The new prices lift the cost of a first-class stamp to 45 cents starting on January 22, 2012, the first increase in more than two years.The Postal Service is facing a financial crisis because mail volumes have declined as more people use electronic mail or the services of private sector competitors such as FedEx and United Parcel Service.The Postal Service said the cost to mail a postcard will go up three cents to 32 cents, letters to Canada or Mexico will increase five cents to 85 cents, and letters to other international locations will increase seven cents to $1.05.The agency, which is allowed to raise prices in line with the rate of inflation, said it filed the new prices with the Postal Regulatory Commission on Tuesday. The regulator has 45 days to approve the changes.Until the price changes take effect, consumers can still purchase 44-cent Forever stamps, which do not require additional postage after prices go up.”The overall average price increase is small and is needed to help address our current financial crisis,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe. “We continue to take actions within our control to increase revenue in other ways and to aggressively cut costs.”The Postal Service has asked Congress for permission to drastically overhaul its business, including cutting Saturday mail delivery and eliminating a massive annual payment to prefund retiree health benefits. The agency also is studying thousands of post offices and processing facilities for possible closure.
* Maersk to take over vessels in Q4 2011* More deals seen as shipping markets struggle - analystCOPENHAGEN, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Maersk Tankers, part of
Danish oil and shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO)
said on Friday it had acquired two product tanker vessels from
struggling peer Torm .Maersk Tankers said in a statement it would take over two
LR2 (Long Range) product tankers in the fourth quarter of 2011.The parties had agreed not to disclose the sales price, but
according to Maersk, the vessels had been acquired at
“attractive” levels.”Growing our fleet at attractive price is in alignment with
Maersk Tankers’ strategy to reinforce our market leading
position in the LR2 segment,” said Maersk Tankers’ chief
commercial officer Klaus Rud Sejling in a statement.The company’s strategy is to grow at the bottom of the cycle
through buying second-hand tonnage, Maersk Tankers said.The shipping industry will face tougher financing conditions
in the next 24 months as banks tighten credit lines with more
asset sales and ship seizures expected as a rout in seaborne
earnings also takes its toll.Shipping companies especially in the crude oil tanker and
dry bulk sectors, hit by weak earnings and an oversupply of
vessels, have already found it hard to find financing.”Maersk is right buying into the product tanker market and
there will be more opportunities to acquire assets,” said Pareto
analyst Martin Korsvold.”We will see more downwards pressure on assets as the
banking market is very difficult at the moment,” Korsvold said.”Some don’t have enough cash to make collateral and you will
see bankruptcies,” Korsvold said. He added particularly the
crude tanker market would be affected.The sale had no impact on Torm’s profit and loss statement,
but would have a positive effect on the liquidity of about $20
million, Torm said. The sale would not change Torm’s financial
guidance for 2011, it said.
By Karen Jacobs and Tim HepherOct 12 (Reuters) - Pratt & Whitney said on Wednesday that
it will spend $1.5 billion to buy Rolls-Royce Holding Plc’s share of the International Aero Engines consortium that
produces the engine that powers the Airbus A320 plane
family.The two engine makers also said they will form a
partnership to develop engines for mid-size aircraft that in
future years will replace new, revamped versions of the Airbus
A320 and Boeing 737 narrow-body jets.Pratt, a unit of United Technologies Corp and
Britain’s Rolls Royce will hold an equal share in this new
venture, which will focus on geared turbofan technology and
study open rotor technology and other engine configurations.”The buyout of Rolls-Royce is not unexpected; the stunning
part of this announcement is the creation of a new joint
venture to go for the heart of the market with an initial focus
on the geared turbofan,” said Seattle-based aerospace analyst
Scott Hamilton.The move crystallizes a spat between the two leading
members of one of two transatlantic alliances that have quietly
dominated the market for aircraft engines for more than a
quarter of a century.International Aero Engines, founded in 1983 and based in
Glastonbury, Connecticut, brought together Rolls-Royce and
Pratt & Whitney and German and Japanese partners to provide a
four-nation alternative to CFM International, a French-American
joint venture between General Electric Co and Snecma,
now part of French state-controlled group Safran .The two alliances compete to power Airbus A320 passenger
jets, while CFM has a monopoly on Boeing’s rival 737, the
world’s most-sold aircraft. Such aircraft are the backbone of
most airline fleets, generating many thousands of engine sales
and a thriving long-term spare parts business.But Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce disagreed over the next
step as Pratt took a gamble on a new engine known as the Geared
Turbofan.Airbus’s decision to offer the new Pratt geared turbofan
engine and a competing CFM model on a revamped version of its
A320, called the neo, produced a surge of sales and prompted
Boeing this year to announce plans to sell a “re-engined”
version of its 737 called the MAX. But Rolls vetoed the engine
being sold through IAE.NO DIVORCEBoth companies, however, denied that IAE, which has more
than 4,500 engines in service and about 2,000 on order, had
ended in divorce.”IAE has not resulted in divorce. Rolls-Royce is going to
remain a very full partner of IAE for the next 15 years at
least,” said Mark King, president of civil aerospace at the
U.K. company.”The two companies are saying we want to work together in
the future despite the fact that we are not participating in
the (A320) neo,” he told reporters on a conference call.As part of the IAE restructuring, Rolls-Royce will continue
to make engine parts and assemble 50 percent of the V2500
engine that powers the A320 family. Rolls will also get payment
for each hour flown by the current fleet of V2500-powered
aircraft for 15 years.”We have found a way to continue working together currently
and then plan for the future,” said Todd Kallman, president for
commercial engines and global services at Pratt & Whitney.Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney have set out different
visions of what the next generation of engines to be seen from
the middle of next decade might look like, with the U.S.
company expressing little interest in the Open Rotor or
unducted fan concept favored by Rolls-Royce. This would see
engines with twin rows of visible fan blades rather than
powerplants that are fully encased inside engine housings.Rolls and CFM both believe such engines will mark a clean
break from current technology and will be far more efficient,
but they say about a decade of work is needed to develop the
required technology and overcome problems like noise.Though the buyout makes Pratt the majority shareholder in
IAE, the company said it intends to offer a portion of the
Rolls shares it is buying to its other IAE partners: Germany’s
MTU Aero Engines and Japanese Aero Engines Corp.”This looks like a good deal for both parties, allowing
them to focus on their current engine priorities (the Geared
Turbofan for Pratt, and the Trent for Rolls), whilst laying the
groundwork for the successor to the V2500 on the next
generation of narrow bodies in the middle of the next decade,”
RBC Capital Markets analyst Robert Stallard wrote to clients.Rolls-Royce will also make a “modest financial investment”
in the Pratt geared turbofan that is an option for the Airbus
A320 neo narrowbody.Pratt’s geared turbofan engine, which also powers the
all-new Bombardier CSeries jet, has secured more than
1,000 orders.
The $447 billion package of tax cuts and new spending failed by a vote of 50 to 48, short of the 60 votes it needed to advance in the 100-member Senate. Voting was expected to continue for several hours but would not affect the outcome.Obama, campaigning in Florida, said the vote was not the end of the fight for the measure. In a statement after the vote, Obama accused Republicans of obstruction and said he would work with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to make sure that individual proposals in the bill would get a vote as soon as possible.”Ultimately, the American people won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. It’s time for Congress to meet their responsibility, put their party politics aside and take action on jobs right now.”Obama had barnstormed around the country to pressure his Republican opponents to back his top legislative priority, but he did not pick up a single Republican vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate.Two Democrats, facing re-election in conservative states, also voted against the measure.Obama said earlier on Tuesday he would try to pass components of the bill individually.Though Obama’s top legislative priority is now dead in Congress, it is certain to have a long afterlife on the campaign trail.Obama’s 2012 re-election chances depend on his ability to spur the sluggish economic recovery and revive the nearly stagnant job market.The U.S. unemployment rate has been above 9 percent since May and almost 45 percent of the 14 million jobless Americans have been out of work for six months or more.Even Wall Street is feeling the pinch, with a report from the New York State Comptroller showing that banker bonuses are likely to drop for the second year in a row.Among the elements of the bill which might be salvaged are a payroll tax cut which Obama wants to extend to avoid imposing an effective tax increase at a time when wages have not been rising much. Obama’s bill would also extend unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed, another area that could yield bipartisan support.Other elements, such as increased highway spending and aid for cash-strapped states, aren’t likely to pick up Republican support.POLITICAL FOOTBALLDemocrats say that Republicans are more interested in defeating Obama than helping the country recover from the deepest recession since the 1930s.”Republicans think if the economy improves it might help President Obama. So they root for the economy to fail, and oppose every effort to improve it,” Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said before the vote.Republicans, who have lined up behind a job-creation agenda centered around relaxing business regulations, say Obama’s jobs bill is essentially a warmed-over version of his 2009 stimulus.That effort helped to ease the impact of the worst recession since the 1930s, but Republicans point out that it did not keep unemployment below 8 percent as the White House had promised.”Everyone who votes for this second stimulus will have to answer a simple but important question: why on Earth would you support an approach that we already know won’t work?” said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.Obama’s so-called Jobs Council, under the chairmanship of GE Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt, earlier delivered a report in which they proposed steps to foster U.S. innovation and make the country more attractive to foreign investment.
Rubies, sapphires, emeralds and pearls — many of them given to Taylor by her two-time husband Richard Burton during their stormy romance — are among the 269 jewels up for auction in December following the death in March of the legendary film actress.Some of the most jaw-dropping gems are now on an international tour ahead of the sale that auctioneer Christie’s expects to bring in more than $30 million.Another $20 million could be raised from some of Taylor’s iconic gowns and film memorabilia. A portion of the proceeds from exhibitions, events and publications related to the auction will go to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation that was started in 1991.But what Christie’s experts call “the Liz factor” — the lore surrounding her glamorous Hollywood lifestyle — could blow those pre-sale estimates sky high.”This collection is unlike anything we have offered before. It is a window on Elizabeth Taylor’s life,” Christie’s America chairman Marc Porter told reporters on Monday ahead of the four-day Los Angeles public exhibit.Taylor’s career spanned seven decades and included films such as “National Velvet,” in which she starred as a teenager, as well as “Giant” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” which earned her an Academy Award for best actress.In her personal life, Taylor’s eight marriages, health problems and early advocacy for AIDS patients made her a larger than life figure and the epitome of Hollywood glamour.The jewelry auction “was a decision Elizabeth Taylor herself made a few years ago. She wanted someone new to enjoy them,” Porter said.PEARLS AND TIARASThe famous 33.19 carat white diamond ring that Burton bought for Taylor in 1968, and which she wore almost every day, is just one of the highlights of the sale and the public exhibition. It is estimated to fetch $2.5 million to $3.5 million, based largely on the value of the stones alone.Less famous but equally dazzling is a 16th century pearl that Taylor helped design as the centerpiece of a ruby and diamond necklace. The pearl was a 1969 gift from the charismatic Welsh actor and the necklace is valued at $2 million to $3 million.Then there is the emerald and diamond necklace, pendant, ring and bracelet that Burton bought for Taylor starting in 1962 in Rome when their romance blossomed on the set of “Cleopatra”.But Burton wasn’t the only lover to shower Taylor with jewels. An antique diamond tiara from film producer husband Mike Todd that Taylor wore to the Oscars in 1957 is valued at $60,000-$80,000, while a diamond wristwatch that the late pop star and close friend Michael Jackson gave Taylor as a gift is expected to fetch $300,000-$500,000.”What the Liz factor will do to prices, we will see,” said Christie’s executive Brett Sherlock.Christie’s experts said Taylor wasn’t just a collector of jewelry but had a keen sense of design, picking her pieces with care from the world’s most legendary makers, including Bulgari, Cartier, Tiffany and Van Cleef & Arpels.”She was born with a great eye for jewelry,” said Rahul Kadakia, head of jewelry at Christie’s America. “This is the greatest jewelry collection that Christie’s has ever presented.”Taylor, 79, died of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles in March. After Los Angeles, the public exhibit will visit Dubai, Geneva, Paris, Hong Kong and New York ahead of the four day auction in New York from December 13-16.
Rubies, sapphires, emeralds and pearls — many of them given to Taylor by her two-time husband Richard Burton during their stormy romance — are among the 269 jewels up for auction in December following the death in March of the legendary film actress.Some of the most jaw-dropping gems are now on an international tour ahead of the sale that auctioneer Christie’s expects to bring in more than $30 million.Another $20 million could be raised from some of Taylor’s iconic gowns and film memorabilia. A portion of the proceeds from exhibitions, events and publications related to the auction will go to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation that was started in 1991.But what Christie’s experts call “the Liz factor” — the lore surrounding her glamorous Hollywood lifestyle — could blow those pre-sale estimates sky high.”This collection is unlike anything we have offered before. It is a window on Elizabeth Taylor’s life,” Christie’s America chairman Marc Porter told reporters on Monday ahead of the four-day Los Angeles public exhibit.Taylor’s career spanned seven decades and included films such as “National Velvet,” in which she starred as a teenager, as well as “Giant” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” which earned her an Academy Award for best actress.In her personal life, Taylor’s eight marriages, health problems and early advocacy for AIDS patients made her a larger than life figure and the epitome of Hollywood glamour.The jewelry auction “was a decision Elizabeth Taylor herself made a few years ago. She wanted someone new to enjoy them,” Porter said.PEARLS AND TIARASThe famous 33.19 carat white diamond ring that Burton bought for Taylor in 1968, and which she wore almost every day, is just one of the highlights of the sale and the public exhibition. It is estimated to fetch $2.5 million to $3.5 million, based largely on the value of the stones alone.Less famous but equally dazzling is a 16th century pearl that Taylor helped design as the centerpiece of a ruby and diamond necklace. The pearl was a 1969 gift from the charismatic Welsh actor and the necklace is valued at $2 million to $3 million.Then there is the emerald and diamond necklace, pendant, ring and bracelet that Burton bought for Taylor starting in 1962 in Rome when their romance blossomed on the set of “Cleopatra”.But Burton wasn’t the only lover to shower Taylor with jewels. An antique diamond tiara from film producer husband Mike Todd that Taylor wore to the Oscars in 1957 is valued at $60,000-$80,000, while a diamond wristwatch that the late pop star and close friend Michael Jackson gave Taylor as a gift is expected to fetch $300,000-$500,000.”What the Liz factor will do to prices, we will see,” said Christie’s executive Brett Sherlock.Christie’s experts said Taylor wasn’t just a collector of jewelry but had a keen sense of design, picking her pieces with care from the world’s most legendary makers, including Bulgari, Cartier, Tiffany and Van Cleef & Arpels.”She was born with a great eye for jewelry,” said Rahul Kadakia, head of jewelry at Christie’s America. “This is the greatest jewelry collection that Christie’s has ever presented.”Taylor, 79, died of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles in March. After Los Angeles, the public exhibit will visit Dubai, Geneva, Paris, Hong Kong and New York ahead of the four day auction in New York from December 13-16.
