Cheryl Cole announces first UK headline arena tour - BBC News
Cheryl Cole has announced details of a UK arena tour for later this year.
The Girls Aloud singer, currently promoting her third solo album A Million Lights, will play 10 shows in October 2012.
The tour will begin at Belfast Odyssey arena on 3 October, before visiting Dublin, Nottingham, London, Sheffield, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Newcastle.
Tickets for the tour go on general sale on Friday 15 June.
She's performed in arenas as a solo artist before.
In 2010 she supported Black Eyed Peas on their UK tour.
Tweeting about the announcement Cheryl wrote: "UK and IRELAND!! I'm coming to seeee yooooouuuu.. :D #AMILLIONLIGHTSTOUR!! Who's coming?!?!?!"
Cheryl is set to release her third solo album next week (18 June).
UPDATE 3-Goldman bases new Asia Pacific chairman in Beijing - Reuters UK
* New Asia-Pacific chair rejoins Goldman after 11-year absence
* Beijing base underlines commitment to China market
* Western investment banks face challenge from homegrown firms
* Schwartz will oversee all of Asia operations (Adds details on Schwartz's prior connection to Rajaratnam, Gupta)
By Lawrence White
HONG KONG, June 12 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs said on Tuesday it had rehired veteran banker Mark Schwartz in the role of chairman of its Asia Pacific unit, based in Beijing, becoming the first global investment bank to place its sole regional chairman in China's capital.
Schwartz's placement in Beijing - rather than Hong Kong where peers from other big banks sit - puts him in a position to oversee the bank's joint venture there, Goldman Sachs Gao Hua, and to have quick access to leaders of some of the world's largest companies.
Schwartz, 57, first hired by Goldman 33 years ago, will replace Michael Evans, who has served as Chairman of Asia Pacific since 2004. Evans is based in New York and will continue in his role as a vice chairman of the bank and global head of growth markets.
After leaving Goldman in 2001, Schwartz worked as an adviser to George Soros and in 2006 formed with Raj Rajaratnam and former Goldman board member Rajat Gupta a combined hedge fund and private equity group named Taj Capital.
The $1.4 billion fund, which was renamed New Silk Route, invests in India, Asia and the Middle East. Rajaratnam was jailed in October 2011 for insider trading, while Gupta is on trial on charges stemming from the investigation into Rajaratnam's Galleon Group.
Schwartz's involvement with the fund was brief, and he is not listed as an officer on its website.
Schwartz's latest move sees Goldman Sachs fill a hole that has lingered since mid-2010, when Evans' move to New York to head the emerging markets drive meant that the firm's Asia chairman was not based in the region.
"The move to Beijing is very symbolic, and is similar to HSBC moving its CEO office to Hong Kong," said Ronald Wan, a managing director at China Merchants Securities (Hong Kong).
"They want to show a commitment to the China market, and probably improve ties with state-owned enterprises and the government."
While the firm stressed that this is a regional role, placing Schwartz in Beijing puts him in a position to bolster Goldman Sachs Gao Hua's efforts in China, and push key corporate and government relationships there.
Goldman faces several challenges in China, including renewed competition from foreign securities joint ventures and the rise of domestic investment banks and brokerages.
The firm is the top-ranked bank globally for China equity offerings worldwide year-to-date, though it is only 29th for listings in the onshore "A" share market, according to Thomson Reuters data. That ranking places it below many of its Western rivals, including Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank , JP Morgan and UBS.
LOCAL DIFFICULTIES
Foreign investment banks have found it difficult to make headway in China's onshore markets, with local firms using their deeper connections to win the lion's share of fees.
While Goldman Sachs has more control over its China operations than some rivals who arrived after a tightening of the ownership rules, the U.S. bank also suffers from not having total ownership of its China business.
The compensation structure of foreign banks also makes it harder for them to be profitable in China.
While Western firms need to chase big deals to cover the costs of their well-paid bankers, Chinese securities firms originate business using large teams of lower-paid dealmakers who get a cut of the fee for success.
With fewer jumbo-sized mandates available as the big banks and state-owned industrial firms complete their IPOs, the fees are more evenly distributed among medium and small-sized companies that the Chinese underwriters are better suited to execute.
"That's our biggest competitive advantage," said Dan Weil, global head of institutional sales and trading at Guosen Securities, the top-ranked China equity house year-to-date.
"We have 500 bankers, but we're not paying them $1 million each just to walk through door. They get paid on success. That enables the firm to have reach."
Part of the strategy behind locating Schwartz in Beijing will be to use his seniority to win more deals, in a market where bankers say clients put particular emphasis on the rank of the person pitching to them.
STRONGER FOOTING
Goldman is on a stronger footing in Asia-Pacific investment banking overall, having closed 2011 as the second-ranked firm in the region by fees and market share according to Thomson Reuters data, behind UBS.
This year, when completed listings have been thin on the ground, it won roles on some of the more high profile attempted listings, including Formula One and Graff Diamonds.
In Asia excluding Japan M&A advisory year-to-date, Goldman is top-ranked so far with 39 announced deals worth a combined $33 billion.
Schwartz's role will see him oversee all of the firm's business in Asia, encompassing asset management, private wealth management and securities trading in addition to investment banking.
While he is the first sole Asia Pacific chairman of a global investment bank to be based in Beijing, Morgan Stanley's Asia Pacific Co-CEO Wei Sun Christianson is there. Morgan Stanley has no regional chairman.
Schwartz is a Goldman Sachs veteran, having joined the firm in 1979 in the investment banking division. He was named a partner in the firm in 1988.
His career at Goldman Sachs saw him work in fixed income and then run the capital markets division from 1991 to 1997, before a move to Tokyo to become president of the Japan business. He held the title of chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia from 1999 to 2001.
On leaving Goldman at the end of that stint in 2001, Schwartz worked for Soros Fund Management, first as an adviser and then as president and CEO from 2003 to 2004.
Since 2006, Schwartz has been the chairman of MissionPoint Capital Partners, an investment firm he co-founded, which is focused on the transition to a lower carbon economy. (Additional reporting by Michael Flaherty and Kelvin Soh; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Aging Microsoft lures young tech idealists - Reuters
SEATTLE |
SEATTLE (Reuters) - The young interns, some of the nation's best and brightest in technology, business and design, had plenty of enthusiastic words to describe their summer employer.
Fun. Cool. Special. A giant start-up. Revolutionizing the world. Facebook, perhaps? Or Twitter? Or Google?
Try Microsoft Corp: the company once derided as the "death star" of the technology business and lately thought of not so much as dangerous, but merely irrelevant, bureaucratic and dull.
"Microsoft feels cool again," said 22-year-old Gbenga Badipe, an electrical engineering student at Rice University, one of 1,500 interns spending 12 weeks at the company's leafy campus this summer. "Microsoft products touch almost every area of technology, and everything they do is starting to work together."
Microsoft's keen new interns already think their competitors' days are numbered, branding Google and Facebook as "creepy" because of their aggressive stance on privacy and heavy reliance on advertising.
"What kind of business model is that, shoving ads in peoples' faces?" said one Microsoft intern, who asked not to be named.
A recent poll by careers site Glassdoor put Google as the most desirable place to intern, followed closely by Microsoft. They are also the best paid, averaging over $6,000 a month.
Microsoft is "revolutionizing the world," said Juan Llanes, 25, a computer science and finance major at Georgia Tech, who is also interning in Redmond, Washington this summer. Llanes grew up revering Microsoft during his childhood in Cuba, where computers were effectively banned.
Microsoft executives say the youthful enthusiasm evokes the company's heyday in the 1990s, when Bill Gates took his revolutionary startup from being International Business Machine Corp's junior partner to the United States' most valuable company.
"I went to work at Microsoft because I believed," said John Ludwig, a senior executive behind the creation of Internet Explorer and Windows 95. "It wasn't about money. I believed in the idea of getting computers in the hands of everybody."
"Young students want inspiration, they want to follow something," said Ludwig, who left Microsoft in 1999 to found Seattle venture capital firm Ignition Partners. "That underdog thing is a powerful motivator - for a lot of great talent, that's an appealing place to be, that feeling of us against the world."
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Of course, back then the sense of mission was boosted by the fact that Microsoft stock increased 90-fold in the 1990s, creating a host of stock option millionaires. Those days are long over, and Microsoft shares are still well below their 1999 peak.
The idea that the company can embody a start-up spirit at this stage of its development might also be a stretch. A recent book published anonymously by two former Microsoft employees, called ‘Stack Rank This!', portrays a company beset by abusive managers and dysfunctional teams where the appraisal process - the notorious stack rank system - actually works against the company's progress.
Indeed, the impression of the company as a Byzantine bureaucracy still turns off some tech-minded students, who are more attracted to younger, faster-moving firms like Facebook.
"There's a definite sense of excitement going on here. There's always revolutions in the making in terms of product development," said Johan Ugander, 27, a PhD student in Applied Math at Cornell University, who is interning for the third consecutive summer at Facebook.
"A lot of the interns I know, a year ago they were working on Timeline," said Ugander. "It's really fun for them to be able to come back to school and as the Facebook product rolls out, to say ‘I worked on that all summer.'"
But Ludwig insists that Microsoft's old "scrappy" spirit is starting to resurface. The company may be getting crushed in areas like smartphones and Internet search, but Windows still runs 90 percent of the world's computers, and Microsoft's research and product development efforts are broad and deep.
"To me, Microsoft is a giant start-up battling to innovate while maintaining compatibility," said Llanes from Georgia Tech. "We are underdogs in some areas, and we are strong in other areas with lots of people trying to knock us off. The stakes are incredibly high at Microsoft, and that's the kind of place I want to work."
ROYAL TREATMENT
Microsoft rolls out the red carpet for interns. Last year more than 1,000 of them were treated to a surprise show by the Dave Matthews Band at a Seattle zoo. State troopers paid by Microsoft have in the past cleared the usually clogged State Route 520 floating bridge to downtown Seattle to make way for buses full of interns. They no longer get a barbecue at Bill Gates' lakeside house like they used to, but there is a palpable sense of excitement.
"Everyone says you have the most fun at Microsoft," said one intern, who asked older students at her college about where to apply. "And Microsoft was definitely the best at selling it."
Of last year's computer science graduates from Carnegie Mellon University, both bachelors and masters, Microsoft and Google were top of the list of employers with 18 each, while seven went to Facebook.
"Microsoft is still up there," said Connie Chan, associate director of Stanford Computer Forum, which links up the university's tech students with employers. "It's still one of the companies that are doing really well on campus. Whenever Microsoft comes on campus they always have a large crowd interested in what they are doing."
Some are skeptical that the company is still getting the best talent out of the top schools, however.
"Microsoft's standing is still strong enough such that they can choose to get the (recruiting) numbers they want - if they dig far enough down their list," said one former program manager at the company.
Beyond the ranks of interns, Microsoft still struggles to compete for talent, especially as Facebook and Google recruit aggressively for their Seattle offices.
Microsoft has had recent victories, snagging cutting-edge social scientist Duncan Watts from Yahoo, and welcoming back James Whittaker, a well-known software engineer who left Microsoft for Google three years ago but was turned off by Google's increasing focus on ad revenue.
"There's been a fundamental cultural shift - this really is in many ways a different company," said Whittaker of Microsoft. "At the high levels of the company they are far more willing to consider grassroots innovative ideas bubbling up than they used to be."
There have also been defeats, such as the departure of veteran Windows Phone manager Charlie Kindel, who left last year to found a start up. His successor also recently left for Amazon.
But the maturing process that Microsoft has been through will ultimately catch up with younger rivals too.
"As Google and Facebook get larger, they will inevitably bog down in politics and bureaucracy," said Ben Slivka, a software engineer who led the creation of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser in the 1990s. "You'll be asking some Google or Facebook veteran the same questions you're asking me now."
(Reporting by Bill Rigby in Seattle; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Richard Chang)
Church of England, Catholic bishops oppose gay marriage plan - CBC
The Church of England and Roman Catholic bishops of England and Wales formally objected today to the government's proposal to permit gay marriages, both asserting that their historic understanding is that marriage is the union of a woman and a man.
Prime Minister David Cameron is backing a proposal to permit civil marriages for gay couples, despite the strong opposition of some lawmakers in his Conservative Party. Gay couples are already allowed to have civil partnerships, with the first such ceremony in 2005.
The churches' responses were released on the day when the traditional marriage group Coalition for Marriage prepared to deliver a petition with more than half a million signatures opposing the change to Cameron's office. Thursday is the deadline for public comment, which the government will consider in drafting legislation.
'To change the nature of marriage for everyone will be divisive and deliver no obvious legal gain given the rights already conferred by civil partnerships.'—Church of England
"The uniqueness of the institution of marriage is based on the fact that the human person exists as both male and female and that their union for the purpose of procreation, mutual support and love has, over the centuries of human history, formed a stable unit which we call the family," the Catholic bishops argued.
With attendance continuing to fall, the Church of England's influence has waned. Perhaps mindful of that, much of the Church of England's criticism of gay marriage focused on legal issues rather than quoting scripture. The response from the church's bishops and the Archbishops' Council argued that gay couples already have many of the legal benefits of marriage through civil partnerships and worried that churches could ultimately be required to perform same-sex marriages.
"To change the nature of marriage for everyone will be divisive and deliver no obvious legal gain given the rights already conferred by civil partnerships," the church said. "We believe that imposing for essentially ideological reasons a new meaning on a term as familiar and fundamental as marriage would be deeply unwise."
Gay marriage backers pointed out that the legislation would only focus on civil marriages and would exempt religious groups from any duty to perform same-sex marriages.
Activists condemn church's stand
Peter Tatchell, a leader of the Equal Love campaign for gay marriage, accused the church of "scaremongering, exaggerating the effects of same-sex marriage and advocating legal discrimination."
Ben Summerskill, chief executive of the gay rights organization Stonewall, said "many bishops in the Church of England today will be rather pleased because once again they are not talking about global poverty or the HIV pandemic, they are talking about the subject that obsesses them, and that is sex."
The Church of England's traditional stance on marriage contrasts with its evolving attitude toward gender. It has admitted women to the priesthood, and is embroiled in a contentious debate about allowing women to serve as bishops.
About a fourth of weddings in England take place in Church of England churches, which are legally obligated to provide a marriage service for any resident of a local parish who wishes it, regardless of church membership.
The issue has caused friction between Cameron, who is allowing party members to vote their conscience on the legislation, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg who expects all members of his Liberal Democrat party to support the change.
The Catholic bishops accused the government of moving hastily on the issue "based only on two very brief party conference announcements."
"This proposal, which has the potential to impact so immensely on the social stability of our society and which has significant implications for the unique institution of marriage and of family life, appears not to have been subject to such careful study and analysis," the Catholic bishops said.
The Muslim Council of Britain has joined the opposition. Its Muslims Defending Marriage Campaign assert that "our creator, Allah, has elevated this institution and conferred upon it blessings unique to it alone."
Iraq and Iran cuddle up in OPEC, but for how long? - Reuters
* Iran oil minister met Iraq prime minister before OPEC
* Both need oil over $110, to call on Saudi to cut output
* Iraq set to overtake Iran as OPEC's second biggest producer
By Peg Mackey
VIENNA, June 12 (Reuters) - Historic rivals Iraq and Iran are growing closer on OPEC policy, providing a counterweight to the Gulf Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia that have long dominated the cartel.
But cordial relations could grow strained later this year when Iraq vaults past Iran to become OPEC's second biggest producer after Saudi Arabia.
A bold oil expansion programme has already pushed Baghdad to 3 million barrels per day (bpd) - a level last pumped before Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 - and just a touch below Iran, where output has sunk to 20-year lows because of Western sanctions.
Size matters in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, where high production and reserves mean influence. Baghdad and Tehran sparred over OPEC quotas during the 1980s, while they fought each other in an eight-year war.
But relations have warmed since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the Shi'ite-ruled neighbours are now firmly aligned as OPEC price hawks in the same camp as Venezuela and Algeria.
That pits them against the Gulf Arab price moderates in OPEC - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
"This is a sign of the times," said Raad Alkadiri of Washington consultancy PFC Energy of Iran and Iraq. "There's been cooperation between them on oil matters for years, although they haven't been lined up together in OPEC,"
A mutual need for oil above $110 a barrel to balance their budgets is expected to prompt Iran and Iraq to call for Saudi Arabia, pumping its highest in decades, to cut back when producers meet in Vienna on Thursday.
Oil has fallen $30 since March to below $100 as oil stocks build and the economy wobbles. That falls short of the $100-$120 range that Iraqi Oil Minister and current OPEC President Abdul Kareem Luaibi says is reasonable.
"In terms of politics, it makes total sense. Everything Iraq does is driven by its internal crisis and it needs Iran's support. If Tehran asks for Baghdad's help, Iraq will deliver," said Alkadiri.
As internal foes test his survival skills, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's OPEC policy instructions to his oil minister are being driven by domestic politics.
And with its ally Syria on the brink of civil war and under Western sanctions for its nuclear programme, Iran wants to avoid instability in Iraq and is using its influence to thwart efforts to unseat Maliki.
So when Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi visited Maliki in Baghdad last week, Maliki ordered the oil ministry to adopt a unified position with Iran on OPEC production levels, say Iraqi oil sources.
That will mean Iraqi support for Iran at OPEC this week in calling for Saudi Arabia to rein in output to support prices.
IRAN, IRAQ WANT SAUDI TO CUT
Its output stymied by Western sanctions, Iran says lofty production from Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates has caused prices to fall.
Tehran will be a leading voice among those calling on OPEC to cut supply back to the 30 million barrels per day ceiling agreed in December, well below current output of 31.6 million. Saudi Arabia accounts for 10 million bpd of that.
Iraq agrees that supply is too high. There is scope for the pair to build an alliance to compete with Gulf Arab producers long-accustomed to getting their way in OPEC. Iran and Iraq combined with others in OPEC a year ago when the Gulf Arabs failed to get backing to raise output.
Venezuela and Algeria, also traditional price hawks, will support calls for Saudi to cut back at this week's OPEC meeting.
But cooperation between Iraq and Iran has it limits. Rivalry is already evident in the race for OPEC's secretary-general post, where both - along with Saudi Arabia and Ecuador - are fielding contenders.
More of a threat, though, is Iraq's growing production. In April, Iraq exported more crude than in any month since it invaded Kuwait in 1990 - helping to offset the loss of supply from Iran because of sanctions.
Iraqi oil growth started in earnest in 2010, after Baghdad secured a series of service contracts with companies such as BP, Exxon Mobil, Eni and Royal Dutch Shell.
Since then production, held back by decades of wars and sanctions, has risen 600,000 bpd to 3 million bpd. Exports to world markets are now running at 2.4 to 2.5 million bpd - easily overtaking Iran's sales of around 1.6 million bpd.
By the end of the year, production too should be outpacing Iran's, down this year from 3.5 million to 3.1 million bpd, threatening to erode Tehran's role as an oil power.
"It will be an historic development that will cause friction," said Mehdi Varzi, a former official of the National Iranian Oil Co.
"Volume matters in OPEC and Iran's star will be on the decline unless measures are taken to reverse the decline in Iranian oil production," said Varzi, who now runs an energy consultancy in the UK.
IRAQ 4 MBPD BY 2014?
Iraq's oil expansion, still in its infancy, has elicited varying degrees of scorn and concern from neighbouring OPEC giants.
Western and Iraqi geologists say Iraq has enough oil in the ground to produce to its target of 12 million bpd, but infrastructure bottlenecks, red tape and a lumbering bureaucracy make that impossible by a contractual deadline of 2017.
Production of 6 million bpd - enough to put Iraq a long way ahead of all but Saudi Arabia in OPEC - could be reached by the end of the decade, some say.
"It's one issue that Saudi Arabia and Iran can agree on: Iraq's production should never get too high," says a former Iraqi oil official.
As if to prove that point - following the success of its licensing rounds, Iraq raised its estimated oil reserves to 143.1 billion barrels. A week later, Iran trumped it with a new figure of 150.31 billion barrels.
At some stage, Iraq will need to negotiate a sizable OPEC quota to reflect its potential, although Luaibi said it was not a subject for discussion yet. "Now the parameters have all changed," he said.
The quota debate will draw in Iran, which before the 1990-1991 Gulf War had parity with Iraq. Some OPEC veterans see the issue coming to a head when Iraqi output hits about 4 million bpd, on a par with Iran's theoretical full capacity.
That point could be reached in 2014 if all goes to plan. Iraqi oil officials say exports will gradually rise by up to 200,000 bpd during the second half of this year taking production to 3.2 million bpd.
Iraq's oil minister says shipments next year will rise to 2.9 million bpd - boosting production including oil used domestically to 3.4 million bpd.
Some cast doubt on whether Iraq will be able to sustain the pace given the obstacles ahead.
"Iraq and the international oil companies have done an amazing job, but Baghdad's ingenuity has its limits. It's a mug's game in the short term to bet against rising production, but a sustainable rise will be challenged by events," said Alkadiri.
But those involved in the oilfield mega-projects have faith in the qualified success of Iraq's oil development.
"The Iraqis are masters of squeezing everything out of what they have," said a senior Western oil executive. (editing by Richard Mably)
Take That will follow up Progress tour, says Barlow - BBC News
Gary Barlow says that Take That hope to release a new album and tour the UK in 2013.
When asked about about the possibility of releasing a new record next year on Radio 1's official chart show he said: "I hope so."
He added that there would be an accompanying UK stadium tour. "Absolutely, definitely," he confirmed. "I can promise you that."
Take That's 2011 Progress tour was the UK's highest-grossing tour ever.
Band's futureIt's not yet confirmed whether Robbie Williams would contribute to a new Take That album.
Barlow has produced some of Williams' eighth solo studio album which is set for release later this year.
Following a 15-year break Williams rejoined the group in July 2010 and performed with the band for their record-breaking Progress tour in summer 2011.
Barlow has hinted in the past that the band could return to being a four-piece.
In an interview with Radio Times in October 2011 he left the situation open saying "we can revisit it whenever we want".
Gary Barlow is sitting on the judging panel for the forthcoming ninth series of ITV1's The X Factor, which will be broadcast from the late summer.
This week Gary Barlow (10 June) topped the UK single and album chart with his tracks inspired by the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
Sing, the title of both the single and album, was recorded with musicians from across the Commonwealth.
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