As McDonald’s tries to evolve its image, criticism over nutrition persists at annual meeting
By The Associated Press - Thursday, May 23, 2013 - 0 Comments
NEW YORK, N.Y. – McDonald’s once again faced criticism that it’s a purveyor of junk food that markets to children at its annual shareholder meeting Thursday — including some sharp remarks from a 9-year-old girl.
The world’s biggest hamburger chain has been looking to keep up with changing tastes as people increasingly opt for foods they feel are fresh or healthy. Customers can now order egg whites in its breakfast sandwiches, for example. McDonald’s also recently introduced chicken wraps to go after people in their 20s and 30s looking for better-for-you options.
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87-year-old woman loses to Donald Trump at trial alleging bait and switch
By The Associated Press - Thursday, May 23, 2013 at 9:54 PM - 0 Comments
CHICAGO – An 87-year-old grandmother took on billionaire Donald Trump. And on Thursday, she…
CHICAGO – An 87-year-old grandmother took on billionaire Donald Trump. And on Thursday, she lost.
Jurors sided with the real estate mogul-turned-TV showman in a weeklong civil trial focused on Jacqueline Goldberg’s claim that Trump cheated her in a bait-and-switch scheme connected to condos in a Chicago skyscraper he built.
The federal jury in Chicago returned with a finding in Trump’s favour after deliberating for more than five hours over two days. Goldberg, of Evanston, had sought damages totalling around $6 million.
As the judge read the decision in court, Goldberg showed little emotion herself — though her attorney, Shelly Kulwin, slumped over and buried his head on a courtroom table.
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87-year-old woman loses to Donald Trump at trial alleging bait and switch by ‘Apprentice’ star
By Michael Tarm, The Associated Press - Thursday, May 23, 2013 at 5:48 PM - 0 Comments
CHICAGO – An 87-year-old grandmother took on billionaire Donald Trump. And on Thursday —…
CHICAGO – An 87-year-old grandmother took on billionaire Donald Trump. And on Thursday — she lost.
Jurors sided with the real estate mogul-turned-TV showman in a weeklong civil trial focused on Jacqueline Goldberg’s claim that Trump cheated her in a condo bait-and-switch scheme in a Chicago skyscraper he built.
The federal jury in Chicago returned with a finding in Trump’s favour after deliberating for more than five hours over two days. Goldberg, of Evanston, had sought damages totalling around $6 million.
“He’s obviously very happy,” said Alan Garten, an executive vice-president of The Trump Organization, after talking with his boss — who wasn’t in court. In the wake of the trial, Garten added, “The Trump brand is stronger than ever.”
As the judge read the decision in court earlier in the day, Goldberg showed little emotion herself. But her attorney, Shelly Kulwin, slumped over and buried his head on a courtroom table.
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Europe’s banking reform must include agency to wind down busted banks, says ECB president
By David McHugh, The Associated Press - Thursday, May 23, 2013 at 5:47 PM - 0 Comments
FRANKFURT – European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said it was “imperative” that Europe’s…
FRANKFURT – European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said it was “imperative” that Europe’s leaders create a new agency with powers to restructure busted banks in order to help the region leave its economic and financial crisis behind it once and for all.
In the text of a speech to be delivered in London Thursday, Draghi said the new agency would keep troubled banks from burdening governments through bailout costs — thereby cutting the vicious link that has helped drive Europe’s three-year crisis over too much debt.
The agency, dubbed the single resolution mechanism, would be able to force banks creditors and shareholders to take losses first when a bank goes under — instead of getting the money from taxpayers. European leaders have made a start on strengthening their banking system by agreeing to put the ECB in charge of supervising banks. But they have not yet agreed on how to proceed with the resolution mechanism.
Together with a Europe-wide deposit guarantee scheme, these three measures would form the European Union’s banking union — a key part of the 27-country bloc’s strategy to combat its financial crisis.
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Prosecutor in Vegas compares iPad theft defendants to animals waiting to ambush weaker victim
By The Associated Press - Thursday, May 23, 2013 at 5:45 PM - 0 Comments
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Two men accused of killing a high school freshman who…
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Two men accused of killing a high school freshman who refused to let go of his iPad were like wild animals ambushing a weak victim, a prosecutor said Thursday.
Michael Samual Solid and Jacob “Jake” Dismont stood in shackles before a judge as Chief Deputy Clark County District Attorney Robert Daskas cited convenience store video he said shows Solid and Dismont planning the fatal robbery. Members of the dead teen’s family wept softly in the courtroom gallery.
Daskas compared Solid, 21, and Dismont, 18, to “lions on the Serengeti waiting to pounce, to ambush the smallest member of a pack.”
Marcos Vicente Arenas, 15, was killed May 16 while trying to hold onto his iPad computer tablet after Dismont grabbed it and jumped into a moving SUV driven by Solid, according to police.
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Bangladesh probe faults swampy land, poor building materials
By The Associated Press - Thursday, May 23, 2013 at 5:54 AM - 0 Comments
DHAKA, Bangladesh – The defects and errors that led to the world’s deadliest garment-industry…
DHAKA, Bangladesh – The defects and errors that led to the world’s deadliest garment-industry accident extend from the swampy ground the doomed Rana Plaza was built on, to “extremely poor quality” construction materials, to the massive, vibrating equipment operating when the eight-story building collapsed, a committee appointed by Bangladesh’s government concluded.
The committee recommended life prison sentences for the owners of the building and the five garment factories that operated there, though the charges they currently face carry a maximum seven-year term. Their report, submitted to the government Wednesday, says nothing about the role that an inadequate regulatory system played in the April 24 collapse, which left more than 1,100 people dead.
The disaster highlighted the hazardous working conditions in Bangladesh’s $20 billion garment industry and the lack of safety for millions of workers who are paid as low as $38 a month. The 1,127 killed at Rana Plaza in the Dhaka suburb of Savar are among at least 1,800 Bangladesh garment-industry workers killed in fires or building collapses since 2005.
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Canadian father of ‘hatchet hitchhiker’ stands by son in homicide case
By The Associated Press - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 9:33 PM - 0 Comments
NEWARK, N.J. – He was a gregarious, spontaneous child, his father said, a handful…
NEWARK, N.J. – He was a gregarious, spontaneous child, his father said, a handful at times who loved music and playing the guitar.
As an adult he became famous as Kai, the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker, his celebrity taking a turn toward notoriety when he was arrested in Philadelphia last week and charged with killing a New Jersey lawyer.
Caleb McGillivary, his real name, claimed that he was “home free” rather than homeless, a traveller by choice with roots in Sophia, W.Va.
“I don’t have any family,” he had said in the television interview in February that gave him to a measure of fame after he intervened in an attack on a utility worker in Fresno, Calif. “As far as anybody I grew up with is concerned, I’m already dead.”
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Jennifer Lopez to open cellphone stores aimed at Latinos, selling Verizon service
By Peter Svensson, The Associated Press - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 6:07 PM - 0 Comments
NEW YORK, N.Y. – “Jenny from the Block” wants the block to buy Verizon…
NEW YORK, N.Y. – “Jenny from the Block” wants the block to buy Verizon phones from her.
Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez on Wednesday announced she’s opening a chain of 15 cellphone stores and a website under the Viva Movil brand. The aim is to sell Verizon phones and services to Latinos.
The first store will open in New York on June 15, with others following in Los Angeles and Miami. The stores will have bilingual staff and provide a “culturally relevant shopping experience,” Viva Movil said.
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Gay-rights group files complaint accusing Exxon Mobil of anti-gay bias in hiring
By David Crary, The Associated Press - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 1:16 PM - 0 Comments
NEW YORK, N.Y. – One after another, major U.S. corporations have updated anti-discrimination policies…
NEW YORK, N.Y. – One after another, major U.S. corporations have updated anti-discrimination policies to protect gay, lesbian and transgender workers, drawing plaudits from gay-rights groups. There’s one prominent exception: Exxon Mobil Corp.
In the latest rankings of such corporate policies by the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay-rights group, many of Exxon’s Fortune 500 counterparts got scores of 80 or higher on a scale of 100. Exxon, the nation’s largest oil and gas company, became the first firm to get a score below zero.
On Wednesday, in the latest attempt to pressure the company into change, a gay-rights group called Freedom to Work teamed with a high-powered Washington law firm to file what they described as a groundbreaking discrimination complaint against Exxon in Illinois.
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Markets look to Ben Bernanke for news on stimulus efforts
By The Associated Press - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 5:53 AM - 0 Comments
WASHINGTON – When Ben Bernanke testifies about the U.S. economy Wednesday, the Federal Reserve chairman’s words will be examined for any clues that the Fed might soon taper — or increase — its support for the economy.
The Fed is pursuing an aggressive program of bond purchases to try to keep long-term interest rates down and encourage borrowing and spending. The Fed has said it plans to continue its $85 billion-a-month in Treasury and mortgage bond purchases until the job market improves substantially.
The timing of any policy shift remains hazy.
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Lessons from Amy’s Baking Co.: ‘I AM NOT STUPID ALL OF YOU ARE’
By The Associated Press - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 5:51 AM - 0 Comments
PHOENIX – It was the customer service disaster heard around the Internet.
An Arizona restaurateur, fed up after years of negative online reviews and an embarrassing appearance on a reality television show, posted a social media rant laced with salty language and angry, uppercase letters that quickly went viral last week, to the delight of people who love a good Internet meltdown.
“I AM NOT STUPID ALL OF YOU ARE,” read the posting on the Facebook wall of Amy’s Baking Co. in suburban Phoenix. “YOU JUST DO NOT KNOW GOOD FOOD.”
It was, to put it kindly, not a best business practice. Add to that an appearance earlier this month on the Fox reality television show “Kitchen Nightmares” — where celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay gave up on trying to save the restaurant after he was insulted — and you have a recipe for disaster.
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New Egypt tax law has cuts for poor but leaves wealthiest unchanged
By Aya Batrawy, The Associated Press - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 5:30 PM - 0 Comments
CAIRO – Egypt’s president signed a new tax law Tuesday that cuts the amount…
CAIRO – Egypt’s president signed a new tax law Tuesday that cuts the amount paid by poorer Egyptians in the latest move aimed at reforming the country’s economy.
The changes, which are more favourable than the previous tax law for the country’s most vulnerable, could boost Islamists in parliamentary elections slated for later this year.
The interim parliament, led by Islamist allies of President Mohammed Morsi, approved the measure last week.
Ahmed el-Sayyed el-Naggar, an economic expert at the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, argued that the tax reforms target an already struggling middle class, but leave the country’s richest people untouched.
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A closer look at the 3 new game consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony
By Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 5:20 PM - 0 Comments
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Microsoft is the last of the three big video game…
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Microsoft is the last of the three big video game console makers to unveil its latest gaming system. Tuesday’s unveiling comes nearly eight years after the Xbox 360 went on sale. It follows last fall’s debut of Nintendo’s Wii U and a preview in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4 from Sony.
Each machine has a set of features designed to draw gamers away from rival consoles. There’s one thing all three have in common, though: They are about more than gaming and include entertainment services such as television, movies and music.
Here’s a closer look at the three systems. More details are expected at the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles next month.
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Poll says teens sharing more on Twitter than Facebook because there’s ‘less drama’
By Jennifer C. Kerr, The Associated Press - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 2:27 PM - 0 Comments
WASHINGTON – Twitter is booming as a social media destination for teenagers who complain…
WASHINGTON – Twitter is booming as a social media destination for teenagers who complain about too many adults and too much drama on Facebook, according to a new study published Tuesday about online behaviour. It said teens are sharing more personal information about themselves even as they try to protect their online reputations.
Teens told researchers there were too many adults on Facebook and too much sharing of teenage angst and inane details like what a friend ate for dinner.
“The key is that there are fewer adults, fewer parents and just simply less complexity and less drama,” said Amanda Lenhart of the Pew Research Center, one of the study’s authors. “They still have their Facebook profiles, but they spend less time on them and move to places like Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr.”
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Trial opens for French maker of drug used for weight loss, suspected in hundreds of deaths
By The Associated Press - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 2:24 PM - 0 Comments
NANTERRE, France – The makers of a diabetes and weight loss drug suspected in…
NANTERRE, France – The makers of a diabetes and weight loss drug suspected in the deaths of hundreds of people went on trial Tuesday, facing charges they misled the public about the product’s safety.
But after years of delays in one of France’s biggest recent health scandals, the proceedings could still be pushed back further.
Between 1976 and 2009, around 5 million people took Mediator, which was used to treat weight problems among diabetics and also marketed more widely. The European Medicines Agency pulled Mediator from shelves when it found that its active ingredient, benfluorex, could lead to a dangerous thickening of heart valves.
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Microsoft reveals Xbox One entertainment console, last of 3 major systems announced
By Derrik J. Lang, The Associated Press - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 2:23 PM - 0 Comments
REDMOND, Wash. – Microsoft thinks it has the one.
The company revealed the Xbox…REDMOND, Wash. – Microsoft thinks it has the one.
The company revealed the Xbox One, its next-generation entertainment console, during a presentation Tuesday at its headquarters in Redmond, Wash.
Don Mattrick, Microsoft’s president of interactive entertainment business, called it an “all-in-one home entertainment system.” He said the company has spent the past four years working on the next-generation Xbox.
The console was demonstrated using voice control to seamlessly switch back and forth between watching live TV, listening to music, watching a movie, browsing the Internet, as well as simultaneously running apps.
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Tweeting with the enemy? US diplomat uses social media to engage Cuban critics of Washington
By Peter Orsi, The Associated Press - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 2:21 PM - 0 Comments
HAVANA – The meeting on a sunny Havana square was a little bit revolutionary…
HAVANA – The meeting on a sunny Havana square was a little bit revolutionary for Cuba’s revolution. And for U.S. diplomacy as well.
Dozens of young bloggers and tweeters gathered to talk about their place in a socialist society whose leaders have referred to the Internet as “a wild colt” to be tamed and make access difficult for all but a few.
Among them were some of the staunchest defenders of Fidel and Raul Castro’s communist system. And there, too, stood what many consider their chief foe, in the guise of an affable, silver-haired stranger clad in sandals, khakis and a Hawaiian shirt.
Since arriving at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana nine months ago, Conrad Tribble has become perhaps its tweeter-in-chief, while reaching out to some of Washington’s most vocal critics.
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When is it OK for wunderkinds to drop out of school? (Hey, it worked for Tumblr’s founder!)
By Beth J. Harpaz, The Associated Press - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 2:20 PM - 0 Comments
NEW YORK, N.Y. – It’s one thing to say tech geniuses don’t need degrees….
NEW YORK, N.Y. – It’s one thing to say tech geniuses don’t need degrees. After all, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg all dropped out of college.
But now we’ve got David Karp, who doesn’t even have a high school diploma. Karp, 26, founded Tumblr, the online blogging forum, and sold it to Yahoo for $1.1 billion.
Which raises the question: When is it OK for a wunderkind to drop out of school?
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Microsoft expected to reveal next-generation Xbox
By The Associated Press - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 9:48 AM - 0 Comments
REMOND, Wash. – Will Xbox mark the spot once again for Microsoft?
The company is set to reveal the next generation of its Xbox entertainment console during a presentation Tuesday at its headquarters in Redmond, Wash.
It’s been eight years since the launch of the Xbox 360. The original Xbox debuted in 2001, and its high-definition successor premiered in 2005.
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Spotlight on Apple’s tax strategy as CEO takes hot seat on Capitol Hill
By The Associated Press - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 8:15 AM - 0 Comments
Jeff Chiu/AP Photo
WASHINGTON – Apple’s CEO is disputing assertions by a Senate panel that the company avoids billions of dollars in U.S. taxes by shifting profits to foreign affiliates.
Tim Cook testified at a hearing Tuesday by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which released a report Monday attacking Apple’s tax practices.
“We pay all the taxes we owe — every single dollar,” Cook said. “We don’t depend on tax gimmicks.”
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World markets wait on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke
By The Associated Press - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 6:09 AM - 0 Comments
BANGKOK – World stock markets were mixed Tuesday as investors waited for the U.S. Federal Reserve to telegraph what it plans to do next with its economic stimulus program.
The Fed is conducting its third round of massive bond purchases known as quantitative easing to help drive down interest rates and spur lending. But recently improving data on the U.S. economy has led to speculation that it might consider scaling back the program or winding it down earlier than expected.
On Wednesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will appear before Congress and the central bank will release minutes of its most recent policy meeting.
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Apple uses companies outside U.S. to avoid paying billions in U.S. taxes, Senate inquiry finds
By The Associated Press - Monday, May 20, 2013 at 5:57 PM - 0 Comments
WASHINGTON – Apple Inc. employs a group of affiliate companies located outside the United States to avoid paying billions of dollars in U.S. income taxes, a Senate investigation has found.
The world’s most valuable company is holding overseas some $102 billion of its $145 billion in cash, and an Irish subsidiary that earned $22 billion in 2011 paid only $10 million in taxes, according to the report issued Monday by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
The strategies Apple uses are legal, and many other multinational corporations use similar tax techniques to avoid paying U.S. income taxes on profits they reap overseas. But Apple uses a unique twist, the report found. The company’s tactics raise questions about loopholes in the U.S. tax code, lawmakers say.
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Militias attack gas complex in western Libya
By The Associated Press - Monday, May 20, 2013 at 12:02 PM - 0 Comments
TRIPOLI, Libya – A Libyan gas company official says militiamen have attacked a natural…
TRIPOLI, Libya – A Libyan gas company official says militiamen have attacked a natural gas complex in the country’s west, injuring two guards and stealing weapons and military vehicles.
The official says the attack took place early Monday and targeted the Mellitah Oil and Gas complex near Zwara, about 110 kilometres (70 miles) from the capital, Tripoli. The complex is a joint venture between Libya’s National Oil Corp. and Italy’s largest energy company, Eni SpA. The militiamen fled the site briefly after seizing weapons and equipment from the guards.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.
A military official told Libya’s official news agency that military helicopters are searching for the attackers.
Over a year after toppling Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, Libya is plagued by lawlessness.
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What to make of Marissa Mayer’s $1B Tumblr gamble
By The Associated Press - Monday, May 20, 2013 at 8:32 AM - 0 Comments
SAN FRANCISCO – Yahoo is buying online blogging forum Tumblr for $1.1 billion as CEO Marissa Mayer tries to rejuvenate an Internet icon that had fallen behind the times.
The deal announced Monday represents Mayer’s boldest move yet since she left Google 10 months ago to lead Yahoo’s latest comeback attempt. It marks Yahoo’s most expensive acquisition since the Sunnyvale, Calif., company bought online search engine Overture a decade ago for $1.3 billion in cash and stock.
Yahoo is paying all cash for Tumblr, dipping into some of its remaining stash from a $7.6 billion windfall reaped last year from selling about half of its stake in Chinese Internet company Alibaba Holdings Group. Taking over Tumblr will devour about one-fifth of the $5.4 billion in cash that Yahoo had in its accounts at the end of March.
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Who went to what at the movies this weekend
By The Associated Press - Monday, May 20, 2013 at 7:42 AM - 0 Comments
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – “Star Trek: Into Darkness” has warped its way to a…
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – “Star Trek: Into Darkness” has warped its way to a $70.6 million domestic launch from Friday to Sunday, though it’s not setting any light-speed records with a debut that’s lower than the studio’s expectations.
The latest voyage of the starship Enterprise fell short of its predecessor, 2009′s “Star Trek,” which opened with $75.2 million.
Since premiering Wednesday in huge-screen IMAX theatres and expanding Thursday to general cinemas, “Into Darkness” has pulled in $84.1 million, well below distributor Paramount’s initial forecast of $100 million. The film added $40 million overseas, pushing its total to $80.5 million since it began rolling out internationally a week earlier.
