Funds coming from Islamic countries are increasing in the capital market here, according to Koscom, the stock market operator. It stood at a mere 128.9 billion won in the fourth quarter of 2007, but over 3 trillion won flew into the Seoul stock market in 2008. Islamic money in the bourse increased to 3.2 trillion won last year, with 122.7 billion won arriving in January. The money is part of the huge assets that they accumulated during the global oil price hike.
Movie lovers have long made bets among themselves over how well a particular release will do at the box office. Beginning next month, they may be able to make that bet through a futures contract issued by New York broker Cantor Fitzgerald. Cantor has announced it expects final approval by 20th April of its domestic box office receipt movie futures contract, which will allow 24-hour trading based on a film's box office performance. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is reviewing the proposal for box office futures to be traded on the Cantor Exchange.
At an all-company meeting in a Seattle sports stadium, one hapless employee used his iPhone to snap photos of Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer. Mr Ballmer snatched the iPhone out of the employee's hands, placed it on the ground and pretended to stomp on it in front of thousands of Microsoft workers. One Microsoft worker said he knows several colleagues who try to disguise their iPhones with cases that make them look more like generic handsets.
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