Vince Cable: I am not holding back business - Daily Telegraph
Mr Cable hit back saying: "I'm getting on with my job, supporting business and getting growth growing in Britain. We not holding anybody back, I'm back growth, supporting British business, working with government, working with the labour-force in a partnership. That's the way it's got to happen.
Morning business round-up: Eurozone fears mount - BBC News
What made the business news in Asia and Europe this morning? Here's our daily business round-up:
Continue reading the main storyEuropean Union leaders will meet in Brussels on Wednesday as fears mount over the region's debt crisis, amid concern that Greece may have to leave the euro.
Leaders are expected to hear the new French President, Francois Hollande, challenge the EU's German-led austerity drive.
The head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, is also keeping up the pressure on Greece to fix its finances.
In an interview with the BBC, Ms Lagarde said there had to be more tax collection and structural reform.
That is despite the deep unpopularity of austerity measures imposed on Greece by the IMF and European Union in return for bailout funds.
Greek politicians are divided over whether to continue supporting those measures and face a 17 June election.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has warned that the eurozone crisis could harm the growth of East Asian economies.
The bank said that a "serious disruption" in the eurozone could hurt growth and dent demand for exports from East Asia.
It said that East Asian countries needed to boost domestic demand to rebalance their economies and sustain growth.
In company news, Fiat and Mazda have formed an alliance to develop two-seater sports cars.
The alliance will work on a car for Fiat's Alfa Romeo brand and a roadster with a different engine and styling for Mazda.
The cars will be built at Mazda's plant in Hiroshima. Both will be based on a new version of Mazda's MX 5, the car that Mazda is best known for.
Business headlines
The Indian rupee hit a record low against the dollar in early trade on Wednesday.
The Indian currency fell to 55.82 rupees against the US dollar, down from 55.39 on Tuesday.
The slide comes amid concerns that slowing growth and a high rate of inflation may hurt India's economy.
Lenovo, the world's second largest PC maker, has reported a big rise in annual profits thanks to strong demand for its products in China.
Beijing-based Lenovo made $473m (£300m) in the year to 31 March, compared with $273m in the previous year.
Japan's exports rose less-than-forecast in April, hurt by a drop in shipments to China and Western Europe.
Exports rose by 7.9% from a year earlier. Most analysts had forecast growth of close to 12%.
Reebok India has lodged a police complaint against two former executives, accusing them of commercial and financial irregularities.
The firm alleged that former managing director Subhinder Singh Prem and ex-chief operating officer Vishnu Bhagat set up secret warehouses, fudged accounts and indulged in fictitious sales.
It said such activities by the two had resulted in a loss of almost 13bn rupees ($233m; £160m).
UK defence giant BAE has signed a £1.9bn ($3bn) deal with Saudi Arabia to supply aircraft, including 22 Hawk trainer jets, and training equipment.
According to trade union Unite, 218 jobs at the East Yorkshire factory where the aircraft is made will now be saved.
Retail sales volumes in the UK fell by 2.3% in April, largely because of a record fall in petrol sales, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
Sales of fuel were down by 13.2% in April. In March, motorists had panic-bought petrol ahead of a threatened tanker driver strike.
Sales of clothing and footwear were also affected by April's record rainfall.
Luxury fashion retailer Burberry has reported strong growth in annual profits as it continues to expand around the world.
Pre-tax profits were up 24% to £366m, with sales also up 24% to £1.86bn.
The company said the Asia Pacific region accounted for 37% of both retail and wholesale revenue. The firm plans to invest £200m this year and open 12-14% more space.
The latest Business Daily podcast considers the impact that a slowdown in China could have on the rest of the world.
Body of missing Harvard Business School student whose wife was pregnant with first child found in harbor - Daily Mail
- Nathan Bihlmaier, 31, was celebrating graduation at Irish pub when he was asked to leave for being too drunk
- Portland Police Chief confirmed it was the 31-year-old, saying: 'It’s a tragic end'
- Was due to graduate on Thursday
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The body of a Harvard Business School student who went missing on Sunday after drinking with friends in an Irish bar has been found.
Nathan Bihlmaier, 31, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, disappeared while celebrating his upcoming graduation with two friends.
Divers returned to the Maine harbor today after finding clothing on Monday belonging to the 31-year-old and later pulled the body from the water around noon.
Portland Police Chief Michael Sauschuck confirmed it was the 31-year-old, saying: 'It’s a tragic end. We had high hopes throughout working with the family and the community to bring Nate home. These weren’t the circumstances that we wanted to.'
Vanished: Harvard student Nathan Bihlmaier, 31, was last seen by the Portland waterfront late on Saturday night. He is pictured with his wife, Nancy
Last seen: He and two friends had visited the Old Port area before Mr Bihlmaier vanished around 1am, divers found a body there today
Found? A missing poster of Nathan Bihlmaier, 31, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is seen today in Portland, Maine. Police have yet to confirm the identity of the body
Police say Bihlmaier was separated from friends after being asked to leave a waterfront pub at 12:20am on Sunday because he was intoxicated. He later failed to return to his hotel.
His wife is pregnant with their first child. He was due to graduate on Thursday.
Police told the Portland Press Herald that Mr Bihlmaier and two friends traveled to Portland for the weekend to celebrate their graduation from business school.
The revelers visited the Old Port area on Saturday night, before Mr Bihlmaier was asked to leave the bar soon after midnight because he was drunk.
Police confirmed that he had 'a little bit too much to drink', but added that he did not cause a disturbance while leaving the bar.
'At that point he left the bar very cooperatively,' police chief Michael Sauschuck said, according to the Bangor Daily News. 'There were no altercations - he just left voluntarily after being spoken to by bar staff.'
He spoke to his friends on the phone, but did not return to the hotel where they were staying. They searched for him to no avail and reported him missing at 9am.
Concerned: His pregnant wife, Nancy Hi Bihlmaier, rushed to the coastal city after receiving the news
'He is a well-established individual from a strong family. He has a wife who is expecting their first child. There is no reason he would [purposely] go missing,' Lt Gary Hutcheson told the Press Herald.
According to his cell phone records, Mr Bihlmaier did not venture far.
Police tracked his movements through his phone signal after he left the bar until his battery apparently died 40 minutes later.
Family: Mr Bihlmaier, originally from Kansas, with his wife Nancy and his parents Cheryl and Steve
Mystery: Police tracked him after he left Ri Ra, pictured, until his phone battery died 40 minutes later
The Coast Guard and the Portland harbormaster worked together with police to launch the underwater hunt for clues.
They even used a cadaver dog on an inflatable raft to search for the man's scent.
His pregnant wife, Nancy Hi Bihlmaier, rushed to the coastal city after receiving the news that her husband was missing, as did around 20 of his business school friends.
A spokesman for the school told the Press Herald: 'His friends describe him as really one top-notch guy.'
Mr Bihlmaier, whose family comes from Kansas but who is now based in the Boston area, specializes in the business of healthcare, and is employed by medical provider Optum.
He has previously worked at several other healthcare firms, as well as for the Department of Health and Human Services.
Obama, Dems increase money efforts to keep edge - detroitnews.com
Colorado Springs, Colo.— His cash advantage threatened, President Barack Obama and his party are redoubling their fundraising efforts after robust hauls by Republican rival Mitt Romney and a slew of GOP-leaning super PACs that are raking in cash from the party faithful highly motivated to topple the Democrat.
Obama still has a significant edge, but it's shrinking rapidly.
That explains why the president, fresh off of back-to-back international summits, was plunging back into his re-election race Wednesday with a series of fundraising events in Denver and California's Silicon Valley as he looks to stockpile cash to pay for his coast-to-coast organization, advertising to spread his message and get-out-the-vote operations in key states.
It's the start of an extensive money push by Obama in the coming weeks that will feature a series of high-end fundraisers, including New York events with former President Bill Clinton and actress Sarah Jessica Parker and a Los Angeles trip to raise money among gay and lesbian supporters. Smaller-dollar pushes also are under way.
Obama, a record-shattering fundraiser four years ago, has a built-in fundraising advantage as the incumbent and still has a wide money lead over Romney, the challenger who only recently combined fundraising efforts with the Republican National Committee after a bruising — and expensive — primary.
But well-funded Republican outside groups, which are able to raise unlimited sums from donors, are narrowing that gap quickly and using their multimillions to run a slew of TV ads hammering Obama in key states. Obama aides acknowledge the possibility that he could be outraised by the influx of Republican money.
The numbers tell the story.
Through April, Obama and Democratic groups supporting his re-election bid have raised nearly $450 million during the election cycle and have more than $150 million in the bank. Romney and Republicans backing him have collected more than $400 million during the same stretch and have about $80 million at their disposal.
Gone is the 10-to-1 cash advantage that Obama held at the end of March.
To be sure, Romney was bound to erode that money gap as he pivoted to the general election. He still, however, lags on another measure of campaign strength: Obama has had months to prepare an extensive ground game to identify, register and turn out voters.
On the money front, Romney has benefited from a strong desire among GOP activists to defeat Obama, multiple GOP outside groups willing to spending tens of millions of dollars and a well-oiled fundraising machine within his own campaign. Showing that prowess, the former Massachusetts governor raised $15 million this week during three days of fundraising in New York.
"What you see in a very short period of time is a very well-run operation that is putting Gov. Romney in a position where he's going to, maybe not outspend, but to compete with the collective Democratic fundraising," said Sara Taylor Fagen, a former political director for President George W. Bush.
Romney has been the all-but-certain GOP nominee for more than a month now, and while he's focused primarily on fundraising, super PACs backing him have been going toe to toe with Obama's campaign in TV advertising. That means that Romney hasn't had to spend heavily from his own campaign account. Chief among those groups has been Crossroads GPS and its affiliated super PAC, Crossroads USA, which quickly matched Obama's ad buy this month after the president's team laid out plans for a $25 million advertising campaign.
Democrats haven't had as much success with super PACs.
A pro-Obama group, Priorities USA Action, has badly lagged behind Crossroads, while Romney has gotten extra help from another super PAC, Restore Our Future. Mary Beth Cahill, a former campaign manager for Sen. John Kerry, recently came aboard as an adviser to help.
The influx of campaign cash in the first presidential campaign since the 2010 Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court, which helped create super PACs, has taken some Democrats by surprise.
"I don't think anyone realized going into this cycle exactly how much money was going to be involved," said former Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas, a past chairman of the fundraising arm for House Democrats. "This is a brave new world of campaign finance."
The president was headed Wednesday to fundraisers in Denver and California's Silicon Valley. He was addressing about 700 supporters in Denver, with tickets starting at $250 and topping out at $40,000 per couple for a photo with the president.
Afterward in California, Obama was speaking at a fundraising dinner in Atherton that includes a performance by David Crosby and Graham Nash. About 60 people were paying $35,800 per person to attend. Obama was capping the night at a reception with 1,100 people in Redwood City, with a performance by Ben Harper. Tickets started at $250, with some couples paying $12,500 for a photo with the president. On Thursday, Obama was speaking at a private fundraising breakfast in Palo Alto.
To keep his edge, Obama isn't just focusing on big money.
Many of the planned high-dollar fundraisers include a raffle designed to raise millions more and get more people involved.
In some cases, the grass-roots component raises more than the swanky fundraiser: Of the $15 million Obama raised at a celebrity-studded dinner two weeks ago at actor George Clooney's Los Angeles home, $9 million came from small-dollar donors hoping to win a chance to attend.
Clinton, arguably the most prominent Democratic fundraiser not in the White House, is joining Obama for two events in New York on June 4. Obama's campaign also is raffling off a trip to New York — including airfare and hotel for what's being called "Barack on Broadway" — for two winners and their guests to attend. The two presidents will attend a dinner later that evening featuring a performance by Jon Bon Jovi.
Two days later, Obama jets to Los Angeles for a high-dollar reception with gay and lesbian supporters, featuring a performance by Pink, and a $25,000-per person dinner at the Beverly Hills home of "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy and his fiancı David Miller. Events also are planned next month in Baltimore, Boston and back in New York, where the president will raise money at the home of Parker, of "Sex and the City" fame. A travel-package raffle for small-donors is tied to that, too.
"It should be fabulous," Parker said in an email to Obama supporters.
Obama began airing two new ads Wednesday, one about his work with veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and another aimed at seniors dependent on Medicare.
In the veterans spot, Obama credits veterans for allowing the U.S. to "go after al-Qaida and kill (Osama) bin Laden" and says the nation has a "sacred trust" to help veterans heal their wounds and find jobs. The ad on Medicare notes that Obama was raised by his grandparents and cites his administration's efforts to root out health care fraud.
The TV ads are part of the $25 million ad buy the Obama campaign launched in May, running in Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.
Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said Obama's team can't "distract voters from three years of broken promises on Medicare and our commitments to our veterans."
Save Money Purchasing A Used Vehicle - Examiner
The most common concern in purchasing any used vehicle, of course, is the price, interest and payment plan (if applicable). Obtaining a good deal is a matter of deciding what you can afford budget wise. However, one of the most often overlooked facets to used car purchases is not the base price or monthly payments, but the condition of the vehicle, resale value, fuel economy (engine and vehicle size) and repair expenses for parts and labor. Your job stability and frequency of income also plays a major part in determining what is truly affordable for your family budget. Put all of these considerations together before signing that contract, a contract that could have you locked into steep long-term payments, with a vehicle that will soon need extra service and major repair.
Job and Budget Concerns
A permanent, full-time job is the best assurance when entering into a used car contract, or any major purchase. Good to great credit scores are also beneficial, if not a solid requirement. A decent part-time job can be okay, provided you have the added income of another household member who can shoulder some of the financial burden. If you have a job that pays on commission, you will need to know your accurate average draw per month (after taxes), and factor in seasonality income, if it applies. The ideal time to sign a used car contract is when you have just paid off another major expense, like a doctor bill, landscaping modification, room addition, or another car payment. Check your emotions¯obey your logic¯Time your used car purchase when you know, emphatically, that it will not put a strain on your overall budget and expenditures.
Dollars and (Sense)
According to financial expert's rule of thumb: your total debt payments shouldn't be any higher than roughly 36 percent of your gross yearly income. If you make $50,000 per year, your totaled debt payments should not exceed a yearly income of $18,000. This is a base average, but allows for a safe margin for just about any budget. Divide the figure by 12 and it will indicate $1,500 per month. So if your total debts for the month are $1,300, then it leaves room for only a $200 monthly car payment. Avoid contracts that stipulate 60 or 70-month long-term durations. A basic rule of thumb states that you should be able to pay the vehicle off in three years or less. Also try to keep your interest rates down, and this will depend on your credit rating. Anywhere from 5 to 9 percent will be much more digestible than 13 to 19 percent. Get an insurance quote on the vehicle before you make the purchase.
Make Model and Year
Owning a BMW or Audi might give you an ego boost and impress the neighbors, but you will end up paying extra for service, parts and labor down the road. Exotic foreign make vehicles generally have much higher repair costs than domestics, like Ford or Chevrolet. Dealership repairs are even higher, where per-hour labor costs can approach triple digits. Luxury cars equipped with extras like seat warmers, electric antennas, light-sensing headlights, GPS, and other electrical add-ons will most certainly be factored into the price. Ask yourself if you need these options and are willing to pay extra for them. Vehicles that are 3 to 5 years old (generally) are good used car bets, provided the mileage does not exceed around 150,000 miles. The lower the mileage, the better, unless the vehicle has a very poor service record or major visual damage. Consider smaller four-cylinder and V-6 options for engine size. These smaller engines have met with vast improvements in horsepower and fuel economy, even in the last few decades. Refer to the Kelly Blue Book for used value, which can help you determine the best vehicle for resale.
Visual Condition
Tires should be a first consideration when visually inspecting the outside of the vehicle, since replacements can run into the hundreds of dollars. Bald tires show neglect and raise safety issues. The horizontal bridges (or wear bars) should be visually prominent across the breadth of the tire tread. You would like to have at least half of the original tire tread showing, or between 4/32 to 6/32 of an inch remaining. All navigational lights, brake lights, directional, head and taillights should be operational, with lenses intact. The window panes, especially the front, should be free of blemishes, cracks and chips. Test the structural integrity of the car exterior by knocking on the body panels: doors, fenders, hood, trunk and roof. This simple test can determine if body putty has been used as a repair procedure after an accident.
Major Components and Engine
Have a certified mechanic check the vehicle out before purchase. It's well worth the investment and precaution. Or a potential buyer can perform their own cursory inspection. Look for evidence of major fluid leaks, like transmission fluid, antifreeze, brake fluid, gear and engine oil. Tapping or clacking sounds can point to worn or collapsed hydraulic lifters, or solid lifters in need of adjustment. White-blue smoke can indicate excessive oil consumption, while black smoke and rough idle or starting, can signify excessive fuel consumption. Any noise originating from the front end can point to worn ball joints or A-arm bushings, tie rod ends or other worn suspension parts. A vehicle should not drift or pull as it is driven down a straight, slightly crowned road. Any vehicle pull can denote a worn suspension part or a need for alignment.
Service Records
Obtain the service records of the vehicle beforehand, and find out if the vehicle has been properly serviced at regular intervals. Door jamb stickers can indicate light service intervals, like oil changes and tuneups. Go online to use a vehicle history report, such as Carfax. By listing the vehicle's license plate or VIN (vehicle identification number) in the Carfax database, you can obtain information on the vehicle's sales history, accident record, and major engine and component repair information. Such a vehicle history report will also warn against liens and vehicle theft, verifying that it has a "clean" title.
horrible tragedy and my heart goes out to his family. unfortunately it's fairly common for people to fall in the water down there, and you really can't put railings along a working wharf.. hmmm dunno where the dm got that pic of ri-ra, but that isn't the one in portland.
- liz, portland, me, 23/5/2012 18:00
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