American missionaries jailed in Haiti return to US

Eight American missionaries accused of trying to take 33 children out of Haiti landed in Miami early today after being freed by authorities in the earthquake-stricken country.
They were allowed to return to the US after parents testified they had given up their children voluntarily because they believed the Americans would give them a better life. Two other members of the party remain in Haiti for further questioning.
The group had faced child kidnapping charges and was rebuked by a senior Haitian justice official after detention for most was ended by a judge. "They know they broke the law", said Claudy Gassent.
The missionaries were charged nearly three weeks ago but most, looking bedraggled and sweat-stained, left jail last night. They were accompanied by US diplomats and were flown out of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, on a US air force cargo plane.
"The parents gave their kids away voluntarily," said Judge Bernard Saint-Vil, explaining his decision to allow them to leave the country without bail. He still wants to question the group's leader, Laura Silsby, and her former nanny Charisa Coulter because they had visited Haiti prior to the quake to enquire about obtaining orphans, he said.
The missionaries were charged with child kidnapping for trying to take the children to the Dominican Republic on 29 January without proper documents. Their detentions came as aid officials were urging a halt to "short-cut" adoptions in the wake of the earthquake.
The missionaries, most of whom are from two Baptist churches in Idaho, had denied the charges, saying they were on a "do-it-yourself" humanitarian mission. Silsby originally said they were taking only orphaned and abandoned children, but reporters found that several of the children were handed over to the group by their parents.
Saint-Vil asked for Coulter to have treatment at a US field hospital for her diabetes although she was later taken back to jail.
Gary Lissade, the lawyer for one of the eight freed detainees, Jim Allen, said he expected the charges to be dropped against them.
"My faith means everything to me, and I knew this moment would come when the truth would set me free," Allen said in a statement issued by the Liberty Legal Institute in Plano, Texas. "For those whose cases have not been resolved, we will continue to pray for their safe return."
Caleb Stegall, a lawyer representing some other missionaries, said: "They're very tired. They've had quite an ordeal and they're obviously looking forward to a soft bed, a hot meal and a warm shower."
Silsby's sister in Idaho, Kim Barton, told reporters: "At this point, I don't have any comment. I don't know any more than you do."
Sean Lankford of Meridian, Idaho, whose wife and daughter were among the eight released, said: "There's been a lot of a strange twists and turns in this case," adding he felt "damn good" about his family's freedom.
Earlier, the group was embarrassed by revelations that a man who briefly served as their legal adviser and spokesman in the Dominican Republic is wanted on people-smuggling charges in the US and El Salvador.
Jorge Puello, who is in Panama, told Associated Press he was wrongly accused and will fight the charges.

The small business marketing company

Vistaprint’s Latest Free, Live Webinar Highlights the Tools Needed to Succeed with Email MarketingVistaprint Limited (Nasdaq:VPRT), the small business marketing company, today announced the launch of its latest webinar titled “Do You Have Mail: Effectively Using Email Marketing.” This webinar is completely free and will be held on Thursday, August 6 at 4:00 p.m. EDT. Vistaprint’s latest webinar is designed to show small businesses how they can start to use email marketing for their small business. As small businesses look at easier and more affordable ways to reach out to their existing and potential customer bases, email marketing has become a very viable option. With obvious costs benefits, it’s also being made simpler by companies like Vistaprint, with easy to use online tools and matching options to existing products. Getting started is easier than ever, and campaigns can take just minutes to design and launch. Advanced analytics also let small businesses gain insight into what’s working and what isn’t so they can better tailor their campaigns for success. “Email marketing is something that large companies have been using for years to promote offers, inform customers, and as an alternative to direct mail campaigns,” said Mindy Sanderson, small business marketing specialist at Vistaprint. “Small businesses might have once thought that this method was too complicated and expensive for them, but that’s just not the case anymore. In this webinar we’ll give small businesses the basics of how, where, and why they should be taking advantage of this marketing medium.”The latest in Vistaprint’s popular webinar series, this session will cover the basics of email marketing, including why it’s an effective method for driving business with repeat customers, but also a way to keep your customers informed of changes and news with your business. It will also highlight the importance of expanding your online presence and show examples of small businesses that are using email marketing for different goals. For more information go to www.Vistaprint.com/learningcenter and click on the live webinars link. Registration is completely free and easy to complete.Vistaprint offers small businesses peace of mind by providing everything they need to market their business. Products include high-quality and low-cost printed products such as business cards, postcards, return address labels and holiday cards; promotional apparel including hats and T-shirts; and marketing services such as Websites, copywriting, email marketing, design and postcard mailing. Customers looking for deals can also follow and interact with Vistaprint on social networking sites like Vistaprint Facebook and Vistaprint Twitter.About Vistaprint Vistaprint Limited (Nasdaq:VPRT) provides more than eight million small businesses and consumers per year with the easiest way to make an impression at the best price. With a unique business model supported by proprietary technologies, high volume production facilities, and direct marketing expertise, Vistaprint offers a wide variety of products for both small businesses and the home. Options range from business cards, brochures and websites to invitations, thank you notes, calendars and more. A global company, Vistaprint employs more than 1,700 people, operates 20 localized Websites and ships to more than 120 countries around the world. Vistaprint's broad range of products and services are easy to access online, 24 hours a day, at www.vistaprint.com, and are satisfaction guaranteed. Vistaprint and the Vistaprint logo are trademarks of Vistaprint Limited or its subsidiaries. All other brand and product names appearing on this announcement may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Low-Cost T-Shirt Line for Women

Vistaprint N.V. (Nasdaq: VPRT), the company that provides high-impact personalized products and services for small businesses and the home, today announced the growth of its promotional product line with T-Shirts designed specifically for women. As a result of Vistaprint’s continued expansion of its T-Shirt printing capabilities, Vistaprint is now able to offer new T-Shirt options. Available in five sizes, Vistaprint ladies’ T-Shirts are simple to design and order with prices starting at just $13.99 for one T-Shirt.

Vistaprint’s ladies’ T-Shirts are perfect for small businesses, such as salons and restaurants that want to outfit their employees with consistent uniforms that promote the company name, logo and message. They are also a good fit for charitable organizations who want to uniquely brand a fundraising event with corporate sponsor logos and other information. Ladies’ T-Shirts also make a great gift for friends and family.

“While our traditional T-Shirt line has been an attractive option for many of our customers both in their business and personal lives, we are excited to increase the level of flexibility and value we offer our female customers specifically,” said John-Henry Forster, product marketing specialist at Vistaprint. “We had received a lot of feedback from our customers requesting ladies’ T-Shirts and the addition made sense. Our customers have come to trust our level of quality and convenience and this product will be no exception.”

The line of apparel supplements Vistaprint’s existing options including regular T-Shirts and long sleeve T-Shirts. Ladies’ T-Shirts are high-quality, 100% ring spun cotton and can be ordered in quantities as low as one. They are available in a number of sizes, including S, M, L, XL, and XXL. Differing from Vistaprint’s regular T-Shirt offering, these T-Shirts offer female customers a fitted, more stylish design. Customers looking to design a ladies’ T-Shirt can do so by visiting www.vistaprint.com/ladiestshirt.

Vistaprint offers customers convenience by providing products they can hold confidence in. Products include high-quality, low-cost printed products such as business cards, postcards, brochures, and vinyl banners; promotional apparel including hats and custom T-Shirts; and marketing services such as websites, copywriting, email marketing, design and postcard mailing. Ordering products from Vistaprint is easy; customers just go online, 24 hours a day, design their products and order with the click of a mouse. Most products can be designed, ordered and received in as little as three business days.

About Vistaprint
Vistaprint N.V. (Nasdaq:VPRT) provides more than 8 million small businesses and consumers annually with the easiest way to make an impression at the best price. With a unique business model supported by proprietary technologies, high-volume production facilities, and direct marketing expertise, Vistaprint offers a wide variety of products for both small businesses and the home. Options range from business cards, brochures and websites to invitations, thank you cards, calendars and more. A global company, Vistaprint employs more than 1,950 people, operates 20 localized websites and ships to more than 120 countries around the world. Vistaprint's broad range of products and services are easy to access online, 24 hours a day, at www.vistaprint.com, and are satisfaction guaranteed.

Browser Market Share 2009

Net Market Share from Net Applications provides global usage market share statistics for browsers, operating systems and search engines. This data offers valuable insight into significant trends for internet usage.
Below we will examine browser usage for the past year, and the significant events of the past year to affect usage market share. With our next installment, we'll examine operating systems and search engines. Data included spans from December 2008 to December 2009.

Month
Internet Explorer
Firefox
Safari
Chrome
Opera
Opera Mini
Other
December, 2008
70.50%
21.69%
3.41%
1.40%
2.17%
0.26%
0.57%
January, 2009
69.72%
22.11%
3.62%
1.52%
2.23%
0.23%
0.57%
February, 2009
69.23%
22.58%
3.47%
1.54%
2.19%
0.23%
0.76%
March, 2009
68.46%
23.30%
3.63%
1.62%
2.12%
0.23%
0.65%
April, 2009
67.77%
23.84%
3.53%
1.79%
2.04%
0.25%
0.78%
May, 2009
68.10%
22.75%
3.70%
2.18%
2.06%
0.25%
0.96%
June, 2009
68.32%
22.43%
3.79%
2.40%
2.03%
0.25%
0.77%
July, 2009
67.68%
22.47%
4.07%
2.59%
1.97%
0.29%
0.92%
August, 2009
66.97%
22.98%
4.07%
2.84%
2.04%
0.31%
0.79%
September, 2009
65.71%
23.75%
4.24%
3.17%
2.19%
0.30%
0.64%
October, 2009
64.64%
24.07%
4.42%
3.58%
2.17%
0.35%
0.77%
November, 2009
63.62%
24.72%
4.36%
3.93%
2.31%
0.46%
0.60%
December, 2009
62.69%
24.61%
4.46%
4.63%
2.40%
0.53%
0.67%
From December 2008 to December 2009, the overall changes in the top 5 browser usage market share percentages were as follows:
Browser
Share Change
Microsoft Internet Explorer
-7.81%
Mozilla Firefox
+2.92%
Google Chrome
+3.23%
Apple Safari
+1.05%
Opera
+0.23%
The most significant trends of 2009:
1) The gradual erosion of usage share by Internet Explorer to all of its major rivals continued even with a major new version upgrade to IE8. For many years, IE had no browser competition at all, as the primary battle for users was seen to be at the desktop operating system level between Windows, Mac OS and various flavors of Unix and later Linux. This left little motivation for Microsoft to innovate IE until Internet usage grew, and became the primary reason people were using their computers. Competition did arise on several fronts, and Firefox started to push IE with significant gains in market share. Several versions of IE came out that were in essence trying to keep up with the innovations of other browsers, and Microsoft seemed content to slowly lose share as long as IE was still the market leader. But with the release of IE8 in 2009, Microsoft thought it had the features that would stop or even reverse IE's slide in share. But, with the addition of Google's Chrome to the arena, browser share is becoming more and more fought over. Unfortunately for Microsoft, IE's slide in share did continue through 2009. Yet, IE still holds 62.69% usage market share - almost double the share of all of its competitors combined.
2) Google Chrome bursts onto the browser battlefield. Google 'accidentally' let the cat out of the Chrome bag before it was truly ready for release, and didn't put any marketing into Chrome early on. But, the second half of 2009 saw Chrome nearly double its usage share, and as of the end of the year, it is now the third most used browser in the world behind IE and Firefox. Chrome showed up in ads on Google's search page, which almost never happens. Google also announced the ongoing development of Chrome OS to up the battle with Microsoft and Apple. Chrome's 4.63% usage share still pales to even number 2 Firefox's 24.61% share. But now Firefox can no longer just look ahead at IE and work on closing the gap with the market leader. They also have to look behind them at Chrome, and figure out how to hold off a worthy challenger looking to take share from them.
3) Opera pushes the European Union to sue Microsoft to change the way they offer browsers to users with the release of Windows 7. This was a long, drawn out battle with extremely high stakes. The end result is that European users of Windows 7 will be offered a choice of browsers to install instead of having IE pre-installed and set as the default browser. What this means to future browser usage market share in Europe is unknown now, but the bet here is it will be significantly different than it would have been otherwise. Net Market Share will of course be monitoring this.
4) Safari continued its gains in usage share throughout 2009. Safari usage is typically indicative of the operating system battle between Windows and Mac OS. That is until the release of Windows 7. Since then, both Windows and Mac OS share have held fairly steady. Microsoft scored a huge win with outstanding reviews of Windows 7, and in stopping the market share losses to Apple on the desktop and laptop. So how is Safari still gaining in usage with steady operating system share? Enter the iPhone and an explosion of mobile browsing!
5) An explosion in mobile browsing. As reported at the beginning of 2010 by netmarketshare.com, mobile browsing usage share exploded in December 2009. Mobile browsing now accounts for 1.3% of all browsing. The biggest usage share winners this holiday season were mobile devices. Both Windows and Mac devices lost a small amount of share in December, while all major mobile operating systems attained large percentage gains:
Mobile O/S
Percentage Gain (November - December)
Android
+54.8%
Blackberry
+22.2%
iPhone
+20.1%
Symbian
+19.0%
Java ME
+15.6%
The open questions for 2010 include:
Will IE finally rebound?
Will Firefox continue to gain on IE?
Will Chrome's gains come primarily from IE, Firefox or both?
Will European browser usage be significantly different from previous years?
How fast will mobile browsing grow, and who will dominate those devices?

The United Nations envoy to Afghanistan

Kai Eide, the United Nations envoy to Afghanistan, says Western allies need to invest more in that country's economy and rely less on military force.

In a briefing to the U.N. Security Council Wednesday, the Norwegian official said the allies' mission will fail if Afghan civilian institutions are not strengthened, The Washington Post reported.

"What we need is a strategy that is politically and not militarily driven," said Eide, who will step down from his job in March. "If we do not take these civilian components of the transition strategy as seriously as the military component, then we will fail."

Eide's comments come ahead of the important Jan. 18 international conference in London that will focus on Afghanistan.

In Kabul, President Hamid Karzai, under pressure from his Western allies to root out corruption in his government, needs to form a new government after parliament last week rejected 17 of the 24 Cabinet nominees he had submitted in his first list.

Eide urged better salaries for Afghan government administrators and called for a reconciliation process that would include Taliban insurgents who give up violence, the report said.

Later Rosemary A. DiCarlo, the U.S. representative for special political affairs, said the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama is committed to increasing civilian participation in the Afghanistan transition, the Post reported. She said the United States plans to triple its civilian presence there to about 1,000 as it prepares to send an additional 30,000 troops and that the administration has supported integration of Taliban insurgents who lay down their weapons.

Eide also listed among his worries declining public support in the West for the Afghan effort and the Western allies' failure to counter the Taliban insurgency.

Three men in a car sprayed

Three men in a car sprayed automatic gunfire into a crowd of churchgoers in southern Egypt as they left a midnight Mass for Coptic Christmas, killing at least seven people in a drive-by shooting, the church bishop and security officials said.

Egypt's Interior Ministry said the attack Wednesday just before midnight was suspected as retaliation for the November rape of a Muslim girl by a Christian man in the same town. The statement said witnesses have identified the lead attacker.

The attack took place in the town of Nag Hamadi in Qena province, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from the famous ancient ruins of Luxor. A local security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, confirmed that seven were dead and three seriously wounded.

Bishop Kirollos of the Nag Hamadi Diocese told The Associated Press six male churchgoers and one security guard were killed. He said he had left St. John's church just minutes before the attack.

"A driving car swerved near me, so I took the back door. By the time I shook hands with someone at the gate, I heard the mayhem, lots of machine gun shots," he said in a telephone interview. He said he saw five bodies lying on the ground when he first looked at the site of the shooting, about 600 yards from where he was.

The bishop said he was concerned about violence on the eve of Coptic Christmas, which falls on Thursday, because of previous threats following the rape of the 12-year-old girl in November.

He got a message on his mobile phone saying: "It is your turn."

"I did nothing with it. My faithful were also receiving threats in the streets, some shouting at them: 'We will not let you have festivities,'" he said.

Because of the threats, he said he ended his Christmas Mass one hour early.

He said Muslim residents of Nag Hamadi and neighboring villages rioted for five days in November and torched and damaged Christian properties in the area after the rape.

"For days, I had expected something to happen on Christmas day," he said. The bishop said police have now asked him to stay at home for fear of further violence.

Qena is one of Egypt's poorest and most conservative areas.

Christians, mostly Coptic, account for about 10 percent of Egypt's predominantly Muslim population. As Islamic conservatism gains ground, Christians have increasingly complained about discrimination by the Muslim majority.

Clashes between Muslims and Christians are not uncommon in southern Egypt and in recent years have begun seeping into the capital. An Amnesty International report said sectarian attacks on the Coptic Christian community, comprising between 6 million and 8 million people in Egypt, increased in the year 2008. Sporadic clashes between Coptic Christians and Muslims left eight people dead.

Vendetta killing is also common among southern Egyptians, and is usually over land or family disputes.

The bishop said he had an idea of who the attackers were, calling them "Muslim radicals."

"It is all religious now. This is a religious war about how they can finish off the Christians in Egypt," he said.

U.S. retailers used

U.S. retailers used extra promotions and extended hours to draw procrastinators and shoppers delayed by the East Coast snowstorm in the final stretch before Christmas.
Target Corp. extended its hours to midnight Dec. 21 through yesterday. Borders Group Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Toys “R” Us Inc. also kept stores open longer. Best Buy Co. offered some DVDs for half off and Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc., a men’s clothing chain, deepened discounts to at least 50 percent.
“We didn’t intend to do everything, and now we’re doing everything,” Jos. A. Bank Chief Executive Officer Neal Black, 54, said Dec. 22 by telephone from the company’s Hampstead, Maryland, headquarters. “We’ll be slugging right down to the last minute.”
Sales will be compressed into the final days before Christmas, said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group Inc. The snowstorm disrupted the Saturday before Dec. 25. Last year, that was the second-biggest shopping day after Black Friday, the day after U.S. Thanksgiving. Shoppers already had procrastinated more than in recent seasons.
“Retailers will pull out all the stops this week,” Cohen said in a Dec. 21 Bloomberg Television interview. NPD is a Port Washington, New York-based market research firm.
Maintaining Forecasts
The Washington-based National Retail Federation was holding to its forecast for a 1 percent drop in holiday sales, Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman, said Dec. 20. The International Council of Shopping Centers reiterated on Dec. 22 its forecast for a 2 percent increase in sales at stores open at least a year in December, after reporting that the storm slowed growth to 0.4 percent year over year in the week ended Dec. 19.
Jos. A. Bank cut prices of all clothing Dec. 21 and Dec. 22, after store visits slowed, Black said. The chain had planned to offer some of that merchandise at 40 percent and 30 percent off, he said.
The retailer’s shares advanced 77 cents to $42.99 on the Nasdaq Stock Market yesterday. Target, based in Minneapolis, increased 6 cents to $48.85 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Borders, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, rose 8 cents to $1.25. Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart declined 2 cents to $53.32. Best Buy, based in Richfield, Minnesota, added 31 cents to $40.76.
Kathryn Greenberg, a 41-year-old Washington resident who works in philanthropy, said she lucked into some “fantastic” late discounts yesterday. She bought clothing for her children and other family members mostly at 60 percent off at a Gap store as well as one of Gap Inc.’s Banana Republic stores.
Bigger Savings, More Buying
“I am spending the same as last year, but getting more,” said Greenberg, who was carrying two bags and heading into Sephora, the cosmetics chain owned by Paris-based LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA.
Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, will keep most of its 803 discount stores and its Sam’s Clubs open until 8 p.m. today, two hours later than last year, said John Simley, a spokesman. Amazon.com Inc. extended by one day, until Dec. 21, its cutoff for standard shipping.
Gap, based in San Francisco, increased 6 cents to $20.91 on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. LVMH declined 89 cents to 77.46 euros in Paris trading. Seattle-based Amazon.com, the largest Internet retailer, rose $5.19 to $138.94 on the Nasdaq.
East Coast Snow
Stores along the East Coast closed early during the Dec. 19 snowstorm. Twenty-four inches of snow fell on Bethesda, Maryland and 23.2 inches were recorded at Philadelphia International Airport, according to the National Weather Service.
Consumers had completed 72 percent of their holiday shopping through Dec. 20, down from 80 percent a year earlier, the New York-based ICSC said Dec. 22.
Historically, the 10 days before Christmas have made up as much as 40 percent of total holiday sales for November and December, according to Joseph Feldman, a managing director at Telsey Advisory Group in New York.
Sales fell 13 percent to $6.9 billion on the last Saturday before Christmas from the previous year, according to Chicago- based researcher ShopperTrak RCT Corp.
Some of lost sales did translate into online purchases. Sales at Web sites jumped 24 percent on Dec. 18 and Dec. 19 from a year ago, according to Coremetrics, a San Mateo, California- based marketing company.
Some impulse buying and so-called self-purchases, however, were irretrievably lost during the storm, Richard Jaffe, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in New York, said in a Bloomberg Radio interview on Dec. 22.