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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/12/the-great-obamacare-medicaid-bait-n-switch-commentary.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150914220942id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/12/the-great-obamacare-medicaid-bait-n-switch-commentary.html
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The great Obamacare-Medicaid bait 'n' switch
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20150914220942
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That's because finding a doctor who accepts Medicaid payments – never all that easy to do even before 2013 – is getting harder than ever thanks to a steep drop in reimbursement rates for doctors who treat patients on Medicaid.
Read MoreObamacare: You can't fix stupid
When I say "steep," I mean it. We're talking an average of 43 percent nationwide and almost 60 percent in California. Incidentally, California has added 2.7 million more people to Medicaid since 2013.
The result is simple: more and more doctors are simply not accepting Medicaid patients and/or dropping the ones they already have.
And before you call those doctors greedy or evil, consider the alternative: Most private-practice doctors literally care for Medicaid patients at a personal financial loss. Do that too much and you start not being able to practice at all, and that will hurt everyone.
Read More10-year flu shot near reality: Mount Sinai CEO
By the way, did you know it was illegal for doctors to write off giving people care for free or at a financial loss on their taxes? Well it is. Meanwhile, lawyers and fancy law firms deduct tremendous amounts all the time for pro bono work. Remind me again, have there been more lawyers or doctors in Congress and the White House over the last 100 years?
The results will be particularly cruel to the millions of people who were always eligible for Medicaid, but only found out and did something about it because of all the ACA publicity over the last few years. Without an existing doctor relationship to work with, shopping for physicians who do accept new patients on Medicaid alone will be daunting to say the least.
So more and more Americans are "covered," but fewer and fewer Americans will actually be able to get health care. That's the Great Obamacare Bait 'n' Switch.
Now hold your horses, all you progressives clamoring for a "single payer" health-care system! I know you think this and all the other Obamacare failings are proof that single payer is the only answer.
But the truth is, this Medicaid debacle should be a stark warning to any of us who still think single payer can work.
Read MoreHouse votes to ease Obamacare employer rules
Because, my friends, when you consider the more than 130 million people currently "covered" by Medicaid and Medicare combined, the United States already is the largest single-payer health provider in the Western world.
How's that working for you?
And before you tell me how great Medicare is working relative to Medicaid and even private insurance, it's time for all of us to get real.
First off, more and more doctors are also starting to cut off Medicare patients and refusing to accept new ones. The reasons are the same as they are for Medicaid: The reimbursements are going down just as demand is getting higher.
Secondly, remember that Medicare has mostly worked decently since its inception in 1965 thanks to demographics. 50 years ago, the number of Americans old enough to be eligible for Medicare was tiny compared to our 65-and-older population now. Like Social Security, there was always a "Ponzi Scheme" aspect to the program. And please also remember that it was pushed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a man who never took a breath without gauging how many votes or political donations it would get him. The idea that he advocated Medicare out of the kindness of his heart is naïve to say the least.
And so, 2015 is already turning out to be the year when Americans are going to learn the hard way that single-payer systems can only function via rationing. And with Medicaid enrollees, that rationing will especially be cruel because we're talking about millions of poor people who won't even get in the door to see a doctor in the first place. And that also means breaking the promise that emergency rooms will get some kind of traffic relief thanks to Obamacare. Those rejected Medicaid patients are going to have to go somewhere, and the ER will remain the only places that can't turn them away.
Not that some people aren't trying to change that. Newly-elected Virginia Delegate Kathleen Murphy has publicly called for a new state law forcing doctors to accept Medicaid and Medicare patients no matter what. As if the number of career physicians quitting the profession weren't bad enough, politicians like Murphy seem to be Hell-bent on pushing even more out the door whether they realize it or not.
All of this is all the more frustrating because none of it was ever really necessary. Instead of disrupting the entire private health-coverage system and requiring all employers to provide costly plans, several studies have shown that the cost of providing 100-percent care for all Americans with pre-existing conditions would have been $25 billion to $50 billion. And even if you throw in a whopping $200 billion to $250 billion more to help boost Medicaid reimbursements for decades to come, you still would be talking about a much cheaper financial and political cost than what we're seeing from the ACA.
The result is the U.S. government has actually found a way to be crueler to the poor, more unfair to doctors, and more costly for every taxpayer in America.
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More and more Americans are "covered," but fewer and fewer Americans will actually be able to get health care, says Jake Novak. Here's why.
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http://fortune.com/2013/07/25/clash-of-the-consoles/
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150915002332id_/http://fortune.com:80/2013/07/25/clash-of-the-consoles/
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Clash of the consoles
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20150915002332
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Microsoft and Sony are giving consumers something new to play with: two consoles, dubbed the Xbox One and Playstation 4, which are due this fall. The industry was worth nearly $80 billion last year, according to research firm DFC Intelligence. Both devices are sleek black boxes with similar technical specifications — they’re essentially super-PCs. But the companies have chosen different tactics to launch the devices. Here’s a closer look.
Microsoft is coming off a winning streak, having consistently outsold Sony in the U.S. The Xbox One can connect to a cable box, piping in live television and running apps alongside shows. For instance, viewers can watch a basketball game while browsing their fantasy team or Skyping with a friend. Users can switch between TV and games on the fly. Gamers were upset by some of the company’s draconian privacy and copyright policies. Microsoft says the issue will be resolved by launch.
Sony is trying not to repeat past blunders. The Playstation 3 came out a year later than its rival and cost hundreds more. “We’re in a much better position now,” says Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America. At $399, the PS4 will cost $100 less than Microsoft’s console. Sony is concentrating on hardcore gamers, having courted developers to create titles for the platform. The firm also announced a liberal set of policies allowing players to sell games or trade with one another.
This story is from the August 12, 2013 issue of Fortune.
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Microsoft and Sony have each taken much different tacks to launch the Xbox One and Playstation 4.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2014/08/22/love-cloud-vegas-a-new-way-to-join-the-mile-high-club.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150915054537id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/08/22/love-cloud-vegas-a-new-way-to-join-the-mile-high-club.html
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A new way to join the mile high club
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20150915054537
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When Love Cloud launched in April, Johnson offered packages of 45 minutes for $800, an hour for $1,000, or 90 minutes for $1,400. He's now added a new deal—30 minutes for $600.
"I had so many people calling me going, 'Hey, I'm a 10-minute guy,'" he said.
Read MoreHelicopter to your beach house? There's an app for that
Love Cloud is now flying four to 10 times a week.
"The most unusual request we have had is, 'How many people can go up at one time?'" said Johnson. "I said, 'Currently we only provide a couple, two people, at the moment.'"
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Love Cloud Vegas is an airline where people pay to go airborne so they can join the Mile High Club.
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http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/jul/16/heritage.maevkennedy
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150916150802id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/jul/16/heritage.maevkennedy
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Stonehenge centre 'will be ready for Olympics'
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20150916150802
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Ambitious plans for a world-class visitor centre for Stonehenge may have dwindled to a world-class prefab, but yesterday both English Heritage and the government pledged it would be built in time for the 2012 Olympics.
After over 20 years of bitter public debate, and an estimated £9m spent on consultants, designs and planning inquiries, the proposed £57m visitor centre collapsed last year when the government abandoned, on cost grounds, the plan to tunnel the A303 where it passes one of the world's most famous prehistoric monuments.
Ordered by culture minister Margaret Hodge to sort the site in time for the expected Olympics tourism bonanza, English Heritage yesterday launched yet another public consultation, this time on a new quick fix solution: a "temporary" building lasting up to 20 years, costing up to £20m, and providing a café, a shop and twice as much parking.
It could be achieved either by drastically upgrading the present site - damned almost 20 years ago by a parliamentary committee as "a national disgrace" - or on one of four other sites scattered across the edge of the world heritage site: some on National Trust land, others on privately owned or Ministry of Defence land.
In most options there would be park and ride schemes leaving visitors to walk the remaining 1.25km to the stones, across a landscape spattered with other monuments completely overlooked by most visitors today. In every case the A344 branch road, which passes within yards of the stones, would be closed and turfed over.
"We have to do this - there is no alternative," said Lord Bruce-Lockhart, chairman of English Heritage. The challenge confounded his predecessors: Sir Jocelyn Stevens promised the new visitor centre in time for the millennium, and Sir Neil Cossons insisted it would open in 2006. Both left without seeing a sod of earth turned.
This time it's the timetable, not the building, which struck many observers yesterday as recklessly ambitious. The consultation closes in October, the results go to the government by the end of the year, and English Heritage will then invite design tenders. They hope to win planning permission next summer, start building in 2010, and finish well before the first starting pistol of the London Olympics.
Between them the people who attended yesterday's launch in Amesbury have fought every single previous proposal: they included villagers concerned with already traffic-choked roads; archaeologists fearful for a precious landscape; those who wanted a tunnel twice as long or a completely new road; and the local residents aghast at the prospect of a large visitor centre and a huge car park literally at the bottom of their gardens.
For the first time there was cautious consensus that now it could just work. "You may not get a perfect solution," Hodge said, "but you will get something which works a million times better than what we've got at present."
Archaeologist Barry Cunliffe, now an English Heritage commissioner, who has been working at Stonehenge since 1974, before the quango was created, said: "This time I really feel success is within our grasp."
Kate Fielden, also an archaeologist and local representative of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: "What we need now is to do something gentle, which will allow us to do more and better later."
Richard Crook, a local farmer, a National Farmers' Union representative and an Amesbury councillor, who has been on one Stonehenge committee or another since 1984 (and whose grandfather was the under bidder when the stones were auctioned off in 1915), said: "We might just get it right this time".
Peter Goodhugh, whose magnificent vegetable patch was spared with the collapse of the old scheme, said, "I can now garden in peace and quiet," while Geoff Wainwright, retired chief archaeologist at English Heritage, who recently won rare permission to excavate at the stones, brandished his walking stick and boomed: "Hope springs eternal!"
1901: First recorded Stonehenge protest meeting, over proposed one shilling admission fee1986: Stonehenge declared World Heritage Site1989: Parliamentary public accounts committee declares Stonehenge facilities "a national disgrace"1995: Public inquiry on road proposals2002: Lottery backs proposed new £57m visitor centre design by Australian firm Denton Corker Marshall2007: Government abandons plans to tunnel A303, on cost grounds
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World-class visitor centre for Stonehenge will be built in time for the 2012 Olympics, pledges government
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http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/aug/17/hidden.gems.uk.museums
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150916202534id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/aug/17/hidden.gems.uk.museums
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The Grand Tour on your doorstep
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20150916202534
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A London journalist was on holiday in Yorkshire one summer in the early 1890s when he heard talk of a mysterious painting in a nearby mansion. He got the address, walked the 12 miles there and persuaded the under-butler to let him in. Moments later, he was astonished to find himself all alone with Velázquez's Venus at her Mirror, better known as The Rokeby Venus
She was hanging in a dingy hall but still the hack knew what he had, reporting that the hairs stood on his neck. On his return to London he rushed to the fine art library at the Victoria and Albert Museum to find out everything he could about the painter, wrote a passionate article about him - practically the first in the British press - and made the arduous pilgrimage to Madrid to see Las Meninas. Within a year, he had published a book on Velázquez and become one of the best art writers in the country.
It sounds like a Victorian fable but it is a true romance and, what is more, an experience still to be had today. Not the newspaper scoop, perhaps - although only this year a lost Watteau was found by a sharp-eyed visitor in the proverbial corner of an English country house - but the thrill of the treasure hunt, if you know a work is there to be found, and the sudden revelation if you don't.
For how many people actually expect to see the Rembrandt in a remote Welsh castle when it is so little reported? Who knows there are six times as many Zurbaráns in a castle in County Durham as at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, unless they live close by? Our path to art is so rarely off the beaten track, channelled as it is through metropolitan museums.
But it still possible to stumble upon a masterpiece in a stately home down some pheasant-filled drive. It is still possible to be completely alone with it in a Scottish castle, while everyone else is studying the silver-framed photographs of the last duke welcoming the Reagans. Above all, it is still possible to look at a great work of art in this way - without crowds, without explanatory labels or audio-guides - and for as long as you like: pretty much the ideal viewing conditions for art.
And now is the ideal time to do the viewing, now that we can't afford to fly to the Prado and are staying at home this summer. We might be cash-poor but we are time-rich without international travel, and nothing frees the mind so much as having no particular place to go. I never got so much from a Bruegel in my life as the one in that Midlands mansion, Upton House, which I came across on a long, rainy holiday. A black-and-white vision of the last moments of the Virgin, her inner light illuminating the faces of the faithful in the midnight hour, it was hanging among some 17th-century chairs, ignored by the somnolent guards. Anyone could sit down, enter into Bruegel's scene and remain there uninterrupted for hours.
Great art deserves time. Great art deserves a pilgrimage, but in Britain the journey may be conveniently short. You are rarely more than 50 odd miles from a masterpiece in these islands.
Exhibit A in any history of women's art, this is not just the first female self-portrait to become famous, it is also unique among self-portraits in making such a drama of the labour involved. Gentileschi shows herself at an extreme angle, one arm raised to press the brush into the canvas, her body kiltered sideways . It is the hot moment of creation and Gentileschi looks like nobody else in art - or, rather, she looks like an artist of the distant future. She looks like an Action painter.
· This painting will be included in The Art of Italy exhibition at the Palace of Holyrood House, Edinburgh, 13 November-8 March
The paintings of El Greco are among the strangest in all art, with their cracking, flickering visions in acid colours, their warped and buckling space. To come across one in the Art Deco surroundings of Upton is especially startling. In this painting, once owned by Delacroix, the air clangs with threat.
Frost was the great survivor of the St Ives movement, painting long after everyone else had died. His sharp, bright discs, lines and wedges are staunchly abstract but spark seascapes in the mind. This lyrical painting from 1951, before his palette turned primary, is a tilting wave of boats in the harbour. You hear what you see: the boats' nautical music.
This is the only surviving relic of Schwitters's famous Merzbau series. The great German Dadaist was also Europe's pioneering installation artist, and the Merzbau were monumental collages using discarded objects: walls that were also landscapes of the mind. He only finished one wall of this, his last 'environment' before dying, but it has become a classic of modern art.
Constable is always better at six inches than six foot. This perfect little study in oil on paper conveys, in a few liquid sweeps, light drizzle, diaphanous cloud and sunshine about to break through above: English sky painting at its best and English weather in a nutshell.
James Turrell, the great light and space artist, has found a stunningly simple way to frame the sky so that you see it in an entirely new light. Converting an 18th-century deer shelter on the Yorkshire hills into a miniature pantheon - a rotunda, with its dome open to the heavens - he turns the sky into an ever-changing image. It is so surprising that even children sit awed beneath this moving picture. It is Turrell's most exciting, yet contemplative, work.
Inspired by Giotto's Arena Chapel in Padua, Spencer worked on these murals of the Great War for five years. He had signed up as a medical orderly but ended up seeing violent action in Macedonia, and this extraordinary cycle tells the story from bed-making in war hospitals to malarial battlefields.
The great racehorse Hambletonian is depicted lifesize, being rubbed down after his win at Newmarket in 1799, a race in which Stubbs felt the horse had been driven too hard. Stubbs was a stupendous anatomist and the anomalies are crucial: it takes two men to contain this magnificent beast, the house dwarfed between its powerful legs.
Sean Scully makes great art out of modest stripes - vertical, horizontal, gridded, gently abutted in patchworks and mazes. A wall of glowing light, the blocks of deep crimson, orange, ochre and black summon the gradual sinking of the sun.
Uccello is the mad master of perspective and this is one of the most brilliant examples of its use in Renaissance art. Everyone in the scene - huntsmen in full cry, hounds, horses, deer - is disappearing fast into the depths of the forest. A fence on the right zooms towards the vanishing point as if sucked into a vortex and darkness closes in. This was Uccello's last painting.
A highlight of this wonderful gallery in Stromness, Linear Construction No 1 really is a first. It was the first sculpture in which this Russian-born pioneer used nylon filaments to describe form and space, and it had a profound effect on a generation of British sculptors including Barbara Hepworth. Fragile and otherworldly, Linear Construction explores space without depicting mass.
Hooghsaet, one of Rembrandt's last patrons, was 50 when she sat for her portrait, the same age as the painter, and there is a sense of directness and equality to the image. A woman of conviction and eager intelligence, she appears vividly present, as if in mid-conversation.
The title and the image of a boat sailing a river through a cave immediately suggest Charon ferrying the souls of the dead into Hades. But the founder of Vorticism, Britain's only home-grown modernist movement, is not just representing myth. Lewis is painting a very modern Hades in 1933, somewhere between the underground and science fiction.
The official residence of the Bishop of Durham, Auckland Castle is the unlikely repository of more Zurbaráns than any other building in the world: 13 larger-than-life paintings of Jacob and his sons originally made to promote Catholicism in Mexico. The pictures were captured in transit by English pirates and eventually bought by Bishop Trevor in 1756. Zurbarán is sometimes called Spain's Caravaggio, but his style is much more reserved and austere. The figures in this series are angular and dark, strange images of Old Testament mores.
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Not all of the UK's best art is in the major galleries and museums. There are are plenty of hidden gems to discover off the beaten track. Laura Cumming gets you started
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/01/machine-learning-is-hard-google-photos-has-egregious-facial-recognition-error.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150917200150id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/01/machine-learning-is-hard-google-photos-has-egregious-facial-recognition-error.html
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‘Machine Learning Is Hard': Google Photos Has Egregious Facial Recognition Error
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20150917200150
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Zunger checked in with Twitter missives the following day; Alciné thanked him, and noted that the erroneous label was removed.
Google has advanced more on artificial intelligence than others, infusing the advanced tech into speech and photo recognition as well as natural language processing. (Its trippy neural network construction has yet to be baked into consumer products.) The company is frank that its machine learning abilities still have a way to go. In his exchange on Twitter, Zunger noted how the company was still working on "long-term fixes" for linguistics and image recognition for "dark-skinned faces."
Read MoreWhy this fund management boss is eyeing Google
Google put out this conciliatory statement: "We're appalled and genuinely sorry that this happened. We are taking immediate action to prevent this type of result from appearing. There is still clearly a lot of work to do with automatic image labeling, and we're looking at how we can prevent these types of mistakes from happening in the future."
Zunger, for his part, put it more bluntly.
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A programmer based in New York, flagged an error on Photos: It had tagged him and his friend as "gorillas," Re/code reported.
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http://www.people.com/article/carly-fiorina-stepdaughter-addiction-republican-presidential-debate-gop
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150920005407id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/carly-fiorina-stepdaughter-addiction-republican-presidential-debate-gop
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'I Buried a Child to Drug Addiction' : People.com
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20150920005407
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09/18/2015 AT 02:15 PM EDT
It was an emotional intersection of policy, politics and the deeply personal:
, addressing the nation's drug epidemic at this week's Republican Presidential debate in the context of losing her stepdaughter to an overdose.
"I very much hope that I am the only person on this stage who can say this," Fiorina said in Wednesday night's debate. "But I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing: My husband, Frank, and I buried a child to drug addiction."
"We need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people," she added.
, who was just 35, in 2009 after a struggle with substance abuse and bulimia that spanned many years and three stints in rehab, the
The strikingly solemn moment in Wednesday's debate was, for Fiorina, a rare public reference to Lori Ann, who Fiorina had known since Lori Ann was six. Fiorina married Frank in 1985 and is also a stepmother to Tracy Fiorina, now 44.
"We are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago," she said on stage at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. Bush, who admitted on national television that he had indeed
, later apologized in a
, released this May, Fiorina first recounted the moment she learned Lori Ann had passed away.
"The two police officers stood awkwardly in our living room," she wrote. "Frank and I looked at them and knew they had something terrible to say ... The police officers said our daughter was dead ..." Fiorina went on to describe the aftermath, the constant questioning that followed, and the imprint the tragedy has left on the family's life.
To this day, Frank wears a golden bracelet on his right wrist made from the necklace Lori Ann wore the day she died, according to
On Wednesday, Fiorina turned her personal grief into a call for action.
"I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing" about having lost a child to addiction, she said. "We must invest more in the treatment of drugs."
Forty-four people die every day in the United States from overdosing on prescription drugs, according to the
– those ranging in age from 25 to 54 had the highest overdose rates.
It's estimated more than 24 million Americans (ages 12 or older) have used an illicit drug, according to the
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"We need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic," said Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/23/reuters-america-in-upside-down-world-swedish-banks-plead-for-tougher-regulation.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150920061015id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/23/reuters-america-in-upside-down-world-swedish-banks-plead-for-tougher-regulation.html
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In upside-down world, Swedish banks plead for tougher regulation
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20150920061015
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* Negative interest rates boosting Swedish asset prices
* Banks calling for steps to dampen housing market
* Politicians wary of unpopular measures
STOCKHOLM, July 23 (Reuters) - It is not often you hear banks pleading for tougher regulations, but in Sweden some of the industry's top executives are demanding government action to head off a potential asset price bubble that threatens the Nordic country's AAA-rated economy.
Sweden has negative interest rates to tackle the risk of deflation. But with the economy growing strongly, this is fuelling household debt, property prices and the stock market to levels many economists think could become dangerous.
"It is clear that the risks of an unsustainable development in various asset classes is increasing with each day in the absence of powerful political reforms," Swedbank Chief Executive Michael Wolf told reporters last week.
While most Swedish banks have already tightened lending practices, they fear doing more could hurt their ability to compete if the rules don't apply to all.
So they are calling on politicians to step in by, for example, making it mandatory for borrowers to pay down the principal of their mortgages and encouraging house building.
"It is quite obvious that if we keep this up for long, there is a clear risk that we run up bubbles and someone has to take care of that," Handelsbanken CEO Frank Vang-Jensen said this week, worried about the effects of ultra-low interest rates.
However, politicians are wary of placing potentially unpopular restrictions and costs on consumers.
That is despite memories of a crash in the early 1990s that sparked a three-year recession, forcing the government to rescue failing banks and labour through a decade of fiscal austerity amid soaring unemployment.
"It is incredibly cowardly and incredibly strange that the politicians cannot reach across the aisle and take a decision," said Roger Josefsson, chief economist at Danske Bank in Sweden.
"If there is any time when there should be acceptance (for new regulation) it is now."
While Swedish banks are currently among the most profitable and well capitalised in Europe, a housing market crash would hit them hard. In addition to lower economic activity and increased loan losses, it could disrupt the mortgage-backed bond market they rely on for funding.
Mortgage lending makes up an average of 50 percent of total loans at Nordea, SEB, Handelsbanken and Swedbank, above the 36 percent European Union average. The four banks account for 80 percent of Sweden's mortgage market.
Sweden's economic predicament highlights the limited control relatively small countries have over their own policymaking.
While the country's economy is growing healthily, the central bank has slashed its key interest rate three times this year to an unprecedented -0.35 percent.
That's due to fears of deflation, with a fall in energy prices across the world weighing on prices. It is also in response to ultra-low interest rates in the euro zone: if Sweden did not follow suit, its currency would soar against the euro. That would damage exports and add to deflationary pressures. Sweden's central bank has a strict focus on price stability.
"There is no logic to negative interest rates in Sweden, but because the ECB (European Central Bank) has negative rates Sweden must have it too," Nordea CEO Christian Clausen told Reuters.
Generous tax rebates on mortgages, the abolition of a property tax and subdued construction have seen Swedish house prices more than triple in the last 20 years. And now the record low interest rates are pouring fuel on the fire.
With a loan-to-disposable income ratio well over 170 percent, Swedes are among the most indebted citizens in Europe. Lending to households hit its the fastest pace in four years in May, while house prices leapt 14.4 percent in the year to June. The stock market is also up around 20 percent over the past year as investors chase returns amid rock bottom interest rates.
Roughly 70 percent of Swedes have interest-only mortgages, meaning they are heavily exposed to falling house prices, although some banks are now demanding new customers pay down their loans to 75 percent of market value.
The central bank and the financial watchdog have called for measures to dampen borrowing, but legal obstacles and political reluctance to introduce unpopular rules have meant a proposal forcing homeowners to pay down their loans has been postponed twice and left decreasing tax breaks a non-starter.
In November, Sweden's competition watchdog blocked a joint proposal from banks for mandatory repayment of mortgages, deeming it illegal collaboration.
Financial Markets Minister Per Bolund was not available for comment. He told Reuters in a June interview that mandatory loan repayment would be introduced in 2016 but that other measures would have to wait.
In the meantime house prices could go even higher.
"In the short term I don't think there's a bubble," Nordea's Clausen said. "But it is coming eventually."
(Editing by Niklas Pollard and Mark Potter)
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STOCKHOLM, July 23- It is not often you hear banks pleading for tougher regulations, but in Sweden some of the industry's top executives are demanding government action to head off a potential asset price bubble that threatens the Nordic country's AAA-rated economy. Sweden has negative interest rates to tackle the risk of deflation. "It is clear that the risks of...
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/04/inside-the-minimum-wage-debate.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150920130634id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/04/inside-the-minimum-wage-debate.html
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Inside the minimum wage debate
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20150920130634
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And despite concerns that higher wages cut business growth, some entrepreneurs independently are moving to raise wages—and grow operations. Some small business owners are moving forward wages, and not waiting for changes at the federal level.
Earth Friendly Products is an environmentally friendly cleaning products manufacturer. The Addison, Illinois-based company has operations in five states. The company's 321 full-time employees have always earned more than the federal minimum wage, said chief executive Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks.
Last year, Vlahakis-Hanks raised her workers' pay to $17 an hour. And the manufacturer hasn't raised prices, or taken a profit hit. And the company's voluntary employee turnover rate? Zero.
"When you compensate your employees fairly for their work, they enjoy coming to work. They're proud of coming to work," Vlahakis-Hanks said. "It's the right thing to do for our economy because we need to have employees that can purchase our product."
On the East Coast, at Bar Marco in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, co-owner Justin Steel has implemented a tip-free flat wage for all employees—from waiters to kitchen staff—at $35,000 a year. Employees also get a stake in the restaurant through a profit-sharing program, plus health-care coverage.
Bar Marco hasn't raised prices, and is on track to hand out its first-ever quarterly bonuses to workers—practically unheard of in the food service industry. And the company is retaining more workers, a big plus in the food-service business.
"A lot of times, restaurant employees view this as a job, not a profession or career," Steelhas said. "But the people we have here don't think of it like that… We wanted to give them more of the things you would normally associate with a 'real world job.'"
Read MoreLA union wants to be exempt from $15 minimum wage
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How some small businesses independently are raising wages above the federal mandate.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/02/third-way-needed-to-count-sharing-workforce.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150922001646id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/02/third-way-needed-to-count-sharing-workforce.html
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'Third way' needed to count sharing workforce
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20150922001646
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For starters, consider the explosion in the size of the "freelance" or flexible workforce.
That's surprisingly hard to do, actually.
Read MoreChart: What's the real unemployment rate?
Not because the work itself is all that difficult to tally, but rather because the Labor Department, which for decades has administered the monthly employment report along with dozens of other indicators, discontinued its "Contingent Work Supplement" in 2005.
The money, apparently, ran out. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has requested funding for the supplement each budget year since 2012 to no avail.
Meantime, the Government Accountability Office, citing the need for this data, has done its own tallies. These, however, are only released about once a decade and often rely on older data. The latest release, just this April, refers to figures as of 2010 that were still heavily influenced by the recession, making its findings less helpful as a general guide of the changing workforce.
Nevertheless, there is a rough consensus based on the GAO and separate private surveys that "contingent workers" comprise at least a third, and possibly upwards of 40 percent, of today's employed workforce.
That is a huge number, with dramatic implications for how Americans order their day-to-day lives, draw their income, secure their living standards, and are provided health and retirement benefits.
There was a time when "contingent" or "freelance" work, societally speaking, was frowned upon.
Today, that legacy is most lasting in the suspicious way such piecemeal work is treated for tax and legal purposes. To be a traditional employee filing one W-2 form to the Internal Revenue Service is to have a vastly easier time of it than an "independent" worker dealing with numerous 1099 forms, often for small amounts, and constant regulatory changes (such as those in the Affordable Care Act).
Read MoreSummer starts slow: Job growth misses hopes
To be sure, legitimate concerns over tax evasion and the separation of work from the workplace do exist. These can be addressed without unnecessarily burdening or interfering with America's emerging flexible workforce, however.
The lack of respect for this work is further revealed in the words used to categorize it. Imprecise and passe terms like "temp," "contingent," and even "freelance" fail to reveal the powerful shift taking place: America in the early years of the 21st century is seeing the "on-demand" revolution take full root in the workplace.
The classification of people as either employees or independent contractors for legal purposes is also not keeping up with that reality.
"The test the California courts have developed over the 20th century for classifying workers isn't very helpful in addressing this 21st century problem," said U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in a March dispute over the correct status of workers for ride-sharing service Lyft Inc.
"The jury in this case will be handed a square peg and asked to choose between two round holes," said Chhabria.
The rise of the on-demand workforce encompasses far more than Lyft, its rival Uber, or similar start-ups like Airbnb, for overnight stays, that allow for new "sharing" sources of income.
And it's hardly a millennial phenomenon, although younger workers do have the highest rates of "freelance" work—and generally hope to keep it that way, as Mary Meeker, a widely followed partner at Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, has noted.
Sharon Emek's typical worker is 58 years old.
Her firm places older workers who have left the insurance industry for one reason or another with firms needing their skills.
"There aren't enough younger workers coming into the industry," said Emek, who founded the company, Work At Home Vintage Employees, or WAHVE, five years ago while partner at a large insurance brokerage.
Through rigorous testing and training, Emek is able to match workers so well that they are productive "within three days" of being assigned to an employer—and working remotely, typically from home, to boot.
"They want flexibility, freedom, and quality of life, but they also want to work hard and use their knowledge," said Emek.
Same goes for the power industry.
Nearly half the workers in the nuclear power industry are expected to retire in the next several years, said Ricky Ehrgott. Very few younger workers exist to take their place in an industry that's been decimated by regulation and public anxiety.
Not only do existing plants rely on these workers' expertise, but global demand for their technical knowledge and experience is also strong. Rev1 Power Services Inc., the firm Ehrgott's father and his partner, Richard Emery, founded in Tampa, Fla., in 2001, helps fill that void with older workers, mostly in their 60s, in various degrees of "retirement."
And it's not just nuclear—work converting coal-fired plants to gas-fired ones, or retrofitting coal plants with costly scrubbers to lower their emissions, is the lion's share of what Rev1's hundred-plus "field personnel" are doing.
"We see ourselves as a kind of Uber or LinkedIn for the industry," said Ehrgott. "Guys have spent their entire lives building this knowledge base, and they're basically just throwing it away if they don't monetize or transfer that knowledge."
Even traditional employees are becoming more and more untethered from their actual workplace, able to work flexibly—and often, working more, and possibly better, as a result.
Indeed, "work" took up an average of seven hours, 45 minutes per workday for the average employed American last year, according to the latest American Time Use Survey from the Labor Department.
That's not only a ten-minute increase, on average, over 2013—it's the most yet for this series, which began in 2003. And yet, people also found more time to sleep last year, and to watch television.
It's possible that "work" is also coming in multiple forms, from multiple sources. Of self-described freelance workers, 27% have a traditional job and "moonlight," and another 18% do a mix of full-time and freelance work, according to Meeker of Kleiner Perkins.
Of course, some of this may be by force rather than choice. There are about 1.7 million more involuntary part-time workers than there ought to be at this point in the recovery, according to J.P. Morgan economists.
By incentivizing some employers to reduce hours to avoid mandated health insurance, the Affordable Care Act, they said, could be responsible for "one-fifth to one-third" of these workers.
Whether or not full-time workers stabilize as a percentage of the workforce, the flexible, "on-demand" nature of work is here to stay.
It's possible this will, after a long, difficult transition period, help trigger America's next productivity boom, a product of a truly "mobile" age.
As one Silicon Valley entrepreneur recently observed, "The productivity gap is the chasm between all the information we can access on our phones, and the limits on using that information in an effective way."
Pessimists say the expected benefits of this newfound mobility and flexibility will prove to be over-rated.
At the very least, when it comes to today's workforce, we ought to be properly measuring it.
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America's concept of work is dangerously stuck in the 20th century as the sharing economy grows.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/21/american-diversity-cities-where-it-works.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150923080711id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/21/american-diversity-cities-where-it-works.html
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Who made the list?
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20150923080711
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No. 3: Anaheim, California, and San Diego (tie)
"America's Finest City" is tied with "The Happiest Place on Earth, "and both boast diversity and relative prosperity.
San Diego's minority communities make up a total of 55 percent of the population, and it ranks near the top in economic class diversity. Nearly one in three businesses is owned by a woman, and the median household income is $64,000, much higher than the national average of $53,000.
Anaheim, home to Disneyland, is just behind San Diego in terms of economic class diversity, but it has a more diversified economy. More than half of the city's residents are Latino, who also own more than one in five businesses. The city has the largest population in Orange County, a place filled with a range of ethnic communities exercising growing political clout.
Read MoreWhere millennials should go to school...and stay
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Minorities will be the majority in America in 30 years, according to the Census Bureau. Some cities are already well on the way.
| 6.961538 | 0.461538 | 0.461538 |
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/02/this-time-its-different-big-tech-investors.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150923080842id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/02/this-time-its-different-big-tech-investors.html
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This time it's different: Big tech investors
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20150923080842
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Read MoreHigh-yield junk bonds still 'frothy': Blackstone
Other big-money investors at the event agreed that innovation would make the tech sector lucrative for years to come.
"We're still very bullish in the long term," said Deven Parekh, managing director at Insight Venture Partners, a private equity and venture capital firm that has raised more than $10 billion since 1995.
Ian Loring, a managing director at $75 billion Bain Capital, was another tech bull.
"Where's the biggest productivity improvement coming from still?" he asked, noting that the world can only grow through population or productivity increases. "A long time ago it was autos and manufacturing. Today it's tech."
"At some level we continue to be hugely interested in tech," Loring added, noting opportunities in security, cloud computing and mobility technology companies.
Ian Sigalow, co-founder of $600 million venture capital firm Greycroft Partners, referenced the high use of technology by innovative companies in industries traditionally seen as outside the tech sector like Tesla (automotive), Nest (hardware and devices) and Plated (food services).
"The world is changing and I think technology is at the forefront of that," Sigalow said.
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Big investors are dismissing talk of a technology market peak given what they call unprecedented advances in the sector.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/06/christopher-j-ailman.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150923094227id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/06/christopher-j-ailman.html
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Christopher J. Ailman
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20150923094227
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Christopher J. Ailman is the chief investment officer of the $192 billion California State Teachers' Retirement System, the largest teachers fund and the second largest pension fund in the U.S.A. As CIO, Ailman leads an investment staff of 120 across eight teams and asset classes. He has over 29 years of institutional investment management experience. Annually, he is listed as one of the top CIO's in the U.S.A and globally by aiCIO and Institutional Investor magazine, and he is an early member of the global "300" CIO Club.
He has served on several boards and advisory boards in the U.S. and U.K. He represents institutional investors on the MSCI Index Editorial Advisory Board; Emory University Private Equity Research Council; EDHEC Risk Institute and the Toigo Foundation. He is the co-chair of the Milken Global Capital Markets Committee and is a past Governor ICGN and Association Board member of the UN PRI.
He has received numerous awards and recognitions over his career, the IFE's CIO of the Year; the Richard Stoddard Award; NAA's Advancement of Latino's; Institutional Investor's Large Public Fund Manager of the Year. In 2013 he was named the number #3 CIO in the world and Investment Innovator of the Year by CIO magazine. Ailman is a regular guest on CNBC, Bloomberg Radio and TV. He is frequently quoted in multiple investment publications.
Ailman has a B.A. in Business Economics from the University of California Santa Barbara. He received his CFP from the USC and completed the Claritas Certificate of the CFA Institute. He is married with three adult daughters and is a committed Promise Keeper.
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Chief Investment Officer, California State Teachers’ Retirement System
| 33.888889 | 0.888889 | 2 |
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/27/deflation-oils-45-percent-rebound-could-be-markets-next-headache.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150923094534id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/27/deflation-oils-45-percent-rebound-could-be-markets-next-headache.html
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Deflation? Oil's 45 percent rebound could be markets' next headache
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20150923094534
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Investors' bets on the timing of the first interest rate increase from the U.S. Federal Reserve were pushed back to late this year or maybe even 2016, the euro plummeted and global stocks rose to new historical peaks.
But many of these market moves have stalled, some even reversing. Inflation assumptions baked into index-linked bonds have rebounded, the euro is up five weeks out of the last six, and asset prices of oil exporters such as Russia have recovered a large chunk of last year's dramatic oil-led slump.
"Deflation fears are overdone and we're seeing some upside surprises now, although risks of persistent low inflation remain," said Ruben Segura-Cayuela, peripheral euro zone economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London. "A positive oil shock has a detrimental effect on growth and activity, and could generate some volatility, " he said.
Seeking a high-yield energy high
There are various estimates on how much changes in the oil price affect growth and inflation.
Brent crude futures have risen $20 from January's low to $65 a barrel . That's a 45 percent increase. WTI futures have jumped $15 from March's low to $58 a barrel. That's a rise of almost 40 percent.
Deutsche Bank's chief international economist, Torsten Slok, says a 50 percent increase equates to core U.S. inflation rising 0.9 percentage points a year later. That would lift inflation above the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target, which hasn't been met for three years.
Read MoreScientists:Oil, gas drilling causing earthquakes
Economists at UBS estimate that a $15 rise in oil would raise U.S. inflation by 0.6 percentage points over the next year, $25 would equate to 1.0 percentage point and $35 would add 1.4 percentage point.
Their equivalent estimates for the euro zone are: a $15 rise adds 0.5 percentage point to headline inflation, $25 equates to 0.8 percentage point and $35 equals 1.1 percentage point.
Even the most extreme of these scenarios is unlikely to sway the European Central Bank, the Fed or any major central bank from the course they are steering—a 1 trillion euro QE bond-buying spree from the ECB through September next year, and a probable rate rise from the Fed late this year.
And if monetary policy is unlikely to choke off any rebound in inflation expectations, that underlines the need for markets to build in higher future inflation rates than they were doing at the turn of the year.
Inflation markets have already reacted. The so-called five-year forward, which measures five-year euro zone inflation expectations in five years and is the ECB's favored gauge, has climbed to 1.7 percent from a record low beneath 1.5 percent.
This still falls short of the ECB's inflation target of "below, but close to" 2 percent, but Mario Draghi and his colleagues will be relieved it is at least moving in the right direction.
U.S. inflation expectations have also rebounded from multi-year lows. Two-year inflation expectations have risen to 1.6 percent from -0.16 percent as recently as mid-January, notes David Absolon, investment director at Heartwood Investment Management.
The 10-year breakeven rate, the difference between the nominal Treasury yield and the real yield on inflation-linked bonds, has risen to 1.9 percent from 1.53 percent.
Read MoreNepal quake impact could exceed 20% GDP
That drift higher should continue as long as oil prices remain firm, lifting the breakeven rate back towards the longer-term average back above 2 percent, said Iain Stealey, fund manager of the JP Morgan Global Bond Opportunities Fund.
"We've already seen some movement. But there might still be room for that to continue further," he said.
Another area investors might look to gain from firmer oil prices is in U.S. high-yield bonds in the energy sector, which has outperformed the broader index this year as oil has recovered.
They've outperformed the wider high-yield market by about 240 basis points this year. Yields on energy bonds have fallen to 8.1 percent from a peak of 10.4 percent in December. Those on the broader index have fallen to 6 percent from 7.3 percent over the same period.
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The next challenge for financial markets and policymakers may not be deflation, but the surge in oil prices from the six-year low touched in January.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/27/work-in-nyc-chicago-uber-wants-your-lunch-order.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150923152329id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/27/work-in-nyc-chicago-uber-wants-your-lunch-order.html
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Work in NYC, Chicago? Uber wants your lunch order
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20150923152329
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Through its UberEATS division, Uber offers a menu list that changes daily. This dish, penne arrabiata from Los Angeles’ Coral Tree Café, will be available Wednesday.
For a flat $3 fee ($4 in New York City), Uber will offer delivery in 10 minutes or less from a set menu of available dishes that changes daily after a successful pilot of the service in Barcelona and Los Angeles (where it was previously called UberFRESH).
The move comes as Uber continues tiptoeing beyond its roots as merely a car-for-hire service with the courier service UberRUSH in New York and the now-defunct consumer goods delivery service UberESSENTIALS in D.C.
"At Uber, we are always looking for ways to revolutionize the way people connect with their cities around the world—this is another one of those cases," wrote a spokeswoman about Uber EATS in an email. "We will continue to test new products that will benefit both customers and the cities in which we operate."
Uber's expanded restaurant meal delivery service will compete in an increasingly crowded field. Customers now have a range of options to get food fast, including GrubHub and GrubHub's Seamless, Delivery.com, Eat24.com and Postmates. E-commerce giant Amazon.com is also wading into the restaurant delivery waters through a takeout and delivery test in Seattle.
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Busy New Yorkers and Chicagoans will soon have another way to get meals delivered.
| 17 | 0.6 | 0.733333 |
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/03/pr-newswire-vince-holding-corp-reports-second-quarter-and-first-half-fiscal-2015-results.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150924045501id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/03/pr-newswire-vince-holding-corp-reports-second-quarter-and-first-half-fiscal-2015-results.html
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Vince Holding Corp. Reports Second Quarter and First Half Fiscal 2015 Results
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20150924045501
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NEW YORK, Sept. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Vince Holding Corp. (NYSE: VNCE), a leading contemporary fashion brand ("Vince" or the "Company"), today reported unaudited results for the second quarter of fiscal 2015.
In this press release, the Company is presenting its financial results in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") as well as on an "adjusted" basis. Adjusted results presented in this press release are non-GAAP financial measures. See "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" below for more information about the Company's use of non-GAAP financial measures and Exhibits 3 through 6 to this press release for a reconciliation of actual GAAP results to such adjusted results.
For the second quarter ended August 1, 2015:
Mark Brody, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Vince, commented, "Our second quarter financial performance reflects further weakness in sales trends in our wholesale channel with lower than expected sell-through and customer reorders, which in turn led to a significant increase in inventory levels. As a result, we elected to write down current year product to estimated net realizable value. In addition, our off-price customers reported high levels of inventory. In order for us to move forward with our strategy to reduce sales to off-price retailers and to enhance our brand positioning, we made the decision to dispose of the vast majority of prior year product.
"Based on our recent performance and outlook for continued weakness in the wholesale channel, particularly in the off-price business, and a recent softening in the direct-to-consumer channel, we are reducing our guidance for Fiscal 2015. While our recent performance was disappointing, we are taking corrective actions to protect and enhance the strength of the Vince brand. Looking ahead, we are focused foremost on making exceptional products with the styles and fits that align with our customers' expectations. We are also taking steps to enhance our product assortment and improve operational performance, including tighter inventory and procurement practices which will also help lead to a more carefully managed distribution in the off-price channel. At the same time, we will continue to move forward with our multiple growth strategies including growing our direct to consumer business through both store openings and expansion of the e-commerce channel and expanding our international presence in existing and new markets."
The Company's debt increased by $1.8 million to $84.8 million during the second quarter of fiscal 2015, with $12.5 million of voluntary payments on its Term Loan Facility being financed by borrowings on its Revolving Credit Facility. The Company had availability under its Revolving Credit Facility of $27.9 million as of August 1, 2015. In addition, the Company has negotiated the extension of an estimated $22.8 million payment plus accrued interest that was due in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 under the Tax Receivable Agreement with an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc., to September 15, 2016.
Inventory at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2015 was $45.6 million versus $58.6 million at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2014. The year-over-year inventory decline was driven primarily by the increase in inventory reserves. Partially offsetting the additional reserves were increases from the 11 new store openings since the end of the second quarter of last year and new handbag inventory.
Capital expenditures for the second quarter of fiscal 2015 totaled $4.8 million, $2.4 million of which was primarily attributable to new stores and shop-in-shop build-outs.
The following updated 2015 guidance is adjusted to exclude charges associated with the write-down of excess inventory and aged product to expected net realizable value and the net management transition costs related to executive severance and related costs as reported in the second quarter of fiscal 2015. The guidance also excludes potential additional costs related to the ongoing management transition.
For fiscal 2015, the Company now expects:
As previously announced, Jill Granoff, Chief Executive Officer, resigned from the Company, remaining CEO through a transition period to ensure an orderly and effective change in leadership. The Company today announced that the transition period ended effective September 1st, and on that date Mark Brody assumed the position of Interim Chief Executive Officer. Subsequently, David Stefko assumed the role of Interim Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, a position previously held by Mark Brody.
Mr. Stefko has 28 years of senior finance and executive management experience and until being named Interim Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, held the position of Group CFO at Sun Capital Partners. Prior to joining Sun Capital, he served as SVP, CFO & CAO of Things Remembered, a national multichannel specialty retailer.
The Board of Directors has engaged and are actively working with executive search firms to fill the roles of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer.
Marc Leder, Chairman of Vince, commented, "We are pleased that Mark and David have stepped into their respective roles as we search for a permanent CEO and CFO to lead the company going forward. While this search is ongoing, I continue to be laser focused on enhancing the brand for the long-term, and am working closely with Mark, David, and the entire Vince team to improve our performance in the wholesale channel, and continued inventory management."
Option Exchange and Employee Stock Purchase Plan Amendment
In an effort to promote retention at the Company, the Company's Board of Directors and the majority stockholders have approved a one-time stock option exchange program to permit the Company to cancel certain stock options held by some of its employees and executive officers in exchange for new, or replacement, options. None of the executive officers, who have departed from their positions at the Company in the recent months, including Jill Granoff, the Company's former Chief Executive Officer, as well as the Company's Interim Chief Executive Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer will be eligible to participate in the option exchange. The Company expects to commence the exchange offer and file a Tender Offer Statement on Schedule TO with the Securities Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on or around September 3, 2015. In addition, the Company's board of directors approved an amendment to the Company's 2013 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the "ESPP") to allow the issuance of shares of common stock under the ESPP at a discount of 10% to the market price of such shares at the end of the offer period. The Company's majority stockholders approved the option exchange and the amendment to ESPP by written consent.
The Company's stockholders and option holders will be able to obtain the written materials relating to the exchange offer and the amendment to ESPP and other documents filed by the Company with the SEC free of charge from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or on the Company's website at investors.vince.com.
In addition to reporting financial results in accordance with GAAP, the Company has provided, with respect to financial results relating to the second quarter and first half of fiscal 2015, as well as guidance for fiscal 2015, adjusted cost of products sold, adjusted gross margin, adjusted selling, general and administrative expenses, adjusted operating income, adjusted provision for taxes, adjusted income before taxes, adjusted income taxes, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share and related shares outstanding, which are non-GAAP financial measures, in order to eliminate the effect on operating results of the inventory write-down and management transition costs. The Company has also provided, with respect to financial results relating to the second quarter and first half of fiscal 2014, adjusted selling, general and administrative expenses, adjusted operating income, adjusted provision for taxes, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share, which are non-GAAP financial measures, in order to eliminate the effect on operating results the costs related to the Secondary Offering. The Company believes that the presentation of adjusted results facilitates an understanding of the Company's continuing operations without the non-recurring impact associated with the inventory write-down and management transition costs as well as the Secondary Offering costs, and on a go forward basis, consistent with its fiscal 2015 guidance. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results has been provided in Exhibits 3 through 6 to this press release.
2015 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call
A conference call to discuss the second quarter results will be held today, September 3, 2015, at 4:15 pm. ET, hosted by Vince Holding Corp. Interim Chief Executive Officer, Mark Brody, and Interim Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, David Stefko. During the conference call, the Company may answer questions concerning business and financial developments, trends and other business or financial matters. The Company's responses to these questions, as well as other matters discussed during the conference call, may contain or constitute information that has not been previously disclosed.
Those who wish to participate in the call may do so by dialing (877) 201-0168 conference ID 2962840. Any interested party will also have the opportunity to access the call via the Internet at http://investors.vince.com/. To listen to the live call, please go to the website at least 15 minutes early to register and download any necessary audio software. For those who cannot listen to the live broadcast, a recording will be available for 30 days after the date of the event. Recordings may be accessed at http://investors.vince.com/.
VINCE is a leading contemporary fashion brand best known for modern effortless style and everyday luxury essentials. Established in 2002, the brand now offers a wide range of women's and men's apparel, women's and men's footwear, and handbags. Vince products are sold in prestige distribution worldwide, including over 2,500 distribution locations across 44 countries. With corporate headquarters in New York and its design studio in Los Angeles, the Company operates 32 full-price retail stores, 12 outlet stores and its e-commerce site, VINCE.com. Please visit www.VINCE.com for more information.
Forward Looking Statements: This document, and any statements incorporated by reference herein, contains forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include the statements under "Updated 2015 Outlook" and statements regarding, among other things, our current expectations about the Company's future results and financial condition, revenues, store openings and closings, margins, expenses and earnings and are indicated by words or phrases such as "may," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "seek," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "plan," "target," "project," "forecast," "envision" and other similar phrases. Although we believe the assumptions and expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these assumptions and expectations may not prove to be correct and we may not achieve the financial results or benefits anticipated. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of actual results. Our actual results may differ materially from those suggested in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control, including, without limitation: our ability to remain competitive in the areas of merchandise quality, price, breadth of selection, and customer service; our ability to anticipate and/or react to changes in customer demand and attract new customers; including in connection with making inventory commitments; our ability to control the level of sales in the off-price channels; our ability to manage current excess inventory in a way that will promote the long-term health of the brand; our ability to maintain adequate cash flow from operations or availability under our revolving credit facility to meet our liquidity needs (including our obligations under the tax receivable agreement); changes in consumer confidence and spending; our ability to maintain projected profit margins; unusual, unpredictable and/or severe weather conditions; the execution and management of our retail store growth, including the availability and cost of acceptable real estate locations for new store openings; the execution and management of our international expansion, including our ability to promote our brand and merchandise outside the U.S. and find suitable partners in certain geographies; our ability to expand our product offerings into new product categories including the ability to find suitable licensing partners; our ability to successfully implement our marketing initiatives; our ability to protect our trademarks in the U.S. and internationally; our ability to maintain the security of electronic and other confidential information; serious disruptions and catastrophic events; changes in global economies and credit and financial markets; competition; the impact of recent turnover in the senior management team, including the departures of our former CEO and former CFO, the appointment on an interim basis of a CEO and a CFO who are both serving on a leave of absence from Sun Capital Partners, Inc.; the fact that a number of members of the management team have less than one year of tenure with the Company, and the current senior management team has not had a long period of time working together; our ability to attract and retain a qualified permanent CEO and a qualified permanent CFO, as well other key personnel; commodity, raw material and other cost increases; compliance with laws, regulations and orders; changes in laws and regulations; outcomes of litigation and proceedings and the availability of insurance, indemnification and other third-party coverage of any losses suffered in connection therewith; tax matters and other factors as set forth from time to time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including under the heading "Item 1A—Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10Q. We intend these forward-looking statements to speak only as of the time of this release and do not undertake to update or revise them as more information becomes available.
This press release is also available on the Vince Holding Corp. website (http://investors.vince.com/).
Investor Relations Contact:Jean FontanaICR, Inc.Jean.fontana@icrinc.com646-277-1200
Vince Holding Corp. and Subsidiaries
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
(Unaudited, amounts in thousands except percentages, share and per share data )
as a % of net sales
Selling, general and administrative expenses
as a % of net sales
as a % of net sales
(Benefit) Provision for Income taxes
Basic (loss) earnings per share
Diluted (loss) earnings per share
Vince Holding Corp. and Subsidiaries
Prepaid expenses and other current assets
Property, plant and equipment, net
Deferred income taxes and other assets
Accrued salaries and employee benefits
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity
Vince Holding Corp. and Subsidiaries
Reconciliation of net income on a GAAP basis to "Adjusted net income"
(Unaudited, amounts in thousands except percentages, share and per share data)
For the three months ended August 1, 2015
as a % of sales
Selling, general and administrative expenses
as a % of sales
as a % of sales
(Loss) Income before income taxes
(Benefit) provision for Income taxes
Basic earnings (loss) per share
Diluted earnings (loss) per share
(a) To adjust cost of products sold to remove the impact of inventory write downs of approximately $14.4 million primarily
related to excess out of season and current inventory.
(b) To adjust selling, general and administrative expenses to remove executive severance costs of $3.7 million, partially
offset by the favorable impact of $(0.8) million related to executive stock option forfeitures.
(c) Adjusted amount represents adjusted pretax income multiplied by a normalized tax rate of 40.9%. The normalized tax rate was
derived by reference to statutory tax rates in the jurisdictions in which the Company operates, without giving effect to the
Company's valuation allowance or potential use of its net operating loss carryforwards.
Vince Holding Corp. and Subsidiaries
Reconciliation of net income on a GAAP basis to "Adjusted net income"
(Unaudited, amounts in thousands except percentages, share and per share data)
For the six months ended August 1, 2015
as a % of sales
Selling, general and administrative expenses
as a % of sales
as a % of sales
(Loss) Income before income taxes
(Benefit) provision for Income taxes
Basic (loss) earnings per share
Diluted (loss) earnings per share
(a) To adjust cost of products sold to remove the impact of inventory write downs of approximately $14.4 million primarily
related to excess out of season and current inventory.
(b) To adjust selling, general and administrative expenses to remove executive severance costs of $3.7 million, partially
offset by the favorable impact of $(0.8) million related to executive stock option forfeitures.
(c) Adjusted amount represents adjusted pretax income multiplied by a normalized tax rate of 40.9%. The normalized tax rate was
derived by reference to statutory tax rates in the jurisdictions in which the Company operates, without giving effect to the
Company's valuation allowance or potential use of its net operating loss carryforwards.
Vince Holding Corp. and Subsidiaries
Reconciliation of net income on a GAAP basis to "Adjusted net income"
(Unaudited, amounts in thousands except percentages, share and per share data)
For the three months ended August 2, 2014
as a % of net sales
Selling, general and administrative expenses
as a % of net sales
as a % of net sales
(a) To adjust selling, general and administrative expenses to remove the costs incurred by the Company
related to the Secondary Offering completed in July 2014.
(b) Represents the tax effect on the Secondary Offering costs incurred at the Company's estimated annual
effective tax rate of 40%.
Vince Holding Corp. and Subsidiaries
Reconciliation of net income on a GAAP basis to "Adjusted net income"
(Unaudited, amounts in thousands except percentages, share and per share data)
For the six months ended August 2, 2014
as a % of net sales
Selling, general and administrative expenses
as a % of net sales
as a % of net sales
(a) To adjust selling, general and administrative expenses to remove the costs incurred by the Company
related to the Secondary Offering completed in July 2014.
(b) Represents the tax effect on the Secondary Offering costs incurred at the Company's estimated annual
effective tax rate of 40%.
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vince-holding-corp-reports-second-quarter-and-first-half-fiscal-2015-results-300137881.html
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NEW YORK, Sept. 3, 2015/ PRNewswire/-- Vince Holding Corp., a leading contemporary fashion brand, today reported unaudited results for the second quarter of fiscal 2015.. Net sales decreased 10.4% to $80.0 million from $89.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2014. The wholesale segment decreased 21.6% to $58.3 million and the direct-to-consumer segment...
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/30/goldman-idg-invest-50-million-in-bitcoin-company.html
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Goldman, IDG invest $50 million in bitcoin company
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20150924104831
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A few other Bitcoin companies have recently announced small investments from European banks, and several bank executives have spoken of their interest recently. But Goldman is the first major bank to make such a prominent investment.
"Having a franchise like Goldman Sachs as an investor, who has done due diligence, is a vote of confidence," said Jeremy Allaire, the co-founder and chief executive of Circle.
The investment is coming from Goldman's principal strategic investments group, which generally puts money into projects that could have some relevance for the bank's own business.
Goldman did not comment on the investment beyond a statement from the head of the principal strategic group, Thomas F. Jessop. The statement did not mention Bitcoin, but did say that the firm sees "significant opportunities in companies and solutions that have the promise to transform global markets through technical innovation."
Circle, which does not generate Bitcoin, had previously received investments from venture capital firms like General Catalyst Partners and Breyer Capital.
Unlike most big Bitcoin companies, which have focused on making it easier to buy and sell Bitcoins, Circle is hoping to use the virtual currency primarily as a way to cheaply and quickly move money both domestically and internationally.
Circle customers who want to buy and hold Bitcoin will be able to. But for those who do not want to deal with the volatile price of the virtual currency, Circle is preparing to make it possible for customers to keep balances in dollars in an insured bank account. For these customers, Bitcoin will be used only as a means of moving money, to avoid the fees charged by payment processors and money transmitters.
The network underlying Bitcoin is generally a cheaper alternative because it is powered by a decentralized network of computers rather than a single company, like Visa or PayPal, that can extract fees.
The founders of Circle are aiming to use Bitcoin to move into the burgeoning industry of peer-to-peer payments. The industry is currently led by companies like Venmo, a PayPal-owned application that allows friends to quickly send one another money rather than using a check or a bank transfer, which can take days to go through.
While Circle will, in the near future, offer much the same services as Venmo — including free, instant money transfers — the company hopes that Bitcoin will allow it to move money with same ease across international borders, something Venmo cannot do.
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Bitcoin firms have recently announced small investments from European banks,but Goldman is the first major bank to make such a prominent investment.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/01/how-irs-protects-id-thieves.html
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How IRS Protects ID Thieves
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20150924113144
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Millions of Americans have fallen victim to ID theft during tax season, when fraudsters file false returns in an attempt to steal other people's refunds.
Victims face delays in getting their real refunds, and paperwork nightmares that can drag on for months. In an attempt to survey the damage, some have asked the IRS for a copy of the fake returns, but Bloomberg reports that the agency has denied such requests, despite consumer-protection regulations intended to help victims in these situations.
The rules protecting consumers apparently conflict with tax laws that prevent its agents from sharing bogus returns and impose a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for IRS workers who violate that law. "Employees face the specter of felony charges for giving out private details — including, possibly, those of the identity thieves — to those who aren't authorized," according to Bloomberg.
More from The Fiscal Times: Found! 6,400 New Lois Lerner Emails on the IRS Targeting Scandal The Liberal Solution to America's Big Spending ProblemThe Flawed F-35: Why the Pentagon Will Never Shoot It Down
Tax refund fraud has ballooned in recent years. While electronic filing has made the tedious process of filing taxes more bearable for consumers, it has also made it easier for criminals to scam the system by filing phony returns using stolen Social Security numbers. Scammers bilked the IRS out of $5.8 billion in fraudulent tax refunds in 2013, a number auditors expected would climb much higher in the most recent tax season. (Numbers haven't yet been released for 2014 returns).
Electronic fraud became such a problem this year that TurboTax briefly suspended state returns for customers in February to deal with ID theft issues.
If the IRS is of limited help to victims, that's all the more reason to make sure your information is protected. You can find some tips to reduce your risk of ID theft here.
Read MoreTax-refund fraud to hit $21 billion, and there's little the IRS ...
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Rules prevent agents from sharing bogus returns and impose a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for those who violate that law.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2014/11/28/johnny-come-lately-us-helps-boost-wine-sales.html
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Johnny come lately US helps boost wine sales
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20150924131204
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Consider an all-purpose sparkling wine for parties and larger group celebrations, Isle suggested, highlighting a prosecco from Mionetto.
"It's unusual to find a widely available, affordable prosecco that also happens to be made from organically farmed grapes," he said about the crisp-tasting wine, which features subtle notes of apple and peach.
Read MoreBet against Chanos? The wine market says you should
The Italian sparkling wine category is experiencing a popularity boom, thanks in large part to its reasonable price point—it typically retails for less than $20 a bottle.
Globally, prosecco sales in 2013 outpaced champagne with 307 million bottles sold to just 304 million, according to figures released earlier this year by the Italian Sparkling Wine Observatory.
"If I had invested in prosecco, I think my life would be really nice—you know, a private island or something," Isle joked.
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Look for another record year of wine sales in the U.S., thanks to the needs of consumers who have to entertain during the holidays.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/04/6-best-and-worst-starwarsday-brand-tweets.html
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6 best and worst #StarWarsDay brand tweets
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20150924162110
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Another May 4, another slew of "Star Wars" hashtags.
The phrase "May the fourth be with you"—a play on the famous Star Wars quote "may the force be with you"—always gets big social traffic on what is unofficially Star Wars Day.
Of course, the iconic film series is, of course, no stranger to social media chatter the rest of the year. Disney's upcoming "Star Wars" films had the Twitterverse talking last month, after the release of the newest trailer.
And now the hashtags #MayTheFourthBeWithYou and #StarWarsDay have fans and marketing-hungry brands buzzing.
Companies called on their real-time marketing experts to share tweets in honor of the beloved, unofficial holiday. Here are six of the best.
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Big brands tweet in honor of National Star Wars Day.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/05/gold-down-as-strong-us-yields-offset-weaker-dollar.html
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Gold down as strong US yields offset weaker dollar
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20150924214329
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Gold edged down on Wednesday, as the impact of higher U.S. real yields counteracted the effects of a weaker dollar, soft U.S. data and doubts that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its June meeting.
Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,190 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures for June delivery settled down $2.90 at $1,190.30 an ounce.
Gold, which pays no interest, was under pressure from a two-month high in the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield.
``U.S. real yields, which correlate the most to the gold price, have risen,'' Macquarie analyst Matthew Turner said. ``That's what's driving gold prices,'' he said, adding that he expected the Fed to raise rates earlier than the market currently anticipates.
The dollar fell 0.9 percent against a basket of currencies, after data showed U.S. private employers added 169,000 jobs last month, the fewest since January 2014 and 40,000 short of expectations.
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Gold edged down as the impact of higher yields counteracted the effects of a weaker dollar.
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A comics artist's view on Lichtenstein: A Retrospective
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20150925015824
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For most comics artists today, Roy Lichtenstein is not a popular figure. There's no doubting his technical ability: he was a wonderful designer, and his 1963 diptych Whaam!, which takes up a whole wall of Tate Modern's show, has real impact. By using comics as source material, he did also help erode the old distinctions between "high" and "low" art – though I think that would have happened anyway.
But the fact remains that Lichtenstein was simply reproducing the work of the original comic artists, without adding much. These artists – people like Jack Kirby and John Romita Senior – were often war veterans, working for hire. They were badly paid, at least at the beginning of their careers, and their talents largely went unacknowledged. The artist who drew Whaam! wasn't even credited by the comic that ran the original strip, DC's All-American Men of War. The strip is reproduced here, but I still think the curators could have made more of an effort to acknowledge Lichtenstein's sources.
In the 1960s, comics were an exciting new medium: you had everything from Marvel superheroes to romances and war comics. Lichtenstein's work does reflect this variety. I especially like his 1964 painting We Rose Up Slowly, which shows two all-American archetypes – a handsome man, a luscious blonde – in a steamy embrace. It's well executed, but it's just one frame. That can't come close to reflecting the artistry and storytelling of a 270-page comic.
Those early comic artists paved the way for us. And most of us are still very badly paid: we do it for love. But, having learned from what they went through, we now recognise the importance of owning our own copyright. Just look at the ongoing legal battle between the creators of Superman and Warner Bros. Lichtenstein's work is now worth millions. How depressing that it's the result of plunder.
• Marc Ellerby wrote the autobiographical web comic Ellerbisms (marcellerby.com). Lichtenstein is at Tate Modern, London SE1, until 27 May. Details: tate.org.uk
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There's no doubting Roy Lichtenstein's technical ability, says comics artist Marc Ellerby, but wasn't he just piggybacking off other people's talents?
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/07/report-shows-that-vice-can-pay-at-least-when-investing.html
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Report shows that vice can pay, at least when investing
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20150925020004
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It can pay to take a ride on the wild side, at least when investing.
A new report out from investment app SigFig digs into the demographics behind so-called sin stocks: Investing in the likes of cigarette companies, breweries, casinos and marijuana. It turns out investing in sin can be lucrative.
One in eight investors have bought into sin stocks, according to the report, with 7 percent of investors buying into tobacco companies. Over 2 percent of investors have support marijuana companies; while just under 2 percent of investors go into both casino gambling and alcohol.
Turns out tobacco investors are older and generally live in the South, while investors in a new crop of marijuana companies are twice as likely to live in the New York tri-state area than the cushy hills of California.
And those who buy into tobacco are more committed. The median invested in tobacco is more than $12,000, and 6 percent of an investor's portfolio. The median marijuana investor studied had just $114 tied up with the companies, and just 2 percent of their overall portfolio.
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A new report from investing app SigFig details the demographics benefits of investing in vice stocks: tobacco, alcohol, gambling and marijuana.
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Artist of the week no 7: Charles Avery
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20150925021735
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There are few artists brave enough to play God, but Charles Avery has no problems on that score. Over the last 10 years he has been building an island and painstakingly documenting its inhabitants, landscape and cosmology in text, paint and sculpture. The premise could be straight out of Tolkien, except that Avery is much more sophisticated than that. His world is populated with mythical beasts that haunt the inhabitants' psyche, decrying their very nature and usurping their sense of reason.
Many of the natives are addicted to the local delicacy, pickled eggs, which enslaves them to the island. Hunters in tweed jackets and shotguns search out a Kantian dichotomy while hawkers in the local flea market sell pictures of nude women for the price of peace of mind.
All this would be academic if it wasn't for Avery's skilled draftsmanship. His pictures are so compelling it is impossible not to become embroiled in the life of this secret community.
Born in Oban in 1973, Avery grew up on the Isle of Mull, and there is no question that his childhood haunts this epic narrative. His new show is an anthropological survey of island life. Like a 19th-century explorer returning from a fact-finding mission, he offers the intrepid viewer a sampling of the many curious species and social customs he has experienced.
Why we like him: For a dodgy dealer called Mr Impossible, a platypus looking chancer who got himself elevated to demi-god status.
Any similarities?: He managed to get kicked out of Central St Martins after six months – a feat thought to be impossible.
Move over YBA: He is part of a new generation of artists practicing under the banner of Altermodern. Alter what?: A term coined by the French theorist Nicolas Bourriaud, meaning art made now in response to a global society and as a reaction against standardisation and commercialism. Charles Avery's The Islanders: An Introduction, is showing at the Parasol Unit, London, N1, until November 8 2008.
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Jessica Lack delves into the imaginary world of Scottish artist Charles Avery, a man who has spent the last decade creating a fantastical island
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/14/generali-posts-best-quarterly-operating-profit-in-7-years.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150925162537id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/14/generali-posts-best-quarterly-operating-profit-in-7-years.html
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Generali posts best quarterly operating profit in 7 years
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20150925162537
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Under pressure to boost profitability and cash generation, it has bolstered its balance sheet by trimming costs and selling assets, meeting a number of recovery targets early.
In March, Chief Executive Mario Greco said the group was looking to gradually increase its dividend over the next few years.
"It's a good start to the year and augurs well for the rest of the year," Generali CFO Alberto Minali said in a conference call.
Read MoreECB QE needs to buy shares as well as bonds: Generali
Italy's biggest insurer said its closely-watched Solvency I ratio - an indication of financial strength - stood at 168 percent at the end of March, up from 156 percent at the end of 2014.
He said the group would provide insight as regards new Solvency II rules at its Investor Day later in May.
"The position is more than adequate," he said.
Asked about the company's 38.5 percent stake in Russia's Ingosstrakh, with a book value of 230 million euros, Minali said the investment was not core.
"It's a stake we hold and then we'll see what to do with it," he said.
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Italian insurer Generali's first-quarter operating profit rose 6 percent to top forecasts.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/01/globe-newswire-griffin-capital-essential-asset-reit-reports-second-quarter-2015-results.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150925191214id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/01/globe-newswire-griffin-capital-essential-asset-reit-reports-second-quarter-2015-results.html
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Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT Reports Second Quarter 2015 Results
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20150925191214
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EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Sept. 1, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT, Inc. (the "Essential Asset REIT") announced its operating results for the quarter ended June 30, 2015.
As of the end of the quarter, the Essential Asset REIT's portfolio consisted of 71(1) assets encompassing approximately 16.1(1) million square feet of space in 20 states with a total acquisition value of approximately $2.7 billion, including 80% of the acquisition value of the real estate held in a joint venture. "In the second quarter of 2015, we announced the completion of the merger of the Essential Asset REIT with Signature Office REIT, Inc. ("SOR"). This high-quality diversified SOR portfolio adds depth and breadth to the Essential Asset REIT, which is now comprised of approximately $2.8 billion in assets," said Michael Escalante, President and Chief Investment Officer of the Essential Asset REIT. "We are reaching the end of our property acquisition phase for the Essential Asset REIT, and we will be looking to concentrate on the asset management opportunities that remain available to add value."
Highlights and Accomplishments in the Second Quarter of 2015
About Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT and Griffin Capital Corporation
Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT, Inc. is a publicly-registered non-traded REIT with a portfolio, as of August 15, 2015, of 71(1) office and industrial distribution properties totaling approximately 15.8 million rentable square feet, located in 20 states, representing total REIT capitalization of approximately $3.3 billion(3). The REIT's sponsor, Griffin Capital Corporation ("Griffin Capital"), is a privately-owned investment and asset management company headquartered in Los Angeles. Led by senior executives, each with more than two decades of real estate experience collectively encompassing over $21 billion of transaction value and more than 650 transactions, Griffin Capital and its affiliates have acquired or constructed approximately 42 million square feet of space since 1995. As of August 15, 2015, Griffin Capital and its affiliates currently own, manage, sponsor and/or co-sponsor a portfolio consisting of approximately 27 million square feet of space, located in 29 states, representing approximately $4.8 billion in asset value. Additional information about Griffin Capital is available at www.griffincapital.com.
This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements can generally be identified by our use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "continue," or other similar words. Because such statements include risks, uncertainties and contingencies, actual results may differ materially from the expectations, intentions, beliefs, plans or predictions of the future expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include, but are not limited to: uncertainties relating to changes in general economic and real estate conditions; uncertainties relating to the implementation of our real estate investment strategy; uncertainties relating to financing availability and capital proceeds; uncertainties relating to the closing of property acquisitions; uncertainties related to the timing and availability of distributions; and other risk factors as outlined in the REIT's annual report on Form 10-K as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This is neither an offer nor a solicitation to purchase securities.
1 Includes the property information related to the acquisition of an 80% ownership interest in the Digital Realty joint venture.
2 Investment grade descriptions are those of either tenants and/or guarantors with investment grade ratings or whose non-guarantor parent companies have investment grade credit ratings.
3 Total capitalization includes the outstanding debt balance, plus total equity raised and issued, including operating partnership units.
GRIFFIN CAPITAL ESSENTIAL ASSET REIT, INC. Funds from Operations and Modified Funds from Operations (Unaudited)
Our management believes that historical cost accounting for real estate assets in accordance with GAAP implicitly assumes that the value of real estate assets diminishes predictably over time. Since real estate values have historically risen or fallen with market conditions, many industry investors and analysts have considered the presentation of operating results for real estate companies that use historical cost accounting to be insufficient. Additionally, publicly registered, non-listed REITs typically have a significant amount of acquisition activity and are substantially more dynamic during their initial years of investment and operation. While other start-up entities may also experience significant acquisition activity during their initial years, we believe that non-listed REITs are unique in that they have a limited life with targeted exit strategies within a relatively limited time frame after the acquisition activity ceases.
In order to provide a more complete understanding of the operating performance of a REIT, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts ("NAREIT") promulgated a measure known as funds from operations ("FFO"). FFO is defined as net income or loss computed in accordance with GAAP, excluding extraordinary items, as defined by GAAP, and gains and losses from sales of depreciable operating property, adding back asset impairment write-downs, plus real estate related depreciation and amortization (excluding amortization of deferred financing costs and depreciation of non-real estate assets), and after adjustment for unconsolidated partnerships, joint ventures and preferred distributions. Because FFO calculations exclude such items as depreciation and amortization of real estate assets and gains and losses from sales of operating real estate assets (which can vary among owners of identical assets in similar conditions based on historical cost accounting and useful-life estimates), they facilitate comparisons of operating performance between periods and between other REITs. As a result, we believe that the use of FFO, together with the required GAAP presentations, provides a more complete understanding of our performance relative to our competitors and a more informed and appropriate basis on which to make decisions involving operating, financing, and investing activities. It should be noted, however, that other REITs may not define FFO in accordance with the current NAREIT definition or may interpret the current NAREIT definition differently than we do, making comparisons less meaningful.
The Investment Program Association ("IPA") issued Practice Guideline 2010-01 (the "IPA MFFO Guideline") on November 2, 2010, which extended financial measures to include modified funds from operations ("MFFO"). In computing MFFO, FFO is adjusted for certain non-operating cash items such as acquisition fees and expenses and certain non-cash items such as straight-line rent, amortization of in-place lease valuations, amortization of discounts and premiums on debt investments, nonrecurring impairments of real estate-related investments, mark-to-market adjustments included in net income (loss), and nonrecurring gains or losses included in net income (loss) from the extinguishment or sale of debt, hedges, foreign exchange, derivatives or securities holdings where trading of such holdings is not a fundamental attribute of the business plan, unrealized gains or losses resulting from consolidation from, or deconsolidation to, equity accounting, and after adjustments for consolidated and unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures, with such adjustments calculated to reflect MFFO on the same basis. Management is responsible for managing interest rate, hedge and foreign exchange risk. To achieve our objectives, we may borrow at fixed rates or variable rates. In order to mitigate our interest rate risk on certain financial instruments, if any, we may enter into interest rate cap agreements or other hedge instruments and in order to mitigate our risk to foreign currency exposure, if any, we may enter into foreign currency hedges. We view fair value adjustments of derivatives, impairment charges and gains and losses from dispositions of assets as non-recurring items or items which are unrealized and may not ultimately be realized, and which are not reflective of on-going operations and are therefore typically adjusted for when assessing operating performance. Additionally, we believe it is appropriate to disregard impairment charges, as this is a fair value adjustment that is largely based on market fluctuations, assessments regarding general market conditions, and the specific performance of properties owned, which can change over time. No less frequently than annually, we evaluate events and changes in circumstances that could indicate that the carrying amounts of real estate and related intangible assets may not be recoverable. When indicators of potential impairment are present, we assess whether the carrying value of the assets will be recovered through the future undiscounted operating cash flows (including net rental and lease revenues, net proceeds on the sale of the property, and any other ancillary cash flows at a property or group level under GAAP) expected from the use of the assets and the eventual disposition. Investors should note, however, that determinations of whether impairment charges have been incurred are based partly on anticipated operating performance, because estimated undiscounted future cash flows from a property, including estimated future net rental and lease revenues, net proceeds on the sale of the property, and certain other ancillary cash flows, are taken into account in determining whether an impairment charge has been incurred. While impairment charges are excluded from the calculation of MFFO as described above, investors are cautioned that due to the fact that impairments are based on estimated future undiscounted cash flows and the relatively limited term of our operations, it could be difficult to recover any impairment charges through operational net revenues or cash flows prior to any liquidity event.
We adopted the IPA MFFO Guideline as management believes that MFFO is a beneficial indicator of our on-going portfolio performance and ability to sustain our current distribution level. More specifically, MFFO isolates the financial results of the REIT's operations. MFFO, however, is not considered an appropriate measure of historical earnings as it excludes certain significant costs that are otherwise included in reported earnings. Further, since the measure is based on historical financial information, MFFO for the period presented may not be indicative of future results or our future ability to pay our dividends. By providing FFO and MFFO, we present information that assists investors in aligning their analysis with management's analysis of long-term operating activities. MFFO also allows for a comparison of the performance of our portfolio with other REITs that are not currently engaging in acquisitions, as well as a comparison of our performance with that of other non-traded REITs, as MFFO, or an equivalent measure, is routinely reported by non-traded REITs, and we believe often used by analysts and investors for comparison purposes. As explained below, management's evaluation of our operating performance excludes items considered in the calculation of MFFO based on the following economic considerations:
For all of these reasons, we believe the non-GAAP measures of FFO and MFFO, in addition to income (loss) from operations, net income (loss) and cash flows from operating activities, as defined by GAAP, are helpful supplemental performance measures and useful to investors in evaluating the performance of our real estate portfolio. However, a material limitation associated with FFO and MFFO is that they are not indicative of our cash available to fund distributions since other uses of cash, such as capital expenditures at our properties and principal payments of debt, are not deducted when calculating FFO and MFFO. Additionally, MFFO has limitations as a performance measure in an offering such as ours where the price of a share of common stock is a stated value. The use of MFFO as a measure of long-term operating performance on value is also limited if we do not continue to operate under our current business plan as noted above. MFFO is useful in assisting management and investors in assessing our on-going ability to generate cash flow from operations and continue as a going concern in future operating periods, and in particular, after the offering and acquisition stages are complete and NAV is disclosed. However, MFFO is not a useful measure in evaluating NAV because impairments are taken into account in determining NAV but not in determining MFFO. Therefore, FFO and MFFO should not be viewed as more prominent a measure of performance than income (loss) from operations, net income (loss) or to cash flows from operating activities and each should be reviewed in connection with GAAP measurements.
Neither the SEC, NAREIT, nor any other applicable regulatory body has opined on the acceptability of the adjustments contemplated to adjust FFO in order to calculate MFFO and its use as a non-GAAP performance measure. In the future, the SEC or NAREIT may decide to standardize the allowable exclusions across the REIT industry, and we may have to adjust the calculation and characterization of this non-GAAP measure.
Our calculation of FFO and MFFO is presented in the following table for the three and six months ended June 30, 2015 and 2014 (in thousands):
CONTACT: Jennifer Nahas Vice President, Marketing Griffin Capital Corporation jnahas@griffincapital.com Office Phone: 949-270-9332 Cell Phone: 949-433-6860
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EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Sept. 1, 2015-- Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT, Inc. announced its operating results for the quarter ended June 30, 2015. During the second quarter of 2015, we acquired a five-story office building located in Houston, Texas, leased to Wood Group Mustang, Inc. on a triple-net basis, at a purchase price of $77.0 million. On June 10, 2015, we...
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http://www.cnbc.com/2014/12/01/home-equity-is-back-and-homeowners-are-loving-it.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150925200124id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/12/01/home-equity-is-back-and-homeowners-are-loving-it.html
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Home equity is back and homeowners are loving it
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At the current rate, lenders could originate more than $67 billion in HELOCs for all of 2014, which would be the most since 2009. Volume is still low by historical standards, but the gain points to not only more home equity available, but more confidence among consumers that they can tap their homes again for much-needed cash. There has, however, been a shift in the borrower mindset.
"It certainly seems like people are doing it a lot more responsibly now," said Rick Huard, senior vice president of consumer lending product management at TD Bank. "People seem to be much more educated customers and much more responsible."
Read MoreWhat $1 million will get you in our reporters' hometowns
They have to be, because on the flip side, lenders aren't just handing out the loans to anyone with a pulse. During the last housing boom, borrowers extracted trillions of dollars worth of home equity, spending it on luxury goods and vacations, as lenders turned a blind eye to basic safeguards, like the ability to repay the loan or the borrower's other debt load.
Today, lenders are following more stringent guidelines enforced by federal regulators, and most HELOC borrowers are using the money to improve their homes, adding value to their largest asset, not subtracting it.
A survey of more than one thousand HELOC borrowers by TD bank found many using HELOCs to consolidate other debt, thereby lowering interest rates (29 percent); credit cards can carry interest rates more than four times that of a HELOC. Others used the loans for automobiles (27 percent), emergencies (19 percent) or education expenses (20 percent). Some are refinancing HELOCs they already have.
Read MoreMortgage volumes drops back again after recent gains
"People are readdressing or redoing," said Craig Strent of Maryland-based Apex Home loans. "That has probably resulted in this increase in equity line originations."
HELOCs usually have a "reset" period of 10 years, after which borrowers have to start paying back principal on the loans in addition to interest. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently estimated that $167 billion worth of HELOCs would reset to higher monthly payments between 2014 and 2017. By taking out a new HELOC to pay off a current one, homeowners can start that 10-year credit period over again.
Read MoreBig investors pull back on housing
Some are using home equity lines in order to avoid having to use jumbo loans to buy a home. Jumbo loans, usually higher than $417,000, can have lower interest rates, but they require higher credit scores and larger down payments. By using a second lien, like a HELOC, a borrower can keep the primary loan in the conforming range.
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Home equity loans jumped by 17 percent in the third quarter, but homeowners are being smarter about using the cash.
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http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/49ers-offensive-line-will-be-sternly-tested-6530611.php
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49ers’ offensive line will be sternly tested again
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Photo: Gene J. Puskar, Associated Press
49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick practically gave the Pittsburgh Steelers the shirt off his back, as he was sacked five times.
49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick practically gave the Pittsburgh...
49ers’ offensive line will be sternly tested again
Todd Bowles is now in New York, but his defense didn’t leave the desert.
The former Arizona defensive coordinator ran a complex scheme the Cardinals kept after he became the Jets’ head coach in the offseason. The Cardinals’ new defensive coordinator, James Bettcher, was an assistant on Bowles’ staff.
The good news is that the 49ers shouldn’t be surprised when they visit Arizona on Sunday. The not-so-great news: Their work-in-progress offensive line will be tested against a unit that’s unique among NFL defenses.
“They bring a lot of exotic blitzes and they take a lot of pride in their different personnel groupings and different fronts that they show,” left tackle Joe Staley said. “... They’re not too similar to anyone else you face over the course of a year.”
The 49ers’ front five will need to communicate effectively, which didn’t always happen in Sunday’s 43-18 loss in Pittsburgh. The 49ers allowed five sacks and their running backs averaged 2.6 yards on 23 carries.
Three of the sacks were a result of left guard Alex Boone, right guard Jordan Devey and right tackle Erik Pears losing one-on-one matchups.
Another sack, however, came after center Marcus Martin, 21, making his 10th career start, left the middle wide open when he moved left to help Boone block linebacker Jarvis Jones. As a result, defensive end Cameron Heyward barreled up the middle untouched. Heyward’s pressure forced Colin Kaepernick, drifting right, to do a 180-degree spin, a pirouette that finished him with him face-to-face with linebacker Ryan Shazier, who beat Staley with an outside speed-rush.
On another sack, Staley and several other players didn’t move for a full second after Martin delivered a shotgun snap. After Kaepernick was dropped for a 6-yard loss, both Staley, who raised his fists in frustration, and Boone appeared to be hollering at Martin.
Did Martin deliver the snap too soon? This week, no one was interested in discussing the communication breakdown.
“That was a bad play,” head coach Jim Tomsula said.
Said Staley: “That’s for us. I’m not going to air out” stuff.
Offered Boone, sarcastically: “It must’ve been really loud.”
There were questions marks surrounding the offensive line in the summer and they haven’t disappeared. Pears’ run-blocking grade ranks 68th among 70 tackles, according to Pro Football Focus. Meanwhile, Devey, who was acquired in a trade with the Patriots in mid-August, has allowed the third-most quarterback pressures (nine) among guards.
The 49ers will get a boost if center Daniel Kilgore (ankle), who is on the physically unable to perform list, can make his anticipated midseason return. In the interim, however, it appears the 49ers will retain the same starting five.
Tomsula indicated Friday that several young backups aren’t ready for starting roles. That group includes rookie guard Ian Silberman, rookie tackle Trent Brown and guard Brandon Thomas, a 2014 third-round pick who has been inactive for the first two games.
“We obviously have been biding our time to give them as much experience in practice, as much preparation going into games,” Tomsula said. “… Those guys are going through that process right now. Yeah, we’d like to buy some time and let them keep going through that.”
For his part, Staley said there was “no question” the 49ers had the personnel in place to boast a strong offensive line. He acknowledged, however, some patience might be required.
“It’s an ongoing process,” he said. “We’re into Week 3 of the season. We’re not getting ready for a Super Bowl. This is not the final week of the year. We have a long way to go to get where we want to be.”
Eric Branch is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: ebranch@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Eric_Branch
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The former Arizona defensive coordinator ran a complex scheme the Cardinals kept after he became the Jets’ head coach in the offseason. The Cardinals’ new defensive coordinator, James Bettcher, was an assistant on Bowles’ staff. “They bring a lot of exotic blitzes and they take a lot of pride in their different personnel groupings and different fronts that they show,” left tackle Joe Staley said. ... The 49ers allowed five sacks and their running backs averaged 2.6 yards on 23 carries. Three of the sacks were a result of left guard Alex Boone, right guard Jordan Devey and right tackle Erik Pears losing one-on-one matchups. Another sack, however, came after center Marcus Martin, 21, making his 10th career start, left the middle wide open when he moved left to help Boone block linebacker Jarvis Jones. Heyward’s pressure forced Colin Kaepernick, drifting right, to do a 180-degree spin, a pirouette that finished him with him face-to-face with linebacker Ryan Shazier, who beat Staley with an outside speed-rush. On another sack, Staley and several other players didn’t move for a full second after Martin delivered a shotgun snap. [...] Devey, who was acquired in a trade with the Patriots in mid-August, has allowed the third-most quarterback pressures (nine) among guards. The 49ers will get a boost if center Daniel Kilgore (ankle), who is on the physically unable to perform list, can make his anticipated midseason return.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2013/10/30/the-worlds-most-powerful-person-is-not-obama.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150926225407id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2013/10/30/the-worlds-most-powerful-person-is-not-obama.html
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The world’s most powerful person is… not Obama?
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Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not make the list, although her husband, former President Bill Clinton, took the 43rd spot.
Only one business person made the Top 10, up from none last year, with Wal-Mart CEO Michael Duke ranked No. 10.
(Read more: The richest person in every state)
To compile the list, Forbes looked at whether the candidate has power over a lot of people, for example, over a billion Roman Catholics look to the pope as spiritual leader, helping Pope Francis' ranking of #4, and the financial resources they control, such as gross domestic product for heads of state.
The publication also assessed whether the candidate was powerful in "multiple spheres," and if they actively used their power.
Forty percent of the people ranked were billionaires, including the richest man in Africa, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, who took the 64th position.
(Read more: 2012's Forbes Power List)
Bill Gates slipped two places to be named No. 6, and eighth was Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.
Pope Francis was the highest ranking newcomer at No. 4. The CEOs of Volkswagen (Martin Winterkorn at No. 49), IBM (Virginia Rometty at No. 56) and Oracle (Larry Ellison at No. 58) were also among the 13 new names on the list, as was Samsung's Chairman Lee Kun-Hee, at No. 41.
Tech CEOs also fared well this year, with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos jumping from the 27th spot in 2012 to the 15th this year following his purchase of The Washington Post. Apple CEOTim Cook also climbed the rankings, from No. 35 last year to No. 19 in 2013.
—By CNBC's Katrina Bishop. Follow her on Twitter @KatrinaBishop and Google
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President Barack Obama has been bumped off the top spot of Forbes' ranking of the world's most powerful people.
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http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/feb/24/constructive-criticism-architecture-lego-faberge
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150927065516id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/feb/24/constructive-criticism-architecture-lego-faberge
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Constructive criticism: the week in architecture
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Here we go: another enviably cutting edge and yet beautifully crafted and folksy-looking cafe in Japan. The type of thing that seems to happen once in a blue moon over here, but every Tuesday over there. But amid the swirling sea of 2,000 sticks flowing through this one, you might have missed the sign by the door: it's a Starbucks.
The special treatment is justified by the fact that it's on the approach to a famous 1,000-year-old Shinto shrine in Fukuoka Prefecture, but it shows how ubiquitous global brands can occasionally go hand-in-hand with distinctive design. One of the ways Starbucks has been seeking to recaffeinate its flagging empire is through conspicuously environmentally friendly design. Like this one in Tukwila, Washington, made out of recycled shipping containers – though the eco credentials are undercut by the fact that it's a drive-thru.
This Japanese one was the work of the gifted Kengo Kuma, who is also designing the new Victoria and Albert Museum in Dundee. Like many of Kuma's works, such as this restaurant, and his Chidori furniture range, the Starbucks and V&A designs amass small, regular building units into something remarkably sculptural – a traditional Japanese technique, apparently.
Talking of small regular building units, this week also sees the release of Lego's latest architecture kit: the Sydney Opera House. It has to be said, though, Jorn Utzon's sail-like concrete shells are not the easiest thing to replicate in Lego. The result looks more like a dead Transformer than Australia's national icon. It actually shows the limitations of the world's best-loved toy. Lego has doubtless inspired generations of future architects – last year, MVRDV's Winy Maas built 767 Lego skyscrapers for an exhibition – but it's a stubbornly orthogonal system. That's fine for the Frank Lloyd Wright houses and skyscrapers, which make up most of the Lego Architecture series, but when it comes to curves and blobs and irregular forms, it can't handle it. Play-Doh are missing a trick here.
Another form of cheap, cheerful design-collecting comes to Londoners this week in the form of Fabergé's Big Egg Hunt, in which 200-odd outsize eggs have been secreted around the capital for the public to find – but not keep; they're being auctioned off for charity later. They're not actual Fabergé eggs either, so don't get any ideas. Instead they've been decorated by artists of every stripe, from the Chapman Brothers to Vivienne Westwood, MIA to Maggie Smith.
As you'd expect, it's the architects who are really thinking out of the carton. Zaha Hadid's looks like a silver sci-fi space capsule; Wilkinson Eyre's looks like the alien spaceship it came from; and fourfoursixsix's looks like a scale model of an ovoid Death Star. More down to earth, Rogers Stirk Harbour's Chicken Or Egg draws a poultry analogy to the form-function dilemma, and Nicholas Grimshaw fashions his egg out of discarded construction waste. Smashing.
Finally, an unexpectedly playful new photo book from John Pawson: A Visual Inventory. Hitherto considered the high priest of minimalism, Pawson turns out to be a bit of a maximalist when it comes to photography. Since first acquiring a digital camera, he's accumulated over a quarter of a million image files, he reckons. Every architect in his office must take a camera on site visits, and he gets annoyed with them if there are shots out of focus or missing. He even gave one of his clients a camera and told them to send him a picture of their new house every day.
The book is less proscriptive: a series of William Eggleston-like snapshots of the everyday world, laid out in pairs, with little annotations from Pawson explaining what he saw in them. Thus, a snap of an old water tank is unremarkable until you read how it reminds Pawson of Richard Serra's sculptures; or some Swedish farm-buildings become a mini-essay in the framing of views; or a small doorway in Ethiopia contrasts Herculean effort with lax security. It's full of little architectural details most people would never notice: paving stones, walls, windows, but there are also landscapes, semi-abstract shots of the play of light and images from Pawson's travels. You really start to see the world through his eyes – as a place of continual surprise, delight and inspiration. That's not just a lesson architects could benefit from.
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Steve Rose: A closer look at a cutting-edge cafe in Japan may leave you spluttering into your coffee, Lego aims for the high notes and eggs from outer space land for Fabergé's Big Egg Hunt
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http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/nov/16/photography-camera-tips
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150927150327id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/nov/16/photography-camera-tips
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Basic camera techniques
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Cameras come in lots of different shapes and sizes, but they all have a few basic things in common: a lens to focus on your subject, a housing (with a handle to hold it), and a mechanism to record the image. In most cameras these days, that mechanism is likely to be an electronic sensor to record the photograph digitally. (In this guide we are leaving film behind as a somewhat fond memory.) It can be more difficult to override the automatic settings on cheaper models, which might leave you feeling that you are not completely in control of the final image. For this chapter, we are going to assume your camera has manual settings as well as the "programme" modes.
If your camera comes with a zoom lens, as most do, explore the different focal lengths and the effect each creates. Start with the wide-angle setting and notice any distortions and how it gives a slightly different reality from your own vision. Most news pictures are now shot using wider lenses; indeed, an extra‑wide lens has become the default for most photojournalists. Take a look at Dan Chung's picture (main image) of the devastation left by the Asian tsunami in 2004 to see how the extreme wide‑angle lens emphasises the scale of the disaster.
Shoot some pictures and get comfortable with the wide settings before trying the other end of the scale, the telephoto. This lens "telescopes" the scene in front of the camera. Counterintuitively, this is a really nice way of shooting a landscape, as the different parts of the scene become stacked or compressed, often resulting in a patterned or painterly effect, as in Denis Thorpe's image of Hebden Bridge (below). A telephoto is also a good lens to use for close-up portraiture, giving a more flattering, slightly flattened perspective.
Most cameras have automatic focusing systems, but you should be aware of where the camera is focused. The simplest way is to use the centre-weighted option: pre-focus on your subject by holding the shutter release button halfway down, then frame the picture exactly as you would like before depressing the button completely.
Keep an eye on the viewfinder to check the focus. Practise this technique, because many photographs you shoot won't have the subject in the centre of the frame or at the front. When shooting a close-up of a face, focus on the eye nearest the camera.
On my compact, the left-hand wheel sets the ISO rating: this regulates how sensitive the camera will be to light coming in to the lens. You might have heard film described as "fast" and "slow" – the faster the film (and the higher the ISO number) the more light-sensitive it is. Helpfully, digital cameras also use these numbers to describe the sensitivity of their sensors. An average setting for shooting in daylight would be 100, while indoor settings should be 400 to 800.
Try not to go higher than 1,600, or you will introduce too much "noise" or grain to your images. As a general rule, keep the ISO as low as possible.
There is another wheel on most digital SLRs that selects the various exposure programmes the camera will run. There are normally automatic settings for different sorts of photography (such as portraits, landscapes and fast-moving subjects) but why don't we explore what's going on inside that box of tricks?
Let's focus (sorry) on three of the settings: A (aperture priority), S (shutter priority) and M (manual). Aperture priority (sometimes called AV or aperture value) allows you to set the aperture, leaving the camera to select an appropriate shutter speed. Changing the aperture not only affects the level of light reaching the sensor but also the photograph's depth of field (the distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear in focus).
Shutter priority mode (S) allows you to choose a specific shutter speed and tells the camera to control the aperture. The shutter is the small, metal curtain that opens and closes to help control the quantity of light hitting the sensor. The longer it stays open, the more light is let in.
Manual (M) provides the greatest level of control over the final image, by allowing you to set both shutter speed and aperture, depending on the lighting conditions and the effect you want to achieve.
By changing the aperture setting on your lens you can take control over the depth of field in your picture. The smaller the aperture, the more you get in focus. Setting a wider aperture enables you to soften the background or foreground in your image. The longer the focal length of the lens, the more marked the effect.
Take a look at Murdo MacLeod's photograph above of a sunbathing couple on Portobello beach, Edinburgh (above). He's used a 24mm wide-angle lens, which has given him a helping hand with the depth of field, but he has still used a small aperture of f/13 to ensure that the bulk of the scene is in focus. Note that f/13 isn't an option on the barrel of our old lens. This is because electronic digital cameras can set the lens iris to any size and are not governed by crude mechanical click-stops.
It's very common in portraiture, almost a visual cliche these days, but more and more news photographers are shooting "wide-open" (with a wide-open aperture) to isolate the subject from a busy background. A shallow depth of field helps tone down "noisy" or distracting colours and shapes in the background.
Associated Press chief photographer Muhammed Muheisen uses this technique to draw your eye to the young Pakistani girl and her gun, despite the strong shapes of the man and bicycle (left). If you find this sort of shallow focus effect appealing, you could use the aperture priority mode on your camera to force it to use a wide setting; it will then automatically adjust the shutter speed to obtain the best exposure for the lighting conditions. But you might find you want to use a slow shutter speed as well, to introduce some movement, as in Muheisen's second image, for example (below).
In this case you would have to make the camera less light-sensitive by changing the ISO rating to a lower value. This explains how the three settings are related.
There is something arresting about Muheisen's pictures, and it isn't just his subjects: it's the soft quality of the daylight. MacLeod's couple on the beach in the scorching sunshine is great, but bright light is difficult to handle. Soft light at the beginning and end of the day often gives the best results. The sun is lower and more directional too, giving more modelling to your subjects.
It's often best to "shoot against the light" or into the sun to avoid a flat, mundane result during the day. With so much light directed at the camera, you'll want to set the exposure for the subject, so open the lens one or two stops (or use the exposure compensation settings on your camera).
The other way to approach this is to go for a silhouette. In this case you need a strong shape in your subject and a clean background. Simply expose for the background and the subject will be completely underexposed, as shown left in Denis Thorpe's image of St George's Place, Liverpool (left).
Shooting in low light brings its own problems, but they are simple to overcome. If there's not enough light to achieve a decent exposure, open the lens as far as possible (which will give you a shallow depth of field, remember). When you can't go any wider, you will have to use longer and longer shutter speeds. You could alleviate this by dialling in a higher ISO, making the camera more light-sensitive, but that introduces graininess and "noise" patterns which may lead to poor quality.
Realistically, you are left with the slow shutter-speed option. Most people with a steady hand can hold a camera without getting much noticeable "camera shake" down to about 1/30th of a second. If you want or need to use a longer shutter speed than that, the camera needs to be supported on a tripod, or basically anything firm and inanimate. Low-light or night photography is now perfectly possible.
If you have a moving subject, there will be some blur. You can stop this by introducing flash, but beware: flashes don't travel far. Flashguns, built-in or otherwise, are of very limited use as a sole light source, but there are more creative ways to use them.
A good alternative technique, giving professional-looking results, is to set your camera on a slow shutter speed to make use of some of the atmospheric "available" light. Make sure your camera is mounted firmly and there are no wobbles, then use your flash to illuminate the subject, like Chris Thomond's superb schoolboy picture (above). Chris used a flashgun located away from the camera, but an on-camera flash will give a similar, cleaned-up, slightly surreal result.
Finally, the great thing about digital cameras is that they have no ongoing costs, such as film and developing. You can experiment over and over again and immediately see the results – for free – so tweak as you shoot.
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The Guardian's head of photography Roger Tooth explains how to take creative control of your camera settings
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/04/its-all-about-tgif-for-korean-ceo-sung-joo-kim.html
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It's all about 'TGIF' for Korean CEO Sung-joo Kim
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20150928013705
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"I remember when I was sitting with the chief buyer at Harrods in London, he thought I was crazy. Even my team did not believe it," she told CNBC's Martin Soong, in an interview for CNBC's Entrepreneur Asia: Power Players.
She currently has her sights on designing a bag without requiring the use of hands, for what she describes as a market increasingly on the move.
"We're making a hands-free bag, because we're aiming for the future 21st century a global nomad lifestyle," she said.
She is however more guarded on chasing China, one of her biggest markets. MCM has 40+ stores in the mainland but the brand is only in key cities.
Read MoreItalian luxury CEO still believes in Russia, China
"It's really the future growth market but still, you have to really make the balance and not go after everything," she said.
On the prospects of an initial public offering, Kim is more cautious especially on the back of other luxury brands heading down that route.
"I'm not in a hurry because I know many brands strived to quantify their business, maximize their value and go for a big IPO. Then what happens? It all goes down and they lose their clear identity," she said.
For more on Sung-joo Kim's interview, tune in to Entrepreneur Asia: Power Players on CNBC. The episode will air on June 4, at 5:30pm sin/hk, with repeats over the weekend.
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Successful fashion entrepreneur Sung-joo Kim is constantly thinking about catering to the tastes of the next generation, which she dubs the 'TGIF generation'.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/22/capital-restrictions-in-greece-worry-tourists.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20150929134009id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/22/capital-restrictions-in-greece-worry-tourists.html
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Capital restrictions in Greece worry tourists.
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20150929134009
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Alex Vyzantiadis, owner of Kyklos Travel, one of the biggest travel agencies in Athens, which mainly operates with tourists from South America, believes that capital controls is not what foreign visitors fear most. According to Mr. Vyzantiadis, in 90 percent of cases and especially for the "all inclusive" packages category, tourists are paying with "plastic money," so they will not be affected by what is going on with Greek banks.
"Tourists who get in touch with me are asking about the situation in the country and whether there will be unexpected events, such as demonstrations, shortages of products, vandalism and other incidents that will spoil their holidays. Although we do not have last-minute cancellations, many of our clients are expressing concern," Vyzantiadis said.
Read MoreGrexit: Here's what Europe is struggling to avoid
But the problems do not begin or end with capital controls concerns. The uncertainty of the recent months has affected the liquidity of Greek tourism enterprises because their partners, foreign tour operators, do not pay on time.
"For a tourist who will come to Athens in July, the deposit must be paid in March and the rest of the payment in June. However, due to uncertainty, payments are delayed. The tourist does not pay his agent on time, and likewise, the agent does not pay us in time. When arrears accumulate, operational problems in businesses multiply. The costs from last-minute cancellations will take gigantic proportions if today's negotiations lead to deadlock," Vyzantiadis said indignantly.
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Bank-deposit outflows have tourists going to Greece worried about a currency crisis and a lack of liquidity. Here's what experts advise.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/03/saudi-king-cuts-french-holiday-short-amid-protests.html
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Saudi king cuts French holiday short amid protests
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King Salman of Saudi Arabia has cut short his French Riviera holiday amid a growing row over the closure of a beach in front of the king's property during his stay, AFP reported on Sunday.
After only eight days of what was planned as a three-week luxury vacation, the king flew on to Morocco, AFP reported, citing regional officials. According to the local prefecture at least half of the king's 1,000-strong delegation was also leaving the property in the Cote d'Azur town of Vallauris Golfe-Juan.
The Mirandole beach in front of the king's property has been at the center of a row with French locals over access in recent weeks. Now the king had left, it would reopen to the public, officials said.
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King Salman of Saudi Arabia has cut short his French Riviera holiday amid a growing row over the closure of a beach in front of his property.
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Russian president Vladimir Putin hits out at America's 'enormous mistake' in war against ISIL
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Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Barack Obama have held talks over the crisis in Syria but failed to resolve their dispute over the future role of Bashar al-Assad.
In dueling speeches before the UN General Assembly, Mr Obama branded the Syrian leader a child-killing tyrant while Mr Putin said the world should support Mr Assad against terror group ISIL.
The Russian leader urged UN General Assembly members to unite to fight the jihadist group and warned that he plans to step up support for Mr Assad's forces and has not ruled out air strikes.
The US and Russian presidents clinked glasses and shook hands at lunch with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon after their addresses, but nothing could disguise the gulf in their positions.
Mr Putin and Mr Obama later met for 90 minutes for talks the Russian leader dubbed "frank and constructive" and a senior US official called a "business-like back and forth."
Both leaders agreed there should be a process of political transition in Syria but, the US official added, they "fundamentally disagreed" on the role of Mr Assad.
In his first speech to the world body in a decade, Mr Putin warned it was an "enormous mistake to not cooperate with the Syrian group which is fighting the terrorists face-to-face."
"We must address the problems that we are all facing and create a broad anti-terror coalition," he declared, proposing a Security Council resolution on a coalition to include Mr Assad and Iran.
Mr Obama and Mr Putin share an uncomfortable toast. (AAP)
Mr Obama said Washington was ready to work with Russia and even Iran against the ISIL jihadists, but warned this must not mean keeping Mr Assad in power in Damascus indefinitely.
"The United States is prepared to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran, to resolve the conflict," he said.
Mr Obama argued Mr Assad drives Syrians into the arms of such groups by such acts as dropping "barrel bombs to massacre innocent children."
Not to be outdone, the Russian leader blamed the rise of violent extremism on the US military interventions in Iraq and Libya, which he said unleashed chaos in the Middle East.
He argued that the ISIL group now running rampant in Syria and Iraq sprang out of the chaos left behind after US-backed forces ousted Saddam Hussein from Baghdad and Moamer Kadhafi in Libya.
After the end of the Cold War, Mr Putin argued, the West emerged as a new "center of domination" of the world and arrogantly took it upon itself to resolve conflicts through force.
This power led to the "emergence of areas of anarchy in the Middle East, with extremists and terrorists," he said.
Raids against ISIL group by the US-led coalition of Western and Arab allies are illegal, he argued, because they were not requested by Syria nor authorized by the UN Security Council.
If there were a proper legal basis for air strikes, Russia had not ruled out taking part, he said later at a news conference.
"We are thinking about how to additionally help the Syrian army," he said. "We don't rule anything out. But if we are to act it will only be fully respecting international legal norms."
Some European powers are reportedly softening their stance, signaling Assad could stay on in an interim role, but France's President Francois Hollande stuck close to Mr Obama's line.
"Russia and Iran say they want to be part of a solution," he said.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (Getty)
"So we must work with these countries to explain to them that the route to a solution does not go through Bashar al-Assad."
In his speech, Mr Obama did not specifically address Assad's fate, a key bone of contention in efforts to re-launch a bid to end a war that has left more than 240,000 dead since 2011.
But he declared that there could be no return to the pre-war status quo, when Assad held sway.
Mr Putin scorned this stance, arguing that only the Syrian people could depose their leader and that Assad had agreed to begin a reform program to bring more people on board.
"I relate to my colleagues the American and French presidents with great respect, but they aren't citizens of Syria and so should not be involved in choosing the leadership," he said.
Moscow has put Washington on the back foot by dispatching troops and aircraft to the war-torn country and pushing reluctant world leaders to admit that Assad could cling to power.
On the ground, Russia has started putting the pieces together by agreeing with Iraq, Syria and Iran that their officers will work together in Baghdad to share intelligence on ISIL.
Do you have any news photos or videos?
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US President Barack Obama has accused Syria's Bashar Al-Assad of slaughtering children in a barb directed at his Russian and Iranian supporters.
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http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/Kaepernick-in-company-of-a-Super-Bowl-MVP-and-6538181.php
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151001013914id_/http://www.sfgate.com:80/49ers/article/Kaepernick-in-company-of-a-Super-Bowl-MVP-and-6538181.php
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Kaepernick in company of a Super Bowl MVP ... and Kim McQuilken
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Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images
Kaepernick in company of a Super Bowl MVP ... and Kim McQuilken
On Saturday, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick hadn’t thrown an interception in his past 142 attempts and had posted a 96.0 passer rating in his past five starts dating to 2014.
By late Sunday afternoon, however, head coach Jim Tomsula was being posed questions about Kaepernick’s job security.
Yes, Kaepernick had a historically hideous performance in a 47-7 loss to the Cardinals: 9 of 19 for 67 yards with four interceptions.
Since 1960, only 13 other quarterbacks have thrown for 67 or fewer yards and had at least 19 attempts and four interceptions in a game, according to ProFootballReference.com.
Kaepernick became the first quarterback to do so since Jacksonville’s Luke McCown in 2011 and just the third since 1982. The heartening news for Kaepernick? He’s actually in decent company.
The list below includes four quarterbacks who earned a Pro Bowl berth (Norm Snead, Dan Pastorini, Babe Parilli, Milt Plum), a Super Bowl MVP (Doug Williams) and the NFL’s passing-yards and passing-touchdown champion in 1983 (Lynn Dickey).
And, yes, there is this: The list also includes Kim McQuilken, Larry Rakestraw and Ralph Guglielmi.
By the way, Plum, a two-time Pro Bowler, actually two of these terrible performances.
9-27-15: Colin Kaepernick (49ers) at Cardinals, L 47-7
9 of 19, 67 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT
9-18-11: Luke McCown (Jaguars) at Jets, L 32-3
6 of 19, 59 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT
12-14-03: Tim Hasselbeck (Washington) vs. Cowboys, L 27-0
6 of 26, 56 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT
12-12-82: Lynn Dickey (Packers) vs. Lions, L 30-10
7 of 19, 39 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT
12-2-79: Doug Williams (Buccaneers) vs. Bears, L 14-0
5 of 19, 60 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT
12-21-75: Randy Johnson (Washington) vs. Eagles, L 26-3
8 of 20, 64 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT
11-9-75: Kim McQuilken (Falcons) at Vikings, L 38-0
5 of 26, 43 yards, 0 TD, 5 INT
11-9-72: Dan Pastorini (Oilers) vs. Raiders, L 34-0
3 of 21, 31 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT
11-23-69: Rick Norton (Dolphins) vs. Oilers, L 32-7
7 of 26, 43 yards, 0 TD, 5 INT
10-13-68: Norm Snead (Eagles) at Cowboys, L 34-14
8 of 21, 52 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT
9-22-68: Larry Rakestraw (Bears) at Lions, L 42-0
6 of 19, 61 yards, 0 TD, 5 INT
10-13-65: Milt Plum (Lions) at Washington, W, 14-10
7 of 23, 42 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT
12-14-63: Babe Parilli (Patriots) at Chiefs, L 35-3
7 of 22, 64 yards, 0 TD, 5 INT
9-22-63: Milt Plum (Lions) at Packers, L 31-10
5 of 21, 63 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT
11-20-60: Ralph Guglielmi (Washington) vs. Cardinals, L 26-14
7 of 19, 57 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT
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Kaepernick in company of a Super Bowl MVP ... and Kim McQuilken On Saturday, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick hadn’t thrown an interception in his past 142 attempts and had posted a 96.0 passer rating in his past five starts dating to 2014. Yes, Kaepernick had a historically hideous performance in a 47-7 loss to the Cardinals: 9 of 19 for 67 yards with four interceptions. Since 1960, only 13 other quarterbacks have thrown for 67 or fewer yards and had at least 19 attempts and four interceptions in a game, according to ProFootballReference.com. The list below includes four quarterbacks who earned a Pro Bowl berth (Norm Snead, Dan Pastorini, Babe Parilli, Milt Plum), a Super Bowl MVP (Doug Williams) and the NFL’s passing-yards and passing-touchdown champion in 1983 (Lynn Dickey). 9 of 19, 67 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT 6 of 19, 59 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT 6 of 26, 56 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT 7 of 19, 39 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT 5 of 19, 60 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT 8 of 20, 64 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT Kim McQuilken (Falcons) at Vikings, L 38-0 5 of 26, 43 yards, 0 TD, 5 INT 3 of 21, 31 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT 7 of 26, 43 yards, 0 TD, 5 INT 8 of 21, 52 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT 6 of 19, 61 yards, 0 TD, 5 INT 7 of 23, 42 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT Babe Parilli (Patriots) at Chiefs, L 35-3 7 of 22, 64 yards, 0 TD, 5 INT 5 of 21, 63 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT 7 of 19, 57 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151001023309id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/oct/28/holland-park-school-building/amp
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Holland Park school opts for corporate vision with £80m building
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Rising above the trees, a rack of gleaming metallic fins trumpets the arrival of a new beacon of education: the £80m headquarters of Holland Park school in west London. Once known as the "socialist Eton", nurturing the offspring of high-profile lefties – including Hilary Benn and the Guardian's Polly Toynbee – it was one of the first purpose-built comprehensives when it opened in 1958. It enjoyed an experimental, free-form curriculum in the 1970s, but has more recently been marshalled under the leadership of its current head teacher, Colin Hall, who is in the process of transferring it to academy status. Creative anarchy has been replaced by discipline and uniforms.
And now Holland Park school has the building to match its dreams.
"We wanted it to be something unconventional and a little bit grand," says Hall. "There should be an element of aspiration, lifting the pupils out of the ordinary."
This aspirational monument takes the form of a six-storey monolithic box, wrapped with an undulating skin of bronze and copper fins that extend along its western facade and over the roof to engulf the building in a futuristic cage. To the east, the fins give way to a rippling mesh curtain that swells in and out along its length in an attempt to break down the sheer bulk of the box behind it.
This glistening cruise-liner of a state school is the result of a land deal, by which a swath of its grounds to the south was sold off by the borough of Kensington and Chelsea for a housing development, earning it £105m, which paid for the project and beyond. By stacking the new building up into a six-storey slab, the rest of the site, currently home to the 1950s campus, can be transformed into playing fields, a facility that the school has never had.
"PE is one of the chief beneficiaries of the move," said Hall, describing the new AstroTurf sports pitch, multi-use games area, four-court sports hall, fitness suite – and 25m indoor swimming pool.
We enter the main building through a polished bronze box into a soaring white atrium, one side of which tilts back at a dramatic angle, carrying a stack of open corridors on a marching range of angled steel columns. The walls either side of the atrium are entirely glazed, and everything is drenched in a clinical whiteness, giving it more the feeling of a corporate headquarters. But that is the point. "We didn't want it to look or feel like a school," said associate head, David Chappell, describing disappointing visits to other model-educational buildings. "This had to be unique, something that will be cherished. We are creating a legacy."
There are certainly some radical innovations. The toilets are unisex and have no doors – apart from the cubicles themselves – to discourage bullying. Everything is as open and transparent as possible, with views through from one side of the building to the other, and glazed staff offices looking into the atrium to allow "passive supervision".
"There are no hidden areas anywhere in the building," said Hall. "No dark places where people can be intimidated." Even the library (or "learning resource centre") is an open-plan area at the bottom of the atrium, overlooked by corridor decks and classrooms. I can imagine it would be a difficult place to concentrate.
The classrooms are arranged with general teaching spaces along the eastern side, with more specialist rooms for science, technology and dance lining the west, overlooking the park. They are generously planned, designed in banks of three within the concrete frame, so they can be easily adapted to future demands. Each room has a built-in "teacher's wall", a kind of fold-out mini-office, while furniture has been bespoke designed in solid maple by Russell Pinch and manufactured by Ercol. A Holland Park chair can be yours for £400. "We find that we can put in things of quality and our pupils respect them," said Hall. There is logic to this philosophy, if you have an £80m budget to play with.
This strangely corporate vision for education is the work of Aedas architects, the biggest architectural practice in the world. It has designed more than 1,000 schools, as well as office blocks, business parks and even whole cities across the globe.
The teachers heap praise on the Aedas team for being "the most open" and "the best at listening to what a school should be". But I can't help thinking that a smaller, more agile practice, less used to the scale of airport departure halls, might have had a lighter touch and delivered something a little more humane. It is rumoured that Michael Gove is considering sending his son here, which would an odd choice for a Tory education secretary who has declared that no "award-winning architects" should be designing our schools. In Holland Park, he has the perfect example of how a vast budget and a big architect can lead to a building that, for all its good intentions, uses architecture to create a slick, lifeless image, which ultimately adds little to the educational experience.
• Labour MP Hilary Benn, son of Tony Benn, a former international development secretary and environment secretary.
• Melissa Benn, journalist and novelist, daughter of Tony Benn.
• Polly Toynbee, Guardian columnist and writer.
• Jenny Abramsky, former director of BBC radio.
• Anjelica Huston, who won the best supporting actress Oscar for her role in Prizzi's Honor.
• Drummie Zeb, AKA Angus Gaye, drummer and one of the lead singers of the reggae group Aswad.
• Miquita Oliver, who has hosted shows on BBC Radio 1 and was a co-presenter on Channel 4's Popworld.
• The stand-up comedian Omid Djalili.
• Yazz, real name Yasmin Evans, the singer best known for her 1988 No 1 hit The Only Way is Up.
• Gwyneth Strong, best known for her role in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses as Cassandra.
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Oliver Wainwright finds innovative touches but a lack of humanity on a visit to the London school's headquarters
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/05/reuters-america-update-2-zambian-mining-firms-agree-to-cut-power-usage.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151001033932id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/05/reuters-america-update-2-zambian-mining-firms-agree-to-cut-power-usage.html
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UPDATE 2-Zambian mining firms agree to cut power usage
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20151001033932
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(Adds energy minister orders power restored to First Quantum)
LUSAKA, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Mining companies operating in Zambia's copperbelt have agreed to reduce power usage by between 10 and 15 percent to ease pressure on the national grid, the chamber of mines said on Wednesday.
Zambian power utility Zesco Ltd is limiting the power it supplies to customers, including Copperbelt Energy Corp. (CEC) which supplies mining companies, after water levels at its hydro-electric plants dropped due to drought.
Zambia Chamber of Mines president Jackson Sikamo said companies were limiting their power use by switching off non-essential loads and using electricity more efficiently.
"We reached an agreement yesterday with the Copperbelt Energy Corporation and the government to put in place measures that will cut back consumption of power," Sikamo told Reuters.
First Quantum has said it will lay off about 1,480 workers at one of its Zambian copper projects after the reduction in power supply curbed production. The firm shut its Sentinel copper processing plant after electricity supplies to its operations were reduced by 24 percent.
Energy minister Christopher Yaluma was quoted by state radio on Wednesday as having ordered Zesco to restore full power supply to mines owned by First Quantum.
The radio station said Yaluma directed Zesco and the CEC to come up with a plan to fully restore electricity supply to mines by Thursday as they are essential to the growth of the economy.
Another affected operation is Barrick Gold Corp's Lumwana open pit mine.
Zambia's power generation capacity stands at 2,200 megawatts (MW), with the bulk of the electricity produced from hydropower, but supply is often erratic. Zambia's output fell to 1,900 MW in March due to low water levels in dams.
(Editing by James Macharia and Mark Potter)
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LUSAKA, Aug 5- Mining companies operating in Zambia's copperbelt have agreed to reduce power usage by between 10 and 15 percent to ease pressure on the national grid, the chamber of mines said on Wednesday. Zambian power utility Zesco Ltd is limiting the power it supplies to customers, including Copperbelt Energy Corp. which supplies mining companies, after...
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http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/Will-Aaron-Rodgers-feast-on-49ers-defense-6546711.php
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Will Aaron Rodgers feast on 49ers’ defense?
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Photo: Christian Petersen, Getty Images
Aaron Rodgers has 10 touchdowns through three games and faces a 49ers’ defense that has struggled against the pass.
Aaron Rodgers has 10 touchdowns through three games and faces a...
Will Aaron Rodgers feast on 49ers’ defense?
In one corner, we have Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the reigning NFL MVP who is off to a historically strong start.
Rodgers, who ranks first in NFL history in passer rating (106.8), has become the second quarterback to throw 10 touchdown passes and no interceptions in his first three games. This week, Packers backup quarterback Scott Tolzien likened watching Rodgers to seeing Michael Jordan in his prime.
“He just keeps getting better,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “I don’t know how much better he can play, frankly. But you never know with Aaron.”
And in this corner, we have the 49ers’ defense, which, frankly, has not invoked Jordan comparisons. In the past two weeks, the 49ers have been outscored 90-25, thanks partly to a secondary that has allowed the most completions of 20-plus yards (15) and 40-plus yards (five) in the NFL.
This week, the 49ers have discussed tightening the zone coverage that was picked apart for 676 yards and five touchdowns by Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger and Arizona’s Carson Palmer in the past two games.
“That’s kind of the downside of the zone,” safety Eric Reid said. “You’re not close to people. But we’ve got to do a better job of breaking on the throw.”
Yes, it doesn’t sound as if it will be a fair fight when the Packers (3-0) visit the 49ers (1-2) at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday. Just ask the oddsmakers: The 49ers are eight-point home underdogs for the first time since Dec. 15, 2007, when they were 8½-point underdogs against the Bengals on the way to a 5-11 season.
Safety Antoine Bethea understands many are forecasting an early round knockout.
“The outside — they’re going to say what they say,” Bethea said. “They call it any given Sunday for a reason. So we’ve got to go out there and we’ve got to play.”
The 49ers have played well against Rodgers in recent years. Rodgers is winless in his past four starts against the 49ers, a stretch that includes two postseason games. The 49ers haven’t exactly stopped him — he has averaged 268 yards, two touchdowns and had a 96.0 passer rating — but he has looked just good, not Jordan-like.
“He’s playing well,” inside linebacker NaVorro Bowman said. “But we’ve had great success against him in the past. And hopefully that carries over to Sunday.”
What’s been the 49ers’ secret? Bowman referenced the ability to rough up Rodgers: They had 10 sacks and 19 quarterback hits in the past four meetings.
“We got pressure on him,” Bowman said. “We kept him in the pocket. You do those things and you have a great chance to win against Aaron Rodgers.”
There is, of course, a problem with drawing too much from this recent history: Many of the defenders who have helped harass Rodgers are history.
Rodgers will survey a defense Sunday that includes just one starter — outside linebacker Ahmad Brooks — with more than 10 career sacks. The 49ers have had one sack and three quarterback hits the past two weeks from a defense that includes untested starters in defensive tackle Quinton Dial (nine career starts), outside linebacker Aaron Lynch (five) and cornerback Kenneth Acker (three).
Rodgers said it will be a bit strange to not see familiar faces such as Aldon Smith, Patrick Willis, Justin Smith and Ray McDonald.
“I enjoyed the challenge of playing against those guys,” Rodgers said. “They’re great players. I always enjoyed competing against them. It will be different, but they still have guys with that name recognition and young guys who are trying to make a name for themselves.
“So that’s what happens in this league. There’s a lot of turnover. There’s a lot of changes over the years. It’s a young man’s game. You have to kind of fight against Father Time to hold on.”
Rodgers, who will turn 32 in December, is clearly dominating that battle as he prepares for what could be a one-sided fight Sunday.
“We’re all witnessing something special,” Packers wide receiver James Jones said to Green Bay reporters. “We may not realize it until he’s done and retired how great he was.”
Davis unlikely to play: Tight end Vernon Davis is doubtful for Sunday. Davis did not practice this week because of a knee injury that sidelined him in last week’s loss at Arizona. The 49ers listed nine players as probable.
Eric Branch is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: ebranch@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Eric_Branch
Aaron Rodgers’ stats through three games:
The 49ers’ pass defense through three games (NFL rank among 32 teams):
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Will Aaron Rodgers feast on 49ers’ defense? In one corner, we have Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the reigning NFL MVP who is off to a historically strong start. Rodgers, who ranks first in NFL history in passer rating (106.8), has become the second quarterback to throw 10 touchdown passes and no interceptions in his first three games. “He just keeps getting better,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. [...] in this corner, we have the 49ers’ defense, which, frankly, has not invoked Jordan comparisons. In the past two weeks, the 49ers have been outscored 90-25, thanks partly to a secondary that has allowed the most completions of 20-plus yards (15) and 40-plus yards (five) in the NFL. Yes, it doesn’t sound as if it will be a fair fight when the Packers (3-0) visit the 49ers (1-2) at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday. The 49ers are eight-point home underdogs for the first time since Dec. 15, 2007, when they were 8½-point underdogs against the Bengals on the way to a 5-11 season. Safety Antoine Bethea understands many are forecasting an early round knockout. Rodgers is winless in his past four starts against the 49ers, a stretch that includes two postseason games. The 49ers haven’t exactly stopped him — he has averaged 268 yards, two touchdowns and had a 96.0 passer rating — but he has looked just good, not Jordan-like. Rodgers will survey a defense Sunday that includes just one starter — outside linebacker Ahmad Brooks — with more than 10 career sacks. The 49ers have had one sack and three quarterback hits the past two weeks from a defense that includes untested starters in defensive tackle Quinton Dial (nine career starts), outside linebacker Aaron Lynch (five) and cornerback Kenneth Acker (three). Rodgers, who will turn 32 in December, is clearly dominating that battle as he prepares for what could be a one-sided fight Sunday. “We’re all witnessing something special,” Packers wide receiver James Jones said to Green Bay reporters. Davis did not practice this week because of a knee injury that sidelined him in last week’s loss at Arizona. Eric Branch is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. The 49ers’ pass defense through three games (NFL rank among 32 teams):
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http://www.people.com/article/johnny-depp-worried-about-daughter-lily-rose-modeling
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Johnny Depp Is 'Quite Worried' About His Daughter's Modeling Career : People.com
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20151004124715
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Johnny Depp and daughter Lily-Rose Depp
10/03/2015 AT 06:30 PM EDT
Daddy's little girl is growing up.
said he is concerned with how quickly his daughter
's fashion career is taking off.
) that "to be honest, I'm quite worried," about the 16-year-old's
"I wasn't expecting all this to happen to Lily-Rose, especially not at this age. But it's her passion and she's having fun," he told the magazine.
The teenager, who's mother is Depp's ex, French actress and Karl Lagerfeld muse
, is the face of
, has posed for an
, Lily-Rose completed her first feature film
, a horror-comedy about two girls planning to go a senior party who have to face monstrous forces when everything goes awry. (Depp, 52, also starred in the project, which was directed by Kevin Smith.)
star may be reluctant to let Lily-Rose follow in her mother's stylish footsteps, but he told
that "she knows I'm always there for her."
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Johnny Depp may be a movie star, but he's still an protective dad when it comes to daughter Lily-Rose Depp
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/21/reuters-america-update-5-oil-rises-towards-66-on-us-inventory-drop-iraq.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151006122947id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/21/reuters-america-update-5-oil-rises-towards-66-on-us-inventory-drop-iraq.html
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UPDATE 5-Oil rises towards $66 on U.S. inventory drop, Iraq
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20151006122947
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* U.S. crude stockpiles fall for third week
* Islamic State attacks in Iraq support prices
* Weak Chinese factory survey limits gain
(Updates prices, adds link to graphic)
LONDON, May 21 (Reuters) - Oil rose towards $66 a barrel on Thursday, gaining for a second day, supported by expectations that a global supply glut is starting to ease and by fighting in Iraq.
The U.S. government's supply report on Wednesday showed crude inventories declined for a third week. Stockpiles had been at record levels due to excess supply, raising concern that storage capacity was getting tight.
Brent crude was up 80 cents at $65.83 as of 0937 GMT, after earlier falling as low as $64.83. U.S. crude was up 69 cents at $59.67.
"Brent is getting a bit of impetus from the threat Islamic State is posing in Iraq," said Christopher Bellew, senior broker at Jefferies Bache. "I can see prices moving up further from here on geopolitics towards $70."
In Iraq, the city of Ramadi fell to Islamic State on Sunday in the most significant setback for Iraqi security forces in nearly a year. On Thursday, Iraqi forces said they thwarted a third attempt by the militants to break through their defensive lines east of the city overnight.
Such attacks raise concern about the stability of oil flows from Iraq - OPEC's second-largest producer - but the Islamic State insurgency has yet to affect its exports to world markets.
Limiting oil's rally, a private survey showed Chinese factory activity contracted for a third month in May and output shrank at the fastest rate in just over a year.
But the preliminary HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index prompted talk that more stimulus is needed for the world's second-largest economy - something that could support oil demand - and did not prevent Chinese equities hitting a seven-year high.
Brent has rallied sharply to a 2015 high of $69.63 on May 6 from a near six-year low close to $45 in January. Taking turns in dominating sentiment are concerns about abundant current supplies and the prospect of a tighter market down the road.
The price collapsed from $115 in June 2014 due to a supply glut, in a decline that deepened after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries dropped its long-standing policy of cutting output to support prices.
OPEC meets on June 5 and is expected to maintain its focus on defending market share.
(Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein and Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by William Hardy)
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*Islamic State attacks in Iraq support prices. LONDON, May 21- Oil rose towards $66 a barrel on Thursday, gaining for a second day, supported by expectations that a global supply glut is starting to ease and by fighting in Iraq. "Brent is getting a bit of impetus from the threat Islamic State is posing in Iraq," said Christopher Bellew, senior broker at Jefferies Bache.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/08/reuters-america-update-1-opec-says-indonesia-to-rejoin-oil-group-after-7-year-break.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151007053213id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/08/reuters-america-update-1-opec-says-indonesia-to-rejoin-oil-group-after-7-year-break.html
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UPDATE 1-OPEC says Indonesia to rejoin oil group after 7-year break
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20151007053213
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* Indonesia left OPEC in 2008 on becoming net oil importer
OPEC's membership would rise to 13 countries
* Return would lift OPEC output further above 30 mbpd target
By Alex Lawler and Gayatri Suroyo
LONDON/JAKARTA, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Indonesia is reactivating its membership of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in December, OPEC said on Tuesday, which would add almost 3 percent to the group's oil output already close to a record high.
The southeast Asian country would be the fourth-smallest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ahead of Libya, Ecuador and Qatar, and bring the number of participants to 13 countries.
Indonesia was the only Asian OPEC member for nearly 50 years before leaving the group at the start of 2009 as oil prices hit a record high, and rising domestic demand and falling production turned it into a net oil importer.
In a statement, OPEC said Indonesia's request to reactivate its full membership was circulated to OPEC members and following their feedback, OPEC's next meeting on Dec. 4 will include the formalities of reactivating its membership.
"Indonesia has contributed much to OPEC's history," the statement from the group's Vienna headquarters said. "We welcome its return to the Organization."
Indonesia's Energy Minister, who OPEC said will be invited to December's meeting, told Reuters earlier on Tuesday the country would return as a full member.
The development is no great surprise as in OPEC terms Indonesia never really left. OPEC termed its departure a "suspension." Ecuador, which rejoined in 2007, set a precedent for a return from suspension. OPEC sources made clear the door was always open.
Indonesia's status as a net importer had raised the question of whether it would return as a full member given that OPEC's Statute says any country with a "substantial net export of crude petroleum" may become a full member.
OPEC pumps more than a third of the world's oil and is engaged in a defense of market share, having dropped its long-standing policy of cutting output to support prices in November 2014.
The addition of Indonesia's output will boost OPEC's production by about 2.6 percent based on July output figures towards 33 million barrels per day (bpd) - far in excess of OPEC's 30 million bpd official target.
OPEC output has not been above 32 million bpd since 2008, before Indonesia's exit.
Indonesia produced 840,000 bpd in July, according to the International Energy Agency, and OPEC pumped 31.88 million bpd in July according to a Reuters survey - the highest monthly rate on record from the current 12 members.
(Editing by David Clarke and William Hardy)
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*Indonesia left OPEC in 2008 on becoming net oil importer. LONDON/ JAKARTA, Sept 8- Indonesia is reactivating its membership of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in December, OPEC said on Tuesday, which would add almost 3 percent to the group's oil output already close to a record high. In a statement, OPEC said Indonesia's request to reactivate...
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http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/aug/04/artist-week-john-bock
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151008015353id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/aug/04/artist-week-john-bock
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Artist of the week 99: John Bock
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20151008015353
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John Bock is often labelled a mad inventor. His films and performances are full of crazed contraptions, hand-built from bits of old furniture and domestic junk. Sometimes Bock and his collaborators also don these creations, while performing outrageous vignettes. Their dialogue is a gobbledegook of science, philosophy, art, sex and the scatological, variously delivered in the cadence of serious drama, childish singsong or hysterical jabbering. Owing as much to anarchic circus clowning and slapstick as to avant-garde theatre, Dada and Fluxus , these antics have featured flying food, Punch and Judy-style puppetry, live animals – even exploding vegetables.
Born in 1965, Bock studied art in Hamburg, one of Germany's most theatrical cities. His early work took the form of surreal lectures, the artist drawing demented diagrams while delivering a babble of cod science and social theory. Whether crawling up home-made sculptural towers, crashing through audiences with a puppet-theatre over his head or staging absurdist skits from the gallery ceiling – as with the towering installation he has created inside London's Barbican Centre – his performances are renowned for their extreme physicality. The sculptures that serve as props or sets are conceived in the same spirit of creative irrationality: Bock collages everyday household objects into dysfunctional machines or assemblages of whatchamacallits. They force us to consider the adult world anew.
While documentary footage forms part of the show when the live exploits are over, in recent years Bock has increasingly focussed on making films in their own right. His elaborately conceived productions have veered from the surreal high-jinks of 2005's Salon de Béton – which includes a memorable sequence of a woman being pursued by a giant rolling pill – to the costume drama Dandy (2006), which was set in Toulouse-Lautrec's château, and culminated in an orgy of sculptural appendages sported by Bock himself, talking the role of a hypochondriacal aristocrat.
By turns absurd, transgressive and flagrantly silly, Bock's work variously recalls Hugo Ball's nonsense poetry, Kurt Schwitters' Merz pictures, Viennese Actionism, Paul McCarthy-style gross-out and the Shamanic rituals of Joseph Beuys, among many other influences. The irreverent spoofing, wild energy and relentless sculptural invention, however, are all his own.
Why we like him: For the brilliant black comedy of his 2007 road movie Palms. While Bock stayed behind the camera for this murderous gangster escapade through the Californian desert, professional actors brought an unusual gravitas to his chaotic dialogue, making their posturing both hilarious and unnerving.
Country boy: Bock grew up on a remote farm in northern Germany, something he referenced in the ladders, wooden shoots and hay-bales that visitors had to climb through, on and over for his 2004 ICA show, Klütterkammer.
Where can I see him? At the Barbican's Curve gallery until 12 September.
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His performances – decorated with flying food as well as Punch and Judy-style puppetry – owe as much to circus clowning as to avant-garde theatre
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http://fortune.com/2013/10/16/apples-new-spaceship-campus-wins-unanimous-approval/
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151008170748id_/http://fortune.com:80/2013/10/16/apples-new-spaceship-campus-wins-unanimous-approval/
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Apple’s new ‘spaceship’ campus wins unanimous approval
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20151008170748
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FORTUNE — Before a standing-room only crowd that included several hundred Apple AAPL employees, the Cupertino City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve construction of the four-story 2.8-million-square-foot curved-glass headquarters that Steve Jobs described in his initial pitch two years ago as looking “a little like a spaceship has landed.”
The City Council’s decision is final unless a petition for reconsideration is filed within 10 calendar days of the date of the mailing of the decision. A second reading and a pro forma vote is scheduled for Nov. 15. The permits Apple needs to proceed — the Development Permit, Use Permit, Architectural and Site Approval and Tree Removal — are scheduled to go into effect the next day.
According to the Mercury News‘ account of the meeting, much of the discussion was a rehash of environmental and other impacts posed by the project, with the first hour devoted to traffic consultants talking about the “significant but unavoidable” impacts on neighboring roadways. From the Merc‘s report:
“As my mom used to say, ‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you,'” longtime resident Carol Baker told the council. “If we don’t honor Apple with this building, they’ll leave. There’s no reason for them to stay here and be loyal to a community that doesn’t support them. But if they left, it would be a disaster for the city.”
See also: Apple’s new ‘spaceship’ campus faces key vote Tuesday.
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Demolition at the site can begin after one more pro forma vote on Nov. 15.
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http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/09/28/01/13/teens-arrested-over-london-mosque-blaze
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Two teenage boys arrested over London mosque blaze
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20151008213418
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The scene at a fire at the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden, south London. (AAP)
Two teenagers have been arrested over a blaze at a London mosque which claims to be the largest in western Europe.
Ten fire trucks were sent to fight the blaze which broke out on Saturday at the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden. The smoke could be seen across the city.
Two boys aged 16 and 14 have been arrested on suspicion of arson and remain in custody at a south London police station, Scotland Yard police headquarters said.
One man, said to be in his 40s, was taken to hospital after suffering from smoke inhalation, London Ambulance Service said.
The fire affected around half of the ground floor, part of the first floor and a section of the roof.
London Fire Brigade said the blaze had hit administration buildings and the "mosque itself is thankfully unaffected."
The mosque was built for the Ahmadiyya Muslim community to provide people with a meeting place and venue to hold social religious events.
The 2.1-hectare complex has space for at least 10,500 people to pray, according to the mosque's website.
Do you have any news photos or videos?
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Two teenage boys have been arrested in connection with a fire at a mosque complex in London.
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http://www.9news.com.au/Technology/2015/10/06/02/12/Turnbull-confuses-Hemsworth-brothers-in-AFL-Grand-Final-Facebook-post
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151009020937id_/http://www.9news.com.au:80/Technology/2015/10/06/02/12/Turnbull-confuses-Hemsworth-brothers-in-AFL-Grand-Final-Facebook-post
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PM confuses Hemsworth brothers in grand final Facebook post
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20151009020937
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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull posted this photo with actor Chris Hemsworth. (Facebook)
Social media-savvy PM Malcolm Turnbull has shown that even he can get the Hemsworth brothers confused.
Mr Turnbull posted a photo of himself and Hollywood star Chris Hemsworth together at the AFL Grand Final in Melbourne last Saturday, even joking that the action hero asked the PM to call him "Thor", after the Greek god he plays in the Avengers film franchise.
But the joke was actually on the PM – posting the photo and naming Chris "Liam" – Hemsworth's almost as famous younger brother and star of the Hunger Games film franchise.
"Good to meet Liam Hemsworth today – talked about the contribution of the creative sector to our economy," the post read.
"But a bit weird he insisted on me calling him Thor."
Fortunately Mr Turnbull or one of his media team noticed the mistake and corrected it a few minutes later.
The original posting and the edited version. (Facebook)
It is understood all three Hemsworth brothers were in attendance at the special function in the members pavilion of the MCG where the photo was taken, including eldest brother Luke, who is also an actor.
Fortunately Mr Turnbull had better luck with the NRL Grand Final, correctly picking the North Queensland Cowboys' 17-16 win over the Brisbane Broncos including the margin.
Do you have any news photos or videos?
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Social media-savvy Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has shown that even he can get the Hemsworth brothers confused.
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http://www.people.com/article/meryl-streep-suffragette-premiere-interupted-womens-rights-protesters
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Meryl Streep's Suffragette Premiere Interrupted by Women's Rights Protesters
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20151009115309
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Sisters Uncut at Suffragette Premiere
10/07/2015 AT 08:00 PM EDT
A group of women's rights protesters interrupted the premiere of
new film, in which she plays a women's rights activist.
The protesters, who are part of a group called Sisters Uncut, laid their bodies on the red carpet at the London premiere of
on Wednesday, and had to be carried away by security. It's unclear if Streep was present at the time of the protest.
, the demonstration was meant to express their outrage over Parliament's recent decision to cut funding for domestic violence services.
"To those in power, our message is this: your cuts are sexist, your cuts are dangerous, and you think that you can get away with them because you have targeted the people who you perceive as powerless,"a post on Sisters Uncut's page says. "We are those people, we are women, we will not be silenced."
The group has not specified whether their protest was in response to the film, or they were simply using the red carpet as a means of gaining exposure.
In addition to starring as a women's suffrage pioneer in the movie, Streep has long been a champion of
, and recently spoken out against what she says is a shocking lack of female critics in the film industry.
Calling it "infuriating" that box office buzz is drummed up by an overwhelming majority of male critics, Streep tells
, "If men don't look around the the board of governors table and feel something is wrong when half the people there are not women then we're not going to make any progress."
The Oscar-winner tells the website that according to her research, only 168 out of 928 reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes are female, and that there are only 2 women working for The New York Film Critics circle compared to 37 men.
"Men and women are not the same, sometimes their tastes diverge," Streep told NPR. "The word isn't disheartening It's infuriating. People accept this as received wisdom ... we need inclusion."
Streep also recently wrote 535 members of Congress calling to revive the Equal Rights Amendment. "I sent them each a book called Equal Means Equal by Jessica Neuwirth," said Streep, according to
. "It's about the revival of the attempt to get an ERA that would codify in law that you can't discriminate against women. I got five answers."
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The premiere of Meryl Streep's Suffragette was protested by Sisters Uncut in London
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http://www.cnbc.com/2013/12/04/oklahoma-lawsuit-to-derail-obamacare.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151009223940id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2013/12/04/oklahoma-lawsuit-to-derail-obamacare.html
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Oklahoma lawsuit to derail Obamacare?
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20151009223940
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(Read more: 'Hit the reset button' for Obamacare: Democrat)
The Affordable Care Act, which was passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama in 2010, provides federal subsidies and threatens tax penalties on individuals and businesses in state health-care exchanges, but as Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt told CNBC on Tuesday night, the law does not provide for subsidies within the federal exchange.
"Congress was very clear from the very beginning, they wanted states to be involved and they wanted to incentivize that, by saying that these subsidies would only flow through state exchanges. The administration miscalculated, 34 states have said no," Pruitt told "The Kudlow Report."
"The IRS has come on in afterwards and said 'we'll fix that,' adopting a rule that says whether a state adopts an exchange or not doesn't matter. They're going to issue the subsidies in all 50 states, and the corresponding penalties."
Proponents of Obamacare say the law intended for the subsidies to apply nationwide, but a federal judge ruled this summer that Oklahoma's attorney general had the legal standing to sue the federal government over its handling of federal subsidies in federal exchanges.
"Our lawsuit is about giving meaning to the statute. Congress knew that they could not commandeer, they could not require the states to set up the exchanges, they had to provide this carrot." Pruitt told Larry Kudlow. "And because of this miscalculation by the administration, on the number of states that would participate, they've now come in by administrative fiat to try and fix it."
(Read more: Physician says Obamacare is causing 'chaos' for doctors)
If Oklahoma's lawsuit is successful, millions of people in 34 states could be denied the government subsidies designed to help low- and middle-income people pay their health-insurance premiums starting next year. Pruitt says he's not challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare, but rather how the executive branch has unilaterally changed the implementation of the law after it passed.
"It's fifth-grade civics. If a law needs to be changed, Congress has to do it. An administrative agency exists to administrate a law, not to modify it, not to change it, not to improve upon it, but to administer it as Congress has passed it," Pruitt says.
"Judges recognize that rule of law matters and that our system of government works, our checks and balances work, only when Congress is the only branch legislating. This is something that is very important to the structure of the ACA, but the rule of law also, and I'm hoping the courts will recognize that."
Neither the White House nor Justice Department responded to requests for comment on the pending Oklahoma case.
Oral arguments in a similar, private lawsuit Halbig v. Sebelius got underway in a D.C. federal district court on Tuesday and another case in Virginia could be decided by the end of the year. The U.S. Supreme Court also recently agreed to consider two cases in which business have objected to covering birth control for employees on religious grounds.
—By CNBC's Ben Thompson. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow him on Twitter @BenThompson00.
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Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt discusses why Obamacare subsidies are not legal in federal exchanges.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/02/indias-push-to-save-cows-starves-bangladesh-of-beef.html
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India's push to save cows starves Bangladesh of beef
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20151010035100
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Some 30,000 Indian soldiers guarding the border with Bangladesh have a new mandate under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government this year - stop cattle from crossing illegally into the Muslim-majority neighbor.
Roughly every other night, troops armed with bamboo sticks and ropes wade through jute and paddy fields and swim across ponds to chase ageing bovines, and smugglers, headed for markets in Bangladesh.
The crackdown is one of the clearest signs yet of how Indian policies, increasingly influenced by Hindu nationalist ideology, are having an economic impact on neighboring countries as well as the sizeable Muslim minority at home.
About 2 million head of cattle are smuggled into Bangladesh annually from India. The $600 million-a-year trade has flourished over the past four decades and is considered legal by Dhaka.
Modi's government, which came to power with the help of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), wants to put an end to it.
Read MoreA fresh start on the farm
Interior Minister Rajnath Singh traveled this spring to the frontier with Bangladesh, calling on India's Border Security Force to halt cattle smuggling completely so that the "people of Bangladesh give up eating beef", media reported at the time.
"Killing or smuggling a cow is equivalent to raping a Hindu girl or destroying a Hindu temple," said Jishnu Basu, an RSS spokesman in West Bengal, which shares a 2,216 km (1,375 miles) border with Bangladesh.
Beef prices up, exports down
So far this year, BSF soldiers have seized 90,000 cattle and caught 400 Indian and Bangladeshi smugglers.
Bangladeshi traders who operate auctions to facilitate the sale of cattle to slaughter houses, beef processing units, tanneries and bone crushing factories estimate the industry contributed 3 percent to the country's $190 billion economy.
The hit to GDP from India's policies is not yet known. But H.T. Imam, a political adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said there was "absolutely no doubt" that the beef trade and leather industry were suffering.
Syed Hasan Habib of Bengal Meat, Bangladesh's top beef exporter, said it had to cut international orders by 75 percent. The company exports 125 tonnes of beef a year to Gulf countries.
He said the price of cows had gone up by 40 percent over the past six months because of India's move, and they had been forced to close two processing units.
Habib plans to import cows from Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar to meet domestic demand, but he said Indian cows had better quality meat and raw hide.
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Indian soldiers guarding the Bangladeshi border have a new mandate: Stop illegal cattle crossing, in a sign India's Hindu policies are hitting neighbor's economies.
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http://www.9news.com.au/World/2015/10/09/21/50/One-dead-three-wounded-after-Arizona-university-shooting
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151010143439id_/http://www.9news.com.au:80/World/2015/10/09/21/50/One-dead-three-wounded-after-Arizona-university-shooting
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Obama renews calls for gun laws in wake of school shootings
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US President Barack Obama spoke about gun violence during his Oregon visit. (AAP)
US President Barack Obama has again called for action to prevent gun violence, in the wake of two more fatal university shootings in the past 24 hours.
He made the impassioned plea while visiting the families of last week’s Oregon shooting, just hours after two more people were fatally shot in separate attacks in Texas and Arizona.
Emergency services at the scene of the Texas Southern University shooting. (FOX 26 Houston)
“We’re going to have to come together and figure out how to stop things like this from happening,” Mr Obama said.
“I’ve got some very strong feelings about this because when you talk to these families, you’re reminded that this could be happening to your child.”
One man died and three were injured after a shooter allegedly opened fire at a Northern Arizona University (NAU) campus about 1.40am local time (7.40pm AEDT) yesterday.
Northern Arizona University tweeted this image of the campus yesterday. (Twitter)
“Two of our student groups got into a confrontation. The confrontation turned physical and one of our students shot the other students”, NAU police chief Gregory Fowler said.
The alleged shooter was arrested and has been identified as 18-year-old Steven Jones.
Later that day, one person died and another was wounded in a shooting at Texas Southern University about 11.30am local time (3.30am today AEDT).
A possible suspect had been detained, Houston Police advised.
On October 1, nine people were shot dead in Oregon, at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg.
Mr Obama also renewed his campaign against gun violence on Twitter shortly after the Arizona shooting.
However, his views received mixed reactions in Oregon, with some people turning out to protest against stricter gun laws.
Hundreds of people greeted Mr Obama at Roseburg’s airport, with signs ranging from “Welcome” to “Nothing Trumps Our Liberty”.
Some Oregon residents protested against stricter gun laws. (AAP)
The father of one girl who was wounded in the shooting accused Mr Obama of politicising the tragedy.
“On principle, I find I am in disagreement with his policies on gun control and therefore, we will not be attending the visit,” Stacy Boylan told Fox News.
Mr Obama's calls for gun laws met with opposition from Oregon residents. (AAP)
Another Oregon resident, David Jaques, also criticised Mr Obama’s visit.
Mr Obama was not “welcome here to grandstand for political purposes”, he said.
Some Oregon residents strongly opposed Mr Obama's views, during his visit after a mass shooting that killed nine. (AAP)
The President has taken a strong stand against gun violence in his second and final term, expressing anger that Congress has failed to take action despite the US experiencing regular mass shootings.
Do you have any news photos or videos?
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One person has died and three have been injured after a shooting at a Northern Arizona University campus early Friday.
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The market storm is not over yet, analysts say
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Stocks have defied Wall Street convention that the early days of the new year are more often positive. The S&P was down for four straight sessions as of Monday, the longest losing streak in 13 months. The S&P 500 is down 3.4 percent over the past five sessions, and is negative for the Santa Claus rally period for the first time since 2007. That is the last five sessions of the old year and first two of the new year.
"The saying is 'If Santa Claus may fail to call, bears may come to Broad and Wall,' " said Jeff Hirsch, Stock Trader's Almanac editor-in-chief. Hirsch said that while there's concern about the market not being up in the seven-day period, he also looks at other metrics, such as whether the first five days of the year are higher and whether January is up or down.
The last four times the market had a loss during the Santa rally period, the market was down three times for the full year, but up once, with a 3 percent gain in 2005. In 2005, the market was also lower for the month of January, viewed as a bad omen, and down in the first five days of the year, another bad sign.
Read MoreNo Santa rally? Don't count out the bulls: Pros
Bespoke pointed out, in a note, that the S&P has seen a decline of one percent or more on one of the first two trading days of the year only 19 times since 1929, and in those years January was still positive 65 percent of the time.
Jack Ablin, CIO of BMO Private Bank said that some of the pressure on the market may be due to tax selling. "People sell the losers at the end of the year and sell the winners at the beginning of the year," he said, adding that could continue for a few days. Airlines were one of the winners in 2014, and the Dow Transports were up 23.5 percent last year. But the Transports were down 2.7 percent Monday with airlines among the losers.
"We'll have to see. We'll likely get some rallies here. The question is do you buy dips? It's hard to know because the U.S. is fairly expensive…. I might start reducing risk all around, raise some cash and take a deep breath and figure out where to go next," he said, noting that he'll look overseas. "Emerging markets haven't been this cheap relative to the U.S. since 2001-02, which is when the emerging markets ran on a five-year tear."
Read MoreDon't fret over oil's effects ... yet: McNamee
Strategists say a reprieve from the selling could come from two events this week: Wednesday's release of Fed minutes and the December jobs report, released Friday morning. Tuesday's data includes ISM nonmanufacturing data and factory orders, both at 10 a.m. ET.
"Let's see what the Fed minutes have to say. If you get bullish signals from the minutes and the jobs report, that could provide some bullish cover that could diffuse some of this, at least temporarily," said Adrian Miller, managing director, fixed income strategy at GMP Securities. "If the minutes are inconclusive and the jobs numbers for December is weaker than thought, that could add fuel to this weakness." Economists expect about 240,000 nonfarm payrolls.
Miller said Treasurys were initially weaker and focused on those U.S. events in early trading Monday, but worries about Europe and whether Greece would exit the euro zone sent in a rush of buyers. The 10-year yield, at 2.03 percent, was the lowest close since May 2013.
Speculation about Greece leaving the euro picked up after Der Spiegel reported that Germany was willing to let Greece leave the euro zone if it reneges on its bailout deal. Analysts expect Greece to continue to jolt the markets until its election Jan. 25, three days after the European Central Bank meets.
"To get Europe out of this rut is going to take a lot. It's going to take a lot more than monetary policy," said Ablin. Traders said the U.S. market could take its cue from Europe on Tuesday and from oil prices.
Read MoreWouldn't be surprised by $33 oil: Pro
"I think the bond market is acting on a reactionary basis with energy dictating all things," Miller said.
Markets were also fretting about whether the dive in oil prices is more of a negative to the U.S. or a positive. One worry is that some of the riskier companies in the energy sector could start to default on their debt, creating contagion.
"Who knows how much pain they're going to be able to accept…. We haven't seen a shoe drop on the credit side yet," said Ablin.
Buyers are moving into Treasurys with a tailwind of a stronger dollar and lower yields in other parts of the world, where central banks are still easing. Europe is one of those markets, where expectations are running high the European Central Bank will decide to do quantitative easing, or purchase sovereign bonds, when it meets Jan. 22.
"The reason the dollar is rising, I believe, is U.S. bond yields are still twice what you can get in most countries around the world. On a relative basis, we're more attractive. Economically speaking, our economy looks better," said Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P/Capital IQ.
Stovall said energy is taking its toll on S&P 500 earnings. "Analysts are reducing their 2015 earnings estimates. At one time, the (S&P 500 EPS) estimate was $132. Now it's about $125…. It's especially energy companies and materials companies, they'll end up throwing everything out along with the kitchen sink in the fourth quarter," Stovall said.
Stovall said January could still be a positive month and the rally may have come earlier — in December. "I just think that people toward the latter part of the last year had to chase their bench marks. So many active managers were underperforming the index bench marks and in a sense, they had to go for broke. They had to load up on the momentum names because it's also a window dressing quarter. Now they're unloading stocks they did well in. A lot of the stocks being sold are those," he said.
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Two market headwinds turned gale force Monday, and analysts expect the volatility to continue for now.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/05/does-technical-analysis-work.html
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Does technical analysis work?
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Some believe technical analysis works, while others feel it's akin to reading tea leaves.
Judging by the feedback comments on this column, reader opinions are sharply divided too. The fundamental analysts who didn't see the fall in the oil price, or who told us that gold was going back to $1,500, or that the DOW would collapse didn't seem to attract as much trenchant criticism as those of us involved in technical analysis.
In 2014 we produced weekly CNBC blogs providing trading outlooks based on technical and chart analysis. We use chart analysis to establish the probability of trend change and to set price targets and objectives.
In 88 percent of analysis notes in 2014 the price targets were achieved or exceeded. That's around the same percentage of correct calls in 2013 and 2012. The analysis methods we use are not complex; they can be applied by anyone without the need for a Master's degree in finance. These methods are covered in my books, including Guppy Trading.
Charting analysis provides both the calculated price targets and the price levels that indicate the trade has failed. In 12 percent of cases, the analysis is not correct, but chart analysis provides exact price levels that signal this decision in real time.
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Does technical analysis work, or is it akin to reading tea leaves?
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Stocks surge again; Apple's best day since April
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U.S. stocks surged for a second day on Thursday, with benchmarks turning higher for the year, as oil steadied and on thinking the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank would buttress the global economy.
"There is enough slack in the overall global economy and the U.S. economy to keep the Fed more inclined to keep rates low. They'll probably feel the need for some time in 2015 because they've signaled that, but probably not until late in the year," said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank.
"With the Fed reemphasizing in the minutes that they are concerned about overseas markets, investors will more explicitly factor in what is going on in Europe and Japan in coming weeks," added McCain, referring to a release Wednesday afternoon from the U.S. central bank, which had members voicing concerns about slowing growth overseas.
The CBOE Volatility Index, a measure of investor uncertainty, fell nearly 12 percent to 17.01.
Investors drew a collective sigh of relief at the halt in the rapid spiral down in the price of crude, with West Texas Intermediate losing more than 40 percent of its value in the last three months.
"When you're losing weight, and you lose two, three or five pounds, you feel good. If you suddenly lose 50 pounds, you're worried something is wrong," said McCain of the distress created by the crude's plunge.
Apple rallied after the release of figures showing customers spent nearly $500 million on applications and in-app services in the first week of the year. Costco Wholesale climbed after the warehouse retailer reported a better-than-expected increase in same-store sales last month; Family Dollar Stores fell after the discount retailer reported quarterly earnings short of estimates, and J.C. Penney dropped after the retailer said it would close about 40 stores in the next year.
Data Thursday had jobless claims dropping by 4,000 to 294,000 last week, with the better-than-expected number coming a day before the payrolls report for December.
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Stocks surged Thursday as oil steadied and on thinking central banks would buttress the global economy.
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8m cars in EU have cheat devices: VW
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Scandal-hit Volkswagen says eight million of its 11 million diesel vehicles fitted with software that cheats in emissions tests were sold in the European Union.
A spokesman for the German car giant confirmed the figure to AFP, after VW had mentioned it in a letter to MPs in which it apologised for the "wrongdoing of a small group of people" within the company, according to Handelsblatt business daily.
Volkswagen, which this year became the world's biggest carmaker by sales, has admitted to fitting vehicles with so-called defeat devices which detect when a car is undergoing testing and switch the engine to a low-emissions mode.
It switches off this mode when the car is back on the road, allowing it to spew out far higher emissions than permitted.
The global scam has wiped more than 40 per cent off Volkswagen's market capitalisation and forced chief executive Martin Winterkorn to resign.
His successor, former Porsche boss Matthias Mueller, was later on Tuesday scheduled to address VW's staff about the worst crisis in the company's history, as it faces a massive recall and potentially billions in fines and class action damages.
VW has vowed to get to the bottom of the scandal with an internal probe led by a team of US lawyers.
By Wednesday, it must lay out a roadmap to German regulators on how it will make its cars legally compliant with emissions guidelines.
Of the eight million vehicles affected in the 28-nation EU, some 2.8 million are in Germany, 1.1 million in Britain, nearly a million in France and 650,000 in Italy, according to information previously released by the company.
In terms of brands, Volkswagen is the most affected with five million cars, but vehicles made by other companies in the VW Group also carry the deception software, among them Audi, Seat and Skoda.
Do you have any news photos or videos?
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German car giant Volkwagen has confirmed eight million diesel vehicles in the EU have software that cheats in emissions tests.
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5 moves Meg Whitman needs to make right away
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FORTUNE — It’s not easy being CEO. That’s especially true if you run a massive company that doesn’t quite know what to do with itself. HP’s Leo Apotheker learned the hard way when he was ousted to make room for Meg Whitman barely a year into the job.
It’s been a rough ride for HP HPQ . The company’s stock has tumbled as much as 47% since Apotheker took the reigns and effectively slashed and burned his way through the company, killing off a recently launched line of mobile devices, putting the WebOS operating system on ice and announcing the potential spin-off of the Personal Services Group. Meanwhile, a $10.3 billion decision to acquire British management software firm Autonomy raised plenty of eyebrows. Sources inside HP also told Fortune Apotheker suffered for not having former-CEO Mark V. Hurd’s aptitude for numbers. It’s no surprise his informal employee approval rating plummeted to just 25%.
Now the job is all Whitman’s. During the company’s conference call announcing her appointment, new executive chairman Ray Lane said, “Meg is a technology visionary with a proven track record of execution.” Perhaps. Whitman, an HP board member and director, knows the road ahead is a tough one — she admitted as much during her first interview as CEO with All Things D. “I am resolved to restore it to its rightful place,” she said. Here are 5 moves she needs to make right away if she wants to have a chance of making that the case.
Sort out the PC business. Last month, the company dropped a bombshell, announcing it might spin-off or sell its Personal Systems Group, which sells PC hardware. The division is one of HP’s largest revenue sources, but also its least profitable. (It happens to be what most people know HP for as well.) Lane has said the company would not sell it off, insinuating that if a spin-off were to happen, HP might turn the group into a partially owned, independently operated company. Whitman seemed to be on both sides of the issue, expressing support for her predecessor’s strategy but also saying she’d take a second look at the move. That left analysts totally confused.
A decision should be made sooner rather than later. If HP wants to refine its focus, make enterprise and software services its bread and butter like IBM IBM , get it over with.
Make a plan (for Web OS). Any plan. One of the worst casualties of Apotheker’s aggressive plan to retool the company is WebOS, the critically acclaimed operating system HP inherited when it acquired Palm for $1.2 billion nearly a year ago. The discontinuation of WebOS devices like the Touchpad tablet and Veer phone puts its future in doubt. First, it was dead. Then came news that HP was debating partnerships and licensing options. Since then? Not a peep. “That asset is aging fast,” says Forrester analyst Frank Gillett, who believes HP should have a clear story with where they’re going with WebOS, even if it means a sale. “If it’s going to have any value, they have to deal with it quick.”
Get to know the employees. “I have been on the board for eight months, but I really need to get in there and meet its people,” Whitman has said. Gillett believes doing so is crucial to stem any potential company turmoil or morale issues among the company’s nearly 325,000 employees. “The last thing she wants is any kind of exodus, a management or key skills exodus that would make her start more difficult,” he says. Recruiters from competitors like Dell DELL and Oracle ORCL are already likely making calls.
Case in point: Executive Vice President Todd Bradley, who led the acquisition of Palm last year. According to a report from tech blog Boy Genius Report, Bradley has been mulling over his departure from the company for months. Whether that’s true or not, losing an exec like Bradley would be a major blow for the company, particularly during this transition and, clearly, Whitman realizes that.
Bring back the trust. “In terms of trust, HP’s bank is in serious deficit,” says Michael Robinson, a senior vice president of Levick Strategic Communications based in Washington, DC. Indeed, after so much turmoil what HP needs badly is leadership that Wall Street, in particular, feels it can trust. The stock jumped radically when Fortune first reporter news of Apotheker’s ouster; that’s a bad sign for any company’s executive management. Luckily, Whitman’s profile is a big help in this department, according to Robinson. “The Whitman brand is sterling,” he says. “People trust Meg Whitman; hers is a name you know. HP has more or less been brandless.”
Break with the past. Finally, Whitman needs to make a clean break with the past. For years, HP has been plagued by stumble after stumble. Hotly debated mergers and acquisitions, executive scandals and reversals of strategy have worn on customers, employees and shareholders alike. Robinson argues that Whitman needs to find symbols of the troubled past and demonstrate how they will persist no more. “Breaking with the past requires [drawing] a real line in the sand to say that was then this now,” he adds. What could Whitman find that might fit the bill? A few drama-free months might be a good start.
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She’s a seasoned executive, but there’s a big difference between running e-commerce firm eBay and one of the largest, trickiest technology companies in the world. Here’s what she needs to do on Day One.
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UPDATE 1-Didi Kuaidi raises $3 bln as rival Uber China brings in $1.2 bln
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* Didi Kuaidi adds $1 bln since July
* Uber China fundraising ongoing
* Pair spending heavily on subsidies to win market share
(Adds Uber China raising $1.2 bln)
SHANGHAI, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Kuaidi is set to raise about $3 billion through its latest fundraising round, said two people familiar with the matter, just as funding at the Chinese unit of rival Uber Technologies Inc reaches $1.2 billion.
The inflow of cash raises the stakes between two of the world's most valuable start-ups. It also illustrates how investors are undeterred by the two companies spending heavily as they subsidise rides to gain market share, betting on China's Internet-linked transport market becoming the world's biggest.
Didi Kuaidi, which has the largest market share of car-hailing apps in China, in July said it raised $2 billion, and that the amount may rise another "few hundred million" due to what it said was tremendous interest from global investors.
A Didi Kuaidi spokeswoman declined to comment on the latest figure on Monday.
The same day, Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick said Uber China has received $1.2 billion, including from previous investor Baidu Inc, as part of ongoing fundraising. He made the comment in an interview with Chinese news website Sina.com which was confirmed by an Uber China spokeswoman.
Kalanick is due to speak in Beijing on Tuesday at the annual corporate conference of Internet search leader Baidu.
Didi Kuaidi's $3 billion fundraising was first reported by Bloomberg News, which cited a person familiar with the matter as saying the round valued Didi Kuaidi at $16.5 billion.
Investors in Didi Kuaidi include Baidu rivals Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd.
Other investors include sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp, Hillhouse Capital, Coatue Management, Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd , Capital International Private Equity Fund and Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd .
(Reporting by Paul Carsten; Additional reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by John Ruwitch and Christopher Cushing)
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SHANGHAI, Sept 7- Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Kuaidi is set to raise about $3 billion through its latest fundraising round, said two people familiar with the matter, just as funding at the Chinese unit of rival Uber Technologies Inc reaches $1.2 billion. The same day, Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick said Uber China has received $1.2 billion, including...
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/19/merkel-ecb-action-no-substitute-for-economic-reform.html
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Merkel: ECB action no substitute for economic reform
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"It must be avoided that any action taken by the ECB in any respect whatsoever could result in the impression that what needs to be done in the fiscal and competitive spheres could be pushed into the background."
Her comments reflect German fears that quantitative easing by the ECB would sponsor spendthrift countries, allowing their governments to avoid needed reforms to labour and other markets.
Read MoreWarning! Volatility may await if ECB launches QE
Merkel was careful not to comment directly on whether the ECB should announce a QE program, as it is widely expected to announce to do on Thursday.
"It can quickly happen that people believe that one (policy) can replace the other," Merkel warned. "That is certainly not possible. The pressure to improve competitiveness in Europe must remain or else nothing, and I really mean nothing, can help us."
German Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann, who was in the audience, remains opposed to QE, for fear that it would leave Germany on the hook for any losses.
The Bundesbank is still seeking safeguards, including a likely move to make national central banks rather than the ECB bear much of the risk for buying the bonds of euro zone states.
Although the Bundesbank's position within the ECB carries huge weight because Germanyis the bloc's biggest economy, its allies are few in number on the 25-strong Governing Council.
The ECB's six-strong Executive Board, at the core of its decision-making, will meet on Tuesday to prepare recommendations for the wider group, including central bankers from all 19 euro zone countries, who gather from Wednesday.
Many in Merkel's political camp are privately critical of proposals for money printing, believing it can do little to lift economic growth or encourage bank lending, but her government would be loath to attempt publicly to put a brake on the ECB.
However, one senior lawmaker from Merkel's conservatives, Norbert Barthle, told Reuters he was "not convinced of the need for a massive program to buy state debt".
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Angela Merkel made a rare public intervention about money printing by the ECB, warning it was no substitute for economic reforms in the euro zone.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/21/in-state-of-the-union-speech-obama-defiantly-sets-an-ambitious-agenda.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151013025148id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/21/in-state-of-the-union-speech-obama-defiantly-sets-an-ambitious-agenda.html
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In State of the Union Speech, Obama Defiantly Sets an Ambitious Agenda
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He called on his adversaries to "appeal to each other's basic decency instead of our basest fears," and he said he longed for a political reality free of "gotcha moments or trivial gaffes or fake controversies." He said a better politics would allow Republicans and Democrats to come together on reforming the criminal justice system in the wake of shootings in Ferguson, Mo., and Staten Island, N.Y.
Read MoreStocks that may get a State of the Union boost
Mr. Obama's plans — which would offer free community college for millions of students, paid leave for workers and more generous government assistance for education, child care and retirement savings for the middle class — are to be financed in large part by $320 billion in tax increases over the next decade on higher income earners as well as a fee on large financial institutions.
The tax plan would raise the top capital gains tax rate to 28 percent, from 23.8 percent. It would also remove what amounts to a tax break for wealthy people who can afford to hold on to their investments until death. Mr. Obama also said he wanted to assess a new fee on the largest financial institutions — those with assets of $50 billion or more — based on the amount of risk they took on.
Those proposals would pay for the community college initiative, which would cost $60 billion over a decade, as well as an array of new tax credits intended for the middle class. They include a new $500 credit for families with two working spouses; a subsidy of up to $2,500 annually to pay for college; and the tripling, up to $3,000, of an existing tax break to pay for college.
"It's time we stop treating child care as a side issue, or as a women's issue," Mr. Obama said, "and treat it like the national economic priority that it is for all of us."
Mr. Obama said that the approach of walling off the United States from Cuba had been ineffective, and that it was time to try a new strategy. Seated in the first lady's box overlooking the House chamber, Alan P. Gross, the American prisoner freed in December as part of the new détente, repeatedly mouthed "thank you" when Mr. Obama recognized him.
The president argued that the United States had an opportunity to strike a deal with Iran to prevent its development of a nuclear weapon, and he made it clear that he opposed legislation — backed by some Democrats and Republicans — to impose new sanctions before those talks had played out.
"We lead best when we combine military power with strong diplomacy, when we leverage our power with coalition building, when we don't let our fears blind us to the opportunities that this new century presents," Mr. Obama said.
And after several high-profile cyberattacks, including one against Sony Pictures that his administration blamed on North Korea, Mr. Obama called for legislation to bolster protections against such computer-enabled assaults.
"No foreign nation, no hacker should be able to shut down our networks, steal our trade secrets or invade the privacy of American families, especially our kids," the president said. "If we don't act, we'll leave our nation and our economy vulnerable. If we do, we can continue to protect the technologies that have unleashed untold opportunities for people around the globe."
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The president challenged Republicans to support his push on education, child care and middle class tax breaks.
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Falling oil prices? I'm more worried about terror: Norway PM
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Despite Solberg's reassurances on the country's ability to withstand seesawing commodity markets, the Norwegian central bank cut its benchmark interest rate this month, citing falling oil prices among other factor for a "clear slowdown" in the economy.
Read MoreOil is not well for this energy-dependent country
Economic growth in the country—which is a member of neither the euro zone nor the European Union—has slowed in recent months. Norway posted growth of 0.5 percent between July and September 2014 quarter-on-quarter, just above the European Union average of 0.3 percent.
Europe's security was thrown into sharp relief this month when Islamist extremists killed 12 civilians at the offices of satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo" in Paris, as well as four Parisians at a kosher supermarket. Following the attack, U.S. President Barack Obama urged European government to try to better assimilate Muslim minority populations.
For Norway, Russia's incursion into Ukraine is also a particular security concern, given its located close to Russia's western border and population of only 5.1 million.
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Norway may be Europe's biggest oil exporter, but its premier is less concerned about energy prices than security issues around terrorism and Russia.
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UK police end guard outside embassy after three years and $25m
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Police guard the Ecuadorian embassy in London (left) and Julian Assange with Noam Chomsky (right). (AAP)
British police have confirmed they will no longer stand guard outside London's Ecuadorian embassy where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange took refuge in 2012, but will strengthen a "covert plan" to prevent his departure.
Britain's Foreign Office later confirmed that it had summoned the Ecuadorian ambassador to "register once again our deep frustration at the protracted delay" in extraditing Assange to Sweden to face questions over a rape allegation.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) said on Monday that it had "today ... withdrawn the physical presence of officers from outside the embassy.
"The operation to arrest Julian Assange does however continue and should he leave the embassy the MPS will make every effort to arrest him.
"Whilst no tactics guarantee success in the event of Julian Assange leaving the embassy, the MPS will deploy a number of overt and covert tactics to arrest him," police said in a statement.
Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange about a rape claim, which carries a 10-year statute of limitations that expires in 2020.
Assange, who faces arrest if he tries to leave the embassy, denies the allegation and insists the sexual encounter was consensual.
The Foreign Office said the head of the diplomatic service, Simon McDonald, had summoned Ecuadorian Ambassador Carlos Abad Ortiz to insist on a resolution to the impasse.
The 24-hour guard outside the embassy in central London has cost British taxpayers more than STG10 million ($A20.92 million) the source of much criticism in austerity-hit Britain.
"Like all public services, MPS resources are finite. With so many different criminal, and other, threats to the city it protects, the current deployment of officers is no longer believed proportionate," police said on Monday.
"A significant amount of time has passed since Julian Assange entered the embassy, and despite the efforts of many people there is no imminent prospect of a diplomatic or legal resolution to this issue," they added.
The 44-year-old Australian also fears that if he leaves he could eventually face extradition to the United States and a trial over the leak of hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010.
Swedish officials said in August that they hoped to reach a judicial cooperation deal with Ecuador by year's end that would pave the way for prosecutors to question Assange.
Britain made a "formal protest" to Ecuador over Assange in August through its ambassador in Quito.
Do you have any news photos or videos?
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Scotland Yard has confirmed police are no longer guarding the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is taking refuge.
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Man about the house
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20151014035413
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Like most television naturals, Kevin McCloud has an unmediated quality which comes across as effortless - even artless. He arrives for lunch fresh from a building site, with the Grand Designs production team in tow, and talks to me more or less as if I were one of their cameras. As he folds his six foot plus frame into a seat, shakes off his high visibility jacket and orders a drink, perfectly formed sentences purr out of him like a voiceover.
"Every good piece of contextual one-off architecture is unique, so it's bound to modify," he says, explaining why so few of the projects featured on the Channel 4 programme go entirely to plan. "Building a house from scratch in the middle of a field is a bit like building a prototype car. As with all prototypes, if you're building a car you usually have the luxury of producing several prototypes before you arrive at the production line version - so the opportunity for changing things is quite rich. But with a one-off house it's almost impossible to make all your changes before you begin to build. Half way through, you suddenly realise something's got to change."
It's classic McCloud commentary - conversational, providing context, delivered almost like a private confidence. His great gift, of course, is for talking to the camera as if it were his lunch companion. A kind of David Attenborough of the building site, Channel 4 executives must have been unable to believe their luck when they found him.
Back in 1998, when reality television had yet to be invented and the only makeover show troubling the schedules was Changing Rooms, McCloud was a professional lighting designer and author of two books on interior decoration. A production company approached him with an idea for a show about people designing and building their own houses from scratch. McCloud wasn't even sure it would work.
"When we first started, we got a bit slagged off by the television press for being a bit too nice; not critical or confrontational enough. But we were there to celebrate something. The whole premise isn't adversarial or exploitative, but celebratory," he says.
Unlike most reality formats, the personal dramas of the people whose houses it features are not the point of the programme. "I'm not interested in filming people just because they've got 18 children or something. What has to be interesting, ultimately, is understanding a building through people."
Never the other way around?
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Not at all. It is about buildings."
Eight series in, Grand Designs is Channel 4's second highest rated show, while McCloud is that rarest of television phenomena - an entertainment presenter who inspires almost universal admiration. He is often described as the respectable face of reality television, if such a thing is possible, and presents one of the few property programmes whose defining premise has not been undermined by the housing crash. Grand Designs is only interested in a building's design, not how much it might sell for. Though he has no architectural training, last year McCloud was made an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and tonight he will present the Stirling prize - architecture's equivalent of the Booker or the Turner - for the fourth consecutive year.
Among this year's finalists is a city academy, one of the new schools whose investment in the belief that good design can dictate behaviour - and happiness - reflects McCloud's own faith. This summer, Channel 4 broadcast a series about community regeneration through architecture in Castleford, Yorkshire, a five-year project he oversaw and presented.
"It wasn't just a piece of television. For once it changed the way people think, or made them more demanding." Channel 4 has issued the series on DVD and sent it to every local authority and regeneration agency in the country, but the greatest lesson of Castleford for McCloud, he says firmly, was that "quality in the public realm does not come from committees". What does he mean? "You cannot use the democratic process for the procurement of excellence. You do the very uncomfortable thing of finding individuals, local champions."
At 50, he lives with his wife and four children in an "idyllic", 16th-century home in Somerset, full of elaborate eco-innovations such as a £75,000 biomass woodchip boiler. When he isn't riding his fold-up bicycle, he's driving his Saab fuelled by locally produced bioethanol, or the Land Rover he's converted to run on vegetable oil. It would be surprising if McCloud didn't sometimes seem a little bit self-satisfied - and in truth, every now and then he does. (He can almost always tell, he says, if a building project will go to plan or not: "How many professionals have you got? Project manager? Yeah. Architect's still involved? Yeah? Great, then it's going to work. Oh - you're throwing your architect away. Oh I see, and you're project managing it yourself. Not good," he says, shaking his head witheringly. "Not good.") The surprise, though, despite all the charm and authority, is how sensitive - even defensive - he can be.
The first time it flares is when I mention the charge of elitism occasionally levelled at the show. "Well I don't know. Is there a charge of elitism?" he retorts coolly, even haughtily - and completely disingenuously. Come off it, I say.
"The people who attach the elitist charge are usually middle-class journalists who are sensitive to the possible view that it is remote and inaccessible and that because people can't afford it, it's elitist. All I'll say to you is if you look at the demographic of our audience - and indeed I can say anecdotally meeting people - is that ... actually I'll tell you a story, we were on the Park Hill estate in Sheffield, not the most ... well, we'd just had bottles thrown at us from a balcony as we were walking with the cameras, filming. And then round the corner come three heavies, these three enormous blokes with lots and lots of piercing and tattoos, big guys in black, and I thought, 'This is it, we're dead, they're going to beat us up, knock my teeth out, knick the camera, steal all our money, we're gone.' And the bloke said to me, 'Ehhh, you're that bloke off Grand Designs aren't you.' The he said, 'Fantastic!'
"You know I meet a huge number of people from social-housing projects from all kinds of backgrounds, and not once has anybody ever said to me, 'Yeah, well they're all too bloody rich aren't they, I'll never be able to afford that.' Because it's not about the money. It's about dreams, and connection to other people's dreams. And people connect to it. And actually, it completely cuts across barriers. So I'm incredibly relaxed about that, although an extraordinary number of people I meet who are, you know, [he adopts a slightly prissy voice] concerned about the welfare and accessibility of things to people of all backgrounds, they seem to be very wound up about Grand Designs being elitist. But in my experience it's anything but. In fact it's the opposite."
For a question he began by pretending not to recognise, that's a pretty long answer. But when he talks about his mission to popularise good design, he has put his money where his mouth is.
Building on the success of Castleford, he wanted to film a "kind of community Grand Designs," building a whole community from scratch.
They found a small scheme in Cornwall, and began filming - but then it fell through.
"I went to see [Channel 4] and we sat down in a room and everybody put their head in their hand, and said what are we going to do. What are we going to do? And I just said, well I'll do it. Literally, it was just in the heat of the moment. I said well, you know, I'll become a developer - I'll raise the money, and do it."
McCloud set up a development company called Hab, which stands for Happiness Architecture Beauty, he found partners, and has bought land just outside Swindon, Wiltshire. By now he has sunk "a lot" of his own money into the project, which will be a micro eco-town of about 200 houses, and he says he always knew he'd be an "easy target". But he was still stung by the schadenfreude of press coverage this summer, when Hab parted company with its architects. Under headlines such as "McCloud's grand design at risk of becoming grand disaster", critics accused him of being "too idealistic" and "commercially naive".
"I described that press coverage as scurrilous and rancid," McCloud fires back. "It was full of a great deal of misrepresentation."
The credit crunch has absolutely not, he insists, scuppered the project. The planning application will be submitted in about a month's time, and he gets boyishly excited listing all the innovative features - such as the sensors in each house which tell you when the next bus is coming, the edible green spaces, the residents' intranet. Half of these feature, he volunteers cheerfully, will fail. "And that's OK." But I suspect he'd do almost anything to make sure the project doesn't.
When I ask if he has bad or trashy taste in any aspects of his life, for a moment I fear he's so protective of his image that he's giving one of those phoney, self-aggrandising answers.
"I'm not too fond of really cool design. I've got quite kitsch taste really, in things like tableware. I'm quite a sucker for 1930s pressed glass."
Don't you have to be cool to even know what 1930s pressed glass looks like, I wonder? But then he elaborates - and, winningly, it turns out not to be cool at all. "You know, the stuff my granny used to have. And I have a morbid attraction to 1960s prints like Blue Lady, stuff that used to decorate my parents house. I've got a soft spot for Constable reproductions. Bit of Constable, bit of Turner, bit of Blue Lady. Yeah," he says, with a grin, "I can go for that."
• The RIBA Stirling Prize is on Channel 4 this evening at 8pm
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Interview: Kevin McCloud has designs on a whole Wiltshire town, and refuses to be put off by 'scurrilous and rancid' coverage. By Decca Aitkenhead
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Greece should quit euro 'temporarily': Ifo's Sinn
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20151014170120
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"Isn't it better to have a more flexible euro where someone can leave temporarily and return later with a devalued currency, rather than trying to impose the devaluation internally?" he said. "This is a recipe for maximising unemployment and turmoil."
Talks between Greece's anti-austerity government, led by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, and its international creditors over unlocking 7.2 billion euros ($8 billion) of aid have been deadlocked on the subject of reforms.
If the talks collapse, the government has said it will prioritize the payment of wages and pensions over meeting its debt repayments. Payments totalling about 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion) are due to the IMF next month, with a 300 million euro payment due on June 5.
The grim state of Greek finances was underlined last week when the government said it emptied an IMF holding account to repay 750 million euros due to the global lender.
Read MoreHistory tells us how the Greek drama could end
"What is clear that is Greece is unlikely to be able to repay its debt and it's a question of some kind of rollover period, where interest payments continue to be reduced in a way that you can't recognise this as a default," Ashok Shah, investment director at London & Capital, told CNBC Thursday.
Valdis Dombrovskis, vice-president for the euro and social dialogue at the European Commission, highlighted the importance of completing the bailout program.
"From a European Commission point of view, we are working on the assumption that the best scenario is the successful completion of the current bailout program," he told CNBC. "This is what would allow a turnaround in the Greek economy and allow jobs to be created."
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Greece should be allowed to leave the euro zone temporarily, the president of Germany's influential Ifo Institute for Economic Research said Thursday.
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http://www.people.com/article/jill-hennessy-madam-secretary-role-i-do-album
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Jill Hennessy on Madam Secretary, Tea Leoni, Kids and New Album I Do : People.com
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20151015013747
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By Chancellor Agard and Emily Strohm
10/14/2015 AT 11:20 AM EDT
has come a long way from playing music on the streets.
This fall, the multitalented singer, songwriter and actress not only released her second studio album,
, but she's also recurring on CBS'
as Jane Fellows, a Defense Intelligence Agency handler to
"She's a lot tougher than I am," Hennessy tells PEOPLE of her character. "She has to make real important life-and-death decisions for the greater good and sometimes sacrifice other things that I would have a very difficult time doing."
Hennessy, 46, says working on the CBS drama is fun because the crew is "phenomenal." An added bonus: she's always been a huge
fan – or, to use Hennessy's word,
"I just think she's one those real class acts, who is bloody intelligent, talented and smoking-hot," says the
In addition to filming the show, the married mother of two is also promoting her new album with a series of concerts. The next performance is on Oct. 14 at Joe's Pub in New York City. She and her husband, Paolo Mastropietro, decided to release
, which has been written for a while, in October because that's when her new role on
A follow-up to Hennessy's 2009 debut album
picks up lyrically where that last album left off, though Hennessy says she wanted the music to "hit harder" this time around.
"I really wanted to write something that was a little more percussively oriented," Hennessy, who used busk before she started songwriting and acting, says. "It's a lot more rock and roll focused."
While writing the new music, Hennessy sought advice from her two sons, Marco, 12, and Gianni, 7, because she respects her children's tastes. Marco, who likes Radiohead, Led Zeppelin, Jay-Z and Macklemore, was especially helpful.
"He's got an old soul perception of music in terms of lyrics and melody and rhythm," she says. "He can always guide me and give me little tips."
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Hennessy's latest album, I Do, follows up her 2009 debut Ghost in My Head
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Gwen Stefani Debuts Single 'Used to Love You' After Split from Gavin Rossdale : People.com
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20151019123121
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10/17/2015 AT 11:55 PM EDT
in the wake of her split from
The singer, 46, debuted her emotional upcoming single "Used to Love You" during her
in New York City on Saturday.
"I just want to share a song that I wrote recently," Stefani told fans before singing the powerful number. "This song is really special."
As Stefani belted out her personal lyrics, including "I thought I was the best thing that ever happened to you" and "I guess nobody taught you how to love," an intimate clip of her played in the background.
"Used to Love You" was produced by J.R. Rotem, a source close to the star confirms.
about an overall theme for her new music. "Just being clear and being true to myself. I just want to be fulfilled."
Stefani and Rossdale – parents to Kingston, 9, Zuma, 7, and Apollo, 19 months –
in August after 20 years together and nearly 13 years of marriage.
"While the two of us have come to the mutual decision that we will no longer be partners in marriage, we remain partners in parenthood and are committed to jointly raising our three sons in a happy and healthy environment," they told PEOPLE in a statement.
In the months since, Stefani has been hitting the recording studio and returned to NBC's
, on which she serves as a judge alongside
The No Doubt frontwoman celebrated her 46th birthday on Oct. 3. Her famous friends from the music competition made the milestone even sweeter by singing her praises in a
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"I just want to share a song that I wrote recently," the singer told fans at her concert on Saturday
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/14/reuters-america-south-african-nuclear-power-plan-stirs-fears-of-secrecy-and-graft.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151029132148id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/14/reuters-america-south-african-nuclear-power-plan-stirs-fears-of-secrecy-and-graft.html
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South African nuclear power plan stirs fears of secrecy and graft
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20151029132148
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* South Africa suffering chronic power shortages
* Zuma says nuclear power plan at "advanced stage"
* Project could cost as much as $100 bln - experts
* Rating agencies downgraded debt-saddled economy
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Fears are growing in South Africa that agreements to build nuclear power plants that could be the most expensive procurement in the country's history will be made behind closed doors, without the necessary public scrutiny.
Among those voicing concern, two government sources say the Treasury is not being included in procurement discussions, despite the massive budgetary implications of a project that experts say may cost as much as $100 billion.
Construction on the first plant is due to start next year, breakneck speed compared with the years of regulatory and environmental checks for nuclear projects in countries such as Britain and the United States.
The Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, believes the pace of the deal will prevent proper analysis before contracts are signed and huge sums of money change hands.
"The whole deal has been veiled in secrecy. We have no details on what we're buying, how much it's going to cost or how we're going to pay for it," shadow energy minister Gordon Mackay told Reuters.
The Department of Energy (DoE) did not respond to requests for comment. It has said several times the procurement process will be transparent and follow procedure.
Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene was forced this week to deny reports of tensions with the DoE over the plans and said the Treasury was playing a supporting role in the procurement process.
Pretoria has already signed non-binding inter-government agreements for nuclear power support from several countries including France, China and South Korea.
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma said this week the nuclear plan was at an "advanced stage" and the procurement process should be completed by March.
Following meetings between Zuma and Russian President Vladimir Putin last year, the Russian atomic agency Rosatom said it had agreed a $10 billion contract to build power stations.
However, the DoE denied an agreement had been reached, raising public suspicion in South Africa of backroom dealmaking - an accusation often levelled against the ruling African National Congress under Zuma's tenure.
"The nuclear deal is of huge concern given South Africa's history of endemic corruption," said Andrew Feinstein, a former ANC lawmaker and now executive director of Corruption Watch UK.
Feinstein is the author of a book about alleged widespread graft in a $4.8 billion arms deal during the late-1990s.
"I fear that the corruption in this deal might dwarf the arms deal," he said.
Africa's most developed economy is in the midst of a chronic electricity crisis as it scrambles to stem power shortages that are increasing costs for industry and discouraging investment.
Part of its response is to build the new nuclear plants that would add 9,600 megawatts (MW) by 2030. Its only existing plant, which began operating in 1984, produces 1,600 MW. The country relies mostly on coal for its 42,000 MW generating capacity.
A 2013 study by the University of Cape Town's Energy Research Centre found more nuclear power was not needed and would not be cost-effective, based on an estimated installed cost of $7,000 per kilowatt.
The DoE has estimated the build would cost $4,200 per kilowatt. Energy experts say this is optimistic and the calculations are based on out-of-date assumptions.
Given the lack of funding details, economists worry it could pile more debt on an economy that grew only 1.5 percent last year. Credit agencies cut South Africa's rating last year, citing weak growth and rising public debt.
The DoE said last month that funding models were still being explored, with specifics due to be published when bids were awarded. It also said the return on investment would "far exceed" the costs.
Experts question whether the nuclear build is necessary at all, given that two large coal power plants are due to be completed in the next three years, gas-fired capacity is increasing and renewable projects are mushrooming.
Added to that, except in China, nuclear power is increasingly unpopular.
"We live in a fast-changing world. This is not a solution for South Africa's short-term energy needs, which will look very different in 15 years," energy analyst Chris Yelland said.
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*South Africa suffering chronic power shortages. JOHANNESBURG, Aug 14- Fears are growing in South Africa that agreements to build nuclear power plants that could be the most expensive procurement in the country's history will be made behind closed doors, without the necessary public scrutiny. Construction on the first plant is due to start next year, breakneck...
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Looking for a place to call their own in SpeakEasy’s ‘Casa Valentina’
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20151031045001
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Bostonians have certainly heard a lot of Harvey Fierstein’s distinctive voice lately — his writing voice, that is.
In June, “Newsies’’ arrived at the Boston Opera House, featuring a power-to-the-people book by Fierstein. In August, the Opera House played host to another Fierstein-scripted musical, “Kinky Boots,’’ a high-heeled ode to individual expression.
Now comes SpeakEasy Stage Company’s production of Fierstein’s clever and poignant, if underdeveloped “Casa Valentina.’’ Inspired by real events, the play revolves around a group of transvestites who regularly gather for mutual support, camaraderie, and understanding at a discreet Catskills bungalow colony in 1962.
As the men don women’s clothing and proceed to release, explore, or try to find their true identities, “Casa Valentina’’ abounds in Fierstein’s trademark witty repartee, though some of it is too archly mannered. Under the incisive direction of Scott Edmiston, the SpeakEasy production furnishes a roomy showcase for a host of good Boston actors, especially Thomas Derrah, for whom the adjective “good’’ has never really been sufficient.
The play’s focus wavers in its second half, however, as if Fierstein is uncertain how to pull together the diffuse strands of his story. A slightly drifting, unresolved quality creeps into “Casa Valentina,’’ deflating the production’s dramatic momentum, despite a couple of Act 2 showdowns and a transfixing final image created by Derrah.
He portrays the group’s leader and host, George, who goes by Valentina when in drag. Derrah transitions with consummate artistry between George’s somewhat weary demeanor and Valentina’s aura of worldly self-possession. Like other men there, George is heterosexual and married to a woman, in his case the extraordinarily accommodating and big-hearted Rita. Played by Kerry A. Dowling with a trace of pathos that never tips over into bathos, Rita lives with the painful knowledge — we can see it in her eyes — that her husband is most fully alive when he is a she.
On this particular day, a young newcomer has arrived at the resort, uncertain whether he belongs there, seemingly uncertain where he belongs at all: Jonathon, a.k.a. Miranda, portrayed by Greg Maraio. Miranda brings out the solicitude of the other men, who refer to themselves by female names and pronouns. They include the bubbly, Oscar Wilde-quoting Bessie (Robert Saoud); the glamorously confident Gloria (Eddie Shields); the somber Terry (Sean McGuirk), older than the rest; and the curmudgeonly Judge, a.k.a. Amy, played by Trinity Repertory Company stalwart Timothy Crowe. (Also making an appearance, late in the play, is Deb Martin as the Judge’s daughter). In a touching scene of solidarity, several of the men hold up hand mirrors to show the once-frumpy Miranda the results of her comprehensive makeover.
One figure, though, introduces an element of tension into the jovial gathering: Will McGarrahan’s gimlet-eyed Charlotte, a writer seeking to enlist the others in forming the first East Coast chapter of an organization called the Sorority, one of whose goals is to overturn laws against transvestitism. They react with misgiving to his proposal, since it would require them to go public.
Moreover, Charlotte wants them to support a ban on homosexual membership in the organization, saying: “As long as ‘transvestite’ is synonymous with ‘homosexual,’ no decent society will ever welcome us. . . . I am willing to do whatever is necessary so the authorities understand that we are harmless.’’ Indeed, Charlotte proves willing to dish out some harm of her own in pursuit of that goal.
“Casa Valentina,’’ which premiered on Broadway last year, is strengthened by Fierstein’s knowledge of, and empathy for, men who wear women’s clothing, in all their nuance and caught-between-two-worlds contradiction.
Though set more than a half century ago, the play has a certain resonance today, a time when notions of gender identity and expression have become more fluid. As a writer and performer, cross-dressing is not a new topic for Fierstein (“Torch Song Trilogy,’’ “Hairspray,’’ “La Cage aux Folles,’’ “Kinky Boots’’). Though he has often tended to get a bit message-y and does so again at times in his script for “Casa Valentina,’’ that may be an inevitable byproduct of his determination to present stories about marginalized people to mainstream audiences.
But in the SpeakEasy production’s most resonant scene, Fierstein’s characters don’t say a word, but rather lip-synch and dance — with serene confidence in who they are — to a recording of “Sugartime,’’ by the McGuire Sisters. In those joyous moments, the inhabitants of “Casa Valentina’’ really do seem to have come home.
Play by Harvey Fierstein. Directed by Scott Edmiston. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company. At Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, through Nov. 28. Tickets start at $25. 617-933-8600, www.speakeasystage.com
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Harvey Fierstein’s play about cross-dressing men in the Catskills in 1962 is clever and poignant but underdeveloped.
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http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/10/29/cvs-terminates-philidor-valeant-partner-pharmacy-from-network/0LgCzZuepfT0KW3PWLtd4H/story.html
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CVS terminates Philidor, Valeant partner pharmacy, from network
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20151031114316
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NEW YORK — The two largest pharmacy benefit managers said they were moving to terminate Philidor RX Services, the mail-order pharmacy that’s a partner of drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., from their networks.
Express Scripts Holding Co., the nation’s largest manager of prescription drug benefits, said in a statement that it is “in the process of terminating the Philidor pharmacy from our network.” It’s also evaluating four other pharmacies that work with Valeant.
The company also said it was reviewing and evaluating “all similar captive pharmacy arrangements,” referring to pharmacies that drive the vast majority of their prescription volume from one manufacturer or one product.
The second-largest drug benefits manager, CVS Health Corp., also said in an e-mailed statement that it would remove Philidor from its network of pharmacies after an audit of its practices.
“CVS/caremark maintains a broad national network of 68,000 pharmacies. In accordance with CVS/caremark’s standard auditing protocols, over the last several weeks we have been monitoring and reviewing the results of recent audits of Philidor’s practices. Based on the findings from those activities, we have terminated Philidor for noncompliance with the terms of its provider agreement,” CVS said in an e-mailed statement.
Some Blue Cross and Blue Shield health insurers are also looking into Valeant’s specialty pharmacies, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the process is still underway. Valeant and Philidor both declined to comment.
Anthem Inc., which has about 38.7 million health-insurance customers, uses Express Scripts to handle its pharmacy benefits, but sometimes makes its own decisions on drug coverage. The company, which operates some Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, said in a statement that it’s “working collaboratively” with Express Scripts as the pharmacy-benefits manager evaluates Valeant’s use of affiliated pharmacies.
“Anthem, Inc. contracts with Express Scripts to provide access to pharmacy networks,” the health insurer said in an e-mailed statement. “Anthem will continually monitor any developments that could impact members in this area and work collaboratively with ESI to take appropriate action.”
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CVS Health Corp. said it would remove Philidor RX Services, the mail-order pharmacy that’s a partner of drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., from its network of pharmacies after an audit of its practices.
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Facebook's earnings hinge on mobile turnaround
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20151031220348
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With Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg's relentless push into smartphones and tablets, Facebook's worldwide market share in mobile ads will be 22.3 percent this year, up from 5.4 percent in 2012, according to eMarketer, while Google's has dropped from 52.6 percent to 50.2 percent. No other company is close. Twitter ranked third at 2.8 percent.
From here things get more difficult for Facebook, at least in the U.S. EMarketer predicts the company's domestic market share will drop to 15.1 percent by 2016 from 18.7 percent this year, as smaller competitors vie for mobile dollars.
That's why Zuckerberg is going overboard to capture the attention of smartphone users, even if it's not clear how those eyeballs will lead to additional revenue. In February, Facebook agreed to buy messaging app WhatsApp for $19 billion, marking the biggest Internet acquisition since the bubble era and the catastrophic AOL-Time Warner merger.
WhatsApp has made a little money by charging a nominal fee (99 cents a year) after a customer's been using it for free for a year, but Facebook is pursuing the huge and growing base of 500 million users globally.
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Facebook's reliance on traditional Web advertising is a thing of the past. Two years removed from its controversial initial public offering, the social network has rapidly become the second-biggest recipient of mobile ad dollars, behind Google. Those tiny smartphone promotions now account for over half of sales.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2014/11/07/the-fall-of-the-berlin-walla-triumph-for-capitalismcommentary.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151101111910id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/11/07/the-fall-of-the-berlin-walla-triumph-for-capitalismcommentary.html
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The fall of the Berlin Wall-a triumph for capitalism?
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Pundits in the West concluded that capitalism had triumphed. They were dead wrong. Balance had triumphed. While the communist regimes of Eastern Europe were severely out of balance, with so much power concentrated in their public sectors, the successful countries of the West maintained sufficient balance across their public and private sectors, as well as another sector that might be called plural.
Read More25 years after the Berlin Wall: What's changed?
Arguably, the greatest period of development of any country ever — socially and politically as well as economically — came in the United States during the decades leading up to this event 1989, during which it was far better balanced than it is today. But the belief that capitalism had triumphed in 1989 has been throwing many countries — with the U.S. in the lead — out of balance ever since, on the side of their private sectors.
A healthy society achieves balance across a public sector of respected governments, to ensure certain basic protections (for example, in the form of policing and regulating); a private sector of responsible businesses, to supply many of our basic goods and services; and a plural sector of robust communities, wherein we find many of our social affiliations. Allowing any sector to dominate drives a society toward some form of totalitarianism.
Capitalism in its present form has been undermining the authority of governments, especially in the United States where a series of rulings by the Supreme Court has opened the floodgates to the private funding of public elections. And across the world, economic globalization has been diminishing the autonomy of many governments and the robustness of many communities. As Putnam put it about the latter, Americans are now inclined to bowl alone.
Read MoreEl-Erian: Strong dollar could derail the recovery
As a consequence, we have been experiencing the denigration of our environments, the demise of our democracies, and the denigration of ourselves. As corporations have become "persons" in the law, persons have become "resources" in the corporations, with fewer and fewer protections. Are you a human resource? I am a human being.
How can we release the shackles into which we have put ourselves? We cannot wait for governments to take the lead: too many have become overwhelmed by private sector forces. Nor will the private sector come to our rescue. Its role is to provide us with goods and services, not substitute for government. Corporate social responsibility should certainly be welcomed, but anyone who believes that it will compensate for corporate social irresponsibly is not reading today's newspapers. In this climate, there will be no win-win wonderland of corporations doing well by doing good.
This leaves but one sector, the plural. I favor this label for it, instead of third sector or civil society, to help it take its place alongside those called public and private, while acknowledging its wide variety of associations — co-operatives, NGOs, and not-for-profits, as well as social movements to protest problematic practices and social initiatives to develop better ones. Community groups in this sector often have the inclination and independence to tackle difficult problems head on.
Read MoreAs Draghi reassures, are European stocks a 'buy?'
"What now?" asked former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2013, about the repeated failures of talks on global warming. His answer: "If governments are unwilling to lead when leadership is required, people must. We need a global grassroots movement that tackles climate change and its fallout." With some rebalancing of this kind, we may be able to count on more serious reforms from our major institutions, in both government and business.
Is this realistic? Perhaps the better question to ask is: Do we have any other choice? In 1776 Tom Paine wrote to the American people in his pamphlet Common Sense that "We have it in our power to begin the world over again." Paine was right in 1776. Can we be right again now? With the survival of our planet and our progeny at stake, can we afford not to be?
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Pundits concluded that the fall of the Berlin Wall was a triumph for capitalism. They were dead wrong, says McGill Prof. Henry Mintzberg.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2013/10/03/companies-pushing-prepaid-and-debit-cards-on-campuses.html
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Companies pushing prepaid and debit cards on campuses
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20151107113645
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But debit cards are much more common, with nearly 80 percent of students carrying them, the Sallie Mae survey found. Those cards sometimes are on the back side of a student's ID card. Prepaid cards are also gaining favor, partly because they enable parents to control their children's spending. The problem is, those cards don't allow students to build a credit record, and they have fewer marketing restrictions.
(Read more: Credit cards for college kids? Pick your poison)
A study by U.S. PIRG found that "in the wake of restrictions to credit card marketing and student loan reform, the next financial frontier for banks and financial firms has been that [of] growing business of marketing campus debit and prepaid cards and offering incentives to schools to outsource or privatize various financial and administrative functions."
(Read more: Should college students have credit cards?)
The Ohio State University is a case in point. Last year it signed an agreement in which Huntington Bank agreed to pay the school $25 million upfront and commit another $100 million in loans and investments for campus projects in exchange for becoming OSU's "official consumer bank."
Huntington also gained access to a database of about 600,000 people with a connection to the university, which receives incentive payments when people sign up for accounts.
OSU Chief Financial Officer Geoffrey Chatas called the agreement "a true win for students, faculty and staff." And the undergraduate student president, Nick Messenger, told The Columbus Dispatch that the account terms looked very competitive.
That may be, but members of Congress have voiced concern that many banks are not offering the best terms in these campus deals. Several Democratic members of the House and Senate sent a letter late last month to several banks with campus deals expressing concern about who benefits from those deals and asking for details.
But competitive terms aren't necessarily the point, according to Meghan Johnson, a sophomore at Iowa State University. Johnson chose not to switch from her old bank account to one with U.S. Bank, which has a partnership with ISU.
"I remember feeling almost obligated to, though, at my orientation," she said. "We even went to kind of a meeting about it and they told us all the benefits."
Johnson says the terms of the U.S. Bank accounts are "not the worst thing in the world," but colleges and universities have their priorities wrong.
"Credit cards and debit cards are not essential to the learning that we came to campus to do, so why are colleges offering them?" she said in comments to the CFPB panel. "We are at college to learn and to better ourselves for the future, not to be marketed to by banks and credit card companies."
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Companies are pushing debit and prepaid cards on campuses even as the CARD Act curbs credit card marketing. Guess who gains?
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http://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/21/mcds-millennial-problem-is-new-campaign-working.html
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McD's millennial problem: Is new campaign working?
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"The major movement since the metrics has been with millennials and to a lesser extent with moms," said YouGov BrandIndex CEO Ted Marzilli in an email. "Both of these groups have seen an uptick in quality perception and purchase consideration. Fast-food eaters in general, however, have shown little movement in their quality scores or likelihood to purchase."
From Oct. 13 to Oct. 20, millennials' quality score for McDonald's rose to -21.4, from -32.2. While this shows improvement, it's still markedly in negative territory, which indicates these diners have a poor overall impression of the chain. It's also much more negative than the average fast-food diner's perception of McDonald's quality, the report found. Fast-food eaters' quality perception rose to 0, from -3.5.
Read More'Holy moley'—McD's sales sink most in decade: Pro
The firm's quality score is determined by asking respondents "Does the chain represent good quality or poor quality?" and having them score a brand from -100 to 100 with zero equaling positive and negative feedback.
The respondents consisted of 1,000 millennials, 700 moms, and more than 4,300 fast-food eaters.
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McDonald's is pinning its domestic turnaround hopes in part on a campaign highlighting its food quality. So is it working?
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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/01/reuters-america-update-2-dollar-tree-sales-miss-as-family-dollar-acquisition-drags.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151113141645id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/01/reuters-america-update-2-dollar-tree-sales-miss-as-family-dollar-acquisition-drags.html
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UPDATE 2-Dollar Tree sales miss as Family Dollar acquisition drags
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* 2nd-qtr sales $3.01 bln vs est $3.04 bln
* Same-store sales rise 2.7 pct vs est 3.2 pct
* Shares fall as much as 8.6 pct
(Adds background, analyst quote; updates shares)
Sept 1 (Reuters) - Discount retailer Dollar Tree Inc's quarterly sales rose less than analysts had expected as it focused on integrating Family Dollar stores amid intense competition from mass retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc .
Shares of the company, which also forecast current-quarter sales below Wall Street's estimates, fell as much as 8.6 percent to $69.68 in early trading on Tuesday.
Analysts had touted Dollar Tree's acquisition of Family Dollar as a game changer for the smaller discount retailer, as it propelled the company to the No. 1 spot among U.S. discount chains dethroning Dollar General Corp.
But they had also cautioned that integrating Family Dollar would be challenging as the company had been struggling with pricing, merchandising and store layout issues.
"While we would not go so far as to say that Dollar Tree acquired a troubled retailer, in purchasing Family Dollar it did take on a retail entity where operational efficiencies and strategic efficacy are quite some way below its own abilities," research firm Conlumino's CEO Neil Saunders said on Tuesday.
Addressing these problems made Dollar Tree take its "eye off the ball" in relation to competition, and this took some shine off sales in the quarter, he said.
Dollar Tree said it expected third-quarter sales to more than double to $4.78 billion-$4.87 billion, helped by the acquisition.
Analysts were expecting $4.91 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Net sales for the second quarter rose 48.3 percent to $3.01 billion, but missed analysts' average estimate of $3.04 billion.
Dollar Tree's same-store sales, excluding the contribution from Family Dollar, rose 2.7 percent. That missed Consensus Metrix forecast for a rise of 3.2 percent.
Dollar Tree also swung to a loss in the quarter ended Aug. 1 due to higher integration costs.
However, excluding such one-time items, the company posted a profit of 67 cents per share, topping the average analyst estimate by 5 cents.
Through Monday's close, Dollar Tree's shares had risen about 8 percent this year.
(Reporting by Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Sriraj Kalluvila)
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Sept 1- Discount retailer Dollar Tree Inc's quarterly sales rose less than analysts had expected as it focused on integrating Family Dollar stores amid intense competition from mass retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Analysts had touted Dollar Tree's acquisition of Family Dollar as a game changer for the smaller discount retailer, as it propelled the...
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‘Love the Coopers’ gives some bite to the holidays
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Picture a festive caroling scene abruptly interrupted by body-fluid repartee. Probably not an image you care to conjure, we know, but give it a try anyway.
While you might figure the scene is something out of Seth Rogen’s new holiday bender, “The Night Before,” it’s actually from “Love the Coopers,” an ensemble Christmas comedy with biting cynicism you’d hardly expect from the makers of Julia Roberts’s “Stepmom.” These wry little jolts go a fair way toward offsetting the movie’s clichéd yuletide preciousness, and occasionally even help give the sentiment some resonance.
Olivia Wilde heads up the casting sprawl as Eleanor, an opinionated, romantically burned single unconcerned with what anyone thinks about her and her iffy love life — except for her parents (Diane Keaton and John Goodman). Buy it or not, the couple are erstwhile hippies who don’t really judge her much, and who anyway are preoccupied with their own fizzling marriage. (They’re the ones having the caroling spat.) But Eleanor dreads heading home for Christmas Eve dinner just the same. So she gets the bright idea to have Joe (Jake Lacy), a soldier she just met at the airport, pose as her boyfriend, never mind their loquacious, polar-opposite takes on politics, relationships, everything.
Meanwhile, Eleanor’s brother, Hank (Ed Helms), is struggling with getting pink-slipped from working as a department store portrait photographer. “He missed his job helping unhappy families look happy,” recurring narrator Steve Martin sighs, with a next-level “Christmas Story” wryness that makes us lament the cutesy touch that he’s also the family dog.
Then there’s Alan Arkin and Amanda Seyfried swapping forever-young, old-soul gazes as the family patriarch and a diner waitress he bonds with — which plays better than it sounds, save for their contrived chatting about Chaplin. (Ick.) And neurotic Emma (Marisa Tomei) spends much of her route to dinner in the back of a cop car after she’s nabbed for shoplifting. We do wonder partway through her heart-to-heart with her repressed arresting officer (Anthony Mackie) just how Tomei’s character fits into the family picture. Turns out she’s Keaton’s little sis, which says something about the general looseness of the casting here.
Don’t let this or the schmaltz put you off, though. Enjoy the sense of never quite knowing when the movie is going to stick another pin in its balloon of sincerity, and you’ll like the Coopers well enough.
Directed by Jessie Nelson. Written by Steven Rogers. Starring Olivia Wilde, Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Ed Helms. Boston Common, Fenway, suburbs. 106 minutes. PG-13 (thematic elements, language, some sexuality).
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This comedy about a family Christmas gathering has an intermittent biting cynicism. The cast includes Olivia Wilde, Diane Keaton, John Goodman, and Ed Helms.
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http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/11/18/00/02/body-of-olympic-sprinter-found-in-forest
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Body of Olympic sprinter found in forest
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The body of Belarussian Olympic sprinter Yulia Balykina has been found covered in plastic wrap in a forest, a spokesman for investigators says.
Balykina, 31, was national Belarus champion on several occasions and took part in the 100m and 4x100m relay at the 2012 London Olympic Games, before picking up a two-year ban for doping in 2013.
Recently training children, she had not been seen since October 28.
Authorities found her body near a village outside the Belarussian capital Minsk, a spokesman for the country's Investigative Committee said on Monday.
"It was wrapped in plastic wrap and carefully covered with moss," spokesman Sergei Kabakovich told AFP, saying experts were working at the scene.
A 28-year-old man - apparently her boyfriend - has been charged with murder.
Authorities had earlier said they detained an acquaintance of Balykina's who confessed to the murder but said he had forgotten where he hid the body.
Kabakovich said the authorities had combed through an area of some 30 square kilometres before finding the body.
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The body of Belarussian Olympic sprinter Yulia Balykina, who was serving a two-year doping ban, has been found in a forest near Minsk.
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http://www.cnbc.com/2013/11/14/no-capital-controls-for-thailand-finance-minister.html
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No capital controls for Thailand: Finance Minister
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On economic growth, Kittiratt avoided weighing in on the official third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figures, which are due on Monday, as they are "backward looking."
Rather, he prefers to "look ahead" in terms of economic guidance.
While Kittiratt concedes that this year's GDP growth "may not be as impressive" due to "the delay in the implementation of infrastructure spending" worth 2 trillion baht ($64 billion), he remains optimistic about growth in the fourth quarter, saying that the peak tourism season at the year-end could give the economy a boost.
Thailand's economy entered a technical recession in the second quarter, registering a 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter contraction, after shrinking 1.7 percent in the first quarter.
(Read more: Thailand's investors spooked by 'forgiveness)
On the political front, Kittiratt said he did not see the recent massive anti-government protests as posing a threat to the economy.
"Protests on the streets are a good sign of democracy. As long as we have confidence that there won't be violence and as long as we have confidence that those protestors have good reasons," he said.
- By CNBC's Li Anne Wong. Follow her on Twitter @LiAnneCNBC
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Thailand will not resort to capital controls to stem the outflow of hot money from its economy, Thai Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong told CNBC.
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http://www.people.com/article/18-month-old-baby-born-premature-celebrate-thanksgiving-home
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Baby Born Four Months Early to Celebrate First Thanksgiving at Home : People.com
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20151119143200
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11/18/2015 AT 02:50 PM EST
One Ohio family has a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.
During last year's holiday season, Amelia Musial, then 6 months old, spent her first Thanksgiving at the hospital hooked up to a breathing machine.
Amelia was born four months premature in May and weighed slightly more than a pound,
She spent months in the neonatal intensive care unit at Hillcrest Hospital in Cleveland, and according to the news outlet, her head was no bigger than a golf ball when she was born.
Now 18-months-old, she is a couple inches smaller than other infants her age, but her parents say she makes up for it with her personality and determination.
"She's doing 18-month-old behaviors...she's definitely behaving like she's older than she is even though she's not physically able to keep up with an 18 month old," her mother, Andie Musial, told Fox8.
She's learned how to grasp objects, feed herself and work on other fine motor skills.
Amelia's entire extended family is expected to be there for her first Thanksgiving at home.
"[It's] just such a miracle and we are so blessed that sheâs come so far. Every benchmark that she's made and every little baby step she's been able to accomplish in the last year has been tremendous," Andie said.
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"Every benchmark that she's made and every little baby step she's been able to accomplish in the last year has been tremendous," her mother, Andie Musial, said
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http://www.cnbc.com/2011/08/31/September-11-Memorials-Across-America.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151120053755id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2011/08/31/September-11-Memorials-Across-America.html
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September 11 Memorials Across America
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20151120053755
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During the decade-long period of healing, people in towns across America have been erecting memorials to the nearly 3,000 victims of the 9/11 terror attacks. There are some 700 recorded memorials in the U.S. and more are underway or planned. Most of them are in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, home to the majority of the victims. Others are hundreds of miles away, such as one in North Dakota. The memorials vary widely in size, design, and cost. Some are public, others private. Some mark the event, others the people who perished. The memorials convey a variety of emotions and ideas, from loss to hope, in both concrete and symbolic ways. Some mark the life and character of an individual, others the values and ideals of the nation.Remnants of the World Trade Center towers—typically steel girders—have been incorporated into many of the memorials. Some 1,100 pieces have been made available for that purpose. Click ahead for a collection of memorials that capture the character of the hundreds throughout the nation, and the message they convey from the people behind the effort. To be sure, these 15 memorials are just the tip of a historical iceberg, so please send in a photo of the memorial you think best commemorates the event and tell us why. (Here's how.)By Ella ZhangPosted 29 August 2011
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During the decade-long period of healing, people in towns across America have been erecting memorials to the nearly 3,000 victims of the 9/11 terror attacks. Click to see the photos.
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http://www.people.com/article/eric-warfel-ember-letter-court
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Father of Man Who Allegedly Let His Toddlerâs Corpse Rot in Crib Writes Letter : People.com
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20151120175645
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11/19/2015 AT 03:00 PM EST
The father of Eric Warfel, the Ohio man arrested in July after the dead body of his 21-month old daughter was
, detailed his son's personal history in a three-page letter submitted to the court.
The letter, which was obtained by PEOPLE, was part of a motion filed in September asking to lower Eric Warfel's bond from $1 million. It describes the 34-year-old's upbringing and relationship with his family, friends and community. Eric Warfel
with gross abuse of a corpse and evidence tampering. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges by reason of insanity.
John Warfel writes that his son, who grew up in Ohio but then studied at Pace University and the New York Film Academy in New York City, "tried to 'care' for his family" and took care of the family's "basic needs."
But he says that Eric's daughter Ember, died "having had some development issues in her brief ... life."
This was the only mention of the incident in question featured in the letter.
The letter states that Eric's "7-year-old daughter means everything to him. He has tried to provide for her."
It adds, "He is very close with us, his parents, as well as his sister."
The letter also brings up Warfel's other daughter, Erin, who died in 2013 at five months old of what the Medina County Medical Examiner said was a "sudden unexplained death," according to
. Medina police are investigating Erin's death further, the news source reports.
Ember's body was discovered by a cable installer who was working in the home. She was in her crib, which was surrounded by piles of garbage.
Medical examiners stated that Ember had been dead for a month. The corpse was so badly decomposed it was difficult to tell its gender.
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The letter was part of a motion filed in September asking to lower Eric Warfel's bond
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151124151633id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/11/23/everyone-loves-same-day-delivery-until-they-have-pay/2UoVjjznWvyvolOsVrkWrL/story.html
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Everyone loves same-day delivery, until they have to pay
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NEW YORK — Everyone likes the idea of same-day delivery. But who wants to pay for it?
That’s the problem merchants face as the busy holiday shopping season approaches. They want to offer customers the near-instant gratification that usually only comes with shopping in stores or via apps like Uber and Seamless. But the logistics and costs of same-day delivery — the fuel, labor, infrastructure and other costs — has been a difficult challenge to surmount.
This year, Amazon has been making an aggressive push to offer same-day delivery to people who’ve paid its $99 fee for Prime loyalty club membership. That service is now available in 23 metro areas. And where Amazon goes, other retailers must follow.
‘‘Over the past 18 to 24 months Amazon has been pushing the bar’’ for fast and cheap delivery, said Daphne Carmeli, CEO of Deliv, a startup that works with retailers to provide same-day delivery. ‘‘If you’re in retail, you have to step up to the new bar.’’
Amazon, of course, doesn’t have to pay for the cost of store upkeep, not counting its new bookstore in Seattle. And it makes money from other non-retail areas, such as its cloud computing arm, so it can afford to offer delivery services others can’t.
‘‘Retailers trying to compete with Amazon on the road Amazon created will always be at a disadvantage,’’ said shipping industry expert Satish Jindel. ‘‘There’s only so long they can absorb the cost, it’s a huge challenge for retailers.’’
Providing hassle-free, same-day delivery has been a quixotic quest for retailers for more than a decade. During the first Internet boom, startups like Kozmo.com became ubiquitous in New York as employees with purple messenger bags fanned out to deliver snacks and household goods. But it didn’t make money, went bust, and became a cautionary tale for the future.
‘‘I remember using Kozmo.com a decade ago,’’ said C.J. Dugan, 37, a TV producer in Chicago. ‘‘One night we ordered a tub of ice cream and the movie ‘Pitch Black.’ They showed up in about 30 minutes.... It was before its time, I guess.’’
Fifteen years later, things are definitely different. Driver routes are easier to track with smartphone GPS technology, more brick-and-mortar retailers are speeding delivery by using their stores as de facto warehouses, and more people are willing to work in an ‘‘on-demand’’ fashion popularized by Uber and service apps like Taskrabbit.
So more retailers are taking on the challenge of same day. Start-up delivery service Deliv is working with Macy’s, Kohl’s, Express, Williams-Sonoma and other brick-and-mortar retailers to expand same-day delivery options. Macy’s offers same-day delivery in 17 cities; Kohl’s this month expanded same day deliveries from six to nine cities.
Craft-selling site Etsy is working with Postmates for a holiday season pilot that will let some shoppers in New York City have items delivered to their door within hours for a flat fee of $20. Apple is also working with Postmates on same-day deliveries in New York and San Francisco.
Uber is jumping into the same-day delivery game too. In October it launched an UberRush service in New York, San Francisco and Chicago that lets small businesses offer same-day delivery. Any small business within a certain geographic range in those areas can sign up for free and offer their online customers same-day delivery for a fee. In New York, UberRush will cost users $3 to start, then $2.5 per mile with a minimum of $5. Rates vary slightly in Chicago and San Francisco.
The holiday season will be a test for the new services. Not all businesses have found it’s what their customers want.
Last July, eBay shut down its eBay Now service, which it started in San Francisco in 2013 and expanded to four cities. The company said it’s now testing options that are ‘‘more relevant’’ to its sellers.
Rob Howard, who runs same-day delivery provider Grand Junction Inc., said eBay Now’s business model, which paid drivers to enter retail stores, buy an item and deliver it, was ‘‘very high cost and unsustainable.’’ Deliv, by contrast, works with retailers to have packages ready to go for drivers when they arrive.
And the cost remains a sticking point. Amazon offers some same-day deliveries for free, subsidized by revenue streams elsewhere. But others charge between $5 and $20 dollars, a cost that deters some users.
‘‘It’s nice to have, if you can get it for free,’’ said Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru, who tracks the e-commerce industry, describing the mindset for many.
Speedy delivery could help drive customer loyalty in some cases. Dugan, the former Kozmo.com user, doesn’t use one-day delivery a lot. But he recently ordered a mat for his standing work desk from Amazon Prime Now.
‘‘From the time I placed the order to when it arrived at our reception was just over an hour — it was pretty awesome,’’ he said. ‘‘I can’t say I’ll use the service all the time, but this was about the perfect experience when I really, really needed something.’’
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Merchants want to offer same-day delivery to customers, but the logistics and costs have been difficult.
| 53.35 | 1 | 3 |
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http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/11/23/mass-gas-prices-fall-another-penny/W8SqAm5ceSGQjlk5HgCuuI/story.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151124154919id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/11/23/mass-gas-prices-fall-another-penny/W8SqAm5ceSGQjlk5HgCuuI/story.html
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Mass. gas prices fall another penny to $2.07
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20151124154919
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The average price of a gallon of gasoline in Massachusetts fell 1 cent last week, AAA Northeast said.
The auto club said gas averaged $2.07 per gallon, 80 cents lower than a year ago. Crude oil is hovering around $42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday, which is one reason holiday travelers will notice gas prices are at their lowest levels since 2008, AAA said.
Almost 47 million Americans will take advantage of the low gas prices, traveling more than 50 miles from home for Thanksgiving, AAA Travel said last week. That is an increase of 300,000 travelers from 2014 and the highest number since 2007, when 50.6 million Americans traveled for the holiday weekend, according to AAA.
AAA Northeast said about 2 million New England residents are expected to travel, including more than a million Massachusetts residents. About 90 percent of those travelers are expected to drive, and will save $12 at the pump when driving 300 miles, based on the average car getting 18.5 miles per gallon.
The lowest price AAA found at Massachusetts gas stations last week was $1.93 a gallon, and the highest was $2.49.
The Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University expects 1.2 million travelers will take buses this year, up 1 percent to 2 percent from last year. But AAA says travel by cruises, trains, and buses will decrease 1.4 percent this Thanksgiving to 1.4 million passengers.
Airlines for America, the lobbying group for several major airlines, estimates 25.3 million passengers will fly on US airlines, up 3 percent from last year. AAA’s forecast, however, shows fewer numbers of fliers because it looks at a five-day period, while the airline group analyzes the 12 days surrounding Thanksgiving.
AAA said it expects to receive about 360,000 calls from motorists with dead batteries, flat tires, and lockouts during the Thanksgiving travel period. AAA Travel recommends drivers check their batteries and tires before leaving the garage.
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The average price of a gallon of gasoline in Massachusetts fell a penny last week, AAA Northeast said.
| 18.8 | 0.95 | 8.55 |
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http://www.people.com/article/mama-june-sugar-bear-cheated-coworker
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151125183752id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/mama-june-sugar-bear-cheated-coworker
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Mama June Mama June Says Sugar Bear Cheated with Coworker's Wife : People.com
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20151125183752
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11/24/2015 AT 08:30 PM EST
Mama June Shannon and Mike "Sugar Bear" Thompson are opening up about their rocky relationship.
after Sugar Bear allegedly was discovered to have online dating profiles.
, Shannon and Thompson elaborate on the infidelity rumors, saying actual cheating did take place.
"My biggest issues was my cheating," Thompson said. "I've done that and shouldn't have and I look back on it, I regret it."
Shannon revealed that the woman Thompson cheated with was a coworker's wife.
"It was really hurtful because one of it was a good friend of ours that we've known for quite some time," said Shannon. "The woman had been to dinner several times."
The pair are appearing on the new season of
in attempt to repair their relationship.
It's been a difficult year, with their
, whom she'd had a relationship with ten years prior. June denied she and the man had rekindled their relationship.
"It isn't true i promise,"
. "My kids r #1 priority over anything else and I would never put them in danger period over this or anything else they r my life this is my past I left him 10 yrs ago for it and I wouldn't go back."
premieres Dec. 4 at 9 p.m. ET on WEtv.
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The former Here Comes Honey Boo Boo star says Sugar Bear cheated with "a good friend of ours"
| 13.35 | 0.6 | 1.8 |
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http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/television/2015/11/23/critic-corner/WiqKKHHq7W5BbHQ21sSEeJ/story.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151125232638id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/arts/television/2015/11/23/critic-corner/WiqKKHHq7W5BbHQ21sSEeJ/story.html
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Critic’s Corner: What’s on TV Monday
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20151125232638
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Eddie Murphy: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize 9 p.m., WGBH 2
The big headline out of this venerable award ceremony was that Murphy did stand-up for the first time in nearly 30 years, including an impression of previous Twain honoree Bill Cosby. Among those on hand to honor Murphy’s legacy of laughs are Dave Chappelle, Kathy Griffin, buddy and “Coming to America” costar Arsenio Hall, musicians Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes and Sam Moore of Sam & Dave, fellow “Saturday Night Live” alums Tracy Morgan and Kevin Nealon, and “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah.
3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets 9 p.m., HBO
Into our fraught national discussion on race comes this documentary. In Jacksonville, Fla., in 2012, Jordan Davis, an unarmed black teen, was shot and killed following an altercation at a gas station with a man annoyed that Davis and his friends were playing music too loud. Filmmaker Marc Silver explores Davis’s life, the subsequent trial, and coverage surrounding it.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 8 p.m., the CW
Can Dr. Phil help Rebecca? More important, can he sing?
Monday Night Football 8:30 p.m., WCVB and ESPN.
Chowder vs Wings on the road to 10-0.
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Eddie Murphy, on PBS, goes up against Pats vs. Bills, on WCVB and ESPN.
| 13.5 | 0.666667 | 1.444444 |
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http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/11/25/13/24/the-most-interesting-candidate-running-for-president-and-why-nobody-backs-the-also-rans
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151126135703id_/http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/11/25/13/24/the-most-interesting-candidate-running-for-president-and-why-nobody-backs-the-also-rans
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The most interesting candidate running for president, and why nobody backs the also-rans
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20151126135703
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He wears a boot on his head and promises to buy a free pony for every American.
If elected he'll pledge to travel back in time to kill Hitler as a baby, and wants to make it a crime to not brush your teeth.
And on February 9 next year, Vermin Supreme will have the same amount of ballot space as Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.
While the prevailing wisdom is that you have to be rich to run for president, Vermin Supreme is proving that's not true. With a bundle of $50 notes stamped with the phrase "Not to be used for bribing politicians", Supreme has just got his name on the New Hampshire primary ballot.
It costs just $1000 to be a candidate in the crucial early-state primary, and as a result, 30 Republicans and 28 Democrats have qualified.
On the Democratic side, just three of them are registering in the polls (and Governor Martin O'Malley barely doing so). The rest consist largely of conspiracy theorists, perennial troublemakers and opinionated hermits with little else to do. All presidential candidates have delusions of grandeur, but some are more delusional than others.
The thinking may well be, with so many people voting in the primaries, I'm bound to get some votes, surely?
As it turns out, no. Even assuming that some people are bound to tick the wrong boxes, breaking past the one percent mark is a Herculean task for presidential candidates. Of the 21 people in the Democratic New Hampshire primary eight years ago, only six got more than 500 votes. Three got less than a dozen. If you have to queue up in the snow to vote, you aren't going to back a no-hoper.
Despite the apparent world of difference between Vermin Supreme and Jeb Bush, they are both not going to get votes for the same reason. With no preferential voting, nobody wants to cast a ballot for a loser. But at least Supreme is having fun losing.
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He wears a boot on his head and promises to buy a free pony for every American.
| 21.611111 | 1 | 18 |
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http://www.nytimes.com/1964/06/25/haryou-act-sets-118-million-budget.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151127044151id_/http://www.nytimes.com:80/1964/06/25/haryou-act-sets-118-million-budget.html?
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Haryou-Act Sets $118 Million Budget
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20151127044151
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The planning agency for the Haryou‐Act antipoverty project in Harlem announced yesterday that a budget of $118,075,673 was envisioned for the first three years of its operation.
The board of directors of Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Haryou), which developed the youth programs that are to be administered through a merge of Haryou with Associated Community Teams (Act), released the budget report.
The board declared that “not a cent” of the money had been allocated to a child development center operated by its acting director. Dr. Kennedy B. Clark.
Dr. Clark has been involved for three weeks in a controversy with Representative Adam Clayton Powell, the sponsor of Act, over the combined Haryou‐Act project. Each has accused the other of trying to take it over.
One of the charges made by Mr. Powell's supporters was that “$10 or $12 million” of the Haryou‐Act budget was to go to the Northside Center for Child Development, 31 West 110th Street, which is run by Dr. Clark and his wife, Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark.
In its budget report yesterday the Haryou board noted that “the only funds now or ever earmarked for helping psychologically disturbed children” was $8,037,643 to be spent by Act for two residential treatment day‐care centers.
The controversy has lessened since last Thursday. when the
Dr. Clark acknowledged yesterday that he had agreed to withhold further criticism of Mr. Powell to ease the task of the combined board, which will meet again next Monday.
In another development, however, a former public relations man for Mr. Powell declared that a “Harlem citizens committee” would bring suit in Federal court to restrain the Government from releasing Federal funds to Haryou‐Act “as it is now constituted.”
John H. Young, coordinator of an “All‐Harlem Leadership Committee” formed two weeks ago from among Mr. Powell's supporters, said the court action was being taken because the Haryou‐Act board was not considered representative of the Harlem community. He said the suit would be filed today, and that another court action might be taken to have the board dissolved.
Mr. Young contended that the 15 city officials and employes on the Haryou‐Act board could lead to a “complete takeover of the project by the city of New York and by groups more interested in themselves than they are in the great majority of Negro people of Harlem.”
He said eight members of the board had “plans for pet side projects” to be paid for out of
Mr. Young said he had not spoken to Mr. Powell before making the announcement of the proposed court action.
In the Haryou‐Act budget, $10,674,883 was apportioned to Act, which wil1 continue as a separate unit under the wing of combined agencies
The Act funds were distributed as follows: adult volunteer service corps, $255,229; after‐school study program and parents’ assistants program, $4,410,627; domestic peace corps, $1,277,328; day‐care residential treatment for disturbed children, $3,037,643, and central administration, $1,694,059.
The rest of the budget was appointed as follows: training of workers, $2,778,505; five local neighborhood boards, $2,587, 695; Harlem Youth Unlimited $5,003,635; pre‐school academies $26,752,615; after‐school study centers, $3,423,987; employment centers, $25,470,631; services to multi‐problem families, $1,443,324; junior academics, $8,706,950; senior academics, $4,583,000; narcotics research center, $4,967,745; cadet corps, $7,605,- 750; arts and cultural affairs, $5 969,658: research, $928,949, and central administration, $7,178,355.
Little of the money, which is expected to come from Federal, state, city and foundation sources, has as yet been allocated. Mayor Wagner announced Tuesday that the city would budget $3.4 million for Haryou‐Act in 1964‐65, and the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency has promised $1 million.
This article can be viewed in its original form. Please send questions and feedback to archive_feedback@nytimes.com
|
Haryou-Act bd announces 3-yr, $118,075,673 budget; says no funds will go to Clark's Northside Center; breakdown on funds distribution; Clark agrees to withhold criticism of Powell to ease bd's task; J H Young says Harlem com will sue in Fed ct to bar Govt from releasing funds to Haryou-Act, charges city could take over project
| 11.073529 | 0.691176 | 1.014706 |
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http://www.cnbc.com/2013/11/19/entrepreneurs.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151130104936id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2013/11/19/entrepreneurs.html
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Arab Spring 2.0: The rise of women entrepreneurs
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20151130104936
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Women run only one of every four start-ups overall in the region that includes the Middle East, according to the "Global Entrepreneurship Monitor's 2012 Women's Report," Numbers are hard to come by, but in the six countries for which the best data is available —Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Palestine, Tunisia and Israel—there were about 9.9 million new ventures in total, so about 2.5 million new ventures of all kinds and in all industries could be run by women.
The tech scene is drawing the most attention now. Much of the surge has come about in the years since the Arab Spring. "There is a connection between what they were asking for in Tahrir Square and entrepreneurship, because they come from the same place," said Christopher Schroeder, author of "Startup Rising," about start-ups in the Middle East. "Tools of technology that allow people to express their voice politically, societally, culturally—why wouldn't they unleash desire for an economic voice as well?"
The women entrepreneurs don't see political tensions as a detriment but rather as an opportunity. "Problems come with opportunity," said May Habib, founder and CEO of Qordoba, a translation site based in the UAE. "If you're someone who is a natural hustler, you can make money."
At start-up competitions and in funding pools, a third or more of the entrepreneurs often are women. At the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition, 48 percent of the 4,500 teams included women, according to statistics cited in "Startup Rising."
Schroeder, an Internet entrepreneur who is one of the nascent community's American supporters, started to notice the increasing entrepreneurial energy in the Middle East in 2010. Many of the encounters that convinced him to change his view of entrepreneurship in the Middle East were with women.
(Read more: The world's start-up hot spots)
"She sat beside me, shoulders proudly back, in the head-to-toe abaya that revealed only her face and hands," he recounted on his book's first pages. He offered general platitudes and then found himself being grilled by the woman, who needed specific advice about low-cost manufacturers in China to help her fill 1,000 pre-standing orders. "This was not the Middle East I had been taught to expect," he said.
Social media and the new crowdfunding platforms are helping to drive the change by connecting women with their markets and by filling in traditional gaps in financing, both for start-ups and microenterprises. Instagram said it does not provide data on its use in different regions. Other companies do: San Francisco-based Kiva.org, for instance, has loaned money to 7,000 women entrepreneurs in the Middle East since the beginning of 2011, for a total of $9 million.
Some of the new women-owned businesses are pushing boundaries in many ways. Amourah, a woman-owned business based in Dubai, is on a mission to "get every woman in the Middle East a perfectly fitted bra."
Another company, Qordoba, provides translation services for more than 50 languages, much of it for companies, and provides work for more than 1,000 writers, editors and translators, many of them women. It has just raised a $1.5 million A round, which it is using to open an office in Munich to add to its four in the Middle East. Ataya's Mumzworld, which is three years-old, is in the midst of raising a $5 million B round.
|
Thanks to social media women all over the Middle East are finding ways to help one another start businesses. It's a movement that is about more than economics.
| 22.322581 | 0.83871 | 1.290323 |
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http://www.people.com/article/jon-stewart-return-daily-show-trevor-noah
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151209143901id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/jon-stewart-return-daily-show-trevor-noah
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Jon Stewart Returns to
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20151209143901
|
updated 12/08/2015 AT 03:10 PM EST
•originally published 12/08/2015 AT 10:45 AM EST
– but not necessarily for the reason you'd suspect.
The 53-year-old paid a visit to his old Comedy Central stomping ground on Monday to bring attention to an issue he said he cares about very deeply.
Donning a gray T-shirt and his ever-growing
, Stewart blasted Congress for not automatically renewing the
, a now-expired bill providing healthcare to first responders who worked at the site of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I want to get some attention paid to it, but I was realizing that I don't have a show and nobody gives a s--- anymore," he told host
Jon Stewart (left) and Trevor Noah
"Of course there was no reason not to renew it permanently!" Stewart said of Congress members and the bill that expired in September.
"These first responders, many sick with cancers and pulmonary disease, have had to travel at their own expense to Washington, D.C., hundreds of times to plead for our government to do the right thing."
host said there is only one conclusion he could draw from law makers' failure to renew the bill: "The people of Congress are not as good of people as the people who are first responders."
Stewart said that he accompanied some of the first responders on one of their many trips down to the nation's capital: "I don't really have a life anymore ⦠I'm unemployed now, so I'm really available all day."
He, along with a small group, visited the offices of
, Ron Johnson and Rob Portman to plead with the lawmakers to renew the bill.
Stewart said Senator Portman signed on to the bill that night.
|
The former host, now with a scruffy beard, hit The Daily Show to bring attention to a bill benefiting 9/11 first responders
| 14.708333 | 0.708333 | 1.375 |
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http://www.people.com/article/katie-couric-karlie-kloss-gave-young-cancer-patient-gift-kindness
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151212083548id_/http://www.people.com/article/katie-couric-karlie-kloss-gave-young-cancer-patient-gift-kindness
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Karlie Kloss Gave Young Cancer Patient the Gift of Kindness : People.com
|
20151212083548
|
Karlie Kloss (left) and Abby Shapiro
12/11/2015 AT 12:10 PM EST
learned a colleague's 16-year-old cousin was fighting for her life, she felt compelled to help.
That girl, Abby Shapiro, went from being a top high school swimming recruit to battling bone cancer. To raise her spirits, Couric reached out to her network of celebrity contacts, asking them to send videos and messages to Abby. But one star, supermodel
, went even further, establishing a correspondence with Abby and rushing to visit her in the hospital when she learned her health was declining.
Sadly, Abby died on Labor Day.
"Abby was a remarkable girl and showed such extraordinary grace and fortitude," Couric tells PEOPLE.
On Tuesday, Couric honored her memory – and Kloss' act of kindness – in a piece for
that she calls "a love letter to her and her family."
"It was so heartbreaking because I thought back to the days when my girls were 16 and looking at colleges, and the road ahead looked so full of hope and promise, excitement, and then I thought about Abby at 16, facing such a different, terrifying fate, and it just broke my heart," Couric says of why Abby's story stood out. "I really wanted to do anything I could to help her."
Overall, Couric says her essay is about compassion and sharing the simple "gift of kindness."
"You don't have to be a celebrity to have a meaningful, important and life-changing relationship with someone," she explains. "I think oftentimes when someone is diagnosed with cancer, it's a scary thing for the healthy person because it makes them come face to face with their own mortality. Often, people feel uncomfortable or awkward, and they just don't know what to do."
And though stars use social media to connect with their fans, Couric believes there's no substitute for interacting face-to-face.
"This was sort of a cautionary tale for modern times in that technology allows us to have quote-unquote 'relationships' with people that they're really not true relationships," she says. "I think this essay emphasizes the need for human contact and true humanity."
Read an excerpt from Couric's article below, and
|
"Abby was a remarkable girl and showed such extraordinary grace and fortitude," Katie Couric tells PEOPLE
| 24 | 0.947368 | 12.315789 |
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http://www.people.com/article/couple-raises-money-to-buy-school-custodian-car
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151212152152id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/couple-raises-money-to-buy-school-custodian-car
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Couple Raises Money to Buy Stranger a Car After Seeing Him Walk Home from Work : People.com
|
20151212152152
|
12/11/2015 AT 01:40 PM EST
Utah couple Sean and Darilyn Merrill were driving home around 9:45 p.m. when they saw a tired-looking man trudge through the crosswalk in front of them.
Holding a lunchbox in his hand, he looked worn out and was drooping his head.
Instead of the couple continuing along their drive, they decided to pull over and ask the man, who they later learned was school custodian Robert Ford, if he needed a ride.
"In a brief trip Robert told us that he missed his bus that day," Sean told
. "It takes him two and a half hours on public transportation to get to work and that same commute home after his day is over."
After they drove him home, they decided their journey with him wasn't over.
Sean and Darilyn, along with Robert's sister-in-law Kathy, set up a GoFundMe account to raise money to buy him a car.
They were able to raise enough for a car and the insurance, and touchingly handed Robert the keys.
"I'm a total stranger and they did this for me. It blows my mind," Ford told
The selfless act has now inspired Ford to pay it forward.
"If it wasn't for them, I'd be still riding the bus," Ford told
. "I owe them a lot, and I'm going to do my best ... to help somebody else."
|
"I think it's important to take a step back and think about others," says Sean Merrill, who helped raise enough money to buy Robert Ford a car
| 8.9375 | 0.6875 | 1.25 |
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http://time.com/3836636/kim-kardashian-bruce-jenner/
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151214114149id_/http://time.com/3836636/kim-kardashian-bruce-jenner/
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Kim Kardashian Speaks on Bruce Jenner's Transition
|
20151214114149
|
Now that Bruce Jenner has finally revealed his long-held secret, his family is speaking out to show their support and to promote understanding and awareness of what it means to undergo a gender transition.
“Bruce is the most honest … He has the biggest heart and I’m really happy for him that he is living his life the way he wants to live it and that he has found inner peace and just pure happiness,” said Kim Kardashian West in a taped segment on the Today show on Monday. “That’s what life is about. I don’t know what life would be like if you always felt like you weren’t yourself.”
The reality star, 34, went on to acknowledge that she – and most of the general public – could never truly understand what her stepfather is going through, but, “I don’t even think we have to,” she says. “I think as long as he is happy and he wants to live his life however he wants to live it, that just makes me happy and I support him 100 percent.”
Kardashian West also admitted that learning of Jenner’s intent to transition was a “hard adjustment” and that “there still is an adjustment and there is family therapy. We’re really close … We all really support him.”
“Say what you want about us,” she told Today host Matt Lauer, “but we work out everything as a family and we have the best communication and we are so in sync with each other. … We have each other to go through this experience, and I’m really grateful for that.”
Of the increased attention Jenner, 65, can expect moving forward, Kardashian West said that her stepfather is “ready for the next challenge and ready to help other people that might be going through the same things that he is going through and that’s something that he’s really proud of and something that he is really ready to take on and I’m really proud of him for that.”
Indeed, Jenner is on a “mission” to help people, as a source previously told PEOPLE. “He wants to help make a difference for people struggling with empowerment. And it’s not just about those who are transgender, but those who are bullied or face discrimination, whether it’s racial, sexual, religious, any ‘differences’. He feels very strongly about this.”
This article originally appeared on People.com.
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The reality star says Jenner has found 'inner peace and just pure happiness'
| 31.933333 | 0.866667 | 3.4 |
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http://www.people.com/article/george-takei-reviews-new-star-trek-movie
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151218023500id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/george-takei-reviews-new-star-trek-movie
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George Takei Was Underwhelmed by the Star Trek Beyond Trailer : People.com
|
20151218023500
|
12/16/2015 AT 06:25 PM EST
is coming, no matter what.
The actor, who starred in the original 1966
television series as Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu, wasn't totally enamored with the trailer for the upcoming new film in the franchise.
After viewing the trailer during a
interview, Takei said, "It doesn't have that element that made
Roddenberry, as Trekkies well know, was the creator of the iconic TV show.
"I didn't – in the preview – note anything of the substance of what made Gene Roddenberry's
so engaging and it was the commentary on social justice, political reality at the time," the 78-year-old explained.
is directed by Justin Lin, taking over from
and Simon Pegg all return to their roles from the 2009 and 2013 films.
Takei did admit, however, that the latest installment has some potential.
"It looked like a terrific action-adventure movie," he told Tech Insider. "A lot of clinging on cliffs and getting smashed against rocks, so it should be a very successful
hits theaters on July 22, 2016.
|
Original Trekkie George Takei felt the new movie's trailer didn't hold up to the original series
| 12.222222 | 0.722222 | 0.944444 |
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http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/mar/26/british-design-modern-age
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http://web.archive.org/web/20151221083501id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/mar/26/british-design-modern-age
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British design in the modern age: from punk bands to boom-time brands
|
20151221083501
|
In 1948, still reeling from the war, Britain steeled itself and cobbled together the first Olympic games of the postwar era. The London Olympics were known as the "austerity games", and yet proved a triumph of resourcefulness. It's with this moment that the Victoria & Albert museum begins its new survey exhibition, British Design 1948–2012 – an irresistible conceit, as London counts down to its second Olympics.
The other key moment in British design was the Festival of Britain in 1951. Then, Britain finally grasped the modernist nettle, seeking to drive manufacturing with a genuine design culture; now, a Britain that is renowned for its design (and not its manufacturing) is about to embark on an Olympic celebration that feels more like the culmination of something than its beginning.
The austerity may be back, but it is difficult to overstate the scale of the political shift that has occurred. The Festival of Britain was the brainchild of a Labour government forging the welfare state; the 2012 Olympics are presided over by a coalition government dismantling what's left of it. Some of this show rubs our noses in that polarity. Here is Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert's 1957 design for the national road signage system, going on show the week after it was announced that roads may be privatised. Here are London county council's ambitious postwar social housing programmes, whose corollary today are the "luxury" apartment blocks thrown up by private developers. Then it was the technological finesse of the 300ft Skylon tower; now we have the oligarchical vanity of the Mittal-Orbit structure on the Stratford site, by Anish Kapoor. The exhibition illustrates not just the history of British design, but of British politics.
In a show of such scope, there is an understandable tendency to fall back on the greatest hits. On one level, British Design is a sequence of cliches that we are familiar with. The 1950s are all spindly furniture and molecular patterns; the 60s are about two Minis (a car and a skirt); and the 70s careen from punk's safety pins to Concorde (the only piece of technology in the show that hasn't been surpassed). The 80s are represented by Peter Saville's album covers for Factory Records and a little piece of Manchester's Hacienda nightclub (whose designer, Ben Kelly, also designed this exhibition). Meanwhile, Cool Britannia and the obsession with branding takes care of the 90s, here represented by objects from Pharmacy, the restaurant Damien Hirst opened in London in 1998. (Always more about money and PR than it was about art or design, this episode sits uncomfortably with the rest of the show. But then the "real" design of the period is not much better: if Michael Young's aluminium and vinyl Magazine sofa, which belongs in a tacky nightclub's VIP area, is the pinnacle of 1990s furniture design, the decade itself was not a high point.)
There is little in the way of revisionism or controversy here; but if the objects are overfamiliar, the subtexts running through them are less so. Avoiding a simplistic chronology, the curators have chosen to define the characteristics of British design thematically. The middle section of the show focuses on subversion. From the late 1960s, a younger generation of creative talent fostered in the British art school system began reacting against the paternalistic impulses of the postwar rebuilders, swapping consensus for dissent. From pop music to fashion, the alternative was suddenly the answer. Samples here include David Bowie and the outlandish outfits of glam rock, the Sex Pistols' anti-aesthetic, Ron Arad and Tom Dixon's salvaged-metal furniture. You could throw in the architecture of Zaha Hadid who, before she was a star, was a kind of one-woman subculture. Hadid spent decades in the wilderness, failing to get her deconstructivist designs built. This anti-authoritarian streak, by turns camp and punk, has become one of the defining features of Britain's cultural self-image; it's a spiky brand identity that Wolff Olins' Olympic logo has attempted to make official.
The role recession has played in shaping Britain's design identity is one of the more revealing themes. The Festival of Britain was conceived as a means of stimulating the economy, while punk and the creative salvage scene were born of the economic crises of the 1970s and early 80s. In 1986, James Dyson had to take his famous vacuum cleaner design to Japanese manufacturer Apex, because no recession-weakened British manufacturer would take it on. Industrial decline is a bigger story, of course, and yet many of the innovations of the last three decades have been responses to it. When the Sinclairs and Amstrads of Britain's personal computer industry could no longer compete with America and Japan, they moved from software to hardware. Today, British computer game designers are lead players in an industry that's now worth more than Hollywood, responsible for such successes as Tomb Raider and Grand Theft Auto.
How does the story end? What does a show that is part of the flag-waving runup to the Olympics tell us about British design today? In the end, not that much, partly because it is drawn mainly from the V&A's own collection, and museum collections are weakest when it comes to contemporary artefacts.
The last decade is much richer than you would think from the few pieces shown here; as the show approaches the present, the narrative threads that run so richly through the rest – of tradition versus modernity, of youth versus authority – begin to fray. The Olympic buildings are here, as well as a plastic chicken coop manufactured by Omlet in Britain (a huge commercial success). The latter at least raises the question of whether manufacturing might start to return from Asia, now the costs of outsourcing are rising.
Troika's Falling Light installation (2010), a programmed chandelier that precipitates light like raindrops, is probably the most representative example of contemporary British design. Neither a product nor an artwork, this is innovative for its own sake and was made by a group of designers from France and Germany living in London. It shows us that the boundaries of design are dissolving, and that it is time for us to dispense with the notion of "British design" altogether. The UK's design scene is now nothing if not international, and London, in particular, is a magnet for talent from all over Europe. The question is, once the Olympics are behind us (and we have another recession to kick against), how will design in Britain reinvent itself again?
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Has the V&A's new show captured British design from 1948 to now? Justin McGuirk enters a world of spindly furniture, punk safety pins – and plastic chicken coops
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Hepworth gallery makes shortlist for art world's richest prize
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The new Hepworth gallery in Wakefield, Exeter's Royal Albert Memorial, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and a Surrey gallery built to preserve the memory of Victorian artist George Watts have made the shortlist for the £100,000 Art Fund museum prize, the art world's richest single prize. The former culture secretary Lord Smith said whittling down the 10 longlisted sites – including high-profile projects such as Zaha Hadid's transport museum in Glasgow and Turner Contemporary in Margate, had been "supremely difficult".
"The museums on the shortlist are truly outstanding institutions, very varied in scale and theme but sharing a remarkable commitment to connecting with their visitors and telling powerful stories through objects and images," he said.
The only new building on the list is the £35m Hepworth in Wakefield, designed by David Chipperfield to combine the collections of the Wakefield art gallery and works by Barbara Hepworth alongside changing contemporary art exhibitions. The gallery attracted more than 100,000 visitors in its first five months.
The Royal Albert Memorial museum and gallery, with collections including art, archaeology and geology, reopened last year after the first major redevelopment in 140 years.
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh was the first purpose-built gallery of its kind in the world in the late 19th century. It reopened last year after a £17.6m redevelopment.
The Watts Gallery, in Surrey, a superb Arts and Crafts building created as a memorial to the painter George Frederic Watts, was rescued from the danger of collapse from damp and decay by a £10m restoration by the architects ZMMA.
The other judges were the physics professor Jim Al-Khalili, Lucy Worsley, curator at Historic Royal Palaces, Sir Mark Jones, former director of the V&A, the architect Rick Mather, the artist Lisa Milroy, and the Guardian's chief arts writer, Charlotte Higgins.
The winner will be announced at the British Museum on 19 June.
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New building in Wakefield beats stiff competition to vie for £100,000 Art Fund museum prize
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Don Aucoin’s 2015 Theater picks
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■ Chopin Without Piano, production by Centrala, presented byArtsEmerson
■ Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, American Repertory Theater
■ A Little Night Music, Huntington Theatre Company
■ Saint Joan, production by Bedlam, presented by Underground Railway Theater
■ Dry Land, Company One Theatre
In 2015, Andris Nelsons settled in, BLO announced it would be packing up, and the rest of us had a lot to appreciate.
■ The New Electric Ballroom, Gloucester Stage Company
■ The Colored Museum, Huntington Theatre Company
■ King Lear, CommonwealthShakespeare Company
■ The Big Meal, Zeitgeist StageCompany
■ Grounded, Nora Theatre Company
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“Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812,’’ “Chopin Without Piano,’’ and other memorable theater experiences of 2015.
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The ticket: Dance
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SALUTE TO VIENNA NEW YEAR’S CONCERT Extending the holiday spirit for just one more day, this production channels the romance of classic Vienna, with costumed ballet and ballroom dancers swirling to the strains of Viennese waltzes and operatic arias performed by singers and a full orchestra. Jan. 3. $35-$125. Symphony Hall. 888-266-1200, www.bso.org
DANCING WITH THE STARS: LIVE! The TV show takes to the road for the “Dance All Night Tour.” Top billing goes to Army National Guard Specialist Alex Skarlatos, who will be joined by season 21 partner Lindsay Arnold. The tour cast also includes Alan Bersten, Sharna Burgess, Brittany Cherry, Artem Chigvintsev, Valentin Chmerkovskiy, Jenna Johnson, Keo Motsepe, Peta Murgatroyd, and Emma Slater. Jan. 7. $48-$92. Citi Shubert Theatre. 800-982-2787, www.citicenter.org
BALLETBOYZ Though this show is weeks away, it will probably sell out. The innovative all-male modern dance troupe, founded by Royal Ballet principal dancers Michael Nunn and Billy Trevitt, promises a dazzling display of skill and athleticism in two commissions from leading British choreographers Christopher Wheeldon and Alexander Whitley. Jan. 29-30, $60-$75. Citi Shubert Theatre. 617-482-6661, www.celebrityseries.org
TRINITY IRISH DANCE COMPANY Fans of Irish dance should plan ahead for the World Music/CRASHarts presentation of this American troupe. A 17-time winner of world championships, the company has created a legacy based on traditional roots combined with imaginative artistic vision, extraordinary technical skill, and exuberant spirit. The troupe presents the Boston premiere of “The Dawn” for this first visit here in over a decade. Jan. 30-31. $35-$68. Cutler Majestic Theatre. 617-876-4275, www.worldmusic.org
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Karen Campbell’s picks for noteworthy dance events around the greater Boston area for the week of January 3.
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Zach Snyder Explains Why Ben Affleck Is the Perfect Batman : People.com
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01/07/2016 AT 11:55 PM EST
, plenty of talented actors have donned the cape and cowl over the years, but
thinks he's finally found the ultimate caped crusader in
"He's an amazing Bruce Wayne, let's just be frank about that. And then when he puts the cowl on, you know he's got the chin for it," Snyder tells PEOPLE while dishing about his (and the Batmobile's) role in this year's Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest.
While the director acknowledges the casting
) early on, Snyder says he always knew he had the right man for the job.
"Casting Ben felt like a no brainer to me," he explains. "I know that there was some backlash, but he's just so perfect to me, especially in his size and his age."
The Batman Affleck portrays in
is loosely modeled after artist Frank Miller's version of the character from his comic book,
. In the graphic novel, Bruce Wayne is already in his 50s and on the verge of retirement. He's also depicted as taller and more muscular than in other illustrations.
"I'm sure once the fans discover it, they'll feel the same way I do," he adds. "He's certainly got the chops for it, so I didnât quite get the initial reaction."
of Affleck in the costume hit the web, fans began to see things from Snyder's perspective. "I took that picture of him next to the Batmobile," he remembers. "When I looked at the back of the camera to see what it looked like, I was like, 'Holy s---, that is ridiculously perfect.' "
I shot this with my @Leica_Camera M Monochrom. #Batman #Batmobile #Gotham http://t.co/WPHKLxgBLM pic.twitter.com/p5DEf6fLzJ
Speaking of the Batmobile, Snyder reports the new ride can be driven in real life, although he's not exactly sure if it's street legal. In fact, the lucky finalists from this year's
contest got a chance to take a spin in the legendary car with Snyder himself.
The contest selects the best homemade Doritos commercials and gives a $1 million grand prize to the best director. Plus, the winning ad will be played at this year's Super Bowl.
"It's a privilege to me to be around these young talents," Snyder says. "All their videos totally crack me up."
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Zack Snyder breaks down why Ben Affleck is the ultimate Batman
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PEOPLE's Tess Holliday Cover Nominated for Best Cover of the Year
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Tess Holliday on the cover of PEOPLE
01/07/2016 AT 09:00 AM EST
made history last year by being the
to land a contract with a major modeling agency, and made waves again when she was featured on
Now, that cover has been chosen by the American Society of Magazine Editors as a finalist in the 10th-anniversary ASME Best Cover Contest. It is one of five nominees – chosen by top editors, art directors and photo editors – in the
. To vote for your favorite, click
at the time about landing the cover of PEOPLE. "I've been reading it since I was a kid so to be on the cover is surreal."
The cover story documented Holliday's rise from a severely bullied teenager to a sought-after plus-size model, who landed major campaigns with Benefit Cosmetics and Torrid.
"I just knew that I could do it," she told PEOPLE of achieving success despite her struggles. "I wasn't the best, and I still am not the best. They key to it is just doing it."
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The cover was chosen as a finalist by the American Society of Magazine Editors
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Dance of seduction is serious business in ‘Forever Tango’
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The curtain call is usually the moment when performers can finally relax after a hard night’s work, loosening up and dropping the mask to reveal a bit of their true selves as they bask in the audience’s applause.
But when the cast of “Forever Tango’’ took their bows on opening night at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, they remained as formal as they had been all evening, with few if any traces of smiles evident on their faces.
That intensity was in keeping with the show they’d just performed, and with the tradition of the Argentine tango. Though it celebrates the power of fiery, heedless passion, “Forever Tango’’ is suffused throughout with an aura of focused professionalism and absolute concentration.
That adds up to a display of proficiency without much personality in the show’s first half, when the performers make scant effort to draw in the audience. But after intermission “Forever Tango’’ turns into something special: its routines more challenging; the dancers’ movements still precisely controlled but also more fluid, dynamic, and communicative; their intertwined limbs virtually melding two bodies into one as they sweep across the stage.
Conceived by Luis Bravo long before “Dancing With the Stars’’ was so much as a gleam in a network programmer’s eye, “Forever Tango’’ has proven durably popular, ending its most recent Broadway run in September. Bravo is at the helm for the touring production that will be in Boston through Saturday, and he’s also in the orchestra, playing the cello.
Cutler Majestic Theatre, 617-824-8000. http://www.cutlermajestic.org
Six male-female duos perform more than a dozen tango routines in “Forever Tango,’’ attired in a shimmering array of elegant dresses and suits created by costume designer Argemira Affonso. The dances are punctuated by evocative instrumental numbers performed by the fine orchestra, assembled onstage. Pianist Jorge Vernieri proved to be a particular crowd favorite on opening night. Less effective was vocalist Noemi Marcela, whose singing was often nearly drowned out by the orchestra.
The dancers choreographed the tango routines themselves, and they perform them with disciplined technique and plenty of dazzling footwork. Their physical vocabulary relies on rapidly crossed ankles and scissoring legs and languidly stretched-out arms; on spins, twirls, and sudden kicks; on stomping and striding, slow-motion swoons and swift-paced back-and-forths. In one visually striking scene, when Aldana Silveyra and Diego Ortega were entwined, Silveyra allowed her long hair to cling to his head.
While Bravo likes to describe the tango as “a story you tell in three minutes,’’ the truth is that “Forever Tango’’ would benefit from more variety in the stories it tells. There is a fundamental sameness to the emotional arc of a number of the tangos, which are enacted with fixed, urgent expressions that suggest everything is riding on this dance, or at least one particular thing, impossible to mistake. (After one smoldering duet, my companion remarked, “They need to get a room.’’)
In Act 1, “El Suburbio’’ attempts a larger narrative than straightforward romance and seduction, presenting a scene in a brothel that features suggestively clad women and pinstriped, fedora-wearing tough guys. But a potentially intriguing power struggle dissolves into a farrago of clichés that ultimately generates less tension than the fight scenes Jerome Robbins choreographed for “West Side Story.’’
Act 2 gets off to a strong start with “Tanguera,’’ a duet performed by Soledad Buss and César Peral, and electricity steadily courses through “Forever Tango’’ from that point on. Ariel Manzanares and Natalia Turelli bring some welcome comic relief throughout the show. In one sequence, Manzanares keeps attempting to take pictures of the orchestra with a clunky, old-fashioned camera; later, he parodies the melodramatic seething of the tango dancers. Turelli clings to his back, allowing herself to be dragged as he walks across the stage, and when she tries to steal just a bit of the spotlight by making grand gestures, he quickly returns her hand to his shoulder.
In “Quejas de Bandoneón,” Sebastián Ripoll and Mariana Bojanich succeed in creating a pair of distinct personalities while also generating an air of mystery tantalizing enough that you’re left wondering what kind of future awaits these lovers once the dance is over.
At the end of “Forever Tango,’’ after the cast took their bows, they delivered one final display of their impressive dance skills. They still weren’t smiling, but by that time the audience was.
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The curtain call is usually the moment when performers can finally relax after a hard night’s work, dropping the mask to reveal a bit of their true selves as they bask in the audience’s applause. But when the cast of “Forever Tango’’ took their bows on opening night at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, they remained as formal as they had been all evening, with few if any traces of smiles evident on their faces. That intensity was in keeping with the show they’d just performed, and with the tradition of the Argentine tango. Though it celebrates the power of fiery, heedless passion, “Forever Tango’’ is suffused throughout with an aura of focused professionalism and absolute concentration. That adds up to a display of proficiency without much personality in the show’s first half, when the performers make scant effort to draw in the audience. But after intermission “Forever Tango’’ turns into something special.
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Why higher interest rates won’t stall U.S. job growth
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FORTUNE — The U.S. economy created 195,000 jobs in June, more than most expected. The number of jobs created in April in May were revised upward, and the unemployment rate stayed at 7.6%.
The question now is will the economy continue creating jobs at a decent clip, particularly as the U.S. enters a new era of higher interest rates? If that happens, it would raise borrowing costs for everything from buying a home to investing in new office buildings and equipment at a time when the economy, while improving, is still relatively fragile.
Frustrated with the economy’s slow recovery from recession, the U.S. Federal Reserve has kept interest rates near zero since 2008. It is currently buying $85 billion in Treasury and mortgage bonds each month, and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke spooked markets when he hinted in May that the central bank could slow down its quantitative easing program this year. He reiterated the point last month, adding that the Fed could stop asset purchases altogether by mid-2014 so long as the economy improves as expected.
The news has caused a sharp selloff in markets globally; investors wonder if less support from the Fed could really hurt the economy. Since May, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note has surged from 1.64% to a peak of 2.6% before slipping slightly to 2.5% Wednesday. And on Friday, following release of June’s jobs report, a selloff sent the 10-year note’s yield higher, touching 2.719% — its highest level since 2.858% on August 1, 2011.
MORE: Why the student loan interest rate hike isn’t that big a deal
While the Fed’s remarks have pushed interest rates higher, the rise also reflects good economic news as more Americans find jobs and buy homes. Investors have sold off bonds for riskier stocks and commodities; home prices have risen. Even if interest rates go up some more, it likely won’t dampen job creation, just as it hasn’t during the past several months, says Paul Edelstein, economist with IHS Global Insight.
Since just before the Fed launched its third round of quantitative easing in September, the interest rate on the 10-year note has risen steadily. During that period, the economy created 1.7 million jobs, translating to an average of about 190,000 jobs a month on average, Edelstein notes.
That’s not great; it’s not enough to make up for the millions of jobs lost during the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Compared to previous recoveries, this one is still pretty tepid: The share of the population in the labor force, or the labor participation rate, remains at historic lows. So has the share of the population with jobs, called the employment-to-population rate, which stood at 58.7%.
MORE: 4 reasons to stay in your current job (for now)
Nonetheless, the pace of job growth has been enough to keep up with the nation’s growing population. More than that, the rise in mortgage rates hasn’t derailed the recovery of the housing market. This says a lot about the overall economy, since the vast majority of Americans’ wealth is tied closely to the homes they own.
To be sure, the increase in mortgage rates has hurt applications for refinancing, which tumbled by 29.5% during June, according to Capital Economics. Mortgage applications for home purchases, which are a better measure of the housing market’s underlying demand, edged up by 0.1% in June from the previous month and are up 12.3% from a year earlier.
The Fed now predicts unemployment will fall to 7.2% or 7.3% at the end of 2013 from 7.6% now. True, the central bank has previously been guilty of being too optimistic about the economy. If the Fed pulls out of its asset purchases too soon and causes rates to move to 3% later this year, that could very well derail the recovery, Edelstein says. But so long as interest rates rise on positive economic news, as opposed to bad news, the economy will continue creating jobs at a decent pace.
“The fact that the 10-year note is not at 1% is a good thing,” he adds.
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As long as interest rates rise on positive economic news, as opposed to bad news, the economy will continue creating jobs at a decent pace.
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Apple closes a trojan loophole after 550,000 Macs are infected
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Compare to Windows, OS X is nearly malware free. But it does run JavaScript.
Having written several times — and taken a lot of heat from PC users — about the relative security of Apple’s AAPL operating systems (See Why are there no Mac viruses), I feel obliged to report that Mac OS X is under what appears to be the most serious malware attack to date.
According to a report posted Wednesday by Dr. Web, a Russian anti-virus vendor that may have a stick in this fire, the security of more than 550,000 Macs around the world have been compromised by the Flashback trojan.
Dr. Web, which sells an antidote for the versions of Flashback that run on Microsoft MSFT Windows machines, describes the Mac variant like this:
JavaScript code is used to load a Java-applet containing an exploit… The exploit saves an executable file onto the hard drive of the infected Mac machine. The file is used to download malicious payload from a remote server and to launch it…It may get and run any executable specified in a directive received from a server.
Oracle ORCL , which assumed responsibility for the the Java programming language when it acquired Sun Microsystems in 2010, released a fix for the vulnerability in February. According to Ars Technica‘s Jacqui Cheng, “Apple didn’t send out a fix until earlier this week, after news began to spread about the latest Flashback variant.”
The fix is part of the OS X software update called Java for OS X 2012-001. You’ll find it in Software Update in System Preferences. If you think one of your Macs is infected, F-Secure has instructions on how to use the Terminal application in your Utilities folder to find out:
UPDATE: According to an update posted on Twitter Wednesday afternoon by a Dr. Web malware analyst, the number of infected Macs has reached 600,000.
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Compare to Windows, OS X is nearly malware free. But it does run JavaScript. Having written several times -- and taken a lot of heat from PC users -- about the relative security of Apple's operating systems (See Why are there no Mac viruses), I feel obliged to report that Mac OS X is under…
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Chloe Grace Moretz Opens Up About Her Parents' Divorce: : People.com
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01/15/2016 AT 05:00 PM EST
has a lot to be thankful for, but it didn't all come easy.
star lived through her parents' divorce as a child and watched her mother battle cancer when the actress was just 10. Today, she is grateful for her success and the confidence her family gave her as she struggled to grapple with it all while growing up.
"My brothers really protected me," the actress told PEOPLE at a screening of
Thursday, of the more turbulent times in her life. "They had a great bubble around me growing up. They really held my hand through it all. Without them I wouldn't really know who I would be right now."
What she does know is how they helped shape her character. "They gave me the confidence and the power that I have now as a young woman," she said said. "A large amount of the vocal ability I have, came from them telling me that, 'You have a voice, you have the right to say and feel the way you feel.'"
Of course when it comes to how she feels about boys, it isn't so straightforward. Dating with four older brothers is "a little difficult," the actress joked. "They're a little terrifying, but it's good. I like that they show up and they're like, 'Yeah, go take my sister out, good luck!' Keeps the guys on the edge of their seats."
The actress who had previously spoken out about
may have turned a corner when it comes to dating. When asked what kind of qualities she would look for in a man, her well-thought-out list started with "adventure."
"Someone who's down to have a good time and run around and not really have any rules and regulations about things," she said continuing on about the importance of spontaneity. "Really just try and keep it young and fun and understand that I'm going to be traveling nine months out of the year."
As for the trust part, even though her father leaving her mother left Moretz
"betrayed by her bloodline", she had some great friends that restored her faith in humanity. "That's a huge deal to be able to have someone you can trust. It's hard because you become set in your ways that you're not the trusting one, because you've been messed over by the closest person in your life," the actress said. "But the fact is, there are people out there that are trustworthy that do deserve your trust and aren't going to mess you over. It takes a long time to realize that and to find those people, but they are out there."
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"My brothers really protected me," the actress said at a screening of The 5th Wave in Los Angeles
| 25.857143 | 0.809524 | 5.666667 |
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