All over the country today--Valentine's Day--men are down on bended knee proposing marriage

They will speak of love and affection and devotion. Few, however, will mention what really matters: money.

Crass, maybe. But true nonetheless.

When you think about it, couples don't fight over love. They fight over money. They fight because one person didn't balance the checkbook or made a bone-headed investment without consulting the other. They fight because one partner exerts dictatorial control over the money, or because one has secretly amassed thousands of dollars in debt on a credit card, imperiling the couple's finances.

Whether the issues are big or small, money will prove a powerful force impacting your marriage -- sometimes overtly in the form of routine arguments; sometimes quietly as animosities seethe beneath the surface for years, only to explode into a potentially marriage-ending supernova.

What couples don't always grasp is that money is rarely the real culprit. It's the lack of communication, often stemming from a lack of knowledge about each other's personal financial quirks and beliefs.

So, some time between "Yes, I will marry you," and "I do," you and your partner need to have The Money Talk--the key questions all couples should ask of one another.

Here are four of the more important questions to ask each other, since they provide insight and information on how money will flow through your marriage.

1. What Are Your Assets and Liabilities?

This question is paramount because assets and liabilities are the basic building blocks of the financial life you'll live together. Assets (banks accounts, investments, retirement plans and a house) help you strive for the life you want. The liabilities (a mortgage, credit-card debt, auto loans and leases) will hold you back.

Your goal is to pinpoint where you are financially as a couple so that you can map out where you want to go together. That could mean determining how much you want to save each month for retirement, or how much you want to put into an account for a new house, a new car or an annual vacation.

It also could mean talking about how you each use debt and the amount of debt you each have -- and mapping out a plan to pay off as quickly as possible the combined debt you will have as a family.

The best way to approach this: Present each other with a copy of your net-worth statement, a simple list of all your assets and liabilities. And voice no judgments. Mocking a partner's choices will simply lead to future silence.

AP: North Korean Official Confirms Succession

A high-ranking North Korean official says Kim Jong Il's younger son will succeed his father as leader of the communist nation.

Associated Press Television News says Yang Hyong Sop confirmed in an exclusive interview that Kim Jong Un is next in line to lead North Korea. Yang is vice president of North Korea's parliament, and a member of the political bureau of the Central Committee of the Worker's Party of Korea, the country's ruling party.APTN says Yang's comments are the first public confirmation the 27-year-old Kim will eventually succeed his father.

Kim Jong Un was named to the Central Committee of the Workers' Party at last week's party conference, and appointed vice-chairman of the party's powerful central military commission. The 27-year-old Kim also received a commission as a four-star general.

Short breaks make people happier than one long holiday, psychologists claim

Taking frequent short breaks is better for you than one long holiday, research has found.
Psychologists believe that people who use their holiday allowance in bursts rather than all in one go are happier.
People who take so-called mini-breaks have more happy memories than those who holiday for an extended period of time, they claimed.
Dan Ariely, a behavioural economist who wrote The Upside of Irrationality, suggested that holidaymakers break up extended time away by doing some work in the middle of their break saying this would make them more appreciative of their time away from the office.
The explanation is that people's enjoyment wanes as they become accustomed to their holiday lifestyle.
Prof Ariely, who teaches at Duke University in North Carolina, said: "On a long vacation, day seven is less good than day one because it's not as exciting. That's why in general, going away four times [a year] provides more benefit than you would expect, and going away for one week provides less benefit than you would expect."
However other experts disagree. Tim Harford, the author of Dear Undercover Economist, said that taking an increased number of trips would only increase the stress associated with travelling to and from a holiday destination.
He said: "If you pack three times as many holidays into the same amount of leave, you can expect three times as much trouble. It's not obvious to me that it's worth it."

Is This the End of the Television Age?

While American parents might complain that their children watch too much TV, the United Nations is celebrating World Television Day, which recognizes television's role in bringing global attention to conflicts and threats to peace as well as its potential to spotlight critical economic, social and health issues.

However, while the UN lauds TV, some experts believe the medium's best days are over.

TV is good for you

In March 1996, the United Nations General Assembly declared November 21 to be World Television Day. Television flickered to life in the 1920s. Over the second half of the 20th century, those flickering images strengthened and grew, until TV became the most widely used telecommunication medium for news and entertainment, reaching into every corner of the globe.

"Television doesn't require literacy and presents information in all visual forms, which doesn't require any specific skills for comprehension," says Janis Karklins, assistant director-general of UNESCO.

World Television Day, he says, celebrates the influence and impact of TV.

"This day allows people to underscore the power of TV communication, its role in sharpening the focus of many of the world's major challenges; would it be world economy, would it be cultural development, would it be good governance or freedom of expression," Karklins says. "We can also note the increased impact of television on all societies, but especially in the developing world where enabling environment for television emissions and television industry are under development."

China to allow more overseas agencies to sell panda bonds

China will allow more overseas agencies to sell panda bonds, the yuan-denominated debt sold by overseas agencies in China, in a bid to further open its domestic bond market, an official of the country's bond issue association said Tuesday.
Shi Wenchao, secretary general of China National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors, said the association would allow more international financial institutions with high ratings to sell yuan-denominated bonds in China and would extend the scope of issuers to leading foreign companies.
Shi said the government should control capital flows and adjust its accounting and rating standards to conform with those of other countries before accelerating the opening of its bond market.
China introduced overseas investors into the bond market in 2005, when International Finance Corp. and the Asian Development Bank sold 2.13 billion yuan (308.7 million U.S. dollars) of financial bonds.

Indonesia's Electoral Commission has declared the Democrat Party of incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono the winner of last month's parliamentary polls

The widely predicted results places President Yudhoyono's party well ahead of its nearest rivals. But no one party has been able to achieve the necessary numbers to nominate a Presidential candidate.

After weeks of protests and criticism over their handling of the elections, Indonesia's Electoral Commission fulfilled its commitment to deliver the official count one month after the polls.

The Democrat Party of current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, or SBY as he is popularly known, was the clear winner with almost 21 percent of the vote. The result is a significant victory for the young party, almost tripling the number it received in 2004.

Traditional political heavyweight the Golkar Party, which was once the vehicle of former dictator Suharto, came in second with 14.45 percent of the votes, while the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle of former president Megawati Sukarnpoputri slipped behind with just over 14 percent.

Parties or coalitions must win 25 percent of the popular vote in order to field a candidate in the Presidential elections scheduled for early July. This means that all the parties will have to form a coalition in order to contest the top-job.

Back-room negotiations between parties have been ongoing, providing daily material for local news media since the polls were concluded. The Golkar party has announced that current Vice President and party chairman Jusef Kalla will be running for the post with former military General Wiranto as his vice-presidential partner.

But the party remains divided over the decision and there is speculation that Golkar could also offer a vice-presidential candidate to run with President Yudohoyono.
Stephen Sherlock, a Southeast Asian political expert and consultant to the Australian government, says Golkar's options are limited.

"Well they're obviously in a difficult position in that they've first of all done so poorly under Kalla's leadership," he said. "So usually in those circumstance usually political parties start asking questions about whether or not it was the fault of the leader and the leader comes under pressure to be removed from his position possibly. But the problem is they don't have anybody who can replace him."

Megawati Sukarnoputri also intends to run again but has yet to announce her vice-presidential mate. Incumbent Yudohoyono may choose to cut ties with the Golkar party, perhaps partnering with the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party or PKS, which won 7.88 percent of the vote. The PKS has already declared its intention to support President Yudohoyono's candidacy.

Stephen Sherlock says a presidential partnership with the PKS would not be good for Indonesia's long-term political development.

　
"It would be dangerous for the longer term future of Indonesia for a party like PKS with its Islamist agenda to be brought into the fold in that way," said Sherlock. "He would have, I think, a difficult relationship with a Vice-President from PKS. But in the immediate term well yes there are arguments for it, from his point of view.

　

According to the Electoral Commission 121 million out of 171 million eligible voters cast a ballot in the polls. However more 17 million votes were declared invalid.

Barbarians at the Gate of China Finance?

China had a very good financial crisis, emerging confident enough in its own financial system to experiment with short selling currently limited to stock index futures and credit default swaps, both of which have built a fairly bad name for themselves in the West over recent years.

But apparently what China's next wave of economic reform really needs is leveraged buyouts and high-yield - i.e., junk - bonds.

That was the message from Wu Xiaoling, the highly respected former deputy governor of the People's Bank of China and currently a member of China's legislative body. Speaking at a private equity forum in Beijing Sunday, Ms. Wu said that China probably couldn't accept the high levels of leverage seen in developed markets, but if Beijing wants to realize its professed goal of consolidating certain industries, then companies have to be able to raise debt for the purpose.

'Of course there are risks involved with leverage, but [it's not always viable] to do M&A with 100% of your own capital,' she said.

'China's current problem is not that leverage is too high but that it's extremely difficult to raise debt for the purposes of M&A.'

In September the State Council said it would encourage companies and local governments to promote consolidation in heavy, polluting industries and would roll out M&A regulations that would relax restrictions on private capital, encourage fund-raising through stock and bond issues, give tax incentives, and step up state investment and financial support to speed up the consolidation.
'The whole world is deleveraging, but China needs to leverage up,' Ms. Wu said.
She also said that China should develop a high-yield bond market so that companies could raise debt for planned acquisitions.

But what does this mean for China's private equity sector? High levels of leverage are central to the private equity model in Western economies, helping to amplify the returns to investors. But private equity funds have struggled to raise debt to make acquisitions in China, in part because China has no real system in which private-equity buyers can use a company's assets as collateral. That deters banks from taking the risk of arranging financing.

For that matter, private equity firms have found it very difficultto even take controlling stakes in Chinese firms, let alone buy a firm out in its entirety.

Certainly Ms. Wu's choice of audience to discuss the merits of leveraged buy-outs would suggest she thinks that private equity firms perhaps should be allowed in on this M&A revolution. And a junk bond market would help private equity investors bypass the banks and their collateral requirement by raising funds directly from the market. But while Ms. Wu was broadly supportive of private equity's role in the economy, she didn't explicitly say financial investors should be allowed to raise debt for buyouts.