Electrical store’s announcement is latest indicator of a major fall in consumer confidence Fresh evidence of a major fall in consumer confidence emerged on Wednesday as Dixons issued a profit warning after suffering a sharp drop in UK sales. The VAT rise and government cuts were both to blame, the electrical retailer said, as it admitted that like-for-like sales had decreased by 11% in UK and Ireland in the last 11 weeks. Profits for the year to the end of April will be about £85m rather than the £105m analysts had expected. The group is also considering pulling out of Spain, putting 1,200 jobs at risk. Shares in the company plunged 11% as investors digested the poor trading update. Chief executive John Browett said the launch of the second generation iPad had been one bright spot in the last 11 weeks, selling out in stores in two hours, but other areas were struggling: “We know that people are a little bit worried until the public expenditure cuts are confirmed.” Browett suggested the VAT rise in January had been significant. Like-for-like sales were down just 4% over the last 13 weeks, incorporating the two weeks before VAT went up, suggesting customers bought big-ticket items before the tax hike. The bad news at Dixons came after Thomas Cook’s warning yesterday that UK demand for foreign holidays had dropped sharply and official figures showed the first fall in real household disposable income for 30 years . Dixons said: “At the time of the group’s trading statement in January, trading conditions were expected to remain difficult through the first half of the year, with consumer sentiment improving as we moved towards Christmas 2011. However, with consumer confidence even weaker than expected like-for-like sales in the 11 weeks to 26 March 2011 are down 11% in the UK and Ireland. In this more challenging trading environment, the business has focused on cash gross profits and has held gross margins flat year on year.” It added that the low levels of consumer confidence were likely to continue. “With continuing pressure on household budgets, it is difficult to see a significant improvement in this pattern of trading in the short term and the group is now planning on the basis that the consumer environment remains relatively subdued and that the electricals market overall shows a modest decline in the group’s 2011-12 financial year.” Dixons Retail Retail industry Recession Economics Profit warnings Alex Hawkes guardian.co.uk
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Labour leader announces that he and his partner will marry in a civil ceremony in front of about 50 guests at a country house hotel near Nottingham on 27 May The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, and his partner, Justine Thornton, are to get married on 27 May, the couple announced today. The pair, who have been together for six years and have two sons, made the announcement to the Doncaster Free Press , the local newspaper in Miliband’s constituency. Miliband, 41, and 40-year-old Thornton will marry in a civil ceremony in front of around 50 guests at the Langar Hall country house hotel near Nottingham, close to the bride’s childhood home. Ed’s brother, David, whom he defeated for the Labour leadership, would be among the guests, the paper added. However, he will not be best man as Ed has opted to do without the role. Some newspapers and conservative social critics have condemned the pair for setting a poor example by having two children outside of marriage – Daniel, 21 months, and Samuel, four months – particularly after Miliband said he had simply been “too busy” for a wedding. The couple told the paper that they had agreed a year ago they would get married. Thornton said: “Ed wasn’t even an MP when I met him and at the end of the day I am marrying him because of who he is and not because of what he’s doing now. We’re planning on a small ceremony, all at the hotel with everything at the same place and we’re looking forward to it very much.” Miliband said: “This is going to be a fantastic day for us both and I feel incredibly privileged to be marrying someone so beautiful and who is such a special person. It’s the right time for us to do this and I’m really looking forward to a lovely day.” He added: “At the end of the day we’re in our 40s and we’ve got two kids – so it wasn’t a case of me suddenly popping the question. This is just something we think is right for us.” While he was doing without a best man, Miliband said he had not ruled out a “low key” stag night. The ceremony will come just less than a month after Prince William marries Kate Middleton, and will be a notable contrast for its small scale and relative lack of convention. Ed Miliband Labour Marriage Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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Former US president Jimmy Carter met Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana on Tuesday as part of his three-day trip to explore ways to improve ties soured by a half-century of opposition.( March 30)
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By now you’ve probably watched iFixit’s recent iPad 2 teardown video several times while drooling profusely, but we just know you’re itching to find out what’s different with the innards of the WiFi-only, GSM, and CDMA versions. Well once again, iFixit’s got you covered — via an “exceptionally cool” user-contributed post, this time. A grand total of three iPad 2s were sacrificed in this round, revealing variations in case design, antenna count, WWAN board layout, radio chipset choices, and headphone jack assemblies. Besides clearly visible changes like the black antenna window on the 3G models and the microSIM slot on the GSM version, it’s interesting to note that Apple made the same design choices with the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4. The CDMA model features an additional antenna over its GSM sibling, and uses a Qualcomm Gobi dual-mode radio which supports both CDMA and GSM — the latter being unused — along with an integrated GPS receiver, just like the iPhone 4 for Verizon. The GSM version, meanwhile, uses an Infineon chipset for GSM and a separate Broadcom module for GPS, just like the global iPhone 4. Follow the source link below for more sordid details plus high-resolution pictures. iPad 2 sliced up again, this time in the name of radio science originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 03:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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World Media is Exploiting Japan | Additional Earthquakes irrelevant القذافي مسؤول عنزلزال اليابان..Gaddafi was responsible earthquake in Japan FRESH close-up view of disasters happen in Fukushima Japan On 'Maximum Alert' Over Nuclear Crisis: Kan Fascinating Typical Scary Outrageous Amazing Infuriating Beautiful. Follow. Japan Earthquake , Japan Maximum Alert , Japan Nuclear Reactor , Naoto Kan , Nuclear Power , Japan , Japan News , Japan Nuclear , Japan Tsunami , World News … Japan PM urges clean energy push (AFP) | News Compt japan tsunami in the efl · Knuts Necropsy · travel advice korea nuclear japan · the expected coming earthquake to california · what happens if the japenese nuclear reactors meltdown · snowing in spring · united states relations with … Night Terror Recordings: Extreme Sound Anti-Nuclear Compilation … NTR060 : Surrealizt – The Mercy Remixes · NTR059 : Namenlosigkeit – Return Ov Dark Ages · ESF Anti- Nuclear / Japan Disaster Benefit Compilat… NTR058 : Happy Amen – Which Block R U From? NTR057 : Doc Ross – Misbegotten … Nuclear fears spark rush for radiation detectors (Yahoo) 29 March 2011 11:02 PM | No Comments; AFP – Japan said Tuesday it was on “maximum alert” over a crippled nuclear Japan on ‘maximum alert’ over nuclear plant (AFP) (Yahoo) 29 March 2011 11:00 PM | No Comments … (TEPCO) Tokyo Electric Power Company's MONOPLY IN JEOPARDY … Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) emergency loans to help repair its damaged and leaking nuclear power plant. Filed Under: Business Tagged With: Daiichi nuclear plant, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear, japan , TEPCO, Tokyo Electric Power Company … OkayLady says: RT @BarbaraOBrien : heartbreaking letters from the #Fukushima workers http://on.wsj.com/hoHCOI #nuclear #Japan
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Potential liability in the ten-year-old case could reach into billions of dollars Conservative judges on the US supreme court sharply challenged lawyers attempting to bring the biggest sex discrimination case in history as a key hearing on the case got underway in Washington. The court’s justices are set to decide by June whether lawyers representing potentially more than a million women employed by Walmart can bring a class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit against the retail giant. Their decision looks set to redefine discrimination cases in the US. Justice Anthony Kennedy, a moderate conservative, and Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative judge, questioned the basis of the case. Kennedy said Walmart’s record on pay and promotion was better than the US average. “I’m just not sure what the unlawful policy is,” he said. The potentially liability in the case could reach billions of dollars. The suit began nearly 10 years ago when it was originally filed on behalf of employee Betty Dukes and five of her co-workers. Walmart is appealing an earlier court’s decision to let the case go to trial. Joseph Sellers, a lawyer representing the women, said Walmart, owner of Asda in the UK, has a corporate culture that stereotypes women and that has led to discrimination in pay and promotion. “These decisions are informed by the values the company provides,” Sellers said. He added that earlier courts had been persuaded by this argument and a wealth of statistical evidence that there was a class action case to be answered. Scalia attacked Sellers position, saying he was “whipsawed” by the argument that either individual managers are on their own, “or else a strong corporate culture tells them what to do”. “Which is it?” he asked. Legal expert Stuart Slotnick of New York law firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney said it was too early to tell which way the judges would vote but it was clear that the statistical element in the case was “causing concerns”. “Statistics alone seem to be troubling for the courts,” he said. “There needs to be other evidence than a mathematical analysis of pay scales.” He said evidence, such as testimony from employees about a sexist corporate culture or a policy of discrimination, would bolster the case. The plaintiffs were given some support by justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an expert on sex discrimination law. She said the issue being decided was whether the case has enough evidence to proceed and not if discrimination could be immediately proven. “We’re talking about getting a foot in the door,” Ginsburg said. Wal-Mart denies discrimination. Lawyer Theodore Boutrous Jr told the court: “There is absolutely no way there can be a fair process.” He said it was impossible for the company to defend its treatment of such a massive number of people when they worked at thousands of different stores and in many different jobs. Outside the crowd protesters gathered shouting “Fair pay now” and carrying signs such as “Stop discounting the women of Wal-Mart” and “The women of Wal-Mart are not worthless”.” Walmart Retail industry United States Washington DC US supreme court Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
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[1] We’ve featured a handful of director [2] montages [3] here on /Film recently, and while this “25 Years of Pixar” compilation isn’t quite that, it’s actually pretty similar. In terms of look, tone, and quality, I’d say Pixar is as consistent as many directors. For the video, NkMcDonalds pulled scenes from works spanning over decades — from ’80s shorts to this year’s Cars 2. If you like Pixar as… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : /Film Discovery Date : 29/03/2011 14:00 Number of articles : 4
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[1] We’ve featured a handful of director [2] montages [3] here on /Film recently, and while this “25 Years of Pixar” compilation isn’t quite that, it’s actually pretty similar. In terms of look, tone, and quality, I’d say Pixar is as consistent as many directors. For the video, NkMcDonalds pulled scenes from works spanning over decades — from ’80s shorts to this year’s Cars 2. If you like Pixar as… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : /Film Discovery Date : 29/03/2011 14:00 Number of articles : 4
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US department of education says school violated federal law in waiting too long to warn students about campus gunman Virginia Tech will have to pay the maximum $55,000 (£34,000) fine for waiting too long to notify students during the 2007 shooting rampage , the US department of education has announced. Officials told the university the sanction should have been greater for the school’s slow response to the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history, when student Cho Seung-hui shot and killed 32 students and members of faculty, then himself. The $55,000 fine was the most the department could levy for the school’s two violations of the federal Clery Act, which requires timely reporting of crimes on campus. “While Virginia Tech’s violations warrant a fine far in excess of what is currently permissible under the statute, the Department’s fine authority is limited,” wrote Mary Gust, director of a departmental panel that dictated what punishment the school would receive. However, Virginia Tech avoided the potentially devastating punishment of losing some or all of its $98m in federal student aid. University officials have always maintained their innocence and said they would appeal against the fine, even though it’s a relatively small sum for a school of more than 30,000 full-time students and an annual budget of $1.1bn. The amount would cover tuition and fees for one Virginia undergraduate student for four years, or two years for an out-of-state undergraduate. “We believe that Virginia Tech administrators acted appropriately in their response to the tragic events of April 16, 2007, based on the best information then available to them at the time,” spokesman Larry Hincker said in a statement. The Clery Act requires colleges and universities that receive federal student financial aid to report crimes and security policies and provide warning of campus threats. The education department issued its final report in December, finding that Virginia Tech failed to issue a timely warning to the Blacksburg campus after Cho shot and killed two students in a dormitory early that morning. The university sent out an email to the campus more than two hours later, about the time Cho was chaining shut the doors to a classroom building where he killed 30 more students and faculty, then himself. That email was too vague, the department said, because it referred only to a “shooting incident” but did not mention anyone had died. By the time a second, more explicit warning was sent, Cho was near the end of his shooting spree. “Had an appropriate timely warning been sent earlier to the campus community, more individuals could have acted on the information and made decisions about their own safety,” the department said. A state commission that investigated the shootings also found that the university erred by failing to notify the campus sooner. The state reached an $11m settlement with many of the victims’ families. Two families have sued and are seeking $10m in damages from university officials. That case is set for trial this autumn. Virginia Tech shooting Gun crime United States guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …US department of education says school violated federal law in waiting too long to warn students about campus gunman Virginia Tech will have to pay the maximum $55,000 (£34,000) fine for waiting too long to notify students during the 2007 shooting rampage , the US department of education has announced. Officials told the university the sanction should have been greater for the school’s slow response to the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history, when student Cho Seung-hui shot and killed 32 students and members of faculty, then himself. The $55,000 fine was the most the department could levy for the school’s two violations of the federal Clery Act, which requires timely reporting of crimes on campus. “While Virginia Tech’s violations warrant a fine far in excess of what is currently permissible under the statute, the Department’s fine authority is limited,” wrote Mary Gust, director of a departmental panel that dictated what punishment the school would receive. However, Virginia Tech avoided the potentially devastating punishment of losing some or all of its $98m in federal student aid. University officials have always maintained their innocence and said they would appeal against the fine, even though it’s a relatively small sum for a school of more than 30,000 full-time students and an annual budget of $1.1bn. The amount would cover tuition and fees for one Virginia undergraduate student for four years, or two years for an out-of-state undergraduate. “We believe that Virginia Tech administrators acted appropriately in their response to the tragic events of April 16, 2007, based on the best information then available to them at the time,” spokesman Larry Hincker said in a statement. The Clery Act requires colleges and universities that receive federal student financial aid to report crimes and security policies and provide warning of campus threats. The education department issued its final report in December, finding that Virginia Tech failed to issue a timely warning to the Blacksburg campus after Cho shot and killed two students in a dormitory early that morning. The university sent out an email to the campus more than two hours later, about the time Cho was chaining shut the doors to a classroom building where he killed 30 more students and faculty, then himself. That email was too vague, the department said, because it referred only to a “shooting incident” but did not mention anyone had died. By the time a second, more explicit warning was sent, Cho was near the end of his shooting spree. “Had an appropriate timely warning been sent earlier to the campus community, more individuals could have acted on the information and made decisions about their own safety,” the department said. A state commission that investigated the shootings also found that the university erred by failing to notify the campus sooner. The state reached an $11m settlement with many of the victims’ families. Two families have sued and are seeking $10m in damages from university officials. That case is set for trial this autumn. Virginia Tech shooting Gun crime United States guardian.co.uk
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