| Russia LUKOIL sees net profit rising 7 pct in 2007
LUKOIL is expected to publish its financial results for the fourth quarter and the whole of 2007 before April. In 2006, LUKOIL's net profit rose by 16 percent, year-on-year, to $7.48 billion, but slightly missed analysts' forecasts. Net profit rose by 2 percent and 8 percent respectively in the third and second quarters of 2007, after it dropped unexpectedly by 23 percent in the first quarter. LUKOIL said that was the result of higher transportation tariffs and operating expenses. Alekperov said LUKOIL expected its hydrocarbons production growth to accelerate to 5 to 7 percent this year after a rise of 1.6 percent in 2007, when it produced 91.1 million tonnes (1.8 million barrels per day) of oil at its Russian deposits. The company also produced 5.5 million tonnes of oil outside Russia and 16.4 billion cubic metres of gas last year. Continued...
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Look above! I've made my list. I've checked it twice. It doesn't matter who was naughty or nice. Welcome to the fifth edition of PapaBear's Vinyl Flashback. It's the most wonderful time of the year in the PapaBear household and Chirstmas music can be heard around the clock. Unlike some, I never grow tired of a great yuletide tune. So, I present to you a list of 30 Christmas songs that are my all-time favorites. Remember, these are just my personal favorites. If I snubbed a favorite of yours please feel free to mention it in the comment section. As an added bonus I will include a trio of Sing-A-Longs at the bottom of this post. Hope you enjoy! 30. Home for the Holidays - Perry Como 29. Two Step 'Round the Christmas Tree - Suzy Bogguss 28. Christmas All Over Again - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 27.
New credit scores cut users' benefits
Credit bureaus are expected to adopt a new version of the widely used FICO credit score this year that will no longer benefit so-called "authorized users" on another person's credit card account. It's common for parents to add a child as an authorized user on their credit card to boost the child's credit score. That benefit will no longer exist under a new scoring model by Fair Isaac Corp., the company that developed the FICO score. You can still be an authorized user, but Fair Isaac will no longer factor authorized-user accounts into its credit-scoring formulas. The move is in response to the controversial practice of "piggybacking" in which some Web sites allow consumers with poor credit scores to hitch onto someone else's good credit record. These companies say they can boost your credit score by having you added as an authorized user on the credit cards of strangers with stellar credit, for a fee.
Memphis was dominant vs. MU
Our guys did a pretty good job, I thought, in the first half," said Jones. "We fought back and cut the lead. At halftime, we talked about the things we needed to do, but to their credit they wore us down physically. We just didn't have a lot of fight left at the end. Give Memphis credit, they had something to do with that. "But for a while in the first half, we held them pretty scoreless. Our guys definitely exerted a lot of energy in the first half, trying to keep it close." As a result the out-manned Herd wilted when Memphis stepped up its defensive intensity in the second half. "We came out of halftime with four or five turnovers," said MU star Markel Humphrey. "You can't do that. You've got to come out of halftime more aggressive than you were in the first half.
Rojas's Rcrd Lbl: Free Song Downloads and Hold the Ad Clutter
In a FAQ on the site, Rojas and company ask people who syndicate tracks to outside blogs to take the whole widget rather than just host MP3s themselves. "We support the site and pay our artists through advertising and sponsorships, and the only way we can do that is if people visit the site or embed our widgets," the FAQ pleads. Rcrd Lbl isn't the first company to offer music promotion and downloads in a blog format; nor is it the first to offer ad-supported song downloads. Free download service SpiralFrog launched two months ago with a small handful of major labels agreeing to let it represent their catalogs. The company has been heavily criticized however for the Digital Rights Management (DRM) restrictions it places on downloaded tracks, as well as for its incompatibility with Apple's ubiquitous iPod.
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