Jumeirah Summer Days at Burj Al-Arab

Vibrancy. Luxury. Unlimited Enjoyment.

Welcome home to Jumeirah Beach Hotel. Welcome to a beach resort that’s given itself completely to the pleasures of life. To a five-star lifestyle destination that’s dedicated to delighting the senses of every guest. To a guest experience that feels like home, only happier – because we promise extravagance every day, and we deliver it your way.

* Jumeirah Beach Hotel, voted ‘Best Resort Hotel in the World’ by readers of Business Traveller Magazine, UK, 2001-2009

Traders Benefit From New Currency Exchange Rates

After the U.S. Dollar finished lower against most major currencies last week, investors continued funding riskier assets with the lower yielding Dollar. The new currency exchange rates are favored by U.S. traders who are using the diminishing dollar for funding high-yield bets.

The dollar declined the most since May and the greenback became the least expensive funding currency. The new currency exchange rates, prompted by the decline of the dollar, motivated investors to sell the dollar and buy riskier assets. News that China’s industrial output rose 12.3% was also a catalyst contributing to the Dollar’s weakness.

The weakness of the dollar seems to be a dominating theme in the currency market for the second half of 2009. The appetite for risk has improved. Everyone is looking to a hopeful recovery in the U.S. and all other countries in the fourth quarter into 2010.

The U.S. dollar moved lower against its Japanese counterpart in early Asian trading today, after funding rates for dollar loans dropped below those of its major rivals. Last week ended with traders continuing to use the Dollar as a funding currency rather than the traditional Yen.

Unless there is a dramatic turnaround to the downside in global equity markets, there will be more pressure on the U.S. Dollar and Japanese Yen.

The deficit concerns undermine the dollar, but when growth begins to recover, the deficit picture should start to improve. For now, traders will benefit from the new currency exchange rates and will use the U.S. Dollar to fund riskier assets.

Pharmaceuticals in the environment

AstraZeneca understands, and takes seriously, the concerns over the detections of trace amounts of pharmaceutical residues in the environment. We are continually improving our understanding of the science and the way we responsibly manage our products.

The presence of trace levels of pharmaceuticals in the environment results largely from patient excretion and is an inevitable result of the way most current medicines work. Pharmaceuticals need to be stable enough to have a useful shelf life and oral dosage forms must be robust enough to pass through the stomach intact.

Internally and in cooperation with other companies, academics and regulators, we are pursuing a wide range of actions that help us understand and manage the way our products interact with the environment. We are committed to identifying any potential adverse affects on the environment and responsibly balancing these against the benefits that our medicines bring to patients lives.

Our environmental scientists, located mainly at our Environmental Laboratory in Brixham, UK, are dedicated to advancing PiE related research. In 2007 we opened a new, $26 million laboratory in Brixham to strengthen further our capabilities in this area.

We also design our manufacturing processes to minimise impact on the environment and encourage patients to follow government unused medicine disposal guidelines.

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International Ferrari

Mercedes-Benz International

GE is participating in a major initiative urging the U.S. government to quickly enact strong legislation to significantly reduce greenhouse emissions. The formation of the United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), illustrates the commitment of GE and other founding U.S.-based businesses and leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to address the challenge of climate change. The other participants include: Alcoa, BP America, Caterpillar, Duke Energy, DuPont, FPL Group, Lehman Brothers, PG&E, PNM Resources, Environmental Defense, Natural Resources Defense Council, Pew Center on Global Climate Change and World Resources Institute.

Created by consensus, USCAP has released a set of principles and recommendations, intended to help slow, stop and reverse the growth of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the shortest period of time reasonably achievable. In its report, A Call for Action, the group also has cited the environmental and economic benefits associated with its recommendations.

How USCAP Evolved

With the goal of issuing recommendations that would initiate formal discussion on carbon policy, USCAP was formed in 2006, after GE and other major multinational companies were approached by four NGOs: Environmental Defense, Natural Resources Defense Council, World Resources Institute and Pew Center on Global Climate Change. In addition to the USCAP effort, GE has worked with these NGOs on many other initiatives, including the 2005 launch of ecomagination.

The first formal meeting was held in July 2006, and formal discussions followed to develop policy recommendations. The Meridian Institute facilitated the group, with each company and organization forming a small working team to support the process. Working meetings and CEO meetings were held to build awareness and consensus and to finalize the "Call for Action" principals announced last week.

GE's input was derived primarily from customer/stakeholder meetings over the last few years including the customer oriented Energy 2015 series, the U.S. Carbon Summit held with both customers and NGOs, and the Energy Evolutions programs held in cooperation with EEI.

The core group of companies and NGOs forming USCAP agreed to keep the group at a manageable size in order to effectively formulate and issue a framework that would be a catalyst for discussion. Discussions were kept confidential within the group, in order to reach a consensus and develop a position from which to start.

During the first six months, the group's effort focused on developing USCAP's recommendations. Its solutions-based report, A Call for Action, was finalized in late 2006. The report includes a landmark set of principles and recommendations to underscore the urgent need for a policy framework on climate change. The report also lays out a blueprint for a mandatory economy-wide, market-driven approach to climate protection. The group's recommendations are based on the following principles:

• Account for the global dimensions of climate change
• Recognize the importance of technology
• Be environmentally effective
• Create economic opportunity and advantage
• Be fair to sectors disproportionately impacted
• Recognize and encourage early action

GE's Commitment

On April 4, 2006, during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the design of a CO2 cap-and-trade system, David Slump, General Manager, Global Marketing, said, "GE supports development of market-based programs to slow, eventually stop, and ultimately reverse, the growth of greenhouse gases (GHG)."

The launch of ecomagination two years ago also reflects GE's commitment to a reduction in greenhouse gases. GE is committed to offering products and services to help customers reduce greenhouse gas emissions and decrease the company's own emissions. With ecomagination, GE has committed to

1. An absolute 1 percent reduction in greenhouse emissions from the 2004 baseline by 2012, which represents an estimated 30 percent actual reduction when our growth rate is factored in
2. A 30 percent energy efficiency improvement by 2012
3. A 30 percent energy intensity reduction by 2008.

Under ecomagination, GE has developed the following global policy positions around climate change:

1. Technology exists to address climate change.
2. A portfolio of technology solutions should be pursued.
3. Accelerated deployment of technology often requires policy support.
4. All policy levers should be utilized in a coordinated manner.
5. A long-term price for carbon accelerates technology deployment.

The USCAP initiative echoes these fundamental beliefs and links them to key legislative and regulatory premises. USCAP advocates that:

• Technology is key to a solution. The currently available technologies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions include but are not limited to, wind, solar, nuclear, cleaner coal, and hybrid vehicles. The cost-effective deployment of these technologies is critical, and R&D for further technology advances must have the support of government.
• A consistent carbon policy will be critical to the development and adoption of advanced technologies that improve efficiencies and lower emissions.
• Industry should have a voice in defining carbon policies, and that USCAP is the mechanism for industry and environmental groups to contribute leadership to the formation of carbon policy in the United States.
• A monetary value for CO2 will accelerate technology development and deployment, and will allow the market to determine which solutions best meet the needs of specific customers. A mandatory and flexible climate program will create needed regulatory certainty for investment decisions and choices.

Next Steps

USCAP will engage in the legislative process by attending briefings and hearings and assisting in the development of legislative specifications. In addition, USCAP is seeking additional members to join the effort. The group is particularly interested in adding new members from the power generation and transportation sectors with the following criteria:

• CEO commitment and acceptance of defined Principles/Recommendations
• Agreement to work with all stakeholders to advance a legislative position that can be enacted

More on GE's positions

• Innovation, Environmental Stewardship and Energy Security
• Technology