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Oct

McDonald’s all-day breakfast is coming near you

: Donald Herison; investing news; LATEST NEWS; 06 October 2015; 06

Oct; 10 February 2016; Hits: 1904

The new CEO of McDonald's is making big changes to try to boost the chain's stagnant sales. His boldest move yet starts Tuesday: all-day breakfast.

McDonald's started testing all-day breakfast in a few places in March. To go nationwide, more than 14,300 restaurants in the U.S. needed to install separate griddles and train staff on how to handle breakfast orders simultaneously with lunch and dinner.

The roll out is further complicated by the fact that franchisees have been urging the company to cull the number of items they serve. The operators say the bloated menu makes it hard to run the restaurants and leads to longer wait times.

Still, McDonald's insists that franchisees supported the decision to serve pancakes and egg sandwiches all day long. U.S. stores account for about 40% of global profits at McDonald's. And profits are suffering -- down 9% last year.

McDonald's hopes it can stem the losses by getting new customers into its restaurants, while ensuring that loyal lunch and dinner customers don't opt for breakfast instead because those items generally cost less.

All-day breakfast is just one piece of CEO Steve Easterbrook plan for McDonald's. Since he took over in March, the company has taken steps to improve food quality. It now requires chicken suppliers to reduce the use of antibiotics and started using real butter instead of liquid margarine.

McDonald's has also been advertising the "Premium Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Deluxe Sandwich," made with 100% chicken breast meat and real buttermilk and no artificial flavors.

But the biggest boost for sales will likely be all-day breakfast. RBC analyst David Palmer believes it will boost sales by 4%.

"McDonald's U.S. business wants and needs a win," said Palmer. "All-day breakfast is a start but the company needs to build on it.''

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Oct

Facebook will beam Internet to Africa from space

: Donald Herison; investing news; LATEST NEWS; 05 October 2015; 05

Oct; 10 February 2016; Hits: 1542

As part of its Internet.org initiative, Facebook is partnering with France's Eutelsat Communications to use satellite technology to make Internet accessible to more users in Africa.

Eutelsat press release said: "Under a multi-year agreement with Spacecom, the two companies will utilize the entire broadband payload on the future AMOS-6 satellite and will build a dedicated system comprising satellite capacity, gateways and terminals.

The project is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2016 and will cover west, east and southern Africa. Internet via satellite is one of the many ways which Facebook is exploring to make the Internet reach more users under its controversial Internet.org initiative.

"We believe that satellites will play an important role in addressing the significant barriers that exist in connecting the people of Africa," said Chris Daniels, VP of Internet.org.

Facebook is also testing a solar-powered drone with a wingspan as big as a Boeing 737 that will use lasers to send Internet signals to stations on the ground.

The project is part of a broader Facebook effort that also contemplates using satellites and other high-tech gear to deliver Internet service to hundreds of millions of people living in regions too remote for conventional broadband networks.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged Facebook's business will benefit in the long run if more people gain Internet access, but he says the effort isn't driven by profit-seeking. Instead, he has said it's based on the conviction that Internet service can bring a variety of economic and social benefits to developing nations.

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Oct

American Apparel has filed for bankruptcy

: Donald Herison; investing news; LATEST NEWS; 05 October 2015; 05

Oct; 10 February 2016; Hits: 1478

Struggling clothing company American Apparel (APP) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday.

The publicly traded company listed numerous creditors in its filing, with investment firm Standard General L.P. having the largest unsecured claim at $15 million.

The move is far from a surprise: American Apparel said in August it had "substantial doubt" that it would stay in business.

The clothing maker had been in the middle of a turnaround effort that included store closings and some layoffs. The company also faced several lawsuits from ousted CEO Dov Charney.

Charney was fired last year from the company he founded amid allegations of mismanagement and sexual harassment. Charney and his associates have retaliated with about 20 lawsuits and "administrative actions," according to the firm.

Charney founded American Apparel in 1998, building an operation that was famous for its sex-infused advertising campaigns and unorthodox business practices.

On Wall Street, the company's stock has dropped to penny stock status as losses increase. The attorney representing American Apparel, Laura Davis Jones, could not be reached for comment.

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Oct

World Bank: Extreme poverty falls below 10 percent

: Donald Herison; investing news; LATEST NEWS; 05 October 2015; 05

Oct; 10 February 2016; Hits: 1885

The number of people living in extreme poverty is likely to fall for the first time below 10 percent of the world's population in 2015, the World Bank said on Sunday as it revised its benchmark for measuring the problem.

Extreme poverty has long been defined as living on or below $1.25 a day, but the World Bank's adjustment now sets the poverty line at $1.90 a day.

The Bank said the change reflects new data on differences in the cost of living across countries, while preserving the real purchasing power of the previous yardstick.

Using the new benchmark, the World Bank projects that 702 million people or 9.6 percent of the world's population will be living in extreme poverty in 2015, down from 902 million people or 12.8 percent of the global population in 2012.

The global development lender attributed the continued fall in poverty to strong economic growth rates in emerging markets, particularly India, and investments in education, health, and social safety nets.

"... these projections show us that we are the first generation in human history that can end extreme poverty," World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement.

However, he warned that slower global growth, volatile financial markets, conflicts, high youth unemployment and the impact of climate change were obstacles to meeting a U.N. target to end poverty by 2030, part of a new set of development goals adopted by 193 countries at the United Nations last month.

"But it remains within our grasp, as long as our high aspirations are matched by country-led plans that help the still millions of people living in extreme poverty," Kim added.

According to the Bank, around half of those living in extreme poverty by 2020 will hail from hard-to-reach fragile and conflict-affected states. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for some half of the global poor.

Expects said the prospect of emerging economies losing steam could challenge promises to eradicate extreme poverty.

"If economic growth of the developing world over the last 15 years was an anomaly, was a blip, then we're in trouble," said Laurence Chandy, a fellow at the Brookings Institution whose research focuses on global poverty.

"If instead it's a kind new normal then we've got a good chance of getting close to this goal," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The World Bank first introduced a global poverty line in 1990, setting it at $1 a day. It was adjusted last in 2008, when the group raised it to $1.25 a day.

Across the planet, the number of people living in extreme poverty has dropped by more than half since 1990, when 1.9 billion people lived under $1.25 a day, compared to 836 million in 2015, according to the United Nations.

This follows the adoption in 2000 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which included the eradication of extreme poverty.

Replacing the MDGs are the Sustainable Development Goals, a set of 17 goals to combat poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030 - with ending extreme poverty for all people everywhere, a key target.

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