TCU finished at No 7 and Boise State at No

Witnesses said police fired rubber bullets to break up a pro-Palestinian protest in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province last week The government denied any protest took place. Public protests are banned in the conservative kingdom, which is a close U.S ally. Saudi Arabia tried to broker unity talks between the Fatah faction of President Abbas and Hamas last year. "The Palestinian leadership has a special responsibility since effective Arab-Islamic action can only come about through unity, cohesion and integrity in Palestinian decision-making," Monday's statement said.. Handset Component Growth to Resume in 2010 BOSTON(Business Wire)Strategy Analytics predicts a decline of 2.9 percent in 2009 for radiocomponents in wireless handsets as a result of the global economic slowdown inits report, "Handset Radio Component Sales Forecast 2008 - Update."The data table from the Strategy Analytics RF & Wireless Components marketresearch service summarizes the latest results from the firms global forecastmodels for handsets and handset components, which consider regional handsetshipment trends correlated with GDP, component bills of material, integrationand partitioning trends, and component average selling prices.

"Basebands, transceiver-baseband SoCs and complex PA modules should remainrelatively strong segments of the market," notes Chris Taylor, author of thereport. "These components will benefit from the trend toward multi-band,multimode W-EDGE phones ranging from ultra low cost models to feature phones andsmartphones." Stephen Entwistle, Vice President of the Strategic Technologies Practice atStrategy Analytics, adds, "The market should rebound in 2010, and we expectcellular radio components to chalk up an average annual growth rate of 4.2percent per year from 2008 to 2013 after a down year in 2009. On top of this,emerging wireless-enabled mobile computing devices such as MIDs (mobile internetdevices) will add as much as another 10 percent to annual component demand by2013." About Strategy AnalyticsStrategy Analytics, Inc. - a global research and consulting firm - providestimely insights and strategic business solutions to companies operating at theconvergence of information, communications and entertainment technologies. Almost no one anticipated that both TCU and Boise State would receive BCS bowl berths this year, let alone play each other.The two teams ended last season with one of the season's best bowl games, as No 11 TCU (11-2) overcame the No 9 Broncos (12-1) in a 17-16 thriller. TCU finished at No 7 and Boise State at No.

11 in the final AP poll.Given that both teams were bringing back a lot of talent from a 2008 season in which they proved themselves, one would think that they would start the season near the top 10 over teams that had finished the season unranked.Instead, Boise dropped two spots to No 13 (No 16 in the Coaches' Poll), while TCU dropped 10 spots to No. 17. Both teams were jumped by two unranked (and regularlyover-hyped for their great talent) teams, LSU and Cal.This season, TCU and Boise State have continued their overall domination. Boise State's season-opening win over Pac-10 champ Oregon is still one of the best wins of the entire season. TCU ran over its competition, including two road wins over ACC schools and dominating wins over Utah and BYU (who both dominated in their contests over Pac-10 squads).Now TCU and Boise State face each other in a bowl game for the third time in seven years. The Fiesta Bowl, in one of the gutsiest moves ever (keeping with Fiesta Bowl tradition), matched two undefeated schools from non-automatic qualifying conferences in a BCS game.Fox and Fiesta Bowl president John Junker are promoting this game as if it were a second national championship game. Both are openly campaigning for an AP national title for the winner.Moreover, the Fiesta has a winner at the gate, as both teams obtained more than their required 17,500 ticket allotments (in great contrast to Ohio State, which sold fewer than 10,000 tickets to last year's game, and Florida, who has 5,000 or so unsold tickets to the Sugar bowl this year).This game will likely be a huge winner in the TV ratings as well. It is on the first Monday night without professional football. Fox is promoting this game non-stop during its NFL coverage. The game features two exciting and powerful teams. And both schools are underdogs against the entire BCS system. But What about Next YearWin or lose, both teams should be powerhouses again next year. Boise State returns nearly the entire starting lineup from this year's team. The Broncos will be experienced, tough, and nasty next year with a strong out-of-conference schedule designed to make Boise State a national title contender.TCU returns virtually its entire offense and most of its No. 1 defense. Sure TCU is losing sure-fire high NFL draft picks LB Daryl Washington and consensus All-American DE Jerry Hughes from its defense, but TCU lost seven players from last year's No.

1 defense and successfully brought in new players to make the defense even nastier this season.Now, some "experts" are already arguing that both schools should be top 15 teams to start next season, with Boise State higher than TCU, win or lose.That is pure silliness. If we changed the names to USC and Michigan, there is no question that both teams would start the season in the top five. These teams are loaded with talent and directed by great coaches. Both schools have demonstrated the ability to replace talent. There is no question they will again challenge for a BCS bowl game next year and perhaps even for the BCS title game.The only thing that could hold them back is another low ranking. And that would be a shame.Of course, if college football just had a playoff, none of this would matter. The beauty contest of the BCS would be over, and it would matter little where a team started in the preseason polls. But with only two spots in the BCS title game for 120 teams, the need for a playoff has never been clearer.. - New solution automates store-specific displays to ensure effective promotionswhile providing double-digit sales lifts-CHICAGO(Business Wire)Galleria Retail Technology Solutions today launched its automated PromotionalDisplay Optimization solution, a new technology that enables retailers togenerate thousands of store-specific end-cap display plans to optimize inventoryfor every promotion. With the ability to create automated plans on astore-by-store basis, users will experience increased sales, improved in-storeexecution and reduced end-of-promotion inventory. Easy to implement, thesolution can begin providing benefits in a matter of weeks. According to the January 2009 AMR Research article, "Gallerias PromotionDisplay Optimization Allows Individuality, Sales Lifts Even as Belts Tighten,"by Kevin Sterneckert, Gallerias solution streamlines and optimizes a retailerspromotional display planning activities through techniques that allow merchantsto plan displays according to local consumer preferences. "Retailers who are using this new solution are experiencing double-digit saleslifts for promotional display items and double-digit reduction of endinginventory," explained Sterneckert. "With belts tightening everywhere,accomplishing sales increases with fewer inventory dollars is a benefit thatshould not be overlooked." To ensure inventory optimization, Gallerias solution includes key features suchas the ability to select store-specific items, guaranteeing that all merchandisemeets local demand.