Asuransi

Asuransi adalah istilah yang digunakan untuk merujuk pada tindakan, sistem, atau bisnis dimana perlindungan finansial (atau ganti rugi secara finansial) untuk jiwa, properti, kesehatan dan lain sebagainya mendapatkan penggantian dari kejadian-kejadian yang tidak dapat diduga yang dapat terjadi seperti kematian, kehilangan, kerusakan atau sakit, dimana melibatkan pembayaran premi secara teratur dalam jangka waktu tertentu sebagai ganti polis yang menjamin perlindungan tersebut.

Istilah "diasuransikan" biasanya merujuk pada segala sesuatu yang mendapatkan perlindungan.

 Asuransi dalam Undang-Undang No.2 Th 1992 tentang usaha perasuransian adalah perjanjian antara dua pihak atau lebih, dengan mana pihak penanggung mengikatkan diri kepada tertanggung, dengan menerima premi asuransi, untuk memberikan penggantian kepada tertanggung karena kerugian, kerusakan atau kehilangan keuntungan yang diharapkan atau tanggung jawab hukum pihak ke tiga yang mungkin akan diderita tertanggung, yang timbul dari suatu peristiwa yang tidak pasti, atau memberikan suatu pembayaran yang didasarkan atas meninggal atau hidupnya seseorang yang dipertanggungkan.

Badan yang menyalurkan risiko disebut "tertanggung", dan badan yang menerima risiko disebut "penanggung". Perjanjian antara kedua badan ini disebut kebijakan: ini adalah sebuah kontrak legal yang menjelaskan setiap istilah dan kondisi yang dilindungi. Biaya yang dibayar oleh "tetanggung" kepada "penanggung" untuk risiko yang ditanggung disebut "premi". Ini biasanya ditentukan oleh "penanggung" untuk dana yang bisa diklaim di masa depan, biaya administratif, dan keuntungan.

Contohnya, seorang pasangan membeli rumah seharga Rp. 100 juta. Mengetahui bahwa kehilangan rumah mereka akan membawa mereka kepada kehancuran finansial, mereka mengambil perlindungan asuransi dalam bentuk kebijakan kepemilikan rumah. Kebijakan tersebut akan membayar penggantian atau perbaikan rumah mereka bila terjadi bencana. Perusahaan asuransi mengenai mereka premi sebesar Rp1 juta per tahun. Risiko kehilangan rumah telah disalurkan dari pemilik rumah ke perusahaan asuransi.

Definisi Asuransi menurut Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Dagang (KUHD), tentang asuransi atau pertanggungan seumurnya, Bab 9, Pasal 246:

"Asuransi atau Pertanggungan adalah suatu perjanjian dengan mana seorang penanggung mengikatkan diri kepada seorang tertanggung, dengan menerima suatu premi, untuk memberikan penggantian kepadanya karena suatu kerugian, kerusakan atau kehilangan keuntungan yang diharapkan, yang mungkin akan dideritanya karena suatu peristiwa yang tak tertentu.” ǍǍ

Penanggung menggunakan ilmu aktuaria untuk menghitung risiko yang mereka perkirakan. Ilmu aktuaria menggunakan matematika, terutama statistika dan probabilitas, yang dapat digunakan untuk melindungi risiko untuk memperkirakan klaim di kemudian hari dengan ketepatan yang dapat diandalkan.

Contohnya, banyak orang membeli kebijakan asuransi kepemilikan rumah dan kemudian mereka membayar premi kepada perusahaan asuransi. Bila kehilangan yang dilindungi terjadi, penanggung harus membayar klaim. Bagi beberapa tertanggung, keuntungan asuransi yang mereka terima jauh lebih besar dari uang yang mereka telah bayarkan kepada penanggung. Lainnya mungkin tidak membuat klaim. Kalau dirata-ratakan dari seluruh kebijakan yang dijual, total klaim yang dibayar keluar lebih rendah dibanding total premi yang dibayar kepada tertanggung, dengan perbedaannya adalah biaya dan keuntungan.

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award (originally called Gramophone Award) — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The annual awards ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and some of the awards of more popular interest are presented in a widely viewed televised ceremony. It is the music equivalent to the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for stage, and the Academy Awards for film.

The awards were established in 1958. Prior to the first live Grammys telecast in 1971 on American Broadcasting Company (ABC), a series of taped annual specials in the 1960s called The Best on Record were broadcast on National Broadcasting Company (NBC). The first Grammy Award telecast took place on the night of November 29, 1959, as an episode of the NBC anthology series Sunday Showcase, which was normally devoted to plays, original TV dramas, and variety shows. Until 1971, awards ceremonies were held in both New York and Los Angeles, with winners accepting at one of the two. Pierre Cossette bought the rights to broadcast the ceremony from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and organized the first live telecast. CBS Broadcasting bought the rights in 1973 after moving the ceremony to Nashville, Tennessee; the American Music Awards were created for ABC (by Dick Clark) as a result.

The 53rd Grammy Awards was held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, broadcasted live on CBS in the East and Central Times Zones, and on the three-hour west-coast delay in the Pacific Time Zone.

Yemen rocked by third day of protests

Violence broke out as demonstrators, inspired by the Egyptian uprising, marched through the city, demanding political reform and the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Mr Saleh, in power since 1978, has already pledged to step down in 2013, but has previously promised to quit.

State media said he had postponed a trip to the US because of the unrest.

An official in Mr Saleh's office said the two countries would "communicate via diplomatic channels" to arrange a new date, according to the Saba news agency.

Demonstrators attempted to march to the presidential palace in Sanaa on Sunday, chanting: "A Yemeni revolution after the Egyptian revolution."

Witnesses said several people were hurt as police armed with batons clashed with stone-throwing protesters. At least 10 people were arrested, said reports.

Hundreds of people also took to the streets in the southern city of Aden, said witnesses.

A rights group has accused the government of colluding with thugs - armed with sticks, clubs, axes and daggers - to suppress the protests.

"The Yemeni authorities have a duty to permit and protect peaceful demonstrations," said Sarah Leah Whitson, of Human Rights Watch (HRW).

"Instead, the security forces and armed thugs appear to be working together."

One of the protesters, Muhamad, told HRW he had been stabbed, beaten and shocked with a Taser gun, and that other people had suffered similar treatment.

"I want the regime to treat us like humans," he said. "So it's my right to express my opinion and express what I suffer from this current regime."

On Saturday, supporters of the president routed demonstrators in the capital.

A day earlier, protesters were dispersed by security forces from Sanaa as they celebrated the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak.

The unrest comes as Mr Saleh is preparing to hold talks with opposition groups on possible political reforms, in an attempt to prevent his overthrow in the manner of Egypt and Tunisia.

He has promised he will stand down and 2013 and that his son will not replace him in office.

Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, is a key ally for the US in its efforts to combat al-Qaeda in the region.

The country also faces a separatist movement in the south and an uprising of Shia rebels in the north.

Yolanda Adams

Yolanda Adams (born Yolanda Yvette Adams on August 27, 1961(1961-08-27)) is an American Grammy- and Dove-award winning Gospel music singer and radio show host. As of September 2009, she had sold 4.5 million albums since 1991, according to SoundScan. 

On December 11, 2009 Billboard Magazine named her the 1st Gospel Artist of the last decade. In the same chart, her album "Mountain High...Valley Low" was acknowledged as the best gospel album.

 The oldest of six siblings, Adams was raised in Houston, Texas. She graduated from Sterling High School in Houston in 1979. After graduating from Texas Southern University, she began a career as a schoolteacher and part-time model in Houston, Texas. Eventually she gave up teaching to perform full-time as a lead singer.

In 2007, after releasing her holiday album with Columbia, Adams stated in different interviews that she was in the planning stages for a new album. Her official website stated that it would be a duets project, with possible collaborations with Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Natalie Cole, Trin-i-Tee 5:7, and Mary Mary. In an interview with Commercial Appeal, Adams stated that Chaka Khan and Shirley Caesar could possibly be on the new project as well. In March 2009, in an interview on a FOX station in Houston, she stated that her women's clothing line and new album are both still in progress. She stated that the new album will be full of dance tracks.

Adams' song "Hold On," from her 2007 holiday album What a Wonderful Time, is included in a compilation in support of Barack Obama's campaign entitled Yes We Can: Voices of a Grass Roots Movement.

On December 25, 2009, Adams performed on BET's The Mo'Nique Show, where she sang "Already Alright," from her 1999 Mountain High...Valley Low album. Mo'Nique stated that the song is one of her favorites.

As of 2010, the new album, highly anticipated follow-up to What a Wonderful Time, is still in the making. Yolanda Adams appeared at the 53rd Grammy Awards where she took part in a tribute to Aretha Franklin, along with Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera, Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine, and Martina McBride. Adams performed Spirit in the Dark - Franklin's classic from 1970. Franklin released a statement, in which she declared that she "especially enjoyed" Yolanda's performance.

Esperanza Spalding

Esperanza Spalding (born October 18, 1984 in Portland, Oregon) an American multi-instrumentalist best known as a jazz bassist and singer, who draws upon many genres in her own compositions. She won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the 53rd Grammy Awards.

Spalding grew up in the King neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, a neighborhood she describes as "ghetto" and "pretty scary". Her mother, who raised her and her brother as a single parent, was an independent, industrious woman. 

Esperanza Spalding is of African-American, Welsh and Spanish descent, and describes this as a diverse ethnic heritage that includes "Welsh, Hispanic, and Native American roots in addition to the unidentified roots from Africa". Her black roots come from her father: "My mom is Welsh, Hispanic, and Native American, and my father is black." Her Hispanic roots trace through her mother, a native of Southern California, who indirectly educated Spalding in Spanish by hiring a Cuban nanny. Esperanza Spalding notes that these influences, along with many other factors in her life, have come together to shape her into who she is. She also has an interest in other cultures, including Brazil, and respects the artistry inherent in language, commenting specifically, "With Portuguese songs the phrasing of the melody is intrinsically linked with the language, and it’s beautiful".

Her mother shares Spalding's interest in music, having nearly become a touring singer herself. But while Spalding cites her mother as a powerful influence who encouraged her musical expansion, she attributes her inspiration for pursuing a life in music to watching classical cellist Yo Yo Ma perform on an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood when she was four. 

By the time Spalding was five, she had taught herself to play the violin and was playing with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon. Spalding stayed with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon until she was fifteen and left as concertmaster. Due to a lengthy illness when she was child, Spalding spent much of her elementary school years being homeschooled, but also attended King Elementary School in Northeast Portland. During this time she also found the opportunity to pick up instruction in music by listening to her mother's college teacher instruct her mother in guitar. According to Spalding, when she was about 8 her mother briefly studied jazz guitar in college; Spalding says, "Going with her to her class, I would sit under the piano. Then I would come home and I would be playing her stuff that her teacher had been playing." Spalding also played oboe and clarinet before discovering the bass in high school. She is able to sing in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

3.3 billion airline passengers seen by 2014.

Eight-hundred million more people will travel by air by 2014, over a quarter of them from China, raising the need for more efficient traffic management and airports, IATA trade body said on Monday.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecast an estimated 3.3 billion air travellers in three years' time, up 32 percent from the 2.5 billion in 2009.

"China will be the biggest contributor of new travellers," the global aviation trade body said in a news statement.

"Of the 800 million new travellers expected in 2014, 360 million (45 percent) will travel on Asia-Pacific routes and of those, 214 million will be associated with China," it said.

"The United States will remain the largest single country market for domestic passengers and international passengers."

China's rapidly expanding economy has seen the country's aviation sector grow at a blistering pace over the past few years on the back of an ever-growing middle class that has plenty of money to spend.

International aviation is also projected to handle 38 million tonnes of air cargo by 2014, up 46 percent from 26 million tonnes in 2009.

IATA director-general and chief executive Giovanni Bisignani said the growing quantity of air travellers and cargo will require "even more efficient air traffic management, airport facilities and security programmes."

He added that "industry and governments will be challenged to work together even more closely."

He said the industry would continue to feel the effects of the latest global economic crisis for some time, with sluggish growth expected in Europe and the United States, not only because they are mature markets.

"Lingering consumer debts, high unemployment and austerity measures will dampen growth rates," said Bisignani.

The fastest growing markets for international passenger traffic during the 2009-2014 period will be China, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

Asian countries are registering the fastest market growth due in large part to the region leading the recovery from the latest global economic slump, stated Bisignani.

"In order to see why there's a shift in Asia... look at one number that is very important: GDP (gross domestic product)," he told reporters, citing double digit growth in China and Singapore last year as examples.

Bisignani also picked out China and the other regional powerhouse, India, to take up responsibilities commensurate with their growing clout in the aviation industry.

"Many others could have some ideas, but the strength to move things is substantially in China and India," he said.

The Middle East is forecast to be the fastest growing region, with international passenger demand expected to rise 9.4 percent, followed by Africa at 7.7 percent, Asia-Pacific at 7.6 percent, Latin America (5.7 percent), North America (4.9 percent) and Europe (4.7 percent).

IATA in December raised its overall forecast for airline earnings in 2010 to a record $15.1 billion but warned that profits would slide to $9.1 billion this year.

Treasury launches debit card pilot for tax refunds

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Low-income taxpayers who don't have bank accounts will be able to get their tax refunds this year on prepaid debit cards supplied by the government, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

The department plans to send letters to 600,000 households next week, asking them to take part in a pilot program to put their tax refunds on the debit cards, which can be used to get money from ATM machines, pay bills or to buy goods and services from retailers.

The Internal Revenue Service is aiming to reduce the amount of paper it handles. To encourage taxpayers to file their returns electronically, for instance, the IRS is not mailing paper forms to taxpayers this year.

It will still be sending out refund checks but is seeking to reduce the number -- about 35 million were mailed in 2010 -- by encouraging direct deposit. For those without bank accounts, the debit cards will allow them to avoid check-cashing fees or costly refund anticipation loans and checks.

Direct deposit is also faster. It takes 10 days or fewer for the IRS to process a tax return and deposit a refund electronically. A mailed paper check may not reach a taxpayer for up to six weeks.

The new debit card, called MyAccountCard, is issued by Bonneville Bank, a community bank based in Provo, Utah. It will bear a Visa logo. Funds on the card are backed by Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. like regular bank accounts.

Treasury said it will test different fees as part of the pilot. Half the cards in the pilot will include no monthly fee, while the other half will carry a $4.95 monthly fee.

Cardholders won't have to pay service fees if they use the cards to withdraw money from ATMs in the MoneyPass network. All of the cards will carry a $2.50 fee for out-of-network ATM withdrawals, and a 50-cent fee for using out-of-network ATMs for balance inquiries.

There may also be a fee up to $4.95 for making in-person deposits on the cards, which can be done at retailers like Wal-Mart Stores, 7-Eleven, K-Mart and major drug store chains.

A second pilot started this week will notify tens of thousands of payroll card users that they can direct deposit their federal tax refund onto existing payroll cards.

Treasury said more than 1.7 million workers nationwide use payroll cards to receive and access their wages, often because they do not have bank accounts. The agency is working with payroll service provider ADP to notify payroll card users they can get tax refunds deposited onto those cards.

Using prepaid cards to receive tax refunds is not new: the nation's two largest tax preparers, H&R Block Inc. and Jackson Hewitt Tax Services Inc., have for several years offered their own versions of prepaid cards for their customers to receive their refunds. Individuals can also request that their refunds be deposited onto prepaid cards bought elsewhere, or onto payroll cards.

Still, the new Treasury-sponsored card is expected to appeal to taxpayers who have in the past used refund anticipation loans to get access to their tax refunds quickly.

These loans typically are offered by tax preparers to give their customers quick access to their refunds, but have been criticized for coming with exorbitant interest rates and additional fees. About 8 million taxpayers nevertheless used refund loans last year, mainly because they provide quick access to what is often the largest single infusion of funds during the year for low-income workers.

For the current tax season, refund anticipation loans -- often called "Rapid Refunds" -- will be even more expensive and harder to get than in the past. That's because the IRS has stopped using a code that told tax preparers whether individuals would receive their entire refund, or if some would be held back to cover back taxes, missed child support, student loan payments or other liens. Tax prep companies used the code, known as a debt indicator, as a sort of credit check for a population seen as high risk.

Since the IRS said in August that it would discontinue the code, much of the bank funding for refund loans has dried up. H&R Block and a large number of independent tax preparers have lost their funding. Jackson Hewitt and No. 3 tax preparer Liberty Tax Services Inc. will have loans available.

Some tax preparers who do not have refund loans are likely to promote refund anticipation "checks," which are actually temporary accounts opened to receive refunds. Consumer advocates say these also often have high fees attached.

Jean Ann Fox of the Consumer Federation of America, which has long discouraged taxpayers from using refund anticipation loans because of their high costs, was upbeat about Treasury's pilot program.

"This is a relatively low-fee card compared with others on the market," she said. "This is a better bet than paying about $30 for a refund anticipation check."

One factor that increases the appeal of refund loans and checks is going unaddressed in the Treasury program: Tax preparers typically allow customers who use those products to pay the cost of filling out their returns with their refunds.

The IRS has a program called Free File that allows taxpayers to file simple returns electronically, with software available at no cost to those who earn less than $58,000 a year, and makes electronic forms available for higher income earners. Taxpayers can also avoid preparation fees by taking advantage of volunteer tax-prep programs. Details about these programs are available on the IRS website, http://www.irs.gov.