| What Thanksgiving means to me, part 2
During the walk to pick up my friends heading to the game, I can't help but admire the fall foliage as I leisurely walk to the game feeling the chill of winter on my face and the closing stages of fall as I walk on the crumbling leaves at my feet. The anticipation of a Colonial victory is paramount at the outset. But win, lose, or draw, it's still Thanksgiving. -- Kevin Allen Morristown Evenings at home Thanksgiving to me means special time with family and friends. It marks the end of outdoor activities and the start of long evenings at home playing games, spending time by the fireplace, and getting ready for the holidays. It is my favorite American holiday. Not having grown up in this country, it is the holiday that is the easiest to relate to because you can feel immediately part of it.
GM plan lifts stock price
Stock in the 100-year-old automaker rose on the announcement by GM's top executives that the company plans to extend buyout and retirement offers to 46,000 workers who are eligible to retire in February. GM is expected to offer packages to its entire workforce at some point. Wagoner also acknowledged that a worse-than-expected U.S. automotive market could prompt further plant closings in North America. While some analysts expressed concern that GM continues to hold too rosy a view of the 2008 market, the reaction was much more positive than at the beginning of GM's current restructuring plan in 2005, when there was widespread concern that the automaker wouldn't last to see its centennial. Instead, even those analysts who say GM should be cutting faster, more or sooner say the automaker appears now to be in a sustainable position, thanks to continuing restructuring plans in North America and Europe and plans for growth in emerging markets.
Public sector funds have most asset growth
PUBLIC sector super funds have the highest asset returns but retail funds are the number one choice for Australians, a report shows. Still, the industry super funds body says its asset returns, which posted the sharpest decline in percentage terms compared with other types of superannuation, are higher than retail funds because it does not pay sales commissions to financial advisers. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)'s Superannuation Performance report, for the September quarter, showed public sector funds had the highest return on assets of 2.3 per cent compared with 2.2 per cent for corporate funds, 2.0 per cent for industry funds and 1.8 per cent for retail funds. The average rate of return on assets across the main super funds was two per cent in the September quarter, down from three per cent in the three months to June.
Mr Brown's doomed, I tell you
This is climate change, Captain, but not as you know it. Mr Brown's friends would respond that his Government has been hit by the unlucky coincidence of a clutch of largely unrelated stumbles, few of which are actually the fault of the ministers in charge. .
January 2006
It'll make his posts here more enjoyable in the future because I do. So, I'm going to lay down this challenge to the rest of you totally anonymous blurkers. I'd like to know who you are (via private e-mail, of course). It increases your standing on the blog in my eyes. And makes my blogging experience richer. Question: Are you ready to come in from the cold? .
Weak machinery orders dampen Tokyo trading
Asian stocks were mixed Friday at the end of another volatile week in trading. Shares in bourses that were open during this Lunar New Year period were bolstered by a positive end to a choppy session on Wall Street, but disappointing economic data in Japan weighed on the market. The Nikkei 225 closed down 1.4 per cent at 13,017.24 while the broader Topix fell 1.4 per cent to 1,287.14. Over in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.1 per cent to 5,658.00 on demand for bank stocks while shares in New Zealand fell 0.7 per cent to 3,612.41. Many Asian markets were closed. .
Nearly 200 Pa. schools, districts received recalled beef
HARRISBURG, Pa. - Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are among nearly 200 Pennsylvania school districts and vocational and religious schools that are affected by the nation's largest beef recall. Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff on Tuesday urged the schools as a precaution to destroy any beef they received from a California slaughterhouse that is the subject of an animal-abuse investigation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., which provided meat to school lunch programs. Wolff says the human health risk from the recalled beef is very low, but it's important for the affected products to be separated from other foods. He says other schools should also check their supplies for recalled beef.
London robusta coffee hits 9-year high
London robusta coffee futures hit a nine-and-a-half-year high and cocoa reached a four-year peak on Friday on a wave of enthusiasm among investment funds for all sorts of commodities. Reallocation of investments for the New Year has already seen several basic resource prices, including gold and oil, hit record highs this month and soft commodities such as coffee and cocoa have been tipped as a good bet for the year ahead. "Funds are increasing their holding in both commodities at the moment. It is not an overnight thing, I think it has been building for some time," soft commodities trader Jeff Cooper of Ambrian Commodities said. .
For Your Information
Tuesday is last day, Jan Moran Collier City Learning Library, 2800 NW Ninth Ct., Pompano Beach; free. 954-968-3820. Our Story Versus History: Donald Cleveland of Broward Community CollegeCentral Campus gives a presentation celebrating Black History Month: 6:30 p.m., South Regional-BCC Library, 7300 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines; free. 954-201-8825. TUESDAY, FEB. 19 Boating Skills and Seamanship: Orientation for the 10 session class that features information on boating safety; 6:45 p.m., Plantation Community Center, 5555 Palm Tree Rd., Plantation; $45 per person. 954-915-0667. Bodies, The Exhibition: Controversial exhibition which features more than 200 actual human specimens allows people to view and understand how the body works: 10 a.m.
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