| Unique coffins, made in Ghana
Paa Joe Works designs for and provides its customers the coffin shape according to their orders. It could be the shape of an aeroplane, lion, cucumber, tomato, lobster, shoe, snake, a World War Two gun, a white Mercedes Benz, or a Coke bottle. Whatever, the shape may reflect what the person has done in their life. "The lobster could be for a fisherman, the cucumber for a grocer, the aeroplane for someone who has worked in the airline industry, or perhaps who used to fly a lot for his job," said manager Emmanuel Doku. The most unusual design it once made was the womb of a woman, ordered by a German doctor in 1992, according to Doku. The manager said the weird idea hit him when a man called Ataa Owuo decided to put her grandmother in an airplane to take her to heaven because the old lady had never traveled before.
GIULIANI'S BUDDIES 'SIT SHIVA' FOR POL LIFE
On financial-disclosure forms released in May, Giuliani reported earned income of $16.1 million over 16 months, including $11.4 million from speaking fees paid between January 2006 and February 2007. But one source said Giuliani Partners, the consulting group that launched the empire, would likely be downsized. Ken Fisher, a former Democratic city councilman who is now a prominent lawyer, said he thought Giuliani's poor performance on the campaign trail would impact his bottom line. "The Rudy Giuliani franchise is clearly not worth the same as it was two years ago," he said. En route to California, Giuliani told reporters he was well aware his strategy of bypassing early primary states carried high risks. "We were defying conventional wisdom. We had no choice but to do that.
AP Business NewsBrief at 3:22 a.m. EST
A lot of old Amazon bears are going to be growling," said Tim Boyd, an analyst at American Technology Research. Sony Quarterly Profit Rises 25 Percentnews://newsclip.ap.org/D8UGQBR81@news.ap.orgTOKYO (AP) _ Sony reported a 25.2 percent jump in profit for the October-December quarter Thursday as its PlayStation video game business stopped losing money after six straight quarters of losses. Profit at the Japanese electronics and entertainment company climbed to 200.2 billion yen ($1.88 billion) for the fiscal third quarter from 159.9 billion yen the same period the previous year. Japan Megaganks Hit by Subprime Lossesnews://newsclip.ap.org/D8UGQAG00@news.ap.orgTOKYO (AP) _ Japanese megabanks Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group said Thursday their profits fell in the nine months through December after incurring losses from their exposure to the U.S.
In race for cash, Jones leads all
Jones raised $52,300 in the reporting period that ran July 1, 2007, to Jan. 26, according to financial disclosure forms that had to be filed by 8 p.m. Tuesday. That's much more than his Democratic opponent in the August general election, Randy Tyree, who raised $2,650.14 during the same period. Three days before early voting ends, a long train of candidates and campaign workers chugged into the Election Commission office to drop off their reports and occasionally take a look at their opponents'. About 10 minutes before the deadline, the caboose arrived in the form of commission candidate Elaine Davis, who's running for the 4th District, Seat A Democratic nod. Sixty-one of 69 candidates submitted their legally mandated disclosure forms on time. County Commission Chairman Scott Moore, who's running for the Republican nomination for county clerk, was one of the ones who did not, according to Knox County Election Commission records.
Orange pay TV on satellite
In November, Sky reported a record 14 per cent quarterly growth in subscribers to Sky+, up 323,000 on the previous quarter to 2.7 million. The service is now in almost a third of Sky homes, allowing viewers to skip through ads. Nonetheless the ad industry will also be buoyed by the news that two key demographics - 16- to 24-year olds and ABC1 viewers, have experienced a growth in impacts. Impacts for 16-24s increased by 1.5 per cent to 31 TV ads a day, while impacts for ABC1s increased by 3.6 per cent to 32 ads a day. Thinkbox, the commercial TV marketing body, attributed the growth to digital TV penetration, which has now reached 85 per cent of UK homes, and the growing attraction of digital channels among viewers.
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Free downloads from CBS Radio CBS said that it would expand its Internet music service, Last.fm, to allow users to listen to any song on their computers whenever they wanted, up to three times.
40m IPTV households expected worldwide by 2010
BSkyB chief executive James Murdoch has revealed that the group is developing a "hybrid" media model using its satellite and digital terrestrial platforms to allow subscribers to access content seamlessly from TVs, PCs or mobiles. In an FT.com interview, Murdoch also rejected claims that his aggressive strategy had exposed it to possible regulatory punishment, saying: "When we go out there and we say we're going to challenge some of those big incumbent telecoms companies who've been charging too much money for too little to too many customers for way too long, we think that's good for customers. Ultimately, we think that really matters from a regulatory perspective as well. Our customers [are] free agents in this."
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40m IPTV households expected worldwide by 2010 Forecasts from analyst firm Canalys indicate the IPTV market will see rapid growth over the next three years, driven by telecom operatorsÂ’ desire to boost ARPU (average revenue per user) and counter the growing threat from competing triple-play providers.
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