Tata, Woolworths end 5-year partnership - report (Reuters)

MUMBAI (Reuters) ? Tata Group has not renewed a five-year agreement with Australia's largest retailer Woolworths for retailing consumer electronics in India, the Economic Times reported on Monday, quoting unnamed persons close to the development.

Tata-promoted Infiniti Retail, which runs the Croma and Croma Zip stores, did not renew the agreement that ended in October, and has begun setting up independent warehouses in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai, the paper said.

Woolworths provided strategic sourcing to Infiniti from its global network, but the partnership did not involve any financial investment, the report said.

Woolworths is understood to be exploring legal options to challenge Infiniti Retail's decision to call off the partnership, the paper said.

"We are committed to our India business, our alliance with the Tatas and our retail electronics relationship with Infiniti Retail," Woolworths said in an emailed reply to the paper.

The Tata group's external spokeswoman did not immediately respond to queries on the matter. Woolworths officials in India could not be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Prashant Mehra; Editing by Aradhana Aravindan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/india/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111024/india_nm/india600820

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Can Obama take the economy off the table in 2012? (The Week)

New York ? Expect the president, eager to distract voters from his embarrassing record on the economy, to repeatedly tout his foreign policy successes

Conventional wisdom predicts that the 2012 presidential election will be primarily about jobs and economic growth, and that doesn't bode well for the incumbent at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It's been more than 70 years since we re-elected an incumbent president with unemployment above 8 percent. Even though the official jobless rate under Ronald Reagan went higher than we have seen under Barack Obama (10.8 percent in November and December 1982), it dropped below 9 percent 13 months before the 1984 election, and descended to 7.2 percent in June 1984, with the economy gaining a stunning 6.55 million jobs in just 19 months, averaging a gain of 345,210 jobs per month during that period. ?

No one expects that kind of job growth in this cycle. It's highly unlikely that the economy will move from a liability to an asset for President Obama or the Democrats. If conventional wisdom and electoral history hold, Obama will be a one-term president. But what if he could turn voters' attention away from the sputtering economy and make 2012 into an election based on a perceived strength in foreign policy and his performance as a war president?

If conventional wisdom and electoral history hold, Obama will be a one-term president.

Undoubtedly, Obama's team will want to highlight non-economic issues, especially those that potentially provide contrast with Republican hopefuls. This will be especially true for the current crop of GOP frontrunners, two of whom have extensive private-sector records of financial success (Mitt Romney and Herman Cain), and the other with a public-sector record of managing a job-creating environment (Rick Perry). The obvious choice for differentiation will be foreign policy, especially Obama's record on military action.

That does have some potential for Obama. The president has racked up some impressive scores on the battlefield in the war on terror, including Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki. The stepped-up drone strikes in Pakistan has crippled the leadership of al Qaeda, and Obama's order to kill pirates holding Americans hostage gave an early indication that this president would not shrink from wielding American power???at least on some occasions. He also clearly wanted to claim some credit for the death of Moammar Gadhafi, which was enabled by Western military strikes, if not directly creditable to them.

It doesn't hurt that Obama's potential rivals also seem to be talking about everything but the economy. The big takeaway topics from recent Republican presidential debates have ranged from HPV vaccinations to hostage negotiation with terrorists, and from the finer points of book publishing and between-edition edits to the ins and outs of subcontracted lawn care. Only when Herman Cain hit a big polling updraft did the Republican presidential candidates get around to seriously discussing economic policy during the debates, even if all they did initially was attack Cain's plan. ?

However, Obama will have some problems in using foreign policy to distract from America's economic woes. First, while Obama gets credit for taking out bin Laden, voters expected an American president to take that shot if the opportunity presented itself. Obama got a momentary boost in polling from the success of the mission, but the short duration of that bump tells the story of how successful an "I Got Bin Laden" campaign strategy will be in 2012. That will also be true of the withdrawal from Iraq, which took place on George W. Bush's timetable rather than Obama's. The killing of Awlaki proved a lot more politically difficult, as civil libertarians on both sides of the partisan divide questioned whether Obama had overstepped the law in targeting an American citizen for a military strike, even though most Americans seemed to have no trouble with the decision.

The case of Gadhafi is even murkier. While no one will miss the brutal tyrant, we may not like what follows next, either. Already the new regime in Tripoli has announced the imposition of certain elements of Sharia law ahead of any democratic reforms, and the death of the dictator at the hands of the militia that captured him doesn't give a lot of confidence about the discipline of the new government's security apparatus. Thousands of shoulder-fired missiles have gone missing, and the U.S. says that terrorist groups are trying their best to get their hands on these weapons, mostly Soviet-era SA-7s that work well against civilian and military aircraft at lower altitudes. It won't take more than one or two successful shots at American aircraft?by terrorists?with these weapons to remind people how the missiles got out onto the open market in the first place.

A debate on foreign policy would also inevitably return focus to Obama's handling of the Israeli-Palestinian impasse, and that won't be a good topic for the incumbent. Obama's inept handling of the issue of building in Jerusalem in the early months of his presidency gave Mahmoud Abbas an excuse to bail out of direct negotiations, even though Abbas had never made the issue a deal-breaker before Obama's intervention. The president's demand for Israel to return to 1967 "borders" as a condition of negotiation???rather than a result of direct negotiation with the Palestinians???earned him a lecture from Benjamin Netanyahu and rebukes from Senate Democrats. Even Hamas rejected Obama's demand (although obviously for different reasons), making Obama look foolish and unschooled on the issues.

Lastly, though, the American voters won't allow Obama or his eventual Republican challenger to change the subject too often. While foreign policy and national security will surely be important topics in the 2012 election, they will not override the personal experience of so many Americans living through the worst economy in decades, especially with their homes devalued to the point of being albatrosses rather than assets, and little hope in sight for significant growth. Voters demanded change based on economic and fiscal policy in both 2008 and 2010, and it's a safe bet that 2012 will be fought on the exact same lines.

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20111025/cm_theweek/220682

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Caterpillar, Europe hopes fuel Wall Street gains (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stocks rose on Monday, as a flurry of merger activity and strong earnings from Caterpillar boosted investor sentiment and kept the three-week rally intact.

Equities have risen on hopes a resolution to Europe's sovereign debt crisis is on the horizon and a reduced likelihood of a U.S. recession after stronger-than-expected corporate results and economic data.

Adding to the positive tone was a batch of M&A activity in the health care and technology sectors involving deals totaling

more than $5 billion.

Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) jumped 5 percent to $91.77 to lead the Dow higher after the world's largest heavy equipment maker reported a 44 percent jump in quarterly profit on record revenues.

"The market is completely convinced at the moment that Europe is going to be successful with a plan that the market is going to like -- that they think is credible -- clearly," said Ken Polcari, managing director at ICAP Equities in New York.

"The other thing is this week is a big, big week in terms of mining names, energy names, industrial names . We've gotten some good forecasts going forward, so as long as all that holds, that is what is fueling this fire."

Companies due to report on Tuesday include DuPont (DD.N), 3M Co (MMM.N) and United States Steel (X.N).

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) advanced 104.83 points, or 0.89 percent, to 11,913.62. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX)(.INX) rose 15.95 points, or 1.29 percent, to 1,254.20. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) gained 61.98 points, or 2.35 percent, to 2,699.44.

The gains on Monday put the S&P 500 up nearly 11 percent for the month, putting the benchmark index on track for its best monthly performance since December 1991.

According to Thomson Reuters data, of the 142 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported quarterly earnings through Monday, 68 percent have topped Wall Street estimates.

The recent rally has pushed the broad index to the top of its trading range between 1,230 and 1,250 where it has struggled to advance due to conflicting headlines from Europe. The 50-day moving average recently turned upward, reflecting the positive bias but the index has yet to break above its 200-day moving average at the 1,274 level.

Even though earnings fueled gains, solving Europe's debt crisis will be crucial to further gains. Light volume suggested investors would remain cautious until the details of the euro zone plan were known.

"We remain within that trading range and this week is going to be chock full of these earnings. Like Caterpillar today was a very strong number, so if we continue to get that this week, don't be surprised to see the market go there," said Polcari.

Oracle Corp (ORCL.O) said it would acquire RightNow Technologies Inc (RNOW.O), which provides cloud-based customer services software, for about $1.5 billion, or $43 per share. RightNow surged 19.4 percent to $42.94 while Oracle added 2.3 percent to $32.87.

Cigna Corp (CI.N) will acquire HealthSpring Inc (HS.N), a Medicare health provider, for $3.8 billion, or $55 a share. Cigna edged up 1.4 percent to $45.34 and HealthSpring jumped 33.7 percent to $53.71. The Morgan Stanley healthcare payor index (.HMO) climbed 4.7 percent.

Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) shares plummeted 27.2 percent to $86.51 after the close as the video rental company warned of continued steep declines in DVD subscribers this quarter and said a costly expansion into Britain and Ireland would push it into the red in the first quarter.

Netflix also reported a better-than-expected 49 percent rise in third-quarter revenue.

European policymakers deferred a final decision on a strategy to end a sovereign debt crisis as they neared agreement on bank recapitalization and on how to leverage a rescue fund to try to stop bond market contagion. The leaders were due to meet again Wednesday.

Volume was on the light side, with about 7.87 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq, slightly below the daily average of 8.01 billion.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2.489 to 528, while on the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners 2,080 to 474.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111024/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

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Mom shielding kids is shot dead outside school

NEW YORK?? A gunman opened fire on a street as students were let out of school Friday afternoon, killing one parent who had tried to shield children from harm and injuring an 11-year-old girl and another parent, police and school officials said.

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The shooting happened at about 2:30 p.m. Police told The New York Times that a man fired at least a dozen shots with an automatic pistol onto Watkins Street from the top of a five-story building on Pitkin Avenue.

A 34-year-old woman, Zurana Horton, who had hovered over students to protect them as shots were fired, was struck in the face and chest and was pronounced dead at the scene. A 31-year-old woman was hit in an arm and the chest and was hospitalized.

The 11-year-old girl, a sixth-grader at the Brooklyn school, injured one of her arms and had a graze wound on her cheek.

The girl's mother told NBC New York that "her face is opened up and she's scared to death. She's only a little girl."

The child's aunt said "somebody has died, my niece could have died, and another woman along with that could have died."

The family pleaded for people to come forward if they have information about the shooters.

The victims were not related, police said.

The two women and several children were outside the Peanut Lucky Supermarket, the Times said, diagonally across the street from the back of the elementary school when the gunshots rang out.

Horton ?was seen moments before she was shot, hovering over several children to protect them as the shots were fired,? police spokesman Paul J. Browne told the Times. ?She probably saved lives.?

Seven shell casings from a 9mm semi-automatic pistol were found on the nearby rooftop. Five other shell casings were found on the sidewalk in the front of that building, police said.

Three men were seen fleeing the scene, and police were questioning at least one person.

Police offered a $12,000 reward for information in the case, Browne said.

He told the Times that police believe the shooting was related to a fight between at least two groups of teenagers on the street who were ?throwing things at each other.?

The school's neighborhood, Brownsville, is in southeastern Brooklyn and is among the most crime-plagued in the city. It's also where tens of thousands of people, mostly black and Hispanic men, are stopped, questioned and frisked annually by police. Critics say the men are being unfairly targeted, and only about 10 percent of stops city-wide result in arrest.

Police say the tactic is a necessary crime-fighting tool that helps get illegal guns off the streets.

"Police conduct stops of individuals evincing suspicious behavior in areas where shootings occur in order to prevent, or at least lower, the frequency of tragedies like the one in Brownsville today," Browne said.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press, Chris Glorioso of NBC New York and msnbc.com staff.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44995919/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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U.S. defense chief heads to Asia as budget cuts loom (Reuters)

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Reuters) ? Defense Secretary Leon Panetta left on Friday for his first trip to Asia as Pentagon chief, aiming to reassure allies that the U.S. military will keep a strong presence in the Pacific -- even in an era of belt-tightening.

Such assurances cannot be taken for granted. The U.S. military is facing at least $450 billion in defense spending cuts over the next decade, reductions Panetta told last week Congress would take the Pentagon "to the edge."

It is also gradually drawing down forces from Afghanistan and, as President Barack Obama announced on Friday, completely withdrawing from Iraq by the end of this year.

As it does so, the Obama administration is expected to shift more attention to Asia, where China's military advances have alarmed neighbors, and where the U.S. military still has more than 80,000 forward-deployed troops in South Korea and Japan alone.

"There's a clear message that I'm going to bring to that region. And the message is this: that we will remain a strong Pacific force in the 21st century and we will maintain a strong presence," Panetta told reporters on his flight, without referring explicitly to the budget debate in Washington.

Panetta's first stop will be Bali, the Indonesian island which is playing host to a meeting of defense ministers from the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). He will meet on Sunday with ASEAN defense ministers and hold talks with Indonesian leaders.

He then leaves for Japan on Monday before continuing to South Korea on Wednesday to complete the week-long trip, during which he will meet his counterparts and talk with U.S. troops.

Speaking to U.S. forces in Italy earlier this month, Panetta cited his concerns about China as he explained plans to keep a strong U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

"In the Pacific, we're concerned about China. The most important thing we can do is to project our force into the Pacific," he said. "To have our carriers there, to have our fleet there, to be able to make very clear to China that we are going to protect international rights to be able to move across the oceans freely."

Fueled by its booming economy, China's military growth in the past decade has exceeded most U.S. forecasts. Attention has focused on emerging capabilities, like its aircraft carrier program, stealth fighter jet and anti-ship ballistic missile.

China reacted angrily to the Obama administration's decision last month to give Taiwan a $5.85 billion arms package, including upgrades to F-16 A/B fighter aircraft.

Panetta told reporters on his flight to Indonesia the United States wanted a positive relationship with China and stressed it was important that "we continue to communicate. It's important that we work together."

"At the same time, I think that China must recognize that in order to have that kind of relationship, that they have to be transparent," he said.

"And they have to be working with us to try to recognize international rules so that all countries can enjoy security, can enjoy navigation rights, right of passage."

(Editing by Todd Eastham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111022/pl_nm/us_usa_defense_asia

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Shuttlesworth eclipsed by King in life and death (AP)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ? When a little-known black Baptist preacher named Martin Luther King took the helm of the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott in 1955, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth was already in Birmingham trying to start a movement, but nobody was paying attention.

Shuttlesworth was from a small church. His credentials and pedigree made it easy for local whites to dismiss him as a radical. Until King came to Birmingham, Shuttlesworth couldn't get the national press to recognize his city as the embodiment of the horrors of the segregated South.

He was just another black preacher getting beat up, said former Atlanta mayor, congressman and United Nations ambassador Andrew Young, who worked alongside King and Shuttlesworth in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. All three men helped establish the organization in 1957.

"They were sued together, they helped organize SCLC together," Young said of King and Shuttlesworth. "He wanted the spotlight very much, but there wasn't but one Martin Luther King."

It was King who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and went on to become the icon of the civil rights movement. Shuttlesworth, who was overshadowed in life by his comrade in the movement, was again eclipsed by King in death.

Though he died nearly three weeks ago, Shuttlesworth is only now being buried. The reason for the delay: The dedication of the King Memorial on the National Mall, sending most of Shuttlesworth's civil rights colleagues to Washington last weekend.

Had they not been there, they would have likely been in Birmingham remembering Shuttlesworth.

"His friends and Martin's friends were the same," Young said. "But you don't have two memorials at the same time if you want your friends to come." Shuttlesworth's funeral will be Monday.

Among the scheduled events this weekend to remember Shuttlesworth were a pastoral remembrance at the historic 16th Street Baptist Church ? where four black girls were killed in a bombing before Sunday services on September 15, 1963 ? and a candlelight vigil across the street in Kelly Ingram Park, made famous the same year when news footage of policemen and firemen unleashing dogs and blasting water hoses on defenseless civil rights marchers was broadcast to a shocked international audience.

Long before the television cameras arrived, Shuttlesworth was there, organizing many such nonviolent protests.

Shuttlesworth survived a Christmas 1956 bombing that destroyed his home, an assault during a 1957 protest, chest injuries when Birmingham authorities turned the hoses on demonstrators in 1963 and countless arrests. He moved to Ohio to pastor a church in the early 1960s, but returned frequently to Alabama for key protests. He came back to live in the Birmingham area after he retired a few years ago.

"He was able to see how the civil rights struggle kept reinventing itself in different forms," said Diane McWhorter, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution."

"He was always there to make it clear that this was a continuous struggle."

McWhorter said she never got the sense that Shuttlesworth was bitter about King overpowering the narrative of the movement, and that he never badmouthed King to her.

"He had a huge ego ... but he never said anything like, `Oh, I should've been the leader of the movement,'" she said. "He kind of recognized that he couldn't have done what King did. But he was just such a key ingredient that it couldn't have happened without him, either."

In his 1963 book "Why We Can't Wait," King himself called Shuttlesworth "one of the nation's most courageous freedom fighters."

After Shuttlesworth's death on Oct. 5 ? the same week the Rev. Joseph Lowery turned 89 and the Rev. Jesse Jackson turned 70 ? Alabama lowered its state flags to half-mast.

"I really do feel like he has sort of gotten his due more and more over the last number of years," McWhorter said. "Partly because he's outlasted everybody, with distinction and class."

Young agreed that Shuttlesworth ultimately received his due, and is recognized as one of the true heroes of the movement. Besides, he pointed out, attention is no substitute for longevity.

"Yes, Martin overshadowed him," Young said of Shuttlesworth. "But he got to live to 89. Martin didn't make it to 40."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111023/ap_on_re_us/us_shuttlesworth_remembered

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Best grilled cheese in the U.S.

By Food & Wine

Courtesy of Grahamwich

Chicago chef Graham Elliot Bowles's take on grilled cheese features Wisconsin cheddar, prosciutto, tomato marmalade and cheese curds.

The best grilled cheese sandwich is the gooiest grilled cheese, says Laura Werlin,?the James Beard Award?winning cookbook author behind this year's "Grilled Cheese, Please!"

"After you bite into it, the cheese should stretch out past your face as far as your arm will reach. Otherwise, it's just not right."

Slideshow: Best Grilled Cheese in the U.S.

While it?s easy to achieve some level of crunchy, buttery excellence at home, chefs and restaurateurs are creating exceptional grilled cheese sandwiches across the country.

Given the West Coast?s reputation for producing great cheeses (there?s even a book titled?"The Guide to West Coast Cheese"), it?s fitting that some of the most delicious innovations are turning up in that part of the country. In San Francisco,?Heidi Gibson,?an?engineer with a degree from MIT,?won the national Grilled Cheese Invitational and opened American Grilled Cheese?Kitchen?in the city?s start-up-heavy SOMA neighborhood. Tech geeks now come for well-constructed sandwiches like the Mousetrap, with cheddar, Havarti and Monterey Jack on artisanal sourdough.

Over-the-top combinations are the specialty at the rabidly popular Grilled Cheese Truck in Los Angeles. In most places, mac and cheese would be served with house-smoked barbecued pork as a side dish. Here, that?s the basis for a Cheesy Mac & Rib Sandwich.

Angelenos looking for more restrained grilled cheeses head to Clementine, where?chef-owner Annie Miler got so excited about her bakery-caf??s 10th-Annual Celebration of Grilled Cheese Month in April 2011 that she offered 10 variations every week that month. A year-round favorite:?extra-sharp white Tillamook cheddar on country white with bacon or roasted cherry tomatoes.

The nouveau grilled cheese trend is now spreading through major cities. A new caf? in Queens, N.Y., called The Queens Kickshaw, focuses on two buzzy foods: grilled cheese and coffee.?The menu takes inspiration from the amazing ethnic diversity of the borough with sandwiches like a Greek-influenced feta with roasted red pepper spread and the French-style?Gruy?re?with pickled and caramelized onions.

Top chefs won?t be left out of the gooey movement either. Chicago?s?Graham Elliot Bowles is known for playful cuisine at Graham Elliot, and the sandwiches at his local take-out joint, Grahamwich, are equally inventive. The grilled cheese on sliced Pullman loaf features Wisconsin cheddar, prosciutto, tomato marmalade and cheese curds, which, when melted, add an extra soft, melty effect.

More from Food & Wine

Source: http://itineraries.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/11/8274235-best-grilled-cheese-in-the-us

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