LONDON: British mobile phone giant Vodafone on Tuesday reported a 90-percent plunge in annual net profit after taking a vast impairment charge relating to poor business in debt-laden eurozone nations Italy and Spain.

Updating the market, Vodafone was meanwhile silent surrounding recent speculation that it may offload its sizeable stake in Verizon Wireless, the US mobile operator.

Profit after tax nosedived to £673 million ($1.03 billion, 796 million euros) in the group’s financial year to the end of March from £7.0 billion in 2011-2012, Vodafone said in a results statement.

“We have faced headwinds from a combination of continued tough economic conditions, particularly in Southern Europe, and an adverse European regulatory environment,” Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao said in the statement.

Group revenues retreated 4.2 percent to £44.44 billion.

Vodafone’s businesses in Italy and Spain have been hit hard by the impact of the ongoing eurozone sovereign debt crisis.

The company said that it took a second-half hit of £1.8 billion, taking its total impairment charge to £7.7 billion for Italy and Spain.

Despite the plunge in profits, Vodafone’s full-year shareholder dividend stood at 10.19 pence a share, up seven percent from the previous year.

The company took a dividend of its own totalling $3.2 billion from Verizon Wireless, in which Vodafone has a 45-percent stake.

In a conference call, Colao told reporters that Vodafone had “nothing new to announce” about its stake in Verizon, despite ongoing media speculation, noting simply that it was “fantastic asset”.

Verizon Wireless last month denied speculation it was preparing a joint bid with AT&T to buy out Vodafone, in a reported deal that would see Verizon snap up the British group’s 45-percent stake.

“As Verizon has said many times, it would be a willing purchaser of the 45 percent stake that Vodafone holds in Verizon Wireless,” the US company said at the time.

“It does not, however, currently have any intention to merge with or make an offer for Vodafone, whether alone or in conjunction with others,” it added in a statement at the start of April.

Turning to the outlook, Vodafone on Tuesday forecast that adjusted operating profit would stand at between £12.0 billion-£12.8 billion in the current 2013-2014 financial year.

In late deals, Vodafone’s share price was up 0.68 percent to 198.95 pence on London’s FTSE 100 index of leading companies, which was rising 0.36 percent at 6,780.27 points.

“The situation in southern Europe remains one of disappointment,” noted analyst Richard Hunter at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.

“The question of the Verizon stake remains at the top of the agenda for investors, although Vodafone’s decision hitherto to stay put continues to reap measurable rewards,” he added.

]]> http://www.thenewstribe.com/2013/05/22/vodafone-annual-profits-slump-90-on-eurozone-woes/feed/ 0 http://www.thenewstribe.com/2013/05/22/anchoring-putters-banned-from-2016/ http://www.thenewstribe.com/2013/05/22/anchoring-putters-banned-from-2016/#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 21:31:23 +0000 AFP http://www.thenewstribe.com/?p=245003 WENTWORTH, United Kingdom: Golf’s ruling bodies on Tuesday announced that anchoring putters will be banned from the start of 2016.

The anchored putting stroke has been in the spotlight since being used by a clutch of players to win major championships recently, with the latest being Adam Scott, who used a broom-handle putter to win the Masters at Augusta in April.

Keegan Bradley won the PGA Championship in 2011 using a putter anchored to his stomach whilst Ernie Els and Webb Simpson used similar implements to land majors last season

But the R&A and the United States Golf Association have agreed that, from January 1 2016, anchoring the putter in making a stroke will be prohibited, although the clubs themselves will not be banned.

The penalty for anchoring the club during the stroke will be two shots in stroke play and loss of the hole in match play.

Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of The R&A, said in a statement: “We took a great deal of time to consider this issue and received a variety of contributions from individuals and organisations at all levels of the game.

“The report published today gives a comprehensive account of the reasons for taking the decision to adopt the new Rule and addresses the concerns that have been raised.

“We recognise this has been a divisive issue but, after thorough consideration, we remain convinced that this is the right decision for golf.”

“Having considered all of the input that we received, both before and after the proposed Rule was announced, our best judgement is that Rule 14-1b is necessary to preserve one of the important traditions and challenges of the game – that the player freely swing the entire club,” added USGA President Glen D. Nager.

“The new Rule upholds the essential nature of the traditional method of stroke and eliminates the possible advantage that anchoring provides, ensuring that players of all skill levels face the same challenge inherent in the game of golf.”

Dawson told reporters at Wentworth that he hoped there would be no protracted legal disputes and that the move would be accepted by the game in general.

The R&A had 450 comments on the matter, both for and against, whilst the USGA attracted 2,200 comments.

Dawson said: “We have had some opposition and some support – it has been a mixture. It is best for the game that we all get behind this and move forward.

“The governing bodies have always had the right to make rule changes and we have done a huge amount of work on this.”

World number one Tiger Woods has already given his backing to the change, as has South African legend Gary Player, who claimed anchoring putters took the nerves out of the game.

The ban will not be retrospective so Bradley, Simpson, Scott and Els will keep their places in the record books.

David Rickman, Executive Director of Rules and Equipment Standards at The R&A, said: “This Rule change addresses the future and not the past. Everyone who has used an anchored stroke in the past, or who does so between now and 1 January 2016, will have played entirely within the Rules and their achievements will in no way be diminished.”

A statement from the US PGA Tour today read: “We will now begin our process to ascertain whether the various provisions of Rule 14-1b will be implemented in our competitions and, if so, examine the process for implementation.

“In this regard, over the next month we will engage in discussions with our Player Advisory Council and Policy Board members.

“We will announce our position regarding the application of Rule 14-1b to our competitions upon conclusion of our process and we will have no further comment on the matter until that time.”

Former European number one Colin Montgomerie told Sky Sports News: “I’m glad common sense has prevailed and anchor putters will be no more – it will be banned and rightly so. I wish it had come earlier to be honest.

“Manufacturers have already started counter balancing putters. The feel is the same as a belly putter but it doesn’t touch the body so it is legal.”

The threat of legal action from players using anchored strokes has been mooted, including former USPGA Championship winner Bradley, but Montgomerie added: “Let’s hope not. He’s entitled to do whatever he wants to do but let’s hope not. Let’s hope he abides by the rules. For one guy to start suing – no, we don’t want that to happen.”

WENTWORTH, United Kingdom: Sergio Garcia insists he has got over his collapse at Sawgrass but his row with Tiger Woods rumbles on.

Garcia threw away his chances of winning the Players’ Championship when he found water three times in the final two holes at Sawgrass and plummeted down the leader board to eighth place.

The week was marred by Garcia’s spat with Woods – the eventual winner – on the third day when the world number one disturbed the Spaniard as he was hitting a shot.

The pair have been engaged in a war of words ever since but Garcia was in an optimistic mood ahead of Thursday’s start to the PGA Championship at Wentworth his first appearance here for 13 years.

Garcia told reporters: “There is no doubt I had a great possibility of winning there for a second time so I was disappointed about that but I was happy knowing the way I played and the way I handled myself.

“I was trying to win the tournament but it was a great week. I felt like I played well over the whole week and that is what I tried to take away from it.”

Earlier this week Woods said he had not made up with Garcia over their row and world number 14 is not giving ground in the dispute either.

Garcia added: “You can’t like everybody. There are people you connect with and people that you don’t – it is as simple as that.

“He doesn’t need me in his life and I don’t need him in mine so let’s move on and keep doing what we are doing.

“It doesn’t mean I can’t play with him. It is just another player – obviously a good player. When I enjoy playing with someone there is a bit more talking going on and when you are playing with someone you don’t fancy as much you are a little bit quiet.

“All I can do is move on and forget. It is difficult to forget – life goes on. It is one of those things that is unfortunate but it happened.”

Garcia is back at Wentworth for the first time since 2000 and although he splits his time between Europe and the United States he is glad to be back on the eastern side of the Atlantic.

“I love coming back here and disconnecting a little bit from the US,” added Garcia. “To see my Spanish friends and my Italian friends and my Argentinian friends.

“I have always loved the European Tour. I love what the European Tour stands for and the feeling you get. It feels a little bit closer and more like a family.”

Luke Donald is the defending champion here and is aiming to join Colin Montgomerie as the only player to win the European Tour’s flagship tournament three years in succession. Scotland’s Montgomerie won in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

There are ten previous winners in the field including Paul Casey, David Howell and Jose Maria Olazabal whilst Spain Miguel Angel Jimenez – winner in 2008 – will be making his 600th start on the European Tour.

REDMOND,Washington: Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled an eagerly awaited new generation Xbox One videogame console, touting it as a home entertainment hub that goes far beyond play.

“Today, we put you at the center of a new generation in the living room,” said Don Mattrick, head of Microsoft’s interactive entertainment business.

The beefed-up hardware is powered by a software that allows for instant switching between games, television, and Internet browsing, according to Mattrick. Skype was also integrated for online video calls.

Kinect motion and sound sensing accessories that will come with consoles will recognize users and respond instantly to commands spoken in more natural language, according to Microsoft executives.

“This is the beginning of a new generation of games and entertainment and a new generation of smart TV,” said Microsoft entertainment unit executive Yusuf Mehdi.

WASHINGTON: Kanye West, who’s grown accustomed to seeing his face on tabloid covers with his socialite partner Kim Kardashian, is gearing up for a return to center stage in the international music scene with a new studio album, “Yeezus,” due out June 18.

Over the past few days, rumors and conjectures have given way to some specifics divulged on TV shows and on social networks.

Three years after “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” the rapper will be putting out his latest brainchild, christened “Yeezus,” on June 18. His sixth studio album to date, “Yeezus” comprises 15 tracks and features guest artists Daft Punk, Frank Ocean, DJ Skrillex and the American alternative hip hop collective Odd Future.

West has just divulged the album title and release date on Twitter. The CD cover has already been designed and has been previewed on Kim Kardashian’s Instagram account.

The prolific recording artist, whose new album is one of the most eagerly awaited music releases of the year, has displayed marked prowess in seizing public attention using a whole armada of communication tools, particularly by posting information on several different social networks. This past weekend he made a splash with live performances of two titles, “New Slave” and “Black Skinhead,” on American TV show “Saturday Night Live.” From Friday to Sunday, the clip to his single “New Slave” was projected onto the facades of 66 buildings in ten major cities around the world, including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto, London, Berlin and Paris. The locations were listed on West’s official website.

Kanye West, “Yeezus,” release date: June 18, Def Jam Recordings.

CANNES, France: A Coen brothers comedy, a daring Chinese expose of exploitation and moral rot, and a divorce drama by an Iranian Oscar winner emerged as the breakout favourites as the Cannes Film Festival hit the halfway mark Tuesday.

Although incessant rain and chilly winds put a damper on the champagne-fuelled soirees in this French Riviera town, audiences have responded warmly to much of the selection so far.

In the dead heat for the Palme d’Or top prize to be awarded Sunday by jury president Steven Spielberg, critics singled out international risk-takers and solid Hollywood craftsmanship.

Reviewer polls by British trade magazine Screen and Paris-based Film Francais showed Joel and Ethan Coen’s latest picture “Inside Llewyn Davis” as a clear front-runner.

The Coens, back in competition for the first time since their chilling 2007 drama “No Country for Old Men”, struck a lighter note with their portrait of a struggling 1960s folk singer.

Deemed a “minor” work from the prolific siblings, critics nevertheless embraced a crowd-pleaser that delivered laughs while carrying a formidable emotional undertow.

The New York Times deemed the picture “wonderful” while industry bible Variety called it “an original, highly emotional journey through Greenwich Village nightclubs, a bleak New York winter, and one man’s fraught efforts to reconcile his life and his art”.

Just behind it in the rankings was China’s “A Touch of Sin” (Tian Zhu Ding) by Jia Zhangke.

Jia boldly tests the Chinese censors with an ultraviolent tableau of four protagonists crushed by sleazy bureaucrats, petty humiliations and economic obstacles until they finally lash out.

London’s Guardian compared Jia to masters of cinematic violence and vengeance such as Quentin Tarantino and Sergio Leone and said the film was “a stunning slap in the face from a previously-sedate director”.

Audiences also cheered an intricate patchwork family tale “The Past” (Le Passe) set in the Paris suburbs by Iranian Academy Award winner Asghar Farhadi.

Picking up themes from his last film “A Separation”, a global arthouse hit, Farhadi tells the story of an estranged Iranian-French couple who have a hard time letting go.

“Those who admired Farhadi’s intense Tehran domestic drama ‘A Separation’ — one of the key movies of this decade so far — will find the same intimate sensibility and the same finely-wrought shifts in perspective at work in ‘The Past’,” Salon reviewer Andrew O’Hehir said.

The 12-day festival got off to a rocky start Wednesday with a European premiere of “The Great Gatsby” that saw stars Leonard DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan lashed by torrential rain and fussy critics.

Stuart Kemp of the Hollywood Reporter said the first half of the competition had been short on big surprises.

“I think generally it has been safe judging by the films so far, by people that the festival likes, people that the festival is used to having,” he told AFP.

A real-life theft of jewellery worth $1.4 million from Chopard, the Swiss supplier of many of the baubles worn by stars on the red carpet, and an attack by a deranged man on a beachside television studio where jury member Christoph Waltz was being interviewed added to the off-screen drama.

Some of most hotly anticipated features came in as disappointments including “The Bling Ring” by Sofia Coppola and the all-star crime epic “Blood Ties” — both screening out of the running for prizes.

And critics savaged gory competition entries from Japan and Mexico, the latter of which sent queasy critics running for the aisles.
Kemp said the rain and cold had also tempered Cannes’ legendary deal-making, where movie rights are bought and sold on the sun-kissed balconies of the town’s luxury hotels.

“I think it’s interesting that the weather being bad can have such a detrimental effect on the business. It really did cause meetings to be delayed, stopped, cancelled,” he said.

“There were fewer exciting big projects that everyone wants a part of — it’s at the level it’s been at for the last three years. I don’t see any major drop but I don’t see any return to the glory days.”

But he noted some of the gems were likely still to come with keenly awaited new releases from Steven Soderbergh, Alexander Payne, Jim Jarmusch, Roman Polanski and Nicolas Winding Refn screening later in the week.

Cannes: Marseille-born journalist Alexandra Apikian is a regular at the Cannes festivities, which she’s covering this year for Villa Schweppes - and for her own personal pleasure.

This high-society columnist, who tweets live (@alexandrapikian) on the broadcast “Le Lab.Ô” on the French TV network France Ô, recaps her impressions so far of this year’s rainy Cannes Film Festival.

Q: Nearly midway through the festival at this point, how do you feel about this year’s festival?
Alexandra Apikian: It’s a slightly underwhelming festival. Quite simply owing to the weather factor. That seems idiotic to everyone and we festivalgoers seem like snobs walking around saying “Oh la la, it’s raining in Cannes, how awful!” But you’ve got to realize the Cannes Festival is not at all suited to storms and rain. All the events are held on the hotels’ or private brands’ beaches, whether it’s the luncheons, get-togethers, parties. So that puts a damper on half the job and the parallel business. When it’s pouring rain, it’s not easy to draw the actors and actresses out of their hotels for an interview.

Q: Has the weather put a damper on the parties, too?
AA: We really had pouring rain all weekend. The lousy weather made for slightly odd parties what with the outdoor areas closed off and the roofed-over beaches jampacked in no time. And plenty of people tussling with their umbrellas.

Q: Apart from the weather, how has the Croisette reacted to the other incidents — the jewelry theft, the shots fired?
AA: Yes, we got the whole works this year! I was over at the “Grand Journal” by the way [where a man carrying a dummy grenade and a handgun fired blanks near a makeshift TV studio on Friday, May 17]. By the end of the third day, we were like: this can’t be possible! What with the weather and the crime, we’re jinxed! But we’re taking it all in stride with a smile. It’s become a running joke between festivalgoers. It’s been getting better since [Sunday], nothing’s happening [laughs]. The sun’s back out, but now we’ve got the mistral [cold northerly wind]!

Q: What are your plans for the rest of your stay?
AA: I’m supposed to be leaving on Wednesday. There’s the screening of the movie with Ryan Gosling ["Only God Forgives"] that night but last I heard the actor’s not going to show. And if he isn’t there, it doesn’t matter if I miss the reception [laughs]. In the meantime, there’s Mathieu Chedid who’s going to make the scene. He was scheduled to make an appearance on “Grand Journal”, and  a bit more of a secret but also [was]to be playing unplugged afterwards at the Villa Schweppes. Word has it Daft Punk might come too but that’s still a rumor. A major band will be on the “Grand Journal” at the end of the week but that’s still a secret, or else there might well be another commotion. My lips are sealed. Now that they’ve already had gunshots, we’re going to avoid jinxing them [laughs].

Q: Your best memories of Cannes?
AA: Hmm, my best memories of the festival… Er…I’m trying to remember. Last year, that was funny. When you cover the soirées, you don’t always get a chance to see the films. You can’t do everything. The screenings at 8 in the morning, you can generally forget about them. The only one I went to last year was the Brad Pitt ["Killing Them Softly"]. Seeing Brad Pitt a couple inches away was a minor victory at the Festival when you’re still in night mode and you get up at 7 in the morning to get over there [laughs]. Afterwards you can go back to bed and rest easy, mission accomplished!

Islamabad: Usually people with luxurious vehicles considered to be fortunate ones, but now onward they would be deprived of a concession they have been enjoying for years.

The federal government has imposed a ban on vehicles with 1000 CC or more to use CNG as fuel asking authorities to ensure owners of such vehicle do not get the CNG from fuel stations.

“If any station owner give CNG to owners with vehicles over 1000 CC, he has to pay a fine of Rs. 50,000.”

The country has been facing a shortage of natural gas, and there gas supply remains terminated to CNG stations for two to three days across the country.

Lahore: The outgoing interim government of Pakistan has pleased tens of thousands of overseas Pakistanis with issuing hundred of thousands passports, which have been pending for a long time.

“We have clear backlog of hundred of thousands of overseas Pakistanis living in dozens of countries across the world,” Zulfiqar Cheema says in an interview.

Cheema who has taken up the charge of Immigration and Passport Directorate of the country amid a crisis of issuance passport, leaving tens of thousands people no where on how to visit abroad without getting the passport.

“The coalesce of brokers  officials of Passport department and touts has almost damaged the department by blocking efforts to purchase lamination paper used in passport,” he further said.

“Everything could rectified in the country only if will is for the correction,” he further said.

NEW YORK: Reinvigorated technology player Yahoo! Monday unveiled a dusted-off design of its Flickr photo platform only hours after the company’s dramatic acquisition of blogging site Tumblr.

Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer, maintaining that her ambition was to make Flickr “awesome again,” said the new site will showcase “bigger images” and create a user experience that is “more immersive, more expressive.”

Mayer’s announcement of the Flickr makeover came only hours after the company announced it was buying Tumblr for $1.1 billion. Referring to Tumblr, Yahoo promised “not to screw it up.”

Mayer, a Google veteran who joined Yahoo as chief executive last summer, Monday referred to Flickr as a once-shining acquisition “that didn’t fare so well” and vowed that Tumblr would not follow a similar path.

Mayer described Monday’s dual announcements as consistent with her ambition to make Yahoo an “Internet services company” that focuses on “improving user experience.”

Some analysts have criticized the $1.1 billion Tumblr deal as overpriced given that the company has a scant $13 million in revenues and no profits.

But Mayer said that Tumblr’s users of some 300 million per month complements Yahoo’s 700 million per month, making a total of some 1 billion users per month, a huge set of eyes that will appeal to advertisers.

The remade Flickr aspires to transform a consumer experience that had become flat with excessive text and dull, uninspired photos.
Under the new Flickr, photos upload in full resolution and adapt “wherever” users desire, such as smartphones, tablets or social

networks such as Facebook and Twitter, said Yahoo senior vice president Adam Cahan.

The showcase element is a free terabyte of space to store photos; enough capacity to store up to 537,731 images, Cahan said. That is more space that any user could possibly fill in a lifetime, Yahoo officials said.

“We wanted it to be unlimited,” Cahan said.

The revamped website, which went live Monday evening, also has a new look, cutting out words and user messages and instead featuring larger photos without text set against a sleek black background.

Mayer said Flickr’s current subscription pool is in the “tens of millions.” She declined to release the company’s targets for growing subscriptions.

Mayer said Yahoo benefits from a “really healthy” revenue stream, largely from advertising.

The new Flickr will employ new advertising formats that Yahoo! is still developing. Users who want to opt out of advertising can pay $49.95 a year to access an ad-free version of Flickr.

Mayer said she has four more product launches scheduled for the coming weeks.

She boasted that the recent stream of activity has increased the “velocity” within Yahoo, which has been viewed by some as a fallen technology star following the rise of Google and some other companies.

Mayer, who was joined by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, also announced that Yahoo had settled on a New York City headquarters. It will be in the former New York Times building in Times Square.

“Twenty years ago if you looked out here you’d see plenty of yahoos, but now the Yahoos will make an honest living and help us grow,” Bloomberg said in a joking reference to the area’s seedy past.

Bloomberg said that the moves show the city has become “a big player” in the technology world.