(BUSINESS WIRE)–iFOREX, Forex broker and currency exchange provider, has recently released their new PDF guide, Profit from the News, illustrating how to benefit from your daily routine for beginner traders. The simple guide is catered toward the individual, making it available in an array of languages including Arabic which can be found at http://www.iforex.ae

With a mass influx of new traders every year, iFOREX strives to keep them up-to-date with accessible trading guides and tutorials. Profit from the News is comprehensive short tutorial explaining different ways a trader can read the daily newspaper and take advantage ofthe movements in the financial markets. The PDF provides a basic foundation for beginner traders, highlighting various examples of how to leverage news events and rules that top traders follow in order to benefit from current events.

The senior marketing executive of iFOREX was quoted as saying, “We are delighted to addProfit from the News to our database of educational material for new traders. Not only does the easy-to-read guide introduce beginner traders to the Forex market, but it illustrates how to take advantage of your daily routine to maximize your trading potential. Learning how to analyze the daily news is something that can be very helpful for beginner traders.”

It is imperative for a beginner trader to learn about the Forex market before starting to trade. iFOREX recognizes this and continues to provide comprehensive learning guides to their new traders. For more information about the Forex market and for various trading tools, please visit http://traderbase.iforex.com

* Territorial restrictions may apply. iFOREX does not offer its services in the BVI

The English-language text of this announcement is the official, authoritative version. Translations are provided as an accommodation only, and should be cross-referenced with the English-language text, which is the only version of the text intended to have legal effect.

Contacts

iFOREX Group

Nathan Phillips

Public Relations

pr@iforex.com

Dr. Mohammed Al Zarooni, Vice-Chairman and CEO of Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA), and Badr Al-Olama, owner of the purpose-designed preschool, inaugurated the opening of The Kensington Nursery. The event was also attended by senior officials from DSO and The Kensington Nursery.

Dr. Al Zarooni said: “We are delighted to welcome The Kensington Nursery to Dubai Silicon Oasis as we believe it is important for children to gain premium education opportunities during their early years. The Kensington Nursery is a world-class facility and its strategic location adds to the integrated lifestyle offered in the DSO community. We are positive that this facility will allow our young residents to experience a wonderful environment during their preschool years.”

The Kensington Nursery offers the British Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum educating children from as young as four months up to five years of age.

Al-Olama said: “This purpose-built facility has been carefully constructed to provide the best possible environment for the EYFS curriculum and children’s learning objectives. We appreciate Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority for its constant support which has allowed us to create an exceptional preschool environment within an extraordinary time-frame of less than six months. Today, more than 150 young children are enjoying the benefits of a premium preschool education at the newly constructed nursery at DSO.”

The preschool, a first for the DSO community, features a language ‘majlis’ for Arabic and IT familiarisation, as well as an Art Attack room, an indoor soft play area and a dedicated music room. The expansive outdoor area provides climbing and activity centres, sand and water play areas, an outdoor classroom, and a stand-alone pet zone.

Al-Olama added: “The British EYFS programme supports our belief in the importance of learning through play and interaction, and reinforces our commitment to encouraging a life-long love for learning. The Kensington Nursery at Dubai Silicon Oasis is part of our larger ambition to elevate the standard of early learning education in the region and we have a number of new initiatives in the pipeline.”

(Ends)

Media contact:
vanessa@strategicsolutionsonline.com +971 55 531 4846;
sarah@strategicsolutionsonline.com + 971 50 980 3810

Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) – Middle East 2012
“Succeeding through Change Management”
February 1-2, 2012
Radisson Blu Hotel, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Dubai January 31 2012: Change agents’ Wendy Appel and Susan Furness are set to energise timely conversation among the region’s business sector at this week’s second upcoming ‘Succeeding through Change Management’ conference.

Organised by the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) in the Middle East, regional and international experts from both the private and public sectors are poised to take the stage in Abu Dhabi to share success stories, discuss ideas, and present best practices in the field of Change Management.

Khaled Al-Mobarak, Conference Chairman, said that the forum is structured around expert panel discussions and interactive sessions over two days from February 1-2, 2012. Abu Dhabi-based Yas Island’s Radisson Blu Hotel is set to play host to the delegates from diverse business sectors.

“This year’s event is focused on advancing the discipline of Change Management. Delegates are invited to discover the latest research and trends within the field as well as deepen their knowledge and understanding through shared experiences,” he explained.

Furness, a leading PR expert is slated to lead the day one agenda which features discussions on Sustainable Energy for Success, Change Management in ERP Implementation, Guerilla Transformation, Sustainable Development, Promoting a Culture of Change through Employees, and Using Situated Learning to Enable Human Performance.

“Events like this provide a platform for Change Management professionals who lead the people-side of change, to meet, collaborate and develop industry standards to ensure a globally recognised discipline is in place,” shared Al-Mobarak.

Wendy Appel, a Mallorca-based leadership consultant and author who is scheduled to host an interactive panel session which brings Change Management strategies under the spotlight echoed Al-Mobarak’s sentiments. She suggested that the leaders of the new paradigm need brave hearts. “As managers and leaders we need to take action and talk in before we talk out and be brave. It is time to take time to look inside ourselves before we speak out as leaders.”

Appel and Furness will join Ahmad Al Mulla (Information Technology), Ibrahim Moosa Jamel (TECOM Investment’s Education Cluster), Tala Al Ansari (ENOC), Tom Marsicano (Interactive Learning Solutions Ltd), Mehryar Entezari (SAP), Jayme Johnson (IBM Global Business Services), Robert Ryan (IBM Global Business), Joseph Paris Jr. (XONITEK Group of Companies), Maria Sillanpaa (Sustainability Advisory Group), Emad El Maghraby (Johnson & Johnson Middle East), Dr. Alaa Garad (International Performance Excellence) and Farida Ansari (IBM Global Business Services).

- Ends—

For media enquiries, please contact:
Vanessa Garcia on +971 55 531 4846, vanessa@strategicsolutionsonline.com

(BUSINESS WIRE)– Covidien plc (NYSE: COV) today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.225 per ordinary share. The dividend is payable on February 22, 2012, to shareholders of record on January 30, 2012.

ABOUT COVIDIEN

Covidien is a leading global healthcare products company that creates innovative medical solutions for better patient outcomes and delivers value through clinical leadership and excellence. Covidien manufactures, distributes and services a diverse range of industry-leading product lines in three segments: Medical Devices, Pharmaceuticals and Medical Supplies. With 2011 revenue of $11.6 billion, Covidien has 41,000 employees worldwide in more than 65 countries, and its products are sold in over 140 countries. Please visit www.covidien.comto learn more about our business.

Contacts

Covidien plc

Eric Kraus, 508-261-8305

Senior Vice President

Corporate Communications

eric.kraus@covidien.com

Coleman Lannum, CFA, 508-452-4343

Vice President

Investor Relations

cole.lannum@covidien.com

Bruce Farmer, 508-452-4372

Vice President

Public Relations

bruce.farmer@covidien.com

Todd Carpenter, 508-452-4363

Director

Investor Relations

todd.carpenter@covidien.com

LOS ANGELES – Sunday, January 15th 2012 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)– For the first time in its history, The New Yorker, esteemed for its consistent publication of great poetry, will stream on its website (www.newyorker.com) Leonard Cohen’s new lyric “Going Home,” one of ten songs on his new studio album, Old Ideas. The New Yorker will publish the lyric in its January 23rd issue (on newsstands January 16th). The song will also be streamed on The New Yorker website on January 16th. Cohen and Sony will release the album on January 31st (www.leonardcohen.com/us/news/new-album-old-ideas-be-released-013112).

New Yorker poetry editor Paul Muldoon, who has been listening to Cohen since 1967, said that he is “thrilled” this will be happening in the magazine, which has recently been acknowledging the great power and achievement of singer-songwriters. Muldoon said, “The New Yorker has been publishing lyrics over the past years by Cohen, Bob Dylan, and Paul Simon…Cohen is in some elite company, including his own!” Cohen’s rich, complex lyrics have intoxicated listeners for more than a generation; his work bridges the world of lyric poetry and song. A selection of Cohen’s poems and songs has recently been published by the prestigious Random House “Everyman” series, which includes in its pantheon Rumi, Keats, Byron, Pushkin, Dickinson, Frost, and, now, Cohen (www.randomhouse.com/knopf/classics/resources_press.html). Already, through a second printing, a new edition will be released later this winter.

Recently, Cohen’s work has been receiving literary recognition throughout the world. In late October, Cohen received the Príncipe de Asturias, the highest literary award granted by Spain (www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u_7e3Tv7Uk). PEN New England has also awarded Cohen and Chuck Berry its first “Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence.” Judges included Bono, Rosanne Cash, Elvis Costello, Paul Muldoon, Smokey Robinson, Salman Rushdie, and Paul Simon.

His native Canada, which has honored Cohen before, will bestow the Ninth Glenn Gould Prize upon Cohen for his great artistic achievement in bringing literary richness to popular music and for touching “audiences far outside his main genre.” Cohen’s honors and the recent nomination of Bob Dylan for the Neustadt International Prize (www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/03/leonard-cohen-major-spanish-literary-prize) reflect the cultural recognition of folk-rock songwriters as poets of the highest order.

Contacts

For Unified Heart Productions, LLC

Alison Graham

310-494-1554

alison@ajgpr.com

QNB Group, one of the leading financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa, continued to record robust growth in profitability, with Net Profit for 2011 exceeding QR7.5 billion, up by 32% compared to 2010.

The Board of Directors is recommending to the General Assembly the distribution of a cash dividend of 40% of the nominal share value (QR4.0 per share) and a bonus shares of 10% of share capital (One share for every 10 shares). The financial results for 2011 along with the profit distributions are subject to Qatar Central Bank approval.

Total assets increased by 35% to reach QR302 billion, the highest ever achieved by the Group. This was the result of a strong growth rate of 47% in loans and advances to reach QR194 billion. Meanwhile, customer deposits recorded solid growth of 21% to QR200 billion.

The Bank was able to maintain the ratio of non-performing loans to total loans at 1.1%, a level considered to be the lowest amongst banks in the Middle East and North Africa. Provisions were conservatively managed, as the coverage ratio reached 119%.

The efficiency ratio (cost to income ratio) improved to 15.7%, compared to 17.0% in 2010, one of the best ratios among financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa.

QNB Group was able to record a strong return to shareholders, with the return on average shareholder’s equity reaching 24.8% in 2011.

QNB Group’s capital adequacy ratio increased to 22.0% in 2011, far higher than the regulatory requirements of Qatar Central Bank and Basel Committee.

QNB Group’s leading role in the banking sector and the high quality of its assets, along with its capabilities to achieve sustained growth in all activities, were demonstrated clearly in its credit rating, with Standard & Poor’s, Fitch and Moody’s affirming the Bank’s ratings during 2011, which are among the highest in the region. Also, Capital Intelligence upgraded the Bank’s Financial Strength Rating from A+ to AA- and affirmed all other ratingsin recognition of QNB’s sound financial position, high asset quality and leading role in the banking sector.

In 2011, QNB Group completed the acquisition of a controlling stake of 70% in Bank Kesawan in Indonesia, and launched its operations in Lebanon and South Sudan. With these expansions, QNB Group currently operating in 24 countries around the world through its network, subsidiaries and associate companies, and employs about 7,000 staff operating from 334 branch and offices that are supported by an ATM network that exceeds 600 machines.

A new 5-year strategic plan was approved which aims to make QNB Group a Middle East and Africa Icon. The new strategy aims to maintain the Group’s position as the leading bank in the area by expanding and improving operations, diversifying income sources, and achieving a high return to shareholders.

Contacts

QNB

PR Department

+974-44-25-2477

AWAL’s participation in the event is in line with its strategy of supporting the development of the local community and contributing to the deployment of IT capabilities to meet growth requirements and leverage growth opportunities. The company is committed to actively participating in other local industry events and supporting various governmental efforts.

AWAL is a subsidiary of Saudi Telecom Group. It offers a range of services including consulting, managed IT solutions, building IT infrastructure and data centre services.

-(BUSINESS WIRE)– The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) this morning released the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009+ results for ten economies.

PISA is an international comparative survey of 15-year-olds’ knowledge and skills in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy, conducted by ACER. It measures how well young adults have acquired the knowledge and skills that are required to function as successful members of society.

Sixty-four economies originally participated in PISA 2009. Ten additional partner participants, who were unable to participate within the PISA 2009 project timeframe, participated in the PISA 2009 study on a reduced and delayed timeline in 2010. This is known as the PISA 2009+ project.

The PISA 2009+ economies are: Costa Rica, Georgia, India (Himachal Pradesh & Tamil Nadu), Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Venezuela (Miranda), Moldova, United Arab Emirates. PISA 2009+ involved testing just over 46 000 students across these ten economies, representing a total of about 1 377 000 15-year-olds.

ACER CEO, Professor Geoff Masters, said the results found that in the PISA 2009+ economies, girls significantly outperformed boys in reading (reflecting the PISA 2009 results).

“Girls not only tended to attain higher reading scores than boys, they were also more aware of strategies for understanding, remembering and summarising information,” Professor Masters said.

“Students who are highly aware of effective strategies for learning who also regularly read a wide range of material, tend to demonstrate better reading proficiency than those who either have a lower awareness of effective strategies or read a narrower range of materials regularly.”

Professor Masters said that while school level factors account for a considerable proportion of variation in reading performance between schools, much of this is associated with socioeconomic and demographic factors.

“This suggests that policies around governance, accountability, the investment of educational resources and the overall learning environment are influenced by the social and demographic intake of the school,” Professor Masters said.

“Schools containing students with higher socioeconomic backgrounds, tend to be more autonomous in their decision about curriculum, make more of assessments for accountability purposes, have better student-teacher relationships, and utilise more educational resources. Students attending these schools have better educational outcomes.”

The results also showed both girls and boys from the PISA 2009+ nations had results in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy that were lower than the OECD average.

The results reveal the following highlights for The United Arab Emirates:

Dubai participated as a separate economy in PISA 2009. The remaining emirates of the United Arab Emirates participated in PISA 2009+. Dubai’s data were merged with that of the remaining emirates and they are reported as a single entity: the United Arab Emirates.
Students in the United Arab Emirates attained an average score on the PISA reading literacy scale, the same as that observed in one OECD country, Mexico. It is also equivalent to those observed in Bulgaria, Miranda-Venezuela, Romania and Uruguay.
60% of students in the United Arab Emirates are estimated to have a proficiency in reading literacy that is at or above the baseline needed to participate effectively and productively in life. This compares to 81% in the OECD countries, on average.
Students in the United Arab Emirates attained an average score on the PISA mathematical literacy scale that is statistically the same as those observed in the two lowest performing OECD countries, Chile and Mexico. In the United Arab Emirates, 49% of students are proficient in mathematics at least to the baseline level at which they begin to demonstrate the kind of skills that enable them to use mathematics in ways that are considered fundamental for their future development. In the United Arab Emirates, there was a statistically significant gender difference in mathematical literacy, favouring girls.
Students in the United Arab Emirates were estimated to have an average score on the scientific literacy scale that was significantly higher than that estimated for the lowest scoring OECD country, Mexico.
In the United Arab Emirates, 61% of students are proficient in science at least to the baseline level at which they begin to demonstrate the science competencies that will enable them to participate actively in life situations related to science and technology. This compares to 82% in the OECD countries, on average.
In the United Arab Emirates, there was a statistically significant gender difference in scientific literacy, favouring girls. This gender gap was the largest observed in scientific literacy among all PISA 2009 and PISA 2009+ participants, along with those observed in Jordan and Malta.

To download the PISA 2009+ report, go to: https://mypisa.acer.edu.au/

Contacts

Australian Council for Educational Research

Petros Kosmopoulos, +61 3 9277 5582

Mobile: +61 417 754 570

communications@acer.edu.au