5 killed, dozens hurt in Somalia after airstrike (AP)

NAIROBI, Kenya ? An air strike hit a refugee camp in southern Somalia, killing at least five people and wounding 45, most of them children, an international aid agency said Monday. Kenya's military acknowledged carrying out an air raid but said it targeted only al-Shabab, an Islamist insurgent group in Somalia.

Details emerged, meanwhile, about an American-Somali man who al-Shabab said carried out a suicide attack Saturday against an African Union base in the Somali capital. Al-Shabab identified the man as Abdisalan Taqabalahullaah. Omar Jamal, first secretary of the Somali mission to the United Nations, identified the man as Abdisalan Hussein Ali of Minneapolis based on what he said were Ali's friends listening to an audiotape posted by al-Shabab.

Ali was 19 when he disappeared in 2008 from Minnesota, which has a large Somali-American community. In July 2010, he was indicted in the U.S. with several other men. Charges included conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and conspiracy to kill, maim, kidnap and injure. FBI spokesman Kyle Loven in Minneapolis said the agency is conducting DNA testing on the bomber's remains to try to make a positive identification.

Accounts differed on who was to blame for civilian casualties from the Kenyan air strike, but al-Shabab used them to try to win more recruits. Kenyan military spokesman Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir blamed an al-Shabab fighter for the civilian deaths, saying he drove a burning truck of ammunition into the refugee camp in the town of Jilib where it exploded.

Chirchir said the Kenyan air force hit the truck on Sunday as it drove away from an al-Shabab training camp. He said 10 al-Shabab members were killed and 47 wounded in the attack, citing informers on the ground.

But Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medicines Sans Frontieres or MSF, said the aerial bombardment hit the camp for displaced people. MSF said it treated 52 wounded people. As of Monday morning, MSF confirmed five deaths and said it was still treating 45 wounded, 31 of them children. Seven other patients had been discharged after receiving treatment. The head of the MSF mission in Somalia, Gautam Chatterjee, said most of the wounded had shrapnel injuries.

Jilib town elder Ahmed Sheik Don said the planes hit a bus stop and a location near the camp before finally hitting a base of al-Shabab, an insurgent group linked to al-Qaida.

It was impossible to immediately reconcile the different versions. Either way, civilian casualties would be a public relations issue for Kenya and could turn ordinary Somalis against Kenya's military intervention in the lawless nation.

Residents said hundreds ran for cover Sunday as bombs exploded. The town's population has ballooned this year as about 1,500 families fled to the area amid a famine that has wracked the south. Residents reported that al-Shabab fighters were among the casualties.

Sheik Abukar Ali Aden, an al-Shabab official in southern Somalia, said the militants donated food to those affected by the airstrikes. Bearded men and masked fighters used megaphones to ask Somalis to join their militant group.

"I am urging all Muslims in the Jubba regions to raise their heads and defend themselves against the enemy massacring them," Aden said at a news conference in the southern port town of Kismayo. "Go! go to the front lines and make jihad with the Christian enemy."

Kenya sent troops across the border into Somalia in mid-October following cross-border kidnappings blamed on gunmen from southern Somalia.

Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali said his government is looking into the airstrike and reports of civilian deaths.

"If it has taken place then it is an unfortunate incident and we are sorry about that," Ali said during a press conference in Nairobi alongside Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Odinga added: "Our troops have not targeted civilians. It would be most unfortunate."

The U.N. representative for Somalia, Augustine P. Mahiga, said civilians must be protected during any party's military operations. He said the U.N. hopes that Kenya's push into southern Somalia will help gain access to famine victims.

"We think this in the end will contribute to the sum total of gaining more territory, greater security and therefore more access to the victims of famine and drought, especially in south-central Somalia," Mahiga said.

The Danish Refugee Council, meanwhile, said it has made its first contact with an American aid worker and her Danish colleague who were kidnapped last week in northern Somalia.

"It has been some very long days as we have been waiting for signs of life. It is truly a relief that we now have received the message that they are as well as possible their circumstances taken into consideration," said Ann Mary Olsen, the head of the Danish Refugee Council's International Department.

Olsen said the aid agency is appealing to traditional leaders and clan elders to help release the hostages.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991. African Union troops have been engaged in fierce fighting in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, to push al-Shabab fro its last base in the city. On Saturday, the Islamists launched an attack with two suicide bombers, killing at least 10 people.

Kenya's military said Monday that its forces on Sunday attacked three skiffs ? small boats. It said two skiffs were attacked Monday and that 18 "pirates" were killed. The military did not explain how it knows how many people were killed. No further details were given.

The military also said one of its soldiers during an al-Shabab attack in Tabda died while undergoing treatment.

___

Associated Press reporters Jason Straziuso and Tom Odula in Nairobi, Abdi Guled in Mogadishu, Somalia, and Amy Forliti in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111031/ap_on_re_af/af_somalia

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How to Use Big Business Finance Principles to Grow Your Email List

This guest post is by Josh Turner of GatewayCFO.com.

If you?re like me, you focus most of your attention on the growth of your site. You know that generating revenue is priority number one. Thinking about finance and accounting? That?s just a distraction.

While this is true to some extent, there is much more to the world of finance than just counting the beans.

Business finance is about using numbers to improve future business performance. In other words, accounting is about understanding the past and finance is about mapping out the future. No matter the size of your business, the same principles can be applied.

Within big corporations, finance departments provide data, tools and analysis to increase future sales, opportunities, and revenue. And you can do the same things.

One way they achieve this is through the use of dashboards or scorecards. These tools monitor the key metrics that their sales and marketing teams have to stay on top of. Not meeting these goals in the short term will cause them to falter down the road. So what does this mean for you?

Monitoring your metrics?and I?m not talking site traffic

Let?s use Gary as an example. Gary is working hard to grow his email list. He?s currently at 500 subscribers, and has a short-term goal of reaching 8,000. He knows that his growth is supported by two areas:

1. organic traffic on his site, converting to email signups
2. guest posts driving traffic to his site, which convert to email signups.

With his current posting schedule of two new articles per week, Gary expects to receive ten new email signups per week. He also knows that, on average, he receives 100 new email signups every time he writes a guest post.

Using your data to project growth

Based on this data, Gary can figure out exactly what it will take to reach his goals. Initially, he decides that it?s feasible to write a total of four articles per week: two for his site and two guest posts. Based on this level of activity, he can forecast approximately 210 new email signups per week. At this rate, it will take Gary 35.71 weeks to grow his list of 500 all the way to 8,000.

Gary has never looked at his email list growth this way. Not bad, he thinks, but he really had hoped to grow his list to 8,000 within 16 weeks. Based on the same metrics and assumptions, Gary can calculate that he needs to add 468.75 new subscribers every week to reach this goal.

Breaking it down from there, he knows that he will need to write 4.59 guest posts per week. That?s about 238 guest posts on an annual basis. Gary decides to step up his game, put in the hard work, and make it happen.

Looking at list growth in this manner provides clarity and clear goals. But you have to take it a step further to enforce accountability.

Create your own dashboard to improve performance

Big businesses use dashboards to keep owners and managers apprised of performance, and to keep their teams on track and accountable. Typically a graphical display, it shows them the key numbers that they have identified as critical to their business performance.

Doing the same thing for your site and email list will provide you with the same type of accountability. Build a simple Excel spreadsheet that tracks the numbers that you have identified as critical for the growth of your email list. It might contain the following data:

• weekly guest posts
• weekly posts on site
• weekly new email subscribers
• weekly sales/revenue

Set up the spreadsheet to include data for the prior week, prior month, and year-to-date. This will give you insight into your numbers and tell you if you are on track. Gary?s dashboard might look like this:

An example spreadhseet

Use conditional formatting in Excel to highlight good results in green and bad results in red, and set up a second sheet that includes the actual data for each week. With this, you can then create functions within the dashboard that automatically generate the dashboard results. Once this is completed, all you have to do is update the data sheet at the end of each week with the four numbers.

Why would you want to do this?

Spend 30 minutes setting up the Excel file. Following this initial setup, you will only need to spend one minute updating the data each week. Doing so will provide you with tangible benefits.

1. You will stay on top of your metrics and not stray from your plan.
2. You will be consistently reinforcing your goals.
3. When things go astray, you will know where course correction is needed.
4. You?ll be executing your business like a pro.
5. You will be far more likely to meet your email list goals.

Yes, it?s an extra step in your blogging process. But with just a little time up front, you?ll be running your site and business much more like, well, a business.

Josh Turner is the founder of GatewayCFO.com, where he helps small business owners realize their profit potential. He is currently giving away his how-to ebook ?Cash Flow Clarity: Be Proactive, Make Life Easier, Make More Money.? Get your copy here.

Source: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/11/01/how-to-use-big-business-finance-principles-to-grow-your-email-list/

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Penney bets on finer offerings for holiday season (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP.N) is adding more expensive items to its holiday selection this year, betting its efforts to become a more fashionable retailer will bring in shoppers willing to spend more.

For instance, the retailer will offer its most expensive handbag yet under its exclusive Liz Claiborne brand and offer fancier watches made of rose gold.

Other new additions include national toy brands such as Mattel Inc's (MAT.O) Barbie dolls for the first time in 20 years.

Analysts expect the battle to be fierce this holiday season among department stores that cater to middle class shoppers such as Macy's Inc (M.N), Kohl's Corp (KSS.N) and Penney, whose new CEO, former Apple Inc (AAPL.O) executive Ron Johnson, takes the reins on Tuesday.

But shoppers are spending again, especially those with more discretionary cash, and Penney is wooing them.

One Liz Claiborne leather handbag was priced at $80, far pricier than the handbags the retailer has typically sold, said Lorraine Hitch, a Penney senior vice president, as she gave Reuters a tour of the chain's Manhattan store last week.

"There are definitely some more luxury touches to items- customers are responding," Hitch said.

In the last few years, Penney has sought to remake itself into a hipper retailer, able to draw younger, fashionable women willing to spend, and rely less on its traditional shopper, who is more vulnerable to the ups and downs of the economy.

Penney now operates some 300 Sephora cosmetic outlets within stores, with more to come, and is also opening more of the higher end Mango by MNG fast fashion stores within its doors.

It also recently bought the Liz Claiborne brand after being its exclusive department store retailer for just over a year.

But the chain's transformation is still very much a work in progress, analysts said.

Penney's October same-stores sales, to be reported on Thursday, are expected to rise, but lag those of Macy's, Kohl's and Dillard's Inc (DDS.N), according to Thomson Reuters data.

"I don't think they've really succeeded in changing over their customer -- they'd love to have a slightly younger, more fashion forward customer," said Paul Lejuez, a Nomura analyst. "That takes a long time."

Penney's same store sales rose 4.5 percent last holiday quarter and have continued to rise since. But on several occasions, it has missed monthly same-store sales forecasts after having to slash prices. In September, same-store sales unexpectedly fell.

Penney has also introduced a holiday store within a store called Wrapt and begun selling cookware by Calphalon, a Newell Rubbermaid Inc (NWL.N) brand. And it is giving prominent display space to Keurig single-serve coffee makers.

The idea, Hitch said, was for Penney to be the "one place you can shop for all your gift needs," especially more expensive ones. Still, beyond the Claiborne items and its private label clothing, few items are exclusive to Penney.

And Penney remains a "promotional" chain, reliant on bargains.

That $80 Liz Claiborne bag Penney touted was regularly priced at $120. And many items in the Wrapt display were 30 to 40 percent off, even though the holiday shopping season has not started in earnest yet.

"The problem is that they still have a price sensitive customer," said Morningstar analyst Paul Swinand.

(Editing by Andre Grenon)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111101/bs_nm/us_jcpenney

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Shareholder opposition kills G4S/ISS deal (AP)

LONDON ? British security company G4S said Tuesday it has dropped plans to take over Danish cleaning firm ISS A/S because of opposition by shareholders.

The cash and shares bid from G4S had valued ISS A/S at 5.2 billion pounds ($8.3 billion).

"Following the announcement of the acquisition, shareholders have raised concerns particularly over its scale and perceived complexity against the backdrop of current macro-economic uncertainty," G4S said in an announcement to the London Stock Exchange.

"The board has listened carefully to concerns raised by shareholders regarding the acquisition and has concluded that in the circumstances it is inappropriate to proceed," the company said.

G4S is also canceling a planned rights issue which was to part of the financing for the deal.

G4S had said the combined company would be the world's largest security and facilities group, merging two firms with combined annual revenues of 15.9 billion pounds last year. ISS is the larger company, with revenue of 8.5 billion pounds.

The market immediately reacted negatively to the deal, with the share price falling from 282 pence to 219 pence on Oct. 17, the day of the announcement.

G4S shares were up 3.6 percent at 253 pence in early trading Tuesday on the London Stock Exchange.

G4S, based in Crawley, England, said there were no break fees to be paid, but it expected to incur costs of about 50 million pounds associated with the bid.

Mike Allen, analyst at Panmure Gordon & Co., applauded the G4S reversal.

"Our concerns on the deal were based on the quality of future earnings and execution risk, with the focus now likely to be on organic growth and bolt-on acquisitions," Allen said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111101/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_g4s

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Tips on Sports Automotive Engine Maintenance

Shopping for an automotive right now may be pretty expensive. The average automotive value is nearly $23,000. That is definitely a lot of money, even for a number of the typical and atypical cars obtainable within the market. This exhibits that the other kinds of automobiles like the sports cars are excessive priced.

With top quality of sports activities automobiles, it will be important that homeowners learn to maintain their automotive?s engine with a view to defend their asset.

Sports activities cars are especially made for ?sporting performance?. Because of this its precise engine efficiency is on the next level for speed, acceleration, maneuverability, and braking are compared to the opposite forms of cars.

With these exceptional options, some sports activities automotive drivers tend to use its energy even if they are not on a race. Subsequently, sustaining the sports activities automotive engine is extraordinarily important. But a sports automobile engine doesn?t need to be highly effective and large.

Here?s a record of helpful suggestions for sustaining sports activities automotive engines:

1. For average use, it?s still necessary to verify the sports automotive engine every 3000 miles. One of the major engine upkeep ideas is to vary the engine oil together with the filter. This may ensure correct lubrication and performance of the sports car engine.

2. Examine the other fluids within the engine such as the brake fluid, ?automatic transmission fluid degree (if relevant),? coolant, etc. These fluids are essential in keeping the sports automobile engine?s performance healthy.

3. All the time examine the engine compartment for any signs of leaks. Leaks usually point out a damaged gasket.

4. At all times search for some put on, breaks or cracks of the engine belts. Taking it as a right can create critical engine problems.

5. Be cautious of spark plugs which are past the really helpful 30,000-mile range. Outdated spark plugs that ore not working correctly can deprive you of gas efficiency.

It will be important that all engine upkeep checks performed on a sports activities automotive must be recorded in a logbook. This will likely be very useful particularly if the one who has done the maintenance verify has forgotten the last date of oil change or other upkeep that was performed.

There is no other strategy to maintain a sports activities automotive in prime situation than to have a daily upkeep verify-up on its engine. You could do not forget that the engine is an important a part of a car, especially the sports activities car; subsequently, it needs to be properly maintained.

If you want more information with reference to synthetic oil change coupon, drop by Gleason Kliendkerherb?s website without hesitation.

Source: http://www.philippinespressrelease.com/computers/tips-on-sports-automotive-engine-maintenance/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tips-on-sports-automotive-engine-maintenance

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Video: Matthews on new JFK book

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45110000#45110000

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Qiuqiu, The Location-based Discovery Engine For Android Applications

Google's official Android Market is not available in China, leading to a plethora of independent markets - over 70 at last count. The system works - sort of - but users may find it annoying because you actually don't know how to find the good stuff. China is still lacking any sort of innovative search mechanism to help people identify the apps they really need in daily life. Discovering the apps should not be boring,?and the core value of Qiuqiu is to bring the pleasure of discovering apps during different activities. Qiuqiu's app search engine is unique because it offers results based on your location, the time of day, and the things you like and do. Each scenario is expressed by a series of apps - education apps for the school day and travel apps for your vacation. It's a compelling and interesting change from the traditional "editor's choice" and selected apps lists found in many markets.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/AgHEI_90Jj0/

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