| Ikon scores A+ after helping Labor win
FEDERAL Labor's media agency of choice, Ikon Communications, has emerged at the top of a confidential list ranking media buying companies for its ability to win new business. The company, 90 per cent of which was bought by STW for an estimated $25 million in 2006, scored an A+ on the annual ranking, compiled by Paris-based research firm RECMA. While Ikon - which was ranked a B+ last year - beat five rivals for the top spot during 2007, OMD was ranked the top agency during the past four years. Last year Ikon won the $27million buying account for Coca-Cola and Sony BMG's $16million media business, as well as accounts for Thrifty rental cars, SunRice, McGuigan Wines and Sportscraft. The agency lost the Bulleit and Avon accounts, representing about $10million.
ROVERS HOLD VILLA
Fabio Capello saw England candidates Scott Carson and Ashley Young make significant contributions but Aston Villa missed out on the chance to climb into a Champions League spot against Mark Hughes's side. Carson saved a first-half penalty from Matt Derbyshire before Roque Santa Cruz put the visitors ahead after 67 minutes with his 11th league goal of the campaign. But Young, Villa's most dangerous player, levelled six minutes later with a stunning 20 yard free-kick to boost his chances of being included in the squad to face Switzerland at Wembley in 11 days. Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill believes Capello would have been impressed by the performance of Young. He said: "When we got the ball to Ashley, he (Capello) would have been impressed with his skills.
Trader shot at, robbed of Rs 3.60 lakh
The law and order situation in the city has come under a scanner with four armed robbers shooting a trader in the abdomen and snatching Rs 3.60 lakh from him near the grain market, on a bylane of the Gill Road at noon today. The ADGP (Law and Order), Mr Chander Shekhar, rushed to the city in the afternoon to take stock of the situation. Already IG, Jalandhar Zone, Hardeep Singh Dhillon is camping in the city to trace a kidnapped youth, Vikramjit Singh. Even the DIG, Ludhiana Range, Mr Parag Jain, immediately reached the spot. The police said the trader, Balwinder Singh, a 30-year-old resident of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, was riding a scooter when the four assailants came from behind on two different two-wheelers, pumped a bullet in his stomach and sped away with the money stacked in the scooter dickey.
E-mail scam has deadly message
Fengel urges anyone who receives a threatening e-mail to either delete it or drop it in their junk mail folder. If the recipient truly believes their life is at risk, then they should call police immediately. FBI officials recommend not replying to the sender. Doing so may signal to the sender that they've reached a live e-mail account and further intimidation attempts could be made. E-mails like this or ones claiming the recipient has won a lottery or sweepstakes as way to extort money from innocent people are hard to trace because they usually originate in Nigeria or Canada, police said. "The bottom line is they're wanting money," Fengel said of the hoaxes. "There are people out there who work really hard at trying to rip people off rather than make an honest living." Leslie Fark can be reached at 686-3188 or lfark@pjstar.com.
Banks cashing in on border crossers
The big banks must be loving the recent surge in cross-border shopping.Almost every time you buy something in the United States, your bank makes a few bucks in fees of one sort or another. Expect to pay far more in fees than if you bought something here at home. While the Canadian dollar had a bad day yesterday, it's high enough compared to the U.S. dollar that people are pouring across the border to shop. .
Holidays are hard work for Wotif boss
ROBBIE Cooke doesn't take holidays, which is a surprise for a man whose business is selling tens of thousands of hotel rooms to families online. The newly appointed head of online accommodation website Wotif has not taken a proper holiday for a very long time despite the fact that booking a luxury hotel room in any of the 40 countries the company operates in is a mere mouse click away. For the last eight years, the first six with Unitab and two with Wotif, Cooke says that all the major takeovers he has been involved in have taken place over Easter or Christmas. With Wotif in the midst of a $50 million takeover of online travel agency Travel.com, there was just no way Cooke could have taken time off over the recent festive season. "Takeovers always get in the way of holidays," he says with a laugh.
SEVERE WEATHER TEAM 9 BLOG
But the station says it didn't break the record of 8,962 set in Bismarck, N.D. The station didn't say how many people turned out, but hopes to try again next winter. Email your weather questions toweather@wtov.com.
I'm meteorologist Jeff Oechslein.
FEBRUARY 29, 2008: HAPPY LEAP DAY!
It actually takes Earth 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds to travel around the sun, a fact the ancient Egyptians first noticed. So an extra day was occasionally added to the calendar, and over time the practice became official. It was the Romans who first designated Feb. 29 as leap day. Later, a more precise formula (still in use today) was adopted in the 16th century when the Gregorian calendar fine-tuned the calculations to include a leap day in years only divisible by four, i.e., 2008, 2012.
When it comes to McCain, does age matter?
But many seniors seem drawn to the Arizona senator in spite of his age, not because of it.
So here in Pennsylvania - where the retiree population is second only to Florida - we set out to ask older people, who arguably are best positioned to know: Is John McCain too old to be president?
"Hell no!" John Farrell, 83, said, on his way into the Acme to buy food for his cat, Angel.
Farrell spent 21 years in the Navy. Military service, not age, is what he identifies with in McCain - the former Navy fighter pilot who spent 5 1/2 years in a POW camp.
"Just because you're a little older doesn't mean you're senile," Farrell says.
At town hall meetings around the country, at least one voter typically asks McCain about his age.
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