Every Wednesday you will find links and top-line summaries to current events around the globe.
Emerging Markets Soar Past Their Doubters [New York Times]
- While the broad American market lost about a fifth of its value in the last 10 years, emerging markets like Brazil, Russia, China and India powered ahead with gains in the double or even triple digits
- On Ukraine’s PFTS Stock Exchange — which did not even exist until 1997 — shares soared more than 1,350% over the last decade. In Peru, stocks jumped more than 660%. Here in India, the Sensex index leaped more than 240%
- Funds focused on equities in emerging markets attracted a record $75.4 billion this year, far surpassing their previous high of $54 billion in 2007, according to EPFR Global. Even after that influx, emerging markets still account for only a small fraction of investment portfolios. Less than 3% of assets managed by United States fund managers are invested in emerging markets
Cellphone Encryption Code Is Divulged [New York Times]
- A German computer engineer said Monday that he had deciphered and published the secret code used to encrypt most of the world’s digital mobile phone calls, saying it was his attempt to expose weaknesses in the security of global wireless systems
- The action by the encryption expert, Karsten Nohl, aimed to question the effectiveness of the 21-year-old G.S.M. algorithm, a code developed in 1988 and still used to protect the privacy of 80 percent of mobile calls worldwide
- Nohl waged a similar campaign this year that prodded the DECT Forum, to upgrade the security algorithm for 800 million cordless home phones. He has now set his sights on G.S.M., whose second-generation digital technology is still the most widely used wireless-communications standard in the world. About 3.5 billion of the world’s 4.3 billion wireless connections use G.S.M.; it is used by about 299 million consumers in North America
Argentine couple holds first Latin America gay wedding [Reuters]
- Two Argentine men wed in Latin America’s first same-sex marriage on Monday, helped by a provincial governor who ignored a court ruling that blocked their marriage plans earlier this month. Alex Freyre, 39, and Jose Maria Di Bello, 41, were married in the southern Argentine city of Ushuaia
- The two men, who are HIV positive, were granted a marriage license by a municipal judge in Buenos Aires in November that allowed the couple to wed in Argentina’s capital, despite a national policy of defining marriage as between a man and a woman. They planned to marry December 1 for World Aids Day but a federal judge overturned the wedding decision and ordered it suspended
- Argentina became the first Latin American country to allow civil unions by same-sex couples in 2002. Civil unions in Buenos Aires and other Argentine cities grant same-sex couples some legal marital rights, but not others, such as the right to adopt. Elsewhere in Latin America, same-sex civil unions are allowed in Uruguay and Mexico City
Hollywood Grosses Shatter Record [New York Times]
- Hollywood’s last weekend of the year was its best ever, as James Cameron’s 3-D “Avatar” surged past “Sherlock Holmes,” for top position in a film lineup that took in a record $278 million at the domestic box office. The film industry had previously seen its highest dollar figure for a three-day weekend in July 2008, when “The Dark Knight” led an array of summer movies that had $260.8 million in ticket sales
- “Sherlock Holmes,” took in $65.4 million on its opening weekend for Warner Brothers. That performance cemented Warner’s lead in the domestic box office rankings among studios. Boosted by hits like “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and “The Hangover,” Warner captured roughly 20% of domestic ticket sales for the year
- Aided by a steady rise in ticket prices, Hollywood has taken in $10.4 billion at the box office this year, moving well past a previous full-year record of $9.68 billion set in 2007, according to Hollywood.com’s box office reporting service. But a few years earlier in the decade it actually made more money when the totals are adjusted for inflation
Amazon shares up after Kindle boosts e-book sales [Reuters]
- Amazon.com Inc shares rose on Monday after it posted strong growth in holiday season orders and said its customers bought more e-books than physical books for the first time ever on Christmas Day, thanks to its hot-selling Kindle electronic book reader
- The Kindle Store now includes more than 390,000 books, Amazon said. The company also provided details on its holiday season sales, saying that December 14 was its peak shopping day with more than 9.5 million items ordered worldwide. On the peak day of the season, Amazon said it shipped more than 7 million units
- Based on e-commerce checks during the holiday season, Lazard sees online sales in the period rising by 5% or slightly more industrywide, with mid-single-digit percentage growth for 2010. Amazon said its best-selling items over the holiday season other than the Kindle included Apple’s iPod Touch, Nintendo’s Wii Fit Plus with balance board, Sarah Palin’s book “Going Rogue” and men’s Levi’s 501 jeans
India hit by new state protests [BBC]
- Large parts of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh (AP) have shut down in a strike called by the supporters of a new state. Strict security has been imposed in 10 districts of the state and more than 100,000 security personnel deployed. Fearing violence, the authorities have cancelled 9,000 buses and 165 trains
- The strike, called for the creation of a separate Telangana state out of AP, is also supported by students groups and the outlawed ultra-Left Maoists. Earlier this month the government announced that it would allow the creation of Telangana – irrespective of opposition. But last week, the authorities said that decision would be considered after consultation with all parties
- An estimated 35 million people will live in the proposed new state. Telangana region, which includes Hyderabad – an IT hub of southern India and home to firms like Microsoft, Google and Dell – is spread over 10 northern districts of Andhra Pradesh. Campaigners say Telangana’s economic development has been neglected in favour of the richer and more powerful Andhra region – and that a new state is the only solution
The US virtual economy is set to make billions [BBC]
- Virtual goods such as weapons or digital bottles of champagne traded in the US could be worth up to $5 billion in the next five years, experts predict. In Asia, sales are already around the $5 billion mark and rapidly growing
- Central to the early growth of this virtual goods revolution have been social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo. Users of these networks can also pay for virtual goods, such as digital birthday cards, champagne or flowers
- About two thirds of the top 15 applications on Facebook are games. Those ten games are said to draw more than 100 million users a month. Earlier in December, one of the biggest social gaming companies, Zynga, sold a stake in the firm to Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies for $180m. And in November, Electronic Arts, agreed to buy Playfish in a $400m deal
Iran opposition figures arrested after protests [BBC]
- A number of opposition figures have been arrested in Iran, a day after at least eight people died during the most violent protests for months. Those detained include senior aides to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, and a former foreign minister
- Intermittent protests in Iran following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s controversial re-election in June have represented the biggest challenge to the government since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Foreign media face severe restrictions in Iran, making reports hard to verify
- Iranian security forces have been on alert since influential dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri died a week ago aged 87. His funeral attracted tens of thousands of pro-reform supporters, many of whom shouted anti-government slogans
- US aware ‘Nigerian’ prepared for terror attack [BBC]
- Korean Leader Pardons Samsung’s Ex-Chairman [New York Times]
- TMZ Admits It Was Duped by a Photo [New York Times]
- Somali pirates seize two more ships [Reuters]
- In Las Vegas, Sports Books in a Pocket [New York Times]
- Cellphone Companies Rush to Sue One Another [New York Times]
- Pakistan Is Rocked by a Spate of Attacks [New York Times]
- Mexico drugs boss Beltran Leyva’s death scene ‘altered’ [BBC]
- Bombs kill more than 30 in Iraq [Reuters]
An Iranian opposition protester holds stones as he stands opposite security forces during clashes in Tehran on December 27, 2009. Three protesters were shot dead by security forces in central Tehran as thousands of opposition supporters staged anti-government protests during the Shiite mourning event of Ashura, a website said. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)
via The Frame
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