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Entrepreneurs Value Ideas Over Wealth
A study at the University of Liverpool has revealed that entrepreneurs are driven to start companies by their passion for ideas rather than the pursuit of wealth.
Researchers who asked entrepreneurs and small business leaders about their motivations for achieving business success found that only 6.9 percent were driven by financial reward. Those surveyed cited a ’lack of money to invest’ and the ’fear of failure’ as barriers to starting up a business.
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A new research found the greatest motivator for entrepreneurs is passion for ideas.
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The survey was conducted by VentureNavigator--a state-of-the-art online service based at the University of Liverpool designed to help start-ups and small businesses improve their chances of success, Physorg reported.
The research found the greatest motivator for entrepreneurs is passion about new ideas with 41.4 per cent of those surveyed citing this as their prime motivation for starting a business. 39.7 per cent were primarily driven by ’wanting to be their own boss’.
Professor Jimmy Hill from the University’s Management School said “We were surprised to see that only a small number of people cited financial gain as their motivation to start a new business.
It is great to see that entrepreneurial spirit is not dead and that so many people are driven by their passion for new ideas.
“Passion is not enough on its own, however, and anyone starting a business needs to be realistic about the financial viability of their plans. There must be adequate business insight to turn an idea into a viable business opportunity and this is where entrepreneurs need help from experts and peers who can advise.“
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China Searching for Survivors
Thousands of soldiers and families looking for missing kin streamed into one of the worst affected areas of China’s massive earthquake on Sunday, as a strong new aftershock hit and the death toll neared 30,000.
Rescue workers have plucked more than 60 more survivors from the rubble following Monday’s quake in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, even as hopes fade for the estimated 10,000 people or so still trapped under the rubble.
The United States Geological Survey reported a tremor of 6.1 magnitude early on Sunday centered 80 km (50 miles) west of Guangyuan, the latest in a series of aftershocks to hit Sichuan.
The official Xinhua news agency said there was no immediate word of additional damage or casualties in the area.
In the provincial capital, Chengdu, some 200 km south of the new tremor’s epicenter, buildings swayed and people rushed out into the streets, risking a soaking from a passing storm.
But nuclear facilities close to the affected zone, including China’s chief nuclear weapons research lab, are “all in a safe and controllable state,“ Xinhua said.
In Beichuan, hard hit by the quake and which many people fled on Saturday following warnings a dam may collapse, worried relatives quarreled with police who tried to prevent them entering the area, citing safety reasons.
In Yingxiu, close to the epicenter of Monday’s 7.9 magnitude quake, at least 56 people were rescued, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Soldiers engaged in relief work “have their hands stained with blood and earth after days of searches in the debris,“ Xinhua added.
Thousands of people have fled in the Beichuan area amid fears a lake could burst its banks, hampering rescue efforts after the deadliest earthquake in more than three decades.
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Soccer Fans Warned of Euro 2008
If you are a soccer fan going to watch Euro 2008 it could be worth having a vaccination to prevent catching a little known, but potentially fatal illness that is spread by ticks, a leading scientist warned.
In 2007, the number of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) cases requiring hospital treatment in Europe rose 30 percent to 13,000, with evidence pointing to warmer temperatures caused by global warming helping to spread the disease, Reuters reported.
Endemic in 27 countries across Europe, including joint Euro 2008 hosts Switzerland and Austria, TBE can lead to paralysis, coma and in 1 to 2 percent of cases, death.
Some 2 million foreign fans are expected to descend on Austria and Switzerland for the tournament running from June 7-29, with UEFA expecting around 6 million fans in total.
Based on those figures, Kunze estimates as many as 600 people could be in danger of catching TBE, with fans particularly at risk if they are camping or go hiking when they are not supporting their team.
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Australian to Cull Kangaroos
Hundreds of kangaroos will be culled at a former naval site near the Australian capital after the defense department said plans to relocate the animals fell through.
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Iran to Auction Caviar in UK
Iran is to auction up to 1 ton of caviar, the black gold of the Caspian Sea, for auction in Britain at an expected price of some $10 million.
Britain’s Sunday newspaper, Observer, believes Tehran’s announcement “rocks the luxury food markets“.
The public advertisement of the Iranian caviar, the best in the annual $100 million global trade under double protection of beluga caviar, is called an unusual act, Presstv reported.
The luxurious Iranian caviar is driven from sturgeon, a 200-million-year-old “fossil fish“ as old as the dinosaurs and on the brink of extinction.
Sturgeon eggs have a market value of nearly $1,000 per 50 gerams, so Iran’s sale of 200 kg of the ’black gold’ should make $4m or more. The sale also includes 700kg of ossetra caviar and 100 kg of sevruga caviar.
The Caspian Sea produces 90 percent of the world’s caviar, harvested by Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Russia, which is the biggest consumer.
Iranian scientists estimate that sturgeon could be extinct within 14 years if poaching is not controlled.
Portugal Standardizes Language
Portugal’s Parliament has introduced changes to Portuguese spelling to standardize the language spoken in Portuguese-speaking countries.
A large majority of lawmakers backed the government’s proposal to implement the changes over the next six years. President Anibal Cavaco Silva is expected to ratify the accord.
Under the agreement, spelling is matched more closely to the words by removing silent consonants, like the way the language is spoken in Brazil. Three letters--k, w, and y--will be added and new rules will be introduced on the use of hyphens and accents, Bostonherald reported.
Some leading writers and other public figures in Portugal have strongly opposed the move, saying it is a capitulation to Brazilian influence.
Opponents delivered a petition to the parliament with more than 33,000 signatures urging lawmakers to vote against the proposal.
Brazil, home to 190 million Portuguese speakers, the Cape Verde Islands, and Sao Tome and Principe have already ratified the standardization.
World’s Worst Poet Outsells Rowling
A collection of poems by William Topaz McGonagall, the worst poet of the English language, has fetched $12,840 in the Edinburgh auction.
Despite the poor vocabulary and the excruciating rhyme, the McGonagall collection received a higher bid compared to the rare and autographed Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, which fetched $12,000 at the same sale, said AFP.
The McGonagall collection includes 35 poems self-published in the 1890s, a portfolio of posters and two copies of his short autobiography, “dedicated to himself, knowing none greater.“
Although McGonagall was ridiculed during his lifetime, he has attracted many devotees, who hold annual suppers in his honor reciting his poetry.
20% of Japanese Thought About Suicide
Almost 20 percent of Japanese adults have considered killing themselves, a survey has found, with half the respondents saying movies and television are contributing to the high suicide rate.
The government said it had carried out its first survey on attitudes to suicide among 1,808 men and women aged 20 or older nationwide from February to March.
It found that 19.1 percent of respondents had “seriously thought about committing suicide in the past“.
Among female respondents, 21.9 percent said they had considered suicide, compared with 16.3 percent of men.
A Cabinet Office official said the figures “are higher than we had expected,“ adding the figure was particularly high among younger respondents, Kyodo News said.
Of the respondents, 58.2 percent said movies and television encouraged people to kill themselves by glossing over suicide, while 42.6 percent said movies and television dramas depicted too many suicides.
The majority, 76.1 percent, said they favored regulating websites that encouraged people to kill themselves by offering how-to information.
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