Terror Vision

BARTOW | County commissioners agreed Monday to enact some kind of restrictions on farm animals in residential areas.

For this holiday season, the International Council of Shopping Centers is predicting “a moderate gain, though somewhat subdued relative to its prior year’s pace.”

“Shopping-center sales are expected to increase by 2.2 percent during November and December 2011″ compared to the same months last year, the trade group said.

Shopping centers put up a 5 percent gain last holiday season, following two back-to-back declines, “which were a result of the severe 2007-09 recession,” the ICSC said.

Shopping center sales, the ICSC’s composite of major chains, and data for stores that specialize in department store-type merchandise “are all expected to increase in 2011 by a slower pace of between 0.3 and 2.8 percentage points” compared to the 2010 holidays, the ICSC said.

“The ICSC holiday sales forecast contains at least four messages: (1) no matter which metric of performance is used, ICSC projects 2011 US holiday sales are likely to advance at a slower pace than in 2010 as strong economic headwinds continue to persist; (2) the 2011 holiday season forecast also envisions a pace of sales considerably slower than during the first half of 2011 since retail sales generally advanced at a faster pace in early 2011 than during the 2010 holiday season; (3) compared with the previous 10-year sales performance, 2011 is likely to be near-to-above average depending on the sales metric; (4) the economic and political risks are expected to be higher during the upcoming season than during 2010. But still, on balance, ICSC’s 2011 holiday sales forecast portrays a moderately healthy performance,” Michael Niemira, ICSC’s chief economist and vice president for research, said in a release.

- Scott Nishimura

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde holds a news conference after the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) meeting in Washington, September 24, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

The late great comedian, WC Fields said you should Never work with children or animals.

But Salma Hayek didnt have a choice when it came to that famous old chestnut as she promoted her film Puss in Boots in Moscow, today.

The 45-year-old actress appeared to be struggling with a giant ginger cat handed to her by an assistant during a photo call for the 3D movie.

LONDON & NEW YORK, Sep 26, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
TABB Group announced today that its M&A
Advisory practice provided commercial due diligence to The
Carlyle Group in its September 26 acquisition of ITRS
Group, a global provider of real-time monitoring systems for the
world’s financial institutions.

“We’re pleased to have provided The Carlyle Group with the market
insight and analysis they needed for their acquisition of ITRS Group,”
says Robert
Iati, partner and global head of consulting at TABB
Group. “Our M&A Advisory team analyzed the systems-monitoring
market, sized the opportunity and talked with customers to independently
assess the value of the products and solution providers. To do so, we
drew on our depth-of-market knowledge, independent research and analyses
based on daily, interactive communications with leading buy-side
clients, top-tier investment banks, brokers, proprietary trading firms,
asset managers, hedge funds, regional and global exchanges and industry
associations.”

With over 600 installations worldwide and a client list that includes 8
of the top 10 global investment banks and several brokers, exchanges,
hedge funds and data vendors, ITRS is headquartered in London with
offices in New York, Hong Kong and Manila. In the year ended March 2011
the firm generated over GBP 16 million in revenues. Since 2002, The Carlyle
Group’s European Technology team has invested in 22 companies. Their
fund’s recent financial technology sector investments include FRS
Global, Trema, Apama and ITRS Group.

In addition to assisting The Carlyle Group, TABB Group’s M&A Advisory
practice has handled the following engagements:

–
A leading private
equity firm sought TABB’s advice to gain a better understanding of
available opportunities in the financial markets technology and
content space. This included an analysis of the market opportunities
for software in the OTC derivatives space and its current and future
competitive position in the marketplace.

–
A major
private equity firm wanted to grow its business by buying a
targeted electronic trading firm. Objectives included providing the
client with information on the target company relating to its
products, ascertaining its reputation with clients and identifying
opportunities.

–
A top-tier private equity firm solicited TABB’s counsel for the
multi-billion dollar acquisition of a leading global data provider.
Due diligence included customer assessment, competitive positioning
and prospective revenue growth.

–
A billion-dollar technology solutions provider needed a taxonomy of
the industry across multiple business areas, including sizing each
segment, identifying leading vendors and recommending the best
potential targets for acquisition, complementing existing business
lines.

–
A global provider of front- and back-end solutions needed an unbiased
assessment of its product suite to facilitate a pitch deck and
ultimate sale. TABB subsequently reviewed its products and offered an
assessment for six potential private equity buyers during the
acquisition process.

–
A leading technology vendor asked TABB to analyze more than 20
providers of risk-management solutions to create a short list and
detailed profiles of potential acquisition targets that aligned with
their existing product suite to enhance their client base and revenue.

–
A private investor needed to discreetly assess market opportunities
for the launch of an ultra-low latency fiber network between major
trading markets. TABB sized the market, identified potential buyers,
suggested price points and pinpointed potential obstacles to the new
network’s development.

–
A group of private investors that owned leading-edge clearance
technology engaged TABB to develop a market entry strategy to acquire
an existing correspondent clearing firm.

–
A bulge bracket global broker dealer contracted with TABB Group for
due diligence covering the acquisition of a top-tier agency broker.
TABB assessed the target asset’s position, evaluated their technology
capabilities and products and projected future revenues of market
segment participants. This engagement led to a successful acquisition.

About TABB Group

TABB
Group is the financial industry’s only strategic advisory and
research firm focused solely on capital markets. Founded in 2003 and
based on the proven interview-based research methodology of
“first-person knowledge” developed by founder Larry Tabb, TABB Group
analyzes and quantifies the investing value chain from the fiduciary,
investment manager, broker, exchange and custodian, helping senior
business leaders gain a truer understanding of financial markets issues.
For more information, visit
www.tabbgroup.com .
In January 2010, TABB Group launched TabbFORUM,
the online community currently with more than 8,500 capital markets
members, drawn from buy-side and sell-side firms, exchanges, regulatory
agencies, academia, consultants, vendors and media, focusing on issues
covering current industry-wide topics.

SOURCE: TABB Group

martinrabkinink
Martin Rabkin, 914-420-5739
mrabkin@martinrabkinink.com

Copyright Business Wire 2011

A lease agreement that will turn Minot Municipal Auditorium into a middle school wont preclude the city from scheduling sporting and recreational events in the facility, the auditorium manager told a city committee Tuesday.

The lease agreement approved by the Minot City Councils Finance and Improvements Committee Tuesday would give use of the building for the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 school years to Minot Public Schools for $14.50 a square foot, or an estimated $1.56 million each year. The school district would have the option of requesting an extension of the lease for a third year. Plans are to move students and staff to the auditorium from Erik Ramstad Middle School, which was damaged in the flood.

Auditorium manager Scott Collins said the auditorium still will host the Recreation Commissions adult and youth recreational activities, high school regional volleyball and all high school basketball games and tournaments that have been hosted in the past. But the auditorium will largely become a recreational and school facility, he said. There will be no large events such as the circus, and the auditorium has ceased booking private functions past September, although there may be occasional events that dont conflict with other activities that could be scheduled.

Collins said the changes wont affect total income taken in by the auditorium in the next couple of years.

Hopefully, everybody comes back when all is said and done, but we are doing what we had to do for the school, he said.

The finance committee also is recommending the council approve spending $183,138 to complete the heating and cooling, lighting and acoustical drop ceiling in the old armory portion of the auditorium, known as Auditorium II. Auditorium II will become Erik Ramstads primary physical education facility once the work is completed at the end of October.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the biggest
US lender by assets, will likely lose that distinction as
Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan partly dismantles the
money-losing empire built by his predecessor.

The firm previously was No. 1 in deposits, mortgage lending
and credit cards. Those honors are already gone as Moynihan
trims operations added by former CEO Kenneth D. Lewis at a cost
of more than $130 billion. When Moynihan is done with his
reorganization plan, called Project New BAC, the bank will have
pared its workforce by tens of thousands and probably
relinquished its lead in assets, jobs and mortgage servicing.

Being the biggest doesn’t matter, Moynihan said in an
interview last week. Project New BAC, details of which the CEO
may disclose today at a New York investor conference, is
designed to make the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank easier
to manage, more focused — and smaller, said Moynihan, 51.
That’s fine with Rebel Cole, a former Federal Reserve economist.

“What kind of stupid business plan is it to be the
biggest?” said Cole, now a finance professor at DePaul
University in Chicago. “I’d much rather be the most profitable.
They wanted to be the biggest and show they could beat Wall
Street at its own game — and they did it until Lewis let his
ego destroy the company.”

Shareholder Revolt

Making Bank of America larger was a hallmark of Lewis, who
was CEO from 2001 through the end of 2009. Lewis, 64, took over
industry leaders that ranged from credit-card vendor MBNA Corp.
to mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. and acquired
securities firm Merrill Lynch amp; Co. The first two led to
operating losses and writedowns totaling about $50 billion; the
Merrill deal triggered a US bailout and shareholder revolt
that led to Lewis’s departure.

Mary Jo White, an attorney at Debevoise amp; Plimpton LLP who
has represented Lewis, didn’t respond to phone and e-mail
messages. An attempt to reach Lewis through Bank of America
wasn’t successful.

Fed officials support Moynihan’s plan for shrinking the
company and selling assets, according to regulators familiar
with the bank. That’s consistent with a view in the Fed system
and among regulators globally that the biggest lenders need to
simplify their operations. Lewis had also added LaSalle bank in
2007, and FleetBoston Financial Corp. in 2004 for more than $45
billion.

Moynihan’s sales have impressed investors such as J. Dale Harvey, founder of Pasadena, California-based Poplar Forest
Capital, who said the CEO’s strategy is appropriate.

‘Unfortunate Reality’

“He’s focusing on the long-term franchise businesses and
getting rid of assets that don’t fit,” said Harvey, whose firm
owns Bank of America shares. “The unfortunate reality is he’s
had to spend the bulk of his time cleaning up messes made by his
predecessor.”

Shares of Bank of America have declined 48 percent this
year through Sept. 9 as investors focused on costs tied to the
2008 takeover of Countrywide and speculated the lender may issue
new stock to bolster capital. The lender slipped 28 cents to
$6.70 in early trading at 8:23 am in New York.

Bank of America became the largest home lender when it
bought Countrywide, only to cede the title to San Francisco-
based Wells Fargo amp; Co. (WFC) Moynihan’s bank slipped to No. 2 in
deposits at midyear behind New York-based JPMorgan Chase amp; Co. (JPM),
and Wells Fargo’s expanding branch network has eclipsed all
others as Bank of America was closing unwanted retail locations.

Measured by assets, Bank of America remained first as of
June 30 with $2.26 trillion, just ahead of JPMorgan’s $2.25
trillion. In terms of market value, Bank of America was fourth
as of Sept. 9 at $70.7 billion. JPMorgan was the most valuable
commercial bank at $125.1 billion, followed by Wells Fargo at
$124.2 billion and Citigroup Inc. (C) at $78 billion.

Largest Employer

As of midyear, Bank of America still ranked as the largest
employer among US lenders with about 288,000 people. Wells
Fargo and New York-based Citigroup followed, with more than
260,000 employees each at the end of June. JPMorgan, the most
profitable US bank, had about 250,000 workers.

Bank of America last employed fewer than 280,000 at the end
of 2008, when the staff was about 243,000, company filings show.

Moynihan said last month during a conference call held by
fund manager Bruce Berkowitz that the firm intended to shutter
750 branches over the next few years. Bank of America had 5,742
banking centers as of June. Moynihan is scheduled to speak at 9
am today in New York at a conference held by Barclays Capital.

‘Banks are Shrinking’

“The last thing the administration wants them to do is
have headcount reductions, especially in North Carolina, which
is a huge swing state,” said Matt McCormick, a money manager
and bank analyst at Cincinnati-based Bahl amp; Gaynor Inc., which
oversees $4 billion. “The financial industry is shrinking and
banks are shrinking and part of it is because the government
says, ‘We want you guys to be like utilities.’”

Moynihan has sold off about $40 billion in assets plus a $5
billion preferred share stake to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire
Hathaway Inc. Cole at DePaul University said Bank of America may
still wind up needing federal help, something Moynihan vowed
would never happen again.

“At some point, being too big is being too unwieldy and
too difficult to govern; Moynihan has had that epiphany,” Cole
said. “The only thing you get from being the biggest is ‘too-
big-to-fail,’ and they have that.”

To contact the reporters on this story:
Hugh Son in New York at
hson1@bloomberg.net;
Dakin Campbell in San Francisco at
dcampbell27@bloomberg.net;
Andrew Frye in New York at
afrye@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
David Scheer at
dscheer@bloomberg.net;
Dan Kraut at
dkraut2@bloomberg.net.

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On Thursday, USgovernment officialswarned of a credible but unconfirmed al-Qaida threat to use a car bomb on bridges or tunnels in New York City or Washington to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The warning follows anupdated travel alertissued by the US State Department on Sept. 2noting theupcoming anniversaryand reminding US citizens traveling and residing abroad of the continued threat posed by al-Qaida and its affiliates.

In the past, terrorist organizations have on occasion planned their attacks to coincide with significant dates on the calendar, the alert said.

Thewarnings mayhave some American travelers wondering: Do I need to take any extra precautions as the day draws near?

The consensus: No need to stay home, but on this day especially, be alert.

As we head into the 9/11 anniversary weekend, we continue to urge the American public to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement authorities, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Friday. Simply put, if you see something, say something.

Security officials say they are, as always, prepared.As with any other significant day or peak travel period, passengers may notice an increased security presence at airports and mass transit systems, said TSA spokesman Greg Soule.

Alex Puig, regional security director for the Americas for International SOS and Control Risks, said that while the heightened security posture of the authorities is warranted by the symbolism attached to the date hellip; the main impact of the 9/11 anniversary on travelers is expected to be delays associated with that increased screening at access points to and within airports and other transport facilities such as subways.

Puig added that the presence of large crowds at and traffic restrictions around the planned commemorative events is likely to disrupt travel and activities nearby as well. Travelers should particularly anticipate well-attended gatherings in New York City and Washington, DC, he said.

Mike Kelly, presidentand CEO of On Call International, said10 years ago his companys call center helped a lot of clients rearrange and re-work travel plans on and after 9/11. We would not advise against travel on 9/11 this year. Rather we would suggest several ways in which to travel informed and prepared.

Kelly suggests staying tuned to the news and connected via telephone and social media in case of travel alerts and events that may affect your trip. Healso suggests packing some food items and an extra supply of medications (in their original containers) in your carry-on bag in case of unexpected delays.

Have a travel-relatedquestion youd like answered? Overhead Bin will track it down.Send us your question.

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Find more by Harriet Baskas on Stuck at The Airport.com and follow her on Twitter.

AMERICAS WAR ON TERROR was launched when the heroes of United Flight 93 rushed the hijackers over Shanksville, Pa., aborting what would have been al-Qaedas fourth 9/11 attack. In the decade that began on that terrible day, the goal of disrupting and crushing the Islamist terror network has been pursued with remarkable versatility: The United States has fought this conflict with military, diplomatic, and financial weapons; it has relied on aggressive intelligence-gathering and sensitive counterinsurgency; it has reshaped airline security and rewritten civil-liberties law. Jihadists have been killed with Predator drones abroad, detained as enemy combatants at Guantanamo, and thwarted in undercover stings at home.

Yet in the long run it may turn out that more significant than any of these was the war of ideas that followed 9/11.

Almost from the outset, President George W. Bush recognized that the United States was engaged in an ideological struggle. During the Cold War two decades earlier, Ronald Reagan had argued that the promotion of freedom should be a key priority in American foreign policy. By advancing the ideals of liberty and human dignity, Reagan told the British Parliament in 1982, America and its allies would undermine the Soviet Union and eventually relegate Communist totalitarianism to the ash-heap of history. In much the same way, Bush saw, radical Islam could be weakened by deploying the moral force of liberal democracy and equality.

Just nine days after 9/11, addressing a joint session of Congress, Bush began to lay out an ideological strategy for defeating the jihadist threat.

Al Qaeda is to terror what the mafia is to crime, but its goal is not making money, Bush said. Its goal is remaking the world — and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere. Terrorism was not caused by the religion of Islam but by the Islamists political fanaticism. They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions — by abandoning every value except the will to power — they follow in the path of fascism and Nazism and totalitarianism.

It was a magnificent, late-summer morning in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.

There wasnt a cloud in the sky. The Yankees were atop the American League East with a 13-game lead over the second-place Boston Red Sox. The top box-office draws were Peter Hyams The Musketeer and the romantic comedy Two Can Play That Game.

And at the World Trade Center, the staff at Borders and Sam Goody were preparing for a busy day, with Jay-Zs The Blueprint, Nickelbacks Silver Side Up, Bob Dylans Love and Theft and Mariah Careys Glitter soundtrack all slated for release that day.

Glassnote Entertainment Group founder/CEO Daniel Glass, at the time president of Artemis Records, had gone for a run before getting ready to go to work at the labels offices on West 18th Street. As he emerged from the Union Square subway station at mid-morning, he immediately noticed something was wrong. Thousands of people were staring downtown, he recalls. Until that day, I didnt realize you could see the World Trade Center towers from there.

Up by Times Square at RCA Records headquarters on 1540 Broadway, then-RCA chairman/North America CEO Bob Jamieson was watching a TV report about a plane crash at the World Trade Center when he realized that he would have a clear view of lower Manhattan from the other end of the hall. Once there, he saw that the top of the North Tower was enveloped in smoke.

I was standing there looking out the window at the World Trade Center and then saw the next plane fly into the other tower, Jamieson recalls. As it hit, I literally fell backward into a chair.

About an hour later, Jamp;R Music amp; Computer World corporate sales manager Marty Singer was standing outside the downtown Manhattan store by City Hall, paralyzed with horror as he saw people leaping out of the stricken Twin Towers.

Suddenly, the South Tower buckled and began to crumble. A massive cloud of black smoke and dust began expanding out from the site toward the store. It was pitch black like midnight and coming straight at us, Singer says.

A half hour later, the hellish scene repeated itself when the North Tower fell.

Billboard.biz: Musical Events Scheduled to Commemorate 9/11

Before long, TV networks relayed the news that other hijacked planes had crashed into the Pentagon and an empty field near Shanksville, Pa. As the magnitude of the terrorist attacks became apparent, concern quickly turned to those who may have been caught in the mayhem.

Newbury Comics CEO Mike Dreese flew out of Bostons Logan International Airport that morning on a Miami-bound American Airlines flight. Dreeses plane landed 45 minutes after one of the two hijacked planes from Logan-United Airlines Flight 175-hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Everyone was relieved to hear from me because they had heard that planes from Boston had been hijacked, recalls Dreese, who says he called his wife as soon as he landed.

Dreese and other executives were headed for NARMs retailer conference in Miami, where Jamp;R president/co-CEO Rachelle Friedman was receiving conflicting reports of what was happening back in New York. At one point, she heard that the store had been destroyed in the attacks, which she was relieved to hear later that day wasnt true. Because all US commercial flights were grounded, Friedman asked her brother in Florida to drive her home, where she arrived late Wednesday night.

By then, city emergency personnel had taken over Jamp;Rs computer store and its main store as staging areas for their rescue and recovery efforts.

They had called us up and asked, If we drop off 30,000 body bags, would your store have room to handle that? Friedman recalls. You get a request like that and you just answer, Yes.

It later turned out there was no need for tens of thousands of body bags, one of many wrong assumptions that emerged from the confusing aftermath of the attacks.

Those with friends and family members who worked at the World Trade Center checked hospitals and later put up posters in search of their loved ones. Among them was Island Def Jams New York staff, which sent its street team to lower Manhattan to post photos of Matthew OMahony, the husband of then-IDJ senior VP of publicity Lauren Murphy and a trader at Cantor Fitzgerald who worked in the North Tower.

There was a common hope, Glass says, that your loved one got hit in the head and might be in a daze wandering around or was knocked out in the hospital.

But for many people, their worst fears were realized. Former Walt Disney consumer products senior VP Carolyn Beug and Backstreet Boys roadie Danny Lee, who were both in the plane that hit the North Tower; Jane Simpkin, a member of ASCAPs Northeast music licensing team who was on the plane that hit the South Tower; and OMahony and Cantor Fitzgerald colleague Michael Andrews, the brother of then-Billboard circulation director Jeanne Jamin, were among the more than 2,700 people who died in the attacks.

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