Archive for January, 2012

Elizabeth Olsen on finding her fashionable feet – Telegraph

Monday, January 30th, 2012

Actress Elizabeth Olsen might have her big sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley to thank for her fashion heritage,wholesale G-star, but her own personal style is ticking along just nicely.

Elizabeth Olsen in the March issue of Asos magazine Photo: ASOS/ TODD COLE
Elizabeth Olsen on finding her fashionable feet
BY Olivia Bergin | 30 January 2012

Ever since we first set eyes on rising actress Elizabeth Olsen during last year’s Cannes Film Festival, we’ve been scrutinising the 22-year-old’s every sartorial fancy.

As the sibling of actresses turned designers Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, it went without saying that as soon as she stepped into the spotlight she would have to rise to the super-stylish legacy imposed by her big sisters, who hold many a ‘best-dressed’ title under their entrepreneurial belts.

So while little Olsen’s star rises – her performance in upcoming release Martha Marcy May Marlene has earned her dozens of Best Actress awards and nominations already – her minimalist but feminine wardrobe has enjoyed a steep trajectory, too.

Naturally a keen supporter of her sisters’ luxury lines The Row (she swears by their leather pants) and Elizabeth and James (named after her and fellow twin brother, no less) she’s enjoyed teaching herself a thing or two about fashion.

Elizabeth Olsen in the March issue of Asos magazine. Photo: Asos/ Todd Cole

” When I was in high school I would go to second-hand stores – not because thought it was cool, but because you could get so much more for your dollar – and I would buy Marni. I thought it was masculine and quirky and funky” she told Asos .

These days however, Olsen’s thrifty side has been replaced by an affection for luxury labels. “But I love Céline now too, my sisters introduced me to that label a couple of years ago” she reveals.

She continues: “And Chanel. And Isabel Marant has become someone that I really like. I didn’t know all this stuff before this year, but I thought I should probably become more aware so I can have more of a say in what I wear.”

We smell a stylist behind the scenes… Is that a job filled by M-K and Ashley? Apparently not. “I don’t live with them, and they don’t dress me,” she told Grazia. “Like, I’m an adult.”

Miss Olsen, we like your honest and assertiveness – but most of all we like your effortless style.

Elizabeth Olsen in the March issue of Asos magazine. Photo: Asos/ Todd Cole

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Charges weigh on Procter & Gamble profit

Sunday, January 29th, 2012

(Reuters) Procter & Gamble Co’s (PG.N) quarterly profit plunged 49 percent, as the world’s largest household products maker wrote down the value of its appliance and salon professional products businesses, and it said this year’s profit would come in lower than previously expected due to the strong dollar.

Excluding charges, core earnings per share fell 3 percent to $1.10, as sales growth and cost cuts were not enough to offset double-digit increases in commodity costs. The profit came in ahead of analysts’ average forecast of $1.08 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

P&G earned $1.69 billion, or 57 cents per share, in the second quarter ended in December,wholesale Iceberg, down from $3.33 billion, or $1.11 per share, a year earlier.

Sales rose 4 percent to $22.14 billion.

Organic sales, which strip out the impact of acquisitions, asset sales and currency fluctuations, rose in each business unit and were up 4 percent overall.

The volume of goods sold rose 1 percent, with strong growth in developing markets overtaking a decline in volume in developed regions.

For the fiscal year ending in June, P&G forecast core earnings of $4.00 to $4.10 per share, down from a prior forecast of $4.15 to $4.33 per share due largely to foreign exchange.

It said fiscal 2012 sales should rise 3 percent to 4 percent on a net basis and 4 percent to 5 percent on an organic basis.

Its shares were down 5 cents at $64.75 in premarket trading, after closing at $64.80 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Derek Caney)

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Thousands battle forest fire in southwestern China

Sunday, January 29th, 2012

BEIJING Thousands of fire fighters are battling a blaze in the forest near the famed southwestern Chinese tourist town of Lijiang.

Lijiang, in Yunnan province, is famous for its high mountain scenery and the unique culture of the Naxi people.

State media say investigators were looking into the cause of the fire. While all visible flames had been extinguished by Friday morning, high winds continued to pose a threat of re-igniting sparks and hot spots.

The Xinhua News Agency said the blaze broke out Thursday morning and burned about 111 acres (45 hectares) around Lijiang’s famous Yulong Snow Mountain. About 3,000 people were fighting the blaze, including paramilitary troops and volunteers.

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Israeli modern art museum doubles size

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

“The mingling of architecture with the spaces of curatorial freedom is what the building is all about,” said Preston Scott Cohen, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, architect behind the project. “It’s a marrying of two very different attitudes,” said Cohen, who also chairs the department of architecture at Harvard University.

Fresh, airy and modern, the wing is set in a five-floor, 195,000-square-foot (18,500-square-meter) triangular structure with a concrete exterior.

Yaarah Bar-On, a deputy director of Jerusalem’ Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, said the galleries displaying the Israeli art were missing dividing walls, which would limit how many paintings could be displayed.

TEL AVIV, Israel Israel’s main modern art museum is unveiling a striking new wing Wednesday that provides a permanent home for hundreds of works by Israeli artists, a space lacking until now.

She also said the buildings surrounding the new wing were architecturally distinct from it, creating a sense of “a bunch of things that don’t go together.”

Cohen said the white panels of wall around the atrium evoke Tel Aviv’s traditional Bauhaus style, whereas the heavy concrete that cascades and winds throughout the building and its exterior points to the city’s Brutalist architecture from the mid-20th century.

The $55 million addition, which doubles the Tel Aviv Museum of Art’s previous space, will present dozens of rotating exhibits every year but still will not suffice to permanently showcase one of the world’s largest collections of Israeli art, mostly held in storage.

The new wing’s permanent exhibit of Israeli art presents three galleries with 150 works from such renowned Israeli artists as Reuven Rubin and Igael Tumarkin, with certain pieces rotating in and out. The works range from painting to sculpture and were created over the last century.

For the inauguration, the wing’s other galleries will show photographs and design installations. The new space will also feature an exhibit by German painter-sculptor Anselm Kieffer.

Tel Aviv is Israel’s cultural hub with the art museum a main attraction. It houses works by more than a dozen masters, including Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh and Amadeo Modigliani.

The centerpiece is an 87-foot-tall (27-meter-tall) atrium, where the walls of the 10 new galleries subtly bend and groove, creating a spiraling effect over different levels. A glass ceiling sends light splashing down.

“Today Israeli artists are known around the world… They have exposure and a reputation around the world. Therefore Israeli art needs to be presented properly here as well,” said Shuli Kislev, the museum’s acting director. “They now have a home.”

The museum’s distinctive design did attract some criticism.

Cohen said the space offers curators a flexibility when planning exhibitions, rather than being limited by a particular architectural element, like the circular, winding walkways of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, for example.

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Lee Enterprises 1Q profit falls 23 percent

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

DAVENPORT, Iowa Lee Enterprises Inc., publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other daily newspapers, on Tuesday reported a 23 percent drop in profit for its fiscal first quarter compared with a year ago, when it posted a large gain after curtailing retiree health benefits.

The company reported net income of $14.6 million, or 32 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Dec. 25. That compares with a profit of $18.9 million, or 42 cents per share, for the same period a year ago.

However, earnings rose 18 percent when one-time gains and losses during both quarters were excluded. The company earned $16.9 million, or 38 cents per share, compared with $14.3 million, or 32 cents, a year ago, excluding one-time items.

Revenue was $199.6 million, down 3.9 percent from a year ago. Advertising declined 6.1 percent, while circulation revenue rose 2.7 percent. Digital advertising revenue rose 10 percent to $16.2 million.

“We continue to expect revenue trends to improve slowly in 2012, as we press forward with more digital and print initiatives,” said Lee Enterprises chairman and CEO Mary Junck.

Also last quarter, Lee did a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing to allow it to complete a restructuring of its debt. A prepackaged filing usually results in a speedy exit from bankruptcy court protection, and Lee said Tuesday that it plans to ask the court to let it exit on Jan. 30.

Shares of the Davenport, Iowa, company rose 1 cent to 75 cents in morning trading.

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Summary Box Monsanto 1Q profit surges

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

SURGING SEEDS: Monsanto Co. said Thursday its fiscal first-quarter earnings soared on strength of its seed business. The company also brightened its outlook for the full fiscal year. Monsanto said its net income rose to $126 million, or 23 cents per share, for the three months ended Nov. 30. Revenue jumped 33 percent to $2.44 billion.

LATIN FOOD: Growth was driven by demand for corn throughout Latin America. Sales in Monsanto’s seeds and genomics segment increased 32 percent to $1.5 billion.

FUTURE FURROWS: For all of fiscal 2012,Replica Bulzeye, the St. Louis company expects earnings per share of between $3.39 and $3.44. Analysts expect earnings of $3.47 per share.

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Rate on 30-year mortgage down to record 3.91 pct.

Sunday, January 8th, 2012

WASHINGTON 2012 looks to be another year of opportunity for the few who can afford to buy or refinance a home.

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.91 percent this week, Freddie Mac said Thursday. That matches the record low reached two weeks ago.

The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage ticked down to 3.23 percent from 3.24 percent. That’s up from 3.21 percent two weeks, also a record low.

Mortgage rates are lower because they tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note,wholesale Ed hardy belts, which fell below 2 percent this week. They could fall even lower this year if the Fed launches another round of bond purchases, as some economists expect.

Still, cheap mortgage rates have done little too boost the depressed housing market. For eight straight weeks at the end of 2011, the average fixed mortgage rates hovered around 4 percent. Yet many Americans either can’t take advantage of the rates or have already done so.

High unemployment and scant wage gains have made it harder for many people to qualify for loans. Many don’t want to sink money into a home that they fear could lose value over the next few years.

Previously occupied homes are selling just slightly ahead of 2010′s dismal pace. New-home sales in 2011 will likely be the worst year on records going back half a century.

Builders are hopeful that the low rates could boost sales next year. Low mortgage rates were cited as a key reason the National Association of Home Builders survey of builder sentiment rose in December to its highest level in more than a year.

But so far, rates are having no major impact. Mortgage applications have fallen slightly in recent weeks, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

To calculate the average rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country Monday through Wednesday of each week. The average rates don’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for the 30-year loan rose to 0.8 from 0.7; the average on the 15-year fixed mortgage was unchanged at 0.8.

For the five-year adjustable loan, the average rate declined to 2.86 percent from 2.88 percent. The average on the one-year adjustable loan rose to 2.80 percent from 2.78 percent.

The average fee on the five-year adjustable loan rose to 0.7 from 0.6; the average on the one-year adjustable-rate loan was unchanged at 0.6.

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Screws tighten on Iran as big buyers shun its oil

Friday, January 6th, 2012

TEHRAN (Reuters) Iran faced the prospect of cutbacks in its oil sales to China and Japan as new measures to block Tehran’s crude exports over its nuclear program appeared to be driving its economy to the wall.

The developments in Asia on Thursday followed news 24 hours earlier that EU leaders had agreed to halt European purchases of Iranian crude.

China, Iran’s biggest trade partner, had already cut its purchases of Iranian oil by more than half this month and would extend the cuts to February, a Beijing-based trader who deals with Iranian oil said.

Japan would consider cutbacks in its Iranian oil purchases to secure a waiver from new U.S. sanctions signed into law on New Year’s Eve by President Barack Obama, a government source said.

Between them, China, the EU and Japan buy about half of Iran’s exports of 2.6 million barrels of oil per day.

International sanctions that for years had little effect are for the first time having a real impact on day-to-day life in Iran, where the rial currency has tumbled and people have rushed to convert savings into dollars.

Most oil traders still expect Iran to find buyers for its crude, but it will have to offer steeper discounts that will cut the hard currency revenue it needs to import food and other basic supplies for its 74 million people.

Iran has put on a brave face. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Thursday the country would “weather the storm”.

“Iran, with divine assistance, has always been ready to counter such hostile actions and we are not concerned at all about the sanctions,” he told a news conference.

But in a sign it is seeking to alleviate the pressure, Salehi said Tehran was interested in resuming negotiations over its nuclear program with Western powers, who delivered an offer for talks via Turkey.

Iran is two months from a parliamentary election, the country’s first since a disputed presidential vote in 2009 led to massive public demonstrations across the country.

The authorities put those protests down by force, but since then the Arab Spring has revealed the vulnerability of authoritarian governments in the region to public anger driven by economic hardship.

Iran’s leaders have responded to the sanctions with military saber-rattling, including a threat to blockade the Middle East’s oil by shutting the Strait of Hormuz that leads to the Gulf, and even challenging a U.S. aircraft carrier if it sails the strait.

Washington says it will sail the strait at will and will guarantee free passage through the international waterway. Britain on Thursday signaled its readiness to use military force if necessary to keep the strait open, warning Iran not to miscalculate over the West’s determination to stop disruption.

EUROPEAN EMBARGO

European diplomats said this week they had agreed in principle to impose an EU oil embargo. The bloc – particularly Italy, Spain and Greece – has collectively bought about 500,000 barrels per day of Iran’s oil, making it Iran’s second biggest customer after China.

EU leaders have yet to agree when the embargo will take effect, but are expected to announce it at a foreign ministers meeting at the end of this month.

China, the largest buyer, which imported about 550,000 bpd of Iran’s oil last year, has cut its purchases by more than half for this month and would now extend that cut to February, according to the Beijing-based trader.

China is seeking deeper discounts for continuing to do business with Iran in spite of Western sanctions.

The new U.S. measures, if implemented fully, would make it impossible for most countries’ refineries to buy Iranian crude, marking a qualitative change in the West’s approach to Tehran,wholesale Ed hardy jeans, which it accuses of seeking a nuclear weapon.

Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful. That standoff had led to four rounds of economic sanctions from the U.N. security council and a range of U.S. and European measures, but none of these directly hurt its ability to sell oil in the past.

Western resolve appears to have stiffened in recent months, especially after a U.N. report in November suggested Iran had taken concrete steps to develop a bomb. The storming of Britain’s embassy by an Iranian crowd galvanized support among European countries for measures with more teeth.

Still, the West needs to balance its determination to isolate Iran with concerns about the impact on a fragile world economy of measures that might hurt oil supplies.

So far, the U.S. and EU sanctions have caused a steady rise in oil prices this week. Brent crude futures were trading at about $114 a barrel on Thursday, up by about $7 a barrel since Obama signed the new sanctions into law.

A Saudi government source said Saudi Arabia – the world’s largest oil exporter and a foe of Iran – was ready to fill any supply gaps.

The new U.S. law allows Obama to offer waivers to prevent havoc in oil markets, but to receive the permits countries are expected to demonstrate that they are reducing ties with Tehran.

Washington has said it is discussing with allies how to apply the law gradually to tighten the screws on Tehran without causing an oil supply shock.

A Japanese government source said Tokyo, which buys about 250,000 bpd from Iran, would discuss with U.S. officials how to deal with the new sanctions law. Among options would be cuts in oil purchases to secure a waiver for its financial institutions.

Turkey, a U.S. ally which buys almost a third of its oil from Iran, has said it would also try to seek a waiver from the Obama administration.

NO TRADE IN THE BAZAAR

In Iran’s bazaars, prices for basic foodstuffs and other goods have been rising fast in recent months.

Much of that inflation has been caused by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s policy of cutting back on government subsidies for staples that held prices down, a policy that has been praised by the International Monetary Fund.

The government has tried to ease the pain by giving cash payments to families. But the fall in the rial currency has slashed the value of those payments in dollar terms from about $45 a month to $27.

There are signs that some Iranians may blame the authorities for charting a foreign policy course that brought on sanctions.

“They give us some subsidy cash but it doesn’t compensate for anything,” said Saeed, a 33-year-old Tehran taxi driver, complaining that his imported cigarettes had doubled in price.

“When I ask people why things are becoming more expensive, they all say it’s the sanctions.”

Clothes merchant Mohammad, 34, said there was “no trade” despite the usual crowds swarming the shops and stalls in the maze of vaulted tunnels.

“We have to make the products more expensive because we have to pay more for dollars. We shopkeepers are putting pressure on people but we have no choice.”

(Additional reporting by Chen Aizhu in Beijing and Tetsushi Kajimoto; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Ralph Gowling)

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Top cable programs for Dec. 26-Jan. 1

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of Dec. 26-Jan. 1. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses:

1. NFL Football: Atlanta vs. New Orleans (Monday, 8:30 p.m.), ESPN, 10.53 million homes, 15.64 million viewers.

2. College Football: Washington vs. Baylor (Thursday, 9 p.m.), ESPN, 5.06 million homes, 6.92 million viewers.

3. “The Closer” (Monday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 4.49 million homes, 6.16 million viewers.

4. “Rizzoli & Isles” (Monday, 10 p.m.), TNT, 4.23 million homes, 5.79 million viewers.

5. College Football: Virginia vs. Auburn (Saturday, 7:30 p.m.), ESPN, 4.13 million homes, 6.16 million viewers.

6. College Football: Florida State vs. Notre Dame (Thursday, 5:27 p.m.), ESPN, 3.76 million homes, 5.228 million viewers.

7. “Pawn Stars” (Monday, 10:30 p.m.), History, 3.54 million homes, 5.227 million viewers.

8. College Football: Iowa vs. Oklahoma (Friday, 10:15 p.m.), ESPN, 3.45 million homes, 4.81 million viewers.

9. “Pawn Stars” (Monday, 10 p.m.), History, 3.39 million homes, 5.06 million viewers.

10. NBA Basketball (Tuesday, 8:16 p.m.),wholesale Ed hardy sunglasses, TNT, 3.27 million homes, 4.55 million viewers.

11. “iCarly: iPsycho 2,” (Saturday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.24 million homes, 5.51 millon viewers.

12. College Football: Texas A&M vs. Northwestern (Saturday, 11:57 a.m.), ESPN, 3.082 million homes, 3.90 millon viewers.

13. College Football: California vs. Texas (Wednesday, 8:06 p.m.), ESPN, 3.081 million homes, 4.26 million viewers.

14. “NCIS” (Saturday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.06 million homes, 4.06 million viewers.

15. College Football: Mississippi State vs. Wake Forest (Friday, 6:49 p.m.), ESPN, 3.05 million homes, 4.21 million viewers.

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USA is owned by Comcast’s NBCUniversal. ESPN is owned by the Walt Disney Co. History is owned by the A&E Television Networks. TNT is owned by Time Warner Inc. Nickelodeon is owned by Viacom.

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Online:

http://www.nielsen.com

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Mariah Carey says Nick Cannon has kidney failure

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

NEW YORK Nick Cannon is spending the first week of the new year in the hospital, with wife Mariah Carey by his side. Carey tweeted that Cannon is suffering from “mild kidney failure.” His representative confirmed Cannon’s hospitalization. He is in Aspen,Cheap Ed hardy t-shirts, Colo., where he and Carey were vacationing.

Carey posted a picture on her website of a miserable-looking Cannon in a hospital bed as she lay beside him. She asked for prayers and said Cannon’s situation was “very painful.” She later called it a “serious moment that’s very tough on all of us.”

The pair became the parents of twins a boy and a girl last year.

Cannon is 31. His representative had no further information Wednesday about his condition, but said he is still hospitalized.

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Online:

http://www.mariahcarey.com

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