The First Totally Private High Speed Train In Europe Is Launching Next Month


NTV Italy Fast Train

ROME (AP) — A new high-speed train line is set to begin service next month, linking nine Italian cities from Naples in the south to Turin, Milan and Venice in the north.

Luca di Montezemolo, chairman of the NTV line, said Tuesday that it is the first totally private high-speed line in Europe.

The project began in 2008 and has brought in such major partners as shoe industrialist Diego Della Valle, Intesa San Paolo bank, Generali Financial Holdings and French railway company SNCF.

NTV is going up against the state-controlled railroad and hopes to break even in three years.

Montezemolo said passengers "finally will have a choice'" of which trains to use.

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A Safe Apple Spot for Intel

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Rest easy, Intel (Nasdaq: INTC  ) . One of your cushiest spots looks like it's yours to keep.

There have always been inklings that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL  ) has been thinking about putting its custom ARM Holdings (Nasdaq: ARMH  ) -based processors into the MacBook Air. Rumors last year said that Apple had been testing an A5 powered MacBook Air, and there are justifiable reasons for Cupertino to entertain the idea.

Apple had always said the laptop's newest iteration had drawn much inspiration from the iPad, considering its focus on mobility. Its custom chips are more power-efficient, although performance would also be sacrificed, while software compatibility would be the biggest hurdle in switching chip architectures. The speculation gained more credence with Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT  ) inclusion of ARM-support in its tablet- and laptop-bound Windows 8 operating system.

Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner recently met with Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer, and Gardner says no-go on an ARM-based MacBook Air. One of Gardner's takeaways from the meeting was Cook's focus on the rapid evolution of iOS, which will expand the iPad's horizons. He believes tablets will eventually reach volumes topping traditional PCs, partially eliminating the need for an ARM-based MacBook Air. Intel's processor spot looks like it's here to stay.

Tablets have been a big threat to Intel, since the vast majority of them carry ARM chips instead of its own, which is why Intel will be pushing its Ultrabook designs pretty heavily this year.

Gardner also mentioned that a deal with China Mobile (NYSE: CHL  ) is in the pipeline, which is hardly a surprise now that it's the last remaining carrier for Apple to tap in the country. His own "checks" find that the next iPhone will be compatible with China's unique 4G standards in addition to our own domestic breed of LTE.

ARM and Intel still have plenty of other battlegrounds to host skirmishes on, but the MacBook Air doesn't look like it will be one of them.

With Apple and ARM leading the mobile revolution, some winners are hard to see -- because they're buried inside the gadgets. The proliferation of mobile devices is going to be breathtaking, and a handful of companies stand to rake in the profits as consumers snap up each year's latest and greatest models. We've just released a new special report on "3 Hidden Winners of the iPhone, iPad, and Android Revolution." In it, you'll find three companies that supply crucial components that virtually every mobile device relies on. Check it out now -- it's free.

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Source: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/02/06/a-safe-apple-spot-for-intel.aspx

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Here Are The Key Market Moving Events For Tuesday, February 7, 2012 (KO, AGCO, WU, CBG, DIS, DFT, OPEN, PNRA, RAH, HIG)


disney characters at disney world

Tuesday continues a busy earnings week, while data streams out of Asia and Europe. Nonetheless it will be a relatively quiet day, as Coca-Cola and Walt Disney report. There are no major economic reports scheduled for release in the U.S., although December consumer credit will be announced.

Here's what you need to know.

  • The U.K. starts the day off early with retail sales at 7:01 p.m. EST on Monday evening. Sales are seen declining 0.8 percent in January, after a 2.2 percent gain the month before. 
  • Philippine CPI will be announced at 8:00 p.m. EST, with expectations for the index to show 0.5 percent increases in December.
  • Czech unemployment is out at 3:00 a.m. EST, with economists polled by Bloomberg expecting the jobless rate to jump 50 basis points to 9.1 percent for January.
  • At the same time, industrial production for both Hungary and Denmark will be announced.  Output is seen expanding by 9.3 percent year-on-year in Hungary, while Denmark sees 0.3 percent growth sequentially for December. Also at 3:00 a.m. EST, Taiwan will announce total exports for January. Exports are seen falling 17.0 percent from year ago levels.
  • Industrial production continues to roll out over the next several hours in Europe. At 4:00 a.m. EST Norway is expected to announce production grew by a slower rate than in November, at 0.1 percent. Estimates are not yet available for Portugal production, which last grew by 0.5 percent.
  • Europe's largest economy, Germany, will announce industrial production at 6:00 a.m. EST. The country is expected to see a reversal in production, with no growth in December after a 0.6 percent contraction in November.
  • At 8:30 a.m. EST, North American gets into the fray when Canada announces new building permits. Permits are expected to increase 1.0 percent in December, after a 3.6 percent decline in November. 
  • U.S. announcements start at 10:00 a.m. EST., with JOLTs Job Openings and economic sentiment. Job openings are seen expanding to 3.25 million from 3.16 million. Meanwhile, optimism as measured by Investor's Business Daily is seen jumping to 48.6 from 47.5. A level below 50 indicates pessimism. 
  • Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke will testify at 10:00 a.m. EST on the state of the economy. Find coverage of his testimony live on Money Game. 
  • Last on the agenda is consumer credit in the U.S. at 3:00 p.m. EST. Economists polled by Bloomberg see credit expanding by $7 billion, a decline from last month's surprise $20.3 billion jump. 

U.S. corporates reporting quarterly results on Tuesday include names like Coca-Cola and Walt Disney. Below, a roundup of tomorrow's big announcers.

Coca-Cola (KO): $0.77
AGCO (AGCO): $1.33
Western Union (WU): $0.40
CBRE Group (CBG): $0.44
Walt Disney (DIS): $0.71
DuPont Fabros Technology (DFT): $0.37
OpenTable (OPEN): $0.30
Panera Bread (PNRA): $1.42
Ralcorp Holdings (RAH): $1.35
Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG): $0.60

Consensus estimates provided by Bloomberg. 

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/aL1xfvmzoOc/here-are-the-key-market-moving-events-for-tuesday-february-7-2012-2012-2

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FREEZING FOR FREEDOM? Photos From This Weekend's Sub-Zero Protests In Moscow


Russia Moscow Protests

Despite Russia being hit by the deadly cold snap that has wrecked havoc in Europe this week, Russians still took to the streets on Saturday to call for fair elections and an end to Putin rule.

The protests were the continuation of a movement that began after the Russian Duma election in November. A smaller pro-Putin rally was also held.

The European cold snap is said to have killed 300 so far.

The temperature was around -20 degrees C. (-4 F) on the day.

However organizer estimates suggest 120,000 people turned up to protest against Putin.

Demonstrators gather on the street.

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A 'Devil Wears Prada' Take on the Wall Street Boy's Club

Bond girlLike many people working on Wall Street, Erin Duffy was laid off during the recession.

"I guess I saw it coming," Duffy says of her August 2008 pink slip from Merrill Lynch, "in that they were obviously firing lots of people, so no one had any job security at that point."

But there was an unexpected upside to the layoff: Unemployment gave Duffy time to write a novel. She churned out 700 pages in eight months. "It was like really cheap therapy," she says. "I did it to keep myself sane."

Her years working in the boys' club of Wall Street (she was in fixed-income sales) left Duffy plenty of fodder to fill those pages. "I had all this material -- these people-wouldn't-believe-this-if-I-told-them stories. Like the time I saw a guy eat the entire contents of a vending machine, on a bet. For several thousand dollars. Which he won."

Duffy kept writing and revising the novel even after finding another bond-sales job, this time with Bank of Nova Scotia. The result is Bond Girl, a fun and seemingly highly autobiographical recounting of one young woman's adventures in love and bond sales on Wall Street.

Erin Duffy'I work in a giant adult sandbox from hell'

Duffy says her job was like "working in a fishbowl with 700 men." But, having been raised with three brothers, she was comfortable with being one of the very few women in her department.

"The camaraderie is amazing ... but there's not a lot of coddling," says Duffy, who graduated with a degree in English from Georgetown University in 2000. On the job, Duffy witnessed her share of shenanigans. The vending machine episode seems like child's play compared to other workplace incidents.

She recalls one coworker who was punished for a mistake by being made to go to the Bronx to purchase -- out-of-pocket -- a $1,000 50-pound cheese wheel. ("He deserved it," she says.) Then there was the time when someone in the office said he was hung over and wanted a cheesesteak. This led to the order to send an intern to drive round-trip before lunch to Philadelphia to get cheesesteaks for the office.

"I used to tell myself, 'I work in a giant adult sandbox from hell.'"

Just before her book was published, Duffy climbed out of the Wall Street sandbox: Jan. 19 was her last day selling T-bills before leaving the bond desk to become a full-time writer. Bond Girl, which came out on Jan. 24, is now selling briskly.

From trading desk to writing desk

"It's The Devil Wears Prada on Wall Street," writes one Amazon.com reviewer. "Bond Girl," according to Entertainment Weekly, "is a sparkling debut, smart and snappy but never weighed down by financial terminology."

"So, uh, now I'm a full-time writer," Duffy says, interrupting herself to exclaim: "Oh my gosh. That sounds so weird."

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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/02/06/a-devil-wears-prada-take-on-the-wall-street-boys-club/

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Timberwolves Center Kevin Love Has Been Suspended Two Games For Stomping On Opposing Player's Face


Kevin LoveThis post originally appeared at Bleacher Report.

Kevin Love has been suspended two games without pay by the NBA for his altercation with Luis Scola on Saturday night, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Marc J. Spears. 

Update: Monday, Jan. 6 at 3:30 p.m. EDT

Kevin Love issued an apology to Scola, his teammates and almost everyone else, according to Inside Hoops.

"I want to publicly apologize to Luis Scola and the Houston Rockets,” Love said. “My intention is to never hurt another player on the basketball court. I’ve always had the utmost respect for the game of basketball and all of my opponents. I also apologize to my coaches, teammates and our fans for the consequences of my actions.”

Read the rest of the story at Bleacher Report >

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Debt Management UK Provides Each Convenience The Free From Debt Living

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Source: http://www.legaldebthelponline.com/2012/02/05/debt-management-uk-provides-each-convenience-the-free-from-debt-living/

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The Super Bowl of Counterfeiting: Scammers Run Their Own Play Fakes for the Big Game

Super bowl phoniesAccording to Homeland Security officials, the amount of counterfeit merchandise entering the United States is increasing, and the problem is especially acute in the lead-up to an event like the Super Bowl. For instance, federal agents recently seized more than $6 million of counterfeited goods and shut down more than 300 illegal websites in an action dubbed "Operation Fake Sweep." The 42,000 confiscated items include jerseys, hats and jackets.

In addition to looking authentic, the phony gear was cleverly ticketed: "The prices are not ridiculously low," said John Morton, director of Customs and Immigration. "They are discounted just enough that a consumer might think they are the real thing."

The Super Bowl is "a huge target for counterfeiters since it's so exciting for fans to have a piece of memorabilia about an event they're so emotionally tied to and so enthusiastic about," says Frederick Felman, chief marketing officer at MarkMonitor, a firm that provides Internet brand protection services.

Super Bowl phonies

To give some idea of "how profound the counterfeiting issue is," Felman's firm ran a study looking at the suspected counterfeiting of five unnamed brands' merchandise. "We found 1,300 sites selling what we believe to be counterfeited goods," he says, "with 800,000 units sold annually. Many of them were linked to a Chinese registrant or registrar." According to the full report, "The e-commerce sites selling this suspicious apparel attract 56 million annual visits."

"Counterfeiters -- people making things that are easily reproducible, like jerseys other types of sportswear and sporting goods -- they look for any opportunity they can to promote their activity," Felman explains. "In the U.S., the Super Bowl is at the forefront now, everyone's being bombarded by messages about it. The scammer's bonanza is anytime there's anything that drives a lot of traffic. They can bury their message in this flow and draw a lot of eyeballs and profit from it."

To describe the experience of going online during Super Bowl season, Felman uses a fitting simile: "It's almost like going into this digital stadium and seeing scalpers selling fake tickets. Instead, they're hawking fake jerseys and all kinds of paraphernalia and memorabilia."

For consumers concerned to avoid fake Super Bowl jerseys and the like, Felman has the following advice: "Be extremely suspicious of prices that are too low to be true. If its price is that low, then it's likely a fake." You should also consider the digital storefront surrounding the merchandise: "Look carefully at the website itself. Is it constructed in a legitimate fashion? Does it look like the English is written well and it's been put together professionally?" And rather than following ads or promotions to find an online seller, go to a reputable retailer of branded items.

The cost of buying online from a fraudster can be greater than simply the embarrassment and anger of being duped. "Some people think, oh, maybe I get a $30 or a $49 sweatshirt, worst case it comes apart or is defective in some way," Felman explains. "But you don't know how this has been put together, what the composition of the dyes is, what risk you might be exposed to."

Even worse, a lot of the organizations selling these goods are part of larger criminal operations. "You may not be assured that your credit card is especially safe with them," either because their payment process lacks sufficient security measures or because "they intentionally adopt a strategy to abuse the responsibility you've given to them," Felman warns. "You have to be very careful with these sort of fly-by-nighters because the risk might not be just that you get a defective product; it could be that you lose your identity and find yourself having to dig out of a financial mess."


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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/02/03/the-super-bowl-of-counterfeiting-scammers-run-their-own-play-fa/

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