Islamic Extremists Essay Example for Free

Islamic Extremists Essay Nearly everyone has heard about Islam and the Arab world. In addition, many countries have already faced issues with the Muslim believers. Islam has caused problems, terrorist attacks, anti-democracy all over the world. They were also very successful in sending a message of who they truly are. People who are literally obedient to the Islamic faith are called Islamic Extremists. People, who are of the Islamic faith however desire to survive in peace without tribulations are not considered obedient or dutiful to the Islamic faith, these people are called moderate Muslims. Therefore, the Islamic religious extremists are the major group in Islam who follow the Qur’an word for word and create extreme violence that moderate Muslims do not. Islamic extremism started in Egypt in the late 1920s. During the inter-war years, the country was occupied by the British military. The Nationalist Wafd movement, led by Saad Zaghloul, opposed the presence of the British, as would anyone whose country is being occupied by a foreign military power. (A brief history of Islamic extremism) In 1928, Hassan al-Banna established the term â€Å"The Muslim Brotherhood† which was the first Islamist movement. The British government supported the nascent movement in an attempt to counterbalance the Nationalists. In modern Egyptian politics, the Muslim Brotherhood is the largest opposition party to Hosni Mubaraks National Democratic Party. Mubarak has been in power since the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981. The Muslim Brotherhood has always been illegal, and, over the years, thousands of its members have been imprisoned by the Egyptian government. (A brief history of Islamic extremism) The ideology of the early Brotherhood is very similar to that of Islamist groups today they denounced the Egyptian government as secular and regarded Egyptian society in terms of â€Å"jahaliya† or a barbaric, pre-Islamic society not based on Islamic sharia law. Sayyed Qutb, an Egyptian intellectual associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, wrote a book called Maalim fil Tariq ( Signposts on the Road), which proved to be highly influential on the thinking of modern Islamists. Qutb wrote the book in 1964 while in prison; 2 years later he was executed by hanging. (A brief history of Islamic extremism) In the late 1970s, the CIA financed and trained the mujahideen (Holy Warriors) in order to fight a proxy war with the Soviet army, which had invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Training, funding and the provision of arms to the mujahideen was carried out covertly via Pakistan and Saudi Arabia; one of the so-called Afghan Arabs who was trained by the U.S. was a young man called Osama bin Laden. (A brief history of Islamic extremism) In the recent years, Bangladesh was suspected of becoming a haven and breeding ground for Islamic terrorist groups with links to Al-Qaida. Domestic Islamic extremist groups are said to funnel Al-Qaida money, arms, and fighters through the country. In March 1999, IOJ chairman Amini told a public meeting: â€Å"We are for Osama [bin Ladin], we are for the Taliban, and we will be in government in 2000 through an Islamic revolution.† (Zuckerbrot-Finkelstein, B.) Bangladeshi support for Osama bin Ladin and Al-Qaida rose following the September 11 attacks and the subsequent American assault on the Taliban in Afghanistan. The U.S. conveyed its displeasure with Dhaka’s failure to quell anti-American, pro-Osama bin Ladin rallies in the wake of the American attack on Afghanistan. In November 2001, IOJ’s Amini said: â€Å"Osama bin Ladin is loved by the Bangladeshi people. Everyone respects him and considers him to be a leader of Muslims.† (Zuckerbrot-Finkelstein, B.) The political characteristics of Islam are derived from the Quran, the Sunna (the sayings and living habits of Muhammad), Muslim history, and sometimes elements of political movements outside Islam. Out of the Muslim Brotherhood, recently derived a group called The Muslim Salafeyeen. The Salafeyeen act ridiculously much worse than the Muslim Brotherhood. They have the same mentality as the Muslim Brotherhood; however, they go even beyond the expectations of the Quran’s teachings. For example the Muslim Brotherhood has the word politics in their dictionary, which means they can have political relationships with the westerners but that is to use their help for their own good, such as Saudi Arabia. They also base and enforce the law of the Qur’an on the people. On the flipside, the Salafeyeen do not have the word politics in their dictionary and the way they communicate is through severe violence even on their own people. For example their rule goes as follows: thieves must have their hands cut off, a curser’s tongue must be cut off, an adulterous must be killed with the edge of the sword, and so on with all the sinners. Their judgments are pretty extreme. They currently have a small group in Egypt. There is no research found about them yet, however information has been spread through word of mouth and people’s experiences in the recent days in Egypt. The Salafeyeen have been around and they are very few still. It is not long until the cancer is spread everywhere. Numerous terrorist tribes have eventually been spread all over the world. The Muslim Brotherhood has created a private group in each country who follow their plan. Therefore, every so often, the nation receives news about occurring devastations they have caused. Since the Muslim Brotherhood considers violence is the only method to spread or impose their religion on many countries, they had specifically chosen the United States of America to perform their violence attacks. The United States is currently considered the most powerful country in the world. If they had specifically chosen the United States, their goal is then revealed. The Muslim Brotherhood’s ambition is to attain the power of the United States and rule it. If they conquer this power, they most likely conquered the world. It is not difficult for anyone to figure this exposition. The terrorist attack that occurred in September eleventh of two thousand and one was mainly the first attack the caught the world’ s awareness. Prior to that, the nation was familiar about Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood; however they did not have enough knowledge in regards of whom they truly are. Throughout the years, the Muslim Brotherhood has determined that terrorism would be the only method used to communicate with the world. They have successfully sent out messages about their goals, which are to limit the world in education, political views, democratic views, etc. For example, the Islamic beliefs strain a woman of her basic rights. A woman is not allowed to go to school for education. According to the Shahih Bukhari 1.6.301, Volume 1, Book 6, Number 301: Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri: Once Allahs Apostle went out to the Musalla (to offer the prayer) o Id-al-Adha or Al-Fitr prayer. Then he passed by the women and said, O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women). They asked, Why is it so, O Allahs Apostle? He replied, I have not seen anyone more deficient in intell igence and religion than you. A cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you. The women asked, O Allahs Apostle! What is deficient in our intelligence and religion? He said, Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man? They replied in the affirmative. He said, This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Isnt it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses? The women replied in the affirmative. He said, This is the deficiency in her religion. Their mentality is very limited in arguments as well. Their beliefs are against freedom of speech, religion, expression, even the Internet because it allows arguments, knowledge, and education and mostly everything that has to do with the human rights. All of their arguments must go back to the Shari’a (law) of Islam, which prevents all these rights. The Shari’a of Islam calls for men to beat their wives. According to 004.034 YUSUFALI: Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husbands) absence what Allah would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (Next), refuse to share their beds, (And last) beat them; but if they return to obedience, seek not against them Means (of annoyance). This type of mentality creates a violence animalistic society. People develop these violent skills through the enforcement of such laws which leads to terrorism. Imagine there is lack of education, freedom of arguments, speech, expression, religion, anti-democracy etc. how will anyone be able to learn, be fair, balanced in thoughts, unprejudiced or even survive in peace? It is certainly impractical. Therefore, to overcome the mentality of terrorism, the nation must understand what Islam and the Qur’an truly teaches Islamists. Some of the Qur’an’s teachings are mostly about the infidels (unbelievers) and how all of them will end up in Hell. According to the teachings of the Qur’an verses freely and blithely mentions: Do not take unbeli evers as friends; caution is necessary to befriend the unbelievers3:28. It is not honourable to take unbelievers as friends4:139. Do not take unbelievers as friends4:144. Believers are not to take the Jews and Christians as friends and protectors; if any believer (i.e. Muslim) turns to them then he also becomes a Jew or a Christian5:51. Real friends are God, His apostle (Muhammad) and the fellowship of pious and charitable believers5:55. Gods wrath and torments is for befriending the unbelievers5:80. Whoever seeks the friendship of evil people will be lead to the penalty of fire22:3. Cannot be on terms of secret intimacy or be friendly with the enemies of faith 60:1. This is the very own words of Qur’an that Islamists follow. Some Islamists who live in the west will even criticize their folks for buying a tiny Christmas tree just for the little children or even for attending Christmas parties. They will even go a step further in declaring that the westerners must learn from them (the Muslim migrants) and not the other way around. At this time, since the Qur’an never called for peace, it is underst andable why those Islamists act the way they do. The supreme rage of the Islamists is reserved for the way the western women dress, work and lives. Many Muslim women are deviously forced to wear hijab just to demonstrate to the infidel women the superior chastity of Muslim women. Ten years ago, it was rare to find a hijabi woman in any streets of Europe or the U.S. The situation is quite different now. Any rail-station, shopping center, eating stall, college, university, etc., will regularly notice a hijabi woman standing nearby. Many Islamists openly declare that all Muslim women must cover themselves in (ugly) hijab and cloak no matter what others may think of them. This is because these Muslim women will become the shining examples or beacon of femininity, chastity, and Islamic beauty to the infidel women and they (the infidel women) will eventually follow the Muslim women and happily wear the Muslim garb. These Islamists are absolutely certain that these infidel women will one day, surely be covered by Islamic hijab. Why? Because, Allah has ordained it-one day the entire world will become an Ummah (Islamic community) of some sort. They have no doubt on this. At this point, it is understandable why Islamic extremists commit their terrorism attacks. Their goal is to spread and enforce Islam in the whole world. Research has proved through the very own words of Qur’an and Hadith, action has proved it through terrorism attacks of the infidels (unbelievers), and their day-to-day routine dressing up in the Muslim garb. Many will argue it is not a problem if their religion inquires their women to dress and look that way. They are partially right, only if their purpose is to dress that way and nothing more. However based on research, even modern Islamists are called Islamists because they believe in Islamic Shari’a and law. They have an idea of what Islam is about and if they still call themselves Muslims, they are considered under the same category of religion. They have partially the same thoughts; they may not be interested in murdering, however they will never take a westerner as a friend, unless the westerner becomes a Muslim. This type of thinking is not in any way beneficial for a modern society. In a modern society, it encourages one to look, act, and think in a certain way. This way is not to enforce negative thoughts, beliefs on anyone. It is to encourage education, positive thoughts, and the acting of professionalism with one another. The best method in reaching a solution for the world is to understand that Islam is now spread in many places. Islam has become a whole mentality that people follow not fairly a religion. Islam currently starts in early stages of humans’ lives. A child is raised up receiving hate and all types of negative thoughts, which later develops in his/her core. Therefore, terrorism is never ending; in fact it improves by the days. At this time, there is no way around to end terrorism, but there are ways to make it less occurring in the world. Educating people, and youth on how terrorism started, and how the world perceives it as a negative act will help them understand the concept of terrorism. Also through education, people will have the need to protect their country and defend it. No one is willing to live in a country that is controlled by terrorists. Neither will anyone be willing to limit their thoughts, expression, education, freedom of worship, or personal decisions. In conclusion, Islamic extremists have attempted to impose their religious beliefs on the world. This happens through their violent attacks almost in every western country. The only method to stop this violence is to allow people to understand the true meaning of Islam. This is to educate people about Islam and Muslim extremists in the early stages of life. It is also essential to help the nation learn how the modern Muslims differ from those extremists. Through education, a solution can come into view on how we can end these bloody violent tribes. Even if it takes time, months and years, it can still take a major affect on the long run. References Bas, N. J. (2004). Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad. Oxford: Oxford University Press, USA. BukhaÌ„riÌ„, M. i. (1981). Shahih Bukhari. Jakarta: Penerbit Widjaya. Darwish, N. (2006). Now they call me infidel: why I renounced jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror. New York, N.Y.: Sentinel. Jonas, G. (2007). Reflections on Islam: ideas, opinions, arguments. Toronto: Key Porter Books. Katel, P. (2010). Homegrown jihadists: can Muslim terrorists in the U.S. mount serious attacks?. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly. The Big Think Tank: A brief history of Islamic extremism. (2006, April 25). The Big Think Tank. Retrieved April 6, 2011, from http://thebigthinktank.blogspot.com/2006/04/brief-history-of-islamic-extremism.html Quran Shariff. (1978). S.l.: [s.n.]. Yuan, M. (2005). Women in Islam. Detroit: Greenhaven Press/Thomson-Gale. YouTube 2 year old Muslim Girl answers Questions on Islam. (n.d.). YouTube Broadcast Yourself. Retrieved April 20, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tfh2PnvTnYfeature=related Zuckerbrot-Finkelstein, B. (2007, January 10). Islamic Extremism and Terrorism in Bangladesh-American Jewish Committee. Home-American Jewish Committee. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoGb=3133321ct=

Evidence from International Stock Markets

Evidence from International Stock Markets Portfolio Selection with Four Moments: Evidence from International Stock Markets Despite the international diversification suggested by several researchers (e.g. Grulbel, 1968; Levy and Sarnat, 1970; Solnik, 1974) and the increased integration of capital markets, the home bias has not decreased (Thomas et. al., 2004 and Coeurdacier and Rey, 2013) and there is no complete explanation of this puzzle. Furthermore, there are the fastgrowing concerns of investor for extreme risks[1] and the investors preference toward odd moments (e.g. mean and skewness) and an aversion toward even moments (e.g. variance and kurtosis) considered by numerous studies (e.g. Levy, 1969; Arditti, 1967 and 1971; Jurczenko and Maillet, 2006). According to these reasons, this paper propose to investigate whether the incorporation of investor preferences in the higher moments into the international asset allocation problem can help explain the home bias puzzle. The study will allow investor preferences to depend not only the first two moments (i.e. mean and variance) but also on the higher moments, such as skewness and kurtosis, by using the polynomial goal programming (PGP) approach and then generate the three-dimensional efficient frontier. The main objective of the proposed study is to investigate whether the incorporation of skewness and kurtosis into the international stock portfolio selection causes these issues: The changes in the construction of optimal portfolios, the patterns of relationships between moments, and the less diversification compared to the mean-variance model. Since several researchers (e.g. Grulbel, 1968; Levy and Sarnat, 1970; Solnik, 1974) suggest that investment in a portfolio of equities across foreign markets provide great diversification opportunities, then investors should rebalance there portfolio away from domestic toward foreign equities. However, US investors continue to hold equity portfolios that are largely dominated by domestic assets. Thomas et. al. (2004) reported that by the end of 2003 US investors held only 14 percent of their equity portfolios in foreign stocks. Furthermore, Coeurdacier and Rey (2013) also reported that in 2007, US investors hold more than 80 percent of domestic equities. Many explanations have been recommended in the literature to explain this home bias puzzle include direct barriers such as capital controls and transaction costs (e.g. Stulz, 1981; Black, 1990; Chaieb and Errunza, 2007), and indirect barriers such as information costs and higher estimation uncertainty for foreign than domestic equities (e.g. Brennan and Cao, 1997; Guidolin, 2005; Ahearne et. al., 2004). Nevertheless, several studies (e.g. Karolyi and Stulz, 1996; Lewis, 1999) suggests that these explanations are weakened since the direct costs to international investment have come down significantly overtime and the financial globalization by electronic trading increases exchanges of information and decreases uncertainty across markets. Since the modern portfolio theory of Markowitz (1952) indicates how risk-averse investors can construct optimal portfolios based upon mean-variance trade-off, there are numerous studies on portfolio selection in the framework of the first two moments of the return distributions. However, as many researchers (e.g., Kendall and Hill, 1953; Mandelbrot, 1963a and 1963b; Fama, 1965) discovered that the presence of significant skewness and excess kurtosis in asset return distributions, there is a great concern that highermoments than the variance should be accounted in portfolio selection. The motivation for the generalization to higher moments arises from the theoretical work of Levy (1969) provided the cubic utility function depending on the first three moments. Later, the empirical works of Arditti (1967 and 1971) documented the investors preference for positive skewness and aversion negative skewness in return distributions of individual stocks and mutual funds, respectively. Even Markowitz (1959) himself also supports this aspect by suggesting that a mean-semi-variance trade-off [2], which gives priority to avoiding downside risk, would be superior to the original mean-variance approach. While the importance of the first three moments was recognized, there were some arguments on the incorporation of higher moments than the third into the analysis. First, Arditti (1967) suggested that most of the information about any probability distribution is contained in its first three moments. Later, Levy (1969) argued that even the higher moments are approximately functions of the first moments, but not that they are small in magnitude. Several authors (Levy, 1969; Samuelson, 1970; Rubinstein, 1973) also recommend that in general the higher moments than the variance cannot be neglected, except when at least one of the following conditions must be true: All the higher moments beyond the first are zero. The derivatives of utility function are zero for the higher moments beyond the second. The distributions of asset returns are normal or the utility functions are quadratic. However, ample evidence (e.g., Kendall and Hill, 1953; Mandelbrot, 1963a and 1963b; Fama, 1965) presented not only the higher moments beyond the first and their derivatives of the utility function are not zero, but also the asset returns are not normally distributed. Furthermore, several researchers (Tobin, 1958; Pratt, 1964; Samuelson, 1970; Levy and Sarnat, 1972) indicate that the assumption of quadratic utility function is appropriate only when return distributions are compact. Therefore, the higher moments of return distributions, such as skewness, are relevant to the investors decision on portfolio selection and cannot be ignored. In the field of portfolio theory with higher moments, Samuelson (1970) was the first author who recommends the importance of higher moments than the second for portfolio analysis. He shows that when the investment decision restrict to the finite time horizon, the use of mean-variance analysis becomes insufficient and the higher moments than the variance become more relevant in portfolio selection. Therefore, he developed three-moment model based on the cubic utility function which expressed by Levy (1969)3. Following Samuelson (1970), number of studies (e.g. Jean, 1971, 1972 and 1973; Ingersoll, 1975; and Schweser, 1978) explained the importance of skewness in security returns, derived the risk premium as functions of the first three moments, and generated the three-dimensional efficient frontier with a risk-free asset. Later, Diacogiannis (1994) proposed the multi-moment portfolio optimization programme by minimizing variance at any given level of expected return and skewness. Consequently, Athayde and Flores (1997) developed portfolio theory taking the higher moments than the variance into consideration in a utility maximizing context. The expressions in this paper greatly simplified the numerical solutions of the multi-moment portfolio optimal asset allocation problems4. 23 Levy (1969) defines the cubic utility function as U(x) which has the form: U(x) = ax + bx + cx , where x is a random variable and a,b,c are coefficients. This function is concave in a certain range but convex in another. Jurczenko, E. and Maillet, B. (2006) Multi-Moment Asset Allocation and Pricing Models, Wiley Finance, p. xxii. Different approaches have been developed to incorporate the individual preferences for higher-order moments into portfolio optimization. These approaches can be divided into two main groups, the primal and dual approaches. The dual approach starts from a specification of the higher-moment utility function by using the Taylors series expansion to link between the utility function and the moments of the return distribution. Then, the dual approaches will determine the optimal portfolio via its parameters reflecting preferences for the moments of asset return distribution. Harvey et. al. (2004) uses this approach to construct the set of the three-moment efficient frontier by using two sets of returns[3]. The results show that as the investors preference in skewness increases, there are sudden change points in the expected utility that lead to dramatically modifications in the allocation of the optimal portfolio. Jondeau and Rockinger (2003 and 2006) and Guidolin and Timmermann (2008) extend the dual approach in portfolio selection from three- to four-moment framework. A shortcoming of this dual approach is that the Taylor series expansion may converge to the expected utility under restrictive conditions. That is for some utility functions (e.g. the exponential function), the expansion converges for all possible levels of return, whereas for some types of utility function (e.g. the logarithm-power function), the convergence of Taylor series expansion to the expected utility is ensured only over a restricted range6. Furthermore, since Taylor series expansion have an infinite number of terms, then using a finite number of terms creates the truncation error. To circumvent these problems, the primal approach parameters that used to weight the moment deviations are not relate precisely to the utility function. Tayi and Leonard (1988) introduced the Polynomial Goal Programming (PGP), which is a primal approach to solve the goal in portfolio optimization by trade-off between competing and conflicting objectives. Later, Lai (1991) is the first researcher who proposed this method to solve the multiple objectives determining the set of the mean-variance-skewness efficient portfolios. He illustrated the three-moment portfolio selection with three objectives, which are maximizing both the expected return and the skewness, and minimizing the variance of asset returns. Follows Lai (1991) who uses a sample of five stocks and a risk-free asset, Chunhachinda et. al. (1997) and Prakash et. al. (2003) examines three-moment portfolio selection by using international stock indices. Regarding the under-diversification, many studies (e.g. Simkowitz and Beedles, 1978; Mitton and Vorkink, 2004; and Briec et. al., 2007) suggested that incorporation of the higher moments in the investors objective functions can explain portfolio under-diversification. Home bias puzzle is one of the under-diversification. It is a tendency to invest in a large proportion in domestic securities, even there are potential gains from diversification of investment portfolios across national markets. Guidolin and Timmermann (2008)[4] indicate that home bias in US can be explained by incorporate the higher moments (i.e. skewness and kurtosis) with distinct bull and bear regimes in the investors objective functions. Several researchers use the primal and the dual approaches to examine the  international portfolio selection. Jondeau and Rockinger (2003 and 2006) and Guidolin and Timmermann (2008) applied the dual approaches using a higher-order Taylor expansion of the utility function. They provide the empirical evidence that under large departure from normality of the return distribution, the higher-moment optimization is more efficient than the mean-variance framework. Chunhachinda et. al. (1997) and Prakash (2003) applied the Polynomial Goal Programming (PGP), which is a primal approach, to determine the optimal portfolios of international stock indices. Their results indicated that the incorporation of skewness into the portfolio selection problem causes a major change in the allocation of the optimal portfolio and the trade-off between expected return and skewness of the efficient portfolio. Appendix 1 presents methodology and data of the previous papers that study international portfolio selection with higher moments. In the proposed study, I will extend PGP approach to the mean-variance-skewnesskurtosis framework and investigate the international asset allocation problem that whether the incorporation of investor preferences in the higher moments of stock return distributions returns can help explain the home bias puzzle. Since previous research (e.g. Levy, 1972; Singleton and Wingerder, 1986) points out that the estimated values of the moments of the asset return distribution sensitive to the choices of an investment horizon, I will examine daily, weekly, and monthly data sets in the study[5]. The sample data will consist of daily, weekly, and monthly rates of return of five international indices for all available data from January 1975 to December 2016. These five indices cover the stock markets in the main geographical areas, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, the Pacific region (excluding Japan), and Europe (excluding United Kingdom)[6]. Moreover, the study also use three-month US Treasury bill rates as the existence of the risk-free asset in order that the investor is not restricted to invest only in risky assets. The data source of these indices is the Morgan Stanley Capital International Index (MSCI) who reports these international price indices as converted into US dollar at the spot foreign exchange rate. The MSCI stock price indices and T-bill rates are available in Datastream. The methodology proposed in the study consists of two parts. First, the rate of return distribution of each international index will be tested for normality by using the Shapiro-Wilk test. Then, the PGP approach will be utilized to determine the optimal portfolio in the fourmoment framework. 4.1 Testing for normality of return distribution At the beginning of the empirical work, I will test the normality of return distributions of international stock indices and the US T-bill rates. This test provides the foundation for examine the portfolio selection problem in the mean-variance-skewness-kurtosis framework. Although several methods are developed, there is an ample evidence that the ShapiroWilk is the best choice for evaluating normality of data under various specifications of the probability distribution. Shapiro et. al. (1968) provide an empirical sampling study of the sensitivities of nine normality-testing procedures and concluded that among those procedures, the Shapiro-Wilk statistic is a generally superior measure of non-normality. More recently, Razali and Wah (2011) compared the power of four statistical tests of normality via Monte Carlo simulation of sample data generated from various alternation distributions. Their results support that Shapiro-Wilk test is the most powerful normality test for all types of the distributions and sample sizes. The Shapiro-Wilk statistic is defined as where is the i th order statistic (rate of returns), à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã‚ ¯ . à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã‚ ¯ / is the sample mean, are the expected values of the order statistics of independent and identically distributed random variables sampled from the standard normal, and V is the covariance matrix of those order statistics. Note that the values of are provided in Shapiro-Wilk (1965) table based on the order i. The Shapiro-Wilk tests the null hypothesis of normality: H0: The population is normally distributed. H1: The population is not normally distributed.    If the p-value is less than the significant level (i.e. 1%, 5%, or 10%), then the null hypothesis of normal distribution is rejected. Thus, there is statistical evidence that the sample return distribution does not came from a normally distributed population. On the other hand, if the p-value is greater than the chosen alpha level, then the null hypothesis that the return distribution came from a normally distributed population cannot be rejected. 4.2 Solving for the multi-objective portfolio problem Following Lai (1991) and Chunhachinda et. al. (1997), the multi-objective portfolio selection with higher momentscan be examined based on the following assumptions: Investors are risk-averse individuals who maximize the expected utility of their end-ofperiod wealth. There are n + 1 assets and the (n + 1)th asset is the risk-free asset. All assets are marketable, perfectly divisible, and have limited liability. The borrowing and lending rates are equal to the rate of return r on the risk-free asset. The capital market is perfect, there are no taxes and transaction costs. Unlimited short sales of all assets with full use of the proceeds are allowed. The mean, variance, skewness, and kurtosis of the rate of return on asset are assumed to exist for all risky assets for 1,2, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ . Then, I define the variables in the analysis as = ,, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ , be the transpose of portfolio component , where is the percentage of wealth invested in the th risky asset, = ,, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ , be the transpose of whose mean denoted by , = the rate of return on the th risky asset, = the rate of return on the risk-free asset, = a (n x 1) vector of expected excess rates of return, = the expectation operator, = the (n x 1) vector of ones, = the variance-covariance (n x n) matrix of , = the skewness-coskewness (n x n2) matrix of ,= the kurtosis-cokurtosis (n x n3) matrix of . Then, the mean, the variance, the skewness, and the kurtosis of the portfolio returns can be defined as:[7] , , à ¢Ã…  -,[8] Kurtosis = = à ¢Ã…  - à ¢Ã…  - . Note that because of certain symmetries, only ((n+1)*n)/2 elements of the skewnesscoskewness matrix and ((n+2)*(n+1)*n)/6 elements of the kurtosis-cokurtosis matrix must be computed. The components of the variance-covariance matrix, the skewness-coskewness matrix, and the kurtosis-cokurtosis matrix can be computed as follows: à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ, à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ. Therefore, the optimal solution is to select a portfolio component . The portfolio selection can be determined by solving the following multiple objectives, which are maximizing the expected return and the skewness while minimizing the variance and the kurtosis: , , à ¢Ã…  -, = à ¢Ã…  - à ¢Ã…  - . subject to 1. Since the percentage invested in each asset is the main concern of the portfolio decision, Lai (1991) suggests that the portfolio choice can be rescaled and restricted on the unit variance space (i.e. | 1 ). Under the condition of unit variance, the portfolio selection problem with skewness and kurtosis (P1) can be formulated as follows: , à ¢Ã…  -, (P1) = à ¢Ã…  - à ¢Ã…  - , subject to 1 , 1 . Usually, the solution of the problem (P1) does not satisfy three objectives (, , ) simultaneously. As a result, the above multi-objective problem (P1) involves a two-step procedure. First, a set of non-dominated solutions independent of investors preferences is developed. Then, the next step can be accomplished by incorporating investors preferences for objectives into the construction of a polynomial goal programming (PGP). Consequently, portfolio selection by satisfying the multiple objectives that is the solution of PGP can be achieved. In PGP the objective function ( ) does not contain a portfolio component , it contains deviational variables ( , , ) which represent deviations between goals and what can be achieved, given a set of constrains. Therefore, the objective function ( ) is minimization of the deviation variables ( , , ) to determine the portfolio component . Moreover, if the goals are at the same priority level, the deviations from the goals ( , , ) are non-negative variables. Given an investors preferences among mean, skewness, and kurtosis ( , , ), a PGP model can be expressed as: . subject to à ¢Ã‹â€ - , à ¢Ã…  -à ¢Ã‹â€ - , (P2) à ¢Ã…  - à ¢Ã…  - = à ¢Ã‹â€ - , 1 , 1 , ,, 0 . where à ¢Ã‹â€ - = the extreme value of objective when they are optimized individually, then à ¢Ã‹â€ - |1 , à ¢Ã‹â€ - |1 , and à ¢Ã‹â€ - |1 , = the non-negative variables which represent the deviation of and à ¢Ã‹â€ -, = the non-negative parameters representing the investors subjective degree of preferences between objectives, The combinations of represent different preferences of the mean, the skewness, and the kurtosis of a portfolio return. For example, the higher , the more important the mean (skewness or kurtosis) of the portfolio return is to the investor. Thus, the efficient portfolios are the solutions of problem (P2) for various combinations of preferences . The expected results provided in this section refer to two parts of methodology, the normality test and the international portfolio optimization in four-moment framework. 5.1 The expected results of the normality test Many researches examine the international stock indices and found that most of the stock return distributions exhibit skewness and their excess kurtosis are far from zero. For instance, in the work of Chunhachinda et. al. (1997), the Shapiro-Wilk statistics indicate 5 markets and 11 markets reject the null hypothesis of normal distribution at ten percent significant level, for weekly and monthly data, respectively. Prakash et. al. (2003) use the Jarque-Bera test to trial the normality of each international stock index, their results indicate that for 17 markets for weekly returns and 10 markets for monthly returns reject the null hypothesis of normal distribution five percent significant level. Therefore, I expected that the Shapiro-Wilk tests in the proposed study will be significant and reject the null hypothesis of normality. In other words, the return distributions of international stock markets during the period under study are expected to be non-normal. 5.2 The expected results of the multi-objective portfolio selection 5.2.1 The changes in the allocation of optimal portfolios Chunhachinda et. al. (1997) and Prakash et. al. (2003) both indicated that the incorporation of skewness into the portfolio selection problem causes a major change in the allocation of the optimal portfolio. However, their definitions of a major change are different. Chunhachinda et. al. (1997) found that there is a modification in the allocation when they compare between the mean-variance and the mean-variance-skewness efficient portfolios. However, both types of portfolios are dominated by the investment components of only four markets[9]. On the other hand, Prakash (2003) results show that the structural weights of the mean-variance and the mean-variance-skewness optimal portfolios are dominated by different markets. Therefore, I expected that when I compare between of the mean-variance efficient portfolios, the three-moment efficient portfolios, and the mean-variance efficient portfolios, the percentage invested in each asset will be different in magnitude and ranking. 5.2.2 The trade-off between expected return and skewness Most of the studies of international portfolio selection with higher moments (e.g. Chunhachinda et. al., 1997; Prakash et. al., 2003; Jondeau and Rockinger, 2003 and 2006) reported that the mean-variance efficient portfolios have the higher expected return while the three-moment efficient portfolios have greater skewness. Thus, they indicated that after incorporation of skewness into portfolio selection problem, the investor will trade the expected return of the portfolio for the skewness. More recently, Davies et. al. (2005) applied PGP to determine the set of the four-moment efficient funds of hedge funds and found not only the trade-off between the mean and the skewness, but also the trade-off between the variance and the kurtosis. Thus, I expected to discover the trade-off between the expected return and the skewness and the trade-off between the variance and the kurtosis. In addition, I will also investigate other relationships between the moments of return distribution and report them in both numerical and graphical ways. 5.2.3 The less diversification compared to the mean-variance model. To investigate whether the incorporation of higher moments than the second (i.e. skewness and kurtosis) can help explain the home bias puzzle, I will examine the hypothesis: H0: ZMV à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ ZMVSK. H1: ZMV > ZMVSK. where ZMV and ZMVSK are the number of nonzero weights of the mean-variance efficient portfolios and the four-moment efficient portfolios, respectively. If the number of nonzero weights of the mean-variance efficient portfolios (ZMV) is greater than the number of nonzero weights of the four-moment efficient portfolios (ZMVSK), then I will rejected the null hypothesis. This implies that the incorporation of the higher moments into the portfolio decision can help explain the home bias puzzle. However, the results from the literature are mixed. On one hand, several researchers (e.g. Prakash et. al., 2003; Briec et. al., 2007; Guidolin and Timmermann, 2008) provided the evidence that the incorporation of skewness into the portfolio selection causes the less diversification in the efficient portfolio. On the other hand, the results of some studies (e.g. Chunhachinda et. al., 1997; Jondeau and Rockinger, 2003 and 2006) found that when compare with the mean-variance efficient portfolios, the diversification of the higher-moment efficient portfolios seem to be same or even became more diversify. I expected the results to show that the four-moment efficient portfolio is less diversified than the mean-variance one. In other words, the incorporation of the skewness and the kurtosis into the international portfolio selection can help explain the home bias. [1] Jurczenko, E. and Maillet, B. (2006) Multi-Moment Asset Allocation and Pricing Models, Wiley Finance, p. xxii. [2] Semi-variance is a measure of the dispersion of all observations that fall below the average or target value of a data set. [3] The first set consists of four stocks and the second set consists of four equity indices, two commodities, and a risk-free asset. 6 Jurczenko, E. Maillet, B., and Merlin, P. (2006) Multi-Moment Asset Allocation and Pricing Models, Wiley Finance, p. 52. [4] Guidolin and Timmermann (2008) analyze the portfolio selection problem by using the dual approach. [5] Chunhachinda et. al. (1997) and Prakash et. al. (2003) studied the portfolio selection across national stock markets by using two data sets, weekly and monthly data. [6] Guidolin and Timmermann (2008) reported that these markets represent roughly 97% of the world equity market capitalization. [7] I use the derivations of skewness and kurtosis as provided in the textbook Multi-Moment Asset Allocation and Pricing Models of Jurczenko and Maillet (2006) to transform the expectation operators into the matrix terms. [8] Let A be an (nÃÆ'-p) matrix and B an (mÃÆ'-q) matrix. The (mnÃÆ'-pq) matrix Aà ¢Ã…  -B is called the of matrix A and matrix B: [9] The four markets are Hong Kong, Netherlands, Singapore, and Switzerland. These markets have high rankings of the coefficient of variation under the sample period.

Comparing the Cites where I have Lived :: comparison compare contrast essays

Compare and Contrast Cites where I have Lived I have opinions of all the places I have lived. Each place has its advantages and disadvantages, and I am not sure if there is any place that really fits me well. In this essay, I will examine the bad and good aspects of some of the places I have lived. Then, I will compare what I consider to be "ideal" conditions with the good aspects of those places where I have lived. Lastly, I will choose the place that I think is best for me. I was born in Taipei, and I lived there for a great part of my life. I consider it to be my hometown, and I cherish many of the memories I have form there. I like the people and places in Taipei, especially some of its unique characteristics, like the night markets. The pattern of the city is familiar to me, and the streets are always full of people shopping. Taipei does, however, have some bad aspects. It was a severe air pollution problem, and heavy traffic jams are commonplace. The city just has too many people packed into too little space. Its many buildings are packed closely together, and this just makes the overcrowding problem worse. After living in Taipei during ny childhood and teenage years, I moved to southern Taiwan to attend college. The town I lived in was much less populated than Taipei, and that was nice. But, it was very hot there and that was a big problem. They also did not have a large shopping center, so buying nice clothes was difficult. I felt like I could not look fine or pretty. Unlike Taipei, this town had no fine restaurants or shops either. On the good side, this town was wide open. There was lots of space and the natural scenery was just beautiful. Because it was not so crowded, and traffic was not a problem, there was not much pollution either. I like this because it was easier to keep healthy. When I finished my work at a hospital in Taiwan, I moved to the university of Woollongone, in Australia. I went there to study conversational English.

The Separation of Church and State in America Essay -- Religion Politi

"Prayer has been banished from schools and the ACLU rampages to remove â€Å"under God† from the Pledge of Allegiance. Moreover, â€Å"Separation of Church and State† is nowhere found in the Constitution or any other founding legislation. Our forefathers would never countenance the restrictions on religion exacted today." -- Bill Flax, Forbes, 2011 Church and State seem to be two words which are entirely inseparable from each other. Religion in politics and the government has been present since the federal government was first put into place. The issue of religion is present in such varied topics as the public school system, presidential elections, right down to the National Anthem. The fact of the matter is, Church and State are very far from being separate in the United States. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." These opening words of the First Amendment of the Constitution set forth a guarantee of religious freedom in the United States. The Establishment clause was intended to accomplish this end by, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, creating a "wall of separation between Church and State." The First Amendment prevented the government from interfering in it's citizens religious lives. It did not, however, prevent the federal government from engaging in it's own. The Fourteenth Amendment, Ratified in 1868, states that "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the Unites States; nor shall any State depri... ...urch and State may be an unattainable goal. But as long as the Church and State have anything to do with one another, the struggle will continue. Bibliography: Flax, Bill. "The True Meaning of Separation of Church and State", July 9, Forbes, 2011 Web. 15 May 2015 http://www.forbes.com/sites/billflax/2011/07/09/the-true-meaning-of-separation-of-church-and-state/ Goldberg, George. Church, State, and the Constitution. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Gateway, 2014. Mueller, Arnold C. "Religion in the Public Schools." In Church and State Under God, ed. Albert G. Huegli. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004. Lopatto, Paul. Religion and the Presidential Election. Edited by Gerald M. Pomper. New York: Praeger, 2014. Spiritual Answers Online, Church and State, Web. 15 May 2015 http://www.spiritual-answers.com/Questions/church_and_state.htm

A Comparison of George Orwells Totalitarian World of 1984 and America

Orwell's Totalitarian World of 1984 is America in 2004 Orwell's allegorical critique of Stalinism in 1984 is often used in capitalist nations as a poignant literary attack on Communism and other collectivist economic and political systems. The argument often follows the lines of "This is socialism, and as you can see, it doesn't work and just leads to oppression. We're in a nice capitalist democracy, therefore we are better off." But is that conclusion the truth? Orwell didn't just intend 1984 as an attack on communism or socialism; instead it is both an attack and a rather prophetic warning against any authoritarian structure, including the authoritarian structure of capitalist democracies. Often we do not equate "democracy" with totalitarianism, but thanks to the manipulation of language, we can have both "democracy" and a corrupt and oppressive regime simultaneously. How? Through the wonders of Orwell's newspeak and doublethink. This is not newspeak exactly as Orwell portrayed it (a open attempt at centralized modification of language), but more in the form of what Orwell warned about in his essay Language and Politics. The subtle debasing of words has allowed the powerful in democratic nations to successfully install a system which is blatantly counter-democratic in its behavior and yet is masked by twisted language. "Democracy" means, to many Americans, a system in which they choose their own leaders, voice their opinions to representatives in government, and human rights and freedoms are respected by the state. But in practice, "democracy," when applied abroad by the United States, means subjugating native peoples to the will of American corporations, and in the process, the destruction... ...s ideas of Newspeak and doublethink. Those who think America is far from the totalitarian world of 1984 are actually dead wrong. It is 1984 today in many respects; the only difference is that the leaders have done a much better job of covering up their wrongdoing. It could be said that Orwell was the prophet and Chomsky is the messiah of our current "democratic" state. Works Cited Chomsky, Noam. Profit Over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order. New York: Seven Stories Press, 1999. Chomsky, Noam. The Chomsky Trilogy (The Prosperous Few And the Restless Many (1994), Secrets, Lies and Democracy (1994), and What Uncle Sam Really Wants (1992) ). Tucson, AZ: Odonian Press/Seven Stories Press, 1999. (available in e-text from the Noam Chomsky Archive: http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/index.cfm) Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1949.

Mental Pressure

Mental Pressure? It is because of something that was said or done has overwhelmed your mindset and it becomes difficult to think. A number of students has been encountered feeling and complaining about this said â€Å"Mental Pressure† nowadays. It happens because your brain is receptive of everything, meaning it will take information and process it how it sees it. This topic does not aim only for the Mental Pressure that students experience now but also what makes them feel stressed a lot ore than the usual and how they cope from it.Thus, Stress or Mental Pressure is not always a bad thing, having to experience cramming, staying up late at night doing home works or projects or even doing your task at the last minute when the paper or any sort is being collected by the teacher or the person in charge makes you think of how you, yourself is making your own life more complicated, it will make you do what is right the next time around. But that doesn't mean that it has an advantag e that it is to supposed to be fixed, It may have an advantage but it has more disadvantage than anyone would thought.This may also cause some serious response to the human body that is why this topic's aim is to know how students deal with this sort of stress and have to research more about it to improve for future references and to help make students feel more comfortable with their studying routine and not feel stress than the way they experience it before. Statement of the Problem This research aims to scrutinize the various ways or plans of selected fourth ear high school students regarding on how they cope with stress and mental pressure.The present study, within the context of the school, will be concerned with the following research questions: 1 . When do you often encounter Stress with school works? 2. How do you manage to finish a task with all the stress and pressure you have packed in with you? 3. How does Mental Stress affect you with your educational purposes? 4. What is your most recommended way of coping or having to deal with stress or mental pressure? 5. Significance of the StudyThis study is beneficial, first, to the students, that they may be able to convey their reactions and feedback of the K-12 program through the survey. This study may also be beneficial to the school and the members the faculty that they may look at the K-12 program through the eyes of the students and find out Just how they could help students learn and understand their respective subjects better, and how they can help this students' learning experience become an enjoyable one, while still maintaining the objective to produce world- lass and globally competitive persons of whole person learning.This study may also be beneficial to the parents of each student, that they may understand why exactly they are paying for two more extra years of secondary education and how this can affect the betterment of their child/children's future. Scope and Delimitation The study will only focus on the perceptions of selected senior high school students of Notre Dame of Greater Manila SYS 2014-2015 regarding the adapted K-12 program.The study will not be including research regarding other factors hat are affected by the program such as the perceptions of the freshmen and sophomores regarding the program, the preparations made by the school staff for the students who are affected, and the likes. Definition of Terms The following terms were mentioned in this study: Adaptation – the process of changing to fit some purpose or situation. Autonomous – existing or acting separately from other things or people. Pedagogical – relating to teachers and academics and education. Perception – point of view; the way one thinks about or understand something.

The ring of the phone made my head pound

The ring of the phone made my head pound. I covered my ears as I walked towards the phone in a fragile manner. After a long night out in London, the sound of the phone was particularly what I wanted to hear. I scrambled over the edge of the sofa and clumsily grabbed the phone. â€Å"Hello?† I said sleepily. â€Å"Hi Chrissie, how are you? Feeling any better?† â€Å"Oh hi Will, I actually feel terrible, I could do with some fresh air.† â€Å"Good because I want to take you out somewhere, I haven't seen you for ages!† He was right. It had probably been six weeks since we had seen each other properly, and he oldest and best friend. I asked him where he suggested we went. â€Å"I don't know, maybe I'll drive us out to my Aunt's old cottage in the country. Get away from it all.† It definitely sounded appealing. I needed it and so did Will. He had left for America and had been gone for three long weeks. When he got back I was working and couldn't meet him. Then I became ill. â€Å"You're on!† I said excitedly. â€Å"Can't wait, bye!† He sounded pleased. Those few precious moments I had with him were fantastic. We had so much fun. I sprung up and bounded into my bedroom. Five minutes later, I appeared, pulling on my jacket. I turned of the television. The buzzer rang. â€Å"Delivery,† giggled Will. â€Å"Come on up.† Will had always been a joker, ever since we were in our earliest school days. I opened the door and I was greeted by Will. A huge banana grin spread across his face, he had a glowing tan. He had one of those smiles that lit up the whole room. I shut the door and locked it behind me. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, he turned to face me and opened his arms; I threw mine around his neck. He buried his face in my hair, squeezing me tight. â€Å"Come on, we can catch up on the way.† The tone of his voice was a happy one. I hurried into his mini cooper. â€Å"It's alright for some!† I thought to myself. I sat down and did up my seatbelt. â€Å"What have you been doing since the last time I saw you?† he asked, turning on the radio. â€Å"Not much because I've been off work, but Tom and I did go down to his mum's for a couple of days, but that's about it.† Will had always been uncomfortable about me and Tom. He thought that Tom wasn't good enough for me. But he lived with it, after all he was my best friend. As my boyfriend, Tom thought that I spent too much time with Will. â€Å"What did you get up to in America?† I said, trying to change the subject. â€Å"Erm†¦,† he stalled for a moment. â€Å"I did lots of photo shoots and recorded and interview for a chat show.† There was silence. My life seemed so boring compared to his. He was always bounding off somewhere or another flash. â€Å"Do you know what?† I whispered. â€Å"What?† replied Will. â€Å"I want you to sing for me.† â€Å"Why?† said Will sounding rather shocked. â€Å"Because the last time you did we were about eighteen.† He turned up the car stereo and skipped to track fourteen and doing as he was told, he softly began to sing: â€Å"Cut to the chase, your pretty face, search outer space, leaving no trace.† I closed my eyes, tipped back my head and let the words wash over me, like waves onto the sand. At school everyone had nicknamed him Golden Tonsils, and now he fitted that name more than ever. As his voice faded I flicked my eyes back open and looked at him. â€Å"Let's play a game!† he squealed with a childish glint in his eye. â€Å"Okay, let's play name that tune, you start.† He began to hum. About an hour later we pulled up outside his Aunt's old house. It was beautifully situated, at the top of a small hill. Will got out and opened the garden gate. I followed him round to the back of the house. I slumped into a patio chair. â€Å"We can eat our sandwiches and stuff here,† he said. â€Å"Okay, I'll have chicken please!† Will walked off into the house to make lunch. Suddenly my phone began to buzz on the table. I picked it up and answered it. â€Å"Hello?† I asked. â€Å"Is Tom there?† said the voice. â€Å"No I'm sorry he's not here at the moment, can I ask who's calling?† â€Å"It's Lucy, his girlfriend.† I froze in shock. â€Å"Alright I'll tell him to call you.† The phone dropped from my grip and my eyes filled with tears. â€Å"What's wrong?† questioned Will concerned, as he appeared in the doorway. â€Å"That was Lucy, Tom's girlfriend,† I mumbled. â€Å"But what?† I broke down in tears. â€Å"Oh Chrissie,† he said coming over to me. He understood and knelt by me to put his arm round my shoulder. I felt safe in his arms, they formed a protective circle. â€Å"I should have listened to you Will, you were right all along.† â€Å"Shhhh, don't say that,† he cooed. I sobbed, letting my head drop onto his shoulder. He lifted me up as though I was a feather and sat me on his lap. I cried for what seemed like hours. I was interrupted again by my phone ringing. I turned to look at it, it said: â€Å"Tom mobile.† Before I got chance to answer it Will cancelled the call. â€Å"I don't want him to spoil our day,† he said firmly, â€Å"I'm glad you told me everything instead of bottling it all up.† â€Å"If you say so.† â€Å"Well what do you want to do?† â€Å"I want to roll around on the grass and get really mucky!† â€Å"You asked for it!† he yelled standing up and throwing me onto the grass. I screamed and tugged at his leg. He tumbled through the long grass, down the sloping garden. We landed in a patch of overgrown plants at the bottom of the hill. As he turned around I grabbed a handful of mud and threw it straight at his face, it dripped down past his nose. He gasped and fell about laughing. The phone rang again. I had to answer it. â€Å"Hello,† I said slightly out of breath. â€Å"Chrissie, why did you hang up on me?† â€Å"Just leave me Tom,† my eyes filled again. Will grabbed the phone and hung up on him. Tears slipped down my cheeks and plopped onto the grass. â€Å"It's alright Chrissie, you don't need him, and I always knew he didn't deserve you.† â€Å"I should have listened to you Will.† â€Å"It's alright.† He encircled me with his arms again. After a short while he suggested I went to wash all the mud out of my hair. â€Å"There's a shower in the main bathroom, you can use that, I'll use the en suite.† I walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. When I got out, my clothes were no where to be seen. I wrapped a towel around me and stepped out into the hall. I was face to face with Will. â€Å"Just thought I'd tell you that your clothes are in the washing machine, we'll have to find you something to put on.† We scrambled through a wardrobe. There was one of his infamous sleeveless tops and some of his Aunt's skirts. â€Å"Thanks,† I said waiting for him to leave. I got changed and walked into the kitchen. Will roared with laughter, the top almost reached my knees. â€Å"How can it be dark?† I asked sliding onto the worktop. â€Å"Well you were in there for half an hour! â€Å"You're kidding!† I said, shocked. â€Å"Nope, do you want coffee?† â€Å"Yeah, sounds good.† I followed him with my steaming mug into the living room. We sat on the sofa and sipped our coffee. â€Å"Will, if you don't mind me asking, did you meet anyone in America?† I asked cautiously. â€Å"Of course I don't mind, I tell you anything and everything! There was one, but we just had a couple of drinks.† â€Å"What was she like?† I asked turning to face him. â€Å"She was really nice, I wish I got her address so I could write to her.† â€Å"Didn't you even get her phone number?† Will was normally more organised than that, I was surprised. â€Å"No, I was going to get it but she had to work on the last day.† I felt sorry for him. â€Å"Anyway, tell me how the article went.† â€Å"Great, the editor loved it, I was really happy with it.† We fell into silence. He looked at me with sympathy in his eyes. We talked late into the night, until I drifted off. The crash of thunder echoed around my room. I sat bolt up right in bed. I gasped as the thunder struck again. I ran from my bed and opened the door. I knocked on the guest room door. â€Å"Come in,† whispered Will a few moments later. I tip toed in and stood at the side of his bed. â€Å"I'm scared of thunder,† I quivered. â€Å"Come in here,† he said lifting the covers back. I slid I and his put his arm around my shoulders. â€Å"You're shaking! Why are you so scared of thunder?† he asked after pausing. â€Å"One summer when we were all on holiday abroad and I was only five, I was outside and it started raining. All I can remember is not being able to find my mum. It began to rain hard and I hid in a corner. The thunder was booming so a man took me to the rep. I was alone for hours and I was so scared that something had happened to my family.† The thunder clapped again, but louder. â€Å"I hate this,† I said over the roar of the thunder. â€Å"You need to ignore it.† â€Å"How can I do that?† â€Å"Close your eyes.† â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Just do it,† he said gently. â€Å"Now you just need to calm down and relax.† He pushed my head back against the pillow. I felt his hand on my forehead as he massaged my temples. The thunder rumbled again but I didn't jump as much. â€Å"That's better, ignore it.† I yawned. â€Å"Go to sleep,† he whispered. It wasn't that hard. As his lips pressed against mine I shivered. â€Å"What are you doing Will?† I asked as he kissed the side of my mouth. â€Å"Don't you want this?† he asked. I felt intrigued. I nodded â€Å"Kiss me,† he whispered.† He didn't waste a second before kissing me again†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Suddenly I was awake, sweating slightly. It had seemed so real, I couldn't believe what had just happened. My feelings had been so muddled recently I didn't know what to make of it. As the first beam of sunlight hit my face, I jumped up. It was Monday, work again. Will had already gone. I dressed quickly and grabbed my car keys and headed for the door. It had been mad couple of days. I arrived late so had to get straight to work. â€Å"Where are the questions I'm supposed to be asking that guy today?† I asked running clumsily through the office door. â€Å"Over in your tray.† â€Å"Right, thanks.† I picked them up. â€Å"Room two,† said someone walking past. I hadn't really got over the shock of my dream. I pushed open the door and the guy stood with his back turned, having his make up done. â€Å"Typical,† I muttered under my breath. He turned around. It was Will! â€Å"Oh my Will, what are you doing here? I didn't know it was you I was interviewing.† â€Å"Hello Chrissie.† I was not impressed. I looked at him and remembered why it felt weird. I blushed. â€Å"Um, do you want to sit down?† I asked, not taking my eyes off the paperwork in front of me. He nodded. His huge eyes sparkled and he was smiling slightly. I had butterflies. He sat down in a large chair in front of me. â€Å"So, Will, what's the title of your new album?† â€Å"It's called ‘From Now On'.† I wrote down every word he said. â€Å"What's your favourite song on it?† I asked still not taking my eyes off the paper in front of me. A door somewhere clicked, and closed. I could sense we were alone. â€Å"When is it released?† he sighed. â€Å"Chrissie look at me.† I didn't. His finger slid under my chin and he pulled my face up to look at him. â€Å"What's this all about? Why are you acting strangely?† â€Å"Nothing,† I said, but my voice shook. He was beautiful in the dim light of the room. â€Å"Chrissie, what's wrong,† he repeated quietly ad I stared at the floor. â€Å"Answer,† he started But I silenced him with a finger to his lips. I put my head forward and captured his lips in mine. My eyes fluttered closed as I kissed him gently. I thought: what am I doing? This could ruin everything. I wondered whether to tell him about my dream. It might unnerve him to discover that his best friend could quite possibly be in love with him. â€Å"Will.† I managed to look him in the eye. â€Å"Yes?† â€Å"I've got something to I think you ought to know,† I said nervously. I took a deep breath. â€Å"After some of the awful experiences I've had in relationships recently, it made think†¦.† â€Å"Go on,† he said cautiously. â€Å"I think, no I know that I want you.† He looked away, and seemed confused. My heart sank. I knew I would regret telling him because I could now loose him as a friend. â€Å"I'm sorry, I was crazy to ever think you would feel the same.† â€Å"Well as it happens I've got something to tell you too Chrissie. I wanted to tell you before but I thought it would break you.† I felt awkward and tense, wondering what he had to tell me. Whatever he was going to say, looked like it was going to be bad news now. â€Å"While I was over in the States, they offered me a fantastic contract; working over there with a fantastic manager and a tour of my own. It's always been my dream to break America. But I came back here to think it through before making any decisions. It's such a huge step to take, to move away from all my friends and family because it means living there for three years.† â€Å"Oh.† I was so sure he'd take it. â€Å"I've thought long and hard about it and I've decided that I'm going to do it, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.† I felt myself well up. Not only had I ruined my friendship with my best friend but I wouldn't see him for three years. â€Å"But,† he took a deep breath. After what you've just said†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.† â€Å"Yes?† â€Å"I want you to come with me!†