Ikea to double its spending on renewable energy to $4 billion

Ikea Group, the world's biggest furniture retailer, will double its investment in renewable energy to $4 billion by 2020 as part of a drive to reduce costs as cash-strapped consumers become more price sensitive.

The additional spending on projects such as wind farms and solar parks will be needed to keep expenses down as the company maintains its pace of expansion, Chief Executive Mikael Ohlsson said in an interview in Malmo, Sweden.

"I foresee we'll continue to increase our investments in renewable energy," said Ohlsson, who plans to step down this year after 3 1/2 years at the helm. "Looking at how quickly we're expanding and our value chain, we will most likely have to double the investments once more after 2015."

Companies such as sportswear maker Puma and drinks producer PepsiCo Inc. are expanding efforts to cut their use of scarce resources as they jostle for customers. Prices for wind turbines sank 23% in the three years that ended in June, while solar panels have tumbled by more than half in two years, making projects cost-effective, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Ikea plans to get 100% of the energy consumed at its stores and by subcontractors from renewable sources by 2020. The Swedish company owns 250,000 solar panels, mainly in the U.S., and invested in 126 wind turbines in northern Europe to cover 34% of its energy consumption.

Ohlsson said the retailer will have opportunities for "strong growth" in Europe for "many years to come" because many customers still do not have an Ikea store near them.

Sales in 2012 rose 9.5% to 27.6 billion euros ($36.7 billion), the company said in a release, while net income increased 8% to 3.2 billion euros.

Ikea gained market share across all markets, with the biggest increases being in southern Europe, where the economic crisis made customers more conscious of value, Ohlsson said.

Sales at the retailer have risen 38% since 2007, the last fiscal year before the financial crisis, as Ikea expanded in markets such as Britain and Spain, where it's opening new warehouses in Barcelona, Valencia and outside Madrid.

"We have seen very strong developments in the last few years in the U.S., in China, in Russia, in Germany, Poland and Finland," Ohlsson said. "Obviously, development has been slower in southern Europe, even though we've performed the best in countries where the economy is at its worst."

Ikea plans to increase same-store sales by 5% a year, while generating similar growth from new warehouses by doubling the rate of expansion after 2015.

In October, Ikea said it planned to more than double spending on wind farms and solar parks to as much as $2 billion to have the company cover more than 70% of its energy consumption by renewable sources in 2015 and protect it from volatile fossil-fuel prices.

The retailer is expanding its product range for customers to live more sustainable lives themselves, focusing on waste handling and cutting energy and water use.

"For now, we're mainly focusing on the big parts of resource use at home," Ohlsson said, adding that Ikea is testing some solar solutions for customers in Britain.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/zsSXi1f6B0Q/la-fi-ikea-energy-20130123,0,1175019.story

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Under French pressure, key Mali rebel group splits

French soldiers patrol in armored vehicles, in the outskirts of Sevare, Mali, some 620 kms (385 miles) north of Bamako, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. The U.S. airlift of French forces to Mali to fight Islamic extremists is expected to go on for another two weeks, Pentagon officials said, as hundreds of African troops from Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso and Senegal are now joining the French-led intervention. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

French soldiers patrol in armored vehicles, in the outskirts of Sevare, Mali, some 620 kms (385 miles) north of Bamako, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. The U.S. airlift of French forces to Mali to fight Islamic extremists is expected to go on for another two weeks, Pentagon officials said, as hundreds of African troops from Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso and Senegal are now joining the French-led intervention. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

French soldiers patrol in armored vehicles, in the outskirts of Sevare, Mali, some 620 kms (385 miles) north of Bamako, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. The U.S. airlift of French forces to Mali to fight Islamic extremists is expected to go on for another two weeks, Pentagon officials said, as hundreds of African troops from Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso and Senegal are now joining the French-led intervention. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

French soldiers look with binoculars in the outskirts of Sevare, Mali, some 620 kms (385 miles) north of Bamako, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. The U.S. airlift of French forces to Mali to fight Islamic extremists is expected to go on for another two weeks, Pentagon officials said, as hundreds of African troops from Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso and Senegal are now joining the French-led intervention. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A Malian soldier takes position in the outskirts of Sevare, Mali, some 620 kms (385 miles) north of Bamako, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. The U.S. airlift of French forces to Mali to fight Islamic extremists is expected to go on for another two weeks, Pentagon officials said, as hundreds of African troops from Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso and Senegal are now joining the French-led intervention. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

French soldiers patrol in armored vehicles, in the outskirts of Sevare, Mali, some 620 kms (385 miles) north of Bamako, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. The U.S. airlift of French forces to Mali to fight Islamic extremists is expected to go on for another two weeks, Pentagon officials said, as hundreds of African troops from Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso and Senegal are now joining the French-led intervention. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

SAN, Mali (AP) ? Mali's rebel movement showed new signs of discord on Thursday in the wake of punishing French air strikes, with one wing of the Ansar Dine group now pledging to negotiate an end to the country's crisis and possibly even fight against its former comrades-in-arms.

France's air and land campaign that began two weeks ago to save Mali's embattled interim government has shaken up the military landscape and put the international spotlight on the former French colony. Mali's government was on a new political defensive, urging its soldiers to respect human rights after new allegations that they had carried out summary executions in zones of battle against the radical Islamists.

Three al-Qaida-linked extremist groups have controlled Mali's vast northeast for months, capitalizing on chaos that followed a coup d'etat in Mali's capital, Bamako, in March. But in a new sign of splintering, former Ansar Dine leader Alghabass Ag Intalla told the Associated Press on Thursday that he and his men were breaking off from Ansar Dine "so that we can be in control of our own fate."

"We are neither AQIM or MUJAO," he said of the other groups, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and the Movement for the Unity and Jihad in West Africa, known by its French-language acronym. "We are a group of people from the north of Mali who have a set of grievances that date back at least 50 years."

The comments suggested that at least some of Islamist fighters are searching for an exit in the wake of the French airstrikes. French radio RFI reported earlier Thursday that Intalla's new group will be called the Islamic Movement for the Azawad, a Tuareg term for northern Mali, and his men are willing to fight their former comrades-in-arms in Ansar Dine.

"We are not terrorists. We are ready to negotiate," Intalla told the AP.

Late last year, Ansar Dine held talks in neighboring Burkina Faso with Malian government representatives, and one of the sticking points was a disagreement over whether Malian law or Islamic Shariah law would be applied. Rebels have at times applied their interpretation of Shariah to carry out public executions, amputations, and whippings ? for infractions ranging from possessing cigarettes to women going out without headscarves.

Intalla suggested a new flexibility: "Shariah is our religion, we cannot renounce our religion. But whatever causes problems within it, we're willing to take a look at."

Intalla is an ethnic Tuareg.

On Jan. 19, the group said in a statement on a jihadist forum that "the people of northern Mali are prepared to sacrifice everything in order to live under Shariah-based governance," according to SITE Intelligence Group.

It also said that "it had no intention to take over the capital, Bamako, and push to the south, and that France used those allegations to justify its colonial ambitions," SITE said. The group also added that the fighters' withdrawal from Diabaly and Konna was "a strategic choice and was not forced upon them by the enemy, except in the case of protecting civilian lives and property."

An elected official from Kidal, who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisal, told the AP Thursday that the split was a long time coming and reflected how Ansar Dine, which took over the northern city of Kidal, enlisted large numbers of fighters and coopted local authorities for economic and political reasons ? not ideological ones. Intalla, the heir to Kidal's traditional ruler, isn't believed to be a radical Muslim, he added.

Word of the new dissension within rebel ranks came as the government was confronting its own troubles: The most vocal allegations yet that its depleted army ? which was badly splintered and weakened during the coup d'etat ? had been responsible for human rights abuses along the battle zones separating the rebels in the north and government-controlled south.

"For several days information has come to use pointing to abuses committed on the ground that point to abuses that verge on human rights violations," the prime minister's office said in a statement. "The government reminds the army and security forces to show strict respect of human rights ... the government will see to the strict respect of these norms."

On Wednesday, a witness told the AP that Malian soldiers shot people accused of ties to the radical Islamists at a bus stop in Konna, along the dividing line, and threw their bodies into nearby wells around the time when the French campaign began. Also Wednesday, French human rights group FIDH accused Malian forces of dozens of "summary executions" in the area.

French President Francois Hollande authorized a military intervention two weeks ago and fighter jets have pounded rebel training camps, arms depots and bases. Since then, the Islamists appear to have fled from the cities, although they still remain firmly in control of much of northern Mali, likely using their desert bases and the area's natural topography, including cave systems in the Kidal region.

France was continuing to ramp up its presence. The French military said late Wednesday that 2,300 French troops are involved in code-named operation Serval, and the African contingent totals 1,500 soldiers in both Mali's capital, Bamako, and the capital of neighboring Niger, Niamey. France says it will stay as long as needed, but that it hopes African forces will eventually take the lead.

France ? Mali's former colonial ruler ? has received logistical help from Western allies including Britain, Germany, Denmark and the United States, but no Western troops have been committed to fighting alongside the French and Africans.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking Thursday about the Mali situation in Davos, Switzerland, said the military action needed to be supported by "an intelligent political response" to resolve the crisis in the longer term.

"The French are right to act in Mali and I back that action," he said, adding: "We need to address the poisonous narrative these terrorists feed on, close down the ungoverned space in which they thrive and deal with the grievances they use to garner support."

___

Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Dakar, Senegal, Baba Ahmed in San, Mali, and Angela Charlton in Davos, Switzerland, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-24-Mali-Fighting/id-f89df44966194755af61ef4d4b002dac

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Learn More About Payday Loans From These Tips | Finance News ...

Don?t be scared of taking out a payday loan. Some people are scared because they don?t know a lot about these loans. If you want to learn more about cash advance loans, keep reading.

If you are a payday loan veteran, consider when you last received funds in that way. How did you feel? Were you relieved to have taken the pressure off an emergency? Or did you feel a rush from scoring quick bucks? If you find yourself getting a buzz every time you take out a payday loan, you may be experiencing a form of loan addiction.

Payday Loan

Know that if you don?t pay off a payday loan when you?re supposed to, it could go to collections. Having a loan in collections will seriously lower your credit score, as well. Make sure that you have enough money in your bank account the day your payday loan is due.

Make sure that you take proof of age and proof of employment documentation with you to a payday loan provider?s office. You will need to have identification proving that you are of legal age and also you will need a paystub or other income verification to get a payday loan.

Make sure you stop and think before getting a payday loan. Know that most loans charge an average of 378-780% anually. Understand that a $500 loan will cost you $625 to pay back in only two weeks. Hence, you should only borrow this amount if it?s absolutely essential.

Automatic rollover systems could worsen your debt. You lender may actually renew outstanding loans automatically, deducting amounts from your accounts as needed. Worst of all, payday loan companies tend to hide these details within the contract. You might think that your unpaid loan is not truly important, and in the meantime the company is charging you hundreds of dollars in interest and fees. Take your time and research the terms closely before committing.

It is important to know which documents will be required to get your payday loan. Proof that you are employed and actual bank information is usually mandatory. Call the company in advance and ask about required documentation to expedite the approval process for your loan.

Payday Loan

Make sure you?ve read every line of the contract before taking out a payday loan. The payday loan agreement will contain information such as the annual percentage rate, the loan terms, and the due date. It will be signed by all parties involved.

Make sure you understand any fees that are charged for your payday loan. Now you?ll understand the cost of borrowing. There are rate regulations that are designed to protect consumers. The companies that offer you these loans will do their best to charge the highest possible interest to you. This ends up increasing the overall cost of the loan. This can help you decide if the loan is right for you.

Research all the options before you request a payday loan. You might think you don?t have time to do this because you need the money as soon as possible. One thing that a payday loan is known for is the speed that you can get one with. Sometimes, you get the money immediately. Look online for more information about loan rates, customer testimonials, and anything else that may affect you before you borrow money.

Before you get a loan, do some shopping around so you can get the best deal. Certain lenders may permit you to borrow a large portion of your paycheck, but some will restrict you to a lower amount. This will ensure that you can pay back the loan by the due date.

Only get a payday loan if you are having an emergency. These loans can lead to a downward cycle that will be difficult to escape. Your pay will be reduced, and the company will entice you to not pay it back until you get to a point, where you cannot pay it back.

Doing your research will help you get the best deal with terms that you understand with no ugly hidden surprises. Educate yourself and carefully compare all of your options and offers. There is a wealth of information about payday advances available, so continue to explore the process and gain the knowledge you need to make a solid choice.

If your prior experience with more help is limited, after you read the ideas in this article, you will be moving forward with a good base foundation. You are fortunate. Not everyone is so lucky. Now put your newfound knowledge to use so that you can find success in the future.

Source: http://thefinancenewstoday.com/2013/01/23/learn-more-about-payday-loans-from-these-tips/

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Jordanians vote for newly empowered parliament

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? Jordanians voted Wednesday for a parliament touted to be the most powerful in the kingdom's history, but with much of the opposition boycotting it is unclear how far the vote and its accompanying reforms will go to pacify a two-year long wave of protests.

At least 125,000 Jordanians, or 5 percent of the 2.3 million who registered to vote, cast ballots in the first two hours after polls opened despite technical computer problems with the balloting, elections commission head Abdul-Illah Khatib said. That is reasonably heavy turnout for the early morning.

King Abdullah II has given the parliament the right to choose the prime minister, previously appointed by the crown. It is one of several major reforms that will see the elected legislature take over much of the responsibility for day-to-day affairs of state, although the king ? for now ? will still set broader foreign and security policy.

The 2011 Arab Spring uprisings in the region set off a wave of demonstrations in Jordan, albeit much smaller than those that toppled autocratic leaders in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia and devolved into a bloody civil war in Syria. Abdullah is trying to control the pace of change.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour told reporters that the vote was a "a stepping stone, or a station, on the path of more vigorous, serious, real and genuine reforms," as he cast his ballot in his northwestern hometown of Salt.

"More democracy is coming," added Ensour, who is expected to tender his resignation to the king shortly after the vote as Jordan's last appointed premier. Officials said Ensour will remain a caretaker until parliament elects his successor.

But government critics, led by the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, say the king's moves do not go far or fast enough to end his monopoly on power.

The Islamist group is boycotting the vote, as are four smaller parties, including communists and Arab nationalists, on grounds that an electoral law introduced last year favored pro-king loyalists and undercut votes in its favor.

The Islamists' frustration is growing because the Brotherhood has not been able to rally a large sector of the public to their side. Though there is anger over the economy, rising prices and corruption, many Jordanians also distrust the Brotherhood, eyeing its rise in Egypt and fearing it could grab power in Jordan and throw it into instability.

"It's a national wedding in Jordan, with the bride being the new parliament," said Amman housewife Basma Edwan, 32, as she enthusiastically cast her ballot, beaming a smile at photographers inside the polling room.

Outside the Amman polling station, convenience store cashier Mohammed Abu-Summaqa, 21, said he will not be voting.

"Deputies will not be able to do anything for us because they are controlled by the king and Cabinet, so why should I vote?" he asked.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jordanians-vote-newly-empowered-parliament-092228943.html

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Clinton to face Congress on Libya assault

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former president Bill Clinton look on during the ceremonial swearing-in ceremony during the 57th President Inauguration, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Win McNamee, Pool)

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former president Bill Clinton look on during the ceremonial swearing-in ceremony during the 57th President Inauguration, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Win McNamee, Pool)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton faces tough questions in her long-awaited congressional testimony concerning the assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Clinton is the sole witness Wednesday at back-to-back hearings before the Senate and House foreign policy panels on the September raid, an independent panel's review that harshly criticized the State Department and the steps the Obama administration is taking to beef up security at U.S. facilities worldwide.

Clinton had been scheduled to testify before Congress last month, but an illness, a concussion and a blood clot near her brain forced her to postpone her appearance.

Her marathon day on Capitol Hill will probably be her last in Congress before she steps down as secretary of state. President Barack Obama has nominated Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to succeed her, and his swift Senate confirmation is widely expected. Kerry's confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

Clinton's testimony will focus on the attack after more than three months of Republican charges that the Obama administration ignored signs of a deteriorating security situation in Libya and cast an act of terrorism as mere protests over an anti-Muslim video in the heat of a presidential election. Washington officials suspect that militants linked to al-Qaida carried out the attack.

"It's been a cover-up from the beginning," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the newest member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday.

Politics play an outsized role in any appearance by Clinton, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 and is the subject of constant speculation about a possible bid in 2016. The former first lady and New York senator ? a polarizing figure dogged by controversy ? is about to end her four-year tenure at the State Department with high favorable ratings.

A poll early last month by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found 65 percent of Americans held a favorable impression of Clinton, compared with 29 percent unfavorable.

Challenging Clinton at the hearing will be two possible 2016 Republican presidential candidates ? Florida's Marco Rubio and Kentucky's Rand Paul, also a new member of the committee.

Clinton did little to quiet the presidential chatter earlier this month when she returned to work at the State Department after her illness. On the subject of retirement, she said, "I don't know if that is a word I would use, but certainly stepping off the very fast track for a little while."

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Tuesday that Clinton would focus on the Accountability Review Board's independent assessment of the attack and the State Department's work to implement its findings.

"Systematic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department resulted in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place," the panel said in its report last month.

The report singled out the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Near East Affairs, saying there appeared to be a lack of cooperation and confusion over protection at the mission in Benghazi. The report described a security vacuum in Libya after rebel forces toppled the decades-long regime of strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

The report made 29 recommendations to improve diplomatic security, particularly at high-threat posts.

Nuland said Clinton "pledged not only to accept all 29 of the recommendations, but to have the implementation of those recommendations well under way before her successor took over. So I think she'll want to give a status on that."

Asked for the number of State Department employees fired for their handling of Benghazi, Nuland said four people were put on administrative leave. They included Eric Boswell, who resigned from the position of assistant secretary of diplomatic security.

But Nuland declined to say if Boswell and the others still are working for the department in some capacity.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., a member of the Senate committee, questioned the status of the FBI investigation and whether any individual has been implicated.

"My last understanding is that there is no one currently still being held for questioning, no one's been prosecuted for this or held accountable even though the president promised that to be the case," he said.

Still, Barrasso insisted that the hearing will be respectful.

Presiding over the Senate session will be Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the next chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. It would be unusual for Kerry to oversee the hearing.

"My hope is we look at this as a positive constructive opportunity to build much greater security for our diplomatic missions across the world," Menendez said. "That's how I'm going to the hearing. I hope my colleagues have the same type of view."

___

Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper and Andrew Miga contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-23-Clinton-Libya/id-81cf6ed33a874739a13c503200c05e94

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HELP ARTICAL: Abstract Paintings | samalaoa

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Source: http://samalaoa.blogspot.com/2013/01/help-artical-abstract-paintings.html

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Sports & Recreation | Entertainment in Rochester NY

AMERKS HOME FOR TWO

Our Rochester Americans AHL Hockey Team will take the ice in the Blue Cross Arena, One War Memorial Drive, on two consecutive Friday evenings at 7:05 p.m.? The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins take on our Amerks on January 25; followed on February 1 by a match against the Toronto Marlies.? Visit www.amerks.com; or call (800) 745-3000.

?

LANCERS vs. MISSOURI

The Rochester Lancers Indoor Professional Indoor Soccer Team will host Missouri at 1 p.m. on Sunday, January 27 in the Blue Cross Arena, One War Memorial Drive.?? Visit .rochesterlancers .com; or call (585) 872-5425 for tickets.

?

KNIGHTHAWKS HOME FOR TWO

Our Rochester Knighthawks Indoor Lacrosse Team will be in town for two upcoming matches in the Blue Cross Arena, One War Memorial Drive.? On January 26, they will face the Toronto Rock at 7:30 p.m.; and on February 2, they take on the Washington Stealth at 8 p.m.? For tickets, call (585) 454-HAWK; or visit www.knighthawks.com.

Source: http://www.freetime.com/sports-recreation-28/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sports-recreation-28

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