Huffington Post…

Even though it falls on the same date every year, Valentine’s Day still takes many of us by surprise. If you’re in a new relationship, you’re trying to figure out how far you can go with gifts, flowers and dinner on the town. And if you’ve been with the same partner for years, you’re probably trying to figure out how to raise the stakes. Fortunately, some of the best rewards credit cards can help treat your loved one to a February 14 they won’t forget. Top Valentine’s Day credit card offers A handful of today’s top-rated credit cards can help you pass the Valentine’s Day test, but not in the way you think. Instead of putting yourself in debt to bankroll a special evening, consider using your credit card’s special features to streamline your planning. Check out a few of our editorial team’s favorite love offerings from major credit card issuers: Discover Open Road . This version of the Discover Card offers one of the most unusual signup bonuses on the market: a $150 Restaurant.com gift certificate. If you’re not familiar with the website, Restaurant.com offers deeply discounted deals to eateries in most major cities. It’s not hard to stretch that $150 credit into $300 or more in dining rewards. One caveat: You won’t be able to use that credit on Valentine’s Day, but you can certainly shift around your “dining out” budget for the rest of the month with help from this special offer. Bloomingdale’s Ultimate Premier Insider from American Express. As a rule, we generally avoid retail store credit cards. They rarely offer great value, and their interest rates tend to balloon beyond the point of practicality. However, a partnership between Bloomingdale’s and American Express means that your frequent shopping trips can help you keep your next gift a secret. Spend $2,500 a year at Bloomie’s, and you’ll get free gift wrapping and local delivery, plus help from a personal shopper who can help you pick out a great V-Day surprise. Marriott Rewards Premier Visa Signature Card from Chase. Sometimes, the route to your Valentine’s heart leads straight out of town. This travel rewards credit card bestows you with instant Silver Elite status in the Marriott Rewards program. That means you’ll have direct access to an experienced guest services professional who can help you plan everything you need for a romantic getaway at any of Marriott’s 3,700 hotels and resorts throughout the world. While you dine and play during your trip, you’ll earn a 20 percent premium on your Marriott Rewards points, plus enough bonus points to cover next year’s surprise trip. Citi Gold / AAdvantage Visa Signature. When your romantic getaway means getting really far away, Citi’s partnership with American Airlines can help you score some inexpensive plane tickets. Between a generous signup bonus and AA’s reduced mileage awards, you can quickly earn enough miles to escape to somewhere really romantic. Plus, the Citi Private Pass program gives you access to exclusive events and hard-to-get tickets for theater, sports and concerts in many cities across the country. Each of these four cards offers something even better for your relationship than a low interest rate and a money-saving signup offer. All four cards provide access to personal concierge services that can help you plan exciting gifts, meals and experiences for your special someone. Concierges don’t always work directly for your credit card issuer: Visa Signature and Discover Card outsource their concierge requests to outside companies. However, their partnerships with ticket agencies, florists, tour operators and restaurants can elevate your date to epic levels. Credit card concierge can save Valentine’s Day In lieu of a personal assistant, your credit card company’s concierge service works as a team to track down gifts and experiences your loved one will adore. If you’ve ever struggled to come up with ideal gifts or dining suggestions, just provide your concierge with your budget and some baseline ideas. A concierge might suggest some special deals from partner vendors, or reference some recent requests from fellow cardholders. American Express, Citi and Chase all hold event tickets and restaurant reservations for their cardholders, adding value by making a venue’s “sold out” sign irrelevant. Yet, even concierges from the best credit card rewards programs run into challenges filling last minute requests for flowers, chocolates and dinner reservations on Valentine’s Day. Instead of relying on a credit card’s concierge to save the day, it’s best to connect with them early on if you want help planning a truly romantic experience. The original article can be found at CardRatings.com : “Best Credit Cards for Valentine’s Day”

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Curtis Arnold: Best Credit Cards for Valentine’s Day

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(MENAFN) Scotland-based GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) posted a net profit of USD1.98 billion in the fourth quarter from USD1 billion loss a year earlier, AP reported. Profits were slightly lower than …

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UK’s GlaxoSmithKline reports USD2b profit in Q4

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(MENAFN – Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Iran has agreed to accept 45 percent of payment for its crude exports to India in the latter’s currency – ‘Rupees’, and use it (Indian currency) for buying …

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Iran agrees on part payment for crude sale to India in ”Rupees”

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Here is a new article from %sourceexcerpt%

More here: Michael Bless Named Chief Executive Officer of Century Aluminum

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EUR/JPY:Although the market remains locked in an intense downtrend, daily studies are finally correcting from oversold territory and out from multi-year lows with the market looking to establish …

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EUR/JPY Classical Technical Report 02.07

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Eur/SekThe market remains under some intense pressure, with the latest setbacks threatening a return to the key lows from early 2011 by 8.70. However, daily studies are now tracking in oversold …

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Scandis Still Consolidating Gains; Not Ready to Relent Just Yet

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From
Marketwire – Management Changes:

Oak Street Funding Expands Leadership Roles to Meet Increasing Demand

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Oak Street Funding Adds Senior Industry Veteran Todd Gray

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Asian stocks managed to advance today as Apple shifted the attention from Greece, as it saw quarterly profits which more than doubled, the yen weakened boosting earnings expectations for exporters …

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Gains in Asia on Apple’s profits, ahead of the Fed’s decision and the WEF in Davos

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Asian investors continued to lose their appetite for risk amid thin volumes as Greece’s restructuring issue is still unsolved; the European finance ministers rejected the offer by …

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Asian markets still mixed on Greek impasse, India’s rate cut, Japan’s growth cut and US earnings 

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The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced today 0.3% at 16:28 in Tokyo, although the World Bank cut its growth forecasts by the most in three years, yet optimism improved as the manufacturing data in the …

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Most Asian stocks rise on positive economic data ahead of Portugal’s and Germany’s bond auctions

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From
Marketwire – Management Changes:

First Provider to Serve 25 Percent of Fortune 100, LogLogic Keeps Big Data and Cloud as Top Strategic Imperatives; Remains Only Platform to Scale for Any Data, Any App and Any Source

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LogLogic Caps Off a Strong 2011 With Another Outstanding Quarter, Extends Its Industry-Leading Position in Log and Security Intelligence; Also Hires Industry Veteran Mandeep Khera

DENVER, CO–(Marketwire – Jan 12, 2012) – Thought Equity Motion, Inc. — a leading provider of cloud-based video management and licensing services — today announced that J.R. DeLang, a recognized leader in the media and entertainment space, has joined the company’s Board of Directors.

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Thought Equity Motion Names Entertainment Industry Veteran, J.R. DeLang, to Board of Directors

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(MENAFN – Gulf Times) Despite years of official talk about addressing global current-account imbalances, they remained one of the world’s main economic concerns in 2011. Global imbalances were, to …

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Global imbalances and domestic inequality

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(MENAFN – Arab Times) Talking to the TV is usually a sign of extreme agitation, mental instability or loneliness. TV manufacturers are set to make it a more rational behavior this year, with a range …

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2012 seen as year of the ‘interface’

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GBP/JPY: This market could be in the process of establishing a major base following the September break to record lows. However, the latest round of setbacks will need to hold above 118.00 for …

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GBP/JPY Classical Technical Report 01.10

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Huffington Post…

Constructing a skyscraper once took months if not years to build. But not anymore, and certainly not in China . In this recently released time-lapse video, a 30-story hotel is built in just 15 days, or 360 hours. Constructed in Dongting Lake in Hunan province , the hotel is 170,000 square feet and can withstand a 9.0 earthquake reports Treehugger . According to the International Business Times , the prefabricated modules were put together in a factory and then placed on steel structures at the construction site. The Chinese company behind the speedy design and building is Broad Group , a firm which previously built the 15-story Ark Hotel in Changsha, China, in just six days .

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Incredible Video Shows Hotel Built In 360 Hours (VIDEO)

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AURORA, ON–(Marketwire – Jan 9, 2012) – Helix BioPharma Corp. ( TSX : HBP ) ( NYSE Amex : HBP ) ( FRANKFURT : HBP ) (the “Company” or “Helix”) announces that Mr. Jack M. Kay has been appointed as Chairman of the Board. Mr. Kay replaces Dr. Donald H. Segal in this capacity. Dr. Segal remains as Helix’s Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company.

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Helix BioPharma Corp. Appoints Jack Kay as Chairman of the Board and Professor Kazimierz Roszkowski-Sliz as European Medical Director

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New Zealand’s trade deficit widened in November, where crude oil prices increased along with the fertilizer purchases, as both bolstered imports, also the Exports increased for the third …

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New Zealand’s trade deficit widened in November

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Here is a new article from %sourceexcerpt%

Continue here: ScaleArc Raises $5.33 Million to Fund Expansion

Industry-News.org finds the best stories around the globe and distributes them to our readers. Most articles are published by third parties and these links will take you to other websites. In some cases, websites require their own registration to read their stories.

The headlines are provided as a service to readers. All rights reserved by source. We provide special newsletters on Distressed Debt and Loan Sales News, Distressed Multifamily Real Estate, Distressed Commercial Real Estate, Distressed Funds, Jobs & Employment Newsletter, Fundraising Newsletter, Deals Newsletter, Institutional News, Bankrupsky News, Distressed Housing and Condomimun News, Distressed Legal News, Hedge Fund Conferences Newsletters, Real Estate Conferences Newsletter

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SAN DIEGO, CA–(Marketwire – Dec 20, 2011) – Following an extensive search process, Mark Cafferty, President & CEO of the San Diego Workforce Partnership, has been named the new President & CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (EDC), according to EDC Board Chair Debra L. Reed.

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San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation Names Mark Cafferty as President & CEO

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(MENAFN – Arab News) Dr. Abdullah Moopan, who had worked 28 years in the Kingdom as a psychiatrist at King Fahd Hospital and a medical director and doctor for Al-Abeer Medical Group in Jeddah, …

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Indian social activist Dr. Moopan passes away

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Huffington Post…

Citigroup is not alone. But it has become a primal example of what our vaunted system of American capitalism, once a meritocracy open to all, that has now been diminished, if not erased, into a cesspool of self dealing and outright unfairness. In May of this year Vikram Pandit received a retention award that could reach a pay package of $42 million dollar (“Pandit May Get a $42 Million Retention Award If Citigroup Meets Estimates” Bloomberg 05.19.11 ) which would make him one of the highest paid banking executives in a field littered with banking institutions who would not exist today were it not for bailouts, TARP programs, and on, paid for and at the risk of the threadbare pockets of the federal government (for those who have forgotten or believe stratospheric compensation falls in line with the responsibilities at hand, please recall the President of the United States earns a $400,000 annual salary, along with $50,000 annual expense account , a $100,000 nontaxable travel account and $19,000 for entertainment). Of these, Citigroup has led the pack with $45 billion alone of government succor, reimbursed in whole or in part to the nation’s Treasury, but without the government’s largesse and assumption of enormous risk at a critical moment, Citigroup and many of the other institutions would have gone under. Vikram Pandit’s payout will be spread over four years and are subject to meeting certain performance goals. And how do these benighted executives achieve these dollar and cent performance goals? Well, that’s just the rub. The New York Times has just reported “Citigroup to lay Off 4500 Over Coming Months” 12.07.11 Well, it’s the new American way. You get paid more for hiring fewer people (and Pandit is not alone here), or putting those already employed on the unemployment roles. Wall Street banks in general are laying off more and more people given the headwinds to the financial sector. But that is the point. How many of the laid off could have been kept on the payroll with just a portion of Pandit’s paycheck. And for society to countenance an ethos where the more people you lay off, the more you get paid, is madness. And this not the first time at Citigroup or with Vikram Pandit. In 2007/2008 just before becoming a tin cup institution, Vikram Pandit, after just six weeks on the job was awarded $26.7 million stock bonus and 3 million in stock options while almost concurrently announcing that Citigroup’s work force would be cut by 4200 employees (please see “Citigroup’s Self -Immolation And The Beginning of the Eclipse of American Style Capitalism” 01.2808) from which the following is quoted hereby: “While all these ‘executives’ (i.e. Pandit together with past Chairman Chuck Prince and eminence grise board member Robert Rubin) were wallowing in gravy, Citigroup had the effrontery to announce almost simultaneously that it was cutting 4200 jobs! 4200 jobs lost, 4200 families in distress. Shameless is hardly too strong an adjective. By proceeding with such unfairness, in such a one sided callous manner, Citigroup has become the poster child of so much that is wrong, and much of what is happening throughout corporate America.” And that was in January 2008, before the meltdown in September that same year, and before it took $45 billion in government funds to bail out Citigroup alone. This, only to revisit much of the same distortions near four years later. A transliteration from a popular French proverb “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose” would not be out of place. “The more it changes, the more it stays the same”.

Continued here:
Raymond J. Learsy: Citigroup’s CEO’s Monster Pay Package While Cutting Jobs. America’s New Capitalism

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Huffington Post…

You saw that title, “A $200K Mortgage for $2 a Month,” and maybe you thought, “that looks like spam.” No. It’s real. And then maybe you thought, “a $200,000 mortgage? For only $2 each month? That sounds impossible.” Well, it is possible. It’s just not possible for you. For Bank of America, yes. For Citigroup, yes. For Wells Fargo, yes. For you, no. The GAO’s main report on its audit of the Federal Reserve exposed who received the trillions and trillions of dollars in Fed bailouts. But the GAO report wasn’t very specific about the terms of those bailouts. For that, we have the Freedom of Information Act records obtained by Bloomberg News, which Bloomberg wrote about last week. Among other things, Bloomberg reported that the Fed lent out this cash to Wall Street at rates “as low as 0.01 percent.” To such worthy recipients as Bear Stearns, AIG, the Royal Bank of Scotland, etc., etc. Well, it could have been worse. The Fed could have just dumped the money into a wood chipper. If you do that math, you’ll see that when the Fed gave Citigroup the money for a $200,000 mortgage, at 0.01 percent, Citigroup had to pay less than $2 each month for that money . Citigroup then lent that money to you — if it deigned to lend you anything — for maybe $1,000 a month, maybe more. And that $40,000 credit card balance? Citigroup paid the Fed less than a dollar a month for that money. And you paid $1,000. Citigroup pays $1. You pay $1,000. You see how that works? Citigroup fell into such a deep hole that it had to borrow a “term-adjusted” $58,000,000,000 from the Fed , according to Page 132 of the GAO’s audit report. And what would you get from the Fed, if you fell into a deep hole? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zip. Diddly-squat. Zero. You wouldn’t get jack. If you lose your home, you can sleep in your car. If you lose your car, you can sleep under a bridge. Unless, of course, you’re a Wall Street banker. Two hundred and thirteen years ago, there was a Member of Congress who said: “Millions for defense, but not one penny for tribute.” Now we have a government that says: “Trillions for Wall Street, but not one penny for you.” That’s our government. Unless we change it. Courage, Alan Grayson “Everybody knows that the dice are loaded Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed Everybody knows that the war is over Everybody knows the good guys lost Everybody knows the fight was fixed The poor stay poor, the rich get rich That’s how it goes. Everybody knows.” – Leonard Cohen, “Everybody Knows” We need someone in Congress who is PAYING ATTENTION. And someone who is willing to FIGHT FOR US. Click here, and support Alan Grayson’s campaign TODAY.

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Alan Grayson: A $200K Mortgage for $2 a Month

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Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) — Peter Tchir, founder of TF Market Advisors, talks about European leaders’ accord for a closer fiscal union to help stem the region’s debt crisis. Tchir also discusses his investment strategy. He speaks with Adam Johnson on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart.”(Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Tchir Says New Europe Pact Looks `Cobbled Together’

Huffington Post…

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency draft finding that it may have detected groundwater pollution resulting from a controversial technique that plays a huge role in modern oil and gas development isn’t settled science yet. Nor is it settled politics, especially where hydraulic fracturing has been opening up vast new oil and gas reserves and creating economic opportunities that might not otherwise exist. And so the debate over fracking is likely to continue. Environmentalists have been sounding the alarm about fracking in Pennsylvania, New York State and other places with new gas drilling. They lauded Thursday’s announcement concerning pollution in a central Wyoming community as a long time coming. “In Wyoming, EPA is recognizing what experts — along with families in fracking communities across the country — have known for some time,” Kate Sinding, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York City, said in an e-mail Thursday. “Fracking poses serious threats to safe drinking water.” Jan Jarrett, president of the environmental group PennFuture, said the news underscores the need for more research and protections in Pennsylvania. “It really highlights the importance of getting the best possible safeguards in place,” he said, adding that the report also shows that hydraulic fracking is not foolproof, as some in the industry have claimed. The EPA emphasized that its announcement that it had found chemicals likely associated with gas production practices, including fracking, was just the first step in a review of its science. The draft report opens up a 45-day public comment period and a 30-day peer review process by independent scientists. Even so, the oil and gas industry and its allies blasted the announcement as premature. “Unsubstantiated statements coming from the EPA today stretch the data and cause unwarranted alarm and concern about a proven technology that allows our industry to safely extract oil and natural gas. The EPA’s announcement is irresponsible and leads us to call into question its motives,” said Bruce Hinchey, president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming. The practice called hydraulic fracturing is aimed at improving the productivity of oil and gas wells. It involves pumping pressurized water, sand and chemicals underground to open fissures and improve the flow of oil or gas to the surface. Sen. James Inhofe called the study “not based on sound science but rather on political science.” “Its findings are premature, given that the Agency has not gone through the necessary peer-review process, and there are still serious outstanding questions regarding EPA’s data and methodology,” the Oklahoma Republican said. Residents of Pavillion long have said their drinking water stinks of chemicals and is giving them health problems. Health officials last year recommended that they not drink their water and ventilate their bathrooms while showering. Industry officials pointed out that the EPA announcement didn’t focus on those domestic water wells but two wells drilled somewhat deeper into the aquifer specifically to test for pollution. Moreover, the compounds could have had other origins not related to gas development, said Doug Hock, spokesman for Calgary, Alberta-based Encana, owner of the Pavillion gas field. “Those could just have likely been brought about by contamination in their sampling process or construction of their well,” Hock said. An announced $45 million sale of the Pavillion field to Midland, Texas-based Legacy Reserves fell through last month amid what Encana said were Legacy’s concerns about the EPA investigation. The EPA, which has been studying the groundwater in Pavillion for more than two years, also emphasized that the preliminary findings are specific to the Pavillion area, not necessarily anywhere else in the U.S. The agency said the fracking that occurred in Pavillion differed from fracking methods used in regions with different geological characteristics. The fracking occurred below the level of the drinking water aquifer and close to water wells, the EPA said. Elsewhere, drilling is more remote and fracking occurs much deeper than the level of groundwater that would normally be used. “EPA’s highest priority remains ensuring that Pavillion residents have access to safe drinking water,” said Jim Martin, EPA regional administrator in Denver. “We look forward to having these findings in the draft report informed by a transparent and public review process.” The draft EPA report and the upcoming critiques of it come as states and the federal government continue to ponder whether and how to regulate fracking. Last year, Wyoming became one of the first states to require oil and gas companies to publicly disclose the chemicals used in fracking. Colorado regulators are considering doing the same. The public and industry representatives packed an 11-hour hearing on the issue in Denver on Monday. They all generally supported the proposal but the sticking point is whether trade secrets would have to be disclosed and how quickly the information would have to be turned over. ______ Associated Press writers Colleen Slevin in Denver, Mary Esch in Albany, N.Y., and Kevin Begos in Pittsburgh contributed to this report. And so the debate over fracking is likely to continue. Environmentalists have been sounding the alarm about fracking in Pennsylvania, New York State and other places with new gas drilling. They lauded Thursday’s announcement concerning pollution in a central Wyoming community as a long time coming. “In Wyoming, EPA is recognizing what experts – along with families in fracking communities across the country – have known for some time,” Kate Sinding, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York City, said in an e-mail Thursday. “Fracking poses serious threats to safe drinking water.” Jan Jarrett, president of the environmental group PennFuture, said the news underscores the need for more research and protections in Pennsylvania. “It really highlights the importance of getting the best possible safeguards in place,” he said, adding that the report also shows that hydraulic fracking is not foolproof, as some in the industry have claimed. The EPA emphasized that its announcement that it had found chemicals likely associated with gas production practices, including fracking, was just the first step in a review of its science. The draft report opens up a 45-day public comment period and a 30-day peer review process by independent scientists. Even so, the oil and gas industry and its allies blasted the announcement as premature. “Unsubstantiated statements coming from the EPA today stretch the data and cause unwarranted alarm and concern about a proven technology that allows our industry to safely extract oil and natural gas. The EPA’s announcement is irresponsible and leads us to call into question its motives,” said Bruce Hinchey, president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming. The practice called hydraulic fracturing is aimed at improving the productivity of oil and gas wells. It involves pumping pressurized water, sand and chemicals underground to open fissures and improve the flow of oil or gas to the surface. Sen. James Inhofe called the study “not based on sound science but rather on political science.” “Its findings are premature, given that the Agency has not gone through the necessary peer-review process, and there are still serious outstanding questions regarding EPA’s data and methodology,” the Oklahoma Republican said. Residents of Pavillion long have said their drinking water stinks of chemicals and is giving them health problems. Health officials last year recommended that they not drink their water and ventilate their bathrooms while showering. Industry officials pointed out that the EPA announcement didn’t focus on those domestic water wells but two wells drilled somewhat deeper into the aquifer specifically to test for pollution. Moreover, the compounds could have had other origins not related to gas development, said Doug Hock, spokesman for Calgary, Alberta-based Encana, owner of the Pavillion gas field. “Those could just have likely been brought about by contamination in their sampling process or construction of their well,” Hock said. An announced $45 million sale of the Pavillion field to Midland, Texas-based Legacy Reserves fell through last month amid what Encana said were Legacy’s concerns about the EPA investigation. The EPA, which has been studying the groundwater in Pavillion for more than two years, also emphasized that the preliminary findings are specific to the Pavillion area, not necessarily anywhere else in the U.S. The agency said the fracking that occurred in Pavillion differed from fracking methods used in regions with different geological characteristics. The fracking occurred below the level of the drinking water aquifer and close to water wells, the EPA said. Elsewhere, drilling is more remote and fracking occurs much deeper than the level of groundwater that would normally be used. “EPA’s highest priority remains ensuring that Pavillion residents have access to safe drinking water,” said Jim Martin, EPA regional administrator in Denver. “We look forward to having these findings in the draft report informed by a transparent and public review process.” The draft EPA report and the upcoming critiques of it come as states and the federal government continue to ponder whether and how to regulate fracking. Last year, Wyoming became one of the first states to require oil and gas companies to publicly disclose the chemicals used in fracking. Colorado regulators are considering doing the same. The public and industry representatives packed an 11-hour hearing on the issue in Denver on Monday. They all generally supported the proposal but the sticking point is whether trade secrets would have to be disclosed and how quickly the information would have to be turned over. ______ Associated Press writers Colleen Slevin in Denver, Mary Esch in Albany, N.Y., and Kevin Begos in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

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EPA Report On Wyoming Water Doesn’t End Fracking Debate

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With the Acquisition of Brasil1 the IMX Sports & Entertainment Portfolio Includes Projects Like UFC, Volvo Ocean Race, LPGA Brazil Cup, Among Others; IMX Will Work With Sports, Entertainment and Venues

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EBX Group and IMG Worldwide Acquire Brasil1 to Launch Its IMX Joint Venture

Haley Lends 40 Years of Operational Experience to the InoLife Technologies Leadership Team

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Bob Haley Joins InoLife Technologies, Inc. Executive Team as Chief Operations Officer

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http://www.abnnewswire.net/rss2/menafn/abn_menafn_en.asp Lithex Resources Limited’s (ASX:LTX) tenements near Marble Bar (Moolyella and Shaw River) cover areas which were mined extensively for tin …

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Lithex Resources (ASX:LTX) To Present Rare Earth and Specialty Metals at Investorium in Sydney on December 12

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Several macroeconomic data will be released during the coming week, starting with China’s PMI manufacturing data for November and followed by Japan’s industrial production for October. Initially, …

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The key data awaited from Asia this week

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(MENAFN) Japan’s finance ministry said that last month, the country’s exports dropped 3.7 percent from 2010, to USD71.7 billion, recording the first decline in 3 months, reported AP. The ministry …

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Japan’s Oct exports drop 3.7% to USD71.7b

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(MENAFN – Arab News) Met with a major stumbling block, Ottawa’s ambition to be a global energy powerhouse is taking a virtual detour – away from the Americas and interestingly via the fast growing …

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Oil scene: Canada’s ambition of becoming global energy powerhouse faces roadblocks

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(Jonathan Stempel) – Seven banks that helped MF Global Holdings Ltd sell bonds were sued by pension funds who said the bonds’ offering prospectuses concealed problems that led to the futures brokerage’s collapse. The lawsuit was filed Friday afternoon in Manhattan federal court against units of Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Jefferies Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. Other defendants include several officials associated with MF Global, including former Chief Executive Jon Corzine. Friday’s lawsuit may be one of the earliest efforts for investors to recover money from relatively deep-pocketed defendants that they believe may share in responsibility for MF Global’s October 31 bankruptcy. Bank of America spokeswoman Shirley Norton, Citigroup spokeswoman Danielle Romero-Apsilos and Jefferies spokesman Richard Khaleel declined to comment. The remaining banks did not immediately respond to requests for comment. According to the complaint, the registration statements and prospectuses for about $900 million of MF Global note offerings this year omitted how the company was using high leverage, investing heavily in risky European sovereign debt, and not properly segregating client assets from its own. It said the seven banks helped draft the offering documents and sell the notes, collecting $21.2 million of fees, but that their “failure to conduct an adequate due diligence investigation was a substantial factor” in MF Global’s collapse, as well as in defaults on the notes. The lawsuit was brought by the IBEW Local 90 Pension Fund in Connecticut, and the Plumbers’ and Pipefitters’ Local #562 Pension Fund in Missouri, and seeks class-action status. It seeks damages for investors between February 3, 2011 and October 31, 2011 in MF Global securities, including its 1.875 percent convertible senior notes maturing in 2016, its 3.375 percent convertible senior notes maturing in 2018, and its 6.25 percent senior notes maturing in 2016. MF Global is not a defendant because of the bankruptcy. The case is IBEW Local 90 Pension Fund et al v. Corzine et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-08401. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, editing by Bernard Orr) Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions .

Excerpt from:
BofA, Goldman Sachs, Other Banks Sued Over MF Global’s Collapse

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Can you feel it? The single women are coming. The educated, capable, driven, single women. And most of them are wearing fabulous shoes. This post is inspired by Kate Bolick’s eloquent ” All The Single Ladies ,” The Atlantic ‘s November issue cover story. It resonated with me like no other piece in recent years because it is not just about men, and if now is the end of them or whether they are necessary. It is about the shift in the sociological landscape from a society which has one script for women to one that has many. Ms. Bolick encourages women to give themselves permission to acknowledge that marriage is not society’s, or their, highest ideal. It’s fine if it happens, and it must happen with the right person, but it need not be a pursuit. She writes “If I stopped seeing my present life as provisional… perhaps I could actually get down to the business of what it means to be a real single woman.” Thank you, Ms. Bolick. And that’s where it gets interesting. What are All The Single Ladies going to do? As women embrace this idea and shift energy they have been putting towards finding a mate — and potentially caring for a family — to their life’s work, what is going to happen? Corporate America has no ceiling but the board room’s for a woman unencumbered. This is the most exciting time for single women, should we choose to embrace it. Corporate America is just one place where this shift will have an impact. Here are four changes that will unfold: A pure increase in activity. A lot of women are going to have a lot of energy and time. I know. I am energetic and full of ideas. I am also single and of a certain age. I haven’t happened to meet the right man. In 2004, I started my first company. Five years later, with that first company reasonably established, and with extra space in my head and some time on my hands, I built the technology for my second company. I’m running it alongside my first. Unencumbered single women who by circumstances do not have a mate or childbearing responsibilities have to do something with their time and intellect. Many will channel energy to their careers. Unencumbered single women who also choose to have love happen, rather than pursue it single-mindedly, will have even more time and energy. More platforms that enable others. As more women establish or take charge of organizations, more platforms will emerge that enable others to succeed. Female managers are generally naturally more collaborative than men , finds Alice Eagly, Chairman of the Department of Social Psychology at Northwestern University, in looking at research on female and male managers. Women, in general, are more interested in helping others reach their full potential, than engaging with an adversary. Oprah has charisma, motivates, and empathetically connects with both her guests and her audience. She also built a platform from which she chose to enable others to launch their careers. Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Phil, Nate Berkus and Gayle King all launched their own shows starting with segments on Oprah . Suze Orman and Martha Beck got tremendous career boosts from her. Yes, men do this also (witness Stephen Colbert’s launch from Jon Stewart’s show). Women naturally do it more. More flexible work environments. More single women in senior corporate roles will be better for work-life balance. Single women have lives and they are interested in pursuing activities outside of the workplace. Ultimately they know that this makes them better in the workplace. This philosophy combined with today’s technology portends more flexible work environments. More single women in senior corporate roles will also be better for work-family balance. Single women today have great kids in their lives, and they adore them. Okay, they may even be obsessed with them. The age of the Professional Aunt No Kids (PANKS) is upon us. They are going to make sure that there are reasonable and supportive environments for families in their workplace. A new women’s network. With the rise of women in the workplace, naturally a new woman’s network will take hold. This isn’t bad or exclusive of men. Its impact will be two-fold. First, kids, especially girls, are going to see their aunts and think “I want to be like that.” These aunts are going to encourage girls to certainly keep an eye out for a husband if and when marriage is something they’d like to experience, but to definitely take care of their career. Because a financially independent woman is just so hot (and it feels so good). Secondly, these women are going to help other women — and men (see the point about collaboration above). Madeline Albright has said, “There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women,” and these women believe it. The earlier women embrace Ms. Bolick’s idea of getting down to the business of being a real single woman, the more powerful they will be. Get married, don’t get married, of course the choice is yours. But don’t let the pursuit of it take all your energy. Take care of your spiritual, physical, emotional, financial, social, and professional self. Make sure you are not emotionally hollow because of tunnel vision focused solely on marriage. After all, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of good fortune is having a phenomenal life.

Originally posted here:
Rosina Samadani: What All the Single Ladies Are Going to Do (in Corporate America)

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Michael O’Leary, the cavalier leader of European discount air carrier Ryanair, is garnering worldwide press, yet again, for his plans to offer in-flight porn via handheld devices on its flights. The low-fare airline, the largest in Europe, carrying more than 7 million passengers per month, plans to develop an app which passengers can use on their iPads or smartphones to pull up gambling and pornographic websites. Offering porn sites in hotels for a fee is one thing, Bob Atkinson of Travelsupermarket told the Sun , a London based tabloid. “But that’s in the privacy of a room. Anyone could see it on a plane. It’s wrong.” As to whether it is a step up or down from his years-old promise to offer free “blow jobs” in business class, the jury is still out, (the translator said there was no German word for “Blow Job” and O’Leary replied that Germans must have terrible sex lives). Readers of the Sun and USA Today have offered mostly comedic opinions on the subject. Lionel13, a Sun reader, offered a predicament: “What if the plane lands on time and the film hasn’t ended…extra baggage charge?” “When the plane is crashing, You can still get off,” joked a USA Today reader, Phil Bender. “Trays raised or lowered? I hope that the passengers have to put the tray down while accessing it……..but let’s not go there!” commented Martin Higginson on the Travelmole blog. O’Leary may be the trailblazer of porn in the skies, but the public viewing of pornography is a right of the first amendment, according to various news reports. New York public libraries have recently been confronted with the issue of threesomes and toys on reading room computers because of rather unrestricted Internet access, the New York Post reports . Some libraries do provide private viewing screens, much like cubicles, for instances of personal or mature computer use. Perhaps Ryanair can take a cue. Extra-large blankets for sale? Still, O’Leary has not lost his diehard audience of passengers, according to a comment from Gary Boland, in the Travelmole blog: “He’s brilliant! No, I don’t agree with in-flight porn for obvious reasons but you’ve got to hand it to Mr O’Leary — he’s brilliant at coming up with ideas to keep us all talking about Ryanair.” While others were still skeptical: “If you believe this, you’re an idiot,” writes Alex Thomas in a USA Today message board related to the piece. Unfortunately, excited passengers will have to wait a year before they can access steamy scenes on the plane, or at the very least, until Ryanair can figure out how to provide access to enough broadband to support their app. Ryanair operates 1,400 flights per day and has been consistently profitable over the last decade, even when the global airline industry collectively lost nearly $50 billion. In the 2010 fiscal year Ryanair earned $431 million. O’Leary is planning to bring the airline to America, although, it seems that some of their a-la-carte fees and ticket tactics have already landed here . O’Leary is the leader of a drastic reassessment of the commercial airline industry. “At the heart of the O’Leary philosophy is the idea that commercial air passengers are not delicate creatures whose repeat business depends of free pillows, blankets, and tea. Rather, they are hardy beasts –parsimonious when buying a ticket, profligate once in the air … The question… is not whether the O’Leary Way will be further adopted by airlines scrambling for survival but how far and fast his paradigm will spread.” This, according to BusinessWeek . O’Leary’s dream is that all passengers will fly free on Ryanair and that all income will come from baggage fees, ticketing fees and in-flight sales including porn and gambling fees. O’Leary’s epiphany was realizing that Herb Kelleher and Richard Branson’s flamboyance were generating loads of free publicity for Southwest Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. He once dressed up as the Pope to launch a new route to Rome, insulted high-ranking government officials, vowed to make passengers pay for toilet breaks, and fly in standing compartments. O’Leary has said that the major airlines have been confusing their customers, treating cheap budget travelers as though they were “One-percenters” and hauling them with a level of courtesy that they would never get anywhere else. O’Leary’s ultimate validation for these strange and insulting ideas is that more and more people are flying Ryanair. “The customer is not always right, “O’Leary has said repeatedly, “The customer is usually wrong.”

Link:
Blake Fleetwood: Porn in the Skies: Join the Mile High Club All by Yourself

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This is from
Marketwire – Management Changes:

CHICAGO, IL–(Marketwire – Nov 17, 2011) – Braintree ( www.braintreepayments.com ), an online payments provider that powers commerce for many of the fastest-growing and most discerning online, mobile and social businesses in the world, announced that Capital One co-founder Nigel Morris has joined the company’s board of directors and invested in the company following a $34 million investment from Accel Partners earlier this year.

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Nigel W. Morris, Co-Founder of Capital One, Joins Braintree Board of Directors

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(MENAFN – Saudi Press Agency) The Romanian economy grew in the third quarter at its fastest rate in the last three years, dpa quoted the National Statistical Institute (INS) as forecasting …

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Romanian third quarter growth up; best in 3 years

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(MENAFN – Jordan Times) Four masked, armed intruders tried to steal a display case full of money from a suburban San Diego casino by chaining it to an SUV parked outside, but the plan went awry, …

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Gunmen steal money from display at casino

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http://www.abnnewswire.net/rss2/menafn/abn_menafn_en.asp Padbury Mining Limited (ASX:PDY) advises that an interview with the company’s Managing Director, Gary Stokes, can be accessed on the …

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Padbury Mining Limited (ASX:PDY) Radio Interview on Government Approvals and Drilling Update

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(MENAFN – Saudi Press Agency) The U.S. trade deficit fell in September to the lowest point this year as foreign sales of American-made autos, airplanes, and heavy machinery pushed exports to an …

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September US trade deficit narrows to $43.1 Billions

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Huffington Post…

It would seem to be impossible — or at least quite a challenge — to drive revenue and sales in a down economy, particularly in one as tenacious as this one. But one company has an especially fitting way to make sure sales rise in an economic downturn: sell a product everybody wants to get at a discount; a commodity product that is well-made and will last for years; a second-hand product. Network Hardware Resale ( NHR ) a family-owned company based in Santa Barbara, CA has built a significant and long-term business out of selling routers, servers, IP telephony, security, optical networking products… you name it, if it’s mission critical networking gear, NHR probably has it — at a steep discount. NHR loves selling products made by Cisco principally because Cisco is a top-dog brand in this space so it’s products are asked for by name; their gear is well-made; and last for years after a high-tech startup may be forced to fold. This too-regular scenario would be NHR’s cue to swoop in, make the purchase and pass on the savings to another startup, an ISP or Fortune 1000 corporation. In 2001, Mike Sheldon was a trader in derivatives and decided to go back to the company his father started in 1986. Chuck Sheldon originally re-sold IBM midrange computers and was, interestingly, the former Mayor of Hermosa Beach, CA. “This is the second downturn our company has been through,” Mike Sheldon said, “the first was the dot-com bubble. ’01 was a tricky year for us, and my contribution right after coming back to NHR was getting some systems installed in the company, IT systems mainly.” At the time, NHR revenues were $20 million which doubled every year to 2004 when revenue hit $80 million. 2010 NHR revenues were $230 million… impressive for a family business. With offices in California, the Netherlands and Singapore, NHR is the world’s largest reseller of pre-owned network equipment. Sheldon says one reason is because of NHR’s 1 year advance warranty and what he calls “great customer service.” I get that; when businesspeople buy mission-critical but second-hand equipment, a warranty is crucial, as is the response time of the vendor service. In addition to selling Cisco products about 75 percent of the time, NHR also carries Force10 (now Dell), Juniper, Brocade/Foundry and Extreme gear, amongst others. “Cisco and the others make a great product,” Sheldon said, “a customer can get a couple of hundred thousand hours out of this hardware or 25 years. There’s a long usable life to these products.” “All parts of your network are not equal,” said Sheldon, “security and VOIP have got to be current.” NHR sales are approximately 50 percent servers, 30 percent routers, 10 percent VOIP and 10 percent security, Sheldon estimated. Some of NHR’s customers come to them when they have a meltdown or are in emergency-status. All of them come looking to reduce costs when buying a key bit of hardware. To illustrate the good service Sheldon described above, he told a brief story. Apparently a customer prospect in Arizona had been receiving regular calls from an NHR salesman and always managed to fend him off handily. The salesman tried everything. Finally he gave up. Well, one day at 5 p.m., the salesman receives a call from the same prospect he’d always been trying to get to buy, and things were not good on the prospect side. “I’m down,” the desperate prospect moaned, “my whole network is down. I need it.” Sheldon finished, “I have to hand it to ‘im,” he recalled, “my sales guy threw four routers into the trunk of his car and drove them from Santa Barbara to Arizona to the near-insane customer.” Of course, after that valiant effort, the salesman, Sheldon and NHR had a customer for life.

Link:
Bill Robinson: How Do You Drive Revenue in a Nasty, Down Economy?

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Huffington Post…

WASHINGTON — A federal advisory panel is warning that “serious environmental consequences” could result from the gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing if steps aren’t taken to reduce its impacts. The seven-member committee said in a report released Thursday that progress by the federal government and the oil and gas industry on 20 recommendations it issued in August has been less than it hoped. It said if actions were not taken to avoid “excessive environmental impacts,” a public outcry could delay or stop the gas drilling boom. Energy Secretary Steven Chu asked the panel in May for advice on ways to improve hydraulic fracturing’s safety and environmental soundness. It recommended reducing air pollution and eliminating diesel fuel and disclosing all other chemicals pumped underground to fracture rock and access natural gas.

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Panel Warns Of ‘Excessive Environmental Impacts’ From Fracking

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The iPhone maker spends lavishly on all stages of the manufacturing process, giving it a huge operations advantage

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Apple’s Big Manufacturing Secret Revealed

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After the inflation in China was accelerated to 6% along with the increase in the CPI index, the home prices were sharply increased, so the government had to impose a tightening polices to curb the …

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Finally China’s home prices retreated

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Eur/SekThe market remains very well supported and we look for a continuation of gains and fresh upside extension back towards key multi-week resistance by 9.35 over the coming days. A sustained …

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USD/Scandis Seem to Finally Have Found Higher Lows; Bullish

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US DOLLAR INDEX: The market is expected to remain very well supported on dips after showing some clear signs of a material base in the previous month. Key previous multi-week range resistance …

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US Dollar Index Classical Technical Report 11.01

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By Mitch Lipka (Reuters) – If you are looking for a way to rebel against big banks, you could just sit on your couch and scan a few checks. How is that making a statement? Once you can easily scan a check and deposit it, do you really need to stick with a bank just because it has a branch in your neighborhood? The technological advance of smartphone scanning breaks down one of the last barriers to easy bank switching. As the practice spreads, there may be no stopping upstarts from cutting into the deposits of major banks. The idea of switching out of big banks to smaller ones has morphed into its very own day: November 5 is Bank Transfer Day (see www.facebook.com/NovemberFifth). It was launched by Los Angeles art gallery owner Kristen Christian to encourage folks to pull their money from big banks in protest of their policies, from mortgage lending practices to the repayment of TARP funds to a constant array of new fees. “Seriously, who likes going to branches? It’s much more convenient to either mail checks or use cutting-edge mobile deposit technology,” asks former Capital One executive Dan O’Malley, who is now CEO of PerkStreet Financial, one such small financial institution. Mailing checks for deposit to operations like PerkStreet, State Farm Bank, ING Direct or a distant credit union has long been an option, but the growth and acceptance of deposit by phone could be a game-changer for many consumers, O’Malley and others say. USAA Bank has been accepting scanned check deposits for years. It caters to mobile military families but also offers banking services to the general public, “In addition to reducing costs associated with mailing checks, mobile-based remote deposit makes it infinitely more convenient for customers to get money into their online-only accounts at branchless banks,” O’Malley says. Security experts say there is no particular concern to making deposits via a smart phone app. The main issue is being sure to take basic precautions with your phone, says Joseph Steinberg, CEO of the IT firm Green Armor Solutions. “You should have security software on your smartphone. You should have the capabilities to do an anti-malware check,” Steinberg says. Of course, using a phone to deposit a check isn’t exclusive to upstarts. In addition to USAA Bank, which has but a handful of locations, big banks including JPMorgan Chase have since joined in. Brian Ruby of Stratford, Connecticut, uses the Chase app. “It’s very easy: endorse the check, launch the app, snap a couple pictures, confirm the numbers, wait for an email saying it’s good and shred it,” he says. “I don’t get checks very often, and when I would they would sit around for a long time since I seldom visit a branch, so now I’m much quicker on deposits.” Depositing a check by mail is riskier scenario than a deposit by phone app, Steinberg says. Online banking through remote Internet-based financial institutions isn’t new, but is growing with deposit technology. At State Farm Bank, mobile check deposits are up 150 percent since January. Customers using the technology run the age gamut — nearly 45 percent of mobile check deposit customers are 36- to 55-years-old, the company says. In case you’re concerned about the security of your online bank, check to see if your funds will be FDIC insured. State Farm, PerkStreet (through Bancorp Bank) and ING, for example, all are FDIC members. Being a revolutionary is one thing. But doing without that government deposit guarantee? That’s revolting in a different way. The author is a Reuters contributor. The opinions expressed are his own. (Editing by Lauren Young and Beth Gladstone) Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions .

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New Way To Rebel Against Big Banks

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Started New Businesses for Sprint PCS, AT&T, GE, Octel, and Others

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Charles E. Levine Joins Board of Directors of Elephant Talk Communications

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USD/CHF: The market is in the process of consolidating its latest sharp recovery out from record lows by 0.7000. Although there are some risks over the short-term for deeper setbacks, any declines …

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USD/CHF Classical Technical Report 10.26

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http://www.abnnewswire.net/rss2/menafn/abn_menafn_en.asp Upon approval by the State Council, jointly hosted by the Ministry of Land & Resources and the Tianjin Municipal Government, and supported …

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Delegates from Over 50 Countries and Regions to Attend the Upcoming CHINA MINING Conference and Exhibition 2011

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(MENAFN) Amazon’s CFO, Tom Szkutak, said that as a result of higher spending on expansion, in the third quarter, the company’s net income dropped 73 percent to USD63 million from USD231 million in …

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Amazon Q3 net income down 73%

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