Thursday, December 16, 2010

Watch the sun’s great explosions

A solar filament that had been lurking atop the sun for a week finally exploded this month, the latest in a string of large solar explosions that NASA scientists say will peak in 2013. This explosion, seen below, released high-energy plasma into the solar system, but did not create auroras on Earth because it dispersed before reaching our atmosphere.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the image sequence, which shows the filament exploding. In August, NASA scientists observed a 28-hour period of shock waves, solar flare explosions and solar "tsunamis" that rocked the sun. They've named the event "The Great Eruption."

Scientists say the activity is a sign that the sun is "waking up" and heading for another "solar maximum" cycle in 2013, according to Space.com.

[See also: Where, how astronomers could find alien life]

"The August 1st event really opened our eyes," NASA scientist Karel Schrijver said. "We see that solar storms can be global events, playing out on scales we scarcely imagined before."

Scientists are still trying to figure out what kind of connection there is among the massive explosions that occurred so far apart on the sun's surface.

[Related: First 'alien' planet from another galaxy discovered]

"We're still sorting out cause and effect," Schrijver told the Daily Mail. "Was the event one big chain reaction, in which one eruption triggered another, bang, bang, bang, in sequence? Or did everything go off together as a consequence of some greater change in the sun's global magnetic field?"

[Photos: New view from space station window]

Watch video of the filament explosion:

Chart Watch Extra: Down To The Wire

Train's "Hey, Soul Sister" and "California Gurls" by Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg are locked in an extremely tight race to wind up as the song with the most paid downloads in 2010. With just three weeks to go in Nielsen/SoundScan's chart year, the two songs are just 2,000 units apart. "Hey, Soul Sister" has sold 4,154,000 digital copies so far this year. "California Gurls" has sold 4,152,000. Train's best hope of retaining its slim lead is that a quintessential summer song like "California Gurls" may have limited appeal in the closing weeks of December.

"Hey, Soul Sister" headed the year-to-date chart from the beginning of April through the end of October. "California Gurls" pushed ahead in the week ending Nov. 7. "Hey, Soul Sister" regains the lead this week. The song received two big boosts in recent weeks. It was featured in an episode of Glee on Nov. 30. The following night, Train performed it on the Grammy nominations special.

No matter which song winds up on top three weeks from now, "Hey, Soul Sister" is a bigger hit overall. It sold an additional 687K copies in 2009, which made it that year's #131 song.

"California Gurls" exemplified one of the year's hottest trends: the collaboration. Five of the top 10 songs so far this year (and 10 of the top 20) pair two artists who don't normally record together.

[Photos: Katy Perry's Crazy Costumes]

"Hey, Soul Sister" also exemplified one of the year's notable trends: the name-drop. The song mentions Madonna and Mr. Mister. "TiK ToK" gave a name-check to Mick Jagger and P. Diddy. "Billionaire" mentions Oprah, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and President Obama. "I Like It" also refers to Barack and Michelle Obama, as well as Tiger Woods and Jesse James.

Bruno Mars is the only artist with three of the year's top 20 hits. His own smash "Just The Way You Are" is #13. Travie McCoy's "Billionaire" and B.o.B's "Nothin' On You," on which Mars is featured, rank #15 and #16, respectively. Mars will wind up as the first artist with three of the year's top 20 songs since 2008, when Rihanna had four of the top 20.

Eminem and Taio Cruz are the only artists with two songs each in the year-to-date top 10. Both are represented with one solo hit and one collaboration.

It's remarkable that a generation of pop fans will think first of Katy Perry and Bruno Mars when they hear the titles "California Gurls" and "Just The Way You Are." Older fans have vivid memories of hit songs with the same titles by the Beach Boys and Billy Joel, respectively. (But the new songs were substantially bigger hits. Both had long runs at #1. The oldies both peaked at #3.)

Here are the 20 songs that have sold the most digital copies so far this year. The tally after the title is the total number of copies the song has sold through the week ending Dec. 12. Some of these hits sold additional copies prior to this chart year (which began with the week ending Jan. 10). If a song ranked among the top 200 songs of 2009, I show its 2009 ranking and sales tally. At the end of each entry, I show the song's peak position on the Hot 100 and the number of weeks it held that spot.

1. Train, "Hey, Soul Sister," 4,154,000. This likeable tune is the group's biggest hit to date, surpassing its 2001 hit "Drops Of Jupiter (Tell Me)." "Hey, Soul Sister" sold an additional 687K copies in 2009, which made it that year's #131 song. Peak: #3.

2. Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg, "California Gurls," 4,152,000. This irresistible popsicle, which topped the charts in both the U.S. and the U.K., is the year's top collaboration. This will be the second time in the past three years that Perry has had a hit in the year-end top five. "I Kissed A Girl" was #4 for 2008. Peak: #1 for six weeks.

[Photos: Snoop Dogg volunteers at a community center in Manchester, England]

3. Eminem featuring Rihanna, "Love The Way You Lie," 4,003,000. This smash is vying for Grammys for both Record and Song of the Year. It's Eminem's longest-running #1 hit since "Lose Yourself." It ties "Umbrella" as Rihanna's longest-running #1 to date. Peak: #1 for seven weeks.

4. B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams, "Airplanes," 3,855,000. This was the biggest of B.o.B's three hits and the biggest hit ever for the lead singer of Paramore. This hit #1 in the U.K. Peak: #2.

5. Taio Cruz, "Dynamite," 3,663,000. This is the year's biggest hit by a male solo artist. This hit #1 in the U.K. Peak: #2.

6. Usher featuring will.i.am, "OMG," 3,633,000. Peak: #1. This ebullient smash, which hit #1 in both the U.S. and the U.K., is the year's biggest collaboration by two male artists. Peak: #1 for four weeks.

7. Eminem, "Not Afraid," 3,158,000. This anthemic smash was Eminem's first solo #1 hit on the Hot 100 since "Lose Yourself." Peak: #1 for one week.

8. Taio Cruz featuring Ludacris, "Break Your Heart," 3,146,000. Ludacris was added to the U.S. remix of the song. A solo version by Cruz topped the U.K. chart for three weeks in September and October. Peak: #1 for one week.

9. Lady Antebellum, "Need You Now," 3,084,000. This heartfelt ballad, a Grammy finalist for both Record and Song of the Year, is the year's biggest country hit. It sold an additional 1,325,000 copies in 2009, which made it that year's #57 song. Peak: #2.

10. Ke$ha, "TiK ToK," 2,913,000. This is the year's biggest hit by a female solo artist. It sold an additional 2,443,000 copies in 2009, which made it that year's #17 song. It has sold 5,346,000 total copies, more than any other song on this list. (Only six songs in digital history have sold more.) Peak: #1 for nine weeks.

11. The Black Eyed Peas, "Imma Be," 2,814,000. The Peas had the top two songs on the year-end Digital Songs chart for 2009: "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling." Peak: #1 for two weeks.

12. Enrique Iglesias featuring Pitbull, "I Like It," 2,790,000. This genre-bending smash was Iglesias' first top 10 hit since "Hero" in 2001. It was the Latin/pop star's fourth top 10 hit and the third for the reggaeton rapper. The song borrowed a riff from Lionel Richie's "All Night Long (All Night)." Peak: #4.

13. Bruno Mars, "Just The Way You Are," 2,747,000. Mars proved he could fly solo with this sweet song, which hit #1 in both the U.S. and the U.K. (In the U.K., it carries the subtitle "Amazing" to differentiate it from Billy Joel's 1978 smash.) Peak: #1 for four weeks.

14. Katy Perry, "Teenage Dream," 2,676,000. Perry followed "California Gurls" with this terrific single. This will be the second time in the past three years that Perry will have two songs in the year-end top 15. Darren Criss' distinctive version on Glee also made waves. Peak: #1 for two weeks.

15. Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars, "Billionaire," 2,632,000. This charmer is the biggest hit ever for the lead singer of Gym Class Heroes, surpassing 2007's "Cupid's Chokehold," which also reached #4 on the Hot 100. Peak: #4.

16. B.o.B featuring Bruno Mars, "Nothin' On You," 2,604,000. This smash, a Grammy finalist for Record of the Year, reached #1 in both the U.S. and the U.K. It combines the old-school romanticism of Smokey Robinson with a modern, hip-hop sensibility. Peak: #1 for two weeks.

17. Ke$ha, "Your Love Is My Drug," 2,570,000. This is the year's third biggest hit by a female solo artist. Impressively, Ke$ha sings two of these three songs. Peak: #4.

18. Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris, "Baby," 2,568,000. This catchy tune was Bieber's first top five hit. It gives Ludacris featured billing on two of the year's top 20 songs. Peak: #5.

19. Far*East Movement featuring Cataracs & Dev, "Like A G6," 2,480,000. This is the year's biggest techno smash. Peak: #1 for three weeks.

20. Jason Derulo, "In My Head," 2,390,000. This hit reached #1 in the U.K. Derulo's previous hit, "Whatcha Say," was #10 on the year-end Digital Songs chart for 2009. Peak: #5.

Monday, November 1, 2010

iPhone glitch leaves scores late to work

Scores of iPhone users were late to work on Friday, after a bug in the software meant the device's alarm clock feature failed to adjust to Daylight Saving Time.

Hundreds of angry comments were posted on the social networking website Twitter about the glitch on the Apple device, which occured even though the rest of the phone's features updated the time automatically.

"Well done Apple - you've made me decide I need to use a proper alarm clock rather than relying on my iPhone," one user tweeted.

"Stupid iPhone alarm clock went off an hour late. What a great start to the week," said another.

Australian iPhone users experienced similar problems three weeks ago, although alarms went off an hour early there rather than an hour late.

Apple said at the time that a software patch was being developed to resolve the issue. The technology giant has not yet issued an official response to the British version of the glitch.

The iPhone has suffered a turbulent year, blighted by problems with its antennae, proximity sensor and security system.

The latest fault can apparently be avoided by using one-off alarms instead of pre-set daily wake-up calls.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Nine things you need to know about 4G networks


Imagine having a mobile phone that matches what you can do on your home PC or laptop. That’s the power of 4G - the term for fourth generation mobile service - which was rolled out by Sprint (S) earlier this year and will soon be available for Verizon (VZ) subscribers. Here are the most important things you need to know about 4G.

1. It’s fast. Sprint, the first mover in the 4G market, says its 4G is up to 10 times faster than 3G, which was introduced eight years ago. Sprint promises peak downloads of more than 10 Mbps (megabits per second), with average downloads of three to six Mbps. Verizon announced on October 6 that it plans in the fourth quarter to launch its 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) network with downloads to range between 5 to 12 Mbps.

A closer look at the numbers, however, reveals that 4G speeds may vary. Sprint says that 4G can be 10 times faster than 3G. But read the fine print in Sprint’s promotional material: Sprint bases this claim on speed comparison between 3G’s low-end 600 kilobits per second (Kbps) vs. 4G’s max 6Mbps. Sprint notes that 3G can reach 1.7 Mbps, while 4G may drop down to 3 Mbps. So that’s less than twice as fast. We will know more specifics about Verizon’s network in the weeks ahead as it rolls out its service.

[Related: Facebook CEO falls victim to 'Groups' prank]

2. Regardless of how much faster 4G might be, the increased connection speed lets you do more things with your phone. Early users are already enjoying features like uninterrupted video conferencing, high-definition television streaming and of course lightning fast web surfing that smartphones on 3G networks are unable to provide. Power business users and other early adopters of the new technology who experience 4G will never want to go back.

3. Casual users mostly interested in talking, texting and occasional web surfing on their cell phones don’t need to rush into buying a 4G-enabled phone (and it is not possible to upgrade existing 3G models to the new network.) Even if you are ready to buy a phone and wanted to upgrade to 4G, the network is not available in all parts of the country (see below). It will take years for 4G to roll out into every rural area, and residents of big cities could get shut out due to big restrictions on new cell phone towers.

4. You can easily find out if 4G is available in your area. Sprint says its 4G network reaches more than 268 million people in 50 markets in the United States “and counting.” To see whether 4G is available in your hometown, go here.

Verizon says its 4G LTE network initially will cover 100 million people in 38 markets by the end of 2010. The first markets with access to Verizon’s 4G network include Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. Below is a full coverage map for Verizon's 4G Network:

Current and would-be iPhone owners dissatisfied with AT&T's (T) network would of course love the rumors of an upcoming Verizon iPhone to be true.

5. 4G is more expensive. Sprint currently charges its customers with 4G-enabled devices an extra $10 per month, regardless of whether they can access a 4G network or not. With increased data usage and Verizon entering the fray, both networks are rumored to convert to “pay-as-you-go” pricing schemes rather than unlimited use packages. 4G devices will also invariably cost more - at least at first - than similar phones on the same networks.

[Related: Verizon's multi-million dollar refund for bad charges]

Back in May, Sprint launched its first 4G phone, HTC EVO 4G, selling for $200 with a two-year contract. That phone runs on Google’s Android mobile operating system, and has access to nearly 100,000 Android apps. Verizon has not announced pricing and plan information for upcoming 4G-enabled smartphones.

6. Batteries take a hit on 4G. Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G can run out of battery power after only a few hours of use. While power can be conserved by switching off the 4G setting, the last thing you want to do with your new state-of-the-art smartphone is to slow it down. Extra battery packets which add to the weight of an already heavy phone can be purchased for about $100.

7. A 4G mobile hotspot can give a boost to your 3G phone. Sprint’s website displays a video showing how an iPhone user can find its 4G network and increase the iPhone’s speed. Take that AT&T. Sprint says the hotspot can work with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices at time: a phone, a laptop, camera, a couple music players and so on. Sprint says the Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot by Sierra Wireless is the first dual-mode mobile hotspot on the market.

8. Sprint and Verizon are leading the way with 4G, but where’s the competition? They’re not snoozing. Kent German reported in CNET that AT&T will be busting a move into 4G next year. AT&T Operations CEO John Stankey says the company will light up its network with LTE service by the middle of 2011. He didn’t list cities, but he says AT&T is aiming to cover between 70 million and 75 million people by the end of 2011.

Meanwhile T-Mobile has been touting its HPSA+ upgrade. T-Mobile says the upgrade increases its network’s speed three to five times over 3G. T-Mobile describes its HSPA+ enhancement as a “super-fast mobile broadband network that delivers 4G speeds in the Northeastern U.S. and other major cities across the country.”

9. So if you are one of those people with a need for speed or rely on your phone for multimedia business communication, it makes sense to upgrade to a 4G phone right away. Just understand the geographic restrictions in accessing the network, and be prepared to pay more in your monthly bill while also making sure to charge your phone more regularly.

For everyone else, there is no need to rush into 4G. Whenever it is naturally time to upgrade your phone due to performance or an expiring contract, you should consider jumping on to the faster network. By that time, 4G will be available in more areas and on more carriers. Although I wouldn’t expect prices to go down, battery and other technical issues associated with new gadgets should be resolved.

The only other thing you’ll have to worry about at that point is when it makes sense to upgrade to the fifth generation of cell phone technology.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Could 'Goldilocks' planet be just right for life?


WASHINGTON – Astronomers say they have for the first time spotted a planet beyond our own in what is sometimes called the Goldilocks zone for life: Not too hot, not too cold. Juuuust right.

Not too far from its star, not too close. So it could contain liquid water. The planet itself is neither too big nor too small for the proper surface, gravity and atmosphere.

It's just right. Just like Earth.

"This really is the first Goldilocks planet," said co-discoverer R. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

The new planet sits smack in the middle of what astronomers refer to as the habitable zone, unlike any of the nearly 500 other planets astronomers have found outside our solar system. And it is in our galactic neighborhood, suggesting that plenty of Earth-like planets circle other stars.

Finding a planet that could potentially support life is a major step toward answering the timeless question: Are we alone?

Scientists have jumped the gun before on proclaiming that planets outside our solar system were habitable only to have them turn out to be not quite so conducive to life. But this one is so clearly in the right zone that five outside astronomers told The Associated Press it seems to be the real thing.

"This is the first one I'm truly excited about," said Penn State University's Jim Kasting. He said this planet is a "pretty prime candidate" for harboring life.

Life on other planets doesn't mean E.T. Even a simple single-cell bacteria or the equivalent of shower mold would shake perceptions about the uniqueness of life on Earth.

But there are still many unanswered questions about this strange planet. It is about three times the mass of Earth, slightly larger in width and much closer to its star — 14 million miles away versus 93 million. It's so close to its version of the sun that it orbits every 37 days. And it doesn't rotate much, so one side is almost always bright, the other dark.

Temperatures can be as hot as 160 degrees or as frigid as 25 degrees below zero, but in between — in the land of constant sunrise — it would be "shirt-sleeve weather," said co-discoverer Steven Vogt of the University of California at Santa Cruz.

It's unknown whether water actually exists on the planet, and what kind of atmosphere it has. But because conditions are ideal for liquid water, and because there always seems to be life on Earth where there is water, Vogt believes "that chances for life on this planet are 100 percent."

The astronomers' findings are being published in Astrophysical Journal and were announced by the National Science Foundation on Wednesday.

The planet circles a star called Gliese 581. It's about 120 trillion miles away, so it would take several generations for a spaceship to get there. It may seem like a long distance, but in the scheme of the vast universe, this planet is "like right in our face, right next door to us," Vogt said in an interview.

That close proximity and the way it was found so early in astronomers' search for habitable planets hints to scientists that planets like Earth are probably not that rare.

Vogt and Butler ran some calculations, with giant fudge factors built in, and figured that as much as one out of five to 10 stars in the universe have planets that are Earth-sized and in the habitable zone.

With an estimated 200 billion stars in the universe, that means maybe 40 billion planets that have the potential for life, Vogt said. However, Ohio State University's Scott Gaudi cautioned that is too speculative about how common these planets are.

Vogt and Butler used ground-based telescopes to track the star's precise movements over 11 years and watch for wobbles that indicate planets are circling it. The newly discovered planet is actually the sixth found circling Gliese 581. Two looked promising for habitability for a while, another turned out to be too hot and the fifth is likely too cold. This sixth one bracketed right in the sweet spot in between, Vogt said.

With the star designated "a," its sixth planet is called Gliese 581g.

"It's not a very interesting name and it's a beautiful planet," Vogt said. Unofficially, he's named it after his wife: "I call it Zarmina's World."

The star Gliese 581 is a dwarf, about one-third the strength of our sun. Because of that, it can't be seen without a telescope from Earth, although it is in the Libra constellation, Vogt said.

But if you were standing on this new planet, you could easily see our sun, Butler said.

The low-energy dwarf star will live on for billions of years, much longer than our sun, he said. And that just increases the likelihood of life developing on the planet, the discoverers said.

"It's pretty hard to stop life once you give it the right conditions," Vogt said.

Monday, September 27, 2010

US: Inverted Philippine flag was `honest mistake'

MANILA, Philippines – The U.S. government said Sunday it made an "honest mistake" when it displayed an inverted Philippine flag — which wrongfully signified that the Southeast Asian nation was in a state of war — in a meeting hosted by President Barack Obama.

The Philippine flag was displayed upside down behind President Benigno Aquino III when leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met Obama in New York on Friday.

"This was an honest mistake," U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Thompson said in a statement, adding, "the U.S. treasures its close relationship and close partnership with the Philippines."

The American embassy will find out how the "unfortunate" incident happened, she said.

Philippine foreign affairs department spokesman Ed Malaya said the government understood that it was "an honest error" that "should not detract from the true significance of the summit, which showed the unprecedented cooperation between the ASEAN and the U.S."

It was not immediately clear who pointed out the mistake. A photograph of Aquino sitting beside Obama with the inverted flag behind them was displayed on a government website Sunday but its caption did not point out the error.

During the summit, Obama discussed ways of bolstering economic ties between the U.S. and Southeast Asia as well as Asian regional concerns such as territorial disputes in the South China Sea and Nov. 7 elections in military-ruled Myanmar.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Make Money Trading Forex

There are new regulations regarding advertising in the US (I'm in Canada) where the website owner is required to state if they receive revenue to promote products on their websites. My approach has always been to only endorse products that I feel will help you to profit from trading Forex.

Some of these products pay me and some do not. The bottom line is if you see something promoted here, it is because I believe it will help you and your trading, not my bottom line.

My current focus is on automated trading systems and trading robots. Many "would be" new traders are overwhelmed by all the information available and don't know how to get started. These automated systems can successfully trade your account, even if you have a very limited knowledge of the Forex market.

I buy almost every trading robot that comes along and put them through a lot of testing. Most of them don't do very well and I often end up sending them back for a refund. However, sometimes they do what they are supposed to and I put them on an account trading with LOW leverage.

For some reason they all seem to have the same trashy sales pages, but if you can get past that and are looking for EA's that can turn a profit, check out these links...

Forex Transporter

Forex Pitbull

CloveriX EA

All systems, robotic or not, will have losses and leverage should always be kept small.

Robots are a great way to make money trading Forex for those that struggle with technical analysis, or traders that can't sit in front of their computers all day and night. You still need to be aware of the market particulars, but automated systems make it much easier for new traders to get started profitably.

One of the new robots Forex Brilliance looks very interesting. I'm going to do some serious testing on this one... stay tuned!

If you have an idea for a robot strategy and you need some help to code it, send me a note from the About the Author page and I can probably help you. I have coded many EA's and will do what I can to get you going.

Trading Forex is exciting and it can also be very rewarding. You are able to trade any time of the day Monday through Friday and it can be done effectively without being glued to your computer screen.

Over $3 Trillion Daily!

The reality is you need to do a little homework to be successful at this. You can learn how to claim some cash from the $3.2 trillion (according to the latest BIS report) that trade through the Forex market every trading day, but to make money trading Forex, you need to treat it like a business and invest some of your time to achieve profitable results.

In the end, the results you get will be the product of the time and effort you put in. Do this the right way and it can change your life. If you are looking to get rich quick, Forex can do it, but it can break you just as quickly, so beware.



Typically, 95% of traders who open accounts to trade the currency market will lose all of their "investment". However, with a proper strategy, you can become a member of the successful 5%. Once you learn to make money trading Forex, the world will be a much different place for you.

Got a question you can't find the answer to? Send me a quick email from the "About the Author" page and I'll try to point you in the right direction.

Monday, February 22, 2010

What is Forex?


Foreign Exchange or Forex is a globally trusted market used for the trading or exchange of currencies of different countries. It is the world’s largest financial market. Millions of people from different walks of life are an active part of Forex or foreign exchange market. With the passage of every year, the Forex market is growing in size and becoming more accessible to common people. It is the market of 21st century and million of people from all over the world are relaying on it to achieve their financial goals. With the advancement in the technology and communication science, Forex has become a huge market but still it has more potential of growth and rise. In the years to come, it may become the trade of choice for many traders. The new generation of traders and investors is seeking exciting opportunities in Forex trade.

Forex or Foreign Exchange Education
Forex or foreign exchange trading is a very tricky and risky task. Without having proper training and education, one has very limited chances of success. The most important cause for the failure of Forex traders is their lack of Forex training. A quality Forex Education or Training helps the Forex traders to improve their trading abilities and skills. Only a well educated or trained Forex trader understands the complexities and subtleties of Forex trade. Proper Forex training teaches the trader a sound trading strategy and an effective approach to currency trading. A qualified Forex trader can explore the opportunities much easily and extensively.

What should be done before London open?
A quality Forex training focuses on the market timing effect on trading and liquidity. The time when London market starts its proceedings is the busiest time of the market. The London market’s startup time has a great effect on Forex market. No education or training system can neglect the importance of analyzing the effect of London’s Forex market’s opening and closing. There are some key points which are very handy to analyze the effect of London market on Forex market. These should be checked, half an hour before the startup of the London market. They are given as below:

Key Points before London open
• if the MACD (Moving Average Convergence / Divergence) indicators are not on the 4 hour and 1 hour then a careful or cautious approach is the better strategy.
• Divergence of the security price from the MACD is a clue that current market trend is going to over.
• A Fibonacci calculation on the last up and down trend help to know if price is going backwards to its initial position or it is heading towards an extended level.
• It is necessary to have knowledge about expected economic reports as they greatly influence the market.
• if the candle nears on the fifteen minute chart at London startup, try to observe the tweezers or doji’s patterns or hammers which indicates the fall of price
• Risk analysis and defining a proper stop is also essential to check

Conclusion:

Before a few minute of London startup, the above factors can help to make decision of trading or holding back. Performing a daily analysis on London open is a handy way to improve the Forex trading skills. There is no hard and fast rule for Forex education. Success with Forex trading comes with experience, practice and learning new skills. With getting experienced, a trader get more disciplined and controlled in his emotions which is a must trait for Forex trader.

What is Forex (Foreign Exchange)?

Foreign Exchange (FOREX) is the arena where a nation's currency is exchanged for that of another. The foreign exchange market is the largest financial market in the world, with the equivalent of over $1.9 trillion changing hands daily; more than three times the aggregate amount of the US Equity and Treasury markets combined. Unlike other financial markets, the Forex market has no physical location and no central exchange (off-exchange). It operates through a global network of banks, corporations and individuals trading one currency for another. The lack of a physical exchange enables the Forex market to operate on a 24-hour basis, spanning from one zone to another in all the major financial centers.

Traditionally, retail investors' only means of gaining access to the foreign exchange market was through banks that transacted large amounts of currencies for commercial and investment purposes. Trading volume has increased rapidly over time, especially after exchange rates were allowed to float freely in 1971. Today, importers and exporters, international portfolio managers, multinational corporations, speculators, day traders, long-term holders and hedge funds all use the FOREX market to pay for goods and services, transact in financial assets or to reduce the risk of currency movements by hedging their exposure in other markets.

MG Financial, now operating in over 100 countries, serves all manner of clients, comprising speculators and strategic traders. Whether it’s day-traders looking for short-term gains, or fund managers wanting to hedge their non-US assets, MG's DealStation™ allows them to participate in FOREX trading by providing a combination of live quotes, Real-Time charts, and news and analysis that attracts traders with an orientation towards fundamental and/or technical analysis.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Forex Business Learn All About it

Important:

I have seen some people in different forums who advertise their EBook or some other thing where they offer to tell the secret of making lot of money via doing forex business.

I would like to tell you that: forex business is one of riskiest businesses that you can find on the internet these days.

If someone tells you that: forex business is a one way road to becoming a rich man and there are only profits and no losses: then I am afraid to tell you that this person is not telling the truth.

People lose lot of money in this business. You can either earn money or you can lose it.

Also, this business is not free to start: that is, you will be required to invest some amount of money, in order to start this business. In case you are only interested in free online money making opportunities, then you can go here to find more information:

Money Making Opportunities

What Is Forex Business?

Forex business involves selling/buying of different currencies. People invest money in banks, stock market etc, forex business is just like that.

You should not trade until you have done lot of research about the currency you want to buy.

One political statement can have a big impact on a particular currency.

You have to be aware of political events: look at the economy and other things that can influence currency rates.

You can either buy or sell a currency. If you buy a currency, then you will get profit if this currency rate increases and if you sell [go short] a currency, then you will gain profit if the rate goes down.

We all know that political scenarios and economic situations can change very quickly. One bankruptcy announcement from a major company can have a big influence.

You can never be sure that the trade you are doing will give you profits in the end.

Have I done any forex business myself?

Yes, I have done this business a little bit myself. But I did not traded currencies online: instead, I have done the trades at a foreign exchange companies.

What I traded?

I had few thousand Pounds which I traded with Pakistani Rupees when the rate was:

1 British Pound = 118 Pakistani Rupees

After few days, I saw the Pound rate down at about Rs.113. At this level, I thought maybe I should invest my money back in Pounds. There was no guarantee that the rate of pound will go up again.

The rate could go further down or could go up again.

So I decided to do this investment and was willing to take this risk.

After few weeks, the rate of pound reached approximately Rs.118 again. That is when I again traded pound with Pak rupee.

I am currently monitoring the market and I think I will invest my money in the currency which will be weaker against US dollar. And when/if that currency gets stronger against US Dollar, I will trade that currency to get some profit.

But it is very much possible that the currency I buy will get further weaker against US Dollar instead of getting stronger. And if I will need my money for some reason, then I will have to trade it and will lose money instead of gaining any profit.

If you want to make money with forex business, then it is possible if you are willing to properly understand all the factors involved in this business and also understand that this work is extremely risky.

Do not invest money until you have done proper and thorough market analysis.

I have seen some online companies that offer a free forex practice account. You can join such program in order to see if you really can do this business or not.

You will be able to trade in forex, 24 hours a day and 5 days a week.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Important Terms For Online Forex Trading

When it comes to online forex trading it is very important that you are sure of the many of the terms associated with forex, for without knowing the different terminologies in forex you will not be able to carry out your trade in a better way. Here are the important forex terms that you might have to know when dealing in foreign exchange trading

* Appreciation- The currency’s value gets increased in the forex trading.

* Ask- The price demanded by the trader. This more often than not, points out the smallest price that a seller will take over.

* Base currency- The currency that the depositor trades (i.e. EUR in EURUSD)

* Bear - Someone who thinks prices are decreasing. A bear market is one in which there has been a continual fall in prices and which does not look like it will make progress quickly.

* Bid - The charge offered by the trader. These generally indicate the peak price a client will pay.

* Bid/Ask - The Bid rate is the rate at which you can sell. The Ask (or offer) rate is the rate at which you can buy.

* Bull - Someone who is positive about the market activity. A bull market is characterized by enthusiastic and nonstop buying.

* Cross - When trading with currencies, the depositor buys one currency with the help of another. These two currencies form the cross: for example, EURUSD.

* Cross rate - An exchange rate that is estimated from two other exchange rates.

* Depreciation/decline - A drop in the cost of a currency.

* Exchange rate - What one currency is worth in terms of another, for example the Australian dollar might be valued 58 US cents or 70 yen.

Advantages Of Online Forex Trading

No fees or dealing costs

A foreign currency exchange naturally acquires no fee or transaction charge in addition to the quoted spread. This is in great difference to the equity market, where fees for stock trades choice from 8 to 70 USD or yet higher, as well as the quoted spread.

Profit possible in spite of forex market direction:

An investor with an open position is by meaning long one currency and shorts one more. If a trader trusts a foreign currency is about to decrease in value, he or she sells that currency short and goes long a new currency. In the foreign exchange market, selling or shorting is an essential part of carrying out a foreign trade. Profit possible survivals in the Forex market in spite of whether a trader is buying or selling and in spite of whether the market is going up or down. In the US equity markets, short-selling is fewer general and harder to carry out because of dissimilar regulations and market rules. This creates it harder to create a profit.

No limits in foreign currency exchange:

No limits are relevant to the foreign exchange and there are extremely small account balances. This denotes that traders can take pleasure in profit chances in all market situations.

A foreign exchange rate is the comparative value among two currencies. More especially it is the needed amount of one currency to buy or sell one unit of one more currency. This is as well named a pairing; Euro to dollar at 1.3250 denotes that one Euro can be exchanged for 1.3250 US dollars.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Scenes of survival and of death in desperate Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – They are the latest scenes of survival and of death in Haiti's deadliest disaster — a looter shot dead for breaking into an appliance store and crowds erecting new houses on shaky ground.

More than two weeks have passed since an earthquake destroyed much of Haiti's capital and left a vacuum of power over who should rebuild the country.

In a snapshot of the growing desperation, a private security guard fatally shot a looter who joined with others in breaking into a damaged appliance store in the commercial district Friday. As young scavengers carted away ovens, refrigerators and an air conditioner, an Associated Press journalist watched as the guard arrived firing an automatic pistol.

About a dozen soldiers from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division rushed to calm the situation but it was too late. The looter lay dead, face-down at the bottom of the stairs, splattered in blood.

Other Haitians are trying to focus on getting on with life, but the mood is grim everywhere.

"The situation is only getting worse," said Josielle Noel, 46, who was among dozens of people pooling their labor to start rebuilding in the concrete slum of Canape Vert, an area devastated by the quake.

Noel's house partially collapsed in the Jan. 12 earthquake. Two more small aftershocks shook parts of the capital Friday, although new damage is hard to spot in a landscape of buildings cracked, partially collapsed or flattened.

Tired of waiting for government help, the families lugged heavy bundles of wood and tin up steep hillsides to start rebuilding new homes on top of old ones.

Few tents have been supplied to the quake's survivors, rubble remains and signs begging for help in English — not Haitian Creole — dot nearly every street corner in Port-au-Prince.

It could take weeks to get the 200,000 tents needed for Haiti's homeless, said Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue, the culture and communications minister. Haiti now has fewer than 5,000 donated tents and coordinating the aid operation remains a problem.

"I have 44 years' worth of memories in this house," said Noel Marie Jose, 44, whose family was reinforcing crumbling walls with tin and wood in Canape Vert.

Houses on their side of a mountain were nearly all destroyed while dwellings on the other side remained intact.

"I got married here. I met my husband here. My mother braided my hair there, where these walls used to stand," Jose said. "Even if it's unsafe, I can't imagine leaving. Even if the government helps, it will come too late. This is how it is in Haiti."

Surrounding her, concrete homes were either crushed or had toppled down a hill. Jose and other families said they were worried both about the coming rainy season and fear they may lose their plots after demolitions because they either lack clear title or the government does not want them to rebuild on land it considers unsafe.

Reconstruction, resettlement and land titles are all priorities of the government of President Rene Preval — but so far in name only.

The government has been nearly paralyzed by the quake — its own infrastructure, including the National Palace, was destroyed — and so far it has been limited to appeals for foreign aid and meetings with foreign donors that have yet to produce detailed plans for the emergencies it confronts.

Its first priority is moving people from areas prone to more quakes and landslides into tent cities that have sanitation and security but have yet to be built. Preval held dozens of meetings with potential outside contractors to discuss debris removal, sanitation and other long-term needs.

Albert Ramdin, assistant secretary of the Organization of American States, has offered help in creating a new Haitian land registry — a process that could take months if not years because countless government records were destroyed in the quake.

Haitians ardently defend their property rights. If a family has occupied land for more than 10 years, they gain ownership rights even without a deed. For some families, small homes have been passed down through generations. Few Haitians have insurance, and the loss of what few assets they have has crippled countless families.

Many have tired of living in tents improvised from tarps, sheets and bedspreads, opting to rebuild their homes rather than find new plots.

Lassegue, the communications minister, said such rebuilding won't be tolerated — and the government wants to develop and implement a comprehensive reconstruction plan that might feature building codes, an anomaly in this impoverished nation.

"We've been sleeping outside but the rains will come soon," said Merilus Lovis, 27, taking wooden planks and erecting them for walls inside the foundation of his former home, where his wife and daughter died. "I'm scared of the floods on this hillside but I don't think that God would let such bad things happen twice."

Paul Louis, a 45-year-old porter, has started a business buying wood from scavengers and selling it on the street. He purchased a cracked and worn 1-by-8-foot board for about $2 and was selling it Friday for $3.

"People are afraid to build with concrete now," Louis said.

In another neighborhood, people dug through destroyed homes to salvage materials. Women did the wash amid the ruins.

"I have stayed, but I lost my home," said Thomas Brutus, who lives perched precariously on a debris-strewn hillside in a shack made from the remains of destroyed homes. "So I made this little house, even though I know it's dangerous. We have been here for 14 days and have received no help."

Many residents say they're staying because they grow vegetables on their small plots. Thousands of others have swarmed to improvised tent camps, where Elisabeth Byrs, an official of the U.N.'s humanitarian coordination office, said there is a "major concern" about sanitation.

About 200,000 people are in need of post-surgery follow-up treatment and an unknown number have untreated injuries, she said.

___

Associated Press writers Evens Sanon and Michelle Faul contributed to this report.

Introducing iPad

The best way to experience the web, email, photos, and video. Hands Down!

All of the built-in apps on iPad were designed from the ground up to take advantage of the large Multi-Touch screen. And they work in any orientation. So you can do things with these apps that you can’t do on any other device.


Safari

The large Multi-Touch screen on iPad lets you see web pages as they were meant to be seen — one page at a time. With vibrant color and sharp text. So whether you’re looking at a page in portrait or landscape, you can see everything at a size that’s actually readable. And with iPad, navigating the web has never been easier or more intuitive. Because you use the most natural pointing device there is: your finger. Scroll through a page just by flicking your finger up or down on the screen. Or pinch to zoom in or out on a photo. There’s also a thumbnail view that shows all your open pages in a grid, to let you quickly move from one page to the next.

Mail

See and touch your email in ways you never could before. In landscape, you get a split-screen view showing both an opened email and the messages in your inbox. To see the opened email by itself, turn iPad to portrait, and the email automatically rotates and fills the screen. No matter which orientation you use, you can scroll through your mail, compose a new email using the large, onscreen keyboard, or delete messages with nothing more than a tap and a flick. If someone emails you a photo, you can see it right in the message. You can also save the photos in an email directly to the built-in Photos app. And iPad works with all the most popular email providers, including MobileMe, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, and AOL.

Photos

With its crisp, vibrant display and unique software features, iPad is an extraordinary way to enjoy and share your photos. For example, the Photos app displays the photos in an album as though they were in a stack. Just tap the stack, and the whole album opens up. From there, you can flip through your pictures, zoom in or out, or watch a slideshow. You can even use your iPad as a beautiful digital photo frame while it’s is docked or charging. And there are lots of ways to import photos: You can sync them from your computer, download them from an email, or import them directly from your camera using the optional Camera Connection Kit.

Video

The large, high-resolution screen makes iPad perfect for watching any kind of video: from HD movies and TV shows to podcasts and music videos. Switch between widescreen and full screen with a double-tap. Because iPad is essentially one big screen, with no distracting keypad or buttons, you feel completely immersed in whatever you’re watching.

YouTube

The YouTube app organizes videos so they’re easy to see and navigate. To watch one, just tap it. When you’re watching in landscape, the video automatically plays in full screen. And with its high-resolution display, iPad makes the latest HD YouTube videos look positively amazing.

iPod

With the iPod app, all your music is literally at your fingertips. Browse by album, song, artist, or genre with a simple flick. To play a song, just tap it. iPad even displays album art at full size. Listen to your music with the powerful built-in speaker or with wired or Bluetooth wireless headphones.

iTunes

A tap of the iTunes store icon lets you browse and buy music, TV shows, and podcasts — or buy and rent movies — wirelessly, right from your iPad. Choose from thousands of movies and TV shows (in both standard and high definition), along with thousands of podcasts and millions of songs. Preview songs before you buy them. Or just sync iPad with the content you already have in your iTunes library on your Mac or PC.

App Store

iPad runs almost 140,000 apps from the App Store. Everything from games to business apps and more. And new apps designed specially for iPad are highlighted, so you can easily find the ones that take full advantage of its features. Just tap the App Store icon on the screen to browse, buy, and download apps wirelessly, right to the iPad.

iBooks

The iBooks app is a great new way to read and buy books.* Download the free app from the App Store and buy everything from classics to best sellers from the built-in iBookstore. Once you’ve bought a book, it’s displayed on your Bookshelf. Just tap it to start reading. The high-resolution, LED-backlit screen displays everything in sharp, rich color, so it’s easy to read, even in low light.

Maps

See more of the world with high-resolution satellite and street view images. Even see topography with the new terrain view. You can also search for a nearby business type (“Restaurant,” for example), then tap the business to see the route and directions from your current location.

Notes

With its expansive display and large, onscreen keyboard, iPad makes jotting down notes easy. In landscape view, you see not only a note-taking page but a list of all your notes. iPad even circles the current note in red, so you can see where you are at a glance.

Calendar

iPad makes it easy to stay on schedule by displaying day, week, month, or list views of your calendar. You can see an overview of a whole month or the details of a single day. iPad even shows multiple calendars at once, so you can manage work and family schedules at the same time.

Contacts

The Contacts app on iPad makes finding names, numbers, and other important information quicker and easier than ever before. A new view lets you see both your complete contacts list and a single contact simultaneously. Need directions? Tap an address inside a contact and iPad automatically opens Maps.

Home Screen

The Home Screen gives you one-tap access to everything on iPad. You can customize your Home Screen by adding your favorite apps and websites or using your own photos as the background. And you can move apps around to arrange them in any order you want.

Spotlight Search

Spotlight Search allows you to search across iPad and all of its built-in apps, including Mail, Contacts, Calendar, iPod, and Notes. It even searches apps you’ve downloaded from the App Store. So no matter what you’re looking for, it’s never more than a few taps away.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Starting from scratch in Haiti's Port-au-Prince ruins


Speaking to an American audience on C-SPAN, the Haitian ambassador to the United States recently sketched an optimistic future for the island nation's capital city Port-au-Prince — a smaller, well-built city to replace the teeming, chaotic and shoddily built sprawl of almost 3 million people that was virtually wiped away by the Jan. 12 earthquake.

"There is a silver lining," Raymond Joseph said. "What was not politically possible, was done by the earthquake. We will rebuild differently. ... The future of Haiti will be very different from the past."

Will it? Only if the Haitian government and the international community manage to overcome long-standing obstacles of poverty and poor governance that have dogged the country for decades.

Experts in foreign development and disaster say there are few modern parallels with the Haiti earthquake — a profound catastrophe striking at the urban heart of a national capital, crippling the institutions of the whole country that was already beleaguered and without a fully functioning government.

"I think Bosnia, Sarajevo," said J. Brian Atwood, who led the U.S. Agency for International Development under President Clinton. "Never have I seen anything this bad in one urban area."

Not only did the earthquake take untold lives, it destroyed the core of authority: the National Palace, the parliament, the police headquarters and 13 of the government's 15 ministries. And the two surviving ministries have been declared unsafe. Entire neighborhoods may have to be razed and rebuilt.

The government was weak before the quake, struggling to provide even basic services to an impoverished population while trying to shed its reputation as one of the most corrupt nations in the world.

Where to start?

With so many obstacles, and no ready blueprint, the reconstruction of Port-au-Prince will be a minefield of hard questions with no clear answer, experts say.

"The first question is, whose Port-au-Prince is being rebuilt?" said Lawrence Vale, an urban-planning professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology specializing in disaster recovery. "Who is really empowered here? And where will the resources that come from outside be targeted?"

The scale and strategy of the reconstruction are so far unknown. The United Nations will convene a meeting of foreign ministers this week in Montreal to begin discussing long-term plans.

But the Haitian government already has taken steps to establish settlements for evacuees outside Port-au-Prince that could become permanent, while shrinking the old capital's footprint. Experts warn, however, that such mass-relocation schemes in other catastrophes have usually failed, because they isolate people from the jobs and economic opportunity that drew them to the city in the first place.

"These solutions will always be temporary unless there is the support of job creation," said Haitian businesswoman Youri Mevs, whose family runs some of the country's largest private enterprises.

The head of the International Monetary Fund has called for a Haiti "Marshall Plan," invoking the reconstruction efforts in Germany and Japan after World War II. But development experts caution that any long-term plans must not be imposed on Haiti by outsiders.

"The real fear is a large agency is going to come in and dictate how Port-au-Prince gets rebuilt, and you end up in this situation where there is a lot of fear and resentment," said Cameron Sinclair of the nonprofit Architects for Humanity, which has worked in disasters worldwide.

The ultimate cost is anyone's guess, although at a weekend discussion of architects, academics and government officials under a tree in Petionville, the number $3 billion was offered by Patrick Delatour, an architect and Haiti's minister of tourism charged with evaluating the destruction.

That figure, covering publicly owned buildings and new homes for some quake victims, broke down like this: $2 billion for schools and health facilities, $500 million for parks, hotels and other infrastructure rehabilitation and $500 million for courthouses, jails and government ministries. It also includes a proposal to build 20 villages of 1,000 new homes each with schools and health facilities. Delatour warned the number was only an early estimate and could easily spiral much higher.

Decades

Virtually everyone agrees that any recovery will take decades.

Through the ages, cities have received death blows. Almost 2,000 years ago, Pompeii was buried by volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius. Less than 15 years ago, much of the Caribbean island of Montserrat was engulfed by pyroclastic flows. Its capital, Plymouth, is now a graveyard of buildings, half buried in volcanic debris. A new capital is being built on another part of the island.

Sometimes cities recover. Nagasaki and Hiroshima made comebacks after being blown apart and poisoned with radiation during World War II. And San Francisco, wrecked in a 1906 earthquake and fire, launched an ambitious reconstruction effort within days.

On Dec. 23, 1972, an earthquake destroyed 600 blocks of Nicaragua's capital, killing more than 10,000 people. The world responded, but the regime of President Anastasio Somoza siphoned off the aid. Managua's downtown was never rebuilt and today remains in ruins. The quake fueled Nicaraguans' dissatisfaction with Somoza, who was eventually was overthrown.

Haiti's magnitude-7 earthquake was even worse than Nicaragua's because — in addition to killing an estimated 200,000 people and leaving 2 million homeless — it left the country virtually without a functioning government. It wrecked the presidential palace, parliament, government ministries, the U.N. headquarters and the Roman Catholic cathedral, among thousands of other structures.

Ben Ramalingam, who studies disasters around the world and the effectiveness of the responses, argues that Haiti is worse off than the dozen countries swamped by the tsunami, because they at least still had working governments that could help citizens and channel aid.

Where there has been a functioning state, there have been other impressive results. In 1985, Mexico City experienced an earthquake even bigger than Haiti's, a magnitude 8.1, but few signs of it remain. Skyscrapers, with earthquake-proof design, have gone up.

Even in more advanced countries with strong governments, rebuilding from earthquakes can be long, complicated and expensive.

The Chinese government completely redesigned the city of Tangshan after a 1976 earthquake — rendering a new and larger city within six years.

"The central government was ordering what province would deliver what, where and when. It's the opposite extreme of Haiti," Vale said.

After an earthquake shattered the city of Kobe, Japan, in 1995, the Japanese government invested some $58 billion in the four-year reconstruction effort.

Haiti, on the other hand, will have to rely almost exclusively on foreign assistance: The country has a federal budget of just under $1 billion a year, and at least half of its revenue comes from foreign aid.

So the new Port-au-Prince may end up resembling Managua, where sections of the Nicaraguan capital remain in ruins today from an earthquake 37 years ago.

"Building back better is very expensive. In a place where the resources are very limited, that can be an empty call," Vale said.

Given the circumstances, experts say the best scenario for Haiti would have massive amounts of foreign aid channeled through nongovernmental organizations, both large and small, financing grass-roots programs to rebuild neighborhoods, with technical assistance supplied by the United States — while the government focuses on infrastructure and rebuilding important civic structures.

If Haiti is ever to lessen its reliance on foreign aid, however, it also must seize the chance to build up its relatively small private sector, said Mevs, whose family controls a large chunk of it. The key will be forging joint ventures with U.S. companies that can provide financing and expertise.

"There are Haitian companies that have the capacity to rebuild homes and ports, but there are not enough of them. If you're looking for skills, you will find them locally. If you're looking for capacity that will meet the magnitude of the need, no," Mevs said in Miami.

Rebuilding

Reconstruction — informal and unregulated — will probably begin long before any long-range plan takes hold. Residents accustomed to scavenging and desperate for shelter may simply rebuild shantytowns rather than wait months or years for government action. Families with remittances from relatives abroad may also get a head start on rebuilding.

NGOs also will likely begin tackling small-scale projects, like homes and schools, just as many did before the earthquake — though perhaps with help from outside architects and engineers, with stronger quake resistance.

Architecture for Humanity's Sinclair said he already is talking to groups in Haiti about providing designs for simple schools and homes like those it developed in response to the Indian Ocean tsunami.

"USAID can go and hire some big contractor, but that's not what we're going to do," Sinclair said.

To be successful, any Port-au-Prince reconstruction plan must incorporate strong building standards and better planning, to minimize the effects of future earthquakes or storms, said Richard Stuart Olson, a Florida International University political-science professor who studies the political effects of disasters.

"Who is going to enforce plan review, engineering, design and construction? This will fall to the international community, or the U.N. or U.S.," Olson said.

Joseph, the Haitian ambassador, told C-SPAN that building rules could be enforced if the future Port-au-Prince is smaller. Before the earthquake, he said, any Haitian could take "two bricks and mortar and build and say, 'This is my house.' "

In an effort to move homeless victims out of Port-au-Prince, a Brazilian team already has started bulldozing Croix-des-Bouquets, eight miles outside the city, to make way for temporary housing for 10,000 people. A second location in Tabarre near the U.S. embassy also has been identified for 4,000 people and many other areas inside the city may end up also getting cleared to bare ground.

150,000 Haiti Quake Victims Buried, Gov't Says

More than 150,000 Haiti quake victims buried; food reaches survivors, but 'we need more'

The truckers filling Haiti's mass graves with bodies reported ever higher numbers: More than 150,000 quake victims have been buried by the government, an official said Sunday.
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That doesn't count those still under the debris, carried off by relatives or killed in the outlying quake zone.

"Nobody knows how many bodies are buried in the rubble — 200,000? 300,000? Who knows the overall death toll?" said the official, Communications Minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue.

Dealing with the living, meanwhile, a global army of aid workers was getting more food into people's hands, but acknowledged falling short. "We wish we could do more, quicker," said U.N. World Food Program chief Josette Sheeran, visiting Port-au-Prince.

In the Cite Soleil slum, U.S. soldiers and Brazilian U.N. peacekeeping troops distributed food. Lunie Marcelin, 57, said the handouts will help her and six grown children "but it is not enough. We need more."

Yet another aftershock, one of more than 50 since the great quake Jan. 12, shook Port-au-Prince on Sunday, registering 4.7 magnitude, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of further damage.

The Haitian government was urging many of the estimated 600,000 homeless huddled in open areas of Port-au-Prince, a city of 2 million, to look for better shelter with relatives or others in the countryside. Some 200,000 were believed already to have done so, most taking advantage of free government transportation, and others formed a steady stream out of the city on Sunday.

International experts searched for sites to erect tent cities for quake refugees on the capital's outskirts, but such short-term solutions were still weeks away, said the International Organization for Migration, an intergovernmental agency.

"We also need tents. There is a shortage of tents," said Vincent Houver, the Geneva-based agency's chief of mission in Haiti. Their Port-au-Prince warehouse has 10,000 family-size tents, but some 100,000 are needed, he said. The organization has appealed for $30 million for that and other needs, and has received two-thirds of that so far.