World’s youngest grandmother – aged just 23 ( Uber Fact)

• She gave birth at 12 to daughter who fell pregnant at 11
• She says marrying young is ‘tradition’ in Romanian gypsy circles

A gypsy wife has become the world’s youngest grandmother – aged just 23. Rifca Stanescu, from the village of Investi, Romania, told how she gave birth to her daughter, Maria, while only 12. Despite her mother’s pleas to stay in school, Maria gave birth to son Ion at the age of 11. Rifca, now 25, told the Sun: ‘I am happy to be a grandmother but I wished something else for Maria – and something else for me. ’Ion is a good boy – and he is already engaged to a girl aged 8. Boys are always good to have – they don’t have to suffer as much girls I think.’

Born in 1985, Rifca defied her family’s wishes and ran away with jewellery seller Ionel Stanescu when she was 11 and he was 13.

A year after they were married, Rifca fell pregnant with Maria.

She said: ‘I wanted to marry him, so I agreed, and of course after we had spent the night together then there was no way anyone could separate us. I had been promised to another boy’s family since I was two years old but I didn’t want that.’

In gypsy culture virginity is greatly prized and women are married young so that new husbands can be sure their new wives are virgins who affect a good dowry from the families of prospective husbands. Loss of virginity means a deal is cancelled.

She added: ‘Before that there was a lot of fighting – once my father had even attacked my husband with a knife. He wanted him to pay 500,000 lei in compensation. My family even took me home but after three days I ran away again to be with him.’

After Maria’s birth, Ionel’s family paid Rifca’s father a dowry and all was settled. Maria’s birth made Rifca’s mother a grandmother aged 40. Rifca said she begged daughter Maria to stay in school and finish her education. Maria decided to follow in her footsteps and marry herself. Within six months she too had fallen pregnant with Ion.  She told how in Romanian gypsy community it is common for couples to marry young. Rifca added: ‘I did not try to stop my daughter getting married because this is the tradition, it’s what happens.’ The youngest British grandmother was an unnamed 26-year-old from Rotherham, Yorkshire whose 12-year-old daughter gave birth in 1999.

Hamilton won Brazilian Grand Prix and Sebastian Vettel became 3rd time Champion

Vettel shook off a first-lap crash and other difficulties to finish sixth at the Brazilian Grand Prix, good enough to protect his lead over challenger Fernando Alonso and become F1’s youngest three-time champion at age 25. 

Sebastian Vettel found himself spinning around on the track just after the start, watching helplessly as other cars whizzed past him. His Formula One title hopes seemed to be drifting away with them. 

It was only the start of Vettel’s problems Sunday in what he called the toughest race of his career. But he overcame all of them and walked away with the only prize that mattered his third straight championship title. 

Vettel shook off a first-lap crash and other difficulties to finish sixth at the Brazilian Grand Prix, good enough to protect his lead over challenger Fernando Alonso and become F1’s youngest three—time champion at age 25. 

“It’s very difficult to find the right words, especially after the race today,” he said. “Everything that could go wrong went wrong.” 

Jenson Button of McLaren won the race at Interlagos, with Alonso second and Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa third. Seven—time world champion Michael Schumacher, F1’s most successful driver, finished seventh in his final race after 19 seasons. 

But they were all overshadowed by Vettel, who had to overcome a poor start, the early crash, a damaged car, a broken radio, a botched pit stop and pouring rain to capture the championship title. 

“Just look at the stuff that went wrong. It was for sure the toughest race,” Vettel said.

 “We kept believing. It was never game over.” 

Vettel appeared to be in big trouble when he was bumped shortly after the start and spun.

He dropped to last place before he could turn his car around and begin a difficult pursuit.

But he steadily worked his way up the field despite a slightly damaged car and no radio communication. 

“You are the man, you are a triple world champion,” a team official told Vettel on the radio after he crossed the line, without being able to hear the driver’s response. 

Vettel is the first driver with three titles in a row since Schumacher won five straight from 2000—04. The only other driver to win at least three consecutive championships was Juan Manuel Fangio from 1954—57. 

“It’s unbelievable,” Vettel said. “It’s still full of adrenaline. Incredible race today.”

Schumacher was the first to congratulate Vettel, having just bid his own farewell to the sport. Minutes before the race, he lapped the track with a flag with the words “Thank You” written on it. He used the radio to thank the mechanics and engineers he has worked with, as well as his fans watching on television. 

The 43—year—old German is retiring for the second time after struggling in his return with Mercedes. He had ended his career following the 2006 season and managed only one podium finish after retuning in 2010, at the European GP in July. 

Schumacher is leaving F1 with numbers unmatched by any other driver. He retires with the most wins (91), pole positions (68), fastest laps (77) and most podium finishes (155). 

Vettel needed to finish fourth or better to clinch the title regardless of Alonso’s result. The Spaniard, who needed to finish on the podium to have a chance of overtaking Vettel, looked to have the advantage after a superb start and a chaotic first lap, but in the end couldn’t erase Vettel’s 13-point lead in the standings. 

Lewis Hamilton was leading in his final race with McLaren when Nico Hulkenberg crashed into him while trying to pass on a slippery track with 17 laps to go. Hamilton received a standing ovation from his McLaren team when he returned to the garage. 

“I feel a bit numb,” said Hamilton, who will replace Schumacher at Mercedes next season. 

“It’s been a day of mixed emotions. I’m sad that I didn’t finish the race, but I’m excited about the future.”

While the race was filled with drama and potentially title—deciding swings, it had an anticlimactic finish behind the safety car after Paul Di Resta crashed just before the final lap. That meant Vettel could simply cruise safely toward the title. 

It rained on and off throughout the race, making conditions difficult and forcing drivers to come in and out of the pits several times. 

“It was more or less was what we wanted, mixed conditions and very, very difficult race,” Alonso said. “It was one of the most difficult races we ever drove. You feel you are with the wrong tire every lap. It was a risk to crash and have an accident on every lap. 

Obviously you are not in control of what your rivals do. We were hoping for a little miracle.” 

And for a while, they had reason to believe in one. 

Alonso moved from seventh to fifth after the first corner, while Vettel dropped from fourth to seventh. Vettel then was hit from behind by the Williams of Bruno Senna and spun at the end of the back straightaway, dropping to last place after sitting backward on the track with several cars having to go around him. 

“I had a lot of cars coming and I was in the wrong way,” Vetter said. 

Moments later, Alonso passed Massa and Vettel’s Red Bull teammate Mark Webber at the same time to move to third. 

But the Spaniard lost a position after locking his front tire and briefly running off the track at the first corner. Vettel began making his way back to the front, easily passing the slower cars near the end of the pack. He was already in sixth by lap 15. 

Alonso briefly had the title in his hands again after more rain fell with 14 laps to go. Red Bull lost time while putting the wet tires on Vettel’s car, dropping him to 11th place while Alonso moved into third. 

“The (tires) weren’t ready because we had no radio communication, they couldn’t hear me,” Vettel said. 

But after all cars pitted, Vettel was back in sixth place. Alonso moved to second after passing Massa, but he needed Vettel to drop a few more spots to take the title. 

Vettel got off to a slow start this season, winning only once in the first 13 races, but he eventually picked up the pace with Red Bull and won four straight beginning at the Singapore GP to get back in contention for the title. 

“We really had to fight until the end,” Vettel said.

Lewis Hamilton wins U.S. GP

The Formula One title battle between Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso will go down to the wire in Brazil after McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton won the U.S. Grand Prix on Sunday. 

Championship leader Vettel finished second after starting his 100th career F1 race on pole position while Alonso remained in contention with third place and is now 13 points adrift of the German with one race left. 

While Vettel was denied a third straight title, Red Bull was able to celebrate the constructors’ title — becoming only the fourth team in the 62-year history of the sport to take the championship three years in a row. 

“It’s incredible, something that everyone throughout the team has worked incredibly hard for and to have achieved it is something...I’m speechless really,” said team principal Christian Horner. 

Vettel needs to finish only fourth in the Sao Paulo finale to take the title but the weather at Interlagos can be fickle and the wily and consistent Alonso cannot be ruled out for what would also be his third title. 

“The race unfortunately hinged on one backmarker who didn’t use his mirrors, that was the difference,” said Horner after Hamilton passed Vettel for the lead on lap 42 after the German had lost time behind Indian Narain Karthikeyan’s HRT. 

Hamilton, winner of the last U.S. Grand Prix staged in the United States five years ago, had been second at the start with Alonso lining up seventh. 

The Spaniard would have started eighth but Brazilian Felipe Massa took a five-place penalty to move his Ferrari teammate to the clean side of the grid. 

“A first-time winner. I’m so happy,” beamed Hamilton, interviewed by U.S. Formula One great Mario Andretti on the podium, of picking up where he left at Indianapolis in 2007 by winning the first race at the new Circuit of the Americas. 

While Vettel and Red Bull teammate Mark Webber got away quickly, Alonso made his move and was fourth after the first corner. 

The Spaniard was gifted another spot on lap 17 when Webber retired with an alternator problem in a worrying development for Red Bull. 

Needing to finish fourth or better to keep Vettel from clinching the title if the German won the race, Alonso kept his Ferrari near the top of the leaderboard for the entire race while Massa finished fourth. 

Hamilton’s teammate Jenson Button was fifth after an outstanding drive while Kimi Raikkonen, winner in Abu Dhabi two weeks earlier, was sixth for Lotus.

Train accident with school bus kills 48 kids, 3 adults in Egypt

A speeding train that crashed into a bus carrying Egyptian children to their kindergarten on Saturday has killed 51 people and prompted a wave of anger against a government under mounting pressure to rectify the former regime's legacy of neglect. 

The crash, which killed 48 children between four and six years old and three adults, led to local protests and accusations from outraged Egyptians that President Mohammed Morsi is failing to deliver on the demands of last year's uprising for basic rights, dignity and social justice. 

The accident left behind a mangled shell of a bus twisted underneath the blood-splattered train outside the city of Assiut, some 200 miles south of Cairo. Children's body parts, their books, schoolbags and tiny socks were strewn along the tracks. 

Several hours after the accident, Morsi appeared on state television, promising an investigation and financial compensation for victims' families. His transport minister and the head of Egypt's railways resigned. 

The response, his critics say, comes too little too late. For months, transport workers have been complaining about poor management and poor working conditions.

Android systems running on 3 out of 4 smartphones in worldwide

Almost three out of four of smartphones around the world are now running the Android mobile operating system, a new report has said. 

According to IT market research firm Gartner, Google’s mobile OS now has a 72.4 per cent share of the market for mobile operating systems, a massive increase from the 52.5 per cent it held a year ago. 

Samsung’s wildly popular smartphones accounted for a big portion of that gain, with the South Korean tech giant shipping 55 million units, the majority of which run on Android, the Daily Mail reports. 

According to the survey, Apple, whose devices run on its own proprietary iOS software, sold around 23.5 million phones over the same period, the third quarter of 2012. 

That was up from 17.3 million a year ago, but the rise was not enough to stop the market share of the Silicon Valley company’s operating system slipping from 15 per cent to 13.9 per cent, the paper said. 

According to the paper, the survey said the fall in Apple’s market share could have been a result of users around the world waiting for the release of the iPhone 5 in their countries. 

“With the launch of iPhone 5, Gartner analysts expect iOS share will grow strongly in the fourth quarter of 2012 because users held on to their replacements in many markets ahead of the iPhone 5 wider roll out,” the firm added.

Novak Djokovic beat Federer in championship match at the ATP finals

Novak Djokovic at championship match at the ATP finals 2012

The top-ranked Serb recovered from early breaks in both sets and beat Federer 7-6(6), 7-5 on Monday in the championship match at the ATP finals. 

Federer broke Djokovic’s serve to take a quick 2-0 lead in the first set, and then again to open to the second set, but both times the World No.1 player rebounded to get back into the match. 

“Maybe a bit of regret because I had the lead twice first before him,” Federer said. “At the end of the day, that doesn’t matter. You have to get over the finish line in the set and then obviously at the match. He was better at that today.” 

The crowd at the O2 Arena was decidedly in Federer’s favour, but they cheered loudly throughout the match as both made spectacular shots. 

The highlight for Federer came in the tiebreaker with Djokovic holding his second set point. 

Djokovic hit a forehand drop shot with Federer up at the net. The ball drifted past the second-ranked Swiss, but he chased it down and whacked a forehand winner to even the score at 6-6. 

Two points later, however, and Djokovic was the one celebrating, ending the set with a forehand winner on his third set point. 

To start the second set, Federer broke Djokovic for the third time and then held all the way to 5-3. A game later and serving for the set, Federer had two set points but he put a forehand wide and a then forehand into the net. 

Two more Federer mistakes put Djokovic back on serve and back on track for the title. The Serb closed it out with a backhand passing winner to improve his head-to-head record against Federer to 3-2 this year, and 13-16 overall. 

“I shouldn’t have been broken as often as I was broken today,” said Federer, who lost his serve twice in each set. “But then again, that obviously has something to do with Novak, as well.” 

Federer finished the match with 30 winners, 11 more than Djokovic. But he also had 42 unforced errors many of them coming from his often dominant forehand while Djokovic had only 28. 

“Obviously I was going to try to go after my shots and not just hand it to him. That’s just how I play tennis,” Federer said. “If I have 80 errors and I win the match, I don’t care. I really don’t.”

It was Djokovic’s second victory at the year-end tournament for the top eight players in the world. He also won in 2008, when the tournament was in Shanghai.

Federer, who is now 15-3 in Britain this year after winning his seventh Wimbledon title and the Olympic silver medal, had been looking for his record seventh title.

And he came close to winning it.

Both players finished the match winning 58 percent of their service points and 42 percent of their return points. Overall, Djokovic only won one more point in the match, getting 96 to Federer’s 95. 

But on many of the big points, particularly late in the sets, it was Djokovic that ended up on the winning side of the net. 

In the semifinals on Sunday, Federer had beaten Andy Murray 7-6(5), 6-2. 

Close affair

In the doubles final, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, making their debut as a pair at the elite event, lost 7-5, 3-6, 10-3 to sixth seeds Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez. 

No Indian pair has ever won the year-end finale, although Leander Paes and Bhupathi have reached the finals thrice together. 

This is now the fifth time that Bhupathi has ended runners-up at the event, where world’s top-8 teams compete for the championship. With Paes he had made the final in 1997, 1999 and 2000 and with Max Mirnyi in 2010.

Bhupathi and Bopanna, thus, end the 2012 season and their partnership with two titles — Dubai and the Paris Masters.

Granollers and Lopez became the second Spanish team to win the season-ending championships. The only other Spanish duo to win the championship are Juan Gisbert Sr and Manuel Orantes in 1975 at Stockholm. 

The Spaniards took a 2-1 lead in the first set, after Granollers hit three successive forehands at Bopanna, who hit a backhand volley into the net on the deciding point. 

However, Lopez was broken in the next game. 

At 5-5, Bhupathi misplaced two serves to trail 0-30. Bhupathi made two more backhand volley errors, off the Granollers forehand. 

Serving for the set, Lopez faced sudden death deuce and break point, but Granollers intercepted a backhand volley to clinch the first set in 43 minutes. 

Midway through the second set, at 3-4, the Indians set up two break point chances at 30-40. Lopez recouped one point, but on the deciding point Granollers committed a forehand error. 

Bopanna then closed out the set with the team’s fifth ace of the set. 

Clever inter-play and defence by Granollers and Lopez gave them a 4-0 lead in the match tie-break, in which neither Bhupathi nor Bopanna could keep their volleys in. 

Soon the Spanish team was leading 9-3 and then wrapped up the match when Bhupathi hit a forehand volley long.

Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7

The latest version of Microsoft’s Web browser is now available to the vast audience connecting to the internet on personal computers running on the Windows 7 operating system. 

The redesigned browser, Internet Explorer 10, made its debut last month when Microsoft released Windows 8, which makes dramatic changes to an operating system that has been powering PCs for decades. 

Internet Explorer 10 initially is being introduced on Tuesday to Windows 7 users in a “preview,” or test, mode. The new browser isn’t compatible with XP, Vista and any other older Windows version. 

Although Internet Explorer 10 is supposed to process Web pages more quickly and smoothly than its predecessors, it may have limited appeal to Windows 7 users. 

That’s because Microsoft primarily designed Internet Explorer 10 for tablet computers and other devices, including a new breed of PCs that have touch-screen displays. Relatively few Windows 7 PCs can be controlled with fingers on a display screen. 

Microsoft is hoping many website developers will download and install Internet Explorer 10 on their Windows 7 machines and see the browser’s potential for making online services more compelling and dynamic. If that happens, more websites may include features that take advantage of Internet Explorer 10’s full capabilities on the bevy of Windows 8 machines expected to be sold during the next year, said Ryan Gavin, Microsoft’s general manager for the browser. 

Internet Explorer 10’s main purpose is to make viewing websites as enjoyable and convenient as using applications tailor-made for specific mobile devices. 

For instance, when reading an article on a news site, users of Internet Explorer 10 can just swipe across the screen to continue reading the next page instead of having to scroll down to click on a link, as most browsers require.

Obama backs on US President cont.....

President Barack Obama, joined by his wife Michelle, Vice President Joe Biden and his
spouse Jill,acknowledge applause after delivering his victory speech to supporters in Chicago

After waiting patiently for more than five hours, the crowd at McCormick Place near the heart of downtown Chicago, erupted in a reverberating cheer as their newly-re-elected President, Barack Obama finally emerged on stage accompanied by his wife and daughters. 

Mr. Obama, his voice hoarse from a brutally relentless final week of the campaign blitz, seemed equally fired up as he outlined his vision for America’s future in an emotional speech. While he promised that “the best is yet to come,” he equally appeared to call for bipartisan support in tackling some of the country’s greatest current challenges. 

He said, “By itself, the recognition that we have common hopes and dreams won't end all the gridlock, resolve all our problems or substitute for the painstaking work of building consensus and making the difficult compromises needed to move this country forward.” Yet offering a starting point for cooperation, he argued that “the common bond” was where the two parties ought to begin. 

That bond was however truly tested and stretched during many months of campaigning, as conflicting views on every subject from job-creation to women’s reproductive rights appeared to drive the two parties further apart. 

However, on Tuesday night, Mr. Obama sealed Mr. Romney’s fate when won resoundingly in battleground states such as Ohio, Iowa, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Colorado and Wisconsin. The outcome in Florida, Virginia and Nevada was still not decided, yet Mr. Obama secured 303 electoral college votes, well above the 270 required to win the presidency. Mr. Romney cornered 206 votes. 

Undisputed though his victory was, the President doubtless realised that his strong mandate may be blunted yet again by a truculent Congressional opposition, whose ranks hardly affected by the vote. 

In the House of Representatives, specifically, Republicans succeeded in maintaining their grip on the balance of power as they were projected by the Associated Press to win 224 seats and were leading in 15 more. In the Senate the Democrats managed to cling on to a total of 51 seats, while the Republicans faced a slight reduction in their numbers, to 45 seats. 

While Mr. Obama’s dramatic win this evening means that there will unlikely be any further question of repealing his landmark healthcare reform package nationally, he may well have to rely extensively on Congressional support to pass further such game-changing legislation, including comprehensive immigration reform. 

He will also find himself in a profoundly challenging policy environment again at the end of the upcoming “lame duck” session, when he will have to sit down with members of Congress to thrash out a solution to the looming fiscal cliff problem that could wreak havoc upon public expenditures and lead to further economic hardships if unresolved. 

Possibly indicating that forging a bipartisan consensus would be a top policy agenda item for him, he noted in his victory speech, “Now, we will disagree, sometimes fiercely, about how to get [to our future]. As it has for more than two centuries, progress will come in fits and starts. It's not always a straight line. It's not always a smooth path.” 

House of Representatives Speaker, John Boehner seemed to echo this sentiment when said in his reaction to Mr. Obama’s victory, “If there is a mandate, it is a mandate for both parties to find common ground and take steps together to help our economy grow and create jobs, which is critical to solving our debt.” Yet Mr. Boehner was also keen to stay close to his party’s core principles. He added, “The American people also made clear there’s no mandate for raising tax rates.” 

However Mr. Obama too put out a clear indication that he would not be backing down from the fundamental values of the Democratic Party, arguing. “We want our children to live in an America that isn't burdened by debt, that isn't weakened up by inequality, that isn't threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet.”

Leader Hails Obama

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday led a chorus of European praise for Barack Obama, with the United States’ traditional allies looking to yet more openness and better trade ties from the President’s second mandate. 

“I look forward to continuing this (cooperation), so that both our countries can continue to work side-by-side to master the most important foreign and economic challenges that we face as friends and allies.” 

Ms. Merkel cited the pair’s past “close and friendly cooperation” regarding the ongoing financial crisis, peacekeeping in Afghanistan and efforts to control Iran’s nuclear programme. 

British PM David Cameron stressed cooperation on efforts to revive the world economy and resolve diplomatic conundrums, such as the Syrian conflict, as the key issues facing transatlantic relations over the next four years. 

“There are so many things that we need to do: we need to kick start the world economy and I want to see an EU-US trade deal,” Mr. Cameron said in a statement issued during his current tour of the Middle East. 

“Right here in Jordan I am hearing appalling stories about what has happened inside Syria, so one of the first things I want to talk to Barack about is how we must do more to try and solve this crisis,” Mr. Cameron said. 

In his congratulatory message to Mr. Obama, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh referred to the association between the two leaders over the past four years and recalled that cooperation between the two countries has not only been advanced across the full spectrum of ties but engagement has been deepened. 

In Brussels, European Union President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Mr. Obama should help them address “global challenges, including in the fields of security and economy.” They also highlighted efforts to “unlock the unparalleled potential of the trans-Atlantic market” as a priority. 

French President Francois Hollande congratulated Mr. Obama on his re-election as US president, saying voters had made the choice of “an open America” that believes in solidarity and multilateralism.

“It’s an important moment for the United States but also for the world,” Mr. Hollande said in a message to Mr. Obama. 

“Your re-election is a clear choice in favour of an open America that shows solidarity and is fully committed to the international stage and aware of our planet’s challenges: peace, the economy and the environment,” he said. 

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt praised Mr. Obama’s “inclusive campaign” but noted that Mr. Obama faced major challenges since Congress was politically divided, and it remained to be seen how the President would be able to carry out his economic policy. 

Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said he had “no complaints” about Mr. Obama, despite describing himself as a conservative, while Belgian Prime Minister Elio di Rupo said Americans had opted for “a more just and more tolerant America.” 

“Your re—election is a clear choice in favor of an America that is open, unified, completely engaged in the international scene and conscious of the challenges facing our planet- peace, the economy and the environment.” French President Francois Hollande.

Other reactions

“When you were elected in 2008, you inspired the world with a call to take responsibility for the problems we face as global citizens. Since then, you have made earnest efforts to live up to that great hope and trust placed in you by the American public. I believe you have been re-elected now in recognition of that effort,” said the Dalai Lama. 

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen: “The bond between Europe and North America, based upon the shared values on which our alliance was founded over 60 years ago, remains as strong, and as important to the preservation of Euro—Atlantic peace and security, as ever. President Obama has demonstrated outstanding leadership in maintaining this vital bond.” 

“I will continue to work with President Obama to preserve the strategic interests of Israel’s citizens,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has had a strained relationship with the American president over Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

“During the last four years when Obama was U.S. president, no breakthrough happened in relations between Iran and the US. At the beginning of his first term the situation was a bit better, but as he went on the relations got much worse, with the sanctions being imposed. So I think the outcome of the elections that was just held will not make any difference for Iran,” said Amir Karimi, a resident of the Iranian capital, Tehran. 

“As a mother and as a grandmother who raises boy children, I think that the symbolism of having a black man occupy the highest office is something that can make my children very aspirational to know that this is possible, you know, in their lifetime” said Zindzi Mandela, daughter of former South African President Nelson Mandela.

Microsoft to drop Messenger, switch to Skype

Microsoft is dropping its instant-messaging program and forcing most users to switch to Skype. 

Maintaining Windows Live Messenger made less sense after Microsoft Corp. bought Skype for $8.5 billion last year. A new version of Skype released a few weeks ago allows users to sign in with a Microsoft account. By merging the two services, people won’t have to maintain two separate contact lists. 

Microsoft said much has changed in how people communicate. There’s more use of text messaging and social networking. 

Microsoft said that Messenger users, who switch to Skype, will get benefits such as the ability to call landline and mobile phones and better support on mobile devices. 

Except for mainland China, Messenger will be discontinued worldwide after the first quarter of 2013.

Galaxy Note II sales cross 30 million units

Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday it has sold more than 30 million Galaxy Note II smartphones in a little over a month after its launch, as the company vies to keep its lead over rivals during the crucial holiday quarter. 

The South Korean firm, which was the world’s largest maker of smartphones in the July-September quarter, said it took 37 days for the oversize smartphone to reach the sales figure. 

The Note II was released first in South Korea in September and in the U.S. and other countries in the following month. 

Samsung’s Note category took off in the market, overcoming skepticism about its big size making it look awkward when held close to the face. 

The Note was one of the few 5-inch smartphone in the market when the first model was unveiled last year, making some people believe it would become a “tweener” that is neither a tablet nor a smartphone. 

But phone manufacturers began to expand screen sizes this year. Even Apple released a bigger iPhone this year. 

The Note series is one of the two key mobile devices from Samsung on the high-end smartphone segment, along with flagship Galaxy S III smartphone, helping Samsung rake in profit for the business division that is responsible for more than 70 percent of the company’s quarterly sales. 

The latest iteration of the Note features a screen measuring 5.5 inches diagonally and a digital pen for note-taking. 

The South Korean firm is pinning its hope on the Note II and the S III to maintain its market lead during the crucial fourth-quarter holiday season, when a number of new gadgets are vying for attention from consumers in the crowded market. 

Research firm IDC said Samsung topped the global smartphone market in the July-September third quarter with 56.3 million sales, more than double Apple’s 26.9 million iPhone sales. The two companies controlled combined 46 percent of the global smartphone market, according to IDC.

Kimi Raikkonen wins Abu Dhabi GP

Kimi Raikkonen won his first race since returning to Formula One in an action-packed Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday and Sebastian Vettel retained the championship lead despite finishing third after starting last on the grid. 

The 2007 world champion Raikkonen, who returned this year from two years of rally driving, got his 19th career win and first since Belgium 2009 after telling his Lotus team “leave me alone, I know what I am doing” — ahead of the title rivals Fernando Alonso of Ferrari and Vettel of Red Bull. 

The German had to work his way up twice from last place, had one more pit stop than the rivals but was also helped by two safety car stages in a day-to-night thriller with plenty of wreckage and Lewis Hamilton forced to retire while leading in the 20th lap with a technical problem.

Once the dust had settled, Vettel had limited the damage in the best possible way after four straight wins and retained the championship lead with 255 points from Alonso (245) into the final two season races. Raikkonen is out of contention on 198 despite the win.

Hamilton won the start from pole as Alonso moved into fourth place from sixth on the grid while Vettel started out of the pit lane after being punished for not having enough fuel for a sample after originally qualifying in third place.

The German damaged his right front wing early on when he made contact with the Williams of Bruno Senna but was able to carry on and was already up in 13th when the safety car had to come out in the 10th lap after a scary crash.

Nico Rosberg drove his Mercedes into the HRT of Narain Karthikeyan, lifted off the ground, flew over the other car and into a safety barrier. Both drivers walked away unharmed from the incident which occurred because Karthikeyan’s steering broke.

Vettel’s front wing was then damaged beyond repair during the safety car phase when he smacked into a speed board on the side of the track as he tried to evade the slow Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo ahead of him — and had to start again from the back at the restart in the 15th lap.

While the German worked his way up a second time, Hamilton suffered the agony of a retirement five laps later in leading position. “We have lost all power,” he was told via team radio.

That was good news for Alonso’s title ambitions and the Spaniard did his part as well by passing Maldonado in the next lap for second place behind Raikkonen, who boldly told his team “leave me alone, I know what I am doing” when informed he was five seconds ahead of Alonso.

Raikkonen retained the lead through the pit stops, with Vettel sensationally up to second place ahead of Alonso thanks to his pit stop during the safety car phase.

However, the German had to pit again in the 38th and returned in fourth, safely ahead of the next unfolding drama when Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and Mark Webber of Red Bull had to retire in a four-car incident, which sent out the safety car again and led to a stop-and-go penalty for Sergio Perez of Sauber as the main culprit.

While Raikkonen cruised to victory under the floodlights in 1 hour 45 minutes 58.667 seconds, Vettel overtook Jenson Button with three laps left to lose a mere three points on Alonso on the day and into the concluding races in the U.S. on November 18 and Brazil on November 25.

Book publisher gaints "Penguin and Random House" merged and join hands with Amazon and Apple for Ebook

Britain's Pearson and Germany's Bertelsmann plan to merge their publishers Penguin and Random House, aiming to gain the upper hand in their relationship with Amazon and Apple, the leaders in the ebook revolution.

Education and media publisher Pearson said on Monday the joint venture - which will bring under one roof fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett, "Fifty Shades of Grey" author EL James and 2012 Nobel prize winner Mo Yan - would be named Penguin Random House.

Confirmation of a deal came after months of Pearson board discussions and despite an informal approach from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, which was interested in combining Penguin with its own Harper Collins publishing unit, a person familiar with the situation said.

News Corp declined to comment.

"The consumer publishing industry is going through a period of tumultuous change, propelled by digital technologies and the giant companies that dominate them," Pearson Chief Executive Marjorie Scardino said in an email to staff.

"The book publishing industry today is remarkable for being composed of a few large, and a lot of relatively small companies, and there probably isn't room for them all - they're going to have to get together."

Under the plan, Bertelsmann will own 53 percent of the venture and nominate five directors to the board, while Pearson would own the rest and nominate four. Both must retain their stakes in the venture for at least three years.

Penguin chairman and CEO John Makinson will be chairman of the new venture, and Random House CEO Markus Dohle will be its chief executive.

"We will have more than 250 imprints in this company," Dohle said in an interview with Reuters. "We want to preserve and give those imprints even better and richer resources."

The closing of the transaction is scheduled to take place in the second half of 2013, following regulatory approval.

Analysts said they would have preferred a bid from a group such as News Corp, which would have brought cash into the company and enabled Pearson to quit a market that has been hit by the rapid growth of the ebook and the control it has given to major distributors such as Amazon, Apple and Google.

Pearson, however, said the merger would provide significant synergies and the opportunity to spend more on the new technologies transforming the industry.

"Together, the two publishers will be able to share a large part of their costs, to invest more for their author and reader constituencies and to be more adventurous in trying new models in this exciting, fast-moving world of digital books and digital readers," Scardino said.

The two groups said they would save money on joint warehousing, distribution, printing and central functions. They gave no details but UBS estimated possible savings of 10 percent of their combined cost base.

A joint venture will also allow Pearson to retain a link between its education division and the world-renowned Penguin brand. It also avoids a large tax bill in the United States which would have been incurred had Penguin Books been sold.

"We can see why Pearson has chosen this option, but there may be some disappointment there is no outright sale, and especially with the lock-in of the stake," Liberum Capital research group said.

BIGGEST PLAYER

In the first nine months of 2012, Random House was the biggest book publisher in the two major English language markets of the United States and Britain. It was buoyed by the huge success of the "Fifty Shades" trilogy of novels, which sold more than 30 million copies between March and June, evenly divided between the trade paperback and ebook editions. Penguin was second in the U.S. and third in Britain, behind Hachette.

Mike Shatzkin, founder and CEO of book research consulting firm Ideal Logical, said a tie-up would make the joint venture by far the biggest player in the market.

"This is about negotiating power," Shatzkin said. "Random House and Penguin will have so many of the most important books, it's hard to see how any retailers can live without them."

Under the agreement, Pearson said it could sell its stake to Bertelsmann after three years, but if Bertelsmann declined to buy, the joint venture could raise debt to pay both sides a dividend. Either side could require a stock market flotation after five years.

Pearson will include its 47 percent share of the joint venture's profit after tax as an associate in its consolidated statement. While the 47/53 ratio is favorable to Pearson, given the size of the two publishers, the joint venture excludes Bertelsmann's German trade publishing business.

Shares in Pearson were flat at 1,222 pence at 1550 GMT, in line with the broader London market.

On October 3 Scardino said she would step down at the end of 2012 after 16 years, prompting analysts to wonder if the group would sell off its last remaining media assets and focus on its dominant education arm.

Many, however, had focused on whether Pearson would sell the FT Group, which publishes the Financial Times newspaper.

"Basically what people are really hoping for is (clarity) with the FT because that's the family silver and that would show they really have changed. I think they're seeing how it goes. One thing at a time," a top 50 Pearson shareholder said.

Bertelsmann, Europe's biggest media group and owner of European TV broadcaster RTL Group, is also in the middle of an overhaul to catch up with rapidly changing markets.

Random House is strong in Britain and the United States, while Penguin - founded in 1935 by publisher Allen Lane, who decided the mass market needed cheap paperbacks after finding nothing to read at a railway station - is the world's most famous publishing brand, with a strong presence in fast-growing developing markets.

Both groups have had to invest in the launch of ebooks. They made up 22 percent of Random House's global business in the first half of 2012, compared with around 20 percent for Penguin.

Analysts say regulators will want to look at the tie-up to ensure it complies with antitrust laws.

"I don't think they're going to be anxious to approve it. They'll have to think about it and think about where the industry is going and whether this is a necessary response," said Bert Foer, head of the American Antitrust Institute think tank, formerly of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition, and father of three published authors.

In 2011, Random House had revenues of 1.5 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) and operating profit of 161 million. Penguin reported revenues of 1 billion pounds and operating profit of 111 million.

Pearson also published a trading update, showing sales up 5 percent in the first nine months but operating profit down 5 percent, reflecting the sale of assets, acquisition costs and weakness in the British professional training market.