Pope to meet Mexico president and faithful

Pope Benedict XVI meets with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and the faithful Saturday, after condemning the "evil" of drug gangs and praying for victims in the violence-plagued country.

Crowds of cheering, flag-waving faithful welcomed the pontiff Friday as he made his 20-mile (34-kilometer) journey to the city of Leon in the white Popemobile after landing in the central, heavily Catholic state of Guanajuato.

In only his second trip to the world's most Catholic continent, the pope, who turns 85 next month, is visiting Silao, Leon and Guanajuato in Mexico before spending two days in communist Cuba.

Australia hit by biggest quake in 15 years

Australia has been hit by its biggest earthquake in 15 years, seismologists said, rattling a remote part of the desert with local Aboriginals reporting strong shaking but no major damage.

The 6.1-magnitude earthquake had its epicentre near Ernabella, in the middle of Australia, at a shallow depth of three kilometres (1.8 miles), Geoscience Australia said on Saturday.
Ernabella is an indigenous arts hub home to about 500 Aboriginal people, some 317 kilometres southwest of the popular Alice Springs.
Seismologist David Jepsen said: "An event like this, there are a number of Aboriginal communities around there and they have experienced strong shaking.

Human-like fossils in China caves puzzle scientists

The most recent fossils ever found of a human-like species in southeast China have presented scientists with a mystery about what may be an unknown Stone Age culture, researchers said Wednesday.

Sometimes called the "red deer people," the remains are about 11,500 to 14,500 years old and appear to show a mix of modern and archaic peoples, said an Australian and Chinese team of researchers in the journal PLoS One.

The remains, including skulls and teeth, of at least three individuals were found in 1989 at Maludong, or Red Deer Cave, in Yunnan Province, but the fossils went unstudied until 2008.

Small tsunami hits Japan after 6.9 quake

A small tsunami hit Japan's northeastern coastline on Wednesday, officials said, after a strong earthquake rocked the region almost exactly a year on from the country's worst post-war natural disaster.

A 6.9-magnitude quake struck 26.6 kilometres (16 miles) below the seabed off the northern island of Hokkaido in the Pacific at 6:08 pm local time (0908 GMT), the US Geological Survey said.

It was followed by a 20 centimetre (eight inch) tsunami which had prompted local authorities to issue an evacuation warning for coastal residents before it hit land.

Salido Stops Lopez in Great Fight to Retain WBO Title: Fan Take

It was one of the better fights of the year so far, when Orlando Salido and Juan Manuel Lopez squared off in ring in San Juan, Puerto Rico March 10. Salido successfully defended his WBO featherweight title in a 10th round knockout of Lopez, but the fight leading up to the knockout was dramatic to say the least.

It started at little slow, but built one round at a time until nearing a peak. The ninth round was especially spectacular, bringing the crowd to their feet and leaving commentators struggling to find the words to express what they were seeing. If you didn't catch this one live, it's definitely worth seeing it delayed.

Salido punctuated his power over Lopez

The 10th round saw Salido attack Lopez with a ferocious combination that held an intense

What Is an E-Commerce Business Model?

An e-commerce business model is a strategic plan outlining and defining how an individual or company will conduct electronic trade or Internet commerce (e-commerce). The model provides an organized and structured guide to ensure the business makes a profit, generating enough revenue to be self-sustaining. Generally, the e-commerce business plan covers how to decrease operating costs and increase profits, as well as clearly define the roles of each person involved in the business. Specific details of each e-commerce business structure is dependent upon the type of business covered by the plan.

Also referred to as an Internet business model, the e-commerce business model typically modifies a business plan that is already successful in "brick-and-mortar" businesses and adapts it to suit the specific business category. The model takes into consideration the

What Is an Ecommerce System?

An ecommerce system is a system that facilitates the acceptance and processing of electronic payments online. Many different systems exist for merchants who want to try their hand at electronic commerce. These options range from fully integrated software solutions to third-party systems managed by service providers such as PayPal and WorldPay. While e-checks may be supported, most ecommerce systems are designed to support credit- and debit-card payments.

A complete ecommerce system typically is compromised of numerous components and features. The shopping cart, integration capabilities, and security infrastructure usually are among the most important features. Each can play a critical role in ensuring that the system runs efficiently for both the merchant and their customers.

What Is Ecommerce Development?

Ecommerce development refers to making preparation for companies to conduct business as online merchants. The establishment of a professional and secure web site that is enabled for ecommerce, also known as electronic commerce or Internet commerce, is the principal part of the technological process of ecommerce development. There also is the administrative process, which involves making decisions such as who in the company will be permitted access to customer records and orders. Virtually any product and many services can be advertised and purchased entirely online, making the establishment of an ecommerce website a primary goal of many businesses.

The creation and implementation of a website for ecommerce usually requires outsourcing or

What Is an Ecommerce Suite?

An ecommerce suite is a package of services and software designed to allow a company to sell its products online. Exactly what is included can vary immensely from package to package. Some common features of an ecommerce suite include stock handling, order collection, card processing and accounting.

The most basic element of an ecommerce suite is the ability to process orders. This is most commonly done through a virtual shopping cart. This is a system allowing the website visitor to search through a catalog of products and select the ones they want to buy. The cart system means a customer can add a product to the "cart," continue looking at other products, and then "check out" when they have finished looking. Using the cart will mean that

What Is an Ecommerce Application?

Ecommerce is buying and selling that is conducted in an online environment, through an ecommerce website. An application is a software program designed to accomplish one or more tasks in a particular software environment. An ecommerce application is a software application that is specifically designed to support the creation of an ecommerce website or add functionality to it. Plug-ins and add-ons to ecommerce website software are included, but applications that don’t have specific ecommerce utility wouldn’t be considered. What is integral to one ecommerce site may not be needed at all for another.

Typically, ecommerce applications refers to the wide variety of shopping cart programs that are available, as well as other software that incorporates payment options as plug-ins or as part of an entire site application. Shopping carts may add only the shopping cart itself to a