Ikea has put its profits out of the open for the first time in an attempt to distance itself from the “highly secretive” reputation it gained.

The largest furniture retailer in the world announced that the company’s 2009 net profit went up by 11.3 per cent to €2.5bn ($3.4bn) compared with the 2008 financial year.

For the 2010 financial year, Ikea’s sales rose 7.7 per cent to €23.1bn. The company’s net income has been remained between 10 to 13 per cent of revenue for the past 10 years. Last year, 79 per cent of sales were attributed to European consumers; North America contributed 15 per cent on sales while Asia pitched in 6 per cent.

According to the family owned company, its income from operations rose 4.4 per cent to €2.77bn and listed €37bn total assets.  The company added it paid €384m in tax last year.

The unlisted Swedish retailer has 280 stores spread through 26 countries and about 127,000 employees. Ikea is known for its low but elegant furniture and home furnishing but it has been criticized for keeping its financial performance secret.

The move to become more open after the company’s business culture has been criticized by its former employee, named Johan Stenebo, last year. Stenebo accused Ikea of being controlled by a sect closed to the family owner in his book. He also claimed Ikea operate “an internal network of spies” and its management was “contemptuous of foreigners.”

In a statement, Ikea said its profits are used to manage its existing and new outlets.  This year, 12 new Ikea stores have been opened.

Former Marxist guerrilla Dilma Rousseff is one of the nine presidential candidates running for Brazil’s upcoming general election and the latest polls indicate she is the favorite to win the presidency.

It was the outgoing Brazilian president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, himself, who picked Dilma Rousseff to become his successor.

Many believe that Dilma Rousseff’s 80% approval rating is due to Lula da Silva’s endorsement. Lula da Silva is very influential to voters because of his good works during his term. It is thought that Rousseff will continue Lula da Silva’s advocacies.

Brazil’s outgoing president has taken his country’s economy globally. Now, Brazil is the eighth largest economy in the world. Brazilians are crediting Lula da Silva for raising over 20 million people from poverty during his two terms.

Rousseff served as the president’s unpopular energy minister and was later assigned to become his chief of staff. The former Marxist guerrilla has vowed to create more jobs and develop schools and roads.

However, Rousseff is yet to convince other Brazilians and investors that she capable to implement fiscal reform and propose major infrastructure projects in order to maintain the economy’s good standing.

Brazil will be subjected to worldwide attention in the coming years since the country will be the one to host the 2014 World Cup and the Olympics in 2016.

Research in Motion shares went down 3%, a day after its PlayBook tablet computer has been announced during a conference in San Francisco on Monday.

PlayBook’s specs did impress analysts with its 7-inch screen and front and rear high-definition camera features. RIM shares, which went up about 2% on Monday’s after-hours trade, seemed to have boosted investors’ confidence too.

However, as soon as the Tuesday trading opened, RIM stocks declined 5% and closed at $46.91 at the end of the day, losing $1.45.

Investors may have disappointed by RIM’s failure to disclose the pricing and the “early 2011″ release date of the PlayBook. Another issue was the PlayBook’s limited Internet connectivity. At the moment, the tablet can only connect to the Internet using Wi-Fi but the BlackBerry maker said it is planning come up with 3G and 4G models in the future.

RIM’s shares already declined for over 30% this year. Investors are worried that the company is losing out to Apple and that Google’s Android operating system has been mostly preferred by smartphone makers.

Still, the tablet’s features “pleasantly surprised” Stifel Nicolaus analysts. They believe that the new tablet might make RIM head to head with competitors again.

India has started working on its national identity scheme, which could be the world’s largest national database, in order to minimize fraud and make state benefits accessible to all.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi led the launching of the ambitious system which is set to keep records of more than one billion Indians on an online database using biometric methods, such as an iris scan.

Officials claim that the poor, who are having difficulties accessing public services and benefits due to lack of official records, will be the ones to get the most out of the unique identification (UID) project.

Birth registration is not widely implemented in India. The government hopes that the database will provide the country a clearer “face” and expects that all Indian citizens will have their UID number by 2014.

For Prime Minister Singh, the program, which was launch in Tembhili village in Nandurbar, was a “special moment” that would help the country’s most marginalized people. For Mrs Gandhi, the launch was a “new beginning” for India.

The scheme, which will collect fingerprints, photographs, and other personal information, will allow every Indian to make transactions, such as passport application and bank account opening, using a 12-digit ID number. The government hopes that crimes such as fake welfare claims will be prevented, with the scheme’s introduction.

However, critics are worried about the costly project and the collection of citizens’ information. There are people doubting the project could actually improve India’s corrupt system. Others believe that the government should instead seek of services, and not access, improvement.

R&B singer Mario was arrested for assaulting his mother while arguing with her in their apartment in Baltimore, Maryland, police said.

Police went to the apartment after receiving a call that someone’s breaking up property inside the apartment. Authorities were then welcomed by Shawntia Hardaway in the apartment’s ground-floor lobby and said her son was inside the apartment “throwing and damaging property.”

According to police, Hardaway claimed that her son yelled at her and “pushed her in the chest and shoulder area.”

When the police entered the apartment, they found broken mirror and door as well as broken glasses on the floor.

Mario was then arrested and charged with a second-degree assault after her mother confessed to the police that she was worried about her safety.

In 2007, a documentary about Mario’s strained relationship with his mother has been made entitled “I Won’t Love You to Death: The Story of Mario and His Mom.” The award-winning story narrated how the singer struggled from helping his mother who was addicted to heroin.

Mario Barrett in real life, the singer chose not to use his last name in his career. His career debuted with his single “Just a Friend,” released in 2002.

A Baltimore police spokeswoman could not confirm if Mario had posted bail.

US Open champion Kim Clijsters will not be playing for next month’s China Open due to a foot infection.

In a statement posted on her website, the Belgian explained she had her moles from the sole of her right foot removed and that there had been an infection. The 27-year-old apologized that she needed to cancel out China Open because of her condition.

Clijsters has been inactive since her US Open victory in September. She was scheduled to join a tournament in Beijing from October 2 to 10. The third-time US Open champion is hoping to join the WTA Championships to be held on Doha from October 25 to 31.

China Open will not be seeing world number one Serena Williams in action too since the star player is still recovering from a cut to her right foot she sustained in July.

In another news, world number one Rafael Nadal had a good Thailand Open start after he defeated Belgian Ruben Bemelmans, with a straightforward 6-1 6-4 win. The match was the Spaniard’s first since he won his career grand slam at the recent US Open. Meanwhile, German Benjamin Becker took Nadal’s compatriot Fernando Verdasco by surprise with his 6-4 6-4 victory.

TechCrunch has announced that it has agreed with AOL’s acquisition offer. The deal was immediately closed after negotiations rumors leaked.

At TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference, its founder Michael Arrington revealed that the company did not have a choice but to rush through the announcement. Arrington later then shared the stage with AOL CEO Tim Armstrong and jokingly asked the crowd if he should sign the contract or not. In the end, Arrington signed but the financial details of the deal were not divulged.

Founded in 2005, TechCrunch instantly became one of most influential news outlets in Silicon Valley. Compete.com, audience traffic tracker, estimates that TechCrunch attracts over 2 million visitors monthly.

In 2005, AOL acquired blog network Weblogs Inc. and picked up its tech blog Engadget. Some of the Weblogs sites have closed since the acquisition but a few remained successful such as Autoblog, TVSquad and The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

Just like eHow creator Demand Media, AOL is buying and distributing content to defeat other contents that are optimized to do well in search engines. In addition, AOL has taken steps to improve its content quality. AOL is also planning to create news-related sites and has been sneaking journalists from BusinessWeek, New York Times and Washington Post among others.

A research revealed that there is about 60% shortage in Malaria funds worldwide.

In a report published in the Lancet medical journal, experts from UK and Africa discovered that out of the 93 countries where malaria is prevalent, only 21 have received sufficient fund for anti-malaria campaigns.

Through there had been significant increase of funds in African countries, there are other countries which also need help. The Roll Back Malaria Campaign revealed that this year alone requires $4.9bn.

The researchers found that since 2007, international funding went up by 166% and leaped from $730m to $1.94bn. But they warned that malaria-funding should be sustained because any decline might lead to resurgence of malaria in countries which have been protected from malaria since 2002 by this funding.

According to the research, led by Professor Bob Snow of Oxford University and Kenya’s Kenyatta National Hospital, money is adequate for 21 countries, 12 of them are in Africa. However, 50 more countries, including Niger and Sierra Leone, do not receive as much assistance from the international community.

Professor Bob Snow said that more attention should be given to poor countries which are lacking in funds but most at risk of malaria.

Experts also urged some countries, such as China and India, to contribute and help other countries instead of being the funds’ recipient since they have their own space programs.

Environmentalists in Sri Lanka have raised their concern regarding the government’s plans to put up a nuclear power plant by 2025.

The country’s energy minister Champika Ranawaka revealed that Sri Lanka is planning to build the plant to address the increasing need for energy. According to Ranawaka, there is already an on-going discussion between the government and Russia regarding nuclear fuel supply and nuclear waste disposal. The minister added that the government has to make sure there will be no shortage in power supply in the future.

But critics suggest such plant is unnecessary since the island is rich in natural resources, where energy may be acquired. Others are also questions the government’s capability of building its own nuclear plant.

As of 2010, only few countries including India, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, the Ukraine and the US have nuclear plants.

Mr Ranawaka believes that nuclear energy is the only choice for Sri Lanka. Solar energy is not a viable option because Sri Lanka’s energy consumption rate is high during the night. Wind energy is not ideal either since the wind in the country is insufficient.

But for the Centre for Environmental Justice spokesman, Hemantha Withanage, such renewable energy sources would be sufficed with correct handling.

In his interview with BBC, Mr Withanage said the country is “too small” to make room for a nuclear power plant. He is also wondering how Sri Lanka would be able to properly manage the disposal of nuclear waste when it is already struggling with its ordinary household refuse management.

Bank of America delays home foreclosures in 23 states due to make sure there were no flaws in its existing processes.

In a statement, the bank revealed it has been reviewing its current processes to ensure certain affidavits complied with correct procedures. The bank will freeze the process to fix “affidavits in foreclosure cases” yet to be judged in the 23 states where there is jurisdiction over foreclosures. Bank of America did not issue an estimation of the number of homeowners that might get affected by the delayed foreclosure.

Prior to the announcement, JP Morgan Chase already revealed that it will also put about 56,000 homeowners’ foreclosures on hold after discovering that employees possibly approved foreclosures without assessing loan files. According to a Chase spokesman, the bank is reviewing its process–with the help of an external counsel for a couple of weeks–to verify whether it followed the standards.

Last week, Ally Financial, formerly known as GMAC, made an announcement that it will halt foreclosures in the 23 states.

Recent reports have been of major concern for mortgage lender Freddie Mac. Recent foreclosures have been clouded with doubt as to whether they complied with appropriate guidelines.

The lender, said in a statement, that it will be providing servicers with instructions to ensure their practices did not bypass the state law or Freddie Mac’s servicing requirements. Freddie Mac also stressed the importance of the industry’s cooperation to keep borrower’s right protected and the foreclosure process’ transparency intact.