By The Huffington Post News Editors
A health food store in Whitstable, Great Britain, seems to be attracting a new sort of customer — Ghosts.
Of course, the new clientele might also be pranksters.
Recently, a surveillance video at the Whitstable Nutrition Centre captured a clip showing a box of tea bags slipping out of a store shelves and floating mysteriously in mid-air.
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More on Weird Science
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
By Eamon Murphy
Filed under: Government Spending, World Leaders, People
Here’s a paradox about Great Britain. In many ways, it’s a more progressive country than the United States, its colonial offspring. It has a more generous welfare state (including national health care), a more progressive tax structure, and a third major political party to the left of Labour. Most workers are entitled to at least 28 paid days of vacation per year, and same-sex marriage will soon be legal throughout England and Wales.
And yet Great Britain maintains one of the most conservative institutions on the planet: a hereditary monarchy, something Americans would never countenance. This despite the fact that King Charles I lost two civil wars, leading to his own decapitation and the short-lived abolition of the monarchy, in the mid-17th century.
And though the royal family’s political significance has long since been reduced to the ceremonial, the Windsors still have a massive financial footprint. As sovereign, the Queen owns the Crown Estate, a property portfolio worth £8.1 billion ($12.4 billion) as of last month — the first time its value has exceeded £8 billion. It includes a lot of prime real estate — “large parts of London’s West End,” “15 retail parks in various towns and cities,” shopping centers, offices, agricultural lands, forests, and “most UK coastline,” according to the BBC — and 15 percent of its annual revenues is used to fund the monarchy. The rest goes to the Treasury.
As a result of the these assets’ recent performance, the Queen is getting a raise: the Sovereign Grant, as her cut of the Crown Estate’s revenues is called, is set to increase next year from £36.1 million to £37.89 million (more than $55 million) — a gain of 5 percent, and the second consecutive bump to her allowance.
“The Crown Estate as a whole dates from the time of the Norman Conquest,” explains the monarchy’s official website — more than 900 years ago — but the current arrangement came into effect in 1760. That was the year King George III — the intolerable tyrant of the Declaration of Independence — signed the revenues over to the Treasury, and in return, stopped having to pay for the civil government, the national debt, and his own personal debt. Those expenses were covered by something called the Civil List, funded by the Treasury and supplemented more recently by grants from other departments, until the Sovereign Grant Act of 2011. Buckingham Palace called the change “a modern, transparent and simpler way of funding the head of state,” but opponents of the monarchy are unconvinced. “Pegging royal funding to Crown Estate revenue makes no sense at all,” said the group Republic, which advocates replacing the Queen (or King) with an elected head of state. “The two are not related. Crown Estate revenue has always been there to provide funds for the government.”
<div …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
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Renault and Dacia will be headed to the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show in a big way, with a new concept car from the French company and an all-new Duster from its Romanian budget brand. The new concept is particularly exciting, as Renault’s press release mentions a “new brand identity.” We can also count on this car being a bit higher on the luxury scale than Renault’s traditional offerings.
Dacia’s new Duster will have big shoes to fill when it hits the spotlights of Frankfurt. The current Duster (pictured), a small, handsomely rugged CUV, was introduced in 2010, and has been a critical hit in Great Britain, Russia, and India (where it’s called the Renault Duster). It’s also been a smash with customers, becoming Renault’s best-selling global model.
Both the new Duster and Renault’s latest concept will hit the stage in Frankfurt on September 10.
Continue reading Renault promises new concept car and Dacia Duster in Frankfurt
Renault promises new concept car and Dacia Duster in Frankfurt originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 23 Jul 2013 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog
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BMW and Mercedes-Benz – please, please, please bring the M135i and A45 AMG hatchbacks to North America. For as long as we can remember, buyers in the New World have been forced to look longingly at Europe and Great Britain and the excellent super hatches that are so routinely offered there. And while we’re quite content with the Ford Focus ST and Volkswagen GTI, having a 360-horse five-door with a premium, content-rich interior sounds quite nice.
Our envy for Europe has grown after watching the latest video from Drive, which stars Chris Harris, the Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG and the BMW M135i. This latest battle between MB and BMW takes place on both road and track, with Harris providing a running commentary. If you’re interested in the upcoming Mercedes CLA45 AMG, you should pay special attention to the section on the A45, as the two are essentially fraternal twins. While the video is a bit on the long side, it provides a comprehensive rundown of both cars, giving those of us in North America just a small taste of what we’re missing. Check it out by scrolling below.
Continue reading BMW M135i vs. Mercedes A45 AMG in Euro small-lux throwdown
BMW M135i vs. Mercedes A45 AMG in Euro small-lux throwdown originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 19 Jul 2013 12:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog
Market research company YouGov has just released its latest tablet computer survey results and reports that women in Great Britain now own more tablet computers than men. They also note that younger people (age 18-34) now account of for the largest growth sector for tablet computers as well. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Filed under: Earnings, Market News, Stocks, Investing
Big brand winners, and strong earnings from Goldman Sachs. Those and more are what’s in business news Tuesday.
The Dow industrials (^DJI) rose 20 points Monday and the S&P 500 (^GPSC) added two points — both edging further into record territory. The Nasdaq (^IXIC) gained 7.
What companies are being talked about the most around the water cooler? YouGov’s BrandIndex puts Ford (F) at No. 1, largely because of the automaker’s Focus model. It was followed by Amazon.com (AMZN), sandwich-maker Subway, the History Channel and retailer Lowe’s Cos. (LOW). And what about V8, the beverage that everyone belatedly remembers they could’ve had? It made No. 6 on the British market-research firm’s list.
AT&T (T) is rolling out a plan today to keep existing customers happy. Instead of the typical two-year mobile phone contract, it will allow customers to upgrade after just one year to buy the newest gadgets on the market. There are no upgrade fees and no down payments, but you will have to pay the full cost of the phone.
Coca-Cola (KO) reports flat quarterly earnings, and when you’re talking about Coke, flat is not so good. It said cool and wet spring weather in many areas hurt soft drink consumption.
But Goldman Sachs (GS) easily beat expectations on both the top and bottom line. The investment banker also sees improving economic conditions in the U.S.
After the closing bell we’ll hear from Yahoo (YHOO), the first of the big tech companies to report. Later in the week: IBM (IBM), Intel (INTC), Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT).
More than 5 million people a day wear uniforms from Cintas (CTAS) — including everyone working at McDonald’s (MCD) restaurants. Because of that, some see it as economic bellwether. But the company’s earnings still fell a bit short of expectations, and it issued a cautious outlook, citing the “uncertain” economy.
Investigators searching for the cause of the fire on a Boeing (BA) 787 Dreamliner last week in Great Britain are reportedly focused on the emergency location transmitter and its battery, made by Honeywell (HON).
And the executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles (HSII) is searching for a new boss — after its chief executive resigned.
–Produced by Drew Trachtenberg
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Filed under: Citigroup, Earnings, Market News
Boeing is set to bounce back, and we look at the Twinkie effect on the market.
The major averages all rallied last week, with the Dow Industrials and the S&P 500 ending at record highs. The Nasdaq soared 3.5 percent on the week; it has gained ground in 12 of 13 sessions.
Boeing (BA) could recoup some of Friday’s big loss, as an investigation shows the fire aboard a 787 Dreamliner in Great Britain was not related to the lithium ion battery that caused Boeing to ground the fleet earlier this year. However, there’s still uncertainty about what did cause this latest mishap. The focus right now is on the lightweight carbon fiber skin of the plane.
Twinkie fans are thrilled about the return of the snack food to store shelves today, but not everyone is celebrating. Flowers Foods (FLO), which makes a Twinkie rival — Tastykakes — could suffer. Tastykake sales have jumped almost 20 percent over a year ago, as desperate Twinkie fans sought an alternative.
Citigroup (C) kicks off a huge week for corporate earnings, posting better-than-expected profit and sales. Analysts are especially interested to hear what the company has to say about the economic outlook in Mexico and other emerging markets.
The three entertainment giants that own Hulu have decided not to sell the television streaming site after all. Comcast (CMCSA), Walt Disney (DIS) and 21st Century Fox (NWS) will pump an extra $750 million dollars into Hulu. Among the companies that had been interested in buying it: Time Warner Cable (TWC), Yahoo (YHOO), DirecTV (DTV) and Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts.
And we’re seeing more consolidation in the telecom industry. AT&T (T) has agreed to acquire Leap Wireless (LEAP) for $1.2 billion dollars. The per share price represents an 88 percent premium over Leap’s closing price. Leap provides prepaid wireless service under the Cricket brand. The deal also gives AT&T more wireless spectrum and access to the low-cost wireless market.
-Produced by Drew Trachtenberg
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Usama bin Laden’s name should not be banned from the terrorism trial of an Egyptian Islamic preacher despite claims by defense lawyers that it would be prejudicial toward their client, the government has told a federal judge.
Federal prosecutors said in court papers filed Friday in U.S. District Court that references to the deceased founder of al-Qaida will not be prejudicial or inflammatory and are important to explaining the case against Mustafa Kamel Mustafa to the jury.
They noted that Mustafa is charged with conspiring to provide or providing material support to al-Qaida and said the fact that bin Laden was the leader of the group at the time “is plainly relevant.”
Mustafa was extradited to the U.S. from Great Britain in October to face charges that he conspired with Seattle men to set up a terrorist training camp at a ranch in Bly, Ore.
The government plans to prove the camp, which never opened, was to be used for training in military tactics, weapons, assassinations, hand-to-hand combat and explosives.
Mustafa also is charged with helping to abduct two American tourists and 14 other people in Yemen in 1998. He has pleaded not guilty. The trial is scheduled for March.
In papers filed earlier this month, defense lawyers asked the trial judge to exclude bin Laden’s name, saying it would be “irrelevant and inflammatory” to Mustafa.
“Bin Laden‘s leadership of al-Qaida is irrelevant to the charges, and its inclusion in the indictment is highly prejudicial to Mr. Mustafa,” the lawyers said. “The danger of unfair prejudice is overwhelming in this case, because of the toxic impact the mere mention of Usama bin Laden would likely have on a jury.”
But prosecutors offered multiple reasons why the mention of bin Laden was important. They noted that one of two men Mustafa is accused of sending from London to the United States to help establish the Oregon training camp had sent a letter to bin Laden saying in part: “We love you here” and “I ask God to help you here, and support you to fulfill His desire.”
The government said the letter would support its argument that the efforts to create the training camp were carried out in support of al-Qaida.
“Even though the letter does not make mention of al-Qaida by name, because bin Laden was the leader of al-Qaida, such expressions of loyalty to bin Laden are indistinguishable from expressions of loyalty to al-Qaida,” it said.
The request by the defense is not the first time lawyers in a terrorism case have sought to exclude the mention of bin Laden or other terrorism references. Generally, judges have sided with the government.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
Britain’s prime minister has arrived for a two-day visit in Germany where he will meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss European reform.
David Cameron has offered a referendum on whether to leave the European Union if his party wins the next election. Despite his plans to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU, which are viewed with skepticism in Berlin, Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert praised the two leaders’ strong relationship, “which matches the close friendship and partnership with Great Britain.”
Cameron, accompanied by his wife and children, is expected to discuss “all aspects” of European reform, along with the upcoming Group of Eight summit in Ireland and the conflict in Syria, according to Downing Street.
The Camerons will stay Friday and Saturday at government guest house Merseberg near Berlin.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/4vAC4hOF-ho/
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
AarhusKarlshamn: AAK’s Annual Report 2012 Published
KARLSHAMN, Sweden–(BUSINESS WIRE)– AAK’s (STO:AAK) Annual Report 2012 has been published and is available at the company’s homepage, www.aak.com.
The printed version of the Annual Report 2012 will be distributed by mail to shareholders and other stakeholders, commencing April 15, 2013.
The information is that which AarhusKarlshamn AB (publ) is obliged to publish under the provisions of the Stock Exchange and Clearing Operations Act and/or the Trading in Financial Instruments Act. The information was released to the media for publication on April 12, 2013 at 10.00 am CET.
AarhusKarlshamn is one of the world’s leading producers of high value-added speciality vegetable fats. These fats are characterized by a high technological content and are used as substitute for butter-fat and cocoa butter, transfree solutions for fillings in chocolate and confectionery products, and in the cosmetics industry. AarhusKarlshamn has production facilities in Denmark, Mexico, the Netherlands, Sweden, Great Britain, Uruguay and the US. The company is organised in three Business Areas; Food Ingredients, Chocolate and Confectionery Fats and Technical Products & Feed. Further information on AarhusKarlshamn can be found on the company’s website www.aak.com.
This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com
AAK
Fredrik Nilsson
Director Group Controlling and Investor Relations
Phone: + 46 40 627 83 34
Mobile: + 46 708 95 22 21
KEYWORDS: Europe Sweden
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:
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From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/12/aarhuskarlshamn-aaks-annual-report-2012-published/
Gardeners in Britain who were digging flowerbeds for a village horticultural competition have instead uncovered a World War II bomb.
Police say a bomb disposal unit was sent to a crossing near Nafferton train station in the northeast of England after residents reported finding the explosive device.
The area near railway tracks was cordoned off to prevent vibrations from trains setting the device off, and local train services were temporarily stopped as a precaution.
Officers said Wednesday the object turned out to be an inert two-pound (one-kilogram) aircraft bomb. They have removed the device to safely dispose of it.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Margaret Thatcher, who served three consecutive terms as Great Britain‘s prime minister, died Monday at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke. She was remembered in America, and in Britain, as a bulwark not only against Communism in the 1980s but against the growth of the state — an ideology that will long outlive her on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
By Matt Davis
Filed under: Minivan/Van, Europe, Work, Mini, First Drives
A Premium Van For The Modern-Day Milkman
We first saw the Mini Clubvan at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2012, then in December again at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Based on a stock Mini Clubman, the Clubvan’s dimensions are identical, while all side windows aft of the middle pillar are blocked out from the inside with handy polycarbonate liners (read: fancy plastic) and have body color skin on the outside, while the rear windows are tinted to boot. It looks like a van and works like a van, so it must be a van. A Mini-van, though.
Where is Mini going with this relatively low-cost (to the company) product line extension? The chief market for this nimble little hauler is cities in Great Britain where they were frequently in bygone days identified as milk delivery vans. These days, though, there are – even in the US now – lower cost smaller urban delivery vans from Ford, Ram and Nissan. Therefore, the spin is that the Mini Clubvan is designed to cater to smaller boutique firms in need of making a fashionable impression while delivering the goods to people living in penthouses and such. Think: Florists, caterers, and so on.
Continue reading 2014 Mini Cooper Clubvan
2014 Mini Cooper Clubvan originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog
Shale gas deposits have been found in Poland, Argentina, China, Great Britain and other countries, but only the United States has fracked its shale gas into a national energy boom. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Rich Duprey, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
I first heard of graphene earlier this year on a discussion board, where someone essentially asked, “People say it’s going to be huge, but what is it and how can we profit from it?”
The answer to the first question is a bit easier than the second, because two scientists at the University of Manchester in Great Britain first discovered it and won a Nobel prize for it. So that means no publicly traded company is going to have a lock on it, but that’s not stopping them from patenting how its being used. Everyone from IBM and Samsung to Nokia and Intel are rushing to tap its incredible properties.
It’s elementary
OK, so what exactly is graphene? It’s a carbon-based substance and as such gives diamonds a run for the money as being the hardest substance known to man. (It’s actually harder.) Yet it’s lighter than down fluff, it can conduct electricity better than copper, and even at a thickness of just one atom it can serve as the lattice for powering chips while being both flexible and transparent. Graphene is being hailed as a miracle substance.
Already scientists are imagining the possibilities of what can be done with the material: Charge your cell phone in 30 seconds, or, better yet, fully recharge your electric car’s batteries in an hour.
Faster than a speeding bullet
As explained in the following video, a battery stores a lot of energy, but it charges and discharges slowly. A camera’s flash bulb, on the other hand, doesn’t have much storage, but it charges and discharges very quickly. Graphene combines those two features into a sort of supercapacitor that has lots of energy storage and charges and discharges very fast. Yet because it’s carbon-based, it doesn’t harm the environment.
IBM was the first to use the material to create graphene-based integrated circuits back in 2011, having created the year before a graphene processor that could execute 100 billion cycles per second (100GHz). Intel and Samsung are now looking into graphene-based processors, while Nokia is part of a consortium of 74 companies that received a grant of $1.35 billion from the European Union to figure out how to use graphene to “improve the world.” It’s experimenting in electronics and mobile communications.
A needle in a haystack
Yet try to invest in any one of these companies to get exposure to graphene, and you’re taking a pretty circuitous route and only nibbling at the corners. Perhaps a better route might be looking at producers of graphite, as that’s the material from which graphene is made. Unfortunately, most of the mineral is produced in China. It produces some 800,000 metric tonnes annually, making it the 800-pound gorilla in the space, with the next closest producer being India at 130,000 metric tonnes. It’s not even mined in the United States.
While there are a few foreign companies or micro caps that are involved in graphite production, GrafTech International may be …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Bradlee Dean
“One man with God is always in the majority.”– John Knox
When I ponder the history of the heroes of the faith – Moses confronting the Pharaoh, David confronting Goliath, Gideon and his small army of 300 standing against the oppressive Midianites, and King Hezekiah confronted with Sennacherib (the king of Assyria) – I remember that the odds were set against them. When observing their circumstances, I see they had every reason in the world to think that defeat was on the horizon.
In America, we can look back to our forefathers (namely all 56 signers), and we know the odds were set against them as well. Our small colonial army was fighting against a tyrant who had the strongest military in the world – a tyrant who was opposing them at every turn, even willing to send foreign mercenaries to destroy their families as they were set to steal away everything that rightfully belonged to them.
In the present, similar circumstances surround the American people on a daily basis. We the People are confronted with assaults to our foundations – both biblically and constitutionally – not from an enemy without, but an enemy within.
With every true-life scenario before us, I have noticed the direction these courageous men and women took without fail. They always set their face toward heaven, and they called upon the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Jesus’ name. Because they were willing to meet God on His terms (Isaiah 66:2) and were prepared to fight for their rights, God answered them mightily (1 Timothy 1:18-19).
Case in point: I came across the following statistics, which lay out my premise perfectly:
Our founders and our biblical heroes are a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12) that God is willing to answer us if we are willing to take Him at His word, “appeal to Heaven,” and claim that there is “no king but King Jesus” in America. These were the mottos of the Revolution, and they must be our mottos today if we want to see the same victorious results.
As Martin Luther King Jr. rightly stated, “When people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.”
America, you still have the freedom to do the right thing.
Video: End Timers vs. our Forefathers who Stood Up and Fought
Who is Bradlee Dean?
Government welfare reforms that include a contentious cut dubbed the “bedroom tax” will cause upheaval for some of Britain’s most vulnerable people, religious leaders and anti-poverty activists claim.
The measure, which takes effect Monday, will reduce rent subsidies to social housing tenants if they have a spare bedroom.
The government — which prefers the term “under-occupancy penalty” — says it is one of a series of changes that will make the country’s unwieldy welfare system simpler, cheaper and fairer.
But thousands of trade unionists, advocates for the disabled and anti-poverty campaigners held protest marches against the change on Saturday, and on Sunday four churches released a joint criticism of the reforms. The Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist and United Reform churches and the Church of Scotland argued that “the cuts are unjust and that the most vulnerable will pay a disproportionate price.”
“Our feeling is that these benefit changes are a symptom of an understanding of people in poverty in the United Kingdom that is just wrong,” Methodist spokesman Paul Morrison told the BBC. ”It is an understanding of people that they somehow deserve their poverty, that they are somehow ‘lesser’, that they are not valued.”
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, leader of the Anglican church, has also criticized the welfare reforms.
The British government is trying to reduce public spending by 50 billion pounds ($76 billion) by 2015 in a bid to deflate Britain’s ballooning deficit and kick-start its spluttering economy. It says its welfare reforms will save 4.5 billion pounds by 2014-15.
The measures include changes to disability benefits, below-inflation increases and, eventually, the replacement of a patchwork of housing, unemployment and parental benefits with one payment called the Universal Credit.
The Department for Work and Pensions says the spare-bedroom levy — a cut of 14 percent to households with one extra room and 25 percent for two — will save taxpayers money and will help free up social housing for families because people with too many rooms will downsize.
“It is wrong to leave people out in the cold with effectively no roof over their heads because the taxpayer is paying for rooms which aren’t in use,” Conservative lawmaker Grant Shapps told Sky News.
Almost all American voters see Canada and Great Britain as allies of the United States, while most rate Iran and North Korea as enemies.
Scottish leader Alex Salmond has set Sept. 18, 2014, as the date for an independence referendum that could radically alter the shape of the United Kingdom.
Salmond announced the date of the long-awaited vote to the Scottish Parliament on Thursday, saying it would be a “historic day when the people will decide Scotland‘s future.”
Salmond’s nationalist party wants Scots to become independent, ending more than 300 years of union with England.
The British government is campaigning to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom, saying independence would create a deeply uncertain future.
Scotland and England united in 1707 to form Great Britain, but Scotland gained significant autonomy after voting in 1997 to set up the Edinburgh-based Scottish Parliament, which has power over areas including education, health and justice.
