diaadumack-blog

[diaadumack-blog]

UPDATE 1-InterContinental Hotels in 12 new China brand deals -China head

By Melanie LeeSHANGHAI, Oct 18 (Reuters) - InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has signed 12 contracts for its new China hotel brand with the first opening of the new brand expected in late 2012 or early 2013, its China head said on Tuesday.IHG also intends to expand the China branded hotel overseas in 2-3 years to cater to Chinese tourists abroad, said Keith Barr, IHG's chief executive for the Greater China region.Most of the contracts signed will be in tier 2 and tier 3 cities as well as in Shanghai and Beijing, Barr told reporters in Shanghai.The move to expand the Chinese hotel brand overseas is aimed at attracting the large number of Chinese tourists who will travel worldwide as disposable income rises, he said."(The brand) is rooted in deep consumer insights in China and as probably about 100 million outbound Chinese travel in the near future," he said."We will see this moving to key gateway cities across Asia and globally to meet their consumer needs."Barr said the brand will cater to the taste of the Chinese consumer, from the type of social settings they enjoy to how VIPs and government officials like to be greeted.Earlier in the year, IHG signed a management deal with China's Poly Real Estate Group Co Ltd to cooperate on developing and managing hotels in China.IHG has said that one in four of the hotel rooms it opens over the next five years will be in China, highlighting the market's importance to the company. The firm has 154 hotels in China with about 140 more in the pipeline.

#UPDATE #1InterContinental #Hotels #in #12 #new #China #brand #deals #China #head

[diaadumack-blog]

Tepco: radiation from Fukushima plant declines further

The Fukushima Daiichi plant, 240 kilometers (150 miles) northeast of Tokyo, was damaged in March by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in the world's worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago."Our latest measurements show that radiation from the damaged reactors is 100 million becquerels per hour, which is one eight-millionth of the amount measured soon after the accident," Tokyo Electric Power's (Tepco) vice president Zengo Aizawa told reporters during a monthly review.Aizawa said that this translates to about 0.2 millisievert per year of radiation measured at the fringes of the plant, below the 1 millisievert safety limit according to government guidelines.The amount is half of what Tepco announced at its review a month ago.In light of the progress being made in cooling its damaged reactors, which suffered nuclear fuel meltdowns in the first days of the crisis, Tepco formally brought forward its plan to bring the plant to a state of "cold shutdown" within this year, instead of by January as initially planned.It had said last month it was hoping to achieve a cold shutdown within the year but had not made a formal declaration.Technically, a cold shutdown is a state in which water used to cool nuclear fuel rods remains below 100 degrees Celsius, preventing the fuel from reheating.With the help of newly built cooling systems, Tepco's efforts to cool the reactors have progressed steadily, with temperatures at all three of the damaged reactors falling below 100 degrees late in September.But despite this development, Tepco and the government have been cautious about immediately declaring a cold shutdown."We still need to proceed with care. We need to continue monitoring whether the temperatures of the reactors and radiation levels being emitted remain stable going forward," Yoshinori Moriyama, deputy director-general of the government watchdog Nuclear Industrial and Safety Agency, told the same news conference.Declaring a cold shutdown will have repercussions well beyond the plant as it is one of the criteria the government said must be met before it begins allowing about 80,000 residents evacuated from within a 20 km (12 mile) radius of the plant to go home.Japan faces a massive cleanup task if these residents are to be returned home -- the environmental ministry says about 2,400 square km (930 square miles) of land surrounding Daiichi may need decontamination, an area roughly the size of Luxembourg.Even if a cold shutdown is declared Tepco has acknowledged that it may not be able to remove the fuel from the reactors for another 10 years and that the cleanup at the plant could take several decades.It also has to decontaminate tens of thousands of tonnes of contaminated water pooled at the plant, a result of its efforts to cool the reactors early in the crisis by pumping in vast amounts of water, much of it from the ocean.

#Tepco #radiation #from #Fukushima #plant #declines #further

[diaadumack-blog]

UPDATE 1-Walmart to close Marketside stores next week

* Will keep selling Marketside branded goods elsewhere* Analyst not concerned Express will impact Dollar GeneralBy Jessica WohlOct 14 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc will shut its four Marketside stores next week, abandoning the concept after three years as it works on opening other small shops.Marketside marked Wal-Mart's attempt to give U.S. shoppers a quick place to buy prepared food such as roasted chicken and freshly baked bread for last-minute meals without the need for a trip to a larger grocery store or supercenter. The stores also carry produce, wine and other groceries.The world's largest retailer opened its four Marketside stores in the Phoenix metropolitan area in 2008. A year later, it started to sell some Marketside branded food in other Walmart stores, and it will continue to do so.The four Arizona stores -- in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa and Tempe -- will close on Oct. 21, a spokesman said on Friday.Wal-Mart is not the first U.S. grocer to abandon the concept of a small shop selling prepared food to consumers looking for quick meal solutions. Supervalu Inc shut down a similar upscale concept store in Chicago, Urban Fresh, in 2009 after just over a year.Now, Wal-Mart is banking on another small-store concept, more aligned with its roots, as a potential growth vehicle in rural and urban locations where its larger shops would not work.Wal-Mart's Marketside stores, at roughly 16,000 square feet, are about the same size as the Walmart Express test format the company launched in June.So far, Wal-Mart is pleased with the five Walmart Express stores in Arkansas, North Carolina and Chicago. It plans to have 11 such stores by the end of the year."We continue to believe it will take multiple years for Walmart to perfect this concept, if ever," said Avondale Partners analyst Mark Montagna.The analyst said he does not expect the expansion of Walmart Express to hurt one of its strongest low-priced competitors, Dollar General Corp , which happens to be making some of its small stores a little bigger.Walmart Express, still in its infancy, recently came under new leadership.Anthony Hucker, who had been a Wal-Mart vice president overseeing Walmart Express, left to join Ahold's Giant Landover grocery division in September.Debra Layton, senior vice president for small formats, layouts and space productivity, is now in charge of Walmart Express.SHRINKING STORE SIZESWalmart Express stores, which range from about 10,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet, feel more like traditional Walmart stores than the Marketside shops. Walmart Express stores are stocked with groceries and some housewares. Pharmacies are included in some of the locations.Earlier this week, Wal-Mart said it would ramp up openings of its Neighborhood Market stores, which at about 42,000 square feet are much larger than Marketside or Walmart Express stores but much smaller than Walmart supercenters.The first Neighborhood Market opened in 1998. There are about 185 such stores now. Wal-Mart plans to open 80 to 100 small and medium-format stores in its next fiscal year. Most will be Neighborhood Markets. This year, it plans to open just 25 to 30 small and medium shops.The majority of Wal-Mart's new U.S. stores -- up to 120 this year and up to 135 in fiscal 2013 -- will continue to be supercenters.Even those are getting a bit smaller.New supercenters are set to be roughly 90,000 to 120,000 square feet. Walmart supercenters used to average about 185,000 square feet.

#UPDATE #1Walmart #to #close #Marketside #stores #next #week

[diaadumack-blog]

Bob Dylan blowin' in the bagpipes

Dylan did not turn up at the centre's shop himself but sent a representative to pick them up."He's always wanted to learn," the spokesperson told Reuters. "It's a lovely sound when they are played well, and something to be appreciated."Dylan chose a set of R.G. Hardie pipes -- one of the best makes -- in the Piping Centre's tartan along with a starter package including a chanter and a learning manual. She declined to say how much he paid.Dylan has often shown an affection for things Scottish. He has cited national poet Robert Burns as a big influence, has an honorary degree from St. Andrews University in Fife, and a number of his songs are rooted in Scottish folk tunes, including "The Times They Are A-Changing."In a 1997 song "Highlands" he sang: "My heart's in the Highlands wherever I roam, that's where I'll be when I get called home."But for those who wince at the thought of Dylan's raspy voice combining with the skirl of the pipes, it might a case of "There must be some way out of here."

#Bob #Dylan #blowin #in #the #bagpipes

[diaadumack-blog]

Eating solid foods early doesn't affect baby growth

But the age at which babies were given solid foods didn't seem to influence much of their longer-term growth."It's not about how fast they grow, but whether the children are likely to be overweight," said Dr. Berthold Koletzko, a study co-author who studies nutrition at the Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital in Munich, Germany. "And they're not more likely to be overweight by two years if they receive solids earlier."Researchers tracked nearly 700 European infants for two years. Infants between six and seven pounds raised on formula received solid foods starting a little over three months, between three and four months, between four and five months, or six months or later.Babies who started solid foods at three months weighed less but caught up in growth within six months compared to those who started solid foods at six months and grew slowly within three months.By two years, there were no differences between groups in weight or length.Infants eating solid foods also consumed more calories during the first eight months.Among children born at lower weights, "researchers found an association between lower birth weight and introducing solid foods earlier," said Dr. Lindsey Sjaarda, a researcher at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, who was not part of the study."It's something that needs to be explored. Recent research seems to indicate that catch-up growth isn't always a good thing," she told Reuters Health.The study applies to populations in industrialized countries, where "a large fraction of children" have "already been introduced to solid foods before four months of age," according to the authors, not developing countries.Previous studies have shown conflicting results on whether infants who start eating solid foods earlier are more likely to become obese.Childhood obesity has tripled over the past three decades, with about 12.5 million American children and adolescents obese, according to a 2007-2008 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Though Koletzko agreed that children who grow faster will demand more food, and possibly gain more weight, he didn't think they will likely become obese.He recommended introducing solid foods when a baby shows interest by sitting up and reaching for food or opening their mouths when they see their parents eating. But he cautioned that some infants may need more calories than others."At this age, communication happens between infants and parents," he told Reuters Health. "They give a lot of signals to parents. But if the baby is not signaling, don't force it, just wait."

#Eating #solid #foods #early #doesnt #affect #baby #growth

[diaadumack-blog]

RPT-US mortgage bankers grapple with consumer outrage

* Industry "under siege," bankers say* Industry coping with new regulationsBy Joe RauchCHICAGO, Oct 11 (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage bankers attending an industry conference in Chicago this week received something they did not originally bargain for -- a heavy dose of the consumer anger against the financial system that has boiled into protest rallies across the country.The Mortgage Bankers Association's annual conference in Chicago this week coincided with a protest march against joblessness and income inequality that drew about 3,000 demonstrators to downtown Chicago on Monday evening.And while many of the attendees of the MBA event, which ends on Wednesday, say they sympathize with the protesters, others think their industry is being used as a scapegoat for deeper economic woes.To some mortgage executives, the message is clear: the industry is under siege. "I think anyone who thinks we aren't under siege is kidding themselves," said one bank executive as he watched anti-banker protests outside the conference on Monday along with other participants who snapped pictures.Four years after the U.S. housing bubble burst, mortgage banking executives say their business is under attack from angry homeowners and lawmakers who view the industry as the culprit behind the 2007-2009 financial crisis and subsequent recession.Some mortgage bankers said the public criticism has begun to intrude on their personal lives.One former senior industry executive, who declined to be named, said he was confronted at a recent charity event."A woman asked me how I could sleep at night, and (said) she was glad that Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns failed," the executive said. When asked how often he is confronted, he said it happens "all the time."Others believe their industry has become a scapegoat, and that they are being punished for loose lending practices that that have long since been rectified."We're easy to blame," said Hank Cunningham, president of Greensboro, North Carolina-based Cunningham & Co, a mortgage banking company.TRUST DEFICITThroughout the first two days of the conference, attendees said they sympathized with the millions of U.S. borrowers who face foreclosure and, in light of the protests, the MBA issued a statement that amounted to a mea culpa."We all recognize that our industry faces a trust deficit with policymakers and the public and that people in our industry contributed to the events that led to the financial crisis," it said.Easy lending terms helped many Americans stretch to buy homes and a plunge in home prices has left more than a quarter of borrowers in homes worth less then their mortgages.With the nation's unemployment rate stuck above 9 percent, banks are coping with millions of delinquent home loans, and the total number of foreclosed homes is also in the millions.In August alone, there were 228,098 default notices, scheduled auctions, or bank repossessions on U.S. properties, according to RealtyTrac, a real estate research firm.The sour housing market was the backdrop to the protest on the conference's doorstep on Monday which drew a few hundred participants pushing for foreclosure relief and calling for the ouster Bank of America Corp CEO Brian Moynihan and JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon, among others.During an afternoon question-and-answer session, two protesters who had managed to get into the conference asked Wells Fargo & Co home loans president Michael Heid how he could sleep at night. Heid said the adversarial questioning reminded him of testifying before Congress.MBA Chief Executive David Stevens said he understood the protesters' frustrations, and he recalled that after graduating from college he had participated in a protest against a nuclear weapons production plant in Colorado and was arrested.But he said the industry and its critics must work together to fix the housing market. "You're not getting anywhere to rebuild this economy simply by yelling outside, that's the unfortunate reality," he said.Indeed, in his opening remarks at the conference, Stevens struck a tough tone, saying the trade group was "on the war front fighting" against new industry rules, including those included in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law put in place last year in an effort to try to prevent future crises.

#RPTUS #mortgage #bankers #grapple #with #consumer #outrage