Fiat Chrysler Files For I.P.O. Of Ferrari

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said on Thursday that it had filed with regulators to spin off Ferrari, the Italian luxury sports car maker, in an initial public offering in the United States.

The automaker said that it would seek to list the shares of the business, to be known as Ferrari N.V., on the New York Stock Exchange.

Fiat Chrysler said the number of shares to be offered and the potential price range had yet to be determined, but any proposed offering was not expected to exceed 10 percent of Ferrari’s outstanding shares.

It said that, after the offering, it expected to own about 80 percent of Ferrari, and about 10 percent would be owned by Piero Ferrari, the son of the Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Fiat Chrysler intends to distribute its remaining shares in Ferrari to Fiat Chrysler’s shareholders after the initial public offering, the filing said.

The automaker first disclosed plans for an I.P.O. of Ferrari in October.

Last year, Fiat took full control of Chrysler, and the companies were merged into Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, forming the world’s seventh-largest automaker. Fiat had been Chrysler’s parent since shortly after Chrysler’s bankruptcy and government bailout in 2009.

Ferrari has been part of Fiat since 1969, when Fiat acquired a 50 percent stake in the automaker.

It is one of two luxury brands owned by Fiat, the other being Maserati. The brands are managed separately from Fiat’s mass-market auto and truck lines.

Fiat Chrysler sold 4.6 million automobiles and trucks in 150 countries in 2014. Its mass-market brands include Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat and Jeep.

Founded in 1947, Ferrari makes luxury sports cars, including some models that sell for more than $1 million. It limits its production each year, enhancing its mystique.

It currently produces eight models, including the 488 GTB and the 458 Spider sport cars and the limited edition LaFerrari supercar. In 2014, Ferrari shipped 7,255 automobiles.

Ferrari also makes engines for Maserati.

The company posted a profit of 265 million euros, or about $289.5 million, on revenue of €2.76 billion in 2014, according to a filing with the S.E.C.

UBS is acting as global coordinator on the offering. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Banco Santander also are acting as bookrunners on the offering.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/24/business/dealbook/fiat-chrysler-files-for-ipo-of-ferrari.html

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Europe Looks Offshore For Wind Power

On the outskirts of Groningen, a medieval Dutch town near the German border, a major construction project is underway.

Miles of high-voltage cable have already been buried in the ground. Workers recently began building an electricity substation to manage the ebbs and flows of renewable energy. And this year, ships will start to ferry giant foundations and rotor blades 50 miles into the North Sea to be part of one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms.

The Dutch green energy project, which will cost roughly $3 billion to build, is expected to generate enough power for 1.5 million people when it starts producing electricity in 2017. 

When completed, the venture will become the latest in a series of renewables projects that have sprouted off the coasts of Britain, Germany and Denmark, helping make Europe the global leader in producing green energy from wind farms far at sea. 

“Offshore wind in Europe is quickly maturing,” said John Brace, chief executive of Northland Power, a Canadian energy company that owns a majority stake in the Dutch offshore wind project, called Gemini. “Europe is serious about greening its power supplies. There’s both political and public support for these types of projects.”

Europe’s lead in the small but fast-growing offshore wind industry represents one of the few bright spots for the region’s renewables sector, which has gradually fallen behind those in the United States and China in overall green energy investment. 

While the amount of money for European onshore wind and solar projects fell roughly one-third percent last year because of Europe’s weak economy, the region’s offshore wind sector — buoyed by continuing government subsidies — received a record $19 billion of investment in 2014. The European industry now represents around 90 percent of all the offshore turbines that have been built worldwide, according to the data provider Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

For many European countries, particularly those with long coastlines, the focus on offshore wind is a response to widespread public anger against the construction of land-based projects in densely populated areas. Analysts also say that by tapping into the strong gusts of wind at sea, offshore projects can generate almost double the electricity of comparable onshore wind farms.

Europe’s offshore renewables push comes just as the United States’ attempts to keep pace continue to flounder because of limited government financial support, low energy prices and investor apathy. 

In January, the latest federal auction for potential development sites received only marginal interest from renewables companies, and America has yet to complete its first offshore wind farm. Europe’s first projects began almost a decade ago and now have a combined capacity of 7.2 gigawatts, roughly the equivalent of eight fossil-fuel power plants.

And as Europe looks to hit its target of producing at least 20 percent of its overall energy from renewable sources by 2020, industry watchers say numerous proposed projects could potentially more than triple the amount of electricity generated from the region’s offshore wind projects by the end of the decade. 

“Several countries are aggressively developing offshore wind,” said Ronan O’Regan, a director in the renewables practice at the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in London. “They have taken the view that they want to be No. 1 in this sector.”

A number of hurdles, however, may still frustrate Europe’s plans.

Currently, offshore wind represents a mere 1 percent of global electricity generation. Environmental groups have raised concerns that the wind farms, often located tens of miles offshore, may affect birds’ flight patterns and harm sea life.

High construction costs — linked to work in harsh sea conditions — also make the electricity generated from offshore wind roughly three times as expensive as that from conventional energy sources. That has forced project developers to rely heavily on government subsidies, many of which have been cut in the last 12 months as European lawmakers rein in spending after the financial crisis.

“As support is pulled back, offshore wind needs to show that it isn’t just an expensive luxury,” said Ben Warren, head of environmental finance at the consulting firm Ernst & Young in London. “What we’ve seen is the world won’t pay for expensive green energy forever.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/business/energy-environment/europe-looks-offshore-for-wind-power.html

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Hope Rises For US Clean Energy From Wind Farms

Offshore Wind Farm Raises Hopes of U.S. Clean Energy Backers

A few miles off the coast of Block Island, part of Rhode Island, a small flotilla has been gathering: crane vessels, tugboats and barges that began this week installing the 1,500-ton foundations of the nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm.

It’s a moment that its supporters have long anticipated, billing it as nothing less than the dawn of a new clean energy future for the United States, which lags Europe and China in harnessing ocean gusts for electricity.

It is a much more modest beginning than was originally expected. Only five turbines will spin in the waters off Rhode Island; other, more ambitious projects like Cape Wind in Nantucket Sound and its 130 turbines remain stalled. But its backers see it as one that could lend credibility to other efforts.

London Array, in the Thames Estuary off Kent, England, is a joint wind power project of Dong Energy of Denmark, E.ON of Germany and Masdar of Abu Dhabi.Europe Looks Offshore for Wind PowerAPRIL 22, 2015

“Steel in the water off Block Island is an important step in proving that offshore wind is a viable technology off the coast of the United States,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which oversees leasing federal waters. “Having an offshore wind project that people can see and understand and study will take away a lot of the concerns that folks had.”

Deepwater Wind, the company that is developing the farm, is pressing ahead. It holds a 30-year lease on a parcel in federal waters nearby — about 256 square miles about 15 miles southwest of Martha’s Vineyard — with room for as many as 250 turbines.

And Ms. Hopper’s agency is pressing on with efforts to create a market. It sold two leases off the coast of Massachusetts in January, plans to sell more near New Jersey by the end of this year and has begun identifying potential sites in the Carolinas.

But policy experts and business executives warn that without stable subsidies and mandates — and coordination among the states — offshore wind development will be limited to a few small demonstration projects. Along with Cape Wind, projects are stalled near Delaware, New Jersey and New York.

How far and fast the market develops depends, analysts and experts say, on how strong of a commitment the country makes to renewable energy in general.

“There are many good reasons why offshore wind has not been yet developed while other renewables have in the U.S.,” chiefly its high cost, said Paul Bledsoe, an energy consultant based in Washington and former climate adviser in the Clinton White House. “However, we’re still at a point where we have less than 10 percent renewable energy and if we are going to increase that number dramatically to somewhere near some of the major European countries, offshore wind will almost surely be part of that mix.”

That will take time. When the first offshore farm was built, in Denmark in 1991, developers were not thinking that it would suddenly become a mainstream form of energy, said Michael Hannibal, chief executive of the offshore division at Siemens Wind Energy, which supplied the turbines for that first plant. It took about a decade of testing and planning — and putting in place a set of programs and generous subsidies — for the market to begin taking off in Europe.

Part of what has driven the higher rate of adoption — especially in Britain, Denmark and Germany — is that Europe lacks as many cheap, clean (or cleaner) alternatives that can replace coal, diesel and nuclear plants. Electric rates are generally higher, natural gas is more expensive and open land for wind and solar fields is harder to find than in the United States, making an expansion to the seas more economically viable.

In the United States, the industry has been hampered by local opposition, fluctuating subsidies and a lack of specialized suppliers and expertise.

Offshore wind projects take a long time to plan and construct because they are more complicated and demand larger equipment that must function in the hostile environment of the high seas, said George Favaloro, a managing director in PricewaterhouseCoopers sustainable business solutions practice. The obstacles are surmountable, he said, but that would take an expectation that the industry will take off.

“We’re having a hard time making all that happen, frankly, because we’re rich in alternative sources of energy and rich in alternative sources of renewable energy,” he said. “It’s sort of a specialized set of circumstances now where this would be an attractive investment.”

That was what Block Island offered. Like many islands, its power prices are high because it is not connected to the mainland grid and depends on diesel for its electricity, and the state undertook an extensive planning process before designating the energy zone. With strong support from three governors over the seven years that Deepwater Wind, the developer, has worked on the project, it is about to come to fruition, said Jeffrey Grybowski, the chief executive.

The first of the foundations should be hitting the water this week, he said — although that process has been delayed by rough seas — and that will continue for the next eight weeks until all five are in, anchored by piles driven 200 feet into the ocean floor.

The turbines will not go in until next summer, although they are already under construction. The blades are sitting in a field in Denmark while the towers and nacelles are being put together.

He and others expressed optimism that the industry would get going, but added that it was important to have a project up and running to show not only policy makers but also utility executives and regulators that it was possible to get one through the permitting and financing process.

After so many failures, he said, to get the industry going, “We need a success.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/24/business/offshore-wind-farm-raises-hopes-of-us-clean-energy-backers.html?_r=0

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The World Must Prepare Now For An Oil Crash

Oil Warning: The Crash Could Be the Worst in More Than 45 Years

There's only one thing holding back a price rebound. It's a big thing

Morgan Stanley has been pretty pessimistic about oil prices in 2015, drawing comparisons with the some of the worst oil slumps of the past three decades. 

The current downturn could even rival the iconic price crash of 1986, analysts had warned—but definitely no worse. 

This week, a revision: It could be much worse. 

Until recently, confidence in a strong recovery for oil prices—and oil companies—had been pretty high, wrote such analysts as Martijn Rats and Haythem Rashed in a report to investors yesterday. That confidence was based on four premises, they said, and only three have proven true.

1. Demand will rise: Check 

In theory: The crash in prices that started a year ago should stimulate demand. Cheap oil means cheaper manufacturing, cheaper shipping, more summer road trips. 

In practice: Despite a softening Chinese economy, global demand has indeed surged by about 1.6 million barrels a day over last year's average, according to the report. 

2. Spending on new oil will fall: Check 

In theory: Lower oil prices should force energy companies to cut spending on new oil supplies, and the cost of drilling and pumping should decline. 

In practice: Sure enough, since October the number of rigs actively drilling for new oil around the world has declined about 42 percent. More than 70,000 oil workers have lost their jobs globally, and in 2015 alone, listed oil companies have cut about $129 billion in capital expenditures. 

3. Stock prices remain low: Check 

In theory: While oil markets rebalance themselves, stock prices of oil companies should remain cheap, setting the stage for a strong rebound. 

In practice: Yep. The oil majors are trading near 35-year lows, using two different methods of valuation. 

4. Oil supply will drop: Uh-oh 

In theory: With strong demand for oil and less money for drilling and exploration, the global oil glut should diminish. Let the recovery commence. 

In practice: The opposite has happened. While U.S. production has leveled off since June, OPEC has taken up the role of market spoiler.  

For now, Morgan Stanley is sticking with its original thesis that prices will improve, largely because OPEC doesn't have much more spare capacity to fill and because oil stocks have already been hammered.

But another possibility is that the supply of new oil coming from outside the U.S. may continue to increase as sanctions against Iran dissolve and if the situation in Libya improves, the Morgan Stanley analysts said. U.S. production could also rise again. A recovery is less certain than it once was, and the slump could last for three years or more—"far worse than in 1986."

"In that case," they wrote, "there would be little in analysable history that could be a guide" for what's to come

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-23/oil-warning-crash-could-be-worst-in-more-than-45-years

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As Obama Visits Kenya

The United States Of America's President - Barack Obama arrived Nairobi the Kenyan Capital today on a 3 day visit to his Father's Country which inadvertently is his home Country also.

Mr. Obama will spend 3 days in Kenya and is expected to visited his Aunt who is serving as his Grand Mother and would eat a special local delicacy being prepared for him by the woman.

By Sunday, Mr, Obama would be leaving Kenya for Ethiopia

By February 2016, Mr, Obama would be completing his 2nd 4 years at the White House as the American President and it is on record that he never considered Nigeria in the three times he had visited Africa.

This visit to Kenya would make Mr. Obama the first American President to visit Kenya

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Name This Dance Style

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Who Needs A Ride?

We are about departing Sokoto to Lagos

Who needs a ride??

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Many Nigerian artistes dress poorly because of poverty — John Agoha

The first thing that strikes you about John  Agoha is the feminine air around him.

Even though the texture of his voice and his gesticulations are a bit effeminate, he is a man who is definite and firm about his goals in life. 

In this chat with Showtime Celebrity, he speaks on his career, his crush and Genevieve, and the types of women he likes. 

Excerpts… 

Tell us a bit about your background…

I was born and raised in Benin City, but I’m from Imo State. I started doing music at the age of ten when I began singing in the church choir. Later on, I became a Choir Master, before I got discovered and I went to a music school called BenJos Showbiz Academy. From the music school, I started modeling professionally round Africa. I later travelled, and when I came back, I went for Star Quest, and the competition actually made me to believe in myself because then, I didn’t have the intention of pursuing music as a career. Out of over 5,000 people that attended the audition, I was the only one that was picked in Benin. From there, we came to Lagos and I emerged the first runner-up.

Tell us about some of your songs…

I have ‘Omalicha’ which was a huge success for me. After that, I released ‘Selense’ followed by ‘Chocomilo’ on which I featured Dammy Krane.

What’s the inspiration behind Chocomilo?

I and a producer friend of mine were just playing with the keyboard and the idea came up from there. It’s a love song, and as we were playing the song, Dammy Krane came around and said he wanted to be part of the song. The video will be released soon.

You started singing at an early age, was it due to your parents’ influence?

Not at all. I’ve always had an amazing voice, and I started from the children choir. Actually, my mother wanted me to go to school and have all the degrees in the whole world, and also become a pastor. That’s why I was quite reserved in my childhood; I didn’t do most things other kids did. That’s why I still have a feminine attitude till date because I grew up around women. It has also helped me because I’m not loose.

How would you define your music?

The kind of music that I love is Jazz, but because of the Nigerian setting, I started with Highlife to RnB, and right now, I do Afro-Pop and Carribean.

Most of your songs are about women, would we be right to call you a lover boy?

Yes, I’m a lover boy.

You once said you faced a lot of discrimination when you were in Star Quest, why do you think so?

I was like the stone the builders rejected which later became the cornerstone. Other people watching from home were seeing my ability, but in the house, nobody wanted me in their group and it wasn’t as if I had a bad character. It actually got to a point I told Star I wanted to leave the competition. There was a guy who was like the star in my group and he was the one always bringing out the concepts. However, there was one day that we had the least votes and we were almost being evicted. I then made a suggestion of a song that we should sing, and when we did the song, we went from the least position to the top. That was what actually won me their respect in the group. We were supposed to win that competition, but I don’t know what happened. If we had won, perhaps, we may have been bigger than KC Presh. But right now, all of us in the group are doing well.

In your opinion, as a former singing reality show contestant, why do you think winners of such shows don’t achieve much success?

Some of them are just lazy, and they feel they’re stars already. If Iyanya had waited for MTN, he wouldn’t have gotten to where he is now. The Nigerian music industry is not for lazy people as fans forget people quickly; that’s why you see people like Olamide releasing songs every other month.

Some people will say it’s luck that determines success, but I don’t believe in luck because it’s a magician’s word; I believe in fate and God’s favour.

You once mentioned that you lost a lot of relationships in the past because of your music career, will you be willing to take any of them back in the future?

Hmm…a lot of people actually gave up on me, even my pastor. I can remember my pastor told me that music is not a career for responsible people; that it’s for touts. The only person that did not reject me is Phillip Trimmel of Music Africa and my mom. Nobody out there can say they contributed to my success; it has been God all the way.

You were reported to have said that you can do anything to have Genevieve in your bed, what’s the cause of this obsession?

Genevieve is my crush. When we were together at an event recently, I told her that. I like petite woman who I can ‘possess.’   However, I know I can’t get her because there are some political issues involved, but if she’s willing to be mine, I’ll drop anything for her.

Even your music career?

No, I won’t drop that, and she’ll understand. She’ll even be the one encouraging me. If she agrees to marry me today, we’ll do the wedding tomorrow in a quiet way, because I don’t like elaborate weddings. It’s supposed to be a quiet affair.

What does fashion mean to you?

It means so much to me because I believe that the way you look gives you an edge. I’ve discovered that looking good opens doors for me. I still have plans to establish a workshop where I’ll design my own clothes.

Which fashion blunder do you think most Nigerian artistes commit?

They wear busy on busy, and I think it’s because of their background. A lot of them were hit hard by poverty so it’s hard for them to know the right combination of attire to put on. We don’t have more than four artistes that dress well in Nigeria, and they are: D’banj, Ice Prince, Darey, Sexy Steel.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/07/many-nigerian-artistes-dress-poorly-because-of-poverty-john-agoha/#sthash.vzCEbwE5.dpuf

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Yahoo Will Enter Daily Fantasy Sports Market

SAN FRANCISCO — Even as legalized gambling has spread nationwide to include lotteries, casinos and just about every imaginable type of slot machine, the notion of betting on sports has remained, outside of Las Vegas, largely in the shadows.

But on Wednesday, Yahoo took the boldest step yet to bring what amounts to legalized betting on sports to the mainstream. The Silicon Valley company, which has been broadening its range of sports content, said it would host daily and one-week fantasy sports games played for money, starting with Major League Baseball and expanding to other professional sports as their seasons begin.

As any viewer of ESPN would know, the fantasy sports industry has been growing rapidly, with ubiquitous ads proclaiming that hundreds of thousands of dollars can be won on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel. But none of those companies, all start-ups, have the vast reach of Yahoo and the ability to entice tens of millions of young men — a coveted audience — to bet on the performance of their favorite players.

ahoo’s move further legitimizes a pastime that closely resembles gambling, particularly with the daily fantasy games. Players can bet against a single opponent or within a small group, and the quick results can simulate the adrenaline rush and financial stakes of traditional sports betting.

Fantasy sports operate under an exemption to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which outlawed online poker and sports betting. Lobbyists from the National Football League, as well as from other professional leagues, successfully pushed to have fantasy sports deemed a “game of skill.” Most states permit the games, but the betting is illegal in five: Arizona, Montana, Louisiana, Iowa and Washington.

Ken Fuchs, Yahoo’s vice president for publisher products, said that fantasy sports were different from gambling because they relied on the skills of the player. Yahoo already runs cash leagues for fantasy sports that last the length of a season, and the daily games are no different.

“We stay very close to the laws,” Mr. Fuchs said. “We certainly encourage people to play responsibly.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/09/technology/yahoo-will-enter-daily-fantasy-sports-market.html

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Cristiano Ronaldo Finds Woman's Missing Phone, Returns It, Takes Her Out To Dinner

As we all know, the feeling that occurs the moment you realize your phone is missing can be one of the most horrifying feelings in the world.

Austin Woolstenhulme sadly experienced that feeling last weekend in Las Vegas. But before she lost it, she luckily snapped an iPhone selfie with her posse. (Yes, she was in town to see Zedd.)

Woolstenhulme and Co.'s smiles surely turned sour once she realized her phone was missing. Luckily, a certain 30-year-old Portuguese footballer happened to find it.

Ronaldo, who's currently in the United States vacationing before rejoining Real Madrid for preseason training, not only returned Woolstenhulme's phone. The superstar samaritan also took Woolstenhulme and her clique out for dinner at the Wynn hotel.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cristiano-ronaldo-phone-dinner_559bdc69e4b05d7587e22d41?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

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Princess Charlotte's Godparents Revealed, Pippa Middleton, Prince Harry Didn't Make the Cut: See the Surprising List!

 

 

Godparents fit for a princess! On Sunday, July 5, the day of Princess Charlotte's christening, Kensington Palace announced the five lucky people who will serve as godparents to the fourth in line to the throne. 

 

Sophie Carter, James Meade, Adam Middleton, the Honorary Laura Fellowes, and Thomas van Straubenzee have all been listed as Charlotte's official godparents by her parents Kate Middleton and Prince William. 

 

The list doesn't include any members of the royal family and only has five godparents as opposed to her brother Prince George's seven.

 

Carter is a longtime friend of the Middleton family and Kate. She's even holidayed on Mustique with them. Adam is Kate's cousin. 

 

 

 

Straubenzee is the best friend of Prince William and even helped Prince Harry with his best man speech in the couple's 2011 wedding. Fellowes is Princess Diana's niece.

 

Noticeably absent from the list are Kate's siblings Pippa and James Middleton, who are both set to attend the ceremony, and Prince Harry, who will not be in attendance at today's service

 

https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/princess-charlottes-godparents-revealed-pippa-middleton-prince-harry-121956423-us-weekly.html

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Aetna Buys Humana For $37 Billion, But Deal Doesn't Add Up

The big are getting bigger: Aetna AET -2.63% and Humana HUM -2.92%, the nation’s number three and number four health insurers by revenue, are merging.

Aetna will pay about $230 per share for Humana, in a $37 billion cash and stock deal, the largest-ever deal in the health insurance industry.

It’s also the latest major merger in an increasingly frantic health care marketplace. On Thursday, Centene CNC -7.99% announced that it was buying HealthNet for nearly $7 billion, and CVS last week bought the Target TGT -0.87% pharmacy business for $2 billion.

Aetna and Humana still need federal approval. But the combined company could become the nation’s number two health insurer, behind UnitedHealth Group … which had recently approached Aetna with its own offer to merge.

(And the other two big health insurers, Anthem and Cigna CI -0.46%, have also talked about merging.)

As health reporter Christopher Weaver cleverly framed it a few weeks ago, health insurers are playing a “Game of Thrones.”

But what crown are they after? And why are they merging now?

One common argument is that the Affordable Care Act is hurting health insurers, and pushing them to merge — but there’s limited evidence that the biggest players are struggling. While the ACA capped insurers’ ability to take profits, industry analysts have been fairly bullish on the sector.

“U.S. health insurers have successfully managed challenges from the rollout of the Affordable Care Act,” Moody’s declared in February, raising its outlook on insurers from “negative” to “stable.”

And as I wrote earlier this week, the ACA appears to have only helped major insurers, by driving millions of new customers into the market. Aetna and Humana have seen their stock valuations triple in the past five years, since the ACA was signed into law, and the other three major insurers also have seen huge gains.

 

Another proffered explanation is that deals like Aetna-Humana are about gaining greater efficiency.

“The complementary nature of our two companies provides us with a significant synergy opportunity, furthering Aetna’s efforts to increase its operating efficiency,” said Shawn M. Guertin, Aetna’s executive vice president and CFO, in a statement. “These cost efficiencies will support our efforts to drive costs out of the system and offer more affordable products.”

“Insurers are eager to reduce expenses and build scale that will help them face off against health-care providers that are bulking up,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

But Aetna and Humana already are giant, scaled entities. And economists aren’t buying the claim that insurer consolidation will lead to lower costs.

“These are already bigger companies,” says Martin Gaynor, a Carnegie Mellon economist and former FTC official. (We spoke last week, before the Aetna-Humana deal was consummated.) “It’s not clear to me, do they get any more scale economies from getting bigger?”

Consolidation among giant insurers “reminds me of the airline sector, and I don’t think there have been efficiencies gained there — and they have a more direct way of finding efficiencies, with the hub-and-spoke model,” Robert Town, a health care professor at the Wharton School, told me last week.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2015/07/03/aetna-buys-humana-for-34-billion-but-deal-doesnt-add-up/

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Apple Wants To Finish Off Paypal, Venmo And Square Cash

Apple has filed a patent for a new feature that could kill off mobile payment apps like Venmo, Paypal, and Square Cash

 

Apple Pay is missing one essential feature that it needs to stop people using other mobile payments apps: person to person transactions. 

But it looks like Apple is planning to change that. 

The company just filed a new patent that will let people send money to one another directly from their iPhone's Wallet, which has replaced the Passbook app, Patently Apple reports.

First, the user opens their Wallet app, chooses which of the credit cards stored there they want to use to make the payment, and type in the amount they would like to pay. The payment can be authenticated using a fingerprint or the iPhone's passcode. The system would also let the person paying pick the recipient from nearby iPhone users. Then, an encrypted payment "packet" is sent to the person receiving the payment, including the payment amount, verification and a payment "credential," which could represent the sender's credit card details

Apple Pay is pretty hot on payment security already. When someone makes a purchase with Apple Pay at a store, they don't actually share their card details with the retailer. Instead, a "token" which corresponds with their account details is issued to authorise a payment. 

A third party — the user's bank or credit card provider — would complete the transaction, and the payee would get a notification to tell them the payment had gone through successfully.

Apple wants the Wallet to be the one place for all your credit and debit cards, reward cards, boarding passes, tickets and more, and eventually replace your physical wallet. The system Apple just patented would also let you make a payment from a gift or other prepaid card.

There are a lot of person-to-person payment apps in circulation already, like Venmo and Square Cash. PayPal lets people pay both friends and merchants in stores, but still isn't dominating mobile payments, which seems to be Apple's plan. 

However, Apple doesn't always create the technology it patents, and could just be trying to stop a competitor using the same type of system.

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-patent-person-to-person-payments-2015-7#ixzz3f1q4DVJN 

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Why I attacked Flavour in my song – LadyOne

Rising female singer, Chinyere Ugwu, a.k.a, LadyOne is all out to establish her own empire in the Nigerian music scene. The Enugu State-born singer whose recently released album, “Flavour Why” has been the talk of the town has opened up on the idea behind the song.

According to her,  “I do not like the way Flavour talks about women in his songs. I would say that I’m   defending Nigerian women  through my music because it seems all the male singers like to embarrass the womenfolk in their various songs. I want to use my music to counter the way Flavour dehumanize  women in his songs. So in my music, I asked him what he wants us to do for him or he should stop saying all those things he talks about women in his songs.”

Surprisingly, since LadyOne released her album, Flavour has not reacted to it. In her words, “Unfortunately Flavour has not said anything about the song since I released it. I have no problem with him. I still remain a big fan of him, I love his music. My single which speaks against the way he talks about women is just a way of expressing my feelings.  I love all his songs.”

LadyOne said, she has a desire to stand out in the industry with her own kind of music. This, she said, is because “I believe that my dancing skills will differentiate me from others. I will also try as much as possible to sing reasonable songs. I have found out that some people come into the industry to make a noise with little or no message in their songs.”

Describing herself as  “a very jovial person”LadyOne said, she looks up to female singers like Tiwa Savage, Waje, among others. “I see most of the female artistes in the industry as my mentors. I also see myself as a woman activist in the industry,” she said. An Economic graduate of Imo State University, LadyOne started singing from childhood.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/07/why-i-attacked-flavour-in-my-song-ladyone

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NiMet predicts rainy, cloudy weather conditions on Friday

Abuja – The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted localised rainy weather conditions over few places in the central states of the country on Friday morning.

The predictions are contained in the Weather Outlook issued by NiMet’s Central Forecast Office (CFO) on Thursday in Abuja.

It said that there would be possibilities of localised thunderstorms over Jalingo-Mambilla axis and other high ground areas during the afternoon and evening hours.

NiMet also predicted that the coastal areas would experience morning rains with chances of localized thunderstorms over most places within the region in the afternoon and evening hours.

It also predicted that inland areas would experience morning rains expected in most part of the region with chances of localised thunderstorms over South-West during the afternoon and evening hours.

NiMet predicted that Northern states would experience localised thunderstorms over the North-West in the morning and over the Eastern part during the afternoon and evening hours.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/07/nimet-predicts-rainy-cloudy-weather-conditions-on-friday

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