This is the Galaxy, not Real Madrid, says soccer chief as Beckham ticket sales slow

Hong Kong's soccer association chief put on a brave face yesterday as 80 per cent of the 35,000 tickets for tomorrow's exhibition match between David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy and a South China invitation side remained unsold.

"For this event, [attendance of] more than 20,000 would be very good. This is the Galaxy, not Real Madrid," said Football Association chairman Brian Leung Hung-tak.

"It is more than I expected. We had to organise this in a very short period of time."

The association only confirmed the match at Hong Kong Stadium in So Kon Po 12 days before kickoff.

The association sold 1,080 tickets yesterday and 6,000 on Thursday, leaving almost 28,000 still to be sold.

Mr Leung said a private promoter had paid Major League Soccer side Galaxy to come to Hong Kong, not the association. He would not say how much the Los Angeles club had been paid.

A team of Galaxy players held a soccer clinic for 80 young local players at King's Park in Ho Man Tin yesterday.

Rather than demonstrating his renowned free-kick and passing skills, midfielder Beckham, a former England captain, played goalkeeper in four 10-minute matches.

Although the superstar did not perform very well - he let the opposition teams score five goals - his young fans were impressed by his friendliness.

The 32-year-old father of three sons was all smiles during the session and encouraged the young footballers to "keep practising and keep enjoying the game".

David Ho Chun-long, 13, one of those who scored past Beckham, said he was happy to have beaten the stand-in keeper, and said he had got the player's autograph.

"He said `good job' to me after the match," the young David said. "I feel like I'm dreaming.

"People in the United Kingdom, Spain and everywhere in the world know him, but he is here today and plays football with me. He's nice and approachable, although he's a world-class player."

Anson Chan Tse-hung, 10, who has been a Beckham fan since he was three years old, said the Galaxy player was cute.

"It's because he is playful while playing with us, and at the same time he is serious about football," he said. "His football skill is great."

But he was a bit disappointed that his idol did not show his outstanding free-kick skills.

SCMP. Mar 8, 2008.

Facebook founder is youngest billionaire

Mark Zuckerberg, the 23-year-old founder of social networking site Facebook, is the youngest-ever self-made billionaire, according to Forbes.

"He is the youngest billionaire in the world right now and we also believe he is the youngest self-made billionaire in history," said the magazine's associate editor Matthew Miller as he unveiled this year's list of billionaires.

The magazine put the former Harvard student's personal wealth at US$1.5 billion, based on what it said was a conservative valuation of US$5 billion for Facebook and his estimated 30 per cent stake.

That estimate makes him the 785th richest person in the world.

Forbes played down speculation that the site could be worth as much as US$15 billion, which was based on Microsoft paying US$240 million for a 1.6 per cent stake in the company last year.

"Would it really fetch that much today? Some analysts - and a few Facebook investors - doubt it," the magazine said.

It said it based its valuation on Facebook's estimated annual sales of US$150 million.

Mr Zuckerberg is the third-youngest billionaire ever to grace Forbes' billionaires list, but the other two inherited their wealth.

They were Albert II, prince of Thurn and Taxis, heir to a German fortune dating back to the Holy Roman Empire. He inherited his fortune as a seven-year-old when his father died in 1990.

Hind Hariri, a Lebanese heir to a banking, real estate, oil and telecommunications fortune, inherited it at 22.

Mr Zuckerberg is one of a record-breaking number of young billionaires this year, with Forbes listing 50 under the age of 40. They include 26-year-old Yang Huiyan , the richest person on the mainland. The average age of those on the list dropped to 61, helped by Russia, where the average of billionaires was 46, and the mainland, where the average was 48.

SCMP. Mar 07, 2008

Web browsers

I'm sure you don't care much about the browser you use. However, it is important for you to be aware of the level of safety when you are surfing the web. I want to introduce you a programme called Firefox. Firefox is open-source software which is free for end-users like you. It is also a safer web browser than IE6. If you are still using IE6, I recommend you to install Firefox and see it for yourself. Here's the link to Firefox.

Microsoft, on the other hand, has just released a beta version of IE 8. If you don't mind to see the blue screen of death, you can also give it a try. Here's the link to IE 8.

BBC's Newspod

Students who bump into me in the morning will always see me listening to my iPod. They might think that I'm addicted to music and I have to "plug in" all the time. In fact, I spend most of my time listening to Podcasts. Every morning on my way to school, I prefer to listen to some world news. One of my favourite is BBC's Newspod. This audio programme is a 30-minute News programme featuring news from around the world. This is good way for you to know more about the world on the go. Most importantly, it costs you nothing. All you have to do is to go to the following website, and use iTunes (the most efficient way) to download the podcasts automatically.

If you're interested in these podcasts, I'll introduce to you more. But there is a catch, you need to reply to this post by telling me your preference. If there's no reply, I would assume that no one is interested in it, and I'll just forget it.

Here's the link to Newspod.

Really Rough Attempted Landing

7" Eee PC vs. new 9" Eee PC

Ideally, if you could have a tiny PC sitting on your desk, your learning could have been enhanced enormously. Realistically, I personally think that it will be a nightmare for teachers. Still, it is good for you to take a look at the new 9" Eee PC from Asus.

You can see at Engadget that the ASUS' 7- and 9-inch Eee PCs lined up for a side by side comparison. The new 9-incher is clearly the bigger brother to the shorter original. Too bad too 'cause that chunky bezel on the 7-inch already offers plenty of room for screen-estate growth. You can also clearly see the bigger touchpad and beefier display hinge of the new 9-inch. Click this link to see the comparison of the two laptops.

Prince Harry withdrawn from Afghanistan

Prince Harry has been withdrawn from Afghanistan after news of his secret deployment leaked out.

The 23-year-old royal, who has spent the last 10 weeks serving in Helmand Province, is flying back to the UK amid concerns for his safety.

The move follows the collapse of a news blackout deal over his tour of duty, which was broken by foreign media.

There had been fears the prince, who is third in line to the throne, could become a target for the Taleban.

In a statement, the Ministry of Defence described the reporting of Harry's deployment by foreign media as "regrettable" but said that contingency plans for such a leak were in place.

Prince Harry, in an interview recorded in Afghanistan prior to his withdrawal, said he had enjoyed being away from the press and England.

"I don't want to sit around Windsor, because I generally don't like England that much and it's nice to be away from all the press and the papers.....," he said.

It added that while the prince should have returned "in a matter of weeks" with his Household Cavalry regiment battlegroup, the situation had now "clearly changed".

Brigadier Andrew Mackay, Commander of Task Force Helmand, said Harry had been "deployed in the field, conducting operations against the Taleban" at the time of the decision.

He continued: "He has seen service both in the south of Helmand and in the north. More recently he took part in a major operation to disrupt Taleban lines of communication."

'Risks'

Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, in consultation with head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, had taken the final decision to withdraw Harry immediately, the statement said.

"This decision has been taken primarily on the basis that the worldwide media coverage of Prince Harry in Afghanistan could impact on the security of those who are deployed there, as well as the risks to him as an individual soldier," it added.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid tribute to the prince and said Britain owed him a "debt of gratitude" for his service in Afghanistan, but he added that it was correct to bring Harry back to the UK.

HAVE YOUR SAY Prince Harry is a trained soldier. I'm in the service too and I'm pleased for him that he was allowed to go Deborah, Hampshire, UK

"Security considerations come first. That has been the deciding factor which was made by our defence staff and I think that everybody will respect that is the right decision."

He thanked Harry, a second lieutenant, for the "professionalism and dedication he has shown", and said the decision to bring him home was a reminder of the "difficulties and challenges" the armed forces faced on active duty.

Conservative leader David Cameron agreed that it was "right" to withdraw the prince from Afghanistan, but said everyone in Britain should be "proud of what he has done".

"It's incredibly tough out there. He's obviously shown great courage and bravery as all our soldiers do out there.

"And what they do is really important, not just for the future of Afghanistan but for the safety of our country too."

'Dangerous tasks'

A member of the Household Cavalry, Prince Harry was based in a former madrassa along with a Gurkha regiment.

Work involved calling up allied air cover in support of ground forces and going out on foot patrols.

Defence Secretary Des Browne also commended Harry, saying the prince was "an example of a generation of young people" who were "prepared to take on these very serious and dangerous tasks for our security".

The Queen, opening the Queen's Court Care Home in Windsor, said she believed he had done "a good job in a very difficult climate".

The prince's deployment was subject to a news blackout deal struck between the MoD and newspapers and broadcasters in the UK and abroad.

It is understood that the news was first leaked in an Australian publication in January but only after it appeared on the influential US website, The Drudge Report, did the deal break down.

In exchange for not reporting the prince's deployment, some media organisations were granted access to the prince in Afghanistan for interviews and filming.

The prince's withdrawal is the second major blow to his army career.

Last year, a planned tour to Iraq had to be cancelled at the last minute because of a security risk.

BBC News.