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  • BUSINESSWEEK: Cadbury Set to Step Up Kraft Defense With Sales, Profit Gains

    January 11, 2010, 03:52 AM EST

    By Sarah Shannon

    Fishpond
    SPONSOR

    Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) — Cadbury Plc, the world’s second- largest confectioner, will probably step up its defense against Kraft Foods Inc.’s hostile 10.9 billion-pound ($17.6 billion) bid tomorrow by posting increases in 2009 sales and earnings.

    Revenue climbed 12 percent to 6 billion pounds in the year through Dec. 31, according to the median of nine analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. So-called underlying profit from operations probably rose to 806 million pounds from 638 million pounds, the median of four estimates shows.

    Cadbury is due to issue preliminary figures as it seeks to fend off Kraft, whose offer it has described as “derisory.” In December, the U.K. candy maker raised guidance for so-called organic sales growth to between 5 and 7 percent annually through 2013, and lifted its profitability forecast. Cadbury has yet to receive a competing offer from Hershey Co. or Ferrero SpA, which have both said they are exploring options.

    “We will get a very upbeat trading update from Cadbury,” Jeremy Batstone-Carr, an analyst at Charles Stanley, said by phone. “Emerging markets are ploughing ahead remorselessly,” said the analyst, who has a “reduce” recommendation.

    Chief Executive Officer Todd Stitzer said in December that businesses in India, South America, the Middle East and Africa continued to show “strong momentum.” Emerging markets will grow sales at a quicker pace than the company average over the medium-term, with organic revenue to increase by 10 percent to 12 percent annually, he said.

    Western Europe and the U.S. “are proving more sluggish” for Cadbury, Batstone-Carr said. “It remains to be seen whether they will be able to maintain that momentum in 12 months time.”

    Kraft Plan Opposed

    Spokesman Trevor Datson declined to comment before the release of the preliminary figures.

    Cadbury shares briefly fell below the value of the cash- and-stock bid for the first time last week after Kraft’s biggest shareholder, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., went public with opposition to Kraft’s plan to issue new shares to fund the offer and Nestle SA ruled itself out of bidding. Northfield, Illinois-based Kraft raised the cash component of its bid on Jan. 6 and has until Jan. 19 to boost its offer.

    Cadbury shares fell 1 penny to 777 pence at 8:27 a.m. in London trading, compared with an offer value of 764.5 pence.

    The candy maker will issue its second document to the Takeover Panel outlining its bid defense tomorrow. An updated version to include unaudited 2009 financial performance of the business will be published Jan. 14, the company has said.

    –Editors: Paul Jarvis, Celeste Perri.

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  • Water Supply

    Please use this thread for posting the Sri Lanka Water Supply Discussions and Pictures.

  • Avalanche of Criticism Following GM’s Saab Winding Down Decision

    General Motors announced a few days ago its decision to start winding down Saab, despite the bids it has received in the last few weeks. Furthermore, it announced the appointment of AlixPartners to manage the whole process, a move the led to criticism from Sweden officials involved in the Saab business.

    The first to react was IF Metall chairman Stefan Lofven who said in a statement that GM’s intentions are "irresponsible", pointing to the way the US-based auto giant trie… (read more)

  • Lindsay Lohan Hit & Run Lawsuit

    Trouble-prone starlet Lindsay Lohan is at the center of a brewing hit and run case in Los Angeles. A member of the paparazzi member is threatening legal action against the actress after claiming her driver “almost killed” him in a pedestrian acccident over the weekend.

    The Georgia Rule star’s car allegedly struck the photographer at approximately 12:30 AM Sunday morning in front of The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood, according to L.A.’s NBC affiliate KTLA. After plowing through a throng of determined snappers, the BMW sped away from the scene, witnesses say. Lohan, 23, wasn’t driving, but was inside the car at the time.

    The driver is now the target of a criminal assault with a deadly weapon investigation.

    The photographer suffered injuries to his arm and wrist, but was not taken to hospital. “Of course I’m going to sue them … but I don’t care about the money,” the photographer told TMZ.com Sunday. He claims he is “lucky to be alive,” especially since the driver was wearing sunglasses while driving in a dark alley.

    “I want to press charges so badly … she’s going to jail,” the shutterbug shouted.

    Lindsay is no stranger to bad manners behind the wheel. She got her first DUI in 2006, two weeks before her 21st birthday, when she slammed her Mercedes into a tree in Beverly Hills. Her second collar for drunk driving came in July 2007, just days after she left a Malibu rehab facility.

  • Japanese researchers to develop printable lithium polymer batteries

    lithium polymer battery_1

    Eco Factor: Printable lithium-polymer batteries to be used with a flexible solar battery.

    A research group led by Advanced Materials Innovation Center (AMIC) of Mie Industry and Enterprise Support Center is developing lithium polymer batteries that can be manufactured by printing technology.

    (more…)

  • BMW Split Engine Hybrid in the Works

    The next generation hybrid system is reportedly in the works within BMW and rumor goes it will come in the form of a split engine hybrid. According to a report by Autocar, the German manufacturer has already filed a patent application for the technology.

    According to the source, the application filed by BMW describes the technology as "comprising a first internal combustion engine unit… and a second internal combustion engine unit.

    The operating princip… (read more)

  • Takuma Sato Linked with Renault Seat

    Kamui Kobayashi might not be the only Japanese driver in the Formula One roster next season. According to some recent reports in the French media, Renault F1 Team are currently considering veteran driver Takuma Sato for the vacant seat in their 2010 lineup. With Robert Kubica already confirming his stay at Enstone, new team manager Eric Boullier is on a deadline to secure a functional drivers’ lineup by the Valencia testing session in February.

    According to French publication Auto… (read more)

  • History: Memories of the Aswan High Dam

    Al-Masry Al-Youm (Zeinab Abul-Magd)

    The story of the High Dam was a tale of a nation, hikayit sha‘b, as Abdel Halim Hafiz chanted in an iconic song from the Nasserist period.

    This nation lived under the yoke of British colonialism for over 70 years. After gaining independence, Egypt’s revolutionary president, Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, approached the World Bank to finance the construction of a dam on the Nile, a vital step towards economic development. The World Bank refused. In an audacious challenge to old and new imperialism, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956 to acquire funding for the project. The struggling nation heroically endured subsequent military assaults and a trade embargo. The dam was eventually built.

    “We said we would build and here we have built the high dam. Oh colonialism, we have built it with our hands, the high dam. With our money, with the hands of our workers,” Abdel Halim’s chorus enthusiastically repeated. Like this, the socialist dream began, only to fall apart, leaving behind memories of a vanished era.

    The story of the High Dam at Aswan is indeed the tale of this nation. The stages of its history chronicle critical transformations in Egyptian history at large. During the last half century, the dam moved from being a celebrated monument to Egyptian independence to a forgotten barrage deep in the country’s south. It was a state-engineered tool of anti-imperialist propaganda, whose splendor faded away with the downfall and fundamental reversion of the anti-imperial project.

    Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

  • Demolition firm to take axe to Coronation Street

    Britain’s most famous street to relocate to Salford Quays after ITV resumes development talks.

    Tara Conlan
    guardian.co.uk, Sunday 10 January 2010 16.29 GMT

    Britain’s most famous street is to be demolished. Coronation Street’s outdoor set, including the Rovers Return Inn, will move from Quay Street in Manchester city centre to a site near Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium after ITV resumed talks to relocate its offices.

    Following the appointment of new ITV chairman Archie Norman, negotiations have begun again to relocate the soap’s famous pub and cobbled streets to the £600m Media City UK in Salford Quays.

    The existing site has been the setting for some of the most memorable scenes in television history, including numerous arguments between Ena Sharples and Elsie Tanner. With the advent of high-definition television, producers are keen to update the set as the new technology makes it easier to spot worn-out sets.

    Tracey Barlow, the fictional daughter of the soap’s most enduring resident, Ken Barlow, murdered her boyfriend Charlie Stubbs on the street. It was also the location for numerous cat-fights, many of them involving Bet Lynch, the former landlady at the Rover and the street’s most famous pint-puller.

    Bryan Gray, the chairman of the site’s developers, Peel Media, said: "ITV have a particular requirement in Coronation Street. I can confirm that e’ve offered them a package."

    ITV’s veteran soap will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year.

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  • Winter housing crunch less severe

    After returning from a quarter in Costa Rica, Molly Heft-Neal ’11 faced a waitlist and a series of walk-in meetings with Stanford Housing before finally moving into the sophomore dorm Toyon on Monday. Heft-Neal was one of many students who found themselves on the Housing waitlist after not receiving placement in a residence because they were abroad fall quarter.
    However, the annual winter housing crunch has been somewhat alleviated compared to past years. A week into the quarter, all students with guaranteed housing status have already been assigned to residences on campus; a few students without guaranteed status still remain unhoused.
    According to Executive Director of Student Housing Rodger Whitney, Stanford Housing always sees a higher demand for housing in the winter because fewer students choose to leave campus compared to those returning from abroad. Housing addressed the issue by preparing additional spaces to be available ahead of time.
    “This year, for example, in addition to filling our regular on-campus vacancies, we reserved an additional small block of apartments in the Oak Creek Apartments complex in order to house undergraduates very near to the main campus,” Whitney wrote in an e-mail to The Daily.
    In addition, apartments are also available to undergraduates in Escondido Village. While these measures were taken in previous years as well, the availability of temporary housing to unhoused students beginning the first Monday of the quarter has also aided those still on the waitlist.
    “The numbers of students waiting for housing versus the vacancies available [is] never a completely stable situation,” Whitney said.
    “There is much fluctuation in enrollment and occupancy over the first two weeks of each quarter, as students return to campus and/or depart for any number of reasons,” he added. “Thus, as vacancies become available, they are offered to students who are looking for housing.”
    Heft-Neal expressed some frustration with the process, however, because temporary housing was not made available for unhoused students until last Monday, leaving many without a place to stay for the weekend before school began. She also felt that students who go abroad with a Stanford program are given a higher priority.
    “It was frustrating, because when we first got told we didn’t get housing, we didn’t even know that was a possibility,” she said. “For our first meeting on Dec. 5, everyone was still abroad and we had to get a proxy, and that was stressful because we couldn’t even go ourselves.”
    Heft-Neal was number 23 on the waitlist, and after sending a proxy to the first walk-in meeting and two consecutive rounds, she was finally given the choice of Toyon or the Oak Creek Apartments.
    For Helen Chen ’11, returning from Santiago and moving into Muwekma-Tah-Ruk was a much easier process, and her experience in the Row house so far has been a happy one.
    “I drew alone, and I just listed my preferences of where I wanted to live before the deadline in October,” Chen said. “I never had any complications with Housing.”
    According to Whitney, absolutely no “re-stuffing” of previously unpacked residences occurred, and the Master Plan allowed for even more spaces to be available to students with guaranteed status arriving back on campus. “The uncrowding of our residences was a major commitment of Student Housing as well as the University leadership, and we have not reversed this process,” Whitney said.
    “With the addition of the Munger Graduate Residences and the conversion of Crothers Hall to undergraduate housing, we have 450 more students living on campus this year than we did last year at this time,” he added.

    After returning from a quarter in Costa Rica, Molly Heft-Neal ’11 faced a waitlist and a series of walk-in meetings with Stanford Housing before finally moving into the sophomore dorm Toyon on Monday. Heft-Neal was one of many students who found themselves on the Housing waitlist after not receiving placement in a residence because they were abroad fall quarter.

    However, the annual winter housing crunch has been somewhat alleviated compared to past years. A week into the quarter, all students with guaranteed housing status have already been assigned to residences on campus; a few students without guaranteed status still remain unhoused.

    According to Executive Director of Student Housing Rodger Whitney, Stanford Housing always sees a higher demand for housing in the winter because fewer students choose to leave campus compared to those returning from abroad. Housing addressed the issue by preparing additional spaces to be available ahead of time.

    “This year, for example, in addition to filling our regular on-campus vacancies, we reserved an additional small block of apartments in the Oak Creek Apartments complex in order to house undergraduates very near to the main campus,” Whitney wrote in an e-mail to The Daily.

    In addition, apartments are also available to undergraduates in Escondido Village. While these measures were taken in previous years as well, the availability of temporary housing to unhoused students beginning the first Monday of the quarter has also aided those still on the waitlist.

    “The numbers of students waiting for housing versus the vacancies available [is] never a completely stable situation,” Whitney said.

    “There is much fluctuation in enrollment and occupancy over the first two weeks of each quarter, as students return to campus and/or depart for any number of reasons,” he added. “Thus, as vacancies become available, they are offered to students who are looking for housing.”

    Heft-Neal expressed some frustration with the process, however, because temporary housing was not made available for unhoused students until last Monday, leaving many without a place to stay for the weekend before school began. She also felt that students who go abroad with a Stanford program are given a higher priority.

    “It was frustrating, because when we first got told we didn’t get housing, we didn’t even know that was a possibility,” she said. “For our first meeting on Dec. 5, everyone was still abroad and we had to get a proxy, and that was stressful because we couldn’t even go ourselves.”

    Heft-Neal was number 23 on the waitlist, and after sending a proxy to the first walk-in meeting and two consecutive rounds, she was finally given the choice of Toyon or the Oak Creek Apartments.

    For Helen Chen ’11, returning from Santiago and moving into Muwekma-Tah-Ruk was a much easier process, and her experience in the Row house so far has been a happy one.

    “I drew alone, and I just listed my preferences of where I wanted to live before the deadline in October,” Chen said. “I never had any complications with Housing.”

    According to Whitney, absolutely no “re-stuffing” of previously unpacked residences occurred, and the Master Plan allowed for even more spaces to be available to students with guaranteed status arriving back on campus. “The uncrowding of our residences was a major commitment of Student Housing as well as the University leadership, and we have not reversed this process,” Whitney said.

    “With the addition of the Munger Graduate Residences and the conversion of Crothers Hall to undergraduate housing, we have 450 more students living on campus this year than we did last year at this time,” he added.

  • CES: Ed Hardy Tries Cellphone Accessories [Voices]

    By Marisa Taylor, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

    There’s not much that’s subtle about Ed Hardy, the clothing line splashed with rhinestones and vintage tattoo designs that’s favored by the likes of Jon Gosselin.

    But at CES, Ed Hardy entered the world of mobile accessories with handset designs called Icing, intended for “the distinguishing mobile user who wants to show off the Ed Hardy brand with subtlety,” according to the company.

    They’re made by Crystal Icing, which makes handsets adorned with Swarovski crystals. Users can choose between 10 new designs with names like “Beautiful Ghost,” “Love Kills Slowly” and “Koi Fish” for mobile faceplates ($30), iPod faceplates ($20 to $30) or special rhinestone faceplates ($50).

    Read the rest of this post on the original site

    Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

    Read Original Article

  • ACT, WA nation’s best performing states, economist says

    Quote:

    AUSTRALIA’S largest state and the nation’s smallest territory would on the surface appear to share little in common.

    One has a vast supply of mineral resources that has made it the engine room of the domestic economy, thousands of kilometres of coastline and a capital city regarded as the most isolated in the developed world.

    The other is situated neatly between Sydney and Melbourne, is about 150 kilometres from the Pacific Ocean and has about half its land set aside as nature parks and reserves.

    So comparisons between Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory are stark, but CommSec says in terms of economic performance they cannot be split at the top of the pack…

    http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news…-1225817906463

  • Thoughts On What an Apple Tablet Should Be – Or Not [Voices]

    By Andy Ihnatko, Contributor, Chicago Sun Times

    My Wednesday began with a worried focus on tablet computers.

    Before lunchtime I closed my eyes, commended my soul to God, and bought roundtrip airfare to San Francisco for the last week of January.

    Read the rest of this post on the original site

    Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

    Read Original Article

  • Startups & VCs: Learn How to Design, Market, & Eat Your Own Consumer Internet Dogfood [Voices]

    By Dave McClure, Blogger, Master of 500 Hats

    Haven’t really gotten on a rant in awhile… guess i’ve been doing a lot of travel lately, but now that I’m back in California for awhile, there’s something i’ve been meaning to bring up that bothers me. It’s kind of a dirty little secret of the startup industry, but there are very few good product, design, and marketing people in tech. And hardly any of them that are good seem to make it into the venture capital profession.

    Read the rest of this post on the original site

    Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

    Read Original Article

  • Climate Change @ Gowlings – December 31, 2009 – Mondaq News Alerts (registration)

    Climate Change @ Gowlings – December 31, 2009
    Mondaq News Alerts (registration)
    The generation and sale of carbon credits creates wealth through environmental protection. As such, carbon offset projects offer a promising and still …


  • A Ford apresentará novidades para seus modelos em 2010

    null

    A Ford está anunciando muitas novidades para o ano de 2010 algumas delas já mostradas no mês passado e o restante será apresentado no Salão do Automóvel de Detroit 2010.

    De acordo com fontes internas teremos o lançamento de nove motores com cambio de seis marchas em sua maioria novos ou reformulados.

    Isso somente confirma o que a empresa havia anunciado três anos atrás de reformular completamente sua linha entre 2008 e 2013. Essas modificações serão aplicadas em toda a sua linha mecânica somando um total de 60 combinações no mundo.

    O novo 1.6 litros inline-four não é novidade nem o cambio de seis marchas automático de dupla embreagem que equipará o Ford Fiesta, também já sabíamos que o Mustang irá receber motores V6 e V8 o que reduz o consumo de combustível ganhando em desempenho.

    Barb Samardzich engenheiro da Ford revelou que a caminhonete F150 receberá o novo motor 3.5 litros V6 Ecoboost ainda em 2010, além de um 2.0 litro inline-four Ecoboost com cambio de seis marchas automático de dupla embreagem.

    Fonte: Autoblog


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  • Hello everyone…

    Hello all,

    I am Joshua and I, currently, have type-one diabetes. I was diagnosed just over 3 years ago. I am, currently, twenty three and had just turned twenty when I developed and diagnosed with type one diabetes. I chose, willingly and lazily, to not educate nor take care for myself appropriately. I have come to realize that I do need to educate and take care of myself to further live a healthy, eventful, and active life.

    I am, currently, working for my father at his retail store and do not have insurance. Thus, it has been extremely tough on my family and I to always find the appropriate funds to be treated correctly. I have racked up tremendous amounts of debt from minimal hospital visits, but luckily have not done any real damage to my body.

    I have recently been testing my sugar every time before I eat and before I go to bed. This has been helping me keep track of my sugar levels and has allowed some accurate room for sliding my medicine. I haven’t really been given much information on sliding my medicine, since my doctor has not been much help on this issue. I am currently taking Humolog which is a fast acting insulin.

    Well, I guess I won’t ramble on. I really joined to gather as much information as I can, help anyone I can, and hopefully gain some therapeutic relief on my health and future health.

    Thanks for listening,
    -JaD

  • ORURO | Nuevo estadio para el Club San José

    NUEVO ESTADIO PARA EL CLUB SAN JOSÉ

    Falta la plata. Después de más de dos años, el estadio de San José continúa como un anhelado proyecto

    El club San José recibió un cheque nominativo del presidente de la República, Evo Morales Ayma, para la construcción de su estadio, hace casi dos años, y éste se convirtió en un proyecto anhelado, pero aún no hay avances para que sea realidad y no sólo un sueño.

    La dirigencia del club San José aseguró estar muy preocupada porque, pese a varias cartas y solicitudes que enviaron al Primer Mandatario del país para una audiencia, no recibieron respuesta alguna.

    “Son varias solicitudes que enviamos al Presidente, pero no tenemos respuesta. No sabemos si es responsabilidad del Presidente o de sus colaboradores, pero lo cierto es que llevamos más de un año pidiendo que nos reciba en audiencia para que le expliquemos la situación real del proyecto. Porque dijeron que es por negligencia nuestra, pero en realidad no es así.

    Nos pidieron el proyecto a diseño final, ya lo tenemos, y ahora no existe la autorización del Presidente para que nos desembolsen el dinero para que iniciemos las obras del estadio”, explicó Jorge Torrico, tesorero del club San José.

    El 13 de diciembre de 2007, un día después de que San José se coronara campeón del torneo Clausura de la Liga, el mandatario Evo Morales entregó a la dirigencia “santa” un cheque nominativo por un valor de 1’372.420 dólares (30 por ciento del costo total de la construcción del estadio, que es de 4’574.757 dólares), para iniciar las obras del proyecto que sería financiado por la cooperación venezolana.

    Sin embargo, al tratarse de fondos que deben ser invertidos a través de la Unidad de Proyectos Especiales (UPRE), deben tener el proyecto a diseño final concluido y aprobado, y el club San José no lo tenía ya que debían realizarse una serie de cambios en el proyecto que presentaron al entonces viceministro de Deportes, Milton Melgar, un mes antes.

    Fueron varios meses en los que el club trabajó para tener el proyecto a diseño final, pero cuando ya tenían los planos y fue presentado ante la UPRE el 17 de octubre de 2008, el cheque que fue entregado por el Presidente el 13 de diciembre de 2007 fue devuelto a la Embajada de Venezuela – Proyecto UT el 18 de diciembre de 2007.

    Pese a las gestiones ante la embajada venezolana para poder recibir el dinero ofrecido por el presidente Morales, no se tuvo avance alguno hasta la fecha, según Torrico.

    Ahora la dirigencia “santa” espera que el presidente Morales pueda cumplir el compromiso hecho en noviembre pasado, cuando estuvo en Oruro para la inauguración del Campeonato de Fútbol de Músicos, en el que aseguró que “podemos retomar el tema de San José y su estadio, pero tenemos que hablar sinceramente con sus dirigentes”, ya que la directiva del equipo orureño sólo pide una audiencia para explicar la situación real del proyecto para poder iniciar de una vez los trabajos.

    Proyecto del estadio

    El proyecto a diseño final del escenario deportivo del club San José, elaborado por la Empresa Constructora Vásquez-Chávez Ltda, tiene prevista la construcción de un estadio con capacidad para 20 mil personas, una cancha de fútbol con césped natural, con torres de iluminación artificial para los partidos nocturnos, graderías en los cuatro sectores, baterías de baños para el público, dos camarines para los equipos contendores, uno de árbitros, un ambiente para el control antidoping, ambientes para la parte administrativa, 25 cabinas de transmisión y un palco oficial.

    El costo total de la obra alcanza a 4’574.757 dólares y la ejecución de la obra demandará un total de 12 meses. Además se aclaró que las empresas involucradas en la construcción serán orureñas.

    http://www.lostiempos.com/diario/act…060_93749.html