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Statistics just published by the European Commission show a significant increase in the amount of counterfeit and pirated articles seized at the EU's external borders in 2006. Customs officials seized more than 250 million of such articles in 2006 compared with 75 million in 2005 and 100 million in 2004. Medicines, cigarettes and other goods that can seriously damage the health of consumers continue to be faked in large quantities. Changes in the routes used by criminals to trade in fake goods, the use of the internet and the transport of small quantities by air or postal traffic make customs job even more challenging. However, customs' reply has never been as high as in 2006 with more than 36.000 seizures, an increase of around 40% compared with 2005.

The newly released J.D. Power and Associates 2007 U.S. Wireless Mobile Phone Evaluation Study (SM) - Volume 1 reports that SANYO ranked highest in customer satisfaction with wireless mobile phones in a tie in 2007.

In the United States, the battle on immigration has intensified as the White House and Congressional leaders debate over compromise legislation on this issue. But concerns over immigration and what to do about it are not limited to the U.S. Two-thirds (67%) of British adults, 55 percent of adults in both Germany and Italy and 45 percent of adults in Spain believe there are too many immigrants in their country.

The current prominence of telepresence augurs well for the future of the visual communications industry. The huge investments in promoting telepresence made in 2006 by Cisco in particular have generated greater awareness...

74 percent of respondents to GFC/Net Media Barometer say economic patriotism is a crucial issue or likely to intensify.

All sectors of Africa’s telecom markets continue to be among the fastest growing in the world, thanks largely to the rapid take-up of mobile phones and roll-out of networks. With fixed-line and Internet penetration at little more than 3% and mobile penetration at around 15%, enormous opportunities continue to exist for telecommunications service providers, equipment vendors and investors.

Majorities around the world believe that China will catch up with the United States economically. It's a prospect that leaves most of those polled - even Americans - unperturbed. In no country do most people think that this would be mostly negative, finds a multinational poll by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and WorldPublicOpinion.org. Majorities in every country polled believe this would be either equally positive and negative or mostly positive.

A new survey sponsored by RightNow Technologies and conducted by Harris Interactive(R) underscores a significant opportunity for online retailers. Nearly 50 percent of consumers (48%) say they have increased shopping online "a great deal" or "somewhat" in the past five years.

Marking its 20th consecutive quarter of server shipment leadership, HP once again was No. 1 in total server units shipped, according to first calendar quarter 2007 server market figures released by industry analyst firm IDC.

In its Economic Outlook last Autumn, the OECD took the view that the US slowdown was not heralding a period of worldwide economic weakness, unlike, for instance, in 2001. Rather, a “smooth” rebalancing was to be expected, with Europe taking over the baton from the United States in driving OECD growth.