TELE-HEALTHCARE FOR OVERSEAS BANGLADESHI WORKERS

A Bangladeshi company is taking telemedicine to an innovative level, by promoting medical care among its two million overseas workers, many of whom have limited access to decent healthcare.
The Dhaka-based Telemedicine Reference Centre Ltd (TRCL), which innovated and successfully introduced telemedicine facility in Bangladesh for the local population, now plans to launch a similar service worldwide this April.
"For only US$1 (RM3.50), any Bangladeshi worker overseas, whether they are in Malaysia or the Gulf, can dial a local number to reach our 24/7 (24 hours, seven days a week) call centre to consult our doctors.
"No country can provide total healthcare for the migrant population, so we provide the consultation, whether its for common cold or stomach pain, and in serious cases, we refer to the nearest hospital in the (respective) country," TRCL founder and managing director Dr Sikder M. Zakir told Bernama.
TRCL, a brainchild of Dr Sikder, a physician himself, would collaborate with foreign telecommunication

Sony Ericsson hopes new phones will be big in US

Spain -
Sony Ericsson, a big but struggling maker of phones internationally, wants to be more than a bit player in the U.S. It plans to get there by giving U.S. consumers what they want: phones similar to the iPhone.
The strategy is much like the comeback recipe of U.S.-based Motorola Inc., which has hit on hard times since its Razr phone fell from popularity. It's revamping itself as a maker of smart phones running Google Inc.'s Android software.
Sony Ericsson announced that it was making its first Android phone, the Xperia X10, in November. This week, it revealed two more in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress, the world's largest cell phone trade show. It hasn't announced a deal with a U.S. carrier yet, but the venture's president, Bert Nordberg, hinted that the devices would likely be carried by AT&T Inc.
That would be good news for Sony Ericsson, whose previous flagship smart phone, the Windows-powered Xperia X1, wasn't sold by any U.S. carrier. Since carriers (also known as operators in the industry) subsidize expensive phones, they're the gatekeepers of the U.S. phone market.
"If you want to be big in America you need to work with the operator," Nordberg said.
Sony Ericsson has also been hamstrung in the U.S. market because its phones work fully only on AT&T's network. Nordberg said it would adapt future models to other U.S. providers, but didn't give any specifics.
The X10 is a keyboard-less touch-screen phone very similar to the iPhone. The X10 mini, announced at the show, has the same layout but is half the size, an unusual design for a smart phone. The X10 mini pro looks the same, but features a slide-out keyboard. Prices were not announced.
The joint venture of LM Ericsson AB of Sweden and Sony Corp. of Japan sold 14.6 million phones in the fourth quarter, making it the world's fourth-largest phone maker, just ahead of Motorola. The two have been trading places as No. 4 for a while. Nokia Corp., LG Electronics Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. are all bigger. Yet Motorola is much bigger in the U.S. market, where consumers are enamored with expensive smart phones.
"With the portfolio we launched now, we think we have unfairly low market share in the U.S.," Nordberg said.
Sony Ericsson's revenue has been plunging, as has Motorola's, and for similar reasons.
Motorola rode high for a few years on the success of the Razr, then failed to come up with a new hit. Sony Ericsson's "chief creation officer," Rikko Sakaguchi, said his company focused too much on its Cybershot camera phones and Walkman music phones. They were popular for a while, but faded when the iPhone entered the scene. The "camera" and "music" tags became too closely associated with the phones, he said, even though the capabilities of the phones went beyond those functions.
"More and more, people starting saying: `I want something more, so I don't want a Walkman phone,'" Sakaguchi said.
Retooling for a new type of phone has taken time, and the attendant sales dip has cost jobs. In April, Sony Ericsson announced a plan to cut 20 percent of its 10,000 positions. It closed locations around the world, including its development center in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Missionaries freed by Haitian judge land in US

Eight American missionaries freed by a Haitian judge landed in Miami early Thursday, nearly three weeks after the group was charged with kidnapping for trying to take 33 children out of the quake-stricken country.
A U.S. Air Force C-130 cargo plane carrying the Americans landed at 12:04 a.m. at Miami International Airport, said Lt. Kenneth Scholz of the U.S. Southern Command. The group still hadn't emerged from customs as of early Thursday.
The group's swift departure from Haiti began a day earlier when Judge Bernard Saint-Vil said eight of the 10 missionaries were free to leave without bail because parents of the children had testified they voluntarily gave their children to the missionaries believing the Americans would give them a better life.
"The parents gave their kids away voluntarily," Saint-Vil said in explaining his decision.
He said, however, that he still wanted to question the group's leader, Laura Silsby, and her former nanny, Charisa Coulter, because they had visited Haiti prior to the quake to inquire about obtaining orphans.
Just after dusk in Haiti, the bedraggled, sweat-stained group of eight walked out of the jail escorted by U.S. diplomats. They waited until they were safely inside a white embassy van before some flashed smiles and gave a thumbs up to reporters. Their plane took off from Port-au-Prince shortly thereafter as a group of reporters watched.
Silas Thompson, 19, of Twin Falls, Idaho, plopped into the back seat, breathing heavily and beaming with relief. He'd accompanied his father Paul, a pastor, on the mission not knowing that Silsby had not obtained the proper papers, said his U.S.-based lawyer, Caleb Stegall.
The missionaries were charged with child kidnapping for trying to take 33 Haitian children to the Dominican Republic on Jan. 29 without Haitian adoption certificates.
Their detentions came just as aid officials were urging a halt to short-cut adoptions in the wake of the earthquake. Before their release, Haiti's No. 2 justice official, Claudy Gassent, informed them of the judge's decision but said he also gave them a lecture.
"They know they broke the law," he said.
The missionaries say they were on a do-it-youself "rescue mission" to take child quake victims to a hastily prepared orphanage in the Dominican Republic, denying the trafficking charge.
Silsby originally said they were taking only orphaned and abandoned children, but The Associated Press determined that at least 20 were handed over willingly by their parents, who said the Baptists had promised to educate them and let their parents visit.
Saint-Vil said he did not release Silsby, 47, or Coulter, 24, because of their previous activities in Haiti during a December visit. Silsby hastily enlisted the rest of the group after the quake. Coulter, of Boise, Idaho, is diabetic and the judge signed an order Wednesday afternoon authorizing her hospitalization

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Fox Business signs up ex-CNBC editor Gasparino

News Corp's Fox Business Network said it has recruited rival network CNBC's former on-air editor Charles Gasparino to a multiyear deal, adding talent to the relatively young business news network.
Gasparino is best known for breaking numerous stories on major U.S. banking names like Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, particularly during the peak of the financial crisis.
He will debut February 22, taking on the role of senior correspondent working on market updates and breaking news. He will also make occasional appearances on sister network Fox News, a Fox Business spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
"I've been following Charlie for years, he's a terrific business journalist and a great character, making for great TV," Kevin Magee, executive vice president for Fox Business, told Reuters.
In the last year or so, Gasparino developed a tense on-air relationship with some of his fellow CNBC presenters, including a famous meltdown with Dylan Ratigan, who left CNBC last year.
"He has the demeanor and attitude that will do better at Fox Business than he's been able to elsewhere," said Magee.
Gasparino's last day with CNBC was last Friday according to CNBC spokesman. "We thank Charles for all his quality contributions and wish him the best," said CNBC's Brian Steel.
Fox has been aiming to raise the profile and ratings of its two-year-old network by recruiting talent like radio host Don Imus for its morning show.
Veteran business journalist and news anchor Lou Dobbs was widely expected to surface at Fox after he quit CNN in November.
There were reports last year that he had met with Fox News chief Roger Ailes, but Dobbs has yet to be unveiled as a presenter on any Fox channel.
Since its launch in October 2007, Fox Business has struggled against CNBC's ratings dominance in U.S. business television.
Fox Business says it is available in just over 50 million U.S. homes, compared with the roughly 95 million homes that receive CNBC in North America.

Despite the scheduled holiday

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA (AP) - Despite the scheduled holiday, schoolsin Gwinnett County were open on Monday. The forecast called for the threat of possible snow mixed withthe morning rain. But Friday's snow has melted from the highways,and the district held classes on Presidents Day as a make-up dayfor snow days earlier this winter. Many other districts around the state were closed for theholiday. Schools in Fannin and Union counties were scheduled to beopen, but were closed Monday because icy weather in north Georgia. Numerous private schools also closed.

Police say

STOCKBRIDGE, GA (AP) - Police say a 35-year-old Snellville manis being held at the Henry County jail on a murder charge in thedeath of his girlfriend, a second-grade teacher. Henry County Police Captain Jason Bolton says 34-year-old KinayaSchenese Byrd was stabbed Friday during a quarrel at her home inStockbridge. Bolton says 35-year-old Dana McFarlane was driving in RockdaleCounty when he flagged down a sheriff's lieutenant and turnedhimself in. Byrd taught at River's Edge Elementary School in Clayton County.