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http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/25/books/nonfiction-in-brief-by-robert-m-kaus.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524114400id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/25/books/nonfiction-in-brief-by-robert-m-kaus.html | Nonfiction in Brief - by Robert M. Kaus - NYTimes.com | 20150524114400 | THE WHOREHOUSE PAPERS By Larry L. King. 290 pp. New York: The Viking Press. $14.95.
Before the production of his popular musical ''The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,'' Larry L. King was a moderately successful, debt-ridden writer. In publishing this book recounting his experience as a Broadway collaborator, Mr. King seems to be following the old freelancer's rule: Never miss an opportunity for a spinoff. So one approaches ''The Whorehouse Papers'' with suspicion, fearing Mr. King will simply drop a few celebrity names, dish out a bit of backstage gossip, settle some scores and deposit some new royalties in his now ample bank account. Worse still would be the sort of musings about the angst of creativity, the trauma of public life, that fill the many dreary novels and films - and musicals -written by artists who have chosen themselves as subjects.
These fears prove groundless. This is a sharply written, funny, even moving book. There are no doomed grabs for profundity, just a good tale - and Mr. King is a confident storyteller who refuses to be boring. If there were any dull stretches in the journey of ''Whorehouse'' from throwaway magazine article to off-Broadway to Broadway (and now Hollywood), Mr. King has excised them from his account. He skillfully juxtaposes his venture into the rainbowchasing theatrical world with his continuing drudgery as a semi-hack journalist, grinding out Bobby Baker's memoirs and making impossible promises to his numerous creditors. (''What the hell,'' he claims to have rationalized, ''even if they kill me they can't eat me.'')
Mr. King uses ordinary words, particularly cuss words, with unpretentious precision, skirting the borders of cliche but never crossing the line, playing on his Texan-in-Manhattan persona without letting it become a formulaic schtick. He is at his best making fun of himself, and (a key test) recognizes the role of luck in his own success. And if he drops a few names of his famous friends, brags a bit too much about his drinking, if some of the dialogue seems too good to have been true, and if on one lone occasion he succumbs to testy animosity toward a critic (John Simon), these flaws are lost amid the general honesty and good humor of the whole enterprise. This is the case, I guess, for writing one's memoirs prematurely, while the details are fresh.
Mr. King's stage production was, he says, ''an entertainment, pure and simple,'' with ''no great messages ... or high-minded preachments.'' His spinoff is good entertainment as well. But if you need a reason to read it, consider that underneath, this is a book about making it, about how - for money, fame or the sheer joy of it -people get things done. Such books are usually enlightening, often inspirational. This one is both. They could make a musical out of it. CONCRETE MAMA Prison Profiles From Walla Walla. Photographs by Ethan Hoffman. Text by John McCoy. 196 pp. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press. $24.95.
In 1978, Ethan Hoffman and John McCoy quit their jobs with the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin to spend four months among the inmates at the Washington State Penitentiary. It was a good move. Their collaborative effort is appropriately untimely (prisoner books being a little passe in the Ed Meese era), but it may be the most painless way yet devised for those of us who would rather not know what goes on in our prisons to find it out.
I didn't want to know myself until Mr. McCoy's terse, clearheaded narratives started pulling me along. Mr. McCoy chooses a dozen subjects - 10 prisoners of assorted ''types,'' a convict's wife and a guard -whose complex stories are consistently gripping, consistently horrifying. Approaching his task with suitable skepticism and a subtle black humor, Mr. McCoy avoids easy liberal moralizing (something that cannot always be said for the foreword by Tom Wicker). Ethan Hoffman's photographs complement the text without seeming trite.
Perhaps Mr. McCoy's felicitous straight-ahead style was suggested by the convicts themselves, who are nothing if not direct: ''These prisoners nowadays, they blame the police because they got caught,'' an elderly robber laments. ''Well, what are the police supposed to do? Not catch 'em?'' A younger convict explains why his favorite prison weapon is a ice pick: ''The sharper it is, the less it hurts. That way you can get one of those vital organs without getting a lot of screaming.'' Confides a terrified ''fish,'' or newcomer, on his first day: ''I think 98 percent of these people belong here.''
Although Mr. McCoy and Mr. Hoffman draw few conclusions, their reporting suggests many. One is the need to segregate more carefully the druggies, forgers and pimps from the truly malevolent, violent criminals - even assuming both groups need to be incarcerated. The main problem with prison overcrowding seems not so much to be lack of inmate privacy as the creation of a system by which more powerful convicts sell bed space to weaker convicts, who often pay with drugs or their bodies. And at a time when a rough, pragmatic consensus seems to be emerging that would restrict the function of prisons to punishment and the protection of society (and forget rehabilitation), this book makes a powerful argument for giving prisoners something meaningful to do, if only to keep a semblance of law and order within the walls. REGULATION BY PROSECUTION The Securities and Exchange Commission vs. Corporate America. By Roberta S. Karmel. 400 pp. New York: Simon & Schuster. $20.75. | THE WHOREHOUSE PAPERS By Larry L. King. 290 pp. New York: The Viking Press. $14.95. Before the production of his popular musical ''The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,'' Larry L. King was a moderately successful, debt-ridden writer. In publishing this book recounting his experience as a Broadway collaborator, Mr. King seems to be following the old freelancer's rule: Never miss an opportunity for a spinoff. So one approaches ''The Whorehouse Papers'' with suspicion, fearing Mr. King will simply drop a few celebrity names, dish out a bit of backstage gossip, settle some scores and deposit some new royalties in his now ample bank account. Worse still would be the sort of musings about the angst of creativity, the trauma of public life, that fill the many dreary novels and films - and musicals -written by artists who have chosen themselves as subjects. | 6.485549 | 0.982659 | 67.317919 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/28/arts/france-s-extraordinary-tribute-to-jackson-pollock-paris.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524120254id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/28/arts/france-s-extraordinary-tribute-to-jackson-pollock-paris.html | FRANCE'S EXTRAORDINARY TRIBUTE TO JACKSON POLLOCK | 20150524120254 | -------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Brenson is an art critic living in Paris. By MICHAEL BRENSON
With ''The Masterpieces of Jackson Pollock,'' at the Pompidou Center, or Beaubourg (through May 10), France is finally getting a long look at one of the high priests of American art. This is not the first major Pollock show in Europe, but the other one, in 1959, was only three years after Pollock's death, and it contained fewer paintings. France is ready for Pollock now. No longer screened by his reputation as the artist more than any other responsible for the postwar shift of artistic power from France to America, his work, not surprisingly, is a revelation.
Perhaps only the Pompidou Center, with its resources and prestige and Paris location, could have assembled a Pollock show of this stature. According to Dominique Bozo, the new director of the Center, the key was the willingness of the Metropolitan Museum to lend ''Autumn Rhythm'' for the first time. When it was clear that the first major tribute to Pollock organized in Europe would be something special, more and more owners wanted to be part of it. The 65 paintings include the Washington National Gallery's recently acquired ''Lavender Mist'' and the Dusseldorf Museum's ''Number 32.'' The main contributors were Lee Krasner Pollock and the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the 23 paintings loaned between them are the backbone of the show. Of the handful of important works not present, the only conspicuous absence is the 1952 ''Blue Poles,'' which was too expensive to be brought from Australia.
Entrusted with this unique selection, aware that the fragility of the works and cost of mounting them may make Europe's first tribute to Pollock the last celebration anywhere, Mr. Bozo and Daniel Abadie, in charge of the exhibition, had an enormous responsibility. They had to do justice to Pollock, and they had to do it in a way that was beyond reproach. They chose to present Pollock as he is generally seen. While their approach is careful, the generosity and care and intelligence with which they have made their presentation is extraordinary.
The installation is both straightforward and imaginative. All background material, including Hans Namuth and Paul Falkenberg's 1950-51 film of Pollock at work, is confined to the first room. Beginning with the paintings of 1934-38, there is a progressional movement toward a huge, rectangular room, roughly 70 x 90 feet, which contains 17 of the ''poured'' or ''drip'' paintings by which Pollock is best known. The paintings seem so alive in part because in a number of ways the installation echoes them. The shape and rhythmic procession of the rooms reflects the shapes, rhythms and movements of and within the paintings.
If there is a weakness in the show, it is that the installation conception cannot accommodate the post-1951 works; after the ''drip'' paintings Pollock explored a number of paths, trying to find the one that could lead him to the next plateau. The most exhaustive essay in the lavishly illustrated and documented 420-page catalogue, however, by E. A. Carmean, illuminates all of Pollock's late work.
With this show, the Pollock myths -the cowboy painter, the James Dean of the canvas, the hard-drinking, soft-spoken, paint-throwing revolutionary who slashed and hacked away at the sacred edifice of European art -should finally be laid to rest. To see his work is to realize the degree to which any myth, no matter how heroic, must betray him. The Pollock who emerges here is a great and prophetic painter, whose radical attack on the tradition of easel painting was maintained without ever sacrificing the easel painter's belief in pictorial integrity and structure, and the great master's belief in how inclusive and sustaining a work of art could be. Perhaps the show is so miraculous in part because, in discovering Pollock, the French rediscovered themselves. With all that one knows about Pollock and his work, it is still surprising the degree to which his work belongs here. The dependence on Cubism and Surrealism is obvious; but it goes way beyond modernism. If French artistic soil could take in and nourish someone with such different roots and aspirations, then that soil must be richer and more inexhaustible than postwar Americans and the French themselves have been willing or able to admit. The Pollock show marks the end of an era.
The heart of the show and the heart of Pollock's work are the ''drip'' paintings of 1947-51. Pollock moved to New York from California in 1930, at the age of 18. During the next decade and a half, he made an immense effort to bring together in his work all that he was and knew and wanted to be. In the ''drip'' paintings, he came as close as anyone to realizing a dream that has haunted 20thcentury art, to build with paint an equivalent of the original Tower of Babel. Guided by Jung, Freud and the psychoanalytic experiments of the Surrealists, Pollock evolved a means of expression so nearly complete and indivisible that it cannot be experienced or analyzed in terms of its components. | -------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Brenson is an art critic living in Paris. By MICHAEL BRENSON With ''The Masterpieces of Jackson Pollock,'' at the Pompidou Center, or Beaubourg (through May 10), France is finally getting a long look at one of the high priests of American art. This is not the first major Pollock show in Europe, but the other one, in 1959, was only three years after Pollock's death, and it contained fewer paintings. France is ready for Pollock now. No longer screened by his reputation as the artist more than any other responsible for the postwar shift of artistic power from France to America, his work, not surprisingly, is a revelation. | 7.533835 | 0.984962 | 104.203008 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/29/world/pro-hitler-rally-fails-in-moscow.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524120553id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/29/world/pro-hitler-rally-fails-in-moscow.html | PRO-HITLER RALLY FAILS IN MOSCOW | 20150524120553 | MOSCOW, April 28— In a land where unsanctioned demonstrations are all but unknown and ''fascism'' ranks among the vilest terms, a group of young Russians tried last week to hold a rally marking Hitler's birthday.
According to witnesses, the self-styled fascists, numbering somewhere from a dozen to over 100, gathered in the evening of April 20 on Pushkin Square in central Moscow, which is popular as a gathering place among youths of all stripes. Some wore black shirts, others had high-shaven sideburns said to be a mark of the group, and a few reportedly wore swastikas on their caps.
The plans seem to have been known well in advance among other youths throughout Moscow, and scores of young rowdies, many from groupings known as ''bolelshchiki'' - loosely united fans of major Soviet sports federations - congregated in the square in the early evening intent, according to witnesses, on pummeling the fascists.
Accounts differ on what followed, but most witnesses said no demonstration ever began. Some fights reportedly broke out, but the fascists were evidently intimidated by the large number of toughs gathered in the large square and failed to mount any real rally. Although the confrontation attracted a large crowd, including moviegoers from the nearby Rossiya Theater, the police seem to have been slow in breaking up the gathering.
When they finally did, the police are said to have arrested a number of youths, both fascists and bolelshchiki. Although relatively small numbers were directly involved and the attempted demonstration miscarried, reports of the incident spread rapidly across Moscow, inevitably adorned and exaggerated and initially treated widely with incredulity. Memories of the war against Nazi Germany and its 20 million Soviet victims remain sacred in the Soviet Union, and Muscovites who heard reports of the attempted rally generally expressed shock that anyone would openly profess fascism.
There was no suggestion that the ''fascists'' were anything more than a fringe movement, or that their existence pointed to anything resembling a national or even local trend among local youths. On the contrary, the unusual unity among the rival sports fans - who more frequently battle one another in the wake of soccer or hockey games - against the fascists pointed to their unpopularity among Moscow youth. Dissidence Closely Scrutinized
But as reports of the incident spread through the capital, Muscovites and foreigners were struck by the fact that such a movement could exist at all in the Soviet Union, when most dissident organizations usually find themselves quickly under police scrutiny and attack.
Also surprising was the fact that the planned rally had been common knowledge among Moscow youth. In fact, teachers at some schools reportedly warned students against being on Pushkin Square that evening - thus guaranteeing, in all probability, that the students would head directly for the square.
According to people with knowledge of the fascists, such groups have existed for several years in a few cities of the Russian Republic and the Soviet Baltic states. Many adherents are said to be offspring of well-placed functionaries in the Communist Party and in the Soviet state, and their tenets seem to combine ill-defined yearnings for a strong leader and iron discipline in industry and agriculture, with elements of racism, anti-Semitism and anti-Communism. General Sense of Frustration
These informants said the manifestation seemed to derive less from actual sympathy for Hitler and Nazi Germany than from a general sense of frustration with the absence of iron leadership in the Soviet Union, with the loss of incentive to work and with the general sense of stagnation.
There have been some reports that the fascists have held minor demonstrations before in such Russian cities as Kurgan or Sverdlovsk, but these reports could not be confirmed.
The sports fans who confronted the fascists on Pushkin Square, on the contrary, have received considerable publicity, largely in the form of attacks on their spreading practice of daubing the initials of their favored clubs on walls and fences throughout Soviet cities.
The initials of the most popular teams - Spartak, the Red Army Club and Dynamo - have proliferated in recent years throughout Moscow, along with reports of rowdy and sometimes violent behavior among their followers. In Sunday's issue of the newspaper Leninskoye Znamya, a war veteran bitterly complained about the spreading of the graffiti, and demanded stiff fines and even criminal prosecution for those responsible.
Although the behavior of the Soviet sports fans has never approached the violence familiar in Western cities, it has led to greatly increased police contingents at major hockey or soccer matches. | In a land where unsanctioned demonstrations are all but unknown and ''fascism'' ranks among the vilest terms, a group of young Russians tried last week to hold a rally marking Hitler's birthday. According to witnesses, the self-styled fascists, numbering somewhere from a dozen to over 100, gathered in the evening of April 20 on Pushkin Square in central Moscow, which is popular as a gathering place among youths of all stripes. Some wore black shirts, others had high-shaven sideburns said to be a mark of the group, and a few reportedly wore swastikas on their caps. The plans seem to have been known well in advance among other youths throughout Moscow, and scores of young rowdies, many from groupings known as ''bolelshchiki'' - loosely united fans of major Soviet sports federations - congregated in the square in the early evening intent, according to witnesses, on pummeling the fascists. | 4.875 | 0.988636 | 61.477273 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/27/business/litton-net-off-13-in-quarter-toys-r-us-and-syntex-climb.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524122036id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/27/business/litton-net-off-13-in-quarter-toys-r-us-and-syntex-climb.html | LITTON NET OFF 13% IN QUARTER | 20150524122036 | Litton Industries reported yesterday that its net income for the quarter ended April 30 dropped 13 percent, to $77.4 million, or $1.89 a share, from $89.1 million, or $2.18 a share, for the same period last year. The figures for last year's quarter, however, reflect a gain of $6 million from the sale of a publishing subsidiary.
Sales for the quarter were $1.4 billion, the same as last year. Despite the drop in fiscal-third-quarter earnings, the diversified defense and industrial electronics company showed record sales and earnings for the first nine months of the fiscal year. Sales so far have totaled $3.8 billion, up 5 percent from the $3.6 billion recorded during the first nine months of last year. Net earnings thus far have been $239.6 million, or $5.85 a share, against $223.1 million, or $5.45 a share, last year.
A spokesman for the Beverly Hills, Calif., company said that the drop in earnings for the quarter resulted from overall economic conditions and that the divisions handling defense contracts and automated warehouses were performing strongly, while those that produced consumer goods such as furniture and microwave ovens were doing less well.
Litton has also been hit by foreign currency losses amounting to $2.8 million in the last quarter, compared with adjustments of only $766,000 for the same quarter last year. In the first nine months of the year, though, Litton's foreign currency losses totaled $1.9 million, somewhat less than the $2.5 million lost in the period last year. Toys 'R' Us
Toys ''R'' Us Inc. yesterday announced that its net earnings for the first quarter of the fiscal year 1983 quadrupled over the same period last year. The retail toy chain based in Rochelle Park, N.J., reported net earnings of $2.5 million, or 11 cents a share, compared with $618,000, or 3 cents a share, last year.
Toys ''R'' Us also announced that its sales for the quarter rose 42.3 percent over the same period last year, to $138.5 million, from $97.3 million. Electronic toys and games made up 20 percent of the sales, double the share they represented last year.
Charles Lazarus, chairman of the board and chief executive officer, said the toy chain planned to open between 22 and 24 stores this year. Toys ''R'' Us, the largest toy specialty reail chain in the world, currently operates 120 stores throughout the United States.
The average shares outstanding in Toys ''R'' Us grew from 22.7 million in the first quarter last year to 23.2 million this year. The net earnings were reduced by a LIFO charge of 2 cents a share in the first quarter of every year, and the 1981 per-share data has been restated to reflect a 3-for-2 stock split in July last year. Syntex Corporation
The Syntex Corporation, based in Palo Alto, Calif., yesterday reported record sales and earnings for its third fiscal quarter, ended April 30.
Net income increased 50 percent, to $34.8 million, or $1 a share, from $23.2 million, or 66 cents a share, last year. All per-share figures have been adjusted to relect a 2-for-1 stock split in February 1982. Sales for the quarter were $209.3 million, up 18 percent from $177.6 million for the same period last year.
Dr. Albert Bowers, chairman and chief executive officer of the pharmaceuticals company, said that currency rate changes reduced the quarter's sales by approximately $13 million, and reduced nine-month sales by approximately $36 million compared with exchange rates in effect a year ago. These amounts exclude Brazil, where currency devaluations are largely offset by price increases.
The company said the Mexican devaluation of the peso will cause a moderate negative impact on future operating income, although there was no one-time currency loss because the company's asset position was fully hedged.
According to Dr. Bowers, Syntex's increased income resulted from a more profitable product mix toward higher-margin pharmaceutical, diagnostic and ophthalmic products, selected price increases and manufacturing efficiencies. ---- Earnings tables, page D10. | Litton Industries reported yesterday that its net income for the quarter ended April 30 dropped 13 percent, to $77.4 million, or $1.89 a share, from $89.1 million, or $2.18 a share, for the same period last year. The figures for last year's quarter, however, reflect a gain of $6 million from the sale of a publishing subsidiary. Sales for the quarter were $1.4 billion, the same as last year. Despite the drop in fiscal-third-quarter earnings, the diversified defense and industrial electronics company showed record sales and earnings for the first nine months of the fiscal year. Sales so far have totaled $3.8 billion, up 5 percent from the $3.6 billion recorded during the first nine months of last year. Net earnings thus far have been $239.6 million, or $5.85 a share, against $223.1 million, or $5.45 a share, last year. | 4.52514 | 0.988827 | 75.469274 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/29/world/mrs-thatcher-s-resolve-wins-approval-at-home.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524122606id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/29/world/mrs-thatcher-s-resolve-wins-approval-at-home.html | MRS. THATCHER'S RESOLVE WINS APPROVAL AT HOME | 20150524122606 | LONDON, May 28— As Britain struggles through one of its most difficult periods since World War II, the woman at the center of it all remains a picture of calm and resolution.
In addition to directing the confrontation with Argentina on five or six hours' sleep a night, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is conducting other routine business at a pace that dazzles her staff.
She is trying, with her public appearances and statements, to inspire and unify a people in wartime, with a degree of success that even her opponents admire.
''I have certainly never been a fan of Maggie's,'' said a Londoner who has voted for the Labor Party all his life, ''but you've got to give her this one. I can't think of a Prime Minister since Churchill who would have done as good a job of leading the country through a crisis like this one.''
84% in Poll Back War Effort
Prime Minister Thatcher's critics, of course, would say that the crisis was her fault in the first place. But they seem to be a dwindling number. According to a public-opinion poll published Thursday in The Economist, 84 percent of the people are satisfied with the handling of the Falkland Islands crisis, up from 60 percent when the naval task force set out for the islands early last month.
Since the beginning of the crisis, the little knot of onlookers at the end of Downing Street behind the police barriers has grown. Often, it numbers 50 or 100 people, and in the last week they have taken to cheering or clapping as Mrs. Thatcher rides by.
The 56-year-old Prime Minister, who has been in office three years this month, still arises at 6:30 every morning in her third-floor bedroom at 10 Downing Street and makes her own breakfast while she listens to the news on the radio.
In the eight weeks since the Argentines invaded the Falklands, her workday has often begun with a meeting of her war cabinet. That is sometimes ''a grim affair,'' as one of her aides described the meeting Wednesday at which the ministers learned details of the loss of two British ships. Maldives Are Not Overlooked
But although everyone else in Britain seems captivated by the Falkland crisis, Mrs. Thatcher also has a normal round of other activities, many of them scheduled months ago. On May 10, the second day of the British bombardment of Stanley, the Falkland capital, she spent two hours meeting with President Maumoon Gayoom of the Maldive Islands, who was here on an official visit. ''We couldn't disappoint him,'' an aide explained.
Last week, as the final round of peace negotiations was collapsing, she had a luncheon for Prime Minister Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and a dinner for Prime Minister Robert D. Muldoon of New Zealand.
During the dinner, Mrs. Thatcher was interrupted by at least one phone call from the United Nations Secretary General, Javier Perez de Cuellar, who was making a last-minute attempt to keep the peace. After the New Zealand leader left, she stayed up until well after midnight writing the speech that she delivered in Commons the next day, presaging the landing at Port San Carlos. Issue of Being a Woman
Associates say Mrs. Thatcher likes the nickname ''Iron Lady,'' which she acquired in her days as leader of the opposition because of her firm stands against the Soviet Union. But she is offended by what she regards as irrelevant references to the fact that she is a woman, whether they come from friends or enemies.
She is said to have regarded as ''beneath contempt'' the speech that Foreign Minister Jorge Illueca of Panama made in the United Nations Security Council Sunday, when he attributed her belligerence to ''the glandular system of women.''
Inevitably, though, even in Britain, some of the commentary about the war has noted the Prime Minister's sex, with comments such as ''she's the toughest man in the Cabinet,'' and comparisons to Boadicea, the Queen of the Iceni in ancient Britain, who led an unsuccessful revolt against the Romans in A.D. 61. 'Anyone Who Knows Her Knew'
Throughout her term in office, Mrs. Thatcher has established a reputation for consistency - her opponents call it stubbornness - and now the Argentines are finding out why. From the beginning, she has said that her intention was the repossession of the Falklands, and ''anyone who knows her knew that she would not waver from that,'' someone who is close to the Prime Minister said.
In a speech to a Conservative Party group Wednesday, just after word arrived of the loss of the two British ships, Mrs. Thatcher, somber in manner and dressed in black, put the case this way, with characteristic directness:
''Our cause is just. It is the cause of freedom and the rule of law. It is the cause of support of the weak against aggression by the strong. Let us then draw together in the name not of jingoism but of justice.''
Illustrations: photo of British Navy officials at memorial service | As Britain struggles through one of its most difficult periods since World War II, the woman at the center of it all remains a picture of calm and resolution. In addition to directing the confrontation with Argentina on five or six hours' sleep a night, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is conducting other routine business at a pace that dazzles her staff. She is trying, with her public appearances and statements, to inspire and unify a people in wartime, with a degree of success that even her opponents admire. ''I have certainly never been a fan of Maggie's,'' said a Londoner who has voted for the Labor Party all his life, ''but you've got to give her this one. I can't think of a Prime Minister since Churchill who would have done as good a job of leading the country through a crisis like this one.'' | 5.829412 | 0.982353 | 47.335294 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/30/books/german-fun.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524122644id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/30/books/german-fun.html | GERMAN FUN - NYTimes.com | 20150524122644 | Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908) was Germany's most acclaimed graphic humorist of the 19th century. Through his comic burlesques for Fliegende Blatter (the formost German humor magazine of the time) and his macabre morality tales (published weekly in Munchner Bilderbogen) he achieved a popularity not only in his native land but throughout Europe.
In a style similar to that of Edward Lear, he combined drawing and comic verse in a sardonic manner. His woodcuts were biting satires the spiritual cousins of Grimm - that attacked the foibles of both the upper and peasant classes. Busch's line was economical and sharp, and his sequential cartoons predated the comic strip by many years. His mischievous characters, Max and Moritz, were the basis for the American "Katzenjammer Kids." In THE GENIUS OF WILHELM BUSCH:
Comedy of Frustration, translated and edited by Walter Arndt, (University of California Press, $35 until 6/30; $39.95 thereafter) the best of these picture stories, as well as comic poems and ditties, are translated into English for the first time. A well-researched, if flowery, introduction offers insight into the life and work of this exceptional cartoonist. - S.H. | Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908) was Germany's most acclaimed graphic humorist of the 19th century. Through his comic burlesques for Fliegende Blatter (the formost German humor magazine of the time) and his macabre morality tales (published weekly in Munchner Bilderbogen) he achieved a popularity not only in his native land but throughout Europe. | 3.66129 | 1 | 62 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/30/realestate/postings-saving-a-mansion.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524122838id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/30/realestate/postings-saving-a-mansion.html | Postings - SAVING A MANSION - NYTimes.com | 20150524122838 | At the turn of the century, Morton Freeman Plant, who made a fortune in the railroad and hotel business, built a grand mansion in Groton, Conn., on a bluff overlooking Long Island Sound. It had 20 bedrooms and a banquet hall that could accommodate 100 people and it cost more than $3 million.
In 1940, after Mr. Plant died, the mansion, named Brandford House, became the property of the State of Connecticut. Coast Guardsmen trained there during World War II, and in 1967 it became a conference center for the University of Connecticut's Eastern Campus.
Now the mansion has been approved for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. But it is in sorry condition. The university says it has no money for restoration. So Groton citizens have set up a foundation to raise $2.8 million to return the mansion to its former glory.
Illustrations: photo of Brandford House | At the turn of the century, Morton Freeman Plant, who made a fortune in the railroad and hotel business, built a grand mansion in Groton, Conn., on a bluff overlooking Long Island Sound. It had 20 bedrooms and a banquet hall that could accommodate 100 people and it cost more than $3 million. | 2.868852 | 1 | 61 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/10/books/much-besides-the-decameron.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524123147id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/10/books/much-besides-the-decameron.html | MUCH BESIDES THE DECAMERON | 20150524123147 | BOCCACCIO By Thomas G. Bergin. 392 pp. New York: The Viking Press. $25.
BOCCACCIO was widely recognized during his lifetime as one of the greatest writers of the age; and ever since the 16th century, when he was elevated to the rank of a co-founder of the Italian language, he has been recognized as one of the greatest writers of all ages. Today, however, he is generally known outside of Italy for only one of his works - the ''Decameron,'' a collection of short stories (novelle) supposedly told by a group of young Florentines during the plague of 1347. His many other treatises, poems and romances, some of which have in times past eclipsed the ''Decameron'' in popularity andmany of which Boccaccio himself professed to esteem more highly, have been largely forgotten, and few of them have ever been translated into English.
It is thus fitting that English-speaking readers at last be provided with ''a general introduction to the man and his work'' - to all his work, that is, not just to that part of it most of them already know. It is even more fitting that this task be undertaken by a scholar of Thomas Bergin's reputation, one whose ''uncontestable ... contribution to the status and growth of Italian studies in America'' was justly rewarded several years ago with the publication, by fellow scholars in the field, of a Festschrift in his honor - ''Italian Literature, Roots and Branches.''
It is regrettable that Mr. Bergin apparently encountered considerable difficulty in deciding just how the task should be carried out. Occasionally he seems to be writing as a literary critic, as one prepared ''to express an opinion of (his) own,'' providing that it is ''not too hazardous,'' about the quality of Boccaccio's writings. But these opinions are usually based on critical standards that are either inconsistent or contradictory. One work, ''The Vision of Love,'' is declared to be ''worth the effort of reading'' because it anticipates the ''Decameron,'' even though the ''Decameron'' is subsequently classified as a ''marvellous anomaly'' with respect to all the other works, and hence incapable of being anticipated by any of them. The ''Vision'' is also criticized for being ''subversive of conventional medieval values''; but Petrarch, who was much more stridently subversive of them, is explicitly left on the pedestal Boccaccio erected for him as the best, not the worst, writer of the age. Another work, ''The Nymph Song of Fiesole,'' is applauded because ''critics have unanimously admired it,'' even though, since Mr.Bergin has deliberately abstained from considering the many recent studies of Boccaccio's reputation through the centuries, the only critic mentioned in this regard is one who translated the work into English 20 years ago. The same work is also commended for being in accord with ''the fashion of the age,'' even though not a single contemporary critic is brought forth in support of what Mr. Bergin likes most about it - its '' 'country style' treatment of descriptive detail'' and ''the unpolished ... composition'' of its rhymes.
Occasionally, on the other hand, Mr. Bergin seems to be writing as a philologist, as one who can enhance the reader's comprehension of texts by revealing hidden citations, comparing later and earlier redactions and clarifying the meaning of obscure passages. But he says nothing about the relation of Boccaccio to the many other famous prose writers of the 14th century. He pays no attention to the many echoes of Dante that have been found in Boccaccio's works by the contributors to ''Boccaccio, Editor and Interpreter of Dante,'' a volume published three years ago in Florence. He ignores Agostino Pertusi's recent explanation of the faults in Boccaccio's transcriptions from Homer as well as the current debate among Boccaccio scholars about the different literary genres represented in the successive ''days'' of the ''Decameron.'' And he is apparently unaware of the context in which American college students read Boccaccio's ''Life of Dante'' - namely, along with the accounts of Dante written later by Filippo Villani and Leonardo Bruni. Consequently, the role of Boccaccio as a transitional figure between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance is largely lost.
At other times, Mr. Bergin seems to be writing as a historian, as one who seeks to place a work of literature in the age in which it was written. But most of what he presents as historical ''background'' is taken not from the current authorities on the 14th century - not even from those very distinguished authorities who are his colleagues at Yale - but from supposedly historical books that are either out-of-date (e.g., writings of J.A. Symonds) or grossly misinformed. He has therefore been led to suppose that Italy was nothing but a ''geographical expression'' until the time of Garibaldi, that Machiavelli's fictitious ''Life of Castruccio'' is a reliable guide to the historical Castruccio, that Piedmont in Boccaccio's day was ''integrated and ably ruled by the House of Savoy'' and that ''liberty'' in pre-Renaissance Florence meant ''liberty of thought and speech.'' The age he thus describes is one that Boccaccio himself would never have recognized.
Perhaps Mr. Bergin would have done better to persevere in his well-known role as a translator of literary texts. Certainly the several page-long passages he offers here from the ''Bucolics,'' ''The Fates of Illustrious Men'' and ''Concerning Famous Women'' are equal to the elegant and accurate versions he has previously published of Dante, Petrarch, Vico, Quasimodo and Saba. As it is, the chief value of this book is limited to what it says about Boccaccio's life and the summaries it provides of the plots of his stories. But even for such things, the reader will probably prefer to turn instead to Mr. Bergin's main source of information, ''Boccaccio: The Man and His Works,'' by the leading living authority on Boccaccio, Vittore Branca. If the English translation of the third edition (New York University Press, 1976), which I have not read, approaches the quality of the fourth ''augmented'' Italian edition, the reader will find Branca not only more abundant in ''detail'' and ''erudition,'' as Mr. Bergin says, but also easier and more pleasant to read. | BOCCACCIO By Thomas G. Bergin. 392 pp. New York: The Viking Press. $25. BOCCACCIO was widely recognized during his lifetime as one of the greatest writers of the age; and ever since the 16th century, when he was elevated to the rank of a co-founder of the Italian language, he has been recognized as one of the greatest writers of all ages. Today, however, he is generally known outside of Italy for only one of his works - the ''Decameron,'' a collection of short stories (novelle) supposedly told by a group of young Florentines during the plague of 1347. His many other treatises, poems and romances, some of which have in times past eclipsed the ''Decameron'' in popularity andmany of which Boccaccio himself professed to esteem more highly, have been largely forgotten, and few of them have ever been translated into English. | 7.270115 | 0.982759 | 72.637931 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/17/nyregion/politics-dissent-over-date-for-garbage-plan-and-utility-referendums.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524124222id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/17/nyregion/politics-dissent-over-date-for-garbage-plan-and-utility-referendums.html | Politics - DISSENT OVER DATE FOR GARBAGE PLAN AND UTILITY REFERENDUMS - NYTimes.com | 20150524124222 | THE tone of last Monday's meeting of the Bo ard of Legislators was evident even before it was gaveled to order. The legislators were meeting at night, which they dislike doing, a nd only at the earlier insistence of Carl J. Calvi, a two-term Repub lican from Yonkers. He was in the Bahamas, however.
His absence, and that of two other Republicans - the majority leader Edward J. Brady of Thorwood also was on vacation and John L. Messina of Port Chester has been ill since mid-October - was to prove more unsettling than the contentious mood, at least for the Republicans seeking to find a single referendum date for two important propositions facing the county.
One deals with a proposed public utility agency that would be eligible for low-cost electricity and would presumably be able to distribute it through Consolidated Edison Company lines. The other issue is whether the county should establish a special taxing district to help pay for dumping fees at a proposed $180 million garbage-to-energy plant in Peekskill.
After more than two hours of debate, however, the board was unable to fix a single date, and there seemed to be some question that the referendum dates presently fixed - Feb. 16 for the garbage-taxing district and March 30 for the public utility - would long remain in force.
The Republicans promised to return at full strength to establish a single date, perhaps in early March. County Executive Alfred B. DelBello said a few days later that the Feb. 16 date for a solidwaste referendum could stand only if it was amended slightly, and he was planning to meet with leaders of both parties to see if that could be done.
Ironically, it was County Executive Alfred B. DelBello, a Democrat, who had sought an early common date, Feb. 25; early because of financial demands and common because it might increase the turnout and improve the chances of passage. But it was the Democrats, led by Richard L. Brodsky of Hartsdale and Ronald C. Tocci of New Rochelle, who thwarted an attempt by the Republicans to achieve that goal, at least in February.
Mr. DelBello, who had argued that it was costing the county $8,000 a day to wait for the establishment of the solid-waste district, probably was not displased with the Feb. 16 date. And Mr. Brodsky and Mr. Tocci, proponents of the public-utility plan, were happy with the later, and presumably balmier, date for that proposal.
The Republicans were furious, however. With last year's 11-to-6 Republican majority trimmed in the November election to a narrow 10-to-7 margin, they had come dangerously close to the 9 votes necessary to approve any legislati on, and with three members absent on Monday nig ht they were completely vulnerable.
Mr. O'Rourke said that the Democrats were thwarting the taxpayers, who will have to pay the $250,000 to $350,000 for an extra election, and that it was only ''pride of authorship'' that had prompted the two Democratic legislators to persuade their colleagues to maintain a separate and later date for the public-utility referendum.
The Chairman commented angrily that the Democrats were acting irresponsibly and had provided good reasons for the Republican leadership to have given the minority party only token representation on the Board's committees. Mr. Brodsky said after the meeting, ''The Republicans hate to lose, and they lost tonight.''
It was not clear who lost, except perhaps Westchester voters who may be asked to vote not twice but three times - village elections are fixed for March 16 - within the space of several weeks, assuming they can remember the dates and deal with the issues. They will also be picking up the cost of the extra elections.
Some of those concerns were expressed at a public hearing that preceded the Board meeting and may have helped to persuade at least four Democrats who earlier had indicated they favored the Feb. 25 combined referendum date to join Legislators Brodsky and Tocci in holding fast on March 30, a least for the public utility.
Estelle Katz, representing a tenants association in Yonkers, spoke first, decrying the ''three referenda'' that would cause confusion both in terms of issues and ''getting the vote out when weather is a factor.'' Robert Fertik of Power, or People Outraged With Energy Rates, sought the same March 30 date and was equally insistent.
He said that his organization had been working actively in support of the utility referendum but ''we're finding people are not aware there's a referendum. We need a big turnout, to establish a mandate, and we need time for a campaign.''
Mr. Tocci, and others, said they would have preferred to set March 16, the village election date, for all three votes, but Edward M. Gibbs, Republican of Peekskill and chairman of the Legislation Committee, said there were too many legal and technical obstacles.
Gisela Knight, deputy mayor of Dobbs Ferry, spoke of two such obstacles at the hearing . ''Voting lists are different, with many village lists different from county lists,'' she said, ''and electiondistricts on the village and county level are not always the same.'' Nevertheless, some village officials indicate d later in the week thatthey might favor having the taxing-district r eferendum on the same day as the village elections. The public-util ity vote, they felt, could wait until next November's general elec tions. | THE tone of last Monday's meeting of the Bo ard of Legislators was evident even before it was gaveled to order. The legislators were meeting at night, which they dislike doing, a nd only at the earlier insistence of Carl J. Calvi, a two-term Repub lican from Yonkers. He was in the Bahamas, however. His absence, and that of two other Republicans - the majority leader Edward J. Brady of Thorwood also was on vacation and John L. Messina of Port Chester has been ill since mid-October - was to prove more unsettling than the contentious mood, at least for the Republicans seeking to find a single referendum date for two important propositions facing the county. One deals with a proposed public utility agency that would be eligible for low-cost electricity and would presumably be able to distribute it through Consolidated Edison Company lines. The other issue is whether the county should establish a special taxing district to help pay for dumping fees at a proposed $180 million garbage-to-energy plant in Peekskill. | 5.24 | 0.98 | 44.12 | low | high | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2015/05/22/uber-lyft-disabled/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150525004513id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/05/22/uber-lyft-disabled/ | Uber and Lyft are being sued by the disabled | 20150525004513 | Ride hailing services Uber and Lyft are on the same side for once: They both deny accusations they discriminate against disabled passengers.
The two companies are named as defendants in a smattering lawsuits from California to Texas alleging they violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to make their cars handicapped accessible. In some courts, Uber and Lyft are even named as co-defendants in a single case—putting the rivals, awkwardly, in the same boat.
The complaints paint the car service companies—or at least their drivers—as callous to the disabled. One lawsuit by the National Federation of the Blind of California, for example, says an UberX driver stuffed a blind passenger’s guide dog in the trunk, and refused to stop the car to let the animal out. Other drivers allegedly refused to pick up blind customers accompanied by dogs.
Another physically disabled woman, Jennifer McPhail of Austin, says in a lawsuit that a Lyft driver left her on the curb because her wheelchair couldn’t fit in the car. The driver then failed to provide alternative transportation.
Meanwhile, other disabled app users are airing their own grievances outside of court. Kristin Parisi, 30-year-old Boston woman who uses a wheelchair, told The Daily Beast that an Uber driver refused to pack her chair into the trunk, for example. So Parisi had to maneuver herself and the chair into the back seat with no assistance, while the driver berated her as an “invalid.”
Uber denies any responsibility by saying it doesn’t discriminate against the disabled and that it can transport blind and wheelchair-bound passengers. It told The Daily Beast that drivers accused of discrimination are usually suspended or fired. Lyft has a similar policy:
It is Lyft’s policy that passengers that use wheelchairs that can safely and securely fit in the trunk of the vehicle or backseat of the car without obstructing the view of the driver should be reasonably accommodated by drivers on the Lyft platform, and drivers should make every reasonable effort to transport the passenger and his or her wheelchair.
Lyft says it is also willing to accommodate service animals. But it recommends that passengers who need them call the driver in advance and let them know–and has a hotline for drivers to call if they have a “medically documented reason” that would prevent them from taking the animal.
Still, the heart of Uber’s defense against the discrimination allegations could not only define its identity as a firm, but set a new precedent for how it and other disruptive tech-based businesses are viewed in the eyes of the law.
Uber argues that as a technology company, it is not subject to laws regulating public transit and other transportation providers, such as the ADA, or “required to provide accessible vehicles or accommodations.”
Still, the U.S. Justice Department recently intervened in the blind plaintiffs’ case to urge that the discrimination accusations be taken seriously. It also requested that the court interpret whether the laws governing other transportation providers should apply to Uber as well.
A decision against Uber could be costly to it and other upstart tech firms that may find themselves classified as belonging to a more traditional industry.
In a Texas case, Uber has already indicated that the cost of making the necessary modifications would be “extraordinary.” The plaintiff in that lawsuit said a driver refused him service and that he could not order an accessible vehicle through the app.
“It would have to modify the Uber App, modify its policies and procedures, and provide wheelchair accessible vehicles in numerous cities,” according to an October court filing.
Indeed, Uber has recently added the ability to order a wheelchair-accessible vehicle using its app in certain major cities like New York and San Francisco. But it’s unclear if or when the option will be available elsewhere.
In the meantime, Eric Lipp, executive director of the Open Doors Organization, which advocates for accessible transportation for disabled passengers, offered this advice in The Daily Beast:
“I think that many in the community do not understand that Uber has nothing against access and the ADA,” says Lipp. “The big problem is that until the courts settle whether Uber is a software company or transportation company the disability community will just have to be patient and try to work with Uber, not against them.” | The ride-sharing services are being sued for allegedly denying service to passengers with wheelchairs and guide dogs. | 41.7 | 0.8 | 0.9 | high | medium | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2013/01/16/why-business-leaders-are-silent-on-the-debt-ceiling/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150530005024id_/http://fortune.com:80/2013/01/16/why-business-leaders-are-silent-on-the-debt-ceiling/ | Why business leaders are silent on the debt ceiling | 20150530005024 | FORTUNE — In the standoff over the debt ceiling, President Obama and Congressional Republicans continue to inhabit parallel realities. Obama insists he won’t negotiate for new borrowing authority, while the GOP demands a dollar in spending cuts for every dollar lawmakers raise the limit.
At some point, these realities will converge: Either Obama blinks and starts negotiating, or Republicans back away from their debt-default brinkmanship and decide to stage the next skirmish over federal spending on different terrain. So far, neither side is showing any indication of budging. And if recent history is any indication, the reckoning will come perilously close to the time in the next month or so when the Treasury Department will have exhausted the emergency maneuvers it is now employing and must instead choose which federal obligations it meets — interest payments to our creditors, Social Security benefits, active-duty military pay, and so on — and which it stiffs.
So this would seem like a prime moment for business leaders, with among the highest stakes in the health of the economic recovery, to help break the impasse presaging yet another manufactured Washington crisis by declaring a hostage negotiation over the debt limit unacceptable.
MORE: Fiscal cliff may have given the economy a lift
To date, the most potent voices for corporate interests in Washington have only offered equivocations. Take Tom Donohue, president of the US Chamber of Commerce — and as such, arguably the nation’s top business lobbyist. Last Thursday, he appeared to endorse using the debt ceiling as leverage to secure new deficit cuts:
“My own view, our view, is that we should not default on our debt, but we should recognize if we don’t deal with our spending, if we don’t do a big deal, the debt issue is going to become a huge burden for us from the people who provide the debt,” he told reporters at the group’s annual State of American Business event. “We do believe we’re going to have to create a certain amount of — I don’t want to call it tension — but focus that we’ve got to do this because we’re running out of time.”
The next day, he offered Bloomberg News a more qualified version, affirming the deficit cutting imperative but adding that “we shouldn’t use — we shouldn’t have to use the debt ceiling or sequestration or other issues to do it.”
A similarly two-handed formulation comes from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, whose spokesman says, “We believe that our country should not default under any circumstances. While we believe the Administration and Congress need to come to an agreement on a long-term fiscal solution, how they do that, and avoid a default, is the job of the Administration and Congress.”
And the Financial Services Roundtable likewise splits the difference: “It is important to honor existing obligations and simultaneously reduce spending to put the country on stronger financial footing.”
MORE: Sorry, middle class. The VAT may be inevitable.
The most outspoken of the business group leaders in Washington has been John Engler, the former Republican governor of Michigan who now heads the Business Roundtable, representing CEOs. Engler has advocated raising the debt ceiling high enough to cover spending for the next five years. On Friday, he appeared on C-SPAN and described the debt limit as a “clumsy instrument. The country’s not going to not pay its bills.”
But there is no indication of a broader will among business leaders to explain the stakes to Congressional Republicans. There are likely a couple factors at work. For one, many of these industries invested heavily in Republican candidates and would be loath to challenge their negotiating posture now. The financial sector, for example, significantly tipped its giving toward Republicans for the first time in recent history, contributing about twice as much to the GOP during the 2012 election cycle, where it had roughly split donations before, according to figures from the Center for Responsive Politics. The Financial Services Roundtable is now led by Tim Pawlenty, the former Republican governor of Minnesota, who, during the last debt ceiling stalemate in the summer of 2011, was a presidential candidate trying to win support among Iowa conservatives by calling on Congressional Republicans to stand firm in opposing a debt ceiling hike. “It’s gut-check time for Republicans,” Pawlenty said at the time. “I wish they wouldn’t raise the debt ceiling, but if they do, they have to get something meaningful and significant for it.”
Plus, while the 2011 showdown — and the subsequent downgrading of U.S. debt by Standard & Poor’s — was a galvanizing event for many CEOs, they channeled that concern into an organized effort to address the deficit itself. The Fix the Debt campaign raised $43 million to finance a push for a deficit grand bargain during the fiscal cliff talks. Those negotiations petered out in a package that did little to answer our long-term spending problem, with the result that many of the corporate chiefs involved must now be conflicted. Flirt with another debt ceiling crisis now to secure the campaign’s long-range goals? Or demand it be taken off the table and hope other looming fiscal deadlines — a possible government shutdown and the delayed implementation of the sequester cuts — will finally force action?
MORE: The fed’s big dollar gamble
“Everyone’s going to have their own opinion on this, including many of the people who are affiliated with us,” says Marc Goldwein, policy director for Fix the Debt. The campaign itself, he says, will remain agnostic.
One lobbyist who works with Fortune 500 companies offered another explanation: The Fix the Debt crowd, he says, lost a lot of credibility with policymakers in both parties during the fiscal cliff fight by not contributing any sacrifice toward a big deal. “They’re offering pain for everyone but themselves,” he said, with the result that Congressional leaders are now leery. “Once they pop their heads up, they’re in the crosshairs to get targeted for their subsidies to be taken away, or their taxes to go up. So none of them are saying anything.” | To date, the most potent voices for corporate interests in Washington have only offered equivocations. | 70.117647 | 1 | 17 | high | high | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2015/06/01/goldman-sachs-paternity-leave/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150602045818id_/http://fortune.com/2015/06/01/goldman-sachs-paternity-leave/ | Goldman Sachs Gives New Dads More Paid Leave | 20150602045818 | New fathers working at Goldman Sachs just got some good news.
The giant investment bank is doubling its paid parenting leave for non-primary caregivers, Business Insider reports, citing an internal memo the bank sent out to employees.
Starting this week, new non-primary parents at Goldman GS will now get four weeks of paid leave in the first year after their child’s birth instead of two weeks. Goldman offers 16 weeks of paid maternity leave; same-sex partners are eligible for the bank’s parenting leave policies.
Laura Young, the head of Goldman’s wellness programs, told Business Insider that several factors went into the bank’s decision to offer more parenting leave to new dads:
‘Mainly, we realized that we have a number of employees where both spouses or partners are working and in order to provide opportunities for them to balance both their work and personal lives, it was important to provide individuals the opportunities to spend more time with their families,’ Young said.
Goldman is not the only Wall Street fixture to offer paid leave for new dads, as Citigroup C offers two weeks of paid leave and Bank of America BAC offers 12 weeks. Last year, Change.org made headlines by offering 18 weeks of fully-paid leave to all parents, while both California and New Jersey have installed state-wide, mandatory paid leave programs. | Following a new trend among big banks | 37.285714 | 0.285714 | 0.285714 | high | low | abstractive |
https://fortune.com/2015/06/04/princess-diana-wedding-cake/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150604201917id_/https://fortune.com/2015/06/04/princess-diana-wedding-cake/ | A London Auction House Is Selling Slices Of Royal Wedding Cakes | 20150604201917 | You can now buy slices of cake from a slew of royal weddings.
A slice of fruit cake from Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ wedding headlines an auction of famous wedding cakes at the end of the month. The sale is being put together by London’s Julien’s Auctions.
A piece of the famous 1981 Princess Diana wedding cake is slated to go for up to nearly $2,000 (or £1,300). Meanwhile, a slice from the 2005 wedding of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, is set to go for about $600.
But that’s not all. Cake from the most recent royal wedding, which saw Prince William marry Kate Middleton, is also up for sale.
Darren Julien, who is the president of Julien’s Auctions, told The Telegraph: “The Stafford London’s location is ideal for Royal fans and this celebration of Royal Wedding Cakes through the years highlights the everlasting design of each cake, inspired by the bride and groom and period of each wedding.”
While these royal wedding cake slices are going for big bucks, the average cake from a normal nuptial went for about $466 in 2014, up from $451 in 2013, according to The Huffington Post. | Attn: Elaine Benes | 58.5 | 0.25 | 0.25 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/article/angelina-jolie-brad-pitt-air-france-economy | http://web.archive.org/web/20150610151747id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/angelina-jolie-brad-pitt-air-france-economy | Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Fly Coach on Air France with Their Kids | 20150610151747 | Angelina Jolie-Pitt and Brad Pitt
06/08/2015 AT 02:15 PM EDT
Fly economy on Air France and you might just find yourself next to one of Hollywood's
were photographed finding their seats alongside their kiddies in the coach section on the French airline while traveling from Paris to Nice on Saturday. (The couple have a French home, Chateau Miraval, in Provence, near Nice.)
director, 40, kept her sunglasses on while helping her children get situated. Her airport attire consisted of a leather jacket, slacks and nude flats, paired with Louis Vuitton luggage.
Her husband helped pile their bags into the overhead compartment with the help of
, the couple's second child, while donning a fedora hat and a dark purple tee.
The family affair kicked off back in Los Angeles, when the
was seen waiting for a flight out of LAX, headed to the French capital. Once they arrived in Paris, the kids held onto each other as they followed their parents' lead through the airport to their connecting flight.
for the Pitts. The family was the talk of the city after welcoming their twins, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, now 6, in Nice back in July 2008.
in September 2014 after nine years of dating – are also parents to Shiloh, 9, Zahara, 10, and 13-year-old Maddox.
The newlyweds recently wrapped romantic drama
, their first onscreen collaboration since they first met on while working on 2005's
. Jolie not only stars but also wrote the screenplay and is both directing and producing. (It hits theaters in November.)
The actor, meanwhile, is also headed to ... Netflix!
Pitt is set to star in the lead role in the streaming platform's upcoming comedy
, which premieres in 2016.
"We are so excited to be a part of the inspiring commitment by Netflix to produce cutting-edge content and to deliver it to a global audience," the actor said in a statement. | The family was spotted settling into their economy seats while catching a flight to Nice, France | 22.882353 | 0.823529 | 1.411765 | medium | medium | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/article/cmt-awards-2015-video-of-the-year-nominees | http://web.archive.org/web/20150610182422id_/http://www.people.com/article/cmt-awards-2015-video-of-the-year-nominees | Video of the Year Finalists Announced : People.com | 20150610182422 | (Clockwise from top left) Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bentley, FGL's Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean
06/10/2015 AT 07:45 AM EDT
Will reigning CMT Video of the Year winner
, who took home the trophy last year for "See You Again," score another win this year? Well, odds are in her favor – the singer has two cracks at it at Wednesday's award show.
PEOPLE can announce exclusively that the final nominees vying for CMT's top honors are:
Carrie Underwood – "Something in the Water"
– "Drunk on a Plane"
featuring Carrie Underwood – "Somethin' Bad"
("Girl in a Country Song") and
("Leave the Night On") were also nominated in the category, they didn't make the final cut, which was determined by online fan voting.
Voting for the final six nominees will open at the top of the show at
and winners will be announced at the end of the broadcast. The CMT Music Awards air Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on CMT. Follow PEOPLE for all the latest from the red carpet and backstage! | PEOPLE exclusively reveals the six finalists vying for the night's big award | 17.538462 | 0.769231 | 1.076923 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/article/barenaked-ladies-silverball-album | http://web.archive.org/web/20150620231447id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/barenaked-ladies-silverball-album | The Barenaked Ladies New Album Silverball : People.com | 20150620231447 | are back, but really they never went away. The band has been together for 27 years the group, selling over 14 million albums – and released their fourteenth studio album,
Through there close to three decades together, The Barenaked Ladies have given us
theme song, numerous hit singles, multiple solid karaoke jams and music to help you weather any kind of breakup.
The secret to their steady churn of success is a simple blend of humor, respect and hard work. The group talked to PEOPLE about how they brought those three elements to
and what fans can expect from this year's "Last Summer on Earth Tour."
I don't think there's a secret. It's work. You've got to respect each other, you got to give each other space, but you also got to support each other. As much as being in a rock band can be really glamorous and exciting – and it can be a lot of things that people imagine it to be – if you just live that lifestyle, you're gonna burn out really quickly. This band learned early on to communicate, right from the beginning we didn't want to just burnout. We wanted to keep making music.
Milkshake of the week also keeps it pretty exciting. Just a different flavor of milkshake. We're into avocado and espresso this week, which is pretty exciting.
We're lucky to have a great audience that's been with us over the years, and without them we couldn't do this.
I think I've actually been guilty of overthinking that a bit in the past. When it came time to make this record, I just thought I'm just gonna write songs and not worry about how I feel about them, how anybody else feels about them. I think I realized that the people I want to impress most are already in my band. If I just do my best and try to write great songs and then collaborate with these guys and try to make a great record, that's my best path to success.
We all have other projects that we work on, whether they be musical or community-based, or our families. Keeping your appetite whetted for good music sure helps, so when you come back together you can make it. The songs have always been good. So to work around that, to provide a musical framework for those songs, we have to get out of the world and experience new things so we can bring it all back to the table. And we try to do that. My world happens to consist of my backyard, my daughters's bedrooms. But hey, It's a world!.
Admittedly, I am the pinball geek of the band, probably of the nation of Canada. I've been a pinball fan my whole life. I started collecting machines in the late '90s.
I came up with a batch of songs pretty quick. I wanted to come to the table with something. I was writing a song; it was really kind of based on an argument that my community was having online. It was really frustrating for me. I started writing a really somber song about it. And then I realized, oh God, I just want to make a song that I can play live with the band. I want to bring energy into it. And with that thought, I started focusing on things in my community that I cherish, positive things that made me want to be there.
âNarrow Streetsâ is that song. What about your songs, Kev? What were the inspirations behind your songs?
Before I get onto that, I was just going to add that I justbring my arsenal of sounds and try to make the songs work and try to serve the song.
âCause they're bad at first when I bring them to Kev! He just tries to make them work – at bare minimum get them working.
I come out of the room, and Iâm like, "I can't fix this one!"
"I'm polishing turds in there, Robertson."
I came in with two songs, and one is very upbeat – called "Passcode" – and it's just, as Paul McCartney would say, a silly love song. The other song was called "Tired of Fighting with You." That's pretty dark but also sort of uplifting in a way, and that's about living with a disease. As people may know, I struggled with cancer over the last decade or so.
It's great to not overthink it, too. I remember when we started making this record, we said, I don't want to think about singles because often where thereâs a song that a focus track, we tend to overthink it too much sometimes.
You end up throwing a ton of energy into one or two tracks, and the song that we thought was gonna be the single isn't the single.
Sometimes it comes down to that. It's like you raise your children, and then you let them go off into the world, you know?
You might put a lot of effort into one kid, and they might end up being the bad kid. It's the kid you neglected that ends up doing something cool.
I'm looking forward to playing these songs live. There's a ton of songs on this record that we could play for anyone right next to a hit that they know, and there's energy on it that translates.
Going for bike rides during the day. Kevin and I spent an entire day last tour buying bikes, helmets, and getting all set up. I think all of us are tacked up on the road with our bicycles.
We'll cross paths and meet for lunch.
I have a personal ritual. Just like 10 minutes before a show, I'll open a beer, just so it feels like I've just arrived at a party. I have a few sips, then we go on stage.
There's a cigarette butt in it.
10 minutes into the show, he's in the bathroom making out with a hot chick. 20 minutes into the show, he's passed out in a pool of his own vomit. And at the end of the show he's in jail.
I donât really have a pre-show ritual. I almost try to sort of surprise myself every night.
That burst of energy. You know from the first downbeat. There's not much like it in life better than being able to do what you do in front of thousands of people who are screaming their approval.
We meet people all the time who tell us that our first record was so important to them. They did a massive family road trip, and it's all their parents played. And then they got really into us when they were in university. It's really cool.
And now here are our kids. We have multi-generations coming to our show.
Ages 8 to 88, as Parker Brothers used to say.
It's pretty amazing. People have been introduced to our band in so many ways. Whether we were playing at their college or we were the record that entertained their kids with.
They were conceived to our music.
We've got a lot of that. "Oh man, I was conceived to your music!" But really ... no
ER: We just got asked to cover a song, and we're working on it. Going to do a fancy bluegrass version of a popular Phil Collins song. So we're working on that. We're also working on a cool McCartney cover.
Also at the end of every show, we do a medley of covers. Just little snippets of songs that are currently popular. I think on this tour it's gonna be, like, Sam Smith,
. It's very fun for us.
TS: Maybe a bit of Idina Menzel too. Bit of Adele Dazeem. | The group is on tour again this summer and just released their 14th studio album, silverball | 92.117647 | 0.823529 | 1.411765 | high | medium | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/article/dierks-bentley-kip-moore-talk-farmborough | http://web.archive.org/web/20150627074738id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/dierks-bentley-kip-moore-talk-farmborough | FarmBorough Country Music Festival Coming to New York City's Randalls Island : People.com | 20150627074738 | 06/24/2015 AT 02:15 PM EDT
New York City is about to host its first country music festival,
, from June 26-28 on Randall's Island, and it's hard to tell who is more excited: the fans or the artists.
"New York is going to be epic," says
, who is headlining the festival along with
. "They seek it out – they love country music in New York," he says. "There's fans everywhere."
is also pumped about playing for the Big Apple crowd. "They see so much music and they can always see when they feel like somebody is doing something original and not trying to follow a trend," he says. "I feel like maybe that's why they are digging what we're doing."
As for the absence of green grass, wide open spaces and star-filled skies ... no worries, says
– that's just a state of mind.
"You wouldn't think country music when you're walking around Times Square, but the thing about it is, when
[in New York City] less than a year ago, we were transported," says Worsham. "We could have been anywhere, and that's the beauty of music and the beauty of country music especially – it brings out that common thread in everyone. For a minute we were all way, way out and you could see the stars just fine." | Plus: Kip Moore and Charlie Worsham share why they're pumped to play at the Big Apple music festival | 14.25 | 0.7 | 1.2 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/02/20/parties-west-coast-seaport-dispute-race-against-deadline/c1RCZAxbi4gvT71uURFDiP/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150628191842id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/02/20/parties-west-coast-seaport-dispute-race-against-deadline/c1RCZAxbi4gvT71uURFDiP/story.html | Parties in West Coast seaport dispute race against deadline | 20150628191842 | LOS ANGELES — Negotiators reached a tentative contract covering West Coast dockworkers on Friday evening, likely ending a protracted labor dispute that snarled international trade at seaports handling about $1 trillion worth of cargo annually.
The breakthrough came after nine months of negotiations that turned contentious in the fall, when dockworkers and their employers began blaming each other for problems getting imports to consumers and exports overseas.
The five-year deal, confirmed by International Longshore and Warehouse Union spokesman Craig Merrilees, still must be approved by the 13,000-member union’s rank-and-file. They work 29 ports from San Diego to Seattle that handle about one-quarter of all U.S. international trade, much of it with Asia.
Negotiators for the union and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents ocean-going shipping lines and the companies that load and unload cargo at terminals ports, began talking formally in May. Their prior six-year contract expired July 1.
The maritime association did not have immediate comment Friday.
After initial signs of progress, in the fall employers publicly charged dockworkers with creating a congestion crisis to gain bargaining leverage by slowing their work rate and withholding the most skilled workers. The union responded that its members were working safely and blamed the jam on broader dysfunction at West Coast ports that predated contract talks, notably a lack of truck beds to tow containers from dockside yards to distribution warehouses.
By January, the maritime association’s members stopped ordering night work crews to load and unload ships, saying that smaller groups would focus on clearing the thicket of containers already on the docks. Union members called it an attempt to hurt workers in their pocketbooks; their negotiators soon agreed to the involvement of a federal mediator.
The slowdown-vs.-lockout dynamic was the kind of brinksmanship familiar to past negotiations between two sides with a history of conflict, dating to the killing of dockworkers during the Great Depression. How much responsibility for the congestion each side bears may never be determined, but their animosity magnified the crisis.
In early February, the CEO of the maritime association publicly warned that if no agreement could be reached, employers would stop calling workers and shut down the ports within days. Weekend and holiday lockouts of many longshoremen followed, though major ports were not fully closed.
Instead, cargo trickled through. Massive ocean-going ships anchored off the coast of Los Angeles and near the ports of Oakland and Seattle — waiting for berths they anticipated occupying after the long haul across the Pacific that instead were taken by ships whose unloading was itself far behind schedule. By mid-February, about 30 ships clustered outside the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors, with similar scenes in San Francisco Bay and Washington’s Puget Sound. The scenes were reminiscent of a 2002 worker lockout that shuttered West Coast ports for 10 days.
Though negotiations between the two sides typically involve public theatrics, U.S. businesses grew increasingly antsy as talks ground on. Groups representing retailers warned that some holiday goods might be delayed; thanks to advanced planning, trouble on the waterfront didn’t steal Christmas.
Still, there were broader economic repercussions.
Farm exports suffered — McDonald’s in Japan, for example, began rationing fries because of a potato shortage. Apple, walnut and hay producers all said they were losing out to foreign competitors. The meat industry tallied its losses in the tens of millions of dollars. Importers of furniture, books, clothing — even Mardi Gras beads — said their products were stuck on the docks. Honda Motor Co. cut production because of a parts shortage. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. warned that Easter goodies could be affected.
After a federal mediator couldn’t broker an agreement, the Obama administration dispatched Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to oversee talks this week in San Francisco, where both the union and maritime association are based. After a few days, he warned negotiators that if they didn’t seal a deal by midnight Friday, he’d haul them back to Washington, where a parade of elected leaders had been imploring resolution.
With so much at stake, outsiders puzzled over why the talks took so long. A summer deal on health care benefits — longshoremen enjoy complete coverage, and the cost of it was expected to be a big sticking point — seemed to portend quick progress. But negotiations stalled on issues including what future jobs would fall under the control of the union, which worries that automation at the ports will erode its membership.
In the end, the disagreement boiled down to the system for resolving allegations of work slowdowns, discrimination and other conflicts at the ports. The union wanted to get rid of the man who arbitrates disputes in Southern California and proposed changes to the arbitration systems that would accomplish that; the maritime association rejected those suggestions — though eventually the two sides found a compromise.
The unpredictability that preceded Friday’s agreement could have long-term implications for West Coast ports and their reputation for reliability. With the widening of the Panama Canal and with ports on the East Coast and Gulf Coast investing to attract more ships, some retailers have said they will think hard before depending on ports such as Los Angeles and Long Beach for the smooth flow of cargo. | With a Friday deadline looming, negotiators for the two sides in the contract dispute that has snarled international trade at West Coast seaports are laboring to reach a settlement. | 32.096774 | 0.806452 | 1.709677 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/02/20/santander/WE0j30tFhQylk3Ij7dbehP/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150628192037id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/02/20/santander/WE0j30tFhQylk3Ij7dbehP/story.html | Santander agrees to ease restrictions on opening accounts | 20150628192037 | Santander Bank has agreed to stop using a policy that often kept poor and low-income individuals from being able to open new checking or savings accounts, the bank and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Friday.
Santander, a Spanish bank with US headquarters in Boston, becomes the third bank, after Capital One and Citibank, to agree to loosen its policies in an effort to accommodate millions of Americans dubbed as the ‘‘unbanked’’ who do not have a checking or savings account and must rely on expensive alternatives for everyday banking needs.
The controversy involves ChexSystems that is used by nearly every bank to screen applicants when they apply to open a new bank account. ChexSystems is similar to the credit reporting agencies — Equifax, Equilar, and TransUnion. But it focuses on bank history instead of credit cards and loans. It keeps a database on whether an account holder has a history of bouncing checks or has created overdrafts in their account.
ChexSystems has come under political and media scrutiny recently because its systems were seen as overly strict. Applicants who may have bounced one check 10 years ago were still being denied a chance to open a new account. So were some people who created an overdraft but promptly repaid the bank.
In comparison, most negative items on a consumer’s credit report fall off after seven to 10 years, even bankruptcy.
Being without a bank account can be burdensome and expensive. The ‘‘unbanked’’ have to resort to check-cashing services for their paychecks, often have to pay their utility bills in person instead of online, and have to pay fees when using pre-paid debit cards for every financial transaction like going to an ATM.
Roughly 10 percent of all New York households are considered unbanked, the attorney general’s office said. Nationwide, the vast majority of the unbanked are poor and minorities. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. estimates that 21.4 percent of all black Americans are unbanked and 20.1 percent of Hispanics are unbanked, compared with the national average of 8.2 percent.
‘‘Denials like these force low-income Americans -- and New Yorkers in particular -- to resort to high-cost alternatives to banks, simply because of a small financial misstep in the past,’’ Schneiderman said in a statement.
Santander, like Capital One and Citi, agreed to take steps to make sure applicants are not rejected for small banking errors. The policies will be effective Sept. 30 will be implemented nationwide.
‘‘We believe this change to the screening process for new account openings will make it easier for consumers who might have been denied services based on their banking history the ability to open checking or savings accounts at Santander,’’ said Maria Tedesco, managing director of retail banking for Santander, in a statement.
Fidelity National Information Services, the parent company of ChexSystems, did not immediately return a request for comment.
The announcement is part of an ongoing investigation by the New York Attorney General. Citibank announced it would make changes to its ChexSystems policies in late January. Capital One agreed to change its ChexSystems policies in July. | Santander Bank has agreed to stop using a policy that often kept poor and low-income individuals from being able to open new checking or savings accounts, the bank and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Friday.
Santander, a Spanish bank with US headquarters in Boston, becomes the third bank, after Capital One and Citibank, to agree to loosen its policies in an effort to accommodate millions of Americans dubbed as the ‘‘unbanked’’ who do not have a checking or savings account and must rely on expensive alternatives for everyday banking needs. | 5.666667 | 0.990476 | 53.809524 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/03/27/aetna-lower-costs-for-most-hiv-drugs-after-complaint/MgG9i3Num0ko5MkpxbWXtM/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150702023412id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/03/27/aetna-lower-costs-for-most-hiv-drugs-after-complaint/MgG9i3Num0ko5MkpxbWXtM/story.html | Aetna to lower costs for most HIV drugs after complaint | 20150702023412 | NEW YORK — Aetna Inc. has agreed to reduce out-of- pocket payments for most HIV and AIDS medicines after pressure from an advocacy group, revising coverage that had some patients paying $1,000 a month for the drugs.
Before the change, Aetna put almost all HIV drugs in its highest category of cost sharing, asking patients to pay as much as half the expense of high-priced medicines, according to the AIDS Institute. The health insurer will move the drugs into a category that will charge patients $5 to $100 after deductibles are met, the nonprofit institute said Thursday. Cynthia Michener, an Aetna spokeswoman, confirmed the change.
‘‘Aetna’s announcement will help ensure that people living with HIV/AIDS throughout the country will have greater access to essential medicines at a more affordable cost,’’ Michael Ruppal, executive director of the AIDS Institute, said in the statement. ‘‘However, there are still many other insurers who are charging patients excessive costs for their HIV medications.’’
The announcement comes after the AIDS Institute and the National Health Law Program filed a complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services in May 2014 alleging that Aetna, Humana Inc. and Cigna Corp. tried to steer HIV and AIDS patients away from plans offered in the federal insurance exchange in Florida by restricting coverage of HIV medicines. In mid-level ‘‘silver plans’’ offered in Florida, all three insurers required high out-of-pocket spending, the groups said.
Florida’s insurance commissioner, Kevin McCarty, said in a separate statement that he anticipates ‘‘working with other health plans who have also committed to focusing their efforts on this important issue.’’
Aetna’s co-payment changes will be effective June 1, and continue nationwide in the individual market through 2016, the AIDS Institute said. The Hartford, Connecticut-based insurer is the third-largest in the U.S. by revenue.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act bars insurers from denying coverage to people who are sick. Advocates for people with costly illnesses, such as AIDS or cancer, have been concerned that insurers could construct benefit packages discouraging sick people from picking their products.
Carl Schmid, deputy executive director of the AIDS Institute, said the group will keep pushing insurers to lower costs nationally for treatment of the diseases. He said his group is also examining the expense of hepatitis C medications.
‘‘There’s been some improvement, but not enough,’’ Schmid said Friday by phone. ‘‘We need the ACA to work for patients, and that’s our goal.’’ | The company is revising coverage that had some patients paying $1,000 a month for drugs. | 29.352941 | 0.941176 | 8.823529 | medium | medium | extractive |
http://www.people.com/article/el-james-twitter-event-backfires-fifty-shades-grey | http://web.archive.org/web/20150703010033id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/el-james-twitter-event-backfires-fifty-shades-grey | #AskELJames Twitter Event Backfires : People.com | 20150703010033 | 06/30/2015 AT 12:15 AM EDT
This might have been too rough for even Christian Grey.
Twitter event was intended to promote author
from the perspective of its male protagonist.
However, critics of the book series took the opportunity to pose the author some very confrontational questions about consent and misogyny and sexual violence.
Mon 29 Jun at 6pm UK time, @E_L_James will be doing a live chat with @TwitterBooks. Use #AskELJames to ask a question pic.twitter.com/Ixu9fPo31v
Many accused the books of condoning abuse, while others found fault with James' stated desire to explore the motivations of the series anti-hero sadomasochism practitioner, Christian Grey.
Here is just a sampling of the Tweets lobbed during the event.
#AskELJames my bf doesn't like my boss so he buys my place of work. I should consider that generous right?
Why don't you use your ill gotten fame to raise awareness of domestic & sexual violence or advocate on behalf of survivors? #AskELJames
My boss said no when I asked if I could kiss him and then I did anyway because no means yes right? Things at work are awkward. #AskELJames
#askeljames Do you ever wonder how powerful your books could have been if you'd had Ana break free of the abuse in the end?
#AskELJames Do you know what consent means? What about abuse? Very important questions, please answer.
If I stalk a girl and GPS her car, does that mean it's true love? #AskELJames
#AskELJames When humiliating my date to tears , how much money must I spend to be seen as sexy and eccentric ?
#AskELJames so did you intentionally make Christian Grey precisely follow the behaviors of an abuser, or was that just a happy accident?
#AskELJames If your sons behaved like Christian Grey does towards women, would you be okay with that? If so, WHY?!
#AskELJames Seriously, why did you ignore then block me when I told you I was a survivor & suggested you maybe donate to an abuse charity?
#AskELJames Do all these negative tweets sent to you seem abusive to you? I think it's romantic enough to be turned into a novel!
took a moment to point out how blistering the questions had been.
"You should do a Twitter Q & A" - E.L. James' Ex Publicist.
For her part, James answered other questions straightforwardly and seemed to ignore the ones criticizing her.
.@LovellsQueen Today - To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (looking forward to the new one!)
.@OnlineFifty I've written a new book and am halfway through another. Both romances. Not sure when I will finish them. :)
But hey – her promotional team can definitely say they proved that readers have some very strong feelings about the | A social media event designed to promote James' new book quickly went south on Monday | 34.0625 | 0.5625 | 0.9375 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://fortune.com/2011/07/25/inside-the-oval-office-the-management-styles-of-clinton-and-obama/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150703043747id_/http://fortune.com:80/2011/07/25/inside-the-oval-office-the-management-styles-of-clinton-and-obama/ | Inside the Oval Office: The management styles of Clinton and Obama | 20150703043747 | FORTUNE — Larry Summers made waves at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference last week with his candid comments about the Winklevoss twins when asked about his scene in the movie The Social Network. The Harvard professor also talked about how he sees a sort of Financial Armageddon on the horizon as the debt talks break down in Washington.
During his wide-ranging interview with the Aspen Institute’s Walter Isaacson, Summers, who joined the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz as special adviser last month, revealed stark differences in management styles between Presidents Clinton and Obama.
Here is an excerpt from the interview:
Summers: Okay. So you’re working for Bill Clinton. Well, let’s do it differently. Let’s do it the other way. You’re working for Barack Obama. If you have a meeting scheduled at ten o’clock, there’s a 25% chance that the meeting will begin before ten o’clock, and there’s a — you know what’s coming, and there’s a 70% chance that the meeting will have begun by 10:15.
If you wrote Barack Obama a memo before the meeting, it is a virtual certainty that he will have read it. If you seek to explain the memo you wrote to him during the meeting, he will cut you off, and he will be irritated. He, as the leader of the meeting, will ask one or two questions to kick the tires, but will basically focus on how whatever subject you’re talking about fits with the broad vision and approaches of his presidency.
He will basically take the attitude if you’re his financial adviser, that if you can’t — it’s up to you to figure out whether preferred stock or subordinated debt is the appropriate financial instrument for your bailout, and that if he doesn’t trust you to figure it out, he’ll get a new financial adviser, but that is not the question on which he is going to spend time.
So it’s a very focused executive, big picture guidance, disciplined approach. At the appointed time, his secretary will come in and will bring a card that says it’s time for his next meeting, and you will be out of that office within five minutes. It is a certainty. That’s working for Barack Obama, and it is a wonderful experience.
Working for Bill Clinton is also a wonderful experience. It is a different experience.
The probability that your meeting will begin before ten o’clock is zero.
The probability that there is compensation for the fact that your meeting will begin late, it is virtually certain to end late. Bill Clinton has a 30% chance of having read your memo before the meeting. Bill Clinton will, however, with near certainty, have some set of quite detailed and thoughtful perspectives to offer on your topic.
He will say things like “I was in the White House library reading the Journal of Finance, and there’s some really interesting thinking about the role of dividends in the system.” “I went to a conference at the Brookings Institution 11 years ago, and do you know that there’s a really interesting experiment with providing credit access in Tennessee?”
“Did you read the latest issue of — the Asian edition of The Economist? It had a perspective on Thailand that you might want to think about.” There was a stunning, I mean you know, while he wasn’t reading your memo, it wasn’t that he wasn’t doing anything about it.
So it was a very different kind of experience that was also extraordinary in its way. I think the nation has been fortunate to have two such thoughtful, purposeful, highly intelligent and focused people, who have served as President, and it’s certainly been my good fortune to work for both of them, with their rather different styles.
Read the full transcript here . | Larry Summers served as Treasury Secretary for Bill Clinton and as economic adviser for President Obama. He offers some light-hearted insight into the many differences in their leadership styles. | 22.636364 | 0.727273 | 1.212121 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/07/11/10/28/germany-wants-greek-exit-to-scare-france | http://web.archive.org/web/20150714015712id_/http://www.9news.com.au:80/world/2015/07/11/10/28/germany-wants-greek-exit-to-scare-france | Germany wants Greek exit to scare France | 20150714015712 | Germany wants Greece pushed out of the euro currency to frighten France into accepting Berlin's "model of a disciplinarian eurozone", former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis says.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble wants a Greek exit, or Grexit, from the eurozone to "clear the air, one way or the other", Varoufakis wrote in British newspaper The Guardian.
"My conviction is that the German finance minister wants Greece to be pushed out of the single currency to put the fear of God into the French and have them accept his model of a disciplinarian eurozone/
"Schaeuble is convinced that as things stand, he needs a Grexit to clear the air, one way or another," said Varoufakis, who stepped down as finance minister on Monday after months of wranglings.
Greece's parliament was expected, in the early hours of Saturday, to approve last-ditch government proposals to its eurozone creditors aimed at preventing a messy exit from the currency union.
The vote comes as months of bitter wranglings between Greece and its creditors are reaching a climax, themselves the culmination of a years-long debt crisis that has engulfed the eurozone, including it's second-largest economy France.
France's parliament on Friday adopted reforms designed to jump-start the country's moribund economy, which is struggling with meagre growth and sky high unemployment, as well as a vast debt pile that has created friction with Brussels.
Varoufakis said the Germans, seen as Europe's paymasters and the drivers of austerity, wanted to use Greece as an example to keep the French in line.
"Suddenly, a permanently unsustainable Greek public debt, without which the risk of Grexit would fade, has acquired a new usefulness for Schaeuble," he said.
When Greece became insolvent in 2010, instead of restructuring the debt and reforming the economy, the "toxic option" was chosen: "Extending new loans to a bankrupt entity while pretending that it remains solvent."
Do you have any news photos or videos? | Greece's former finance minister says Germany wants a Greek exit from the eurozone to "clear the air, one way or the other". | 14.407407 | 1 | 9.222222 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/02/03/15/07/china-has-boom-industry-for-chairman-mao-lookalikes | http://web.archive.org/web/20150715121118id_/http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/02/03/15/07/china-has-boom-industry-for-chairman-mao-lookalikes | Mao roles mean Mao problems for Chinese actor lookalikes | 20150715121118 | Actor Xu Ruilin is getting a lot of roles based on his resemblance to former Chinese dictator, Chairman Mao Zedong. (Getty)
He has little interest in politics and is no socialist fanatic, but Xu Ruilin spends every free moment practising how to speak, write, walk and think like Mao Zedong.
The 58-year-old has an eerie resemblance to the founding father of Communist China, and is one of scores of lookalike Chinese actors in ever increasing demand as production of historical propaganda television shows and films goes into overdrive.
Known as "texing yanyuan" -- "special type of actors" -- each one portrays a particular departed leader in voice, looks and style, akin to Elvis impersonators for famous Communists.
As well as Mao, their alter egos include his right hand man Zhou Enlai, economic reformer Deng Xiaoping and a host of other top brass.
Since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012 and launched a crackdown on dissent, China's broadcast censors have narrowed what is deemed acceptable, sending producers flocking to the relative safety of shows and films in line with the Communist Party's approved version of history.
"Actors and directors told me for years I should play Chairman Mao, but mostly I ignored them," said Xu, who spent most of his career in the theatre.
"But these days there are so many opportunities to play Mao."
Even out of character, Xu has the Great Helmsman's hair and features. At work, he completes the transformation with a signature artificial chin mole, a grey Mao suit -- the trousers hiked far above the navel -- and by chain-smoking cigarettes.
He is constantly working on his Hunan dialect, the provincial inflected Chinese of Mao's home, and the leader's particular style of calligraphy, still used for the masthead of the ruling party's mouthpiece newspaper the People's Daily.
Even Mao Xinyu, Mao's corpulent grandson and a major general in the People's Liberation Army, has given him his blessing, saying he was "very satisfied" with his performance, Xu said.
The more fortunate actors get starring screen roles, but most mimics are relegated, like their hip-gyrating Elvis brethren, to playing to smaller audiences, renting themselves out for corporate events, weddings and birthdays.
"Company tours always start with a rousing speech and then I'm treated like a visiting dignitary, like the real Mao, during a tour," said Xu, days after an appearance at a battery factory.
The vast majority of Chinese television historical dramas centre on the country's recent past, often set during Japan's 20th-century invasion and occupation, and with Communist Party cadres always the heroes.
They have seen a marked increase since Xi took power, accounting for roughly 44 percent of all Chinese shows produced in 2013, according to statistics from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), the most recent available.
Most of the entries on one SAPPRFT list of 127 "recommended television programmes for broadcast" leaked by Chinese media last year were propaganda pieces, with titles including "Deng Xiaoping at History's Crossroads", "Zhu De, a Founding Father" and "We Are Party Members".
Plot lines in other shows are also subject to the censors' whim, which has seen time travel, one-night stands, the use of sex in espionage, and women falling in love with more than one man all banned as subjects, along with wordplay and puns.
"Restrictions placed on most programmes make them very difficult to produce, but anyone is completely free to make anti-Japanese or historical shows," Zhu Dake, a professor at Shanghai's Tongji University, told AFP.
"In order to avoid spending a lot of money only to have a programme censored, everyone's making so-called historical shows because they have less restrictions and there's less risk."
The special actor concept was largely an import from the Soviet Union, beginning in the late 1970s in the wake of Mao's death and initially limited to one or two actors constantly reprising their roles.
It has expanded in tandem with the media landscape and been a boon for Guo Weihua, who could be a twin of Zhou Enlai, but drives a Mercedes and sips lattes at Starbucks.
"I used to play other parts, but now there's too many projects with Zhou Enlai I almost always play him," said Guo, 52. "He has already gone into my bone marrow, when I'm standing in front of a camera, I am Zhou Enlai."
After appearing as Zhou in more than 70 television series and films, Guo would like to diversify but is thoroughly typecast.
"For Chinese people of a certain age, we have a saying," he said. "Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, these two great men, were sent by God."
In 1942, Mao himself said that art must "serve the masses" and decried bourgeois literature and art, adding that works attacking the Communist Party should be severely criticised and repudiated.
President Xi takes a similar line. In October he said artists should spread "Chinese values" and not be "slaves" to the market, nor "go astray while answering the question of whom to serve".
It is a question that even the lookalike actors should be asking themselves, according to Professor Zhu, bemoaning the abilities of some recent recruits.
"The newcomers that play Mao Zedong these days, they haven't read Mao's biography, they haven't read Mao's writings," he said. "So how can they play him well?"
Do you have any news photos or videos? | Chinese actors who look like the nation's great historical Communist leaders are in big demand right now as censor-bound directors turn to history - but the actors themselves say it's not all good news. | 28.692308 | 0.769231 | 0.871795 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/09/wed-have-to-defend-against-a-nuclear-iran-defense-secretary.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150717053354id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/09/wed-have-to-defend-against-a-nuclear-iran-defense-secretary.html | We'd have to defend against a nuclear Iran: Defense secretary | 20150717053354 | Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said Thursday that the United States would have to defend itself against a nuclear Iran, but he said that a good deal with the country on its nuclear program would ensure stability.
Earlier in the day, Secretary of State John Kerry said that major progress has been made in talks with Iran. However, he noted that some tough issues remained unresolved.
"One of the purposes of Secretary Kerry's talks is to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon. Those talks are ongoing now. I don't know how they'll turn out," Carter said in an interview that aired on CNBC's "Closing Bell."
"I think the president has made it clear that he will only agree to a good deal and a good deal would stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, which would make it much easier for us to ensure stability and protect ourselves."
Read MoreKerry: Real progress being made in Iran nuclear talks
The negotiations are about restricting Iran's nuclear program to nonmilitary usage in exchange for sanctions relief.
Carter, who spoke to media moguls and technology leaders at Allen & Co.'s annual summit in Sun Valley, Idaho, on Thursday, also addressed the need for cooperation between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon.
He called it a national security issue.
"If you are thinking about the long term … security and vitality of the Department of Defense, I need to be concerned about things, and I am, like science, technology engineering, mathematics, education, schools and all the other things that go into making what has been for all of our lives and our generation now the most innovative country in the world."
—CNBC's Julia Boorstin and Reem Nasr contributed to this report. | The U.S. would have to defend against a nuclear Iran, but a good deal on its program would ensure stability, Ashton Carter said. | 13.076923 | 0.961538 | 3.576923 | low | high | mixed |
http://www.cnbc.com/2013/12/18/nmental-damage-involves-kuznets-curve-and-economics.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150720201909id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2013/12/18/nmental-damage-involves-kuznets-curve-and-economics.html | Environmental damage involves Kuznets curve and economics | 20150720201909 | A cyclist wearing mask rides along a road in Nanjing, China.
Still, the pollution in China will likely get worse before getting better, experts say.
Case in point: The Chinese government announced last week that pilots of domestic airlines are being trained to fly blind landings into the country's 10 most polluted cities, including Beijing, because of the smog.
Meanwhile, not all of China's population may feel like they are wealthy enough to "think green." In 2012, China's gross national income per capita of $6,091 ranked 90th, and about 128 million people still live below the national poverty line.
"There are a lot of poor in China, and the country has to create jobs for the huge population," said Analysis Group's Tierney. "They still have to create economic growth and stop pollution of the air and water. It won't be easy."
But rich or poor, people in China may feel a breaking point's been reached, said Edward Sappin of Sappin Global Strategies, an energy investment firm.
"As China has continued on its rapid economic growth, most Chinese have been happy to let Beijing do as it pleases," Sappin said.
"But continued air and water pollution threatens to add to misgivings over societal challenges such as official corruption and a slowing number of new job opportunities for graduates," he said. | Solving China's massive pollution problem means money and the will to reverse years of environmental destruction. Experts say that will take a long time. | 10.037037 | 0.555556 | 0.777778 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/21/gold-is-about-to-see-a-comeback-rbcs-gero.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150721220137id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/21/gold-is-about-to-see-a-comeback-rbcs-gero.html | Gold is about to see a comeback: RBC’s Gero | 20150721220137 | Gold dipped below $1,100 briefly on Monday and Tuesday. Even before its tumble, the metal was on a losing streak, down more than 7 percent for the year.
"I would have to be worried if gold stayed below $1,100," Gero said, although he added that he doesn't believe that's very likely.
According to some traders, the commodity crush could provide an opportunity to jump into the market.
"Gold, right now, is oversold," Scott Nations, president and chief investment officer of NationsShares, said Tuesday. "It's because people really were hitting the sell button regardless of price."
Brian Stutland of Equity Armor Investments said although gold will be under pressure for the long term as the Federal Reserve looks to raise rates, the commodity could be due for a short-term rally.
"We've seen gold fall so far so quickly that it does make sense to take the opposite side here," Stutland said Tuesday. "For a technical trade ... I think that's a highly likely, nice bet to play for at least a quick bounce." | Gold has tumbled to five-year lows. But according to one specialist, the precious metal isn’t staying down long. | 9.083333 | 0.583333 | 0.75 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2015/07/23/first-trailer-for-hunger-games-mockingjay-part-released/VfoBTN45av6Sh4D6tZY0ZO/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150725195751id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/arts/movies/2015/07/23/first-trailer-for-hunger-games-mockingjay-part-released/VfoBTN45av6Sh4D6tZY0ZO/story.html? | First trailer for ‘Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2’ released | 20150725195751 | Fans of the “Hunger Game” series enjoyed a pleasant surprise this morning: Another trailer for the blockbuster’s conclusion – “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2” – has finally been released. This will be the final film in the popular four-part series, and it’s set for release on Nov. 20, 2015. The first trailer can be seen here.
“Turn your weapons to the Capitol,” said star Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen. “Turn your weapons to Snow.” Snow, the villanous president, is played by Donald Sutherland.
The main focus of the trailer is on star Lawrence, with her iconic bow and arrow, but also flashes to the faces of Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Sutherland, Liam Hemsworth, and Josh Hutcherson.
The full cast appeared at Comic Con earlier this year, with Josh Hutchinson building up excitement on the panel. “I know the story, and it goes out with a bang,” Hutchinson said.
This trailer teases what could be the most action-packed installment in the series.
The first three movies, film adaptations of Suzanne Collins’s “Hunger Games” trilogy, were box office hits. “Mockingjay - Part 2” is the second half of the last movie, which was released in November 2014. The previous films grossed an average of $144,169,222 opening night. Based on the series’ cult following, the finale is expected to hit box offices strong.
• ‘Hunger Games’ final ‘Mockingjay’ trailer released
• Movie Review: ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1’
• Movie review: ‘Catching Fire’ soars, skewers
• Movie review: ‘Hunger Games’ hits the mark | The main focus of the trailer is on Jennifer Lawrence, with her iconic bow and arrow, fighting alongside a massive crowd. | 13.875 | 0.833333 | 5.583333 | low | medium | mixed |
http://www.people.com/article/missing-girl-found-dumpster-teen-arrested | http://web.archive.org/web/20150730230054id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/missing-girl-found-dumpster-teen-arrested | Missing Girl Found in Dumpster, Teen in Custody : People.com | 20150730230054 | Police say they believe a body found in a dumpster in Santa Cruz, California, is 8-year-old Madyson Middleton
07/28/2015 AT 08:45 AM EDT
California police say they have found the body of an 8-year-old girl who went missing on Sunday, and a 15-year-old is now in custody, reports say.
The body was found in a dumpster at the Tannery Arts Center in Santa Cruz on Monday. Police say they believe it is Madyson Middleton, the 8-year-old who vanished one night earlier,
"It's horrible. It's awful. It's heartbreaking," Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel told
Vogel initially said that police were "fairly confident" that the body is Middleton, but Santa Cruz Police
early Tuesday that the search for Middleton has ended and a homicide investigation has begun.
Middleton was last seen riding a scooter at around 5:30 p.m. in her apartment complex, located near the art center, police say. According to KRON 4, a 15-year-old boy who was at the complex as crews searched for the girl was taken into custody, Vogel told the station.
Police said the teen is being held at the Santa Cruz Police Department as part of a homicide investigation. | A teen has been arrested after the body of a missing 8-year-old girl was found in a dumpster | 11.9 | 0.85 | 2.75 | low | medium | mixed |
http://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/16/will-lebron-show-cleveland-the-money.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150731035711id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/16/will-lebron-show-cleveland-the-money.html | Will LeBron show Cleveland the money? | 20150731035711 | "Just as important as changing the [negative] outsider perspective is changing our own feeling about the city," said Gilbert. "We have suffered from a lack of self-confidence in the community and have this 'woe is us' attitude, but we're starting to see a change in that as well. That could be a bigger impact than the perception of Cleveland by outsiders."
Read More5 ways states are luring small business
In fact, James himself said that was one of his main goals in coming home. As he wrote in his Sports Illustrated article, "I want kids in Northeast Ohio ... to realize that there's no better place to grow up. Maybe some of them will come home after college and start a family or open a business. That would make me smile. Our community, which has struggled so much, needs all the talent it can get."
"This is arguably the greatest and most recognized athlete on the planet, who in his prime is saying that I love the place I'm going to," added Gilbert.
"He went to find his fame and fortune elsewhere," said Kostis, "but LeBron carries his fame and fortune with him. Now he's coming back to share it with his hometown."
"The vibe, the feel, the energy is all different now. Cleveland is definitely on a roll," said O'Donnell.
That's a feeling, of course, you can't put a price on. | The NBA star's return will have a multimillion-dollar impact on Main Street in Cleveland. But most of the revenue will go to the Cavaliers. | 10.103448 | 0.689655 | 0.689655 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/30/linkedin-beats-street-with-eps-of-55-cents.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150731215651id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/30/linkedin-beats-street-with-eps-of-55-cents.html | LinkedIn beats Street with EPS of 55 cents | 20150731215651 | David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The LinkedIn offices are shown at the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.
LinkedIn, operator of the biggest social networking site for professionals, reported a bigger quarterly loss as costs rose and a strong dollar eroded the value of income from outside the United States.
Shares of Linkedin surged as much as 12 percent in extended-hours trading before going negative.
The company said its net loss attributable to shareholders widened to $67.7 million, or 53 cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, from $1 million, or 1 cent per share, a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, LinkedIn beat analysts' estimates, reporting earnings of 55 cents a share. The Street had expected 30 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters estimates.
Read MoreFacebook quarterly results beat on most metrics
Revenue rose 33.3 percent to $711.7 million. Analysts had expected $680 million.
LinkedIn has been spending heavily to acquire businesses and build up its sales and development teams in an effort to leverage off LinkedIn.com's about 380 million members.
—CNBC contributed to this report. | LinkedIn's costs rose and a strong dollar eroded the value of income, but the adjusted results still beat the Street. | 9.652174 | 0.913043 | 5.782609 | low | medium | mixed |
http://www.people.com/article/breaking-bad-house-jesse-aaron-paul | http://web.archive.org/web/20150801010453id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/breaking-bad-house-jesse-aaron-paul | Jesse's New Mexico Home Available : People.com | 20150801010453 | 07/29/2015 AT 02:10 PM EDT
Do you have fond memories of the house
's character Jesse Pinkman lived in on the show
? Like when he dissolved a corpse in acid in the bathtub, for example? Or when he had a drug-addled descent into depression and solitude via a series of never-ending parties with his meth-head cronies Badger and Skinny Pete?
Well, now you can own the handsome 3,500-sq.-ft. home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the bargain price of $1.6 million. The four-bedroom home features original wood floors, stone fireplaces and a gourmet kitchen – and yes, the bathtub has been replaced,
"Meth lab not included," the listing promises. Well, obviously – everyone knows you have to build your own or else it's just not the same. | They replaced the bathtub, don't worry | 20.125 | 0.625 | 1.375 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/article/behind-the-scenes-cma-music-festival-luke-bryan-brett-eldredge-keith-urban | http://web.archive.org/web/20150808023505id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/behind-the-scenes-cma-music-festival-luke-bryan-brett-eldredge-keith-urban | Country's Night to Rock Behind the Scenes Video : People.com | 20150808023505 | updated 08/05/2015 AT 11:45 AM EDT
•originally published 08/04/2015 AT 04:45 PM EDT
"I like your hat." That's what
said to me when he saw the GoPro I was wearing on my head during the
For four steamy days in June, I mounted a GoPro to my trusty – yet very worn – Atlanta Braves hat and set off to document the annual festivities in Nashville. I looked like a goofball the entire time and got many confused looks from some of the 85,000 fans in attendance – but it was totally worth it! I wasn't expecting the musicians to be too surprised, given how ubiquitous GoPro cameras are these days, but I was quickly proven wrong and treated to some delightful reactions.
, Little Big Town, Darius Rucker, Lady Antebellum and more country stars danced and chatted with me (um, the camera) and I even got a few dance moves out of Cole Swindell. Maddie & Tae and RaeLynn laughed with (er, at) me, and Randy Houser almost (but not really) took a bite out of the camera. As if these moments weren't enough,
kindly cleaned the camera lens and topped if off
– not to me (sadly), but to the camera. A girl can dream, right?
I may have looked slightly (some might say very) ridiculous, but I think the final product was well worth it – what do you think? | See backstage reactions from Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Little Big Town, Darius Rucker and Lady Antebellum | 14.578947 | 0.684211 | 3 | low | low | mixed |
http://www.people.com/article/jennifer-lawrence-visits-childrens-hospital-montreal | http://web.archive.org/web/20150811011009id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/jennifer-lawrence-visits-childrens-hospital-montreal | Jennifer Lawrence Visits Patients at Montreal Children's Hospital : People.com | 20150811011009 | Jennifer Lawrence with a patient at Shriners Hospital for Children
Courtesy Shriners Hospitals for Children
08/09/2015 AT 05:25 PM EDT
is a superhero on and off screen. The Oscar-winning actress
in Montreal to surprise the patients and staff at the local Shriners Hospital for Children.
Lawrence posed for photos with the children at the hospital, as well as several staff members.
"A very special visitor stopped by our Canada hospital today," Shriners wrote on their official
. "Jennifer Lawrence is in Montreal filming a new movie and she made time to visit some of our #ShrinersCanada kids and staff. Everyone had a great time!"
In one photo, Lawrence signed a little boy's red cast, while in another, she crouched down next to a boy using a walker.
"You never know who might visit @ShrinersCanada," the hospital also Tweeted, sharing more photos of Lawrence with patients.
You never know who might visit @ShrinersCanada ! Today, Jennifer Lawrence took time to see children at the hospital! pic.twitter.com/0Gw5turTn9
The actress returned to Montreal after
and her friends in the Hamptons two weeks ago.
"She's the coolest chick you'll ever meet," Schumer said of Lawrence when | Jennifer Lawrence took a break from filming X-Men: Apocalypse in Montreal to visit the Shriners Hospital for Children | 11.285714 | 0.714286 | 1.857143 | low | low | mixed |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/09/qe-sucking-out-liquidity-in-markets-strategist.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150816112407id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/09/qe-sucking-out-liquidity-in-markets-strategist.html | QE 'sucking out' liquidity in markets: Strategist | 20150816112407 | Meanwhile, in November last year, a report by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) looked at the European corporate bond market and concluded that its liquidity was "rapidly evaporating," mainly due to financial regulation and extraordinary monetary stimulus.
Citi's Jullier added that low liquidity – which is being seen across all asset classes -- was "difficult."
But not everyone is so quick to blame QE for the current state of the market.
Read MoreGoldman: Market going nowhere, so do this...
JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon and Larry Summers, the former U.S. treasury secretary, have both warned that low liquidity is causing wild intraday swings. However, they give other reasons for the moves, such as new rules from regulators.
"The banking system is far safer than it has been in the past, but we need to be mindful of the consequences of the myriad new regulations and current monetary policy on the money markets and liquidity in the marketplace—particularly if we enter a highly stressed environment," Dimon said in the newsletter in April.
Read MoreFed needs to take away the punch bowl: Lindsey | Quantitative easing is hitting liquidity in global asset markets, according to one Citi analyst. | 13.5625 | 0.5625 | 0.6875 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/20/has-the-fed-got-a-grasp-on-economic-reality.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150816132634id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/20/has-the-fed-got-a-grasp-on-economic-reality.html | Has the Fed got a grasp on economic reality? | 20150816132634 | The answer is that quotations by leading economists about the apparently rude health of the US and global economies in 2007-08 would fill volumes. They tend to range from Bernanke waxing lyrical about "the Great Moderation" to Blanchard telling us, as late as August 2008, "The state of macro is good".
Tempting as it may be, I'm not poking fun at high-profile individuals' shortcomings, so much as diagnosing widespread institutional failure.
While the GFC has been put behind us, the lack of any better understanding of its causes among most influential mainstream economists and policymakers remains a cause for concern.
They tend to believe debt is merely a liquidity preference; one wealthy retiree's deposits fund, via bank intermediation, is another borrower's home or business loan. This ignores the fact that in the USA or the U.K. over 95 percent of 'money' is simply created by bank lending.
Read MoreYellen speech a bigger focus than Fed minutes
Economists who don't understand where the vast majority of 'money' comes from (Paul Krugman has admitted that he can't recognize this ) are like heart surgeons who have only ever attended dental school.
They didn't spot the onset of the GFC because they didn't even know where to look for warning signs: The role of private debt in creating booms and busts is still ignored while an expanded money supply is being asked to do the heavy lifting of stimulating economic activity (for which it is totally unequal to the task) while the risk of creating asset bubbles goes largely ignored (once again);
These economists tend to be unaware that stability can be destabilizing; if a disease like appendicitis is ignored it becomes life-threatening. By treating the symptoms with ever-increasing dosages of painkillers the patient might feel he's getting better. In fact he's getting worse until eventually his appendix bursts with catastrophic results. They see the economy as a linear system. However, as anyone in business knows in reality the economy is non-linear.
Read MoreThis is why there could be a spring rebound
The economists I've talked about here seem to regard human responses to situations as both homogeneous and rational; that everyone reacts in the same way, that everyone always has perfect information and makes the best long term choices. But the history of capital markets is of irrationality and imperfect information and of panics and crises which policymakers and their models failed to anticipate. | History shows us that the U.S. Federal Reserve's grasp on economic reality hasn't been anywhere near as strong as you might hope or expect. | 17.518519 | 0.555556 | 0.555556 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/07/supply-may-not-be-oils-only-problem-lloyd-blankfein.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150816142811id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/07/supply-may-not-be-oils-only-problem-lloyd-blankfein.html | Supply may not be oil's only problem: Lloyd Blankfein | 20150816142811 | Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein, told CNBC on Wednesday that the drop in oil prices may indicate deflationary pressures, not just an abundance of supply.
"The market is suggesting a protracted deflationary period," he said. "I don't think it, but that's the sensible way of interpreting what's going on."
Read MoreEl-Erian: Oil, currency realignments key in 2015
Falling oil prices have been a drag on stocks.
Brent crude dipped below $50 a barrel early Wednesday for the first time since May 2009. U.S. oil prices fell below $47 after a 4 percent decline in New York trading Tuesday.
The S&P 500 fell for a fifth-straight session Tuesday. That marked the third-consecutive down day in 2015—the worst ever start to a year, a 2.7 percent decline for 2015.
Blankfein said he won't extrapolate too much from the tough start for stocks.
The macro picture still looks favorable, he added—citing above-trend economic growth for the U.S. and the continued expectation for very low interest rates. "That's a very good environment for asset prices and for stocks."
He said he if were the Fed he'd "take a lot of risk on the inflation side ... and take that risk to avoid a low but very adverse consequence of [economic] backsliding."
"The only game in town has been monetary," he continued. "But I would keep firing because sustaining it is a lot more sure than losing it and trying to recapture the momentum."
Read MoreBill Ackman: Herbalife is like Bernie Madoff | The CEO and chairman of Goldman Sachs told CNBC the drop in oil prices may indicate deflationary pressures, not just an abundance of supply. | 12.038462 | 0.923077 | 11.538462 | low | medium | extractive |
http://fortune.com/2013/07/25/private-equitys-secret-bailout-is-ending/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150822011729id_/http://fortune.com/2013/07/25/private-equitys-secret-bailout-is-ending/ | Private equity’s secret bailout is ending | 20150822011729 | When you ask private equity executives about the financial crisis, they are quick to tell you that it wasn’t their fault. And that they didn’t receive a bailout. The first part is undeniably true. Private equity firms didn’t originate subprime mortgages, nor did they teeter on the brink of self-induced insolvency. The second part is a bit more complicated, and it’s only getting more so as the Federal Reserve orchestrates a rise in long-term interest rates.
From 2005 to 2008, private equity loaded copious amounts of debt onto thousands of new acquisitions, without regard that even a mild economic downturn could make it nearly impossible for those companies to repay their loans. All that saved them when their hubris hit the fan was Ben Bernanke’s fondness for interest rate limbo, which caused investors to flock toward anything that might produce an actual yield. These alternatives included leveraged loans, enabling private equity firms to refinance portfolio companies that otherwise would have gone bust. So while the U.S. government never cut tangible checks to buyout shops like the Carlyle Group or KKR, its lax monetary policy allowed such organizations a reprieve from some of their worst pre-crisis excesses.
That’s the history, and it’s probably for the best. Many state pension funds, universities, and nonprofit foundations rely heavily on private equity returns, and a rash of bankruptcies could have had far-reaching consequences. The refinancing boom, however, has begun to wane ahead of the Fed’s steps to slowly increase interest rates. The question now is whether past is prologue, or if private equity will effectively avoid the need for another de facto bailout in the event of another downturn. I’m expecting the latter for three primary reasons:
First, private equity executives generally concede that they overpaid for companies prior to the financial crisis and that they were lucky to escape with their cuff links. But don’t take their word for it — just look at what has happened in new deal activity. Private equity firms are flush with cash — $325 billion in “dry powder” when 2013 began, according to Cambridge Associates — and banks are eager to lend. Despite ripe dealmaking conditions, however, private equity firms are on pace to do less than 50% of the business that they did in 2006 or 2007 (a figure that is slashed by half again when looking only at U.S. deals). The mitigating factor is price, with buyout pros saying that just because they can do deals doesn’t mean they should. That’s something we almost never heard before the crash. And when firms do buy new companies, they are doing so at purchase-price multiples that are significantly lower than in the last boom time.
Second, during the financial crisis, private equity firms weren’t able to either refinance existing deals (credit crunch) or do new ones (unwilling sellers, due to depressed valuations). This forced many investors to roll up their sleeves and help their CEOs with issues beyond the balance sheet. If and when the Fed tapers its bond-buying stimulus, thus raising interest rates, there will still be plenty of PE portfolio companies that either didn’t refinance in time or didn’t refinance enough. For them, all that operational practice should pay dividends.
Finally, private equity firms once could raise new funds with the ease of dunking a five-foot basket, but no longer. Prospective investors have expanded their due diligence, taken harder lines on fees, and proved more willing to cut bait with underperforming managers. It appears to be a foundational change rather than a cyclical one. The result has been that private equity firms have been forced to remember the best interests of their “customers” and the real risk of business drying up. It’s the sort of thing that makes a private equity executive think twice before cavalierly entering into a new deal, particularly a large one. A check on excess, if you will.
To be sure, there will be plenty of lousy private equity deals and failed funds in the future. That’s just the nature of any investment business. But the next downturn won’t be likely to require a government bailout — even an unofficial one.
This story is from the August 12, 2013 issue of Fortune. | The Fed's loose monetary policy has given buyout shops a reprieve from their pre-crisis excesses. But with interest rates on the rise, the de facto bailout is over. | 24.176471 | 0.882353 | 2.117647 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/21/blue-chips-to-buy-on-dows-drubbing.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150822064547id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/21/blue-chips-to-buy-on-dows-drubbing.html | Blue chips to buy on Dow's drubbing | 20150822064547 | Walt Disney shares showed promising signs Friday, despite the fact that they've shed nearly 20 percent since the beginning of the month, said trader Steve Grasso. He noted that Disney fell about 1 percent Friday, compared to a more than 3 percent drop for the broader Dow.
"While the market was selling off, it did not sell off with the overall market," he said.
Read MoreDow hits correction for first time since 2011
Johnson and Johnson closed down 2.5 percent Friday, at $95.96 per share, about 50 cents higher than its 52-week low. The stock looks appealing as it now holds "limited risk" to the downside using $95 as a stop, trader Brian Kelly contended.
Trader Guy Adami pointed to UnitedHealth, which lost nearly 3 percent on the day. He noted that it holds upside in a health-care space that has grown increasingly consolidated.
Brian Kelly is long BBRY, BTC=; DAX, DXGE, ITB, TAN, TSL, TWTR call spread, U.S. Dollar; he is short AUDJPY, GBPJPY, Euro, Ruble, Yen, Yuan. Today he bought DAX, DXGE, US Dollar. Today he sold VIX and Euro. Today he closed his CAC40 short position. Today he shorted Euro and Yen.
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
Grasso is long AAPL, BA, BAC, CC, DD, DIS, DECK, EVGN, FIT, KBH, MJNA, MU, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX. His kids are long EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. His firm and some of its partners are long WLL, DNR, DVN, TWTR, NE, NEM, OXY, RIG, TSE, VALE | After the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 530 points Friday, CNBC "Fast Money" traders looked for value. | 16.619048 | 0.380952 | 0.47619 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/29/this-will-bolster-the-market-blackrocks-kapito.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150823191058id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/29/this-will-bolster-the-market-blackrocks-kapito.html | This will bolster the market: BlackRock's Kapito | 20150823191058 | Investors should not sit on cash in fear of the market because companies buying back shares and central banks purchasing bonds will bolster stocks, BlackRock President Rob Kapito told CNBC Monday.
"My message to everyone is to get invested in the marketplace and try to put some of this noise away. There is always noise in the marketplace," he said in an interview with "Closing Bell."
He noted that 2014 started off bumpy, as well, but the market ultimately returned 13.5 percent.
"More cash is in people's hands than ever before, and I believe they are afraid because of the volatility," Kapito said. "Every day you wait you are getting further and further behind."
U.S. stocks rallied Thursday, after a two-day rout, with the Dow Jones industrial avearge closing up 225.48 points, or 13 percent, the S&P 500 adding 19.09 points, or one percent, and the Nasdaq advancing 0.9 percent.
Read More A volatile stock market waits for earnings clarity
Kapito advised investors to look forward to some of the big trends that are occurring, like technology and low crude prices, specifically companies that would benefit from the "extraordinary" drop in oil. For example, he expects consumer discretionary goods to see a pop.
Trader Brian Kelly, founder of Brian Kelly Capital and a "Fast Money" contributor, thinks the market declines are probably not over yet, despite Thursday's pop. He said the U.S. market is in a tough spot right now.
"What we're talking about is capital flowing into the U.S. To me that's the read coming off the Federal Reserve. They're going to remain lower for longer; they're going to be patient. That's going to cause people to buy, at the very least, U.S. bonds and the U.S. dollar. Whether or not that money leaks into the stock market is unclear to me," Kelly told "Closing Bell."
"I think this is a very tough buy in the market right now." | Investors should not fear the market, BlackRock President Rob Kapito said. Here's what he'd do. | 19.7 | 0.85 | 2.35 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/30/igh-fives-for-free-fries.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150823193719id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/30/igh-fives-for-free-fries.html | McDonald's: Trade us high fives for free fries? | 20150823193719 | Want some free chicken nuggets? Better have a spare hug to give out.
Between Feb. 2 and 14, some McDonald's customers will be able to use a different kind of currency to buy food at the chain: "Lovin'."
The "Pay With Lovin' Instant Win Game" is featured in the company's Super Bowl ad and allows winning customers to pay for their fast food with a random act of Lovin'. Lovin' Acts are designated by the an employee, designated the Lovin' Lead, and could include calling a loved one, fist bumping, hugging, or blowing a kiss.
Read MoreOne man's $90 billion impact on McDonald's
Lovin' Leads will select winners based on a predetermined schedule. The customer who enters the door on or closest to the designated time will be eligible for the promotion.
Winners will be notified only after they have ordered and are not allowed to add items or modify their meal. | McDonald’s will allow some customers to pay with selfies, hugs and high fives February 2 through 14. | 9.05 | 0.6 | 0.9 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/10/8-places-to-visit-while-the-dollar-is-stronger.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150823232328id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/10/8-places-to-visit-while-the-dollar-is-stronger.html | 8 places to visit while the dollar is stronger | 20150823232328 | Stretching your dollar on international trips has gotten easier.
The U.S. dollar has gained against other currencies over the past year, most recently amid investor worries over the Greek debt crisis and a market plunge in China. At the same time, international airfares have softened from cheaper oil and increased competition, said Dara Continenza, editor for flight sale-tracker Hopper.com. "It's one of those rare events where both flight prices are cheaper and on-the-ground prices are great," she said. "This is a great time to travel."
Travelers haven't been deterred from heading to Greece, either—although deals on future travel have slowed, said Gabe Saglie, senior editor for deal site Travelzoo, as travelers and travel providers are likely waiting to see whether the country will remain in the euro zone.
Still, the 19-country euro zone, which includes France and Germany, and these seven other destinations offer travelers better bargains compared with last year thanks to a stronger dollar and other promotions.
(The flight prices listed below will vary, depending on origin and destination.)
—By CNBC.com's Kelli B. Grant Posted 10 July 2015 | The U.S. dollar has been getting stronger over investor concerns about Greece and China, boosting bargains for travelers heading abroad. | 10.136364 | 0.772727 | 1.318182 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2013/12/31/latvia-to-join-euro-zone-what-you-should-know.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150823235933id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2013/12/31/latvia-to-join-euro-zone-what-you-should-know.html | Latvia to join euro zone: what you should know | 20150823235933 | Despite years of speculation about which country will quit first, the 17-nation euro zone will become one country bigger when Latvia joins on January, 1.
The eastern European nation with a population of just two million has been a member of the European Union (EU) free market since 2004, but finally got the green light to join the single currency zone last June. It follows in the footsteps of two other former Soviet satellite sates, Estonia and Slovakia.
As of Wednesday, Latvians will be able to exchange lats for euros free of charge at a fixed rate of 0.7 to 1 euro. There will be a two-week period during which both currencies will be in circulation, before the lat ceases to be legal tender on January 15.
(Read more: Track currencies live with CNBC)
Latvia's ascension to the euro zone will consolidate its integration with the rest of Europe and the Western world, which started when Latvia became first a member of NATO and the UN (United Nations) and then the EU after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The country remains poor compared to those in Western Europe — its GDP per capita of $21,905 was only two-thirds of the EU average in 2012, while Germany's was $41,245 — but is posting far healthier growth than most; the Latvian economy is seen expanding 4 percent this year. In comparison, the euro zone economy is forecast to contract by a further 0.6 percent.
Furthermore, Latvia is viewed by many on the continent as an exemplar of how austerity and growth can be combined. After being hit hard by the global financial crisis of 2008, the country received a 7.5 billion euro ($10.3 billion) loan from the EU, International Monetary Fund and neighboring Nordic countries and implemented the most savage austerity program seen on the continent, trimming the size of its deficit by nearly 17 percent. Measures included slashing public sector wages by an average of 25 percent, widespread job cuts, reductions in state benefits and hikes to indirect taxes.
(Read more: Krugman can't admit he was wrong on austerity: Latvia PM)
To qualify for joining the euro, Latvia had to meet five economic "convergence criteria", which include price and exchange rate stability and low levels of government debt and deficit.
Why Latvia wants to join
Given its success in fending for itself, Latvia's decision to join the euro zone — which is slowly beginning to recover from a crippling four-year government and banking debt crisis — has left many scratching their heads.
(Read more: A 'Happy New Year' for Italy? Don't bet on it)
However, membership will come with several benefits, including reduced transaction and exchange rate costs when exporting to the euro zone, to which Latvia exports 30 per cent of its goods. Membership will also reduce the economic risk from the country's large external financing requirements and high level of foreign exchange debt.
In addition, Latvia will likely become more attractive for foreign direct investment once it joins. This is partly because the cost of doing business with other euro zone countries will fall, making it more appealing for companies looking for a European base. But it is also because participation in a wider bloc may reassure investors the economy would be supported were it to flounder.
From a PR perspective, joining the euro zone also helps Latvia emphasize its post-2009 recovery. "Latvia still seems to be being penalized for the fact that it was at the center of the crisis in the region in the immediate aftermath of the 2008/09 crisis, but this fails to give it due credit for the massive adjustment it has undertaken since then," said Standard Bank in a research note this month.
The loss of control over monetary policy will reduce Latvia's ability to respond to economic shocks. This is a particularly important for Latvia given its small, open economy. However, the country does have a strong record on economic adaptation, given the success of the severe fiscal measures, internal devaluation and structural reforms it imposed following the crisis.
Nonetheless, membership is controversial among the Latvian public, who doubt the benefits of harnessing the country to a zone mired in political and economic difficulties. Other concerns include price rises, inconvenience and loss of national sovereignty and identity.
When membership was announced in June, public support for joining stood at only 38 percent..
Will other countries follow Latvia?
Lithuania is the only other country seen joining the euro zone in the short-term, and is expected to join at the start of 2015. Other potential members like Poland, Bulgaria and Romania are yet to join the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) — a means of pegging national currencies to the euro — which is one of the "convergence criteria" for joining.
However, if Latvia's ascension goes smoothly, other eastern European nations may warm to the idea of the single currency. An EU survey in April this year found that 54 percent of respondents across the region thought joining the euro would be negative for their country. Only 39 percent thought it would be positive — a proportion that has remained consistent since 2012.
(Read more: Couldyou be going out for a Polish soon?)
Also worth watching in Latvia
The country is without a government or leader following the resignation of Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, who accepted responsibility for a supermarket collapse which killed 54 people in November. While negotiations to appointment a new prime minister and cabinet continue, Dombrovskis will preside during Latvia's ceremonial ascension to the euro, which takes place at 12:20 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
—By CNBC's Katy Barnato. Follow CNBC on Twitter: @CNBCWorld | Despite years of speculation about which country will quit first, the euro zone will become one country bigger when Latvia joins on January, 1. | 40.592593 | 1 | 13.666667 | high | high | extractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/11/ou-should-buy-to-profit-from-putin.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824025647id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/11/ou-should-buy-to-profit-from-putin.html | The stock you should buy to profit from Putin | 20150824025647 | Even as Ukraine and Russia work toward a peace deal, Brian Kelly, founder of Brian Kelly Capital and "Fast Money" trader, says that buying Monsanto is the perfect play on the crisis from here in the United States.
Ukraine would be a strategic stronghold for Russia, with its multiple shipping ports with access to the Black Sea. If Russia is able to control all the ports, which Kelly thinks there is a chance of, it will control roughly 30 percent of the wheat market.
"If you have a spike in wheat, you could easily see Monsanto go up another 50 percent." Kelly explained his trade on the stock, "I would buy it right here at $121. Keep your eye on what's going on in Russia, but you're still in a U.S. stock with Monsanto."
Dennis Gartman of The Gartman Letter is skeptical of a big move in wheat, but is not ruling out a strong move in Monsanto. "Monsanto is far more concerned about soybean, cotton and corn than it is upon wheat," said Gartman. "I think there's a greater possibility of corn prices increasing given the seasonal tendencies and that would make it easier to make a bullish case on Monsanto."
Shares of Monsanto are up 10 percent over the past year.
Disclosure: Brian Kelly has no position in Monsanto. | "Fast Money" trader Brian Kelly says that buying Monsanto is the perfect play on the Ukraine crisis from here in the U.S. | 11 | 1 | 6.5 | low | high | mixed |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/24/port-slowdown-costing-small-businesses-time-and-trust.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824103553id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/24/port-slowdown-costing-small-businesses-time-and-trust.html | Port slowdown costing small businesses time and trust | 20150824103553 | Time may cost some businesses money, but it is costing Dwight Bonewell trust, which isn't easily regained. Bonewell's West Coast Wine Group in Napa, California, relies on exporting to Asia and South America for about 70 percent of its business, and the port slowdowns in Oakland in particular have caused him to miss deadlines over the past several months.
"The biggest dilemma, when you have customers in Asia and Brazil, is in losing trust," he said. "They don't understand [the intricacies] of what is going on in America, and they feel like you're delaying their shipment. That's a huge obstacle for us as a smaller company—trying to convince customers this issue is not specific to you."
As for whether or not this will actually cost him business, only time will tell, Bonewell said, adding the next three months will be crucial.
Read More More $9 an hour? Pressure on for franchises to raise wages
The slowdown in exports has also slowed operations for Paul Cramer's Star Milling in Perris, California. He exports animal feeds and pet food to the Philippines, Japan and China. Due to the standoff between the two groups, Cramer said he has been losing between $40,000 and $60,000 a week for the past nine months, what's more—his clients are losing market share because of his inability to get them product. This means, their orders from him will likely be lighter in the future.
"It's lost revenue," he said. "It's great that [the unions] have reached a tentative agreement but once things get bad it's already too late. The biggest destruction we have seen is the customers we potentially lose, because they are then out of business in the locations we are shipping to."
For others, the inability to export has had a ripple effect. Iraheta Bros. 2 is a small trucking company in Hayward, California, that has been unable to return shipping containers to the Port of Oakland in a timely manner, according to Kim Sulsar, vice president of operations at Iraheta. As a result, it's getting hit with per diem charges from steamship lines that vary from $85 to $135 a day.
Over the past nine months, Sulsar said Iraheta Bros. has amassed $50,000 in fines.
Read MoreI find 'real New York' nannies: Teen start-up founder
"They port won't accept the containers, because they don't have the space to accept them," she said. "And because we can't return the containers, the lines are charging us." | For smaller businesses, there's more at stake than just late imports and exports from the port slowdown, with no guarantee of normalcy. | 19.692308 | 0.692308 | 0.846154 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/26/herbalife-earnings-141-per-share-vs-expected-eps-of-122.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824105039id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/26/herbalife-earnings-141-per-share-vs-expected-eps-of-122.html | $1.41 per share, vs. expected EPS of $1.22 | 20150824105039 | "2014 was a record year in terms of net sales, volume and sales leader retention," Michael Johnson, Herbalife's chairman and CEO, said in the company's earnings release. "It was also a year of transition, as we continue to implement changes that we believe will create a stronger company with the ideal combination of growth and sustainability."
"We have seen the success of these changes in early adopter markets and remain confident that our other markets will follow a similar pattern through 2015 and beyond," he added.
Exchange rates took a major toll on the company's performance.
Herbalife's fourth-quarter worldwide net sales of $1.1 billion represented an 11 percent decrease from the same time in the prior year. Excluding currency impacts, however, net sales were flat compared to that same period, the firm said.
Read MoreBattle over Herbalife takes to New York streets
The company revised its guidance in part because of the currency situation "faced by all global companies," Johnson said.
Herbalife said it expects a negative impact of about 28 cents to first quarter earnings, including approximately 10 cents resulting from Venezuela. For its full year guidance, the company said it expects a currency headwind of about $1.19, including approximately $0.45 from Venezuela.
The company said it expects first-quarter diluted earnings ranging from $1.00 to $1.10 per share. For fiscal year 2015, Herbalife guided for earnings from $4.10 to $4.50 per share. | Herbalife stock dipped in after-hours trading right after the earnings were released, but then quickly rebounded. | 14.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/27/pending-home-sales-hit-highest-level-in-18-months.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824114822id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/27/pending-home-sales-hit-highest-level-in-18-months.html | Pending home sales hit highest level in 18 months | 20150824114822 | The report is a turnaround from far lower-than-expected closed sales of existing homes in January. Those are based on contracts signed at the end of 2014. While some have blamed cold, harsh weather in much of the country for weakness in housing activity so far this year, the real problem is a lack of for-sale supply. Last winter was particularly cold and snowy as well, but there were more homes available for buyers to choose from.
Read MoreNo housing jackpot: Vegas price gains still hurting sellers
Mortgage applications to purchase a home have been weak so far this year, despite interest rates being significantly lower than they were a year ago. Both supply and still-tight credit standards are weighing on would-be buyers.
The lack of supply is also pushing price gains again. They had been shrinking throughout much of last year, but recent reports show the gains accelerating again. Realtors expect sales to gain strength over the next few months, with one big caveat.
"The pace will greatly depend on how much upward pressure the impact of low inventory will have on home prices. Appreciation anywhere near double digits isn't healthy or sustainable in the current economic environment," admitted Yun.
Read MoreLow inventory may take bloom off spring home sales
Pending home sales in the Northeast inched up 0.1 percent in January, and are now 6.9 percent above a year ago. In the Midwest, sales fell 0.7 percent, but are 4.2 percent above January 2014. Sales were strongest in the South, up 3.2 percent to the highest level since April 2010 and 9.7 percent above last January. Sales in the West rose 2.2 percent and are 11.4 percent above a year ago. | U.S. home buyers signed more contracts to buy existing homes in January than they have since August of 2013. | 16.4 | 0.8 | 1.5 | medium | medium | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/28/reuters-america-refile-venezuelas-maduro-says-captures-americans-involved-in-espionage.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824115211id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/28/reuters-america-refile-venezuelas-maduro-says-captures-americans-involved-in-espionage.html | REFILE-Venezuela's Maduro says captures Americans involved in espionage | 20150824115211 | CARACAS, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Saturday his government had captured American citizens involved in "espionage activities," and said U.S. citizens in the future will have to seek visas to come to the OPEC nation.
Speaking during a rally, he said his government will prohibit some U.S. officials from entering Venezuela in retaliation for a similar measure by the government of President Barack Obama against a group of Venezuelan public officials.
"We have captured some U.S. citizens in undercover activities, espionage, trying to win over people in towns along the Venezuelan coast," he said, adding a U.S. citizen of Latin descent was captured in the convulsed border city of Tachira.
A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Caracas said he was unable to comment, citing a lack of any official diplomatic communication with the Venezuelan government.
The head of a Venezuelan evangelical organization on Friday said a group of four missionaries had been called in for questioning after participating in a medical assistance campaign in the coastal town of Ocumare de la Costa.
That pastor, Abdy Pereira, on Saturday said in a telephone interview that the four had left the country for Aruba after having been questioned for several days about alleged involvement in espionage. Pereira said the group had been coming to Venezuela 14 years and denied they were involved in espionage.
The United States and Venezuela have had tense diplomatic relations for more than a decade. Maduro recently accused Washington of helping stage a coup, a charge dismissed by the White House as ludicrous.
(Reporting by Diego Ore, writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Bernard Orr) | CARACAS, Feb 28- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Saturday his government had captured American citizens involved in "espionage activities," and said U.S. citizens in the future will have to seek visas to come to the OPEC nation. Speaking during a rally, he said his government will prohibit some U.S. officials from entering Venezuela in retaliation for... | 4.84375 | 0.96875 | 30.15625 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/27/reuters-america-eu-and-cuba-to-restart-talks-after-cultural-dispute.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824122727id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/27/reuters-america-eu-and-cuba-to-restart-talks-after-cultural-dispute.html | EU and Cuba to restart talks after cultural dispute | 20150824122727 | * Cuba, EU to hold a third round of talks
* Havana was upset over cultural event
BRUSSELS, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Cuba and the European Union will hold a third round of talks in Havana next week aimed at increasing trade, investment and political dialogue after overcoming a dispute that delayed the negotiations, an EU official said on Friday.
The round on Wednesday and Thursday follows normalisation talks this week between Cuba and the United States, was due to take place in January.
It was postponed because Havana was upset over a cultural event organised by the EU in Washington in March last year.
The EU is already Cuba's top foreign investor. EU officials say the proposed accord would give Brussels a bigger role in Havana's market-oriented reforms, position EU companies for Cuba's transition to a more open economy and allow the Europe to press for political freedoms on the Communist-ruled island.
EU officials suspect that Havana may not have felt ready for a third round last year because they were due to discuss human rights, which is always a sensitive topic for Cuba, a one-party state that represses dissent and controls the media.
"We will only go when they feel they are ready to receive us," said an EU official on condition of anonymity.
It was unclear how ready Havana is now willing to discuss human rights this time but the EU official said Cuba is aware that the issue is an essential demand for Europe.
"That has been accepted by our Cuban counterparts. The Cuban side has been aware that these issues will have to be integrated into the agreement," the official said.
The EU and Cuba began the negotiations in April last year to improve relations, part of a significant deepening of ties since the bloc lifted diplomatic sanctions in 2008.
The talks remain delicate. People involved in preparing the talks told Reuters last year that Cuba was upset by an exhibition of photos of Cuba rby a Lithuanian artist that had Havana's backing.
The exhibition was shown in Washington but Cuba did not approve of some of the people who attended its inauguration there, sources said.
Human rights remain the biggest stumbling block for an EU-Cuba accord. Diplomats say any serious violation of human rights during negotiations would also interrupt the talks.
EU officials say the recent rapprochment in ties with the U.S. government, Cuba's longtime foe that has kept an embargo against the Caribbean island since 1962, have not had any direct impact on the talks.
"It is too early to say how it will play into our negotiating process," the EU official said, referring to the decision on Dec. 17 by the United States and Cuba to work to normalise relations severed 54 years ago.
(Reporting by Robin Emmott; Editing by Angus MacSwan) | BRUSSELS, Feb 27- Cuba and the European Union will hold a third round of talks in Havana next week aimed at increasing trade, investment and political dialogue after overcoming a dispute that delayed the negotiations, an EU official said on Friday. EU officials suspect that Havana may not have felt ready for a third round last year because they were due to discuss... | 8 | 0.970588 | 31.970588 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/03/5-ways-to-trade-tech-on-nasdaq-slip.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824162154id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/03/5-ways-to-trade-tech-on-nasdaq-slip.html | 5 ways to trade tech on Nasdaq slip | 20150824162154 | Traders looked at names that have encountered problems in China. Chipmaker Qualcomm last month agreed to pay a nearly $1 billion antitrust settlement in the country.
"China is priced in" where Qualcomm closed Tuesday, nearly 2 percent lower, at around $71 per share, Seymour said.
"This is a great time to pick up Qualcomm," he said.
China recently booted Cisco Systems from its approved state purchase list. Despite the move, Cisco "is still a buy" at just below $30 per share, trader Steve Grasso said.
Read MoreChina boots Apple, others off state purchase list
Seymour believes the stock will lose more ground, not due to China but because it reached "key" technical levels.
Grasso also touted Micron Technology's prospects. Nomura downgraded the semiconductor maker to "neutral" from "buy" on Tuesday, driving it 5 percent lower.
"I think you could have some serious upside here," Grasso said.
Tim Seymour is long AAPL, T, BAC, C, DIS, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, FXI and SUNE. Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, MCD, NKE, NOK and SBUX.
Steve Grasso is long AAPL, BA, CLVS, EVGN, FB, GDX, GOOGL, IMMR, KBH, KDUS, MHY, MJNA, NVIV, PFE, POT, SO, T, TMUS and TWTR. He sold YHOO. His firm is long FCX, NE, NEM, OXY, RIG, VALE, IBM, USO and AMZN. His kids are long EFG, EFA, EWJ, IJR and SPY.
Brian Kelly is long BTC=, U.S. dollar, GLD, CTRL calls, HYG puts, BBRY, BBRY call spreads and TLT. He is short EWA, EWG, EWQ, EWZ, EWW, JJC, Australian dollar, British pound, Canadian dollar, euro, yen and yuan.
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS and INTC. Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. | The tech-heavy Nasdaq couldn't hold 5,000 on Tuesday, but CNBC "Fast Money" traders saw upside in some key technology names. | 14.777778 | 0.592593 | 0.814815 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/30/asian-shares-set-to-rise-on-china-policy-changes.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824180450id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/30/asian-shares-set-to-rise-on-china-policy-changes.html | Asian shares rise on China's easing measures, but Nikkei lags | 20150824180450 | Japan's Nikkei 225 index widened losses as investors took profits on the last trading day of the fiscal year and ahead of key economic data like the Bank of Japan's tankan survey due at 0750 SIN/HK on Wednesday.
In particular, railway companies struggled, with Central Japan Railway, West Japan Railway and East Japan Railway making losses between 3.9 and 5.4 percent.
Bucking the downtrend, Fujifilm Holdings bounced up nearly 2 percent following news that it is acquiring U.S. biotechnology firm Cellular Dynamics International for $307 million. Baby products maker Pigeon soared 3.3 percent on the back of the its plan to carry out for a 3-for-1 stock split.
Read MoreWhy a weaker yen is not driving up prices: Goldman
Australia's S&P ASX 200 index closed up amid a broad-based rally, recouping nearly all of Monday's steep decline.
Oil and gas producers, along with miners, were among the biggest gainers after being heavily sold-off in the previous session. Liquefied Natural Gas jumped 4.3 percent, while Santos and Woodside Petroleum climbed more than 1 percent each. BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto rose 3 and 2.5 percent, respectively, despite iron ore prices slumping to a six-year low overnight.
"Although they're bouncing today, investors should remain wary of the sector. Further falls in commodity prices are expected over the coming months, which could certainly inflict more pain," Motley Fool's analysts wrote in a report.
Financials were also buoyant, with Australia & New Zealand Banking leading gains in the sector, up 0.8 percent.
Meanwhile, Ansell will acquire U.K.-based protective clothing company Microgard for approximately $88 million. Shares of the glove and condom maker closed down 0.8 percent as Morningstar downgraded its rating on the stock to reduce from hold.
Read MoreChina, Japan stocks steal the show in first quarter
South Korea's Kospi index was bolstered by a positive showing of its blue-chip and financial plays.
The country's top two heaviest-weighted stocks Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor climbed 0.9 percent each. Shinhan Financial and KB Financial Group edged up 1.8 and 1.2 percent, respectively.
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) leaped 5.6 percent after being named as the preferred bidder for a multibillion-dollar deal to develop a new fighter jet.
Singapore's key stock index was one of the laggards in the region on Tuesday, pulling back from a 10-month high after data showed bank lending fell 0.7 percent on-month in February. | Equities in Shanghai and Tokyo closed down late Tuesday, while the rest of the region advanced as Beijing unleashed new policy measures. | 19.875 | 0.583333 | 0.833333 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/31/25-songs-in-a-second-att-launches-super-fast-network.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824184549id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/31/25-songs-in-a-second-att-launches-super-fast-network.html | 25 songs in a second? AT&T launches super fast network | 20150824184549 | Read MoreBackup options for Internet lines can be costly, complicated
AT&T launched GigaPower this week in select cities, including Cupertino, California, where Apple has its headquarters. AT&T is working on rolling out in other areas where there is demand for the technology.
It costs $110 per month for Web speeds of up to 1 gigbit per second under the new fiber network, AT&T said.
AT&T says it needs to work with local leaders to make sure there are strong investment cases and receptive policies for this type of expansion. | Imagine downloading 25 songs in less than one second. That’s how fast AT&T’s U-Verse with AT&T GigaPower claims to be. | 3.923077 | 0.384615 | 0.384615 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/28/7-cars-on-the-road-today-closest-to-being-robots.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824190324id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/28/7-cars-on-the-road-today-closest-to-being-robots.html | 7 cars on the road today closest to being robots | 20150824190324 | When Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk recently said his cars would feature auto-steering by this summer, it caused a bit of a scare. But drivers, be forewarned: It doesn't take a robot actually taking the wheel to show artificially intelligent cars are already veering into our lanes.
While Silicon Valley and the automotive world like to focus on things like flying cars and self-driving vehicles, there's a lot of impressively advanced technology that's already on the road today.
Advanced computer systems and passenger features might stop a bit short of the artificial intelligence we've been promised by the tech utopians, but they're real and available (though they're not cheap). From cars that steer themselves to brakes that adjust for individual drivers, here's a look at some of the most high-tech vehicles you can drive in—or that might be passing or tailgating your car already.
—By Chris Morris, special to CNBC.comPosted 28 March 2015 | Tesla's Elon Musk scared everyone when he said auto-steering is coming this summer, but more cars than you think already drive like robots. | 6.607143 | 0.678571 | 1.178571 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/19/6-seismic-shifts-that-will-challenge-your-business.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824222501id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/19/6-seismic-shifts-that-will-challenge-your-business.html | 6 seismic shifts that will challenge your business | 20150824222501 | What trends and technologies threaten to upend established business models and wipe out slow-to-adapt companies, leading to the next generation of S&P 500 companies and IPO hopefuls?
You'll find no shortage of analysts and other experts ready to answer this question—and it's not just a tech utopian vision of the successful company of the future.
Here are six seismic shifts, from cutting-edge technology and workplace trends to consumer preferences, that today's company leaders need to be thinking about before it's too late.
—By Ilan MochariPosted 20 March 2015 | Innovation is also known as creative destruction for good reason: It wipes out companies. Prepare for these 6 trends before it's too late. | 4.037037 | 0.407407 | 1.518519 | low | low | mixed |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/25/1ds-zayn-malik-departs-international-supergroup.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824225255id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/25/1ds-zayn-malik-departs-international-supergroup.html | 1D's Zayn Malik departs international supergroup | 20150824225255 | Zayn Malik is headed in a different direction.
The band confirmed the departure of the One Direction singer on Wednesday via their Facebook page. Fans of the international sensation are devastated.
Malik, who initially announced he would be taking a brief hiatus from touring, released a statement citing a desire to be "a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight."
"I dont see this as having a huge impact on their current album sales," says Joe Levy, Billboard's Editor at Large. "A group of this nature tends to sell a lot of albums right away when they release a record. Those fans have already bought this record."
Read MoreJay Z trumps Spotify by streaming Taylor Swift's music
One Direction's 2014 album "Midnight Memories" sold 387,000 copies in its first week of sales, according to Billboard. Its previous record sold 546,000 copies in the same time period.
"It's really tough to pin the whole thing on one person. Zayn leaving is definitely not Lennon or McCartney leaving the Beatles. It's a little closer to George leaving the Beatles," he added.
The band has released four albums in four years, produced two concert films, and have had a non-stop touring schedule since 2010.
Simon Cowell, who formed the group on The X Factor, also issued a statement. "Since I first met Zayn in 2010, I have grown very, very fond—and immensely proud—of him. I have seen him grow in confidence, and I am truly sorry to see him leave. As for One Direction, fans can rest assured that Niall, Liam, Harry and Louis are hugely excited about the future of the band."
The band will continue to tour as a quartet and record their fifth album, due for release later this year. | One Direction confirmed the departure of singer Zayn Malik on Wednesday via their Facebook page. | 23.0625 | 1 | 4.625 | medium | high | mixed |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/15/pro-this-is-when-to-buy-fedex.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824230427id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/15/pro-this-is-when-to-buy-fedex.html | Pro: This Is When To Buy FedEx | 20150824230427 | Federal Express is set to report third quarter earnings before the bell on Wednesday, and one "Fast Money" trader thinks this is the perfect opportunity to buy the stock.
Since November, FedEx has been stuck in a trading range between $167 and $183, but according to Guy Adami if FedEx reports improved margins this week, the stock could break out above $183.
While FedEx's second quarter earnings per share and revenue came in light, Adami points out "a hidden gem" that could repeat itself in next week's earnings report. Both FedEx Express and FedEx Freight saw operating margins surge, which drove total operating margin up to 8.5 percent versus 7.3 percent a year prior.
"FedEx stands to benefit and it may manifest itself in improved margins," said Adami. "I would get long the stock at current prices, looking for a breakout above $183.00. I would pull the rip cord and stop out on any close below $167.00."
RBC Capital Markets Analyst John Barnes is confident FedEx will deliver in Q3 as well but remains cautious long-term.
"We expect FDX to put up strong results, but we believe the headwinds from foreign exchange and rising fuel costs will likely prevent the company from raising its full-year outlook," said Barnes in his earnings preview note last week.
"In fact, we believe management will be forced to tighten the FY/15 guidance range and we believe any downward revision to the upper end of the range could put pressure on the shares," Barnes added.
Thomson Reuters is estimating FedEx's EPS of $1.87 and revenue of $11.79 billion. | FedEx has been stuck in a trading range between $167 and $183, but one trader says improved margins could help the stock break out. | 11.392857 | 0.928571 | 9.714286 | low | medium | extractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/27/greece-says-sending-reform-list-on-friday-in-bid-to-unlock-aid.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825021045id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/27/greece-says-sending-reform-list-on-friday-in-bid-to-unlock-aid.html | Greece submits new list of reforms to unlock further aid | 20150825021045 | Greece has sent its creditors a long-awaited list of reforms with a pledge to produce a small budget surplus this year in the hope that it will unlock badly needed cash, Greek government officials said on Friday.
The European Union and IMF lenders, informally called the Brussels Group, will start discussing the list later on Friday, a euro zone official said, although a Greek official said the examination would begin on Saturday. Their approval, followed by the blessing of euro zone finance ministers, will be needed for Athens to unfreeze further aid and stave off bankruptcy.
Athens has not indicated whether the latest list will contain a more far-reaching reform program than a previous list of seven reforms on broad issues ranging from tax evasion to public sector reforms, which failed to impress lenders.
The new list includes measures to boost state revenues by 3 billion euros this year, but will not include any "recessionary measures" like wage or pension cuts, a government official said.
The list estimates a primary budget surplus of 1.5 pct for 2015 - below the 3 percent target included in the country's existing EU/IMF bailout - and growth of 1.4 percent, the official said. | Greece is submitting a long-awaited list of reforms to lenders on Friday in the hope it will unlock badly needed cash, a Greek official said. | 7.896552 | 0.931034 | 4.517241 | low | medium | mixed |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/16/israeli-elections-what-you-need-to-know.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825032626id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/16/israeli-elections-what-you-need-to-know.html | Israeli elections: What you need to know | 20150825032626 | The outcome of Israel's elections could have knock-on effects on the future of the failed peace process in the region, with political pundits seeing Herzog as a possible politician to get the derailed peace process back on track. That's not to write-off Netanyahu's chances though.
At a time of increased tensions and violence in the Middle East, security concerns are high on the priority list for Israelis.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has been very vocal in his opposition to international talks over Iran's nuclear program and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu stressed in a campaign statement earlier this month that, should he win re-election, there would be "no retreat" and "no withdrawals [from the Occupied Palestinian Territory]."
Read MoreKerry unsure on Iran nuclear deal by end March
He reiterated that message at a rally this Sunday, saying: "We are keeping Jerusalem, all parts of Jerusalem, under Israeli sovereignty. "We do not retreat, and we do not fold and I say this under the greatest pressures as well," he told a rally of between 15,000 and 30,000 supporters in Tel Aviv on Sunday, Reuters said.
With the polls in mind, however, Netanyahu knows that his days in office could be numbered.
Speaking at the rally in Tel Aviv Sunday, Netanyahu said: ""Our rivals are investing a huge effort to harm me and the Likud, to open a gap between my party, the Likud, and (our rivals), and if we don't close this gap, there is a real danger that a left-wing government will rise to power," Netanyahu said, according to Reuters.
Read MoreIsrael's Netanyahu warns US against Iran nuclear deal
The lack of progress in peace talks between Israel and the Palestine Authority have become a source of frustration for the U.S. administration and Europe after the latest round of negotiations broke down last year.
Many feel that Netanyahu has moved away from his earlier support of a two-state solution with Palestine, although he has denied this.
Herzog, meanwhile, appears to be an advocate for a two-state solution but has said that Israel's borders would include disputed "settlement blocs." | Voting is underway in Israel, and previous opinion polls suggest the election race is too close to call. | 21.55 | 0.6 | 0.7 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/31/is-carl-icahn-in-too-deep-with-chesapeake-energy.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825032824id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/31/is-carl-icahn-in-too-deep-with-chesapeake-energy.html | Is Carl Icahn in too deep with Chesapeake Energy? | 20150825032824 | In announcing the new plan, Chesapeake said it hoped to be cash-flow neutral by the end of this year.
"If gas prices stabilize, and I have them stabilizing, my model shows that their [negative cash flow] this year will be a few million dollars," Dingmann said.
Dingmann's analysis assumes that natural gas commands about $2.95 per million BTUs by the end of this year and $3.12 next year, with oil staying around $50 per barrel this year and $53 in 2016. If that happens, then the company can keep earnings before interest, taxes and non-cash charges between $3.5 billion and $4 billion each year, though it would still run a deficit after capital spending is included, he said.
Read MoreThe latest energy MLP fund, launched at the bottom
But a real rebound in Chesapeake shares is likely to require more than what the company announced.
"Four-dollar gas would help a lot," Rezvan said. Then he added, "A return to $80-a-barrel oil would be impactful, too."
Chesapeake shares have fallen 39 percent in the last year, falling in between the decline in large-cap energy, down by roughly 25 percent, and the small-cap energy stocks, which are down by roughly half.
The low prices have put pressure on Chesapeake's strategy, which like many drillers calls for spending more on drilling new wells than the company generates in operating cash flow each year. The resulting deficit in free cash flow—or operating cash minus capital investment—was at risk of getting untenably large. That's why some analysts, like Rezvan, have been telling investors to consider Chesapeake a sector "underperformer" both before and after the latest Chesapeake spending-cut announcement.
But we know at least one noted investor wasn't listening—when it comes to Chesapeake, Icahn continues to buy into the bullish story, especially when it's at a bottom.
"Guys like Icahn, traditionally with an activist bent, are establishing more sizable positions in some oil and gas stocks," Dingmann said. The SunTrust analyst said it was surprising, to some extent, that Icahn never took any money off the table when the stock more than doubled from 2012 to 2014, but it could simply be an indication he believes that Chesapeake's far-flung acreage is still worth more than the $32 high share price in 2014, and that the current macro situation will not create a long-term valuation readjustment downward in acreage value.
In the two year period, new CEO Lawler did make some large transactions, including the $5 billion sales of assets to Southwestern Energy, so as the stock was rising Chesapeake was also making some moves to get its house in order, and there was less reason to be a vocal activist. Of course, the crash in oil and decline in natural gas has made those gains disappear quickly, but the macro might not change the underlying thesis of an investor like Icahn. Dingmann also noted that even though Chesapeake has made a significant effort to increase the oil component of its overall production, it is still significantly levered to natural gas. "There aren't too many bullish natural gas investors today, but to add to a position like this, I have to think Icahn is one of them," Dingmann said.
—By Tim Mullaney, special to CNBC.com | Carl Icahn was right about Chesapeake Energy in 2012, buying the energy stock when it bottomed out. Is it time to join Icahn's trade again? | 22.793103 | 0.655172 | 0.724138 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/24/trading-technology-6-plays-on-big-movers.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825050656id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/24/trading-technology-6-plays-on-big-movers.html | Trading technology: 6 plays on big movers | 20150825050656 | With the move, Google could put more emphasis on financial discipline and even issue a dividend in the future, said trader Pete Najarian. Before the move, Google had shown positive signs with developments in its Android smartphone platform and YouTube video service, trader Tim Seymour noted.
Other prominent technology companies saw big pops on Tuesday, as well. Twitter shares surged 6 percent on the day to close more than 43 percent higher on the year, above $51 per share.
Read MoreCramer: Twitter flied higher for the long haul
The social media company monetizes its product better than peer Facebook and currently trades at a better value, Seymour said. Facebook rose more than 1 percent on Tuesday, closing above $85 per share.
Najarian believes Facebook has room to run higher, while Adami would pick the stock over Twitter in the social media space.
Streaming video service Netflix also saw huge gains on Tuesday after an analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald raised his price target on the stock to $500 per share from $450. Netflix popped 3 percent on the news, closing 28 percent higher for the year, at around $438 per share.
Adami said he would take profits at that level, adding that the stock could trade down to $400 per share.
Tim Seymour is long T, BAC, C, DIS, XOM, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC and SUNE. Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, MCD, NKE, NOK and SBUX.
Pete Najarian is long AMAT, AAPL, BABA, BAC, BMY, BP, CSX, DISCA, FOXA, GE, KKR, KO, LLY, MRK, PEP, PFE and SAP. He is long calls BK, CIEN, CNX, COP, EBAY, EXXI, F, FCX, FL, GE, GM, GT, JD, KFT, KO, LYB, NEE, PEP, RAD, TEVA, TWTR, UAL and UFS. Today, he bought EBAY calls, JD calls and TWTR calls.
Karen Finerman is long BABA, BAC, C, FINL, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, M and KORS. She is short DIA. Her firm is long AAPL, BAC, C, CMLS, DIS, FINL, FBT, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, IBB, JPM, M, KORS, PFE, XBI, SUNE and URI. Her firm is long calls URI. Her firm is short MAC, IWM, SPY and USO. Karen Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International.
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS and INTC. Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. | "Fast Money" traders discussed how to play big gains in some prominent technology names, including Google and Twitter. | 23.318182 | 0.5 | 0.590909 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/15/ackman-at-delivering-alpha-buy-fannie-and-freddie.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825060330id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/15/ackman-at-delivering-alpha-buy-fannie-and-freddie.html | Ackman at Delivering Alpha: Buy Fannie and Freddie | 20150825060330 | He said only that he has two new ideas, one of which is an industrial company and the other which "we have not categorized yet." Earlier this year, Peltz disclosed a stake in Pentair, a pump and valve maker.
However, he did take a minute to defend the nature of activist investors, who have been at the center of an animated public debate. Critics say activists are short-term raiders looking to maximize profit without regarding to fundamental growth of their targets, a charge Peltz rejected.
"They talk about the fact that we're short-term, they talk about how we like to lever up, they talk about all this stuff," he said. "What really troubles me is all the mudslinging that goes on with activists."
He pointed to Wendy's and Heinz as examples of companies in which he took a stake and has shown long-term commitment.
Peltz, who lost a high-profile battle at DuPont earlier this year, also said McDonald's needs a major cultural change though he said he would contemplate taking a stake if he didn't own Wendy's.
Peltz also was critical of Alexander "Sandy" Cutler, the chairman and CEO at Eaton. He said Cutler should not hold both roles. There has been speculation that Peltz is targeting the company for an activist move. | Bill Ackman reiterated his support for nationalized mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, during an appearance Wednesday at the Delivering Alpha conference. | 10.48 | 0.28 | 0.36 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/15/reuters-america-hong-kong-stocks-fall-after-china-data-fails-to-impress.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825064314id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/15/reuters-america-hong-kong-stocks-fall-after-china-data-fails-to-impress.html | Hong Kong stocks fall after China data fails to impress | 20150825064314 | HONG KONG, July 15 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks fell on Wednesday as investors watched China indexes slide as the country's better-than-expected economic data failed to cheer up mainland markets.
The Hang Seng index fell 0.3 percent to end the day at 25,055.76 points, while the China Enterprises Index lost 1.3 percent to close at 11,681.20 points.
China stocks tumbled despite surprisingly positive official economic data, as a recent post-rout, government-triggered rebound appears to be running out of steam.
Galaxy Entertainment led the fall in the Hong Kong blue-chip index, sliding 3.7 percent. New World Development dropped 3.3 percent, and China Life Insurance was down 2.7 percent.
Great Wall Motor led slides in the China companies index, dropping 5.6 percent. It was followed by CITIC Securities , losing 4.9 percent, and BYD Co Ltd, down 4.7 percent.
(Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Richard Borsuk) | HONG KONG, July 15- Hong Kong stocks fell on Wednesday as investors watched China indexes slide as the country's better-than-expected economic data failed to cheer up mainland markets. Galaxy Entertainment led the fall in the Hong Kong blue-chip index, sliding 3.7 percent. Great Wall Motor led slides in the China companies index, dropping 5.6 percent. | 2.676471 | 0.985294 | 21.544118 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/14/this-stock-could-be-very-attractive-after-earnings.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825071743id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/14/this-stock-could-be-very-attractive-after-earnings.html | This stock could be ‘very attractive’-after earnings | 20150825071743 | Intel is set to report earnings after Tuesday's bell. And at least one market participant is hoping that the numbers disappoint.
It hasn't been a great year for Intel. The stock is down nearly 13 percent in 2015. And in March, the semiconductor giant announced that first-quarter revenue would be lower than expected, due to poor demand and unfavorable macroeconomic conditions.
The preannouncement appears to have increased concerns around the actual results. Goldman Sachs' options research team reported last week that the options market is pricing in a 7 percent move for Intel shares off of earnings—nearly four times the size of its median move over the past eight quarters.
Read MoreThe stocks expected to see huge earnings moves
And if that move comes to the downside, it could present an attractive opportunity, according to S&P Capital IQ equity chief investment officer Erin Gibbs.
No matter what the earnings results bring, "longer term, I still like this stock. I have it in a couple of our income/more defensive portfolio strategies because they still pay a 3 percent dividend yield, a 6 percent share buyback. So despite any volatility you might see, it's good long term."
Intel shares closed at $31.73 on Monday. Gibbs said that if the earnings "do disappoint and you see the stock go down to anywhere around $30.50, I actually see that as a very attractive point to entry." | If one battered tech giant slides on earnings, it could make for a great buy, says Erin Gibbs of S&P Capital IQ. | 11.04 | 0.76 | 1.4 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/06/official-airline-of-the-pga-loses-golfers-clubs.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825085817id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/06/official-airline-of-the-pga-loses-golfers-clubs.html | Official airline of the PGA loses golfer's clubs | 20150825085817 | Russell Henley chats with caddy Adam Hayes on the eighth hole during the first round of the Tour Championship in Atlanta, Sept. 11, 2014.
Henley tweeted about his dilemma Monday afternoon.
In a statement, United said, "We know how important Mr. Henley's clubs are to him, especially this week, and we apologize for the delay in getting them to him. We flew the clubs this afternoon, and they're out for delivery right now."
United is the official airline of the PGA Tour.
This is not the first time United has lost the golf clubs of a professional player before a tournament. Last year, the airline lost Rory McIlroy's golf clubs when he flew into Dublin, Ireland, for the Irish Open. At the time, McIlroy tweeted about his situation:
United saw the tweet, found McIlroy's clubs and delivered them to the golf course before the tournament began.
United offers a Bag VIP program, which allows travelers to have their luggage delivered to its final destination in the United States. However, there is not a program to ensure a specific piece of luggage gets extra attention.
United said the luggage of every passenger is important and one bag is not more important than another.
Henley went pro in 2011 and is ranked 33rd in the FedEx cup standings. | United Airlines lost professional golfer Russell Henley's clubs while he was en route to The Masters tournament. | 13.526316 | 0.631579 | 1.052632 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/20/european-shares-end-higher-after-china-stimulus.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825093151id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/20/european-shares-end-higher-after-china-stimulus.html | European shares end higher after China stimulus | 20150825093151 | European markets followed their Asian counterparts higher on Monday after China's central bank on Sunday lowered the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for all banks by 100 basis points. The wider-than-expected cut was the second reduction in two months, as the world's second-largest economy attempts to combat slowing growth.
Read MoreWhy China's RRR cut reeks of desperation
The news also saw U.S. stocks gains more than 1 percent early during Wall Street trading.
Back in Europe, Volkswagen was the only stock on the DAX to close in negative territory. Shares ended down around 1.9 percent, in the wake of a dramatic confrontation between Chairman Ferdinand Piech and senior board members last week.
Meanwhile, shares of Telenet Group Holdings closed around 5.7 percent higher after reports that it will acquire BASE Company from Dutch firm KPN for $1.43 billion. Shares of the KPN closed around 3.1 percent higher.
British-based Victrex also posted gains, finishing up around 2.3 percent, after an analyst upgrade from BNP Paribas. | European markets ended higher Monday after China's central bank over the weekend cut the amount of money that banks must hold as reserves. | 7.84 | 0.72 | 2 | low | low | mixed |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/14/ngs-daredevil-to-the-visually-impaired.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825161907id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/14/ngs-daredevil-to-the-visually-impaired.html | Netflix brings Daredevil to the visually impaired | 20150825161907 | Larry Paradis, Executive Director of Disability Rights Advocates, has been helping clients work with Netflix toward goals like contractually obliging movie studios to provide descriptive narration tracks when they are already available, and making it easier for blind customers to identify which DVDs in the Netflix library are described.
"Disability Rights Advocates is very pleased that Netflix has finally begun to provide some audio description for its original content," Paradis told CNBC. "We have been in discussions with Netflix, on behalf of clients who are blind and have visual impairments, about providing audio description for all of the Netflix original content as well as content from major studios, and we are hopeful that audio description will soon become the norm for access to video content."
A Netflix spokesperson did not "have anything to add at this point" related to the cost or implementation of the new service. Netflix reports earnings Wednesday afternoon.
—CNBC's Tom DiChristopher contributed to this report | Netflix series 'Daredevil' will have the option of audio narration. It's a victory for advocacy groups. | 8.619048 | 0.619048 | 0.619048 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/15/theres-a-slow-meltup-going-on.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825181441id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/15/theres-a-slow-meltup-going-on.html | There's a slow meltup going on | 20150825181441 | Wake up! There's a slow meltup going on.
I know, another snoozefest. Low volume, the CBOE Volatility Index at 13 and change, near the lowest level of the year.
But look around you. Earnings season has begun, but instead of falling apart because of the negative earnings environment, the S&P has rallied 1.25 percent since Alcoa reported earnings after the close last Wednesday.
1) The S&P 500 is at its highest level since early March, and only a few points from its historic closing high of 2,117.39 on March 2;
2) The Russell 2000 is at an historic high;
3) The S&P Midcap is also poised to surpass its old historic high of 1,539.61 on March 20
Oh sure, we've had several periods where there's been a few sharp sell off for an hour or so in the last few weeks, but it always bounces back.
As for earnings, the dreaded season is upon us. Bank of America was light on revenues, but it's only down fractionally. Charles Schwab talked about slower trading activity, but earnings were in-line, it's up fractionally. Delta talked about the problem of the strong dollar as revenues were a bit light, but it's up nearly two percent.
In other words, earnings are coming in-line with reduced expectations, and the market is shrugging them off.
Overbought: international and energy. One other thought: the action has been in global markets...that's where the money has been going. Huge inflows in China and Emerging Markets, and Europe.
But these are also dramatically overbought. Look at these countries year to date:
Heck, even BRAZIL is up almost double digits, compared to two percent for the S&P 500!
You really think there is a lot more room there?
Finally, here's the issue of the moment: what to do with the oil breakout? Much of the gains today are in energy, as oil (West Texas Intermediate) breaks to a new high for the year. Big Energy names like Halliburton, Anadarko Petroleum and Cabot Oil & Gas are up two to three percent again.
The problem is, all these stocks have been on a tear since oil bottomed in mid-March.
Bespoke, in a note to clients today, noted the double-edged sword: energy has broken the downtrend, but all the leadership stocks—including those above—are overbought, in many cases VERY overbought.
Bespoke's advice: "For names that you're interested in, wait for a cool-down period sometime in the next week or so, and then pounce on the long side." | Earnings season has begun, but instead of falling apart because of the negative earnings environment, the S&P has rallied 1.25 percent since Alcoa reported. | 19.333333 | 1 | 25.074074 | medium | high | extractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/16/party-city-opens-at-2040-after-pricing-ipo-at-17.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825184533id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/16/party-city-opens-at-2040-after-pricing-ipo-at-17.html | Party City opens at $20.40 after pricing IPO at $17 | 20150825184533 | Party City employee revelers celebrate outside the New York Stock Exchange, prior to the company's IPO, Thursday, April 16, 2015.
Party supplies chain Party City is going to need more balloons. (Tweet This)
The company went public Thursday, with shares rising more than 20 percent after pricing its initial public offering at $17. (Where's the stock now? Click here)
Buyout firm Thomas H. Lee Partners will still own a bit more than half of the company after the offering. THL bought Party City along with a consortium of investors in the summer of 2012.
CEO James Harrison said he was confident the company, which has most of its stores in strip malls, could prosper even as malls declined.
"Our category does sell online, but about 15 percent of what's in our stores really doesn't translate to online," Harrison said in a CNBC interview, adding that people would still seek out stores for things like balloons, cards and cheap candy.
Party City, which has more than 900 stores in the United States and Canada, said it would use the $372 million in proceeds mostly to pay down debt. More than 20 percent of its stores are franchised locations.
The company earned $56 million in 2014 on sales of $2.25 billion. | Party supplies vendor Party City is going to need more balloons. | 21.166667 | 0.916667 | 7.083333 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://www.people.com/article/lady-gaga-lisa-vanderpump-dinner-pump-restaurant | http://web.archive.org/web/20150827200039id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/lady-gaga-lisa-vanderpump-dinner-pump-restaurant | Lady Gaga, Lisa Vanderpump Hit Up PUMP in Los Angeles : People.com | 20150827200039 | Lady Gaga (left) and Lisa Vanderpump
08/25/2015 AT 10:40 AM EDT
star have been spotted several times this month hitting up Vanderpump's restaurant PUMP in West Hollywood, California.
The pop star, 29, and Vanderpump, 54, enjoyed another night out at PUMP on Monday, with Gaga wearing an embellished structured black dress by Ulyana Sergeenko, sunglasses and chunky black boots, while Vanderpump opted for a more casual look with jeans, a blazer and a pink clutch.
Gaga recently turned heads when she took a tumble while exiting the restaurant with her reality star pal on Aug. 12.
Vanderpump later defended her friend, maintaining that it had nothing to do with too many drinks.
"We were both sober and that's a sad situation – that she ended up in the gutter, at least go out with a big bang and be wasted, but no, she wasn't," Vanderpump told PEOPLE at a luncheon benefitting the American Humane Association at PUMP on Aug. 13. "It was just a dodgy curb in West Hollywood."
star also revealed that the Mother Monster, who she calls her "great friend," sang acapella at the restaurant that evening while they enjoyed dinner with two other friends.
"I mean, her singing – forget a lot of artists today, this is a woman with an incredible voice," said Vanderpump, explaining that as soon as Gaga began singing, people in the restaurant started looking over.
Up next for the pop star: her small screen debut. Gaga was photographed on Aug. 19 | Lady Gaga and the reality star have been spotted together multiple times this month | 21.571429 | 0.857143 | 2 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://fortune.com/2013/10/15/restaurant-chain-toojays-has-a-new-owner/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150901212829id_/http://fortune.com:80/2013/10/15/restaurant-chain-toojays-has-a-new-owner/ | Restaurant chain TooJay’s has a new owner | 20150901212829 | FORTUNE — TooJay’s, a Florida chain of New York-style deli restaurants, has been acquired by private equity firm Branford Castle, Fortune has learned.
West Palm Beach-based TooJay’s was founded in 1981, but the original founders haven’t been active in a while and were looking to divest a bit, according to current CEO Bill Korenbaum, who declined to discuss financial terms. Today the company has 24 locations across Florida, and also runs catering operations.
Branford Castle is a New York-based private equity firm run by two sons of John Castle, co-founder and CEO of larger private equity firm Castle Harlan. David Pittaway, a senior managing director with Castle Harlan with deep restaurant industry expertise, helped advise on the deal.
Sign up for Dan Primack’s daily email newsletter on deals and deal-makers: GetTermSheet.com | Private equity quietly firm buys Florida chain of NY-style delis. | 12.615385 | 0.692308 | 1.461538 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/article/empire-songs-jussie-smollett-pitbull | http://web.archive.org/web/20150904105232id_/http://www.people.com/article/empire-songs-jussie-smollett-pitbull | New Songs Drop Featuring Jussie Smollett, Pitbull : People.com | 20150904105232 | 09/03/2015 AT 06:25 PM EDT
Jamal Lyon's back – and he's teaming up with Mr. Worldwide!
doesn't return for its second season until Sept. 23, but two new tracks from the upcoming season dropped Thursday to tide fans over.
, who plays Lyon on the smash Fox musical-drama, sings on both "No Doubt About It" and "Ain't About the Money."
joins Smollett on the former, a feel-good party-starter.
The Cuban rapper is just the latest musician to join the A-list roster of guest-stars on the show. The first season welcomed everyone from
. And the catchy tunes, plus that star power, launched the show's soundtrack to the top of the Billboard charts,
for the No. 1 title release week. | Season two of the musical drama premieres Sept. 23 | 17.555556 | 0.888889 | 1.333333 | medium | medium | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/29/the-associated-press-fed-vice-chair-fischer-keeps-open-possibility-of-sept-hike.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150906010909id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/29/the-associated-press-fed-vice-chair-fischer-keeps-open-possibility-of-sept-hike.html | Fed Vice Chair Fischer keeps open possibility of Sept. hike | 20150906010909 | WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer left the door open Saturday for a Fed rate increase in September, saying the factors that have kept inflation below the central bank's target level have likely begun to fade.
Fischer said there's "good reason to believe that inflation will move higher as the forces holding down inflation dissipate further." He said, for example, that some effects of a stronger dollar and a plunge in oil prices — key factors in holding down inflation — have already started to diminish.
The vice chairman's remarks came in a speech at an annual economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Investors have been trying to determine whether the Fed might still be on course to raise interest rates after its Sept. 16-17 meeting given the recent turbulence in financial markets and worries about China's economy, which had raised doubts. In addition, inflation has remained persistently below the Fed's 2 percent target rate.
Fischer's comment that there was "good reason" to think inflation would increase followed his remark Friday in an interview that "my level of confidence is pretty high" that inflation will return to the Fed's 2 percent target — a condition the Fed has set for raising rates.
Michael Hanson, senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, saw Fischer's remarks as an explanation of why the Fed might not wait for inflation to move closer to 2 percent before raising rates.
"The bottom line here is, the Fed does expect inflation to pick up," Hanson said. "The door is definitely open" to an increase in September.
John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo, said that based on Fischer's comments, he thinks the first rate hike will come next month if the August jobs report that will arrive Friday is strong and financial markets settle down.
In his speech Saturday, Fischer said Fed officials are closely monitoring developments in China and studying the latest data on the U.S. economy.
He repeated the guidelines the Fed is using to determine when to raise its key short-term rate, which has been held near zero since 2008 and has helped keep borrowing rates low throughout the economy. Fischer said the Fed wants to see further job market gains and to be "reasonably confident" that inflation will rise back up to its target level.
Inflation by the Fed's preferred measure has been running below 2 percent for three years. When inflation remains too low, many people postpone purchases and collectively slow consumer spending, the economy's main fuel. Too-low inflation also makes the inflation-adjusted cost of loans more expensive.
"In making our monetary policy decisions, we are interested more in where the U.S. economy is heading than in knowing whence it came," Fischer said in his remarks, which were released in Washington. "We need to consider the overall state of the U.S. economy as well as the influence of foreign economies on the U.S. economy."
With Fed Chair Janet Yellen having decided to skip this year's Jackson Hole meeting, Fischer's speech on the closing day of the conference drew top attention at the high-profile event, with his words parsed for any signals about the Fed's timetable for a rate hike.
In an interview Friday with CNBC, Fischer said that before the recent turbulence in global financial markets, "there was a pretty strong case" for a rate hike at the Sept. 16-17 meeting, though it wasn't conclusive. Now, the issue is hazier because the Fed needs to assess the economic impact of events in China and on Wall Street.
Fischer and Yellen have sought to reassure investors that when the Fed begins to raise rates, it plans to do so very gradually.
Other Fed officials who have spoken since the market turmoil hit with force have hinted at a delay in a rate hike. But they haven't ruled out an increase in September.
William Dudley, president of the New York Federal Reserve, helped ignite a Wall Street rally this week when he told reporters that the case for raising rates in September was "less compelling to me" that it had been a few weeks ago, before sudden fears about China's economy upset global markets.
But Dudley added that the notion of a rate hike "could become more compelling by the time of the meeting as we get additional information" about the economy.
Officials who want to raise rates can point to a consistently solid U.S. economy. The government estimated Thursday that the economy grew at a healthy 3.7 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter. And the unemployment rate is at a seven-year low of 5.3 percent.
But others worry that the economy remains vulnerable to shocks, such as a major slowdown in China, and point to the still-lower-than-optimal inflation.
AP Economics Writer Christopher S. Rugaber contributed to this report. | WASHINGTON— Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer left the door open Saturday for a Fed rate increase in September, saying the factors that have kept inflation below the central bank's target level have likely begun to fade. Investors have been trying to determine whether the Fed might still be on course to raise interest rates after its Sept. 16-17... | 14.569231 | 0.969231 | 32.261538 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/22/us-china-dialogue-with-candid-to-the-point-talks.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150906025057id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/22/us-china-dialogue-with-candid-to-the-point-talks.html | US-China dialogue with 'candid, to-the-point' talks | 20150906025057 | The meetings come at a time of waning trust and widening differences between the two countries, even though they maintain robust economic ties worth $590 billion in two-way trade last year.
U.S. concerns have been mounting about Beijing's challenge to its dominance of global finance and about restrictions on U.S. businesses in China.
U.S. President Barack Obama is struggling to secure backing from Congress for legislation needed to speed a 12-nation trade deal, which is the economic plank of his Asia policy intended as a counterweight to China's growing influence.
The two sides will try to ease tensions by stressing areas of cooperation, including climate change, shared concerns about Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs, the fight against Islamist militancy, and support for global development.
"We have agreed with the Chinese that we are going to try to expand those areas where our interests overlap and expand cooperation in those areas," the U.S. official said. But the aim was not to "paper over" contentious issues, or to "agree to disagree," but to narrow differences to avoid miscalculations.
Read MoreJack Ma: Confident US-China tensions will pass
Despite the considerable areas of tension, China is hoping for a smooth set of meetings to prepare for a visit to Washington by President Xi Jinping in September.
Prospects for substantial outcomes from the cabinet-level meetings appeared slim, with any scant progress likely to be held over for announcement during Xi's visit, analysts said.
The sides are expected to discuss a Bilateral Investment Treaty that has been seven years in discussion but has been held up by restrictions on both sides, while China is likely to press its bid to add the yuan to the International Monetary Fund's basket of reserve currencies.
Blinken and Secretary of State John Kerry will chair the security side of the talks with State Councillor Yang Jiechi and Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui on the Chinese side.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang will chair the economic elements, and the top Chinese officials will meet Obama at the White House on Wednesday. | U.S. and China held "candid and to-the-point" talks aimed at managing the complex relationship between the world's two biggest economies, a U.S. official said. | 12.151515 | 0.727273 | 1.151515 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/24/reuters-america-update-1-us-presidential-candidates-blame-china-the-fed-obama-for-stocks-rout.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150906150653id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/24/reuters-america-update-1-us-presidential-candidates-blame-china-the-fed-obama-for-stocks-rout.html | UPDATE 1-U.S. presidential candidates blame China, the Fed, Obama for stocks rout | 20150906150653 | rout@ (Adds comments from Sanders, Huckabee, Walker, White House)
WASHINGTON, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Jostling for position in the U.S. presidential race, candidates on Monday blamed Wall Street elites, the Federal Reserve, exposure to China, and President Barack Obama's spending policies for the market contagion from China's stock-market plunge.
As the Dow Jones industrial average briefly slumped to its biggest point-drop ever, Republican front-runner Donald Trump said he had long warned about U.S. exposure to China.
"I've been talking about China for years. Because China's going bad it's going to bring us down, too, because we're so heavily coupled with China," real-estate mogul Trump said on Fox News. "I'm the one that says you better start un-coupling from China because China's got problems."
Reflecting investors' concern over the Chinese economy, the Dow Jones dropped more than 1,000 points before staging a recovery. U.S. stocks still closed more than 3 percent lower.
The candidates' rhetoric brought back memories of the final months of the 2008 presidential election. which took place in the shadow of the financial crisis after the collapse of Lehman Brothers bank. Then Republican nominee John McCain briefly suspended his campaign in reaction to the financial chaos.
While global markets are still a long way from the 2008 crisis, the absence of new measures from Beijing to support Chinese stocks following an 11 percent drop last week sparked a free-fall in equities around the world and a selloff in oil and commodities.
Trump, whose outspoken views have helped propel him to the front of a crowded pack vying to become the Republican nominee for the November 2016 election, pointed a finger at hedge funds. He said that if he were elected to the White House, he would raise taxes on the wealthy and specifically target those working in high-stakes finance.
Fellow Republican candidate and former Hewlett-Packard Co chief executive Carly Fiorina said she had expected a market correction for "some time" and mostly blamed the Federal Reserve.
"I think the stock market has hit record highs over and over again because the Federal Reserve has ensured, through its easy-money policy, that the stock market is the only place you can earn a return," she said, referring to low interest rates.
With 17 candidates in the Republican field, presidential hopefuls are jockeying to be heard.
In the race for the Democratic nomination, liberal Senator Bernie Sanders also took a swipe at the financial industry.
"For the past 40 years, Wall Street and the billionaire class have rigged the rules to redistribute wealth to the richest among us," tweeted Sanders, the main rival so far to former secretary of state and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Clinton herself has promised to tighten regulation of Wall Street if she wins the election, but made no public comment on the falling stock markets. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, a leading Republican candidate, was also silent.
Scott Walker, the Republican governor of Wisconsin and a favorite of conservatives, called on Obama to show "backbone" and cancel a planned visit to the United States next month by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"Given China's massive cyber attacks against America, its militarization of the South China Sea, continued state interference with its economy, and persistent persecution of Christians and human rights activists, President Obama needs to cancel the state visit," Walker said.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, also a Republican candidate, said Obama's government had borrowed too much. Given China is a major buyer of U.S. debt, a market correction in the Asian superpower is "going to have an even greater effect because this president doesn't know how to say no to spending," he said.
"What you need to do in the Oval Office is rein this government in. Stop running up so much debt," he told Fox News.
Republican Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas who is hoping his down to earth style will capture the blue-collar vote in 2016, held "Washington-Wall Street elites" responsible for the market slump.
For the Obama administration, the barrage of critical comments from the campaign was to be expected.
Asked about the presidential contenders' remarks, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said their reaction "illustrates the difference between campaigning and governing."
(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Frances Kerry) | WASHINGTON, Aug 24- Jostling for position in the U.S. presidential race, candidates on Monday blamed Wall Street elites, the Federal Reserve, exposure to China, and President Barack Obama's spending policies for the market contagion from China's stock-market plunge. Because China's going bad it's going to bring us down, too, because we're so heavily coupled with... | 12.267606 | 0.971831 | 34.211268 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/25/what-market-timing-can-really-cost-you.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150906151218id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/25/what-market-timing-can-really-cost-you.html | What market timing can really cost you | 20150906151218 | Attempts to time the market don't just hurt market performance. Elizabeth Scheiderer, a certified financial planner with NCA Financial Planners, points out that investors can incur trading fees, and, depending on the accounts they are trading in, additional tax expenses.
Increased market volatility also makes market timing more challenging, since ups and downs can come closer together.
Why, then, do people think they can intuit the market's ups and downs?
"I think it kind of goes along with why people go to Vegas and elsewhere and think they can beat the house. Sometimes they do, but most of the time they don't," said Craig Brimhall, vice president of retirement wealth strategies at Ameriprise Financial. "The biggest problem is you have to be right twice," not just selling at a market top but buying at the bottom. "Somebody would own Tahiti by now if they could do it."
Zachary Abrams, manager of wealth management and portfolio analysis at Capital Advisors, has another idea. "The reason why I think most people get this wrong is they are focusing on the returns and not the risk," he said. "They haven't planned around a loss, so when it comes they don't know what to do. There is no real exit strategy for them when things go south."
Abrams said he has gotten about 20 calls from clients, most just asking for the firm's take on the market gyrations. But not everyone is so calm: One client has emailed him four times, he said, and shifted from jitters to an appetite for buying when things settle. | Market gyrations are scary, but if you are considering selling, you need to see this performance data. | 15.8 | 0.75 | 0.95 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2014/08/18/review-smokey-robinson-smokey-friends/yrQfe0J0mUCK7qt7QWyUHP/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150907152100id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2014/08/18/review-smokey-robinson-smokey-friends/yrQfe0J0mUCK7qt7QWyUHP/story.html | CD Review: Smokey Robinson, “Smokey & Friends” | 20150907152100 | Smokey Robinson remains one of the smoothest movers in music. The silky-voiced septuagenarian decided to round up some of his famous friends — from newcomers like Jessie J to old pals like Elton John — to help reimagine a clutch of the classic songs he either performed himself with the Miracles or penned for others in his Motown family. While the new versions have little chance of replacing the originals seared into our collective brains, both Smokey and his buddies certainly sound like they’re having a good time revisiting Hitsville. John gets the party started with a version of “Tracks of My Tears” lightly brushed with smoky organ and Southern accents. Steven Tyler and Nicole Scherzinger lean into the lite rock swagger of “You Really Got a Hold on Me.” A dreamy take on “My Girl” features a blend of different vocal textures as Miguel, Aloe Blacc, and JC Chasez of ’N Sync offer warm harmonies. John Legend comes closest to putting a truly personal stamp on the sultry ballad “Quiet Storm.” But it is Robinson’s ambling, bluesy romp through “Ain’t That Peculiar” with a game James Taylor that helps make the album swing. (Out Tuesday) | Motown legend Smokey Robinson reimagines some of his classic songs with a little help from friends like Elton John. | 11.25 | 0.95 | 1.85 | low | high | mixed |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/25/the-three-scariest-things-about-municipal-bonds.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150907184614id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/25/the-three-scariest-things-about-municipal-bonds.html | The three scariest things about municipal bonds | 20150907184614 | As much as any asset class out there, munis are driven by sentiment, which in turn is expressed through fund flows, or the measure of how much is going in and out of the sector.
With money leaving in May and June, that's a pretty good indicator that at least in the near term, munis could undergo some turbulence. While bond experts see rate risk as a larger danger, never underestimate the impact of headline risk.
"A particular weakness of the municipal bond asset class is its propensity to be driven by retail investor sentiment," said J.R. Rieger, global head of fixed income at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "You've got Illinois, Chicago, New Jersey—there's a myriad of other potential news items that can hit. All of that can change the sentiment of the retail investor."
In a year when returns have been unspectacular—the Barclays Municipal Bond Index is up just 0.21 percent in 2015—the various tremors and land mines can cause broader problems and sharper reactions.
"We haven't seen as robust a performance this year, but it's kind of a bifurcated market," said Adam Buchanan, senior vice president of institutional sales at Ziegler, a specialty investment bank.
Read MoreWatch out: Rising rates can hurt bond prices
"We're tracking fund flows really closely, specifically tax-exempt fund flows," he added. "When you have a sustained period of significant outflows, that has correlated pretty directly with challenges in munis. You couple that with the inability of banks and large broker-dealers to bid and keep an orderly market because of constraints that have been put on them with legislation, and that could be a challenge."
For investors looking for telltale signs that deeper problems are ahead, HJ Sims' Larkin recommends watching California, which has gone from muni-mess poster child to darling of the space, with its Barclays index up 0.3 percent in 2015. As an example, he said California announced this week that it won't need to take out a revenue anticipation note as it awaits tax receipts. When that changes, Larkin said, it will be a good tell that the muni market is changing as well.
"California, they're just blowing through the roof on their finances," he said. "But they can go from the land of milk and honey to the guy on the streets saying, 'Lend me money, federal government. Please bail me out.' Right now California is the Golden State."
Read MoreThe one war Massachusetts can win | When it comes to municipal bonds, the headlines can drown out the news. | 33.133333 | 0.733333 | 0.733333 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/01/the-associated-press-charges-filed-against-ex-head-of-brazil-nuclear-power-firm.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150908025410id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/01/the-associated-press-charges-filed-against-ex-head-of-brazil-nuclear-power-firm.html | Charges filed against ex-head of Brazil nuclear power firm | 20150908025410 | SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's federal prosecutor's office filed formal corruption charges on Tuesday against the former head of Eletronuclear, the state-owned company that operates Brazil's two nuclear power plants, for his suspected role in a bribery scandal.
The prosecutor's office said in a statement that it charged Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva with money laundering and corruption for allegedly taking 4.5 million reals ($1.22 million) in bribes from construction companies for contracts involving the construction of the Angra 3 nuclear plant in Rio de Janeiro.
Prosecutors also charged 14 others in the case, including Flavio David Barra, the top energy executive at construction firm Andrade Gutierrez and da Silva's daughter Ana Cristina Toniolo.
Da Silva, his daughter and Barra have denied any wrongdoing.
Calls to Eletronuclear for comment went unanswered.
Da Silva was taken into custody in late July and one week later stepped down as Eletronuclear's chief executive officer.
During Brazil's military regime from 1964-1985, the retired navy admiral and nuclear engineer headed Brazil's secret program to master the technology needed to transform uranium into fuel to generate electric power in nuclear plants. Da Silva also oversaw the ongoing project to build a nuclear powered submarine.
The charges filed come as police and prosecutors try to determine whether a kickback scheme engulfing state-run oil company Petrobras extends to other state firms, including electric utilities company Eletrobras, of which Eletronuclear is a subsidiary.
Prosecutors have said the scheme involved roughly $2 billion in bribes and other illegal funds. Some of that money was allegedly funneled back to the ruling Workers' Party and its allies' campaign coffers. It also allegedly included the payment of bribes to Petrobras executives in return for inflated contracts. | SAO PAULO— Brazil's federal prosecutor's office filed formal corruption charges on Tuesday against the former head of Eletronuclear, the state-owned company that operates Brazil's two nuclear power plants, for his suspected role in a bribery scandal. The prosecutor's office said in a statement that it charged Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva with money... | 5.285714 | 0.968254 | 33.15873 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/03/pr-newswire-shareholder-alert-levi-korsinsky-llp-notifies-shareholders-of-synergetics-usa-inc-of-commencement-of-an-investigation.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150908101306id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/03/pr-newswire-shareholder-alert-levi-korsinsky-llp-notifies-shareholders-of-synergetics-usa-inc-of-commencement-of-an-investigation.html | SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Notifies Shareholders of Synergetics USA, Inc. of Commencement of an Investigation Concerning the Fairness of the Sale of the Company to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. -- SURG | 20150908101306 | NEW YORK, Sept. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement is being issued by Levi & Korsinsky, LLP:
To: All Persons or Entities who purchased Synergetics USA, Inc. stock prior to September 2, 2015.
You are hereby notified that Levi & Korsinsky, LLP has commenced an investigation into the fairness of the sale of Synergetics USA, Inc. (NASDAQCM: SURG) to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (NYSE: VRX) for $6.50 in cash per share plus one contingent value right entitling shareholders to receive up to $1.00 if Synergetics reaches certain specified sales thresholds. To learn more about the investigation and your rights, go to:
or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@zlk.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972. There is no cost or obligation to you.
Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Washington D.C. The firm's attorneys have extensive expertise in prosecuting securities litigation involving financial fraud, representing investors throughout the nation in securities lawsuits and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders. For more information, please feel free to contact any of the attorneys listed below. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Levi & Korsinsky, LLPJoseph Levi, Esq.Eduard Korsinsky, Esq.30 Broad Street - 24th FloorNew York, NY 10004Tel: (212) 363-7500Toll Free: (877) 363-5972Fax: (212) 363-7171www.zlk.com
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shareholder-alert-levi--korsinsky-llp-notifies-shareholders-of-synergetics-usa-inc-of-commencement-of-an-investigation-concerning-the-fairness-of-the-sale-of-the-company-to-valeant-pharmaceuticals-international-inc----surg-300137798.html
SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | NEW YORK, Sept. 3, 2015/ PRNewswire/-- The following statement is being issued by Levi& Korsinsky, LLP:. You are hereby notified that Levi& Korsinsky, LLP has commenced an investigation into the fairness of the sale of Synergetics USA, Inc. to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. for $6.50 in cash per share plus one contingent value right entitling... | 5.686567 | 0.955224 | 15.462687 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2013/10/16/buffett-on-jpmorgan-jamie-dimon-will-survive-fine.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150909021425id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2013/10/16/buffett-on-jpmorgan-jamie-dimon-will-survive-fine.html | Buffett on JPMorgan: Jamie Dimon will survive fine | 20150909021425 | (For Buffett's comment on Washington's woes, read this: Buffett: Debt limit is 'weapon of mass destruction')
JPMorgan has reached a preliminary agreement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to pay $100 million to settle charges related to the bank's "London Whale" trading losses—a scandal that put Dimon under close scrutiny in Washington and led to a failed effort to strip him of his CEO title.
(Read more: JPM expected toadmit fault in 'London Whale' loss)
"You can't be active in a big business without making some mistakes, and sometimes they may be big ones," Buffett said in a "Squawk Box" interview. "Jamie will survive fine. He knows how to run a bank."
(Read more: Hank Paulson on JPM: I shouldn't say, but I will ...)
Buffett likened Dimon's leadership prowess to one of baseball's all-time greats. "You have look at the overall record. Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs that one year. I don't know how many times he struck out. I don't care."
In addition to the "Whale" case, regulators are also going after JPMorgan over allegations of sales of shoddy mortgage securities leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. Several of the investigations stem from JPMorgan's fire sale purchases of Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual.
"They probably had a week to look at it. Bear Stearns had hundreds and hundreds of derivatives contracts out," said Buffett, who played a key role in providing cash infusions to other Wall Street financial institutions during the financial crisis. | The federal investigations into JPMorgan are like cops following you for 500 miles, Warren Buffett said. "You're going to get a ticket." | 11.357143 | 0.607143 | 0.964286 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/22/googles-mobile-biz-others-may-follow-former-sprint-exec.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150911003729id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/22/googles-mobile-biz-others-may-follow-former-sprint-exec.html | Google’s mobile biz, others may follow: Former Sprint exec | 20150911003729 | He thinks it could be a good idea for someone such as Facebook because the company doesn't have to build a network and can instead work through wireless carriers like Sprint.
"What Facebook brings to the party is what they do. They are good at branding and marketing and doing what they do around social media," Carter said in an interview with "Closing Bell."
"They don't have to take on all the infrasructure. There are other enablers out there like Sprint that can provide companies like Facebook an opportunity to easily enter into the mobile category."
Read MoreGoogle's high-speed Internet coming to more cities
As for Google, what it brings to the table is its great brand name, Carter noted.
"Google's entry quite frankly probably creates an opportunity for a fresh face to come into this industry and provide a different kind of model, a different kind of behavior. Google doesn't have the baggage of the other carriers," he said.
Google's new service will cost $20 a month, plus $10 per gigabyte of data used. Customers will get money back for unused data.
Whether Google offers better pricing, a new consumer experience or other devices, "they can create a new narrative in the marketplace," Carter said.
—Reuters contributed to this report. | Google can create a new narrative in the mobile market, and may encourage others, like Facebook, to follow, Sprint exec said. | 10 | 0.769231 | 2.538462 | low | low | mixed |
http://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/01/how-to-tap-the-braintrust-on-cybersecurity.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150912032120id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/01/how-to-tap-the-braintrust-on-cybersecurity.html | How to tap the braintrust on cybersecurity | 20150912032120 | Moss's hacker empire is one of the most visible in the exploding array of cybersecurity conferences around the world. The growth of that conference circuit mirrors the rapid expansion of the industry as a whole: Moss estimates that there are more than 350 annual conventions today around the world. Among them are events with names like NullCon, IoT Devcon, SchmooCon, and even a Kentucky-based security event called DerbyCon.
The granddaddy of them all may just be the global RSA Conference, which is sponsored by the cybersecurity company RSA. It's grown from a 50-person event in 1991 to an event with more than 28,500 attendees, 405 exhibitors and 550 speakers.
But Moss, who goes by the alias The Dark Tangent on Twitter, said there was more to the popularity of his early Defcon events than just food and drink—especially their open and inclusive vibe, which went against the grain in a typically secretive cybersecurity industry. And, he said, because he owned the event himself, he could invite any speaker on any topic and not have to answer to a corporate master. It was so inclusive that Moss invited federal security agencies to come to his early sessions, reasoning that they'd show up undercover anyway.
Read MoreMeet the NSA's hacker recruiter
And he said he tried to keep his events from being about selling products to focusing on sharing tools every participant could have access to. "This crowd is really applied," he said. "They want to invent something, fix something, do something." | Jeff Moss, the hacker community's best-known security impresario, shares his insights as founder of the hacker convention Defcon. | 12.208333 | 0.625 | 0.791667 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2014/09/30/underfunded-latinos-grab-the-american-dream.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150912035944id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/09/30/underfunded-latinos-grab-the-american-dream.html | Underfunded Latinos grab the American dream | 20150912035944 | Biz2Credit announced last week the average annual revenue for Latino-owned businesses was $69,518.56, while for non-Latino-owned businesses, the figure was $86,501.47, a nearly $17,000 difference. Meanwhile, the average credit score for Latino-owned businesses was 611.7, compared to 622.3 for all others.
Interestingly, the average operating expenses for Latino-owned companies were lower ($20,981.19) than for non-Latino businesses ($29,455.54). On the surface, this seems like good news. However, many of these companies are operating out of homes rather than offices, which add to overhead. This may be fine for a landscaping company or catering business, for instance. But if an entrepreneur realistically plans to take his or her business to the next level, it is important to have an infrastructure in place and accurate accounting records. This can be a struggle for many business owners.
Because of their lower credit scores and revenue, Latino entrepreneurs face greater scrutiny from banks. The impact of these financial realities is that Latinos often must turn to high-interest, non-bank lenders. These so-called alternative lenders include firms that provide payday loans and cash-advance companies. In some cases, these lenders charge interest rates as high as 30 percent to 40 percent.
Read MoreSBA administrator kicks off Hispanic Heritage Month | More Latinos are starting businesses than any other minority group in the U.S., even though big banks won't open the money spigot. | 10.36 | 0.4 | 0.4 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/article/anne-hathaway-crushing-on-amy-schumer-respects-kim-kardashian | http://web.archive.org/web/20150912082612id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/anne-hathaway-crushing-on-amy-schumer-respects-kim-kardashian | Anne Hathaway Has a Major Girl Crush on Amy Schumer : People.com | 20150912082612 | Anne Hathaway for Refinery 29
09/10/2015 AT 05:20 PM EDT
just got the ultimate seal of approval from
"I am crushing so hard on Amy Schumer," Hathaway, 32, told
Like many, Hathaway is impressed with Schumer's personal message.
"Women like her who have chosen to stand up for themselves and face the bullies are being so embraced," she explained. "I think that's the new message: Figure out who you are, be happy with yourself, and don't take anything from anyone. Don't let anyone make you feel bad about you. That's something that I've been growing into."
This isn't the first time the
actress has expressed her admiration for the comedian. After Schumer poked fun at her in her movie
, telling her costar Bill Hader's character that he was "acting like Anne Hathaway" on Oscar night for carrying his trophy around, the actress took the joke like a total champ.
Anne Hathaway for Refinery 29
She even responded to the joke with an
picture of her ticket and a caption that read "Dear @AmySchumer, Don't pretend like when you win your Oscar- which you could for your brilliant and refreshing writing and/or acting in @TrainwreckMovie - you won't tote it around to every Oscar party you go to. Way to slay, Annie."
Schumer's not the only unlikely celebrity Hathaway has come to admire. The Oscar winner also says she respects
"I used to be like everyone else and think the Kardashians are just famous for being famous. But I've been really impressed with how supportive
," says Hathaway, who has publicly supported Jenner.
Their ideas about being comfortable in your own skin and supporting one another have rung true to Hathaway, who admits that body confidence has been an evolution.
"When I was younger, I felt very much like, oh, I have to be a certain way, I have to look a certain way," she told
. "You really, really don't. That's the way women are treated differently than men. I mean, I've had actors argue with me about this."
She continued: "They say, 'Oh, we all have to have six-packs.' And I'm like, 'Well, that might be true, but with women, it's so many things. It's not just about having a six-pack. I mean, we have to have a six-pack and be able to run in heels." | Anne Hathaway says she respects Amy Schumer for her message of self-empowerment | 35.642857 | 0.857143 | 1.571429 | high | medium | mixed |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/04/reuters-america-update-2-drugstore-chain-operator-cvs-forecasts-profit-below-estimates.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150912103051id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/04/reuters-america-update-2-drugstore-chain-operator-cvs-forecasts-profit-below-estimates.html | UPDATE 2-Drugstore chain operator CVS forecasts profit below estimates | 20150912103051 | Aug 4 (Reuters) - U.S. drugstore chain operator CVS Health Corp estimated current-quarter profit below analysts' expectations, hurt by pressure from reimbursement rates and lower customer traffic after the company stopped selling tobacco products.
CVS shares fell as much as 5.5 percent on Tuesday.
The company is also being hurt by introduction of new generic drugs, which offer lower margins.
CVS said its front store same-store sales declined 7.8 percent in the second quarter, the biggest decline in two years. Analysts on average had expected a 5.8 percent drop, according to research firm Consensus Metrix.
CVS sells over-the-counter drugs, general consumer items and snacks at the front of its stores.
The company forecast adjusted profit of $1.27-$1.30 per share for the third quarter. Analysts on average were expecting $1.37 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company also raised the lower end of its 2015 adjusted profit forecast range to $5.11 per share and cut the higher end to $5.18. CVS had earlier forecast an adjusted profit of $5.08-$5.19 per share.
CVS's net income rose 2.1 percent to $1.27 billion, or $1.12 per share, in the second quarter ended June 30. Net revenue rose 7.4 percent to $37.17 billion.
Excluding items, the company earned $1.22 per share.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of $1.20 per share and revenue of $37.18 billion.
CVS shares were down 3 percent at $109.50 in late morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Ramkumar Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Kirti Pandey) | Aug 4- U.S. drugstore chain operator CVS Health Corp estimated current-quarter profit below analysts' expectations, hurt by pressure from reimbursement rates and lower customer traffic after the company stopped selling tobacco products. The company forecast adjusted profit of $1.27- $1.30 per share for the third quarter. The company also raised the lower... | 5.262295 | 0.934426 | 22.311475 | low | medium | extractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/31/the-associated-press-boston-mayor-city-councilors-seek-hefty-pay-raises.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150912145941id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/31/the-associated-press-boston-mayor-city-councilors-seek-hefty-pay-raises.html | Boston mayor, city councilors seek hefty pay raises | 20150912145941 | BOSTON (AP) — Boston's mayor and City Council are again looking for pay raises that could make them among the best compensated of comparable cities across the country.
Mayor Marty Walsh filed a proposal Monday giving his office a $24,000 raise to $199,000 a year. He also proposed raising councilor salaries by $12,000 to $99,500.
Not to be outdone, City Council President Bill Linehan proposed to boost pay on the 13-member panel by $17,500, from $87,500 to $105,000. He also proposed giving the mayor a $35,000 raise, from $175,000 to $210,000.
The proposals, which were filed ahead of Wednesday's regular council meeting, come after last year's protracted public spat between the two sides of city government over council pay.
Walsh, through a spokeswoman, called his proposal a fair compromise, noting the council has historically received half the salary of the mayor.
"The Council has not received a raise in nearly a decade and he believes this compromise is a fair and appropriate step to move forward and allow the City to return to addressing the priorities facing Boston," spokeswoman Bonnie McGilpin said.
In 2014, the council approved a $20,000 pay raise, only to have Walsh veto it and send the issue to an independent board to make a recommendation.
The advisory board produced a report in July suggesting a $9,500 raise (to $97,000) for the council and a $19,000 one (to $194,000) for the mayor — or a roughly 11 percent raise in line with what department heads and Cabinet-level positions have received in recent years.
But the advisory board also said a change in salary may not be warranted, based on a survey of 11 comparable cities, including Baltimore, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle.
The survey found Boston in the top half of the pack. The highest mayor's salary among the cohort was San Francisco, at $285,319, and the highest council salaries were in Philadelphia, at $127,085.
Linehan called the July proposal, at least in regards to council pay, "totally inadequate" and promised to file his own plan. The council president, who had originally sought an $112,500 salary last year, didn't immediately comment Monday.
Walsh said he won't accept the mayor's office pay raise, if approved. His proposal is effective following the next elections for mayor and council.
Councilors, who serve two-year terms, are up for re-election in November and all but five are running unopposed, including Linehan, who represents South Boston. Walsh is not up for re-election until 2017. | BOSTON— Boston's mayor and City Council are again looking for pay raises that could make them among the best compensated of comparable cities across the country. Mayor Marty Walsh filed a proposal Monday giving his office a $24,000 raise to $199,000 a year. Not to be outdone, City Council President Bill Linehan proposed to boost pay on the 13- member panel by... | 7.449275 | 0.942029 | 20.130435 | low | medium | extractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2014/07/25/goldman-sachs-downgrades-equities-to-neutral-over-3-months-sees-chance-of-temporary-sell-off.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150912191203id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/07/25/goldman-sachs-downgrades-equities-to-neutral-over-3-months-sees-chance-of-temporary-sell-off.html | Goldman Sachs downgrades equities to neutral over 3 months, sees chance of temporary sell-off | 20150912191203 | Goldman Sachs downgraded equities to "neutral" over the next three months on Friday afternoon, citing the risk of a temporary sell-off in stocks following a sell-off in bonds.
The firm said the near-term risk/reward profile for stocks was less attractive, even as it reiterated a "strong conviction" that stocks were the best-positioned class over the next year.
"We are concerned that a sell-off in government bonds will lead to a temporary sell-off in equities in line with what we saw last summer, though the magnitude is likely to be smaller as the need for bond yields to correct is lower than it was back then," Goldman said.
The firm also downgraded corporate bonds to "underweight" over 3 and 12 months.
Stocks held onto their already sharply lower levels on the news.
Click here for the latest on the markets. | Goldman downgraded equities to "neutral" over the next three months, citing the risk of a temporary sell-off in stocks following a sell-off in bonds. | 5.5 | 1 | 16.3125 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/23/sydney-seoul-shares-hit-fresh-highs-but-tokyo-lags.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150913203756id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/23/sydney-seoul-shares-hit-fresh-highs-but-tokyo-lags.html | Asian stocks end the week mixed on profit-taking, earnings | 20150913203756 | Australia's S&P ASX 200 index was the top performer for the day, bolstering to a one-week high amid a broad-based rally. For this week, it is up 0.94 percent.
The materials and energy sectors traded on the plus side, on the back of support from firmer iron ore, gold and crude oil prices. Fortescue Metals and BC Iron led gains by jumping 5 percent each. Oil-related counters Santos and Origin Energy finished up 2.6 and 2.8 percent, respectively.
Banks were also buoyant; Australia and New Zealand Banking and Commonwealth Bank of Australia advanced more than 1 percent each.
"[The ASX] is up on the back of further gains in oil and iron ore prices and presumably hopes that any further stimulus initiatives by Chinese authorities going forward will place a floor under the country's economic growth dynamics," Patersons Securities wrote in a note. China is Australia's largest trade partner.
Read MoreChinese bad debt spikes by more than a third
The possibility of more initial public offerings (IPOs) dampened China's Shanghai Composite on the final trading day of the week. Towards the end of the afternoon session, the Shanghai bourse trimmed losses from 1.6 percent to eventually finish Friday 0.5 percent lower.
Meanwhile, a senior official at the mainland's top economic planner said that China will do more to bolster its cooling economy as policymakers still have room to increase policy support. However, the statement did not seem to have much of a positive boost for markets.
Banking and property heavyweights were among the top losers; China Vanke and Poly Real Estate receded 2.3 and 4 percent, respectively, while Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China closed down nearly 3 percent each.
Securities firms like Citic Securities and China Merchants Securities sold off 4 percent each seemingly on the back of speculation that China's securities regulator could raise taxes on local stock investors.
Outperforming the bourse was state carrier China Eastern Airlines, which surged the daily maximum allowable of 10 percent, following the announcement of a private share sale.
After dropping as much as 236 points earlier in the day, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index clawed back losses to end up 0.5 percent.
Shares of HSBC elevated 3.5 percent ahead of its annual general meeting at 1800 SIN/HK in London. | Asian stocks traded mixed on Friday as investors took profits after the recent run-up and as earnings season gets underway in some parts of the region. | 15.413793 | 0.517241 | 0.586207 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/23/oil-prices-trade-near-2015-highs-on-yemen-worries.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150913220526id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/23/oil-prices-trade-near-2015-highs-on-yemen-worries.html | Brent at 4-1/2 month high; US crude up for sixth week | 20150913220526 | Oil prices diverged on Friday, with Brent rising to a near 4½ month high and WTI crude falling as data showed the drop in U.S. oil rigs quickened this week.
U.S. crude closed at $57.15 a barrel, down 59 cents, or 1.02 percent, retreating from Thursday's 2015 high of $58.41. Brent crude was up 50 cents at $65.30 a barrel, after hitting a Dec. 10 high of $65.80. Brent was headed for a third straight week of gains, adding nearly 3 percent this week.
Drillers idled 31 oil rigs this week, leaving 703 rigs active, after taking 26 and 42 rigs out of service in the previous two weeks, oil services firm Baker Hughes Inc said in its closely watched report.
With the oil rig decline this week, the number of active rigs has fallen for a record 20 weeks in a row to the lowest since 2010, according to Baker Hughes data going back to 1987.
Separately, fighting between Yemen's warring factions raged in southern and central parts of the country and air strikes from a Saudi-led coalition hit Houthi militia forces, creating more tensions over the security of Middle East oil supplies.
A softer dollar also lent support to Brent and formed a floor beneath falling U.S. crude prices.
Read MoreBulls are backing oil price breakthrough
Worries that crude stockpiles in the United States could hit a new record next week weighed on U.S. crude, even as overall demand for oil and fuel products, especially gasoline, picked up ahead of the peak summer driving season.
"It's a push and pull situation with the Yemen tensions giving Brent support while U.S. prices get pulled down as people steel themselves for another inventory rise next week," said John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital. | Oil prices diverged, with Brent rising to a near 4½ month high and WIT crude falling as data showed the drop in US oil rigs quickened this week. | 11.5 | 0.933333 | 7.666667 | low | medium | mixed |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/20/state-laws-complicate-married-same-sex-couples-finances.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150914151644id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/20/state-laws-complicate-married-same-sex-couples-finances.html | State laws complicate married same-sex couples' finances | 20150914151644 | While the Supreme Court allowed same-sex married couples to file joint federal tax returns, couples still may have to file separately in states that didn't legally recognized their marriage under state law. Same-sex married couples also may be subject to state inheritance and estate taxes that don't apply to opposite-sex married couples living in their states.
The conflict between state and federal law can even affect how a same-sex couple travels.
For example, if a same-sex married couple was visiting Texas, and one spouse was incapacitated by an accident, it's unclear whether the other spouse would have the right to make health-care decisions for the spouse. That's because Texas law prioritizes blood relatives and next of kin to make medical decisions.
Read MoreSocial Security benefits for more same-sex couples?
The inconsistent application of same-sex couples' marriage rights by states means couples should take a "belt and suspenders" approach of having up-to-date financial and health-care powers of attorney for spouses, said Tim Bresnahan, head of Northern Trust's national LGBT and nontraditional families practice."That's particularly true for those who may travel to states that are traditionally less accepting of same-sex couples," he said.
Breaking up will be harder to do, too, for same-sex married couples since divorce law varies by state. The nine community property states, which include Texas (the largest and most populous state that banned same-sex marriage before the Supreme Court ruling), will view property ownership differently than noncommunity property. "We expect there will continue to be issues for same-sex spouses to overcome, so it is important to understand the laws of your state," Bresnahan said.
Read MoreHigh financial stakes for 2M in same-sex couples
Child custody and the rights of nonbiological parents in same-sex couples may be the next legal battleground for same-sex couples. "I expect more litigation and legislation around adoption, surrogates and child care to come up," Popovich said. "At the very least, same-sex couples should be reviewing their plans" to make sure they are prepared. | Married same-sex couples have to deal with state laws that treat their finances differently than married opposite-sex couples. | 18.347826 | 0.826087 | 1.869565 | medium | medium | mixed |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/20/ious-for-rips-greeces-cash-crisis-hurts-funeral-industry.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150914184442id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/20/ious-for-rips-greeces-cash-crisis-hurts-funeral-industry.html | IOUs for RIPs: Greece's cash crisis hurts funeral industry | 20150914184442 | Funeral homes demand that much money upfront because of fears they won't get paid by cash-strapped Greeks after the ceremony. And it's almost always cash. Credit cards and especially checks are rarely used for such transactions in Greece, which remains a cash-based economy.
The difficulties in raising cash have produced some macabre consequences, Voulamandis and other funeral home operators said. Some bodies have had to spend more time than usual at the morgue, and some people have had to declare legal insolvency to be eligible for state-funded funerals for their relatives.
Greece's banks have been closed since June 29 after the country flirted with bankruptcy, defaulting on debts to the International Monetary Fund as its second bailout deal expired. The banks are scheduled to reopen Monday but still have a daily cash withdrawal limit of 60 euros and a weekly cash limit of 420 euros ($455). No one knows when those restrictions on cash withdrawals will be lifted.
Cash controls have choked the country's economy as Greece sinks back in recession, according to most major forecasts. Private services considered essential are surviving on an informal credit system.
Petros Kampitsis, a mason who makes marble headstones near an Athens cemetery, says Greeks are now opting for the most basic burial services — a move that is killing his business.
"We have a big problem, a very big problem. ... People don't have money and they're trying to organize funerals at the lowest possible cost," he said. "Once a funeral has taken place, what remains is to decorate the tomb. But what happens if you have no money? That doesn't happen."
"The lack of cash means the industry is frozen," he added.
Follow us on Twitter: @CNBCWorld | Greece's cash crisis has disrupted all aspects of daily life — death included. | 22.866667 | 0.533333 | 0.666667 | medium | low | abstractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/13/oil-prices-steady-after-us-drilling-cut-but-oversupply-still-weighs.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150914190132id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/13/oil-prices-steady-after-us-drilling-cut-but-oversupply-still-weighs.html | Oil down 3% as gasoline pressures market; traders eye Fed | 20150914190132 | Crude futures briefly came off their lows after market intelligence firm Genscape reported a drawdown of about 1.8 million barrels last week at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for U.S. crude, traders who saw the data said.
If confirmed, the numbers from Genscape would be the largest since the actual drawdown of 1.87 million barrels at Cushing in the week to June 19, official data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed.
Read MoreThe man who called the decline of nat gas sees this for oil
Financial markets are also waiting to see whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this week for the first time in nearly a decade. Should rates rise, analysts expect oil to fall, as a stronger dollar would undermine demand from importing countries.
Earlier on Monday, oil fell after growth in China's investment and factory output missed forecasts in August. A recent run of weak data from the world's second-largest economy has raised the chances that third-quarter growth may dip below 7 percent for the first time since the financial crisis.
Oil prices have dropped almost 60 percent since June 2014 on the largest global surplus of crude in modern times amid concerns about a slowing Chinese economy.
"We think we are near the floor, but nothing precludes that we temporarily move lower," BNP Paribas global head of commodity strategy Harry Tchilinguirian told the Reuters Global Oil Forum on Monday.
Read More The trade if Goldman's oil plunge call is right
Several banks said the immediate outlook remained weak, with Goldman Sachs and Commerzbank cutting their oil price forecasts last week.
North Dakota's daily oil production fell less than 1 percent in July, state regulators said on Monday, a drop far less than many feared and one showing the state's Bakken shale formation could continue pumping high volumes of crude for the foreseeable future despite sliding prices.
Advances in technology and efficiencies have helped the productivity of each drilling rig roughly double in the past year, helping the industry do more with less.
Read More Frackers change methods in 'imploding' oil market
Highlighting that gain, the number of producing wells in North Dakota hit 12,940 in July, an all-time high. | Crude oil fell more than 1 percent on Monday, dragged down by a tumble in gasoline prices. | 22.157895 | 0.736842 | 1.578947 | medium | low | mixed |
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/may/13/art.news1 | http://web.archive.org/web/20150916000942id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/may/13/art.news1 | Female artists dominate Turner prize shortlist | 20150916000942 | Sculptors and film-makers reign on the shortlist for the 2008 Turner prize, which was unveiled this morning.
Three women are in the running for this year's prize, which is awarded to a British-based artist under 50 for work created in the past year. They are sculptor Cathy Wilkes, Runa Islam, who works primarily in film, and Goshka Macuga, who has been described as a "cultural archaeologist". The final artist on the shortlist is Mark Leckey, who was nominated for his solo exhibition Industrial Light & Magic and works in a variety of media, including video.
The judges said that Leckey, whose work has mingled images of Leonardo DiCaprio, Disney cartoons and Marge Simpson, explores "contemporary ideas of film, and film as sculpture".
Islam's films, which touch on a somewhat different brand of pop culture - early works reference Fassbinder and Get Carter - were described as "open-ended narratives that are analytical and emotionally charged". Her recent video installation Be The First To See What You See As You See It (2004) depicts a woman dressed in white wandering around a gallery space of fragile porcelain pieces, before throwing them to the floor in slow-motion.
Goshka Macuga's work has also employed found materials to strange and intriguing purposes: her 2005 work A Time to Live, A Time to Die reworked pictures by Picasso and Max Ernst in hand-tooled leather. A previous installation, Study for a Portrait of Lord Byron, used an image of the poet's face as a three-legged coffee table.
Wilkes, who lives and works in Glasgow, uses shop mannequins in many of her installations. Speaking at today's announcement, one of the judges, Jennifer Higgie, said that Wilkes uses the "language of surrealism" and that her pieces were "very strange, poetic and very complex".
Although women have been shortlisted before - 1997's shortlist, which featured Gillian Wearing and Cornelia Parker, didn't feature a single man - only one female artist, Tomma Abts, has won in the last decade.
Today's announcement marks the first stage in a long journey for all four artists. Each now has six months to select or create work for the Turner prize show itself, with the final winner not chosen until December 1 2008. The prize pot is £40,000, with £25,000 going to the winner.
2007's winner was Mark Wallinger, whose installation at Tate Liverpool famously featured a video of himself wandering through the bowels of a Berlin gallery dressed in a bear suit. Wallinger took the prize for his painstaking recreation of Brian Haw's protest against the Iraq war, State Britain, and has recently been in the public eye again for his proposals for the so-called "Angel of the South", which would involve creating a 50m-high white racehorse near the A2 in Ebbsfleet.
After its sojourn in Liverpool - appearing as a curtain-raiser for the city's stint as European capital of culture - the Turner is back on familiar territory this year, at Tate Britain on Millbank in London. The chair of the judges is Stephen Deuchar, director of the gallery, marking the second year in which overall Tate director Nicholas Serota will not be taking part in the judging process.
Deuchar described this year's shortlist as "not especially easy".
"The audience for contemporary British art has now become incredibly sophisticated," he told Reuters. "These are not just one-liners."
Joining Deuchar and Higgie on the panel are architect David Adjaye, Daniel Birnbaum, the rector of the Staedelsch¨le international art academy in Frankfurt and curator Suzanne Cotter.
The public will get a chance to judge for themselves on October 7 2008, when the show opens. Up to 70,000 people are expected to visit.
· The Guardian is media partner of the 2008 Turner prize | Cathy Wilkes, Runa Islam, Goshka Macuga and Mark Leckey are the artists in the running for this year's £25,000 prize, it was announced today | 25.931034 | 0.965517 | 3.724138 | medium | high | mixed |
http://www.people.com/article/i-am-cait-recap-finale-recap-caitlyn-jenner-renaming-ceremony-kris-jenner-sitdown | http://web.archive.org/web/20150916005921id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/i-am-cait-recap-finale-recap-caitlyn-jenner-renaming-ceremony-kris-jenner-sitdown | Caitlyn Jenner's Sit-Down with Kris Jenner, Renaming Ceremony : People.com | 20150916005921 | We gathered together Sunday to watch the
finale for the same reason
and her assembled friends gathered at the end of the episode: To mark a moment.
Or, in the words of minister Allyson Dylan Robinson, who led Jenner's renaming ceremony: "To acknowledge the journey."
And what a journey: The finale's hour folded back on itself frequently, as Jenner, 65, reflected on the progress she had made – not to mention
, obstacles she had overcome and
– just in the few months since her
But first, before the episode could resolve lingering concerns about Jenner's embrace of her new name, it had to resolve
Their sit-down, as Jenner later explained, was "hard" but not tense. Both women were able to air their grievances, with Jenner beginning by explaining how hurt she was to not have been invited to daughter
"For 15 years of my life, I carpooled kids every day. Some days, I spent three or four hours a day in the car," she said. "[It's] a slap in the face when you don't even get invited to their graduation."
But Kris, 59, said that dealing with Jenner's
– and the comments about their family therein – has been very hard for her.
"It's very difficult to hear when you feel like you gave your whole life to somebody, that the sum of it all was: You were a
" she said, tearing up. "So that killed me."
The rest of the conversation was much like this – Jenner explained how she felt cut off and how she thought the family was overreacting to
; Kris said she felt left behind, as though her feelings didn't matter anymore, and that Caitlyn was insensitive.
Both Kris and Jenner said afterward that such communication would be key to their relationship and to keeping the family together moving forward.
They may not always agree with how the other is feeling, but it's important to hear her side.
"The key is to have patience," Jenner said. "Keep love in your heart and stay committed to the goal, and I am really hopeful that Kris and I can do that."
The rest of the hour looked forward.
Many of Jenner's new friends in the transgender community, including
and Chandi Moore, were at her side throughout the episode. All three spoke at the renaming ceremony, each sharing a special perspective on Jenner's new life and how she had changed them.
"I can't think of a time ever that I've so celebrated being trans," Moore said in an interview, describing the effect of her friendship with Jenner.
Cayne, who performed "Amazing Grace" (at Jenner's request) while backed by a choir, told the camera that her time with Jenner, helping raise awareness about issues afflicting the transgender community while growing closer with Jenner as a person, "has changed my life forever."
made a special musical appearance, and Jenner's
Boylan, ever the academic, read an e.e. cummings poem for the renaming ceremony entitled "i thank You God for most this amazing."
Robinson opened with a word about the power of names, which serve as symbols of a parent's hope, signs honoring the past and arrows toward the future.
Then she spoke to God: "Our friend, our sister, comes before you seeking a new name by which to be known," she said. "Bless her as she steps across this boundary in your name, which above all other names, is love."
The ultimate decision was Jenner's. Robinson asked her, "What shall your name be called?"
And to Jenner's declaration – "Caitlyn Marie Jenner" – Robinson gave one of her own, for everyone assembled: "If you affirm it, with Caitlyn, say it with me."
And then there Jenner stood, herself, and she was so thankful.
"It has been an amazing journey, and I'm seeing all of it come true," she said. "I'm in a great place in life and, for the first time, I feel like I fit in some place. Being my authentic self. Thank you."
The journey they were marking wasn't over – indeed, in some ways, there is still no end in sight – but it is the progress that has made it worth it.
As Boylan told the camera, quoting her mother, "You can't hate anyone whose story you know."
Closing the series, Jenner appeared in a final video diary entry as no-frills as when
"I want to help people in my community. We have a long way to go, but at least we got a really really really good beginning," she said. "And that makes my heart feel good."
If you affirm it, say it with me. | "I'm in a great place in life and for the first time, I feel like I fit in some place," Jenner said. "Being my authentic self. Thank you" | 26.567568 | 1 | 9.594595 | medium | high | extractive |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/09/15/jettison-jobs-part-spinoff/CqtwyxlX4P55OgDYqyLZyL/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150916170338id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/business/2015/09/15/jettison-jobs-part-spinoff/CqtwyxlX4P55OgDYqyLZyL/story.html | HP to jettison up to 30,000 jobs as part of spinoff | 20150916170338 | SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Hewlett-Packard says its upcoming spinoff of its technology divisions focused on software, consulting and data analysis will eliminate up to 30,000 jobs.
The cuts announced Tuesday will be within the newly formed Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which is splitting from the Palo Alto, California, company’s personal computer and printing operation. The split is scheduled to be completed by the end of next month.
HP Enterprises is trimming its payroll as part of an effort to reduce its expenses by $2 billion annually.
Even before the spinoff, HP has been jettisoning tens of thousands of employees during the past few years to help boost its declining profits as a technological shift from personal computers to smartphones and smartphones reduced demand for many of its products. | Hewlett-Packard says its upcoming spinoff of its divisions focused on software, consulting, and data analysis will eliminate up to 30,000 jobs. | 5.615385 | 1 | 8.384615 | low | high | extractive |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/14/some-shoppers-actually-like-christmas-creep.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150916193947id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/14/some-shoppers-actually-like-christmas-creep.html | Some shoppers actually like Christmas creep | 20150916193947 | Certain consumer groups are more likely to start making holiday purchases before the leaves change. According to CreditCards.com, parents are twice as likely to have started shopping as those without kids. Grandparents are even farther along in their holiday planning, with 7 percent of people ages 65 and older saying they've already finished shopping. That compares to 1 percent of people ages 64 or younger.
And the less money a person makes, the more likely he or she is to try and wrap up their shopping early. According to the findings from CreditCards.com, just 19 percent of those who earn at least $75,000 a year expect to finish their holiday shopping before December. By comparison, 30 percent of those making $30,000 a year plan to do so.
"If you're on a budget, getting an early start on holiday shopping can be a great idea," Schulz said. "For example, it can make it easier to take advantage of layaway programs."
Already this summer, Wal-Mart moved its holiday layaway program two weeks earlier, kicking it off in August. Sears-owned Kmart also announced that it will once again offer a layaway service for no money down, adding the ability for shoppers to lease items for no money down. | Two separate surveys released Tuesday indicate that a slew of consumers actually embrace retailers' ever-earlier holiday push. | 11.52381 | 0.380952 | 0.380952 | low | low | abstractive |
http://www.people.com/article/missouri-man-who-killed-kentucky-trooper-had-criminal-record | http://web.archive.org/web/20150917224400id_/http://www.people.com/article/missouri-man-who-killed-kentucky-trooper-had-criminal-record | Missouri Man Who Killed Kentucky Trooper Had Criminal Record : People.com | 20150917224400 | Left to right: Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks, Ambrea R.J. Shanks and Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder
Joseph Johnson-Shanks, the 25-year-old St. Louis man who allegedly
Kentucky Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder on Sunday and was later killed by police, had a criminal record and allegedly had an eerily similar encounter with cops in 2014 in which he placed his hand near a gun in his glove compartment after being pulled over, according to a police report obtained by PEOPLE.
On Christmas Day of 2014, Chris Hampton, a sheriff's deputy in Franklin County, Illinois, pulled over Johnson-Shanks and a female passenger for speeding, according to a police report obtained by PEOPLE. The report states that Hampton approached the car and saw Johnson-Shanks with his hand in the glove compartment, with his hand "positioned with the handle of the firearm towards the driver, providing instant access." (The report also alleges that Johnson-Shanks had several bags of marijuana and was driving with a revoked license.)
Hampton wrote: "I asked him if he had any intention of using the firearm on me when I approached the vehicle, as he had the glove box open at that time with his right hand in the glove box and he stated no he did not."
Hampton then arrested Johnson-Shanks without incident. Johnson-Shanks was indicted on weapons and guns charges and ultimately pleaded guilty. He was placed on a conditional discharge for 30 months, a time period that encompassed Sunday's shooting of Trooper Ponder.
In an interview with PEOPLE on Wednesday, Franklin County Sheriff Don Jones expressed relief that the situation didn't end tragically.
"My deputy, for whatever reason, was not involved in a shootout and possibly murdered by the grace of the good Lord – or maybe the way he handled the situation, I'm not sure," Jones said.
Of the shooting of Trooper Ponder, Jones said, "This is a tragic incident and our hearts go out to the trooper and his family."
reported that Johnson-Shanks received a summons in 2013 for allegedly driving away from police after a traffic stop and having marijuana in his car.
The paper also reported that he was wanted at the time of his death for questioning in a May 18 theft of $900 in lottery tickets from a gas station, with police claiming they saw Johnson-Shanks on surveillance video at other gas stations claiming winnings on some of the stolen tickets.
Ponder pulled Johnson-Shanks over on the highway Sunday night during a routine stop. But Johnson-Shanks allegedly fled during the stop, causing a police chase,
About 10 miles later, Johnson-Shanks allegedly stopped his car abruptly, causing Ponder's car to make contact with it. At that point, Johnson-Shanks fired several shots into Ponder's vehicle, hitting him several times, before fleeing on foot, the statement says. Cops said Johnson-Shanks had four passengers in the car at the time: two adult women and two young children.
After a massive overnight manhunt, cops eventually found Johnson-Shanks in a wooded area next to the highway,
released on Facebook. Johnson-Shanks allegedly pointed a gun at cops and refused to put it down, at which point cops fatally shot him, the statement says.
In an interview with PEOPLE on Tuesday, Kentucky State Police spokesman Jay Thomas said that during the initial stop, Ponder was trying to help Johnson-Shanks and his four passengers. Johnson Shanks was driving with a suspended license and nobody else had a license, so Ponder was trying to find lodging for the group.
"He was cutting him a break, if you will," Thomas said. "I don't know what was going on in that guy's mind. We see a lot of things happen over very minor offenses. To us, maybe they seem minor, but to the bad guy, maybe this is something major. [He] probably didn't know that Trooper Ponder was trying to arrange a hotel room for him. He probably thought he was going to jail. But again, I don't know."
"Our troopers do that from time to time," Thomas says of troopers finding lodging for drivers with suspended licenses. "We don't always take people to jail."
Ambrea R.J. Shanks of Florissant, Missouri, 18, a niece of Johnson-Shanks and a passenger in the car, was charged with
and taken to the county jail. (She has not yet entered a plea, Caldwell County Jail confirmed to PEOPLE.)
Discussing the prevailing mood among troopers, Thomas told PEOPLE, "It's a very sad day, everybody is pretty somber."
Ponder joined the state police after graduating from the Kentucky State Police Training Academy in January. He was a Navy veteran.
The state police has launched an investigation into Ponder's death and into the use of force in Johnson-Shanks' death as well, Thomas said. | The trooper was trying to help suspect Joseph Johnson-Shanks find lodging | 74.769231 | 0.923077 | 3.076923 | high | medium | mixed |
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/nov/13/photography.shopping/amp | http://web.archive.org/web/20150918212335id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/nov/13/photography.shopping/amp | Sean O'Hagan meets photographer Stephen Shore | 20150918212335 | In his spare time, Stephen Shore is a keen fly fisher. In 1982, when his first book of American photographs, Uncommon Places, was published, he said: 'Fishing, like photography, is an art that calls forth intelligence, concentration and delicacy.' When I read that quote back to him, he nods and says: 'Now I'd add the word "attention". That's the big connection. Fishing and photography are both exercises in attention.'
Now 57, Shore is just as I imagined him to be: dapper, softly spoken and careful with his words. The late Raymond Carver is the only other artist I have ever met who conformed so directly to my preconceived notion of him. Carver, too, was a man drawn to the solitary art of fly fishing. It would be stretching a point to place Shore's images in the same dirty realist school of observation as Carver's stories, but there is a definable and precise everydayness to both of them.
In Shore's almost banal images of motel rooms, faded lampshades and armchairs, plates of diner food on Formica table tops, there is often the sense of some bigger human narrative of which these are just frozen moments. That narrative concerns loneliness and transience and a culture catering to the same shadowy hinterlands of the American character that Carver mapped out so evocatively in his fiction.
Shore's second book, American Surfaces, originally published in 1999, has just been repackaged and reissued by Phaidon in a fetching facsimile of an old Kodak film envelope. The work predates the images in Uncommon Places, having been distilled from Shore's first road trip across America in 1972. Not the pushiest of photographers, Shore seems utterly unperturbed by the time it has taken his seminal shows to be transformed into books, and the slightly confusing, non-chronological way the books have been published. 'I was always busy working on something new so I never pursued the matter,' he says, without the slightest trace of regret.
Unlike his contemporary and fellow colourist William Eggleston, Shore does not object to the term 'snapshot aesthetic', which has often been used to describe the chronologically arranged images in American Surfaces
'They were made to look like snapshots formally, but not in terms of the subject matter,' he says. 'I mean, people do not tend to take snapshots of their dinner. Or the toilet in their motel. Back then, I was more interested in getting that untutored feel that real snapshots have, but are they snapshots? No, not really.'
Like Robert Frank before him, Shore's guiding spirit on his drives across the continent was the late Walker Evans, the first and arguably greatest photographic chronicler of America's evanescent everydayness. On his various journeys, Shore photographed so much - nearly 100 rolls of film - that many of the images of gas stations, motels, low-rise homes as well as the beds he slept in and the meals he ate could not help but exude a certain formal similarity.
If Frank had shown an until-then hidden America, forlorn and unromanticised, Shore showed another almost taken-for-granted America whose uniformity was so obvious as to go unnoticed. His images were often flat and matter of fact, more Evans then Eggleston, but they added up to a collective vision poised somewhere between the banal and the sublime.
'I was certainly fascinated by the sameness I saw,' he says quietly over a snatched lunch in his publisher's offices in King's Cross, 'but I was also fascinated simply by what things looked like, what store windows and hotel beds looked like, what the food looked like on my plate, how people were dressed, what their hairstyles were like. I had all these aesthetic notions about taking pictures that, above all, looked natural, but within three days of leaving New York, I realised that I should simply keep a visual diary of my travels. I thought that would say just as much about America.'
And this is exactly what he did, to much initial controversy, and considerable lasting influence. 'When my pictures were first shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, people hated them,' he says, smiling now at the memory. 'The press coverage, what little there was of it, was uniformly terrible.'
The year was 1972 and Shore had made the mistake common to all visionaries - that of being too far ahead of his time. It was four years before Eggleston's pivotal debut show at Moma, William Eggleston's Guide, now generally credited, unfairly, as the moment modern colour photography came into its own.
'William may have been shooting in colour in the early Seventies, but he hadn't shown any of the work then,' says the self-effacing Shore. 'People just did not exhibit colour images then. I remember the great Paul Strand taking me aside and advising me in no uncertain terms that it would be a disastrous career move.'
Shore was the first living photographer to be exhibited at the Met and, to add insult to injury in the purists' eyes, he exhibited his photographs unframed and arranged in a grid three layers high around the walls. 'It just so happened that Strand had a big show at the Met, too,' says Shore. 'All these beautifully matted works of ultimate craftsmanship on platinum paper. And, in the next room, there's my work, photographs made by a machine in the big Kodak processing plant in Fairlawn, New Jersey, and stuck to the wall with double-sided tape. I am often asked what it was that people objected to exactly in the show and the answer is: all of it. Everything. As I recall, no one but the curator had a good word to say about it'
Over 30 years later, though, American Surfaces is regarded as one of the key works of modern American photography, as influential, albeit in a much slower and quieter way, as the work of his more feted predecessors. 'People say I was following in the footsteps of Evans and Frank, but I wasn't trying to emulate them. Nor Kerouac, for that matter. I did sometimes think of myself as one of the minor characters in On the Road. There's a young painter who picks Jack up outside Cheyenne and takes him to Denver. That's really who I was emulating, albeit with a camera instead of a paintbrush.'
Shore grew up in New York City and was obsessed by photography from an early age, having been given a Kodak Junior darkroom set by a relative as a sixth birthday present. At 10, he owned Walker Evans's influential book of urban landscapes, American Photographs, and, at 14, was precocious enough to ring up the great photographer Edward Steichen, then a curator at Moma, to ask if he could send in some examples of his work.
'It was naivety more than precociousness,' he says, laughing. 'I didn't know you weren't supposed to do that sort of thing. I guess if I had been 30, he would not have agreed to see me.' As it was, Steichen bought three photographs, but they have yet to appear in the gallery. 'They were not my best work,' says Shore with a straight face.
In 1965, when he was just 16, Shore began turning up at Andy Warhol's Factory. He photographed there on and off, and the images were later published in book form as The Velvet Years: Andy Warhol's Factory 1965-1967. There was, he says, 'a lot of sitting around on couches waiting for something to happen'.
Being around Warhol in the Factory taught him two important things. 'I began to see conceptually there because that's how Andy looked at the world, finding this detached pleasure in the banality of everyday things. But he also worked as hard as anyone I have ever encountered. Every day, Andy would be at his desk no matter how late he had been out the night before. At the Factory, even the drugs were work-oriented, everyone buzzing about on amphetamine.'
The images he created for Uncommon Places were also influenced by conceptual artist Ed Ruscha, whose book of serial paintings, Thirty-Four Parking Lots, took Warholian monotony to a whole other level. Shore now created another, even more deadpan signature, reflecting back the reality of suburban America in all its sublime sameness.
To do so, he used a huge, unwieldy camera the size of a small television, which had to be mounted on a tripod, and whose 10x8 film came in single sheets. The capturing of an image was so labour-intensive that Shore was forced to make most of his creative decisions in advance.
'The work I had done in New York before the road trips was conceptually based sequences. Very Sixties, very formal. One of my motivations for that, apart from the intellectual pleasure it gave me, was that it set up a framework. I'd decide I was going to walk north along the Avenue of the Americas and at the beginning of each block, take a picture, facing north. That one decision predetermines the results to a great degree, cuts through the artifice. I kind of went back there for Uncommon Places. My belief is that the formal constrictions you place on yourself as an artist can, paradoxically, give you an immense freedom.'
It is that freedom that Shore has played with, to one degree or another, ever since. His work may often look simple and even stereotypical in its reflection of American tropes - the parking lot, the diner, the gas station, the low-level mall - but is governed by strict formal rules. Often, it seems like he has managed to merge high-end conceptualism with the kind of low-end practical photography undertaken by surveyors or architects.
These days, he works with a digital camera and often publishes his work in iBook form. 'I have either to learn or have fun when I'm working. That's my only guidelines. If I'm not doing either, I just stop.'
Stephen Shore's legacy is not large, but it is singular and, of late, it has become more influential than ever. 'I do think about why people are all of a sudden looking at my work,' he says, 'and it occurs to me that it may have needed a distance in time for people to see what I was actually looking at. People need time. It's much easier to look at the past than to look at the present. I was looking at the present and people didn't want to see it until it became - for them - the past.'
· American Surfaces is published by Phaidon, £35. To order a copy for £30 with free UK p&p, call the Observer Books Service on 0870 836 0885 or go to www.observer.co.uk/bookshop | Stephen Shore was ignored for years, but his images of 1970s diners and motels are now regarded as key works in American photography. As his first collection is republished, he discusses form, Formica and his days at Warhol's Factory. | 47.755556 | 0.866667 | 1.533333 | high | medium | mixed |
http://www.theguardian.com/activate/workshop-schedule | http://web.archive.org/web/20150918232007id_/http://www.theguardian.com/activate/workshop-schedule | Activate 2010 workshop: Schedule | 20150918232007 | 1.30pm – 1.35pmWelcome & opening remarksMatt McAlister, head of the Guardian Open PlatformRobin Hough, producer, The Activate Summit
1.35pm – 1.45pmThe outlook for technology entrepreneurs and investors in the UK and EuropeCharles Cotton, founder, Cambridge Enterprise
1.45pm – 2.00pmA global perspective on the web tech market and how to fund it, plus last minute pitching tips and q&aEsther Dyson, chairman, EDventure Holdings
2.00pm – 3.50pmFuture Technology Start Up Pitches x 118 mins per pitch with (strictly) 2 mins q&a from the judges after each pitch.
1) Dr Kate James, founder, Medikidz2) Charles Armstrong, CEO, Trampoline Systems3) Matthew Taylor, director, Escape Artists4) Maurizio Defranciscis, founder & CEO, Globalcampus5) Alastair Livesey, managing director, Diverse Energy6) Erik Fairbarn, CEO, POD Point7) Victor Henning, CEO, Mendeley8) Andrew Walkingshaw, CEO, Timetric9) Brian Larsen, founder / CEO, Getitcard10) Martin Frost, co-founding director, Iceni Mobile11) Gavin Starks, founder, AMEE
3.50pm – 4.20pmJudges deliberation, networking, drinks and canapés
4.20pm – 4.30pmFuture Technology Start Up Pitches winners announcedPodium finishers (and honourable mentions)
4.30pm – 5.00pmJudges panel discussion and q&a:How to fund the next generation of world changing web technologie
We ask the judges if they believe they are the ones to back the companies that will change the world, to explain what they are currently interested and investing in and what they believe the funding alternatives for start ups are if not venture capital? | Schedule for the Activate Future Technologies Pitching Workshop | 35.875 | 0.5 | 0.75 | high | low | abstractive |
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/dec/18/exhibitionist-art-this-week | http://web.archive.org/web/20150919004547id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/dec/18/exhibitionist-art-this-week | Exhibitionist: The best art shows to see this week | 20150919004547 | London looked to the future during the postwar years, as the bombed-out city rebuilt itself with towers of steel and glass. And it was precisely that heady moment of change which Frank Auerbach attempted to capture in his paintings, London Building Sites, on show in the city's Courtauld Gallery. His vision is rooted in the mudbanks of construction sites that were disinterring the bones of London's past. With a palette of blood-tinged ochre and sludge green, he built up layers of paint as churned and gritty-looking as the earth beneath the labourers' feet. This was the decade in which the young Auerbach and his peers Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon emerged as figureheads of new British painting. These gutsy artworks demonstrate why.
This timely exhibition at Fact in Liverpool explores the new frontier of the digital world. Hailing from a generation that came of age with globalised cyberculture, the eight artists and videogame programmers presenting their work here are a largely fresh-faced bunch. American Mark Essen, for instance, who is barely out of his teens, makes fierce, rudimentary games that strip back the medium to its primal essence. Acclaimed young Chinese artist Cao Fei explores a gentler culture of avatars in her video COSPlayers. Set in Guangzhou, teenagers dressed as their favourite anime characters reveal how old China is passing into new, virtual realms. But computer games aren't just for kids. Having transformed lo-fi video art into a big-budget affair in the 1980s, even Bill Viola is getting in on the act. His "slow" videogame promises to take players on a transcendental journey.
In the hands of Scottish artist Martin Boyce, interior design becomes a fearful thing. His installations feature modernist fixtures and fittings, but conjure up an atmosphere of Romantic gloom and middle-class neurosis. In his earlier works, an Eames chair wedged against a door keeps who knows what terror at bay, ventilation grills carry forbidding labels such as "undead", and wire-mesh fences transform gallery spaces into prisons. Conceived as an abandoned garden, his latest exhibition No Reflections has arrived at Dundee Contemporary Arts fresh from its debut in the Scottish pavilion at this year's Venice Biennale. It features abstract slabs of cold, grey concrete, a metal skeleton of a bed and a rusting bench, surrounded by a flurry of dead leaves. The organic world and this harsh man-made environment make melancholy companions. Definitely not a place to get too comfy.
Laura Oldfield Ford's punky drawings interpret the new towns and leisure developments found at the edges of urban sprawl. Yet what this young artist creates in pencil, ink and ballpoint pen is far from the squeaky-clean structures you see on billboards, advertising a bright future for Britain's poorest areas. Distributing work through her self-produced magazine Savage Messiah, alongside gallery shows, Ford taps into the mental landscape as much as the physical world. In her work, building projects such as the Olympic site and the gleaming apartment blocks of east London's Lee Valley are shown as future ruins, cluttered with the waste they're intended to cover up. Via layers of pencil palimpsest, she reveals the memories that still beset these locations. On show at the University of Hertfordshire, her latest works excavate the buried history of the 1981 race riots, with depictions of places such as Harlow, Stevenage and Hatfield.
The late Bob Law was a frontrunner of British minimalism in the 1970s, but he is far from well-known today. Providing the chance to consider him afresh, this show of his work spread over two London galleries – Karsten Schubert and Thomas Dane – is quietly persuasive. Like his American counterparts, Law's canvases strip back painting to monochrome stripes, blocky shapes and colour fields. Confronted with his "black paintings", for instance, it's strange to consider that his career began in St Ives in the 1950s, where he developed his skills alongside Trevor Bell and Peter Lanyon, painters whose abstractions were more obviously rooted in the Cornish landscape. In other works, Law's use of basic geometric forms suggests landscape with brilliant economy: lines, squares and rectangles become horizons, houses and skies. His hand-rendered daubs of paint, meanwhile, are a long way from the industrial finish usually associated with the minimalists. | London stages Bob Law and Frank Auerbach retrospectives, videogame art invades Liverpoool, and Martin Boyce puts the terror in interior design in Dundee | 33.04 | 0.8 | 1.2 | medium | medium | abstractive |
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