World important news by Maire

Who hates Al Gore?

Whenever Al Gore raises the bull’s-eye of global warming, darts start to fly — aimed at him. Google the phrase “I hate Al Gore” and 42,000 entries appear, including a Facebook page called “Telling Al Gore he’s full of crap” that has 17,000 fans. Critics of the former vice president and Nobel laureate point to his multiple homes and use of a private jet as hard-fast hypocrisy, and his investments in clean technology as a conflict of interest. Add to that the specter of an old misquote from a CNN interview that won’t go away, about “inventing the Internet.” “If you believe that the reason I have been working on this issue for 30 years is because of greed, you don’t know me,” he told a House Energy and Commerce subcomittee in April 2009. “Do you think there’s something wrong with being active in business in this country? I am proud of it.” So tonight, when Gore’s 24-hour multi-media presentation “24 Hours of Reality” hits screens around the world, viewers can watch for how the Oscar-winning environmentalist attempts to engage his most vocal critics – the ones who show up at speaking events with placards calling for him to debate climate science with them. Appetites were whetted earlier this week: “There will be a full-on assault on climate skeptics, exploring where they get their funding from, ” the chief executive of the event’s UK partner Global Action Plan told Reuters. In 13 languages, 200 new slides will pick up the message of Gore’s 2006 Oscar-winner “An Inconvenient Truth”, broadcast in every time zone and over social media channels as supporters of the campaign hand over control of their accounts on Facebook and Twitter for the 24-hour period. It’s a first. For 24 hours people who deny that human carbon emissions are to blame for extreme weather can tune into a targeted argument just for them. If they are watching.

Salesforce ‘cloud’ veteran heads to Benchmark Capital

Oct 12 (Reuters) - Venture capital firm Benchmark Capital has selected Salesforce.com’s Craig Weissman as its new entrepreneur-in-residence, demonstrating a continuing interest in technology surrounding big data and the “cloud.”Weissman joined Benchmark last month, after nine years at Salesforce.com. That company is considered to be a pioneer in cloud-based software, meaning accessible from anywhere rather than only on a specific computer or set of computers.At Salesforce.com, he oversaw the technology behind products ranging from its force.com platform service to its Chatter social-media service.”I’ve never started a company from scratch,” he told Reuters. “I want to see if I can do that.”He said he is toying with some ideas surrounding Hadoop, the open-source software that allows companies to analyze large amounts of data, or software that allows companies to quickly analyze data, or both.”He’s young, hungry and has technical depth,” said Peter Fenton, the general partner at Benchmark who recruited Weissman. “That’s a potent formula.”Sponsoring entrepreneurs-in-residence is a common practice in Silicon Valley, where venture capital firms see it as a way to foster the next big start-up while letting their current portfolio companies tap into the entrepreneur’s expertise.For the entrepreneurs, it is a good way to make a transition to a new business. In July, Chuck Ganapathi, former vice president for products at Salesforce.com, became entrepreneur-in-residence at Accel Partners.Bringing Weissman into the fold underscores Benchmark’s commitment to enterprise computing. The firm’s existing investments in that area include Domo, a start-up that helps companies analyze data, and Eucalyptus Systems, which allows companies to build cloud-like services within their own infrastructure.Benchmark, a backer of the micro-blogging service Twitter, raised its latest fund totaling $425 million fund in January.

PRESS DIGEST - British business - Oct 12

The European authorities are preparing to impose draconian standards on the region’s banks that could force them to raise hundreds of billions in additional capital.IRISH REVIVE TASTE FOR PROPERTYA devastating property crash has not slaked the Irish thirst for bricks and mortar, with cash buyers splashing more than 30 million euro on flats and houses in the past six months, according to an Anglo-Irish auction house.The TelegraphGOLDMAN ‘DEAL’ WITH HMRCGoldman Sachs escaped paying up to 20 million pound on a disputed National Insurance bill for bankers’ bonuses, according to leaked UK government documents.MOTHERCARE BOSS TO GO IN A MONTHBen Gordon, the longstanding chief executive of Mothercare , is to leave following a series of profit warnings from the retailer.SLOVAKIA DEALS BLOW TO BAILOUT EXPANSIONEuropean markets faltered as the Slovak government looked set to fall before the euro zone’s bailout fund is approved and Greece’s crucial money injection remained uncertain.The GuardianRECESSION OVER BUT UK STILL SUFFERING, SAYS THINK-TANKThe UK recovery will be the weakest seen for almost a century, as the economy remains mired in “depression”,the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)think-tank warned on Tuesday.The IndependentBP TO RISK WORST EVER OIL SPILL IN SHETLANDS DRILLINGBP is making contingency plans to fight the largest oil spill in history, as it prepares to drill more than 4,000 feet down in the Atlantic in wildlife-rich British waters off the Shetland Islands.ENRC TAKES UP OPTION TO CONTROL KAZAKH MINERA former board member of Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) said “he couldn’t quite believe” the news that the controversial Kazakh miner had bought a company controlled by its three biggest shareholders.