a non-executive chairman of the SiriusXM board.

The tussle for control over SiriusXM, whichtopped $3 billion in revenue in 2011, stems from a Faustian bargain its chief executive, Mel Karmazin, made in 2009to accept a $530-million loan fromLiberty Media's chairman, John Malone. The money, which has since been repaid, saved SiriusXM from having to file for bankruptcy protection.

The deal also gave Liberty Media a 40% stake in Sirius and five seats on the company's board. But it handcuffed Malone from making further moves to take over SiriusXM at least until thisMarch. When those restrictions expired,Liberty Media made its first moveby petitioningthe FCC for a transfer of SiriusXM's operating licenses.

For now, that's the least expensive path to gaining control of SiriusXM. But Liberty has other options, which it outlined in its petition last week to the FCC. Those include accumulating enough shares of SiriusXM to boost its stake above 50%and staging a boardroom coup bycalling "a meeting of Sirius stockholders" and putting the matter to a vote. But doing so could trigger a big tax bill for Liberty Media if the transaction is deemed to be an acquisition.

Continue reading here:
SiriusXM snubs Liberty Media's takeover attempt -- again

In the run-up to Facebook's initial public offering expected next month, a host of other tech companies have been rushing to Wall Street. And three soaring stock market debuts within 24 hours may hint at what's next for Silicon Valley as the social-networking craze nears its peak.

The valley's newest public companies are a trio of commercial software-makers -- Infoblox, Proofpoint and Splunk -- all of which saw overwhelming demand for shares and big jumps in their stock prices during initial public offerings Thursday and Friday.

While the results are a positive sign for the tech industry as a whole, analysts say the response to all three companies shows investors believe there is money to be made in the commercial tech sector. That's where companies compete to supply corporations and other large organizations with innovative tools for cloud computing and "big data" crunching.

On the surface, those companies may be less sexy than social networks or smartphone apps, but experts say they are a crucial part of the tech economy.

"These three should be a big reminder that the back-end architectures are just as important as the consumer sites we get all hot about," said industry analyst Tim Bajarin at the Creative Strategies firm, adding that commercial tech companies help maintain the "pipes" through which the Angry Birds and iTunes of the world flow.

"The money is moving into

Santa Clara-based Info-blox, which makes networking software, saw its stock rise more than 30 percent on its first day of trading Friday after raising its asking price. Fellow newcomer Proofpoint, a Sunnyvale maker of data security software, also raised its IPO price, but still opened more than 30 percent higher before falling to an 8.3 percent increase.

One day earlier, San Francisco-based Splunk saw its IPO price of $17 more than double on its debut day, and it held onto those gains Friday, closing at $36.20. Splunk makes analytics programs that help companies sort through a variety of data from electronic sensors, Web pages and other sources.

After a relatively slow period since the recession, analysts say several factors have made it easier for tech startups to go public.

An improving economy is giving small investors the confidence to put money into tech IPOs, Bajarin said. He added that Facebook's looming debut, with its promise of a $100 billion valuation, is clearly igniting broader enthusiasm.

Excerpt from:
Pre-Facebook IPOs show investors may 'like' enterprise software more than social networking

Social networking sites are great tools that allow people to stay in touch with one another, and to let people know what you are up to and what you are thinking.

It is also a tool that allows people to express how they feel about something, or someone, in a more public manner.

However, that expression on a social networking site, or on the Internet, could come back to haunt that person, if there in ongoing litigation.

In perhaps a first of its kind decision, the B.C. Court of Appeal has affirmed that a father who used the Internet and Facebook to publicly denigrate his childs mother must pay her damages for defamation and invasion of her privacy.

The parties were involved in a custody and access dispute over their child.

The court concluded that the father had taken his battle with his estranged spouse far outside the ordinary confines of the family court litigation.

The father created a website where he would publish his negative comments about his estranged spouse, as well as publish suggestions about her parenting abilities, or lack thereof.

Despite the father agreeing in a court order to stop making any further disparaging comments about his estranged spouse, the father published his comments on Facebook.

The court concluded that the fathers conduct and motive was to win by any means, including the posting of the negative and derogatory comments about his estranged spouse.

This case is perhaps the extreme, in that the father actually set up a website to post his negative comments.

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Legal Briefs -- Social network defamation and litigation

In fashion, what's old is often new again.

If you doubt it, just look at the styles coming out this spring: 1950s-style dresses for women and streamlined suits for men just like the characters in "Mad Men."

You may also want to heed another fashion from that era: in-person networking.

You're not likely to see anyone on "Mad Men" use online social networking to forge a relationship, although they do put the "social" in networking with their lunch meetings and after-hour soirees. If you watch those interactions, you'll see a good example of how the art of building relationships has been lost through too much reliance on technical gadgets, one expert says.

Vicky Oliver, author of numerous books on career development such as "301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions," says it's time that people learned some of the best techniques for networking don't come from friending someone on Facebook or tweeting tidbits to strangers. While she believes those social networks are useful, we all should learn to embrace "retro" techniques.

Of course, not everyone will like the idea of coming out from behind their computers and entering a roomful of strangers to network or getting on the phone to ask someone for help, she says.

"Everybody is shy," she says. "But it gets better with practice. Even striking up a 2-minute conversation with someone while waiting somewhere is a good chance to practice your skills."

So you have to put away your smartphone or drop the iPad and learn to take every opportunity to interact with someone face-to-face. Here are some of Oliver's suggestions for honing your networking skills:

Travel the friendly skies. Join an airline club so you have time to mingle with others in an airport lounge.

Use layover times in airports to schedule meetings with someone in that city. Use an online golf club to book a game with other business travelers once you reach your destination.

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Embrace 'retro' style networking