Author: Serkadis

Kraft Foods is pleased to announce that it has acquired control of Cadbury

The combination creates a global powerhouse in snacks, confectionery and quick meals with annual revenues of approximately $50 billion and sales in approximately 160 countries.

Holders of 71.73 percent of Cadbury’s outstanding shares have already accepted Kraft Foods’ Final Offer – as recommended by the Cadbury board.

As such, all of the conditions of the recommended Final Offer for Cadbury have been satisfied or waived, allowing Cadbury to become part of Kraft Foods.

“The combination of Kraft Foods and Cadbury creates a global powerhouse in snacks, confectionery and quick meals,” said Irene Rosenfeld, Chairman and CEO.

“Together we have impressive global reach and an unrivalled portfolio of iconic brands, with tremendous growth potential.  I warmly welcome Cadbury employees into the Kraft Foods family and look forward to meeting many of them in the days and weeks ahead.

This combined company has a phenomenal future, and I firmly believe it will deliver outstanding returns to our shareholders.”

The Final Offer remains open. Cadbury Securityholders who have not yet accepted the Offer are encouraged to do so without delay.

Further information, including the Final Offer Documents, is available at transactioninfo.com/kraftfoods.

About Kraft Foods

The combination of Kraft Foods and Cadbury creates a global powerhouse in snacks, confectionery and quick meals.  With annual revenues of approximately $50 billion, the combined company is the world’s second largest food company, making delicious products for billions of consumers in more than 160 countries.

The combined company’s portfolio includes 11 iconic brands with revenues exceeding $1 billion – Oreo, Nabisco and LU biscuits; Milka and Cadbury chocolates; Trident gums; Jacobs and Maxwell House coffees; Philadelphia cream cheeses; Kraft cheeses, dinners and dressings; and Oscar Mayer meats.

Another 70+ brands generate annual revenues of more than $100 million.  Kraft Foods (kraftfoodscompany.com; NYSE: KFT) is a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard & Poor’s 500, Dow Jones Sustainability Index and Ethibel Sustainability Index.

Further information

Other than as expressly set out in this announcement, capitalised terms used in this announcement shall have the meaning given to them in the Final Offer Document published by Kraft Foods on 19 January 2010.

This announcement does not constitute, and must not be construed as, an offer to sell or an invitation to purchase or subscribe for any securities or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any securities, pursuant to the Offer or otherwise.

The Offer is being made by the Original Offer Documents, the Final Offer Documents and accompanying documentation (the “Offer Documentation”).

Cadbury Securityholders who accept the Offer may rely only on the Offer Documentation for all the terms and conditions of the Offer.

This announcement is not a prospectus for the purposes of the EU Prospectus Directive.

Cadbury Securityholders in the EU should not tender their shares except on the basis of information in the prospectus published pursuant to the EU Prospectus Directive on Kraft Foods’ Web site (as supplemented from time to time).

In making their decision whether or not to accept the Offer, Cadbury Securityholders who are South African residents will need to take into account the Excon Regulations, and consider whether or not their acceptance of the Offer and their subsequent receipt of consideration for their Cadbury Shares from Kraft Foods, whether in the form of cash and/or New Kraft Foods Shares, will be in compliance with the Excon Regulations.

The release, publication or distribution of this announcement and any other Offer-related documentation in jurisdictions other than the UK, the US, Canada, France, Ireland or Spain, and the availability of the Offer to Cadbury Securityholders who are not resident in such jurisdictions may be affected by the laws or regulations of relevant jurisdictions.

Therefore any persons who are subject to the laws and regulations of any jurisdiction other than the UK, the US, Canada, France, Ireland or Spain, and Cadbury Securityholders who are not resident in such jurisdictions should inform themselves of and observe any applicable requirements.

Koei Tecmo today announced delayed Japanese releases for two of its upcoming major titles: the multiplatform third-person shooter Quantum Theory and the PS3-exclusive RPG Trinity: Zill O’ll Zero.

Automobiles Citroen France has announced the creation of its Irish subsidiary, which will officially handle the carmaker’s business in the country starting from the first quarter of the current year.

The new company will seek to expand Citroen sales and will introduce Citroen’s latest models to the Irish market.

Citroen Motors Ireland will become operational immediately. The first thing on its business agenda is the introduction of the C3 Picasso compact MPV. One of the brand’s most import… (read more)

NBC’s Fallon spoofs the hit FOX musical comedy Glee in an awesome new sketch called 6-bee.

Anyone who thinks that the business of derivatives ended with the financial crisis had better check out the recent trading volumes released by the derivatives exchange company CME Group.

Just this January, total derivatives trading volume shot up 19% year over year, with particularly feverish activity in interest rate derivatives (for fixed income, Up 33%), foreign exchange derivatives (Up 78%), and metals derivatives (Up 65%).

Traders are loving derivatives like never before:

Also, keep in mind that CME Group just began clearing infamous credit default swaps (CDS), which comprise an enormous market for further trading growth. The sky’s the limit, until it comes crashing down again.

See the CME Group release here >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• HUGE Loophole: U.S. Bankers Using Derivatives To Cash Out Restricted Bonuses Early
• AIG Counterparty Secrecy Finally Shattered!
• Tiny Chinese Juice Company Wins Derivatives Case Against Morgan Stanley, Sending Hand Grenade To Wall Street

Intel’s Atom line of processors, used extensively in netbooks, have never been particularly powerful. They’re like the adorable kid sister of the Intel family. Today, though, reports indicate that they may be getting some grown-up DDR3 support this fall.

Fudzilla is reporting that the Atom N475 will clock in at 1.83GHz with DDR3 support, while the only difference between the current 1.6GHz N450 and its N455 successor is that the latter will be DDR3 capable.

What does this mean for netbooks? Well, think of it as more evolutionary than revolutionary. DDR3 is faster and uses less power than DDR2, but also more expensive. Ideally, by the time and N475 or N455-powered netbooks hit the market, though, DDR3 prices will have come down enough that you’ll get better netbook performance for what you’re paying now. [Fudzilla via Engadget]

By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

When President Barack Obama was sworn into office just one year ago, he promised hope to a country in the midst of economic, environmental, and political turmoil. Environmentally, however, the Obama administration that promised “change” has fallen a few cents short, according to the environmental group, The Center for Biological Diversity.

The administration’s actions (and inaction) are speaking louder than its words, in the view of the center’s Obama Administration First-Year Report Card. Obama’s overall grade:  a “C” in protecting (and failing to protect) the environment.

The report cites multiple contradictory environmental actions from this past year. While the administration has reinstated the Clinton-era Road-less Rule that protects millions of federal acres from development, it allowed the logging of road-less areas in Alaska to proceed. Also, while the current administration continued to grant permits and leases for fossil fuel exploration and extraction, it has also offered several tax credits and subsidies for improving energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

The Center for Biological Diversity faults the administration in five areas:

Endangered Species – C

• Only two new species were protected as endangered (fewest since the Reagan administration)
• Weakened protection for gray wolves and polar bears

Energy – C

• For authorizations of mountain removal
• New coal-mining leases
• Approved offshore oil exploration

Climate – C-

• Failed to enact legislation regarding U.S. emission targets
• Proposed GHG emission targets far below necessary levels at Copenhagen

Public Lands – B+

• Authorized logging in Alaskan road-less areas
• Continual issuing of oil and gas and coal-mining leases

Oceans – B-

• Offshore oil drilling off the Alaskan coast
• Reduced protection for endangered sea turtles near Hawaii

The Obama administration has taken positive environmental steps that are praiseworthy, according to the center’s report card. Notably:

• Officials issued a finding under the Clean Air Act that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, setting the stage for stricter regulation/
• It began addressing ocean acidification under the Clean Water Act.
• It did away with the Bush administration’s weak rules on national forest management and is developing new regulations.
• It  proposed removal of 1 million acres of land around the Grand Canyon from uranium mining.

Others might add to that list, remembering that the Obama Administration immediately pushed for and won higher fuel efficiency standards for cars.

But then that was one project, and as the Center for Biological Diversity reminds us, they all count.

Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by GRN Network

Illinois’ polls are open for the nation’s first primary election of 2010, and election commissioners are claiming voter turnout has been as slow as expected.

Robert Saar, director of the election commission for the DuPage County Clerk’s Office, said the morning has been pretty quiet, adding the additional snowfall didn’t help push people out the door to vote Tuesday.

“Its been pretty quiet so far, indicative of a 27 percent turnout or so,” he said. “But, this whole cycle has been slower than one would expect, so there hasn’t been any surprises so far.”

He said, historically, voters in DuPage County turn out in the 35 percent range, but said an increase in the number of registered voters along with a weak economy has slowed the number of people heading to the polls.

He said a lack of tax increase referendums on the ballot has left voters lethargic at a local level, so only hard-core voters are expected to punch a ticket today.

“There isn’t as many tough decisions out there, so local voters will not be pushed into voting this time around,” he said. “In primary elections like today, what drives voter turnout is what local level elections will do to their pocket book.”

Lake County Clerk Willard Helander said it was definitely slower, but feels it’s more because voters do not want to declare themselves a Republican or a Democrat in order to vote in the primary election.

“We’ve had a significant number of people ask for a non-partisan ballot, to which we’ve had to explain that, because there isn’t a public question on the ballot, there wasn’t one available,” she said.

She agreed though, that the weather isn’t causing voters to stay home. She said the low voter turnout trend was spotted ahead of time when only 19,000 early voting ballots were cast.

“It’s snowy, but it seems like public works crews are doing a good job at the polls where I’ve been,” she said. “I just think people do not like to vote in primary’s because they do not want to be labeled a Democrat or a Republican.”

Kane County Clerk John Cunningham said voter turnout is also extremely low, with fewer ballots cast as of 9:39 a.m. than the number of early votes.

Cunningham said, that 13,310 votes have been cast so far, with 7,221 coming from early voters and that only about 6 percent of the 17,245 registered voters have gone to the polls.

“I think it is the weather and also campaigns haven’t hit a nerve and gotten people excited,” Cunningham said. “Candidates have worked hard, but people have been campaigning for five years in a row and I think people may be a little worn out.”

Cook County elections spokeswoman Gail Siegel says polls opened in all Cook County precincts on time, adding lines formed in some spots, but adding it was slow going at others.

Siegel said a false fire alarm caused only a small delay at a polling place in Proviso Township.

Siegel says her office hasn’t received any complaints about a new feature on voting machines. For the first time, the machines reject incomplete ballots where someone fails to vote in one or more races for statewide office.

Election judges are asking voters if they intentionally left part of the ballot blank when the machine spots so-called “undervoting,” Siegel said. If not, they’ll be allowed to vote in those races.

If so, the ballot will be approved.

Read the original article on DailyHerald.com.

In news that we’ll have to see to believe, a biopic based on the story of disgraced pop duo Milli Vanill is in the works.

German entertainers Fabrice “Fab” Morvan and Rob Pilatus — who died of a drug overdose 10 years ago — were responsible for one of the biggest scandals in the history of the recording industry when the “singers” were unveiled as frauds.

According to Variety, Catch Me If You Can’s Jeff Nathanson will be writing and directing the feature.

Backstory: In 1990, the group won a Best New Artist Grammy for their album Girl You Know It’s True, which went six-times platinum. The disc spawned three No. 1 hits that year, including “Baby Don’t Forget My Number,” “I’m Gonna Miss You” and “Blame It on the Rain.”

The duo refused to promote a follow-up album unless producer Frank Farian allowed them to sing. Instead, Farian revealed that the album’s lead vocals, credited to the duo, were those of other singers. The controversy forced the Recording Academy to revoke the award and Girl You Know It’s True became the first No. 1 album deleted from the catalog of a major label. Their Grammy was promptly revoked — another first for the Recording Academy.

While Fab has given his blessing to a movie about the debacle, he’s still a bit salty about the firestorm, in which he claims he and his late bandmate were used as “scapegoats.”

“We wanted to give the Grammy back,” the lip-syncher says in an interview with USA Today. “We felt in our hearts that it would be a good gesture to do that. But they made it look as though (the academy) wanted it back. They could have come to my house and gotten it.”

Dear readers, here we are in 2010, with MarksDailyApple.com now nearly 3 1/2 years old. Thank you for your tremendous contribution to what started as a dream in 2006, and is now a thriving internet community of passionate and deeply connected Primal enthusiasts. As we celebrate the success of the book and the continued rapid growth of the blog, we also realize that in 2010, it’s time to take this community to the next level!

My staff and I have been dreaming and scheming behind the scenes for quite some time about “what’s next?”. Well, here it is: I’m extremely excited to announce the first-ever live, in-person, Primal Blueprint weekend experience! Finally, a chance for our virtual world to come alive and come together for an incredible 3-day event we’re calling PrimalCon.

We have secured a spectacular resort right on the beach in Southern California called the Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach in Oxnard, CA. I’m almost embarrassed to say that even though it’s only 31 miles from my home, I’d never set eyes on this place until recently, and it is absolutely stunning. This is an all-suite resort with beautiful Spanish-style grounds right on the expansive Oxnard State Beach. We’re talking seconds from out your door to sand in your toes – no kidding. The weekend will consist of a stimulating mix of workouts, play, leisure, classroom education, and of course delicious Primal feasts. Here’s a quick overview:

• Seminars at the resort will include four general sessions with me, and numerous breakout sessions on topics related to the Primal Blueprint lifestyle
• Workouts will take place right on the sand or the expansive grass fields of an adjacent beach park. Experts in Primal strength training and sprinting will guide your activity in small groups segmented by ability. We’ll roll out some cool new stuff as we are currently building a comprehensive curriculum for Primal Blueprint Fitness.
• We’ll have all kinds of fun, games, and relaxation, including leisurely hiking on the beach and sand dune preserve, Ultimate Frisbee matches (of course, no good conference should be without), and the top secret Primal Blueprint Mind/Body Obstacle Course Challenge on the beach (don’t even ask, just show up ready for a challenge!)
• We’ll have lavish Primal feasts – omelets in the morning, fabulous salads for lunch and delicious barbecue in the evenings. Leave your cocktail attire at home, this is outdoors, Primal style – utensils optional!
• We’ll have “positive natural stressors” as in Primal ocean plunges in the morning and after workouts. Don’t worry though, you can reach the Embassy Suites jacuzzi in about 41 seconds from the water’s edge (might even count as a sprint workout!).

Getting Down to Details

Size: This is the first of what we hope will be several events a year in various locations across the country and abroad. To ensure an intimate experience, the conference is limited to the first 160 people who register.

Cost: The early-bird conference fee is $695 and includes all meals and a PrimalCon event bag stocked with incredible participant gifts, apparel, and nutrition. The price will jump to $795 once there are only 30 spots remaining, so register now to lock in this special rate. You will book your hotel directly and separately with the Embassy Suites. Suites start at $149/night. If you’re not familiar with Southern California resort lodging rates, this is an absolute steal for a suite on the beach. Couples staying together in double-occupancy suite get a $50 discount on the second conference registration fee.

Schedule: Sign-in Thursday evening, April 22nd, or Friday morning, April 23rd. Agenda begins Friday morning. Dismissal is Sunday, April 25th at 1:30pm. A convenient getaway weekend and then back to work a new person on Monday morning!

Travel: Oxnard is about 90 minutes north of Los Angeles proper, about 30 minutes south of Santa Barbara on the Ventura County’s Gold Coast. Los Angeles International (LAX) and Burbank (BUR) airports are your best choices.

Click here to check out the incredible discounted suite package we negotiated with the resort for the conference. Once you sign up for the conference, please book your suite immediately to ensure the currently published discount room rates.

Click here to read details about the PrimalCon agenda.

I’m hoping this post will stimulate a good bit of commentary and suggestion, as we are still formulating the details of the weekend agenda. I’d like to hear from you on a couple levels:

1. Would you attend for sure? Strongly consider? Maybe – need more info?
2. Do you have any suggestions about what programming, including meals, would be most important or interesting to you? Other comments about the basic concept presented here? Have you been to a health/fitness retreat and had a memorable experience – good or bad – that you might share?
3. If you’d like to receive regular PrimalCon updates as the speakers, events and meal plans are solidified sign up for this special newsletter. I’ll be sending an update every couple weeks until the event takes place in April.

I look forward to hearing from you…and perhaps seeing you in the flesh come April!

Get Free Health Tips, Recipes and Workouts Delivered to Your Inbox

Related posts:

1. Announcement: Free Events
2. Book Tour Update

Boeing (NYSE: BA) on Sunday moved the 787 Dreamliner fatigue test airframe to its structural test rig. The test rig is located in the northwest corner of the Everett, Wash., site.

Test set up is expected to begin immediately, with tests commencing midyear.

“Unlike static tests, where loads are applied to the airplane structure to simulate both normal operation and extreme flight conditions, fatigue testing is a much longer process that simulates up to three times the number of flight cycles an airplane is likely to experience during a lifetime of service,” said Scott Fancher, 787 vice president and general manager, Commercial Airplanes.

“This testing is instrumental in confirming the longevity of the airplane.”

MEDIA CONTACT:

Mary Hanson, +1 206-898-4749
787 Communications
[email protected]

From NYTimes:

One of the keys to healthy aging is what George Vaillant of Harvard calls “generativity” — providing for future generations. Seniors who perform service for the young have more positive lives and better marriages than those who don’t. As Vaillant writes in his book “Aging Well,” “Biology flows downhill.” We are naturally inclined to serve those who come after and thrive when performing that role.

The odd thing is that when you turn to political life, we are living in an age of reverse-generativity. Far from serving the young, the old are now taking from them. First, they are taking money. According to Julia Isaacs of the Brookings Institution, the federal government now spends $7 on the elderly for each $1 it spends on children.

Read the rest at NYTimes –>

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Obama’s Problem Is That Old People And The White Working Class Thinks He Is In The Pocket Of The Wealthy Corporate Elite
• How America’s Changing Demographics Will Crush Even A Perfect, Cyclical Recovery
• Gartman: Here’s Why The Unemployment Arithmetic Must Be Wrong

Amazon has backed down from its weekend dispute with Macmillan, agreeing to charge the publisher’s higher prices for Kindle editions rather than its preferred $9.99. But the long-term questions about e-book pricing remain.

Amazon still calls Macmillan’s prices–generally $12.99 to $14.99 for new books–“needlessly high.” Apple, meanwhile, has made deals with publishers like the one Macmillan demanded from Amazon: higher prices for books, with Apple keeping a percentage of sales.

Who, in fact, has the better strategy? To maximize revenue, what should prices for e-books look like?

Looks like those of you who were sure that the iPad would have a camera were almost right. If the iPad internal bezel component is anything to go buy, it looks like Apple decided late in the game to not include a camera in their soon-to-be-released tablet – that, or they were keeping their options open. In the image above, you see the iPad bezel at the top, and a bezel for a unibody MacBook at the bottom. In the middle is the camera that slips into the MacBook frame, and as you can see, it fits perfectly into the iPad frame as well. I guess this means we can hold out hope for a camera in iPad version 2?

Tags:
apple,
ipad,
ipad camera,
ipad isight,
ipad rumors,
ipad webcam,
isight,
webcam,

DODGEVILLE, Wis. — An actor from the TV show “Boston Legal” has been found dead near his crashed Jeep in rural Iowa County.

The sheriff’s department says 27-year-old Justin Mentell of Waukegan, Ill., was killed when his Jeep went down a steep embankment off Highway 39 near Blanchardville and hit two trees.

The crash was discovered by a passer-by about 8:30 a.m. Monday.

Mentell portrayed attorney Garrett Wells on “Boston Legal” from 2005 to 2006.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports Mentell was also a promising speed skater during his high school days in Waukegan and competed in the Junior National Speed Skating long track team.

His biography on IMDB.com says he was graduated from Waukegan High School in 2001. It indicates he was in 16 episodes of “Boston Legal” between 2005 and 2006.

Read the original article on DailyHerald.com.

In the discussion on our recent post about CwF + RtB business models and how they work, one of our regular critics has been filling the comments with links that supposedly “disprove” this model. I find it fascinating that this person — who claims to spend time helping musicians — spends so much time in our comments constantly insisting that the examples that we show that work couldn’t possibly work. Anyway, she pointed to the following article as some sort of “proof” that the CwF + RtB model doesn’t work, because it involves a former supporter of “free” music, who was upset when money didn’t come flowing in when he released his last album. But reading through the details, and I’m a bit perplexed. It looks like he did absolutely nothing described in the CwF + RtB model at all. He didn’t support free music. He didn’t work to connect with the fans and drive them to various reasons to buy. Instead, he just released an album the old fashioned way and got disappointed that people didn’t buy it:

My experience with Lose Your Illusion was a big part of the reason my opinion about free music changed so dramatically over the course of this past year. It was the first album I’d been involved with that had a real label backing it up and covering the bills–all my previous records had been self-funded, self-released DIY projects–and as such it was the first one where the music didn’t “feel” free. Somebody else’s money was on the line.

When Illusion leaked via RapidShare shortly before its release date, at first it felt pretty good. Someone obviously thought the album was good enough to upload, and someone else thought it was good enough to download. Surely this would generate some positive word of mouth–when the record came out it might even sell better as a result. That never happened, though. I kept track of more than a dozen file-sharing links, eventually counting more than 1,000 downloads. I’m not sure yet how many copies have actually sold, but I do know it’s fewer than that. Vinyl stock was still sitting on Flameshovel’s shelves when the label packed up its offices late last year. (It’s now strictly a back-catalog operation, with no new releases planned.)

Maybe people just didn’t like the album enough to buy it. Maybe the important thing is that it got heard, whether they liked it or not. But seeing it posted online so many times was demoralizing. Nobody doing the posting ever contacted the band to check if the leak was intentional, and I can’t imagine they were thinking about Flameshovel’s tiny staff trying to steer the sinking ship. That really kneecapped my idealistic enthusiasm for file sharing.

So what did the band do to connect with fans? What reasons to buy did it offer? What unique ways did the band offer scarce value to users? How did it build up its fan base? None of that is explained in the article at all. Instead, it’s just someone upset that a small number of people file sharing the album didn’t translate into direct sales of that same album. That’s not evidence against CwF + RtB, that’s evidence for it. It’s evidence against the old way of doing things.

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Looks like 9/11 suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (pictured here modeling the world’s least flattering neckline) will not be tried in Manhattan. Yesterday, Chris Cassidy argued that this wasn’t such a big deal. But I’m worried — partly because courthouses are important symbols, and partly because this is one more in a string of capitulations by the Obama administration.

All terrorists — sorry, alleged terrorists — should be tried in criminal court. The good reasons for this have been expounded many times by folks more eloquent than myself. Despite reactionary rants that a due process trial would somehow allow Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to slip out a window and kill us all in our sleep, no one really thinks KSM will get off on the Twinkie defense. He’s going away for a long time. Still, how we convict him is of great symbolic importance — and “symbolic,” here, should by no means undercut “importance.” After all, perhaps the most important function of criminal justice is its symbolic power — retribution, reconciliation, catharsis. But that’s a deeper discussion than we have time for.

A KSM trial in the Lower Manhattan Southern District courthouse would have sent a lot of the right messages. But Mayor Mike Bloomberg revoked his support, claiming courthouse security would cost too much, and once again, the Obama administration has shied away from political conflict and is now scrambling to find another venue.

My knee-jerk impulse was to call this cowardly. But I will heed Obama’s call and refrain from oversimplification. I do understand the argument against a Manhattan trial; the area would have to be secured, after all, and if that would really cost $250 million per year, that does sound like an impractical use of resources.

Still, it seems like the Obama administration is falling into a worrisome pattern: stake out controversial position, receive political fire, defend position at first, take more fire, then retract and run for cover.

(more…)

BMW Group and PSA Peugeot Citroen announced today that they will continue their engine collaboration.

“The two companies have agreed to develop the next generation of the jointly designed 4-cylinder petrol engine which will meet EU 6 requirements,” both said in a statement. “Currently, the engine is being used in several MINI, Peugeot and Citroën brand models.”

BMW and PSA Peugeot Citroen have also confirmed to explore other possible areas of collaborations at systems and component level, “with the aim of leveraging synergies in the development, production and procurement of selected components.”

“We have always been very successful in our cooperation with our partners, and that is particularly true with regard to PSA. We are delighted to continue our engine cooperation and look into options for further collaboration.” said  BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer.

The cooperation between the two companies has produced 1.3 million engines since 2006.

– By: Omar Rana