NYSE Amex Options reviewing large number of erroneous trades

NEW YORK Aug 20 (Reuters) - NYSE Amex Options is reviewing a large number of erroneous trades that took place in stocks beginning with H, I, J, K, and L between 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) and 9:47 a.m. EDT (1347 GMT), NYSE Euronext said. The exchange operator said while it is still reviewing the issue, it anticipates that most of the impacted trades will be busted.Nasdaq OMX Group and CBOE Holdings have also said they are reviewing a batch of options trades from this morning.

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Finnish adjusted jobless rate 7.7 percent in July

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was roughly flat at 7.7 percent in July, compared to a revised 7.8 percent in June, Statistics Finland (SF) said on Tuesday. (Reporting by Helsinki Newsroom)

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FINNEWS LATAM-Latin America corporate defaults hit four-year high, Moody's says

The default rate for speculative-grade Latin American companies rose to 4.2 percent in the 12 months through July 2013, the highest level for the indicator since June 2010, when it stood at 4.4 percent, Moody's Investors Service said on Tuesday. According to the ratings company, modest regional and global economic growth will present challenges for Latin American issuers amid modest economic activity. The forecast for the region's speculative-grade default rate in the next 12 months is 3.3 percent, compared with 2.5 percent for global corporates. Seven companies - two from Brazil and five from Mexico - fell behind on their payments during the period, Moody's said. The default by Brazil-based Banco Cruzeiro do Sul SA was the largest corporate default by volume in the region since 2002.Other notable defaults in the past year were those afflicting the Mexican homebuilding industry. Over the past year, rating downgrades have been more numerous than upgrades in Latin America, according to Moody's. For methodological purposes, Moody's rated the debt of 336 companies in 21 Latin American countries by the end of July 2013, a 10 percent increase during the year. The majority of new issuers were based in Brazil and Peru.

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European shares hit three week low as volatility spikes

* FTSEurofirst 300 falls 1.1 percent * Fears of reduced U.S. monetary stimulus hit banks* Miners suffer after Glencore, BHP updates* AXA hit by concerns over equity exposureBy Alistair SmoutLONDON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - European shares hit a three-week low and a major volatility index spiked higher on Tuesday, as expectations hardened that the U.S. Federal Reserve will start to scale back monetary stimulus measures next month.The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 1.4 percent to 1,207.89 points in afternoon trade, marking the index's lowest point in August, led lower by a 2.3 percent drop in banks.At 1435 GMT, the index traded 1.1 percent lower at 1,211.69 points.The FTSEurofirst 300 reached a five-year high of 1,258.09 points in late May but has since slipped back on growing speculation that the Fed will soon start to scale back its monthly bond buying programme, which has driven much of the global equity rally this year by hitting returns on bonds.Minutes from the Fed's July meeting, due out on Wednesday, could indicate whether the U.S. central bank is preparing to start withdrawing stimulus, which could hurt growth-sensitive "cyclical" stocks."If the Federal Reserve are to start cutting back on quantitative easing, it would be the financial sector that would take the initial hit, and defensive stocks are doing relatively well today versus cyclicals such as financials," Manoj Ladwa, head of trading at TJM Partners, said, although he cautioned against reading too much into the session's moves."The market is very thin at the moment. We've had a few corporate stories, from the likes of Glencore, that are not so great, but volumes down over 10 percent on this time last year, so you expect a few exaggerated moves in the market and a bit of intraday volatility."The Euro STOXX 50 Volatility Index surged 12.8 percent to 19.73 points, highlighting investor uncertainty over the near-term outlook for financial markets, but volumes were a mere 62.5 percent of an already low 90 day average.Glencore Xstrata fell 2.3 percent after taking a $7.7 billion hit on Xstrata's mining assets, with fellow basic materials firm BHP Billiton down 1.3 percent after profit missed forecasts.The cyclical basic resources sector fell 1.7 percent, suffering along with other stocks that are sensitive to economic optimism.NOT RIGHT TIMEThe prospect of reduced Fed stimulus has led to parallel gains in core sovereign debt yields that have made stocks less attractive to investors.Concern over the outlook for stock markets hit insurer AXA , down 4.7 percent and the top FTSEurofirst faller, with investors worried about its exposure to the asset class.British insurer Prudential fell 4.1 percent.However, Swiss bank Reyl's chief investment officer, Francois Savary, categorised the current pullback as a "consolidation" as investors book profits on this year's rally, rather than a more serious stock market collapse."The short term is shaky, but we should still finish the year higher," he said.Savary said he remained optimistic on the longer-term outlook for European equities due to signs that the region's economy is recovering from the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis.He was considering adding to his European equity exposure, but felt now was not the right time as the market retreat was "not advanced enough".

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BHP delays $14 billion Canada potash push as profit drops

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - BHP Billiton's new chief has put his stamp on the top global miner, mapping out a cautious approach to expanding into the potash market, which it sees as its next big growth business beyond 2020. CEO Andrew Mackenzie outlined the low-risk course as he handed down his first results, reporting a 15 percent drop in half-year profit before one-offs, which missed forecasts largely due to Australian mining tax adjustments and other non-operational items.BHP and Glencore Xstrata wrapped up the results season for the world's big five miners, with BHP holding up slightly better than its peers as it stepped up output of iron ore, copper, coal and oil and slashed $2.7 billion in costs in the face of sliding commodity prices.Major miners have come under pressure to rein in spending, sell off underperforming assets and tackle debt after years of rampant spending on new mines and acquisitions as commodity prices soared.Reflecting the austerity drive, BHP said it plans to invest $2.6 billion over the next four years digging shafts at the Jansen potash project, delaying production at least until 2020 from its original 2015 target, while inviting offers for stakes in the mine."The whole basis of the strategy that we're being clear about today is that we want to retain complete flexibility to enter the market at a timing which we think is right to maximize returns for our sharheolders," Mackenzie told reporters.BHP put more than $40 billion worth of new projects on ice a year ago to combat costs that had grown out of control over the previous decade as miners raced to feed booming Chinese demand.Mackenzie reiterated that BHP remains confident in China's long-term growth prospects, as 250 million people move into cities and the country rebalances its economy toward consumption-led growth."In the short to medium term, I think the signs are reasonably positive that they'll hold to their forecast for 7-8 percent annual growth," he said.He outlined a more aggressive cut in capital and exploration spending than recently flagged, with spending to fall 26 percent to $16.2 billion in the 2014 financial year.Attributable profit excluding one-offs fell to $6.12 billion for the six months to June from $7.18 billion a year ago. That was well below analysts' forecasts of $7.16 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.BHP increased its final dividend by 2 cents to 59 cents, just short of analysts' forecasts at 60 cents.BHP's shares fell 3.2 percent in early London trade, underperforming a 0.8 percent fall in the FTSE 100 index."We believe that the market may be surprised that the group is pushing ahead with its Jansen potash project in Canada," Investec said in a morning note in London.POTASH PLANSBHP has long planned to break into the potash industry, targeting a lucrative new business that has been controlled by two cartels, as developing countries look to grow more food over the next few decades.It has already invested $1.2 billion in Jansen and the timing of its entry has been closely watched by the world's major producers, led by Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, which BHP tried to take over in 2010.Its $39 billion bid was blocked by Canada on fears that potash prices and royalties would drop as BHP planned to split from the North American cartel. Now Russia's Uralkali has given potash producers a taste of what could happen as it recently quit the Belarusian Potash Co cartel.Mackenzie said once Jansen's shafts and infrastructure are in place, the mine would be about three years away from production, but the company would decide on when to begin producing based on the market and its ability to fund further development.BHP believes the project will generate returns well above the company's average returns over many decades, he said."As long as we get the timing right, we're not overly aggressive, we think those returns are there," Mackenzie said.(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Richard Pullin)

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China oil imports to overtake U.S. by 2017: WoodMac

LONDON (Reuters) - China will overtake the United States as the world's biggest crude oil importer by 2017 as Chinese motorists drive domestic oil demand higher, consultancy Wood Mackenzie said on Tuesday. China is on track to spend $500 billion on crude oil imports by 2020, far outstripping the peak cost ever incurred by the United States on crude imports of $335 billion, Wood Mackenzie said in a report.It forecasts the U.S. crude oil import bill will fall to around $160 billion by 2020 as U.S. tight oil output from shale resources replaces imports from the Middle East and Africa."China will surpass U.S. demand for oil imports and peak spend," William Durbin, Wood Mackenzie's Beijing-based president of global markets, said in a statement.The consultancy said the turning point for Chinese crude imports to surpass U.S. imports would be around 2017.It forecasts China's oil imports will rise to 9.2 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2020 from 2.5 million bpd in 2005. U.S. oil imports, meanwhile, will fall to 6.8 million bpd from a peak of 10.1 million bpd."It means the United States is becoming more North America-centric for its supply needs and China more dependent on Middle East and OPEC crude," Durbin said."We will therefore see OPEC suppliers, who traditionally focused on the United States for crude sales, compelled to shift their focus towards China."Between 2005 and 2020, OPEC's share of Chinese oil imports is expected to rise to 66 percent from 52 percent."China will look towards OPEC supply more as the United States relies on it less," Durbin said.(Reporting by Christopher Johnson; Editing by Dale Hudson)

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Deutsche Wohnen makes $2.3 billion bet on Berlin property with GSW bid

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Wohnen (DWNG.DE) offered to buy rival residential landlord GSW Immobilien (GIBG.DE) for 1.8 billion euros ($2.3 billion) to expand in Berlin's booming rental market and tap nascent interest from international investors. The all-share deal would push an enlarged Deutsche Wohnen closer to the top five European real estate firms by market value, such as British Land (BLND.L) and domestic rival Land Securities (LAND.L), giving it easier access to funding from investors across the continent.Deutsche Wohnen said on Tuesday it plans to finance the bid for GSW by issuing as many as 135 million new shares, more than four-fifths of its existing share capital.The acquisition would be Germany's second-biggest residential real estate deal since Whitehall bought LEG Immobilien (LEGn.DE) for 3.4 billion euros in 2008.Deutsche Wohnen said it would offer 51 of its shares for every 20 shares in GSW, which would give GSW investors a stake of around 43 percent in the enlarged company.The offer represents a 15 percent premium to GSW's three-month volume-weighted average share price and the company's net asset value (NAV), making it more expensive than other recent residential real estate deals.Patrizia Immobilien (P1ZGn.DE) paid a 7 percent discount to NAV when it bought most of GBW in April and property firms LEG Immobilien and Deutsche Annington (ANNGn.DE) both joined the stock market at a discount this year.Still, analysts said GSW was worth the price for Deutsche Wohnen because 72 percent of its portfolio would be in Berlin following the takeover, up from 54 percent, bringing economies of scale.Some 85 percent of Berlin's population rents rather than owns - compared with a nationwide ownership rate of 46 percent - making it an attractive investment for landlords, Close Brothers Seydler analyst Manuel Martin said.GSW, whose chairman and chief executive were forced out by a shareholder rebellion last month, said it would study the offer before deciding how to proceed.The ouster of the two executives followed a campaign led by Dutch pension fund PGGM, which said Chief Executive Bernd Kottmann lacked experience in managing residential real estate.SURGING RENTSIn a sign that European property is beginning to attract investors after a downturn that hammered property values, Blackstone (BX.N) - one of the world's biggest private equity firms - is seeking to raise up to $5 billion for a new fund, a source familiar with the matter said.Last week, data showed the euro zone was emerging from a 1-1/2 year recession, with the economies of both Germany and France expanding faster than expected.The GSW deal would increase Deutsche Wohnen's portfolio of flats by around 63 percent to more than 147,000 and give it a 6.5 percent share of Berlin's rental market. Rents in the capital surged 40 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to research institute Empirica.It would also push Deutsche Wohnen into the No.2 spot in Germany behind Deutsche Annington (ANNGn.DE), the country's largest real estate firm with 179,000 apartments.Shares in GSW were up 6.3 percent at 33.44 euros at 1117 ET, while Deutsche Wohnen was down 4.7 percent at 13.495 euros.Deutsche Wohnen, which has net debt of 3 billion euros, would take on 1.8 billion in debt from GSW.Deutsche Wohnen needs support for the deal from 75 percent of GSW's shareholders, which it expects to get because two-fifths of GSW shareholders also own shares in Deutsche Wohnen.Deutsche Wohnen also has to get backing for the capital increase from its shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting on September 30.(Additional reporting by Christiaan Hetzner and Brenda Goh; Editing by Noah Barkin and Erica Billingham)

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Tesla says Model S won rare 5-star safety ratings across board

DETROIT Aug 20 (Reuters) - Tesla Motors Inc's Model S sedan has won a five-star safety rating in every testing category across the board, a distinction awarded to just 1 percent of all vehicles tested by U.S. safety regulators, the electric car company said. The battery-powered Model S set a record for the lowest likelihood of injury to occupants, Tesla said in a press release issued late Monday.Tesla, based in Silicon Valley and led by billionaire Elon Musk, said the Model S exceeded the safety score of all sport-utility vehicles and minivans tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.A spokeswoman for NHTSA could not be reached for comment.Tesla said NHTSA tested for the probability of injury from front, side, rear and rollover accidents.The Model S does not have a front engine block, giving it a longer "crumple zone" that allows the vehicle to absorb high-speed impacts better than most gasoline-powered rivals. A machine used in the roof-crush test broke while attempting to cave in the Model S roof, the company said.The Model S is the best-selling U.S. electric car despite a starting price of $70,000 before a federal tax credit. The company sold 5,150 cars in the second quarter and expects to sell 21,000 cars this year.Tesla shares have more than quadrupled this year."There will be a segment of the population that will find the safety issue a compelling reason to buy the car," said Theodore R. O'Neill, managing director at research firm Litchfield Hills Research LLC.Separately, General Motors Co said on Tuesday that its new 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks snagged an overall five-star safety rating from the U.S. government.GM said the recently redesigned Silverado and Sierra are the first pickup trucks to receive the top rating since NHTSA changed its test procedures for 2011 models.

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Glencore seeks fresh start with $7.7 billion hit to Xstrata

LONDON (Reuters) - Glencore Xstrata (GLEN.L) took a $7.7 billion hit on mining assets acquired in its takeover of Xstrata, drastically reducing the value of projects in the early stages of development. The diversified trader and miner announced the writedown as it posted a 9 percent drop in core first-half profit in its first results since completion of a 16-month acquisition that coincided with falling commodity prices across the industry.Miners have been pummeled by billions of dollars in writedowns since the start of 2013, with cooling mineral prices and demand prospects denting the value of mining projects and boom-year deals.In absorbing the impact of a weaker market, Glencore wiped out all the goodwill value it had provisionally allocated to Xstrata's mines at the time of the merger."We just had to value the business with a blank sheet of paper," Chief Financial Officer Steven Kalmin said, adding that the group had taken a "fairly conservative approach".Glencore did not break down the impairment, but much of the hit is expected have been down to early-stage projects and so-called greenfield operations - mines built from scratch, which have long been unpopular with Glencore management. These include the $5 billion nickel operation Koniambo in New Caledonia.The company dismissed the idea that the writedown demonstrated poor timing or an excessive price paid in the all-paper deal for the Xstrata shares it did not already own."We took a decision at the time to pay that ratio based on what we knew on that day, and we were happy with it," Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg said. "We do believe we are going to get it back in time and we do feel comfortable with the deal."NICKEL PAINGlencore itself was not immune to falling nickel prices and took a $452 million hit on its legacy Murrin Murrin operation in Australia. Nickel, used in stainless steel, is trading at almost a quarter of pre-crisis highs hit in 2007."Equity markets have already de-rated the value of mining assets - share prices are down by a lot since last year, and the book value of Xstrata did not reflect that," Jefferies analyst Chris LaFemina said."Other companies had taken writedowns, but Xstrata had not done that yet. It is really just catching up with the industry."Asset sales are also expected to come out of Glencore's review of Xstrata's assets, but Glasenberg said he was in no rush to sell even the unpopular greenfield projects.Glencore has already flagged the start of a sale process for $5 billion-plus Peruvian copper mine Las Bambas - demanded by Chinese antitrust regulators - and said on Tuesday that interest was "very strong", mostly from Chinese suitors.Glencore hopes to close that sale by the end of the year.Shares in Glencore were down 1.4 percent at 0940 ET, underperforming a 0.8 percent drop in the wider sector, as metal prices fell and miner BHP Billiton (BLT.L) missed its forecasts.Glencore was hit by weaker prices in the first half, with adjusted core profit - earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) - down 9 percent at $6 billion, at the higher end of analyst estimates.OUTPUT UPLIFTImproved output from mining operations in copper and coal helped to cushion the full impact of weaker prices, which took $2.2 billion off Glencore's operating profit.It also benefited from profit from its trading arm, with adjusted operating profit for marketing alone rising 6 percent to $1.2 billion as metals and profits from trading oil and coal offset the impact of a weaker agricultural contribution.There was a 39 percent drop at its industrial arm, which includes the group's mines.Net earnings came in at a little more than $2 billion, down 39 percent on the same period last year.Glencore's completion of the Xstrata takeover three months ago ended a marathon deal for Glasenberg, whose team now faces the challenge of digesting its biggest acquisition.The company said that progress on integration was exceeding expectations, with achievable cost savings likely to be "materially" above previous guidance of $500 million a year.It is still seeking a new chairman, a role currently held by former BP boss Tony Hayward in an interim capacity. Glasenberg said Hayward was a candidate, but Glencore will struggle to appoint the chief executive of a listed company - Hayward is head of oil firm Genel (GENL.L) - to that full-time role.Glasenberg brushed off questions over his own future at Glencore, where he is also the largest single investor, telling analysts he was "not going anywhere".Glencore is expected to update the market on the integration, progress and associated cost-savings on September 10.(Editing by Andrew Callus and David Goodman)

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UPDATE 3-Penney sales tumble but back-to-school "encouraging" so far

By Phil WahbaAug 20 (Reuters) - J.C. Penney Co Inc said on Tuesday quarterly sales tumbled again last quarter, even as reinstated CEO Myron Ullman worked to roll back his predecessor's failed merchandising strategies, but there were signs that customers were returning for the back-to-school season.The company, which reported another steeper-than-expected loss, said sales trends improved every month in the quarter and that business so far this back-to-school period, the second-most important for Penney after the holidays, was "encouraging."Penney forecast it would have $1.5 billion in cash at the end of the year, enough to have ample merchandise on shelves.Its shares rose nearly 3 percent to $13.63 in late morning training.But the lingering impact of Penney's failed efforts to remake itself into a more upscale destination in 2012 under previous CEO Ron Johnson continued to weigh on results and Chief Executive Myron Ullman said the retailer still had a lot of work to do to steady itself."It is no secret that the company's prior merchandising and promotional strategies weren't working. We had to make changes, but these changes take time and they have financial implications," Ullman said on a call with analysts.Sales at stores open at least a year fell 11.9 percent in the quarter, during which it reverted to a promotions-heavy strategy to try to stop the sharp sales decline. Analysts were expecting a 7.4 percent drop, according to Thomson Reuters.The quarter was the first full period under Ullman, who had been CEO from 2004 to 2011, since he returned in April to fix the damage wrought by Johnson, who left after his efforts led to a 25 percent sales decline last year and a $1 billion loss.The company's gross margin fell 3.6 percentage points to 29.6 percent of sales after it had to slash prices to clear merchandise shoppers did not want, much of which was brought in by Johnson who wanted to transform Penney into an emporium of dozens of boutiques each showcasing a trendy brand.The quarter was a tough one generally for retailers, including Penney rivals Macy's Inc and Kohl's Corp , which last week reported disappointing sales in an very discount-heavy retail environment.UNDOING HOME MAKEOVERShoppers have not latched on to many of the new, trendier brands in the home-goods section, Ullman said in a statement. Those have included products by designer Michael Graves,After spending hundreds of millions of dollars under Johnson to re-launch the home-goods section, which in June the company said was crucial to its turnaround, the Penney will now re-organize items by category rather than by brand and bring in more lower-priced merchandise."Ullman is rolling up his sleeves and working to get this ship back on track and bringing in the merchandise Penney shoppers want," said Walter Loeb, an analyst with Loeb Associates.Home-goods last year accounted for 12 percent of overall sales compared with 21 percent six years earlier. The relaunch was meant to re-invigorate an important business that generates shopper traffic.The company also said it expected to have $1.5 billion in overall cash liquidity at year's end. Despite the re-organization of the home section, Chief Financial Officer Ken Hannah said capital expenditures would return to the much lower levels of the past.Penney said it would have enough inventory in stores and online well in advance of the holiday season. Another encouraging sign for Penney was online sales fell 2.2 percent in the quarter, suggesting the decline in that business is bottoming out.The higher level of markdowns and lower-than-expected sales deepened Penney's net loss in the quarter to $586 million, or $2.66 per share, from $147 million, or 67 cents per share a year earlier. Overall sales fell 11.9 percent to $2.66 billion.Excluding items such as a loss associated with the tax valuation allowance, Penney lost $1.17 a share, 11 cents worse than expected.The quarter was also full of boardroom drama: William Ackman, the activist billionaire investor who brought in Johnson and is still Penney's largest shareholder, feuded publicly with Penney's chairman earlier this month before quitting the board a few days later.He and the company reached an agreement last week on how he can divest his 18 percent stake if he so chooses.

This article is taken from Reuters.com

Ally to raise capital, buy back stock from U.S.

(Reuters) - Ally Financial Inc has sold $1 billion of stock in a private placement and will repay the U.S. government nearly $6 billion as the auto lender works to boost its capital levels and exit government ownership. With the transactions, Ally will have repaid the Treasury about $12.1 billion of the $17.2 billion it received during the financial crisis under the Troubled Asset Relief Program."Ally has made great progress in restructuring and strengthening its business in order to repay the taxpayer, and we look forward to continuing to work with the company to recover the remaining investment," Assistant Treasury Secretary for Financial Stability Tim Massad said in a statement.The company entered agreements with investors for a private placement of 166,667 shares of the company's common stock for $1 billion. An Ally spokeswoman declined to disclose the investors' identity but said they were a diverse group of existing and new shareholders.Ally agreed to pay $5.2 billion to repurchase outstanding preferred securities held by the U.S. Treasury. The car loan company also paid $725 million to terminate the Treasury's right to receive extra payments if the company sells shares below a particular price, a term the company and the government had previously agreed to in 2010 when the U.S. converted some of its preferred Ally shares into common stock.The lender was singled out as the weakest of 18 major banks in the Federal Reserve's stress test in March as being the most weakly capitalized. The Fed objected to Ally's capital plan "both on quantitative and qualitative grounds," and it was the only bank that failed to meet the minimum threshold of a 5 percent capital buffer in a scenario where unemployment rose to 12.1 percent and share prices fell 50 percent.The private placement must take place before November 30, and both that and transactions with the U.S. Treasury is contingent on the Federal Reserve approval of the bank's resubmitted capital plan. Ally has to resubmit its new capital plan by the end of September.Ally reported a net loss of $927 million in the second quarter, driven by a $1.6 billion charge related to a settlement in the bankruptcy case of its subsidiary Residential Capital LLC.(Reporting by Peter Rudegeair and Aman Shah; editing by Andrew Hay)

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Penney sales tumble but back-to-school 'encouraging' so far

(Reuters) - J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP.N) said on Tuesday quarterly sales tumbled again last quarter, even as reinstated CEO Myron Ullman worked to roll back his predecessor's failed merchandising strategies, but there were signs that customers were returning for the back-to-school season. The company, which reported another steeper-than-expected loss, said sales trends improved every month in the quarter and that business so far this back-to-school period, the second-most important for Penney after the holidays, was "encouraging."Penney forecast it would have $1.5 billion in cash at the end of the year, enough to have ample merchandise on shelves.Its shares rose nearly 3 percent to $13.63 in late morning training.But the lingering impact of Penney's failed efforts to remake itself into a more upscale destination in 2012 under previous CEO Ron Johnson continued to weigh on results and Chief Executive Myron Ullman said the retailer still had a lot of work to do to steady itself."It is no secret that the company's prior merchandising and promotional strategies weren't working. We had to make changes, but these changes take time and they have financial implications," Ullman said on a call with analysts.Sales at stores open at least a year fell 11.9 percent in the quarter, during which it reverted to a promotions-heavy strategy to try to stop the sharp sales decline. Analysts were expecting a 7.4 percent drop, according to Thomson Reuters.The quarter was the first full period under Ullman, who had been CEO from 2004 to 2011, since he returned in April to fix the damage wrought by Johnson, who left after his efforts led to a 25 percent sales decline last year and a $1 billion loss.The company's gross margin fell 3.6 percentage points to 29.6 percent of sales after it had to slash prices to clear merchandise shoppers did not want, much of which was brought in by Johnson who wanted to transform Penney into an emporium of dozens of boutiques each showcasing a trendy brand.The quarter was a tough one generally for retailers, including Penney rivals Macy's Inc (M.N) and Kohl's Corp (KSS.N), which last week reported disappointing sales in an very discount-heavy retail environment.UNDOING HOME MAKEOVERShoppers have not latched on to many of the new, trendier brands in the home-goods section, Ullman said in a statement. Those have included products by designer Michael Graves,After spending hundreds of millions of dollars under Johnson to re-launch the home-goods section, which in June the company said was crucial to its turnaround, the Penney will now re-organize items by category rather than by brand and bring in more lower-priced merchandise."Ullman is rolling up his sleeves and working to get this ship back on track and bringing in the merchandise Penney shoppers want," said Walter Loeb, an analyst with Loeb Associates.Home-goods last year accounted for 12 percent of overall sales compared with 21 percent six years earlier. The relaunch was meant to re-invigorate an important business that generates shopper traffic.The company also said it expected to have $1.5 billion in overall cash liquidity at year's end. Despite the re-organization of the home section, Chief Financial Officer Ken Hannah said capital expenditures would return to the much lower levels of the past.Penney said it would have enough inventory in stores and online well in advance of the holiday season. Another encouraging sign for Penney was online sales fell 2.2 percent in the quarter, suggesting the decline in that business is bottoming out.The higher level of markdowns and lower-than-expected sales deepened Penney's net loss in the quarter to $586 million, or $2.66 per share, from $147 million, or 67 cents per share a year earlier. Overall sales fell 11.9 percent to $2.66 billion.Excluding items such as a loss associated with the tax valuation allowance, Penney lost $1.17 a share, 11 cents worse than expected.The quarter was also full of boardroom drama: William Ackman, the activist billionaire investor who brought in Johnson and is still Penney's largest shareholder, feuded publicly with Penney's chairman earlier this month before quitting the board a few days later.He and the company reached an agreement last week on how he can divest his 18 percent stake if he so chooses.(Reporting by Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Maureen Bavdek)

This article is taken from Reuters.com

Cautious consumers, wet weather cloud Dick's Sporting outlook

(Reuters) - Outdoor enthusiasts spending less on camping and golfing gear due to a sluggish economy and a wetter season hit Dick's Sporting Goods Inc's (DKS.N) results, leading the company to slash its earnings forecast for the year. Shares of the company, which also sells sports footwear and apparel, fell 6 percent to $47.48 by midday.Consumers have tightened spending amid higher payroll taxes and gasoline prices and a slowing job market. A host of retailers from Macy's Inc (M.N) to Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) have reported tepid sales for the latest quarter."It's been pretty well chronicled the consumer seems to be a bit sluggish and may have other priorities right now in the short term of where they want to spend their money," Dick's Chief Executive Edward Stack said on a conference call.Morningstar analyst Paul Swinand said people have been spending on cars and home improvement, while cutting back on discretionary items.Stack said wet and cool conditions in the most recent quarter also discouraged outdoor activity such as water sports, camping, biking and golf, hurting sales in those businesses.Dick's now expects full-year earnings of $2.60 to $2.65 per share, well below its prior estimate of $2.84 to $2.86 per share.The forecast missed the average analyst estimate of $2.83 per share. The company said it expects sales to continue to be weak in the second-half of the year.Dick's will increase advertising to help pull in customers, CEO Stack said.The company's net income in the quarter ended August 3 rose to $84.2 million, or 67 cents per share, from $53.7 million, or 43 cents per share, a year earlier.Excluding items, the company earned 71 cents per share. Net sales rose 6.6 percent to $1.53 billion.Both numbers were below the average analyst estimate of a profit of 74 cents per share on revenue of $1.57 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.Adjusted for an extra week in 2012, the company's same-store sales fell 0.4 percent, missing its forecast of a 2 to 3 percent rise.Same-store sales at Dick's Sporting Goods stores rose 0.1 percent while those at Golf Galaxy shops fell 6.1 percent. As of August 3, the Company operated 527 Dick'S Sporting Goods stores and 81 Golf Galaxy stores.(Additional reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

This article is taken from Reuters.com

Florence tomb opened in search for identity of Mona Lisa

FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - Researchers opened a centuries-old Florence tomb on Friday in a search for remains that could confirm the identity of the woman whose enigmatic smile Leonardo da Vinci immortalized in the "Mona Lisa", one of the world's most famous paintings. A round hole, just big enough for a person to wriggle through, was cut in the stone church floor above the family crypt of Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo, whose wife Lisa Gherardini is thought to have sat for the Renaissance master in the early 16th century.Theories abound about who the real Mona Lisa was, but Silvano Vinceti, a writer and researcher who heads Italy's National Committee for the Promotion of Historic and Cultural Heritage, plans to test DNA in the bones in the dank space and try to match it with those of three women buried at a convent nearby.Historians say Gherardini - whose married name 'Gioconda' is used in Italy to refer to the Mona Lisa - spent her last years at the Saint Orsola convent, a dilapidated building where the hunt for her bones began last year.Vinceti believes one of the three could be Lisa Gherardini."For centuries, historians the world over have been coming up with various theories about who this enigmatic, mysterious woman could have been," he told journalists outside the Santissima Annunziata basilica in Florence.Vinceti hopes some of the bones lying in the cramped underground room behind the Santissima Annunziata's main altar will belong to at least one blood relation of Leonardo's muse, probably her son Piero.Once a DNA match is made, Vinceti says an image of Gherardini's face can be generated from the Saint Orsola skull and compared with the painting, the biggest attraction in the Louvre museum in Paris."When we find a match between mother and child - then we will have found the Mona Lisa," he said.HALF SMILEThe painting, which draws millions of visitors each year, is famous for the sitter's mysterious half-smile. The Louvre says it was probably painted between 1503 and 1506.Opening the Giocondo family tomb for the first time in 300 years is a critical phase in the search by Vinceti and his team, who in 2010 said they had discovered that the mysterious death in 1610 of another Italian master, Caravaggio, was likely caused by lead from his paint.The researchers say carbon-dating tests on three of eight skeletons exhumed from the Saint Orsola convent are under way and they will do the same with the contents of the Giocondo tomb - although it could take a year before the DNA testing process is started."If we succeed, we can finally resolve three questions which have obsessed historians and art-lovers worldwide," Vinceti said."Was Gherardini the model for the Mona Lisa? Or was it some other model, as some people say? Or is it just a construction of the painter's fantasy?"Leonardo is famous for the huge range of his genius, ranging from painting to sculpture to anatomy. He is known not only for paintings like the "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper", but for conceiving modern machines like helicopters and tanks many centuries before they were finally built.(Additional reporting by Antonio Denti; Editing By Barry Moody and Sonya Hepinstall)

This article is taken from Reuters.com

ECB's Asmussen to check up on Greek reform progress

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European Central Bank Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen will visit Greece on Wednesday to discuss progress on reforms needed to ensure more bailout money, the ECB said. Greece got an aid tranche of 5.8 billion euros ($7.75 billion) from its international lenders - the euro area, its national central banks and the International Monetary Fund - in July and stands to receive another 1 billion euros in October, subject to implementation of further reforms.The international lenders, known as the troika, will return in Athens in the autumn to find out whether the government needs to find further savings to meet its 2015-2016 budget targets."In the run-up to the next troika review mission, ECB Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen will visit Athens for bilateral meetings with Greek policy makers and representatives of society and the business community to discuss the Greek adjustment program and wider euro area developments," the ECB said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.Asmussen will meet Central Bank Governor George Provopoulos, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and George Zanias, chairman of Greece's biggest lender, National Bank (NBGr.AT), Greek sources told Reuters.ON TRACKProgress on reform in the recession-stricken country has been patchy and there have been several reports that Greece may need another aid package or more debt relief to get back to a more sustainable financial position.Earlier this month, the German government, one of Greece's biggest creditor, dismissed a report by Der Spiegel magazine, which quoted a document that said Europe "will certainly agree a new aid program for Greece" and that the existing aid package carried "extremely high" risks.German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said at the time that Greece was absolutely going in the right direction. This message was echoed by France's Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici on Tuesday."It seems to me that this program is on track," Moscovici told Inter radio. "I don't see an urgent need for a new aid plan for Greece."Tax revenues continue to lag targets, however, and the Greek economy is deep into a depression. It shrank at an annual rate of 4.6 percent in the second quarter. This was, however, a little better than forecast, leading some economists to predict the contraction may decelerate in the fourth quarter.(Reporting by Eva Kuehnen, George Georgiopoulos in Athens and Nicholas Vinocur in Paris; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

This article is taken from Reuters.com

China oil imports to overtake U.S. by 2017: WoodMac

LONDON (Reuters) - China will overtake the United States as the world's biggest crude oil importer by 2017 as Chinese motorists drive domestic oil demand higher, consultancy Wood Mackenzie said on Tuesday. China is on track to spend $500 billion on crude oil imports by 2020, far outstripping the peak cost ever incurred by the United States on crude imports of $335 billion, Wood Mackenzie said in a report.It forecasts the U.S. crude oil import bill will fall to around $160 billion by 2020 as U.S. tight oil output from shale resources replaces imports from the Middle East and Africa."China will surpass U.S. demand for oil imports and peak spend," William Durbin, Wood Mackenzie's Beijing-based president of global markets, said in a statement.The consultancy said the turning point for Chinese crude imports to surpass U.S. imports would be around 2017.It forecasts China's oil imports will rise to 9.2 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2020 from 2.5 million bpd in 2005. U.S. oil imports, meanwhile, will fall to 6.8 million bpd from a peak of 10.1 million bpd."It means the United States is becoming more North America-centric for its supply needs and China more dependent on Middle East and OPEC crude," Durbin said."We will therefore see OPEC suppliers, who traditionally focused on the United States for crude sales, compelled to shift their focus towards China."Between 2005 and 2020, OPEC's share of Chinese oil imports is expected to rise to 66 percent from 52 percent."China will look towards OPEC supply more as the United States relies on it less," Durbin said.(Reporting by Christopher Johnson; Editing by Dale Hudson)

This article is taken from Reuters.com

BAE Systems' U.S. CEO to retire in 2014

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Linda Hudson, chief executive officer of the U.S. unit of Britain's BAE Systems Plc (BAES.L), will retire early next year, the weapons maker said on Tuesday. The company said it would start a search for a successor. Hudson, 62, joined BAE in 2007 and took over as CEO of the U.S. unit in 2009.That promotion made Hudson the first woman to head a major U.S. defense operation and placed her in a small club of female CEOs heading what amounts to a Fortune 500 company.Hudson will stay in her post through the first quarter of 2014 and will remain on the U.S. company's board through April 2015, BAE said. She will step down from the BAE Systems Plc board and the parent group's executive committee at the end of March 2014.Hudson, who has worked in the defense industry for 40 years, held senior positions at General Dynamics Corp (GD.N), another major weapons manufacturer, before joining BAE in 2007.RBC Securities analyst Rob Stallard said Hudson won high marks for managing BAE during a time of huge growth and for aggressively attacking costs after war demand peaked."We ... don't expect this to be a major catalyst for the shares, assuming successful continuity," he said in a note to investors.BAE stock was up 0.6 percent in London.Ian King, CEO of BAE Systems Plc, credited Hudson for streamlining the U.S. unit, which accounts for about 40 percent of the company's total revenues, and diversifying its portfolio.Hudson told employees in a statement that she had mixed emotions about leaving the company, but still had many goals left to achieve."I have many more things I want to do professionally and philanthropically; many places I want to go; and family and friends I'd like to see more often," Hudson said.She said she felt confident that the company was well-positioned for success at "a time when the dysfunction in Washington has created a cloudy and uncertain environment."Charles Stanley analyst Tina Cook said Hudson was highly regarded for her management of the company and her breadth of experience.Michael Chertoff, chairman of the board of the U.S. unit, said in a statement that Hudson had guided the company through both wartime growth and preparation for defense spending cuts, "clearly establishing it as a major and leading defense company in the United States."(Additional reporting by Brenda Goh in London; Editing by W Simon, Jim Marshall and Lisa Von Ahn)

This article is taken from Reuters.com

Penney sales tumble but back-to-school 'encouraging' so far

(Reuters) - J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP.N) said on Tuesday quarterly sales tumbled again last quarter, even as reinstated CEO Myron Ullman worked to roll back his predecessor's failed merchandising strategies, but there were signs that customers were returning for the back-to-school season. The company, which reported another steeper-than-expected loss, said sales trends improved every month in the quarter and that business so far this back-to-school period, the second-most important for Penney after the holidays, was "encouraging."Penney forecast it would have $1.5 billion in cash at the end of the year, enough to have ample merchandise on shelves.Its shares rose nearly 3 percent to $13.63 in late morning training.But the lingering impact of Penney's failed efforts to remake itself into a more upscale destination in 2012 under previous CEO Ron Johnson continued to weigh on results and Chief Executive Myron Ullman said the retailer still had a lot of work to do to steady itself."It is no secret that the company's prior merchandising and promotional strategies weren't working. We had to make changes, but these changes take time and they have financial implications," Ullman said on a call with analysts.Sales at stores open at least a year fell 11.9 percent in the quarter, during which it reverted to a promotions-heavy strategy to try to stop the sharp sales decline. Analysts were expecting a 7.4 percent drop, according to Thomson Reuters.The quarter was the first full period under Ullman, who had been CEO from 2004 to 2011, since he returned in April to fix the damage wrought by Johnson, who left after his efforts led to a 25 percent sales decline last year and a $1 billion loss.The company's gross margin fell 3.6 percentage points to 29.6 percent of sales after it had to slash prices to clear merchandise shoppers did not want, much of which was brought in by Johnson who wanted to transform Penney into an emporium of dozens of boutiques each showcasing a trendy brand.The quarter was a tough one generally for retailers, including Penney rivals Macy's Inc (M.N) and Kohl's Corp (KSS.N), which last week reported disappointing sales in an very discount-heavy retail environment.UNDOING HOME MAKEOVERShoppers have not latched on to many of the new, trendier brands in the home-goods section, Ullman said in a statement. Those have included products by designer Michael Graves,After spending hundreds of millions of dollars under Johnson to re-launch the home-goods section, which in June the company said was crucial to its turnaround, the Penney will now re-organize items by category rather than by brand and bring in more lower-priced merchandise."Ullman is rolling up his sleeves and working to get this ship back on track and bringing in the merchandise Penney shoppers want," said Walter Loeb, an analyst with Loeb Associates.Home-goods last year accounted for 12 percent of overall sales compared with 21 percent six years earlier. The relaunch was meant to re-invigorate an important business that generates shopper traffic.The company also said it expected to have $1.5 billion in overall cash liquidity at year's end. Despite the re-organization of the home section, Chief Financial Officer Ken Hannah said capital expenditures would return to the much lower levels of the past.Penney said it would have enough inventory in stores and online well in advance of the holiday season. Another encouraging sign for Penney was online sales fell 2.2 percent in the quarter, suggesting the decline in that business is bottoming out.The higher level of markdowns and lower-than-expected sales deepened Penney's net loss in the quarter to $586 million, or $2.66 per share, from $147 million, or 67 cents per share a year earlier. Overall sales fell 11.9 percent to $2.66 billion.Excluding items such as a loss associated with the tax valuation allowance, Penney lost $1.17 a share, 11 cents worse than expected.The quarter was also full of boardroom drama: William Ackman, the activist billionaire investor who brought in Johnson and is still Penney's largest shareholder, feuded publicly with Penney's chairman earlier this month before quitting the board a few days later.He and the company reached an agreement last week on how he can divest his 18 percent stake if he so chooses.(Reporting by Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Maureen Bavdek)

This article is taken from Reuters.com

Boston police head a candidate for Homeland chief

New York (CNN) -- Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis is on the short list of the Obama's administration candidates for the position of Homeland Security secretary, a Boston government official told CNN.

Davis "is very interested" in the position, the source said.

Commissioner since 2006, Davis recently received accolades for his handling of the Boston Marathon bombing and ensuing manhunt.

Former Boston Police Chief William Bratton is also on the short list, the source said.

The current secretary, Janet Napolitano, announced her resignation last month and said she'll be leaving the office in September to become president of the University of California system.

This article is taken from CNN.com

Cautious consumers, wet weather cloud Dick's Sporting outlook

(Reuters) - Outdoor enthusiasts spending less on camping and golfing gear due to a sluggish economy and a wetter season hit Dick's Sporting Goods Inc's (DKS.N) results, leading the company to slash its earnings forecast for the year. Shares of the company, which also sells sports footwear and apparel, fell 6 percent to $47.48 by midday.Consumers have tightened spending amid higher payroll taxes and gasoline prices and a slowing job market. A host of retailers from Macy's Inc (M.N) to Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) have reported tepid sales for the latest quarter."It's been pretty well chronicled the consumer seems to be a bit sluggish and may have other priorities right now in the short term of where they want to spend their money," Dick's Chief Executive Edward Stack said on a conference call.Morningstar analyst Paul Swinand said people have been spending on cars and home improvement, while cutting back on discretionary items.Stack said wet and cool conditions in the most recent quarter also discouraged outdoor activity such as water sports, camping, biking and golf, hurting sales in those businesses.Dick's now expects full-year earnings of $2.60 to $2.65 per share, well below its prior estimate of $2.84 to $2.86 per share.The forecast missed the average analyst estimate of $2.83 per share. The company said it expects sales to continue to be weak in the second-half of the year.Dick's will increase advertising to help pull in customers, CEO Stack said.The company's net income in the quarter ended August 3 rose to $84.2 million, or 67 cents per share, from $53.7 million, or 43 cents per share, a year earlier.Excluding items, the company earned 71 cents per share. Net sales rose 6.6 percent to $1.53 billion.Both numbers were below the average analyst estimate of a profit of 74 cents per share on revenue of $1.57 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.Adjusted for an extra week in 2012, the company's same-store sales fell 0.4 percent, missing its forecast of a 2 to 3 percent rise.Same-store sales at Dick's Sporting Goods stores rose 0.1 percent while those at Golf Galaxy shops fell 6.1 percent. As of August 3, the Company operated 527 Dick'S Sporting Goods stores and 81 Golf Galaxy stores.(Additional reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

This article is taken from Reuters.com

Bradley Manning play scoops British drama award

EDINBURGH (Reuters) - A play about Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier convicted by a military judge last week for passing classified information to anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, has won a newly created drama prize at Britain's oldest literary awards. Welsh playwright Tim Price's "The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning" became the first winner of the 10,000-pound ($15,300) James Tait Black Prize for Drama at an awards ceremony in the Scottish capital on Monday evening.The play tracks the U.S.-born Manning's journey from his teenage years in a Welsh village through his life as a U.S. soldier and subsequent arrest in 2010 for passing hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks."I am thrilled to be recognized by such a prestigious award, and honored to be chosen as winner from such a fantastic shortlist of plays" Price said in a statement on the prize's website.A military judge on Tuesday convicted U.S. Army Private First Class Manning, 25, of criminal charges including espionage and theft of classified information.Price told Reuters that Manning's Welsh mother had seen the play and mailed the script to her son. He also said that some of the prize money would go to Manning's defense fund."Bradley's now got a global family thanks to our play," Price said.Price's work was chosen from a list of 180 plays submitted from around the world by a panel, which included academics and students from the University of Edinburgh, as well as theatre professionals.The play was read out at the prize ceremony in Edinburgh, and Bradley came across as a shy and somewhat dysfunctional computer expert, who was tormented by his sexuality and harsh discipline he encountered in the military."His play is emotionally resonant on many levels, challenges thinking and teaches us things we did not know with a truly unique voice - exactly what this prize sets out to recognize," said panel member Neil Murray, who is also executive producer at the National Theatre of Scotland."The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning" is being performed by the National Theatre Wales at Edinburgh's Festival Fringe from Wednesday to August 25. It had its first staging in April 2012 at the Welsh high school Manning used to attend.Based at Edinburgh University, The James Tait Black Prizes were established in 1919 and are the oldest literary prizes in Britain. The drama category is new this year.The Prizes also hand out awards for fiction and biography. Previous winners include Nobel Prize laureates J.M. Coetzee and "Lord of the Flies" author William Golding."His thorough research, political savvy and above all his compassion are evident when you read this play, and typical of the kind of bold writing for which Tim is becoming known," the play's director, John McGrath, said in a statement on the website of the National Theatre of Wales.Manning was serving in Iraq in 2010 when he was arrested and charged with leaking files, including videos of a 2007 attack by a U.S. helicopter gunship in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff. Other files contained diplomatic cables and secret details on prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.(Writing by Amritha John, editing by Paul Casciato)

This article is taken from Reuters.com

Bugs, Spam and, er, testicles: These are the world's weirdest food festivals

(CNN) -- Humans have a strange relationship with food. This seems to be a global truth that is perhaps best evidenced by the array of unusual food festivals the world over. We don't merely celebrate food, we wrestle in it, wage war with it, idolize it, and, in Gloucestershire, England, race it down a steep hill.

No matter what your favorite food is, chances are somewhere, large gatherings of aficionados have found some outlandish way to commemorate it. Even Spam has found a place of honor.

"Hawaii is one of the biggest consumers of Spam in the world," explains Karen Winpenny, an organizer of the annual Waikiki Spam Jam, which last year had 25,000 visitors. Hormel Foods sells more product in Hawaii per person than in any other U.S. state. According to the Spam Jam website, almost seven million cans of the stuff are eaten in Hawaii every year.

The festival's dozen or so vendors demonstrate the meat-product's unexpected versatility.

"This year, we had Spam cheesecake and Spam ice cream. In the past, we've had Spam ravioli, Spam kotsu, Spam poki, Spam French fries -- pretty much everything can be made with Spam," says Winpenny.

Foods represented at festivals can range from the more mundane -- melons, pumpkins, potatoes -- to the downright daring. In West Virginia, locals are keen to celebrate a local delicacy -- road kill. Last week saw the kick off of Clinton, MT's Testy Festy, a celebration of Rocky Mountain Oysters, aka bull testicles. Next month, adventurous eaters can sample scorpions at Bugfest in North Carolina.

This year, we had Spam cheesecake and Spam ice cream. Everything can be made with Spam.
Karen Winpenny, Waikiki Spam Jam

However, there are times when imbibing our favorite foods is not enough. Sometimes, it seems, making a mess is the only way to do it justice. Several festivals demand participants get dirty. La Tomatina -- where thousands travel to Spain to engage in a bustling tomato fight -- is perhaps the most famous of these, though there are many instances in which festival-goers feel the need to rollick around in grub.

On August 23, Barnesville, Minnesota, will celebrate Potato Days, an annual two-day festival dedicated to the humble tuber. No matter how many activities the organizers introduce, however, the most popular remains the mashed potato wrestling competition.

"It's quite a sight to watch people wrestling around in mashed potatoes," admits Theresa Olson, the festival's executive director. "Afterward, they find mashed potato everywhere."

The festival started in 1951 as a source of post-harvest entertainment. Back then, the activities were limited to a potato picking contest for the men, and a peeling competition for the women. Since then, it's matured, and events include a cook-off, a mashed potato sculpting contest and a potato sack fashion show.

Read more: The world's messiest festivals

"It's often voted one of the best festivals in America, partly because it's family friendly, and it's free," says Olson.

In some instances, culinary celebrations act as a historic link. In Bessieres, France, the townspeople make a giant omelet every Easter to feed the poor, a tradition that supposedly started when Napoleon and his army stopped in the town for the night. Legend has it that The Little Corporal ordered the villagers to gather all their eggs to make an omelet for his army.

The celebration has since spread to French-speaking communities across the globe. In Abbeville, Louisiana, the town launched their own version of the tradition (albeit with a Creole twist).

[The wrestlers] find mashed potato everywhere.
Theresa Olson, Potato Days

"It's grown to seven cities throughout the world, and we each add a local ingredient," says Arlene White, the third Grand Maitre of Abbeville's Giant Omelette Celebration. The town uses 5,000 eggs, and adds Tabasco and crayfish to make it their own.

While there are many who would argue that food is art, some regions take this line of thinking to a new level. At the Räbechilbi Turnip Festival in Switzerland, for instance, locals create elaborate floats using 40 tons of hallowed out turnips. In the past, they've created replicas of panthers, windmills, ships, whales -- even Amy Winehouse. Though the tiny town of Richterswil houses a meager 12,000 residents, the festival attracts 20,000 visitors each year.

"We're a small village, so you can imagine how crowded it gets," says Michèle Fasler, a spokeswoman for Räbechilbi.

Fasler describes the atmosphere as warm and peaceful. Just don't eat the turnips, she warns.

"It's not good for your stomach," she says. "It's like eating too much beans."

This article is taken from CNN.com

5 questions for 'Night Film' author Marisha Pessl

(CNN) -- Who is Stanislas Cordova? That's the burning question at the heart of "Night Film," the anticipated follow-up to best-selling author Marisha Pessl's 2006 literary debut.

Pessl burst onto the scene in 2006 with "Special Topics in Calamity Physics." She received a six-figure advance, almost unheard of for a first-time author, a ton of hype and even some snarky backlash over her photogenic looks. But the book lived up to expectations, selling some 200,000 copies and landing on The New York Times' list of Best Books of 2006.

Seven years later, "Night Film" is hitting bookstores this week amid greater expectations and even more hype. Movie rights are already spoken for by Chernin Entertainment, the studio behind "Oblivion" and "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," and critics are raving about Pessl's multimedia storytelling approach, which takes readers beyond the novel's pages to explore the story of a mysterious director and the washed-up reporter out to expose him.

Pessl's fictional mash-up of Stanley Kubrick, Roman Polanski and David Lynch hasn't been seen in public for 30 years. His movies are so frightening no theater will show them; his cult of fans meet in abandoned buildings and underground tunnels for secret screenings.

Investigative journalist Scott McGrath tried to expose Cordova years ago and it backfired, costing him his job, marriage and reputation. When Cordova's daughter turns up dead in an apparent suicide, McGrath sees an opportunity to exact revenge against the man he blames for his downfall.

Pessl weaves into the narrative excerpts from magazine articles, newspaper headlines, police reports, crime scene photos and screen shots of online message boards. She also wrote and directed several short films being featured over the next few weeks on YouTube that offer clues into the book's mystery, including snippets and trailers from Cordova's films.

Pessl said she wanted to give readers another way to interact with the story, hoping her fans obsess over "Night Film" just as she did writing it.

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Fast facts: Marisha Pessl

Age: 35

Hometown: Grew up in Asheville, North Carolina; lives in New York City.

For fans of: Psychological thrillers like Gillian Flynn's critically acclaimed "Gone Girl," and "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt.

Five questions with Marisha Pessl

CNN: What was the spark behind this book?

Pessl: It was definitely Cordova and the idea of this underground, hidden figure. I'd done a lot of research on filmmakers and the idea of an auteur and patriarch who invites people to his estate to make a film, like Kubrick shot his films on a set that had been built on his estate so he didn't have to leave. That was a germinating idea for me in terms of Cordova.

Also, the idea of someone hidden, our world is so overexposed right now. People don't get out of bed without tweeting about it. People don't make art these days without begging people to interact with it, to buy it, to consume it in some way. I wanted to create the antithesis of all that, a figure who went out of his way to become completely underground, who didn't care about selling any kind of product. It was really about a return to mystery in our lives and finding that again in our overexposed world.

CNN: The book has a compulsive, driven feel to it. Was it that way for you writing it?

Pessl: The writing process was exactly as obsessive. In some ways the writer's experience with the material can't help but drip down onto the pages. I wouldn't call it anxiety because I really did love creating this world, but there were things that kept me awake at night. I think that sense of dislocation and claustrophobia and not exactly knowing where I was going, only that I was driven to find out what was there at the very end. I had all those same experiences as a writer that my characters did, simply because of the nature of this book. I wanted to push myself to the end of my writing experience and then see if I could take myself even further. I really wanted to challenge myself.

CNN: Tell me why you used a multimedia approach to the story?

Pessl: I wasn't trying to break any boundaries but I wanted to find the best means by which to tell the story. I personally love archives and I love going through old antique stores and looking at old wedding photographs, and old class photos of people in kindergarten in the 1920s. I love looking at the ephemera people leave behind when they're no longer here. I wanted to bring that feeling to "Night Film" and through those bits and pieces bring Cordova's world to life. I wanted to make his world really immediate to the reader.

There's a voyeuristic quality that I think is really compelling to be able to peruse old reports. I definitely went through a lot of old police blogs and read through crime scene reports. It's absolutely fascinating the level of detail that goes into describing things like the blood spatter pattern and the positioning of the body, it's absolutely fascinating. In this CSI world, where everyone knows a lot about forensics, it made sense to give that to readers, rather than just telling them about it.

CNN: Did the book turn out the way you'd envisioned?

Pessl: I think it became even darker and more gnarled. I wanted a really dark, mythical odyssey, something really immersive. I began writing it around the time of the financial crisis in late 2008, when it felt like the world was in such a state of chaos. Every time you turned on the TV there was more bad news and it seemed as if things were really dire. In New York City people were really down and I know I wanted an escape. I wanted something that was thrilling, and enigmatic, that moved, but also multi-layered with great characters. I thought more in terms of a mood and a feeling and an experience. That was the story I wanted to read and I think as writers we always write what we wish existed. So I wanted something dark but I think it's critical even in those dark places to have lightness. Even when things were dire, as they were in 2008, there's always time for humor, which is why my character Scott has so many asides in the book.

CNN: While your book is dark, there's also a feeling of hope?

Pessl: The book does have some dark places but our world is dark, and experiences that people go through are horrifying. Though evil exists, my world view is there's always hope. With the human spirit there's always the possibility of transcendence and something good. In the end, I don't think we live in a hopeless, amoral world. I think goodness exists and I wanted to convey that while allowing the reader to step to the edge and formulate his or her own conclusions.

This article is taken from CNN.com

Can anyone save Egypt from the brink?

Editor's note: Fawaz A. Gerges is a professor of Middle Eastern Politics and International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His latest book is "Obama and the Middle East: The End of America's Moment?"

(CNN) -- As a frequent visitor to Egypt, I have never seen the country as deeply polarized along ideological, social, and political lines as it is today -- horizontally and vertically. The current fight pits the Muslim Brothers and their Islamist allies against the military-backed government and a sizeable segment of Egyptians who rally around the flag and populism. Religious frame of reference is pitted against a deeply entrenched nationalist identity that is centuries-old.

This fierce struggle over hegemony and the future identity of the Egyptian state has been invested with cultural and existential overtones. Both camps view their rivalry as life-and-death and are locked in a deadly confrontation, a clash that has killed more than 1,000 people, including dozens of members of the security forces and injured thousands. On Sunday the Egyptian government acknowledged that 36 Islamists died in its custody after an attempted breakout and a day later more than two dozen off-duty police recruits were killed by gunmen in the restive Sinai Peninsula. According to the Interior Ministry, the police recruits were returning from leave to their jobs in the border town of Rafah when militants ordered the recruits out of two minibuses and forced them to lie on the ground before shooting them.

Fawaz Gerges

The recent bloodletting is the most violent episode in Egyptian modern history and shows an unraveling of its social fabric, a rupture with the past. In contrast to neighboring Arab countries, such as Iraq and Syria, with blood soaked history, Egypt is one of the least violent societies in the Middle East and Egyptians are the most peace-loving people. There is a real danger that bloodshed will beget more bloodshed and that unless checked Egypt will be engulfed in politically-driven violence.

There are signs pointing to the military-backed government continuing its clampdown on the Brotherhood and possibly attempting a widespread purge, including banning the 85-year-old Islamist organization. Early Tuesday, Egyptian authorities arrested Muslim Brotherhood chief Mohamed Badie, escalating a crackdown that has seen the arrests of dozens of the group's top leaders and more than 1,000 of its followers (in its prolonged confrontation with the Brotherhood, even the Mubarak regime refrained from arresting the top leader or general guide out of restraint).

Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi even suggested outlawing the Brotherhood and told reporters over the weekend: "There will be no reconciliation with those whose hands have been stained with blood and who turned weapons against the state and its institutions."

Egypt: What happens after the raids?

Egypt: A country divided

Is cutting U.S. aid to Egypt the answer?

A decision to ban the Brotherhood that would have serious repercussions on Egypt's future. It would pour gasoline on a raging fire and deepen and widen the ideological and social rift that already exists. It would represent a hard blow to the fragile democratic experience in Egypt, a severe setback to the institutionalization of democracy. The Brotherhood has millions of followers and cannot be politically eradicated by a stroke of pen or the barrel of a gun. There will be no institutionalization of democracy without the Brotherhood, the biggest and oldest mainstream religiously based Islamist movement in the Middle East.

Moreover, a persecuted Brotherhood whose leaders are either in prison or underground might tempt its young followers to take arms against state and society, as some supporters retaliated violently, following the 21 police stations and scores of Coptic churches burnt already last week. Unless steps are taken to defuse the escalating crisis, Egypt will likely descend into long-term bloodshed and perpetual instability. We may be in for a repeat of the violent insurgency seen in Egypt from 1992 until 1998, an insurgency that killed and injured thousands of Egyptians.

Priority must be given to ending the killing and bloodshed and beginning the healing and reconciliation process, a complex task given the country's deepening and widening polarization and the absence of a credible, neutral third force. The international community's role is pivotal, although excessive intervention by the Western powers would embolden the hardliners within the military-security apparatus and allow them to stirrup hyper nationalist sentiments. Beyond the legal and moral pressure that the international community could exert on Egyptian military rulers, there is an urgent need for mediation and stopping the country's descent into all-out confrontation.

Of all powers, the European Union, along with the United Nations, is the best equipped to assist the Egyptian people and to bridge the divide between the two warring camps. Unlike the United States which is deeply mistrusted by Egyptians of all walks of life because of its intimate ties with the military and Egyptian rulers, the EU is seen as neutral and trustworthy.

Although its previous mission failed to produce a breakthrough, the recent escalation after Muslim Brotherhood camps were broken up, the EU, in coordination with the U.N. and the U.S., must redouble its efforts and impress on the interim government to take concrete steps and confidence-building measures to defuse the crisis, such as stopping the arrests of Brotherhood leaders and releasing others. Political talks would follow on ways and means to assure the Islamists that they would not be excluded from participation in the transitional road map.

There is no guarantee of success and a high probability of failure. Nevertheless, the world community cannot afford to remain passive in the face of the unfolding bloodbath in Egypt and the inherent risks to regional stability and international peace.

This article is taken from CNN.com

Kentucky hospital settles lawsuit over pediatric program

(CNN) -- The University of Kentucky has settled its case with the state over the release of safety data for its embattled pediatric heart surgery program, which was closed last year following patient deaths.

The dispute stems from a request last year by a local radio reporter for information about the program. The university declined to give that information, citing patient privacy laws, but then released it August 9 when a CNN investigation caused an uproar among parents of children with congenital heart disease.

"We are pleased that the litigation has been resolved," said university spokesman Jay Blanton. "The university was not put in the position of having to disclose patient and family information that would violate either peer review or privacy laws -- both of which are protected by federal laws."

The Kentucky attorney general got involved in December when the university declined to provide the safety data requested by Brenna Angel, then a radio reporter for WUKY. The attorney general asked the university to make the information public, but the university declined, and sued Angel in order to keep it private.

After the CNN report, the university revealed that the pediatric heart program had a higher mortality rate than the national average.

The university still hasn't released all the information Angel had asked for under the state's open records law, but she issued a statement last week saying she had agreed to a dismissal of the case.

"UK's release of its mortality rates in the pediatric cardiothoracic surgery program has achieved in large part my purpose for filing the open records request," wrote Angel, who now works in the Lexington mayor's office. "Families who are entrusting their children to UK Healthcare now have access to this type of information."

Among the pieces of information Angel asked for that still have not been released are documents relating to the evaluation and accreditation of the pediatric heart program and the date of the last surgery completed by the university's chief heart surgeon, who has since resigned.

"The University is not required to disclose any documents, remaining mortality statistics (which are protected by federal law), or any dates," William Thro, University of Kentucky general counsel, wrote to the board of trustees on August 16, adding, "We could see further litigation involving other media outlets."

The university is planning to reopen its pediatric heart surgery program after conducting a review, which it anticipates will be completed in the next few weeks, according to Blanton, the UK spokesman.

"When the review is completed, we will release as much of the final report as federal and state law allow," he said, adding that the report will be "focused most intently on how best to move forward than as a retrospective examination."

Tabitha Rainey, whose infant son, Waylon, went into heart failure after having surgery at UK, said she's concerned the university will keep crucial parts of the review a secret.

"They've used federal and state laws before when they didn't want to give statistics, so what's to say they won't do that again?" she said.

This article is taken from CNN.com

Aisha Tyler's recipe for success: Fail, and fail hard

(CNN) -- Aisha Tyler is not your typical comedian.

The 42-year-old is a 6 foot tall woman who snowboards, camps, raps about her lack of a rear end, and can't dance.

"I will never be the lead in Step it Up 17: Old lady gets to Krumpin'," she writes in her new book. "I have made my peace with this."

While she might lack rhythm, the Dartmouth grad speaks fluent French, with some functionality in Russian and Swahili.

Tyler was the first black recurring character on Friends, has filled in for the late movie critic Robert Ebert and taken on gamers who questioned her nerd status.

A few funny things happened on the way to the native San Franciscan finding success as Lana Kane in the edgy animated FX series "Archer," and hosting "The Talk, and the CW's "Who's Line is It Anyway?" She (regrettably) wore two-toned hair and a see-through dress on the red carpet, survived throwing up on a guy during their first date, and bombed countless times on stage.

In "Self-Inflicted Wounds," her second book, Tyler argues that the path to success is paved with epic failures. And she's not afraid to share her own hard-luck stories for a laugh or to show that fear of striking out should never keep you from swinging for the fences.

CNN recently caught up with the host of the podcast "Girl on Guy," which inspired the book, out now. The edited conversation is below.

CNN: How did an Ivy League grad, with a degree in political science and environmental studies, become interested in comedy?

Tyler: Well, I think I was always interested in comedy. I was always a very, kind of, fiction-obsessed kid, and a big reader, and just loved make-believe. And then in high school I started to do improv, and sketch comedy, and did that all the way through college. I was always interested in performing ... I just came from a really academically driven family. I was really focused on school, so it just never seemed like a real job to me.

And so after I got my degree in government and environmental studies, I thought, "Well, now I have a degree and I can take a risk and see if it will pay off because I can always go back to a traditional job."

CNN: Throughout the book, you share stories of your self-inflicted wounds. In some way it is an anti-self-help book, showing how failure can help in your success. Why write about the failures?

Tyler: I always tell people that success is not the absence of failure, success is persistence through failure. So it does show how failure can help. I mean I think there are a lot of people who are crippled by a failure. Crippled by something that goes wrong in their lives. And we're crippled by a fear of failure.

And the people who say, who say, you know "I don't want to try this. I would like to be a comedian, but I'm afraid I'm going to fail. I want to write a book, but I'm afraid I'm going to fail." And well I say, "You are. You are going to fail. There's no doubt about it that something's going to go terribly wrong."

An indivisible aspect of being alive, of being human, of being on this planet, and if you're not failing, you're not innovating. If you're not failing, you're not risking. So go for it, and then use the failure as a fuel, use it as a way to become mentally tough because it's absolutely unavoidable.

CNN: What is it that you want people to most understand about you?

Tyler: That I'm not trying to live up to anybody else's expectations of who I am. I'm going to, not that I'm striving consciously to be an iconic class, but I'm definitely also not striving to meet some set parameters either as an actress, or a comedian, or an artist, or anything. I'm just trying to do what I find compelling.

CNN: What would you tell your younger self about who you are now?

Tyler: I would probably tell my younger self, "Don't worry about it. You're always going to be a weirdo, and at some point that's going to be OK. That's eventually going to be your calling card, or your badge of courage, that you're going to be a weird kid."

I mean even now, when I stand on stage, earlier in my career anyway, when people didn't know I did stand-up, I would get up on stage and I would be a 6-foot-tall black woman, people had very specific expectations about what was going to come out of my mouth. And I've never ever been able to satisfy those expectations, and I realized very early on that I wasn't going to change who I was to fulfill a set of expectations that people had about me. And I just plowed ahead until my audience found me. So I never stopped being a weird kid. Just that I found weird people who liked what I did.

CNN: How has being different shaped your journey?

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Tyler: I hated when I was a kid being told that, "Black people don't do that." And the white kids at school didn't accept me because I was black, and the black kids in my neighborhood didn't accept me because they thought I thought I was white. So that was fine. I was in a no-man's land. And that meant I just got to do what I thought was interesting. And that's just who I've been since then. And it's guided all of my decisions, which is I have never stopped to think, "Oh, you know, does this fit?" I just do what I want to do.

CNN: What do you believe in?

Tyler: I believe in hard work. I think that everything flows out of that. It doesn't mean that you're going to be successful, or traditionally successful because sometimes the world is just unfair, and untalented people get promoted and talented people get left behind, but if you are doing something that you love and you put a lot of hard work into it, you will be rewarded, and that's been the thing I've hewn to for my entire adult life.

CNN: Anything else?

Tyler: You can't control where you were born, the family you were born into, what you look like, you can't control any of those circumstances, the only thing you can control is how you react.

So for my entire life that's been the rule that has governed my decisions. I can't control what's fair and unfair, I can't control the nature of the business, or the nature of society, or the nature of the world, but what I can control is how I choose to see the world and what I choose to put back into it.

This article is taken from CNN.com

Police: Gun found in woman's car linked to double killing, Aaron Hernandez probe

(CNN) -- A gun found during a traffic accident investigation two months ago has been linked to a 2012 double slaying that police are investigating in connection with Aaron Hernandez, law enforcement sources said Tuesday.

After a June 21 four-vehicle crash on Interstate 91 in Springfield, Massachusetts, Jailene Diaz-Ramos, 19, was taken to a hospital. During a search of her vehicle -- which is customary when a car is towed from a crash scene -- Massachusetts State Police found a firearm and several rounds of ammunition, according to the incident report.

The gun's ballistics match the markings on the bullets found after two men were killed outside a Boston bar last year, two law enforcement sources said.

The evidence has been presented to a grand jury hearing details of the double homicide, a law enforcement source said.

Investigation turns to Hernandez's fiancee

Diaz-Ramos was not licensed to carry the weapon and was charged with possession of a firearm without a license, possession of ammunition without a license and improper storage of a firearm, the incident report said.

Aaron Hernandez's fiancée investigated

Police search lake in Hernandez case

When asked, the teenager told police the .38-caliber weapon belonged to her boyfriend and that "he was the last one to use the car to visit a football player," according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case. It's unclear if she named the football player.

Hernandez, a former New England patriot tight end, is being investigated in connection with the double killing in Boston's South End, law enforcement sources said.

Diaz-Ramos' connection to Hernandez is unclear, but she and her boyfriend are both from Bristol, Connecticut, Hernandez's hometown, police say.

The teenager was released on bail after her initial appearance at Springfield District Court, according to police.

Search warrant: Hernandez stored guns in box

In June, law enforcement sources said they believe Hernandez, 23, rented a silver SUV with Rhode Island registration that was linked to the scene of the double homicide. Police searched for the vehicle for almost a year before locating and impounding, the source said.

Separately, Hernandez is accused with the killing of friend Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semipro football player whose body was found in an industrial park less than a mile from Hernandez's home. Hernandez has pleaded not guilty.

This article is taken from CNN.com