Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/12/04/this-week%e2%80%99s-hot-deals-from-techbargains/
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
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Monday, December 5, 2011
Tiny church in NYC awaiting Supreme Court decision (AP)
NEW YORK ? A Christian congregation with just 48 members and not even a storefront is hoping the Supreme Court will overturn a ruling that says holding its Sunday service in a Bronx public school is unconstitutional.
At issue is a New York City Board of Education policy that allows community groups, including religious ones, to use its buildings, but specifically excludes worship services.
A divided federal appeals court upheld the policy in June, reversing a district judge. The Supreme Court is considering whether to review the case and could decide that on Monday. If it grants review, its eventual opinion could be a landmark decision, the church's lawyer says.
Robert Hall, co-pastor of the evangelical Bronx Household of Faith, said last week that his little group never expected to get involved in a big-time court case that has now lasted 17 years.
"I can assure you this wasn't strategic planning on our part," the 68-year-old Minnesota native said. "Basically we just outgrew the place we were meeting," a Christian halfway house for men.
In 1994, church leaders looked at the nearby public school in its University Heights neighborhood, applied for a permit to hold its worship service there, and were denied.
That began a legal wrangle that reached the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals four times as Supreme Court decisions came down and the law evolved.
An early key moment came in 1995 when Hall, who has been with the church for 39 years, heard Alliance Defense Fund staff attorney Jordan Lorence on the radio, discussing barriers to religious rights.
"He called me up and said, `We're facing that issue right here,'" Lorence said.
Enter the ADF, a conservative group that says it champions "the legal defense of religious freedom, the sanctity of life, marriage and the family." It has been on the case since and is bearing the costs. Lorence is the lead attorney.
"We took the case to defend the First Amendment principle of equal access," Lorence said. "This is private religious speech and we're requesting equal access to meet in the buildings the way New York City allows all other community groups to meet."
In 2002, during a time when the city was enjoined from enforcing its policy, the Household of Faith began using Public School 15, and it has been there ever since.
In its most recent ruling, in June, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals noted that the while city policy excludes religious worship from its buildings, it does not exclude "prayer, singing hymns, religious instruction, expression of religious devotion, or the discussion of issues from a religious point of view."
The court found the distinction reasonable, saying that when worship services are held in a school, "The place has, at least for a time, become the church."
The court said the distinction accommodated a 2001 Supreme Court decision allowing a Christian organization to use public school facilities. It also was a reasonable way for the city to avoid violating the Constitution's prohibition on government favoring any religion, the court said.
The Board of Education praised the ruling, saying it was "concerned about having any school in this diverse city identified with one particular religious belief or practice." However, it is allowing the 60 or so congregations that now hold services in schools to continue, pending Supreme Court action.
Lorence said the distinction between religious expression and worship is arbitrary.
"You can have singing and prayer and Bible study, with all the elements of what people traditionally understand a worship service to be, but you can't have a worship service?" he said.
He theorized that a group could hold a worship service and not call it that, "and the school district will need a theologian to figure out whether the group is conducting a worship service or not."
Hall said the Household of Faith's service lasts 90 minutes or more and includes Scripture readings, hymns, communion with grape juice and bread, preaching and "spontaneous prayer" from the congregation.
Lorence said he found "bizarre" the concept that the auditorium at Public School 15 becomes a church if worship is conducted there.
"When a labor union meets there, it doesn't turn into a labor hall," he said. "When Alcoholics Anonymous meets there, it doesn't turn into the Betty Ford Clinic."
But Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said, "When a church sets up shop in a public school in a manner that conveys the appearance that the church is part of, or officially favored by, the school, it seems to run afoul of the separation of church and state."
Lorence predicted the Supreme Court would grant review and reverse the 2nd Circuit. But if not, he said, "It's over for the Bronx Household of Faith" because he can no longer go back to the 2nd Circuit.
"We're at high noon here," he said.
Pastor Hall said the church isn't worried. Though the church office is Hall's home, and some of their meetings are held in backyards, they are raising funds to complete construction of a building across from P.S. 15 that would handle all their needs, including youth ministry and worship services.
"Nobody's getting angry, there's no bad-mouthing the Board of Ed," he said. "We're kind of rolling with the punches and trusting in the Lord that he will work things out according to his good wisdom."
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Toyota to announce earnings forecast on Friday (Reuters)
TOKYO (Reuters) ? Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) will announce an earnings forecast on Friday for the financial year to March 2012, as it steadily restores production disrupted by Thai flooding that forced it to withdraw its outlook a month earlier.
Toyota's output has returned to normal levels at most of its production sites worldwide, although Thai and South African plants continue operating at reduced rates after Thailand's worst floods in 50 years hit suppliers, cutting global output by 215,000 vehicles from October 10 to November 25.
The relatively quick compilation of new guidance contrasts with Honda Motor Co (7267.T), which was hit particularly hard when its own facilities were inundated by floods in central Thailand and also withdrew its annual earnings guidance when it announced half-year results.
Honda said last week it was aiming to give a full-year forecast with its third-quarter results, usually released in late January.
"Toyota is doing well compared to Honda (regarding the Thai floods) and its share of the market is growing as a whole," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co.
"I think the numbers will be as expected, and the fact that they are releasing them now is a good thing."
Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) raised its outlook when it gave its half-year figures, as it adapted more quickly to the disruptions triggered by the Thai flooding.
The floods hit just as Toyota's supply chains had recovered from the devastating March 11 earthquake in northeast Japan.
Japan's biggest automaker had been projecting an operating profit of 450 billion yen ($5.77 billion) for the year to March 2012 when it withdrew its forecast on November 8, compared with 468.28 billion yen the year before.
The consensus forecast of 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S calls for an operating profit of 422 billion yen, down from a 486 billion yen average forecast from 21 analysts at the time the company's guidance was withdrawn.
Toyota's profits have also been eroded by the strong yen, which is making its exports unprofitable and reduces the value of profits earned overseas when they are repatriated.
The company is nevertheless sticking to a commitment to manufacturing in Japan, despite disadvantages when competing globally against rivals such as Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS).
Monday's news came after the end of share trading in Tokyo.
Toyota shares climbed 2.7 percent on Monday, outperforming a 0.6 percent rise in the benchmark Nikkei average (.N225), as well as Honda's 0.8 percent fall and Nissan's 0.1 percent gain.
Since the March 11 earthquake, Toyota and Honda have both dropped about 26 percent, while Nissan is down 11 percent.
($1 = 77.97 yen)
(Additional reporting by Mari Saito and Mayumi Negishi; Writing by Edmund Klamann; Editing by Joseph Radford)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111205/bs_nm/us_toyota
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Sunday, December 4, 2011
Austrian chancellor backs EU treaty change: report (Reuters)
VIENNA (Reuters) ? Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann backs changes to the European Union treaty that would create a political and economic powerhouse even at the cost of relinquishing some national sovereignty, he told a Sunday newspaper.
The Social Democrat told Kurier he also saw room for the European Central Bank to step up purchases of distressed euro zone countries' bonds once members of the currency union put in place measures to steady their finances and cut debt.
Faymann, who governs in an uneasy coalition with the conservative People's Party (OVP), would have to convince a skeptical Austrian public to support sweeping changes to the EU treaty in a vote he said could take up to four years to hold.
"I assume that in the medium to long term we will build a common Europe in which we will relinquish responsibilities. In a referendum I would vote for it and lobby for it," he was quoted as saying before a key EU summit on Friday.
"I believe that we are stronger if we gradually build up this common Europe than if we withdraw into isolationism and tell ourselves the schilling (former currency) will come back at some stage and we are 27 countries again that act alone."
Faymann said Austrians would not have to vote on any EU treaty change that simply required countries to agree to balance their budgets and then stick to the fiscal rules.
But any change that let the European Commission intervene in national budgets would trigger a referendum in Austria in a process he said would take 2-4 years to organize.
He reiterated he could well imagine a system that let each country set its own budget but have the European Court of Justice monitor this, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also suggested.
MIND THE GAP
But even the Austrian government seems divided.
Conservative leader and Deputy Chancellor Michael Spidelegger told the Oesterreich paper he favored balanced-budget rules and clear penalties for violators, adding: "I favor giving the Commission more supervision rights. I do not think much of setting the European Court of Justice loose on every national budget. And I clearly oppose having Brussels move into governing countries in future."
An opinion poll published by Oesterreich on Sunday showed the far-right Freedom Party -- a vocal opponent of euro zone bailouts that wants Austria to join a currency union with only other strong euro zone members -- continued to fare well.
Freedom, the biggest opposition party that campaigns on the motto "Our Money for Our People," is neck and neck with Social Democrats at 27 percent and ahead of OVP on 24 percent, according to a Karmasin poll of 400 people conducted this week.
Faymann said he saw scope for a bigger ECB role in fighting the sovereign debt crisis and for joint debt issues once countries had their finances in shape. "I do see that the ECB can buy more bonds. First we have to lay the foundation, which means ensuring stability and less debt."
"The next part of the European house means of course -- as in the United States -- that we can have common state bonds. State bonds used to be safe and should become so again."
He said he would again propose at the EU summit adopting a tax on financial transactions, which could raise 1 billion euros ($1.34 billion) in Austria alone. "And if Britain does not go along, we should introduce it in the euro zone," he said.
The conservative-led finance ministry opposes joint euro bonds and refrains from advising the ECB what action to take.
($1 = 0.7446 euro)
(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Dan Lalor)
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Saturday, December 3, 2011
SAP to pay $3.4B for SuccessFactors (AP)
SAN FRANCISCO ? SAP said Saturday it is paying $3.4 billion to acquire SuccessFactors, a software company specializing in human resources tasks. It is the latest move in the escalating rivalry between SAP and Oracle Corp., and underscores the increased interest in technology companies that deliver software over the Internet, or in the so-called "cloud."
The deal calls for subsidiary SAP America Inc. to pay $40 per share in cash for SuccessFactors. That is a 52 percent premium over SuccessFactors' closing stock price of $26.25 on Friday. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012.
SAP AG is one of the world's biggest business software makers. The German company's specialty is business applications, such as those used for payroll and managing relationships with customers and suppliers.
SuccessFactors, based in San Mateo, Calif., is a big maker of cloud-based human resources applications. The company focuses on applications for managing relationships with employees, such as organizing and developing performance reviews and bonuses. The company says it has more than 3,500 customers. It lost $12.5 million on $205.9 million in revenue last year.
"The cloud is a core of SAP's future growth, and the combination of SuccessFactors' leadership team and technology with SAP will create a cloud powerhouse," Bill McDermott, an SAP co-CEO, said in a statement.
The deal is part of the growing rivalry between SAP and Oracle. Oracle's push into SAP's turf of business applications has been a multibillion-dollar affair. Oracle's boisterous CEO Larry Ellison has pursued big-ticket acquisitions that have made his database software company a major player, behind SAP, in many different realms of the business software world. SAP is the dominant maker of business applications.
The feud has gotten personal. Oracle won a $1.3 billion jury verdict against SAP last year over the widespread theft by a now-shuttered SAP subsidiary of documents from password-protected Oracle customer websites. Oracle alleged the information was used to steal business. A judge threw out the award, calling it "grossly excessive" and setting the stage for a retrial.
Oracle landed a publicity jackpot from the trial. Ellison used it to repeatedly shame SAP publicly. SAP admitted the theft and agreed to pay $20 million to settle criminal charges filed by the Department of Justice over the former subsidiary's practices.
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S.Africa: Funds raised to fight rhino poaching (AP)
JOHANNESBURG ? A fundraising campaign aimed at putting rhino poachers in jail was welcomed Friday by South African conservationists.
Michael Knight, head of park planning and development for South Africa's national parks department, said money raised by the Florida-based International Rhino Federation would be used to support such efforts as teaching park employees how to safeguard evidence at crime scenes.
More South African rhinos were poached ? 341 ? in the first 10 months of 2011 than in all of 2010, which was a record poaching year with 333 animals lost. The International Rhino Federation project is for parks in South Africa and neighboring Zimbabwe, which also has seen increased poaching.
An Asian economic boom in recent years is believed to be behind the spike in poaching, with a growing middle class in countries like China and Vietnam able to afford exotic purported remedies like powdered rhino horn.
"We're losing animals like crazy," Knight, who also chairs the rhino specialist group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, said in an interview. "But the prosecutions are falling way behind."
Knight said police in isolated areas of South Africa are not always experienced in investigating environmental crime. He said rangers and others would be trained to support police and prosecutors.
In court, he said, "You need to have the most up-to-date information, you need to have the most convincing arguments."
Morne du Plessis, chief executive of the South African arm of the World Wildlife Fund, said his organization has for several months been involved in a similar project that includes training for prosecutors and judges and creating a team of expert witnesses. He welcomed help from the International Rhino Federation.
"It's work that's absolutely essential," du Plessis said. "In South Africa, we have a particularly poor record of conviction in rhino crime."
He said other, more straightforward crimes compete for the attention of police, prosecutors and judges. He also said law enforcement officials might feel sympathy for the often impoverished locals employed by international syndicates as poachers.
"These are very complex realities of a developing country like South Africa," du Plessis said.
The International Rhino Federation launched its fundraising this week. Donations will fund training in collecting evidence and information. The federation also plans to distribute basic crime scene kits containing cameras, fingerprinting materials and evidence bags.
In an interview, federation director Susie Ellis said that an anonymous donor kicked off the fund with $25,000. She said she spoke with South African security officials in March about how best to use the money.
"It's a small project that we hope will have a big impact," she said, adding the first training session is set for early February in South Africa.
____
Online:
http://www.rhinos-irf.org
____
Donna Bryson can be reached on http://twitter.com/dbrysonAP
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Friday, December 2, 2011
S&P downgrades ratings on world's major banks
By Eileen AJ Connelly, The Associated Press
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has lowered its credit ratings for many of the world's largest financial institutions, including the biggest banks in the U.S.
Bank of America Corp. and its main subsidiaries are among the institutions whose ratings fell at least one notch Tuesday, along with Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co.
S&P said the changes in 37 financial companies' ratings reflect the firm's new criteria for banks, and they incorporate shifts in the industry and the role of governments and central banks worldwide. The agency did not release its evaluation of each company but said it plans to discuss the changes during a conference call early Wednesday.
Bank of America's issuer credit rating was cut to "A-" from "A," as were its Countrywide Financial Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. units, along with a series of related subsidiaries
Ratings downgrades are never seen as positive, but this round may be particularly damaging for Bank of America.
Concern already was growing Tuesday about whether B of A has enough capital to withstand another downturn in the U.S. economy or further trouble in Europe, and the bank's stock fell to a two-year low before the ratings announcement.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank said in a recent regulatory filing that downgrades from S&P or Fitch Ratings, which also is reevaluating its ratings, "could likely have a material adverse effect on our liquidity" and cut off its access to credit markets.
It typically costs companies more to borrow when their credit ratings are cut, the same way a decline in a person's credit scores drives up the interest rates that banks and credit cards will offer him.
Downgrades could hurt parts of the bank's businesses where creditworthiness is critical, Bank of America said in a filing Nov. 3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A downgrade also could trigger provisions in derivative contracts that require B of A to put up more collateral, and it could terminate the contracts, resulting in losses and hurting the bank's liquidity. The bank posted a $6.2 billion profit for the third quarter, mostly the result of accounting gains and the sale of a stake in a Chinese bank, but it was still moving toward a loss for the year as of Sept. 30.
Bank of America shares fell 17 cents, or 3.2 percent, to close Tuesday at $5.08 and lost another penny after hours.
S&P cut its rating on Citigroup Inc.'s credit to "A-" from "A"; a series of its subsidiaries also saw changes. Citigroup shares closed up 19 cents, at $25.24, and lost 14 cents aftermarket.
Goldman Sachs also was cut to "A-" from "A," which triggered some downgrades for subsidiaries. The investment bank's shares closed regular trading down $1.62, at $88.81, and lost another 12 cents in late trading.
JPMorgan Chase's rating also dropped to "A" from "A+," and its Chase Bank unit was downgraded to "A+" from "AA-" and other subsidiaries ratings also changed. JPMorgan Chase took the place of Bank of America as the nation's largest bank in recent months.
The bank's stock lost 6 cents aftermarket after closing the regular session down 60 cents, or 2 percent, at $28.56.
Morgan Stanley's rating slipped to "A-" from "A" and several of its units also got cut one notch. Shares slipped 9 cents in late trading from their close down 49 cents, or 3.6 percent, at $13.31.
Wells Fargo fell to "A+" from "AA-" which likewise triggered downgrades for several subsidiaries. Shares closed down 7 cents at $24.08, then lost 18 cents aftermarket.
In addition, Bank of New York Mellon Corp., the sixth biggest bank in the U.S., was cut to "A+" from "AA-," and some units were downgraded. Bank of New York Mellon is a custodian bank, which collects dividends on stocks and holds cash deposits, among other things, on behalf of its customers, which are mainly large pension funds and money market funds. The stock closed down a penny at $18.08, then lost 8 cents in late trading.
Top U.K. downgrades include Barclays PLC, HSBC Holdings PLC, Lloyds Banking Group PLC and The Royal Bank of Scotland.
Ratings for several big European banks, including Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, ING Groep N.V. and Societe Generale were unchanged, but in some cases they were given a "negative" outlook.
? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/30/9113173-sp-downgrades-ratings-on-worlds-major-banks
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