Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera Dies at 43 in Air Plane crash

 Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera died in a plane crash Saturday night, Her father and brother confirmed on Telemundo.
The wreckage of the plane was found Sunday in northern Mexico with no apparent  survivors, authorities said.
The wreckage was found in the Ejido La Colorada, Municipality of  Nuevo Leon. 

Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, secretary of communications and transport, said that the
 plane is not recognizable, but the evidence suggests it was the aircraft 
carrying the singer, Telemundo reported.

Officials said Rivera's Learjet went off the radar about 62 miles from 
Monterrey after taking off at 3:15 a.m. local time. 

Singer Jenni Rivera, seen here during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City,
 Utah, in January, was abaord a plane that went missing shortly after leaving 
the northern Mexican city of Monterrey early Sunday.
Rivera was heading for the city of Toluca in central Mexico after a concert in 
Monterrey on Saturday night. The singer, two pilots and four other passengers 
were aboard, Mexican officials said.

Jorge Domene, spokesman for Nuevo Leon's government told Milenio television 
that civilian agency helicopters flew over the state searching for the plane. 
The missing included her publicist, lawyer, makeup artist and the flight crew,
 the ministry of transportation and communication said in a statement.

Feds Rule Monroe Plane Crash Resulted In High-Speed Maneuver
Monroe Evening News
A federal investigation into last year's Munson Park airplane crash that killed three people was caused when the pilot made a high-speed pass over the runway that led to the propeller striking the surface. The pilot, LaSalle resident Rick E. Howell, 58 ...
See all stories on this topic »Pilot who died in plane crash had previous mishaps
Newsday
PLAINVILLE, Conn. - (AP) -- A police report says a pilot who died in a plane crash in Plainville last summer had previous flying mishaps. A Plainville police investigation report obtained by the Republican-American of Waterbury (http://bit.ly/QRsFVJ ...
See all stories on this topic »Pilot dies in Lake Worth plane crash
Sun-Sentinel
LAKE WORTH — The pilot of a Cessna 421 died on Saturday afternoon when the small aircraft crashed onto the banks of a lake in John Prince Park. The Cessna took off about 1:30 p.m. from Palm Beach County Park Airport, said Palm Beach County Fire ...
See all stories on this topic »Two escape small plane crash in Rankin County
Jackson Clarion Ledger
A small plane has crashed in a Rankin County neighborhood, moderately injuring the pilot, but a passenger escaped unharmed. Sheriff Bryan Bailey said the pilot sustained bruises, cuts, and broken bones when the red and yellow experimental biplane ...
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Investigation into light aircraft crash continues Norfolk Eastern Daily Press The aircraft also became submerged in a pond between two farmhouses. A man's body was found by firefighters in the wreckage. He has not yet been formally identified but next of kin have been informed. Air crash investigators have been at the scene ... See all stories on this topic »

Norfolk Eastern Daily Press

Pilot killed after plane malfunctions, crashes into John Prince Park WPTV A man was killed on Saturday after investigators said the plane he was flying had some sort of malfunction and crashed into the grounds of John Prince Park in suburban Lake Worth. Thick, black smoke billowed from the park as the sound of sirens filled ... See all stories on this topic »

WPTV

Rotorua pilot dies in crash
New Zealand Herald
They were alerted to the crash at 1.24pm. The man worked for Ballance Agri-Nutrients' offshoot Super Air, a regional aerial fertiliser spraying company. The man, who has not been named, was working on the Waikite Valley farm when the aircraft crashed.
See all stories on this topic »

Plane crash kills seven in central Germany APA A two-seat propeller plane hit the ground near the German city of Langwedel, leaving both its passengers dead. Two other people lost their lives, when a sporting plane crashed near the Belgian city of Theux, which is close to the German border. Tweet ... See all stories on this topic »

Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera dies at 43 in plane crash NBCNews.com By NBC News and news services. Updated 9:05 p.m. ET: Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera died in a plane crash Saturday night, her father and brother confirmed on Telemundo. The wreckage of the plane was found Sunday in northern Mexico with no ... See all stories on this topic »

Investigators comb through plane crash site at John Prince Park; pilot still ... Palm Beach Post Palm Beach County firefighters work the scene of a plane crash in John Prince Park in Lake Worth, December 8, 2012. The plane clipped several trees and burst into flames on the shore of Lake Osborne, killing the pilot. (Greg Lovett/The Palm Beach Post) ... See all stories on this topic »

PITB launches data centre, Cloud Computing services

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TI, Nimbix boost cloud computing EE Times India By selecting TI's high-performance KeyStone multi-core DSPs, Nimbix aims to reduce power and accelerate workflows for video processing and imaging applications, making high performancecomputing in the cloud easier than ever before. "When choosing ... See all stories on this topic »

Germany faces temporary economic slowdown

The German economy, Europe’s biggest, will not be able to escape the crisis and may even flirt briefly with recession early next year, but is well placed to rebound strongly, the Bundesbank said on Friday.

The German central bank, in its latest updated twice-yearly forecasts, said there were “indications that economic activity may actually fall in the final quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013.” Recession is technically defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth and many of Germany’s Eurozone neighbours have been pushed into recession, in some cases deep, by the region’s long-running debt crisis.

Although Germany has managed to hold up to the crisis fairly well, growth has slowed here as well since the beginning of the year.

After expanding by 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2012, gross domestic product (GDP) grew by just 0.3 percent in the second quarter and a mere 0.2 percent in the third quarter.

“The cyclical outlook for the German economy has dimmed,” the Bundesbank wrote in its December monthly report.

“However, there are sound reasons to believe that Germany will soon return to a growth path. The sound underlying health of the German economy suggests that it will overcome the temporary lull without major damage to the labour market, in particular,” it said.

Government spokesman Steffen Seibert, quizzed about the Bundesbank forecasts at a regular news briefing in Berlin, said “it is no secret that we’re in a phase of economic cooling.

“But we have no doubt that the economy is still in growth mode,” he added.

“There are a whole range of indicators which in no way point to recession. The government remains cautiously optimistic.”

Taking this year and next year as a whole, GDP would expand by 0.7 percent in 2012 and then by just 0.4 percent in 2013, the Bundesbank predicted.

That represents a marked downward revision from the central bank’s previous forecasts in June, when it had been pencilling in growth of 1.0 percent for 2012 and 1.6 percent for 2013.

Danny Alexander: No triple dip recession in UK economy BBC News The UK would experience a triple dip recession if it had two quarters or more of negative growth before the economy had fully recovered from the 2008 recession. It experienced a double dip recession earlier this year, with three quarters of negative ... See all stories on this topic » BBC News

ECRI Weekly Update: More Recession Flag Waving Seeking Alpha The Weekly Leading Index (WLI) of the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) rose slightly in the latest public data. It is now at 126.8, up from an upwardly revised 126.2 in the previous week. See the WLI chart in the Appendix below. The WLI ... See all stories on this topic »

'Germany faces temporary economic slowdown' The News International FRANKFURT: The German economy, Europe's biggest, will not be able to escape the crisis and may even flirt briefly with recession early next year, but is well placed to rebound strongly, the Bundesbank said on Friday. The German central bank, in its ... See all stories on this topic »

UNH study: Despite end of recession, family reliance on wives' income is ... Foster's Daily Democrat DURHAM — Despite the end of the Great Recession, American families still rely on the income of wives at record levels, with employed wives' contribution to total family income holding steady at 47 percent, which is its highest level in decades ... See all stories on this topic »

Cable says UK faces triple-dip recession Financial Times By Helen Warrell, Political Correspondent. Vince Cable, business secretary, has admitted there is “clearly a risk” of the UK entering a triple-dip recession and facing a Japanese-style lost decade of stagnant economic growth. In an interview with the ... See all stories on this topic »

UK on triple-dip recession alert as industrial output slides MyFinances.co.uk To be classified as a triple-dip recession the UK economy would have to contract in the final quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013. Economists believe that the first part of this chain of events is likely to unfold with the UK economy expected ... See all stories on this topic »

COLUMN: Great Recession has changed how secure we feel Glens Falls Post-Star You know when you are showering and you get down to last sliver of soap? Inevitably, there will be two or three of the shavings swirling down near the drain, too small to be of any real use and not worth the effort to pick up. Eventually, they ... See all stories on this topic »

David Moon: Another recession is only a matter of when Knoxville News Sentinel Last year American Express reported that 2.2 percent of its cards were delinquent. The 2011 year-end delinquency rate for the entire credit card industry was 3.54 percent. This compares to 12 percent of all home mortgages that are delinquent. In 2011 ... See all stories on this topic »

Gregoire assesses her time as governor The Seattle Times A: I can ask myself 10 ways from Sunday about the budget because of the recession, and today I don't have it in me to look back and say how I would have done it differently. I hated my budget. I assume I could have done it differently. Right now, I can ... See all stories on this topic »

Tatas won't get into Airline Business again ?

Once pioneers in civil aviation, the Tata group is unlikely to get into the sector because of "destructive competition", its outgoing Chairman Ratan Tata indicated on Sunday.

Recalling the group's proposal for a tie up with Singapore International Airlines (SIA) for a domestic carrier in India in the mid-1990s, the Tata patriarch pointed out, "it is a different sector today than it was at that time.

"It is somewhat like telecom. It is proliferated by many operators some of them in financial trouble. I would hesitate to go into the sector today in the sense that the chances are that you would have a great deal of competition which would be unhealthy competition."

Asked if he was worried about "cut throat" competition, Tata responded in the negative but went on to say, "cut throat competition which is done to keep you out is destructive competition.

"Overseas people go bankrupt or companies go bankrupt. Here they never do--they continue to be sick and still operate. Then they are operating to kill you."

Was the story that someone had asked him to pay a Rs 15 crore bribe to clear the Tata-SIA deal correct, the Tata chairman was asked during an interview with media persons.

He replied that the story was correct but it was not the then Civil Aviation Minister who had asked him directly to pay.

It was a businessman who "told me why don't you pay. This is what the minister wants," he said.

What was his response to the businessman?

"I told him that you don't understand. That is not how we do business. All he said to me was, 'look if you want the airline this is what you must pay. You know the minister wants that--Rs. 15 crore'."

Tata recalled that after taking over as Chairman in 1991, he had drawn up a strategic plan in which he had seen aerospace and defence a new area for the private sector to enter in a big way.

"For several years, the fact that we had sanctions of various sorts on us, gave us no access to technology and that in itself was a challenge."

But that challenge was never thrown to the private sector which was a "bit of a disappointment to me", he said.

Vested interests in the public sector and government laboratories do not not give these areas to the private sector. Therefore, while these areas have been opened up, the private sector's involvement is still very limited, he said.

Why SpiceJet is attractive to a foreign airline Livemint To start with, SpiceJet has a much lower debt on its books compared with the other two listed airlines—Kingfisher Airlines Ltd and Jet Airways (India) Ltd. Sure, SpiceJet's scale of operations is less than that of Jet Airways but nevertheless, a lower... See all stories on this topic » Livemint

No cartelisation among foreign airlines: Tribunal Hindu Business Line In their appeal, TAAI had claimed that nine international airlines — Lufthansa, Air Canada, AustrianAirlines, Air France, Continental Airlines, NorthWest Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Swiss International and Singapore Airlines — used to pay ... See all stories on this topic »

US, China turned EU powers against airline pollution law Reuters India BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The European Union's landmark effort to charge foreignairlines for carbon emitted on flights in and out of Europe was already failing by the time French President Francois Hollande shared his deep concerns with the ... See all stories on this topic »

American Airlines to launch flights from Texas to Peru and South Korea next year TravelBizMonitor American Airlines will launch daily international service from Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport, Texas to Lima, Peru and to Seoul, South Korea, next year. American will serve Incheon International Airport in Seoul with Boeing 777-200 ... See all stories on this topic »

tatas won t get into airline business ratan tata Sahara Samay Recalling the group's proposal for a tie up with Singapore International Airlines (SIA) for a domestic carrier in India in the mid-1990s, the Tata patriarch pointed out, "it is a different sector today than it was at that time. "It is somewhat like ... See all stories on this topic » Sahara Samay

Delta Air Lines offers flight changes to avoid Minnesota winter storm Examiner.com Delta Air Lines is offering customers whose flight plans may be affected by winter weather in eastern Minnesota on Sunday the ability to make one-time changes to their travel schedules without incurring fees, the airline said in a press statement on ... See all stories on this topic » Examiner.com

Pegasus Airlines continues to expand with its new flights to Dubai AME Info Continuing to expand its network, Pegasus Airlines has launched scheduled flights between Dubai and Istanbul starting on 18th of October. For the honour of this new international destination, a launch meeting was held with the attendance of Pegasus ... See all stories on this topic »

Holiday Inn Abu Dhabi welcomes Garuda Airlines AME Info The Holiday Inn Abu Dhabi, part of the IHG group, has secured the Garuda Indonesia contract to accommodate the airline's crew at the hotel. The airline began re-operating once again last week, with flights connecting Abu Dhabi to Jakarta in Indonesia ... See all stories on this topic » AME Info

New airlines aim for South Africa BDlive TWO new low-cost airlines are planning to enter the South African market despite the brutal operating environment that grounded two companies - Velvet Sky and 1time - this year alone. Fastjet, a subsidiary of London-based Lonrho, has been in talks to ... See all stories on this topic »

Pilots ratify pact with American Airlines UPI.com "Today's ratification gives us the certainty we need for American to successfully restructure, providing opportunity and growth for all of our people and stakeholders," American Airlines Senior Vice President of People Denise Lynn said in a statement ... See all stories on this topic »

This time, the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) appeared to have balanced these measures very well.

Three years after the game changing moves that put the focus on mutual fund investors, the market regulator announced several changes to the mutual fund regime. This time, the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) appeared to have balanced these measures very well.

The manufacturers of the product i.e the fund houses were allowed to charge up to 20 basis points more across schemes. The distributors would get a share of this increase, so they were also supposed to be happy. And, then for the investor two major sops were offered. First, the clutter in the industry was to be removed by eliminating multiple plans in schemes. Secondly, the funds were asked to create a new plan under which investors can bypass the distributor and buy the scheme directly. This elimination of intermediary was to result in a few basis points savings in the hands of the investor.

Now, while the fundhouses have happily lapped up the extra expenses by increasing charges with effect from October 1, they seem to be developing cold feet in executing the other half of the promise. Instead of addressing technical issues that may arise and rolling out a definite roadmap for implementation of the direct plans for which the extra three months were given by Sebi, some senior managers seem to be spending time in limiting the scope of these Direct plans

WHAT SEBI HAS DONE

Allow higher TER of nearly 20 bps across schemes
Allow AMCs with significant assets outside top 15 cities charge up to 30 bps more
Eliminate multiple plans in schemes wef Oct 1, 2012
Create a new direct plan wef Jan 1, 2013
The difference in charges should be equal to selling expenses
But no fixed formula given to calculate charges for direct plan
IMPACT ON DISTRIBUTORS
Higher TER may translate into higher commissions
Agents in smaller towns may get better rewards
Direct plan at a lower cost may kill business
Investors may begin asking kickbacks to stay with distributors
Investors may make uninformed investments and incur loss
INVESTORS
Low cost Direct plan good for investors
Final form will determine how good it is
No clarity yet on the charges
Higher costs outside top 15 cities may affect returns
Direct plan must be easy to use


The distributors also argued that without proper guidance from the advisors, investors will not be able to chose from 44 fund houses offering multiple schemes. “How would an investor make the right choice and decide on the right scheme for his investment among the maze of options available to him? Under these circumstances would he not be confused and make a wrong choice? If he loses his money due to his own wrong choice, what are the chances that he would ever come back for a Mutual Fund investment in the future? Are we not running the risk of losing an investor permanently? On one hand an IFA does all the ground work and sources an investor, on the other hand due to lack of guidance, in doing a direct investment, if he loses his hard earned money, he would leave the system. This would result in a leaking bucket situation. How would this help in increasing market penetration?” the memorandum said.

However, Ajit Dayal, chairman of Quantum Mutual fund, which had done away with distributors years before Sebi announced the plan, has a different view, “As India’s first and only direct-to-investor mutual fund house, we have always realised the potential of the low-cost direct plan of investments. It will help the investors to save the additional cost they pay for the distributor’s services. We believe that the direct plan is one of the more positive steps that SEBI has taken for the benefit of investors. Investors are known to do their research and know which funds they wish to invest in, they do not need to unnecessarily pay large sums of money to distributors for filling in forms.”

Dayal points out how the costs are the only factor under the investors’ control. “Investors must recognise that every fund house can have good returns at some point in time – but returns are not known. Costs are known and defined. The lower the cost, the more of the investor’s money finds its way into the market to try and generate returns,” he added.

While Sebi has said the direct plan has to have lower costs, it has not given any specific formula to define how lower this should be and whether this should be uniform or funds can use their discretion.

Industry officials point out that the agenda papers published by Sebi indicated that the difference in costs between the direct plan and the one sold by distributors will be equal to the amount of selling expenses incurred by the fund house including distribution commission and marketing expenses.

This is Sebi’s cleverly bowled googly, say experts who have read the fine print. “On the one hand, Sebi has allowed you to charge more and spend more on distribution, especially in areas outside top 15 centres. Now, if under the direct plan, you are going to exclude this entire additional expenditure, it could create a huge differential, which investors cannot ignore. The dilemma for funds now is whether they can afford to put their meticulously built distribution networks on the guillotine,” he said.

Arjun Parthasarathy,former fund manager and editor of investorsareidiots.com also said, “Funds do not want to displace the distributors. Distributors get bulk of their incomes from servicing corporate and high net worth investors. If they go direct, many have to shut shop, that is why they are fighting tooth and nail. To some extent, funds are also cagey.”

Dayal added, “while the direct plan might not adversely affect the economics of the industry as the money is anyways flowing in, the real challenge here is how the AMCs will pacify the distributor in case a customer introduced by him makes additional investments into the direct plan.”

People in favour of the proposal also point out that distributors have no reason “to grumble about the introduction of the direct plan as even earlier an investor could always go directly to the AMC regardless if he was introduced by any distributor or not.”

While investors are allowed to invest directly, there is no concession in charges in this mode.

Industry sources said that some top fund houses are proposing a move wherein the direct plan is limited to QFIs and such institutional investors, whereas the corporates and HNIs and probably retail, the community serviced by distributors does not get affected. It is also learnt that discussions have happened in the industry lobby, Association of Mutual Funds of India ( AMFI), about restricting the scope of direct plan. But it is not clear at what stage these proposals are and whether Sebi will entertain these.

Dayal of Quantum is against any such move, “the Indian Mutual Fund industry has traditionally been driven by the distributors. While the AMCs might feel insecure about the interest of distributor in selling the mutual fund scheme with the introduction of the Direct plan, we believe it may not be right to limit the direct plan option to only a few institutions or categories of investors and neglect the retail investors.”

He added that the industry should not focus on whom they are selling to but whether the industry is selling the right product to the investor or not. Fund houses need to go back to the fundamental question of whether they are serving the investors’ interests or not.”

Parthasarathy said even if the direct plan was introduced it would not result in a rush for funds “unless market is doing well and investors see value.” He pointed out small retail investments in mutual fund is not very high. “But people are familiar with the direct plan in the insurance sector. They may start looking at the direct option, provided it is as easy as operating a bank account.”

That may entail some costs, points out Vijay Mantri, CEO, Pramerica MF. “Direct selling also comes with some costs for the manufacturer in terms of putting up the necessary infrastructure,” he said indicating that lower expenses may not mean “very low.”

While the Direct debate rages on, critics are also worried about the impact of the move to allow fund houses to charge an additional Total Expense Ratio (TER) (up to 30 basis points, if 30 per cent of their net sales take place beyond the top 15 cities (100 basis points make 1 per cent)) depending upon the extent of new inflows from locations beyond top 15 cities (Claw back of additional TER if the investments are redeemed within a period of one year).

“This means that the total expense ratios for any money coming from other than the top 15 cities can be hiked to 2.8 per cent instead of 2.5 per cent for equity schemes which will thus reduce investor’s capital returns. This increase in costs is excluding the increase in TER allowed by SEBI which is also discussed subsequently. “We at Quantum believe that while it is important for the mutual fund industry to improve its geographical reach and bring in long-term retail money from smaller towns, like any other businesses it should have been the AMC who bears their expansion cost rather than the investor paying additional TER. SEBI’s intentions behind this move are good, but we are unsure if AMCs will use this additional amount to expand their penetration in the tier 2 and tier 3 cities diligently. Moreover, unnecessary branch opening by the AMCs in the race to garner assets (as has been evidenced in the past) may eventually lead to mis-selling for the schemes.”

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Will the industry survive the Direct attack? Business Standard Three years after the game changing moves that put the focus on mutual fund investors, the market regulator announced several changes to the mutual fund regime. This time, the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) appeared to have balanced ... See all stories on this topic »

Equity NAVs plunge as markets registered losses Moneycontrol.com The Mutual Fund industry however holds optimistic approach for the markets in the coming year. Sunil Singhania of Reliance Mutual Fund in an interview with CNBC-TV18 said that the increased optimism in the market is to due to regular flow of positive ... See all stories on this topic » Moneycontrol.com

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AOPA Sweepstakes' Beech Debonair gets Garmin avionics upgrades

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Twitter / AOPA: From our friends at @AvWeb: ... Instantly connect to what's most important to you. Follow your friends, experts, favorite celebrities, and breaking news. https://twitter.com/AOPA/status/275751721660211201

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