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Sunday, April 21, 2013

MPs to investigate decline of refining industry

LONDON (Reuters) - A committee of MPs will examine the decline of the country's refining industry and its potential implications on the security of energy supplies, it said on Friday.

High costs, foreign competition and declining margins have led in recent years to a dramatic consolidation in Europe's refining industry, which today counts around 130 plants.

Just seven refineries remain in Britain after Coryton in Essex, eastern England, closed last year.

The Energy and Climate Change Committee invited short submissions of evidence from industry players and observers about the potential energy security implications of refinery closures.

The call for feedback comes as Murco has been unable to find a buyer for its Milford Haven plant in Wales, which some industry observers say is likely to face closure.

It also follows the first meeting of the Forum for EU Refining last Friday to discuss the situation in the industry, which covered topics including competitive pressure now felt from Russia and U.S. unconventional energy.

The Petit Couronne refinery in northern France was the latest European refinery to shut down after a court rejected two takeover offers for the 84-year-old 162,000 barrels per day (bpd) plant on Tuesday.

The deadline for responses to the UK parliamentary investigation is May 20, while the next meeting of the Forum for EU refining is in the autumn of 2013.

(Reporting by Simon Falush; Editing by Mark Potter)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mps-investigate-decline-refining-industry-114504611--finance.html

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Boston bombing suspects: What's known about Tsarnaev brothers so far?

Immigrants Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died Friday after a shootout with police, and?Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who remains at large, have lived in the Boston area for years. What may have prompted the Boston bombing remains a mystery.

By Peter Grier,?Staff writer / April 19, 2013

This combo of photos shows what the FBI is calling 'Suspect No. 1' (l.) and 'Suspect No. 2' (r.) walking through the crowd in Boston on Monday, before the explosions at the Boston Marathon.

FBI/AP

Enlarge

The suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing case are brothers who appear to have roots in Chechnya, a region of Russia long roiled by Islamic insurgency. But they have lived in the United States for years, and law enforcement officials remain uncertain why they might have set explosives near the finish line of Boston?s iconic footrace and whether they have ties to any international terrorist organization.

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Law enforcement sources identified the suspect killed overnight in a shootout with police as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was born in Russia. His younger brother Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, born in Kyrgyzstan, fled the scene and on Friday was the subject of a massive manhunt in the Boston suburbs.

According to NBC News, the Tsarnaev brothers entered the US with family in 2002 or 2003. Tamerlan Tsarnaev became a permanent resident in 2007.

Other reports indicated that the Tsarnaev family had stayed for a time in Kazakhstan prior to their emigration to America.

Tamerlan was ?Suspect No. 1? in the photos and video made public by the FBI on Thursday. He is seen in these images wearing a dark coat and a dark-colored baseball cap with a white stripe.

The elder brother was studying or has studied at Bunker Hill Community College, and hoped to be an engineer. He was an avid boxer who hoped to earn US citizenship by participating in the Olympics for the United States.

An album of images of Tamerlan Tsarnaev shot by photographer Johannes Hirn made this point with its title: ?Will Box for Passport.?

?Unless his native Chechnya becomes independent, Tamerlan says he would rather compete for the United States than for Russia,? Mr. Hirn wrote in one caption.

Other captions depict the elder Tsarnaev as a Muslim who abstains from alcohol and is bewildered by the immorality of the surrounding American culture.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/U6UbWEpX_48/Boston-bombing-suspects-What-s-known-about-Tsarnaev-brothers-so-far

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Saturday, April 20, 2013

Blackstone drops out of race to buy Dell

Blackstone Group is dropping its effort to acquire the computer maker Dell, citing slumping personal computer sales and Dell's "rapidly eroding financial profile."

Blackstone and its partners said in a letter to Dell Inc. that they have ditched a plan to buy most of Dell's outstanding stock for $14.25 per share due those challenges, which surfaced after the bid was submitted last month.

The letter from the group to a special committee of Dell board members was disclosed Friday.

The letter said that while the bidders still believe Dell is "a leading global company with strong market positions," it also said that Dell has lowered its operating income forecast for this year to $3 billion from $3.7 billion.

The withdrawal of the Blackstone-led bid leaves Dell with a $24.4 billion offer ? $13.65 per share ? from a group that includes its founder and CEO Michael Dell that would take the company private and a preliminary proposal from billionaire investor Carl Icahn to buy a majority of Dell stock while keeping the technology company publicly traded.

Icahn plans to pay up to $15 per share for 58 percent of Dell's stock.

Shares of Dell fell 47 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $13.48 in Friday morning trading.

When asked about Blackstone's characterization of Dell's financial profile, spokesman David Frink said in an email the company remains focused on its customers and "providing innovative products."

A spokeswoman for New York-based Blackstone declined any additional comment on the decision.

Blackstone's about-face came amid more evidence of the deteriorating conditions in the PC market as more technology spending shifts to smartphones and tablet computers. Worldwide PC shipments plunged by 14 percent in the first three months of the year, according to International Data Corp., the steepest quarterly decline during the 19 years that the research firm has been tracking the market.

Dell's PC sales slipped 11 percent during the quarter, leaving it as the world's third largest maker of laptop and desktop machines.

Michael Dell believes he can turn around the company by diversifying into more profitable niches such as business software, data storage and consulting. It could be a wrenching process, something that Michael Dell believes he will be able to do if he doesn't have to worry about Wall Street's fixation on short-term results.

In a show of confidence in his plan, Michael Dell is contributing $4.5 billion of his cash and stock to the proposed buyout. Loans would provide most of the rest of the financing.

Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, agreed earlier this year to sell itself to Michael Dell and a group of investors led by Silver Lake Partners for $13.65 per share. But key shareholders have been unhappy about that offer, and competing bids have since emerged.

Dell's stock had been trading above the price in the Michael Dell offer for most of the time since that deal was announced in early February, indicating that investors were betting on the emergence of a better offer.

The board special committee has said it believed Blackstone's proposal could be more lucrative than the deal struck with Michael Dell and Silver Lake. But the committee wanted to review the formal terms of Blackstone's bid before making a final assessment.

Dell has agreed to cover up to $25 million in expenses that Blackstone incurred while exploring its bid.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-19-US-Dell-Acquisition/id-6bb20fa88a5e4866a30f2197f20a5f93

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Friday, April 19, 2013

Bank of England's Weale sees more room for policy manoeuvre

LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England has more scope to restart its asset purchase stimulus scheme due to slower wage growth and falling commodity prices, policymaker Martin Weale said on Thursday.

Earlier this month the central bank was split 6-3 against restarting its 375 billion pound ($573 billion) bond purchase scheme, with Weale one of those opposed.

But in an interview with Bloomberg News, he appeared to soften his stance.

"The inflation position, at least from my perspective, has improved somewhat," Weale said, citing favourable signals from wages and commodity prices. "They certainly make me feel there's more room for manoeuvre."

Minutes of the Bank Monetary Policy Committee's April 3-4 meeting, published on Wednesday, noted an easing in inflation pressures but gave no sign that a majority of policymakers might vote for extra stimulus next month.

MPC members opposed to stimulus gave rising inflation expectations for the first time as a reason, but Weale implied that some of his worries had eased in recent weeks.

Figures earlier this week showed that annual basic wage growth fell to a record low in the three months to February, and oil prices have also fallen sharply in sterling terms.

"Inevitably if the underlying inflationary pressures look weaker, then the case for stimulus becomes stronger," Weale said. "But, at the same time, when you have these underlying concerns about inflation expectations and inflation history, favourable news on the short term does ease my longer-term concerns."

British central bankers must tackle a mix of stagnant economic output and inflation that has exceeded its 2 percent target for most of the time since the financial crisis.

Next week sees the release of first-quarter gross domestic product data, and Weale said he could not rule out contraction.

"There is enough of a margin of uncertainty for me not to be surprised" if there was a "minor contraction", he said. "There's certainly a risk of that."

Weale said the Bank should keep an open mind about new ways to boost the economy, but was wary about "intermediate targets" other than inflation which a new remit from Chancellor George Osborne now allows the bank to pursue.

"Forward guidance, particularly if it's associated with thresholds, in the British context, does have problems," Weale said, adding that it could back the MPC into a corner.

He said that policymakers at the bank may "find ourselves either saying we've changed our mind, which would be a problem, or we'd have to tighten policy at a time when, as it turns out, no one on the committee has been voting for that."

(Reporting by David Milliken and Christina Fincher; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bank-englands-weale-sees-more-room-policy-manoeuvre-153352942--business.html

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Thursday, April 18, 2013

Provo, Utah, next city for ultra-fast Google Fiber

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) ? Google will take over a troubled municipal fiber-optic system and make Provo, Utah, the third city to get its high-speed Internet service via fiber-optic cables, the company announced Wednesday.

Google Fiber was rolled out in Kansas City, Mo., last year. The Mountain View, Calif., company announced earlier this month it will make Austin, Texas, the second city to get ultra-fast Internet service.

The Provo deal is the first time Google plans to acquire an existing fiber-optic system. The city of 115,000 created the fiber-optic network, iProvo, in 2004. It planned to operate the system itself for Internet, television and phone service but found the operation too daunting and turned it over to a succession of private partners that have struggled to break even.

A Google official said the company will offer basic Internet service at no charge to Provo residents, who can opt to pay for service up to 200 times faster. The system also provides cable or satellite TV service.

"Once connected, Provo will be one of the first cities in the world where access to broadband will flow like water or electricity," Kevin Lo, general manager of Google Fiber, said Wednesday.

The rollout is an expensive undertaking and gamble for Google, which hopes it will drive innovation and pressure phone and cable companies to improve their networks. Google benefits when people spend more time online.

Provo officials said Google will charge customers a $30 activation fee. The free service provides speeds of 5 megabits per second. Google didn't say how much it planned to charge for faster service, but it would hook up schools, hospitals and libraries to the faster service at no charge.

In Kansas City, Google charges customers $70 a month for a gigabit connection, which is 1,000 megabits per second. For another $50, customers there can also receive a cable TV-like service that offers a channel lineup featuring mainstays such as ESPN, Nickelodeon, FOX News and MTV, as well as HBO and Cinemax.

Google Inc. said more than 1,100 cities applied for its services starting in 2010, and some used gimmicks or elaborate videos in hopes of outshining the competition. Topeka, Kan., even informally renamed itself "Google, Kansas."

Kansas City wound up prevailing, and Google began signing up residents there last year. By the end of 2013, Google expects that 180 neighborhoods that were selected for service based on demand will be completed.

The $70 fee in Kansas City is more than what cable or phone companies charge for basic Internet service, but the service is also much faster. Gigabit speeds are generally unavailable from other companies. One exception is the city-owned electric utility in Chattanooga, Tenn., which has pulled its own fiber and sells gigabit service for $350 per month.

Provo, about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City, is home to Brigham Young University, which is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and is where LDS missionaries are trained for service.

Provo's fiber-optic system is currently connected to only 9,000 of 35,000 homes, and Google said it would finish the work and upgrade the system to handle more traffic at higher speeds.

It will cost Google at least $18 million to build out the system, said Val Hale, president of the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce. Google didn't offer any figures of its own.

Provo's fiber-optic lines already run under streets. Making a connection from street to home costs $700, chamber officials said. They said Google's free basic Internet service will save households about $30 a month.

Provo Mayor John Curtis was elated. He noted the city was seeking yet another buyer for the fiber-optic system when he approached Google about taking it over.

"When I came into office, iProvo was deemed to be the single biggest problem facing Provo," Curtis said. "The first step was to address the outstanding bond on the network, which we've done. Now, we're able to realize the dream of providing reliable access."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/provo-utah-next-city-ultra-fast-google-fiber-195406748--finance.html

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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Witnesses describe scene of marathon bombing

An injured woman is tended to at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Boston Globe, John Tlumacki) MANDATORY CREDIT; BOSTON OUT

An injured person is helped on the sidewalk near the Boston Marathon finish line following an explosion in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/MetroWest Daily News, Ken McGagh) MANDATORY CREDIT

Boston Marathon runner Russell Clifford of Marlborough, Mass. walks past SWAT officers near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Boston Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

BOSTON (AP) ? Bruce Mendelsohn was attending a post-race party in an office building just above the Boston Marathon finish line when an explosion knocked him to the floor.

"There was like a flash, then a giant boom," he said. "The concussion blew me off the couch onto the ground."

The former Army medic rushed outside to find blood, glass and debris everywhere. He began applying pressure to gruesome wounds.

"This stuff is more like Baghdad and Bombay than Boston," said Mendelsohn, who works at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It was pretty terrifying."

Other witnesses who heard the blasts near the finish line described similar scenes of chaos and carnage:

___

Phil Kenkel was approaching the finish line when the two explosions happened just moments apart. The first made him wonder if it was a prank, the second stirred "sheer terror."

The second bomb "went off virtually right beside me. About the only way out of that area was straight ahead," said Kenkel, of Stillwater, Okla.

"The glass was out of the building, and there was obviously a big hole in the crowd. You realize there must have been people there that were knocked down."

Kenkel called his wife to let her know he was all right.

"He wasn't hurt, which is a miracle, I guess," Evelyn Quillen said.

___

Peter Gravelle was in the VIP seating area at the finish line, waiting for his son and granddaughter when the blasts happened. He saw one victim sail through the air ? followed by what he believed was a severed limb.

"I thought I saw an arm," Gravelle said.

His wife, Mary, said she'll never forget the horror of what she saw.

"My heart breaks for all these people," she said. "They actually fell down in the road. The poor souls, yelling for help."

The couple's son and granddaughter were unhurt.

___

A Kansas surgeon had finished the race moments before he ran to help the wounded.

The first blast came about 30 seconds after Dr. Chris Rupe, of Salina, Kan., crossed the finish line. At first, he thought the sound came from a building or grandstand collapsing. He hurried to see if he could help and spent about an hour in the medical tent treating the wounded.

After that, most had been taken to hospitals.

"I'd just run 26 miles. I was starting to get tired," Rupe told The Salina Journal. "There were a lot of great people who were there. There are a lot of good people in the world."

___

Emily Biglin Valentine thanked God she ran a good time.

Only a half-hour before the bombing, the Novi, Mich., woman's husband and friend had been cheering her one from one of the blast sites.

The three were walking to a train when they heard explosions that sounded like cannon fire.

"When I finished I was so elated, and I said, 'I'm doing that again.'"

Now she doesn't think she'll go back.

___

Thomas Fabian II's father had finished the race shortly before the explosions, but his mother was still on the course miles back.

Fabian, of Port Charlotte, Fla., said his mother, Carol, ended up at a cafeteria and chapel on the campus of Boston College with a crowd of other runners. She had a hard time reconnecting with her husband.

Fabian's parents have run nearly 100 marathons in the last five years or so, he said. They were scheduled to fly from Boston quickly to compete in this coming weekend's London Marathon.

"I'm not sure if they're going to go now," he said.

___

Tracy Eaves had just crossed the finish line moments earlier to finish her 39th marathon, collected her medal and called her husband back in Niles, Mich., when she felt and heard "this huge shaking boom."

Eaves told her husband she thought it was a celebratory cannon blast. After the second blast, she started to panic.

Race officials quickly ushered her and other runners from the scene. She eventually made her way back to her hotel.

"You're so happy and excited to finish. You're ecstatic. You get your medal. You get your Gatorade and ? boom."

___

Norwegian Janicke Ekelberg had also finished the race and was walking back to her hotel when she heard the explosions.

"At first I thought it was a salute," Ekelberg told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. "But then I saw the emergency vehicles coming in. Fire trucks, ambulances.

That's when, Ekelberg said, "we realized something wasn't right."

___

Associated Press writers Erika Niedowski in Providence, R.I.; Larry Lage in Detroit; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City, Okla.; Tim Reynolds in Miami; Karl Ritter in Stockholm; and Michael Rubinkam and Meaghan Barr contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-04-15-Boston%20Marathon-Scenes/id-898109cc82094dc594007b7fbfa7ebc3

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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Purdue University's ReadingMate makes the classic reading-running combo a little easier

Universities aren't just places for students to cut classes and enjoy themselves before eventually embarking on careers. They are also places where problems get solved, like the one facing runners who find it hard to read on the jog. That bane is the focus of a group of researchers at Purdue University, who are working on a system called ReadingMate, which moves text on a display in reaction to the bobbing head of a runner to stabilize what's being seen. The screen is sent information from a pair of infrared LED-equipped glasses, but it's not as simple as shifting text in time with head movement -- your eyes are performing corrections of their own, so the words dance slightly out of sync with your noggin to take this into account. It's performed well in testing, and could have applications beyond the gym, such as in heavy machinery and aircraft, where vibration can hamper reading ability in important situations. Those uses make the most sense -- we don't often find ourselves eager to attack that next Twilight chapter during a near-death treadmill experience.

Filed under: Displays, Misc, Wearables, Software