Forbes 2008 World Most Powerful Women

Forbes magazine has this habit to rank the world prominent personalities in various categories and field of influences even on gender basis. This time around Forbes present 100 most powerful women in the world. Prior to this, Forbes has presented the Top 100 Richest People in the World and Top Richest Royals.

Interesting to note, especially for Indonesian, that an Indonesian woman that is Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Indonesia’s Coordinating minister for economic affairs and finance minister, has been ranked at no. 23 ahead of such prominent women as Gloria Arroyo, President of the Philippines, ranked at no. 41, Hillary Rodham Clinton (no. 28), Nancy Pelosi, US Speaker of House of Representative (no. 35), Oprah Winfrey (no. 36), Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar (no. 38). You may wonder why.
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Malaysian Blogger Arrested

[Update 23 September 2008] RPK got two years jail term under the draconian internal security act (ISA).

A Malaysian blogger arrested. The reason as the Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar put it:

This arrest was made after our investigations showed that he (Raja Petra) did certain things which could cause unrest among the citizens of various races in this country

The blogger named Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) is a popular figure in Malaysia. He’s also a journalist and politician.
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Americans Racists if Obama Loses

If Barack Obama loses in the coming election meaning white Americans are predominantly racists. That’s what Jacob Weisberg of Slate brilliantly concluded:

…the reason Obama isn’t ahead right now is that he trails badly among one group, older white voters. He does so for a simple reason: the color of his skin. … Much evidence points to racial prejudice as a factor that could be large enough to cost Obama the election. That warning is written all over last month’s CBS/New York Times poll, which is worth examining in detail if you want a quick grasp of white America’s curious sense of racial grievance.

Forbes’ World Richest Royals

The royals, kings and queen, in this 21st century may not enjoy the luxury of unreserved admiration, adulation and loyalty from their subjects like it used to be not so long ago. But certainly they still enjoy the luxury of “unlimited” wealth to enjoy the extravagant lives money can buy. In its 20th August edition, Forbes magazine published the list of richest existing royals, not the richest ordinary people, two of whom are coming from South East Asian countries, Thailand and Brunei. Surprisingly, King Bumiphol of Thailand got the “gold medal.” Please watch carefully the list below, who knows you are among those top list kings and queens.
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An Indonesian Among 153 Killed in Spain Plane Crash

A Spanish airliner bound for the Canary Islands at the height of the vacation season crashed, burned and broke into pieces Wednesday while trying to take off from Madrid, killing 153 people on board, officials said. There were only 19 survivors of the mid-afternoon crash, Development Minister Magdalena Alvarez said.[....]

An Indonesian named NGUNI TOKA RONDONUWU (written RONDONUWU/NGUNI TOKA in the list below) was among those who were killed in Spain worst crash since 1983.
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The Richest Indonesians 2008

2008 Indonesia’s Billionaires

Rank	Name	Net worth (US Dollars)	Age
1	Aburizal Bakrie & family	9.2 Billion	61
2	Robert Budi Hartono & family	6.8 Billion	67
3	Eka Tjipta Widjaja & family	3.8 Billion	85
4	Sudono Salim & family	3.04 Billion	93
5	Putra Sampoerna & family	2.42 Billion	60
6	Rachman Halim & family	2 Billion	61
7	Sukanto Tanoto & family	1.43 Billion	58
8	Eddie William Katuari	1.21 Billion	57
9	Prajogo Pangestu	1.2 Billion	57
10	Murdaya poo & family	1.1 Biliion	67
11	Hary taniesoedibjo & family	1.1 Billion	43
12	Martua Sitorus	1.1 Billion	48
13	Arifin & Hilmi Panigoro	1.05 Billion	63/53
14	Hashim Djojohadikusumo	1.05 Billion	54
15	Peter Sondakh	1 Billion	56

Source: Globe Asia (2008).

AdSense for Feeds has Begun

The news that many bloggers or AdSense publishers to be precise are waiting for has arrived: now you can put AdSense in your feeds. What the system? Does AdSense apply PPC type of ads?

Our salesforce will sell cost-per-impression (CPM) ads directly to the largest advertisers, while the rest of your inventory will be filled with contextually targeted cost-per-click (CPC) and CPM ads.

Western Union AdSense to More Countries

In October Google AdSense introduced for the first time payment through Western Union as an alternative way to pay its publishers besides Check and EFT (electronic fund transfer). The country which were lucky at the time including Argentina, Chile, China (Mainland), Colombia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, and Romania.
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Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

When I was a kid I kept wondering about the brouhaha of sporting events. Why a nation and a country tend to dramatise a sporting event. In the Cold War era when the so-called global influence were equally divided between USA and Soviet Union, the Olympics became a place to show each other dominance.
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Two Indonesian Ministers Named in Corruption Case

Hamka Yandhu, who was a member of Commission IX of the House of the 1999-2004 period, told a Corruption Court hearing on Monday (July 30) that Rp100 billion in Bank Indonesia funds were distributed to 52 other Commission-IX members at the time. … Recipients of the `bribes included two legislators who have now become ministers in President Susilo Bambang Yudhohono`s cabinet … [namely] Forestry Minister MS Kaban and [State Minister for National Development Planning (Bappenas)] Paskah Suzetta [...]