Sony Alpha 58 (SLT-A58K)

The Sony Alpha 58 ($599.99 direct with 18-55mm lens)?is the current entry-level D-SLR in the company's catalog. The 20-megapixel camera offers a few modest upgrades over the previous-generation Alpha 57, including an OLED viewfinder, but takes a step backwards in terms of burst shooting speed. If you're in the market for a D-SLR with an EVF, we think the Alpha 65 is a better buy, though it is a bit more money. Traditionalists who prefer an optical finder are better off with our Editors' Choice, the Nikon D5200.

Design and Features
The Alpha 58 is pretty typical in size for an entry-level D-SLR. It measures just 3.9 by 5.1 by 3.1 inches (HWD) and weighs 1.3 pounds without a lens. The Canon EOS Rebel T5i is about the same size (3.9 by 5.2 by 3.1 inches), but a bit lighter at 1.1 pounds. Like other Sony D-SLRs, the viewfinder is an EVF rather than an optical design. The camera still has a mirror, but it's semi-transparent and doesn't move. Most of the light hits the image sensor, but some is directed down to a dedicated phase detect autofocus sensor. This provides a seamless transition between the EVF and the rear LCD, and fast, accurate focus for both stills and video.

The EVF is an OLED design with a 1,440k-dot resolution. It's a step up in quality from the LCD found in the Alpha 57, but it's not the equal of the 2,336k-dot OLED viewfinder that Sony packs into its Alpha 65 and Alpha 77 cameras. That EVF is noticeably sharper, giving you a better idea of what you're shooting. The rear LCD on the Alpha 58 is a little lacking as well; it's a 2.7-inch panel with a hinged design so that it can tilt up or down. The resolution is 460k-dots, which is only half that of others in this class like the Pentax K-50.

The small LCD does leave a bit of extra room on the body for controls. On the rear you'll find buttons to record movies, activate exposure lock, and adjust exposure compensation. Below those, directly to the right of the LCD, you'll find the Fn button, which lets you control shooting settings via an on-screen menu, and a four-way control pad with directional buttons to adjust the information displayed over the live view feed, change the drive mode and activate the self-timer, adjust white balance, and control color output. The center AF button enables tracking focus, and there are also the standard image playback and delete buttons. The latter doubles as an on-screen guide that contains tips for the best settings for different types of photos. The menu button is located above the LCD, to the left of the EVF's eyecup.

Up top there's a mode dial, which has a few additional options beyond the standard settings. There's one for scene modes, which set the camera to correct settings to capture different types of photos, as well as a special telephoto crop extends the reach of your lens and increases the maximum burst shooting speed, but reduces photo resolution to 5 megapixels. To the right of the EVF are the power switch, shutter release, ISO control, a toggle to change between the rear LCD and EVF (there is an eye-sensor if you'd like that to be automatic), and a button marked Zoom. This enables Sony's Clear Image Zoom (for JPG shots only), which lets you enable as much as 2x digital zoom to extend the reach of your lens; images are saved at the full 20-megapixel resolution when using this function.

There's a single control dial on the front of the handgrip. Most cameras in this class only offer a single control dial (which changes function based on the mode you're in). Of the sub-$1,000 D-SLRs, only the Pentax K-50 (and it's non-weather-sealed sibling, the K-500) offer front and rear control dials. That's a feature that comes in handy when shooting in manual mode, but is also useful in other situations, including shooting manual with automatic ISO so that you can control shutter speed and depth of field without having to worry about calculating exposure. The Alpha 58 does support that function; to adjust the shutter speed in manual mode you simply use the front dial, and if you hold down the exposure compensation button the front dial function changes to control aperture.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/5aPtz1uujmk/0,2817,2423169,00.asp

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Cancer docs sick of high prices - The Daily Telegraph

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Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/lifestyle/health-fitness/cancer-docs-sick-of-high-prices/story-fni0dguz-1226691109490

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Tax-free weekend a hit in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) - A lot of shoppers were out Saturday, hoping to save a lot of money during New Mexico's tax-free weekend. Inside the Target in Uptown many families were checking off their school supply lists.

Store managers at the Target in Uptown said on an average day, the store may see between 3,500 and 5,000 customers. On Saturday, they expected to be well above average in sales because Saturday is normally the busiest day of tax-free weekend.

Retailers spent all day trying to keep shelves stocked and customers helped.

"We do have our back to school lists here in the store, so if you have any questions, that?s great," said Sean Blackman, Executive Team Leader for Guest Experience at Target in Uptown. ?It?s nice because it?s not just only on our school supplies, but it?s also on clothing and various other items as well."

Malls have been busy this weekend, too.

Last year, statewide, shoppers saved an estimated $4 million by not paying taxes on their items and retailers had about a $25 million sales jump during New Mexico?s tax-free weekend.

This will be the ninth year New Mexico hosts tax-free weekend.

For a full list of tax-free items, click here .

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/krqe-topstories/~3/-3YzdPnJbVM/tax-free-weekend-a-hit-in-new-mexico

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COMMUNITY: Call for Public Input on Bike Share Stations

The city's Public Works Department and non-profit Bike Share of Austin are asking for help in identifying potential locations for bike share locations. Participants can also weigh in on the color of the bikes. We're going with red. Thu., July 25 - Sat., Aug. 31,.

www.votebikeshareaustin.com

Source: http://www.austinchronicle.com/calendar/civics-101/call-for-public-input-on-bike-share-stations-1462808/

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Obama administration overrules Apple import ban

President Obama's trade representative on Saturday vetoed a ban on imports of some Apple iPads and older iPhones, dealing a setback to rival South Korean electronics company Samsung.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman overruled a June decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission, which had banned imports of the iPhone 4 and some variations of the iPad 2. The commission ruled that the Chinese-made Apple devices violated a patent held by Samsung and couldn't be imported. The ban never went into effect, though, because the Obama administration had 60 days to decide if it would uphold the commission.

Obama is against import bans on the basis of the type of patent at issue in the Samsung case. The White House has recommended that Congress limit the ITC's ability to impose import bans in these cases.

Samsung and Apple are in a global legal battle over smartphones. Apple argues Samsung's Android phones copy vital iPhone features. Samsung is fighting back with its own complaints.

In an email, Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said the company applauded the administration "for standing up for innovation." A message seeking comment from Samsung was not returned.

Froman wrote in a letter to the commission that he has concerns about patent holders getting too much leverage over competitors that use their technology under licenses.

Companies license patented technology to competitors so the devices can communicate as part of an industry standard for cellphones. Under the "standards-essential patent" legal theory prevailing in federal courts, holders of such patents are obligated to license them to all comers on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" terms.

U.S. courts have ruled that such patents cannot be the basis for import bans. The International Trade Commission follows a different standard than the courts, but the Obama administration wants it to adhere to the same principles.

Froman wrote that he shares the Obama administration's concerns that the holders of standards-essential patents could get "undue leverage" over their competitors.

Last year, a federal court ruled that Samsung owed Apple $1 billion in damages for infringing on non-essential Apple patents. But the judge refused to impose an import ban on Samsung phones and later struck $450 million from the verdict, saying the jurors miscalculated. The case is set for a rematch in appeals court.

Samsung is the world's largest maker of smartphones. Analysts estimate it outsold Apple nearly 2 to 1 in the first three months of the year. However, Apple's smartphone business is more profitable

The iPhone 4 was launched in 2010 and is the oldest iPhone still sold by Apple. The ITC ruling applied only to the AT&T version of the phone. Apple is likely to retire the model.

Apple launched the iPad 2 in 2011. The ruling applies only to the version equipped with a cellular modem for AT&T's network.

The ruling also applies to older iPhones, though these are no longer sold by Apple.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-administration-overrules-apple-import-ban-201402283.html

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Thigpin hired as DSU women's hoops assistant coach

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20130802/SPORTS/308020019/1006/rss02

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Associate: Hernandez put guns in box in basement

ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) ? New court records say that an associate of Aaron Hernandez told police the former New England Patriot put guns in a box in his basement after returning from the industrial park where his friend was fatally shot.

An affidavit released by Attleboro District Court says Carlos Ortiz told investigators Hernandez put firearms in the black box after Odin Lloyd's killing. The document indicates one was a small gun Ortiz handed Hernandez after they returned home with another associate, Ernest Wallace. Ortiz said he earlier saw Hernandez with an additional "large handgun."

Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of Lloyd, a 27-year-old Boston semi-professional football player whose body was found June 17 about a mile from Hernandez's North Attleborough, Mass., home. His attorneys have said the case against him is circumstantial and they are confident he will be exonerated.

Authorities believe Lloyd was killed with a .45-caliber Glock, which hasn't been recovered. Prosecutors say video surveillance from Hernandez's home before and after the killing shows him holding a gun that appears to be a Glock.

Police divers have been searching this week in a lake in Bristol, Conn., Hernandez's hometown. Authorities have declined to comment on the search, but have confirmed it is linked to the investigation.

Prosecutors have not said who fired the fatal shots. But court records released in Florida say Ortiz told investigators Wallace said it was Hernandez.

The new documents released in Massachusetts indicate authorities seized a cellphone and credit and bank cards from a relative of Hernandez, identified as Tanya Singleton-Valderamma, of Bristol. Ortiz told investigators he and Wallace drove to Bristol after Lloyd's killing and that he was dropped off at Singleton-Valderamma's house, according to the affidavit. Ortiz said he discussed Lloyd's killing with her.

The records say that Singleton-Valderamma later purchased with a credit card, under a previous name, a Greyhound ticket from Macon, Ga., to Miami, Fla., and that Wallace traveled on a bus between those two points. He later turned himself in in Miramar, Fla., where his parents live, and is being held in Massachusetts on a charge of accessory to murder after the fact.

The affidavit says it is not known how Wallace traveled from Connecticut to Georgia.

Ortiz is facing a gun charge in connection with the case. Both Ortiz and Wallace have pleaded not guilty.

Hernandez is being held without bail and is next due in court on Aug. 22 for a probable cause hearing.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-08-02-US-Hernandez-Police/id-ce795519616a44ff9b03216e473c30a6

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Clearwater FL Real Estate Marketing Company Offering Powerful ...

ARME Media, a local Clearwater FL real estate marketing company is now offering new real estate internet marketing programs for real estate professionals in the Clearwater FL area.

Clearwater FL (PRWEB) August 02, 2013

ARME Media, a local Clearwater FL real estate marketing company, announces their newest local real estate marketing programs for realty professionals in the Clearwater FL area. With real estate prices coming back up around many parts of Pinellas County, many local experts consider this a prime time to attach a solid marketing plan to any local real estate marketing plan.

ARME Media is located in Clearwater FL and specializes in executing profitable online marketing programs for small to medium size businesses at the local level. The company uses the latest marketing strategies for real estate professionals ensuring that any real estate broker who signs up with the company is seeing a quick return on their minimal $199 monthly investment.

Simon Landers, a company spokesperson, has this to say about the company's local real estate marketing program offerings, "We pride ourselves on delivering top tier real estate marketing programs to local agents and brokers at highly competitive pricing. All of our competitors can't even come close to providing the level of service we do at our price point."

Mr. Landers continues, "Our multi prong attack allows brokers to reach their target audience using several different types of web properties such as blogs, video channels, responsive web sites, targeted squeeze pages, and more. With tradition internet marketing evolving all of the time, it is important for a real estate professional to have a dedicated marketing expert stay on top of the trends. ARME Media is that expert."

With programs starting at $199 for an all inclusive marketing program, many industry insiders agree that their program pricing for their published list of services can't be beat. The company has many samples of work they can show as well as a proven track record of generating a high traffic volume for real estate professionals nationwide.

For more information about ARME Realty.com and their programs call to request a brochure at (727) 459-8841 today.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/clearwater-fl/real-estate-marketing/prweb10994848.htm

Source: http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2013/08/02/clearwater-fl-real-estate-marketing-company-offering-powerful-new-local-real-estate-inter

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Megan Fox, Brian Austin Green expecting 2nd child

FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2013 file photo, actress Megan Fox and actor Brian Austin Green arrive at the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. A publicist confirmed Friday, Aug. 2, 2013, that Fox and her husband, Green, are expecting their second child. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2013 file photo, actress Megan Fox and actor Brian Austin Green arrive at the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. A publicist confirmed Friday, Aug. 2, 2013, that Fox and her husband, Green, are expecting their second child. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2013 file photo, actress Megan Fox and actor Brian Austin Green arrive at the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. A publicist confirmed Friday, Aug. 2, 2013, that Fox and her husband, Green, are expecting their second child. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Less than a year after giving birth to her first child, Megan Fox is pregnant again.

A spokeswoman for the actress said Friday that Fox and her husband, Brian Austin Green, are expecting their second child together. Publicist Dominique Appel offered no other details.

Fox and Green welcomed a son, Noah, in September. Green also has a son named Kassius from a previous relationship with actress Vanessa Marcil.

Fox and Green were married in 2010. They began dating in 2004.

Fox was last seen on screen in Judd Apatow's 2012 comedy, "This Is 40." She is currently filming "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-08-02-US-People-Megan-Fox/id-41a8ad0e76614372a893cf57050bbf08

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Ninth woman accuses mayor of harassment

Fox 5 San Diego

Emily Gilbert and her husband, Jason, say they do not want money, but that the mayor does need to resign."

Yet another woman has come forward to accuse San Diego Mayor Bob Filner of sexual harassment.

The accusation comes from a Marilyn Monroe impersonator, Emily Gilbert, who was allegedly accosted by the politician when she performed her act at a fundraiser in December.

RELATED: LAWYER FOR FILNER BLAMES CITY FOR NO SEX HARASSMENT TRAINING

She is the ninth woman to accuse Filner of sexual impropriety.

"He grabbed me a little too tight, then proceeded to slide his hand down my arm and then did a little grab on my derriere," Gilbert told FOX5 in San Diego.

RELATED: SAN DIEGO COUNCIL DENIES FUNDS TO EMBATTLED MAYOR BOB FILNER

"I didn't want to make a scene. There were kids around," she added.

She told the local news station that she was embarrassed and when she told her husband, Jason, he was livid.

RELATED: SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL ASKED TO PAY LEGAL FEES FOR BELEAGUERED MAYOR BOB FILNER

Her husband, a former major in the Marines, insisted the couple doesn't want money.

"He needs to resign," he told the news station.

RELATED: DIANNE FEINSTEIN CALLS ON SAN DIEGO MAYOR TO STEP DOWN

Filner faces allegations of unwanted advances from multiple women, including his former communications director, Irene McCormack Jackson, who filed a lawsuit on July 22 against the mayor and the city.

In the lawsuit, McCormack alleges Filner asked Jackson to work without panties, demanded kisses, told her he wanted to see her naked, and dragged her in a headlock while whispering in her ear.

RELATED: SAN DIEGO MAYOR ACCUSED OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT PROMISES TO UNDERGO THERAPY

The accusations have prompted a recall effort and a chorus of calls for Filner to resign, including from seven of nine City Council members.

Dealing a double rebuke to its mayor, the council voted unanimously Tuesday to sue Filner to require the mayor pay for any damages or attorney fees out of his own pocket if the city is held liable. It also moved to deny Filner funds for his legal defense.

RELATED: SAN DIEGO MAYOR BOB FILNER FACES MORE HARASSMENT ALLEGATIONS

With News Wire services

Source: http://feeds.nydailynews.com/~r/nydnrss/news/~3/jYgiwxdkpAw/story01.htm

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Park, seeking 4th straight major, opens with 69

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) ? Inbee Park wasn't just chasing history at St. Andrews. She was sprinting toward it.

All it took were three loose tee shots, a pair of three-putts and one double bogey on the back nine Thursday in the Women's British Open to remind her that winning an unprecedented four straight majors in one year is not going to be easy.

Park ran off six birdies in 10 holes to race to the top of the leaderboard, only to stumble coming back in for a 3-under 69 that left her three shots out of the lead.

"Felt like a roller coaster today," Park said.

Morgan Pressel, one spot out of making the Solheim Cup team this week, caught a break with the weather in the afternoon and made seven birdies in a round of 66. She was one shot clear of Stacy Lewis, the former No. 1 player in women's golf who shot 31 on the tougher back nine. Also at 67 were former U.S. Women's Open champion Na Yeon Choi, Nicole Castrale and Mi-Jeong Jeon.

Paula Creamer played bogey-free for a 68.

"Once the round started, and especially playing so good the first few holes, that really gave me a lot of confidence," Park said. "I didn't feel much pressure during the round. I'm just glad that it is already started and I got the first round under my belt."

The conditions were perfect for scoring on the Old Course, with light rain falling from a lead gray sky and barely any wind. Some of the biggest names in women's golf, including Park, Lewis and Creamer, teed off in front of the Royal & Ancient clubhouse with no more than a few dozen fans in tow.

Park already has won three majors this year. No golfer, male or female, has ever won four in one year. The 25-year-old South Korean said she was more nervous than usual before getting to the first tee, perhaps because of all the chatter about a Grand Slam.

It sure didn't show.

Park opened with a wedge into about 7 feet for birdie, and then she really poured it on with an amazing display of her putting stroke. She rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 3 with perfect pace. She hit a hybrid the perfect distance on No. 4, giving her a flat line between ridges for an 18-foot birdie putt. She made a 35-foot birdie putt on No. 6, another birdie just inside 20 feet on No. 8 and a sixth birdie on No. 10 after a wedge that stopped 5 feet from the hole.

Just like that, there was a feeling of inevitability about this Women's British Open, much as it was for Tiger Woods when he won the British Open for the first time at St. Andrews by eight shots to complete the career Grand Slam in 2000. But not for long.

Dressed in a black rain suit, her emotions never changed, even when she started to unravel.

It started with a tee shot into thick grass to the right of the 12th fairway. She saved par with another great putt, this one from 15 feet, but she couldn't save herself much longer. After another poor tee shot on the 13th, she came dangerously close to a large gorse bush. She chipped to 15 feet and made bogey, her first of the day. A delicate pitch-and-run helped her avoid another bogey on the 15th after a third tee shot to the right.

Her biggest mistake came from the left rough with a shot into a bunker short of the 16th green. The ball was a few feet from the lip, and Park was tempted to take it up over the high face of the vetted wall. Instead, she turned sideways and blasted out to the middle of the double green, the ball about halfway between the holes cut for No. 2 and No. 16. From about 90 feet away, she didn't hit it nearly hard enough, and her par putt from 15 feet caught the lip.

She also three-putted the 17th from 40 feet when her first attempt came up 10 feet short. Considered one of the best putters on the LPGA Tour ? and looking for a short time as though she couldn't miss ? Park had consecutive three-putt bogeys and had lost four shots in a five-hole span.

"I thought that I fixed my problems coming into this week. I was hitting it so good on the practice round and I didn't really miss any balls," Park said. "I thought I was really prepared, but those couple of bad shots really shocked me. I couldn't really concentrate on the greens when I hit those shots. I've learned my lesson. Good thing I've got my time to fix that today and tomorrow."

She still was only two shots behind, opening with a round that could have been much better. Even so, Park had no complaints.

"A little disappointing, but I'm glad that I've done that in the first round instead of the final round," she said.

Only four months ago, Park and Lewis were battling for No. 1 in the world until the South Korean left everyone in her wake by adding to her major championship collection. The Kraft Nabisco Championship put her in position to take No. 1 away from Lewis, and the playoff win at the LPGA Championship and four-shot win at the U.S. Women's Open brought her to the brink of something grand.

Lewis, however, has some history of her own at St. Andrews. In her final event as an amateur, Lewis was part of the Curtis Cup team that beat Britain & Ireland at the home of golf. Lewis won all five of her matches. She turned pro and played in the final group of the U.S. Women's Open at Interlachen, which Park rallied to win for her first major.

Lewis and Karrie Webb were on the 11th tee when they saw Park make birdie to reach 5 under through eight holes.

"We both looked at each other and shook our heads," Lewis said. "We knew she was going to be there, but it's like she keeps doing it over and over and over again. The front nine is usually where you score. For me, it was the opposite. And I feel lucky to get away with one today."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/park-seeking-4th-straight-major-opens-69-143703633.html

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The world goes on vacation

It's the thick of summer, at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. And for many, that means it's time for the long-awaited annual vacation.

It can be about discovery, de-stressing, and spending time with those dearest to us. But vacation trends vary by geography, and they change with the times.

People's vacation choices shed light on this year's shifting patterns of globalization, which have been dominated by the rise of emerging economies.

While European travel is down, Russians, Chinese, Brazilians, and others are traveling abroad as never before. International tourism from advanced countries is projected to grow by 2.2 percent annually, while from emerging countries the rise will be double that. By 2030, 1 billion tourists from emerging economies will travel across borders.

These new travelers are part of a new global middle class that is traveling internationally for many reasons: to see parts of the world once closed off, to sample shopping abroad, to take advantage of cheaper and safer travel opportunities outside their own country, or to satisfy their curiosity. The Internet has already closed global divides, but it's the face-to-face contact tourists can have with locals in a cafes or street markets that ultimately provides deeper cultural understanding.

Take Russia, for example. Russians are relative newcomers to the global tourist scene. For much of the past century they were locked up inside the former Soviet Union, and most travel opportunities came in the form of a few weeks at a state-run sanitarium on the Black Sea or a Volga River cruise. Even now, the concept of a standard vacation is not of travel far and wide, but, as in the old days, to a dacha in the countryside to commune with nature and put down vegetables for winter consumption.

After the collapse of the USSR, it was mainly the freshly enriched "new Russians" who could travel abroad, earning a reputation for themselves, mainly across Europe, as loud and abrasive guests and wildly extravagant spenders.

Over the past decade, however, the relative mass prosperity of the Vladimir Putin years has created a new type of Russian tourist, a genuinely middle-class traveler who is stepping out into the world for the first time. "More than half of Russians these days prefer to leave home," says Yury Barzykin, vice president of the Russian Union of Tour Operators, an industry group.

These new travelers tend to be far more budget-conscious than their "nouveau riche" cousins, and also quieter, as well as more curious and respectful of foreign cultures. Millions of them flock each summer to eastern Mediterranean countries such as Turkey, Egypt, and Cyprus, where tour operators have designed cheap, often all-inclusive, Russian-speaking packages for them, and governments have eased visa requirements.

Chinese overseas tourism is also booming, as the growing army of middle-class Chinese broaden their horizons and spend more of their increasing disposable income on travel.

"Over the past decade China has been, and still is, by far the fastest-growing tourism source market in the world," according to a report published in April by the United Nations World Tourism Organization. In 2000, Chinese citizens made 10 million trips abroad; last year they made 83 million such trips, according to the UNWTO.

And their spending power has transformed the industry. Chinese travelers spent a record $102 billion in 2012, well ahead of Germans, the former top spenders, and Americans. With Chinese tourist numbers predicted to keep growing, they "will surely continue to change the map of world tourism," UNWTO chief Taleb Rifai said recently.

This does not always translate into cultural interchange ? at least outside shopping malls.

"Most Chinese tourists do not seek out great hotels or care much about the food," says Wei Xiao'an, a former senior official at China's National Tourism Administration. "Many of them don't even pay much attention to the scenery; their top priority is shopping."

That is partly because Chinese taxes on imported goods, especially luxury items, are high and because Chinese travel agencies strike deals with malls that pay them a commission on all their clients' purchases.

"It's the main way the agencies make money," says Mr. Wei.

Russians and Chinese are the globe's burgeoning tourists, but the trends are reflected across the emerging world. In June of this year, 155,000 South Koreans traveled overseas, a 21 percent increase over 2011, according to Hana Tour, South Korea's largest travel agency.

Over five years, the percentage of Brazilians who said they planned to travel abroad has risen steadily. In June 2008, 19 percent said they would go abroad, according to polling by the university Funda??o Get?lio Vargas and the Brazilian Tourism Ministry. In June of this year, that number rose to 29 percent.

Part of the impulse is the "been there" factor. Andr? Coelho, a specialist in tourism at Funda??o Get?lio Vargas, says that Brazilians travel often to Europe and the United States, as well as Caribbean beaches and popular South American sites.

"A Brazilian likes to say that he traveled abroad in his conversations, to say, 'I've been to Paris; I know that place,' " he says.

In Pakistan, foreign travel has been buoyed in part because of persistent problems at home. Pakistan's northern areas have become increasingly off limits to travelers, prompting them to look elsewhere for vacation options. Areas like the Swat Valley, a scenic and popular vacation spot, faced a brutal Pakistani Taliban insurgency and military operation, followed by flooding in 2010. A recent attack on foreign tourists on a mountaineering expedition to Nanga Parbat in the Himalayan range is also forcing potential travelers to stay away from the Gilgit-Baltistan region, which is home to several other popular vacation spots.

Instead, they are opting to leave the country, going to places that have more relaxed visa requirements, such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Turkey.

In some countries, travelers look beyond their borders simply because it's cheaper. In South Africa, for example, travel consultant Julia Barnett says that travel within the continent is too expensive for most South Africans, especially when compared with the Far East with its plethora of budget options.

That means certain countries are losing out on a growing industry ? like Russia, which still suffers from bad roads, undeveloped facilities, and surly service, to which the post-Soviet era has added extremely high prices. While domestic tourism grows by about 10 percent annually, foreign tourism is up 15 percent each year.

"We're a cold, northern country, and many of our compatriots understandably want to vacation near a warm sea," says Irina Shchegolkova, press spokeswoman for the governmental Federal Agency for Tourism. But she says the government is stepping up efforts to promote domestic tourism, from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea. "We think that with more investment, and a lot more efforts, most Russians in the future are going to start seeing their own country as the place they most want to take a vacation in."

But for now, the wanderlust of going "beyond" is driving the world's travelers, as the tourism landscape changes as quickly as the new global economic map.

? Jeremy Ravinsky provided additional research for this story.

GLOBAL TOURISM FACTS

? There were 1.035 billion tourists in 2012, the first time the number has ever broken the billion mark.
? Tourism provided 1 in 11 of the world?s jobs and accounted for 9 percent of the global GDP in 2012.
? Between January and April 2013, 298 million tourists traveled internationally ? 12 million more than during the same period last year.
? This year?s tourist season (May-August) is projected to see 435 million international tourists traveling.
? By 2030, there will be 1.8 billion international tourists. Emerging economies will account for 57 percent of that: more than 1 billion tourist arrivals per year.

Source: UNWTO

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Facebook Flirts With $38 IPO Price

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Bulgarian MPs Approve New BGN 1 B Foreign Debt

The Members of the Bulgarian Parliament approved Thursday a new loan in the amount of BGN 1 B, giving the government the authority to apply for it and receive it.

The vote happened in the frame of the second reading debates on revising State budget 2013.

According to the amendment to the State Budget Act, the Council of Ministries can now assume foreign State debt including through the issuing of government securities in international markets, totaling BGN 1 B or its equivalent in another currency, under the terms of follow-up ratification.

A total of 201 MPs were in plenary hall and took part in the vote.

107 voted for, 87 ? against, and 7 abstained.

Those against were from the opposition Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB.

The debates on the budget actualization continue.

Source: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=152509

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