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Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Ally to raise capital, buy back stock from U.S.

(Reuters) - Ally Financial Inc has sold $1 billion of stock in a private placement and will repay the U.S. government nearly $6 billion as the auto lender works to boost its capital levels and exit government ownership. With the transactions, Ally will have repaid the Treasury about $12.1 billion of the $17.2 billion it received during the financial crisis under the Troubled Asset Relief Program."Ally has made great progress in restructuring and strengthening its business in order to repay the taxpayer, and we look forward to continuing to work with the company to recover the remaining investment," Assistant Treasury Secretary for Financial Stability Tim Massad said in a statement.The company entered agreements with investors for a private placement of 166,667 shares of the company's common stock for $1 billion. An Ally spokeswoman declined to disclose the investors' identity but said they were a diverse group of existing and new shareholders.Ally agreed to pay $5.2 billion to repurchase outstanding preferred securities held by the U.S. Treasury. The car loan company also paid $725 million to terminate the Treasury's right to receive extra payments if the company sells shares below a particular price, a term the company and the government had previously agreed to in 2010 when the U.S. converted some of its preferred Ally shares into common stock.The lender was singled out as the weakest of 18 major banks in the Federal Reserve's stress test in March as being the most weakly capitalized. The Fed objected to Ally's capital plan "both on quantitative and qualitative grounds," and it was the only bank that failed to meet the minimum threshold of a 5 percent capital buffer in a scenario where unemployment rose to 12.1 percent and share prices fell 50 percent.The private placement must take place before November 30, and both that and transactions with the U.S. Treasury is contingent on the Federal Reserve approval of the bank's resubmitted capital plan. Ally has to resubmit its new capital plan by the end of September.Ally reported a net loss of $927 million in the second quarter, driven by a $1.6 billion charge related to a settlement in the bankruptcy case of its subsidiary Residential Capital LLC.(Reporting by Peter Rudegeair and Aman Shah; editing by Andrew Hay)

This article is taken from Reuters.com

Which are the world's friendliest and unfriendliest cities?

Editor's note: "The City" is a CNN special series that profiles the sustainable urban future of five cities over five days. Watch the show every day during our special theme week starting Monday, Aug 19 on "World Business Today" at 1300 GMT and "Connect The World" at 2000 GMT.

(CNN) -- The United States, land of freedom and opportunity, is also the land of scowling faces and folded arms, according to a new poll.

Travel magazine Conde Nast Traveler has unveiled the results of its annual readers' choice survey.

More than 46,000 readers gave their opinions last year on everything from favorite airlines to best hotels and friendliest and unfriendliest cities.

It's the latter category that might cause the most surprises, with U.S. cities dominating the "unfriendly" list.

Newark, New Jersey, is the unfriendliest city in the world according to the survey.

5. Charleston, South Carolina Score: 91.5 The only U.S. city that made it into the top 10 friendliest cities. Charleston took first place in a previous poll to find the friendliest cities in the United States.

World's friendliest cities

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$U.S. cities rule \'unfriendliest cities\' list$ U.S. cities rule 'unfriendliest cities' list

"Newark is best known for being the site of an airport near New York, and for many of our readers, that's the only reason to stop there," says Conde Nast Traveler.

In total, five U.S. cities were voted into the top 10 unfriendly cities list and eight made the top 20.

Oakland, California (third), "has an image problem and a split personality" according to a reader who answered the survey.

New Haven, Connecticut (seventh), home of Yale University, is the city of "rude, unfriendly folks;" Detroit (eighth) was called the "armpit of the world" by one reader and Atlantic City, New Jersey (ninth), was dismissed as a "pale shadow of Las Vegas."

Other cities in the list include Islamabad in Pakistan (second least friendly), Luanda in Angola (fourth), Kuwait City (fifth) Lome in Togo (sixth) and Tangier in Morocco (tenth).

What do you think? Tell us about your own friendly or unfriendly travel experiences in the comments section below.

Conde Nast Traveler stresses that its rankings are inspired by factors including location, political perception, size and language barriers, and don't necessarily correspond to rude behavior of locals.

But enough badmouthing.

The survey also announces the friendliest cities in the world.

Florianopolis, the island city in Brazil, is the world's friendliest city according to the poll.

Hobart in Tasmania followed in second place and Thimpu in Bhutan wrapped up the top three.

One U.S. city made it into the top 10 friendliest cities -- Charleston, South Carolina.

Standing fifth in the global list, Charleston was also voted the friendliest city in the United States in a previous poll.

The world's unfriendliest cities

20. Caracas, Venezuela

19. Bethlehem, Palestine

18. Casablanca, Morocco

17. Wilmington, Delaware

16. Moscow

15. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

14. Shenzhen, China

13. Albany, New York

12. Los Angeles

11. Guangzhou, China

10. Tangier, Morocco

9. Atlantic City, New Jersey

8. Detroit

7. New Haven, Connecticut

6. Lome, Togo

5. Kuwait City

4. Luanda, Angola

3. Oakland, California

2. Islamabad, Pakistan

1. Newark, New Jersey

The world's friendliest cities

20. Cork, Ireland

20. Asheville, North Carolina

18. Edinburgh, Scotland

16.Savannah, Georgia

16. Auckland, New Zealand

14. Victoria, British Columbia

14. Galena, Illinois

13. Dublin, Ireland

12. Christchurch, New Zealand

11. Chiang Mai, Thailand

9. Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

9. Kilkenny, Ireland

8. Mandalay, Myanmar

6. Margaret River, Australia

6. Paro, Bhutan

5. Charleston, South Carolina

4. Queenstown, New Zealand

3. Thimpu, Bhutan

2. Hobart, Tasmania

1. Florianopolis, Brazil

Also on CNN: 20 biggest travel mistakes

This article is taken from CNN.com

One thing you'd change in your city

"The City" is a CNN special series that profiles the sustainable urban future of five cities over five days. Watch the show every day during our special theme week starting Monday, Aug 19 on "World Business Today" at 1300 GMT and "Connect The World" at 2000 GMT.

This article is taken from CNN.com

Victorian woman photographer Cameron celebrated at NY museum show

NEW YORK (Reuters) - With a camera meant to amuse her in her solitude and some famous friends, Julia Margaret Cameron managed to forge a body of work focused on Victorian portraiture that is still celebrated a century and a half later. "She was one of the greatest portraitists in photography, and one of the great portraitists in any medium," said Malcolm Daniel, curator of a new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art which features 35 pristine 19th-century photographs.Cameron, who was British and died in 1879, was "eccentric in manner, spiritual in sensibility and unconventional in technique," Daniel told Reuters on Monday before the opening of the show, which runs through January 5."She was not really interested in the documentation of how people looked. It was about finding the inner spirit and soul of a person," said Daniel, senior curator at the Met's Department of Photographs.As such, he added, the pioneering photographer's work has seen "waves of popularity and dismissal" for generations, with Cameron's soft focus, long-exposure works deemed variously "treacly, or celebrated as an artist."For her part, Cameron dismissed documentary portraiture as "map-making and skeletal rendering of feature and form."Cameron received a camera as a Christmas gift in 1863 from her daughter with the idea that "it might amuse you, mother, to try to photograph during your solitude."With no training in art, she eschewed professional models, instead shooting friends, family, neighbors and household staff.Her friends were not just ordinary folk - among them were the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, a neighbor on the Isle of Wight, and the Victorian scientist and mathematician Sir John Herschel, each of whom is represented by several portraits from 1865-66.Cameron's oeuvre comprised three bodies of work: portraits of great men, such as the philosopher Thomas Carlyle, women such as nieces or maids who often posed as literary or historical figures like Sappho, and staged, costumed tableaux featuring Shakespearean, Biblical or Arthurian themes.For the tableaux, Cameron, who shot in natural light, often looked no further than her own home, with her husband posing as King Lear or Merlin the magician. The latter was for a project request by Tennyson himself, who needed illustrations for a new edition of his tome, "Idylls of the Kings."Another frequent subject was Alice Liddell - the muse of "Alice in Wonderland" author Lewis Carroll, who posed for Cameron a dozen times in 1872 alone, including for the portrait "Pomona" which is among those in the exhibit.More than 1,200 images survive by Cameron, who largely stepped away from photography after moving back to Ceylon in 1875.They all have one thing in common: Cameron never appears in any of them, never once having shot a self-portrait.(Editing by Mary Milliken and Christopher Wilson)

This article is taken from Reuters.com

Floods leave at least 107 dead in China

Beijing (CNN) -- Flooding in China's north and south caused by heavy rain has left at least 107 dead and inundated roads and farmland, the government and state media said.

Three provinces in China's northeast bore the brunt of the floods with 85 dead and 105 missing in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning as of 4pm on Monday, the government said.

A total of 37 million residents in that region were affected by flood waters, Xinhua said, which were described by a local newspaper as the worst in 50 years in Liaoning province.

More than 787,000 hectares of farmland in the region, a major grain growing area, were flooded and pictures showed roads in many urban areas looking more like rivers.

Xinhua said that the People's Liberation Army had been mobilized to carry out rescue work.

At the opposite end of the country, rainfall in the wake of Typhoon Utor, which made landfall in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong last week, has killed 22 people and caused 8.6 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) of damage there.

Dykes ruptured near Shantou in eastern Guangdong flooding low-lying homes and killing 10.

Some internet users criticized the official response to the floods.

"Government rescue is too slow. They send troops overseas for military exercise, but don't care about its own people," said a user of the Twitter-like Sina Weibo with the name @Lingchenliangdinan.

"Our farmland is completely flooded. The past year's effort is all gone," said another user @WoxiaotarenkanbuchuanL.

This article is taken from CNN.com

Pakistan court says ex-ruler Musharraf involved in Bhutto murder

(CNN) -- A Pakistani court on Tuesday indicted former President Pervez Musharraf in the killing of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, the first time charges have been filed against an ex-military chief in the South Asian nation.

Bhutto, Pakistan's first female prime minister, was assassinated in a gun-suicide attack in December 2007, shortly after she came back to Pakistan from self-imposed exile to take part in the 2008 general elections. Musharraf was president at the time.

Musharraf's government blamed former Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud for the assassination, saying he had paid a network of Islamist militants to carry out the killing.

But Musharraf and his security forces were previously accused of failing to do enough to protect Bhutto, a political rival.

GPS Highlights: Pervez Musharraf

From president to exile

The former military ruler has denied having anything to do with Bhutto's killing.

"The politically motivated indictment filed against Former President Musharraf implicating him in the unfortunate assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is not only false, fabricated and fictitious, but is also an undignified attempt to smear the honor and integrity of the former president on the world stage," Musharraf spokesman Raza Bokhari said in a statement Tuesday.

After the general elections in 2008 where his party was trounced, Musharraf stepped down as the governing coalition began taking steps to impeach him.

He then went into self-imposed exile.

Earlier this year, he returned to Pakistan in an attempt to revive his political career. It didn't work.

Bhutto's son steps into the political spotlight

Instead, he's become entangled in a thicket of court cases related to his time as the country's top leader. He has been under house arrest since April.

Other cases relate to the detention of judges in 2007 and the killing of a tribal leader in the volatile province of Balochistan.

The recently elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a longtime political foe of Musharraf, has also suggested that the former military ruler should stand trial for treason.

Sharif has accused Musharraf of illegally abrogating the constitution in November 2007.

That month, Musharraf declared a state of emergency, suspended Pakistan's constitution, replaced the chief judge and blacked out independent TV outlets.

Musharraf said he did so to stabilize the country and to fight rising Islamic extremism.

Such a prosecution of a former top general would be likely to strain the already delicate relations between Sharif and Pakistan's powerful military.

Pakistan votes: Key moments of a turbulent past

This article is taken from CNN.com

Police: Australian baseball player killed by Oklahoma teens -- just because

(CNN) -- A random act of violence has left a promising 22-year-old college baseball player dead, a family devastated and two countries half a world apart rattled.

Christopher Lane, who's from Australia, was gunned down in Duncan, Oklahoma, while he was out jogging last week. The motive, police say? Three teens who had nothing better to do.

"They witnessed a young man run by on the street. Chose him as the target," Police Chief Danny Ford told CNN affiliate KSWO.

When police eventually arrested the three teens -- ages 15, 16 and 17 -- one of them offered up a motive that made clear that Lane, who attended East Central University on a baseball scholarship, was chosen at random.

"He said the motive was, 'We were going to kill somebody,'" Ford told Australian radio station 3AW.

"They decided all three of them were going to kill somebody."

Police say the teens shot Lane in the back in the town of about 24,000 and sped away in their car.

"There were some people that saw him stagger across the road, go to a kneeling position and collapse on the side of the road," Ford told KSWO.

Attempts to revive Lane failed.

Police caught the teens a few hours after the shooting. Thanks to security cameras from local businesses, police saw their car speeding down the street.

Nearly 10,000 miles away in Australia, Lane's family struggled to cope with the news.

"He's left his mark as we know, and you know there's not going to be any good come out of this, because it was just so senseless," Christopher's father, Peter Lane, said. "It's happened. It's wrong, and we're just trying and deal with it the best we can."

Lane's girlfriend Sarah Harper posted an emotional tribute on Facebook, saying "you will always be mine and in a very special and protected place in my heart."

In July: U.S. student killed in Egypt was enthralled with region

This article is taken from CNN.com

World's priciest city to be an expat is...?

Hong Kong (CNN) -- Oslo, Norway ranks as the world's most expensive city for expatriates, according to a new survey by ECA International, a global human resources consultancy firm. In the top 10, seven of the planet's priciest cities lie in Europe, two are found in Africa, while just one rests in Asia.

The rise of Norway's capital to the top spot knocks Tokyo, Japan off the position it has claimed since 2010. This year, Japan's capital ranks as the world's sixth priciest city for overseas workers.

"Prices in Oslo tend to be more expensive compared to other parts of the world (because of) the cost of production and labor," says Lee Quane, Regional Director, Asia for ECA International. "Services include dry cleaning, shoe repair, hair dressing - items which are more labor intensive - meals eaten out at restaurants as well. We also see the impact of taxes. For example alcohol and tobacco is relatively expensive."

According to ECA International data for Oslo, a movie ticket costs the equivalent of $18.76, a beer at a bar costs $14.10, while a soda will set you back $3.43.

How Oslo airport beats the weather

Better Japanese economy = shorter skirts

Manila to make the mouth water

Tokyo's fall from the top of the charts follows weakness in Japan's currency over the past several months, adds Quane.

The yen has fallen by as much as 20% since Shinzo Abe became prime minister in December 2012. Abe has laid out a plan for a return to inflation -- with an official 2% target -- after two decades of deflation, a stagnating economy and Japan's exporters like Sony and Panasonic recording billions of dollars in annual losses.

A weaker yen gives more buying power to foreigners visiting and exchanging their money.

Still Tokyo remains the most expensive city in Asia for expats, in the survey by ECA International, beating Seoul, Beijing, Singapore and Hong Kong.

A ticket to a Tokyo movie will take $19.09 out of your wallet, a soft drink is a more affordable $1.61 compared to Oslo, while a kilo of rice costs $10.00 -- the highest price in the entire ECA International survey.

Overall, Asia's city rankings have recently seen "a lot of stability," adds Quane. The global position rankings of Hong Kong and Singapore have only "moved one or two points", which he considers "a good thing" and a signal towards a longer-term economic recovery after the 2008 global financial crisis.

One surprise, says Quane, is the Philippine capital of Manila which jumped 19 points since the 2012 survey.

"The main reason was due to the strength of the currency. What we have seen is that the Philippines has been one of the strongest economies in Asia in the last 12 months as we've seen more foreign direct investment go there. Because of that, we've seen the currency strengthen and that pushed the Philippines up in ranking."

This article is taken from CNN.com

Detroit paramedic has heart attack while giving CPR to man having heart attack

(CNN) -- Talk about dedication to the job.

Detroit paramedic Joseph Hardman is being hailed as a hero for performing CPR on a patient having a heart attack -- even as he began to have one himself.

One doctor said the odds of this happening are "one in a million."

"A sudden explosion-type feeling in my chest" is how Hardman, 47, described the incident to CNN affiliate WXYZ.

Hardman's partner drove him and the patient to the local hospital.

Both men had identical stents put in to remove blockages, and both are recovering.

Hardman knows how lucky he was to already be on his way to an ER, telling reporters "If I hadn't been in the position I was in, I would have been deceased."

"I would have to say one in a million is about appropriate" a hospital doctor told WXYZ. "I haven't ever seen it and I haven't heard of it".

Hardman has been working as a paramedic in Detroit for 15 years, and says he has no prior medical history of heart problems.

The blockage was found in a key artery that is often referred to by cardiologists as the "widow maker".

Doctors say he likely faces months of rehab before he'll be able to return to work.

This article is taken from CNN.com

Attorney: Alex Rodriguez had 'consulting relationship' with Biogenesis

(CNN) -- New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez had a "consulting relationship" with a Florida anti-aging clinic accused of providing banned drugs to baseball players, but there's no evidence he did anything to violate baseball's Joint Drug Agreement, one of his attorneys told CNN Monday.

Rodriguez is appealing a 211-game suspension that Major League Baseball levied against him this month, with the league accusing him of taking performance-enhancing drugs and having ties to the now-shuttered Biogenesis clinic.

Attorney Joe Tacopina said Rodriguez was one of many athletes who consulted for Biogenesis.

"Clearly there was a relationship -- a consulting relationship," Tacopina said. "I mean, Biogenesis, that lab has consulted with many professional athletes. Not every single one of those athletes has been accused of or found guilty of using illegal substances."

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Fast Facts: Performance Enhancing Drugs in sports

Tacopina declined to give further details about the relationship, citing confidentiality concerns. But he said, "They have no scientific evidence to prove that Alex Rodriguez did anything to violate" baseball's drug agreement.

"It's witness testimony from one witness -- a witness who's not going to be available, in my prediction, to either testify in arbitration or at some federal proceeding," he said.

Opinion: How A-Rod let us down

When asked why he wouldn't say unequivocally that Rodriguez didn't use performance-enhancing drugs, Tacopina again cited confidentiality considerations.

"If I utter those words, I've just violated the confidentiality clause of the JDA -- that's the bottom line," he said. "... If you're a supporter or a detractor, what happened to him is not fair by anyone's standards. It's clearly a vendetta, it's clearly a witch hunt to get him 211 games -- not justifiable under anyone's scenario that is being objective."

Alex Rodriguez: 'I'm fighting for my life'

Apparently in response to comments like these, Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball's executive vice president of economics and league affairs, sent Tacopina a letter on Monday, offering to waive confidentiality provisions.

"While we believe that your public comments are already in breach of the confidentiality provisions of Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program (the "Program"), we will agree to waive those provisions as they apply to both Rodriguez and the Office of Commissioner of Baseball with respect to Rodriguez's entire history under the Program, including, but not limited to, his testing history, test results, violations of the Program, and all information and evidence relating to Rodriguez's treatment by Anthony Bosch, Anthony Galea and Victor Conte," he wrote.

Tejada suspended 105 games

Tacopina was not immediately available to comment on the contents of the letter.

Rodriguez is playing during the appeal, which the players' union filed on his behalf two days after the suspension was announced.

History of A-Rod-Red-Sox drama

This article is taken from CNN.com

One thing you'd change in your city

This article is taken from CNN.com

Really? San Diego Mayor Bob Filner might return to work Tuesday

(CNN) -- He's the center of a national scandal, facing widespread calls for his resignation, polls show voters want him out, and the city has changed the locks to his office to preserve evidence. But somehow, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner still might show up to work Tuesday.

This on the heels of intensive two-week behavioral therapy, which was apparently aimed at ending his alleged backward ways of treating women in the workplace. Sixteen have come forward, saying that he acted inappropriately -- ranging from one woman saying he gave her "tush a pat" to another saying he "put me in what I guess now is the famous headlock" and tried "to kiss me on the lips and I'd have to squirm to get away."

It gets even more graphic.

Filner has not responded to multiple CNN requests for comment.

But last month, he acknowledged having "failed to fully respect the women who work for me and with me," and said he was "embarrassed" by his actions.

"It's a good thing that behavior that would have been tolerated in the past is being called out in this generation for what it is: inappropriate and wrong," he said.

But, in his view, not wrong enough to give up his job as representative of San Diego's 1.3 million people.

Filner insisted he will be vindicated by "a full presentation of the facts," and remained resolute that he won't step down.

But he just might be considering resignation anyway.

A closed-door mediation session with Filner, his representatives, city officials, a retired judge and a few others on Monday ended with no apparent resolution, but San Diego City Councilman Kevin Faulconer said the discussions are ongoing.

Also attending the session were City Attorney Jan Goldsmith and City Council President Todd Gloria.

A source with direct knowledge of the meeting declined to say what exactly was under discussion.

However, CNN affiliate KGTV, citing anonymous sources, reported that the mediation was "designed to include a review of a potential resignation."

Though the city chief of staff changed the locks on Filner's office during his time away, it was to preserve evidence rather than to keep him out, the city attorney's office has said.

The office has said it could seek as a "last resort" a restraining order -- saying Filner creates a hostile environment for women -- to prevent him from returning to work, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The city attorney's office did not return calls seeking comment.

New petition wants Filner out of office

Peggy Shannon, a 67-year-old great-grandmother who works at the Senior Citizens Service Desk in San Diego City Hall, allegedly faced "continuous inappropriate sexual advances by San Diego Mayor Bob Filner while trying to do her job," according to the office of her attorney, Gloria Allred. Click through the gallery of other women who have come forward in the case:

San Diego mayor's accusers

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$Photos: San Diego mayor\'s accusers$ Photos: San Diego mayor's accusers

Flirty voice mail from San Diego mayor?

Great grandma on Filner: He kissed me

Rallies for and against

Over the weekend, protesters stood outside City Hall, calling on the mayor to step down.

"There is no excuse for abuse, and there is no excuse for you to stay in power," Attorney Gloria Allred, who also attended the mediation session, said to the crowd.

She attended Sunday's rally along with some of the women accusing Filner, including one of her clients, 67-year-old Peggy Shannon.

On Monday, Filner supporters held a "We Will Not Be Silent" rally, also outside City Hall.

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Outrage overwhelming

Roughly 81% of city residents want Filner to resign, according to a poll conducted by KGTV. Another CNN affiliate, KFMB, reported local radio hosts hired skywriters to spell out "Surrender Bob" over areas of the city last week.

Armed with clipboards and pens, volunteers hit the streets of San Diego over the weekend to begin collecting signatures for a recall effort. They need more than 101,000 signatures by September 26.

"We're going to be everywhere. We're going to be at sporting events. We're going to be at street fairs, arts shows -- you name it, we will be out there," Dave McCulloch, an organizer, told KFMB on Sunday.

Anti-Filner protesters speak

Filner, 70, was elected mayor in 2012 after 20 years in Congress.

His accusers range from a singer at a campaign fundraiser to his former communications director, who called him unfit for office. Shannon was the latest person to accuse Filner.

"Every day that I went to work, I had butterflies in my stomach because I did not know what was going to happen the next time the mayor came by my desk," she told reporters last week.

"I have three sons, four grandsons and two great grandsons. As our mayor, you should be -- but are not -- a role model for any of them," Shannon said.

Filner has rebuffed calls to resign from all nine city council members and from fellow Democrats, including California's two U.S. senators.

His supporters, who include some labor unions and Latinos, claim Filner is being denied due process, and the recall effort is orchestrated by those who oppose his political agenda.

Hooters blackballs San Diego mayor

This article is taken from CNN.com