Apple Retail Chief Confirms: 'We've Got A New Watch Launch Coming In The Spring' (AAPL) | ||
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Angela Ahrendts, Apple's newly hired retail head, has announced in an internal video message that the Apple Watch will be launched in Spring next year, later than previously thought. 9to5mac obtained a transcript of the message, in which Ahrendts reminds retail employees that the Apple Watch is coming in Spring. Here's what she said: We are sprinting a marathon right now, and it's not going to stop. Right? We're going into the holidays, we'll go into Chinese New Year, and then we've got a new watch launch coming in the spring. It seems that there have been delays for the launch of the Apple Watch since its announcement in September. The initial launch date has only ever been announced as "early 2015," but an internal source claimed recently that the company was having trouble working towards a Valentine's Day release. Ahrendts' comments mean that the Apple Watch is now planned to launch in any time from late March through to June 2015. 9to5mac is also reporting that Apple is going to try out something new when selling Apple Watches. Instead of handing them over to customers in sealed boxes, Apple is going to let people try them on in stores. This certainly makes sense, as after all, it will be something that you wear on your wrist. Ahrendts officially joined Apple in May 2014. She was previously the CEO of fashion brand Burberry, having joined the company in 2006. Her full title at Apple is Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores. SEE ALSO: Big, Beautiful Photos Of Apple's New Apple Watch Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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French ad group Publicis buys Sapient in $3.7 bn deal | ||
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Paris (AFP) - French advertising agency Publicis said Monday it had bought US digital marketing specialists Sapient in a $3.7 billion (2.95 billion euro) deal. Publicis, whose attempts to merge with US group Omnicom and create the world's biggest advertising company failed earlier this year, said it had agreed to pay $25 a share for Boston-based Sapient. The French group said that in acquiring Sapient, its digital operations now represented more than half its business "three years before the goal set out in our strategic plan". Markets seemed unimpressed with the deal, however, with Publicis shares dropping 3.3 percent while the wider French stock market was broadly flat. The failure of the Omnicom deal, which would have created an advertising giant to overtake Britain's WPP employing 130,000 staff with annual sales of 20 billion euros, led to a boardroom shake-up at Publicis. Chief executive Maurice Levy, 72, decided to stay on until 2017 as the head of the firm in the wake of the collapsed deal, despite previously pledging to leave when his term expires next year. Meanwhile, chief operating officer Jean-Yves Naouri, once tipped to succeed Levy, left as part of a major reshuffle of the senior executive team. Publicis said at the time that the deal fell through because of deep differences that widened during the negotiations, administrative problems, and an unduly long timetable. Sapient, a pioneer of Internet-based technology, had turnover of $1.36 billion and profits of $85.9 million in its last financial year. On Friday, speculation about the imminent Publicis deal pushed Sapient's shares up 2.79 percent to $17.32 on the US tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange. Levy warned in July it would be a "difficult year" for Publicis, as the group reported that net profit for the first half of the year fell by 16.9 percent to 260 million euros, weighed down by the strength of the euro. Sales were about steady compared with the equivalent figure last year, showing a gain of 0.2 percent to 3.365 billion euros, but performance slowed sharply in the second quarter. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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HSBC logs rising profits, takes $378m hit for forex scandal | ||
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London (AFP) - HSBC bank on Monday posted rising third-quarter net profits but took a $378 million (302 million euro) charge against probes into allegations of foreign exchange market rigging. Earnings after taxation climbed seven percent to $3.4 billion in the three months to September, compared with $3.2 billion in the same period of last year, HSBC added in a results statement. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Apple Retail Chief Confirms: 'We've Got A New Watch Launch Coming In The Spring' (AAPL) | ||
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Angela Ahrendts, Apple's newly hired retail head, has announced in an internal video message that the Apple Watch will be launched in Spring next year, later than previously thought. 9to5mac obtained a transcript of the message, in which Ahrendts reminds retail employees that the Apple Watch is coming in Spring. Here's what she said: We are sprinting a marathon right now, and it's not going to stop. Right? We're going into the holidays, we'll go into Chinese New Year, and then we've got a new watch launch coming in the spring. It seems that there have been delays for the launch of the Apple Watch since its announcement in September. The initial launch date has only ever been announced as "early 2015," but an internal source claimed recently that the company was having trouble working towards a Valentine's Day release. Ahrendts' comments mean that the Apple Watch is now planned to launch in any time from late March through to June 2015. 9to5mac is also reporting that Apple is going to try out something new when selling Apple Watches. Instead of handing them over to customers in sealed boxes, Apple is going to let people try them on in stores. This certainly makes sense, as after all, it will be something that you wear on your wrist. Ahrendts officially joined Apple in May 2014. She was previously the CEO of fashion brand Burberry, having joined the company in 2006. Her full title at Apple is Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores. SEE ALSO: Big, Beautiful Photos Of Apple's New Apple Watch Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Russia Is Doubling Down On Its Disastrous Ukraine Adventure | ||
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The Russian government has officially recognised elections in rebel-held Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine despite UN warnings that they violate the peace agreement in the country. Russia also looks like it is beginning another military buildup on the Ukraine border. While the votes are pro-Russian, they could also become a huge headache for President Vladimir Putin. Further escalation in the region could dash Moscow's hopes of a loosening of international sanctions next year and plunge the country into a recession. Results in this morning show Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the prime minister of the self-proclaimed, pro-Russian, Donetsk People's Republic, comfortably won with 765,340 votes, or around 80% of total ballots cast. The result in Luhansk is due in later today but is also widely expected to go in favour of the incumbent leader of the pro-Russian Luhansk People's Republic, Igor Plotnitsky. Despite condemnation from the Ukraine government in Kiev of the votes, Russian officials have already announced their intention to recognise the result. The Foreign Ministry issued an official statement saying: “The elections in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions were held in an organised way in general and with high voter turnout. We respect the will expression of the citizens of the south-east.” However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's claim that the elections were held in line with the Minsk agreements was contradicted by the international community. Russian news service Tass reports that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon believes the votes were incompatible with the peace deal while both the US and the European Union have also refused to recognise the elections, dubbing them "illegal and illegitimate". More worryingly, over the weekend, a Ukraine government spokesperson briefed journalists that there had been "intensive deployment of military equipment and personnel of the enemy from the territory of the Russian Federation onto territory temporarily controlled by insurgents". The story appeared to be given credence on Monday with Mark Stroh, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, telling Tass that he had information suggesting that Russian military personnel are returning to the Ukraine border. The White House has issued a warning to Russia against using the elections as a pretext for moving troops into rebel-held areas. The Russian economy is already teetering on the brink of a recession, with the IMF forecasting growth of only 0.2% this year and 0.5% next year. A tightening of international sanctions would be a big blow to the country, which is already facing significant budget pressures due to the collapsing oil price. After a week that finally saw Ukraine and Russia reach an EU-brokered gas deal to secure crucial winter supplies to the country these votes could not have been worse timed. While Moscow may be publicly supporting the result, getting dragged back into the conflict will be the last thing they want. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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10 Things In Advertising You Need To Know Today | ||
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Big news in the world of advertising this morning, make sure you're up to date. 1. Publicis Groupe has announced it is acquiring US-based digital advertising specialists Sapient for $3.7 billion. The move to bolster its digital and technology operations comes five months after Publicis' proposed $35 billion merger with Omnicom Group collapsed. 2. Sir Martin Sorrell, the chief executive of the world's biggest advertising holding group, WPP, says the transaction "looks like the behavior of a jilted lover." He thinks Publicis is on the rebound after the failed Omnicom deal. 3. Check out these 5 surprising subliminal sex messages hidden in ads. Brand examples include Coca-Cola, Palmolive and Skittles. 4. Start reading up on the new tech buzzword: "blended reality." HP has outlined its plans to lead the blended reality trend with its Sprout PC, which lets consumers take actual objects and "put" them into their computers. 5. AOL has created what it claims is the industry's first programmatic marketplace for television. AOL has partnered with Australian media advertising company MCN to give advertisers the opportunity to buy targeted audiences across 70 subscription channels, according to a press release announcing the partnership. 6. AdAge has investigated a new type of online ad fraud: URL masking. The technique is used to trick advertisers into buying ads on sites which have illicit or stolen content, which generate lots of traffic, but very little revenue. 7. On the subject of ad fraud: several US advertising trade bodies have joined forces to create the Trustworthy Accountability Group, the Wall Street Journal's CMO Today reports. The new entity will aim to combat ad fraud, online piracy and the spread of malware. 8. Adweek has picked out "12 stars of ad tech" building the future of the advertising industry. Entrants include Pubmatic president Kirk McDonald, VivaKi Data CEO Stephan Beringer and Oracle Data Cloud general manager Omar Tawakol. 9. Microsoft Advertising has laid off the majority of the global sales team. The executive team, headed by corporate vice president of advertising and online Frank Holland, remains in place. 10. Econsultancy explores whether there is a future for branded native apps. Recent research from Deloitte shows new app downloads are waning, so response web design is a must. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The Bank Of America Employee Suspected Of Killing 2 Hookers Left Chilling Emails At Work | ||
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Police are examining thousands of images on the mobile phone of Rurik Jutting, the former Bank of America Merril Lynch structured equities employee who has been arrested following the discovery of two dead women in his Hong Kong apartment, according to Australia's News.com. They will also look at a chilling email message that Jutting used as his out-of-office autoreply, according to Bloomberg: An automated e-mail reply from the Bank of America Corp. (BAC) account of Rurik Jutting yesterday said he was out of the office “indefinitely” and recommended contacting someone who’s not “an insane psychopath.” ... The automated reply also said: “For escalation please contact God, though suspect the devil will have custody. [Last line only really worked if I had followed through..]”
As they do so, we're beginning to learn more details about what happened in the high-rise apartment of the man authorities say nearly decapitated one woman and kept the body of another for days in a maggot-filled suitcase. But it is likely to be his phone and social media will provide the major evidence in the case, according to News.com: Police were scouring thousands of photographs stored on a mobile phone seized from the suspect, including some showing one of the corpses wrapped in a carpet inside a suitcase on the balcony, the South China Morning Post reported.
The body of a young woman was found on the floor of his bloodstained flat, where a knife was recovered by police. Hours later, police discovered a second body. Both women were reported to be sex workers, one of Indonesian origin, according to local media. One of the women has since been identified as 25-year old Sumarti Ningsih, who police say was killed on October 27. The other woman has not been named. “Police sped to the scene and an unconscious woman aged 25 to 30 was found lying inside the unit. Sustaining cut wounds to her neck and buttocks, the woman was certified dead at the scene,” the Hong Kong police said in a weekend statement. “In the course of investigation, police found a suitcase at the balcony of the unit, and a female dead body with neck injuries was found inside the suitcase.” Jutting graduated from Cambridge University and began working for BofA in Hong Kong in the summer of last year, according to his LinkedIn profile. He previously worked for BofA and Barclays in London. He was also jilted by a fiance in 2012 who cheated on him in 2012, according to The Telegraph.
The BBC's Hong Kong correspondent Juliana Liu reported that the two victims were known as Jesse and Alice. Both were well known in the Wan Chai entertainment district, our correspondent said. Bloomberg named one of the victims as "Ningsih", and said she was on an Indonesian tourist visa. Police are looking at Jutting's phone "in a bid to identify further potential victims," The Telegraph said.
He enjoyed skiing holidays in Courchevel, the Alpine playground for the elite, and when in London he relaxed at a private members’ club in Shoreditch. The son of an engineer father and a nursery teacher mother, Jutting was described by one colleague in Hong Kong as someone who ‘talked very loud and made loads of money’. As a boy he attended Winchester College, a private school, before going to Cambridge to study history and law, according to The Telegraph. He was in the rowing club and was secretary of the history society, The Telegraph said. His Hong Kong flat contained cocaine, The South China Morning Post said, and the FT reported that it is located near the city's red light district: Mr Jutting’s apartment in the J-Residence tower block in Wanchai – where rents are around HK30,000 a month – is just a short walk away from one of Hong Kong’s best-known party districts, famous for its all-night bars and clubs. The area is popular with expats and tourists, and is home to one of Hong Kong’s main red light districts. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Police will also look at his Facebook page status updates to establish a timeline of his activities before his death. Among those posts are an image from the Daily Mail stating "
Rurik George Caton Jutting, 29, was 
The two victims were Indonesian sex workers, 
Jutting came from a privileged background. His parents live in a massive house in Surrey, US daredevil completes Chicago skyscraper tightrope walk | ||
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Washington (AFP) - US daredevil Nik Wallenda broke two world records when he crossed the Chicago skyline on a tightrope suspended between three skyscrapers, without a safety harness. Wallenda, already the first person to cross the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls on a high wire, set records for the steepest tightrope incline and highest blindfolded walk as he stepped gingerly across the Windy City in mid-air. In the first half of the stunt Wallenda, 35, walked more than two city blocks and crossed the Chicago River with a tightrope set at an incline of 19 degrees, between the Marina City west tower and the Leo Burnett Building. Upon descending from the tightrope, Wallenda returned to Marina City west via the ground to complete his second and more dangerous feat: a tightrope walk to the east tower at more than 500 feet (152 meters), blindfolded. He completed the first walk in just under seven minutes and the second in slightly more than a minute, despite gusts of wind. "It's all about pushing myself to become better at what I do and hoping to inspire others to become better at what they do," Wallenda told the Discovery Channel, which broadcast the stunt in more than 220 countries. The Chicago Tribune said police estimated some 50,000 people turned out on Sunday to watch Wallenda, a seventh generation member of the Flying Wallendas circus family.
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UK Manufacturing PMI Climbed To A 3-Month High | ||
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The UK's manufacturing PMI is out for October, and at 53.2 it's the highest in three months. The PMI is a survey of manufacturing executives that asks them whether business is looking good or bad. The scale is 0-100, and a 50 rating is neutral, meaning an equal balance between those with positive or negative outlooks. That's well above the neutral 50 mark, but still considerably lower than the very high figures the UK regularly saw when the recovery was emerging, late in 2013 and earlier this year.
SEE ALSO: Angela Merkel Threw Down A Huge Ultimatum To David Cameron Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Three killed in 'shooting' near Swiss Alps station | ||
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Geneva (AFP) - The bodies of three people were discovered in a car park near a train station in the Swiss Alps town of Wilderswill on Monday, police said, with reports saying they had been shot dead. Police said they had been alerted to the presence of the bodies in the town near the popular tourist destination of Interlaken at 7:00 am (0600 GMT), but gave no further details. Media reports said they were killed in a shooting incident and that police were carrying out a forensic search of a hotel balcony that overlooks the car park.
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Italy's PMI Falls In October, Signals A Worrying Slide | ||
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Italy's manufacturing PMI fell to 49.0 in October from 50.70 in September. Markit's Purchasing Managers' Index is a commonly used survey to measure overall business conditions before official stats come out. Any figure below 50 indicates the sector is contracting. Here are the key points from Markit:
Markit economist Phil Smith said: "The manufacturing PMI resumed its worrying slide seen since May after having ticked up slightly in September. Falling back below 50.0, the index points to Italy’s manufacturing sector returning to contraction." He added: "The manufacturing PMI resumed its worrying slide seen since May after having ticked up slightly in September. Falling back below 50.0, the index points to Italy’s manufacturing sector returning to contraction."
SEE ALSO: Angela Merkel Threw Down A Huge Ultimatum To David Cameron Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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